The Critical Work Life Balance For Success

Full Transcript Below

Intro
Hi. My name is Rod Khleif, and I’m the host of “The Lifetime Cash Flow Through Real Estate Investing” podcast. And every week, I interview Multifamily Rock Stars and we talk about how they built incredible wealth for themselves and their families through multifamily properties. So hit the “Like” and “Subscribe” buttons to get notified every Monday when a new episode comes out. Let’s get to it.

Rod
Welcome back to Multifamily Rock Stars. Now, as you guys know, this is where we interview people that are just killing it in this business. And we show you guys the inside scoop as to how multifamily investors get started and how they create massive success in their businesses and their lives. And as always, I’ve got my co-host, who’s the director of our massive action team for the Warrior Group, Mark Nagy on the call. Mark, what’s up, bud?

Mark
We’ve been getting so much good feedback from these episodes, people hearing other people’s stories. Super inspirational. My team and I have been hearing a lot of good stuff. So excited to jump into another one here.

Rod
So today, we’ve got Duy Nguyen. And Duy is a warrior, been in the program since late 2020. He’s now in 355 doors in a General Partnership capacity or Joint Venture capacity. He’s done some development on Mobile Home Park and done a lot of cool stuff. So we’re excited to have him on and talk shop. Duy, welcome brother.

Duy
Hey, what’s up, Rod? How are you doing?

Rod
Good, man– absolutely, so great to catch up and see where you’re at, you know, in the business, which is just fantastic. So why don’t you take a minute and just talk a little bit about, you know, why real estate, when you got started, you know, just kind of a high-level overview of your experience and bring us current. And then we’ll dig into some of those things.

Duy
Sure. So growing up, you know, we grew up pretty poor, but I was able to see my dad kind of progress from pruning orange trees and an orange grove to owning, you know, the Grove, and then moving on into real estate, where he bought a lot of lands, like large pots of land. And so I always thought, you know, he was his big guru. And I always associated real estate with, you know, the wealthy. And so that naturally kind of drew my interest to that. And kind of over the years, I reached out to my dad like man, how do I do real estate? You know, I mean, right out of high school, I opened up a dry cleaner with my dad. We decided we couldn’t work together. You know, I was 19 years old, 25 employees.

Rod
Where was this? Sorry to interrupt. Where was this? Was this here in Florida or where was it?

Duy
Yeah, Florida. I’m here in Winter Haven, Florida. Central Florida.

Rod
Okay. All right, keep going, buddy. Sorry.

Duy
No worries. And so after that first year, we decided we couldn’t work together. And so I ended up you know, just paying them back over time and ended up owning and operating it for about ten years. And towards the end of that, you know, I was reaching out, I was like, man, can I do real estate, man, I really want to do real estate because that’s how he acquired his wealth. It’s his land, flipping land. It’s kind of what his niche was. And what I found out was he wasn’t really a guru. You know, he kind of bought land just based on feeling. And so he was just like, this is a great piece of land. I’m sure it’s undeveloped in five years. And then that was his play. So start from there. And then in 2012, I ended up selling my dry cleaner and then took a couple of, you know, residential mentorships to learn the real estate space. In that same year, I was getting married, found out I was having my first child, and then I ended up losing all that money in the same year. What I did, basically, took all that money, didn’t know what to do with it, and was a capital partner in seven different business ventures, which they all ended up failing. I would say 2012, and 2013 was you know, the greatest and worst year of my life. But that pushed me. I worked five jobs, five to six jobs for almost five years, and then finally went full-time in 2018. And do the flipping houses, wholesaling houses, and became also a real estate agent at that time. And then as far as multifamily, I joined your group back in 2020. I really didn’t do much focus on that until 2021. At the beginning of 2021. Started acquiring you know, properties here in May.

Rod
Right. Well, let’s circle back to some of the assets that you’ve purchased because you know, I know you’ve done almost all of them with warriors. But let’s talk about those first couple of deals you did in Ohio. You’ve got a 42-unit and a 48-unit. Where in Ohio are they?

Duy
That’s kind of the Cleveland Heights area.

Rod
Cleveland. Oh, great area. Yeah, that’s a great area. We almost got one in Shaker Heights. Okay. So were those syndications? What was the structure? How were they found? Just go a little some detail on one or both of those deals.

Duy
So I connected you know, with Rasool that’s in the Warrior program. We’ve actually done three deals together.

Rod
Awesome.

Duy
And he was invited to help more of the underwriting and, you know, raising capital and that type of role in those two properties. So the first one was the syndication. I brought, you know, some money to that one and then kind of helped with the process as well, the underwriting, in that role. And then the same people that brought us that deal, we ended up JV on the 48-unit one month after that.

Rod
Fantastic. Same basic general location then.

Duy
Yeah, same basic general location, same partners, everything.

Rod
Okay. And I know you guys did a 166-unit right here in my backyard. You didn’t invite me into it.

Duy
Sorry about that one.

Rod
Yeah. In Bradenton. Talk about that deal, buddy. What was the story with that?

Duy
That one, again, I did that one with Rasool. That’s one thing that I’ve never been good at is networking. And so that kind of showed me, you know, through the network. And just one person really can really explode your business.

Rod
Sure.

Duy
So we were able to do all that was just in the last year. But that deal there, you know, we got help with the asset management side of it. I got a little bit of a GP.

Rod
Fantastic. Okay. What role do you play on the team? I know you help raise equity. Where else? You know, because as you guys know, if you listen to this podcast, this business is a team sport and people play, wear different hats and so you’re not the networker.

Duy
No.

Rod
I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but I’m guessing you’ve got experience in the whole construction side of things. Are you also involved in the analytics or the due diligence or what pieces are you involved in?

Duy
It’s more of a due diligence. I’m more of the behind-the-scenes type of person. I’m pretty introverted and shy by nature, so networking is a struggle for me, but that’s where I’m good at. That’s kind of my superpower, more asset management type of role.

Rod
Yeah, fantastic.

Mark
So what would you recommend to other people then, maybe getting into this that have no experience, they aren’t quite sure what value they could add to the team. Where would you advise those people to start?

Duy
Well, first I would start with, you know, a program like yours, Rod. I mean, it’s been amazing. Things I’ve been able to learn and the people I’ve been able to actually meet have been absolutely amazing. That’s the only way I was able to really start. You know, I wouldn’t say I wasn’t very motivated, you know when we first started the program, but I was too shy to kind of talk to other people. Right. And so like I said, just meeting that one person can really help explode your business but also, you know, focus on what you’re good at. Because in these teams there are all these pit holes. You know, you also have to form this team to be able to do these deals. That’s something that I didn’t really do much in the single-family space either. I didn’t really partner with too many people. Right? It’s just mainly me.

Rod
Right.

Duy
So that’s something I had to learn. That’s a little bit of a learning curve as well.

Rod
Yeah. Well, single-family, you can do it on your own. I did, you know, 2000 doors on my own. 2000 houses rented long-term on my own. Yeah, I hired a team, but my own employees, but it’s not like I partnered with anybody. But, you know, I want to circle back to something you said. I just saw that I wrote down not guru about your dad. I will say this, maybe it wasn’t a guru, but he was a smart guy because, you know, people say, should I wait to buy real estate? And he was smart enough to buy real estate and wait. Okay.

Duy
Right.

Rod
I want to give him credit because he inspired you, number one. And number two, you know, I got to tell you anything in real estate is, you know, you may get your nose bloodied. You may have some seminars like I’ve had, but there’s a reason 90% of the world’s millionaires do real estate. But, you know, when you got into this business, were there any sacrifices you had to make? Real estate in general. Now you’ve got a family. I see a picture of you and your wife behind you there. And is that your truck, by the way? That’s a cool old truck. Is that yours?

Duy
No.

Rod
Got you. Anyway, that’s a cool truck. But anyway, you know, what if anything did you have to sacrifice to reach the level of success that you have?

Duy
Well, it’s a lot, you know. When I was working those five, six jobs at any given time, it was really time. Right. Like time with your family that you’re missing out on your mental capacity. I was literally sleeping three to four hours a night and that’s seven days a week. You know, that’s a piece of my life that I missed out on. Right? I missed a lot of watching my kids grow up and being able to spend that quality time with my wife. But at the time, I couldn’t rub two nickels together you know, and we had bills coming in. I think that was the biggest sacrifice. Was time.

Rod
Yeah. Okay. Just one more follow-up on that, Mark. Have you adjusted for that now that you’re in real estate? You know, hopefully, you’ve heard me preach about it in the Warrior program, how important that quality time is. Have you modified that now since you’ve got more than a couple of nickels to rub together?

Duy
Yeah. And so I try to block off time for that.

Rod
Good.

Duy
There are certain things that you know, I don’t miss anymore. I missed one of my son’s T-ball games one time and he never, you know, didn’t let me let that go. Right. So I’ve learned not to miss that type of stuff. We do try to schedule family time the best we can. Dinners, you know, I try to be there as much as possible. At certain times of the day, it’s kind of blocked off for that.

Rod
Yeah. Let me just add one follow-up again. You know guys, yeah, we’re all in this because we want financial success. But if we give up, what’s most important in our lives isn’t really success. You know, I tell the story of my biggest regret ever was, coming home to my kids and being there, but being distracted. So I wasn’t there mentally. I’d play with them and I wasn’t there mentally. It was the greatest regret to this day, which is why I placed weight on that. I know this is a real estate podcast, but you know, I want to cover things that are really important.

Mark
Yeah. I wanted to jump back on one thing and touch on that relationship you actually have with Rasool, done some deals with him. I know you mentioned you’re kind of an introvert, maybe more analytical. A lot of people listening, I’m sure, are very similar. I talk with those people all the time. And by the way, for people listening, we actually had Rasool on the podcast, episode 591, if you want to go back and listen to that one after this. But as an introvert, how did you get that relationship? Did Rod or a coach push you to go out and step out of your comfort zone? Did Rasool seek you out? How did you build those relationships with your personality type??

Rod
Good question.

Speaker 2
You know, actually, well, I knew I needed to expand. Right. I wasn’t going or being here like I really need to start focusing more on this multi-family stuff because I joined a mentorship. I’m not really doing much because I was still managing all my single-family stuff at the same time. And the reason I got into that was because, you know, when Covid hit and I think it opened a lot of people’s eyes. But I was so in the active income role, I was still building, building, building to kind of makeup what I lost. And once that happened, I couldn’t buy any houses. I couldn’t sell any houses for a good five, or six months. I couldn’t make any money, and I didn’t have any money coming in, you know. That’s when I realized I needed more passive income. But I also joined, you know, Pace Morby’s group as well to learn how to create a finance stuff?

Rod
Good.

Duy
Single-family. And so I did that and Rod’s at the exact same time. And I had to shift focus because I needed to focus on one more immediate that could help me at the time. But yeah. So somebody posted in a Facebook group that they were doing–they wanted to do hotel to multifamily conversions.

Rod
In the warrior group, you mean?

Duy
Yeah. Someone posted that. You know, is there anybody in here? And so, Rasool, I think Ed, Phil, Fris, we all kind of raised our hand and started meeting up every week to try to figure out how we can do this stuff and the marketing and all that. That’s kind of how I met Rasool.

Mark
My Facebook post is what I’m here. Right?

Duy
My Facebook post. Yeah.

Rod
Okay. Well, as long as that got you to pick up the phone or click on a link and get going, that’s freaking awesome. So let me ask you this. What do you think it takes, in your opinion, to do this multifamily business and maybe even to ultimately do it full-time? What do you think it takes?

Duy
I think it’s a mindset shift. I think a lot of people don’t think they could do it or they don’t know how they can fit in, you know, a role in the team or they don’t have money. I think you just kind of shift that mindset quite a bit because for a long, long time you know, I wanted to do that as well from single-family and convert over. And it took me a long time to actually get the confidence to be able to do that because you talk about big numbers when you talk about commercial, right? Like when you talk about single-family, not so big, commercial, you can play with some big numbers.

Rod
More zeros.

Duy
Yeah, it’s pretty intimidating.

Mark
Yeah. And now, if I’m not mistaken, you have what, three kids? Family guy, right?

Duy
Three boys.

Mark
Three boys. Wow. What advice would you give then to the people listening with kids, families, you know, people that are saying, oh, I’ve got a lot going on. I’m not sure if I can do this. What would you tell them?

Duy
Just do the best you can to time block, you know. And the one thing I struggle with which I try to work on every day is just being present in that moment because it flies by. I mean, my son’s eight years old now, you know. I can remember when he was a newborn, like, kicking me in the ribs, waking up every, you know, an hour on the hour. So, I mean, just try to really just soak up that time, really just kind of, you know, be in that moment.

Rod
Good for you. What a great way to describe it is to be present. You know, so often, you know, people are stuck on their phones or they’re not there. Like I said, they’re not there mentally. I wish I’d give anything to be back to eight years old with my kids and to do a do-over. I mean, they’ll tell you I was a great dad, but it’s still a regret of mine. So let me ask you this. Was there an epiphany in all this when you were doing a single-family? I mean, maybe you recognize that you’re only as good as the next deal. I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but was there an epiphany that got you to shift into multifamily? Just a thought process, maybe something that happened, a failure, anything that comes to mind that caused you to say, okay, screw it, I’m going into multifamily.

Duy
Yeah. Again, I didn’t have any passive money coming in, really. I started to build my single-family rental portfolio. The side didn’t like it. I didn’t like working with property managers. I didn’t feel like they were, you know, keeping up the property like it should. I didn’t want to manage the asset, you know, in that capacity, and I needed, you know, again, I’m never going to stop working. Right. Like, if I keep doing single-family and keeping that active income, I need that passive coming in. To me, its multifamily was that vehicle that I think could get me there quicker.

Rod
Yeah, for sure. By the way, how did we meet? Did you come to one of my boot camps or how did you find out about me? I’m just curious. I can’t remember.

Duy
It was a virtual boot camp.

Rod
It was a virtual boot camp. Okay. I got one of those coming up real soon, too. I don’t know when this episode will air, but, yeah, I got one of those coming up on March 12th and 13th.

Mark
It would be afterwards. But there will be another one.

Rod
It might be, yes. And if it is, guys, we’ve got a boot camp coming up in Denver, at the end of July, another live one and we are shooting for about 1000 people. So that’ll be a blast. By the way, talking about the Warrior program, if you are listening and you have an interest in applying to join the Warrior program and my students, I think we’re pushing, God, I think we’re probably actually around 55,000 units owned that we know of. And I’ve been teaching what, a little over four years? Super freaking proud of that. And it’s like I don’t find out what the counts are until we have these interviews with people like you doing– you know, I had no idea you were already in 350 doors. I wasn’t in tune with that. So, you know, if you guys are interested in applying, text the word “CRUSH” to “72345” and you can check us out, we also check you out. We don’t take everybody. But again, that’s text the word “CRUSH” so we can help you crush it in this business to “72345”. So let me ask you this, Duy. Why do you think people fail in any business or give up and not just multifamily. Of course, it happens occasionally, multifamily for sure too. But why do you think that is?

Duy
I think people fail probably because they’re not passionate. They’re probably not passionate about what they’re doing. Maybe they don’t know the systems, the processes. But, you know, I really enjoy real estate. That’s the only reason I was able to push through those hard times because I really like it. And I saw the end goal. And I don’t think a lot of people have the right goals, maybe set, but also they’re not doing what they like to do.

Rod
Couldn’t agree more.

Mark
Do you mind sharing your end goal? Whether it is, you know, time with your kids, retirement? What’s your end goal?

Duy
My end goal is to give my time. I was actually talking to my buddy a while back and your greatest asset is time. And I don’t do any of this, to be honest with you. I don’t really care about making money, but I want to go out there. That’s what my dad does now. Like he’s retired, he’s happy. All he does is help people all day long. And I love that. When I’m able to help somebody, that gives me the most joy. And I just want to do it for free, as long as I have enough money coming in where I can support my family, my wife, me and her, we’re jumping on the plane, you know, we’re going to missionary, you know, mission trips, whatever it takes. I want to help people. That’s my end goal. Get to the point where I can help other people.

Rod
That is so freaking beautiful, brother. And I can’t tell you how often we hear this in the warrior group. And if you’re listening, you know, you’ll start to hear a pattern. Okay? At least as it relates to my warriors and even some of the other people that come on here, you know, that are hitters in this space, and that is almost all of them give back in some fashion, and that’s their driver. That’s what we call a clue, my friends. Okay? We’ve got two hands. One to pull ourselves up and one to pull other people up underneath us. And that’s, you know, whether you believe in God or not, what you give comes back 100 fold and 1000 fold. And so really glad you shared that, brother. I’m really impressed that that’s what your outcome is. Let me ask you a question around fear, because you’re introverted and, you know, you push yourself. And by the way, for those of you watching, you can’t see this. This is a big guy, okay? This is not like some, you know, skinny, broken glasses, nerdy guy. You know, and my wife is like that, too. Super introverted. But let me ask you this. How did you push through the fear? Was it that burning desire? Was it the fact that you love real estate or what was it? Was it that outcome you’re looking for? How did you push through?

Duy
Just knowing, you know, where I wanted to be. I knew I couldn’t do it by myself. And I wasn’t going to get any better unless I put myself in those uncomfortable situations to meet the right people. Right? Because your network is your net worth. And if I’m just stuck by myself, I’m not going to get anywhere.

Rod
Yeah.

Duy
At least not where I want to be.

Rod
No, you mentioned something earlier about, you know, having that desire, that passion for this. And it was just one of the reasons, one of the first things we do at my boot camp is this goal-setting workshop on steroids, because what the heck are you going to get anything if you don’t know what it is? You’ve got to create what Napoleon Hill, which I stole his phrase is that burning desire from his book “Think and Grow Rich”. You’ve got to really want it. And that’s how you allow yourself, you push yourself to get uncomfortable. You push yourself to push through the fear and push through limiting beliefs and make this happen for yourself. So awesome job.

Duy
Thank you. I appreciate it.

Mark
I know you tell us a lot about the successes. What about some of the bad decisions you think you’ve made along the way that people should avoid?

Rod
Setbacks and what you learn from. You know, failures. You know, I call them seminars, but because they’re only a failure if you don’t get your butt back up or you don’t get the lesson. But, you know, talk about one of those. Yeah.

Duy
You know, before, I wouldn’t say I was a huge richer, but I guess I was. You know, I partnered with people that I never vetted. For businesses that I had no idea anything about it. I wasn’t educated, and so I thought I was being really smart about money. Because you always hear about making multiple streams of income, and these are all, like, different issues. Nightclubs, you know, stuff like that, CrossFit gym, stuff like that. So there are more hobbies than real businesses, I think. And I would say, you know, just make sure you vet your partners. If you do decide to partner, make sure you vet the business or the asset or whatever that is yourself to make sure you understand what is really going to be involved, the numbers, and all that type of stuff. And I think I was just a little too trustworthy at the beginning with anybody, really. So I would say, vet the person, the partner, the deal. Make sure you make an educated decision.

Rod
Absolutely critical, because this business is a team sport. You’ve got nothing but partnerships. And I can’t let that go by without mentioning an awesome resource that we have for you guys. And that is “The Questions To Ask When Forming a Partnership”. You got to ask all the hard questions upfront. I’ll give this to you. Just all you got to do is text the word “PARTNERSHIP” to “72345”. And I’ll get this to you. Remember, if you’re interested in applying for the Warrior program, you text “CRUSH” to “72345”. But this book has all the questions you should ask, you know, so you don’t make an emotional decision when you form a partnership. A lot of times it is. And, you know, I’ll tell you, you know, one of the things in here is to also trust your gut, trust your intuition. Your brain is so freaking powerful that it can see little nuances subconsciously that you’re not consciously aware of. And so if your gut feels funny and you know what I’m talking about, if something just feels off, trust it because that’s, you know, your brain letting you know that something’s off. So, yeah, great point. Well, listen, brother, I really appreciate you coming to the show. I know you’re getting into larger deals. It’s absolutely awesome. We’ve got some big deals coming up ourselves, actually. I’m very excited about one in Florida, one in Texas. Yeah. It’s exciting times, a lot of craziness going on in this world, but, you know, we’re managing our focus, you know. It’s so easy to get focused on all the negative crap that’s happening right now, you know, especially overseas. But, you know, we keep our focus on what’s positive and just, you know, focus on what we want. That’s where success comes. But it was great to see a buddy. Really impressed with what you’ve accomplished. And I appreciate you coming on and sharing some of your stories.

Mark
Yeah. Thanks, Duy.

Duy
I appreciate it guys. I appreciate you having me on the show.

Rod
Absolutely.

Outro
Rob, I know a lot of our listeners are wanting to take their multifamily investing business to the next level. Now, I know you’ve been hard at work helping our Warrior students do just that, using our “ACT” methodology, which is Awareness, Close, and Transform. Can you explain to the listeners how they can get our help?

Rod
You bet. Guys, we’ve been going nonstop for three years, building an amazing community of like-minded people. And our coaching students, which we call our Warriors, have had extraordinary results. They’ve purchased thousands and thousands of units, and last year we did over 1000 units with our students. And we’re looking to grow this group and take it to the next level. We’re looking for people who want to follow a proven framework that’s really step by step and then leverage our systems and network to raise equity, to find and close deals, and to build partnerships nationwide. Now our warrior community is finding success in any market cycle. So if you’re interested in finding out more about how you can become more of our incredible network and take advantage of the incredible opportunities that are coming very soon, apply to work with us at “MentorWithRod.com” or text “CRUSH” to “72345” and we’ll set up a call so you can check us out and we can check you out. That’s “MentorWithRod.com” or text “CRUSH” to “72345”.