Two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dr. Justin Lee, Sr.
🎯 Purpose of the Interview
The interview aims to:
Highlight Justin Lee’s journey from a young real estate agent to a multifaceted entrepreneur.
Inspire listeners—especially from underserved communities—to pursue financial literacy, real estate ownership, and entrepreneurship.
Share actionable insights on building wealth through real estate, construction, and strategic partnerships.
🔑 Key Takeaways 1. Overcoming Age Barriers in Real Estate
Justin entered real estate at 24 and embraced being the youngest in the room.
He used his youth and tech-savviness (e.g., TikTok, Instagram) to bring value to veteran professionals.
“I started to network more in rooms that had more experienced people… let me break some of this new millennial technology into your business.”
2. Education and Credentials
In three years, Justin became a licensed broker and earned a doctorate.
He emphasizes continuous learning and certifications as keys to growth.
“I also finished my doctorate degree, so I'm now Doctor Justin Lee.”
3. Social Media as a Business Tool
He leveraged platforms like TikTok (90K followers) to market real estate and educate clients.
He stresses that online presence must reflect professionalism.
“Some people look better online than in person for a reason… make your business look the same way online.”
4. Addressing Homeownership Gaps in Communities of Color
Justin discusses systemic barriers like lack of financial literacy and credit education.
He offers free resources like Motivational Mondays and a podcast to educate aspiring homeowners.
“Most of the time, our parents… would say, ‘Don’t use no credit card.’ Great advice, but kind of bad advice at the same time.”
5. Real Estate Syndication & Group Investing
He formed a private investment fund with fraternity brothers and family to buy properties collectively.
Focused on affordable markets like New Orleans East for high ROI.
“Let’s develop a fund… Now we own over 150 apartment complexes and units.”
6. Amazon DSP Partnership
Justin owns an Amazon Delivery Service Partner business with 42 trucks and 200+ employees.
He recommends minorities apply for the program, which offers a \$10K grant.
“They want someone who is willing to commit… not someone who has all this business experience.”
7. Construction Ventures
Inspired by his mother’s post-Katrina property acquisitions, Justin entered construction.
He now leads major commercial projects including schools, restaurants, and celebrity studios.
“We ended up building out a restaurant… 10,000 square foot… I love this. This is my passion.”
8. Family Legacy & Early Exposure
Raised in New Orleans by a single mother and grandparents, Justin learned property management as a child.
His mother’s real estate investments post-Katrina laid the foundation for his career.
“I knew how to write a lease at ten… file eviction at 12… manage property before high school.”
🗣️ Notable Quotes
“If you don’t plan, you plan to fail.”
“Let’s teach you to do it right. Let’s do it together.”
“Knowledge was power… the one thing nobody can take.”
“You learn a skill, you’ll eat forever.”
#BEST #STRAW #SHMS
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am Rashaan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
stories and start planning their own. Listen up as I
interview entrepreneurs from around the country, talk to celebrities and
ask them how they are running their companies, and speak
with dog profits who are making a difference in their
(00:26):
local communities. Now, sit back and listen as we unlock
the secrets to their success on Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Hi,
I am Rashan McDonald. I host this weekly Money Making
Conversation Master Class show. The interviews and information that this
show provides offer everyone It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. My next
(00:48):
guest is not just constructing buildings. He's trade a legacy.
Whether you're I in a real estate deal a groundbreaking
construction project, This member of the million dollar Club in
real estate is your go to guy FORX for guidance
and unmatched service.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Taylor just for you.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Please, welcome to the Money Making Conversation Master Class. Justin
Lee Senor how you doing, sir man, I'm amazing, blessed.
How they feel, how about yourself. Well, it's been about
three years since I talked to you justin and when
I talk to you, I mentioned the fact.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
That you was in a real estate business and you were.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Young, and being a young person talking to people generally
maybe twice as older than you, maybe feel that a
young person what does he know about home ownership? Tell
the people being a guy over the last three years,
now you do a twenty four. I believe when I
met you, now you're twenty seven. Talk about the experience
being a person who didn't allow age to stop.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Them from being successful in real estate. Absolutely. I think
that you know, going into rooms often when you're the
youngest in the ring, that kind of makes you a
little uncomfortable, but also makes the other people around you
a little uncomfortable. So what I did was learn to
embrace down comfort and make you one of my biggest strengths.
So I started to network more in rooms that had
more experienced people, and I say, hey, instead of y'all
(02:04):
stand over there and I'm standing over here, let's work together.
I need to learn something from you and let me
break some of this new millennial technology to your business
as well. So developed a lot of great relationships branched
off into commercial real estate, which was an amazing experience
as well. It also led me back to school, so
I became a real estate broker. Now in the last
(02:25):
three years, I have my own brobridge. I also finished
my doctorate degree, so I'm now Doctor Justin Lee, which
is also an amazing the commege graduation. Thank you, I
appreciate that, man. So it's been amazing. I'll say. Using
the youth for my advantage and continue to grow and
develop over the last couple of years has been amazing.
But I said, I think the most thing I did
in the last few years was go back, learn more
(02:47):
and kind of owning or getting those certifications of education
in those key areas that I wanted to develop and growing.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Now, okay, you say you're blending young guy. What did
you bring to the table that would enhance veteran person
of the real estate game?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Two words? Social media. So that's something that most people
don't know about. Do you have a TikTok? Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I do thousand follows the United use it though, absolutely
if it'm my baky That's why I used by TikTok
for well, you were different.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You were one of the rare people from your generation
that know how to use TikTok, Instagram, threads and so
on and so forth. So when I realized that we're
going it to lead where everything is online. You know,
some people look better online than in person for a reason,
So you have to make your business look the same
way online, you know. So I started to develop with
(03:45):
older developers, older real estate companies and brokers that they're
not ever sold some presence in the presence businessmen. We
were charged to be, honestly, people on their phone more
than anything.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, that's true because ninety percent of the people who
use social media are using their phone, which means that
that's a generation that's usually for more than just taking
pictures of food or getting direction of GPS. Is a lifestyle,
and also social media is a Some people say they
are addicted to social media, but we're in a real
estate game.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
In the African American community of community of color usually
are left behind, We're usually renters.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Why is that justin I think that it just comes
from socioeconomical knowledge, right. So typically in European aging other cultures,
they are taught financial literacy within their own they're tough
financial literacy within their house, Whereas when it comes to
(04:40):
African American people, I think that we often have to
figure it out. And when it comes to being able
to purchase real estate, the most important thing is going
to be credit. Most of the time, our parents and
and uncles and our teams and say, don't use no
credit card. You don't want to know that, right, They'll
they'll they'll give us that advice, which is great at
but kind of bad advice at the same time when
(05:02):
you're trying to actually grow, because it's a difference between
bad debt and good debt. Real estate is always going
to be good debt. Bad debt is the Mason's card,
the Amazon car when you just buying everything. But it
comes really from that foundation of knowledge. I know so
many people that have worked the job as a janitor,
a school bus driver, a teacher, secretary of Iburian thirty years,
(05:23):
never missed the day on holiday, but don't own the
rent because they're scared and they don't know what it
takes to rent and versus purchase. And most of the
times that they ring is more hard than purchase, and
they want three times the amount of money in rent when
and purchase and it's not even the same right now.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
So that's the fear we look at. You know, they
are known. How do you educate? Do you have courses
available to people that they can reach out to you
that can educate them and show them the value of
ownership of home ownership.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yes, So ultimately on Mondays every Monday, I do a
lot It's called Motivational Monday. Do it at seven o'clock
Easter and standard time on my Instagram Jamie the Realtor
on that I allow what to call it chew and
a where I allow people to come in and ask
questions about whatever it is that they want to know
when it comes to real estate investing and where to start.
I think that that's always resourceful. I think that another
(06:17):
place that people can look for is going to always
be their local home buyer Associating. I also have a
podcast that I have there released every Thursday that we
talk about these topics of business growth, credit, taxes, financial literacy,
and so on and so forth. So we always give out,
you know, the information to the community to help them
to develop and grow. And you know, in any questions
(06:39):
that they have, we're always open ascent no matter where
they are located in the nation, and the information is
society pretty much.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Okay, let's just go through some steps here, doctor Lee.
When we talk about real estate, if someone comes to you,
what is the process do you get them clear for
a long pride to you taking them I was looking
for a home or how does that process work?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
That's an amazing question. See, it just depends, right if
I see someone and I can kind of have a
quick conversation with you and say, hey, you know, what
is your credit score? What is your income before taxes?
Did you file taxes after? I know those three essential
questions that tell me if you're approvable today or if
you're approvable in the future. But either way, I'm going
to take you to see houses. And the reason I
(07:26):
do that is just because you're not a provable today
doesn't mean you can't go get a job that is
your salary job baby, or work these amount of hours
or fix this credit score. But I want to show
you what's possible and say, hey, this house is worth
two hundred K. This is an eight hour more if
you're paying twenty two hundred for a seven hundred square
feet apartment, this is what's out here. So we try
(07:46):
to motivate them. So that's always the first step. It's
going to be an onboarding call where we discussed, like
I said, your credit score, your did you file taxes,
and do you have income? The most important thing is
going to be income documented income, and that's either through
a job or through taxing. Sterns as entrepreneurs, showing that
he made money the last two consecutive years. Credit scores
(08:07):
are a little bit more flexible, and there's ways to
increase your credit square. We can actually help you all with.
But once we do that, we connect you with the
lender that album. Step two. The lender would go through
the same thing that I just asked, but more in depth.
They want to know your job, your social your birthday,
employment history, so on and so forth. Then they say, okay,
justin your two for three hundred thousand, here's a letter,
(08:29):
go buy whatever you want. And then from there we
go out see the house that you like, negotiate with
the sellers on your then within thirty to twenty five
days going on the contract, you will be moving it
to your new house too.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I was speaking that doctor justin Lee. Three years ago,
I interviewed this young man who was twenty four years
old in the real estate game. His legacy because he
learned from the family on how they understand HPCU Guy Warehouse.
Now he's a doctor. That's why I call him Doctor Lee.
He's a single father, three year old child. But more importantly,
(09:00):
he's in the game of real estate, which we know
is dominated by white people. It's gonna be real because
you said that in your first interview, and you said
it was important that you step over each other side
of the lay. How is the real estate industry three
years ago as.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
It is today for you? So, Mike ferit has been
at full three to sixty. I think it's a three
sixty because three years ago I was newer to the industry.
I was learning from It's a lot of YouTube, and
I decided to say, you know what the best experience
is time and learning. So I went out. It starts
to do deals. And as I got into the industry,
I realized that it is not as hard as we think.
(09:38):
The industry was dominated back then, and primarily it is
dominated by white men europeonns on and so forth, and foreigners.
To be honest, because they have learned to have a
unified front see what's going on in the industry, And
it's the same thing going on now. They're pulling together
what you call syndications and say I make ten thousand,
you got ten thousand, you got forty thousand, Let's pull
(10:00):
it together. Let's go buy an apartment complex. They're then
purchasing properties together and growing wealth together at a quicker pace.
So what I did in the last couple of years
was I went back to my line brothers, my chapter
of brothers, my more house brothers, friends and family and saying, hey,
let's develop a fund, a private fund, not public that
anyone can just jump into, but a family fund if
(10:22):
you will to invest in and acquire properties, and says,
then we will crowd over one hundred and fifty apartment
complexes and units, commercial real estates, on and so forth.
And it really was no different than what I was
doing back then, except I was taking I would wait
and try to save thirty thousand and forty thousand versus
connecting with everyone that might have ten and ten and
(10:43):
going to the table together. And when I really learned
that it's really strengthen these groups, these really thing investment
trust their groups. It's not one person, there's groups of individuals,
and it's shown me how far we can go on
how fast we can go. But together.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Wow, that's a very powerful statement because of the fact
that getting people to understand the value of poorly money
versus standing it out there? How did they come together
and did it? And everybody, when you start talking money,
you have dollars, you have people who don't trust. How
were you able to pull it together to get a
group of people even though you knew them, to pull
(11:18):
their money and get into real estate game? Because somebody
out there should be hearing this very intently, because it
can be used in other models around the country.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Absolutely. So what I was able to do really was
I went out and did the full work and said, okay,
these are some properties and areas that I identified that we
can develop and grow in. I targeted New Orleans where
I'm from. I targeted the New Orleans East more specifically,
which is one of the more dangerous parts of town.
Will run down, but to me, that means opportunity because
(11:50):
what's already down, let's go back up at some point.
So I connected with people and showed them the numbers.
I said, okay, even though I reside in Atlanta, the
numbers in Atlanta for four plex is about four hundred
five hundred K, and New Orleans the same four plex,
it's like one hundred K. But the rent numbers balance
out because if it's fifteen hundred in Atlanta for a
(12:12):
three bedroom and it's three thousand and Atlanta for a
three bedroom, it's the same numbers. You're paying five hundred
versus one hundred. So why not get into the game
with the lower start to make the same amount of profit.
The numbers are bigger, but the profit margins are the same.
If that makes sense. So let's go where we can
get in, where we can actually afford. We don't got
to be here, ass cool, Let's go where it makes sense,
(12:34):
right right?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Because bit I have a math degree, that number made
a lot of sense to me. Okay, very fast, because
sometimes we get caught up in the big numbers.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
It's like I remember when I was offered an opportunity
to get a franchised, like a franchise like a Burger
King or like a McDonald's. And then it's not the
only one of them, it's owing multiple that you really
generate the revenue you might own one. This is just
a fact might want enfranchised. It might just pay you
(13:02):
profit wise fifteen thousand dollars a month. You go, wow,
fifty thousand, I expected to make more money. Well, how
about getting three of those? Then you hit forty five
thousand dollars a month, then you multi a lot of
that time is twelve and you over a half million dollars.
So that's the two with five hundred thousand dollars, then
it was five hundred five hundred million dollars.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Don't you tell it right?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Your five hundred thousand dollars. And so I just said
I was a math guy with a math degree. And
so that's that's scary. And so that's why you are
able to be able to live better when you understand
how the numbers build out. Now, getting your friends involved,
was it one?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Was it two?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Was it? Several of them? And when you get started,
then more wanted to jump in.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations master Class, hosted by Sean McDonald. Money Making Conversations
Masterclass continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money
(14:07):
Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Absolutely. Man, So initially I started off. It was my
brother and I and a couple of my cousins, right,
and we all pooled together. You know, I might have
had ten, he had five, he had two, he had one.
He might have had the job that we needed to
personal guaranteed a loan, but you didn't have cash. One
might have had an eight hundred credit score with no
(14:34):
cash either. We pulled together and use the strengths of
each other to purchase. And the way we really secure
each other was that we formed an LLC and the
LLC took title to the property. So at that point,
we had an operating agreement that we all drafted that said, Okay,
each of us own x percentage of this business, so
(14:56):
based upon our respective percentages, we will receive x min
out returned. And that's how we did it. We all
have faith in each other. We knew that, hey, if
this don't work out, we could sue each other. We
already ain't gotten nothing anyway, so we gotta make this work.
That's what we got, you know what I mean. So
we made it work, and man, it's been growing. So
(15:17):
many people come to us and say, hey, we will
have this amount of money for you. Can't investigate do it,
can't do it? And our response says, hey, we don't
want to do it for you because we're crippling you. Right,
let's teach you to do it. Let's do it together.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Well justin let me talk about this. I would call
you the you know you triple header when I met you.
You know you just in real estate. Now you're in construction.
Now you have a contractor griboard Amazon. Let's start your
contractor gribboard Amazon.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
What is that? So that came about two years ago.
I have what you call an Amazon DSP. I'm a
delivery service partner. And what that means is those great
Amazon bands that come to your front door, that works
seven days a week, three hundred and sixty three days
in a year. Those are owned by somebody. And I
was blessed and fortunate to be nominated to own a
(16:06):
DESP from one of my amazing brothers Morehouse Brothers fraternity
brother super Bowl chap Ramon Hairwood. He owns one as
well out in Cincinnati. I learned about opportunity. I said, man,
you're crazy. I'm not delivering no packaging it's too out outside,
he said. He said, Man, you're sure, he said, when
(16:27):
you see these numbers, you're gonna want to put your
vest on, your boots, hey, your hat if you're out there,
just track of water. I said, you might be right.
So it could be numbers mean sense anything. Amazon. Surprisingly
they want the average person. They want someone as willing
to commit. They don't want someone that has all this
business experience, this person that's super duper smart and hey
(16:50):
did They want the average person to develop and grow
into these businesses and make you ultimately financially free in
a millionaire. So I was blessed to go through the process.
I launched my business in September twenty twenty two. Since then,
we started off with five trucks, and as my work
was good and I continue to grow, we got to
(17:11):
forty two trucks today. Will be two years next month.
It's been an amazing experience to lead and learn from
a business like Amazon is a major powerhouse. Man, but
the way it runs is so efficient and smooth and
every day man only two days off per year, seven
days a week. You know, it's impressive, man, of how
(17:34):
it grows. But that actually taught me really how to
be an actual CEO. Because you've got w two employees,
You've got eightp payple, you've got four White King, tuition reimbursement,
health insurance, life insurance. You know. So I have a
team of about two hundred people HR accounting, legal, you
got a old nine, a lot of compliance, you got
(17:55):
dot regulations from the state. I mean, it's just so
much that goes into it, man. But like I said,
I'm so blessed a fortunate in the precip of the opportunity.
That opportunity actually allowed me to jump start more financial
investing because of the liquidity that they created for me
and my family. It's just been an amazing experience. Man.
I highly recommend everybody to look at it. You can
(18:15):
find a more information about that if you type in
logistics dot Amazon dot com. It is free to apply.
They give you a grant for ten thousand dollars. If
you're a minority so African American people, listen to me,
go out and apply. You will never go wrong with
the program. One hundred percent recommend it. You have nothing
to lose applying, so definitely go out of the fly.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
So this is an opportunity they just have to put
forth their hair foot to apply. I'm gonna looking at
over it at my producers, y'all had that young man
they on the website right now, because that's all I'm
saying that. That's why I love about you justin because
of the fact that they are you. They see you,
you're their age. But wealth can be created at different levels.
(18:56):
And that's why I always admire my conversation with you,
because that was saying, Okay, I gotta be thirty to
start thinking like this, I gotta be farty, just start
thinking like this because that was instilled in you through
your family. Tell us about your background and your family
before we get to the construction call. Talk for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
So, like I said, I'm from New Orleans. I grew
up really during the Katrina era. My mother was a
single mother. I was raised by my mother and my grandparents.
They were very old school. My grandmother was born in
thirty three. My grandfather was born in twenty two. So
that can kind of tell you how old these people were. Military.
My father, my grandfather's in the military. He didn't go
(19:35):
to school, he didn't go to college. You know, imagine
to being born in nineteen twenty two. He didn't really
have opportunity to go to college. He went to the military.
But what he did do was every day read the newspaper,
wash the news, stay abreast with everything going in the world,
and made sure that me as well as my brother
were the same way and his kids as well. So
my mother taught us very early on sometimes it's not
(19:57):
what you know, is who you know and to yourself
in the right rooms. So I learned early that knowledge
was power, and that that's the one thing that nobody
can take. They can take their house, they can take
your cars, they can take your clothes, but they can't
take their mind and with you know. So after going
through something like Katrina, there was such a traumatic experience
that I said, Okay, I want to learn more about
how I can be someone to help my people, how
(20:20):
to help my people grow developed. A lot of my
family were Section eight rentals, where I thought my it
house was her house because she'd been there my whole life.
But it ain't her house. It's a Jewish manhouse. And
when Katrina came, I got nothing. She can no FEMA,
no insurance, no no nothing. You know what I'm saying.
It is in a super doll scared for all lightey
(20:40):
because she has nothing to do. So I said, man,
I want to learn how to help my people. So
my mother was a very big pioneer in that. After Katrina,
she started to purchase city blocks of properties after the
Stone where people kind of was just letting them go,
and held onto our portfolio. So when we got FEMA checks,
we still live like we was broke. But my mom
had so many properties that when she got her checks,
(21:02):
she didn't spend any money on anything but going to
acquire more properties. And these are the properties now that
we're still fixing and currently developing and grown to help out,
and they're all paid for. So she understood the fundamentals
of that. And I also admired my mother for her
ability to be present. My mother was president at everything.
(21:23):
She had no reason to not be worked for herself,
so she didn't have to miss events, miss awards, miss
school parent teacher congress is, football games. She was there,
but it was because of real estate. She was able
to be there because of the income she made passively.
So as my brother and I grew up, we had
to learn how to paint, we had to learn how
to lay floors, how to linked tile, how to demo,
(21:45):
so on and so forth, because my mother said, look,
I'm gonna teach you all this game, and you're gonna
learn this skill. You learn the skill, you'll eat forever.
So I said, man, you're right, and we learned the
skills from her, and as we grew older and got
into the space, we were just beat. You know, I
knew how to write at least at ten, I was
collecting rick eleven years old, twelve years old, you know,
(22:07):
following evictions, like I knew the whole process before I
even was in high school of how to manage property, develop, renovate,
build blueprints everything. So it's just amazing to be able
to grow in that error.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
We know, I appreciate you justin I really do, man,
not only from your knowledge, but if your honesty and
you willing to share success.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
In other words, you're.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Not afraid somebody else will contact that website and they
have a bigger truckt line than you. It's about sharing
information and that's what this show money making conversation is
all about.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Now.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Construction, now that was something I didn't see your life.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Young man.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
You're out there building homes. Tell me how did that part?
And come into your life. I know you talked about
your mom getting blocks, y'all, learning how to lay tile
and all that stuff. But construction, that's a whole new
game that's definitely underserved in the black community.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Man. So it really came to me by really faith.
God bought construction to me. It wasn't something I was
looking for, it wasn't something I really desired to do.
I entered the market and started to do fix and
flips with my family, with my group of friends, with
tiny brothers. As we've begun to do the business, I
realized that it was a heavily white industry ran. So
(23:24):
it's once again white man is running the construction industry.
And if it wasn't the white man, it was the Hispanic.
So I said, well, where are we at in this place?
And how do we make our footprint in this space. So,
after going through a couple of projects of being taken
advantage of because I understood construction from a work standpoint,
(23:45):
I didn't understand construction from a paperwork standpoint, I said, okay,
I'm going to immerse myself in this to understand what
a change order is when you change your mind about
this floor and that floor. It come with a cost.
I didn't understand that. I thought he put the floors
down on the floor because that's what I had to do.
But the business side of it is what intrigued me.
So my partners and I all agreed that it would
(24:07):
make sense for me to go. So I said, Okay,
little cousin, you go get mortgage license. Brother, you go
get insurance lights, and other cousins getting property management license
and inspect the license. I'm gonna go get construction license.
So we all deployed and had to get our license
within a year.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
So you did the Lebron James model.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
That's the Lebron James model.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
You know all these balls around there that you go
to college. You go to college, you go manage this agency,
you gon manage my career.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
That's what he did. So that's what we did. Marriage.
We all went through and got our licenses, and everybody,
everybody made it to the finish line, no matter what
their background was or what they were doing. We waded
to the finish line, started to do this thing, started
to do construction, fix the flips, doing content, posting our
content online. Then, like I said, we got the license
to just do our ideals, pull permits, you know, not
(24:55):
to build a middleman and man, as we were posting,
people started saying, hey, can you help me with this
and that? And we were like, we really don't want
to do it. We don't even know how to price it.
We're doing it for us. But after a while, you know,
we said, you know, we'll take a leap of faith.
We started doing it. We ended up building out a
restaurant called New Orleans culd Cuisine downtown Atlanta. It was
a ten thousand square for a restaurant and took it
(25:17):
from Michelle to full completion. That said, man, I love this,
this is what I want to do. This is my passion.
Doesn't feel like work. And you know we've since grown.
So now we've done a ton of ton of commercial projects. Man,
I've done case banks, I'm doing ten Atlanta public schools
right now. I'm doing the athletes for corporate headquarters here
in Atlanta. I've done Little Caesars, J James Fishing Wings.
(25:41):
I work with a ton of celebrities on houses and
studios and man, it's been amazing. It's been amazing. Hey man,
look at.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
You man your reality show babe, were goot to sit down, man,
I want to tell you the real reality to show
man you and your little lord, your lord, it's your son, right,
you have a son or daughter?
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Yeah, my little boy, little boy Justin you.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Now this is great.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Man. I'm gonna tell you something.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Y'all do me a favor of Justin. I've interviewed you
twice remote. Hey, i want you to come in studio
and sit down with me in September. Man, I want
to take some phone calls, what you may, because I'm
gonna tell you some Man. I'm blessed the fact that
I know you're you're my fraternity's brother, younger version of me.
But the he you stories, they all are very simple.
They're very simple.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Man.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
You don't complicate the process, and anybody who listens to it,
all they have to do is develop the plan because
the plans are all similar.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
But they have to be consistent.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
That's what your secret to success is.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah. Literally, if you don't plan, your plan to fail.
So all you gotta do is stick to the plan.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Again, I want to thank my man, Justin, my young
frat brother making side fire. You know, we're saying, frat,
let's go put it out there, making side fire, out there.
You got Kamala Heron's out there talking about it, akas
you know what I'm saying. We got here doing a
big dog country and my producers, his dad is'll make
a man, so you know it's CU's right there. They
purposely goal Hey, Justin, Man, thank you for taking the time.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Man.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
We're gonna get this out here. Man, If you know anything,
how can they get in touch with we do? As
we close out the show.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Man. Definitely appreciate the time. I love the love that
I get from you all. If anybody has any questions
about anything that I can help you with, from real
estate to business. The easiest way to access all of
my different businesses, it's gonna be my website www dot Justin.
That's j U s t I n M. For Michael Lee,
that's l e e sr dot com. So j U
(27:32):
s t i n M l e e s r
dot com. That reads justineimly Senior dot com. All of
my links are there, podcast interviews, content all free. Tap
in there, check out our upcomingy visit Atlanta area and
around the nation. Man, thank you so much for the time. Man.
I look forward to the interview in September and coming
(27:52):
in and really chopping out with you right. Appreciate you man.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Doctor
just and Ley, sen Ya, this has been another edition
of Money Making Conversation Masterclass posted by me Rushaun McDonald.
Thank you to our guests on the show today and
thank you for listening to audience now. If you want
to listen to any episode I want to be a
(28:15):
guest on the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social
media handle is money Making Conversation. Join us next week
and remember to always leave with your gifts. Keep winning.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am Rashaan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
stories and start planning their own. Listen up as I
interview entrepreneurs from around the country, talk to celebrities and
ask them how they are running their companies, and speak
with dog profits who are making a difference in their
(00:26):
local communities. Now, sit back and listen as we unlock
the secrets to their success on Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Hi,
I am Rashan McDonald. I host this weekly Money Making
Conversation Master Class show. The interviews and information that this
show provides offer everyone It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. My next
(00:48):
guest is not just constructing buildings. He's trade a legacy.
Whether you're I in a real estate deal a groundbreaking
construction project, This member of the million dollar Club in
real estate is your go to guy FORX for guidance
and unmatched service.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Taylor just for you.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Please, welcome to the Money Making Conversation Master Class. Justin
Lee Senor how you doing, sir man, I'm amazing, blessed.
How they feel, how about yourself. Well, it's been about
three years since I talked to you justin and when
I talk to you, I mentioned the fact.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
That you was in a real estate business and you were.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Young, and being a young person talking to people generally
maybe twice as older than you, maybe feel that a
young person what does he know about home ownership? Tell
the people being a guy over the last three years,
now you do a twenty four. I believe when I
met you, now you're twenty seven. Talk about the experience
being a person who didn't allow age to stop.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Them from being successful in real estate. Absolutely. I think
that you know, going into rooms often when you're the
youngest in the ring, that kind of makes you a
little uncomfortable, but also makes the other people around you
a little uncomfortable. So what I did was learn to
embrace down comfort and make you one of my biggest strengths.
So I started to network more in rooms that had
more experienced people, and I say, hey, instead of y'all
(02:04):
stand over there and I'm standing over here, let's work together.
I need to learn something from you and let me
break some of this new millennial technology to your business
as well. So developed a lot of great relationships branched
off into commercial real estate, which was an amazing experience
as well. It also led me back to school, so
I became a real estate broker. Now in the last
(02:25):
three years, I have my own brobridge. I also finished
my doctorate degree, so I'm now Doctor Justin Lee, which
is also an amazing the commege graduation. Thank you, I
appreciate that, man. So it's been amazing. I'll say. Using
the youth for my advantage and continue to grow and
develop over the last couple of years has been amazing.
But I said, I think the most thing I did
in the last few years was go back, learn more
(02:47):
and kind of owning or getting those certifications of education
in those key areas that I wanted to develop and growing.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Now, okay, you say you're blending young guy. What did
you bring to the table that would enhance veteran person
of the real estate game?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Two words? Social media. So that's something that most people
don't know about. Do you have a TikTok? Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I do thousand follows the United use it though, absolutely
if it'm my baky That's why I used by TikTok
for well, you were different.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You were one of the rare people from your generation
that know how to use TikTok, Instagram, threads and so
on and so forth. So when I realized that we're
going it to lead where everything is online. You know,
some people look better online than in person for a reason,
So you have to make your business look the same
way online, you know. So I started to develop with
(03:45):
older developers, older real estate companies and brokers that they're
not ever sold some presence in the presence businessmen. We
were charged to be, honestly, people on their phone more
than anything.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, that's true because ninety percent of the people who
use social media are using their phone, which means that
that's a generation that's usually for more than just taking
pictures of food or getting direction of GPS. Is a lifestyle,
and also social media is a Some people say they
are addicted to social media, but we're in a real
estate game.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
In the African American community of community of color usually
are left behind, We're usually renters.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Why is that justin I think that it just comes
from socioeconomical knowledge, right. So typically in European aging other cultures,
they are taught financial literacy within their own they're tough
financial literacy within their house, Whereas when it comes to
(04:40):
African American people, I think that we often have to
figure it out. And when it comes to being able
to purchase real estate, the most important thing is going
to be credit. Most of the time, our parents and
and uncles and our teams and say, don't use no
credit card. You don't want to know that, right, They'll
they'll they'll give us that advice, which is great at
but kind of bad advice at the same time when
(05:02):
you're trying to actually grow, because it's a difference between
bad debt and good debt. Real estate is always going
to be good debt. Bad debt is the Mason's card,
the Amazon car when you just buying everything. But it
comes really from that foundation of knowledge. I know so
many people that have worked the job as a janitor,
a school bus driver, a teacher, secretary of Iburian thirty years,
(05:23):
never missed the day on holiday, but don't own the
rent because they're scared and they don't know what it
takes to rent and versus purchase. And most of the
times that they ring is more hard than purchase, and
they want three times the amount of money in rent when
and purchase and it's not even the same right now.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
So that's the fear we look at. You know, they
are known. How do you educate? Do you have courses
available to people that they can reach out to you
that can educate them and show them the value of
ownership of home ownership.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yes, So ultimately on Mondays every Monday, I do a
lot It's called Motivational Monday. Do it at seven o'clock
Easter and standard time on my Instagram Jamie the Realtor
on that I allow what to call it chew and
a where I allow people to come in and ask
questions about whatever it is that they want to know
when it comes to real estate investing and where to start.
I think that that's always resourceful. I think that another
(06:17):
place that people can look for is going to always
be their local home buyer Associating. I also have a
podcast that I have there released every Thursday that we
talk about these topics of business growth, credit, taxes, financial literacy,
and so on and so forth. So we always give out,
you know, the information to the community to help them
to develop and grow. And you know, in any questions
(06:39):
that they have, we're always open ascent no matter where
they are located in the nation, and the information is
society pretty much.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Okay, let's just go through some steps here, doctor Lee.
When we talk about real estate, if someone comes to you,
what is the process do you get them clear for
a long pride to you taking them I was looking
for a home or how does that process work?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
That's an amazing question. See, it just depends, right if
I see someone and I can kind of have a
quick conversation with you and say, hey, you know, what
is your credit score? What is your income before taxes?
Did you file taxes after? I know those three essential
questions that tell me if you're approvable today or if
you're approvable in the future. But either way, I'm going
to take you to see houses. And the reason I
(07:26):
do that is just because you're not a provable today
doesn't mean you can't go get a job that is
your salary job baby, or work these amount of hours
or fix this credit score. But I want to show
you what's possible and say, hey, this house is worth
two hundred K. This is an eight hour more if
you're paying twenty two hundred for a seven hundred square
feet apartment, this is what's out here. So we try
(07:46):
to motivate them. So that's always the first step. It's
going to be an onboarding call where we discussed, like
I said, your credit score, your did you file taxes,
and do you have income? The most important thing is
going to be income documented income, and that's either through
a job or through taxing. Sterns as entrepreneurs, showing that
he made money the last two consecutive years. Credit scores
(08:07):
are a little bit more flexible, and there's ways to
increase your credit square. We can actually help you all with.
But once we do that, we connect you with the
lender that album. Step two. The lender would go through
the same thing that I just asked, but more in depth.
They want to know your job, your social your birthday,
employment history, so on and so forth. Then they say, okay,
justin your two for three hundred thousand, here's a letter,
(08:29):
go buy whatever you want. And then from there we
go out see the house that you like, negotiate with
the sellers on your then within thirty to twenty five
days going on the contract, you will be moving it
to your new house too.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I was speaking that doctor justin Lee. Three years ago,
I interviewed this young man who was twenty four years
old in the real estate game. His legacy because he
learned from the family on how they understand HPCU Guy Warehouse.
Now he's a doctor. That's why I call him Doctor Lee.
He's a single father, three year old child. But more importantly,
(09:00):
he's in the game of real estate, which we know
is dominated by white people. It's gonna be real because
you said that in your first interview, and you said
it was important that you step over each other side
of the lay. How is the real estate industry three
years ago as.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
It is today for you? So, Mike ferit has been
at full three to sixty. I think it's a three
sixty because three years ago I was newer to the industry.
I was learning from It's a lot of YouTube, and
I decided to say, you know what the best experience
is time and learning. So I went out. It starts
to do deals. And as I got into the industry,
I realized that it is not as hard as we think.
(09:38):
The industry was dominated back then, and primarily it is
dominated by white men europeonns on and so forth, and foreigners.
To be honest, because they have learned to have a
unified front see what's going on in the industry, And
it's the same thing going on now. They're pulling together
what you call syndications and say I make ten thousand,
you got ten thousand, you got forty thousand, Let's pull
(10:00):
it together. Let's go buy an apartment complex. They're then
purchasing properties together and growing wealth together at a quicker pace.
So what I did in the last couple of years
was I went back to my line brothers, my chapter
of brothers, my more house brothers, friends and family and saying, hey,
let's develop a fund, a private fund, not public that
anyone can just jump into, but a family fund if
(10:22):
you will to invest in and acquire properties, and says,
then we will crowd over one hundred and fifty apartment
complexes and units, commercial real estates, on and so forth.
And it really was no different than what I was
doing back then, except I was taking I would wait
and try to save thirty thousand and forty thousand versus
connecting with everyone that might have ten and ten and
(10:43):
going to the table together. And when I really learned
that it's really strengthen these groups, these really thing investment
trust their groups. It's not one person, there's groups of individuals,
and it's shown me how far we can go on
how fast we can go. But together.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Wow, that's a very powerful statement because of the fact
that getting people to understand the value of poorly money
versus standing it out there? How did they come together
and did it? And everybody, when you start talking money,
you have dollars, you have people who don't trust. How
were you able to pull it together to get a
group of people even though you knew them, to pull
(11:18):
their money and get into real estate game? Because somebody
out there should be hearing this very intently, because it
can be used in other models around the country.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Absolutely. So what I was able to do really was
I went out and did the full work and said, okay,
these are some properties and areas that I identified that we
can develop and grow in. I targeted New Orleans where
I'm from. I targeted the New Orleans East more specifically,
which is one of the more dangerous parts of town.
Will run down, but to me, that means opportunity because
(11:50):
what's already down, let's go back up at some point.
So I connected with people and showed them the numbers.
I said, okay, even though I reside in Atlanta, the
numbers in Atlanta for four plex is about four hundred
five hundred K, and New Orleans the same four plex,
it's like one hundred K. But the rent numbers balance
out because if it's fifteen hundred in Atlanta for a
(12:12):
three bedroom and it's three thousand and Atlanta for a
three bedroom, it's the same numbers. You're paying five hundred
versus one hundred. So why not get into the game
with the lower start to make the same amount of profit.
The numbers are bigger, but the profit margins are the same.
If that makes sense. So let's go where we can
get in, where we can actually afford. We don't got
to be here, ass cool, Let's go where it makes sense,
(12:34):
right right?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Because bit I have a math degree, that number made
a lot of sense to me. Okay, very fast, because
sometimes we get caught up in the big numbers.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
It's like I remember when I was offered an opportunity
to get a franchised, like a franchise like a Burger
King or like a McDonald's. And then it's not the
only one of them, it's owing multiple that you really
generate the revenue you might own one. This is just
a fact might want enfranchised. It might just pay you
(13:02):
profit wise fifteen thousand dollars a month. You go, wow,
fifty thousand, I expected to make more money. Well, how
about getting three of those? Then you hit forty five
thousand dollars a month, then you multi a lot of
that time is twelve and you over a half million dollars.
So that's the two with five hundred thousand dollars, then
it was five hundred five hundred million dollars.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Don't you tell it right?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Your five hundred thousand dollars. And so I just said
I was a math guy with a math degree. And
so that's that's scary. And so that's why you are
able to be able to live better when you understand
how the numbers build out. Now, getting your friends involved,
was it one?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Was it two?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Was it? Several of them? And when you get started,
then more wanted to jump in.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations master Class, hosted by Sean McDonald. Money Making Conversations
Masterclass continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money
(14:07):
Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Absolutely. Man, So initially I started off. It was my
brother and I and a couple of my cousins, right,
and we all pooled together. You know, I might have
had ten, he had five, he had two, he had one.
He might have had the job that we needed to
personal guaranteed a loan, but you didn't have cash. One
might have had an eight hundred credit score with no
(14:34):
cash either. We pulled together and use the strengths of
each other to purchase. And the way we really secure
each other was that we formed an LLC and the
LLC took title to the property. So at that point,
we had an operating agreement that we all drafted that said, Okay,
each of us own x percentage of this business, so
(14:56):
based upon our respective percentages, we will receive x min
out returned. And that's how we did it. We all
have faith in each other. We knew that, hey, if
this don't work out, we could sue each other. We
already ain't gotten nothing anyway, so we gotta make this work.
That's what we got, you know what I mean. So
we made it work, and man, it's been growing. So
(15:17):
many people come to us and say, hey, we will
have this amount of money for you. Can't investigate do it,
can't do it? And our response says, hey, we don't
want to do it for you because we're crippling you. Right,
let's teach you to do it. Let's do it together.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Well justin let me talk about this. I would call
you the you know you triple header when I met you.
You know you just in real estate. Now you're in construction.
Now you have a contractor griboard Amazon. Let's start your
contractor gribboard Amazon.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
What is that? So that came about two years ago.
I have what you call an Amazon DSP. I'm a
delivery service partner. And what that means is those great
Amazon bands that come to your front door, that works
seven days a week, three hundred and sixty three days
in a year. Those are owned by somebody. And I
was blessed and fortunate to be nominated to own a
(16:06):
DESP from one of my amazing brothers Morehouse Brothers fraternity
brother super Bowl chap Ramon Hairwood. He owns one as
well out in Cincinnati. I learned about opportunity. I said, man,
you're crazy. I'm not delivering no packaging it's too out outside,
he said. He said, Man, you're sure, he said, when
(16:27):
you see these numbers, you're gonna want to put your
vest on, your boots, hey, your hat if you're out there,
just track of water. I said, you might be right.
So it could be numbers mean sense anything. Amazon. Surprisingly
they want the average person. They want someone as willing
to commit. They don't want someone that has all this
business experience, this person that's super duper smart and hey
(16:50):
did They want the average person to develop and grow
into these businesses and make you ultimately financially free in
a millionaire. So I was blessed to go through the process.
I launched my business in September twenty twenty two. Since then,
we started off with five trucks, and as my work
was good and I continue to grow, we got to
(17:11):
forty two trucks today. Will be two years next month.
It's been an amazing experience to lead and learn from
a business like Amazon is a major powerhouse. Man, but
the way it runs is so efficient and smooth and
every day man only two days off per year, seven
days a week. You know, it's impressive, man, of how
(17:34):
it grows. But that actually taught me really how to
be an actual CEO. Because you've got w two employees,
You've got eightp payple, you've got four White King, tuition reimbursement,
health insurance, life insurance. You know. So I have a
team of about two hundred people HR accounting, legal, you
got a old nine, a lot of compliance, you got
(17:55):
dot regulations from the state. I mean, it's just so
much that goes into it, man. But like I said,
I'm so blessed a fortunate in the precip of the opportunity.
That opportunity actually allowed me to jump start more financial
investing because of the liquidity that they created for me
and my family. It's just been an amazing experience. Man.
I highly recommend everybody to look at it. You can
(18:15):
find a more information about that if you type in
logistics dot Amazon dot com. It is free to apply.
They give you a grant for ten thousand dollars. If
you're a minority so African American people, listen to me,
go out and apply. You will never go wrong with
the program. One hundred percent recommend it. You have nothing
to lose applying, so definitely go out of the fly.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
So this is an opportunity they just have to put
forth their hair foot to apply. I'm gonna looking at
over it at my producers, y'all had that young man
they on the website right now, because that's all I'm
saying that. That's why I love about you justin because
of the fact that they are you. They see you,
you're their age. But wealth can be created at different levels.
(18:56):
And that's why I always admire my conversation with you,
because that was saying, Okay, I gotta be thirty to
start thinking like this, I gotta be farty, just start
thinking like this because that was instilled in you through
your family. Tell us about your background and your family
before we get to the construction call. Talk for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
So, like I said, I'm from New Orleans. I grew
up really during the Katrina era. My mother was a
single mother. I was raised by my mother and my grandparents.
They were very old school. My grandmother was born in
thirty three. My grandfather was born in twenty two. So
that can kind of tell you how old these people were. Military.
My father, my grandfather's in the military. He didn't go
(19:35):
to school, he didn't go to college. You know, imagine
to being born in nineteen twenty two. He didn't really
have opportunity to go to college. He went to the military.
But what he did do was every day read the newspaper,
wash the news, stay abreast with everything going in the world,
and made sure that me as well as my brother
were the same way and his kids as well. So
my mother taught us very early on sometimes it's not
(19:57):
what you know, is who you know and to yourself
in the right rooms. So I learned early that knowledge
was power, and that that's the one thing that nobody
can take. They can take their house, they can take
your cars, they can take your clothes, but they can't
take their mind and with you know. So after going
through something like Katrina, there was such a traumatic experience
that I said, Okay, I want to learn more about
how I can be someone to help my people, how
(20:20):
to help my people grow developed. A lot of my
family were Section eight rentals, where I thought my it
house was her house because she'd been there my whole life.
But it ain't her house. It's a Jewish manhouse. And
when Katrina came, I got nothing. She can no FEMA,
no insurance, no no nothing. You know what I'm saying.
It is in a super doll scared for all lightey
(20:40):
because she has nothing to do. So I said, man,
I want to learn how to help my people. So
my mother was a very big pioneer in that. After Katrina,
she started to purchase city blocks of properties after the
Stone where people kind of was just letting them go,
and held onto our portfolio. So when we got FEMA checks,
we still live like we was broke. But my mom
had so many properties that when she got her checks,
(21:02):
she didn't spend any money on anything but going to
acquire more properties. And these are the properties now that
we're still fixing and currently developing and grown to help out,
and they're all paid for. So she understood the fundamentals
of that. And I also admired my mother for her
ability to be present. My mother was president at everything.
(21:23):
She had no reason to not be worked for herself,
so she didn't have to miss events, miss awards, miss
school parent teacher congress is, football games. She was there,
but it was because of real estate. She was able
to be there because of the income she made passively.
So as my brother and I grew up, we had
to learn how to paint, we had to learn how
to lay floors, how to linked tile, how to demo,
(21:45):
so on and so forth, because my mother said, look,
I'm gonna teach you all this game, and you're gonna
learn this skill. You learn the skill, you'll eat forever.
So I said, man, you're right, and we learned the
skills from her, and as we grew older and got
into the space, we were just beat. You know, I
knew how to write at least at ten, I was
collecting rick eleven years old, twelve years old, you know,
(22:07):
following evictions, like I knew the whole process before I
even was in high school of how to manage property, develop, renovate,
build blueprints everything. So it's just amazing to be able
to grow in that error.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
We know, I appreciate you justin I really do, man,
not only from your knowledge, but if your honesty and
you willing to share success.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
In other words, you're.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Not afraid somebody else will contact that website and they
have a bigger truckt line than you. It's about sharing
information and that's what this show money making conversation is
all about.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Now.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Construction, now that was something I didn't see your life.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Young man.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
You're out there building homes. Tell me how did that part?
And come into your life. I know you talked about
your mom getting blocks, y'all, learning how to lay tile
and all that stuff. But construction, that's a whole new
game that's definitely underserved in the black community.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Man. So it really came to me by really faith.
God bought construction to me. It wasn't something I was
looking for, it wasn't something I really desired to do.
I entered the market and started to do fix and
flips with my family, with my group of friends, with
tiny brothers. As we've begun to do the business, I
realized that it was a heavily white industry ran. So
(23:24):
it's once again white man is running the construction industry.
And if it wasn't the white man, it was the Hispanic.
So I said, well, where are we at in this place?
And how do we make our footprint in this space. So,
after going through a couple of projects of being taken
advantage of because I understood construction from a work standpoint,
(23:45):
I didn't understand construction from a paperwork standpoint, I said, okay,
I'm going to immerse myself in this to understand what
a change order is when you change your mind about
this floor and that floor. It come with a cost.
I didn't understand that. I thought he put the floors
down on the floor because that's what I had to do.
But the business side of it is what intrigued me.
So my partners and I all agreed that it would
(24:07):
make sense for me to go. So I said, Okay,
little cousin, you go get mortgage license. Brother, you go
get insurance lights, and other cousins getting property management license
and inspect the license. I'm gonna go get construction license.
So we all deployed and had to get our license
within a year.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
So you did the Lebron James model.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
That's the Lebron James model.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
You know all these balls around there that you go
to college. You go to college, you go manage this agency,
you gon manage my career.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
That's what he did. So that's what we did. Marriage.
We all went through and got our licenses, and everybody,
everybody made it to the finish line, no matter what
their background was or what they were doing. We waded
to the finish line, started to do this thing, started
to do construction, fix the flips, doing content, posting our
content online. Then, like I said, we got the license
to just do our ideals, pull permits, you know, not
(24:55):
to build a middleman and man, as we were posting,
people started saying, hey, can you help me with this
and that? And we were like, we really don't want
to do it. We don't even know how to price it.
We're doing it for us. But after a while, you know,
we said, you know, we'll take a leap of faith.
We started doing it. We ended up building out a
restaurant called New Orleans culd Cuisine downtown Atlanta. It was
a ten thousand square for a restaurant and took it
(25:17):
from Michelle to full completion. That said, man, I love this,
this is what I want to do. This is my passion.
Doesn't feel like work. And you know we've since grown.
So now we've done a ton of ton of commercial projects. Man,
I've done case banks, I'm doing ten Atlanta public schools
right now. I'm doing the athletes for corporate headquarters here
in Atlanta. I've done Little Caesars, J James Fishing Wings.
(25:41):
I work with a ton of celebrities on houses and
studios and man, it's been amazing. It's been amazing. Hey man,
look at.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
You man your reality show babe, were goot to sit down, man,
I want to tell you the real reality to show
man you and your little lord, your lord, it's your son, right,
you have a son or daughter?
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Yeah, my little boy, little boy Justin you.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Now this is great.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Man. I'm gonna tell you something.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Y'all do me a favor of Justin. I've interviewed you
twice remote. Hey, i want you to come in studio
and sit down with me in September. Man, I want
to take some phone calls, what you may, because I'm
gonna tell you some Man. I'm blessed the fact that
I know you're you're my fraternity's brother, younger version of me.
But the he you stories, they all are very simple.
They're very simple.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Man.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
You don't complicate the process, and anybody who listens to it,
all they have to do is develop the plan because
the plans are all similar.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
But they have to be consistent.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
That's what your secret to success is.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah. Literally, if you don't plan, your plan to fail.
So all you gotta do is stick to the plan.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Again, I want to thank my man, Justin, my young
frat brother making side fire. You know, we're saying, frat,
let's go put it out there, making side fire, out there.
You got Kamala Heron's out there talking about it, akas
you know what I'm saying. We got here doing a
big dog country and my producers, his dad is'll make
a man, so you know it's CU's right there. They
purposely goal Hey, Justin, Man, thank you for taking the time.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Man.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
We're gonna get this out here. Man, If you know anything,
how can they get in touch with we do? As
we close out the show.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Man. Definitely appreciate the time. I love the love that
I get from you all. If anybody has any questions
about anything that I can help you with, from real
estate to business. The easiest way to access all of
my different businesses, it's gonna be my website www dot Justin.
That's j U s t I n M. For Michael Lee,
that's l e e sr dot com. So j U
(27:32):
s t i n M l e e s r
dot com. That reads justineimly Senior dot com. All of
my links are there, podcast interviews, content all free. Tap
in there, check out our upcomingy visit Atlanta area and
around the nation. Man, thank you so much for the time. Man.
I look forward to the interview in September and coming
(27:52):
in and really chopping out with you right. Appreciate you man.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Doctor
just and Ley, sen Ya, this has been another edition
of Money Making Conversation Masterclass posted by me Rushaun McDonald.
Thank you to our guests on the show today and
thank you for listening to audience now. If you want
to listen to any episode I want to be a
(28:15):
guest on the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social
media handle is money Making Conversation. Join us next week
and remember to always leave with your gifts. Keep winning.
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