Real Estate

992: Sphere Rocket Virtual Assistants: Boost Efficiency and Productivity Using Real Estate VA’s with Justin Nelson

November 13, 2023

As the industry evolves, embracing virtual assistants has proven to be a strategic move that improves productivity and enhances the overall customer experience in the highly competitive world of real estate.

Justin Nelson is the Entrepreneur, Leader, and CEO of Sphere Rocket VA, a platform dedicated to helping all industries learn and harness the power of a virtual assistant from start to finish. Tune in as Justin shares his insights on effectively integrating virtual assistants into your business, maximizing their potential, and achieving newfound levels of productivity and efficiency.

Quotes

“Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. When you increase the amount of communication, it just reveals these problems ahead of time.” - Justin Nelson

"The world has really shortened its gap, where I can invite my virtual assistant to jump on here, and there's no more gap." - Justin Nelson

“There’s no such thing as business problems, only personal problems that affect your business.” - Justin Nelson

Takeaways

01:26 Many agents never build teams, leaving them overworked. VAs provide leverage and prevent burnout.

03:49 VAs handle lead generation, social media, and client communication to keep businesses consistent.

07:17 Small touches like follow-up calls or gifts boost retention.

11:54 The real barrier isn’t cost but mindset—remote tools make VAs accessible.

14:35 Map the client journey and delegate repetitive tasks to VAs.

23:31 Start small, expect mistakes, and use VAs to grow leadership and free time.

Resources

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953: Connected Investors: Tips on Being a Great Entrepreneur, Real Estate Investor, and Creator with Ross Hamilton

August 11, 2023

Oftentimes, new entrepreneurs find it difficult to sell their products and services. Why? Because their marketing strategy is flawed. Before starting a product, plan how your marketing will go first. Beginning in marketing will enable you to hook customers and clients into buying your product so that your product is ready when it comes out. This technique will surely boost you up in having a successful entrepreneurial career.

Ross Hamilton is the retired founder of Connected Investors, a real estate investors marketplace and community platform that can help you connect with other investors and achieve financial freedom through real estate. Ross is an expert in real estate techniques, micro-flipping, and marketing. Now, he is focused on the non-profit industry in affordable housing. Tune in as Ross shared about his journey to becoming a successful real estate investor, as well as marketing tips and how to be a great entrepreneur. Don’t miss out on this episode!

Quotes

"No matter what product you have, if you can't market it, then you don't even have a product." - Ross Hamilton

“Being an idea person is a blessing, but it's also a curse. You have to know yourself. Every company needs that 'crazy idea' person, but often, those ideas can just flicker around and never really come together.” - Ross Hamilton

“The secret to being a good entrepreneur is having good habits. I use a 12-month habit planner religiously and daily.” - Ross Hamilton

Takeaways

01:32 Building relationships with influencers and creating a network can be a powerful marketing strategy.

03:57 Selling a product before creating it can help build accountability and test the market.

13:01 Redefining the market by creating a new category can be an effective way to differentiate.

16:59 Asking the right questions can help you find solutions and new opportunities.

23:27 Establishing daily routines and habits, especially at the start and end of the day, can significantly contribute to an entrepreneur's success.

Resources

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899: Real Estate Basics: What To Do, What To Avoid, and Become a Successful Real Estate Investor With Peter Vekselman

December 23, 2022

Do you want to enter the world of real estate? Are you hesitant because of the large risk it has? Everyone desires to be a real estate investor because of the huge cash it brings, but little do they know that it only has a 3-5% success rate. The root of people's problems is that they are trying to put different things together, not understanding how they fit. However, this problem could be solved by acquiring everything from just one trustable source, having a coordinated piece and building an assembly line.

Peter Vekselman is a real estate investing expert who has completed over 3,600 real estate deals. He is the founder of Partner Driven, a company that provides a comprehensive platform for real estate investors, offering lead generation, capital, construction, and sales services. Today, Peter discusses the common pitfalls that hold back many real estate investors, emphasizing the need for a unified approach that combines all the necessary elements of a successful real estate business.

Quotes

“Whoever spends the most money on marketing and screams the loudest gets the most attention. It's not because they're the smartest—they just make the most noise.” - Peter Vekselman

“You've got to be willing to put in the time and effort. You've got to be a long-term player because nothing happens overnight.” - Peter Vekselman

“The goal is to get as many deals under contract as possible. Because ultimately, he who controls real estate makes the most money.” - Peter Vekselman

Takeaways

01:27 Real estate investing success rates are low, with only 3-5% of investors achieving success, due to the complexity of piecing together all the necessary elements of the business.

06:38 Successful real estate investing requires a long-term mindset, a willingness to put in the effort, and a desire to level up and achieve more than one's current situation.

13:49 Effective lead generation and communication with property owners are the core skills that drive profitability in real estate, while the back-end operations can be handled by a supportive team.

17:13 Aligning with experienced and successful real estate investors is the ultimate shortcut to achieving one's own success in the industry.

21:07 Partnering with a comprehensive real estate investing platform can mitigate risk and liability, allowing investors to focus on the revenue-generating activities.

Resources

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795: Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat: Become a Real Estate Investor So You Can Grab the Map with Johnoson Crutchfield

July 2, 2021

Johnoson Crutchfield is the owner of Grab the Map LLC, a real estate company that focuses on acquiring and managing single-family and multi-family properties. He helps other investors find projects to invest in and provides mentoring and coaching to those getting started in real estate. He is also the host of Grab the Map Podcast. Today, John talks about his unique real estate investment strategy, which involves buying distressed properties, renovating them, and then refinancing to fund the next project.

In this episode of Marketer of the Day, John discusses his current focus on expanding his portfolio while helping others start their real estate journey. He highlights the importance of buying properties at a discount, expecting mistakes, and maintaining realistic expectations. He also emphasizes creating authentic connections and surrounding oneself with experienced mentors. John’s goal for the year is to help 2,000 people begin investing, supported through his Facebook group Wealth in Real Estate, his podcast, and Grab the Map LLC. The episode underlines the intersection of actionable investment strategies, community-building, and personal development, showing that success in real estate is about both financial results and empowering others.

Quotes

“Real estate allowed someone with no money and poor credit to become a multi-millionaire—it changed my life.”

“If you don’t buy the property at a discount, you don’t leave room for the mistakes that are inevitable.”

“Surround yourself with people who have accomplished what you’re trying to accomplish; draw support from them and keep pushing through.”

“Don’t just look at life, grab the map—you never regret the things you do, only the things you didn’t try.”

Resources

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720: Build a Dirt Rich Passive Income: Frontier Property Real Estate Land Deals with The Land Geek Mark Podolsky

June 9, 2020

Mark Podolsky, also known as the "Land Geek," is an expert in the world of real estate investing. He has completed over 5,000 land deals, with an average return on investment of over 300% on cash flips and over 1,000% on deals sold with financing terms. Mark is the author of the book "Dirt Rich," which provides a comprehensive guide to building a passive income through real estate. Additionally, he hosts the "Art of Passive Income" podcast, where he shares his insights and strategies with listeners. Today, Mark shares his land business model, which involves acquiring undervalued properties, conducting due diligence, and then quickly reselling them for a profit.

Podolsky’s philosophy centers on creating systems that scale, freeing time for personal pursuits while maintaining profitable operations. His book Dirt Rich provides a step-by-step guide for building a passive income through land investments, while his upcoming second book will focus on scaling the land business further. He offers free courses through The Land Geek, including the Passive Income Launch Kit and Quick Deals course, teaching beginners how to get started and double their money with minimal investment.

Quotes

“If Monday is the same day as Saturday for you, that’s real wealth.”

“I can always make more money, but I can’t get more time.”

“If you’ll do for the next three to five years what others won’t do, you’ll be able to do for the rest of your life what others can’t do.”

“The basic concepts of marketing never change: good headlines, scarcity, urgency, anchors, and clear calls to action.”

Resources

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616: Cashflow Connections: How to Build Wealth, Identify Stable Opportunities, and Create Multiple Streams of Income with Hunter Thompson

November 28, 2018

Hunter Thompson is a full-time real estate investor and founder of Cash Flow Connections, a private equity firm based out of Los Angeles, CA. Since starting CFC, Hunter has helped more than 250 investors allocate capital to over 100 properties. He has personally raised more than $20mm in private capital and controls more than $60mm in commercial real estate.
Hunter has been featured in Forbes, Globe St., Inside Self-Storage, as well as a variety of other media news outlets, podcasts, and radio shows.

Hunter is also the host of the Cash Flow Connections Real Estate Podcast, which helps investors learn the intricacies of commercial real estate from the comfort of their home, car, or office.

Quotes:

“Generally speaking, it's basically finding out what your actual goals are. And finding the most direct path to accomplish those.” – Hunter Thompson

“When things are tough, then it is important to bring on a partner that is because it's important to balance that out. This is necessary in the world of investing.” - Hunter Thompson

“My personal strategy is focused around trying to be able to sleep at night. And so, I have selected asset classes and investment vehicles that I think are well positioned to accomplish that.” - Hunter Thompson

Takeaways:

03:13 Emotional decision-making can sabotage investment strategies, so develop a counter-cyclical mindset.

11:24 Look for investment opportunities in stable, slow-moving markets with predictable long-term trends.

16:22 Prioritize understanding debt terms and financing structures in real estate investments.

20:29 Diversify investments across multiple properties and geographic locations to minimize risk.

21:13 Focus on asset classes that perform well or remain stable during economic downturns.

25:57 Seek investment strategies where operators are incentivized by investor success.

Resources

Cash Flow Connections (Official Site)
Hunter Thompson (LinkedIn)
Cash Flow Connections Real Estate Podcast (Stitcher)

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572: Real Estate, Communication and Work Ethic: What Home Buyers and Sellers Need to Know with Dallas Realtor Chris Bentley

July 20, 2018

Chris D. Bentley is a Dallas Realtor with over 15 years of experience in selling real estate in multiple states. He is a member of the Rogers Healy team, widely recognized as one of the premier real estate companies in the Dallas and Fort Work areas, and the author of 2 books: 7 Home Buying Misconceptions: What Every Home Buyer Needs to Know, and 7 Tips to get the Highest Value for Your House: What Every Home Seller Needs to Know.

Since Chris began his real estate career in 2003, he has been committed to providing outstanding service and value to buyers and sellers. In that time he has closed over 40 transactions, all an enjoyable experience! He is highly passionate about client satisfaction and his goal is to educate his clients so that they make the best possible decisions and get a great deal.
Chris survived the Real Estate Market Collapse in 2008 as well as a bankruptcy and being broke on multiple occasions. He has since transformed his hardship into success and is now sought after for his expertise on the current real estate market, fix and flip investment properties, and assisting first-time home buyers by providing them with honesty and service that is unmatched.
Chris’s experience and knowledge offers your listeners valuable information that will benefit them in their future home buying, selling, and investing endeavors.

Quotes:

“I always recommend always being cash positive, and then go into the house, and then do whatever you want to do from there.” – Chris Bentley

“I deal with a lot of first-time homebuyers, so I come across all kinds of different scenarios, but the thing for me is that I tell everyone, just get in.” - Chris Bentley

“I'm in the game for long term. So even though I sold that person's house, I know they're going to be moving back at some point, and then they're going to rebuy the house. I want to be the first person that they think of.” - Chris Bentley

Takeaways:

02:09 First-time homebuyers should focus on getting into a home with minimal upfront costs while maintaining financial flexibility.

16:05 Always maintain a cash buffer of 6 months of mortgage payments to protect against unexpected financial challenges.

19:35 Real estate success depends more on understanding market dynamics and client needs than on flashy marketing.

25:14 Neutral home design and decor significantly improve resale potential and buyer appeal.

28:17 Prioritize long-term relationship building over short-term sales by providing exceptional, transparent communication.

Resources

Chris D. Bentley (Official Site)
Chris Bentley (Facebook)
Chris Bentley (YouTube)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:50 — 27.4MB) | Embed

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

June 1, 2018

Diego Corzo is a Millennial entrepreneur from Austin, Texas. Diego was born in Lima, Peru and moved to the United States with his family when he was 9 years old. Diego's parents told him that America was the land of opportunity and that with hard work and determination all of his dreams would be possible.

Diego graduated in the top 1% from Florida State University with 2 bachelor degrees in less than 4 years and no student debt. He started working in corporate America as a software developer for General Motors and soon discovered that he wanted a career shift. After realizing that corporate America wasn't for him, Diego pursued his passion in real estate.

Now, Diego is a Realtor® for Keller Williams alongside an incredible team, and currently owns 8 rentals properties, both in Texas and in Florida. Diego is on a path to financial freedom and aspires to help others, especially millennials, become financially free and reach their full potential.

Diego's system of House Hacking helps Millennials realize their dream of financial independence. House Hacking has allowed Diego to build a portfolio of 8 properties in just 4 years since he bought his first house.

Quotes:

“95% of the population trades their time for money, and 5% of the population makes their money work for them.” – Diego Corzo

“Life is not a sprint, it's a marathon.” - Diego Corzo

“As long as you do everything with integrity and as long as you have inner peace, that is a lot more valuable than money.” - Diego Corzo

Takeaways:

02:51 Changing your mindset from trading time for money to making money work for you is crucial for financial success.

11:52 Surround yourself with a peer group that challenges you and thinks at a higher level to accelerate personal growth.

17:27 Trust the process and avoid comparing your early stages to someone else's advanced chapter.

23:23 Build systems and strategies to create financial freedom early, rather than waiting for traditional retirement.

25:39 You don't need a massive down payment to start investing in real estate; 3-5% can be enough to begin.

Resources

House Hacking Club (Website)
Diego Corzo (Facebook)
Diego Corzo (LinkedIn)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:54 — 26.5MB) | Embed

489: Construct Your Ideal Life, Enjoy the Fun Game of Entrepreneurship, House Hack and Master Real Estate to Build Long-Term Wealth with Coach Chad Carson

February 1, 2018

Chad Carson began real estate investing from scratch right out of college in 2003 at the age of 23. Since then, Chad and his business partner have bought, flipped, rented hundreds of properties in and around Clemson, SC. They currently focus on buy-and-hold rentals and private lending that produce regular monthly income.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:00 — 27.5MB) | Embed

Chad focuses on using real estate income to retire early and do what matters. For example, in 2017 he traveled with his wife and two young daughters to live in Ecuador in South America for a year. He also enjoys working on local community projects like pedestrian/bike paths.

He talks with us today about house hacking and practice buying -- and has a very doable strategy that involves you investigating 100 properties in your area within a short period of time to learn by doing.

Quotes:

“Real estate is a market-driven business. There is no U.S. real estate market—there's a San Francisco neighborhood market.” – Chad Carson

“The basics of real estate are: you're either going to try to buy low and sell high, or you're going to try to buy a property that has a really good ratio of rent to the price you pay for it.” – Chad Carson

“If you love the game, and if you love the process and just the doing of it, then I think you're going to stick with it.” – Chad Carson

Takeaways:

04:40 Understanding the nuances of a local real estate market, down to the street level, is key to making informed investment decisions.

14:14 Cold calling and researching 100 properties helps build confidence and uncover potential investment opportunities.

21:29 Real estate investing offers multiple entry points, from house hacking with low down payments to partnering with experienced investors.

25:42 Money for real estate investments is abundant if you can find and structure good deals.

28:26 Successful real estate investing requires loving the process and being willing to weather challenges.

Resources

The Real Estate Investing (Newsletter)
Coach Chad Carson: Invest in Real Estate, Retire Early, Do What Matters (Official Site)
Chad Carson (YouTube)

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414: The Land Geek: How to Make Money Using Raw Land, Refine Your Process and Teach Others to Repeat Your Proven System with Mark Podolsky

October 6, 2017

Mark Podolsky, The Land Geek, is considered to be the country's most trusted and foremost authority on buying and selling raw, undeveloped land within the United States.

He's been actively investing in Real Estate and Raw Land since 2001 and has completed over 5,000 unique transactions. Mark's company, Frontier Equity Properties, LLC, is an A+ rated BBB real estate company. Mark is the host of one of the top rated podcasts in the Investing Category on iTunes titled The Best Passive Income Model and The Art of Passive Income. He's also the host of the Land Geek Podcast. We discuss Mark's highly refined process to find raw land and profit from it.

Quotes:

“Good artists copy; great artists steal.” – Mark Podolsky

“If you've never bought a piece of real estate or marketed one, there are all these steps involved. And you know, it's a lot easier to just watch the latest Netflix show.” – Mark Podolsky

“The game I play is: can I create enough passive income from these land notes to exceed my fixed expenses? Then I'm working because I want to, not because I have to.” – Mark Podolsky

Takeaways:

01:55 Tax-delinquent property lists are goldmines for finding undervalued land investments with minimal competition.

07:05 Creating a systematic approach to land investing can transform raw land into predictable passive income streams.

14:25 Automated marketing and software tools can simplify real estate transactions and reduce manual workload.

16:27 Building a targeted buyer's list is crucial for consistent land sales and reducing dependency on external platforms.

23:57 Unexpected buyers exist for seemingly undesirable land parcels, so don't quickly dismiss potential opportunities.

Resources

The Land Geek (official site)
Email support@thelandgeek.com with subject like "Robert Plank sent me" for free $97 freebie on buying and selling land
The Best Passive Income Model (podcast)
The Art of Passive Income (podcast)
The Land Geek Podcast

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347: Real Estate Wholesaling: Build Wealth, Be Creative, and Make the Right Deal with Abhi Golhar

July 5, 2017

Abhi Golhar is a managing partner with the Atlanta real estate investment firm Summit & Crowne. He's also the host of the Real Estate Deal Talk podcast.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:45 — 24.5MB) | Embed

Whether you're looking to up your game with real estate, or you have disposable income and are looking to grow your money, Abhi is here to tell you that you can get more creative with real estate. You aren't stuck choosing between flipping or renting. There are many options available to you based on your personality.

For example, Abhi recommends real estate wholesaling, where you gather leads (from knocking on doors and stand-up signs) and perform research on viable properties and their sellers (homeowners), then create a contract and sell that information to a buyer (investor). That's just one of the many creative real estate cashflow ideas Abhi has to share with us today.

Quotes:

“Don't be told what your investment strategy should be. Understand your investing personality.” – Abhi Golhar

“Too many times, I see pros in the space fall out of love with real estate for two reasons: one, they haven't crossed the hump of scaling a business, and two, they've created a job for themselves instead of a real estate business.” – Abhi Golhar

“Work on the business, not in the business. Too often, people don't work on the business and get caught working too much in the business.” – Abhi Golhar

Takeaways:

04:28 Understand your personal investing personality and choose a real estate strategy that matches your goals, whether it's flipping, rental income, or wholesaling.

07:46 Build a real estate business, not just a job by focusing on systems, technology, and team building instead of getting stuck in daily operational tasks.

10:57 Develop relationships and build trust in local communities to generate consistent real estate investment leads.

17:48 Explore creative deal-finding methods like checking probate records, door-to-door networking, and targeting underdeveloped land for potential high-profit opportunities.

22:12 Diversify real estate investments across different strategies: 40% flipping/developing, 40% cash-flowing assets, and 20% in commercial real estate to protect against market corrections.

Resources

Real Estate Deal Talk (Podcast)
Summit and Crowne real estate firm (Website)
Abhi Golhar (Official Site)
Abhi Golhar (LinkedIn)

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296: Create a Great Customer Experience, Build an Environment Where People Love to Work, and Solve a Real Problem for Lasting Change with Kenneth Bator

April 25, 2017

Kenneth Bator from BTCINC.net says that you should align your brand, culture, and strategy for maximum results. Pay attention to the little details that your customers love, that keep you consistent and removes your decisions. Write and implement service standards. For example, you may always show up 15 minutes to meetings, greet customers in a certain way, or respond to calls and emails within 3 hours.

Also, ask yourself: 1. Who do I want to serve, and 2. What problem do I want to solve?

Quotes:

“People aren't buying products and services. They're buying solutions to their problems.” – Kenneth Bator

“If you're going to put a service standard on paper, you darn well better have the resources and the wherewithal to adhere to it.” – Kenneth Bator

“If you're the smartest guy in the room, you're probably in the wrong room.” – Kenneth Bator

Takeaways:

04:47 Create a consistent, detailed customer experience that goes beyond just delivering a product or service.

05:18 Write down clear service standards to remove decision-making friction and ensure team consistency.

14:57 Focus on solving specific problems for a well-defined target audience rather than trying to serve everyone.

16:53 Understand that customers buy solutions to their problems, not just products or services.

22:03 Regularly review and adjust your business standards and offerings to maintain brand alignment.

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114: The Business of Great Ideas, Real Estate, Charity, and an Eco-Friendly Cause with Mayer Dahan

August 12, 2016

Everyone has great ideas, but what matters is taking action! Mayer Dahan from Prime Five Homes and The Dream Builder's Project tells us how he's innovated in the real estate space to create luxury, eco-friendly homes while also championing a great cause in the Los Angeles County area.

[showhide type="transcript" more_text="Display Transcript" less_text="Hide Transcript"]Robert Plank: Today's guest is Mayer Dahan. Mayer has a vision for a sustainable, environmentally friendly residential market and has continued to make a positive impact in Los Angeles. Dahan has a bunch of cool projects, a bunch of cool companies. This thing called prime five homes, dream builders project, and prime five homes was recognized as one of the top 15 fastest growing private businesses in Los Angeles, and a recipient of the best of 2015 in west Hollywood aware.

More recently, Mayer was acknowledged as a 40 under 40 residential builder to watch by professional builder magazine in 2016. Lots of cool subjects to talk about. Mayer, welcome to the show.

Mayer Dahan: Awesome. Thank you for having me on, Robert. It's an honor. I'm excited.

Robert Plank: Well, cool. It's an honor right back at you. What is it that you do and what makes you different and special?

Mayer Dahan: I think that's probably the hardest question to answer for me. What I do is very difficult to be categorized as one thing or another. Through my experience of growing up in this century with all the difficulties and the new economy and recessions and what not, I've come to the understanding that each person must have many hats and must cover many responsibilities, so in essence, what I see in my own private development firm, where we come up with the most innovative, beautiful, sustainable, Eco-friendly, luxury homes we can come up with and try to raise the bar as best as possible to try to merge people who are looking for the finer things in life with the concepts and ideas that are relatable to taking care of our environment, to giving our children a better, healthier world, to not ruining the gift we're given.

Subsequently, our company has a foundation that I founded four years ago, back in 2013, that ... our premise is a charity for charity. We use our profits from our houses to go out in the world, support charities, have children's events, feed the homeless events, back to school, galas for children's hospital, and we try to cover the gambit. We're trying to help the world economically, from a for profit side, and we're trying to help the world from a non-profit side, which may seem like it's a lot of things that are going on, but in my opinion, that's the most balanced and healthy approach that we can take to secure that we'll have success and purpose in our future.

Robert Plank: I like all of that. The thing that I've been ... the pattern I've been seeing with a lot of business owners I've been talking to lately is that, like you said, you can't just do one thing, especially in this day and age. A lot of us have maybe a scattered attention span. Some of us have multiple businesses, and it seems like the people who have been doing really well are the ones where the businesses they have either interrelate, or one relates to the other, right? This way, you don't have to switch gears so much. You don't see people who maybe own a dry cleaning business and a truck driving business. It's like in your case, where you have your real estate business, but then also the non-profit. Is that right, one connects to the other?

Mayer Dahan: Yeah, absolutely. There was this very consistent idea that I had many years ago where ... to explain it to you in simple terms, everybody has great ideas, but if you have a great idea, and you just pull it out of the sky, sometimes that standalone idea might not do so well. I think if you have a company, there are elevated statuses, there are other parts of the market, whether that be PR, marketing, social media. Whether that be the non-profit element of it. There's so many turns and bends that a company, if it wants to be successful, it must have other avenues and other things it does. If those things work together, that would be the best, but I think it doesn't mean it's easy.

I think you still have to change gears, and even though the companies interconnect, I think for young entrepreneurs and young leaders out there, we all struggle with first you have to come into certain meetings with a smile and a hug, and then you have to come in with a strong fist and a strong tongue, as they say. It requires a different hat for every different situation. It can be very taxing, but ironically, I think you said it. For people whose minds are all over the place, I think we thrive off of that chaos. You can find some of the most success in that versatile set up, where you can flow and move where you need to so your company, your team, and your customers can all grow together.

Robert Plank: That makes a lot of sense. Instead of trying to fight the entrepreneurial spirit, or to fight the temptation to be spread thing, instead of doing the opposite of what comes naturally to you, you embrace that a little bit, and say, "No matter what I try or what I do, I'm always going to have multiple irons in the fire. Let me roll with that."

Mayer Dahan: Precisely. I think for many years, I used to complain openly about how hard my job was, but then, given the opportunity not work that hard, I wasn't amused by my own life. I think a great entrepreneur loves to be pushed and loves to be under the fire. That's where we can produce the most. That's where we're the most activated or the most aware of our surroundings. It is emotionally very hard, though, so it's kind of cool to realize that you're expecting yourself to go through a little bit of pain and suffering, because that's the process to get to the best solution is to go through that process. Maybe it doesn't feel all roses and all great the whole time, but from that suffering comes some of the greatest innovations and changes the 21st century has seen.

Robert Plank: Oh yeah, I agree. Let's unpack that a little bit. I'm looking a little bit at your prime five homes, so if I heard you right, this is a company that you have where you build the homes and the thing about these homes, like you said, is they're really cool looking, they're luxury homes, they're modern homes, but they're also, I guess you said, they're Eco-friendly, and they're also pretty low price. Is that right?

Mayer Dahan: The low price part, unfortunately, we haven't been able to build low price houses, primarily because building in L.A. County, the land can somewhat be over a million dollars alone. The prices of homes can be very costly up here. While where the part is exciting is we're able to build luxury homes, even more beautiful than some of the uneco-friendly ones and make them sustainable without having it be a hassle, a nuisance, or even visible to the customer. We can utilize solar power without anybody seeing it. We can use water capture without it visible anywhere to anybody. It uses a passive system that won't even break down.

We use recyclable materials inside and outside the house that are beautiful and long lasting but have been recycled to create a lower carbon footprint. Then, we utilize everything inside of the house, from lighting to plumbing to make sure that this house has low waste in water and in power. All of these amenities are given to the customer at no additional cost or fee. Our dream is to create champions of this cause without necessarily having to have them be a champion in the first place. Once they move in, they see how ahead of the times their home is. They end up becoming enthralled in it. We don't ... when you see our houses, you don't think Eco-friendly, but that's the point. The point is to teach people you can save the environment and be cool at the same time. It doesn't have to negate the other.

Robert Plank: That's awesome. I've been to people's houses where they have the whole solar set up. I think it just looks ugly if you have some kind of add ons where the beauty or design is not factored into them. They have those ugly pipes, or the things coming down from the solar panel to these huge things tacked on the side. Even in my own neighborhood, there were a couple of homes where they advertised them based on how Eco-friendly they were. I went in and walked through an open house kind of thing, and they had these weird octagon shaped rooms. In some rooms, the ceilings were high, and some were low. I'm thinking, "Of course it's Eco-friendly, because the air moves around super weird." I see what you're saying, how a lot of these homes ... I kind of am curious, because I check them out. It's like, "Oh cool. Eco-friendly, maybe the electricity bill will be super low or it's good for the environment," so I have a better conscious there.

Then, the house just looks weird, but not in a good way, not in the cool modern art creative way. I like how you mentioned that. I like how that's an important factor for you where not only is it Eco-friendly, but it's also, like you said, a think that it's passive. You don't necessarily notice it.

Mayer Dahan: Absolutely. There's been a lot of history behind this movement. I think in people's hearts and minds, when they hear or see Eco-friendly, I think they think something completely inappropriate. They think a house made of straw or mud, solar panels everywhere, compost and all these other things. While those things are beautiful and they're healthy, we're trying to create a new concept in people's mind, where being good to the environment is cool and it's impressive, and it's your duty, not just a bonus. It doesn't have to ... the main thing people are worried about is they think an Eco-friendly sustainable future means less for them. It doesn't. It doesn't mean less of anything.

It just means more consideration not to be wasteful of the sunlight that's free that comes down, not to waste more water than you have to. Not to have huge landscaping that need to be watered daily. Very intellectual thought processes that at the end make these homes better so they'll last 100 years, and the environment can deal with it, but also create a new idea in people's minds where no longer is Eco-friendly this, not in a bad way, but I think it's been related to the hippy movement a lot. It's been related to this free love and this free way of thinking. It's not. It's an economical and a realist thing. If you're a human being, and you care about your world, you would do it out of an intellectual realist side.

You would understand that the air you breathe in, the water you drink, must be protected for your own well being. It should be the world's movement to make sure that as we grow, as we expand and build more cities, that we do it intellectually so we can have something to hand off in the future instead of just consuming everything and not trying to think about what's going to come next.

Robert Plank: I like that. It reminds me a lot of when the Priuses first came out. Those first couple of years, like early 2000s, if someone had a Prius, or you saw a Prius, you'd like, "Man, what a nerd." Now, if you have a hybrid, that's a cool car, or Tesla is, "Look, this is an all luxury car. This is a cool race car almost." What you're saying is that up until now, there's been the same stigma but with homes instead of cars. There's all this negative stuff associated, so it's your mission to re-brand the Eco-friendly into all these positives.

Mayer Dahan: Exactly. I mean, I think you gave the perfect example with the Tesla, because it's the re-branding of a concept to make it cool, to make it the future. The same movement ... I'm just one small builder, and even though I feel like, in many circles, I'm the leader of this movement, because I'm the one who cares the most and is willing to put the most up and talk about it the most, if the world doesn't get behind this, it's just going to hurt us, you know what I mean?

Robert Plank: Oh yeah.

Mayer Dahan: We can already see the effects of what we do to our planet. I never was an environmentalist. It was only when I started to build homes did I see the real power that I had in my hands. The first example I love to give is when we demolish homes, we just demolish them and we throw them into a bin or bins. Then, we ship them to a dump. If we were more intelligent, we would take the homes apart piece by piece and recycle everything, which is what we've been doing for an excess of six years. It takes more time, it costs a little bit of more money, but it's the way to give us an opportunity to grow and expand and do it in a healthy way instead of in a way that might scare us and might not leave any natural resources for us to enjoy anymore.

Yeah, this is ... I think there's so many people out there who want to do it for the right reasons, and they just need their voice heard. We're excited to make a company that's out there doing houses in a big neighborhood that are Eco-friendly, making it our standard. We just started building in Venice too, and bringing our concepts there. In Venice, California, there's a huge Eco-friendly movement, and you can see the benefits it has to the environment, and to the people. We're just excited to see this grow nationwide and see everybody engulf and envelope their lives in a more sustainable way and a more conscious way.

Robert Plank: How did you come up with this technology or the design of these homes or some of these processes you have? Is this all you? Did you learn this and architect this yourself, or did you hire a team? How did that happen?

Mayer Dahan: You know, the way I always look at it is I'm no genius. I'm not reinventing the wheel. We live in a world where, in my opinion, there are amazing ideas everywhere. Then, there are people doing things everywhere. The connecting between those amazing ideas and what we actually do is what's lacking. People have known how to recycle a home since the 1900s. We've had solar power available for an excess of 50 years. The technology's been out there. My part was to figure out a way and create an idea of why it must be a standard, even though you don't always make money on being Eco-friendly. I created a brand around that being the standard, so it's not about making money. It's not about being more profitable, which is taboo in our society, but it's not.

While making a profit is important, and we have to pay our bills, and people need money, we should be able to accomplish those goals while being intellectual about what we built. While being thoughtful and loving about how we build it, so I feel like I wasn't really, or I shall not take credit for coming with almost anything, I just like to take credit for seeing all the genius ideas that were out there and having the confidence to implement them when other people were just hesitating because they were possibly scared of change. I'm a bit more reckless. I never felt like I knew what I was doing anyway, so I always had to take chances. I was just happy to be able to be behind a company that believed in my ideals and I was very lucky that as we progress this brand, our houses were breaking records. They were selling for more than all the other homes. We were selling faster than any other developer in the nation.

Most of our homes never even reached the market in the first place. We were doing something very powerful. We basically feel like we have a huge head start, because we've been putting these homes together for about 10 years or so. As of right now, there is little, if any, competition in the market, meaning that there are very few developers developing high end, Eco-friendly homes, if any.

Robert Plank: There's a lot of cool stuff in there. One thing that you mentioned as far as building on the things that have already been invented, there's some kind of quote. I can't remember it exactly. I think it might be a Ben Franklin thing that's like, "Creativity is where you connect things that are seemingly unconnected." Like you said, we've known how to recycle a home. We've known about solar power. It gets a little bit better every few years, but you just combined these things together. The second thing that I really liked about your business model and the things you're doing is you're really niched down.

Who knows how many home building companies out there, and what do they do? They say, "Here's a neighborhood, get some lands, put things together, build some homes on some land." Well, who cares? You can go to any neighborhood and just go and move into a place where all your neighbors have the exact same set up as you. Sounds boring, so what you've done is you've combined, not just the Eco-friendly and the good design of it, but also made it into a nice neighborhood and made it where it combines everything. How can you be against a good looking home? How can you be against helping the environment?

Mayer Dahan: Correct. I appreciate that. I completely agree. It always cracks me up when I think back, because everything that should have been done has always been out there and available. I think I realized very early on, before I was ever a business leader, that there were no visionaries left in my industry. There were lots of people, but very few people with passion or willing to put forth a dream or take a chance. There's a lot of regurgitation of other people's blueprints and a lot of copycatting, a lot of people just trying to do the simplest thing and get money and get out.

That's always baffled me. If you have the power and the responsibility to build homes, which are extremely important, why not, if you're going to do it anyways, why not just put the extra effort in and do it the right way? Why not leave a resounding message of your legacy of what you've accomplished? Why not try to aspire to make money and do good at the same time? It seems very obvious. It seems very easy. It's the part that cracks me up why I don't ... I've always invited people to copy my system, to copy my business method, but I think people still don't realize that the future of human evolution is one where humans understand that it's about sacrifice. It's about more than just your days on this Earth and the things you do on those days.

It's about whatever legacy and impact you leave and that your name will live way beyond you if you can learn how to give a bit of yourself to others. I feel like we're lacking that in the business world. If I can go out there, and I can talk like this, and I can make money at the same time and be successful, then the young ones, which we get interns from all over the world come to work for us and learn from us ... I think the young ones will learn from this sort of system and hopefully will have a lot of young philanthropic developers out there building beautiful homes, because it's the right thing to do.

Robert Plank: I think that's a pretty powerful message. As we're winding down to this call, I want to make sure we bring it back full circle around to the marketing. I really like how a lot of your message revolves around, not even the easy way, but the lazy way, or the non-thinkers way out is to just be looking to copy and repeat and be greedy and just think about the money. You've kind of linked what it is that you do, not just with your passion, but connected it to a really cool social cause. Were all those, like you said, the younger, or newer, up and coming business owners out there, out of all the things you see ... the mistakes they're making are all things they could be doing but not ... what do you see is the number one mistake all these up and comers are making?

Mayer Dahan: I think ... I'm very lucky through my company, I get to interview and meet hundreds and thousands of young interns and college graduates yearly. It seems as though the younger, more start up generation, is possibly lacking that self-criticism, and self-deprecation, or what not, that it takes to get to the finish line.

Robert Plank: You're saying they're overconfident, and they should be more looking into oneself.

Mayer Dahan: Exactly. As you navigate through the world, and as you start a company, there are so many things you have to do. Pretty much the only thing you can do that will assure you continued success is to continue looking in the mirror, look at your weaknesses, look at the weak links in who you are as a human being, and then address those, because regardless of your intelligence or your experience, this is a world where it's about human to human connection. It's about what you make people feel when you talk to them and when you talk about what you're doing. If we're going to become successful, we're going to have to become very emotionally connected human beings. I think for most entrepreneurs and most young leaders, it's very hard to be critical and put yourself down and try to grow and stay on top of yourself.

If you're ever going to become a big person in this world, it requires being your biggest critic first.

Robert Plank: That's one of those things where it's so dang simple, but so few people do it. Out of all of the steps, it sounds like you've taken in your journey, and of all the cool tidbits of advice you shared throughout this call, it seems like that's what I'm hearing over and over. There's all these simple things, and yet a lot of people just ... they're just not taking action on doing these simple steps or just combining these simple steps or doing the right thing.

Mayer Dahan: Yeah. Agreed.

Robert Plank: Cool, so before I let you go, I want to make sure that everyone knows about you and goes to your website and checks out these homes and just gets all the information that they need to know about Mayer Dahan. Where can they go on the internet to find out more about you?

Mayer Dahan: All right. There's actually a lot of different avenues we have. Our main company is called Dahan Properties, which is the marketing and brains behind everything we do. You can go to Dahanproperties.com and then, you can also visit prime, p-r-I-m-e, five, f-I-v-e spelled out, homes, h-o-m-e-s, .com, where you can check out our homes, our styles, architecture, all the interiors and exteriors. If you want to get involved with our non-profit, the dream builder's project, visit our website. Www.dbpla.com or the dreambuildersproject.com. We're also on Facebook and Instagram, so feel free to reach out to us. We love to communicate with anybody.

Robert Plank: Awesome. Lots of cool companies, lots of great ideas. Lots of cool causes. I really appreciate all of the wisdom you had to share with us. Thanks being on the show, Mayer.

Mayer Dahan: Thank you, buddy. Have a good day. Appreciate you having me on.

Robert Plank: You too.[/showhide]

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