Tony Stephan is a serial entrepreneur who built a multimillion-dollar online dietitian certification platform and mentorship program before diving into real estate. With the same drive and strategic mindset, he quickly scaled a high-performing investment portfolio with millions in assets and over 96% occupancy. Tony and his team excel in renovations, leasing, and property management—bringing a proven formula for real estate success.

Here’s some of the topics we covered:

  • From shredded to syndicated how a health coach became a real estate mogul
  • Trading small problems for million dollar ones and loving it
  • The Tariff Chess Match Happening Between the US & China
  • The truth about entrepreneurship that no one wants to tell you
  • Living in Fear vs. Living In Faith
  • The Multifamily Meltdown Happening across the United States
  • The Secret Key To Sticking With A Health Plan
  • The Excitement of Building Deals & Acquisition
  • Stop Talking About Taking Action and Take Action

Connect with Tony:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGeM9zcikxhYkdLh7aPObRQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tony_stephan_/

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonystephandietitian/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tony_stephan?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tonystephanRD

To find out more about partnering or investing in a multifamily deal: Text Partner to 72345 or email Partner@RodKhleif.com

Full Transcript Below

01:20:08:29 – 01:20:25:27
Rod
Welcome back to lifetime cash Flow through real estate Investing. I’m Rod Cleef and I am thrilled that you’re here. And I know you’re going to get tremendous value from the gentleman I’m interviewing. Today’s name is Tony Stephan, and Tony is from Detroit, and he’s got a lot of assets himself in his own portfolio. And, he also has a telehealth business.

01:20:26:02 – 01:20:30:08
Rod
So we’re going to talk about health for sure, because that’s a something I love talking about. Hey, brother.

01:20:30:08 – 01:20:32:28
Tony
Welcome, rod. Thank you so much for having me, man. Appreciate it.

01:20:32:28 – 01:20:43:13
Rod
Absolutely. And he’s got his own podcast as well. That which which I’ll be interviewing on here at some point. The Tony Stephan Show, but yeah. So what’s your story, man? Tell me who you are.

01:20:43:14 – 01:21:01:14
Tony
I would say there’s a long story and then the short version. So I’ll give you the short version. I’m happy to, expand into it a little bit. Like you said, my my background is in telehealth. As a registered dietitian, I actually got started, in an interesting way. So I was 14 years old. My mother had left home, she was battling with a drug addiction, so my father sat me down.

01:21:01:14 – 01:21:15:17
Tony
We were months behind on our mortgage. Going to file chapter seven bankruptcy. We’re going to lose our home. We were on food stamps, so we were in financial struggle. He taught me, though, as a young man going through, you know, a lot of adversity, a lot of struggle, a lot of pain. He taught me fitness as an outlet.

01:21:15:24 – 01:21:22:00
Tony
I don’t know if you ever remember those old school Joe Wheater wait benches. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Because I can tell you’re in shape, you know, so I know you.

01:21:22:06 – 01:21:23:07
Rod
You see my gym downstairs?

01:21:23:07 – 01:21:24:25
Tony
Oh, I was definitely admiring it.

01:21:24:25 – 01:21:26:21
Rod
All right. Yeah, yeah.

01:21:26:23 – 01:21:50:29
Tony
But you taught me fitness as an outlet and as an outlet to deal with adversity. Pain, struggles. Yeah, yeah. Stress management is the ceiling to our potential life. Right? And I loved it so much. I said, wow, I want to dedicate my life to help other people who are going through stress, adversity. So I became a certified personal trainer at age 18, went to school, became a registered dietitian, and started off working in the health clubs, helping clients, all those great things.

01:21:51:02 – 01:22:08:22
Tony
I felt a bigger call to help more people. So at 26, I emptied my savings account, charged up my credit card, hired a mentor, actually out in California. So I flew out there to learn how to build a business online. Instead of just seeing people 1 to 1 face to face in an office, built an online telehealth business as a registered dietitian.

01:22:08:22 – 01:22:26:23
Tony
And that was the start. It was a struggle at first. You know, like most new businesses, we emptied everything we had. We put, you know, money on credit cards first couple of years of struggle. But then as the years went on, some of the yours preaches, you know, real estate to long term game business, long term game social means long term game.

01:22:26:25 – 01:22:35:11
Tony
I was blessed to say it took off. We had thousands of customers, 21 different countries. And then that became the seed capital. We used to start to invest in real estate.

01:22:35:13 – 01:22:38:23
Rod
Wow, wow, wow. You have thousands of customers in your telehealth business.

01:22:38:23 – 01:22:40:02
Tony
Yeah, 21 different countries.

01:22:40:05 – 01:22:44:03
Rod
That’s amazing. Yeah. So, so talk about your real estate journey.

01:22:44:06 – 01:22:44:28
Tony
So and.

01:22:44:28 – 01:22:46:09
Rod
We’re going to go back to the telehealth one.

01:22:46:09 – 01:22:46:25
Tony
Hundred percent.

01:22:46:29 – 01:22:50:17
Rod
But you know, this is a real estate show. So we should we should definitely spend some time there.

01:22:50:17 – 01:23:05:27
Tony
Absolutely. Yeah. You know business is not an avoidance of problems. It’s new levels new levels. And we always say you start off with like first world problems, right? Like how do I make money? How do I get a customer? How do I get my first rental property? For me, it was after a while, our business was doing a lot of revenue.

01:23:06:02 – 01:23:10:23
Tony
Right. It’s telehealth. So I don’t have many write offs. You know, everything’s online. I have a computer.

01:23:10:23 – 01:23:11:21
Rod
You pay a lot of taxes.

01:23:11:21 – 01:23:12:10
Tony
You pay, you pay.

01:23:12:16 – 01:23:23:19
Rod
By the way, let me interject something here. But key in life is to have better quality problems. Like, right now, I need more coaches. Yeah. You know, that’s that’s a quality problem, right? Okay. So please continue.

01:23:23:19 – 01:23:37:22
Tony
Now, I agree, I think freedom is choosing the problems you want to solve. Yeah. Right. So yeah, I remember I think it was 2019, we wrote a $400,000 check to the IRS, and. Right. I said never again. Wow. Yeah. And I.

01:23:37:22 – 01:23:45:02
Rod
Started funny. I had the same exact thing happened to me about you when I was about that age. Yes, half a million. But you know who’s counting? But. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah.

01:23:45:04 – 01:24:03:14
Tony
And I started researching like, okay, how do you. Because I always heard the wealthy don’t pay taxes. Well, how do the wealthy not pay taxes? Right. You start to research. Okay. Real estate real estate professional says depreciation. I realized we were crap. We were cash rich, but asset poor. We had no assets, only asset. My wife and I had was, as a home we lived in.

01:24:03:14 – 01:24:10:10
Tony
So we we made a decision like, hey, the 401 K route doesn’t make sense for us. Stock market. I feel like it’s designed to make Wall Street wealthy.

01:24:10:13 – 01:24:12:27
Rod
That’s been crazy the last few. Right? Right.

01:24:13:00 – 01:24:18:23
Tony
Yeah. Right. So we said, you know, let’s go all in on real estate, start with one house. And now today it’s 258 units, two.

01:24:18:23 – 01:24:26:07
Rod
Hundred 58. And you told me you’ve got you’ve got 100 unit, you’ve got, small stuff like in 16 unit range. Yeah, I got some single family as well.

01:24:26:11 – 01:24:27:28
Tony
We sold all the, a single family.

01:24:27:28 – 01:24:28:09
Rod
Oh. Did you.

01:24:28:09 – 01:24:30:08
Tony
Good. 1031 into a 56.

01:24:30:08 – 01:24:49:08
Rod
Smart, smart smart. Yeah, I took me 2000 houses to get that memo, but it’s crazy. Yeah, yeah, but, Wow. That’s awesome. And so, you’ve done some cash out refi. You want to talk about that? Because, you know, we all you guys have all heard about the Burr method, right? You know, buy, renovate, refinance, repeat. Well you’ve done it with some multi, right.

01:24:49:08 – 01:24:51:09
Rod
Yeah. So. Right. But but talk about yours.

01:24:51:09 – 01:24:58:21
Tony
You know like you said, I think everyone starts with single family because you feel like this is where I have to start, right. Like for just.

01:24:58:22 – 01:25:03:14
Rod
About everybody I met I met one person I think that started with 100 unit. He was a he was a unicorn.

01:25:03:14 – 01:25:20:15
Tony
But that’s smart, right? Yeah, yeah. Just houses made sense to us. So we started with that. But I realized it was a really slow way to wealth. Right? We were buying these houses or put a tenant in it. They pay it off. You’re like, okay, whatever, right? I bought a seven unit and the seven unit was in a great area.

01:25:20:15 – 01:25:37:18
Tony
Some of you always talk about like, don’t compromise location. Couldn’t agree more right. Bought the seven unit. It was business that. So that was the first really interesting thing right. It wasn’t going on. My credit report wasn’t going on my credit score. They weren’t looking at my debt to income ratio. The rents were about 750 bucks. We knew the market rents could be $1,100.

01:25:37:19 – 01:25:56:00
Tony
Wow. And something you always talk about two is NOI, right? Right. We love multifamily because it’s valued based on a business, right? The more profit my business produces, the more valuable it is. So as an entrepreneur with a business background that just made sense to us, right? So we took it over, there month to month leases, slightly outdated units.

01:25:56:00 – 01:26:03:04
Tony
So we just started doing light upgrades. It was back when debt was 3.9%. So we had a lot of cash flow to just kind of pump right back into the. Yep.

01:26:03:05 – 01:26:03:29
Rod
You got fixed rate.

01:26:04:03 – 01:26:23:06
Tony
Yes. Ten years, ten years. Yeah. And then we took the NOI. The first year was 30,000. We took it to 60,000. That buildings I paid 660 for it. Building reappraised for a million bucks. I was able to do a cash out refinance, take $250,000 out tax free, which was more than I put down. Once we saw that rod, it was like the matrix.

01:26:23:06 – 01:26:27:29
Tony
Do you remember that movie where it’s like red pill, blue pill? We took that red pill. We can never look back at single family.

01:26:28:01 – 01:26:44:09
Rod
Sure. No, no. That’s fantastic. It’s a little harder to do now with the interest rates where they are and stuff like that. You know, that was a there was a golden era back then, but, you know, let’s hope it comes back. I mean, Trump’s trying to get rid of the head of the Federal Reserve and, because he wants to drop interest rates.

01:26:44:11 – 01:27:02:17
Rod
So it’s kind of a balancing act because, you know, it’ll probably trigger inflation again. So it’s like it’s going to be it. We’re in crazy times right now with these 245% tariffs on China is like, holy crap. But you know this country’s in deep shit. So yeah, thank God he came in came on board and he’s he’s not subtle.

01:27:02:19 – 01:27:14:01
Rod
You know, I was I was I was saw an interview this morning with Mr. Wonderful talking about I’m sorry I’m digressing a little bit but so I interview Mr. Wonderful, you know the, the I forgot to show.

01:27:14:05 – 01:27:15:08
Tony
Oh shark tank, shark tank.

01:27:15:08 – 01:27:20:09
Rod
Thank you. And, and and he does a lot of business in China. He says they have been screwing us for years.

01:27:20:09 – 01:27:20:24
Tony
I believe it’s.

01:27:20:27 – 01:27:46:22
Rod
Stealing. Stealing inventions and knockoffs and and, not allowing us companies to invest to, to to get a big foothold in China without Chinese involvement. It’s so, so, you know, I’m I’m really glad it’s happening, but, you know, I, I did a I did a Facebook Live on this, this last weekend and, Oh, my God, I get so much hate from from people about, oh, Trump’s going to ruin the relationship and blah, blah, blah.

01:27:46:28 – 01:27:49:00
Rod
Sure. Now Trump’s playing chess, not checkers.

01:27:49:00 – 01:27:49:20
Tony
That’s right.

01:27:49:22 – 01:28:10:12
Rod
You know, but, so, so, you’re you’re basically vertically integrated. You have your own real estate brokerage. You have you have your own construction component, maintenance people, whatever. You do your own terms and, and, you have your own management. Yes. Yeah. Which is great. When you’re in a single geographic area like you are. You know, that’s a fantastic way to do it.

01:28:10:12 – 01:28:30:09
Rod
I had it I still have a management company, actually, but but, you know, I get a lot of, you know, one thing I’ve discovered, just as an aside, just to to teach a little bit for a second, you know, in, in the last year, I had to take over 23 of our assets that my partner was running, that he ran into the ground and, in seven states.

01:28:30:11 – 01:28:47:24
Rod
And I’m gonna tell you, that’s not the way to do it, right? You’re much better off. The most successful entrepreneurs that I see in this business are the ones that are geographically specific. They stick with one market. Yeah. And that’s, that’s what I, you know, try to suggest to my students anymore. And let me brag for a moment.

01:28:47:24 – 01:28:53:11
Rod
I just found out literally five days ago that my students now on 260,000 units.

01:28:53:12 – 01:28:55:12
Tony
We heard you’re listing on the. Yeah, that’s.

01:28:55:12 – 01:28:56:05
Rod
Just like, holy.

01:28:56:05 – 01:28:56:19
Tony
Crap.

01:28:56:21 – 01:28:57:05
Rod
It’s amazing.

01:28:57:05 – 01:28:58:09
Tony
Just, just really.

01:28:58:09 – 01:29:17:04
Rod
Really proud of that. That’s that that we know of. It’s probably pushing 300 at this point because a lot of people don’t respond. But anyway, so so, you’ve done these these complete cash out refi, which is fantastic. Are you going to continue to buy for your own account? Are you thinking about maybe syndicating at some point? What are your thoughts for your future?

01:29:17:06 – 01:29:34:28
Tony
That’s a great question. So for us, right. It’s very much so. We keep the main thing the main thing. Right. We we build our businesses, we build our enterprises. So every year I kind of jog. It’s like we’re in the Mafia. We have to buy till we die, right? Because we need those tax write off. Right. My wife qualifies as a real estate professional, which I know you talk about.

01:29:35:02 – 01:29:38:04
Tony
We can cost, segregate our buildings and take all that depreciate.

01:29:38:04 – 01:29:43:29
Rod
So she’s the pro instead of you. And she she is the pro. Well we know she is anyway. But I mean, as far as real estate, she’s.

01:29:43:29 – 01:29:53:26
Tony
The real estate professional. Yeah. That’s kind of how the real estate brokerage all came about. Like you said, it was all kind of vertically integrated. Yeah, we create them. We start with third party management. We create a management company because we had to.

01:29:53:27 – 01:29:54:23
Rod
Oh, because they suck.

01:29:54:25 – 01:29:55:11
Tony
Yeah.

01:29:55:14 – 01:30:13:11
Rod
Exactly. It’s very rare to find a good property management company. And it’s really more property specific because I noticed this when I took over the asset management of these 23 assets, about 2000 units that, you know, there were different management companies, but the assets that were doing good were the ones that had great onsite staff. It really didn’t matter what the management company was.

01:30:13:11 – 01:30:17:07
Rod
Yeah. So anyway, know if the if your experience was different. So you started it out of need.

01:30:17:10 – 01:30:31:14
Tony
Out of need. Yeah. Yeah. Same thing with the brokerage people then started contacting us like seeing what we’re doing on social media, which you’re a huge proponent. Oh right. Right. People don’t know you. They can’t follow you. And the more hands you shake, the more you know money you can make. So, they start seeing that, they’re like, hey, can we can we work with you?

01:30:31:14 – 01:30:34:21
Tony
And so we’re like, why are we paying Keller Williams? Let’s just create our own. Yeah.

01:30:34:27 – 01:30:35:24
Rod
Nice. Yeah.

01:30:35:24 – 01:30:39:07
Tony
So that’s how it all came about. I love how you said vertically integrated. It’s something we talk about a lot.

01:30:39:08 – 01:31:11:14
Rod
Yeah. Well that’s that’s that. Yeah. When you have, when you control every aspect of the business, you know, it, it, it that control really, equates to cost savings. It equates to a better quality, you know, run the business runs better. And, so love it. So, talk about some good decisions you’ve made and maybe some not so good decisions you’ve made in this journey of yours just to, you know, and I want to, you know, talk about some pain, talk about the, you know, I call them seminars, talk about some seminars you’ve had maybe.

01:31:11:17 – 01:31:12:05
Rod
Yeah. You know.

01:31:12:06 – 01:31:14:14
Tony
Yeah. I mean, there’s so many in just a day, right.

01:31:14:17 – 01:31:15:12
Rod
Just you need a pick.

01:31:15:18 – 01:31:19:04
Tony
Yeah. Right now, what do you what do you say all the time? You’re like, ask me how I know.

01:31:19:04 – 01:31:24:00
Rod
Ask me. That’s right. We have t shirts. Hashtag. Ask me how I know what’s student got for me. Yeah, I love that.

01:31:24:01 – 01:31:40:02
Tony
Yeah, yeah. I mean, there’s been so many. I think one of the biggest mistakes I made was just thinking I had to start small, right? Like, I had it, I had it, it had to be linear, right? I had to be a house and a duplex, then a four plex. And if I could have, I wasted a lot of time, a lot of energy.

01:31:40:02 – 01:31:55:13
Tony
Now, fortune, we were able to sell those and take the money out. 1031 exchange, which is wasted a lot of time with that. You know, I on a very, very slow, kind of painful path, with the third party management managing those two, you know, they just killed us on duplexes. We had 15,000, 20,000 unit turns.

01:31:55:16 – 01:32:12:27
Rod
Oh, yeah. You know. Yeah. By the way, I’m really glad you said that. Guys, when you, Sorry to interrupt, I but this is an important teaching point. When you hire a property management company, find out, especially if you’ve got a if you’ve got an asset that’s under, say, 40 units or 50 units because you’re going to rely on their maintenance infrastructure.

01:32:13:04 – 01:32:37:16
Rod
And maintenance is a huge profit center for for management companies. You know, they’re hire some kid at 15, 16 bucks an hour and bill them out at 75. So be really dig in to that because you will get screwed like he’s talking about here. I’ve I’ve had it happen to me numerous times and you know and find out if they upcharge contractors or if they, if they do a dollar for dollar sometimes they’ll up charge you know, contracting bids for the supervision quote unquote.

01:32:37:16 – 01:32:54:01
Rod
So really dig into the maintenance when you’re hiring a management company. And by the way, I’ve got a great book on this that’s free on how to hire a third party property management company. It’s on rods links.com. It’s in the free book section. I think it’s the best book out there on the topic. And it’s free. So the price is right.

01:32:54:09 – 01:33:03:18
Rod
So check that out. If you are thinking about hiring a property management company because it’s got all the questions you should ask and things you should think about anyway, I hope I didn’t completely derail your thought.

01:33:03:24 – 01:33:24:12
Tony
That’s exactly correct. There was like a 35% markup on everything, right? Right. The maintenance hourly rate was 100 bucks an hour and they were always finding things to do. Oh, sure, it wasn’t ever fix something, it was just completely replace it. Sure. Right. For more billable hours. So, you know, thinking thinking like real estate wasn’t like any other business to where you make your money in the in the management operations.

01:33:24:19 – 01:33:34:28
Tony
Right. And we just kind of built 87 units at that time, gave it away and said, all right, well, they’ll have our best interests in mind. No, they had their best interest. Right. Well, it lost a lot of money and time on that.

01:33:34:28 – 01:33:53:07
Rod
So, you know, I’ve got a lot of listeners that have a job, have a W2. They may even be call it the rat race. Some of them may like what they do, but they know they need more. They they want freedom. They want time, freedom, money, freedom, freedom to go do whatever they want, whenever they want, with whoever they want.

01:33:53:10 – 01:34:00:22
Rod
And but they haven’t taken action yet. And speak to them. Yeah. Just give them some advice if you would.

01:34:00:24 – 01:34:17:06
Tony
Yeah, yeah. If you feel called to be an entrepreneur, it’s not for everybody. Right. But if you feel called to be an entrepreneur, you have to answer that. Call the conscious. Right. Something I always talk about conscious congruency. Like what the voice inside of you is the voice of God, the voice, the universe. Whatever you believe in, you have to answer that call.

01:34:17:13 – 01:34:37:08
Tony
Right? And imperfect action always beats standing still and proximity power. So if you feel called to do something, you just don’t know how to do it. I mean, you have to get around people who are doing it. That’s why you do all the bootcamps, webinars and all those things. You have to live. You have to live like that because you know, something I just learned early on from losing my mother at a young age is man life is finite, right?

01:34:37:14 – 01:34:53:09
Tony
And at that in your time, you have to answer for your life. And did you live in fear or do you live in faith? Faith is even if this happens, I’m going to move forward. I’m going to progress fears. What if. Right, well, what if I quit my job and, we lose all our money? Well, or what if I buy this rental property?

01:34:53:09 – 01:35:02:18
Tony
Everything can go wrong. Just which one do you want to operate from? Right at the end of your life? You have to answer for that. Did I operate in faith, vibrate in fear?

01:35:02:20 – 01:35:22:04
Rod
Yeah. And do I have regret? Yeah. You know, there’s that nurse in Australia that, wrote a book about this. She was a hospice nurse, and she asked people that were dying if they had any regrets. And, I think the book is The Five Regrets of Dying or something like that. Her name is Brawny Wear. And, the number one regret was not living the life I could have live.

01:35:22:04 – 01:35:44:04
Rod
Living someone else’s life, not doing what I know I’m capable of. Quote. I can think of anything worse than that. So don’t fear failure. You know, I’ve started 29 businesses, several worth tens of millions of dollars. Most spectacular flaming seminars. But we fail our way to success, right? So on this journey of yours, talk about any epiphanies that you had, any moments?

01:35:44:07 – 01:35:59:20
Tony
Yeah. I love what you said earlier. Let regret be your guide. Right. That something like we don’t get to choose our regrets. You know, sometimes people think like, I can choose to regret this. I know that’s the that’s an internal message from above. Right? So a lot a lot of different regrets and a lot of different epiphanies.

01:35:59:20 – 01:36:14:08
Tony
I think one of the first epiphanies was, oh, I was crap. I was in my late 20s. We had just made our first million dollars profit. We had over $1 million in the bank. Right. Which I’m, you know, don’t say to impress anyone, but to impress upon them we were crap. Covid then was right around the corner.

01:36:14:08 – 01:36:15:14
Rod
What do you say? You were crap.

01:36:15:16 – 01:36:16:23
Tony
Cash rich, asset poor.

01:36:16:24 – 01:36:19:20
Rod
Oh, gotcha. Gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, I was wonder what the hell you meant by that.

01:36:19:20 – 01:36:41:15
Tony
Okay. Yeah. No, I guess I should have explained that. I’m sorry. I keep saying that, but Covid came around the corner. I saw so many businesses get decimated. Right? Get told you shut down. They’re never coming back. I was in telehealth, so our business was booming. But I right away saw if anything ever changed in my business. And like a Covid hit like telehealth or what we were doing, you know, I’m susceptible to that.

01:36:41:15 – 01:36:56:18
Tony
So I also learned another big epiphany. The worst number in business is one one way to make money, one revenue stream, one way to get customers like single family home. You have one customer. They’re 100 unit partner. You have 100. My wife and I talk about this all the time. Two people move on a unit. You feel it?

01:36:56:18 – 01:37:15:01
Tony
Four people move out of an eight unit. You’re distressed. Four people move. Out of our 100 unit, you don’t even feel it. You just keep. You keep it moving. Right? So, the epiphany of I wish I would have invested sooner. I was saving out of scarce CD, not realizing my money was losing money every day due to inflation and devaluation of the dollar.

01:37:15:04 – 01:37:31:11
Tony
And, just the more customers are, the more revenue streams you have, the more secure you are. And that could just be in a business that could be, in life. And that’s definitely in real estate. That’s why the multifamily, the more doors you have, the more protected that business is to as long as is good asset.

01:37:31:12 – 01:37:51:18
Rod
Obviously. Agreed? Agreed. We’re going to take a break from this great episode for word from our sponsor, which is the multifamily bootcamp. So if you know real estate is the vehicle for you, you’re crazy not to spend a couple days with me at one of my bootcamps. I’ve always got one right around the corner. Thousands and thousands of people have taken action on their journeys to creating generational cash flow for themselves and their families.

01:37:51:18 – 01:38:11:17
Rod
From attending my events, I don’t sell anything at this event, so it’s basically 16 to 18 hours of training with nothing being sold. Kind of a no brainer if you’re serious about this. To check it out, text the word links to 72345 or go to Rod’s links.com again. Text links to 72345 or go to Rod’s links.com. I promise you’ll be glad you came.

01:38:11:18 – 01:38:32:19
Rod
Let’s get back to it. I think we are heading into a golden time for investment. Certainly in the multifamily space there’s a meltdown happening. There’s $1.5 trillion in debt coming due by the end of this year. And those people either have to refinance, which is very, very difficult right now because the rates are up and they can’t meet debt service coverage requirements, or they have to sell and sales are down 90%.

01:38:32:26 – 01:38:53:26
Rod
So it’s we’re going to see some pain. And I will tell you, I think we’re going to see some regional banks collapse as well. I really believe that. And, you know, and I’ve got my money in bank, that gets spread out over 80 banks with no more than 250 in each bank. So I’m covered by the FDIC and, and and the reason I believe that is there is a ton of commercial debt in trouble right now.

01:38:53:29 – 01:39:15:18
Rod
I mean, listen to office. I’m in office. I mean, we’re 50, 60% occupied. And Dozier is going to be eliminating a lot of a lot of, organizations, government organizations. And the government’s the largest landlord, I mean, the largest tenant in the country. So, you know, I think we’re headed for some pain. But with crisis comes opportunity, right?

01:39:15:18 – 01:39:32:19
Rod
There’s going to be great deals in multifamily. I’m already seeing a ton of deals being sold for the debt. Debt plus fees. But they’re they’re trying to be sold, but they don’t even pencil out at the debt right now. Right. And so you’re going to see banks taking haircuts. You’re going to see auctions. The other thing is I wish it was two of me because I’d love to buy businesses.

01:39:32:19 – 01:39:46:16
Rod
Right. There’s 80 million baby boomers getting old. And I like to say getting old and getting cold doesn’t serve you in Detroit, but it definitely does in Florida here. And, you know, but, you know, I’m getting into senior housing. I’m going to be raising money for a senior housing deal probably in the next week or two.

01:39:46:16 – 01:40:07:05
Rod
Love that, love that, that asset class. I was going to do it years ago, and I got sidetracked, but, and and but I would love to buy businesses as well. Like I said, so many baby boomers have businesses that, you know, they’re going to have a difficult time selling. So just lots of opportunity. So if you’re listening, free can get up to speed on something.

01:40:07:07 – 01:40:26:10
Rod
Okay. If it’s multifamily, get your ass to my boot camp. If it’s businesses, learn how to buy businesses, whatever it is, get up to speed now. Don’t wait. Okay, so you know, I’m big into mindset. I mean, that’s like, you know, 80 to 90% of your success. I mean, I can tell you are two. You’ve even said a couple of Tony Robbins quotes while while you’re saying so, you know, I spent 20 years with him.

01:40:26:10 – 01:40:37:24
Rod
So I reckon proximity is power, for example. But, so what’s the drive, man? What’s what’s the why? What’s what gets you to jump out of bed every morning? You’re very dynamic. You’re very passionate. Where does that come from?

01:40:37:24 – 01:40:54:07
Tony
Yeah, I appreciate that. It all started with adversity and something I love to say to people is adversities your advantage. You know, growing up was tough, man. Like I said, my mother’s struggle with drugs. So I saw that my my first lesson in real estate was chapter seven bankruptcy. Right? Learning. Learning what that meant and learning what happens when you don’t pay a mortgage.

01:40:54:07 – 01:40:56:13
Tony
Right. So just very motivated.

01:40:56:13 – 01:40:57:11
Rod
How old were you then? Six.

01:40:57:11 – 01:40:57:27
Tony
14.

01:40:57:27 – 01:40:59:21
Rod
Wow. Yeah, that’s that’s impactful. That age.

01:40:59:21 – 01:41:20:01
Tony
14. Okay. Yeah. Very motivated to my family and my future children to never experience that. But then also used my message and, you know, the pain to turn it into a process and to help other people. Right? I know you’re big on social media, too. You know, I think people I think people who go through things and don’t share on social media are selfish, right?

01:41:20:04 – 01:41:31:21
Tony
Because our message can really help people. So it’s also just showing people like, hey, look, I started with absolutely nothing, you know, and we’ve built, you know, a pretty great life for ourselves. So if we can do we always say, hey, we’re not. How old are you now? 34.

01:41:31:21 – 01:41:32:22
Rod
Wow. Fantastic.

01:41:32:22 – 01:41:46:17
Tony
I thank you. So we’re. You know, we’re not special. We can do it. You can do it. So it’s also about motivating, helping others. I think that’s where you know, I have an affinity with you because you don’t have to be doing all this stuff, but you do it to help people. Yeah. And that’s, that’s to me is the true definition of success.

01:41:46:19 – 01:41:50:04
Tony
When I’ve created the life I want and I help other people go out and get it.

01:41:50:08 – 01:42:07:16
Rod
That’s absolutely the truth. And, you know, people, they’ll ask me what motivates me. And, and I tell them and they’re like, I am bullshit. That’s just you being a guru talk. But no, I get I’ve got a wall in my office, in my other building here with hundreds and hundreds of thank you cards. You know, I was the thing I was just bragging about was my student success.

01:42:07:16 – 01:42:32:03
Rod
I mean, that truly gives me joy. And so, you know, it’s not hyperbole. I mean, I’ve had all the stuff, the Lamborghinis and the rolls and all the stupid shit I thought was important. You know, I’m past all that. Yeah, but, so. So let’s talk about health, okay? Because that’s that’s that’s your that’s your, that’s really, your, your baseline and and I’m like, I was just telling you, I, I did Nad+ for three hours yesterday with an IV.

01:42:32:04 – 01:42:43:10
Rod
Yeah. And I felt pretty. I slept really, really good. Yeah. Yeah, it was kind of. The sleep was fantastic. I was just drinking my methylene blue. Yeah. You know, and I take more supplements than you’ve ever seen. Maybe not you.

01:42:43:10 – 01:42:43:20
Tony
But sure.

01:42:43:27 – 01:42:59:29
Rod
Damn near anybody else. Yeah. But, So in your dietitian related conversations, is there a particular diet that you like? Yeah. It is. Okay, well, let’s talk about it.

01:43:00:04 – 01:43:02:12
Tony
Well, it’s like it’s just like investing, right?

01:43:02:15 – 01:43:21:18
Rod
In fact. Hold on, hold on, guys, you may not think this is freaking important, but if you’ve got children, you’ve got a W2 job and you want to do a side hustle. So do you think energy is important? Do you think, you know, have enough energy to frickin come home from 8 or 9 hours of work, be there present for your kids and then spend time on your side.

01:43:21:18 – 01:43:30:17
Rod
Hustle requires energy. You better frickin believe it. So this may be more important than any of the other conversations I’ve had in a long time. So listen up. All right? I want to pre frame it.

01:43:30:20 – 01:43:52:19
Tony
No I love that I agree. Hey $30 million can buy you 30 more minutes on God’s green earth. That’s true too right. So what is wealth without without health. Right. The best diet is the one you can stick to and the one you enjoy. Same thing with investing, right? Like the best investing strategies, the one you can stick to and what you can enjoy and, the one of the biggest epiphanies I has registered dietitian is you can’t separate the physiology from the psychology.

01:43:52:22 – 01:44:10:22
Tony
Food, nutrition, health is very psychological for people. You know what I mean? So it’s very interrelate. It’s not just, hey, follow this perfect diets really like finding what motivates people, what they’re what their driving force is, getting them on something they can stick to for the rest of their life. Same thing with investing, right? Yeah. You always say you have to be investing for the long haul.

01:44:10:25 – 01:44:14:06
Tony
Same thing with health. You have to do something that you can stick to for the long haul.

01:44:14:07 – 01:44:33:16
Rod
Okay, well fair enough, but that was very macro. Sure. And macro squared I, I mean, you know, like here’s some of my opinions about health okay. Number one sugar is poison okay. No. And that’s it. Maybe you disagree but I think sugar is absolute poison. Sure. I know whenever I get sick, it’s always when I’ve had some dessert and or alcohol.

01:44:33:16 – 01:44:52:21
Rod
And that’s when I. That’s the only time I ever get sick. You know, I think, I think carbs aren’t good. I mean, I think any time I’ve done the ketogenic thing, I feel better. I lose weight. My my, my my cognitive function improves. My ex, who’s my best friend. Tiffy has done that carnivore diet thing, and she has.

01:44:52:21 – 01:45:08:23
Rod
Her bloodwork has gotten perfect. I mean, and but it’s hard to stick with that. Just meat and cheese and all that. But is there is there like a program that you teach more than another? Yeah. I mean, I’d love your opinions if you disagree with anything I just said, I’d love to hear it. You.

01:45:08:24 – 01:45:16:16
Tony
No, no, I mean, you’re saying things that are on a high level very true. You know, like, like sugars are an organic compound, like, like naturally there and there’s different types of sugars.

01:45:16:16 – 01:45:19:18
Rod
Well, of course, right. Know I agree with you on that.

01:45:19:20 – 01:45:36:21
Tony
But here’s the thing. Like you said, hey, she was able to start this, but then it’s hard to stick to, like, you have to be able to stick to it. So always like lean proteins. Good point. Energy. Energy focus. Right. So lean proteins, fruits, vegetables complex carbohydrates healthy fats. But we always say the compliance is in the science.

01:45:36:27 – 01:45:40:19
Tony
Right. Like you have to be able to stick to the program for it to work out, you know.

01:45:40:19 – 01:45:44:16
Rod
Yeah you said that at the start. And that’s a very, very good point because she hasn’t been able to stick to it.

01:45:44:16 – 01:46:01:22
Tony
So it doesn’t matter if you start it in reverse out of it and then lose the benefits of it. So it’s like, what can I stick to long term? But I love what you said earlier too. It’s like energy. Like you know, back to like regret. Be your guide. If you eat that sugary food you eat, that you have that alcohol and you immediately regret it afterwards.

01:46:01:22 – 01:46:03:26
Tony
The next morning you get that hangs 80 that.

01:46:04:01 – 01:46:22:16
Rod
I had a sinus infection for like almost three weeks, two weeks ago because I, I went to I went to Nashville, okay. I didn’t have my vitamins and I’m like, oh, I’m by myself. You know what? I’m going to treat myself. I had I had dessert and I had a drink and I was fucked. I mean, I was sick for three weeks because of that.

01:46:22:20 – 01:46:37:17
Tony
Yeah, but you got let those regrets be your guide. So you get that regret, then morning after, do you cut it out? Yeah. Right. Yeah. I mean, success is subtractive rod, especially with health. It’s not about what I add in to. It’s what I eliminate and what I get rid of. Yeah. So your body’s going to tell you your body is going to give you those cues.

01:46:37:17 – 01:46:38:18
Tony
You have to listen to it.

01:46:38:18 – 01:46:45:13
Rod
Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Bread screws me up too. I’ll be honest. I have keto bread. That that’s not so bad.

01:46:45:13 – 01:46:46:24
Tony
We tried to kill bread.

01:46:46:27 – 01:47:01:06
Rod
Oh, I love that. But you got to. It’s. You gotta keep it from frozen. Yeah, all that stuff, and it’s real dense. Yeah, yeah, I should get back to that. You know, Tiffy just bought some more of that stuff. I bought her a toaster the other day for that. Just for that very reason. Yeah. In in that coaching that you do with the telehealth stuff.

01:47:01:08 – 01:47:19:14
Rod
You, you I’m sure you do like a, like a, a dive into what they’re doing. Yeah. What they want. And you know what they’re what they’re what they’re what they believe their outcome is whether it’s weight loss, whether it’s energy, whatever it is. And then and then you discover what they like and you figure out what the best plan for them is.

01:47:19:14 – 01:47:40:15
Tony
Is that the hundred per se it’s all individualized, right? You know what I mean? And especially as registered dietitians, we’re able to look at lab work to medical credential okay. Right. So you let the physiology kind of be a guideline. Right. It’s kind of like looking at a pro forma right for the human body though. Right? But then as I progressed that business, we actually started offering education and continuing education credits for other registered dietitians.

01:47:40:18 – 01:47:43:00
Tony
So I don’t I don’t do like direct to patient.

01:47:43:00 – 01:47:44:01
Rod
Oh, you don’t anymore. No.

01:47:44:05 – 01:47:51:06
Tony
It’s more like B2B. Oh right. So like certifications and, continuing education credits for all their registered dietitians. Interesting. So that’s how the business.

01:47:51:10 – 01:48:12:00
Rod
Oh, gotcha. Okay. Okay. Well, I was going to help do a plug if you wanted some clients on the, on the, on the B2C component business to customer. Okay. Well fair enough. What do you love the most about the role you play in what you do and maybe even what don’t you love the most? Think about that for a minute.

01:48:12:00 – 01:48:16:01
Rod
Is there is there an area of the business that you really enjoy more than another?

01:48:16:05 – 01:48:19:09
Tony
Absolutely. I think for most people. Right. It’s it’s find the deal. Negotiating the.

01:48:19:09 – 01:48:20:17
Rod
Deal. It’s the treasure.

01:48:20:17 – 01:48:35:05
Tony
Hunt, the acquisition. Okay. Right. And then, you know, when you’re able to do the refinance, right. Or an exit that’s always fun. But the mind’s made them in the management and the operations. And now where we’re at is we manage our team and manage our managers. Right. But that’s the hard part. I don’t know if you’ve ever felt that way.

01:48:35:05 – 01:48:38:23
Tony
Like leading people is tough, managing people’s time. Oh, sure. You know what I mean.

01:48:38:23 – 01:48:45:14
Rod
Every business is nothing but people in systems. We’ve got to hire the right people, and you’ve got to have the right system, especially the property management business.

01:48:45:16 – 01:48:59:15
Tony
Yeah. So just really building that from the ground up that that’s where we took a lot of lessons, you know, because I started with just my my wife was the manager. She was doing it, you know, managing 87 units. But then as we’ve expanded, like you said, those protocols and processes, we had to create all that from scratch.

01:48:59:15 – 01:49:11:02
Tony
Yeah. You know, I mean, like, here’s what to do. If a tenant wants a refund on a overpayment, here’s what to do when they want to break their lease the early. So, that’s the least fun part about owning real estate. But that’s where all the money is made.

01:49:11:03 – 01:49:27:25
Rod
Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I’m surprised you didn’t get burned out. She’s sitting over here. You guys can’t see her out of that. Yeah, but, because, you know, I’ve had lots of property managers burn out because you don’t get a phone call when somebody is happy, right? Right. And so there’s a lot of negativity, a very rare, let’s put it that way.

01:49:27:25 – 01:49:31:04
Rod
But, a lot of negativity there.

01:49:31:06 – 01:49:38:19
Tony
Yeah. Very, very thankless profession, you know what I mean? But be like, would you agree? Could could you build to where you’re at today without having that mentality?

01:49:38:20 – 01:50:03:05
Rod
Oh, no. I still own a management company. Just for the few handful of small stuff I have around here, but, No, no. And and I my intention I’m in two markets that I really like in my intention is a vertically integrate in those two markets. And so that’s the focus. And it’ll be a while yet, because again, the banks, they’re, they’re they’re catchphrases extend and pretend, right.

01:50:03:07 – 01:50:09:26
Rod
And and so, you know, at some point they’re going to be like, okay, you know, we we need to do something and then we’re going to start seeing deals.

01:50:09:28 – 01:50:13:25
Tony
Yeah. Yeah, that’s I was curious your take on that, because, you know, we’ve heard that for a while like this. Oh, yeah.

01:50:14:00 – 01:50:33:07
Rod
I’ve been talking about it for three years. I thought Covid was going to do it, but you know who? You know, my kids love to tell me you’re tired of being wrong. Yeah, yeah, but but, it’s it’s for sure. Now, there’s no question. I mean, we got unless the unless the rates come back to 3%. Okay. That’s I think that’s the only thing that could possibly save the commercial real estate environment.

01:50:33:08 – 01:50:52:17
Rod
And I still don’t think it’s going to save office off. People like to work at home. Now. Zoom is has changed everything. And and and so you know, there’s going to be a reckoning in the commercial real estate space. No questioning. And from a macroeconomic standpoint, you know, unless these tariffs really impact our national debt and really turn things around, I think it’s going to take time.

01:50:52:17 – 01:51:06:00
Rod
And I think we’re going to if we’re not already in a recession, we’re going to be in one. Yeah. And I think it’s inevitable. And you know, I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I had somebody sit in that chair and tell me that 80% of the currency in circulation was created in the last four years.

01:51:06:01 – 01:51:28:23
Rod
Yeah. It’s crazy. And you wonder why there’s inflation, right? I mean, hello. Right, right. So, you know, I, I listen, I, I got crushed in oh eight and nine. I’m not getting crushed this time. I’m ready for it. I’ve got a lot of cash. I’m ready to go in and buy some assets and and, you know, there will be incredible opportunity, and I think there’ll be an opportunity to buy every asset class.

01:51:28:25 – 01:51:47:16
Rod
Stay away from office. That’s my $0.02 on that. But everything else is exciting. I love senior housing. I love mobile home parks. Self-storage. I wouldn’t have student housing either. Student housing I’m worried about because the the the student demographic is decreasing. Yeah. The baby boomers had the big boom of students, and now that’s that’s changing.

01:51:47:16 – 01:51:55:12
Rod
So I’d be careful with student housing. But the other asset classes I love industrial flex space. Are you thinking any other asset classes you’re going to stick with? Residential?

01:51:55:18 – 01:52:01:07
Tony
We love senior housing too. We’ve made a couple offers on those. Oh yeah I mean yeah, yeah, but I know I love that model.

01:52:01:12 – 01:52:17:23
Rod
The key is the keys. The operator. Yeah, the key is the operator. You know, you’ve got to find somebody who really loves the elderly. Has great systems, has great culture for their employees because they’re low paid. And so you’ve got to have a great culture. You’ve got to validate them, praise them and encourage them, you know, motivate them.

01:52:17:23 – 01:52:34:28
Rod
And that’s, you know, when you’ve got somebody that’s able to do that in a senior housing component, you know, that’s that’s the recipe for success. But now I think we’re going to do it in a big way. And, figure out a way to scale it and, and really do some big things. And so I’m very excited about that.

01:52:34:28 – 01:52:43:00
Rod
And I love the elderly and I, you know, I love kids as well. But I have an affinity for the elderly, too. So is there a book that you like to gift more than another?

01:52:43:02 – 01:52:47:15
Tony
I love that, you mentioned Tony Robbins earlier, the Unlimited powers one that truly like.

01:52:47:15 – 01:52:48:18
Rod
That’s the first one I read.

01:52:48:23 – 01:52:55:12
Tony
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it changed my life, so I’ve gifted that a lot. On the business side, it’s influenced by Robert Cialdini. Let me read that one.

01:52:55:12 – 01:53:00:03
Rod
Well, I’ve. I’ve met Robert. I, I’ve spent time with Robert. Yeah. That one and free suasion.

01:53:00:06 – 01:53:21:02
Tony
Because I heard you saying pre-fame so I read yeah. Yeah yeah I mean those are like fundamental things with sales. Yeah. Right. And I know, I know, you’re big on, helping people syndicate like, man, you have to be able to sell the story, right? You have to be all about yourself. Right. And, the pre frame and like, the setting of all that, I mean, that was what understanding that book I was Robert, reference influenced by Robert Cialdini.

01:53:21:02 – 01:53:22:12
Tony
If you understand those core things.

01:53:22:18 – 01:53:23:25
Rod
Well there’s reciprocity.

01:53:23:25 – 01:53:25:18
Tony
Reciprocity, social proof, social.

01:53:25:18 – 01:53:25:27
Rod
Proof.

01:53:25:27 – 01:53:36:15
Tony
But you’re you’re huge on you go on your website. It’s just video and case study, video case study as we do the same thing too. But you can like just master those very simple things there. I mean do that’s that’s the cornerstone.

01:53:36:15 – 01:53:51:24
Rod
Of just recently started doing that for the I mean really pushing it. Yeah. Because I was like, oh big deal. You know. But but yeah Matt on the team and, and the other people on the team are like, shit, we need to put more of the, the, the, you know, what people have accomplished because pretty extraordinary. And, and and.

01:53:51:24 – 01:53:56:12
Tony
That’s how people make a decision. Right. What what what is the do? It’s everybody doing. What’s everyone else doing. Right.

01:53:56:12 – 01:54:16:29
Rod
And and even the the what is the I forgot what they call it, the limitation thing. Like the velvet rope thing. Yeah. Like the scarcity. Yes. Is also very powerful. Huge. But, yeah. No, all those strategies work. And I learned a lot of that stuff from Tony. You know, I used to I was on his team for eight years, and he, you know, hell, he’d make $20 million in about an hour.

01:54:16:29 – 01:54:18:18
Rod
Yeah, from stage.

01:54:18:18 – 01:54:19:03
Tony
That’s crazy.

01:54:19:05 – 01:54:21:15
Rod
He’s the best in the world at it. But,

01:54:21:18 – 01:54:22:21
Tony
I didn’t know you were on his team.

01:54:22:21 – 01:54:37:18
Rod
Yeah, yeah. It’s amazing. Yeah, I was on his team for eight years, and I followed him around the planet for 20. And finally, his head of security was like, dude, why don’t you just jump on the team here? And they. They don’t pay to come anymore and all that. You know, I I’d go to his premiere event date with Destiny.

01:54:37:18 – 01:54:56:06
Rod
I went every year for 11 years in a row because every year I’m working on something new. Sure. I want I want to continue to improve. If you’re not improving, you’re dying. If you’re not growing, you’re dying. If you’re flatlined, you’re dying, right? And so, you know, I’d be working on my health or my business or my relationships with my kids or my ex at the time, and and,

01:54:56:09 – 01:55:08:26
Rod
Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah, that was a lot of fun. I was, I, in fact, had I not, gotten in a bad car accident, I probably would have been worn making him up on that movie. He did? I’m not your guru.

01:55:08:27 – 01:55:09:14
Tony
Oh, yeah.

01:55:09:14 – 01:55:22:07
Rod
Yeah, that’s the kind of stuff I was doing back. Oh, wow. Yeah. So listening to this episode with you, what? What would you recommend someone that’s listening do immediately to maybe implement some of these strategies?

01:55:22:14 – 01:55:37:10
Tony
Yeah, just just get started. Right. Imperfect action beats standing still. You know, I’m big fan of like you said, if you could skip the small stuff, the ones, the twos, the threes, the fours. It’s great. It’s a great place to get started with, man. If you can start with, 1520, 25 unit, you know, even an eight, even an eight.

01:55:37:10 – 01:55:53:17
Tony
Yeah. Because it’s the it’s the multifamily strategy. Right. It’s the NOI game versus the comparable sale game. Right? I’ve never had an appraiser ask me on a cash out refinance. What did the neighbor here sell for? What’s the neighbor there? It’s what’s your NOI. So learn the NOI game. Right. And something where a big proponent is just go drive deals.

01:55:53:17 – 01:56:09:13
Tony
Go walk deals. Like you will learn so much looking at a statement from a deal, you know, I mean just really starting to learn like, oh wow. What what’s what is a normal repair maintenance expense? What is a normal payroll expense? Wow. Their landscapers is high here. Wow. They’re trash and water utilities, right.

01:56:09:13 – 01:56:13:22
Rod
What happened this month? What’s going on? Why is that so high? Bingo. Looking for anomalies, things like that.

01:56:13:28 – 01:56:24:15
Tony
That’s a big thing. I’ve noticed a lot of new multifamily investors. They want to be the podcast junkie or the YouTube junkie, which is great. You got to start there like a bootcamp. Those are great. But like, suddenly you got to start just looking at deals.

01:56:24:19 – 01:56:39:14
Rod
We got to take action. Yep. Okay. Massive freaking action. I tell you, my most successful students aren’t the smartest. They’re not the ones with the most money. They’re not the ones that live in a big, big city. They’re the ones that just frickin go do it. Yeah. Which is why I spent so much time on mindset, because that’s 80 to 90% of it.

01:56:39:16 – 01:56:45:04
Rod
Yeah. You know, the the mechanics is the smallest piece. It’s just you just got to go do it. And I love what you said.

01:56:45:04 – 01:56:46:29
Tony
For imperfect action always beats standing still.

01:56:47:00 – 01:56:50:05
Rod
Hell yes. No question. So you have any favorite quotes?

01:56:50:07 – 01:56:52:22
Tony
Yeah. Hypothetical is hypocritical.

01:56:52:25 – 01:56:56:14
Rod
Right? Hypothetical is hypocritical. I don’t even understand what that means.

01:56:56:14 – 01:57:04:13
Tony
So like if you say if you say hey, okay, I why you should invest in real estate, but you don’t invest in real estate. Or you say, hey, health is important, but you’re not.

01:57:04:16 – 01:57:11:00
Rod
Oh, gotcha, gotcha. What you got to walk. So it’s it’s not what you say. It’s what you freaking do. Okay, okay. You know, just.

01:57:11:00 – 01:57:17:03
Tony
Be about it. And I think that’s a big things too. Is social media. A lot of people talk about it. Oh, yeah. But who’s actually out there doing it?

01:57:17:03 – 01:57:32:06
Rod
Or they take they take staged pictures, you know, in front of the vehicles. And the way I’ve seen some real funny shit there. Yeah. But I tell you, as far as social media, I think we live in the greatest time on Earth 100. Great reach. I mean, good God, I mean, this is the largest podcast in the world by far for what I do.

01:57:32:13 – 01:57:54:25
Rod
And all I did was be consistent and add value. I love, you know, I have the largest multifamily Facebook group. Same thing. Just be consistent. Do weed out the trash. And that was it. Just you know, it kind of built itself and, and and so, you know, if there was ever in and, and if there was ever a time to create reach, to raise money, to find deals, to build an infrastructure, to build anything, we live in the greatest time ever to do that.

01:57:54:25 – 01:58:15:05
Tony
100%. My first business was built off of social media. Really? That’s organic, right? Free reach. And like you said, I would say there’s social media and then there’s business media. Social media is what’s used on you. It’s when you like get in the doom scroll, you start just consuming. But when you create, that becomes business media, right? That’s how you can then get your message out there to help people and bringing customers, bringing clients, all those things.

01:58:15:05 – 01:58:21:17
Tony
So are your social media being used on you or are you creating and creating business media out there to grow?

01:58:21:17 – 01:58:24:11
Rod
Well, for me, unfortunately, it’s both because I’ve been sucked into TikTok.

01:58:24:11 – 01:58:25:07
Tony
Okay, we all.

01:58:25:07 – 01:58:39:11
Rod
Get me started. Jesus, I am, I mean, literally, I can get started on TikTok and five hours later I’m like, are you kidding me? Just sat here watching this stupid shit for five hours. Now I get it. You know, I used to go on vacation. I used to read a book a day. I’m a very fat use on my books downstairs.

01:58:39:12 – 01:58:49:21
Rod
Yeah, yeah, I got thousands and. And now I sit on frickin TikTok. But I enjoy it. It’s relaxing, but, it’s it does. It certainly doesn’t you. There’s no growth involved.

01:58:49:24 – 01:58:59:08
Tony
Like you said, it’s got to be a combination of both. You have to you you know, you say infotainment, right? You have to be informative. But there’s got to be a level of entertainment. Yes. People do go to social media to be entertained.

01:58:59:08 – 01:59:12:20
Rod
Yeah. Very true, very true. Yeah. You know, I tell people the two most important things with social media, and I’ve got a course that I give my warriors, called Crushing It in social media. And the whole premise is be consistent and add value.

01:59:12:20 – 01:59:13:04
Tony
100%.

01:59:13:04 – 01:59:28:17
Rod
If you put crap out there, you’re crap. That’s it. You know, and I mean, with ChatGPT, you can do a lot more now, you know, be interesting to see how that affects all of that. But, well, one thing I want to ask you, because, you know, you’re very healthy and like I say, passionate about what you do.

01:59:28:22 – 01:59:37:07
Rod
One of the gifts that I give my warriors is The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. Okay. About, you know, how you start your day. Do you have a typical morning routine yourself?

01:59:37:07 – 01:59:55:00
Tony
Yeah, absolutely. So wake up. First thing is hydration, you know, got to get your body rehydrated. So electrolytes, branched chain amino acids. Then I go in, I journal, but back to I journal. My regrets. I, I’m really big on let your regrets be your guide. Right. So like, hey what in the last day did I regret one last week did I regret?

01:59:55:00 – 02:00:11:18
Tony
Could be business, could be personal. It could be health. Could be something again something I, you know, I really, I really, align with what you said. Sometimes we eat something, you wake up the next day and you’re like, man, you know, I don’t feel good with that. So, cutting that out, and then I go into my mid most important task, right, to move the money needed for in my business.

02:00:11:18 – 02:00:28:10
Tony
So I tried my first hour of every day so easy as an entrepreneur to get into the busywork. Right. Let me answer emails, let me check social media. But how do I move the money needle forward in my business? Right. So so whatever that need to be. And then again, the movement right back to Tony Robbins. Change your physiology to change your psychology.

02:00:28:10 – 02:00:29:12
Rod
Called the triad. Yeah.

02:00:29:17 – 02:00:32:16
Tony
All right. So get moving in and then, you know, it’s 9 a.m. and start the day.

02:00:32:18 – 02:00:52:29
Rod
I love the MIT. I think the most important task, you know, it’s the 8020 rule. The principle. You know, one of the things I teach at my bootcamps, is, my weekly planning process. And part of that process includes, you know, looking at your entire to do list and, and, and looking at what’s going to move the needle, you know, and I’ll have I’ll have.

02:00:53:05 – 02:01:07:01
Rod
And I warn my students about this, my words. I said, don’t send me your freaking logo and ask me what I think of. Yeah, hey, tell me how many brokers you’ve called. Tell me you know how many deals you’ve found or written. You know, don’t get caught up in moving stuff from this side of your desk to that side of your desk, okay?

02:01:07:01 – 02:01:10:20
Rod
You know, and I’m everybody’s guilty of it. But you want to minimize that as much as you can.

02:01:10:20 – 02:01:25:16
Tony
Big difference between being busy and productive, right? Right, right. And that’s what’s tough about being an entrepreneur. We can be very busy all day long. But you didn’t move the money needle forward and there’s no one checking you out. You. So you spend all day tweaking with a logo. But that’s not going to actually grow your business, correct?

02:01:25:17 – 02:01:29:29
Tony
I love what you said. Very, very outcome and very production focused. What did you do to grow the business?

02:01:29:29 – 02:01:53:14
Rod
I had a coach when I was losing everything in 2000. I actually the second time, so I lost everything. In 2008, I lost $50 million. And then I built a litigation support company that almost bankrupted. In the end of 2010. I hired a business coach, and he helped me focus on income generating activity. Hello. Yeah. You know, and and turned into a, you know, a big company with 60 employees after that.

02:01:53:14 – 02:02:00:08
Rod
But, you know, just. And that’s what a coach can do. He, they can look at it from the outside, give you some nudges and just change everything.

02:02:00:11 – 02:02:03:29
Tony
They see what we can. Right? We think we’re so myopically focused on like.

02:02:04:02 – 02:02:29:12
Rod
Well, we’re inside the business instead of looking outside, you know, looking at it. And, you know, I’ve had coaches my whole life, I’ve got coaches now, I’ve got a relationship coach, and I want to be better in relationship. And I show this, picture at my, at my events. Of of I didn’t go to college, but it’s me with my arms out, and I’ve got hundreds of lanyards around my neck and on my arms from my boot camps, mastermind workshops, all the stuff that I went to, you know, specific, and coaching that I’ve had.

02:02:29:12 – 02:02:30:24
Rod
Yeah. But, no, I.

02:02:30:24 – 02:02:33:24
Tony
Love that your income will never exceed your level of personal development.

02:02:33:24 – 02:02:47:06
Rod
That’s it, that’s it. And if you’re not growing, you’re dying 100%. Yeah, yeah. Well, listen, brother, this has been a lot of fun. I appreciate you coming on. The show is a pleasure to meet you and your lovely bride. And I’m excited to see where you’re at in a year or two. I’m sure it’s going to be extraordinary.

02:02:47:06 – 02:02:49:13
Tony
Thank you. I appreciate it, man. Yeah. Thank you.

02:02:49:16 – 02:03:09:06
Rod
So one other quick thing. We encounter so many people that are frankly frustrated. You know, they’re looking in the mirror and they’re frustrated that they hadn’t been able to escape the rat race. They haven’t been able to build cash flow to the point where they’re able to have financial and time freedom with their families, you know, and maybe they see other people buying real estate and creating, you know, incredible cash flow.

02:03:09:06 – 02:03:38:06
Rod
And they think, well, it’s just scary, you know, buying apartments is intimidating. And I get it. See, that’s why we created our warrior mentorship program. There are coaching students and they’ve had extraordinary results. My students I’ve been teaching about five years. I’ve known upwards of 140,000 units. Now that we know of. Right. And we feel like it’s just getting going now, we’re looking to grow this group and really take it to the next level and honestly believe that the greatest transfer of wealth could be upon us right now with this current economic environment.

02:03:38:08 – 02:04:09:25
Rod
Everything’s going on sale. So we’re looking for people who want to follow a proven framework, really like a blueprint or a map, literally step by step. And then they’re able to leverage our systems and our incredible network to raise money and equity, to find deals and close those deals and build partnerships really nationwide. So if you’re interested in finding out more about how you can become more in our incredible network and take advantage of the unbelievable opportunities that are upon us, you can apply to my Warrior Mentorship program by texting the word crush to 72345.

02:04:09:29 – 02:04:24:08
Rod
Or you can go to mentor with rod.com. And what we’ll do is we’ll set up a call so you can check us out, and we can check you out and see if it’s a fit. Now again you can go to mentor with rod.com or text the word crush to 72345 to apply and we.

02:04:24:08 – 02:04:25:09
Rod
Will speak soon. Thank you.