30. Triumphs and Trials in Entrepreneurship - The Peter Murphy Interview - Pt 2

Ever wondered how to transform a simple idea into an empire? Sit back and join me and my co-host, Peter Murphy, as we reveal the stories behind our successes and setbacks in building our real estate businesses. We kick off with a nod to our humble beginnings under Falcon Investment Corporation of Tampa, stressing the need for progress over perfection when launching a startup. The secret? Stop getting bogged down by minor details like names and logos, and get started!

From there, we journey through the hustle and bustle of growing our enterprise. Recounting days of deal-making and property flipping, we share how we embraced the role of property managers and the significance of staying true to oneself. Trust us, hard work and patience can indeed lead to unimaginable success! A crucial part of this journey involves acknowledging our mistakes, learning, and moving on. As we celebrate these milestone events, we reflect on the invaluable lessons we carried forward.

Peter and I wrap up our conversation with a heartfelt tribute to our team members. We discuss our experiences with personal and professional growth, the process of exiting the organization, and making the tough decisions surrounding change. Navigating business growth is no mean feat, and it's vital to pause and reassess your path when you hit a plateau. We explore the importance of self-reflection, staying true to one's vision, and the value of trial, error, and patience in achieving success. Join us for this heartfelt look back on our journey – we guarantee you'll be inspired and enlightened.

For all your Real Estate Investment and Property Management needs check out HomeProp!

https://www.homeprop.com
https://www.HomepropPM.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello everybody, chase Clark here with the Buying
from Ape Ape podcast, and todaywe're going to host part two of
our interview with my normalco-host, but our guest today,
peter Murphy.
Last time we talked aboutPeter's being born here in the
States but growing up reallyoverseas in Ireland and his
dad's work is a missionary, andhow that shaped his life early

(00:30):
on and how it continues to shapehis life today and the things
that he's engaged in and how heapproaches specifically his
business endeavors.
We talked about him returningto the States for high school,
going to college here, finding asoulmate and launching a
successful real estate careerhere in the Tampa Bay area, and
so today we want to talk alittle bit more about that
career and how we got startedtogether in 2005 with our first

(00:56):
real estate services company,home Encounter.
So, peter, welcome to the showagain, and we're glad to pick up
here and hear the second halfof your story.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, man, delighted to be back on with you chatting
a little bit about the wild ride.
This is definitely the partwhere they've got a lot of fun
and became high energy and kindof the fulfillment for the
amount of effort and work thatwe put into our lives in the
early stages of it.
So we really started to seesome rewards paying off big time

(01:26):
toward the middle of ourcareers there with Home
Encounter and in the years tofollow.
So, happy to share whatever Ican remember about it, which is
increasingly little because, mygoodness, that was almost 20
years ago as we were buildingHome Encounter and we're out of
Home Encounter now for going onwhat like?
I think almost eight years.
So eight years since we've soldit, six years since we were
officially out.
So lots of time has passed andwe've had a lot of time to

(01:46):
reflect on that.
So I'm excited to share on it.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, definitely.
And as I think about thebeginnings of Home Encounter, i
can't help but even go backabout a year prior to Home
Encounter when we started ourfirst actual business together
with Falcon InvestmentCorporation of Tampa and that
elevator ride that we took inthe Bank of America building in
Temple Terrace up to BobWelker's office and on the way
up we're trying to figure outwhat we're going to call this

(02:10):
thing.
Just such great memories ofthat, not knowing anything about
what we're doing, figuring itout literally on the elevator
ride up to the office.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, that's a great memory And some of these things
in retrospect, you're like.
You know we can certainlyoverthought certain things in
our past and spent too much timeand effort on stuff like
designing logos and what's theright sig line for your business
.
And you know the name of Falconwas like we definitely didn't
belabor that one.
We decided on the elevator rideon the way up to our attorney,
which we used back in the daybecause it was hard to start a

(02:41):
company 20 years ago outside ofan attorney.
All the online tools forstarting businesses aren't there
then.
But yeah, we didn't think aboutthat too much, did?
we were like what do we have incommon?
We're like well, we both wentto this same school and their
mascot was a Falcon.
So we went with that right.
And hey, it worked and it stuckand it's a mouthful right
Falcon Investment Corporation ofTampa.

(03:01):
I mean, nowadays you start acompany by you know what can I
get into a nice to sync URLthat's less than eight
characters.
Falcon Investment Corporationof Tampa does not fit that mold
by any means, right?
So we've had to work aroundthat, the cumbersomeness of that
.
But that was our holdingcompany, right, chase.
So we weren't really intendingfor that to be all that consumer
facing.
We were going to use that forsome real estate ventures, for

(03:23):
the acquisition of properties tofix and flip and hold within
our portfolio And we put thatcompany together very quickly
And I think that was the rightway to do it.
If you're a young entrepreneurand you're trying to get started
, don't waste time and money andtons of effort on some of those
things.
You're going to get distractedby the fact that that's not the
real business.
That's the container, that'sthe housing for what it is that

(03:46):
you're trying to do.
And if you're struggling onwhat's named your company or
what colors to use in your logoor what logo to use, put a
placeholder in there and get towork.
Start going from zero to oneright.
Make it so that you'reproducing something and then
you'll have maybe some energyand resources and time to think
a little bit about the names andthe colors and those other

(04:06):
things that make a differencefrom a marketing standpoint and
a branding standpoint.
But you can really get waylaidon if you spend too much time
and energy on day one.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, you know and to piggyback on that, one of the
important lessons I think welearned later on is that your
actual entity can be anything.
It can be ABC, llc, you know,as long as no one else has that
name, and you can always DBA,whatever your marketing or your
forward-facing business brandname is going to be later on.
So DBA is doing business.

(04:36):
As it's a fictitious namefiling, you can do with the
state of Florida.
And but yeah, i mean, how manyhours did we spend?
I remember when we had thisconcept for what became home
encounter, and we spent hoursand hours in each of our living
rooms, you know, over days andnights trying to figure out,
okay, what are we going to callthis thing?
Right?
And you get so, you know,tunnel vision into kind of

(04:59):
what's around you, what othernames are out there, kind of
what other things people areusing, what names or websites
are popular at the time, and itmakes it tough.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Well, it did, and you know what we were doing there.
I think that was the dreamingstage.
you know.
we were like all sitting ineach other's living rooms late
into the evening talking aboutthe things we wanted to do and
build together.
Zillow was just hitting thescene in a big way back then.
Actually, it hadn't quite hitthe scene yet, but it was clear
that having a very powerfulonline presence was going to be
important, and so we didn't wantto botch that on the front end

(05:31):
And you know, we wanted to makesure that our name conveyed to
some degree what it was that wewere going to do.
So having a home or house inthere somewhere was important.
But, man, i have lots of fondmemories about that.
That was the time where, like,anything could go and we're
going to build this amazing andawesome and big company and it's
going to be so successful.
And yeah, then we were talkingabout colors and names and URLs.

(05:53):
And well, i don't think we hita home run on that.
Honestly, home encounter.
we got a lot of pushback aspeople started to get familiar
with us like a home encounter.
What is that?
And home encounters are yousaying an S of the head there
And that's like another giantword.
So you can't like.
the mashup is well longer thanwhat's ideal to type into a web
browser.
People are like is that anescort service or what exactly?

(06:15):
So we got some crazy feedbackout of the gate.
But, you know, as we grew itdidn't matter.
Right Again, it didn't matterall that much, which I think is
the point that you see allaround you as you watch other
successful companies with theirreally dumb names make lots and
lots of money and no one cares,right, because it doesn't matter
if you're alphabet.
Now, i know alphabet is whatcame around after Google, right,

(06:37):
but Google, what is a Google?
Right?
I mean, people didn't even knowwhat that was.
It just kind of became stickyas the company grew in ability
and skill and size And so, again, don't worry too much about it.
But boy, was that fun to tryand figure out what the right
names and the right colors andright URLs were.
I think that dream phase of anorganization is what keeps you
going when times get tough,because we really weren't making

(06:59):
very much money back then, butit sure was exciting to think
about how much we were going tomake.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yeah, and one other aspect of that that's so
interesting is that our originalidea for home encounter the
original intent of it, right wasa sales side model.
It was brokerage based, right.
It wasn't even to end up wherewe ended up in property
management heavily propertymanagement, you know, with HOA
management, you know, tackedonto that alongside of brokerage

(07:26):
, right, you know, our originalidea was that we were going to
kind of be a direct competitor,almost like the home discovery
model at the time here in TampaBay, right, and try and figure
out how to capture listings youknow from the site and be on the
sales side, i think.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
And interesting how things morph and how you have to
adapt based on your marketsituation to be successful.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
sometimes, Right, i mean.
So our listeners may notremember what home discovery was
, but it was a discountbrokerage model, right?
Because that was what we weregoing to do out of the gate.
We were going to be the latest,best real estate brokerage.
I mean, and that soundsterribly benign now You think
about it and really kind ofboring and that's not what you
want to do.
Right, there's real estatebrokerages are everywhere.
Who wants to be the latest realestate brokerage today?

(08:07):
right.
But all the way back then thatseemed like a really good idea.
The first housing market crashhadn't happened yet.
So it seemed like you couldcome out of the gate as young
and fresh entrepreneurs, like wewere, and you could be a
heavily tech based and knowledgebased brokerage and really
compete heavily and strongly andsuccessfully against the old
guard who really at that timedidn't understand technology and

(08:29):
didn't have a firm grasp on thekind of analytics chase that
you and I had a grasp on.
But then all the whole thehousing market crashed, right,
and we had to pivot in a really,really big way.
I mean, we did notstrategically decide to be
property managers.
That wasn't the thing that weknew all along we would be and
that we would make a lot ofmoney doing That was a very
reactive decision on our part inthe face of a crashed business

(08:52):
concept.
Right, real estate brokeragewas not going to work as the
housing market came crumblingdown around us And we just had
to try something to keep cashflowing.
We went into propertymanagement.
So I'm asked all the time abouthow was it the case that we
thought of this great conceptAnd I have to be humble in an
extent and say it was thrustupon us.

(09:14):
We were right there in the righttime for property management to
be successful.
But we did everything in ourpower not to do property
management, because no brokerworth assault back in the day
was a property manager.
That was the dirty work.
That was disorganized work thatno one wanted to do.
That required you to be likeplunging toilets and calling for
AC repairs and dealing withtenants, which that's difficult

(09:36):
and no one wanted to do that.
We did not plan to do that, butwe were forced to do that when
the market crashed And we had tofigure out what to do with all
of these assets that wouldn'tsell.
And, just like any reallydifficult time, our excellent
concept of home encounter, oursuccessful concept was forged in
that crucible, in the pressureof a crashed housing market and

(09:59):
of near poverty for you and I,and let's just do something to
get money on the table.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
And so this is what came out of that important
lesson, in retrospect Yeah, youknow, it was, you know, march of
2006, i believe, when weactually got out of our home
offices and had renovated a homethat we had purchased in Ebor
City on 22nd Street as our firstoffice space, our first legit

(10:26):
commercial office space there,And such fond memories of that.
You and I actually doing some ofthe actual rehab work on that
property, along with one of ourcontractors, and getting that
place ready to go, gettingfurniture in there and
everything and then bringing on,you know, people to work with
us.
You know, and that was a funtime.
I mean we were hustling backthen.

(10:46):
I mean we were getting dealsdone.
I mean we were wholesalingproperties, we were selling
properties, we had a niche withinvestors that were still in the
area pumping money into themarket as we rode that wave to
the top of the market in 2007.
And that was a grind it out,exciting, fun, kind of figure it
out as you go, kind of timeright, startup mentality.

(11:07):
I mean what a great, great timethat was.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, it was great.
I mean, we would like we woulddo something, we would make a
little bit of money doing it,and we're like that's, this is
the next thing, this is whatwe'll become experts in doing,
right?
So we worked it really, reallyhard and some of those things we
discovered yes, we can becomeexperts at, we can really make
some money and differentiateourselves.
But some of those are like, no,it's not going to work for us,
right?
And one of those things was,like you mentioned, flipping
properties.
That was not something that youand I did a lot of, but we sure

(11:31):
tried to do a lot of it at thetime.
There's a lot of people werespected who were doing that,
and there were a lot ofrealistic gurus and people who
were selling courses and wetried our hand at that, and that
didn't work that well for us.
I don't know why, man, we'resuper magnetic.
Why did people not like what wehad to say and pay us $5,000
for our courses?
You know, i don't know whatthat, what the difference was,
but you and I didn't make thatwork.
We made this other side of thebusiness work, but boy were we

(11:54):
trying everything, and I reallydo think that's an important
lesson too for our listenersYou've got to like.
There's this concept inscripture about farming and the
patience of the farmer.
He goes out there and he tillsthe land and he sows the seed
and he doesn't even know what'sgoing to come of it until he
receives the early and the laterains, and then there will be
growth.
But the reward for yourlaborers comes on those long and

(12:14):
thankless days where you'rejust grinding it out and you
have no idea what that plantthat you planted or that seed
that you planted is really goingto look like and whether or not
it's even going to besuccessful.
But you've got to do the workand then growth comes from it,
and it comes looking totallydifferent than you thought it
would.
So what are you going to do?
You're going to shut it down?
You're going to mow it overbecause it doesn't look like
what you wanted it.

(12:34):
You're going to shut the doorson the property management
because it's not brokerage.
That would have been obviouslyreally foolish.
So we had to accept what we weregrowing into.
We had to decide in our ownminds that we were happy to be
property managers.
I mean, chase, that took a lotof humble pie too, that we had
to decide that we were going tobe okay with being property
managers and not glamorous houseflippers.
Remember house flippers?

(12:55):
They were the ones driving thebeamers and the benzes and the
lambo.
They had the hummers, the sweethouses, the amazing I mean.
Their lifestyle lookedincredible And you and I were
pulling up in our old trucksmanaging properties.
We did not have the glamorouslook that they had.
So, humbly, we accepted thatAnd I think that God really
blessed that decision becauseall these years later, well, our

(13:17):
lives don't look too shabby.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, you know I always wanted a family portrait
draped across the front of aBentley.
You know, i mean that's like apinnacle of success and real
estate flipping is when you havethat hanging in your office.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
Oh man, you're telling me and it's a beautiful
thing to see and it really isinspiring.
You can understand why peopleare motivated by that, and for
some there's that's going towork.
That wasn't going to work for meAnd you know, that's probably
just a factor of who I am, youknow, and what, what, what I,
what I am in my heart, butthat's not what I am in my heart
, and so when I tried to do it,i knew really fast that it

(13:51):
wasn't going to be right for metoo.
Because remember those times,chase were forcing ourselves on
the market to do things thatweren't exactly us, that we
really didn't know how to do,and we weren't successful at
those things because we weren'tauthentic, we didn't, we weren't
genuine in them, we didn't havethe knowledge, and it didn't
take long before that becamevery transparent.
We also couldn't be ourselvesand go home and stand on our own
two feet with our wives andfeel like, hey, we've got

(14:13):
integrity in this work.
It all felt a little fake and alittle forced.
So don't be that guy.
I guess is the lesson I'mgiving to our listeners if they,
if they care about the lessonsI have to offer from that be
genuine in your work, do what,do what is fundamentally you,
and then I think true, truesuccess follows, even if it
doesn't look like you and yourwife on the front of a Bentley.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yeah, that's right, man, and you know what's so
interesting.
You know another little, youknow learning process we went
through was, you know, in 2007,.
Toward the end, you know, we'dalready hit the housing crash
for the most part, but I don'tthink we had, like, fully
realized the full ramificationsof it yet.
We tried to give away the smallportfolio of properties that we
managed.
That's how much.
We didn't want to do propertymanagement.

(14:53):
We thought we were going to bedeal makers and flippers and all
of that, and we tried to giveaway.
We did, we gave it away.
We gave away about 120properties that we managed for
about what?
two weeks until then, in 2008,we end up relocating our office
to North Tampa and going all infull force into property

(15:16):
management because by that timethe crash had happened, the full
effects of it were on displayAnd we knew that our best path
going forward was going to besomething stable and sticky.
Right.
And that is where we found.
We found that in propertymanagement.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yeah, i think we did.
You know, there was two things,i think, maybe that were also
happening at the same time.
Not only do we know we neededsomething stable and sticky,
because all these other thingswe were trying wasn't working,
but we also knew that, i think,we had responsibilities and
duties that centered around whatwe had accumulated, and, over
the course of time, we hadaccumulated properties that we
couldn't sell.

(15:53):
And so what do you do?
Do you walk away from theobligations that have been put
in your hands, that you haveasked for?
If you walk away from those,wash your hands to them and try
something new, or do you man upunder the burden of those
responsibilities and take whatadventure comes to you from that
?
Right, and I think, inretrospect, that's what that was
.
That was a time of utter chaos.

(16:14):
We were at the bottom of theabyss in lots of ways.
For our personalized, for ourfinancialized perspective, for
our company, things didn't lookgood at all.
The choice we chose to make waslet's shoulder that burden,
let's not walk away from it, andI think that is a very
important cosmic lesson in a way, a spiritual lesson in a way.

(16:37):
If you don't walk away from themesses you make and you
shoulder the burdens of thoselessons, reward comes.
I think the world is set up torecognize that that person who
maybe made a mess of things fora while which we all do none of
us are perfect, we all make amess of what we had but that
person is responsible enough notto run away it totally from his

(16:57):
messes And when that happens,when there's gain and reward to
be earned, there's self-respectthat comes from that.
There is great reward at the endof, i think, that journey,
because it defines you as adependable, reliable person, and
don't we all want that guy?
Everyone wants the dependable,reliable person to help manage
their stuff, because everythingelse is so chaotic in life that

(17:20):
when you have found a personlike that, that's a person
you'll trust with your money andyour resources and your assets.
And I think that's what welearned through all of that time
Do not run away from yourmesses, no matter how bad they
might seem.
Work through them, get thescars from whatever those
lessons might be, and allowthose scars to be reminders of
very important things thatyou'll need to remember in life.

(17:41):
And I think that's what we did.
I think we were blessed for it.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah, because you know, what became a very
successful real estate servicesbusiness was born really out of
that adversity, out of learninghow to overcome obstacles that
were put in our plate, put infront of us, that we never
anticipated And we really didn'tknow.
There was no formula for how tohandle these things.
We had to figure it out as wewent along, But we stayed true

(18:06):
to those principles that we hadand we tried to always do the
right thing And that reallycreated a launching pad for what
happened then over the nextfive years as we grew a you know
, a hometown mom and popproperty management business
into a dominant regional playerin Tampa Bay and then beyond
there, with the wave ofinstitutions that came in,

(18:28):
expanded that across the entirestate of Florida.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
Right, yeah, that's true.
So what we were doing and allof that was not like planning
for that institutional explosionand the success that came from
that.
That wasn't even in our mindsas we were shouldering up under
the responsibilities of thechaos that we had created or we
were a part of creating, right,that wasn't in our minds.
What was in our minds is let'sjust do today really well, right
, let's take whateveropportunities come our way.

(18:51):
Let's make sure we do todaywell.
We go home We have we can standat our own two feet with
integrity, that we faced upunder those challenges with
diligence and honesty, andtomorrow we'll do it again, and
who knows what that's going tolook like.
But if you do that long enoughand we were doing it for you
know, day in, day out for years,early on, there it wasn't.
It didn't feel like earthshattering earth, changing work.
It didn't feel like a spiritualcalling to me at the time.

(19:14):
None of that, you know, none ofthat.
Checked those boxes I thinkpeople look for and they're
looking for a career chase Likehow can I go and be my best self
?
That wasn't it for me.
It was like how can I go andjust like, do what I'm supposed
to do tomorrow Like this, likeclean up this one tiny mess I
made one day at a time, likethis gigantic mess I made one
day at a time And thateventually prepped us to be the

(19:34):
recipients of great opportunity.
But it started so small and sougly and so not anything like
great opportunity.
I can't believe we stuck it out, but I can't believe anyone
who's grinding it out in theirgarage or basement or whatever
their tiny thing sticks it out,because I remember those times.
They're so uninspiring.
The story when you look backgives you tremendous things to

(19:55):
talk about and great, inspiringstories to tell.
But the day in, day out, grindis very painful, very arduous.
You have nothing to show for iteach of those days, except
maybe the smallest amounts offood on your table, but you
still endure.
There's something about theindomitable spirit of a guy or a
girl who goes out and does thatevery day which makes you
respect them so much, and Ithink that's why we grew.
People started to respect thatwe were those kinds of people

(20:17):
that we're guys, that were goingto do generally what we said we
were going to do, and if wemess up, somehow we're going to
try and get it right, and thatprepared us for the great
opportunity that followed.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, And so you know what.
It was an amazing ride.
But thinking back from you know, from going in 2008 or really
2005, starting out with just meand you I think at one point we
had an intern and then 2008, wehad a few other people working
with us to then 2015, 2016, atthe peak, where an eight figure

(20:46):
business with almost a hundredemployees, when you think back
about that ride, what are someof the best and worst things
about the process of gettingthere from 2005 to 2016?
For you, what were some of yourbest and worst memories or

(21:07):
things that you endured throughthat?

Speaker 2 (21:08):
time.
Yeah, the best things,undoubtedly, are the
relationships you make along theway, right?
The people that you surroundyourself by, who you're just
working every day with rightalongside, shoulder to shoulder,
and you develop these goodrelationships and these great
fondness for them becausethey're in the trenches with you
.
You don't always know why,right, because they could be in
any dirty trench with anybody,but there they are with you and

(21:31):
you're grateful for them.
You've got this overridinggratitude for the kind of effort
they're putting in and you wantto reward that in whatever way
you can.
But you don't have a lot ofways to reward it.
So what do you do?
You just try to show kindnessand compassion and generosity
and love to them and it worksout and those people are deeply,
deeply grateful for them.
And all those relationshipsended well at the time, because
business relationships oftendon't.

(21:51):
But I look back with suchfondness at those people who are
there from our earliest days.
My personality tends to kind ofwhitewash bad memories anyway,
right?
If I don't, they'll keep me upall night, right?
So I think back to those peoplewho stuck with us and who are
with us through a lot of thosedull dreams and those tough
times and I've got greatgratitude for them, so that's
definitely one of them.
The other thing is, i mean justhow much fun it is to build

(22:12):
something that's energetic whenyou want to go to work every day
and you know you've got a lotof tasks to do and you're not
sure what's going to come of it,but it feels just right.
I mean that excitement ofgrowth and energy and
development in your own littlebusiness.
Again, you don't have to bechanging the world, you're just
managing properties andcollecting rent.
But man is that exciting to dothat and the energy you get from
it is like nothing else.
But I will say I mean like,undoubtedly, you get scars,

(22:34):
right, I said that already butthere are scars that you learn
along the way.
You know so little right Andyou're making so many mistakes
and learning from so manymistakes In my case at least, my
intuition wasn't sharpened andwho's is right when they're in
their 20s and 30s, and so youend up crashing a lot right And
you come out of that crash witha scar and that scar calluses
you and reminds you repeatedly.

(22:56):
Right, that scar on my hand isthe time that I did this to a
person, right, or I did this toa client or in a relationship, a
business relationship and Iwill never forget those things.
Right, that's always the hardpart of life, isn't it?
Is that that's a?
I don't know if that's God'sreminder, god's punishment to
you, or if it's just the waylife works.
But you don't ever forget Andyou'll always remember the times

(23:16):
you did someone wrong.
You'll always remember thetimes you didn't remain true to
your standards.
And those are the things, if youallow them to, that can really
crush you.
They can really cause you someself doubt and fear and, like
you know, they can make you veryreluctant.
I guess what you've got to doin some ways is acknowledge
those have happened, that theyexist.
You've got to move on asstalely as you can and not let

(23:37):
them cripple you.
But I've seen a lot of peoplecrippled by their mistakes and I
don't want to be that guy.
I think I've been plateaued bysome mistakes in my life or some
things that didn't happen theway they should have, but I want
to be the kind of guy whopushes through them and accepts
that that mistake happened andto press on.
Just some goods and some badsand building a company.
You cannot quantify theexcitement and the joy of those

(23:59):
milestone events in your life.
The first paycheck that is,that has the number of zeros
behind it that you wanted, thatyou always thought was a rich
man's paycheck, right.
Or that first sale of abusiness or the first purchase
of another business Those sortof things in your life are so
exhilarating, so defining, soexciting.
You've got to find a way tocommemorate those.

(24:19):
There's some of those thathappened that I just like that
just happened and we moved onfrom, and I regret that we
didn't celebrate or commemoratefar more of those milestone
events.
So to have the ability torecognize the milestone events
in your life and really tocelebrate them, i think is an
important insight skill that youneed to develop as a growing
person, because that's whatyou'll remember in life.
You'll have that event.

(24:40):
This is the time that I didaccomplish this thing and
celebrate that with every ounceof your ability.
It's an important thing to do.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, you know, as you're talking about
relationships, especially inthat, you know, i can't help but
think about some of these earlyplayers in our business that
made such an impact.
And we should name some of thesepeople, give them a shout out
in the podcast in case they'relistening, because I remember
the day that we had doneCraigslist ads looking for a
property manager, and JasonKanan comes in to our eBorah

(25:09):
office on 22nd Street to startwith, this is a property manager
, and I mean you talk aboutbringing the energy.
I mean something every not onlydo the owners, you know, have to
bring energy to it and feelthat energy and excitement, but
when you get other people thatyou can hire and bring into the
fold that also get excited andbring the energy into what
you're doing, that is like aninfectious thing that, just,

(25:32):
like you know, has a hugelypositive ripple effect on
everyone in the organization.
And I think about, like theMegan Varsons, you know.
I mean these people come in andwork hours and hours and hours
and give it their all becausethey believe and they believed
in what we were doing.
You know the team Royers, right, the Keanu Jacobs, you know,

(25:53):
who was one of our guests acouple of weeks ago on our
podcast right, you know theMegan McClister's and the
Lindsay Tamlinks you know, whostarted as administrative people
for us, you know, and helped usget some of the menial work
done while we were out sellingand creating other relationships
that would bring business in.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yeah, man, i'm so glad you're doing this And, of
course, we're going to make agigantic mistake and leave
someone critical out.
And so, if you're thinkingabout yourself while you listen
to the show and you haven'theard your name spoken, i just
want you to know that, like inthe years and the years that
intervened, the times that we,you know, built this business
and sold this business and outof it, you, we have thought
about you all many times, saidaround, talked about you guys
many times the Sean Aram Caloans, the Tiffany Connellys, the you

(26:31):
know, all these people who havereally dug in deep and worked
part of us Dan Galates andPatrick Euler's early stage guys
who are artists Williams.
So it's so instrumental in ourgrowth And you know, i'm glad we
went through this exercise.
And if you're listening, you'relike, who are these people and
why do they even matter?
It's the guy who's sittingbeside you.
If you're an entrepreneur, it'sthe freelancer that you're
using right now.
It's the personal assistantthat you're using right now.

(26:52):
She or he is so key to yoursuccess.
You're never you're going to sitback one day and wish that you
would treat them better, thatyou'd rewarded them more
handsomely, that you had shownmore gratitude, that you hadn't
like belittled them, that you'dgiven them the request for the
day off They asked.
Instead of grumbling about that, you know that you'd made that
they're living in their workexperience as easy as you could
have made it.
You will live in regret if youdon't, and that's kind of my

(27:14):
personality at least, andthere's sometimes.
I felt like I was very good andvery generous, very kind to
these people, but not enough,probably because these people
were highly instrumental inhelping me to keep going every
day.
And so I honor them.
And if I haven't mentioned yourname, i'm sorry for not
remembering it in this show.
I didn't have a list before wehad this conversation, but I
want you to know that you arethe person who made our that

(27:35):
made us successful And I hopethat your time with us the
Vitaly Vasmax right, i hope yourtime with us was a blessing,
that you've been able to leavewith some good and valuable
lessons, that you've been ableto take those to some other
organization.
Mike, this is relationshipsummer for my family.
I'm trying to stress with themthat the importance of this
summer is to make sure you'recommitting to the people who are
around you the relationships inyour life.

(27:57):
They might not always be therebut because, for various tragic
reasons, but what you don't everwant to be is the person who
pushes them away.
You don't ever want to be theperson who, through your own
laziness, your own, like youknow, just ambivalence, you
don't nurture and develop theperson that God has put in your
life to make it more successfuland to provide mutual benefit.
Right, be the person who kindof makes every relationship

(28:19):
stronger in your life And Ithink that is such an important
lesson, chase, from the timethat we've hired and fired and
grown, that you know all thosepeople out there who contributed
so much truly were a source ofgreat inspiration and success
for me And I'm deeply gratefulfor them.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, You know, I think, uh, and we still have.
we have some of them still withus in our new venture home
property Dave, dave Tau and KimBarth and, yeah, sierra Schmidt
and Mike White.
I mean, mike White goes wayback.
I mean the days of BrendaDonovan and our foray into
commercial real estate for ashort period of time.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
Yeah, and not to mention our current guys like
Darren, and just so many, so somany people.
And so yes, for every one ofthese people, thank you.
And if you're listening to me,man, nurture and love the people
that are putting in the sweatequity with you right now.
They are, in more ways you'll,then you'll ever know, the real
catalyst of your success.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, and I mean, when we think about you know
what do we miss most or what doyou miss most about running an
organization like that, having asubstantial organization with
dozens of employees and dozensof people like that around you.
I mean it really is those dailyinteractions with them that you
miss a lot.

Speaker 2 (29:26):
Yeah, isn't it man?
I mean, like you know, we lookat ourselves.
Okay, are you an introvert?
Are you an extrovert?
Do you like teamwork?
Do you like working on your own?
All these questions that peopletry to grapple with as they're
coming out of school and collegeand going into the workforce.
But I think it really misses thepoint that, no matter what your
personality is, it is the team,it's always the team, and there
is no real success if you're anindividual.

(29:47):
I think, if you're inclined tolook at it that way, if you're
that narcissist who believesit's all about you, then you
will.
You will not have the richnessthat this life could potentially
hold for you, simply becauseit's.
You don't realize enough howimportant other people are in
your life.
And so don't be that narcissist.
Be an abundant and generousperson and just take a moment

(30:07):
each day to realize what theseother people are doing for you
and the energy and the passionthey bring to your organization.
That is absolutely bar none.
The greatest joy that I've hadin developing my companies is
having those relationships.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah, And you know that that's definitely the most
fulfilling part of it.
It's not really the, thewidgets, or you know the
services you're providing or thedeals you close.
It's really, at the end of theday, who you're doing it with
that brings you so much joy andbusiness.
But there's also that otherside, right.
It's like you know, when youthink back about it, there were
some things that you were like,yeah, man, i'm glad I'm not

(30:40):
doing this anymore.
Right, i mean, i remember thedays of us actually getting in
and cleaning out the units,trashing them out, cleaning
blood stains sometimes offkitchen cabinets, or this, like
someone chopped a digit offwhile they were cooking dinner.
You know, yeah, what are someof those things for you that
you're like man, i'm glad Idon't miss that at all.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Yeah, some of those do bring you to a low place,
right?
I mean, i go into someproperties even now and I still
remember the feeling I had whenI was going into those
properties, that some of thatreally menial work when it was
like when it was very hard foryou to look beyond the filth and
the squalor of some of theproperties you bought and the
risk that was associated withyou acquiring that, and when you

(31:20):
knew that every deal could beyour last deal because you could
literally run out of money onthis one.
That level of the day-to-daysuccess or the day-to-day
privation, almost that you werejust living paycheck to paycheck
.
Those are things that I don'tmiss.
That is kind of work that Idon't love.
And you know, when I thinkabout, like, what do you do?

(31:40):
then You've got a kind of workthat you did like rehabbing
really rough houses that youneed someone to do, but you
don't love it, like how do yoube the, how can you be the
leader you want to be whenthat's the kind of work that you
do And I think that's somethingI genuinely struggle with If I
don't love, you know, someaspects of property management.
You know I want to run aproperty management company, how
do I inspire my workers to dothe work that I myself hate to

(32:03):
do?
Right, and that's a very that'ssomething I grapple with all
the time, i think.
I think it's all about thehaving the attitude of service
in it, like remembering what thewhat the timeline of business
looks like, that sometimesyou've got to roll up your
sleeves and do some really downand dirty work in order to
experience the high line rewards, and so I need to make sure

(32:25):
that, if that, if I'm a leaderof that kind of organization,
that I'm trying to educate thepeople, i'm trying to keep their
perspective sharp on the factof that really ugly thing that
you're doing right now, how do Ipaint that or pull that into
the greater picture of success?
But, frankly, i also need to behumble enough to occasionally
go and do that, roll up mysleeves and get back to basics,
not because that's the way mytime is spent best, but because

(32:47):
I'm reminded of some reallyimportant things right About who
I am and where I started.
Roots are critical because whenyou get out there and you show
your people that you can do ittoo, that you did it too, you're
that undercover boss right.
That TV show is so successfulbecause here's the guy who's
willing to work in the greasykitchen every now and then, even
though he's in the C suite, toshow that he could do it.
He can still do it.
He appreciates you for doing itAnd I think that's a very

(33:10):
important thing to make sureyou're still doing, even if
you're so glad you never have todo it again full time every now
and then go back and do it.
That's a very humble thing todo.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
Yeah, so many successful small service
businesses are founded on thisprinciple of doing something
that people don't like to do.
You may not like to do iteither, and if you're successful
, you get away from having toactually do that, but you can
never lose touch with it,because that's really the
foundation of your business, arethose menial things that you

(33:41):
try to hire out or you sourceout to contractors, but you
can't lose touch with what it'slike to actually do those jobs.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
No, jason, i think I mean it's so important.
I watched out the other day.
I live on a lake and so I waswatching some people grinding
away cleaning a lakeshore ofsomeone else's property.
I was pulling my kids on thejet ski and on the tubes and
watching these people justgrinding it out And I'm like how
do you keep people inspiredwhen they're grinding out a task
?
And what you realize is it isthe relationships, it's the fact
that they realize they're apart of something bigger and

(34:09):
that you're truly rewarding themfor a relationship with you.
And that's not just money.
That's like respect, right.
It's taking them to a funrestaurant with you at the end
of a long week, right.
It's going out to lunch withthem, developing a relationship
with them to show them that youtruly respect who they are, what
their background is.
It's remembering their wivesand kids and their birthdays of
their wives and kids.
Because they, the people who aredoing those menial tasks for

(34:31):
you, probably don't have anelevated impression of
themselves.
They probably aren't living ina place where they think they're
so much better than the jobthey're doing.
Maybe they are, but probablythey're thinking this is the job
I'm doing and I'm trying to domy best, and this is where I am,
but I don't think I'm all thatmuch better than that.
So you got to show them howmuch gratitude you have for the
people that do that work and howmuch you have for them, and
that's what makes their taskdoable, i think, long-term.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
Yeah, it's very true.
And so you know there's a lotof different evolutions or
stages of business that you gothrough, right From the startup
phase to the build phase todeveloping these relationships
with people, And then you get tothe point where you've got like
100, 100 plus employees andyou've still got those strong
relationships with the peoplethat have been there a long time
.
But now you've expanded beyondthe point to where you can

(35:17):
really know everyone the waythat you used to know them.
It doesn't have that cozy,small, comfortable feel like it
used to.
And then from there you're kindof in a growth phase where
things just kind of take off Andyou know you're involved in
activities at that point thatyou never thought you'd be
involved in.
You become a little bit moredetached from the day to day.
You've hired some middle-levelmanagers to kind of handle teams

(35:39):
and processes And then beforeyou know it, you've grown your
company substantially to astatewide operation and
eight-figure business And,without any solicitation
whatsoever, people are callingsaying, hey, are you for sale,
Right?
And you field those calls andyou get calls, and calls, and
calls And of course you know yougot people wanting a deal,

(36:01):
people wanting some kind of youknow, hybrid structure And
you're like, why would I do anyof this?
What's going on?
But we finally get the call.
After what?
six or seven different suitorsAnd we think, well, maybe these
people are the real deal, youknow, And we entertain that, We
go through that process andfinally make that decision that,

(36:21):
all right, maybe it's time toexit.
How did you get there in yourmind, And what are some of the
things that went about duringthat time, for us to come to
that conclusion that it was theright time to sell?

Speaker 2 (36:34):
You know, very much like the start of business,
Jason, going in the directionthat we went in, it wasn't
overly strategic.
Making the decision to sell wasstrategic in a sense because
there was a lot of evaluationthat meant that went into the
deals that we were presentedwith to make sure that we were
choosing the right one.
But again, when opportunityknocks and knocks and knocks
again, you do kind of look atthat and say, well, there's

(36:54):
something important here for meto be aware of, there's some,
there's some important economicor a revolutionary type thing
that's happening right now Andthat's all that much.
But that model, that too muchlonger it might not continue,
right?
I mean you might, it might passyou by, right?
And what's so interesting aboutthat point is I think there's a
lot of guys out there who oweher senior in age.

(37:16):
They own their business formany, many years And I don't
think they have actually paidattention when opportunity has
come knocking, because I thinkit comes knocking for almost
everyone.
But you're so inclined to wantto hold on to what you have
because it's your golden gooseand it's what defines you, and
you're not wanting to reallyentertain what the next stage of
your life might be.
But when we were faced with thatopportunity repeatedly granted

(37:38):
took us a few years to get therewe finally allowed ourselves to
start thinking about what itmight look like, to see what the
next stage of our life might be, how we could grow out of this
very operationally heavy roleinto something far more diverse.
I mean, you know, we were inour late thirties.
That's a time in your lifealready where you're nearing the
point where you're at thatmiddle of your career.
You know how do I really takemy career myself to the next

(38:02):
level of who I want to be, as aprofessional, as a person, as a
contributor to society.
And so that the suitors thatcame knocking allowed us to
think about that verydeliberately And we did.
We thought about it often interms of what we would believe,
what we would view as asuccessful exit from this
organization or the next stageof our role within the

(38:23):
organization we had built.
We were here at this statewidelevel, but what would it look
like to be involved in a farlarger organization?
And we allowed ourselves tothink of that.
And so the opportunities thatcame our way and were presented
to us included both the exit,financially, from what we had
built so we would receive areward for our labors and the
development of ourprofessionalism up to the next
level, which was well beyondwhat we had shown that we were

(38:46):
capable of doing on our own.
You and I had developed abusiness up to a certain point.
Do you have the humility, ifyou're an entrepreneur, of
saying maybe this is as large asI can get just by myself, and
in order to get to the new level, i need these other people and
I need these other resources?
So you know, i salute you andto some degree, i want to honor
where I was at that time too,because I was willing to say I
am, i am.
I could be a lot more than whatI've become today, but I'm not

(39:08):
sure I can be a lot more withjust you and me at it.
I think we might need someadditional catalyst.
So we took that catalyst and ittook some years to make sure it
was the right one.
It took a lot of sweat, a lotof finagling and wrangling, but
as I look back over us takingthat exit from the organization
and choosing to work alongsidebuyers who became business

(39:28):
partners in some ways, althoughthere were some challenges in
all of that that was good And ittook me to the next level of my
professional development.
So, whether or not it was thebest thing, the absolute best
thing that I could have done, orwhether or not it was just
another stage of my professionaljourney, either way I benefited
greatly from it And for thatI'm happy.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
Yeah, you know it is interesting thinking back
because, regardless of thefinancial aspect of it or the
timing of the business cycle andresidential property management
and the exuberance around thatin 2016, that opportunity for
professional growth anddevelopment with, you know, some
players that had gone to thatbeen at that next level and were
playing at that next level on anational level I mean that was

(40:09):
really intriguing.
Now you know whether or notthat all panned out, the way
that it was sold to us is adifferent story, but you know it
was an education.
I tell people all the time like, yeah, i have a master's degree
from the University of SouthFlorida, but I got a PhD and MNA
from some really smart guys inNew York from 2016 to 2018.
You know, i mean that was anincredible learning process.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
Yeah, and how do you know?
I mean, like, how can you knowthat something won't work out
exactly like it was presented toyou?
I mean, what part of your lifewould indicate that anything
ever works out exactly like youthink it will?
right, none in mind, i mean, imight go into it with the
absolute best intentions and themost complete body of learning
and knowledge that I think Ihave, but then within a week,
it's different than what Ithought it would be, and so it's

(40:53):
easy to be hard on your buyersor on your future partners or
whatever else, because, hey, youdidn't tell me it was going to
be this way.
Well, they probably did theirbest.
And how many times have you beenwrong?
right, like every second ofevery day, almost right.
So cut everyone some slack andrealize we're all learning
through this together.
Unless there's deliberatedeception, which I certainly
don't think there was I justthink people don't always

(41:14):
realize what it's going to belike when you start pulling
everything together and shootingfor the next star, right, what
will that actually look like?
Well, we discovered it's a lotof hard work and that
personalities don't always workperfectly well together, and
that the well-made plans of miceand men right.
Both results in the same likedismal and totally unexpected
outcome.
So there we were.

(41:34):
It wasn't exactly what wethought it was, but boy did we
learn a lot, like you said, andwhen that relationship ended and
ended abruptly for us, as youknow, you know kind of it leaves
you a little bit in thewilderness.
You're a little bit at a plateau.
You're kind of wondering whatit's going to be like.
You know once again what agreat opportunity to be able to,
like take some time, step backfrom all of that energy and
excitement and growth and nowreally reflect on who you are as

(41:57):
a person and where you want togo.
I think God is going to putinto your life some very
important plateaus for you tostop and think and consider if
you're the kind of person youwant to be.
And at the end of the sale ofour organization and the exit
from that buying entity that'swhat that was for me Have I
become the kind of man I want tobe?
What next steps do I want totake in life to really make a

(42:17):
difference in this world?
that kind of transcends justthe transactional and the
business development, and I wasable to have a lot of time to
think about that, once the endof all of that relationship
happened, which was roughly 2018.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
Yeah, well, you know it's tough because there were
several stages in there, rightFrom the point of selling the
business on Good Friday in 2016and then kind of losing control.
Right, because one of the toughparts about that is, as an
entrepreneur, that you own thebusiness, you're in control,
right.
You make decisions on the fly.
We've always been really goodat making quick decisions and

(42:49):
pushing forward 100% withwhatever direction we decided to
go in.
We're not the kind that sitaround and mull things over for
weeks and weeks trying toanalyze every nth degree of what
we're going to do.
We just kind of go for itbecause we have really good
intuition usually in that regard, and when we know we're going
in the wrong direction, wequickly pivot and go a different
way.
But you can't do that once youlose control, and so that was

(43:10):
kind of one of the processes wewent through, right.
And then in December 2017, right, our contracts were up with
that organization And so then wewere out on our own and we were
detached now from that businesswe had built and sold and were
a part of for, you know, 10years or more at that point, and
you know that does kind ofleave you feeling like you're

(43:32):
out on an island.
But then you realize theopportunity you have right, and
so we've both kind ofdiversified what we've done
since then and even, you know,dipped our toe in the water of
different industries and beenable to explore some different
hobbies that were a part of.
Explain how you've handled thatand what you've enjoyed about
that process and what are someprofitable ways you're using

(43:53):
your time these days that youmay not have been able to do had
we continued to run a largeorganization like that.

Speaker 2 (43:58):
Yeah, you know I will get there.
And this whole thing of controlis just jog, the series of
thoughts in my mind.
You know, because you thinkyou're in control, right, you
know you've got your ownbusiness, you think things are
that you're calling the shots,but you know, if you're honest,
that you're only in control asmuch as the next you know
economic shock wave that comesthrough the system.
Or if you've got a partner,you're only in control in so
much as he or she agrees withyou, right?

(44:19):
I mean, because you and I arepartners, chase, you weren't
calling all the shots and Iwasn't calling all the shots,
and together we were like incontrol, but that wasn't total
control.
And then we went out like wewere working with partners, like
the extended group of partners,and over some things we had
control, but it became obviousthat we weren't in control there
.
So then we were out and we wereall on our own and we had total
control, right?
Because like we had our ownlives.

(44:40):
And how did that feel?
I mean, like it felt reallyempty to me, like I was really
floundering for a while with allthe control I could ever ask
for, because I had no boss, ihad no business.
That was gone.
I had this money in the bank, ihad these experiences, i was in
control.
I don't love it.
So how is that working out forus, you know?
so be careful about like hopingfor too much control.

(45:01):
You just might get it and itmight feel kind of empty.
It took me, chase, a long timeto feel good about how I was
spending my time in the daysafter the sale of our
organization.
I think there were a variety ofthings going on there In the
absence of the time that wereally needed to kind of make
plans.
It felt like a decision wasthrust upon us and we were kind
of out there floundering andtreading water for a while while

(45:23):
we were trying to work it out.
And so, you know, it would havebeen better, i think, if we
were able to at least pretendthat we had some kind of a plan,
that this is a part of ourjourney.
But when that choice wasremoved from us for me I felt
like I was a little bit, youknow, trying to figure that out.
So every day where I would tryto get up early and do something
and do something professional,it kind of felt like you're back

(45:44):
in those earliest days ofstarting a company where you're
just trying everything.
But back then, in the earliestdays of the company, you at
least had a vision that you wereworking toward.
Right, you were tryingeverything, but you had this
dream.
Remember those dream days wewere talking about?
You had those dream days tokeep you going.
When you're severed from anoperation, you don't only have
those dream days.
You're kind of like, wow, i'vegot to like start dreaming now,
and you can't always come upwith a dream that is inspiring

(46:05):
to you.
So that took a little bit oftime, but what I did find I was
able to do was start developinglots of little areas in my life.
So spend more time with my kidsand my wife.
Spend more time in traveling,really work on some hobbies that
were important to me, somephysical hobbies, some spiritual
hobbies.
Dig up a little bit deeper intothe agricultural aspects of my
interests.
Expand my investment portfoliosReally kind of work on a lot of

(46:28):
different areas.
So maybe I was throwing lots ofstuff against the wall to see
which of those things wouldstick, including starting a new
brokerage with Home Prop, whichis where we are today, and all
of those things have given mefulfillment in their own right.
But here we are, six years intothat, and I wouldn't say I'm any
closer necessarily to having aclear vision for my life.
I'm 43 years old.
I'm halfway through it.

(46:49):
Am I spending my life on thingsthat I feel like?
are you know that I have adream and a vision that I'm
trying to reach, or I'm justtrying to be like the best with
what I can't, with what I havetoday, and I think it's probably
the latter, and I would like tohave a better dream.
I would like to have a betterstrategy.
That I'm a part of, and I justthink that doesn't always come
exactly when you want it to.

(47:09):
You can't always wish that intoexistence.
That is sometimes born of along, of a long period of time,
and maybe now is the long periodof time where I'm kind of in
that wilderness, still trying tolike, trying to figure out what
it is that I want to be when Igrow up.
Once again, you know wouldn'thave necessarily done it this
way or strategically planned itthis way, but here I am, and so

(47:30):
I'm not asking anyone to feelbadly for me.
I have a most wonderful life,but I wouldn't say that I am
fundamentally fulfilled ineverything that I do.
There's something lacking in mylife right now, and it's hard
to know exactly what it is.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
Well, you know it's funny, you're referred to that,
as you know wilderness, right?
I mean, like you referred to,you know biblical scripture and
God several times throughoutthis podcast, and you know
that's one thing we do see inscripture is, you know, god uses
people in different ways, andsometimes it is the patience of
wandering in the wilderness fora little while that is necessary
for you to realize when thatopportunity is presented to you,

(48:06):
to take advantage of thatopportunity that you know God's
going to put in front of you, todo something greater than what
you think you're doing right now.
And that is a hard mindset,though, to embrace when you've
come off such a roller coaster,like we had from 2016 to 2018,
to then, you know, adapt amentality where you know it's

(48:29):
not, it's not grinding it outevery day, it's not hustle and
bustle, we're not reallyaccountable to people like we
used to be accountable to peopledaily in an office environment
or within an organization, andso, yeah, it's been a learning
process.
I think you're right, andtrying to harness that and find
fulfillment in all thesedifferent, diverse ways has been

(48:50):
, i guess, the rich part of thatexperience.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
Yeah.
So, chase, i mean, i thinkwhat's even more important for
that?
what's even more important thatI realized is that, you know,
let's reflect back a little bitat the time where we first
started growing our businessagain.
We were throwing lots of stuffat the wall and slowly and
steadily, it emerged which ofthose many things was going to
be a primary occupier of ourtime, which of those things was
going to be successful.
I think it's a commonmisconception that you're going

(49:17):
to have this, you know,lightning in a bottle moment, or
this brain spark, and that'sthe idea that's going to make
you rich, and so now get busyworking on that idea.
Maybe that happens for somepeople, but I think the idea
that we've already proven toourselves that you must be doing
a lot of stuff And some of thatstuff is going to be
unsuccessful And so you're goingto let it go by the wayside,

(49:37):
and some of it's going to bemore successful, and so you're
going to work on the moresuccessful stuff, you're going
to determine which of those youcan really spend your time with
And you can invest heavily thenin that one or two remaining
successful opportunities.
It's a process of trial anderror, it's not a process of
lightning in a bottle, and sodon't just wait around, waiting
for something to come thatinspires you.
Do a lot of stuff and see whichof those things begin to

(50:00):
inspire you, right?
I think that's at least the wayin the absence of some great
invention which I don't have agreat invention, right.
I'm a services guy.
I'm an experienced guy in thehousing market, so what I need
to make sure I'm doing is stilldoing a lot of stuff to keep me
exposed to the kinds of peopleand opportunities that will help
me make money one day.
That will be the kind of thingsI'm like.
Hey, this is a really good wayto spend my time now in the

(50:20):
second half of my life, and soI've had to remind myself of
that frequently.
Just stay busy, stay involvedand stay connected, and good
opportunities, the rightopportunities, will arise.
For me.
Now it might not look like whatit once did.
It might really be quitedifferent.
So my content now to accept anopportunity that doesn't look
like building a big business,because it appears to be the

(50:41):
opportunity that I'm best suitedfor.
Maybe it's a mentoringopportunity, maybe it's a
volunteer opportunity, maybeit's a whole different industry
altogether.
Do I.
Am I willing to be courageousenough to try one of those kinds
of things which doesn't looklike the kind of wealth and the
kind of clarity that I had fromreal estate?
That's a good question.
I hope I'm brave enough andwe'll see.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
Yeah, you know people probably ask you the question,
you know.
So why what's home prop?
You know, why did you go backinto real estate?
Is that just like what you didbefore?
And what do you tell people?
Because I get that question allthe time.
You know, if you go question,why did you do this?
What are you doing?

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Yeah, it's a lot like what we did before.
I mean, and that's that's partof the challenge, if I had to be
truly honest about this chase,maybe your answer is different
than mine on this.
I don't know if we've talkedabout this much, but home prop
was a little reactive, right,it's because, like, real estate
is what I know, it's what I did,what I do, right.
So I'm going to open anotherbrokerage, i'm going to do real
estate again, i'm going to haveproperty management in there And

(51:40):
I'm going to try to do somethings better than what I did
before.
But this is, this is, in someways, who I am.
Well, like, okay.
So is it who I am because it'swho I spent what I spent a lot
of time developing in myself inthe early years of my life?
Or do I?
do I have some natural abilityto do well at real estate?
Or is it impossible to tell thedifference anymore?
Right, i've been here 25 yearsinto it And can I even

(52:01):
distinguish between those twoquestions?
I don't know.
But what I do know is that I'vespent a lot of time and energy
in the housing market And if Iabandon that all together and go
some different direction, wellthen, i lose all of that, all of
that momentum.
I lose all that equity, andthat's not necessarily a smart
thing to do.
I've seen people recreatethemselves in the middle of
their careers, but they've gotto build a whole new body of
knowledge.
I'm not that bright, right, soI need the collective 25 years

(52:23):
of knowledge to help inspire mein new ways.
And so that's what Home Prop is.
It's a very strong nod to thefact that I was a contributor
and a player in the housingmarket, and a big one, an idea
changer and a builder, and Istill can be, and so having this
vehicle here to help me dothose things, i think will allow
me to be in the right place atthe right time once again.

(52:43):
Should that calling be in realestate?

Speaker 1 (52:46):
Yeah, there's a lot to be said about capitalizing on
assets, and you knowintellectual assets even that
you've built over a long periodof time, even if it's not in
something that you have like themost burning passion for.
But also the other lesson Ithink about in that is just you
got to stay in the game becauseyou never know what opportunity
is going to come, and so if youwould draw yourself from the

(53:09):
game completely, you're notgoing to get the opportunity.
And so just being in the mix,being around, you know, even if
even if the market conditionsaren't right for just explosive
growth, like they were, you know, back in the early 2000s, being
in the game keeps you somewhatrelevant and provides you with
that platform for opportunity.

Speaker 2 (53:29):
Yeah, chase, it really does.
I just really want to kind ofencourage anyone who's sitting
around feeling like man if onlyI was in this other industry or
this other place, i would bemore successful that here I am
in this, you know, airconditioning field, and it's not
.
It's not housing right, the waythat Chase and Peter are.
So how can I replicate that?
You know, i just want to, ijust want to throw the idea your

(53:50):
way that where you are isexactly where you need to be.
Right, that it's not.
It wasn't up to you that you arewhere you are.
I mean, in some ways it was.
But are you really telling methat all the things that have
aligned in your life or by yourown doing, and here you are in
this industry because your owndiligence, your own, 100% of
your own virtue, and now you'relike here and you just need to

(54:10):
do that again and pick a betterindustry next time Are you
really telling me that that'syour reality?
Or are you willing toacknowledge that you are where
you are from a host of factorsthat you had nothing to do with,
and some of those factors mightactually be working for a
greater good right?
In my case, i believe that Godinfluences the working of our
lives, the path that we're on tobe ideally suited to who we are

(54:30):
in some cases And I can spend awhole lot of time fighting
against that and not get veryfar right And or I can accept
some of that and end up doingreally well And so grow where
you're planted, is the idearight, and really try to like,
look for ways where you are tomaximize the quality of your
life And, like you said, you'llbe there when the opportunity

(54:52):
arises.
As long as you're thinking still, if you turned off your mind
and you're in a bitter place,you're angry that you're not
somewhere else, you're going tomiss all the opportunities that
come your way.
And so don't be that guy anddon't think that you can't make
a worldwide difference in sometiny industry where you are,
because you can.
And you'll look back many yearsfrom now and you'll say I made
a difference.

(55:12):
Maybe I didn't invent the curefor cancer, but in my small area
, with the people that wereinterested to me, i made a
difference for good And I'm gladI was there.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Yeah, Well, that's great advice, you know for
anybody.
But if you're like me, I knowyou've probably got young people
coming up to you all the timeand saying Hey, you know, I want
to get into real estate, I wantto be a real estate
professional or real estateinvestor.
What any other advice do youhave for people like that?
You know, maybe they're incollege now or in high school,
but about to graduate andthey're looking to pursue a
career in real estate.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
Well, i still think real estate is an amazing
industry full of incredibleopportunity.
It fulfills a fundamental needhousing right.
The people absolutely needshelter in order to survive.
There's going to be multipletentacles that connect you to
opportunity.
If you join the housing marketright, and maybe if you want to
get into real estate, maybe whatyou want to get is a real
estate broker license.
Maybe you want to buy someinvestment properties and that's

(56:03):
your way into real estate.
But maybe your way into realestate is through construction
or through the trades right,because each of those introduces
you very closely to housing andteaches you an absolutely vital
skill that people need in orderto make real estate as broadly
as that definition is appliedoften in order to make real
estate work.
So find a way in, by all means,and then keep your eyes open for

(56:25):
how to turn that into asuccessful business for yourself
.
Right, it just doesn't have tolook like my version.
In fact, you could make thecase chase that you and me and
property management andbrokerage had a sort of heyday
back in the 2000s And that was aunique opportunity and a unique
time place that might not comeagain.
In fact, there's a reason,there's reason to believe that

(56:47):
it won't come again because,well, that was 20 years ago and
there's a whole slew of newtechnologies that allow you to
be successful in housing and abunch of new economic realities,
and so if you're going to say,let's, let me follow Chase's
footsteps, you might not findyourself well positioned for the
new opportunities that emerge.
So my recommendation to you isget into the housing market and
look for what the nextopportunity is.

(57:09):
Don't look back at where I wasand think that is the
opportunity and, lo and behold,i missed it.
No wonder I'm not successfulbecause I was 20 years ago.
Well, you're missing today'sopportunity.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Yeah, every generation has an opportunity.
It just so happens that ourswas in that sort of societal
real estate, due to things thathappen that may be a once in a
lifetime event, and I thinkthat's right.
You got to capitalize on whatcomes your way, and that's the
key to success inentrepreneurship and any kind of
business is continually lookfor opportunities and capitalize
on them when they come.
Don't drag your feet, you know.

(57:40):
Be proactive, be aggressive,right?
Well, it's.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
It's the life lesson, right?
What comes your way inrelationships, the people God
has put in your lives, thepeople God intended for there to
be in your life.
You go searching for thatbetter friend who's better than
the one that you have.
I mean, who knows that you'regoing to find them First of all,
and it might be a whole lotworse, right?
So take the one that you have,the relationship that you're in
right now.
It might not have it might notall be perfect, but it's the one
you've been given And my guessis it's pretty awesome if you

(58:05):
don't focus on all itsweaknesses.
So make it the best one thatyou have.
The kids that you've beenblessed with are yours by design
, right?
I mean?
God chose to put them in yourlife.
It's the most specific exampleof God's influence in your life
that you probably have.
So, like, make the most of themand that relationship and not
be hoping for someone else's.
I mean it's just about, I think, being real with where you are,
honest with where you are andgrateful, because where you are

(58:27):
is where God intended you to be,and there's rich reward for you
, For those of us, I think, whodiligently shoulder up under the
burdens of where you've beenplaced.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
Yeah, and I'll say this too let me speak for you
for a minute.
If you're listening to thispodcast and you are connected to
Peter or myself in any kind ofway and you want to sit down
with us over coffee or grablunch sometime to talk about any
of this stuff, i think we'reboth very open to that.
you know, because I think welook back and we wish that we
would have had moreopportunities to connect with

(58:59):
mentors like this if you'reinterested in starting out in
real estate or starting abusiness or anything like that,
because people that have been inthe trenches and done it are
going to be your most valuableresource.
You can't read this stuff in abook, and so for Peter, over the
last two episodes, to open upabout his experience and provide
this advice to us, it's trulyinvaluable because, like I said,

(59:20):
you can't read this stuff in abook and you can't learn this
stuff in school.
You've got to live it, andtalking to the people who have
lived it is the most valuablething you can do.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
Yeah man, Thanks for saying that.
I 100% agree with thatsentiment And if there's
anything that I want to do withmy life now, it's to be a
catalyst for growth andopportunity in the lives of
other people.
You know, that's really hey.
You can say to some degreethat's, that's penance for the
times I didn't do that the way Ishould have 20 years ago, right
.
So we've been talking aboutpeople in our lives, but very

(59:50):
much it's a way of paying backto some degree to all those
people who have helped me alongthe way.
I would gladly offer whateverknowledge I have on what to do
or not to do, because I've goteven more of that knowledge to
share And it would be happy toshare that anytime, man for sure
.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
Well, i appreciate your time today, glad we've been
able to do this with each other.
You know as as being a not onlya co-host but now an
interviewee on the show, and Ithink we've you've had a lot of
valuable stuff to tell ourlisteners today.
And if you guys want to findanything more about what we do
or what we're doing withHomeProp, check out our website

(01:00:27):
at homepropcom.
We are a full service realestate brokerage.
We do have other agents thatwork with us And we are a full
service property management firmdoing both leasing management
and all the things to go alongwith that, and we'd love to help
you get started.
If you're looking to invest inreal estate or you want to
become a real estate agent, we'dlove for you to contact us and
see how we can, you know, helpyou accomplish the goals that

(01:00:49):
you have for yourself in realestate.
Thanks for listening, peter.
Thanks a lot, man.
This has been great.
It was a lot of fun.
Chase, thank you.
Great questions, you have agood one, all right.