Sterling is an accomplished medical real estate investor, orchestrated a savvy $18.5 million acquisition that swiftly appreciated to $25 million. Boasting a consistent 40% average Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Sterling is a resilient entrepreneur who went from homelessness to millionaire status in just two years with his first business. Beyond his success in real estate, he engages audiences as a speaker on passive medical real estate investments, all while pursuing his passion for acting and film production.
Here’s some of the topics we covered:
- From Homeless To A Successful Personal Trainer
- The Information Being Given In Podcasts
- The Importance Of Having a Mentor In Your Life
- True Passive Income Versus Self Employed
- Catching Trends And Making Tons Of Cash
- How To Get New Deals From Seasoned Investors
- The Medical Landlord Aspect Of Real Estate
- Reclaiming Your Childhood Dreams
To find out more about partnering or investing in a multifamily deal: Text Partner to 72345 or email Partner@RodKhleif.com
Full Transcript Below
00:00:00:01 – 00:00:20:28
Rod
Welcome back to Life Time Cash Flow Through Real Estate Investing. I’m Brad Cliff and I am thrilled that you’re here. I have a very interesting guest today on a lot of fronts. He’s interesting on a lot of fronts. His name is Sterling Griffin, and Sterling is in the medical development space, medical office development, commercial real estate space. He develops medical offices, which we’ve never talked about on this show.
00:00:21:01 – 00:00:39:12
Rod
But you guys may or may not know this. I’m going to start introducing other asset classes on this show. And this is an example of that first time we’ve ever talked about this asset class. It’s a fascinating asset class that I’m frankly interested in personally. But what else is cool about Sterling is before we started, he went down into my exercise room downstairs and did some affirmations.
00:00:39:12 – 00:00:59:20
Rod
And if you guys know me, you know, I love freaking affirmations. I’ve got I am statements all over my walls in my office, in my exercise room, because as you know, anything you put the words I am in front of is an identity statement. And in fact, as a funny aside, you know, I tell people I used to run down the street yelling and shit, you know, I am courage, I am fearless, I am driven, I am success.
00:00:59:26 – 00:01:13:07
Rod
And my kids, they come to my boot camps and that’s the question they get most often. They really do that shit. They’re like, Oh God, yeah, we have to listen to that shit now. I’ve got an exercise room so nobody has to suffer through it. But anyway, we’re going have some fun today. We’re going to talk about motivation and lots of other things.
00:01:13:07 – 00:01:15:03
Rod
Sterling Welcome, brother. It’s great to see you, man.
00:01:15:04 – 00:01:17:15
Sterling
It’s an honor to be here, man. Thanks for the invitation.
00:01:17:15 – 00:01:35:02
Rod
Well, I appreciate that. And so why don’t you take a little bit of time and talk about your journey, which is kind of cool. You know, you’ve got some interesting things that have happened to you like I do, and I’m not gonna steal your thunder. So I wanted to come from you. So talk, talk, talk about who you are and.
00:01:35:04 – 00:01:36:16
Rod
And bring us current.
00:01:36:18 – 00:01:44:12
Sterling
Sure. Would you like me to start at more of my my real estate investing or just my entrepreneurship. Kind of the beginning beginning.
00:01:44:14 – 00:01:50:07
Rod
Start, start wherever you like. But you know, if you think it’ll add value, Any piece of this I’d love for.
00:01:50:07 – 00:02:19:14
Sterling
Yeah, let’s let’s start a little further back then, because I think it’ll inform how I’ve created a life that I really love on all fronts. And it really starts eight years ago when I’m living in my Honda Accord. I’ll say this When I graduated college, I never imagined I’d end up homeless, but yet there I was, two and a half years later, driving my Honda Accord to church on New Year’s Eve, looking for a handout so that I wouldn’t have to sleep in my car again that night.
00:02:19:17 – 00:02:34:07
Sterling
And I remember that day so vividly because all those same negative voices showed up. The voice that says, Oh, well, the first one is super critical. Sterling How did you screw up your life this bad from where you come from?
00:02:34:07 – 00:02:37:07
Rod
I want to ask that question. Okay. So I’d love for to hear that.
00:02:37:12 – 00:02:53:12
Sterling
We’ll get to it, don’t worry. But then the other voices showed up with that said, well, it’s not your fault. It’s your it’s your alcoholic mother, it’s your absent father. It’s their fault. But then the truth came in, is it? No. Sterling, It was your choices that brought you here. And it’s only your choices that can get you out to somewhere better.
00:02:53:18 – 00:03:16:21
Sterling
In that moment, I made a decision that after a lifetime of struggling with depression and at that point, three months of homelessness, I was ready for something new. And I told myself right then, Sterling, it’s time to get out of this position in life and to do it so fast that one day you’re going to inspire the person who’s sitting where you are right now because you are not alone.
00:03:16:23 – 00:03:33:27
Sterling
That drove me to not just succeed, not just to have enough to eat, but I had a vision of my mind, kind of a crazy one, that I wanted to grow a business really quickly so that my story, I just had a sense that my story one day could be a voice of hope for somebody else. That was just like me.
00:03:34:03 – 00:03:43:10
Sterling
Well, two years later, from that moment, I became a millionaire with my first company, and it’s due in no small part to one main thing. Mentors.
00:03:43:17 – 00:03:44:05
Rod
Yeah.
00:03:44:07 – 00:04:00:22
Sterling
Mentors. You see, I don’t come from an entrepreneurial family. I don’t come from a personal development family. But what changed for me was just a couple of months prior to that moment, I started to have belief that I could be someone different. And that happened in Unleash the Power Within.
00:04:00:23 – 00:04:01:11
Rod
You went to talk.
00:04:01:11 – 00:04:03:23
Sterling
With Tony Robbins.
00:04:03:25 – 00:04:21:24
Rod
For those of you who don’t know, I spent 20 years following Tony around the planet, went to my first event 23 years ago, Unleash the Power in Fort Lauderdale. And I was on his team for eight years. And he’s obviously you can tell he’s impacted every area in my life just by what I talk about on my show.
00:04:21:27 – 00:04:25:29
Rod
And it’s so wonderful to hear that he impacted you like that. That’s beautiful. Where was it?
00:04:26:04 – 00:04:28:24
Sterling
It was in in Los Angeles. So that’s where I was living at the time.
00:04:28:24 – 00:04:29:19
Rod
And this was when.
00:04:29:23 – 00:04:32:19
Sterling
This was in October 2015 is when I.
00:04:32:19 – 00:04:36:24
Rod
Was at that event. And I was working security at that event. Wow.
00:04:36:26 – 00:04:39:13
Sterling
Big, muscular guy like you probably scare some people.
00:04:39:13 – 00:04:42:06
Rod
It’s different than you think. But yes. All right. Please continue. Sorry.
00:04:42:06 – 00:05:03:16
Sterling
Yeah. So so that was the most important event in my life for sure, because I showed up to that event and that was my first month being homeless. And I chose to pay for a ticket to go to that event instead of paying the $250 a month rent to be the fifth in a two bedroom, 400 square foot apartment, which is where I had been staying in the previous year up to that point.
00:05:03:20 – 00:05:21:17
Sterling
But I chose to buy a ticket instead of another month because I’d heard through this. I don’t know if you heard of this little app. It’s on our phones. It says podcasts. So I had recently discovered the podcast app is not they weren’t popular eight years ago and obviously in the way they are today. And when I start looking through it, I’m like, Wow, all this information is free.
00:05:21:17 – 00:05:38:00
Sterling
I couldn’t believe it. It was incomprehensible to me. But one day I found on the School of Greatness Podcast, I saw Tony Robbins at the time he was promoting his book Money Master the Game that fall. And so I’m listen to this guy. I’m like, He’s so inspiring. He came from nothing. He came from a place not unlike where I’m.
00:05:38:00 – 00:05:40:24
Rod
Starting very similar geographic location, literally.
00:05:40:24 – 00:05:56:25
Sterling
Just down the street in Glendora, I think is where his journey really began. And so I’m like, I got to do whatever it takes because this guy has been where I am and has gotten where I want to be. He’s helping people for a living. That was my drive. I want to I want to make a living just helping people in the way that Tony is.
00:05:56:28 – 00:06:20:04
Sterling
So maybe not at the scale. I certainly didn’t have that kind of belief just to eat and have a place to sleep That was that was what was on my mind. So so I bought that ticket and it was the best decision I ever made because on day three, you know this better than anyone. Rod At one point Tony leans in and he says, Look, if you take nothing else from this entire event but this following phrase that I’m about to share with you and you use it, you apply it to your life, you will more than get your money’s worth.
00:06:20:06 – 00:06:40:09
Sterling
And of course, the position in life I’m in, I’m on the edge of my seat, literally scooting forward pen to paper. Tony, please tell me. And he whispers. He says, Proximity is power. Who you surround yourself with. And so you become. He goes on to explain that the five people closest to you are going to determine your trajectory in life, not just financially, but in every quantifiable metric.
00:06:40:09 – 00:07:01:22
Sterling
Happiness, ambition, fitness, everything. And so I started taking inventory. I’m like, Oh, no wonder I’m depressed. No wonder I don’t believe in myself. No one around how many money. That’s the same as the people closest to me. So it became the obsession of my life that I would live by those two things that he says and he repeats them over and over throughout the event is proximity is power and success leads clues.
00:07:01:25 – 00:07:23:26
Sterling
Get around higher performing peers that want more out of life and get around mentors that have already achieved what it is that you want. I believe that achievement actually isn’t always so hard. It isn’t always hard, especially if we have a proven map in front of us. We don’t have to quote unquote figure it out like somebody that wants to become wealthy through investing apartments.
00:07:23:29 – 00:07:29:20
Sterling
They should not do it alone. They should talk to you. They should join your mastermind because you’ve done it. And so many people I.
00:07:29:20 – 00:07:46:23
Rod
Paid him to say that. Let me just tell you something. You know, we’re talking about peer group and, you know, and of course, I learned all this from Tony as well. I give him credit every day for for, you know, proximity is power is absolutely the truth. And I started my own mastermind actually is I’ve kind of slowed it down.
00:07:46:23 – 00:08:11:12
Rod
But it’s probably 4050 billion in assets represented by that group. I started it here at this compound with 16 hitters, about a billion in assets at the time because I want to be around people think what I think is hard is easy and and and now it’s 4050 billion. But but that also ties into why my warriors are so frickin successful my mentorship group, because they help each other, they hold each other up or somewhere between 180 and 190,000 units that they own.
00:08:11:12 – 00:08:32:29
Rod
I’ve only been teaching five years is because proximity is freakin power. So get around people that want more out of life. You know, so many people default to somebody I went to school with or they work with, and those people out of their own limiting beliefs or their own fears or their fear of losing, or the fear of feeling less than if you don’t succeed or if they succeed rather than they don’t and you don’t, they’ll hold you back.
00:08:33:00 – 00:08:42:13
Rod
And sometimes it’s family. And so, you know, you love your family, but you choose your frickin peers, right? So anyway, please continue. Peer group is a huge piece of success in anything.
00:08:42:17 – 00:08:57:13
Sterling
Absolutely. And when I decided that I would stop, I would stop being so heavily influenced by who I’d inherited in my life. And instead I would create intentional relationships in my life.
00:08:57:20 – 00:08:59:06
Rod
Everything changed proactively.
00:08:59:06 – 00:09:13:29
Sterling
Proactively, because the people that I knew automatically, they were not going to help me get somewhere better in life. They just weren’t. And I remember a lot of those people were family. Rod I had to limit my communication with family specifically During that time, I felt like my life depended on it.
00:09:14:05 – 00:09:18:12
Rod
You got to limit their ability to influence you. Exactly. Sometimes that means cutting off communication.
00:09:18:12 – 00:09:36:23
Sterling
So and sometimes that meant very specific language patterns when, say, my mom would give me business advice or my brother would give me business advice or ambition advice, whatever it was about how I should live my life, I would say thank you for caring. And I am choosing not to accept your advice because you don’t have the results in life that I want.
00:09:36:28 – 00:09:55:17
Sterling
And I said it very gently at first, but if they would repeat it, I would just say, Look, you’re not going to influence me because I am taking who I received my advice from to be the people that have what I want in life. So that being said, a month after I had this moment in the car on New Year’s Eve, I was having a conversation with a successful coach.
00:09:55:17 – 00:10:09:02
Sterling
My first business was I was an online fitness trainer. Okay? That was the area of my life that I felt like, Oh, that worked for me. It was working. And people always ask me, Hey, how did you get in such good shape? And so I was like, okay, maybe they pay me for this. Well, one day I was talking to a life coach.
00:10:09:02 – 00:10:26:18
Sterling
She was making a couple hundred thousand dollars a year Now, again, from where I was at that moment, that might as well have been $1,000,000,000. It was so much money. And that night we were speaking and she asked me, Well, who’s mentoring you? I said, Nobody. I don’t have enough money for a mentor. And that that answer didn’t faze at all.
00:10:26:18 – 00:10:47:05
Sterling
She said, No, you don’t have enough money not to have a mentor. In her mind, it wasn’t. You get money, then you can afford a mentor. It’s you get a mentor so that you can have money. My role was I didn’t know how to make it when I needed it. And that and especially being in America where we have so many options to get money needed to acquire skills.
00:10:47:07 – 00:11:03:02
Sterling
In that moment, I was like, okay, I’m going to get a coach. I said, Do you recommend somebody? She recommended somebody that was specifically for what I wanted to do, which is grow an online fitness business. Month later, I bought my first month program is 20 $500. I used that to do it and $300 for my dad, thank goodness.
00:11:03:05 – 00:11:22:10
Sterling
And I did okay the first month, but nothing dramatically changed. And so going into the second month, I had to make a second 20 $500 payment to that coach. And so the coaches call me. I didn’t have the money. I didn’t have any more room on credit cards. I was dead in the water. And he said, Look, if you don’t pay by tomorrow, I’m going to have to remove you from the program.
00:11:22:11 – 00:11:22:29
Rod
Wow.
00:11:23:01 – 00:11:44:20
Sterling
So I’m looking I’m thinking, how do I solve this problem? And I’m looking outside my apartment and my eyes fall to my car. It was 2 p.m. by 4 p.m.. I wrote and posted an ad on Craigslist by 9 p.m.. Somebody handed me $4,000 cash and drove away with my car. The next day I took that money, brought to the bank, deposited it and sent that coach the 20 $500.
00:11:44:20 – 00:12:15:29
Sterling
I’d sold my car to continue working with that mentor, and that was the second best decision I ever made because that month I made $12,000 an online training business and 15 months later I was making $300,000 a month in income from my consulting company crap. And it was because change. But it it was life changing. And it happened not just because of one mentor, by the way, but because as I continued to earn more, I kept reinvesting into my own mindset.
00:12:15:29 – 00:12:31:16
Sterling
I believed into myself, into my skill set, because I knew that the first most important thing that somebody should invest in if they’re not able to at least earn a decent living, earn enough to live a decent lifestyle is you got to invest in skills. Yeah, you got to grow your skills and you got to grow your mindset.
00:12:31:21 – 00:12:56:17
Rod
No question, man. And I have to tell you, wow. Because a lot of people wouldn’t make those sacrifices. They out of fear or whatever. They don’t make big moves like that. And I will tell you guys, if you have an opportunity to go see Tony, for God’s sakes, go do it. I just can’t recommend him enough. I’ve sent hundreds of people his direction, people that have joined this platinum partnership, more than one.
00:12:56:20 – 00:13:20:10
Rod
And, you know, because it will be an epiphany and a pivot point in your in your life and in your career in every aspect of your life, frankly, not just the business side of things. It’s emotional, emotional mastery, your time management, your relationships, skills, you know, and your health and everything. It covers it all. And, you know, people think I was like this guru woo woo kind of crap.
00:13:20:10 – 00:13:42:24
Rod
No, it’s it’s profound. Knowledge is what it is. His skill set is the ability to take complex, profound knowledge and communicate it in a way that you retain it. And and hear it and retain it, which is why, you know, it’s impact. I mean, he’s the reason I’m feeding 4000 children this Saturday. Okay? And I fed close to 150,000 over the last 23 years.
00:13:42:24 – 00:14:04:24
Rod
I started it because of him, tens of thousands of backpacks filled with school supplies. We did 1700 in September, thousands and thousands of teddy bears. The local police departments, we just did three or 400, the Sarasota Police Department, like a month and a half ago. And it’s because a Tony, he’s the reason I lost weight. He’s the reason I got out of my first horrible marriage and and on and on and on.
00:14:04:24 – 00:14:06:23
Rod
Would you agree.
00:14:06:25 – 00:14:07:25
Sterling
About your first marriage?
00:14:07:25 – 00:14:09:08
Rod
Know about it, Tony?
00:14:09:10 – 00:14:33:28
Sterling
Yes. Yes, yes, definitely. I’m I can’t tell you how infinitely grateful I am for that man, for his example, for his love for people. I mean, what I saw in Tony is not just a powerful man, but a deeply loving man, someone that gave me permission to access my own heart. I am by nature, my core nature is very loving, but I shut down that for a long time thinking it was weakness.
00:14:34:01 – 00:14:40:05
Sterling
But in seeing Tony, he’s merged love and the ability to choose freely, which is a real power.
00:14:40:12 – 00:14:42:23
Rod
Did you do some of his other date with Destiny?
00:14:42:23 – 00:14:44:27
Sterling
So I’ve done date with Destiny. Yeah, I did that the next year.
00:14:44:27 – 00:14:53:18
Rod
I did. I did date with Destiny every year, 11 years in a row, until finally the head of his security team, Mike Molly, was like, Dude, you’re here every year. Just join the frickin team.
00:14:53:19 – 00:14:54:21
Sterling
In one leadership.
00:14:54:23 – 00:15:02:11
Rod
Yeah, but anyway. Yeah. So. So you’re making 300 grand a month doing fitness stuff.
00:15:02:11 – 00:15:22:24
Sterling
Fitness trainer Well, it was both fitness coaching, and by that point I had just transitioned to also helping other fitness business owners grow companies online because I’d grown my business so fast. I had a number of them reaching out because, by the way, the average trainer in America makes $20,000 a year. They can’t live on the income that they make.
00:15:22:24 – 00:15:37:21
Sterling
They have to something with other jobs. And yet I’d come from literally living in my car to making, you know, multiple hundred thousand dollars a year just from that in my first year. Right. So trainers are hearing this story. They’re like, look, you’ve got to share with me what you did. And so I added that in so together.
00:15:37:25 – 00:15:39:03
Sterling
Yes, that’s how I was made.
00:15:39:03 – 00:15:41:27
Rod
So why the hell would you leave that to do medical office?
00:15:41:29 – 00:16:12:19
Sterling
Well, this is a great question. It happened because three and a half years ago I was standing in the kitchen of my hero, huge, beautiful, gorgeous home. He was had a business that had ten times the size of mine and was making 15 times the profit. I mean, this was the king of my industry. And looking across the table at him, seeing that his business was where I hoped to get one day I had a realization and that realization was, Wait, I’m happier than him.
00:16:12:22 – 00:16:35:08
Sterling
I realized that what my dream was, which was to have a business as big as him, would leave me if I inherited his emotional state, if I inherited his responsibilities, his lifestyle, that I would be way less happy than I, that I was. That was a moment. It was a marker. So it was in every moment. Like more money doesn’t by itself mean more happiness.
00:16:35:09 – 00:16:55:06
Sterling
Right? And it started having me have this question of, Yeah, I like making a lot of money, but am I really spending my time doing what I truly love? How do I get both? How do I get great income and great free time? And I’ll say this a lot of people say money can’t buy happiness. And that’s just not true because.
00:16:55:07 – 00:16:55:27
Rod
People say that.
00:16:55:27 – 00:17:01:10
Sterling
The poor people say that. That’s right. That’s that’s what they’d want to believe. That’s how they have to justify that.
00:17:01:14 – 00:17:22:21
Rod
That’s how they don’t get disgusted with themselves. You know, I get hate every day online. I get I get entitled young men and and sometimes women that you know, and they hate and cause they’re not happy, they’re miserable. And and I try to add sometimes I, I, sometimes I get sucked in and get a little ugly. But I try not to I try to try to encourage them and empower them as much as I can.
00:17:22:21 – 00:17:27:03
Rod
But sometimes they’re just flat out hate and ugly. But but the point is.
00:17:27:05 – 00:17:39:25
Sterling
I get really tempted when that happens. For me to use sarcasm and make fun of them, I get really. But I’m just and I’m not saying I’m above it even today, but it’s so tempting. But I just realize it doesn’t have me happier on the other side of it. And it obviously is. And change in.
00:17:39:25 – 00:17:55:08
Rod
There. Something you said about happy. Yeah. Yeah. The beautiful thing about multifamily real estate as well, we’re talking about medical here, but I want to pivot to multifamily for a second is there’s lots of different hats you can wear, frankly, in any commercial real estate asset. Definitely true, Honestly, because you can be the person that finds the deals.
00:17:55:08 – 00:18:12:23
Rod
You can be the analytical person that underwrites them. You could be the person that raises the money or any combination of the above. You can maybe your process driven asset. You could be the asset manager. You’re you’ve got management or construction experiences, lots of different hats, and you want to do what makes you freaking happy because if you do work is play.
00:18:12:23 – 00:18:30:14
Rod
You never work another day in your life right? And so, you know, just remember that, that, that when you’re when you’re playing in your happiness and you’re playing in what you’re in, that’ll be what you’re strong in as well, right? And you’ll be passionate. And I think you can get a feel for this guy’s passion because he’s doing what he freakin loves.
00:18:30:14 – 00:18:44:26
Rod
And when you do what you love, you’re passionate, and then you have the ability to influence people and that’s what’s needed to influence people. And Tony Robbins has a fantastic quote, which is live with passion. So anyway, so you had this epiphany, you.
00:18:44:26 – 00:19:06:26
Sterling
Said of the activity and I want to finish this thought because I, I agree with you so heavily. This is this is the way that I have formulated it, is that money can buy happiness because money can buy you time and with time you can spend it with people that you love doing activities that you love, where you love, and frankly, just doing what you want when you want.
00:19:07:02 – 00:19:07:14
Rod
Freedom.
00:19:07:16 – 00:19:11:20
Sterling
Time. Freedom is what enables you to be truly happy. Yeah.
00:19:11:22 – 00:19:30:14
Rod
In the last three months I’ve taken an 18 day trip to Italy. I’ve taken two cruises to the Caribbean. I’ve been invited to speak at a military conference, which was just fun for me, you know? And so time freedom is a beautiful thing. And honestly, that’s what I know. If you’re listening or watching this, that’s what you want as well.
00:19:30:19 – 00:19:50:19
Rod
So you got to pick your freaking vehicle. Yes. Maybe it’s medical stuff here. We’re going to talk about that today and why it’s exciting. The returns are great. And or maybe it’s multifamily, maybe it’s single family, maybe it’s buying businesses. But opportunity is upon us. Guys, I’m just going to tell you that we’re starting to see deals come out because of, you know, the economic environment we’re in.
00:19:50:22 – 00:20:02:28
Rod
But, um, but so, so you had this epiphany, you saw that we’re now why do you think this I want to dig down on that because it’s unusual he was so successful. He’s you said he was ten, 10 to 20%, 10 to 20 times higher than you were.
00:20:02:28 – 00:20:03:20
Sterling
Yes. Yes.
00:20:03:21 – 00:20:05:10
Rod
Unhappy? Yes, he was unhappy.
00:20:05:10 – 00:20:26:02
Sterling
He’d built a lifestyle that was only about achievement. It was achievement at any cost. This is again, this is my hallucination. I’m not inside his mind and I’ll never pretend that I know him, right? I mean, I have trouble knowing myself. Sometimes I’m a human being, but the. The way that I see it is that he was so consumed with how do I be the king?
00:20:26:08 – 00:20:36:16
Sterling
No matter the cost to my personal time, no matter the emotional state that it’s driving me into, that he ended up on the other side. Just angry. Yeah, unfair.
00:20:36:16 – 00:20:53:24
Rod
He killed his relationships, killed everything else. You know, Tony Robbins calls it the science of achievement versus the art of fulfillment. How achievements are science. You know, if you want to learn multifamily, get your ass to my boot camp coming up here in January. But. But, you know. You know, because I’ll give you the blueprint. You just got to go do it.
00:20:53:24 – 00:21:10:27
Rod
Okay? There’s no secret sauce. You just have to do it. But if you want to learn anything, typically there’s someone out there to give you a blueprint for it and you just got to go learn it. But for science, achievements are science, but fulfillment is an art. You got to find what you love. You got to go in and you got to give back as well.
00:21:10:27 – 00:21:26:22
Rod
I mean, that’s a big piece of it, you know, And, you know, I get people on my show here sometimes that are frickin gazillionaires, and I can tell if they’re like I was before I had my epiphany back when I first met Tony, because I was unhappy, too. I was very successful. And I had an epiphany, just like like you did.
00:21:26:22 – 00:21:41:06
Rod
Wow. Looking in the mirror. But, uh, yeah. So anyway, so you realized you needed to do something else. How did you stumble on to medical office? Talk about how or how that process happened. Sure.
00:21:41:08 – 00:22:00:00
Sterling
So over the next six months from that conversation at his kitchen table, I started putting leaders in my business. And then with the intention of exiting because I knew if I stayed in that industry, first of all, my gifts and talents were not going to maximize their and I could not ultimately earn what it is that I wanted to earn in the time that I wanted to work.
00:22:00:02 – 00:22:23:22
Sterling
I didn’t have ambition just within the business. In the business world. I also had artistic ambitions as well, saying, We don’t need to talk about that. The focus, though, is let’s talk about how I got into investing. I remember when I was standing there in that moment thinking about passive income, and to me at that time, the idea of passive income seemed almost mythical, almost like, Yeah, right, okay, that’s B.S. because every dollar I’d ever made was active.
00:22:23:22 – 00:22:45:15
Sterling
It was hard earned. Everything I’m hearing is hard work. You got to push harder than somebody else, and that’s how you’ll become successful. But this idea of passive income, I’m like, okay, I’m going to explore this. And just like I did to get success in my first business, I decided, if I’m going to do this, then I need to be in a room with other people who are already doing this well, because I’m certainly not the first person to want to solve this problem.
00:22:45:17 – 00:22:56:01
Sterling
So I exited my business and my first step was I’m going to join a mastermind or a real estate mastermind. So I joined a group of investors and there’s about 500 guys in the group that I was in.
00:22:56:01 – 00:22:57:03
Rod
500, about five.
00:22:57:03 – 00:22:57:19
Sterling
Hundred guys.
00:22:57:27 – 00:22:58:11
Rod
Group.
00:22:58:14 – 00:23:20:05
Sterling
Yep. And most everybody there had either built their wealth with real estate or were now using their wealth to invest in real estate. And I was in the latter category. So I start looking at deals and I have guys showing me either deals they’re presenting or deals that they’re investing in. And I probably look at about 120 deals in my first couple of months, just really trying, first of all, trying to understand the numbers because all of it was great.
00:23:20:08 – 00:23:31:27
Sterling
It’s a different language. So I’m trying to retain the language in the process. 95% of what I’m looking at reading this won’t surprise you was down the middle of the fairway. Value add multifamily apartment deals because that’s.
00:23:31:27 – 00:23:32:16
Rod
What I did and true.
00:23:32:22 – 00:23:33:16
Sterling
Tried and true.
00:23:33:17 – 00:23:43:12
Rod
As long as you don’t get aggressive on the debt that you use, which is killing a lot of world class operators right now with bridge debt, if you didn’t do that, you’re in your golden I mean, it’s it’s a it’s a tried and true thing. Yeah.
00:23:43:12 – 00:24:01:08
Sterling
Yeah. Well, the thing was, though, as I’m looking at all these deals, it actually had a different effect on me. And that effect was fear. And whether or not the fear was justified, the line of thinking went like this If everybody is doing this, I just might be catching this on the way down rather than.
00:24:01:08 – 00:24:18:15
Rod
The way valid, valid, valid concern. And and yeah, everybody jumped on the bandwagon. There was a lot of greed the last few years and you know, and you had the concern and it ties right into Warren Buffett’s famous quote, be fearful when others are greedy. You know, of course, the flip side is be greedy when others are fearful.
00:24:18:16 – 00:24:27:13
Rod
And there’s a lot of fear now. So I’m greedy as hell. But but so So you saw you didn’t you saw the fact that you might be getting a little late.
00:24:27:18 – 00:24:45:17
Sterling
Right. And even if I wasn’t, I just had it in my mind. I knew that I wanted to be investing to eventually offer deals to other people. I knew that I wanted to bring people together. I didn’t know how. I knew it would be years away, but that was my intention. So I’m thinking to myself, these guys are all they’ve been in this game a decade, some of them, not all them.
00:24:45:20 – 00:25:06:12
Sterling
Like I’m not going to be I’m not smart enough. I’m not smarter than them to be able to figure out this asset class and be able to offer deals that are unique and uniquely valuable eventually one day. So it got me thinking, what is an asset class that I could potentially catch on the upswing of a trend rather than on, you know, it’s already matured or it’s on its downswing.
00:25:06:12 – 00:25:08:23
Rod
Very, very astute thinking by the way. Thank you.
00:25:09:00 – 00:25:25:28
Sterling
Thank you. And by the way, the whole the whole thing about, you know, catching trends, the way that I think about it is I remember a moment I don’t know if you had a moment like this where I got my haircut one day, but my stylist, when Bitcoin was $58,000 and my hairstylist was telling me, Hey, by the way, have you invested in Bitcoin?
00:25:25:28 – 00:25:39:03
Sterling
Now is the time to invest in Bitcoin. And it was like a voice popped in my head that said, Now’s the time to sell Bitcoin because if somebody who’s not an investment expert is telling you, buy something, that’s probably you’re probably late to the party.
00:25:39:03 – 00:25:41:25
Rod
So it works in the stock market and pretty much anything else.
00:25:41:26 – 00:25:49:22
Sterling
Yeah, so, so there was a couple of guys in the group that were doing what’s called triple net investing. And of course you’re very familiar with this, but if there’s somebody.
00:25:49:22 – 00:25:50:09
Rod
That describe.
00:25:50:10 – 00:26:11:24
Sterling
It, yeah, somebody that doesn’t know what that is, triple net investing is where you have a business as a tenant as opposed to a resident and individual. And that business agrees with your lease terms that they’ll cover the property taxes, they’ll pay for the property insurance, and they’ll pay for all the maintenance on the property. And so your income is true straight down the middle income and.
00:26:11:24 – 00:26:13:13
Rod
They’re net net net net net.
00:26:13:13 – 00:26:15:28
Sterling
Net net. So they’re essentially self-managing.
00:26:15:28 – 00:26:16:22
Rod
Debt.
00:26:16:25 – 00:26:37:03
Sterling
Except that, yes, you’re your cost is still your debt. Absolutely. But when it comes to the property itself, they’re self-managing. And the few guys that were in this, I notice they tended to be the wealthier people in the group, really, Because there’s two things I think, that were first of all, triple net tends to be just right out of the gate a little bit more passive, okay.
00:26:37:03 – 00:26:39:15
Sterling
Especially if you don’t have property managers, that is.
00:26:39:16 – 00:26:41:00
Rod
Yeah. Yes. Doing anything.
00:26:41:03 – 00:26:51:02
Sterling
And so guys that were more wealthy, it had really strong income from other sources. They just wanted something that was a little bit more simple, okay, a little bit more passive. And then second of all.
00:26:51:05 – 00:27:07:23
Rod
So excuse me one example of this, guys. Yes. I’m not a what? I’m sorry, a Walgreen’s. Yes. Yes, that’s right. You know, those are typically triple net. They they don’t typically own the land. They they they they do a triple net lease. So that that’s that’s an example. What are some other examples that are.
00:27:07:25 – 00:27:11:25
Sterling
I mean, Amazon is Amazon doesn’t own most of their land that they operate out of. Yeah.
00:27:11:26 – 00:27:14:01
Rod
Warehouses. That’s right Interesting.
00:27:14:01 – 00:27:22:08
Sterling
Yeah. Or double net or triple net but yeah they they do that because again their capital is more valuable in their core business as opposed to owning the property.
00:27:22:10 – 00:27:23:12
Rod
All right. So please continue.
00:27:23:12 – 00:27:42:19
Sterling
So sure. So there were guys that were doing this and I thought, this sounds great to me because especially coming from the background of really having a stressful first business where I was working 70 hours a week, I was like, How can I make it as passive as possible? These guys allowed me to have both where I had passive, but then I also had as much ownership and therefore as much upside potential as possible.
00:27:42:23 – 00:27:43:22
Sterling
Because if I was going to be.
00:27:43:23 – 00:27:45:04
Rod
You invested in a couple of these.
00:27:45:04 – 00:27:59:15
Sterling
Yeah. So I’ll tell you about the first deal that I bought. So the first that I bought was an industrial property was in the Midwest and this is another example of types of buildings that are under triple net leases manufacturing, logistics, shipping. So I got a manufacturing building and.
00:27:59:17 – 00:28:00:28
Rod
I said, You did it yourself.
00:28:01:00 – 00:28:01:15
Sterling
I bought it.
00:28:01:18 – 00:28:02:05
Rod
Okay, You didn’t.
00:28:02:06 – 00:28:04:05
Sterling
I bought 100%. No, no, it wasn’t a syndication.
00:28:04:05 – 00:28:10:05
Rod
You just used. They were just an example of what you thought. That’s right. So you went out and found an industrial building? Yes.
00:28:10:08 – 00:28:18:20
Sterling
Yes. And it was off market. One of the guys in the group introduced me to a broker. I got the deal through him and I purchased it $3.65 million building.
00:28:18:22 – 00:28:21:11
Rod
Had a nice chunk of change from your exiting your other business.
00:28:21:11 – 00:28:29:17
Sterling
Yes, definitely. And I mean, I use bank debt on it, so I didn’t pay cash for it. Yes, that’s right. So I purchased it and an interesting thing happened.
00:28:29:17 – 00:28:35:03
Rod
Six. I’m sorry. Sorry, sorry. I’m sorry. I. I just have to ask, did you already have a tenant for it?
00:28:35:03 – 00:28:52:28
Sterling
Yes, exactly. Yes, there was a tenant already inside. Yeah. So it was going to be passive for me. So six months after purchasing it, something very interesting happened. The tenant was purchased by a large public company and that new company extended the lease. And so literally and I had nothing to do with it, it happened the tenant on its own got bought out.
00:28:53:00 – 00:29:03:06
Sterling
But when I started asking brokers what my property was now worth, they said I’d added $1,000,000 of value to my property just by who was paying the lease, and that was.
00:29:03:08 – 00:29:04:03
Rod
The quality of.
00:29:04:04 – 00:29:07:03
Sterling
The quality of the tenant and the length of the lease.
00:29:07:03 – 00:29:21:27
Rod
Term. Yeah, So so guys, what happens is in this space, which is, which is, you know, these in that space, they’re going to look at the financial wherewithal and grade the caliber of the tenant. And so the caliber of the tenant went way up.
00:29:22:01 – 00:29:47:28
Sterling
Yes, that’s right. That’s right. And it was truly a passive value ad, which is very interesting. So when this happened, I was ecstatic, of course, because just by a paper being signed by somebody else, I’d added all the solid without any construction or anything being done, right. So that was great. And on the other hand, it spoiled me because now I want all the deals I buy to be just like this, set up for a big value out in a very short period of time.
00:29:48:01 – 00:29:58:24
Sterling
So I start calling brokers and I literally over the next eight months, I called a thousand brokers and I gave them criteria that said, I want it to have this kind of lease, this kind of tenant, this.
00:29:58:24 – 00:30:02:22
Rod
Length, the lease for additional property that actually was already triple net.
00:30:02:22 – 00:30:09:24
Sterling
Leased. Already already leased out. Yeah. And were primed for a were basically I was getting them at a massive discount. That’s what I was looking to purchase.
00:30:09:24 – 00:30:11:12
Rod
Okay. Net net. Let me stop.
00:30:11:12 – 00:30:12:12
Sterling
You. Undervalue. Yeah.
00:30:12:12 – 00:30:20:19
Rod
So how did so what was the criteria for you to, to, to realize when you got presented a deal that it was undervalued.
00:30:20:22 – 00:30:27:29
Sterling
So it was based on the cap rate. So I had all my basic criteria of I want to lease that for example, is about ten years long, still ten years.
00:30:27:29 – 00:30:29:04
Rod
Remaining, years remaining, ten.
00:30:29:04 – 00:30:34:04
Sterling
Years remaining. It’s triple net or absolute triple net. Gotcha. It is.
00:30:34:09 – 00:30:36:03
Rod
Certainly. What’s the difference between those two?
00:30:36:03 – 00:30:47:11
Sterling
Yeah, Yeah. So triple net is everything except for long term capital improvements. So something like a roof repair or a parking lot repaving, no HVAC would still be in a normal triple.
00:30:47:11 – 00:30:48:09
Rod
Net, but a roof for.
00:30:48:09 – 00:31:08:01
Sterling
Parking, but a roof or parking or something like a major remodel, like moving walls around. So absolute net also includes those things. So I wanted something that was like really bulletproof lease. Yep. And I wanted a tenant that had multiple locations, so it wasn’t a single location. It was at least eight locations, like a big corporation, because that would mean that they’re not going to go out of business.
00:31:08:01 – 00:31:08:07
Sterling
Right?
00:31:08:09 – 00:31:09:14
Rod
Exactly.
00:31:09:16 – 00:31:10:20
Sterling
Lower chance of.
00:31:10:20 – 00:31:13:25
Rod
Coaster comes to mind. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely chance.
00:31:13:28 – 00:31:37:21
Sterling
Less chance. That’s right. So I’ve just and I want it at a cap rate, which is either at or above I think it was eight and a half percent is what I was looking at or 9%. And so I start calling up. Exactly. Yes. Yes. And so I start calling these brokers and one by one they say, look, buddy, if I if I found this deal, I’m buying, I’m buying it, or I’m going to sell it to my buddy who I’ve already done 20 years of deals with, I’m not going to give it to a fresh face.
00:31:37:23 – 00:31:55:16
Sterling
And what I’m pretty I’m pretty persistent. So I kept trying anyway for a while. Clearly, I’m a slow learner in this context, but one day this one broker took me aside and he was very, very nice. He took the time to me with me to explain that, Look, I understand what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to make this money.
00:31:55:16 – 00:32:12:14
Sterling
You’re trying to, like, set yourself up really well with your capital that you worked very hard to to acquire. If you’re wanting to do this. Here’s what I’d recommend and explain to me. Focus on medical space and for whatever reason, medical even more so at that time, not a lot of people that are high net worth individuals were focusing on it.
00:32:12:20 – 00:32:26:00
Sterling
A lot of the bigger institutions are buying it. But he saw that there were a few of these medical companies, the people that were buying them were doing very well with it. So he said, look, if you want to be in something that’s going to be around a long time, that the market hasn’t quite adequately priced yet, try medical.
00:32:26:04 – 00:32:34:03
Rod
You said the companies are doing very well, not the medical companies. You saw operators that were working in the space, providing space to these medical.
00:32:34:06 – 00:32:55:28
Sterling
That’s right. The landlords. The landlords, Yes, yes, yes. But they were they were doing well because they were working with tenants that were very good, that were very stable. And so it just it was unusual for these medical corporations to go out of business. So anyway, he explains this and he said what you should consider doing if you’re looking for larger returns a short period time is development where you’re going to you’re going to manage construction.
00:32:56:01 – 00:33:15:06
Sterling
And what you’ll do is this. Explain the model very simply. You go to a tenant, you get them to if you try and find ones that are looking to expand to new locations that already have a certain number of locations. And this is the script you say, Hey, I’ll pay for the land on a new location, I’ll pay for all your buildout, and in exchange you’re going to sign a long term triple net lease.
00:33:15:08 – 00:33:35:10
Sterling
Once the building is built. So you’re going to give me passive income for 15, maybe 20 years once I finish building it. And not all of them will agree, and certainly not all of them will agree at the rental rate that you’re looking for. But some will. And when you find those, get all the agreements signed by the land and then once it’s done, sell it.
00:33:35:16 – 00:33:40:23
Rod
Do you typically have the lands selected when you approach them? Do you have a lot selected?
00:33:40:23 – 00:33:44:07
Sterling
Good question. Okay. So I find the tenant first, always find the tenant first.
00:33:44:08 – 00:33:46:10
Rod
Just that expresses interest.
00:33:46:11 – 00:33:47:05
Sterling
Yes, yes.
00:33:47:10 – 00:33:52:17
Rod
And see, I’m on the hunt. I’m going to find something when I do. Would you like to see it? Have a conversation.
00:33:52:17 – 00:33:53:13
Sterling
That’s right.
00:33:53:15 – 00:33:53:25
Rod
Okay.
00:33:53:26 – 00:34:10:02
Sterling
Yeah. So I get. I get all the basics together, like, here’s our basic lease template that we’re going to have. So we’re negotiating all those elements. What guarantees I want, what responsibilities each of us have, the rental rate, all that is the rental rate does change a little bit based on the construction costs and things like that. But anyway, we’ll get to that later.
00:34:10:04 – 00:34:24:07
Sterling
But yes, I get them to say yes, we want it. And then when I find a piece of land, I’ll then present it to the tenant and say hey, does this match like can we get the building plans drawn up? And if it works for you, then I want you to sign at the rental rate that we’ve agreed to before I close.
00:34:24:08 – 00:34:26:10
Sterling
Right. So that I’m not holding the risk of for.
00:34:26:11 – 00:34:26:26
Rod
Your money goes.
00:34:26:26 – 00:34:30:07
Sterling
Hard. Exactly. Or and that and that due diligence period. That’s right.
00:34:30:14 – 00:34:34:16
Rod
Okay. So so you’ve pre framed the relationship.
00:34:34:17 – 00:34:35:03
Sterling
That’s right.
00:34:35:10 – 00:34:55:07
Rod
You go out there and find a great location, you probably get a non circumvention agreement signed and so they can’t go around. You bring somebody else in. That’s right. And then and then you say, you know, if we’re going through the due diligence, you know, it looks like that’s it zone properly. The entitlements are right, blah blah, blah.
00:34:55:07 – 00:35:02:00
Rod
All the things you’ve got to work on when you’re developing and let’s sign the lease and we’ll get this baby done. That’s right. That’s it.
00:35:02:04 – 00:35:24:28
Sterling
That’s right. And what’s important to note about this is I was not actually managing the development myself. I added a partner. Sure you did. That has the experience of doing this. So a couple of different options. But one, a decade, another three decades in this business and hundreds of millions in transactions. So I knowing that this is not my area of expertise, I want somebody else that can handle that portion.
00:35:24:29 – 00:35:34:07
Rod
Now, you what surprised me is that you sell these. But so talk about that. Yeah. So you you build them, you throw in an.
00:35:34:09 – 00:35:50:23
Sterling
So I haven’t sold all of them so, so I’ll explain. So I did this, I did this model with one tenant that right out of the gate was like, yes, let’s, let’s do this. And I did first three urgent cares. And I just wanted to I didn’t take any outside investor money because, again, I’m sort of testing a model here.
00:35:50:24 – 00:35:55:14
Sterling
Like I want to make sure is this going to work? And I, I just wanted to grow my own, my first three.
00:35:55:14 – 00:35:56:10
Rod
Urgent care centers.
00:35:56:10 – 00:35:57:01
Sterling
Three urgent care.
00:35:57:09 – 00:35:57:18
Rod
With your.
00:35:57:18 – 00:36:14:04
Sterling
Own with my own capital. Yep. And I purchased them. And then the way that this worked is two of them I sold the same day that I closed on them. So I did what’s called a double closed transaction where I purchased it for one price, basically arranging all the components of the deal.
00:36:14:04 – 00:36:17:11
Rod
I’m sorry you purchased the land or this or. I’m sorry.
00:36:17:15 – 00:36:26:00
Sterling
Yeah. So that same day I purchased the land, I had the lease go into effect by the tenant. They were willing to do it. That structure. This was last year that this house.
00:36:26:00 – 00:36:30:00
Rod
Even though payments don’t start until the building is done, obviously. But the lease starts that date.
00:36:30:00 – 00:36:50:17
Sterling
That’s right. Gotcha. That’s right. Yep. And well, actually, no, let me clarify that point. So I had it as part of the transaction that they would get funded enough rent to start the lease immediately and they would they would have enough basically to to fund the first year’s worth of lease payments. This had the lease actually start immediately, even.
00:36:50:17 – 00:36:53:09
Rod
Though they weren’t occupying the asset. That’s right. That’s interesting.
00:36:53:09 – 00:36:54:25
Sterling
That’s right. Yeah. And I did that.
00:36:54:25 – 00:36:56:01
Rod
Because skin in the game then.
00:36:56:04 – 00:36:58:13
Sterling
They did. They had to get it. Yes exactly.
00:36:58:15 – 00:37:04:25
Rod
So so I don’t understand the double closing. Sure. So So you hadn’t even broke ground yet and you’d sold it already?
00:37:04:25 – 00:37:21:28
Sterling
That’s right. Because when I took that, I had an appraisal appraiser come in and say, this is actually worth a lot more because of the lease starting. This is worth a lot more than what your total costs are on the deal. And then I also had a broker say, I agree, I might have a buyer that wants to get into this deal.
00:37:22:05 – 00:37:23:26
Sterling
And so then I sold. That’s right.
00:37:23:26 – 00:37:32:08
Rod
So help me understand why one of these urgent cares would be paying you rent on a space they don’t even have yet. What is the advantage to them?
00:37:32:11 – 00:37:48:08
Sterling
It was part of a package deal, so I agreed to do multiple of these properties at one time and they’re wanting to expand quickly and because they know their development timeframe is of a amount I agreed to fund as part of the transaction the first bit of rent that they need during the day time plus a few more months.
00:37:48:11 – 00:37:54:20
Sterling
So they’d actually get more or less a few free months of rent as part of the transaction. So have some operational costs.
00:37:54:21 – 00:37:57:09
Rod
I don’t understand how you got them to pay anything.
00:37:57:12 – 00:38:02:28
Sterling
So they didn’t pay anything. Oh, as part of the transaction that I agreed to pay that rent.
00:38:02:28 – 00:38:04:18
Rod
Understood. You were paying them?
00:38:04:18 – 00:38:05:28
Sterling
That’s right. No, they’re not in rent.
00:38:05:28 – 00:38:14:28
Rod
Okay. I completely. Yes, Yes. You’re saying okay, that just didn’t make any sense to me. Okay. Yeah. So. So you just flipped it. I mean, basically, it was a it was a flip.
00:38:15:01 – 00:38:20:12
Sterling
It was, yes. On two of them. And then one of them, I closed on it with my own capital, then sold it a month later.
00:38:20:14 – 00:38:25:27
Rod
I see. So. So why sell that one a month later? You couldn’t you didn’t see the benefit of cash flowing it.
00:38:26:03 – 00:38:35:25
Sterling
No, I just wanted to increase my own capital so that I could then buy the next deal. Yeah. Yeah. So then I purchased an emergency room with my with my own.
00:38:35:26 – 00:38:38:06
Rod
The difference between an urgent care center and an emergency.
00:38:38:08 – 00:38:42:15
Sterling
So basically, emergency room is like a big, urgent care. It’s just a large, bigger, bigger.
00:38:42:21 – 00:38:47:15
Rod
That’s right. So that’s just a what they’re called an emergency room. So it’s it’s more sophisticated. They can actually have.
00:38:47:15 – 00:38:52:21
Sterling
24 hour service. Is it clear that they handle more types of surgeries? More types of. Yeah.
00:38:52:24 – 00:38:55:02
Rod
You got you. Okay. So you did an emergency room.
00:38:55:02 – 00:39:03:17
Sterling
Yeah. And so I bought this one for eight and a half million. And then an appraiser comes in and says it’s actually worth 11.9, eight, 7 million.
00:39:03:19 – 00:39:05:26
Rod
And so you break ground before it’s done.
00:39:05:27 – 00:39:09:00
Sterling
That’s right. Because of it. Again, that same structure with that.
00:39:09:03 – 00:39:09:27
Rod
Based on the.
00:39:09:29 – 00:39:10:19
Sterling
Based on.
00:39:10:21 – 00:39:11:02
Rod
Comp.
00:39:11:02 – 00:39:11:24
Sterling
Somewhat.
00:39:11:26 – 00:39:23:27
Rod
Yeah. Back into the new stuff you do on multifamily. There you go. Remember guys, commercial real estate’s based on a multiple the net income. So what they did is they analyze what they anticipated the net income to be and they came up with a value higher than the construction cost.
00:39:23:29 – 00:39:29:16
Sterling
MM In this case it’s a little different than multifamily in that, you know, because of the lease what the net income is.
00:39:29:16 – 00:39:37:23
Rod
Yeah, you’re right because you know what the expense is. They’re covering all the expenses. That’s right. Much easier. Yeah. There’s less, there’s less projection.
00:39:37:23 – 00:39:39:13
Sterling
Projection less less pro forma.
00:39:39:14 – 00:39:40:29
Rod
Pro forma, Yes. Less guesswork.
00:39:40:29 – 00:39:42:05
Sterling
Yes. Yes.
00:39:42:07 – 00:39:43:07
Rod
Interesting. Yeah.
00:39:43:11 – 00:39:57:25
Sterling
Yep. So when the bank went to offer me debt on this property, they they actually offered me more than what my purchase price was. So even with a cash flowing, I, I actually got $10.1 million loan on the property.
00:39:57:27 – 00:40:00:15
Rod
So that money did closing Money Day.
00:40:00:16 – 00:40:17:25
Sterling
Closing. Wow. Yeah. Which wasn’t actually what I expected when I first put in our contract. But then when that appraisal came back, I’m like, Oh, this awesome, right? So. So anyway, yeah. So those were my in total, I did about eight and a half million worth of properties that I purchased and then sold or refinanced them for a value of 25 million.
00:40:17:25 – 00:40:39:18
Rod
Right. So with each of them, fantastic. So now I know your, your, your domain name on your, on your company is passive medical real estate dot com. Now you’re ready to start bringing in investors syndicating and going bigger. Yes that’s right. Okay. Yeah. And and so and you’re going to focus on Texas. I think that’s right. Yeah. That’s where you live.
00:40:39:24 – 00:40:40:20
Rod
Are you in Dallas or.
00:40:40:21 – 00:40:46:29
Sterling
I’m in Austin, but my properties right now are in Dallas. I have more tenants that are looking to expand there than I do in Austin.
00:40:46:29 – 00:41:05:13
Rod
So yeah, Austin’s a great market. It’s hard. I mean, it’s insane how crazy it is there. I’ve got assets in San Antonio that are benefiting from I’ve got an asset right now under contract in San Antonio. If you’re accredited, get it. Go to Rod’s links dot com and check it out. It is a screaming deal, but we’re getting people that can’t afford Austin.
00:41:05:13 – 00:41:10:04
Rod
They’re going to San Antone right? Which is making San Antonio really boom. Yeah, but so you’re in Dallas.
00:41:10:04 – 00:41:20:09
Sterling
Well, I think they consider that as just one metro. Austin. San Antonio, Yeah. Austin, Round Rock. San Antonio is kind of all one thing, and it’s the fastest growing metro in the United States.
00:41:20:10 – 00:41:37:25
Rod
In the country. Yeah. Which is why we were excited about this particular deal. It’s a mile away from another 296 unit asset we have and it’s nicer and we’re paying 100 grand a unit. The one right next door sold for 137 in the last year. That’s how good a deal it is. Oh, yeah.
00:41:37:25 – 00:41:38:05
Sterling
It’s very.
00:41:38:05 – 00:41:50:11
Rod
Nice and exciting, but so you’re going to go out there and do more of these urgent care centers. You’re going to go out there and do more of these emergency rooms. You’re going to syndicate them. So you’re going to you’re going to let other people have a piece of the pie. That’s right. That’s right.
00:41:50:14 – 00:42:08:17
Sterling
Yeah. So, I mean, I did really well. We’ve already talked about some of the numbers on those first few deals. And then when I start explaining it to my friends that both were in real estate, but even more, the people that weren’t already in real estate, like from my previous industry, they’re saying, look, can you just like bring me a deal and I just jump in with you because I don’t want to learn about this.
00:42:08:22 – 00:42:39:10
Sterling
Like, I don’t want to go find deals, find the tents, you know, all the same stuff, you know, with passive investors and then some doctors start telling me, some dentists are telling me. And so I got invited to speak some groups about my deals. Because what was interesting is when I talked to people that were specifically like doctor groups or specifically dentist groups, they’re very familiar with how stable the income of medical businesses are because that’s their business and they’ve never thought about actually being on an owner on the property side or if they have, it’s just for a practice where they were there or the tenant.
00:42:39:17 – 00:42:42:10
Rod
They buy the building. Yes, but they don’t. It’s very common.
00:42:42:10 – 00:42:50:14
Sterling
Yes. But they don’t think about investing passively into syndication or into a deal where they can participate in just the pure upside with it. Exactly. Yeah.
00:42:50:18 – 00:43:08:05
Rod
Yeah. No, I mean, they’d be they’d be your best source of investors, in my opinion, because they’re familiar with it. Exactly. Familiar with the stability. You know, there’s there’s 80 million baby boomers getting old. And I say getting cold, they’re moving south. That’s right. You know, in this country and medical, it’s just it’s going to continue to explode.
00:43:08:05 – 00:43:29:10
Rod
Yes. As is assisted living and all the things associated with aging. But which is another thing I’m interested in. Well, this is a fascinating endeavor that you’re into. And I’m really glad that we’re we’re talking about it. And I’m personally interested, frankly. But let me ask you this. If it wasn’t for this, what other business might you be in?
00:43:29:12 – 00:43:42:27
Sterling
Well, another business that I am actually in is I’m a I’m a filmmaker and a film actor as well. Yes. Wow. Yeah. So when I was a kid, my my dream was to be an actor is to be in film and to be in plays. That’s what I love to do more than anything. Was being plays.
00:43:43:02 – 00:43:48:03
Rod
You’re pretty dramatic. Passionate. Oh, thank you. Totally. See that? Thank you. So. So have you done anything?
00:43:48:03 – 00:44:07:09
Sterling
Yeah. Yes, I’ve done a few films since I acted in my company. I have a lot more free time, obviously now to do that. And I’m actually I’m actually debating whether or not I can say this on the show. I’ll just say it. So I’m actually cast into a film that I’m costarring with Anthony Hopkins as well, which will be filming in the first part of next year.
00:44:07:09 – 00:44:19:02
Sterling
Yeah, I’m actually in a bigger role than he is, which is super interesting, but it is an honor to film with him and he’s he’s one of my favorite just actors of all time top three. So he’s extraordinary.
00:44:19:09 – 00:44:23:01
Rod
In the Hector Cannibal. Cannibal Hannibal.
00:44:23:01 – 00:44:23:19
Sterling
Lecter. Hannibal like.
00:44:23:20 – 00:44:26:10
Rod
Oh my God, what an incredible acting.
00:44:26:13 – 00:44:49:00
Sterling
So the reason why and I’m really glad you asked me this question because I think that every single person has a childhood dream. They have a dream. And most people, most adults forgot about it a long time ago. They just told themselves a story about it’s not responsible or I can’t really make a living at that, or I can’t really have enough time to spend doing that.
00:44:49:02 – 00:45:09:15
Sterling
And I think it is the duty of every investor to invest in a very specific way or build a company in a very specific way that allows you to recover that reclaim your childhood dream. Why? For the reason that you explained earlier, Rod, and that is the world needs more people that are on fire with their life, that they’re happy, they’re full of joy, because why?
00:45:09:19 – 00:45:24:26
Sterling
Because they’re going to bring that to families. They’re going to bring that that to their communities. I want to be in a world and I want my children to grow up in a world where people are happier, where they’re full of joy. And that is only going to happen if more people have more time feeling more free to do the things that they love.
00:45:25:02 – 00:45:56:25
Rod
Oh, that’s a great way to put it. Great way to put it. So I have a lot of listeners on my show that are aspiring investors most more active than passive probably, but both honestly, and a lot of them haven’t pulled the trigger, you know, the cotton analysis paralysis or held back by fear or limiting beliefs, which you know a lot because you’ve been around, Tony, and and, you know, speak to them.
00:45:56:28 – 00:45:58:02
Rod
Speak to them for me.
00:45:58:05 – 00:46:19:28
Sterling
Well, I think the most important reason why somebody is in that analysis process, I’m going to give you three reasons why, three very quick reasons why. First of all, they’re allowing the primary influences in their life be from people that don’t have what they want. So maybe it’s their parents group, maybe it’s their parents that are saying, hey, like, you know, be careful, be so careful.
00:46:20:02 – 00:46:27:03
Sterling
And of course, you should be careful investing, of course. But there’s you also need to understand you kind of get in the game. If you’re going to make progress, you.
00:46:27:06 – 00:46:45:19
Rod
Ought to take some risk. Yes. My mom telling me, oh, that’s too dangerous. Don’t do that. Don’t buy houses. My God, that’s too dangerous. And my dad was like, go get a real job. You know, REITs, REITs, Airlines for 36 years and, and, and got laid off. Mm. Yeah. So, you know, that’s a real job. But anyway, please continue.
00:46:45:19 – 00:47:05:18
Sterling
So start surrounding yourself with more people who are those risk takers? Who are the people that are experiencing more joy, who are having a little bit more time for you. And it doesn’t mean you got to go have this dramatic life change in two years. You’re gonna quit your job forever where you don’t have that in your mind, but just a little bit more freedom every single year, a little bit more investing every year.
00:47:05:24 – 00:47:24:09
Sterling
Little by little. Some people are just I get it. They’re not going to sell their car to pay for a mentor. They’re just not. And that’s okay. I wouldn’t tell somebody ever to do that. That was my choice. That’s what I needed at that time. However, first, this peer group get into a different peer group, right? Number two is start practicing gratitude more consistently.
00:47:24:11 – 00:47:39:16
Sterling
And I’m not just talking about mental gratitude or written gratitude. Not that alone felt gratitude in your heart, because a lot of reasons why people get stuck in paralysis is because they’re living in fear. And the antidote to fear is gratitude.
00:47:39:16 – 00:48:01:26
Rod
Can’t be fearful and grateful at the same time can be angry and grateful at the same time. Gratitude is the most powerful emotion we have available to us. Yes, strengthens our immune system, lowers our blood pressure, brings us closer to our spirituality, and it’s how you manifest everything you want in life. You know, I do gratitude. Most mornings I’ll sit in my recliner and I’ll just be grateful for the people I love in my life, my foundation, the work that I do, my students.
00:48:01:28 – 00:48:16:12
Rod
And then I’ll do gratitude for the things that I want, as if I already have them. And sometimes I’ll get to being grateful for things I don’t even have yet. Yes, people are like, Oh, for God’s sakes, keep you stop talking the woo woo stuff. Well, this is how I had 50 million to lose and how I freaking got it back.
00:48:16:12 – 00:48:20:14
Rod
Okay, so you know, there you go. So second is gratitude.
00:48:20:14 – 00:48:42:15
Sterling
Second is gratitude. And then number three. Thank you, Rod, for stealing my thunder is is already so it’s easy fun already done If somebody wants remember easy write that down. Easy fun already done. Easy means follow proven path be around mentors. Number two is fun. What makes life more fun? The antidote actually is gratitude. You will enjoy your life so much more if you just notice.
00:48:42:15 – 00:49:03:10
Sterling
If you just take time to feel what is already here, that’s already good. And then number three is already done. See the future that you want. See yourself enjoying those passive income distribution, seeing that operator writing you that check, that is bigger than the one you deposited and you forgot that you even invested with them because it was passive for you or whatever your situation is.
00:49:03:10 – 00:49:21:12
Sterling
But imagine the benefits of investing coming back to you and feel it as if it’s already here. Because like you, Rod, every morning I sit and I see that future that I want, as if it’s already here and I get emotional. I start crying. I see myself impact of that person. I see those messages of people saying, Thank you so much, Sterling.
00:49:21:18 – 00:49:44:29
Sterling
This investment, this talk, this whatever changed my life, I see the difference. I see myself acting in that play or that film. And that gives me such drive and focus and purpose to show up that day as my very best self. And frankly, to enjoy the process. I think that a lot of people focus only on achievement, but they don’t focus enough on having joy throughout the process.
00:49:44:29 – 00:50:06:12
Sterling
The whole point of achieving really is to get a specific emotion and you can give yourself the gift of that emotion right now and carry it all the way through your achievement. So for the person that feels stuck right now is not taking that action, if they focus on those three things, they will get themselves into an action taking state and therefore enjoy the benefits that come with it.
00:50:06:15 – 00:50:33:01
Rod
No question. I couldn’t have said it better myself, brother. That’s very well said. And another thing to remember, you mentioned story and stories hold people back, so be careful what the story is you’re telling yourself. You know, if it’s a disempowering story that you’re just using to justify your mediocre existence more, you’re settling. People use stories to settle and so you can change your story, you can change your life.
00:50:33:03 – 00:50:49:17
Rod
And so keep that in mind. And yeah, I will tell you some of the things we do at my bootcamps. We will actually have you visualize that life like you. Yes, Yes. Have you visualize it what you do from the minute you get up to the moment you go to bed. That’s one of the things we do at my bootcamp.
00:50:49:17 – 00:51:02:23
Rod
Nice, because that pulls you into it, you know, just like the goal setting, just like, you know, determining what it is you want and why you want it. The more of that you can associate with, the more it pulls you into it. And it’s very, very powerful.
00:51:02:23 – 00:51:22:03
Sterling
It’s so, so important. Every time I speak at events, I do some version of visualization. And the reason why is because it’s those moments that have changed my life, especially the habit of them have changed my life. So I always want to give you a little taste of how good it feels and then give them encouragement. Please keep doing this.
00:51:22:05 – 00:51:22:14
Sterling
Well, I mean.
00:51:22:16 – 00:51:40:06
Rod
You were downstairs in my house. Exactly. You want some affirmation? That’s right. Doing some forward thinking. Visualizing. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. So that’s this because it works, guys. I know it’s airy fairy for me, but this is why we’re successful. And so ignore it at your peril is all I will tell you. So let me ask you a question.
00:51:40:09 – 00:52:01:22
Rod
You know, I do a clip every week on my podcast called Own Your Power. It’s a motivational clip. And and and it’s to juice people and get them motivated. And we talk about goal setting, visualization, all these other things. So I like to ask my guests, where do you get your drive? What’s driving you now? Okay, What’s the why?
00:52:01:24 – 00:52:06:05
Rod
I didn’t see a ring on your finger. Don’t look like you’re married yet. And I don’t know if you have kids yet. Do you have kids yet?
00:52:06:06 – 00:52:32:11
Sterling
Not yet, no. No, but I’m intent on having them. Okay? Yes. I’m going to get emotional thinking about this, but it really is. It it comes from that moment back in my car on New Year’s Eve, where I got connected to this idea that I’m not the only one suffering right now. I’m not the only person that feels hopeless, that feels powerless, that feels like they’re not enough.
00:52:32:11 – 00:53:06:00
Sterling
That’s been telling themselves that story for their entire lives. There’s somebody else right here, right now that needs someone to say, you have permission. You are good enough, you are worthy, you are meant for more. It’s time to claim that. And it was the faces of those people in my mind that drove me to do whatever it took to succeed so that one day I could speak to them, whether it be just in person, sitting across from me at the dinner table or it was on a stage to a group or is on a podcast where I’m so grateful you and I get to speak to quite a few people right now.
00:53:06:05 – 00:53:25:17
Sterling
My hope is that if only one person, one person could hear this message, hear stories and say, Man, I am meant for more in my life. I have been playing small, I am capable of more and I am claiming it now. Then I will have so much joy at the thought of that. So it is that person. It is lifting.
00:53:25:17 – 00:53:36:04
Sterling
One other person who, like me just has has been insecure, has been stuck. Who knows they’re meant for more that that is who drives me.
00:53:36:04 – 00:53:52:24
Rod
That’s what drives me to brother I’m sure you get a lot of love already from your speaking. I would guess that you get you get accolades, you get people telling you they’re grateful for hearing your messaging. And when I tell you this is not ego, when I tell you I get love every single day, I’m not exaggerating. I get emails, DMS, gifts, cards every single day.
00:53:52:24 – 00:53:57:25
Rod
I’ve got a wall in my office with hundreds of thank you cards. And it’s it’s it’s an incredible blessing.
00:53:57:27 – 00:54:16:20
Sterling
Well, let me let me stop you there because when I mentioned to a few of my friends that are investors that I was coming to do this episode with you today, I actually was not very familiar with your work before maybe a month or two months ago. But I started explaining, Hey, what do you think about Rod? I’m going to go see him in his studio.
00:54:16:22 – 00:54:33:29
Sterling
And one by one, every single one that knew who you were said, Wow, Rod, he’s a great guy. And you know what their second thing was? He’s a mindset guy. You’re going to love him. He’s a mindset guy. So you are greatly and deeply loved by the investor community.
00:54:34:02 – 00:54:51:09
Rod
Very kind of you to say that I that means a lot to me. It means a lot to me. Well, listen, brother, I, I, I really appreciate you actually getting in a plane and coming here to meet with me. That’s an honor. Frankly, I’m humbled by that. I don’t take that lightly. And and you’ve added tremendous value today.
00:54:51:11 – 00:55:07:11
Rod
Forget the even the medical piece, really the mindset piece and the inspirational piece is really, you know, what what you’re going to what you’re going to be known for. I can tell already. And you’re you’re going to do amazing things. And it’s absolutely my pleasure to meet you, brother. Wow.
00:55:07:13 – 00:55:09:22
Sterling
Thank you, Rod, so much. So much, sir.
00:55:09:24 – 00:55:12:15
Rod
All right. Well, I’m sure we’ll see each other again very soon.
00:55:12:21 – 00:55:13:19
Sterling
I look forward to it.
00:55:13:23 – 00:55:14:06
Rod
All right.
