April 7, 2025 • 43 mins
Linda from Married to Real Estate shares her journey from property management to owning 193 units and developing commercial properties. Her story reveals how networking, mindset shifts, and embracing uncertainty transformed her from managing properties for others to building a substantial real estate portfolio.
• Started in property management for nearly 10 years before deciding to become an owner
• First investment was a Chicago triplex where they implemented house hacking and BRRRR strategies
• Moved to Houston after researching population growth, job growth, and crime rates in various cities
• Shifted from single-family to commercial real estate to accelerate path to financial freedom
• Participated as a passive investor first to understand the syndication process from the investor perspective
• Currently owns 193 units plus a retail center under development
• Planning to diversify into boutique hotels and assisted living facilities
• Runs a virtual real estate meetup every Thursday at 11am CST
• Recently became John Maxwell certified as a speaker and coach
• Uses LinkedIn as a powerful networking tool by posting consistently and authentically
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Forget what you've heard.
Forged in Fire is where realentrepreneurs come to share the
untold truths of success thelate nights, the crushing
setbacks, the moments thatchange everything.
No fluff, just fire, ready tostep into the heat and unlock
(00:25):
what it really takes to build abusiness.
This is where legends are made.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another
exciting episode of Forza andFire.
I am your co-host, nateFarmradin.
Let me introduce my counterpart, cole.
How we doing brother.
Come on stage, man.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Nate, what's going on ?
How's your Tuesday going?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Brother, Tuesday is a Tuesday.
One of my property managersjust texted me, told me that
we've got some stuff going on,like a case where my name was
brought up.
I'm like what.
This just never ends, man.
But it's fine, Everything's onfire.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
How about you, brother?
I love it.
Just a day in the life had aneviction this morning One of the
not fun parts of the job, butit never ceases to amaze me what
you find in there.
And our tenants decided to ripup the floors, do their own
plumbing and then also installwasher dryer hookups, and I just
can't make this shit up.
So it is what it is, but I'mtrying to see how bad it is.
But I digress.
I'm excited for this episode.
I'm sure we have many, manymore stories to go through.
So, as always, guys, we haveone favor to ask you If you
(01:36):
could, please leave us a reviewso that we can grow.
This helps us educate others.
It helps more people find usand continue to do these
episodes.
So please just do that.
Leave a review wherever you'rewatching this, but besides that.
So please just do that.
Leave a review wherever you'rewatching this, but besides that,
sit back, relax, enjoy.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Dude, it's going to be amazing.
Today we are joined by Mary toReal Estate.
Linda is here.
She's going to speak for both.
Unfortunately, connor was notable to make it, but that's all
right, because Linda is going tobring the heat.
She's going to bring the fire.
Currently, to date, she's up toalmost like 200 units and is
talking about some developmentthey've got going on.
Look, let me just be quiet.
Let me go ahead and bring heron stage and let's see what we
(02:07):
got going on here.
Linda, how are we doing today?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
I'm doing fantastic.
I love this introduction.
It's a little bit of likepressure for Connor not being
able to be on and then also likeshooting for the stars.
So yes, let's do it, I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Thank you, guys for having me on.
This is going to be phenomenal,so please tell us a little bit
about yourself.
What got you here?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
What brought you here ?
Yes, absolutely so.
I do real estate right.
Married to a real estate is thename of our company.
I founded that with my husband,connor, so that's where the
name came from.
We were literally newlywedswhen we started this whole
adventure, and how we startedinvesting in real estate
actually is because we both havea background in property
management.
So I was a property manager forclose to 10 years.
My mother-in-law has been aproperty manager forever.
My sister-in-law has been aproperty manager forever.
(02:56):
Connor has worked in propertymanagement.
It's just a whole family affairand eventually we kind of
started looking at each otherLike if we can manage it for
others, we can also own it.
And this is where we are now.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
That is awesome.
So give me some more details.
What, how did you build like?
What's the strategy?
What do you focus on?
What's your bread and butter?
How does that look?
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yeah, so we definitely started.
I don't want to say smallbecause it felt huge to me, but
we definitely started on theresidential side, like a lot of
people do.
Right, we didn't jump rightinto the commercial size of
properties, but but we alwaysmanage multi, like big
multifamilies, like I alwaysmanage condos and HOAs and like
(03:40):
all those types of properties.
Our first one that we actuallyowned was a triplex, so we did a
bunch of strategies on it.
We house hacked it.
It ended up being somewhat of aburr like buy, rehab, refinance
, rent, repeat, all of that kindof stuff.
We also kind of did like almostlike a live and flip because we
(04:03):
were doing things in our unitfor the longest time and then,
yeah, eventually we sold it andwe moved on to bigger, better
things and that's how that'swhere the commercial size
started to develop was afterthat property, for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Oh, I love it, I love it, I love it.
This is going to be a two-partquestion, so talk to me a little
bit more about what it was likegetting that first triplex.
So when I got started, I househacked my first duplex and I did
it sort of the non-conventionalway Again, hopefully this is
not a recorded line itdefinitely is because it's a
podcast, but whatever.
So I bought the duplex, thenmoved my sister in as my
(04:39):
roommate and I never lived there, not a single day in my life.
I never spent the night there.
So I never knew what it waslike to be like next to like
tenants.
So talk to me a little bitabout that.
And then the next piece to thatis talk to me about some of the
like, the trials andtribulations, some of the
struggles behind all of it.
So please fill me in.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Oh yes, oh, I have, I have those, don't worry so well
.
Long story short, what it feltlike?
It felt pretty weird.
Like I'm not going to lie, weactually have a renter right now
in our home where we live.
We have a garage apartment.
I'm not going to bore you guyswith the details, but I'm kind
of like holding it warm for whenmy mom will come live in the US
(05:18):
.
I'm actually from Europe,originally myself, so in the
meantime, until she arrives, wehave a renter in there.
So it's a very similar situationthat we had when we were in the
triplex, which is you run intoyour renters all the time.
There's no escaping them.
They cannot escape you.
You're always very close toeach other, so it's a very
(05:38):
interesting situation.
So sometimes it's great.
Right In the triplex we hadfantastic tenants upstairs.
The tab works like when we havea package, they would get it
inside the house or vice versa,really kind of like always
helping each other out.
And then sometimes it's not sogreat.
Unfortunately, we had peopledownstairs who, I like to say,
(06:04):
catfished us.
I didn't know you could do thatin real estate until it
happened to me, but it wasdefinitely a situation where
somebody filled out theapplication and somebody else
moved in, and so we had noinformation about the person who
actually moved in, other thanthe fact that you know we live
with them again couldn't escapethem, they couldn't escape us.
So we saw how they lived.
They were not the bestneighbors, they were not the
(06:24):
best tenants.
They were not the best tenants.
Unfortunately it was duringcovid, so there was nothing we
could do at literally callingthe attorney hey, they're not
paying, they're doing this,they're doing that and the
attorney was like, yep, well,hang in there.
And uh.
So yeah, we were definitelyexposed to like the good, the
bad and the ugly on thatproperty.
Between that and the rehabsthat we did, we had vacancies
(06:46):
for a while too, which was both,you know, not so great
financially, but perfect at atime where no one knew where the
world was headed.
So for us it was like, do wereally want to invite strangers
in our home, right, even thoughit's a separated unit?
So we went through it all withthat one.
It definitely equipped us theright way.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
That's so funny.
I think a lot of people gothrough those crazy stories and
again, there's just so manydifferent stories.
I think it's so funny.
They probably thought they likepulled one over on you and were
like, oh, we fill out theapplication, we made it.
They moved in.
They're like oh no, like that's, the owners live here.
Like I can't imagine just thatstomach drop, but what a shame.
(07:26):
So you did the triplex, youfigured it out and at some point
you said, okay, let's go bigger.
So talk to me about that.
Like what did that look like?
Why go bigger?
What was the choice or thethought behind that and how did
you do it?
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Yeah.
So it definitely like I make itsound like it was instantaneous
, but it was a year and a halfor so for us to go through that
process.
So what happened was thatTriplex was in Chicago.
That's where we were at thetime and we were kind of at that
phase in our relationship whereso I forgot to mention, by the
way, that Connor and I had juststarted dating at that time Like
(07:56):
, I mean, we had been together awhile but we were not even
engaged, we were not married,nothing.
So discovering landlording wasalso like the discovery part of
the relationship.
It was kind of like we'reeither going to make it or break
it.
But eventually we realized thatwe were making it and that, you
know, we kind of wanted to takethe next level personally and
(08:18):
we realized we didn't want to dothat in Chicago.
So we kind of I'm an Excel nerd, so we kind of did this whole
spreadsheet thing going on whereback before it was trendy, we
looked at population growth andjob growth and crime rates in
all kinds of different cities ofthe US and for a number of
reasons, but mostly real estateand the fact that we have family
(08:39):
down here we moved to Houston.
So our goal was really we'regoing to take.
So we ended up selling thattriplex, right?
So our goal was we're going totake those proceeds and we're
going to reinvent them wherewe'll be able to stretch it
further, because the market isnot as expensive down here.
What we did not expect is thatthere's not as many triplexes
here, or even quads right it's.
(09:01):
You can find somewhat a lot ofduplex, especially in like oops,
sorry, especially in suburbsareas, but it's not as common as
in Chicago, especially the typethat we lived in, where it
looked like a house from theoutside but inside it was
multiple apartments.
So we kind of ran into thatsituation where we started
buying single family homes andwe were looking at each other
(09:23):
like it's going to take usforever, it's going to take us
decades to scale this thing andthat's really not the goal, Like
for me.
I already knew at that pointthat that was my long term goal
was to live off of our realestate investments, and so it
couldn't come fast enough.
So eventually we discovered amultifamily mastermind, like a
lot of people do, and they kindof taught us everything from
(09:50):
there and we were like, yeah,that's what we want to do, we
definitely want to reach thatfinancial freedom in the next
five to 10 years, not in thenext 25 to 30 years.
And there are people who, youknow, are able to do that in
this in the five to 10 year mark, with single families and
residential assets, but I guessthey just have better systems
the more organized that I am.
So we decided to scale with thecommercial side and here we are
(10:13):
.
We really went full on into itin terms of, like building a
business and education, and allthat in December 2023.
And now March 2025, we haveexactly 193 units plus a retail
center that's getting built.
So we're excited.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Holy shit, congratulations.
It's always amazing to be ableto hear everybody else's journey
and I hear a lot of like,similarities and commonalities
between like my story, I knowCole's story like the back of my
hand as well, and theneverybody else we're sort of
bringing in as well and I justwant to say hats off to you.
You brought up an amazing pointabout the whole.
Hey, we were just dating at thetime.
(10:51):
We're like we're either goingto make it or we're going to
break it, and literally that'slike the mantra behind real
estate in this time.
It's one of those situations,especially for entrepreneurs,
where it's just like shit, noone's coming to save me, I have
to make it.
I've got to figure this stuffout, because who else is going
(11:12):
to do it.
So hats off to you on that.
So talk to me a little bitabout the very first deal and
the mastermind, and please go asin-depth as you would like to
to where it was when you startedto formulate the idea of what
syndication was.
You got some of the educationand then at what point did you
decide okay, I'm ready to goahead, jump off into the deep
end and acquire my first asset.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Yes.
So I mean that's a very goodquestion because I think that
something that's very importantfor anybody listening who hasn't
gone through making that firstjump into commercial.
Just remember that there's norace right, you're only racing
with yourself.
And I say that because that wassomething that I struggled with
when we first got started.
(11:50):
Like a lot of mastermind outthere they tell you you're going
to do great your first year, ormaybe by your second year, but
when you're six months in andyou don't see the light at the
end of the tunnel, you startasking yourself, like is it me?
Am I not doing the work?
But then a lot of people stillhave a W-2, right.
And then you also have family,and then you also want to take
care of yourself, and it's hardto juggle it all.
(12:11):
So that's definitely the firstthing that I would say is, like
it's really a mindset right whenit's called mastermind, like
(12:31):
that's a very good name, becauseto me, that was the number one
thing that I struggled with formonths, by the way, to be fully
transparent was how to not putso much pressure on myself, um,
and kind of, like you know, feellike a failure before you even
started and and and really likelet things follow their own
course.
Um, and then once we, we gotinto it.
So it was a lot of education atfirst and it was a lot of
mindset work.
But one thing for me that I'vealways, uh, loved, even from
when I was like a, like ateenager and I'm sorry, my dog
just walked in so the door blewopen, but uh, but one thing that
(12:55):
I've always loved to do wasreally always networking, and
that first deal that's how itcame to us.
That second deal, that's how itcame to us it was all through
relationships, because Irealized at the end that you
have to lean on what you're goodat, and for me, what I'm good
at is talking to people love it,love it.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
So I want to hear about this.
I I guess it'd be later deal, Idon't know exactly which one it
is that you kind of decide toscale up.
But how did you do that,meaning like, did you syndicate
it?
Did you buy it yourself?
Did you it Like?
What did that look like?
And the reason I ask is a lotof people listening are probably
in a similar situation to yourearly spot, where they have a
couple of units and they're likeman, I'd like to grow, but how
(13:35):
do I do that?
So how did you accomplish it?
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Yes, so definitely so .
So so far we've always donesyndications.
We're looking at doing JVs inthe future Spoiler alert because
we want to get into assistedliving facilities, so for that
type of asset, that's what we'releaning towards, but we haven't
even really started working onthat just yet.
(13:58):
So you know, things are veryfluid, but everything we've done
so far, and the current projectthat we're on, which will be
our fourth, those are allsyndications.
Now what I would say is wedefinitely started again.
Going back to the mindset for mewas really like oh my gosh, we
have to GP right away.
Right, and so, if anybody's notfamiliar, that means like we
(14:21):
have to be active.
We have to be the operators whoeither manage the asset or find
the asset or find the investors, whatever it is.
And it took us a couple ofmonths to realize, well, why,
why do we have to be so activeright away?
How can we talk to investors ifwe don't even know what it
feels like to be an investor insyndications?
Like, like, I had a lot like.
(14:41):
The funny story is that when wewere doing residential, I was
working with a mentor of mineand she had already had me do
some research into syndication.
But I thought, oh, this is notfor me Like, this is for like
millionaire people.
And so once we realized like no, it doesn't have to be, it was
kind of this moment of well, howare you going to tell people
(15:04):
you don't have to be amillionaire?
But this is like a limitingbelief that you have yourself
right.
And so that was the first thingwe did.
That first step that we tookwas being a passive investor
first, being an LP, a limitedpartner, first on somebody
else's deal, and kind oflearning, okay, what does it
feel like to be in ourinvestor's shoes before we
actually find investors to beactive?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I love that a thousand percent.
I mean, I'm an LP on a deal aswell.
Shout out to Cole.
But with that being said and Ihate to pivot this far, but talk
to me a little bit about sothere was the Chicago living in
Illinois trying to learn aboutdemographs, learn about markets,
move to Houston.
Now, when it came to thesyndication side and then you're
(15:50):
here, you're learning about themasterminds Did you invest in
your backyard?
Or when you decided to do theLP first, was that outside and a
whole nother.
So you learned about Houstonand then decided to go.
Talk to me about that.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Yes, that's a great question because for us, with
our property managementbackground, we always thought
when we're active we want to bein our backyard.
We know enough about propertymanagement that we want to be
boots on the ground, we want tolearn how to be good asset
managers.
So we want to do that inHouston.
Maybe San Antonio, like Dallasat the furthest right, like that
(16:24):
little Texas triangle.
That's really our buy box Ifwe're like working on the active
side and really like bringingthat expertise that we already
have.
But when it came to LBing wewere like it all goes back to
relationships.
So our first property that wewere passive on it's actually in
Tulsa Oklahoma that we werepassive on, it's actually in
(16:45):
Tulsa Oklahoma.
I've never been there.
I know a lot about the marketnow but I've never been there on
myself.
I mean, if I can give you aquick anecdote, growing up in
another country, all I knewabout Tulsa Oklahoma was that
little time in France whenChandler has to go live there
and he's like why do I?
(17:05):
have to go live there.
Like that was my view of it.
I was like, no, why would weinvest there?
But then, you know, by the timewe actually did invest, I was
in the US for 12 years and wedid our research on the market
and was like, oh okay, yeah, no,this is definitely a great
opportunity.
And that's how we got started.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I love that there's this common theme with your
story that you guys like decideto do something and then it just
gets done and it's somethingthat I see with all the people
that make it farther is theyhave a decision and they do it.
You're like let's buy a triplexor let's start investing boom
you do it.
Hey, let's go check out LPdeals boom you do it.
Hey, let's move to Houston andthen go grow boom you do it.
(17:43):
I love that.
I think that's such animportant factor to growth.
But, on the other token to that, I want to hear more and Nate
mentioned earlier, as you grewand you can hit with any stage
of this but as you startedgrowing, what were some of the
things that you ran into thatwere just like major roadblocks
that you're like I wish somebodywould have told me this, or
yeah, I mean a very easy one isthe whole asset management thing
(18:05):
.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
I thought, oh, I'm a property manager, everybody's
going to want me to manage theirmillion dollar property.
Like, of course, we'll justwalk into a networking event and
there will be operatorseverywhere saying, oh my gosh,
linda, we've been waiting foryou.
That was definitely the firstroadblock was like being hit
with that realization that, hey,this is not how it works.
(18:30):
Like, yes, it's OK to be new,it's OK to find people who want
to teach you, but they're notgoing to give you the keys to
the castle.
And again it goes back to thepersonal mental race of thinking
like it's OK, like you'renot're not here to.
Like, yes, you're here to proveyourself, but everybody is
bringing something to the table.
(18:51):
Like, like, don't feel like you.
You know, these people are likeon a pedestal because they've
done it and you have to like letgo of everything.
Like I've met, um, people whoare new in the space and who say
, like I'm willing to work forfree, I'm not.
Like, no, sir.
And it's all those things whereyou're like no, you have to
(19:12):
realize, okay, maybe I won't doeverything right on my first
deal, maybe I have to learncertain things.
Maybe I'm more interested inlike A, but I only have access
to B right now.
But just know your worth andkeep on the path that you want
to take.
And so, yeah, that firstroadblock was definitely a
moment where my husband and I,like we, looked at each other.
We're like, well, I guess thisis not how we're going to enter
(19:34):
it.
So what do we do next?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Oh, I love that.
Well, I'm not.
Okay, that's great.
That's great.
That was great Mic drop.
So talk to me now about thejourney from the actual scale.
So you did the LP, got yourfirst deal done and then now
it's time to continue to grow.
So what are the next couplesteps going to look like?
Where are we at right now interms of we just closed on and
(20:02):
we're doing a little bit ofdevelopment?
And then you mentioned more micdrop and a hint drop that you
might be getting into like alittle bit of the assisted
living as well.
So what's that journey going tolook like?
How's the trajectory going?
Are you still in thesyndication space and then going
to the JV or bring us into yourworld on that one?
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Yeah.
So it's interesting because Idon't think that we have thought
out so much what it will looklike.
We just more so have an idea ofwhat we're interested in, and
and I will say, by the way, thisis a great I mean, we've always
loved real estate, right,Otherwise we wouldn't have done
all this.
It's a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
But, but I think that it's it's it's more so for us,
like, okay, stick to what wewant to do, like we're not going
to try and force ourselves todo something that's completely
outside of what we're interestedin.
Like, for example, rv parksright now are booming.
Like I'm interested a littlebit, but I know that this is not
something that I want to buyright now.
It doesn't mean I won't buy itin, like you know, a couple of
(21:02):
years, but that's just notsomething that has my interest.
I have no other way to explainit.
Right, one thing that the twothings that we want to diversify
into are hotels, boutiquehotels, not trying to become
Hilton, but just just somethingthat's like, you know, maybe 12
(21:23):
to 15 rooms or like 20 at most,that that we could, that we can
acquire, ideally in a place thatis very vacation-like, so that
it's cool to go to work.
And then, like I said, assistedliving facility.
And that one goes back to whatI was saying about my mom coming
here.
That one is really close to myheart because my mom has been a
nurse for a couple of decadesnow and she worked a lot in
(21:45):
geriatric care.
So when I was a kid kid.
When I was like 17, 18, myfirst jobs were always in
nursing homes, and so that's onething that I want to get into
eventually is senior living likeparticularly in the space of
assisted living is just offerbetter living conditions for
seniors.
Like I just seen how certainpeople are treated in those
places and I didn't like that.
(22:05):
And then also, now that I'm hereand in this business, I also
realize like this is a hugeopportunity.
I think people need to talkmore about the fact that, like
you know, I love Cody Sanchez,for example, and she's always
talking about buy businessesfrom baby boomers whose kids
don't want to take over.
Ok, that's fantastic.
Like that's actually somethingthat I want to do in the next
three to five years, like notright now, but down the road.
(22:26):
But then where are the babyboomers going to go?
They're going to sell thebusiness, and then what?
And so for me, I really see thecorrelation between something
that's like very close to myheart, but also like a huge
market opportunity that I thinkneeds to be talked about more.
So, yeah, those are.
Those are the two things that wewant to get into besides
(22:46):
apartment.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
And those are the reasons why I love it.
I love it, cole.
You mind if I jump in for onemore second.
So okay, I love that a thousandpercent.
But one thing that we haven'tyet touched on, that I was
wondering if you were going tobring up, so now I'm just going
to go ahead and do it.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Oh, let's do it, okay , I'm curious.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
I'm going to take it back just a little bit.
So it was the Chicago toHouston mastermind.
But now how the heck did youstart your own meetup?
I've attended these for thelast couple of weeks.
You have a virtual meetup everyThursday at 11 CST and I walked
into this room and I had noidea what I was getting into and
I'm greeted by like 35 to like40 different people that I had
never seen a day in my life.
(23:26):
I'm like what?
And Linda's leading this thingand she's only been in this game
for like a year and a half, twoyears.
How did that happen?
Where did that growth come from?
Fill me in.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Yes, absolutely.
I mean, it always goes back tonetworking.
I think this is the biggestgame changer for us is that
we're always trying to reallylike have those genuine, genuine
relationships where it's like,okay, how can we help out?
And so that one came exactlyfrom that.
Like, literally, I had a friendwho, from our mastermind, who
had that meetup, like he hadcreated it.
(23:58):
Uh, but he had created it whenhe was newer, I guess, because
now that he was scaling, he nolonger had the time, and he
literally sent an email to theregular attendees which I was a
part of, and said, hey, I'm, I'mdone, like the next one will be
the last.
And me thinking like I don'twant this to go, cause this is
my way of networking, Iresponded and I said, hey, if
(24:19):
you're too busy right now, Idon't mind taking it over for
like two or three months and youcan have it back.
Like I'm not even trying tosteal it, I just want to
continue having the opportunityto network and you know,
whenever you're ready, you canhave it again.
And he said, no, he was like Idon't want it again, but take it
over.
He was like you know what thetime slot is there, people are
already used to it.
(24:40):
You have the name, have at it,it's yours.
And I remember that it was atnight, because I was actually in
class.
I was doing a public speakingclass at the time and so because
I was in the class and it waslike kind of like around 8, 9 pm
, I was like I'm not going toworry about it tonight, let me
sleep on it.
And then the next morning myco-host had had the same idea
(25:01):
that I had.
So that gentleman came to meand he was like hey, he wants to
do it.
Why don't you guys do ittogether?
And for me that was the dealsealer, because all of a sudden
I didn't have to be scared ofdoing it by myself.
All of a sudden it was like OK,I don't have to be there every
Thursday, like we could, likewe're there a lot, trust me,
I've done this call from France,I've done this call from the
airport.
Like literally last week Irolled into my house from a
(25:23):
conference at 10 30 am and thecall at 11.
I was right there.
But but there there's lesspressure when, when you know,
like okay, there's somebody likelike you guys right where, it's
like okay, I have somebody thatI can rely on.
And so that's where it camefrom.
Once I knew that I had kind oflike someone in my corner doing
it with me and and I had slepton it and I was like, how are
(25:43):
you going to pass on thisopportunity?
I took it over.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
So cool, so cool, and I vibe with that so much
because meetups are somethingthat I always did from the start
and it's something just likereally skyrockets your success,
I feel like.
And anybody out there that hasa meetup that's listening to
this, I'm sure is nodding theirhead, going yep, yep, it works,
and anybody that doesn't isprobably like me.
I should get into this and theanswer is yes, you should.
One way or another, you shouldfigure it out with the host
(26:09):
phenomenon, all that stuff.
It's awesome and I love whatyou said.
You never miss one and or oneof you is always there and you
kind of show up, no matter whatit takes, and that is just such
a huge piece of this stuff.
Um, I have a question this maybe a stupid question I have to
ask.
With assisted living, right, wehave the baby boomers coming up
, but what happens when the babyboomers eventually die?
(26:30):
Like?
Does that then shrink down?
And if we put a ton of supplyinto assisted living, where do
you go from that?
Speaker 4 (26:35):
something I've always wondered yeah, that's a great
question, um, so, not to bemorbid, but people will die
eventually, and so one thingthat a fellow friend of mine
sent me recently is why not alsobuy land to own as cemeteries?
And so that was kind of likethe very first, very first time
(26:57):
that I was ever exposed to thatthat was literally like a week
or two ago and I was like, oh,I'm not sure that I'm interested
, but this is definitelysomething.
Now to get back to yourquestion is like, what happens
to the facilities that we'veactually built, right?
I mean, for me, I don't thinkthey're going to go anywhere.
If it was up to me, they wouldright.
Like, I grew up in a familywhere it's like you take care of
(27:20):
your elders for as long as youcan, and you better can for a
long time.
But unfortunately, I think thatthere will always come a time
when families cannot handle it,don't have the means, don't have
the time, and so, yes, theremight be a little bit of a scale
back, but we're not out heretrying to become the next.
I don't know what's a famousnursing home brand here, but
(27:44):
we're not trying to be that,we're just trying to like help
out however we can.
I'm a big proponent.
I always say if we can all helpone person, then the world will
be a better place.
It doesn't have to be theperson who helped you, just just
pass it on.
So, yes, maybe we will onlyhelp like I don't know, hundreds
of of elders and theneventually the the well will tap
dry.
But but I think it's better tohelp those hundreds and do that
(28:06):
than to not try at all.
So we'll see what happens coolresponse.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
I like that.
I like the idea.
I mean.
Hey, back to your cemetery idea, though.
If flippers and wholesalers canhammer, probate and, just like
you know, reach out to yourrecently dead uncle and buy the
house, I think cemeteries is onthe block when I received it I
was like not sure I'm there yet,but it's, it's an idea.
Hey, you gotta do what yougotta do.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Nate, it's, it's, it's, it's too.
I don't even.
I don't even know if we'regoing to go there today, but it
just brings up so many memoriesfrom our very first property
that we bought years ago.
It feels like, uh, we bought a12 unit, Cole and I.
We got two other partners onthe deal and it was literally
right next door to a cemetery,with quiet neighbors.
So it's a horrible joke, butit's there, it happens.
(28:56):
So that brought it up to me.
But either way, I think I don'tknow.
I'm wondering you think she'sready?
Speaker 3 (29:02):
I think she's ready.
I think we go for it.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
We go for it, okay, I think we go for it.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
We go for it, okay.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I have a surprise for you.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Here's the deal we're going to ask you six questions
that we ask every guest, andwe're going to do our best to
not interject, not say anything,and we're going to see what
happens.
So you ready.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
I'm so ready and don't worry, I can interject
myself.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Perfect.
Either way.
We're getting started, so herewe go.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
What separates top performing entrepreneurs and or
investors from the rest of thecrowd?
People who don't care aboutfailure.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
So, good Was that it.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
We've already failed, and I do this every single time
I fail, but I'm going to trynot to interject down the line
Anybody that's listening.
Pause this, start this wholething all the way over.
She's been dropping this entiretime.
All right.
Next question what is a dailyhabit that's contributed to your
success?
Speaker 4 (29:56):
Ooh, journaling, a hundred percent journaling, like
writing down what I'm gratefulfor.
What are the goals for the day?
How did the gig, the day, go?
Yeah, that's been awesome,especially for the mindset part
that I was talking about earlier.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Ah, here we go.
Dear and dear to my heart Foranyone that's listening, we're
flashing our cool journals overhere.
I love that.
What is a piece of advice thatyou'd give to yourself if you're
starting again?
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Oh, that's a tough one, because I think I would say
start earlier.
But I also think that I'm a bigbeliever that everything
happens for a reason and that Iwas supposed to get to where I
am now the way that I did andget to where we're going next
this way.
So, yeah, that one is always abattle in my heart where I'm
like, oh, I wish I had started10 years ago, but then it would
(30:45):
be a different path.
So I'm happy with the path wetook.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
So wait, let me follow that up then.
Okay, if you wouldn't change it, that's fine.
But if you could whispersomething to yourself when you
were younger, before you kneweverything that you do now, what
is something that you wouldtell yourself then?
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Invest in Bitcoin.
Well played, no.
I would probably say somethinglike like like, don't be scared
to shine like you.
You know that part of coachcarter where they say, like,
what terrifies us the most issuccess.
Um, that that's definitelysomething that that like yeah,
that would come to mind is like,hey, go for it.
(31:21):
Like, because I've never beenreally scared of like looking
stupid, clearly, or failures,but there has been time in my
life where I was like, ooh, butwhat if that changes?
Like a life or what I do or whoI am, and it's like don't care
about that, just go for it.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Love it.
So what is your favoritebusiness and or real estate book
?
Speaker 4 (31:43):
Ooh.
So what's my favorite one?
That I think that's the wordthat's like makes it interesting
Because I read a lot.
By the way, I'm big on audiobooks.
I have so many like like paperbooks.
Um, there's a lot of books thathave, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
So I'm not surprised based on where you're at.
I'm sorry, I'm not surprisedbased on where you're at.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
It makes sense.
But there's definitely severalbooks that have like changed
kind of like my view on things.
Like the Millionaire Next Doordid that Like I kind of thought
it was going to be a book abouthabits, but to really see, like
all the stats and data aboutrandom millionaires, I was like,
oh, that, like you know,they're not that different, that
different right.
So that was definitely one thatopened my eyes to that.
(32:28):
Um, that one is probably morelike business.
I love to pitch anything byoran clough.
Uh, big plug for that one.
I think that was a great one,definitely in addition to
creating super fans.
But britney hodak, I thinkthose kind of go hand in hand.
They're more about like, like,pitch anything is more about
sales.
But creating super fans is likeokay, but how do you do sales?
(32:49):
By just being a good person whotakes good care of your clients
, like that's the bottom line,right?
Um, so I really like these twotogether.
Uh, I mean, I could go on andon and on.
I love the 10x rule.
I love the um I forgot the, thename of the lady who wrote it
but uh, that five second rule,where it's like anything you
(33:09):
don't want to do, you just countto five and you do it.
That was a book I read athousand years ago, but that was
great.
The very first self-developmentbook that I read was the Secret
of Positive Thinking, I thinkthe name is.
It's like a kind of a longtitle and it's Aaron Kennard.
Yes, yeah.
(33:30):
And the same thing.
I thought that was going to besomething completely different,
but it was really like his storyand how he handles struggles
and how he faced likedifficulties that came out of
nowhere at him because it washealth issues.
It's like, what can you do toavoid it?
Nothing.
And so that was the first bookthat I read.
That was about self-development, where I was like, okay, it's
game on so many good ones there.
(34:00):
What is your favorite part ofowning your business?
Oh, working harder than when Iwork for someone else.
You mean it's not easier.
No, you would think, right, no,but it's definitely the freedom
, though.
I love the fact that, like yes,it feels like more hours, but
(34:20):
it also feels like freer hours,because I get to like focus on
what I like, I get to focus onwhat's growing our business,
like it's something that you own.
There's just somethingdifferent about yes, it takes
more time, but it's time thatyou want to spend.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Real quick.
There's something I realizedrecently because I always
struggled with that idea is alot of people would come back
and be like, well, if you'regoing to do an entrepreneur
thing, then you're just going towork more and end up in the
same place, like, why even gothat route?
And I used to fight I more andend up in the same place, like
why even go that route?
And I used to fight.
I'm like you know, you know,maybe kind of a good point.
But I started to realize you'rejust betting on yourself, right
?
Yes, you put in more workupfront, but with the intention
(34:55):
that it's going to hockey stickat the end.
So if you work, you knowtraditional route and there's
nothing wrong with that, that'sawesome, it's kind of more
linear.
And if you go entrepreneur,you're putting in more work up
front and then a little hockeystick versus traditional.
It's kind of just, you know,steady.
So either way works.
But just something to thinkabout.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
Yeah, no for sure.
And, and there's one quote Imean it's not about
entrepreneurship, it's moreabout like, like management.
But there was one thing that anold boss of mine told me once.
So I was training someone whowas replacing me because I was
moving up in the company and andI realized pretty early on that
the person replacing me didn'twant to follow that path.
And I was kind of likesurprised by that.
(35:35):
Right like that was kind of thefirst time in real life that I
saw somebody not wanting to growand and at the time my boss
told me you know, not everybodycan be a general.
Sometimes we need soldiers andthat's when.
I realized everybody's reasoningis different, everybody's lives
is different and you reallycan't judge, like, why somebody
does what they do until you walkin their shoes.
(35:59):
So, yeah, no, I definitelythink.
I definitely agree with youthat entrepreneurship is a
different kind of hustle.
For me, I could not work 40years in a cubicle, but for
someone else it might be likethe best thing ever.
So it all goes back to what doyou want to do?
As long as you do what you wantto do, for me that's freedom.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Mic drop.
I love that.
I've realized a couple ofthings as well.
Cole, number one, I think wehave given ourselves an F minus
minus on the super six, like hotseat, because instead of doing
like normal, which is like aconversation.
So this definitely did not workout.
We'll have to try again at alater date next time.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
It's like playing the lottery next time yes, no
problem, I'll come back in 10years.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
We'll do this hopefully sooner than that, but
I appreciate the thought thatwe're going to still be running
in 10 years.
I love that.
That is awesome.
My final question for you whatis something new that you've
implemented into your businessthat's helped drive your success
?
Speaker 4 (36:57):
Ooh, how new does it have to be?
We don't know.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Whatever you say, whatever you want to know, we're
going to verify.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
How are we going to verify?
That's a good point.
Definitely LinkedIn.
Linkedin has been a gamechanger for me.
The reason why I say how I knewis because at this point, I've
been doing it for several months, but it has really helped
broaden my horizon, my network,my mindset too.
I really thought LinkedIn waslike, oh, this is just where you
(37:26):
go upload your resume foreverybody to see it.
Um, but now it has morphed intosomething number one,
completely different for mybusiness, but even something
that like again, spoiler alert,it might be something that I go
down that rabbit hole of liketurning that into a business too
.
And, um, like I I mentioned Icame back from traveling last
week is because I recently gotJohn Maxwell certified, so now
(37:48):
I'm like certified speaker butalso certified coach, and so I
have loved discovering LinkedInand that's kind of like
something that's been buildingin my brain where I'm like, oh,
could I help?
You know, other people discoverit too, so that's the newest
thing.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Timeout so amazing.
I don't know if you want tospill the tea, give us, give us
all the tea.
Spill the beans, whatever thesaying is.
But can you give us a littlebit of tidbit and maybe some
advice on how you utilizeLinkedIn, like, is there a
formula every single day orevery single week that you're
following and what sort of tookyou from?
All I got to do is upload aresume to where you're using it
now to potentially become abusiness or a brand.
(38:28):
So fill us in.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
Yes, I mean it's.
It's funny timing because I wasliterally recording something
last night.
I'm going to be part of thisvirtual summit and it's all
pre-recorded videos, right.
So, like, my section is onLinkedIn and and so so I was
just like brainstorming andwriting down and recording what,
(38:50):
like how to use it best, right?
So to me, it's like you have torealize that linkedin is really
like this giant networkingevent.
Yes, it's professional, uh, butit doesn't.
That doesn't mean that it hasto be boring.
It doesn't mean that you haveto be like suit and tie all the
time.
Like, for me, I have a lot offun being myself, and myself is
pretty goofy, by the way, I Idon't know if you noticed, but
I'm not the most buttoned up.
(39:12):
Like you know, I don't wear asuit every day.
Like like I, you know I dressedup, but uh.
But yeah, I think that that'sthe biggest thing with LinkedIn
is to remember, like, the bestpart is to be just authentic, to
just be yourself.
Like.
This is why my tagline that yousee here, that's my tagline
from LinkedIn.
What I want to teach people islike how to like be your best
(39:34):
self.
Don't try to copy anybody.
And then, if you do that in theinvestment industry, guess what
?
You'll probably also buildwealth.
And that's pretty nice,especially when you do it like
relying on your values and whatyou like to do and you don't
have to compromise who you are.
And I think that's a bigmisconception that people have
with LinkedIn.
It's like, oh, I have to besomething else or I have to be
(39:55):
like this very big expert.
Yes, I do like to post everyday to answer your question,
like I post Monday throughFriday.
So sometimes my post will beeducational, but then sometimes
it will just be like sharinglife stories, right, like that
whole tennis catfish me.
That was a post I did a whileback because I was like people
need to know.
(40:15):
So yeah, there's an educationalaspect, but it's just about
sharing stories.
To me, that's the mostimportant thing is that share
stories, share who you are andbe consistent with it, and
that's how you tapped into thepower of LinkedIn, in my opinion
.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
So good, so good.
This has been awesome.
It's so cool to hear your storygoing from newlyweds, when you
started, or maybe even a littlebefore newlyweds, like you
mentioned hearing about your PMbackground, going into that
first triplex and house hackingit, hitting the issues that you,
of course, will run into, thendecide to go crazy, go to
houston, do some single families, jump into coaching, start
(40:52):
syndicating and growing um, andthen just going through all this
mindset shifts and justbuilding this portfolio and to
see where you are now.
So I have two final questionsfor you.
One do you have any finaladvice?
And two, where can people findyou?
Speaker 4 (41:08):
Yeah, my final advice is just do it.
I mean, go all Nike on it,whatever it is, and whether
you're like excited, scared,definitely, definitely like if
you're nervous or scared,definitely reframe that as
excitement.
But whatever you're feeling, ifthat's something that you're
interested in, something thatyou want to do like in your gut
feeling, just just go for it.
(41:28):
That's my best advice.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
I just want to highlight something you said
that was so fast and people willnot pick it up.
You said, if you're nervous orscared, just reframe it as
excitement that is so powerful.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
Thank you, thank you.
And then where can people findme?
So I'm very big on LinkedIn,thank you.
And then where can people findme?
So I'm very big on LinkedIn.
Like I said, our website ismarriedtorealestatecom, so like,
literally married, the numbertwo realestatecom.
That's also my email, by theway.
So, linda atmarriedtorealestatecom, feel
(42:03):
free to like, email me anytime.
And, yeah, come to the meetupevery Thursday at 11 central.
I'm happy to share the link andyou'll see me there.
You know, dancing and crackingjokes, and that's what I do.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
I get a test, and it has been a bombcom going to
these meetups.
I love them.
Linda, thank you so much forcoming through.
This has been amazing.
I knew that it was going to beone of those mic drop kind of
situations.
I just did not know how goodyou have set the standard and
the bar so high up I can't evenreach.
So it is phenomenal.
Please let Cotter know that wedo want him to come to the stage
(42:32):
and he's also got to bring theheat.
Speaker 4 (42:33):
Just like you did for Forza 5.
That's right.
I like that.
I like that it's a competitionnow, yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Hey, it's game time, so, with that being said, if you
are driving, thank you so muchfor tuning in to Forged in Fire.
Again, we're looking forward toseeing you all on the next
episode.
Everybody take care, see yousoon.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Forged in
Fire.
If you enjoyed today's raw,unfiltered stories, don't forget
to like, subscribe and leave usa review.
Your feedback helps us bringmore real-world insights to
entrepreneurs like you.
Be sure to join us next timefor even more lessons, struggles
(43:16):
and breakthroughs on the roadto success.
Keep forging ahead.
Forget what you've heard.
Forged in Fire is where realentrepreneurs come to share the
untold truths of success thelate nights, the crushing
setbacks, the moments thatchange everything.
No fluff, just fire, ready tostep into the heat and unlock
(00:25):
what it really takes to build abusiness.
This is where legends are made.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another
exciting episode of Forza andFire.
I am your co-host, nateFarmradin.
Let me introduce my counterpart, cole.
How we doing brother.
Come on stage, man.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Nate, what's going on ?
How's your Tuesday going?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Brother, Tuesday is a Tuesday.
One of my property managersjust texted me, told me that
we've got some stuff going on,like a case where my name was
brought up.
I'm like what.
This just never ends, man.
But it's fine, Everything's onfire.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
How about you, brother?
I love it.
Just a day in the life had aneviction this morning One of the
not fun parts of the job, butit never ceases to amaze me what
you find in there.
And our tenants decided to ripup the floors, do their own
plumbing and then also installwasher dryer hookups, and I just
can't make this shit up.
So it is what it is, but I'mtrying to see how bad it is.
But I digress.
I'm excited for this episode.
I'm sure we have many, manymore stories to go through.
So, as always, guys, we haveone favor to ask you If you
(01:36):
could, please leave us a reviewso that we can grow.
This helps us educate others.
It helps more people find usand continue to do these
episodes.
So please just do that.
Leave a review wherever you'rewatching this, but besides that.
So please just do that.
Leave a review wherever you'rewatching this, but besides that,
sit back, relax, enjoy.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Dude, it's going to be amazing.
Today we are joined by Mary toReal Estate.
Linda is here.
She's going to speak for both.
Unfortunately, connor was notable to make it, but that's all
right, because Linda is going tobring the heat.
She's going to bring the fire.
Currently, to date, she's up toalmost like 200 units and is
talking about some developmentthey've got going on.
Look, let me just be quiet.
Let me go ahead and bring heron stage and let's see what we
(02:07):
got going on here.
Linda, how are we doing today?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
I'm doing fantastic.
I love this introduction.
It's a little bit of likepressure for Connor not being
able to be on and then also likeshooting for the stars.
So yes, let's do it, I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Thank you, guys for having me on.
This is going to be phenomenal,so please tell us a little bit
about yourself.
What got you here?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
What brought you here ?
Yes, absolutely so.
I do real estate right.
Married to a real estate is thename of our company.
I founded that with my husband,connor, so that's where the
name came from.
We were literally newlywedswhen we started this whole
adventure, and how we startedinvesting in real estate
actually is because we both havea background in property
management.
So I was a property manager forclose to 10 years.
My mother-in-law has been aproperty manager forever.
My sister-in-law has been aproperty manager forever.
(02:56):
Connor has worked in propertymanagement.
It's just a whole family affairand eventually we kind of
started looking at each otherLike if we can manage it for
others, we can also own it.
And this is where we are now.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
That is awesome.
So give me some more details.
What, how did you build like?
What's the strategy?
What do you focus on?
What's your bread and butter?
How does that look?
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yeah, so we definitely started.
I don't want to say smallbecause it felt huge to me, but
we definitely started on theresidential side, like a lot of
people do.
Right, we didn't jump rightinto the commercial size of
properties, but but we alwaysmanage multi, like big
multifamilies, like I alwaysmanage condos and HOAs and like
(03:40):
all those types of properties.
Our first one that we actuallyowned was a triplex, so we did a
bunch of strategies on it.
We house hacked it.
It ended up being somewhat of aburr like buy, rehab, refinance
, rent, repeat, all of that kindof stuff.
We also kind of did like almostlike a live and flip because we
(04:03):
were doing things in our unitfor the longest time and then,
yeah, eventually we sold it andwe moved on to bigger, better
things and that's how that'swhere the commercial size
started to develop was afterthat property, for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Oh, I love it, I love it, I love it.
This is going to be a two-partquestion, so talk to me a little
bit more about what it was likegetting that first triplex.
So when I got started, I househacked my first duplex and I did
it sort of the non-conventionalway Again, hopefully this is
not a recorded line itdefinitely is because it's a
podcast, but whatever.
So I bought the duplex, thenmoved my sister in as my
(04:39):
roommate and I never lived there, not a single day in my life.
I never spent the night there.
So I never knew what it waslike to be like next to like
tenants.
So talk to me a little bitabout that.
And then the next piece to thatis talk to me about some of the
like, the trials andtribulations, some of the
struggles behind all of it.
So please fill me in.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Oh yes, oh, I have, I have those, don't worry so well
.
Long story short, what it feltlike?
It felt pretty weird.
Like I'm not going to lie, weactually have a renter right now
in our home where we live.
We have a garage apartment.
I'm not going to bore you guyswith the details, but I'm kind
of like holding it warm for whenmy mom will come live in the US
(05:18):
.
I'm actually from Europe,originally myself, so in the
meantime, until she arrives, wehave a renter in there.
So it's a very similar situationthat we had when we were in the
triplex, which is you run intoyour renters all the time.
There's no escaping them.
They cannot escape you.
You're always very close toeach other, so it's a very
(05:38):
interesting situation.
So sometimes it's great.
Right In the triplex we hadfantastic tenants upstairs.
The tab works like when we havea package, they would get it
inside the house or vice versa,really kind of like always
helping each other out.
And then sometimes it's not sogreat.
Unfortunately, we had peopledownstairs who, I like to say,
(06:04):
catfished us.
I didn't know you could do thatin real estate until it
happened to me, but it wasdefinitely a situation where
somebody filled out theapplication and somebody else
moved in, and so we had noinformation about the person who
actually moved in, other thanthe fact that you know we live
with them again couldn't escapethem, they couldn't escape us.
So we saw how they lived.
They were not the bestneighbors, they were not the
(06:24):
best tenants.
They were not the best tenants.
Unfortunately it was duringcovid, so there was nothing we
could do at literally callingthe attorney hey, they're not
paying, they're doing this,they're doing that and the
attorney was like, yep, well,hang in there.
And uh.
So yeah, we were definitelyexposed to like the good, the
bad and the ugly on thatproperty.
Between that and the rehabsthat we did, we had vacancies
(06:46):
for a while too, which was both,you know, not so great
financially, but perfect at atime where no one knew where the
world was headed.
So for us it was like, do wereally want to invite strangers
in our home, right, even thoughit's a separated unit?
So we went through it all withthat one.
It definitely equipped us theright way.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
That's so funny.
I think a lot of people gothrough those crazy stories and
again, there's just so manydifferent stories.
I think it's so funny.
They probably thought they likepulled one over on you and were
like, oh, we fill out theapplication, we made it.
They moved in.
They're like oh no, like that's, the owners live here.
Like I can't imagine just thatstomach drop, but what a shame.
(07:26):
So you did the triplex, youfigured it out and at some point
you said, okay, let's go bigger.
So talk to me about that.
Like what did that look like?
Why go bigger?
What was the choice or thethought behind that and how did
you do it?
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Yeah.
So it definitely like I make itsound like it was instantaneous
, but it was a year and a halfor so for us to go through that
process.
So what happened was thatTriplex was in Chicago.
That's where we were at thetime and we were kind of at that
phase in our relationship whereso I forgot to mention, by the
way, that Connor and I had juststarted dating at that time Like
(07:56):
, I mean, we had been together awhile but we were not even
engaged, we were not married,nothing.
So discovering landlording wasalso like the discovery part of
the relationship.
It was kind of like we'reeither going to make it or break
it.
But eventually we realized thatwe were making it and that, you
know, we kind of wanted to takethe next level personally and
(08:18):
we realized we didn't want to dothat in Chicago.
So we kind of I'm an Excel nerd, so we kind of did this whole
spreadsheet thing going on whereback before it was trendy, we
looked at population growth andjob growth and crime rates in
all kinds of different cities ofthe US and for a number of
reasons, but mostly real estateand the fact that we have family
(08:39):
down here we moved to Houston.
So our goal was really we'regoing to take.
So we ended up selling thattriplex, right?
So our goal was we're going totake those proceeds and we're
going to reinvent them wherewe'll be able to stretch it
further, because the market isnot as expensive down here.
What we did not expect is thatthere's not as many triplexes
here, or even quads right it's.
(09:01):
You can find somewhat a lot ofduplex, especially in like oops,
sorry, especially in suburbsareas, but it's not as common as
in Chicago, especially the typethat we lived in, where it
looked like a house from theoutside but inside it was
multiple apartments.
So we kind of ran into thatsituation where we started
buying single family homes andwe were looking at each other
(09:23):
like it's going to take usforever, it's going to take us
decades to scale this thing andthat's really not the goal, Like
for me.
I already knew at that pointthat that was my long term goal
was to live off of our realestate investments, and so it
couldn't come fast enough.
So eventually we discovered amultifamily mastermind, like a
lot of people do, and they kindof taught us everything from
(09:50):
there and we were like, yeah,that's what we want to do, we
definitely want to reach thatfinancial freedom in the next
five to 10 years, not in thenext 25 to 30 years.
And there are people who, youknow, are able to do that in
this in the five to 10 year mark, with single families and
residential assets, but I guessthey just have better systems
the more organized that I am.
So we decided to scale with thecommercial side and here we are
(10:13):
.
We really went full on into itin terms of, like building a
business and education, and allthat in December 2023.
And now March 2025, we haveexactly 193 units plus a retail
center that's getting built.
So we're excited.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Holy shit, congratulations.
It's always amazing to be ableto hear everybody else's journey
and I hear a lot of like,similarities and commonalities
between like my story, I knowCole's story like the back of my
hand as well, and theneverybody else we're sort of
bringing in as well and I justwant to say hats off to you.
You brought up an amazing pointabout the whole.
Hey, we were just dating at thetime.
(10:51):
We're like we're either goingto make it or we're going to
break it, and literally that'slike the mantra behind real
estate in this time.
It's one of those situations,especially for entrepreneurs,
where it's just like shit, noone's coming to save me, I have
to make it.
I've got to figure this stuffout, because who else is going
(11:12):
to do it.
So hats off to you on that.
So talk to me a little bitabout the very first deal and
the mastermind, and please go asin-depth as you would like to
to where it was when you startedto formulate the idea of what
syndication was.
You got some of the educationand then at what point did you
decide okay, I'm ready to goahead, jump off into the deep
end and acquire my first asset.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Yes.
So I mean that's a very goodquestion because I think that
something that's very importantfor anybody listening who hasn't
gone through making that firstjump into commercial.
Just remember that there's norace right, you're only racing
with yourself.
And I say that because that wassomething that I struggled with
when we first got started.
(11:50):
Like a lot of mastermind outthere they tell you you're going
to do great your first year, ormaybe by your second year, but
when you're six months in andyou don't see the light at the
end of the tunnel, you startasking yourself, like is it me?
Am I not doing the work?
But then a lot of people stillhave a W-2, right.
And then you also have family,and then you also want to take
care of yourself, and it's hardto juggle it all.
(12:11):
So that's definitely the firstthing that I would say is, like
it's really a mindset right whenit's called mastermind, like
(12:31):
that's a very good name, becauseto me, that was the number one
thing that I struggled with formonths, by the way, to be fully
transparent was how to not putso much pressure on myself, um,
and kind of, like you know, feellike a failure before you even
started and and and really likelet things follow their own
course.
Um, and then once we, we gotinto it.
So it was a lot of education atfirst and it was a lot of
mindset work.
But one thing for me that I'vealways, uh, loved, even from
when I was like a, like ateenager and I'm sorry, my dog
just walked in so the door blewopen, but uh, but one thing that
(12:55):
I've always loved to do wasreally always networking, and
that first deal that's how itcame to us.
That second deal, that's how itcame to us it was all through
relationships, because Irealized at the end that you
have to lean on what you're goodat, and for me, what I'm good
at is talking to people love it,love it.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
So I want to hear about this.
I I guess it'd be later deal, Idon't know exactly which one it
is that you kind of decide toscale up.
But how did you do that,meaning like, did you syndicate
it?
Did you buy it yourself?
Did you it Like?
What did that look like?
And the reason I ask is a lotof people listening are probably
in a similar situation to yourearly spot, where they have a
couple of units and they're likeman, I'd like to grow, but how
(13:35):
do I do that?
So how did you accomplish it?
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Yes, so definitely so .
So so far we've always donesyndications.
We're looking at doing JVs inthe future Spoiler alert because
we want to get into assistedliving facilities, so for that
type of asset, that's what we'releaning towards, but we haven't
even really started working onthat just yet.
(13:58):
So you know, things are veryfluid, but everything we've done
so far, and the current projectthat we're on, which will be
our fourth, those are allsyndications.
Now what I would say is wedefinitely started again.
Going back to the mindset for mewas really like oh my gosh, we
have to GP right away.
Right, and so, if anybody's notfamiliar, that means like we
(14:21):
have to be active.
We have to be the operators whoeither manage the asset or find
the asset or find the investors, whatever it is.
And it took us a couple ofmonths to realize, well, why,
why do we have to be so activeright away?
How can we talk to investors ifwe don't even know what it
feels like to be an investor insyndications?
Like, like, I had a lot like.
(14:41):
The funny story is that when wewere doing residential, I was
working with a mentor of mineand she had already had me do
some research into syndication.
But I thought, oh, this is notfor me Like, this is for like
millionaire people.
And so once we realized like no, it doesn't have to be, it was
kind of this moment of well, howare you going to tell people
(15:04):
you don't have to be amillionaire?
But this is like a limitingbelief that you have yourself
right.
And so that was the first thingwe did.
That first step that we tookwas being a passive investor
first, being an LP, a limitedpartner, first on somebody
else's deal, and kind oflearning, okay, what does it
feel like to be in ourinvestor's shoes before we
actually find investors to beactive?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I love that a thousand percent.
I mean, I'm an LP on a deal aswell.
Shout out to Cole.
But with that being said and Ihate to pivot this far, but talk
to me a little bit about sothere was the Chicago living in
Illinois trying to learn aboutdemographs, learn about markets,
move to Houston.
Now, when it came to thesyndication side and then you're
(15:50):
here, you're learning about themasterminds Did you invest in
your backyard?
Or when you decided to do theLP first, was that outside and a
whole nother.
So you learned about Houstonand then decided to go.
Talk to me about that.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Yes, that's a great question because for us, with
our property managementbackground, we always thought
when we're active we want to bein our backyard.
We know enough about propertymanagement that we want to be
boots on the ground, we want tolearn how to be good asset
managers.
So we want to do that inHouston.
Maybe San Antonio, like Dallasat the furthest right, like that
(16:24):
little Texas triangle.
That's really our buy box Ifwe're like working on the active
side and really like bringingthat expertise that we already
have.
But when it came to LBing wewere like it all goes back to
relationships.
So our first property that wewere passive on it's actually in
Tulsa Oklahoma that we werepassive on, it's actually in
(16:45):
Tulsa Oklahoma.
I've never been there.
I know a lot about the marketnow but I've never been there on
myself.
I mean, if I can give you aquick anecdote, growing up in
another country, all I knewabout Tulsa Oklahoma was that
little time in France whenChandler has to go live there
and he's like why do I?
(17:05):
have to go live there.
Like that was my view of it.
I was like, no, why would weinvest there?
But then, you know, by the timewe actually did invest, I was
in the US for 12 years and wedid our research on the market
and was like, oh okay, yeah, no,this is definitely a great
opportunity.
And that's how we got started.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I love that there's this common theme with your
story that you guys like decideto do something and then it just
gets done and it's somethingthat I see with all the people
that make it farther is theyhave a decision and they do it.
You're like let's buy a triplexor let's start investing boom
you do it.
Hey, let's go check out LPdeals boom you do it.
Hey, let's move to Houston andthen go grow boom you do it.
(17:43):
I love that.
I think that's such animportant factor to growth.
But, on the other token to that, I want to hear more and Nate
mentioned earlier, as you grewand you can hit with any stage
of this but as you startedgrowing, what were some of the
things that you ran into thatwere just like major roadblocks
that you're like I wish somebodywould have told me this, or
yeah, I mean a very easy one isthe whole asset management thing
(18:05):
.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
I thought, oh, I'm a property manager, everybody's
going to want me to manage theirmillion dollar property.
Like, of course, we'll justwalk into a networking event and
there will be operatorseverywhere saying, oh my gosh,
linda, we've been waiting foryou.
That was definitely the firstroadblock was like being hit
with that realization that, hey,this is not how it works.
(18:30):
Like, yes, it's OK to be new,it's OK to find people who want
to teach you, but they're notgoing to give you the keys to
the castle.
And again it goes back to thepersonal mental race of thinking
like it's OK, like you'renot're not here to.
Like, yes, you're here to proveyourself, but everybody is
bringing something to the table.
(18:51):
Like, like, don't feel like you.
You know, these people are likeon a pedestal because they've
done it and you have to like letgo of everything.
Like I've met, um, people whoare new in the space and who say
, like I'm willing to work forfree, I'm not.
Like, no, sir.
And it's all those things whereyou're like no, you have to
(19:12):
realize, okay, maybe I won't doeverything right on my first
deal, maybe I have to learncertain things.
Maybe I'm more interested inlike A, but I only have access
to B right now.
But just know your worth andkeep on the path that you want
to take.
And so, yeah, that firstroadblock was definitely a
moment where my husband and I,like we, looked at each other.
We're like, well, I guess thisis not how we're going to enter
(19:34):
it.
So what do we do next?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Oh, I love that.
Well, I'm not.
Okay, that's great.
That's great.
That was great Mic drop.
So talk to me now about thejourney from the actual scale.
So you did the LP, got yourfirst deal done and then now
it's time to continue to grow.
So what are the next couplesteps going to look like?
Where are we at right now interms of we just closed on and
(20:02):
we're doing a little bit ofdevelopment?
And then you mentioned more micdrop and a hint drop that you
might be getting into like alittle bit of the assisted
living as well.
So what's that journey going tolook like?
How's the trajectory going?
Are you still in thesyndication space and then going
to the JV or bring us into yourworld on that one?
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Yeah.
So it's interesting because Idon't think that we have thought
out so much what it will looklike.
We just more so have an idea ofwhat we're interested in, and
and I will say, by the way, thisis a great I mean, we've always
loved real estate, right,Otherwise we wouldn't have done
all this.
It's a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
But, but I think that it's it's it's more so for us,
like, okay, stick to what wewant to do, like we're not going
to try and force ourselves todo something that's completely
outside of what we're interestedin.
Like, for example, rv parksright now are booming.
Like I'm interested a littlebit, but I know that this is not
something that I want to buyright now.
It doesn't mean I won't buy itin, like you know, a couple of
(21:02):
years, but that's just notsomething that has my interest.
I have no other way to explainit.
Right, one thing that the twothings that we want to diversify
into are hotels, boutiquehotels, not trying to become
Hilton, but just just somethingthat's like, you know, maybe 12
(21:23):
to 15 rooms or like 20 at most,that that we could, that we can
acquire, ideally in a place thatis very vacation-like, so that
it's cool to go to work.
And then, like I said, assistedliving facility.
And that one goes back to whatI was saying about my mom coming
here.
That one is really close to myheart because my mom has been a
nurse for a couple of decadesnow and she worked a lot in
(21:45):
geriatric care.
So when I was a kid kid.
When I was like 17, 18, myfirst jobs were always in
nursing homes, and so that's onething that I want to get into
eventually is senior living likeparticularly in the space of
assisted living is just offerbetter living conditions for
seniors.
Like I just seen how certainpeople are treated in those
places and I didn't like that.
(22:05):
And then also, now that I'm hereand in this business, I also
realize like this is a hugeopportunity.
I think people need to talkmore about the fact that, like
you know, I love Cody Sanchez,for example, and she's always
talking about buy businessesfrom baby boomers whose kids
don't want to take over.
Ok, that's fantastic.
Like that's actually somethingthat I want to do in the next
three to five years, like notright now, but down the road.
(22:26):
But then where are the babyboomers going to go?
They're going to sell thebusiness, and then what?
And so for me, I really see thecorrelation between something
that's like very close to myheart, but also like a huge
market opportunity that I thinkneeds to be talked about more.
So, yeah, those are.
Those are the two things that wewant to get into besides
(22:46):
apartment.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
And those are the reasons why I love it.
I love it, cole.
You mind if I jump in for onemore second.
So okay, I love that a thousandpercent.
But one thing that we haven'tyet touched on, that I was
wondering if you were going tobring up, so now I'm just going
to go ahead and do it.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Oh, let's do it, okay , I'm curious.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
I'm going to take it back just a little bit.
So it was the Chicago toHouston mastermind.
But now how the heck did youstart your own meetup?
I've attended these for thelast couple of weeks.
You have a virtual meetup everyThursday at 11 CST and I walked
into this room and I had noidea what I was getting into and
I'm greeted by like 35 to like40 different people that I had
never seen a day in my life.
(23:26):
I'm like what?
And Linda's leading this thingand she's only been in this game
for like a year and a half, twoyears.
How did that happen?
Where did that growth come from?
Fill me in.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Yes, absolutely.
I mean, it always goes back tonetworking.
I think this is the biggestgame changer for us is that
we're always trying to reallylike have those genuine, genuine
relationships where it's like,okay, how can we help out?
And so that one came exactlyfrom that.
Like, literally, I had a friendwho, from our mastermind, who
had that meetup, like he hadcreated it.
(23:58):
Uh, but he had created it whenhe was newer, I guess, because
now that he was scaling, he nolonger had the time, and he
literally sent an email to theregular attendees which I was a
part of, and said, hey, I'm, I'mdone, like the next one will be
the last.
And me thinking like I don'twant this to go, cause this is
my way of networking, Iresponded and I said, hey, if
(24:19):
you're too busy right now, Idon't mind taking it over for
like two or three months and youcan have it back.
Like I'm not even trying tosteal it, I just want to
continue having the opportunityto network and you know,
whenever you're ready, you canhave it again.
And he said, no, he was like Idon't want it again, but take it
over.
He was like you know what thetime slot is there, people are
already used to it.
(24:40):
You have the name, have at it,it's yours.
And I remember that it was atnight, because I was actually in
class.
I was doing a public speakingclass at the time and so because
I was in the class and it waslike kind of like around 8, 9 pm
, I was like I'm not going toworry about it tonight, let me
sleep on it.
And then the next morning myco-host had had the same idea
(25:01):
that I had.
So that gentleman came to meand he was like hey, he wants to
do it.
Why don't you guys do ittogether?
And for me that was the dealsealer, because all of a sudden
I didn't have to be scared ofdoing it by myself.
All of a sudden it was like OK,I don't have to be there every
Thursday, like we could, likewe're there a lot, trust me,
I've done this call from France,I've done this call from the
airport.
Like literally last week Irolled into my house from a
(25:23):
conference at 10 30 am and thecall at 11.
I was right there.
But but there there's lesspressure when, when you know,
like okay, there's somebody likelike you guys right where, it's
like okay, I have somebody thatI can rely on.
And so that's where it camefrom.
Once I knew that I had kind oflike someone in my corner doing
it with me and and I had slepton it and I was like, how are
(25:43):
you going to pass on thisopportunity?
I took it over.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
So cool, so cool, and I vibe with that so much
because meetups are somethingthat I always did from the start
and it's something just likereally skyrockets your success,
I feel like.
And anybody out there that hasa meetup that's listening to
this, I'm sure is nodding theirhead, going yep, yep, it works,
and anybody that doesn't isprobably like me.
I should get into this and theanswer is yes, you should.
One way or another, you shouldfigure it out with the host
(26:09):
phenomenon, all that stuff.
It's awesome and I love whatyou said.
You never miss one and or oneof you is always there and you
kind of show up, no matter whatit takes, and that is just such
a huge piece of this stuff.
Um, I have a question this maybe a stupid question I have to
ask.
With assisted living, right, wehave the baby boomers coming up
, but what happens when the babyboomers eventually die?
(26:30):
Like?
Does that then shrink down?
And if we put a ton of supplyinto assisted living, where do
you go from that?
Speaker 4 (26:35):
something I've always wondered yeah, that's a great
question, um, so, not to bemorbid, but people will die
eventually, and so one thingthat a fellow friend of mine
sent me recently is why not alsobuy land to own as cemeteries?
And so that was kind of likethe very first, very first time
(26:57):
that I was ever exposed to thatthat was literally like a week
or two ago and I was like, oh,I'm not sure that I'm interested
, but this is definitelysomething.
Now to get back to yourquestion is like, what happens
to the facilities that we'veactually built, right?
I mean, for me, I don't thinkthey're going to go anywhere.
If it was up to me, they wouldright.
Like, I grew up in a familywhere it's like you take care of
(27:20):
your elders for as long as youcan, and you better can for a
long time.
But unfortunately, I think thatthere will always come a time
when families cannot handle it,don't have the means, don't have
the time, and so, yes, theremight be a little bit of a scale
back, but we're not out heretrying to become the next.
I don't know what's a famousnursing home brand here, but
(27:44):
we're not trying to be that,we're just trying to like help
out however we can.
I'm a big proponent.
I always say if we can all helpone person, then the world will
be a better place.
It doesn't have to be theperson who helped you, just just
pass it on.
So, yes, maybe we will onlyhelp like I don't know, hundreds
of of elders and theneventually the the well will tap
dry.
But but I think it's better tohelp those hundreds and do that
(28:06):
than to not try at all.
So we'll see what happens coolresponse.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
I like that.
I like the idea.
I mean.
Hey, back to your cemetery idea, though.
If flippers and wholesalers canhammer, probate and, just like
you know, reach out to yourrecently dead uncle and buy the
house, I think cemeteries is onthe block when I received it I
was like not sure I'm there yet,but it's, it's an idea.
Hey, you gotta do what yougotta do.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Nate, it's, it's, it's, it's too.
I don't even.
I don't even know if we'regoing to go there today, but it
just brings up so many memoriesfrom our very first property
that we bought years ago.
It feels like, uh, we bought a12 unit, Cole and I.
We got two other partners onthe deal and it was literally
right next door to a cemetery,with quiet neighbors.
So it's a horrible joke, butit's there, it happens.
(28:56):
So that brought it up to me.
But either way, I think I don'tknow.
I'm wondering you think she'sready?
Speaker 3 (29:02):
I think she's ready.
I think we go for it.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
We go for it, okay, I think we go for it.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
We go for it, okay.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I have a surprise for you.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Here's the deal we're going to ask you six questions
that we ask every guest, andwe're going to do our best to
not interject, not say anything,and we're going to see what
happens.
So you ready.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
I'm so ready and don't worry, I can interject
myself.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Perfect.
Either way.
We're getting started, so herewe go.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
What separates top performing entrepreneurs and or
investors from the rest of thecrowd?
People who don't care aboutfailure.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
So, good Was that it.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
We've already failed, and I do this every single time
I fail, but I'm going to trynot to interject down the line
Anybody that's listening.
Pause this, start this wholething all the way over.
She's been dropping this entiretime.
All right.
Next question what is a dailyhabit that's contributed to your
success?
Speaker 4 (29:56):
Ooh, journaling, a hundred percent journaling, like
writing down what I'm gratefulfor.
What are the goals for the day?
How did the gig, the day, go?
Yeah, that's been awesome,especially for the mindset part
that I was talking about earlier.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Ah, here we go.
Dear and dear to my heart Foranyone that's listening, we're
flashing our cool journals overhere.
I love that.
What is a piece of advice thatyou'd give to yourself if you're
starting again?
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Oh, that's a tough one, because I think I would say
start earlier.
But I also think that I'm a bigbeliever that everything
happens for a reason and that Iwas supposed to get to where I
am now the way that I did andget to where we're going next
this way.
So, yeah, that one is always abattle in my heart where I'm
like, oh, I wish I had started10 years ago, but then it would
(30:45):
be a different path.
So I'm happy with the path wetook.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
So wait, let me follow that up then.
Okay, if you wouldn't change it, that's fine.
But if you could whispersomething to yourself when you
were younger, before you kneweverything that you do now, what
is something that you wouldtell yourself then?
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Invest in Bitcoin.
Well played, no.
I would probably say somethinglike like like, don't be scared
to shine like you.
You know that part of coachcarter where they say, like,
what terrifies us the most issuccess.
Um, that that's definitelysomething that that like yeah,
that would come to mind is like,hey, go for it.
(31:21):
Like, because I've never beenreally scared of like looking
stupid, clearly, or failures,but there has been time in my
life where I was like, ooh, butwhat if that changes?
Like a life or what I do or whoI am, and it's like don't care
about that, just go for it.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Love it.
So what is your favoritebusiness and or real estate book
?
Speaker 4 (31:43):
Ooh.
So what's my favorite one?
That I think that's the wordthat's like makes it interesting
Because I read a lot.
By the way, I'm big on audiobooks.
I have so many like like paperbooks.
Um, there's a lot of books thathave, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
So I'm not surprised based on where you're at.
I'm sorry, I'm not surprisedbased on where you're at.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
It makes sense.
But there's definitely severalbooks that have like changed
kind of like my view on things.
Like the Millionaire Next Doordid that Like I kind of thought
it was going to be a book abouthabits, but to really see, like
all the stats and data aboutrandom millionaires, I was like,
oh, that, like you know,they're not that different, that
different right.
So that was definitely one thatopened my eyes to that.
(32:28):
Um, that one is probably morelike business.
I love to pitch anything byoran clough.
Uh, big plug for that one.
I think that was a great one,definitely in addition to
creating super fans.
But britney hodak, I thinkthose kind of go hand in hand.
They're more about like, like,pitch anything is more about
sales.
But creating super fans is likeokay, but how do you do sales?
(32:49):
By just being a good person whotakes good care of your clients
, like that's the bottom line,right?
Um, so I really like these twotogether.
Uh, I mean, I could go on andon and on.
I love the 10x rule.
I love the um I forgot the, thename of the lady who wrote it
but uh, that five second rule,where it's like anything you
(33:09):
don't want to do, you just countto five and you do it.
That was a book I read athousand years ago, but that was
great.
The very first self-developmentbook that I read was the Secret
of Positive Thinking, I thinkthe name is.
It's like a kind of a longtitle and it's Aaron Kennard.
Yes, yeah.
(33:30):
And the same thing.
I thought that was going to besomething completely different,
but it was really like his storyand how he handles struggles
and how he faced likedifficulties that came out of
nowhere at him because it washealth issues.
It's like, what can you do toavoid it?
Nothing.
And so that was the first bookthat I read.
That was about self-development, where I was like, okay, it's
game on so many good ones there.
(34:00):
What is your favorite part ofowning your business?
Oh, working harder than when Iwork for someone else.
You mean it's not easier.
No, you would think, right, no,but it's definitely the freedom
, though.
I love the fact that, like yes,it feels like more hours, but
(34:20):
it also feels like freer hours,because I get to like focus on
what I like, I get to focus onwhat's growing our business,
like it's something that you own.
There's just somethingdifferent about yes, it takes
more time, but it's time thatyou want to spend.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Real quick.
There's something I realizedrecently because I always
struggled with that idea is alot of people would come back
and be like, well, if you'regoing to do an entrepreneur
thing, then you're just going towork more and end up in the
same place, like, why even gothat route?
And I used to fight I more andend up in the same place, like
why even go that route?
And I used to fight.
I'm like you know, you know,maybe kind of a good point.
But I started to realize you'rejust betting on yourself, right
?
Yes, you put in more workupfront, but with the intention
(34:55):
that it's going to hockey stickat the end.
So if you work, you knowtraditional route and there's
nothing wrong with that, that'sawesome, it's kind of more
linear.
And if you go entrepreneur,you're putting in more work up
front and then a little hockeystick versus traditional.
It's kind of just, you know,steady.
So either way works.
But just something to thinkabout.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
Yeah, no for sure.
And, and there's one quote Imean it's not about
entrepreneurship, it's moreabout like, like management.
But there was one thing that anold boss of mine told me once.
So I was training someone whowas replacing me because I was
moving up in the company and andI realized pretty early on that
the person replacing me didn'twant to follow that path.
And I was kind of likesurprised by that.
(35:35):
Right like that was kind of thefirst time in real life that I
saw somebody not wanting to growand and at the time my boss
told me you know, not everybodycan be a general.
Sometimes we need soldiers andthat's when.
I realized everybody's reasoningis different, everybody's lives
is different and you reallycan't judge, like, why somebody
does what they do until you walkin their shoes.
(35:59):
So, yeah, no, I definitelythink.
I definitely agree with youthat entrepreneurship is a
different kind of hustle.
For me, I could not work 40years in a cubicle, but for
someone else it might be likethe best thing ever.
So it all goes back to what doyou want to do?
As long as you do what you wantto do, for me that's freedom.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Mic drop.
I love that.
I've realized a couple ofthings as well.
Cole, number one, I think wehave given ourselves an F minus
minus on the super six, like hotseat, because instead of doing
like normal, which is like aconversation.
So this definitely did not workout.
We'll have to try again at alater date next time.
Speaker 4 (36:37):
It's like playing the lottery next time yes, no
problem, I'll come back in 10years.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
We'll do this hopefully sooner than that, but
I appreciate the thought thatwe're going to still be running
in 10 years.
I love that.
That is awesome.
My final question for you whatis something new that you've
implemented into your businessthat's helped drive your success
?
Speaker 4 (36:57):
Ooh, how new does it have to be?
We don't know.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Whatever you say, whatever you want to know, we're
going to verify.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
How are we going to verify?
That's a good point.
Definitely LinkedIn.
Linkedin has been a gamechanger for me.
The reason why I say how I knewis because at this point, I've
been doing it for several months, but it has really helped
broaden my horizon, my network,my mindset too.
I really thought LinkedIn waslike, oh, this is just where you
(37:26):
go upload your resume foreverybody to see it.
Um, but now it has morphed intosomething number one,
completely different for mybusiness, but even something
that like again, spoiler alert,it might be something that I go
down that rabbit hole of liketurning that into a business too
.
And, um, like I I mentioned Icame back from traveling last
week is because I recently gotJohn Maxwell certified, so now
(37:48):
I'm like certified speaker butalso certified coach, and so I
have loved discovering LinkedInand that's kind of like
something that's been buildingin my brain where I'm like, oh,
could I help?
You know, other people discoverit too, so that's the newest
thing.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Timeout so amazing.
I don't know if you want tospill the tea, give us, give us
all the tea.
Spill the beans, whatever thesaying is.
But can you give us a littlebit of tidbit and maybe some
advice on how you utilizeLinkedIn, like, is there a
formula every single day orevery single week that you're
following and what sort of tookyou from?
All I got to do is upload aresume to where you're using it
now to potentially become abusiness or a brand.
(38:28):
So fill us in.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
Yes, I mean it's.
It's funny timing because I wasliterally recording something
last night.
I'm going to be part of thisvirtual summit and it's all
pre-recorded videos, right.
So, like, my section is onLinkedIn and and so so I was
just like brainstorming andwriting down and recording what,
(38:50):
like how to use it best, right?
So to me, it's like you have torealize that linkedin is really
like this giant networkingevent.
Yes, it's professional, uh, butit doesn't.
That doesn't mean that it hasto be boring.
It doesn't mean that you haveto be like suit and tie all the
time.
Like, for me, I have a lot offun being myself, and myself is
pretty goofy, by the way, I Idon't know if you noticed, but
I'm not the most buttoned up.
(39:12):
Like you know, I don't wear asuit every day.
Like like I, you know I dressedup, but uh.
But yeah, I think that that'sthe biggest thing with LinkedIn
is to remember, like, the bestpart is to be just authentic, to
just be yourself.
Like.
This is why my tagline that yousee here, that's my tagline
from LinkedIn.
What I want to teach people islike how to like be your best
(39:34):
self.
Don't try to copy anybody.
And then, if you do that in theinvestment industry, guess what
?
You'll probably also buildwealth.
And that's pretty nice,especially when you do it like
relying on your values and whatyou like to do and you don't
have to compromise who you are.
And I think that's a bigmisconception that people have
with LinkedIn.
It's like, oh, I have to besomething else or I have to be
(39:55):
like this very big expert.
Yes, I do like to post everyday to answer your question,
like I post Monday throughFriday.
So sometimes my post will beeducational, but then sometimes
it will just be like sharinglife stories, right, like that
whole tennis catfish me.
That was a post I did a whileback because I was like people
need to know.
(40:15):
So yeah, there's an educationalaspect, but it's just about
sharing stories.
To me, that's the mostimportant thing is that share
stories, share who you are andbe consistent with it, and
that's how you tapped into thepower of LinkedIn, in my opinion
.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
So good, so good.
This has been awesome.
It's so cool to hear your storygoing from newlyweds, when you
started, or maybe even a littlebefore newlyweds, like you
mentioned hearing about your PMbackground, going into that
first triplex and house hackingit, hitting the issues that you,
of course, will run into, thendecide to go crazy, go to
houston, do some single families, jump into coaching, start
(40:52):
syndicating and growing um, andthen just going through all this
mindset shifts and justbuilding this portfolio and to
see where you are now.
So I have two final questionsfor you.
One do you have any finaladvice?
And two, where can people findyou?
Speaker 4 (41:08):
Yeah, my final advice is just do it.
I mean, go all Nike on it,whatever it is, and whether
you're like excited, scared,definitely, definitely like if
you're nervous or scared,definitely reframe that as
excitement.
But whatever you're feeling, ifthat's something that you're
interested in, something thatyou want to do like in your gut
feeling, just just go for it.
(41:28):
That's my best advice.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
I just want to highlight something you said
that was so fast and people willnot pick it up.
You said, if you're nervous orscared, just reframe it as
excitement that is so powerful.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
Thank you, thank you.
And then where can people findme?
So I'm very big on LinkedIn,thank you.
And then where can people findme?
So I'm very big on LinkedIn.
Like I said, our website ismarriedtorealestatecom, so like,
literally married, the numbertwo realestatecom.
That's also my email, by theway.
So, linda atmarriedtorealestatecom, feel
(42:03):
free to like, email me anytime.
And, yeah, come to the meetupevery Thursday at 11 central.
I'm happy to share the link andyou'll see me there.
You know, dancing and crackingjokes, and that's what I do.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
I get a test, and it has been a bombcom going to
these meetups.
I love them.
Linda, thank you so much forcoming through.
This has been amazing.
I knew that it was going to beone of those mic drop kind of
situations.
I just did not know how goodyou have set the standard and
the bar so high up I can't evenreach.
So it is phenomenal.
Please let Cotter know that wedo want him to come to the stage
(42:32):
and he's also got to bring theheat.
Speaker 4 (42:33):
Just like you did for Forza 5.
That's right.
I like that.
I like that it's a competitionnow, yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Hey, it's game time, so, with that being said, if you
are driving, thank you so muchfor tuning in to Forged in Fire.
Again, we're looking forward toseeing you all on the next
episode.
Everybody take care, see yousoon.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Forged in
Fire.
If you enjoyed today's raw,unfiltered stories, don't forget
to like, subscribe and leave usa review.
Your feedback helps us bringmore real-world insights to
entrepreneurs like you.
Be sure to join us next timefor even more lessons, struggles
(43:16):
and breakthroughs on the roadto success.
Keep forging ahead.
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