June 13, 2025 • 21 mins
In this episode of CRE RUNdown, host Heather sits down with real estate investor and entrepreneur Zane Schartz to explore the deeper "why" behind wealth building. Zane shares how his mission to help others attain financial freedom is rooted in something far greater than money—his unwavering faith in God.
Together, they unpack the mindset, strategy, and purpose that drive Zane’s work in commercial real estate. From the practical steps to build a strong portfolio to the spiritual convictions that shape his decisions, this conversation offers insight for anyone who wants to align their business goals with eternal values.
Whether you're growing your first investment or seeking a clearer sense of purpose in your financial journey, this episode delivers clarity, encouragement, and inspiration to lead with both strategy and faith.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Heather Ewing, the CRE Rundown.
I am your host, Heather Ewing,and I have a delightful guest
that you get to connect withtoday.
It is none other than ZaneSchartz.
He is the president of FreedomCommercial Real Estate in
beautiful Dallas, Texas.
Welcome, Zane.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thanks for having me.
Beautiful Dallas, texas, that'sone way to put it.
Beautiful from afar dependingon what season.
Yeah, exactly, if it's thesummer, not so beautiful.
If it's fall and spring, it's agood place to be.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Definitely Well, we connected through LinkedIn and I
absolutely love your postingstyle.
I don't remember who it wasthat I connect with.
That's connected with you, butthen, as I look, there's a ton
of mutual connections.
But I love how you look atdifferent properties and you
break down your assessments andwhat's nice is that you really
get into the nitty gritty that alot of people keep on the back
(00:55):
end.
So, one, I want to congratulatethat for you.
But two, share with my audiencea little bit more about you so
they can get to know who Zane is.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, so thank you for the encouragement.
First, I appreciate thatLinkedIn has been very cool and
there's been a ton of growth,and very thankful for how it's
grown.
But a little bit about me.
I'm from Dallas.
I grew up playing hockey.
It's a big part of my story.
I played at very high levelsall the way up through college
and then I played professionallyin the minor leagues.
I played in Europe and Germany,finland and Hungary and played
(01:29):
in some NHL system.
So that was a huge part of mylife and a huge part of life
before business.
But I kind of came to a point inmy life when I knew that hockey
wasn't going to pay the billsas much as I would like.
So I knew that I needed to planfor real estate.
I ended up getting someinternships in college at
different development firms,private equity groups and
(01:52):
brokerage firms in real estateand I really just wanted to
learn kind of what realm of realestate I wanted to be in, ended
up picking the private equityside.
I worked at a private equitygroup for six years years and we
grew from three employees andup to 20 plus we grew from $100
million of assets to $750million.
So tons of growth and learned alot.
(02:13):
And then about a couple ofyears ago, I said it was time to
kind of spread my wings and fly.
So I started Freedom CommercialReal Estate and it's been
awesome and the name Freedom.
I always like to kind of tellinvestors what the meaning
behind Freedom Commercial RealEstate is.
Number one we want to helpinvestors on their journey
towards financial freedom and wedo that through cash flowing
(02:34):
real estate.
Everything we buy cash flowsfrom day one.
So financial freedom.
And then secondly and moreimportantly in my opinion in my
kind of life, is freedom isfound through Jesus Christ alone
, and my faith is the mostimportant thing about me and I
think that true freedom comesfrom the hope that we have in
Jesus.
So you know we want to helppeople on the investing side and
(02:55):
also just life in general.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Right, because life is not silos Right, and I want
to congratulate you too, becauseI think it's such an unspoken
especially in commercial realestate right to have faith with
it.
So I think that's really great.
One, that you've identifiedthat for yourself, and two, that
you do live authentically andthat's a big part of life, I
think, is having that spiritualor belief in God and living in
(03:21):
that way.
That really keeps us on thetrack right.
I think, especially with thestresses and some of the things
that you experience frominvesting to brokerage, that
there's many ways that you couldget off course that are not
advantageous, and so I thinkalso having that faith first is
really important as a guidingforce.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, there's a lot more to life than making money
in real estate.
You know, real estate istemporary.
Making people money is fun andI love what I do.
But, more important than that,what's going to matter and when
we're all dead and gone, in 100years, a couple hundred years,
that's going to be the impactthat we make and what we believe
.
So that's definitely mypriorities.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Kind of like with the statement of you know, create
the ending before you begin.
I've really seen that vision ofthe finish line, whatever.
That is right, because at somepoint it's what's going to
dictate all of our actionsthrough the years and the
decades, personally andprofessionally.
So, backing up, you know I'm abig runner, so I love to jump in
when someone is also well,you've performed at a very high
(04:33):
level.
Can't say I've been at thatlevel, but I truly admire it and
I think one of the things thatfascinates me is just the
integration of performing atelite levels like you have, or
endurance sports.
They really set up a lot of thedifferent skill sets and, I
think, work ethics forcommercial real estate.
(04:54):
What's your take on that?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I mean, I couldn't agree more.
I think there are so manyoverlaps from the attributes
needed to be a high levelathlete and be successful in
business.
I think high level athleteshave a drive and determination
to excel and to exceed and to bethe best.
And you know, same as runnersand anything you, you're trying
to beat your last time, you'retrying to beat your last year's
(05:18):
performance, you're trying to bebetter than the person next to
you, especially in hockey, likeit's very.
Every sport is competitive, butyou know, hockey was my world,
so I was trying to beat out theperson next to me and move up to
the next level and beat out theperson next to me at that level
and move up to the next level.
So it's very competitive.
And then transitioning that kindof same mentality of how do I
implement that into real estate?
And it's like there's people allaround me that are raising
(05:40):
money to, you know, getinvestors to invest with them.
So my mentality is how do Ibecome the best investment for
them and how do I createsomething that they'll want to
invest with?
Because I'm competing to getinvestors, dollars in our door?
And you know, same with sportstoo, is like you have a specific
piece of the puzzle, that youare on, a team or a specific
(06:00):
niche that you, that you mighthave, and our our niche is cash
flow.
So we know that investors aregoing to have deals that don't
cash flow and maybe they haveheavy appreciation on the back
end, and we know that they havedeals that might only cash flow
and no appreciation.
So we wanted to build somethingfor investors that was very
stable, very consistent and kindof had the three big buckets of
(06:22):
real estate investing, of cashflow, appreciation and
depreciation.
So that's what we've done andit's been very, very good ride
up for us.
We have 400 plus investors and70 plus properties, so it's been
fun.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
That's great.
What's your target for the restof the year?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I mean the target is always hey, how do we get more
investors in the door?
Because the more investors weget means more properties we can
buy, and that's what's fun forme is the portfolio management
side.
So I'd say our goals are moreinvestors, and more investors
equals more properties to buy.
More properties we buy equalsmore diversification for
investors, which means lowerrisk.
So the more diversified you are, the lower your risk is.
(07:00):
So, really, I think, justcontinuing to grow on LinkedIn,
I've had pretty great successand great growth there and a lot
of good feedback, and you knowwe're starting to raise a lot of
money from investors onLinkedIn.
I think in the past month alonewe've had over a million bucks
from just LinkedIn people whohave found me on LinkedIn.
So it's been pretty crazy.
Yeah, it's been great.
(07:22):
And then, yeah, I think we'rejust kind of doubling down on
social media and pushing therefrom a marketing standpoint and
getting more inbound leads.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
What would you say has helped in that conversion on
LinkedIn for a hundred million?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Not a hundred million yet in terms of bringing in
that much money, but one day.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I'm speaking it in for you, Zane.
One day You'll call me in acouple of months and be like
Heather you know when you shotout the 100 million.
We've hit it now.
I'll wait for that.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I think the success has been a few things.
One of it probably the mostcommon feedback I get is the
transparency that I have on thenumbers, like you said a second
ago, was.
You know, I'm very transparenton the numbers and what we look
for, like I don't hide any ofthe knowledge that I have.
I have, you know, a lot ofexperience through private
equity and kind of.
I started as an analyst andgrew into a chief investment
(08:13):
officer and now at my own firm.
So I have a lot of knowledgethat I can share and I'm not
greedy with it.
I let people know what I lookfor in deals.
I even let people know thedeals that I'm looking at to
potentially buy.
And there's enough deals outthere that if somebody buys it
there's always going to beanother and I have the deal flow
that I can get more deals.
I probably have 100, 200 dealsa week that brokers send me off
(08:35):
market, on market whatever.
So there's not a lack of dealflow for me.
So I'm not greedy with myinformation.
And then from that an outflow orbyproduct of that comes
investors who I'm gaining theirtrust.
They've been like, hey, Ifollowed you for a few months
and I like what I see, I likewhat you do.
They understand the model andit's fairly simple and you know
we buy brand names that mostpeople know, like Starbucks and
(08:57):
Dollar General and AutoZone, andeverybody knows these brands,
so they understand it and liketo get in.
And everybody knows thesebrands, so they understand it
and like to get in.
So I think the conversion rateis probably transparency and
just comprehension of investors,and maybe just our follow-up
process is pretty good.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Definitely, so what would you say is your timeline
for Madison Wisconsin?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
We don't own anything in Wisconsin, I know.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
That's why I'm saying it's a great place to visit
during those really hot monthsfor you in Dallas, Texas.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I know, right, I should pop up there.
But I'd say, you know, thereare some states that we like to
be in more than others and thereason for that is kind of our
exit is to roll up and sell toprivate equity groups or
institutional buyers and theywant to be in the Sunbelt.
That's kind of what most ofthem like to do is Texas,
florida, carolinas.
So we focus on that because ourend goal is to roll up and sell
(09:57):
.
But you know we also own dealsin New York and Michigan and
Ohio.
But you know, more recentlywe've been focusing on Sunbelt.
But Wisconsin's a great place.
I almost went to.
I was almost a Badger.
So yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
It's amazing, you know, from a brokerage
standpoint of how many deals arefinalized at the Memorial
Terrace, you know, at the Union.
And it's one of those peoplealways love going there.
They either remember when theywere in college or they visited
a friend in college and thingsof that nature.
So I think it has kind of awarm spot in people's hearts.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
So it's kind of fun.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
So, as we back further up again, what would you
say were one or two of theskills that you learned in
professional hockey that havehelped you through some of the
ups and downs in in theinvestment world?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
because as we know it's never dull you know I get
this question a lot and I thinkthe biggest thing that
transitioned from the pro sportsworld to the business world is
just learning how to lose.
I think learning how to loseand not losing momentum from
failure to failure.
One of my favorite quotes issuccess is moving from failure
(11:13):
to failure without lack ofenthusiasm.
And my entire life and myentire career I quote unquote
failed in hockey, whether it belosing a game or getting cut
from a team or getting traded,and I never it never slowed me
down.
It just gave me more motivationto make the next deal.
So in real estate it's the samething.
There's so many deals out therethat you're going to make
(11:35):
offers on that.
You know you might not get,that you're going to get to the
closing table and somethingmight happen, or that you're
going to think that a propertyis going to work and it's not,
and you know.
I think just having thementality of continuing forward,
pushing forward, grindingthrough and having the end goal
in mind is really big.
So failures are opportunities tolearn and I'd say that's number
(11:56):
one, and number two is just forme and I think everybody who
plays sports at a high level isjust the ability to be the best.
Like I just always wanted to bethe best on the ice, I always
wanted to put the extra work in,to be the hardest worker, to
get to the next level, to playthe most, to get the most points
(12:17):
, and all of it's to help theteam from a sports standpoint.
And from a business standpoint,if you're an operator and your
desire is to be the best,ultimately you're doing it for
your investors.
So if my desire is to be thebest and create the best
investment, it's going tobenefit investors on the end,
which will then, in turn,exponentially grow my business,
because happy investors arerepeat investors and happy
(12:38):
investors are investors who telltheir friends about the
investment.
So the better you are, thebetter investors are and the
more you get to do.
So those are probably twothings I'd say.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Right, and how do you de-stress?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I work more than I should.
Probably you know.
I love spending time with myfamily.
I love to travel.
I just got back from New Yorkvisiting my brother.
I'm going this weekend forFather's Day to hang out with my
parents.
That's a big thing.
Travel is really big andimportant to me.
I was in Germany for a fewmonths to start this year.
I love playing hockey.
(13:15):
I still play.
I'm kind of a nerd too.
I play video games with mybrother, since he lives in New
York.
I live in Dallas, so we playvideo games probably once a week
for an hour or two, that'sgreat, that's kind of.
that's how I unwind.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Well, don't you think life it's really about having
that diversified portfolio,right?
Because whether it's sports,whether it's, you know, fun
things with family, like withyour brother visiting them in
person, the phone calls, allthese different things, I think
they really plug into what we do, then, whether it's the
investment sales, whether it'sbrokerage, things of that nature
(13:49):
, as I was sharing a little bitwith you, I paint, so there's
one of mine behind and then withthe running.
But I think, don't you think ithelps you to think in different
ways and you see different, ifyou want to say troubles or
challenging deals, that youthink of them in different ways
and you also then cultivatedifferent ideas to solve them,
(14:11):
and I think that's been a hugeplus.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, I mean, I think , just having you can't have,
you can't do only one thing inlife and have diversified
interest.
It kind of allows you to seethe big picture from maybe
different angles that youwouldn't have if you were only
laser focused, and then alsojust like burnout is real If
you're too focused on one thing,and you're not taking the time
(14:36):
to unwind and relax and do thethings that you enjoy.
in the end, you need to unwindand pursue what you're
passionate about and have like awhy.
And if your why is just to makemore money, that's going to be
a pretty dismal ending.
And you know I always post onLinkedIn.
And this is how I really feelis we help investors get the
(14:58):
freedom, the financial freedom,to do the things that they're
most passionate about, and ifthat's spending time with your
family, if it's traveling, ifit's supporting certain causes,
that's what we want to help themand we want to create more time
and more freedom for them tohave the ability to do that
outside of their W-2 income.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Perfect, and that ties in perfectly to my last
question, which is how do youlive fully?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Oh man, I mean, for me, living fully is my end goal
is to use the gifts that I'vebeen giving in the business
acumen to start a nonprofit thatfunds Christian missionaries
around the world.
So, if I can start an endowmentor a charitable fund or some
(15:48):
type of investment vehicle, thatevery single dollar from the
cash flow or from the proceedsgoes to fund the cause that I'm
most passionate about, which istelling people and telling the
world about Jesus and the hopethat changed my life.
That's what I want to do andright now I'm at the phase and
chapter where I'm doing it forprofit, but I'm learning and I'm
(16:12):
learning what the future willbe.
And you know, I make it prettyknown that this is my goal and
my goal is to give away abillion dollars with a B and I
want to give away a billiondollars to fund missionaries
around the world.
And you know, I think thatthat's my why and that's kind of
that's my why and that's kindof that's the the why behind
what I do.
And, um, you know, like, likewe talked about earlier, is
(16:33):
money only has so much purposeand there's there's only so much
that money can do for you.
But money can help a lot ofpeople and my.
I want to be generous.
I want to be known as somebodywho's generous and who who
supports people, and um is knownas a generous person.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
That's great, and usually I end here, but I have
to ask so what was the changepoint in your life that really
shifted it, of your walk infaith?
Right, because usually it's nota small story.
Usually it's something thatshook someone up right.
What was?
That experience, if you'recomfortable sharing.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I would love to share how God changed my life.
For sure, it happened incollege and I grew up in a
Christian household and, by thegrace of God, I was, you know.
We went to church.
My parents, you know, led me ina great way to follow the
Christian faith and to kind oflead me in a direction.
That was a great trajectory.
(17:33):
But I went to Liberty University, which is a Christian college
in Virginia, and it was reallyat that school that I was taking
a religion class and we weregoing into all other world
religions Buddhism, hinduism,mormonism, really other world
religions and I was like everysingle one of these people,
(17:53):
every single religion in theworld, thinks that they're right
.
And I was like why do I thinkI'm right and why do these think
that they're right?
And it kind of hit me and I wasjust like I need to really not
just be indoctrinated and bebrainwashed by what I've been
raised up to believe and I needto make this my own belief.
So I started doing a bunch oflike research and comprehensive
(18:14):
analysis into really everyreligion in the world and just
being like why am I lucky enoughfor lack of better terms to be
born into a family that isChristian in Texas, the Bible
Belt and everything.
So the big difference for mewas that every other world
religion was about working yourway to eternity and working your
way to the paradise or theheaven or whatever their end
(18:35):
goal is.
And Christianity, and ProtestantChristianity, isn't about works
, it's about what.
It's not about what we do, it'sabout what has been done
through Jesus.
So it's not about works, it'sabout faith alone, by grace
alone, through faith alone.
So for me it was like if itonly relies on me to be good
(18:56):
enough, like I'm going to be onmy deathbed and I'm never going
to know, I'm not going to havesurety that I'm saved.
So I always say this.
I always say before I went toLiberty, I was a hockey player
that just happened to be aChristian, and then, after
Liberty, I was a Christian thatjust happened to be a hockey
player, and now I'm just aChristian that just happens to
do business.
So my life really shifted atLiberty, uh, in college, and and
(19:21):
it was, uh, definitely theturning point in my life where I
was just like hey, like thisworld doesn't define me, nothing
in this world defines me.
Hockey doesn't define me, realestate doesn't define me.
My family doesn't define me.
What defines me is that I'm aChristian and that a million
years from now, I believe thatI'll spend eternity with the
creator of the universe becauseof my faith.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Yeah, because you don't take anything else with
you, right?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Exactly so.
I want the world to at leasthear what I believe and they can
come to their own conclusion,like I did myself.
I did the research and I duginto other things and I'm never
a hard sell pushing people tobelieve what I believe, because
I don't put that on me.
But I'm so passionate about itbecause my life changed and if
(20:06):
something changed your life, youwant to tell the world about it
.
It's like if you go and havethese new running shoes and you
have the best running shoes inthe world, you're going to go
tell everybody and say you haveto have these.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
No, it's true, Things are meant to be passed on that,
not kept captive.
Right, Exactly Well as we wrapthis up, Zane, how can people
connect with you?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, so the best way to probably do it is through
LinkedIn.
Zane Sharts is my name and youcan follow me there.
You can email me directly atZane at Freedom CRE dot net, or
you can visit our Web site,freedom CRE dot net, and there's
a lot of info on there aboutwhat we do, how we do it, our
current offerings.
(20:50):
But, yeah, those are probablythree best ways and very
accessible through email orLinkedIn.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Perfect Zane.
Thank you so much for joiningme today it was a true joy to
connect with you further.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
All right Thanks.
Welcome to Heather Ewing, the CRE Rundown.
I am your host, Heather Ewing,and I have a delightful guest
that you get to connect withtoday.
It is none other than ZaneSchartz.
He is the president of FreedomCommercial Real Estate in
beautiful Dallas, Texas.
Welcome, Zane.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thanks for having me.
Beautiful Dallas, texas, that'sone way to put it.
Beautiful from afar dependingon what season.
Yeah, exactly, if it's thesummer, not so beautiful.
If it's fall and spring, it's agood place to be.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Definitely Well, we connected through LinkedIn and I
absolutely love your postingstyle.
I don't remember who it wasthat I connect with.
That's connected with you, butthen, as I look, there's a ton
of mutual connections.
But I love how you look atdifferent properties and you
break down your assessments andwhat's nice is that you really
get into the nitty gritty that alot of people keep on the back
(00:55):
end.
So, one, I want to congratulatethat for you.
But two, share with my audiencea little bit more about you so
they can get to know who Zane is.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, so thank you for the encouragement.
First, I appreciate thatLinkedIn has been very cool and
there's been a ton of growth,and very thankful for how it's
grown.
But a little bit about me.
I'm from Dallas.
I grew up playing hockey.
It's a big part of my story.
I played at very high levelsall the way up through college
and then I played professionallyin the minor leagues.
I played in Europe and Germany,finland and Hungary and played
(01:29):
in some NHL system.
So that was a huge part of mylife and a huge part of life
before business.
But I kind of came to a point inmy life when I knew that hockey
wasn't going to pay the billsas much as I would like.
So I knew that I needed to planfor real estate.
I ended up getting someinternships in college at
different development firms,private equity groups and
(01:52):
brokerage firms in real estateand I really just wanted to
learn kind of what realm of realestate I wanted to be in, ended
up picking the private equityside.
I worked at a private equitygroup for six years years and we
grew from three employees andup to 20 plus we grew from $100
million of assets to $750million.
So tons of growth and learned alot.
(02:13):
And then about a couple ofyears ago, I said it was time to
kind of spread my wings and fly.
So I started Freedom CommercialReal Estate and it's been
awesome and the name Freedom.
I always like to kind of tellinvestors what the meaning
behind Freedom Commercial RealEstate is.
Number one we want to helpinvestors on their journey
towards financial freedom and wedo that through cash flowing
(02:34):
real estate.
Everything we buy cash flowsfrom day one.
So financial freedom.
And then secondly and moreimportantly in my opinion in my
kind of life, is freedom isfound through Jesus Christ alone
, and my faith is the mostimportant thing about me and I
think that true freedom comesfrom the hope that we have in
Jesus.
So you know we want to helppeople on the investing side and
(02:55):
also just life in general.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Right, because life is not silos Right, and I want
to congratulate you too, becauseI think it's such an unspoken
especially in commercial realestate right to have faith with
it.
So I think that's really great.
One, that you've identifiedthat for yourself, and two, that
you do live authentically andthat's a big part of life, I
think, is having that spiritualor belief in God and living in
(03:21):
that way.
That really keeps us on thetrack right.
I think, especially with thestresses and some of the things
that you experience frominvesting to brokerage, that
there's many ways that you couldget off course that are not
advantageous, and so I thinkalso having that faith first is
really important as a guidingforce.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, there's a lot more to life than making money
in real estate.
You know, real estate istemporary.
Making people money is fun andI love what I do.
But, more important than that,what's going to matter and when
we're all dead and gone, in 100years, a couple hundred years,
that's going to be the impactthat we make and what we believe
.
So that's definitely mypriorities.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Kind of like with the statement of you know, create
the ending before you begin.
I've really seen that vision ofthe finish line, whatever.
That is right, because at somepoint it's what's going to
dictate all of our actionsthrough the years and the
decades, personally andprofessionally.
So, backing up, you know I'm abig runner, so I love to jump in
when someone is also well,you've performed at a very high
(04:33):
level.
Can't say I've been at thatlevel, but I truly admire it and
I think one of the things thatfascinates me is just the
integration of performing atelite levels like you have, or
endurance sports.
They really set up a lot of thedifferent skill sets and, I
think, work ethics forcommercial real estate.
(04:54):
What's your take on that?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I mean, I couldn't agree more.
I think there are so manyoverlaps from the attributes
needed to be a high levelathlete and be successful in
business.
I think high level athleteshave a drive and determination
to excel and to exceed and to bethe best.
And you know, same as runnersand anything you, you're trying
to beat your last time, you'retrying to beat your last year's
(05:18):
performance, you're trying to bebetter than the person next to
you, especially in hockey, likeit's very.
Every sport is competitive, butyou know, hockey was my world,
so I was trying to beat out theperson next to me and move up to
the next level and beat out theperson next to me at that level
and move up to the next level.
So it's very competitive.
And then transitioning that kindof same mentality of how do I
implement that into real estate?
And it's like there's people allaround me that are raising
(05:40):
money to, you know, getinvestors to invest with them.
So my mentality is how do Ibecome the best investment for
them and how do I createsomething that they'll want to
invest with?
Because I'm competing to getinvestors, dollars in our door?
And you know, same with sportstoo, is like you have a specific
piece of the puzzle, that youare on, a team or a specific
(06:00):
niche that you, that you mighthave, and our our niche is cash
flow.
So we know that investors aregoing to have deals that don't
cash flow and maybe they haveheavy appreciation on the back
end, and we know that they havedeals that might only cash flow
and no appreciation.
So we wanted to build somethingfor investors that was very
stable, very consistent and kindof had the three big buckets of
(06:22):
real estate investing, of cashflow, appreciation and
depreciation.
So that's what we've done andit's been very, very good ride
up for us.
We have 400 plus investors and70 plus properties, so it's been
fun.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
That's great.
What's your target for the restof the year?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I mean the target is always hey, how do we get more
investors in the door?
Because the more investors weget means more properties we can
buy, and that's what's fun forme is the portfolio management
side.
So I'd say our goals are moreinvestors, and more investors
equals more properties to buy.
More properties we buy equalsmore diversification for
investors, which means lowerrisk.
So the more diversified you are, the lower your risk is.
(07:00):
So, really, I think, justcontinuing to grow on LinkedIn,
I've had pretty great successand great growth there and a lot
of good feedback, and you knowwe're starting to raise a lot of
money from investors onLinkedIn.
I think in the past month alonewe've had over a million bucks
from just LinkedIn people whohave found me on LinkedIn.
So it's been pretty crazy.
Yeah, it's been great.
(07:22):
And then, yeah, I think we'rejust kind of doubling down on
social media and pushing therefrom a marketing standpoint and
getting more inbound leads.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
What would you say has helped in that conversion on
LinkedIn for a hundred million?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Not a hundred million yet in terms of bringing in
that much money, but one day.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I'm speaking it in for you, Zane.
One day You'll call me in acouple of months and be like
Heather you know when you shotout the 100 million.
We've hit it now.
I'll wait for that.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I think the success has been a few things.
One of it probably the mostcommon feedback I get is the
transparency that I have on thenumbers, like you said a second
ago, was.
You know, I'm very transparenton the numbers and what we look
for, like I don't hide any ofthe knowledge that I have.
I have, you know, a lot ofexperience through private
equity and kind of.
I started as an analyst andgrew into a chief investment
(08:13):
officer and now at my own firm.
So I have a lot of knowledgethat I can share and I'm not
greedy with it.
I let people know what I lookfor in deals.
I even let people know thedeals that I'm looking at to
potentially buy.
And there's enough deals outthere that if somebody buys it
there's always going to beanother and I have the deal flow
that I can get more deals.
I probably have 100, 200 dealsa week that brokers send me off
(08:35):
market, on market whatever.
So there's not a lack of dealflow for me.
So I'm not greedy with myinformation.
And then from that an outflow orbyproduct of that comes
investors who I'm gaining theirtrust.
They've been like, hey, Ifollowed you for a few months
and I like what I see, I likewhat you do.
They understand the model andit's fairly simple and you know
we buy brand names that mostpeople know, like Starbucks and
(08:57):
Dollar General and AutoZone, andeverybody knows these brands,
so they understand it and liketo get in.
And everybody knows thesebrands, so they understand it
and like to get in.
So I think the conversion rateis probably transparency and
just comprehension of investors,and maybe just our follow-up
process is pretty good.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Definitely, so what would you say is your timeline
for Madison Wisconsin?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
We don't own anything in Wisconsin, I know.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
That's why I'm saying it's a great place to visit
during those really hot monthsfor you in Dallas, Texas.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I know, right, I should pop up there.
But I'd say, you know, thereare some states that we like to
be in more than others and thereason for that is kind of our
exit is to roll up and sell toprivate equity groups or
institutional buyers and theywant to be in the Sunbelt.
That's kind of what most ofthem like to do is Texas,
florida, carolinas.
So we focus on that because ourend goal is to roll up and sell
(09:57):
.
But you know we also own dealsin New York and Michigan and
Ohio.
But you know, more recentlywe've been focusing on Sunbelt.
But Wisconsin's a great place.
I almost went to.
I was almost a Badger.
So yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
It's amazing, you know, from a brokerage
standpoint of how many deals arefinalized at the Memorial
Terrace, you know, at the Union.
And it's one of those peoplealways love going there.
They either remember when theywere in college or they visited
a friend in college and thingsof that nature.
So I think it has kind of awarm spot in people's hearts.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
So it's kind of fun.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
So, as we back further up again, what would you
say were one or two of theskills that you learned in
professional hockey that havehelped you through some of the
ups and downs in in theinvestment world?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
because as we know it's never dull you know I get
this question a lot and I thinkthe biggest thing that
transitioned from the pro sportsworld to the business world is
just learning how to lose.
I think learning how to loseand not losing momentum from
failure to failure.
One of my favorite quotes issuccess is moving from failure
(11:13):
to failure without lack ofenthusiasm.
And my entire life and myentire career I quote unquote
failed in hockey, whether it belosing a game or getting cut
from a team or getting traded,and I never it never slowed me
down.
It just gave me more motivationto make the next deal.
So in real estate it's the samething.
There's so many deals out therethat you're going to make
(11:35):
offers on that.
You know you might not get,that you're going to get to the
closing table and somethingmight happen, or that you're
going to think that a propertyis going to work and it's not,
and you know.
I think just having thementality of continuing forward,
pushing forward, grindingthrough and having the end goal
in mind is really big.
So failures are opportunities tolearn and I'd say that's number
(11:56):
one, and number two is just forme and I think everybody who
plays sports at a high level isjust the ability to be the best.
Like I just always wanted to bethe best on the ice, I always
wanted to put the extra work in,to be the hardest worker, to
get to the next level, to playthe most, to get the most points
(12:17):
, and all of it's to help theteam from a sports standpoint.
And from a business standpoint,if you're an operator and your
desire is to be the best,ultimately you're doing it for
your investors.
So if my desire is to be thebest and create the best
investment, it's going tobenefit investors on the end,
which will then, in turn,exponentially grow my business,
because happy investors arerepeat investors and happy
(12:38):
investors are investors who telltheir friends about the
investment.
So the better you are, thebetter investors are and the
more you get to do.
So those are probably twothings I'd say.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Right, and how do you de-stress?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I work more than I should.
Probably you know.
I love spending time with myfamily.
I love to travel.
I just got back from New Yorkvisiting my brother.
I'm going this weekend forFather's Day to hang out with my
parents.
That's a big thing.
Travel is really big andimportant to me.
I was in Germany for a fewmonths to start this year.
I love playing hockey.
(13:15):
I still play.
I'm kind of a nerd too.
I play video games with mybrother, since he lives in New
York.
I live in Dallas, so we playvideo games probably once a week
for an hour or two, that'sgreat, that's kind of.
that's how I unwind.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Well, don't you think life it's really about having
that diversified portfolio,right?
Because whether it's sports,whether it's, you know, fun
things with family, like withyour brother visiting them in
person, the phone calls, allthese different things, I think
they really plug into what we do, then, whether it's the
investment sales, whether it'sbrokerage, things of that nature
(13:49):
, as I was sharing a little bitwith you, I paint, so there's
one of mine behind and then withthe running.
But I think, don't you think ithelps you to think in different
ways and you see different, ifyou want to say troubles or
challenging deals, that youthink of them in different ways
and you also then cultivatedifferent ideas to solve them,
(14:11):
and I think that's been a hugeplus.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, I mean, I think , just having you can't have,
you can't do only one thing inlife and have diversified
interest.
It kind of allows you to seethe big picture from maybe
different angles that youwouldn't have if you were only
laser focused, and then alsojust like burnout is real If
you're too focused on one thing,and you're not taking the time
(14:36):
to unwind and relax and do thethings that you enjoy.
in the end, you need to unwindand pursue what you're
passionate about and have like awhy.
And if your why is just to makemore money, that's going to be
a pretty dismal ending.
And you know I always post onLinkedIn.
And this is how I really feelis we help investors get the
(14:58):
freedom, the financial freedom,to do the things that they're
most passionate about, and ifthat's spending time with your
family, if it's traveling, ifit's supporting certain causes,
that's what we want to help themand we want to create more time
and more freedom for them tohave the ability to do that
outside of their W-2 income.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Perfect, and that ties in perfectly to my last
question, which is how do youlive fully?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Oh man, I mean, for me, living fully is my end goal
is to use the gifts that I'vebeen giving in the business
acumen to start a nonprofit thatfunds Christian missionaries
around the world.
So, if I can start an endowmentor a charitable fund or some
(15:48):
type of investment vehicle, thatevery single dollar from the
cash flow or from the proceedsgoes to fund the cause that I'm
most passionate about, which istelling people and telling the
world about Jesus and the hopethat changed my life.
That's what I want to do andright now I'm at the phase and
chapter where I'm doing it forprofit, but I'm learning and I'm
(16:12):
learning what the future willbe.
And you know, I make it prettyknown that this is my goal and
my goal is to give away abillion dollars with a B and I
want to give away a billiondollars to fund missionaries
around the world.
And you know, I think thatthat's my why and that's kind of
that's my why and that's kindof that's the the why behind
what I do.
And, um, you know, like, likewe talked about earlier, is
(16:33):
money only has so much purposeand there's there's only so much
that money can do for you.
But money can help a lot ofpeople and my.
I want to be generous.
I want to be known as somebodywho's generous and who who
supports people, and um is knownas a generous person.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
That's great, and usually I end here, but I have
to ask so what was the changepoint in your life that really
shifted it, of your walk infaith?
Right, because usually it's nota small story.
Usually it's something thatshook someone up right.
What was?
That experience, if you'recomfortable sharing.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I would love to share how God changed my life.
For sure, it happened incollege and I grew up in a
Christian household and, by thegrace of God, I was, you know.
We went to church.
My parents, you know, led me ina great way to follow the
Christian faith and to kind oflead me in a direction.
That was a great trajectory.
(17:33):
But I went to Liberty University, which is a Christian college
in Virginia, and it was reallyat that school that I was taking
a religion class and we weregoing into all other world
religions Buddhism, hinduism,mormonism, really other world
religions and I was like everysingle one of these people,
(17:53):
every single religion in theworld, thinks that they're right
.
And I was like why do I thinkI'm right and why do these think
that they're right?
And it kind of hit me and I wasjust like I need to really not
just be indoctrinated and bebrainwashed by what I've been
raised up to believe and I needto make this my own belief.
So I started doing a bunch oflike research and comprehensive
(18:14):
analysis into really everyreligion in the world and just
being like why am I lucky enoughfor lack of better terms to be
born into a family that isChristian in Texas, the Bible
Belt and everything.
So the big difference for mewas that every other world
religion was about working yourway to eternity and working your
way to the paradise or theheaven or whatever their end
(18:35):
goal is.
And Christianity, and ProtestantChristianity, isn't about works
, it's about what.
It's not about what we do, it'sabout what has been done
through Jesus.
So it's not about works, it'sabout faith alone, by grace
alone, through faith alone.
So for me it was like if itonly relies on me to be good
(18:56):
enough, like I'm going to be onmy deathbed and I'm never going
to know, I'm not going to havesurety that I'm saved.
So I always say this.
I always say before I went toLiberty, I was a hockey player
that just happened to be aChristian, and then, after
Liberty, I was a Christian thatjust happened to be a hockey
player, and now I'm just aChristian that just happens to
do business.
So my life really shifted atLiberty, uh, in college, and and
(19:21):
it was, uh, definitely theturning point in my life where I
was just like hey, like thisworld doesn't define me, nothing
in this world defines me.
Hockey doesn't define me, realestate doesn't define me.
My family doesn't define me.
What defines me is that I'm aChristian and that a million
years from now, I believe thatI'll spend eternity with the
creator of the universe becauseof my faith.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Yeah, because you don't take anything else with
you, right?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Exactly so.
I want the world to at leasthear what I believe and they can
come to their own conclusion,like I did myself.
I did the research and I duginto other things and I'm never
a hard sell pushing people tobelieve what I believe, because
I don't put that on me.
But I'm so passionate about itbecause my life changed and if
(20:06):
something changed your life, youwant to tell the world about it
.
It's like if you go and havethese new running shoes and you
have the best running shoes inthe world, you're going to go
tell everybody and say you haveto have these.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
No, it's true, Things are meant to be passed on that,
not kept captive.
Right, Exactly Well as we wrapthis up, Zane, how can people
connect with you?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, so the best way to probably do it is through
LinkedIn.
Zane Sharts is my name and youcan follow me there.
You can email me directly atZane at Freedom CRE dot net, or
you can visit our Web site,freedom CRE dot net, and there's
a lot of info on there aboutwhat we do, how we do it, our
current offerings.
(20:50):
But, yeah, those are probablythree best ways and very
accessible through email orLinkedIn.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Perfect Zane.
Thank you so much for joiningme today it was a true joy to
connect with you further.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
All right Thanks.
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