May 22, 2025 • 37 mins
What happens when you narrow your focus from impacting many to serving just one? In this deeply personal episode, Tony Klein and Mark Brower reveal transformative insights about business, purpose, and life priorities that transcend property management.
Tony shares his recent experience at the grueling Cocodona 250-mile ultra race, where after completing 214 miles, a cardiac event forced him to make the difficult decision to withdraw. This challenging moment mirrors business decisions we all face—knowing when to push through versus when to step back. The value of having team members who will speak difficult truths becomes clear as Tony explains how his crew helped him make the right call when he couldn't see it himself.
Meanwhile, Mark unveils his journey from frustration to fulfillment through content creation. His newsletter, which began with just six subscribers and has grown to over 155, took off only after a profound shift in perspective—writing for specific individuals rather than trying to please everyone. This counterintuitive approach led to deeper connections and accelerated growth, demonstrating how focusing on "the one" can paradoxically help you reach many more.
The conversation takes a powerful turn when Mark discusses putting his businesses on pause for several weeks to help his neurodivergent son through a crisis. This poignant story highlights perhaps the most compelling reason to build systems and teams in your company: creating the freedom to be present when life calls you to focus on what truly matters.
Both hosts explore the concept of "imposter syndrome" from a fresh angle, suggesting that feeling like an impostor might actually signal growth rather than inadequacy. As Tony puts it, "If you're not experiencing imposter syndrome, you're probably coasting."
Whether you're managing properties or pursuing any entrepreneurial venture, this episode offers profound insights on building businesses that serve your life's purpose rather than consuming it. Listen for actionable wisdom on creating impact, finding meaning, and designing systems that provide true freedom.
Join fellow property management entrepreneurs and 6 expert coaches in a small, private high level event at a mansion style venue with a private chef and personally selected attendees to maximize the value you receive while at the event.
Join the waitlist for additional information here: https://ONYXwaitlist.com
Save the dates! July 13th - 16th, 2025
visit pmsuccess.com for more value packed property management related information or to hire Tony as your property management coach.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Property Management Success
Podcast, where we interviewleaders in the industry to
uncover the secrets toprofitability, efficiency and
achieving true freedom.
Whether it's your time, moneyor lifestyle, I'm your host,
tony Klein, and I'm here to helpyou build a wildly successful
property management business.
Let's get to it.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Property Management
(00:22):
Success Podcast with Mark Brower.
He's doing a littlehousekeeping on his camera there
.
And, yeah, welcome back to theProperty Management Aid Station.
How's?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
it going.
Oh my gosh, whoa Tony, how do Isay this in a really polite way
?
You look like you've aged 10years.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Thanks, I have since 10 years ago, but also since
running my coca-dona race, oh mygosh.
Are we going to?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
talk about it, or are we going to talk about property
management stuff?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I think we'll do a little bit of both.
Let's kind of tie them together.
So let's give the folks anupdate, because the last last
two episodes I did was aone-on-one episode where I just
kind of shared what I've learnedabout ultra running nice, and
that was right before I left togo to cocodona.
So I went and ran the cocodona250 250 mile race through
(01:20):
arizona.
Starts in Canyon City justoutside of Phoenix, runs through
some of the hot spots inArizona, we go through Prescott,
we go through-.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Jerome, you go through, jerome.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Oh yeah, I got great stories about Jerome Dude Jerome
.
We go through Jerome.
Sedona and then end up inFlagstaff.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So that's where the finish line is so epic man, the
whole thing is a net uphillpeople.
This is like you're starting at1,400 elevation, you're ending
up 7,000 elevation, you're doingover 200 miles through the
desert.
You're not sleeping.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I wish it was 200 miles, because I got a story
about that, so I wish it was 200miles too.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
And and actually the course this year.
Uh, apparently you guys havesome mexican horned owls or
something out there and they, uh, they, they like to nest and to
mate, and so because of thatthey had to change part of the
course.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So yeah, because if there's a runner within a half
mile, they won't do that yeah,the owls, they won't mate.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, high hikers, fine cars, fine bicyclists, no
problem.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I think it's something about our shorts.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Electric-powered mountain bikes fine, fine, no
problem.
So the race this year was 256miles and come down Mount Eldon.
I don't know if you know wherethat's at oh the legendary Mount
Eldon, of course, yeah, sothat's at that legendary mount
eldon of course, yeah, so sothat that's kind of the final
big climb.
(02:48):
And then you got six or sevenmiles after that to run into
flagstaff.
So yeah, anyway, long storyshort, I the reason I wish this
race was 200 miles, milesbecause I made it 214.6 or
something like that miles andwound up having to quit.
(03:09):
And so I mean I've foughtthrough some stuff with like 1%
battery in my body not my phone,like literally me.
There's a place called HangoverTrail and I mean it's pretty
sketch I had to do it at night,just based on the time I got
there and my leg my left leg, itswelled up, had an injury in it
(03:30):
.
So it was basically trying toclimb up these cliffs with one
leg and you had to hop and thenpower and take another power
step, throw your poles up, kindof scramble up, and if you don't
have enough power to power upthat you wind up tumbling
backwards.
And then there's a very smallledge that if you miss that
(03:51):
ledge it's a nice quick fall tothe bottom.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, oh my gosh so.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
I fought through all of that.
There's things in business andin running that you fight
through.
You just put your head down andsay I'm going to do this.
And then there's things whereyou have good people on your
team that say, hey, it's time tocash it in, so we can do this
another day.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah, run another day , find another day.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Oh, you said you went to the hospital.
I did wind up going to thehospital.
So I had an agreement with mywife that if I had a cardiac
event I would stop.
So she knows I really don'thave an off button when I get
out there, so it's basicallyjust head down, drag the body
across the finish line at allcosts.
And two years ago when Ifinished the triple crown of
(04:43):
200s, which is three 200 mileraces spaced out a span over
about two and a half months, 654miles total About the last 50
miles I ran that with atrialfibrillation or AFib, and I
didn't really know what it wasor how serious it was, and so I
just kept on powering throughand kind of like in business,
(05:07):
when you don't know how serioussomething is or how quickly it
can end things, you just keeppowering through.
So I did that.
I waited 12 days to go to thehospital last time and I didn't
even go to the hospital.
I went to the doctor and theysent me to the hospital.
But it's basically like afive-year-old with a drum set,
just kind of banging outwhatever rhythm it feels like
(05:30):
and your heart has no power.
So after going to the doctor,being in that cardiac state.
I had to go on blood thinners,which I don't take medication
it's really the first medicationI've ever really been on and I
had to do that for six weeks andthen they put me under shocked
my heart, stop it and then itrestarts in hopefully a normal
(05:58):
pattern and if it doesn't, youget to do that two or three more
times and then hopefully itdoes before it becomes a serious
deal.
So this time I told her if thathappened again I would stop.
So it happened about four milesout from the station.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Did your watch tell you?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
How did you know I could feel it?
I could feel it in my heart ohokay, and my watch did.
I was running and my heart ratetold me it was like 86 or
something like that.
I'm trying to keep it at 120,130, something like that.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
yeah you know I'm trying to keep it at 120, 130,
something like that.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So, uh, it was kind of interesting.
I have a video of it if anybodywants to see what it looks like
to go through cardioversionhave your heart get shocked and
then come out of it.
The doctor came in afterwardsand he asked me how I was doing.
Like well, I feel pretty good,but like, what am I supposed to
do now?
Just go to breakfast orsomething.
And he's like yeah, you're fine, now it's reset.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
So next ultra race, in your van you're going to
bring the pads.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Well, we actually did carry, because Scott, who's on
my team, you'll meet him in theGrand Canyon.
Okay, Because Scott, who's onmy team, you'll meet him in the
Grand Canyon.
But he has all these fancy.
We had urine-specific gravitygravometers or whatever where
you could test how dehydratedyou were.
You lost me at urine.
Yeah Well, I mean, that's howyou test it.
(07:18):
So we have that.
And then we had a portable EKGwhere you can put your.
It's a six-lead EKG.
You put two fingers on eachside, put it on your left leg
and it definitely confirmed.
I was in AFib.
Oh boy.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Anyway, I'm here.
I'm glad you're alive.
Yeah, thanks Well at least yougot a good training run in for
the Grand Canyon hike.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, I did 214 miles to train for 25 miles and I
think I'll be able to do it.
You're doing okay.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
You'll be able to get through 20, 24, 23 miles, 22?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yeah, good, so that's me.
That's the update.
But I did want to tie that backto business, because Scott who
was there, he's my medicalpersonnel on my crew, he's got
all the bells and gadgets.
He is a paramedic firefighterin charge of the fitness program
(08:19):
for some county out inWashington State for the whole
thing, so he's really dialed inand so he knew I was in AFib and
.
I had already made thecommitment, so I didn't even
have to make a decision.
Was I going to quit?
The decision was made before Ileft.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
And so it was sad and depressing.
I was one of three people thatmade it over 200 miles that
didn't finish.
So typically, once you get pastthat 200 miles, you have that
last big climb up Eldon and thenyou're done.
But I asked him.
I said I really wish I wouldhave tested you, because and
(09:01):
this was kind of during thispart where I'm grieving a little
bit, so I'm kind of beingornery about it and we're trying
to have fun with it just tokeep the mood light but I said
what would you have said if Isaid I was going to keep going?
And this is where it's soimportant to have good people on
your team in your business,just a part of your life, your
(09:22):
crew?
Because he said I would havewished you the best of luck
because I know if you said youwere going to keep going, I
wouldn't have been able toconvince you otherwise.
But he said I would have takenthe van and told you I was going
home because I can't watch it.
I can't watch you go another 50miles, climb up over Mount
Eldon, which is a really steepclimb up and down.
(09:42):
And so that was good that hehad set those boundaries and he
was willing to be the kind offriend that I needed in that
moment, to say we fought hard tothis moment, but at this moment
it's over and let's pick itback up in October when we go
out to Moab.
(10:02):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
You're going, you're going to, are you going to?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Moab Yep, I'll be back in Moab in October.
Good man, Matter of fact, I gotuh, one of my one of my clients
is going to come out and uh,crew and pace me, so that'll be
fun, hey uh, hit me up.
Hit me up.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I might want to be on the pace crew if if I'm
eligible.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Well, we'll have to up.
I might want to be on the Pacecrew if I'm eligible.
Well, we'll have to see.
I've been looking at yourStrava, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
All right, so that's my update over the last couple
of weeks.
What's going on with MarkBrower?
What is going on with me?
I'm just worried about myfriend Tony.
You know I'm excited about theGrand Canyon trip coming up.
I am, yeah, just trying to bepresent and learn.
I got a small win to reportAbout three months ago.
I launched a newsletter and,right out of the gates, got six
subscribers and now I think I'mover 155.
(10:59):
So I write a weekly newsletterand it has to do with mindset,
leadership, personal, like wewere at the forefront, we're at
the uh, we're at the frontier ofour growth in like 20, 40
(11:33):
different areas of our life,right, and so I love thinking
about live, like, like what ittakes to push those boundaries
out and, uh, and I've beenwriting about it and it's been
super gratifying.
And in first, can I share alittle bit about that journey.
Let's hit it.
I think this is like superrelevant, uh, hopefully not just
(11:55):
for me, but for other people.
Um, you know Jordan Peterson,one of my favorite speakers and
writers.
Uh, there's, apologize inadvance for anybody that's going
to cancel me because I likeJordan Peterson.
Sorry, not sorry.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
If somebody's going to cancel because you like
somebody, they don't need to belistening anyway.
Sorry, not sorry.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
So Jordan Peterson said that writing is the deepest
form of thinking.
I think that's so true.
And what's been supergratifying to me is that, as
I've you know, I God gave me thegift of like ideas and
sometimes, often, I got too manyideas coming and sometimes it
affects my sleep, sometimes itaffects my presence with my
(12:37):
family on the weekend.
Sometimes, like, like, itimpacts me, like there's pluses
and negatives to this gift ofideas that just that, just flow
through my brain.
And I think it's one of thereasons like I pursued ultra
running because, as you know,when you get to a certain point
of um pain we'll call itexertion the focus comes down to
(13:01):
a singularity and there'ssomething really purifying about
that, something reallygrounding about that, something
really I don't know there'ssomething there, but when I'm
not 50 miles into a hard run, myideas are pinging off the
chrome.
(13:23):
And what writing has done for meis it's forced me or it's
allowed me.
It's given me the opportunityto craft ideas into paragraphs
that have to follow certainrules and they have to kind of
make sense and they kind of haveto flow.
And so what's exciting for meis, in this journey of expanding
(13:47):
the frontier of my philosophyabout life at every meaningful
point.
Writing is, I think,accelerating that expansion of
the frontier and clarifying theprocess, and I'm getting a lot
more out of it, and I think someother people are getting more
out of it, and I'm learning somereally cool things.
There's no way I could havelearned without it, and I'll
touch on two of those reallyquick, if you'll allow me.
(14:08):
Allowed Notice I waited thattime for an answer.
I often wait for that answer.
You were testing me.
One of those ideas is now.
I just lost both of the ideasand they were so important.
Just kidding, one of the ideaswas in the beginning.
(14:34):
See, writing has allowed me toconfront something that I think
is really important and I wantto write about.
I think I'm going to write mynext issue about this.
There's this idea of one andmany.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
And there's this idea of and I'm going to conflate
this idea of one and many withacres of diamonds and greener
pastures.
Can we do this?
Let's do it, okay.
So the idea of one or many isthat, for those of us who want
to live a full, meaningful lifeand we're entrepreneurs and we
want to grow, there's this ideathat, well, I've got to impact
(15:11):
lots of people's lives, I needto impact the many, I need to
connect with the many, I need todo lots of things that are at
scale, at volume, okay, andthat's the way I thought for
years.
And then there's this otheridea, on the polar opposite,
that I need to make meaningfulconnection with one person and
(15:35):
that's it, that's all thatmatters.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Okay, I want to dive deep.
I'm going to, I'm going to puta pin in this, just so we have a
marker.
We're going to come backbecause in our next episode that
we're going to record, I wantto lean heavy into this because
that's going to, that's touchesso much on what I want to talk
about in the next episode.
Great Well, can we talk?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
about it now too, or should I just stop?
Speaker 1 (15:56):
no, no, you can keep going, but I wanted to just make
a marker that we're going tocircle back around.
Good, write it down, I thinkthis is.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
You're going to have a lot of conversations about
this, so I have a couple ofstories to share.
Two years ago, I'm reading alexhermosi and he's talking about
how, like the rock and you knowconnor mcgregor, you know like
and mr beast, and they just like, pointed something and it's 100
million dollar.
Bam Didn't have to pay theprice to like, learn how to you
know, productize and have to dolike, didn't have to source,
(16:23):
didn't have to build a brand.
They were the brand.
They built their brand.
Why did how?
Did they build a brand?
Because they knew how toattract and retain attention and
they so.
So this idea of building apersonal brand was like oh, my
eyes are opened.
If there's something that I cando that's meaningful, that you
know.
Epictetus said give me a longenough lever and I will move the
(16:51):
world.
Okay, so the thing that canextend my lever.
I'm always thinking aboutwhat's that thing Like?
I want to have more impact.
I want to go to the many, right, right, I want to impact the
many.
So so I'm reading alex hermosi,I'm listening to him, and he
says uh, he says, and I'mthinking, I gotta create content
.
And you know this, like, a yearand a half ago we had this
little mastermind for a littlewhile and you know, sarah hatch
and some other people were onthere and we're like and um,
(17:15):
ironclad sam was on there he'sin the grand canyon.
Yeah and uh, our buddy, uh well,jared was in there, jared, I
read it.
Thank you for reading my mindeverybody, everybody took some
action and did something alittle bit different, and your
son was there and it was so fun.
I got to learn about how he'sobsessed about nintendo anyway,
(17:36):
uh so, uh.
So around that time I'm readingalex hermosi, you're listening
to him and he's like um, he'slike I crowdsource the ideas
that are worthy of creatingadditional content on by posting
them on twitter.
At the time was twitter, and soI thought so I'm thinking about
(17:57):
that.
I'm thinking about like, justfail faster and just do stuff.
You got to do it consistently.
I'm hearing all these things.
It's swirling around in my head.
I'm like, okay, I'm going tostart posting to Twitter and I'm
going to post two to five timesa day and I'm just going to
commit to it.
I'm going to do it for like 90days and I hope I can reach a
(18:17):
lot of people.
I start posting on Twitter.
My views per tweet were in thetens 20 to 80 views per tweet.
Never any hearts, never anyretweets.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I feel bad.
I'm going to go heart you.
I'm going to find you now andI'm going to heart you on
Twitter.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I was posting, I was tweeting into the void, tony,
and it was very difficult.
Here's why Because I wasjudging myself based on reaction
.
And I'm like dude.
I see these people that havetens of thousands of views,
hundreds of thousands of views,of thousands of views, hundreds
(19:02):
of likes, dozens of retweets.
Like what is wrong with mybrain?
Like I am not, I'm telling you.
I would like the pervasivethought.
I am not as smart as I thoughtI was.
This hurts, but I'd committedto doing it and I just kept
doing it.
So guess what happened?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You got to 20 hearts.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
No, I never got 20 hearts 20 views.
Yeah, I got over 20 views a fewtimes, yeah, but somehow the
algorithm put one of my tweetsinto Peter Lohman's feed.
Rhythm put one of my tweetsinto Peter Lohman's feed and
somehow something I tweeted wasinteresting enough that Peter
(19:47):
took it and posted it in hisnewsletter, which at the time
had about 5,000 weekly readers.
Now it's got 15,000.
And next thing I know I'mgetting an email from a couple
of people like hey, saw that youwere mentioned in my favorite
newsletter, peter Lohman'snewsletter.
I'm like what?
Okay, so the end of the storyis I then started, got familiar
(20:09):
with Peter, met him at aconference.
He featured me another time,then we did a podcast together.
Then we did another podcasttogether.
Next thing, you know, I'm onthe stage of broker owner two
years later, a couple months ago, debating live with Peter about
something that we disagreeabout, and I heard a lot from a
lot of people that it was likereally engaging.
They really enjoyed theconversation.
There's no way I would havebeen there had I not tweeted
(20:32):
into the void where I thought itwas actually tweeting to no one
.
Like it was absolutely a lowleverage, meaningless activity,
but I'd committed to it, justtrusting with faith that
something was going to come ofit.
And one person picked it up,one person and it changed
everything for me.
It boosted my confidencebecause I saw that he thought
(20:56):
you know, some of my ideas werevaluable and he encouraged me.
And then later, like three anda half months ago, february this
year, february this yearinvited me to a mastermind where
other people that were contentcreators were there.
These guys were like insanelysmart and they inspired me and
they did.
And when I was around I'm likehey, maybe I could, maybe I
could do kind of stuff that likethey're doing and they're
writing with AI and they'redoing some really cool things
and here's how they're doing it.
(21:16):
And I got a couple like tipsand a couple tools out of that.
And then I started writing mynewsletter three and a half
months ago and then I was likespending hours and hours and
hours and hours and hours on oneissue rewriting, rewriting,
rewriting, rewriting, thinkingway, obsessing about it,
thinking way too much into it,thinking that this has to be
perfect for the masses.
And then, guess what happenedrecently I shifted my thinking
(21:41):
away from the masses to the oneand I actually don't even care,
truly Like I care, but I don'tcare if the masses like my
newsletter or not.
I've got one specific person inmind, maybe two or three
friends in the industry in mind.
I'm like, hey, you know whatthis might help them.
(22:01):
I'm writing this newsletter forthem.
If anyone else cares, fine.
And guess what's happening?
The more I write to the one,the more my subscriber growth
rate increases.
I'm starting to grow faster.
There's something reallymagical about cutting through
(22:23):
the noise and reaching out tothe one.
In my newsletter a couplemonths ago I mentioned to
everybody that I was leaving.
I put life on pause and I hope Idon't get emotional here.
So just warning viewers If it'scringey, turn down the volume
or turn your face away.
I put life on pause and I wentto Idaho to get my
(22:47):
neurodivergent son who's 19.
And he was lost and scared anddidn't know what to do.
Too intense to live at homewith mom and the girls Like
didn't have what to do.
Too intense to live at homewith mom and the girls Like
didn't have anywhere to go.
Desperately wanted to come homeand just got put on academic
probation, had lived in fourapartments in three months and
(23:09):
this poor kid man like he was sodesperate to get out of Dodge
and get away from the pain thathe took an early drive down to
be at the hotel I was going tobe at later that night.
I had a later flight.
It was Allegiant.
It was the only time he cameinto Idaho Falls and laid there
in the lobby where they havebreakfast the next morning with
his hoodie pulled over his faceand his AirPod Pros in for hours
(23:31):
, surrounded by disheveled boxesand suitcases and an electric
scooter.
And then bring it together, mark.
Then we spent three and a halfweeks together and I canceled
everything on my calendar.
We found a therapist.
That was a miracle.
We met with that therapist likeeight times.
(23:52):
We found another therapist andlike his whole world started
changing.
But I was the one that got, youknow, the biggest payoff from
that and there were so many waysthat my life was changed.
Sorry, because I cleared mycalendar and I decided to serve
(24:14):
the one and he was the one, andhe's a neurodivergent kid, you
know.
Somebody could argue like youknow, like, really, mark, you're
running like multiple companiesand like you know what's the
cost of this.
But I'm telling you, tony,there's something really, really
magical, uh, really, uh specialabout stripping everything away
(24:36):
except for the one, and and and, and the focus on the one is
the realization that there arediamonds under our feet right
now, and stop looking at thegreener pastures over there, the
many.
I I anyway back to you, likeyou.
Tell me about what you thinkabout this all right.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
So there's two things that I'm picking up on this.
The first one is the you're 100right there's.
I wish I could think of him.
I've watched him on youtube.
I follow him on linkedin.
I can't remember the guy's name, but he writes for really,
really successful articles,posts all of that on LinkedIn,
and he starts every one of hisposts with dear son, and then he
(25:20):
writes the post and before hehits click to submit it, he goes
back up and deletes the dearson part, and so he writes just
to the one person.
It just so happens.
It ties into the fact thatyou're talking about your son,
but he has a very specificperson that he's talking to, and
so he's creating this contentaround topics that he thinks are
(25:42):
really important, and he'sdirecting it to somebody that he
knows it could have beenanybody.
He just happened to pick hisson, and it makes it so that
content is so much moremeaningful because he's talking
specifically to a specificperson, and when you talk to a
specific person, it allows youto reach people on a one-on-one
(26:03):
basis.
Even though it's one-on-onebasis, you're connecting
one-on-one with more and morepeople, and so I think that's
really powerful.
The second thing that I wantedto touch on was, and you skipped
over this.
I don't even know if you meantto include this in this, but you
said I run multiple companies.
What am I doing going out andwhat is the cost of this?
(26:24):
To go and do this?
I mean, what a blessing thatyou are in a position, that
you've built a business, you'veinvested the time to do it right
, you've created the systems,you have the people on your team
, you have your core values,your expectations, your vision
for the future of the company,and that allowed you to take
time away, call a timeout atwork.
(26:47):
I'm sure there was tons of stuffgoing on that you could have
filled your calendar with, butyou elected not to because you
had the flexibility and thefreedom, based on the work
you've put in, to say this ismore important.
This one could have been yourson, could have been a friend,
and we're going to dig into thisnext episode.
I'm really excited about thisbecause we're connecting on some
(27:07):
things I wanted to talk abouttoo, and so that, to me, is just
really impactful for the peoplethat are listening that if
you're struggling with a reasonto put the time and effort into
building your business right,that will run without you.
That will allow you to focus onthe things in life that are
more important than leases andmove-ins and move-outs and Not
(27:29):
that those aren't important, butwe can create systems so that
those operate efficientlywithout having to have you as
the business owner involved.
And I think it's really specialthat you're sharing this with
our audience, because you'vedone the work up front that
allowed you to have thisflexibility and freedom to focus
(27:52):
on what's important in life, asopposed to what you had to do
to keep the business going.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, and I couldn't have done.
I feel compelled to say Goddeserves a lot of credit for
that.
You know, it wasn't my naturalnature necessarily to focus on
something one thing for longenough to move the needle in a
way that creates stability andpredictability and structure
(28:21):
that could sustain beyond me.
I did set out very early,intentionally.
14 years ago I started aproperty management business
with the specific goal that Iwas not going to just create a
job for myself, but that I wasgoing to turn that uncommon
corner from self-employed tobusiness owner, and that was
(28:45):
extremely intentional.
I was very committed to thatoutcome.
It's why I chose propertymanagement, because my
perception was recurring revenue, simple enough, problems at
scale.
I could build a company of ateam around me, we could execute
on those problems and I couldget my time, time freedom and
money freedom.
And so I mean.
(29:07):
And so I mean sorry, thinkingabout my son just gives me
emotion real quick, but maybeGod led me down this path so
that when my son hit 19 and hewas going to have this you know
these issues I could beavailable.
You know our kids only have onedad.
(29:30):
Our kids only have one mom.
Our kids only have one momCan't outsource that job.
You know, isn't it great thatwe can build a brand and build a
company and build a team andbuild around the right ideas and
the right commitments and, inso doing, grow and transform
ourselves into a better versionof ourselves, but also gain
(29:51):
access to be able to connectwith the one?
And you know what?
In not a small way.
I think that's what we're doingthrough our businesses as well.
We're helping other people,whether they ever become
business owners or not, or not,we're helping other people
(30:14):
achieve a greater financialstrength in their lives so that
they can take the time, whencalled upon, to focus on the one
, and that's a worthy mission.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Okay, I need to ask you a question, yep, because
we're coming up at the end ofthis episode.
Okay, coming up in the end ofthis episode.
Okay, you mentioned that therewere two things.
Was that both, or was that justthe one?
Or are we gonna roll the?
We're gonna?
Oh man, you're gonna make me goall the way back.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Yeah, I just went on a really long, deep tangent on
that one, um, I think.
I think the other thing was uh,did we?
What was the one thing I talkedabout?
That the newsletter helped me?
It helped me bring structure tothe chaos, taking the abstract
and putting it into the concrete.
All of those things arebrilliant.
(30:58):
It also has helped me find myvoice and I think that, tied
into that idea of the one, thatidea of the one because instead
of trying to be all things toall people, it guided me almost
(31:19):
like a funnel down into.
I can see more clearly now who Iam, what I stand for, what
really ignites my passion andwho I want to direct that
passion towards to impact theirlives.
And so then, so that gave mepermission to not have to try to
be so perfect so I can connectwith a hundred people at the
same time, but so that I couldactually just show up with my
(31:42):
own style at 80% of perfectionand acknowledge that's good
enough.
And and then, if I get, youknow what the most gratifying
thing of having this newsletterso far is like recently, if
there's an episode that'sparticularly meaningful to
someone, they email me back andthey're like man, this really
hit home.
This is exactly what I neededto hear Like you can't put a
(32:05):
price on that.
That's fantastic.
Yeah, I feel like God workedthrough me to reach that person.
That was my one person and itdidn't have to be perfect.
So, anyway, I'm super jazzedabout writing a newsletter.
I think everybody should do it.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I agree and I'm looking forward to hearing more
about the success as this grows.
I want to wrap up withsomething that you mentioned
again.
Going back into theconversation.
You said, as an entrepreneur,there's 40 different areas of
life, that we're pushing theboundaries, we're we're going
out and, as you mentioned thatand again I just came off of the
(32:40):
desert being out- you know, my,my walk in the woods, um, but
when you said that, it remindedme of a person on a path in the
jungle and just kind ofbushwhacking, and every step
forward is we're taking ourmachete and carving a new path
forward that we've not been onbefore and maybe there was a
(33:00):
path there before that somebodylaid before us and it's kind of
overgrown.
But for us we're having to takeour machete and every step
forward we're having to carve anew path.
And I've had a lot ofdiscussion lately about people
who feel like they're faking itor they're going to be exposed,
they're going to be found outand they have imposter syndrome.
(33:23):
And I have.
Just, I don't know what it isabout, my personality or
whatever, but I am.
Now I get worried when I don'tfeel like I have imposter
syndrome, oh wow.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
I thought you were going to say you've never had
imposter syndrome.
I was like my mind was going tobe blown.
No, I live in it.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
I live in it because the way I feel like is if you
don't, if you're notexperiencing imposter syndrome
and maybe this is just the way Ijustify trying to push the
boundaries but I feel like ifyou don't, if you're not
experiencing imposter syndrome,then you're probably coasting.
You're probably doing whatyou're already really good at.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Yeah, or you're narcissistic and you should go
seek therapy.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
That's possible too.
But for me, for those peoplethat are struggling with, I'm
doing something new.
I'm afraid to fail, I'm afraidto expose that I'm doing
something new to the team and Idon't really know what I'm doing
, but I want to do it.
I want to grow in thisdirection.
I want to add so many doors, Iwant to implement a new program
and it might fail and that'sokay.
(34:22):
I mean I went 214 miles out of a256 mile race.
I'm at peace with the way ithappened.
I mean I would have wanted tofinish, but I I failed forward,
I pushed my boundaries.
It's the hottest race I've everrun and it was a cold year, it
rained, and so it was.
It's just one of those thingswhere I push my boundaries and I
(34:44):
will continue to push theboundaries and I will continue
to live in that impostersyndrome because I want to find
out what my limits are.
I don't want to figure out.
The more I can do, the more Ican help people.
And yeah, you don't do thatwhen you're sitting back, kind
of coasting in the safe zone.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
In ultra running we talk about getting comfortable,
being uncomfortable, and itsounds like you found
comfortable in imposter syndrome.
So well done, Tony.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
All right, let's wrap this one up, mark, let's get
them out of here.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Let's get them out.
Go back out on the trail.
You got this.
We'll see you at the next aidstation, woohoo.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
We'll see you All right.
Thanks for tuning in to theProperty Management Success
Podcast.
We'll be back with anothervalue-packed episode to help you
level up your propertymanagement game.
If you've got somethingvaluable out of today's episode,
please share it with a friendor colleague, and don't forget
to subscribe and leave a reviewso you never miss out on future
insights and strategies andtactics.
(35:43):
Until next time, here's to yoursuccess.
Welcome to the Property Management Success
Podcast, where we interviewleaders in the industry to
uncover the secrets toprofitability, efficiency and
achieving true freedom.
Whether it's your time, moneyor lifestyle, I'm your host,
tony Klein, and I'm here to helpyou build a wildly successful
property management business.
Let's get to it.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Property Management
(00:22):
Success Podcast with Mark Brower.
He's doing a littlehousekeeping on his camera there
.
And, yeah, welcome back to theProperty Management Aid Station.
How's?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
it going.
Oh my gosh, whoa Tony, how do Isay this in a really polite way
?
You look like you've aged 10years.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Thanks, I have since 10 years ago, but also since
running my coca-dona race, oh mygosh.
Are we going to?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
talk about it, or are we going to talk about property
management stuff?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I think we'll do a little bit of both.
Let's kind of tie them together.
So let's give the folks anupdate, because the last last
two episodes I did was aone-on-one episode where I just
kind of shared what I've learnedabout ultra running nice, and
that was right before I left togo to cocodona.
So I went and ran the cocodona250 250 mile race through
(01:20):
arizona.
Starts in Canyon City justoutside of Phoenix, runs through
some of the hot spots inArizona, we go through Prescott,
we go through-.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Jerome, you go through, jerome.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Oh yeah, I got great stories about Jerome Dude Jerome
.
We go through Jerome.
Sedona and then end up inFlagstaff.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So that's where the finish line is so epic man, the
whole thing is a net uphillpeople.
This is like you're starting at1,400 elevation, you're ending
up 7,000 elevation, you're doingover 200 miles through the
desert.
You're not sleeping.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I wish it was 200 miles, because I got a story
about that, so I wish it was 200miles too.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
And and actually the course this year.
Uh, apparently you guys havesome mexican horned owls or
something out there and they, uh, they, they like to nest and to
mate, and so because of thatthey had to change part of the
course.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So yeah, because if there's a runner within a half
mile, they won't do that yeah,the owls, they won't mate.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, high hikers, fine cars, fine bicyclists, no
problem.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I think it's something about our shorts.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Electric-powered mountain bikes fine, fine, no
problem.
So the race this year was 256miles and come down Mount Eldon.
I don't know if you know wherethat's at oh the legendary Mount
Eldon, of course, yeah, sothat's at that legendary mount
eldon of course, yeah, so sothat that's kind of the final
big climb.
(02:48):
And then you got six or sevenmiles after that to run into
flagstaff.
So yeah, anyway, long storyshort, I the reason I wish this
race was 200 miles, milesbecause I made it 214.6 or
something like that miles andwound up having to quit.
(03:09):
And so I mean I've foughtthrough some stuff with like 1%
battery in my body not my phone,like literally me.
There's a place called HangoverTrail and I mean it's pretty
sketch I had to do it at night,just based on the time I got
there and my leg my left leg, itswelled up, had an injury in it
(03:30):
.
So it was basically trying toclimb up these cliffs with one
leg and you had to hop and thenpower and take another power
step, throw your poles up, kindof scramble up, and if you don't
have enough power to power upthat you wind up tumbling
backwards.
And then there's a very smallledge that if you miss that
(03:51):
ledge it's a nice quick fall tothe bottom.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, oh my gosh so.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
I fought through all of that.
There's things in business andin running that you fight
through.
You just put your head down andsay I'm going to do this.
And then there's things whereyou have good people on your
team that say, hey, it's time tocash it in, so we can do this
another day.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah, run another day , find another day.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Oh, you said you went to the hospital.
I did wind up going to thehospital.
So I had an agreement with mywife that if I had a cardiac
event I would stop.
So she knows I really don'thave an off button when I get
out there, so it's basicallyjust head down, drag the body
across the finish line at allcosts.
And two years ago when Ifinished the triple crown of
(04:43):
200s, which is three 200 mileraces spaced out a span over
about two and a half months, 654miles total About the last 50
miles I ran that with atrialfibrillation or AFib, and I
didn't really know what it wasor how serious it was, and so I
just kept on powering throughand kind of like in business,
(05:07):
when you don't know how serioussomething is or how quickly it
can end things, you just keeppowering through.
So I did that.
I waited 12 days to go to thehospital last time and I didn't
even go to the hospital.
I went to the doctor and theysent me to the hospital.
But it's basically like afive-year-old with a drum set,
just kind of banging outwhatever rhythm it feels like
(05:30):
and your heart has no power.
So after going to the doctor,being in that cardiac state.
I had to go on blood thinners,which I don't take medication
it's really the first medicationI've ever really been on and I
had to do that for six weeks andthen they put me under shocked
my heart, stop it and then itrestarts in hopefully a normal
(05:58):
pattern and if it doesn't, youget to do that two or three more
times and then hopefully itdoes before it becomes a serious
deal.
So this time I told her if thathappened again I would stop.
So it happened about four milesout from the station.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Did your watch tell you?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
How did you know I could feel it?
I could feel it in my heart ohokay, and my watch did.
I was running and my heart ratetold me it was like 86 or
something like that.
I'm trying to keep it at 120,130, something like that.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
yeah you know I'm trying to keep it at 120, 130,
something like that.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So, uh, it was kind of interesting.
I have a video of it if anybodywants to see what it looks like
to go through cardioversionhave your heart get shocked and
then come out of it.
The doctor came in afterwardsand he asked me how I was doing.
Like well, I feel pretty good,but like, what am I supposed to
do now?
Just go to breakfast orsomething.
And he's like yeah, you're fine, now it's reset.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
So next ultra race, in your van you're going to
bring the pads.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Well, we actually did carry, because Scott, who's on
my team, you'll meet him in theGrand Canyon.
Okay, Because Scott, who's onmy team, you'll meet him in the
Grand Canyon.
But he has all these fancy.
We had urine-specific gravitygravometers or whatever where
you could test how dehydratedyou were.
You lost me at urine.
Yeah Well, I mean, that's howyou test it.
(07:18):
So we have that.
And then we had a portable EKGwhere you can put your.
It's a six-lead EKG.
You put two fingers on eachside, put it on your left leg
and it definitely confirmed.
I was in AFib.
Oh boy.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Anyway, I'm here.
I'm glad you're alive.
Yeah, thanks Well at least yougot a good training run in for
the Grand Canyon hike.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, I did 214 miles to train for 25 miles and I
think I'll be able to do it.
You're doing okay.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
You'll be able to get through 20, 24, 23 miles, 22?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yeah, good, so that's me.
That's the update.
But I did want to tie that backto business, because Scott who
was there, he's my medicalpersonnel on my crew, he's got
all the bells and gadgets.
He is a paramedic firefighterin charge of the fitness program
(08:19):
for some county out inWashington State for the whole
thing, so he's really dialed inand so he knew I was in AFib and
.
I had already made thecommitment, so I didn't even
have to make a decision.
Was I going to quit?
The decision was made before Ileft.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
And so it was sad and depressing.
I was one of three people thatmade it over 200 miles that
didn't finish.
So typically, once you get pastthat 200 miles, you have that
last big climb up Eldon and thenyou're done.
But I asked him.
I said I really wish I wouldhave tested you, because and
(09:01):
this was kind of during thispart where I'm grieving a little
bit, so I'm kind of beingornery about it and we're trying
to have fun with it just tokeep the mood light but I said
what would you have said if Isaid I was going to keep going?
And this is where it's soimportant to have good people on
your team in your business,just a part of your life, your
(09:22):
crew?
Because he said I would havewished you the best of luck
because I know if you said youwere going to keep going, I
wouldn't have been able toconvince you otherwise.
But he said I would have takenthe van and told you I was going
home because I can't watch it.
I can't watch you go another 50miles, climb up over Mount
Eldon, which is a really steepclimb up and down.
(09:42):
And so that was good that hehad set those boundaries and he
was willing to be the kind offriend that I needed in that
moment, to say we fought hard tothis moment, but at this moment
it's over and let's pick itback up in October when we go
out to Moab.
(10:02):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
You're going, you're going to, are you going to?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Moab Yep, I'll be back in Moab in October.
Good man, Matter of fact, I gotuh, one of my one of my clients
is going to come out and uh,crew and pace me, so that'll be
fun, hey uh, hit me up.
Hit me up.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I might want to be on the pace crew if if I'm
eligible.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Well, we'll have to up.
I might want to be on the Pacecrew if I'm eligible.
Well, we'll have to see.
I've been looking at yourStrava, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
All right, so that's my update over the last couple
of weeks.
What's going on with MarkBrower?
What is going on with me?
I'm just worried about myfriend Tony.
You know I'm excited about theGrand Canyon trip coming up.
I am, yeah, just trying to bepresent and learn.
I got a small win to reportAbout three months ago.
I launched a newsletter and,right out of the gates, got six
subscribers and now I think I'mover 155.
(10:59):
So I write a weekly newsletterand it has to do with mindset,
leadership, personal, like wewere at the forefront, we're at
the uh, we're at the frontier ofour growth in like 20, 40
(11:33):
different areas of our life,right, and so I love thinking
about live, like, like what ittakes to push those boundaries
out and, uh, and I've beenwriting about it and it's been
super gratifying.
And in first, can I share alittle bit about that journey.
Let's hit it.
I think this is like superrelevant, uh, hopefully not just
(11:55):
for me, but for other people.
Um, you know Jordan Peterson,one of my favorite speakers and
writers.
Uh, there's, apologize inadvance for anybody that's going
to cancel me because I likeJordan Peterson.
Sorry, not sorry.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
If somebody's going to cancel because you like
somebody, they don't need to belistening anyway.
Sorry, not sorry.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
So Jordan Peterson said that writing is the deepest
form of thinking.
I think that's so true.
And what's been supergratifying to me is that, as
I've you know, I God gave me thegift of like ideas and
sometimes, often, I got too manyideas coming and sometimes it
affects my sleep, sometimes itaffects my presence with my
(12:37):
family on the weekend.
Sometimes, like, like, itimpacts me, like there's pluses
and negatives to this gift ofideas that just that, just flow
through my brain.
And I think it's one of thereasons like I pursued ultra
running because, as you know,when you get to a certain point
of um pain we'll call itexertion the focus comes down to
(13:01):
a singularity and there'ssomething really purifying about
that, something reallygrounding about that, something
really I don't know there'ssomething there, but when I'm
not 50 miles into a hard run, myideas are pinging off the
chrome.
(13:23):
And what writing has done for meis it's forced me or it's
allowed me.
It's given me the opportunityto craft ideas into paragraphs
that have to follow certainrules and they have to kind of
make sense and they kind of haveto flow.
And so what's exciting for meis, in this journey of expanding
(13:47):
the frontier of my philosophyabout life at every meaningful
point.
Writing is, I think,accelerating that expansion of
the frontier and clarifying theprocess, and I'm getting a lot
more out of it, and I think someother people are getting more
out of it, and I'm learning somereally cool things.
There's no way I could havelearned without it, and I'll
touch on two of those reallyquick, if you'll allow me.
(14:08):
Allowed Notice I waited thattime for an answer.
I often wait for that answer.
You were testing me.
One of those ideas is now.
I just lost both of the ideasand they were so important.
Just kidding, one of the ideaswas in the beginning.
(14:34):
See, writing has allowed me toconfront something that I think
is really important and I wantto write about.
I think I'm going to write mynext issue about this.
There's this idea of one andmany.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
And there's this idea of and I'm going to conflate
this idea of one and many withacres of diamonds and greener
pastures.
Can we do this?
Let's do it, okay.
So the idea of one or many isthat, for those of us who want
to live a full, meaningful lifeand we're entrepreneurs and we
want to grow, there's this ideathat, well, I've got to impact
(15:11):
lots of people's lives, I needto impact the many, I need to
connect with the many, I need todo lots of things that are at
scale, at volume, okay, andthat's the way I thought for
years.
And then there's this otheridea, on the polar opposite,
that I need to make meaningfulconnection with one person and
(15:35):
that's it, that's all thatmatters.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Okay, I want to dive deep.
I'm going to, I'm going to puta pin in this, just so we have a
marker.
We're going to come backbecause in our next episode that
we're going to record, I wantto lean heavy into this because
that's going to, that's touchesso much on what I want to talk
about in the next episode.
Great Well, can we talk?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
about it now too, or should I just stop?
Speaker 1 (15:56):
no, no, you can keep going, but I wanted to just make
a marker that we're going tocircle back around.
Good, write it down, I thinkthis is.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
You're going to have a lot of conversations about
this, so I have a couple ofstories to share.
Two years ago, I'm reading alexhermosi and he's talking about
how, like the rock and you knowconnor mcgregor, you know like
and mr beast, and they just like, pointed something and it's 100
million dollar.
Bam Didn't have to pay theprice to like, learn how to you
know, productize and have to dolike, didn't have to source,
(16:23):
didn't have to build a brand.
They were the brand.
They built their brand.
Why did how?
Did they build a brand?
Because they knew how toattract and retain attention and
they so.
So this idea of building apersonal brand was like oh, my
eyes are opened.
If there's something that I cando that's meaningful, that you
know.
Epictetus said give me a longenough lever and I will move the
(16:51):
world.
Okay, so the thing that canextend my lever.
I'm always thinking aboutwhat's that thing Like?
I want to have more impact.
I want to go to the many, right, right, I want to impact the
many.
So so I'm reading alex hermosi,I'm listening to him, and he
says uh, he says, and I'mthinking, I gotta create content
.
And you know this, like, a yearand a half ago we had this
little mastermind for a littlewhile and you know, sarah hatch
and some other people were onthere and we're like and um,
(17:15):
ironclad sam was on there he'sin the grand canyon.
Yeah and uh, our buddy, uh well,jared was in there, jared, I
read it.
Thank you for reading my mindeverybody, everybody took some
action and did something alittle bit different, and your
son was there and it was so fun.
I got to learn about how he'sobsessed about nintendo anyway,
(17:36):
uh so, uh.
So around that time I'm readingalex hermosi, you're listening
to him and he's like um, he'slike I crowdsource the ideas
that are worthy of creatingadditional content on by posting
them on twitter.
At the time was twitter, and soI thought so I'm thinking about
(17:57):
that.
I'm thinking about like, justfail faster and just do stuff.
You got to do it consistently.
I'm hearing all these things.
It's swirling around in my head.
I'm like, okay, I'm going tostart posting to Twitter and I'm
going to post two to five timesa day and I'm just going to
commit to it.
I'm going to do it for like 90days and I hope I can reach a
(18:17):
lot of people.
I start posting on Twitter.
My views per tweet were in thetens 20 to 80 views per tweet.
Never any hearts, never anyretweets.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I feel bad.
I'm going to go heart you.
I'm going to find you now andI'm going to heart you on
Twitter.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I was posting, I was tweeting into the void, tony,
and it was very difficult.
Here's why Because I wasjudging myself based on reaction
.
And I'm like dude.
I see these people that havetens of thousands of views,
hundreds of thousands of views,of thousands of views, hundreds
(19:02):
of likes, dozens of retweets.
Like what is wrong with mybrain?
Like I am not, I'm telling you.
I would like the pervasivethought.
I am not as smart as I thoughtI was.
This hurts, but I'd committedto doing it and I just kept
doing it.
So guess what happened?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You got to 20 hearts.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
No, I never got 20 hearts 20 views.
Yeah, I got over 20 views a fewtimes, yeah, but somehow the
algorithm put one of my tweetsinto Peter Lohman's feed.
Rhythm put one of my tweetsinto Peter Lohman's feed and
somehow something I tweeted wasinteresting enough that Peter
(19:47):
took it and posted it in hisnewsletter, which at the time
had about 5,000 weekly readers.
Now it's got 15,000.
And next thing I know I'mgetting an email from a couple
of people like hey, saw that youwere mentioned in my favorite
newsletter, peter Lohman'snewsletter.
I'm like what?
Okay, so the end of the storyis I then started, got familiar
(20:09):
with Peter, met him at aconference.
He featured me another time,then we did a podcast together.
Then we did another podcasttogether.
Next thing, you know, I'm onthe stage of broker owner two
years later, a couple months ago, debating live with Peter about
something that we disagreeabout, and I heard a lot from a
lot of people that it was likereally engaging.
They really enjoyed theconversation.
There's no way I would havebeen there had I not tweeted
(20:32):
into the void where I thought itwas actually tweeting to no one
.
Like it was absolutely a lowleverage, meaningless activity,
but I'd committed to it, justtrusting with faith that
something was going to come ofit.
And one person picked it up,one person and it changed
everything for me.
It boosted my confidencebecause I saw that he thought
(20:56):
you know, some of my ideas werevaluable and he encouraged me.
And then later, like three anda half months ago, february this
year, february this yearinvited me to a mastermind where
other people that were contentcreators were there.
These guys were like insanelysmart and they inspired me and
they did.
And when I was around I'm likehey, maybe I could, maybe I
could do kind of stuff that likethey're doing and they're
writing with AI and they'redoing some really cool things
and here's how they're doing it.
(21:16):
And I got a couple like tipsand a couple tools out of that.
And then I started writing mynewsletter three and a half
months ago and then I was likespending hours and hours and
hours and hours and hours on oneissue rewriting, rewriting,
rewriting, rewriting, thinkingway, obsessing about it,
thinking way too much into it,thinking that this has to be
perfect for the masses.
And then, guess what happenedrecently I shifted my thinking
(21:41):
away from the masses to the oneand I actually don't even care,
truly Like I care, but I don'tcare if the masses like my
newsletter or not.
I've got one specific person inmind, maybe two or three
friends in the industry in mind.
I'm like, hey, you know whatthis might help them.
(22:01):
I'm writing this newsletter forthem.
If anyone else cares, fine.
And guess what's happening?
The more I write to the one,the more my subscriber growth
rate increases.
I'm starting to grow faster.
There's something reallymagical about cutting through
(22:23):
the noise and reaching out tothe one.
In my newsletter a couplemonths ago I mentioned to
everybody that I was leaving.
I put life on pause and I hope Idon't get emotional here.
So just warning viewers If it'scringey, turn down the volume
or turn your face away.
I put life on pause and I wentto Idaho to get my
(22:47):
neurodivergent son who's 19.
And he was lost and scared anddidn't know what to do.
Too intense to live at homewith mom and the girls Like
didn't have what to do.
Too intense to live at homewith mom and the girls Like
didn't have anywhere to go.
Desperately wanted to come homeand just got put on academic
probation, had lived in fourapartments in three months and
(23:09):
this poor kid man like he was sodesperate to get out of Dodge
and get away from the pain thathe took an early drive down to
be at the hotel I was going tobe at later that night.
I had a later flight.
It was Allegiant.
It was the only time he cameinto Idaho Falls and laid there
in the lobby where they havebreakfast the next morning with
his hoodie pulled over his faceand his AirPod Pros in for hours
(23:31):
, surrounded by disheveled boxesand suitcases and an electric
scooter.
And then bring it together, mark.
Then we spent three and a halfweeks together and I canceled
everything on my calendar.
We found a therapist.
That was a miracle.
We met with that therapist likeeight times.
(23:52):
We found another therapist andlike his whole world started
changing.
But I was the one that got, youknow, the biggest payoff from
that and there were so many waysthat my life was changed.
Sorry, because I cleared mycalendar and I decided to serve
(24:14):
the one and he was the one, andhe's a neurodivergent kid, you
know.
Somebody could argue like youknow, like, really, mark, you're
running like multiple companiesand like you know what's the
cost of this.
But I'm telling you, tony,there's something really, really
magical, uh, really, uh specialabout stripping everything away
(24:36):
except for the one, and and and, and the focus on the one is
the realization that there arediamonds under our feet right
now, and stop looking at thegreener pastures over there, the
many.
I I anyway back to you, likeyou.
Tell me about what you thinkabout this all right.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
So there's two things that I'm picking up on this.
The first one is the you're 100right there's.
I wish I could think of him.
I've watched him on youtube.
I follow him on linkedin.
I can't remember the guy's name, but he writes for really,
really successful articles,posts all of that on LinkedIn,
and he starts every one of hisposts with dear son, and then he
(25:20):
writes the post and before hehits click to submit it, he goes
back up and deletes the dearson part, and so he writes just
to the one person.
It just so happens.
It ties into the fact thatyou're talking about your son,
but he has a very specificperson that he's talking to, and
so he's creating this contentaround topics that he thinks are
(25:42):
really important, and he'sdirecting it to somebody that he
knows it could have beenanybody.
He just happened to pick hisson, and it makes it so that
content is so much moremeaningful because he's talking
specifically to a specificperson, and when you talk to a
specific person, it allows youto reach people on a one-on-one
(26:03):
basis.
Even though it's one-on-onebasis, you're connecting
one-on-one with more and morepeople, and so I think that's
really powerful.
The second thing that I wantedto touch on was, and you skipped
over this.
I don't even know if you meantto include this in this, but you
said I run multiple companies.
What am I doing going out andwhat is the cost of this?
(26:24):
To go and do this?
I mean, what a blessing thatyou are in a position, that
you've built a business, you'veinvested the time to do it right
, you've created the systems,you have the people on your team
, you have your core values,your expectations, your vision
for the future of the company,and that allowed you to take
time away, call a timeout atwork.
(26:47):
I'm sure there was tons of stuffgoing on that you could have
filled your calendar with, butyou elected not to because you
had the flexibility and thefreedom, based on the work
you've put in, to say this ismore important.
This one could have been yourson, could have been a friend,
and we're going to dig into thisnext episode.
I'm really excited about thisbecause we're connecting on some
(27:07):
things I wanted to talk abouttoo, and so that, to me, is just
really impactful for the peoplethat are listening that if
you're struggling with a reasonto put the time and effort into
building your business right,that will run without you.
That will allow you to focus onthe things in life that are
more important than leases andmove-ins and move-outs and Not
(27:29):
that those aren't important, butwe can create systems so that
those operate efficientlywithout having to have you as
the business owner involved.
And I think it's really specialthat you're sharing this with
our audience, because you'vedone the work up front that
allowed you to have thisflexibility and freedom to focus
(27:52):
on what's important in life, asopposed to what you had to do
to keep the business going.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, and I couldn't have done.
I feel compelled to say Goddeserves a lot of credit for
that.
You know, it wasn't my naturalnature necessarily to focus on
something one thing for longenough to move the needle in a
way that creates stability andpredictability and structure
(28:21):
that could sustain beyond me.
I did set out very early,intentionally.
14 years ago I started aproperty management business
with the specific goal that Iwas not going to just create a
job for myself, but that I wasgoing to turn that uncommon
corner from self-employed tobusiness owner, and that was
(28:45):
extremely intentional.
I was very committed to thatoutcome.
It's why I chose propertymanagement, because my
perception was recurring revenue, simple enough, problems at
scale.
I could build a company of ateam around me, we could execute
on those problems and I couldget my time, time freedom and
money freedom.
And so I mean.
(29:07):
And so I mean sorry, thinkingabout my son just gives me
emotion real quick, but maybeGod led me down this path so
that when my son hit 19 and hewas going to have this you know
these issues I could beavailable.
You know our kids only have onedad.
(29:30):
Our kids only have one mom.
Our kids only have one momCan't outsource that job.
You know, isn't it great thatwe can build a brand and build a
company and build a team andbuild around the right ideas and
the right commitments and, inso doing, grow and transform
ourselves into a better versionof ourselves, but also gain
(29:51):
access to be able to connectwith the one?
And you know what?
In not a small way.
I think that's what we're doingthrough our businesses as well.
We're helping other people,whether they ever become
business owners or not, or not,we're helping other people
(30:14):
achieve a greater financialstrength in their lives so that
they can take the time, whencalled upon, to focus on the one
, and that's a worthy mission.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Okay, I need to ask you a question, yep, because
we're coming up at the end ofthis episode.
Okay, coming up in the end ofthis episode.
Okay, you mentioned that therewere two things.
Was that both, or was that justthe one?
Or are we gonna roll the?
We're gonna?
Oh man, you're gonna make me goall the way back.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Yeah, I just went on a really long, deep tangent on
that one, um, I think.
I think the other thing was uh,did we?
What was the one thing I talkedabout?
That the newsletter helped me?
It helped me bring structure tothe chaos, taking the abstract
and putting it into the concrete.
All of those things arebrilliant.
(30:58):
It also has helped me find myvoice and I think that, tied
into that idea of the one, thatidea of the one because instead
of trying to be all things toall people, it guided me almost
(31:19):
like a funnel down into.
I can see more clearly now who Iam, what I stand for, what
really ignites my passion andwho I want to direct that
passion towards to impact theirlives.
And so then, so that gave mepermission to not have to try to
be so perfect so I can connectwith a hundred people at the
same time, but so that I couldactually just show up with my
(31:42):
own style at 80% of perfectionand acknowledge that's good
enough.
And and then, if I get, youknow what the most gratifying
thing of having this newsletterso far is like recently, if
there's an episode that'sparticularly meaningful to
someone, they email me back andthey're like man, this really
hit home.
This is exactly what I neededto hear Like you can't put a
(32:05):
price on that.
That's fantastic.
Yeah, I feel like God workedthrough me to reach that person.
That was my one person and itdidn't have to be perfect.
So, anyway, I'm super jazzedabout writing a newsletter.
I think everybody should do it.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I agree and I'm looking forward to hearing more
about the success as this grows.
I want to wrap up withsomething that you mentioned
again.
Going back into theconversation.
You said, as an entrepreneur,there's 40 different areas of
life, that we're pushing theboundaries, we're we're going
out and, as you mentioned thatand again I just came off of the
(32:40):
desert being out- you know, my,my walk in the woods, um, but
when you said that, it remindedme of a person on a path in the
jungle and just kind ofbushwhacking, and every step
forward is we're taking ourmachete and carving a new path
forward that we've not been onbefore and maybe there was a
(33:00):
path there before that somebodylaid before us and it's kind of
overgrown.
But for us we're having to takeour machete and every step
forward we're having to carve anew path.
And I've had a lot ofdiscussion lately about people
who feel like they're faking itor they're going to be exposed,
they're going to be found outand they have imposter syndrome.
(33:23):
And I have.
Just, I don't know what it isabout, my personality or
whatever, but I am.
Now I get worried when I don'tfeel like I have imposter
syndrome, oh wow.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
I thought you were going to say you've never had
imposter syndrome.
I was like my mind was going tobe blown.
No, I live in it.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
I live in it because the way I feel like is if you
don't, if you're notexperiencing imposter syndrome
and maybe this is just the way Ijustify trying to push the
boundaries but I feel like ifyou don't, if you're not
experiencing imposter syndrome,then you're probably coasting.
You're probably doing whatyou're already really good at.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Yeah, or you're narcissistic and you should go
seek therapy.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
That's possible too.
But for me, for those peoplethat are struggling with, I'm
doing something new.
I'm afraid to fail, I'm afraidto expose that I'm doing
something new to the team and Idon't really know what I'm doing
, but I want to do it.
I want to grow in thisdirection.
I want to add so many doors, Iwant to implement a new program
and it might fail and that'sokay.
(34:22):
I mean I went 214 miles out of a256 mile race.
I'm at peace with the way ithappened.
I mean I would have wanted tofinish, but I I failed forward,
I pushed my boundaries.
It's the hottest race I've everrun and it was a cold year, it
rained, and so it was.
It's just one of those thingswhere I push my boundaries and I
(34:44):
will continue to push theboundaries and I will continue
to live in that impostersyndrome because I want to find
out what my limits are.
I don't want to figure out.
The more I can do, the more Ican help people.
And yeah, you don't do thatwhen you're sitting back, kind
of coasting in the safe zone.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
In ultra running we talk about getting comfortable,
being uncomfortable, and itsounds like you found
comfortable in imposter syndrome.
So well done, Tony.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
All right, let's wrap this one up, mark, let's get
them out of here.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Let's get them out.
Go back out on the trail.
You got this.
We'll see you at the next aidstation, woohoo.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
We'll see you All right.
Thanks for tuning in to theProperty Management Success
Podcast.
We'll be back with anothervalue-packed episode to help you
level up your propertymanagement game.
If you've got somethingvaluable out of today's episode,
please share it with a friendor colleague, and don't forget
to subscribe and leave a reviewso you never miss out on future
insights and strategies andtactics.
(35:43):
Until next time, here's to yoursuccess.
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