All Forum Posts by: Ari Hadar

I love most of what BP is all about, and have found it generally more positive, inclusive and welcoming than most of the FIRE'd or early retirement forums out there.  Good Work!

That being said, I also feel like the content is skewed largely to the mega-deals and multi-millionaires rather than the first time or small investors, which is still by far the norm.  I assume if someone already made their way to BP they probably don't need the inspirational stories of those who "made it big" so much as they seek details on how to get started or when to call it quits.

I also feel like the overall "attitude" based on content/podcasts found here is focused on the mega-millions as where our experience from those that reach out to us for support, ideas, coaching, etc has been that most people don't actually have that as a realistic goal. 

In our experience, most people don't have a desire to have 100s or 1000s of properties to manage or need to make millions of dollars.  Most people would be stoked to simply make "enough".  To have their portfolio allow them to find live/work balance.  To make enough passive income to live the lifestyle they want rather than investing in dozens more properties every year and taking on the additional workload that comes with it.

Where is the basic truth that for most people, if they live simply and invest wisely in just a handful of investments... that they can hire someone to manage the portfolio, walk away from both the 9-5 and the investing, retire early and live the life they've always wanted?  Isn't that actually the more common goal and aspiration of the average BP visitor/listener?  Where are those stories?  Where are the stories like ours that show that enough is actually enough??

Thanks for asking and for working to make BP a better place!

Originally posted by @Ari Hadar:

Originally posted by @Jerryll Noorden:

Hey Allison Leung.

Hope you don't mind I am going to be very blunt. This is not a reflection on you, but it is a bit of a stern rude awakening in my honest opinion.

BP Podcast:

How Joe Smo closed 385937593 deals by the age of 9!

How Oompa Loompa flips 33 houses in 5 days..

Now...

Not a fan of podcasts because all these podcasts are basically personal opinions designed to hype up the unsuspecting users to ... get hyped up. Thats it.

All that stuff on how THEY do it, ... most of the time it is very little actual and a whole lot of theoretical and self admiration disguised as tips and how to.

Now, I have watched just a few podcasts and when I did watch I didn't stay for long, so this may not be accurate but this is the opinion I have based on several random podcasts I tried to watch... so take it how you want it it is meant to give you a blunt opinion of a BP user that really did try to get into BP podcasts.

I can tell you that there is not much focus on the CORE of investing, just personal opinions and I honestly can't stand personal opinions especially when they are disguised and packaged as "this is an other way to get successful" when I honestly cringe when I see COUNTLESS of investors (all over the net, including BP) on podcasts completely butchering lead generation... let me tell you som som.. lead gen is the CORE of investing! Yet, almost nothing on it and when there is something on it, I feel like jumping off a cliff!

All these "brilliant" gadgets and strategies on anything and everything and then they resort to cold calling or DMM for leads. What is the point of BRRRR and all these new ways when your chain is as strong as the weakest link. Amazing strategy X and Y... and how do you do it? Well go do door knocking to get leads, so that THEN you can do amazing strategy X!!

For me, a savvy investor, these podcasts bring little value (sorry). And for beginners, it brings value .. well in my opinion they THINK it brings value.

Seriously... I honestly do not like podcasts for that reason. Do a podcast on how to flip a house from beginning to end. Do a podcast featuring NORMAL investors that tried but failed, and dive deep into why they failed, what went wrong, how to avoid it. Focus on education and not so much stroking egos of "Successful" investors. Those are VALUABLE lessons beginners can learn from. Not ego boosting investors that "made it" using questionable methods.

Check this out...

Do you all realize what this ENTIRE BP population is doing?

Let me tell you. 

While the rest of the nation all are spending money time and effort reaching... "people".... and only AFTER you reach them (having spend the money and /or effort) you figure out if they are motivated sellers or not. You spend what, 10K 20K 30K a month on mailers, commercials, radio ads, cold calling... and after you spend all that money you realize that 97% of the people you paid to reach, turn out they are not motivated at all. Ridiculous. Think about it. It is CRAZY!!! Nuts!!

Is it not painstakingly obvious that you should only spend time money and effort AFTER you know they are motivated?  

This is a tremendously obvious flaw in the majority of investors here. I CAN NOT be the only one that figured this out right? NO WAY!

Then why do I NEVER see a podcast on that? That is a GLARING universal flaw in this entire space of REI, yet no one sees it?! Really??

It is almost as if BP has partnered or is sponsored by DMM companies or something and act on the interest of the sponsors rather than focusing where you can help people the most. How to give the most value. You have such a strong community here but it truly feels too... commercial. I get it people need to make money, but the podcasts could be such a powerful tool to focus more on helping all these new struggling investors rather then glorifying the podcast guests.

If I were to start some group, I would truly focus on data collection first. Analysis, figure out why so many people are struggling. Then develop content to truly educate and help people. 

The reason SO many investors are failing is because of exactly this. The market is FULL of personal opinions, and not so much actual indisputable facts. 

I read a whole debate on BP's stance on "ohh we are not responsible for the content of the podcasts " as BP was podcasting a thief and scammer.

My response to this is, what ever you want to "officially" call it, "not responsible" I lost all respect and credibility for BP podcasts. YES BP, you ARE responsible for the podcasts you put out no matter what the official stance is. YOU (BP) are getting a bad name for being part of the problem and spreading and marketing these scammers and seriously questionable advise on a lot of topics especially lead generation.

The fact of the matter is, no matter how you officially and legally protect your podcasts from blame or lawsuits, this is not helping anyone and therefore the podcasts are pretty much useless in my opinion. It is like podcasts are done for the sake of getting more admiration flowers and more members, instead of helping those that actually need help, succeed.

So my critique is...

dudes, focus on the people that need actual on the ground real help. Not fluff and poetic stories on how this cool dude made it big from a strategy no one is really going to apply or can apply as a beginner.

Let me give you an example.

One of the recent podcasts some dude was talking about:

Tarl:
The key right now is most people build their business and then take their life and try to get their life to fit their business, whatever they have left over. Instead, why don’t the people do it the other way around where they figure out what kind of life do they actually want to live and then design their business to fit that lifestyle?
https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

This is the stuff I mean.. (this is why I can't watch more than 3 minutes of podcasts). Sure sounds so poetic and clever and awesome ...  wake UP!!

People have mortgages, five  3 year old kids, have to bring their sick kids to the doctor while working 3 jobs to make ends meet.

So here comes this dude "Ohh why don't you figure out the fancy lifestyle you want to live and design your business around that". Are you kidding?

This is what I mean with stroking the egos of the podcast guests.

A lot of theory, not at all practical. Yes tell these folks to just figure out what lifestyle you want to live and design your business around that. I don';t think he has ever been poor or have ever been struggling. 

YEAH. Why don't they just pick the life they want and ohh just design your business around that. Oh never mind all the responsibilities and all the money I don't have...

Lot of theory but very little actual practical in these podcasts.

I know this was blunt.. but I don't do sugar coating.  It is what it is, and I hope you can extract valuable points here to better the whole podcast thing.

Now for the good.

A lot of you (you included) try hard to make this place the way it is and I applaud you for that. Keep up the good work! The fact you posted this post is obviously indication you try to do better. 

So good on you!

Very good comment.It's very hard to find good deal and it's hard to find leads at all and all the courses and podcasts are full of success stories and promises of wealth instead of practical details and facts and solving problems. I am as new to this REI has a difficulty to assess what it need and if I am fit for that.

 Ari, BELIEVE me when I tell you that you ARE fit, and capable for this. I promise you. You just need to think on your own and not blindly follow others and man I am telling you, It is not that hard!

Hey Allison Leung.

Hope you don't mind I am going to be very blunt. This is not a reflection on you, but it is a bit of a stern rude awakening in my honest opinion.

BP Podcast:

How Joe Smo closed 385937593 deals by the age of 9!

How Oompa Loompa flips 33 houses in 5 days..

Now...

Not a fan of podcasts because all these podcasts are basically personal opinions designed to hype up the unsuspecting users to ... get hyped up. Thats it.

All that stuff on how THEY do it, ... most of the time it is very little actual and a whole lot of theoretical and self admiration disguised as tips and how to.

Now, I have watched just a few podcasts and when I did watch I didn't stay for long, so this may not be accurate but this is the opinion I have based on several random podcasts I tried to watch... so take it how you want it it is meant to give you a blunt opinion of a BP user that really did try to get into BP podcasts.

I can tell you that there is not much focus on the CORE of investing, just personal opinions and I honestly can't stand personal opinions especially when they are disguised and packaged as "this is an other way to get successful" when I honestly cringe when I see COUNTLESS of investors (all over the net, including BP) on podcasts completely butchering lead generation... let me tell you som som.. lead gen is the CORE of investing! Yet, almost nothing on it and when there is something on it, I feel like jumping off a cliff!

All these "brilliant" gadgets and strategies on anything and everything and then they resort to cold calling or DMM for leads. What is the point of BRRRR and all these new ways when your chain is as strong as the weakest link. Amazing strategy X and Y... and how do you do it? Well go do door knocking to get leads, so that THEN you can do amazing strategy X!!

For me, a savvy investor, these podcasts bring little value (sorry). And for beginners, it brings value .. well in my opinion they THINK it brings value.

Seriously... I honestly do not like podcasts for that reason. Do a podcast on how to flip a house from beginning to end. Do a podcast featuring NORMAL investors that tried but failed, and dive deep into why they failed, what went wrong, how to avoid it. Focus on education and not so much stroking egos of "Successful" investors. Those are VALUABLE lessons beginners can learn from. Not ego boosting investors that "made it" using questionable methods.

Check this out...

Do you all realize what this ENTIRE BP population is doing?

Let me tell you. 

While the rest of the nation all are spending money time and effort reaching... "people".... and only AFTER you reach them (having spend the money and /or effort) you figure out if they are motivated sellers or not. You spend what, 10K 20K 30K a month on mailers, commercials, radio ads, cold calling... and after you spend all that money you realize that 97% of the people you paid to reach, turn out they are not motivated at all. Ridiculous. Think about it. It is CRAZY!!! Nuts!!

Is it not painstakingly obvious that you should only spend time money and effort AFTER you know they are motivated?  

This is a tremendously obvious flaw in the majority of investors here. I CAN NOT be the only one that figured this out right? NO WAY!

Then why do I NEVER see a podcast on that? That is a GLARING universal flaw in this entire space of REI, yet no one sees it?! Really??

It is almost as if BP has partnered or is sponsored by DMM companies or something and act on the interest of the sponsors rather than focusing where you can help people the most. How to give the most value. You have such a strong community here but it truly feels too... commercial. I get it people need to make money, but the podcasts could be such a powerful tool to focus more on helping all these new struggling investors rather then glorifying the podcast guests.

If I were to start some group, I would truly focus on data collection first. Analysis, figure out why so many people are struggling. Then develop content to truly educate and help people. 

The reason SO many investors are failing is because of exactly this. The market is FULL of personal opinions, and not so much actual indisputable facts. 

I read a whole debate on BP's stance on "ohh we are not responsible for the content of the podcasts " as BP was podcasting a thief and scammer.

My response to this is, what ever you want to "officially" call it, "not responsible" I lost all respect and credibility for BP podcasts. YES BP, you ARE responsible for the podcasts you put out no matter what the official stance is. YOU (BP) are getting a bad name for being part of the problem and spreading and marketing these scammers and seriously questionable advise on a lot of topics especially lead generation.

The fact of the matter is, no matter how you officially and legally protect your podcasts from blame or lawsuits, this is not helping anyone and therefore the podcasts are pretty much useless in my opinion. It is like podcasts are done for the sake of getting more admiration flowers and more members, instead of helping those that actually need help, succeed.

So my critique is...

dudes, focus on the people that need actual on the ground real help. Not fluff and poetic stories on how this cool dude made it big from a strategy no one is really going to apply or can apply as a beginner.

Let me give you an example.

One of the recent podcasts some dude was talking about:

Tarl:
The key right now is most people build their business and then take their life and try to get their life to fit their business, whatever they have left over. Instead, why don’t the people do it the other way around where they figure out what kind of life do they actually want to live and then design their business to fit that lifestyle?
https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

This is the stuff I mean.. (this is why I can't watch more than 3 minutes of podcasts). Sure sounds so poetic and clever and awesome ...  wake UP!!

People have mortgages, five  3 year old kids, have to bring their sick kids to the doctor while working 3 jobs to make ends meet.

So here comes this dude "Ohh why don't you figure out the fancy lifestyle you want to live and design your business around that". Are you kidding?

This is what I mean with stroking the egos of the podcast guests.

A lot of theory, not at all practical. Yes tell these folks to just figure out what lifestyle you want to live and design your business around that. I don';t think he has ever been poor or have ever been struggling. 

YEAH. Why don't they just pick the life they want and ohh just design your business around that. Oh never mind all the responsibilities and all the money I don't have...

Lot of theory but very little actual practical in these podcasts.

I know this was blunt.. but I don't do sugar coating.  It is what it is, and I hope you can extract valuable points here to better the whole podcast thing.

Now for the good.

A lot of you (you included) try hard to make this place the way it is and I applaud you for that. Keep up the good work! The fact you posted this post is obviously indication you try to do better. 

So good on you!