550: Succeed Faster, Make Money Work For You, Manage Your Time Wisely and Stay Consistent on Your Goals with House Hacker Diego Corzo

Speaker 1 0:00 Marketer of the Day episode 550 succeed faster. Make money work for you, manage your time wisely and stay consistent on your goals with House hacker Diego Corso.

Robert Plank 0:11 Hey everyone, welcome back to the marketer of the day podcast. We're here with Diego Corzo, and he's here to talk to us about House hacking and financial independence. And Diego is a millennial entrepreneur from Austin, Texas. And he was originally born in Lima, Peru, and he moved to the United States with his family when he was nine years old, and his parents told him that America was the land of opportunity, and met with hard work and determination, all of his dreams would be possible. And Diego has been on quite a journey from There's been ups and downs, and he's a really smart guy, and he's here to tell us all about House hacking, being an entrepreneur, moving in the right direction, trusting the process, getting out of our comfort zone, all sorts of fun stuff. So Diego, glad to be talking to you.

Diego Corzo 0:57 Robert, thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here.

Robert Plank 1:01 I'm excited as well to hear what you have for us. And so right before we begin talking here, you told me that you have a client who recently had a big win today. So can you tell us about that?

Diego Corzo 1:12 Yeah, for sure. So I am a realtor here in Austin, Texas, and today I was able to help one of my clients, she was able to buy her second property. And what's great about that is that she is she's been house hacking for a couple for, I believe, a year or two years now, and she's been able to save enough money and be able to multiply that to another property, which is which, like, gives me a lot of excitement, because she's only in her 20s,

Robert Plank 1:46 awesome. And you're in your 20s as well, and you're one of those millennials who just has a crazy new perspective on things, because it seems like a few decades ago, the path that everyone was supposed to take was get a job, get a house, just barely make the payments, barely make ends meet, hold out until retirement. But I understand now that with this whole concept called House hacking, that there's a way better way of going about things Right, exactly,

Diego Corzo 2:18 exactly, and it's all and for for me, really it. What changed my mindset was when I read the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki. And that book basically taught me that 95% of the population trades their time for money, and 5% of the population makes their money work for them. So I began telling myself, okay, Diego, like in the future, you have to figure out how you can make your money work for you. And that's been all of my focus inside since I read the book. Well, great,

Robert Plank 2:51 and so. So speaking of like, having this sort of changing of mindset, I understand that when you went transition from being a kid to an adult, you had a little bit of a surprise as far as what your background was and what you were legally able to do, is that, right?

Diego Corzo 3:11 Yeah, yeah, for sure, it was definitely an eye opening experience for me, because so I came to United States when I was nine years old, and I didn't know that I was undocumented, and I didn't know what the consequences were going to be until I wanted to get my driver's license at the age of 16, and I found out that I couldn't get it, and that's when I knew okay. I was like, hmm, I guess I'm gonna be having some obstacles than my friends wouldn't have. And then from there, I when I was trying to get into college, I I found out that I also couldn't qualify for student loans, and that was a blessing in disguise, but I had to figure out a way to pay for college. In trying to pay for college, I also found out that I couldn't legally work, so that created another stopping point, and seeing okay, like, how can I get to my goals? So I just got resourceful. I found out that I could open my own company, and I began doing all the work as a contractor. And yeah, but I mean, it's been a lot of ups and downs, and trying to look for opportunities, rather than telling myself, rather than feeling sorry for myself and my situation, but staying focused with the goals that I want to achieve, I love

Robert Plank 4:33 it. So you came across those obstacles, and it would have been really easy to just give up and say, I guess that I can't do it, but you found a better way around it, and I'm seeing here in your bio that you graduated in the top 1% from Florida State University with not one but two bachelor degrees in less than four years. And that's with all of these obstacles in front of you, where you were also, you know, working to pay for college and doing the contracting so. I mean, do you have a secret, or are you just that smart? Or how the heck were you able to not only finish college, but do it quickly, two degrees while working? How'd you do it?

Diego Corzo 5:11 Yeah, so time management is definitely it's something that I'm pretty good at, being able to put my focus on the things that I want to do and be able to also. So one of the things that helped me is that I took a couple of AP and IB classes when I was in high school, so I was able to get into college with some of the credits. But I also had to figure out different ways for me to be able to afford going to college. So not only did I work, but I also created study guides for for the students in my classes, and I sold them before the exams, so that they could study it and all of that stuff I began to I bought a used books and sold them on Amazon after I took the course or asked my friends for them. So it's just getting resourceful and trying to figure things out to be able to to achieve that American dream, right and right now, I am what Congress calls a dreamer. I am part of the DACA program, and that has been definitely a challenge with everything that's going on now with Congress and stuff like that. But I have to like, I when I'm when I'm when I'm in those situations when I'm like, this is going to be hard. This is another obstacle. I tell myself, why is this happening for me, rather than why this is happening to me? And when I ask myself that question, that, why is this happening for me, my head begins to look for solutions, rather than feeling sorry for myself, right?

Robert Plank 6:50 I love that attitude. Why is this happening for me? Not? Why is this happening to me? And it seems like asking that question Len lends itself to the answers of what now, how am I going to think on my feet or be more creative to find a solution, as opposed to, if it's happening to me, the solution is, I'm just going to feel sorry for myself. And so you have really good time management, you say, and you're good at making sort of study guides and things like that and so on. The subject of time management, do you think that are there specific things that you do that are different than most of the population? Like we mentioned, there the Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Poor Dad, sorry, there's that 5% right? That 5% that's different. So as far as the time management, do you like do you do you not watch TV. Or do you wake up early? Or like, Are there any habits that you could put your finger on that you do differently than most of the population? Yeah,

Diego Corzo 7:49 for sure, for sure. So basically, I don't really watch TV, right? Because in for me, it's more like, how am I using my time wisely? Sure entertainment is good, is fun, and I do do it sometimes, but it's not like, Oh, I can't wait to go home after work and watch the Netflix season of House of Cards or something like that. It's more of me knowing where my time is being used more valuable, and then taking action on it, even if it's waking up early, sometimes is, is staying up late and having a work ethic that you know that you have to say no to some things so because you're working on your future, right? I, in the beginning, I didn't go to as many happy hours with my friends, because I knew that I needed to learn, like when I was transitioning from software developer to real estate, I needed to put in the hours, put in the effort so that I can get better at my craft. And I just read books and I listen to podcasts and stuff like that. But most of the stuff, or some educations. I either do it on the road when I'm when I'm driving, and I'm trying to be as efficient as possible with my time. So if I know that I have to be on calls and they don't have to see my face, then I take it from the road. And so I plan my day in a way that okay, if I have to show a home in South Austin, then at 3pm then I can plan a call at 2pm so that it can take me that 30 minutes or an hour to get down there. But I am taking advantage of the time. Super

Robert Plank 9:34 great. So you're you're making the best use of your time. And so do you ever get burned out. Or do you ever get demotivated? And do you have any any techniques to make sure that you stay on top form?

Diego Corzo 9:49 Yeah, so I would say getting demotivated. Or I would say that you have to be able to look at your goals constantly, and you. Have to be held accountable, because sometimes you can, you can be like, Oh man, like there was one time, Mia me as a realtor, I had four deals fall through in one week, and but I understand that it is a numbers game, right? And when that happens, one of the things that I highly recommend is getting connected with a peer group that can hold you accountable, and that can have other that has higher standards, so that when you when you're thinking that, Oh, I can't achieve that goal is too hard, it's too hard, it's not going to be as difficult to quit, because you have a peer group that's helping you push forward, and that's helping you. Not only that is helping you by holding you accountable, but it's also having a mentor or or having have having a mentor or a coach definitely helps you in that way.

Robert Plank 10:57 I like that a lot, because for me, it's sometimes easy to to give myself a break, or to be too hard on myself, and sometimes I want something different than that. I want the encouragement or the motivation, or to have someone else tell me I can do it, or to see someone else do it, so that way I have the path. But it seems like if we're stuck in our own head, or if we have, if we just stick with the same set of friends that we had in high school or in college, then they might not be on the same path that we want to be on. If we want to be super successful, then maybe we need to find others who are as successful as we want to be, if not more. And so what does that peer group, that support group look like for you. I mean, do you have a mentor? Do you go to meetups like what? What do you personally do to make sure that you have this really solid circle of supporters?

Diego Corzo 11:52 Yeah, so for my circle or support and my peer group, I am part of a mastermind group called march to a million and go abundance. So it's two in one, but basically it's basically a mastermind group that there's a lot of entrepreneurs there, and we are all in the path of becoming a millionaire. So we all have that goal of being a millionaire in all areas of life, not just on the wealth side that deals with like properties or money or income, but most, most of it deals okay. How can I be a millionaire in my health, in adventure, in life, and, of course, in contribution and money? So for me, that peer group is the one that changed my life. I got connected with them with gobundance when I was 23 years old, and I found myself in a room with 15 millionaires, and they told me they were like, Diego, we created go abundance for millionaires, but we want to help you. We love your story. Will you be our our first apprentice? And I was like, Heck, yeah, let's go. And my life changed from there. Two weeks later, I was in a private plane with one of the guys and and they are the ones that helped me push forward, because they are thinking at a different level, and they were asking me different questions. The people like that I went to college with, they may be asking is like, hey, like, the questions weren't the same. They were asking me questions like, hey, how many properties are you going to buy this year? Or, Hey, when are you going to hire an assistant or an office manager? So those questions help you think at a higher level, and that's what they did for me. And I've been applying everything that they told me, whether to go to to Tony Robbins events, to take speaking courses, to do any anything. I just did whatever they told me, and it changed my life. Well,

Robert Plank 13:54 it's a really great attitude and a really great strategy of just find, find that circle of people who are doing really well, and then make sure that they're, I mean, ask them the right questions, and make sure that you're asking the right questions, and then, once you trust that mentor, just do exactly as they said. And what? So what's great about so far, what you've been talking about here is that this is all really simple, doable stuff, or maybe it's not simple to follow through, but everyone needs to be doing these things right, of using our time wisely, of always be taking in new information, books and podcasts instead of necessarily watching TV all the time, look at our goals and re examine those have the peer group, and ask better questions and think at a higher level. And I can definitely relate to a lot of the stuff, especially because sometimes I end up, I don't know, I end up just forgetting to reach out to those mentors or to talk to people at a higher level. And so, for example, a few days ago, I was talking to a guy about selling a $25,000 a month service. And it was blowing my mind, because I was thinking to myself, gee, I hadn't even considered that I like it was almost painful to think about on my own, but then having someone else there to tell me about it and to explain it really expanded my thinking. So do you ever, do you ever maybe backslide sometimes? Do you ever find that sometimes you maybe, like, just like, fall back into old habits, and you notice that that peer group maybe helps you out with that.

Diego Corzo 15:27 Oh yeah for sure, because there are, there are times where they challenge me to think at a different scale. And they are, they're a little bit older, so they might be in their 30s, 40s, 50s. So the good thing about hanging around those people is that I get to learn from their experiences. So if it took them to get to where they are in like 1015, years, if I say whatever they tell if I do whatever they tell me, it might take me two or three years. So I leverage their experience in that sense, and whenever I do get those like get into those habits of going back to my to my old form or my old mentality, one thing that has helped me is consistently going to personal development events, whether it's once a quarter or once every two months. But it just helps me getting that mindset again and and I don't remember who has a quote, but it's like motivation, or like inspiration. It's something that you have to do every single day, just like showering. Some I don't remember who it was, but

Robert Plank 16:33 I think, I think that's Zig Ziglar. That's, yeah, yes. Like, some people say motivation doesn't last Well, neither does showering. That's why we recommend it daily, exactly

Diego Corzo 16:41 that one down. So, so it's so it's more on that aspect. And one of the things that I that I also do is, like, I don't, I can't compare their chapter 10 with my chapter two, because I know that I'm just like starting and I have to trust the process. So that's another thing that there's there's times where things get tough, especially with my situation with DACA, like, there's still obstacles that I hit. Like trying to buy my properties in the beginning was extremely difficult, but I knew that I just had to trust the process to be able to get to where I am and and know that it's all gonna take time. Life is not a sprint, it's a marathon, right?

Robert Plank 17:27 I love it. So what I'm hearing from you is go to these personal events, a personal development events, that way you can refresh the your way of thinking. That way you don't let the head trash creep in. And then when you're dealing with these mentors or these goals or these setbacks, then don't fall into the trap of comparing yourself too much to others, because what you see on the outside versus what you're going through on the inside is apples and oranges can't really be compared there. So as far as what you're you're building what you're working on. Are you, are you comfortable with, like, sharing, like, any of your like, goals or current challenges, or just like, how things are going right now? Yeah,

Diego Corzo 18:12 as far as like, as far as business or life with DACA, I can share anything. I'm an open book.

Robert Plank 18:18 I mean whatever, you feel like sharing. I mean, I mean personal or business or just like, I'm curious about just like, what your current goals and challenges are.

Diego Corzo 18:28 Yeah, so one of my goals right now I'm working on two projects. One of them, of course, is house hacking. So I'm calling it house hacking club, and that is what it's my way to teach other Millennials how to change their mindset to financial freedom and how to build passive income in the easiest way, because house hacking is something that you can do part time while you still have your job, right. And what that means is basically, you can buy a single family home or a duplex triplex or quad Plex and live with roommates or the tenants in your side, and what they're able to do is they're able to pay for your mortgage so that you can do what you want to do, because now you don't have that that mortgage or that rent payment stopping you. That is what helped me quit corporate America, and then the other project that I literally just started about a week ago is called home for dreamers. So I've been able to take the obstacles that I've had. Of it's been super hard to buy homes with my situation, but now I was able to partner up with a lender, and he can do he can give loans to DACA and to dreamers in 45 different states. So I've been able to take that obstacle that I've had and turn it more into a business and be able to help as many people as possible that have. DACA program and help them achieve that American dream. So in a way, I'm transitioning more like I've realized that money is not really as fulfilling as as I like to have more of an impact. And one story that I can share is last year, in 2017 I team. I made the month that my permit expired with DACA, I made the most that I've ever made in my in my life, in once in in one month. That's like the most that I made, when comparing it to two other months in that sense, but because I didn't have my documents, I didn't have like that piece. So yes, I had all the money. It was great. But there's nothing like that inner peace that you can be relaxed and you so that is something that is invaluable. So as long as you do everything with integrity, and as long as you do as long as you have inner peace that is a lot more valuable than money.

Robert Plank 21:05 Well, fantastic. Well, it sounds like you really tapped into your own self awareness, and, like you said, not just chasing the money, but also helping others and having this really important cause. And what's really interesting that it seems like we're the topic that we're revisiting again and again, it seems, is to to figure out a system for yourself and then use that sort of documentation to teach to others, right? Because you were saying that, well, you were a really good student, and you'd create these study guides and then sell the study guides to other people. And you know that the study guides work because you yourself are using that to study. And then you know you were a software developer for General Motors, and so you know, as well as anyone, how important documentation is, right? You do hundreds or 1000s of little steps, and it's that's okay to do one time, but then you need to write down those steps, that way you can repeat those and so it sounds like with this home for dreamers, project you have going on that you you figured out a way around all the are you through all the legal obstacles, you figured out how to debug the system for yourself. And then now you say, well, here, here are my my step by step process, or here's the person that I partnered with to make this work, and then now I figured out the hardware for myself. Now here's the template for others to use to duplicate my success. So I find that really, really interesting, as far as your strategy there, where you fixed it for yourself, and then you get that additional satisfaction by helping others with the problem that you used to have

Diego Corzo 22:41 exactly, exactly, and what school is that, with the house hacking club, with with that project is I am able to share my story with other millennials, with other people, and to share in a way to inspire them that if I could do it with all The obstacles that I've had, like not being able to work or drive till I was 23 that if I could do it, they can do it too. And it's just takes determination. It stays it takes staying focused on your goals and having the mindset of achieving financial freedom in your 20s or 30s or even 40s, rather than just working for the rest of your life and climbing the corporate ladder,

Robert Plank 23:23 right? It doesn't sound like fun at all, just hoping that that you'll live long enough to enjoy your retirement when when you're old. I mean, I'd rather fix the problem really, that way we can have just this, this life full of awesomeness. And so as we're beginning to wind down here, I love this concept of house hacking, but as you know, it's one thing to give someone an idea, but then there are the details to be filled in later. So if you told someone, okay, well, go and, you know, either buy a single family home and get roommates or a duplex or a quad Plex and have them pay your mortgage and build from there. Do you see a really just common problem happening, happening with that if someone goes out there and tries to do this themselves, without your house, hacking club, without the details filled in? Is there a really common sticking point that comes to mind?

Diego Corzo 24:19 Well, the main thing is that you need to have the right team in place. I believe that if you have the right realtor, that's an investor friendly realtor, and the realtor will point you to the right lender, then that is a great starting point, and the realtor will be able to answer all the questions that you may have about the buying process. And then the other thing can be that, that it will be the managing the renters the right way and finding the renters the right way. I believe that through Craigslist, for me, it has worked. But. God, is just you trusting your gut and asking the right questions to those people? Sometimes it can and for for me, it's all about having the systems in place and trusting the process. So one of the main things that some people can do it is is sometimes they think that they need 20% down to buy a property, but you won't really need, like, 5% or 3% down. So one of the big stopping points why people think that they can't get into real estate is because they think that they need a lot of cash, where really you only need three and 5%

Robert Plank 25:39 interesting. So you're saying, have that that good system in place, ask the right questions, and then have the right people on your side. So that way you're not fighting an uphill battle. That way you all have the same goals, and they if you have that investor friendly realtor, or you have the right team in place to do with renters. They've all seen it before. They want the same things as you so you don't have to train them or tell them what you want. They want what you want as well.

Diego Corzo 26:12 Exactly, exactly. Super

Robert Plank 26:14 cool. Well, this has been an amazing conversation, and I'm sure that some people, are a lot of people out there, I'm sure will have been impressed at what you've been able to accomplish in a short period of time at a young age, even with these different obstacles in front of you, but it sounds like you had a lot of fun dealing with these obstacles, and it was just a way to see what you're made of. So if people want to know more about Mr. Diego Corzo, what you have going on, your projects, your websites. Can you give us some links? So that way, if we've been hearing about your amazing story, we're not just love hanging we can get these additional resources,

Diego Corzo 26:49 yeah, for sure. So they can send me an email to info at Diego corzo.com and they can also find me on Facebook, Diego Corzo. And if they do want to learn more about House hacking, they can go to house hacking club.com

Robert Plank 27:05 super cool. So info@diegocorzo.com and spelling that out, that is d, I, E, G, O, C, O, R, Z, o.com, and then find Diego on Facebook, and then house hacking club.com and if you're curious about which one of these paths to take, which one of these three do all the above, shoot an email at info, at Diego corso.com and just tell Diego that you really enjoyed listening to him on the marketer of the day podcast. And it can't hurt to ask him any sort of question about House hacking or or finances or what he's been able to do. And that way he can at least point you in the right direction, or tell you, you know, my house hacking club will help you with that, and add him on Facebook, so that way you have another friend in your corner, and then definitely check out house hacking club. COMM, that's H, O, U, S, E, H, A, C, K, I N, G, C, l, u, b.com, house hacking club.com and Diego corzo.com if you have any interest at all in financial independence and making money from real estate, which you should it sounds like an easy way to make money, so go and check out those resources right now. Diego corso.com and house hacking club.com and thanks so much Diego for sharing your story, sharing some of your secrets and your strategies with us. It helped me. It reminded me of a lot of important things, and I'm sure that it helped a lot of other people too. So thank you very much for that.

Diego Corzo 28:31 Thank you, Robert. I really appreciate your time. Very happy to be here. Today's

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