October 14, 2025 • 19 mins
In this episode, we explore how a home becomes the center of value — not just an asset — and why the most impactful investors build businesses around life transitions, community, and legacy.
We unpack how to structure deals that solve real problems, strengthen your team, and grow through discomfort and trust. Whether you’re a new or seasoned investor, these insights will reshape how you see opportunity, risk, and relationships in real estate.
What you’ll learn:
- Reframing real estate as legacy, community, and daily life
- Structuring LOIs with non-price levers to create win-wins
- Building a reliable team to reduce surprises from offer to close
- Why saying “yes” before you’re ready accelerates growth
- How conversations—not assumptions—resolve conflict
- The 3 non-negotiables for scaling: work on it, cash buffer, 60-day yes
- Why your first hire unlocks capacity, systems, and peace of mind
Connect with Diana:
https://www.dklawmd.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Saying yes to something before you're ready is
what you need to do to grow.
SPEAKER_00 (00:06):
Welcome to the Five Questions Podcast, where we
unlock real estate and businessinsights one question at a time.
Welcome to the Five QuestionsPodcast.
My name is Mario.
I am your host, and our guest ontoday's show is an attorney, a
(00:30):
real estate broker, amultipreneur behind seven
driving uh companies, founder ofDK Law Group and nationally
requested keynote speaker.
I welcome Diana Kahn.
Deanna, welcome to the FiveQuestions Podcast today.
SPEAKER_01 (00:48):
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Anytime I get to be on apodcast, especially one I listen
to, I get so excited.
SPEAKER_00 (00:54):
Well, thank you.
Uh Diana, the uh concept of thepodcast, real simple.
I ask five questions eitherabout real estate or business,
and we get straight to thepoint.
You ready?
SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
I love it.
I'm ready.
Let's go.
unknown (01:06):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (01:07):
Let me take my pen.
I'm gonna take notes while wetalk.
Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00 (01:10):
You've built seven companies across law, brokerage,
and title.
Uh what was the inflection uhinflection point that moved you
from practicing attorney tomultipreneur?
Uh and what principle stillanchors every decision you make
today?
SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
So I think, you know, I was originally in real
estate before I went to lawschool.
So I had my real estatebrokerage first.
I sold houses.
And then when I went to lawschool, I said, I'm never doing
real estate again.
Like it's never doing it again.
And I think a lot of people inreal estate say that.
But when I got out of lawschool, I realized that really
one of the things that's mostmagical, at least in the United
(01:51):
States, I'm not originally fromhere, is that our homes are not
just places we live.
It's where we do everything,right?
It's our biggest enterprise,it's our biggest investment.
It's really it, at least in theAmerican nation, it's also kind
of what we die with, right?
It's it's kind of whereeverything is done.
It's not just a place you sleepat night, it's where your kids
(02:11):
kind of take their first step.
And when I started realizing howmuch we actually equate
happiness and legacy, well,there's got to be a way to
incorporate that withineverything I do.
So, you know, I kind of wentwith this idea of a house is not
just a home, it's what you makeof it.
And then from there, I starteddoing all these businesses that
are really centered on helpingindividuals not just sell and
(02:35):
buy homes, but downsize a home,help grandmothers, help, you
know, help your mom.
And when you kind of see it asthis centerpiece to everything
we do in our lives, and that'swhy most of people's whys break
down to what they do at home.
And then from there, mycompany's kind of branched out,
and it's just been it's been funever since.
SPEAKER_00 (02:55):
So the the way, yeah, so basically you don't
take um your decisions on what Iwould call the moment, but uh
make them more on the bigpicture.
Uh like you say, this is notwhere I just sleep at night,
this is my home.
And what is included in my homeis is experiences, it's
(03:15):
memories, it's everyday life uhstories.
So I I like that.
SPEAKER_01 (03:21):
And it's it's also the idea, really, is when you
where you live is alsosocioeconomically where you
shop, it's where you put intoyour community, it's where you
want to help your community.
So when you build businesses tokind of mimic that community, it
can really kind of speak toterms.
And then when you have sevenbusinesses across the scope,
then you can help somebody withtheir home in different ways, be
(03:43):
able to feed your own kids, butnot necessarily be looking at
the bottom dollar as atransactional that just occurs
one time.
SPEAKER_00 (03:50):
Yeah, I I I agree with you.
Um second question I got foryou, and this has to go with
real estate investors and andmaybe law at the same time.
Since you do both, I'm gonna askyou this for uh founders or real
estate investors.
What is the, I would call itnumber one legal blind spot you
(04:12):
see uh at the LOI or thecontract stage and the simple
process you recommend to preventit from killing the deals?
SPEAKER_01 (04:21):
I think investors a lot of the time look at them as
deals, right?
So when you don't like you getthat letter of intent, you're
putting it out, you make amistake of thinking everybody's
bottom dollar is just money.
But really, I think a lot ofinvestors that I work with
become more seasoned or theybecome more experienced when
they realize sometimes you canoffer a seller$10,000 less, but
(04:42):
offer them a moving company andan ability to downside.
Or, you know, I'll help you getin your new home and kind of
build this ability to kind ofhave candycap accessibility.
And when I kind of broke awayfrom just look looking at a
letter of intent of just what istheir bottom, and I want to get
to that bottom and I want tomake sure it's profitable for
me, I actually became moreprofitable when I found out why
(05:03):
they were selling and figuringout how I could structure a deal
that's outside of those fourcorners of a contract, which is
counterintuitive because lawyersalways say the contract is just
the four corners.
But if you get outside of thosefour corners, you can get much
further.
SPEAKER_00 (05:17):
Yeah.
And then when you ask the rightquestions when it comes to real
estate, for example, of whythey're selling, I believe in
win-win situations.
So you can create a win-winoutcome for not only you, but
for the seller as well.
And and then your name gets outthere and you get referrals and
you get more business.
So I like that approach.
SPEAKER_01 (05:38):
Yeah, exactly.
It's just, you know, kind oflooking at it at a vertically
integrated system and gettingoutside of the traditional norm
that we're used to.
SPEAKER_00 (05:46):
Yeah.
Question number three I have foryou is you're a licensed
attorney, uh, a certifiedmediator real estate broker, uh,
you produce titles and a notary.
I want to talk right now forsmall investors that are maybe
starting.
How should they assemble theirdeal to go from offer to closing
(06:10):
with the fewer surprises aspossible?
SPEAKER_01 (06:14):
Have a team and use them every time.
I mean, I cannot say thisenough.
If you don't trust your team,that's a big issue.
I think that a lot of investors,at least in the beginning,
right?
You're you're breaking everydollar, you're trying to make it
all work.
You won't go with the contractorthat's a little more expensive.
For me, I'm making more moneywhen I'm not worried about
money.
(06:34):
So my team, even if they chargeme a little bit more, I know
they're gonna take care ofeverything.
I know they're gonna flip thathouse, they're gonna do
everything I need to do, and I'mnot gonna be bothered unless the
situation happens.
That's not because they're thecheapest in the business, but
I've built a relationship whereit's people that will take care
of those surprises for me sothat I'm not blindsided when
they happen.
SPEAKER_00 (06:54):
I I agree with you.
I couldn't agree more becauseevery time I took decisions in
my past that I was trying topenny pinch or save.
I I still remember a deal I diduh when I first started.
I was trying to save uh and Iwas uh I was impatient and I had
gone through many deals and itdidn't follow through.
(07:15):
I was dropping the deals, andthis one I became impatient.
I skipped on the inspection,trusting trusting the realtor
because he knew apparently thisdeal.
That mistake led me to lose$35,000 on that on that deal.
Wow.
So I cannot agree more than thanwhat you just said is don't uh
(07:37):
try to penny pinch or save somemoney on on stuff that you
shouldn't save on.
Right.
Too many people try to you knowto save a dollar in the wrong
areas, it's gonna end up costingmore.
SPEAKER_01 (07:51):
And and here's the thing, I don't believe anybody's
in this world trying to take oneover on you, right?
I don't think I like to thinkthat people aren't innately
selfish, but I think sometimesthere's a trust that's built in
there.
And perhaps what you value in atransaction is very different
than me.
But if we work together longenough, I'll know what's
important to Mario, you'll knowwhat's important to Diana.
(08:14):
And that's that trust that youbuild and that learning skill
set that works really well whenyou have a team that understands
what your values are.
SPEAKER_00 (08:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
Let's go to the fourth question.
Um, your story centered onresilience, uh turning
discomfort into growth.
Can you share a moment where amajor setback forced you to
pivot?
And what we want to know more iswhat did you change in strategy
(08:41):
or systems or team that unlockedthat next level?
SPEAKER_01 (08:46):
So this is kind of a weird one for me because I used
to be the transactioncoordinator.
I was always in the back.
I was, you know, doing thingsfor other people.
I was getting the contractsdone.
I didn't really like to be inthe spotlight.
It just wasn't for me.
And then I just rememberprobably a few years ago, right
when the interest rates startedkind of going back up again.
About three years ago, it waslike Christmas, and I was at a
(09:06):
Christmas party with all theserealtors who were all top
performing, we're all doingwell.
And my bank account was at likezero dollars.
And I was like, this is notgood.
This doesn't feel good.
And we're all pretending we'redoing great.
And I kind of realized that I'vealways kind of pivoted myself on
helping others to a degree thatI wasn't putting myself on the
forefront because I don't feelcomfortable, you know, doing a
(09:29):
podcast.
I don't feel comfortable beingon TV.
I don't feel comfortable kind ofguiding that.
So I kind of pivoted into thatdiscomfort.
And the next day I spent$15,000on marketing for the following
year.
It was, I think, November,December.
I never spent that much money onlike backing my own name.
But, you know, I was like, ifI'm if I'm gonna go out broke, I
might as well really go outbroke and just completely
(09:51):
downfall it.
Put it all in credit cards, andI was so uncomfortable.
I remember the first time I wenton TV with like a commercial, I
was like, God, that's gonna bethat's not for me, right?
And then my commercial wentviral and people were making fun
of it, and I just I just had topivot into it.
And now I just say yes more thanI say no, but it's the
(10:11):
discomfort of doing things andalso I think finding out why
you're uncomfortable withsomething because you and I both
can not like public speaking,for example.
But maybe for me, publicspeaking is about, I don't know,
an accent.
And for you, it could be about,you know, not liking your body
or not feeling confident.
You know, it's two verydifferent things.
(10:31):
So if you just say, I'm notcomfortable with X and you don't
know what X is causing you to beuncomfortable about, then you
don't really get to knowyourself.
And that's kind of a deeper diveinto it.
SPEAKER_00 (10:41):
Yeah, I I love that.
And and you know, it comes down,yes, real resilience.
Uh when you have failures, doyou get back up and continue
your journey?
Uh, you talked about going allout.
If you're gonna, if you're gonnafail, you're gonna fail for
real.
And right, and and and sometimesand if you look at you know,
entrepreneurs that succeeded andnow are millionaires and
(11:04):
billionaires, they were facedwith those situations.
Right.
Sometimes you have to take achance in life on yourself.
Do you believe in yourselfenough and in your project or
whatever you're working on tosee it succeed?
Do you do you know, do you feelit, do you visualize it?
(11:25):
If you do, take the chance onyourself.
SPEAKER_01 (11:28):
100%.
I couldn't agree more.
And you know, the the thing Ithink that goes with that is you
have to remember everybody elseis trying to take chances too.
I had this um just just thisweek, actually last Friday, this
attorney was very unkind to mein an email.
And, you know, I psyched myselfout.
Like, you know, it's not she hada bad day.
I was like, she thinks I'm I'mstupid.
(11:50):
You know, so she comes into theoffice the next day, and I mean
it was a very bad confrontation.
She comes in with her client andshe sits across from me and I'm
deposing her client and she'sobjecting and just being really
strong.
And I remember being intimidatedby her.
And then a little bit later,when when the deposition was
over, I actually called her andI said, Hey, things got a little
(12:12):
bad.
Like, you know, let me tell youa little bit about me.
And by the time we finished thephone call, ends up she was just
having a bad day the nightbefore.
But what was very important isshe told me that she had no idea
what she was doing during thedeposition.
She was she was covering forsomebody, she had very little
knowledge about the case.
Meanwhile, she was intimidatingme.
And she was like, I just didn'twant to look like an idiot.
(12:33):
And I was like, Well, thatteaches you that we're all sort
of sitting there doing the bestwe can, and we think other
people have it more figured outand they don't.
SPEAKER_00 (12:41):
Yeah, absolutely.
You never know.
Asking, asking questions, and Iliked what you did is you
actually reached out to see whatwas going on.
A lot of people won't, right?
They're gonna either shove itunder the carpet or they're
gonna ignore it totally whensometimes it's a lot smaller
than we think.
(13:02):
Just have a conversation withthe person, just try to figure
out where they're coming from,right?
Right.
And that's what's missingcommunication a lot in these
days, uh, these days in age, uh,I think would make a big
difference on outcomes thatpeople would have if they would
take the time to have thoseconversations.
SPEAKER_01 (13:20):
And I think, you know, I think that's a little
bit to be said about the way wetext, right?
Is like people have moreconversations, but they're more
scripted now.
I don't think you catch peoplewhere it's like I'm just having
a bad day.
If you're having a text messageconversation, it's not really a
genuine thought.
Like if you if I had texted herand I said, Hey, what was up
with the email last night?
She has time to react.
(13:41):
She has time to kind of put thebest face forward.
Whereas if you just ask in ahuman way with like, hey, like
you don't know me, but are youokay?
Like, what happened last night?
And that it kind of throwspeople off, but they get very
appreciative, I think.
SPEAKER_00 (13:54):
Yeah.
Deanna, uh, last question thatwe have for you today.
Uh, you do you have manydifferent uh companies?
If a listener wants to scalefrom one venture into a diverse
portfolio, okay, whether it's uhcompanies or ventures, what are
your three non-negotiable um,for example, capital uh
(14:18):
discipline, governance, people,process, whatever the case is,
what are your threenon-negotiable and what's one
action that you suggest them totake in the next 24 hours to
start uh scaling that that thatportfolio or venture?
SPEAKER_01 (14:36):
That's a great question.
For me, three non-negotiables isthat if you're working in the
business, you're not working onthe business.
And if you're starting abusiness, you need to be working
in it enough to have staff.
And sometimes people are like,when I get bigger, I'll hire
people.
But if you're working in it,you're not working on it.
So you gotta do, you gotta getyourself to a point where you're
always working on your business.
(14:56):
And if that means, you know,nighttime after your business is
closed and your clients are nolonger available, that's the one
thing is always work on it, notin it.
If you have to do it, do it inboth.
I think a second non-negotiablefor me is always have three
months of expenses put away forjust in case, for whatever you
need and whatever that may mean.
And if you don't have that, cutdown your spending because you
(15:19):
should be able to do threemonths if something happens to
you right now.
Be able to take care of thepeople around you, be able to
take care of your family,whatever else may be.
And then I think the third oneis just say yes.
You know, do everything you canfor at least 60 days.
Don't just say yes for a day,like put yourself to the test to
something, fully commit for 60days and then kind of see where
(15:40):
it plays from there.
Um, so I think that last onegoes into what would I do
tomorrow?
Right.
For me, I do everything I canfor 90 days.
And I remember the first time Ihired an employee.
I didn't listen to my ownadvice.
I was working in the business toa degree that I was breaking
down.
I mean, it was I was too busy.
I was too busy.
(16:01):
I didn't have time for my kids.
And I got this letter from mykids' school, and I have three
young kids, like very young, andthey were doing um costume day,
costume day once a week once aday for five straight days.
And 15 costume, you want me tobuy 15 costumes for the
following week with my business.
And I just remember, I was like,I I can.
(16:23):
So that day I text out a bunchof people.
I ended up hiring somebody at$15an hour, and she started the
next morning.
And I was like, I can't believeI just hired somebody I don't
know.
And I was like, I can't affordthis.
And then I was like, no, like Ineed it.
And it was so crazy for mebecause I was like, I'm gonna be
responsible for somebody else'spay.
(16:45):
I'm gonna be doing all thesethings.
And a year later I had over 70employees, but saying yes to
that first one and taking thatbond was the biggest.
And it took just kind ofbreaking down and realizing that
like I need help.
So sometimes saying yes tosomething before you're ready is
what you need to do to grow.
SPEAKER_00 (17:03):
I agree with you.
Uh yes, it the yes word is sopowerful because it's the only
word that opens doors.
Yeah, you keep saying no,nothing's gonna change.
Exactly.
If it's the situation thatyou're in, if it's your
finances, if it's your deals inreal estate, if you say no,
(17:23):
guess what?
Nothing happens.
But if you say yes, the dooropens.
Now, whether you decide to goahead and go through that door,
that's a decision you have tomake.
But the door is open.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (17:37):
So my dad used to say this joke when I was little.
Um, and I never understood itbecause he used to say this guy,
you know, he would pray to Godall the time, and he would say
things like, Oh, you know, makeme a millionaire, make me a
millionaire.
And then years later he dies andhe goes up to whoever he
believes in and says, I pray toyou every day to make me a
millionaire, and you never did.
(17:58):
And, you know, God or whateverit is that you believe in in
that story responded back with,you didn't even go out and buy
one lottery ticket.
Like, how am I gonna make you amillionaire if you didn't take
that step?
Yeah, and it's a joke my dadshared with me when I was
little, and I always thoughtabout it, but it's true.
You know, you can pray or youcan believe or you can work
hard, but you really got to takethat additional step.
(18:18):
And that step is founded indiscomfort.
unknown (18:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:23):
Thank you so much for having the conversations uh
with uh with me today on the thepodcast.
Very uh not knowledgeable.
I can't am I gonna say that?
I can't say the word,knowledgeable.
Uh talking about accents before.
And um I I really appreciate it.
I hope our listeners will take apiece of your knowledge, your
(18:44):
advice, and take it on theirjourney uh with them.
I really appreciated ourconversation.
SPEAKER_01 (18:50):
Thank you for having me.
I had a great time.
SPEAKER_00 (18:53):
All right, we'll talk soon.
Bye, guys.
Thanks for tuning in to the FiveQuestions Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to subscribe, like,
and hit the notification bell onour YouTube channel so you never
miss an episode.
Stay tuned for more insights andtips to transform your real
estate and business game.
See you next time.
Saying yes to something before you're ready is
what you need to do to grow.
SPEAKER_00 (00:06):
Welcome to the Five Questions Podcast, where we
unlock real estate and businessinsights one question at a time.
Welcome to the Five QuestionsPodcast.
My name is Mario.
I am your host, and our guest ontoday's show is an attorney, a
(00:30):
real estate broker, amultipreneur behind seven
driving uh companies, founder ofDK Law Group and nationally
requested keynote speaker.
I welcome Diana Kahn.
Deanna, welcome to the FiveQuestions Podcast today.
SPEAKER_01 (00:48):
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Anytime I get to be on apodcast, especially one I listen
to, I get so excited.
SPEAKER_00 (00:54):
Well, thank you.
Uh Diana, the uh concept of thepodcast, real simple.
I ask five questions eitherabout real estate or business,
and we get straight to thepoint.
You ready?
SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
I love it.
I'm ready.
Let's go.
unknown (01:06):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (01:07):
Let me take my pen.
I'm gonna take notes while wetalk.
Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00 (01:10):
You've built seven companies across law, brokerage,
and title.
Uh what was the inflection uhinflection point that moved you
from practicing attorney tomultipreneur?
Uh and what principle stillanchors every decision you make
today?
SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
So I think, you know, I was originally in real
estate before I went to lawschool.
So I had my real estatebrokerage first.
I sold houses.
And then when I went to lawschool, I said, I'm never doing
real estate again.
Like it's never doing it again.
And I think a lot of people inreal estate say that.
But when I got out of lawschool, I realized that really
one of the things that's mostmagical, at least in the United
(01:51):
States, I'm not originally fromhere, is that our homes are not
just places we live.
It's where we do everything,right?
It's our biggest enterprise,it's our biggest investment.
It's really it, at least in theAmerican nation, it's also kind
of what we die with, right?
It's it's kind of whereeverything is done.
It's not just a place you sleepat night, it's where your kids
(02:11):
kind of take their first step.
And when I started realizing howmuch we actually equate
happiness and legacy, well,there's got to be a way to
incorporate that withineverything I do.
So, you know, I kind of wentwith this idea of a house is not
just a home, it's what you makeof it.
And then from there, I starteddoing all these businesses that
are really centered on helpingindividuals not just sell and
(02:35):
buy homes, but downsize a home,help grandmothers, help, you
know, help your mom.
And when you kind of see it asthis centerpiece to everything
we do in our lives, and that'swhy most of people's whys break
down to what they do at home.
And then from there, mycompany's kind of branched out,
and it's just been it's been funever since.
SPEAKER_00 (02:55):
So the the way, yeah, so basically you don't
take um your decisions on what Iwould call the moment, but uh
make them more on the bigpicture.
Uh like you say, this is notwhere I just sleep at night,
this is my home.
And what is included in my homeis is experiences, it's
(03:15):
memories, it's everyday life uhstories.
So I I like that.
SPEAKER_01 (03:21):
And it's it's also the idea, really, is when you
where you live is alsosocioeconomically where you
shop, it's where you put intoyour community, it's where you
want to help your community.
So when you build businesses tokind of mimic that community, it
can really kind of speak toterms.
And then when you have sevenbusinesses across the scope,
then you can help somebody withtheir home in different ways, be
(03:43):
able to feed your own kids, butnot necessarily be looking at
the bottom dollar as atransactional that just occurs
one time.
SPEAKER_00 (03:50):
Yeah, I I I agree with you.
Um second question I got foryou, and this has to go with
real estate investors and andmaybe law at the same time.
Since you do both, I'm gonna askyou this for uh founders or real
estate investors.
What is the, I would call itnumber one legal blind spot you
(04:12):
see uh at the LOI or thecontract stage and the simple
process you recommend to preventit from killing the deals?
SPEAKER_01 (04:21):
I think investors a lot of the time look at them as
deals, right?
So when you don't like you getthat letter of intent, you're
putting it out, you make amistake of thinking everybody's
bottom dollar is just money.
But really, I think a lot ofinvestors that I work with
become more seasoned or theybecome more experienced when
they realize sometimes you canoffer a seller$10,000 less, but
(04:42):
offer them a moving company andan ability to downside.
Or, you know, I'll help you getin your new home and kind of
build this ability to kind ofhave candycap accessibility.
And when I kind of broke awayfrom just look looking at a
letter of intent of just what istheir bottom, and I want to get
to that bottom and I want tomake sure it's profitable for
me, I actually became moreprofitable when I found out why
(05:03):
they were selling and figuringout how I could structure a deal
that's outside of those fourcorners of a contract, which is
counterintuitive because lawyersalways say the contract is just
the four corners.
But if you get outside of thosefour corners, you can get much
further.
SPEAKER_00 (05:17):
Yeah.
And then when you ask the rightquestions when it comes to real
estate, for example, of whythey're selling, I believe in
win-win situations.
So you can create a win-winoutcome for not only you, but
for the seller as well.
And and then your name gets outthere and you get referrals and
you get more business.
So I like that approach.
SPEAKER_01 (05:38):
Yeah, exactly.
It's just, you know, kind oflooking at it at a vertically
integrated system and gettingoutside of the traditional norm
that we're used to.
SPEAKER_00 (05:46):
Yeah.
Question number three I have foryou is you're a licensed
attorney, uh, a certifiedmediator real estate broker, uh,
you produce titles and a notary.
I want to talk right now forsmall investors that are maybe
starting.
How should they assemble theirdeal to go from offer to closing
(06:10):
with the fewer surprises aspossible?
SPEAKER_01 (06:14):
Have a team and use them every time.
I mean, I cannot say thisenough.
If you don't trust your team,that's a big issue.
I think that a lot of investors,at least in the beginning,
right?
You're you're breaking everydollar, you're trying to make it
all work.
You won't go with the contractorthat's a little more expensive.
For me, I'm making more moneywhen I'm not worried about
money.
(06:34):
So my team, even if they chargeme a little bit more, I know
they're gonna take care ofeverything.
I know they're gonna flip thathouse, they're gonna do
everything I need to do, and I'mnot gonna be bothered unless the
situation happens.
That's not because they're thecheapest in the business, but
I've built a relationship whereit's people that will take care
of those surprises for me sothat I'm not blindsided when
they happen.
SPEAKER_00 (06:54):
I I agree with you.
I couldn't agree more becauseevery time I took decisions in
my past that I was trying topenny pinch or save.
I I still remember a deal I diduh when I first started.
I was trying to save uh and Iwas uh I was impatient and I had
gone through many deals and itdidn't follow through.
(07:15):
I was dropping the deals, andthis one I became impatient.
I skipped on the inspection,trusting trusting the realtor
because he knew apparently thisdeal.
That mistake led me to lose$35,000 on that on that deal.
Wow.
So I cannot agree more than thanwhat you just said is don't uh
(07:37):
try to penny pinch or save somemoney on on stuff that you
shouldn't save on.
Right.
Too many people try to you knowto save a dollar in the wrong
areas, it's gonna end up costingmore.
SPEAKER_01 (07:51):
And and here's the thing, I don't believe anybody's
in this world trying to take oneover on you, right?
I don't think I like to thinkthat people aren't innately
selfish, but I think sometimesthere's a trust that's built in
there.
And perhaps what you value in atransaction is very different
than me.
But if we work together longenough, I'll know what's
important to Mario, you'll knowwhat's important to Diana.
(08:14):
And that's that trust that youbuild and that learning skill
set that works really well whenyou have a team that understands
what your values are.
SPEAKER_00 (08:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
Let's go to the fourth question.
Um, your story centered onresilience, uh turning
discomfort into growth.
Can you share a moment where amajor setback forced you to
pivot?
And what we want to know more iswhat did you change in strategy
(08:41):
or systems or team that unlockedthat next level?
SPEAKER_01 (08:46):
So this is kind of a weird one for me because I used
to be the transactioncoordinator.
I was always in the back.
I was, you know, doing thingsfor other people.
I was getting the contractsdone.
I didn't really like to be inthe spotlight.
It just wasn't for me.
And then I just rememberprobably a few years ago, right
when the interest rates startedkind of going back up again.
About three years ago, it waslike Christmas, and I was at a
(09:06):
Christmas party with all theserealtors who were all top
performing, we're all doingwell.
And my bank account was at likezero dollars.
And I was like, this is notgood.
This doesn't feel good.
And we're all pretending we'redoing great.
And I kind of realized that I'vealways kind of pivoted myself on
helping others to a degree thatI wasn't putting myself on the
forefront because I don't feelcomfortable, you know, doing a
(09:29):
podcast.
I don't feel comfortable beingon TV.
I don't feel comfortable kind ofguiding that.
So I kind of pivoted into thatdiscomfort.
And the next day I spent$15,000on marketing for the following
year.
It was, I think, November,December.
I never spent that much money onlike backing my own name.
But, you know, I was like, ifI'm if I'm gonna go out broke, I
might as well really go outbroke and just completely
(09:51):
downfall it.
Put it all in credit cards, andI was so uncomfortable.
I remember the first time I wenton TV with like a commercial, I
was like, God, that's gonna bethat's not for me, right?
And then my commercial wentviral and people were making fun
of it, and I just I just had topivot into it.
And now I just say yes more thanI say no, but it's the
(10:11):
discomfort of doing things andalso I think finding out why
you're uncomfortable withsomething because you and I both
can not like public speaking,for example.
But maybe for me, publicspeaking is about, I don't know,
an accent.
And for you, it could be about,you know, not liking your body
or not feeling confident.
You know, it's two verydifferent things.
(10:31):
So if you just say, I'm notcomfortable with X and you don't
know what X is causing you to beuncomfortable about, then you
don't really get to knowyourself.
And that's kind of a deeper diveinto it.
SPEAKER_00 (10:41):
Yeah, I I love that.
And and you know, it comes down,yes, real resilience.
Uh when you have failures, doyou get back up and continue
your journey?
Uh, you talked about going allout.
If you're gonna, if you're gonnafail, you're gonna fail for
real.
And right, and and and sometimesand if you look at you know,
entrepreneurs that succeeded andnow are millionaires and
(11:04):
billionaires, they were facedwith those situations.
Right.
Sometimes you have to take achance in life on yourself.
Do you believe in yourselfenough and in your project or
whatever you're working on tosee it succeed?
Do you do you know, do you feelit, do you visualize it?
(11:25):
If you do, take the chance onyourself.
SPEAKER_01 (11:28):
100%.
I couldn't agree more.
And you know, the the thing Ithink that goes with that is you
have to remember everybody elseis trying to take chances too.
I had this um just just thisweek, actually last Friday, this
attorney was very unkind to mein an email.
And, you know, I psyched myselfout.
Like, you know, it's not she hada bad day.
I was like, she thinks I'm I'mstupid.
(11:50):
You know, so she comes into theoffice the next day, and I mean
it was a very bad confrontation.
She comes in with her client andshe sits across from me and I'm
deposing her client and she'sobjecting and just being really
strong.
And I remember being intimidatedby her.
And then a little bit later,when when the deposition was
over, I actually called her andI said, Hey, things got a little
(12:12):
bad.
Like, you know, let me tell youa little bit about me.
And by the time we finished thephone call, ends up she was just
having a bad day the nightbefore.
But what was very important isshe told me that she had no idea
what she was doing during thedeposition.
She was she was covering forsomebody, she had very little
knowledge about the case.
Meanwhile, she was intimidatingme.
And she was like, I just didn'twant to look like an idiot.
(12:33):
And I was like, Well, thatteaches you that we're all sort
of sitting there doing the bestwe can, and we think other
people have it more figured outand they don't.
SPEAKER_00 (12:41):
Yeah, absolutely.
You never know.
Asking, asking questions, and Iliked what you did is you
actually reached out to see whatwas going on.
A lot of people won't, right?
They're gonna either shove itunder the carpet or they're
gonna ignore it totally whensometimes it's a lot smaller
than we think.
(13:02):
Just have a conversation withthe person, just try to figure
out where they're coming from,right?
Right.
And that's what's missingcommunication a lot in these
days, uh, these days in age, uh,I think would make a big
difference on outcomes thatpeople would have if they would
take the time to have thoseconversations.
SPEAKER_01 (13:20):
And I think, you know, I think that's a little
bit to be said about the way wetext, right?
Is like people have moreconversations, but they're more
scripted now.
I don't think you catch peoplewhere it's like I'm just having
a bad day.
If you're having a text messageconversation, it's not really a
genuine thought.
Like if you if I had texted herand I said, Hey, what was up
with the email last night?
She has time to react.
(13:41):
She has time to kind of put thebest face forward.
Whereas if you just ask in ahuman way with like, hey, like
you don't know me, but are youokay?
Like, what happened last night?
And that it kind of throwspeople off, but they get very
appreciative, I think.
SPEAKER_00 (13:54):
Yeah.
Deanna, uh, last question thatwe have for you today.
Uh, you do you have manydifferent uh companies?
If a listener wants to scalefrom one venture into a diverse
portfolio, okay, whether it's uhcompanies or ventures, what are
your three non-negotiable um,for example, capital uh
(14:18):
discipline, governance, people,process, whatever the case is,
what are your threenon-negotiable and what's one
action that you suggest them totake in the next 24 hours to
start uh scaling that that thatportfolio or venture?
SPEAKER_01 (14:36):
That's a great question.
For me, three non-negotiables isthat if you're working in the
business, you're not working onthe business.
And if you're starting abusiness, you need to be working
in it enough to have staff.
And sometimes people are like,when I get bigger, I'll hire
people.
But if you're working in it,you're not working on it.
So you gotta do, you gotta getyourself to a point where you're
always working on your business.
(14:56):
And if that means, you know,nighttime after your business is
closed and your clients are nolonger available, that's the one
thing is always work on it, notin it.
If you have to do it, do it inboth.
I think a second non-negotiablefor me is always have three
months of expenses put away forjust in case, for whatever you
need and whatever that may mean.
And if you don't have that, cutdown your spending because you
(15:19):
should be able to do threemonths if something happens to
you right now.
Be able to take care of thepeople around you, be able to
take care of your family,whatever else may be.
And then I think the third oneis just say yes.
You know, do everything you canfor at least 60 days.
Don't just say yes for a day,like put yourself to the test to
something, fully commit for 60days and then kind of see where
(15:40):
it plays from there.
Um, so I think that last onegoes into what would I do
tomorrow?
Right.
For me, I do everything I canfor 90 days.
And I remember the first time Ihired an employee.
I didn't listen to my ownadvice.
I was working in the business toa degree that I was breaking
down.
I mean, it was I was too busy.
I was too busy.
(16:01):
I didn't have time for my kids.
And I got this letter from mykids' school, and I have three
young kids, like very young, andthey were doing um costume day,
costume day once a week once aday for five straight days.
And 15 costume, you want me tobuy 15 costumes for the
following week with my business.
And I just remember, I was like,I I can.
(16:23):
So that day I text out a bunchof people.
I ended up hiring somebody at$15an hour, and she started the
next morning.
And I was like, I can't believeI just hired somebody I don't
know.
And I was like, I can't affordthis.
And then I was like, no, like Ineed it.
And it was so crazy for mebecause I was like, I'm gonna be
responsible for somebody else'spay.
(16:45):
I'm gonna be doing all thesethings.
And a year later I had over 70employees, but saying yes to
that first one and taking thatbond was the biggest.
And it took just kind ofbreaking down and realizing that
like I need help.
So sometimes saying yes tosomething before you're ready is
what you need to do to grow.
SPEAKER_00 (17:03):
I agree with you.
Uh yes, it the yes word is sopowerful because it's the only
word that opens doors.
Yeah, you keep saying no,nothing's gonna change.
Exactly.
If it's the situation thatyou're in, if it's your
finances, if it's your deals inreal estate, if you say no,
(17:23):
guess what?
Nothing happens.
But if you say yes, the dooropens.
Now, whether you decide to goahead and go through that door,
that's a decision you have tomake.
But the door is open.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (17:37):
So my dad used to say this joke when I was little.
Um, and I never understood itbecause he used to say this guy,
you know, he would pray to Godall the time, and he would say
things like, Oh, you know, makeme a millionaire, make me a
millionaire.
And then years later he dies andhe goes up to whoever he
believes in and says, I pray toyou every day to make me a
millionaire, and you never did.
(17:58):
And, you know, God or whateverit is that you believe in in
that story responded back with,you didn't even go out and buy
one lottery ticket.
Like, how am I gonna make you amillionaire if you didn't take
that step?
Yeah, and it's a joke my dadshared with me when I was
little, and I always thoughtabout it, but it's true.
You know, you can pray or youcan believe or you can work
hard, but you really got to takethat additional step.
(18:18):
And that step is founded indiscomfort.
unknown (18:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:23):
Thank you so much for having the conversations uh
with uh with me today on the thepodcast.
Very uh not knowledgeable.
I can't am I gonna say that?
I can't say the word,knowledgeable.
Uh talking about accents before.
And um I I really appreciate it.
I hope our listeners will take apiece of your knowledge, your
(18:44):
advice, and take it on theirjourney uh with them.
I really appreciated ourconversation.
SPEAKER_01 (18:50):
Thank you for having me.
I had a great time.
SPEAKER_00 (18:53):
All right, we'll talk soon.
Bye, guys.
Thanks for tuning in to the FiveQuestions Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to subscribe, like,
and hit the notification bell onour YouTube channel so you never
miss an episode.
Stay tuned for more insights andtips to transform your real
estate and business game.
See you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.