Caroline Ehler seamlessly transitioned from a successful software engineer to a visionary commercial real estate investor. A dynamic force at the age of 24, she commands an impressive portfolio of 470 multifamily and self-storage units. As the driving force behind Gen Z Equity, Caroline is dedicated to empowering her peers with financial wisdom, demonstrating how to harness youth’s potential for lifelong wealth creation.
Here’s some of the topics we covered:
- How Caroline Shifted From A Realtor To A Warrior
- Caroline’s First Big AHA! Moment
- What The Most Successful People Do For Education
- What Happens At Rod’s Multifamily Bootcamp
- The First Step To Getting Over The Limiting Beliefs
- The Importance eOf Embracing Getting Uncomfortable
- The Different Asset Classes Self Storage Vs. Multifamily
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 – 00:00:22:07
Rod
Welcome to another edition of Life Time Cash Flow Through Real Estate Investing. I’m Radcliffe and I’m thrilled you’re here and got a real treat today. Gentleman’s name is Donato Callahan, and Donato is a whopping 23 years old. He’s already in 176 doors, has another 120, I think, closing on very, very soon. And you got a very interesting background.
00:00:22:13 – 00:00:26:08
Rod
So I’m really excited for this interview. We’re going to do a lot of fun today. Welcome, brother.
00:00:26:09 – 00:00:27:07
Donato
Thank you so much for having me.
00:00:27:07 – 00:00:44:05
Rod
Yeah, you bet. So why don’t you. You know, it shouldn’t take too long because you’re not old enough to have much of a long history here. But why don’t you talk about it? You started to talk about what you did in college. I know you were a high school valedictorian in a class of 350, which is damn impressive.
00:00:44:06 – 00:00:52:13
Rod
So beyond that, talk to us. Why real estate? When you got excited about real estate, everything else you’ve done. So just kind of take us from there and bring us current.
00:00:52:18 – 00:01:13:00
Donato
Yeah, absolutely. So really, my start in real estate happened during COVID 19 when everything shut down. I had no options. I was bored out of my mind and I realized that I was not in control of my financial future and other people had more control over it than I did. So I started a wholesaling company during my senior year of college as a Boise State University, ran that the entire year.
00:01:13:00 – 00:01:25:03
Donato
I was in college, actually got something under contract and quickly realized that I wanted to transition into an asset class I could purchase, got me cash flow tax benefits and I could do the work once and continue to benefit from it in multiple different ways.
00:01:25:06 – 00:01:37:20
Rod
So so when you said you could do it once with that, was there was there a business model that you considered that you had to do it more than once? I’m just curious when you said do it once, so just help me understand that.
00:01:37:21 – 00:01:47:10
Donato
Yeah. So my whole thought process with like wholesaling or flipping properties is once you find the deal and you fix it up and you sell the property and you get that check, you’re no longer collecting benefits. Oh, got.
00:01:47:10 – 00:01:52:08
Rod
It, got it, got it. Yeah. It’s you’re only as good as the last deal. Now understand what you meant. Okay. Please continue. Sorry.
00:01:52:08 – 00:02:01:21
Donato
Yeah, of course. And so when it came to rentals or actual ownership of an asset, it made much more sense in terms. I can buy it. It’ll continue to pay me and benefit me for longer periods of time.
00:02:01:21 – 00:02:09:09
Rod
The reason? This podcast called Lifetime Cash. So no, you’re just music to my ears. Okay, Now I get it. I wasn’t sure we were going with that. All right. Please continue.
00:02:09:11 – 00:02:33:09
Donato
Yeah, of course. And so when I started saying that ownership was the key. More units made more sense. I can have more cash flow, more units, lower risk when it comes occupancy. If someone moves out, owning something that had a lot of units made the most sense. And that’s when I got interested in syndication. So after turning down my wholesaling business, I got introduced to a wholesaler who was interested in moving to syndication space and about spring break.
00:02:33:09 – 00:02:48:03
Donato
And my senior year of college, I found the 96 unit building in Saint Louis, Missouri, wrote an offer on it, got accepted, hired contractors to come check it out, and ended up graduating College Road, shipped back to Iowa, got back home around 10:00 at night.
00:02:48:03 – 00:02:49:00
Rod
That’s where you’re from, Iowa?
00:02:49:00 – 00:03:14:16
Donato
Yup. Got it from Iowa. Went to bed about 10:00, was in my car this morning at 4 a.m. driving to Saint Louis to do my walk through right after graduating college. That deal ended up falling apart when he got cross to the side of the contract. But it was quickly after that that my actual old landlord in college who had spoken to you about real estate investing and she was interested in, you know, continuing her journey, introduced me to a new group she was joining and she was getting into a mentorship group.
00:03:14:19 – 00:03:15:14
Donato
Exactly. Yeah.
00:03:15:14 – 00:03:16:23
Rod
Yeah. Like our Warrior program.
00:03:16:23 – 00:03:28:03
Donato
Got it exactly the same. Mm hmm. So she was, in a sense, syndication. She invited me to come with her into that education group. And I did. And a year later, we closed on our first 172 unit building.
00:03:28:05 – 00:03:28:23
Rod
Where we’re at.
00:03:29:03 – 00:03:30:04
Donato
That was in Waco, Texas.
00:03:30:05 – 00:03:48:11
Rod
Oh, Waco. Okay, Good market. Okay, fantastic. And you talked about wholesaling. Mm hmm. So I’ll tell you, I did a post in our warrior Facebook community, got I don’t even know how long it’s been any more. Matt, Do you know what it’s. Oh, it’s more than that now. It’s more than a year. It’s probably I think it’s closer 18 months.
00:03:48:11 – 00:04:08:21
Rod
But anyway, I asked how many of these people in the in our program at wholesale, the deal made over 100 grand and 12 of them had and then two of them made over a million wholesaling a deal. So, you know, a lot of people talk about wholesaling single family and you know, you make ten, 20, 30 grand max, but you know, you can make some serious money wholesaling multifamily as well.
00:04:08:23 – 00:04:16:06
Rod
And so, ah, you mentioned Saint Louis a couple of times. Do you own assets there as well or Okay.
00:04:16:07 – 00:04:26:16
Donato
Yes, I do. So at the same time that I was getting into large scale syndication with my landlord, right? I purchased four family house back in Saint Louis actually the morning of my 22nd birthday.
00:04:26:21 – 00:04:27:18
Rod
So you live there?
00:04:27:19 – 00:04:28:13
Donato
I live there right now.
00:04:28:13 – 00:04:32:17
Rod
Okay. You’re in that four plex, your house back in that four plex. Yes. Live in for free, Most likely.
00:04:32:17 – 00:04:35:05
Donato
I live in for free. And cash flow in 12 bucks a month.
00:04:35:06 – 00:04:36:02
Rod
1200.
00:04:36:02 – 00:04:38:01
Donato
By this October, it’ll be 2400 bucks a month.
00:04:38:01 – 00:04:43:03
Rod
Holy cow. So you’re living for free and you’re making 2400 bucks on the place you live in.
00:04:43:03 – 00:04:44:06
Donato
Exactly.
00:04:44:08 – 00:05:03:04
Rod
Guys, I hope that’s what we call a clue. And I I’ll tell you something else. You mentioned something a minute ago when I want to flag it. You got your ass up at 4 a.m. to go check out a property that’s called dedication. That’s called discipline. That’s called making it happen. And that’s what you have to do. You know, when you’re willing to grind for a few years, like most people won’t, you’ll live the rest of your life.
00:05:03:04 – 00:05:09:22
Rod
Like most people can’t. And that’s what that’s called. You know, I’d love to know where that drive comes from. So where does that come from?
00:05:10:00 – 00:05:16:01
Donato
Oh, man, I’ve been asked that a lot of times and really, it’s a recognition of the fact that no one’s coming to do it for me.
00:05:16:05 – 00:05:16:19
Rod
Hmm.
00:05:16:21 – 00:05:23:18
Donato
I have the capacity to create a life that either I’m going to love living or regret having lived. Basically, actions or choices I do or do not make.
00:05:23:20 – 00:05:33:12
Rod
Well, you’re an intellectual guy, so you probably in your head a lot in your thinking. A lot or planning a lot. I know you’re with the Department of Defense now as well. Yeah. Talk about that for a minute. Yeah.
00:05:33:12 – 00:05:43:11
Donato
So on top of syndication, my house hacking by day, I work for the Department of Defense as a geospatial analyst. So. Right. Reports working numbers for, you know, higher ups in the government and.
00:05:43:11 – 00:05:45:09
Rod
What is geospatial analyst.
00:05:45:11 – 00:05:55:12
Donato
Basically, we work with a mapping and imagery so things like satellites and being able to take pictures of what’s on the ground, analyze what’s happening there and write that up in a way that senior policymakers can make it.
00:05:55:16 – 00:06:12:14
Rod
So you analyze what you see and give an opinion based on it. This is like a frickin spy movie, man. That’s cool. You should know. I understand it easily. I know you can’t probably go too deep, but, you know, these cameras can read a freaking pack of cigarets and what brand it is from space. So it’s pretty impressive.
00:06:12:16 – 00:06:39:13
Rod
I remember we used to have these these domes in Denver when I lived there. There was these, like circular half of a of a sphere that had these satellites in them or some something that connected to satellites or who knows. But anyway, but, but anyway. So that is very, very cool. And I know that. Well you said, you know, your description of your why kind of gives me some questions.
00:06:39:18 – 00:06:47:07
Rod
Do you have a background that, you know, a history of family or familial history of struggle or talk about that a little bit?
00:06:47:09 – 00:07:09:10
Donato
Yes, No, my parents are divorced and I was pretty young. And so most of my life from maybe four years old to 15 years old was half the week at Mom’s house, the week at Dad’s house. It was back and forth and there was different economic, you know, success between the different both sides. And so it was going between different types of clothing, different types of food, different location, different friends back and forth.
00:07:09:12 – 00:07:10:16
Donato
And I was pretty.
00:07:10:17 – 00:07:12:18
Rod
So you got to see two sides of the coin then.
00:07:12:19 – 00:07:13:14
Donato
Exactly.
00:07:13:14 – 00:07:15:01
Rod
Or live two sides of the coin?
00:07:15:01 – 00:07:32:03
Donato
Very much so. And so growing up in that way, realize that there’s different ways to go about life and there’s different, you know, early on realizing that money equals some level of stability in some ways, you know, whether it’s going to be what vacations you have, where you work, where you are, what you eat, what you wear, what your quality of life is.
00:07:32:03 – 00:07:51:15
Donato
I recognized early on that money had something to do with that stability. And so as I grew up, I recognized that, okay, right now the thing I can’t control is school. And so I’m going to do my best in that I can be because I know that’s right now, the traditional way that my parents would tell me, if you get a good grades, good school, college, good job, you can create a more secure, stable life for yourself.
00:07:51:17 – 00:07:57:19
Donato
And if you have the capacity and the willingness to do the hard work that other people won’t, you’ll be able to get somewhere. The other people.
00:07:57:23 – 00:07:59:14
Rod
You heard this from your parents.
00:07:59:16 – 00:08:00:15
Donato
When it comes to.
00:08:00:16 – 00:08:02:22
Rod
The hard work that other people want peace.
00:08:03:00 – 00:08:25:03
Donato
A little bit. A lot of it was me observing what the reality was around myself and my family and coming to those conclusions more internally of I always ask people around me when I was a kid and probably pissed them off all the time. Why? What do you make? How much money do you make? What kind of lifestyle do you live and do you like it?
00:08:25:05 – 00:08:41:07
Donato
And they started taking notes. You know, this person makes this much. They live like this. Are they happy with it? Yes or no? And this understanding, okay, if my parents are making this much and I know their lifestyles this and they’re happy about it, these are all the different stepping stones I’m looking at to help curate what is a successful life for me.
00:08:41:11 – 00:09:00:10
Rod
Hmm. Life’s about being happy. You know? And and I mean, there are people that don’t have much that are happy, and there are people that have everything financially and they’re not happy. And so, you know, happiness comes a lot of different ways. In fact, I was going to do an Instagram reel on happiness today and just today, actually, this was top of mind for me.
00:09:00:10 – 00:09:15:19
Rod
And, you know, happiness can come from giving happiness as well, cause whatever you want, you give, you want love, you give love, you want happiness. You smile at people, they’ll smile back. You’re happy. It’s you know, you give if you want money, you give money, you give of your time. So we got work. So the universe, whatever you believe, you give what you want.
00:09:15:21 – 00:09:26:04
Rod
So you’re in this mentorship group with your professor from school, wasn’t it your professor? You’re some old landlord. Oh, landlord or landlord when you’re in school. So you’re in that. You’re in this real estate group. Do you believe in mentorship?
00:09:26:06 – 00:09:27:02
Donato
Absolutely.
00:09:27:02 – 00:09:27:13
Rod
Okay.
00:09:27:14 – 00:09:44:06
Donato
Absolutely. My my thought process is if I have ten people around me who’ve been doing this for ten years and I asked him the question, where did you succeed? Where did you fail? And I get out of my own way, toss the ego and just listen to them. Now I have 100 years worth of experience guiding my decisions.
00:09:44:08 – 00:10:01:09
Donato
So as long as I can just sit down and shut up and listen to people that have been successful and apply that in my own life, I can go around some of the hard knocks because they already did. Mentorship is the only way you’re able to, you know, exponentially grow in this industry or any industry. Yeah, because you’re standing on the shoulders of giants.
00:10:01:11 – 00:10:27:23
Rod
That’s it. No, no, I couldn’t agree more, obviously. I guess that’s a little self-serving comment. But the bottom line is I’ve had mentors my whole life. I still do. I have coaches and mentors and and you know, learners are earners. But if you want to accelerate the speed to success, you hire coaches. Michael Jordan had five, six, seven coaches at the height of his career and and you know you mentioned you really mentioned instead of mentorship, you really mentioned the group dynamic.
00:10:28:01 – 00:10:46:23
Rod
And, you know, I think that’s why our warriors are so frickin successful. They’re upwards of 170,000 units that we know of right now that they own. I’ve only been teaching five years, and most of those units are done between warriors. And when you’re in a group like that, a rising tide lifts all ships, right? And you’re not around people that are naysayers or afraid of your success.
00:10:47:03 – 00:11:03:10
Rod
Have you in? Let me ask you that. Have you encountered people that either tried to diminish your goals or tried to, you know, nay say your goals and tell me who they were? Maybe sometimes it’s family, but tell me who they were and and just talk about that for a second.
00:11:03:12 – 00:11:11:08
Donato
So first off, all the time. All the time. All the time I’ve had colleagues that were compared to Nixon and say that because I’m real, I’m a criminal.
00:11:11:10 – 00:11:26:14
Rod
Yeah, I get that. I get that hate on my social media. You’re a landlord. You’re a piece of shit scum. Yep. My. Okay. All right. Thank you. Have a nice day. Yeah. Sometimes I get sucked in If they. If they dog my wife, I get sucked in sometimes, but other than that, I leave them. Anyway. Please continue.
00:11:26:16 – 00:11:43:17
Donato
Yeah. You know, I’ve had to be a little like, you know, controlling on what I share with some people in which environments. Because sometimes I recognize these individuals that I’m around do not share the mindset. And when I talk about this, they’re not interested in saying, Oh, you have this skill set, how can I do it to learn from you?
00:11:43:17 – 00:11:52:10
Donato
It’s you’re doing something that I’m afraid to do or I don’t have the capacity to do, or an avenue that I’m not willing to expose myself to. So I’m going to tear you down.
00:11:52:10 – 00:12:08:15
Rod
Right? They’re going to try to diminish you so they don’t feel bad about themselves. Exactly. Yeah. And, you know, they tell themselves stories as circuit breaker so they don’t feel like crap about themselves. And these are the people that I get hate from online all the time. They’re the ones that, you know, either through entitlement or fear or limiting beliefs.
00:12:08:15 – 00:12:28:02
Rod
They don’t believe that they deserve it or they can’t do it or they’re not smart enough or strong enough or have enough time or whatever. And, you know, I tell people the reason the acronym for belief Systems is B.S. is because they are B.S. but people believe them. You know, and you mentioned something really important. You said you have to be careful in control.
00:12:28:02 – 00:12:49:03
Rod
Your conversations around people until you know whether or not, you know, they have a progressive might are not progressive is the wrong word. They want to do more with their life versus stay static. And I’m going to tell you that’s super important. And guys, listen up on this one. You know, when you’ve got a dream and it’s first comes to fruition, I mean, you first start thinking about wanting to do something.
00:12:49:03 – 00:13:00:17
Rod
Maybe it’s multifamily, maybe it’s something else, whatever it is and it’s a dream, it’s a fragile thread, and if you share it with the wrong person, they can break that thread. So you want to be very, very careful who you share that with. Would you agree with.
00:13:00:17 – 00:13:01:19
Donato
That 100%?
00:13:01:19 – 00:13:26:15
Rod
Yeah. And and then, you know, once it’s more solid and secure, then you can just, you know, tell people what they can do with themselves or ignore them or whatever when they try to diminish your goals. But you got to recognize as well that, you know, like you said, people out of their own fear, their own limiting beliefs, their own, you know, afraid of being uncomfortable, their own maybe fear of feeling less than if you succeed, feel or maybe they love you in some cases even.
00:13:26:15 – 00:13:42:18
Rod
And they don’t want to lose you because they know you’re moving ahead. That’s a dynamic as well. And so all of that comes into play. And, you know, the sad reality is most people default to a peer group, that they go to school, went to school with or went to work with, and they’re not proactively choosing their peers.
00:13:42:18 – 00:13:51:13
Rod
And and again, those people can can hold you back and sometimes it’s family, you know, love your family, but choose your freaking peers proactively, right?
00:13:51:13 – 00:13:52:04
Donato
Yes.
00:13:52:04 – 00:13:52:10
Rod
Yeah.
00:13:52:15 – 00:14:11:20
Donato
Could not agree more. You know, I’ve had a lot of my family there also some of the first people that tell me, hey, maybe don’t forget your day job as a member of I’m doing real estate for business. Make sure health care is expensive. Let’s make sure that we keep these things protected and sometimes it’s difficult. You know, some of the people my family have been entrepreneurs and third generation entrepreneurs.
00:14:11:20 – 00:14:13:15
Rod
And they and they fell or, you know.
00:14:13:15 – 00:14:15:01
Donato
And they successfully sold their business.
00:14:15:01 – 00:14:17:14
Rod
Okay. And but they’re not diminishing. You are they’re.
00:14:17:15 – 00:14:19:13
Donato
They’re the first ones that say don’t forget your day.
00:14:19:13 – 00:14:20:12
Rod
Job. Really?
00:14:20:12 – 00:14:21:03
Donato
Yeah.
00:14:21:05 – 00:14:36:04
Rod
Interesting. I know. Wow. That makes no sense at all. Because they stepped out and did it anyway. Wow. I don’t understand that at all. There’s got to be something else. Work in there. But, you know, most entrepreneurs will move from one thing to the next thing where, you know, we’re like sharks. An entrepreneur only dies if they stop swimming, you know?
00:14:36:04 – 00:14:55:09
Rod
And I tell people I’ve had I’ve built 27 businesses myself, several worth tens of millions of dollars. Most spectacular failures. I call them seminars. But let me ask you this. So, you know, I have a lot of people on my show that that listen to my show or watch my show that, you know, they see the economic headwinds we’re facing.
00:14:55:09 – 00:15:11:15
Rod
They see and I’m if they’ve listened to me enough, they know I see it as massive opportunity. I think there’s going to be incredible opportunity. This country, I saw it in oh eight, nine when I lost everything and I really believe it’s about to happen again. And they know they need to do something. They sit and they listen to my show.
00:15:11:16 – 00:15:17:07
Rod
You know, it’s entertaining, whatever. But they haven’t taken any action. What would you say to those people?
00:15:17:09 – 00:15:36:00
Donato
I would say, take your money, identify the most elite, trustworthy, highly successful operating team you can when it comes to multifamily investing, because it’s not necessarily about the deal as what the team that you’re working with find the team you can work with, identified their criteria and start investing with them now.
00:15:36:02 – 00:15:37:07
Rod
Like passively investing.
00:15:37:07 – 00:15:37:21
Donato
Exactly.
00:15:37:21 – 00:15:38:04
Rod
Okay.
00:15:38:06 – 00:15:49:14
Donato
Be a limited partner in a team that you can trust and a team that has that track record just like yourself. I mean, that is going to be the type of ship that people can ride through choppy waters as you move forward into a tumultuous time in the markets.
00:15:49:16 – 00:16:10:17
Rod
I absolutely agree with you. And passive investing is a fantastic way to start. But what if somebody doesn’t have a lot of money to get started? What would you say to that person and maybe that person, you know, so so they can’t start passively because most people want 25, 50 or 100 grant to invest passively our minimums, 100 on it for accredited investors and you know, years, maybe less.
00:16:10:17 – 00:16:28:14
Rod
But but you know, you’re not going to go less than 25 grand in most cases. So So. Right. You’re shaking your head no. So so what what would you tell those people that know they need to do something with their lives to get out of the freaking rat race so they’re not in the same place a year or two from now that they are right now, unless they freaking love where they are right now.
00:16:28:16 – 00:16:29:14
Rod
What would you say to them?
00:16:29:17 – 00:16:51:19
Donato
It’s not going to be popular. That’s okay. It’s not be popular. Reassess what you actually need. And I say that I mean, my plan was not to move to Saint Louis. It was to go to the D.C. area where the Department Defense is mainly located. But I recognize that my opportunity as a fresh college grad to be able to buy real estate was much higher opportunity in Saint Louis.
00:16:51:21 – 00:16:59:15
Donato
The prices were better. The rent, the rent prices were better. I had a better opportunity to get the house back and start the life that I knew I wanted to build.
00:16:59:15 – 00:17:00:10
Rod
Great decision.
00:17:00:10 – 00:17:18:15
Donato
And when I talk to individuals today, it always burns me up. When I said, you know, you could go do a house, like you could go, you know, start learning about real estate. You start you could dedicate time or energy or dedication to learning about this. Yeah. And the answers I get from them like, oh, you know, I love my massages or I spending too much money anyways, you know, I got a life.
00:17:18:19 – 00:17:33:12
Rod
They don’t want it. They don’t want it, They don’t. Yeah, they just don’t want it bad enough. And I’ll tell you, that’s the reason that my bootcamps, the first thing we do is goal setting on steroids. Because how the hell do you get anything? You don’t know what it is. You got to know what you want. So first thing we do, you’ve got to create what Napoleon Hill calls a burning desire.
00:17:33:12 – 00:17:55:17
Rod
You got to want it because that’s how you push through that crap. That’s how you you get up early, 4 a.m. like you got up. You know, you wanted it and you get up early, you stay up late, you do whatever the hell you have to do to make it happen. So you create the lifestyle that you want and and you know, and that’s why I spend so much time on mindset in my conversations, on my podcast, at my events, because it really is 80 to 90% of it.
00:17:55:20 – 00:18:13:18
Rod
You that’s the problem with these people you just described. They just they don’t want it bad enough. They don’t the mindset for it. And so yeah, and I’ll tell you, you know, even if you just go to YouTube University, for God’s sakes, even my booking, my boot camps are freaking, you know, if you DM, you can come for $197, three days of training.
00:18:13:18 – 00:18:29:22
Rod
Nothing being. I mean, I talk about my coaching for about 30 minutes. That’s it. That’s the sale. Okay? The rest of the time it’s all, you know, drinking through a firehose, you know, so that for some people they can’t afford to travel or the hotel. I get it. But man, educate yourself. I mean, I believe let’s talk of market conditions for a minute.
00:18:29:22 – 00:18:46:09
Rod
I’ll tell you what I think. I think we’re headed you know, we’ve got 1.6 trillion in debt coming due by the end of next year. Those people either have to refinance or sell. Sales are 75% down first quarter of this year, 75% year over year decline. And we know what’s happening with refinance. Our bridge debt right now is about 9%.
00:18:46:13 – 00:19:00:20
Rod
Okay. So, you know, a lot of these guys that got bridge debt these last couple of years, you know, they’re struggling and and their debt service coverage ratio is not where it needs to be. And so to refinance or even though they’re going to have to put money in. Right.
00:19:00:22 – 00:19:02:03
Donato
You can call.
00:19:02:05 – 00:19:23:04
Rod
They’re going to have to have a capital call. I mean, I just got it. I literally just got an email from my attorney and I will read it to you right now. I’m not going to give you his name, but I’ll read you what he just said. Hang on. She’s had a lot of emails already. Okay. We have about 45% of our clients doing cash calls, loans and trying to do Forbearances right now.
00:19:23:07 – 00:19:40:12
Rod
And this is a big hitter in Texas. You would know him. I’ll tell you after we stop recording who it is. What? But I’m going to so so and this is a I mean, this is a guy that that deals with a lot of my warriors. And, you know, luckily my warriors aren’t in, thank God. And knock on wood, not having too much trouble right now.
00:19:40:12 – 00:20:01:01
Rod
But but there are a lot of people that are you know, I went to a couple of industry conferences this last 60 days and, you know, the I’m in mid-market conference. I keynoted MFI in in Charlotte. And, you know, there’s a lot of sweat beat it up on foreheads, you know I’m surprised there’s not more stuff on the market with lower pricing yet.
00:20:01:01 – 00:20:09:02
Rod
I’m I’m kind of surprised. I think these people are thinking the rates are going to come down. But Powell just said they’re not. Yeah, he said they’re going to raise them again. So what are your thoughts on all this?
00:20:09:04 – 00:20:25:14
Donato
I completely agree. I mean, we have individuals who I think we’re on the back end of that belief that we’re still in 2021. I can get those prices. I can pump that price per door. I can still get 180 $200,000 a door, no problem. And now we see large defaults or foreclosures when it comes to Houston portfolios, I’m sure you’re aware.
00:20:25:14 – 00:20:26:11
Donato
Oh, yeah, that.
00:20:26:13 – 00:20:46:04
Rod
That was one of our competitors, you know. Student And he lost 3400 units. And I mean, he was a nefarious guy. From what I’m hearing now. He ran to India with a bunch of money. But, you know, which is a black eye for the industry that scares investors, which is just which sucks because that’s not the norm. But, you know, I do think, you know, we’re going to see some pain.
00:20:46:05 – 00:21:05:14
Rod
We’re going to see some investors lose their investments. And, you know, I hate that. But, you know, I’m going to look at it through rose colored glasses at the opportunity that’s coming. And we’re creating a, you know, an opportunity fund for distressed assets. And it’s just about done. We’ll have it done here in about a week. But, you know, I agree with crisis comes opportunity.
00:21:05:14 – 00:21:06:17
Rod
Absolutely right. Yeah.
00:21:06:19 – 00:21:20:06
Donato
And with this crisis, I think those individuals who have stayed true to the morals and the principles of like multifamily investing in syndication will be revealed. And so too will those who come through this industry and maybe don’t have the best intentions. What’s coming down the pipeline?
00:21:20:09 – 00:21:24:10
Rod
The water is going out and. Exactly. And we’re going to see who’s naked exactly. Bottom line.
00:21:24:10 – 00:21:39:00
Donato
Yeah. To see. And so, you know, you’ll have individuals who have some egg on their face and you’ll have investors who end up taking their money, realizing that, hey, I may have lost money to this person, but these people are still they’re not naked under the water. And so they’ll be flocking to those individuals who actually have the capacity, you know, because they’re.
00:21:39:00 – 00:22:04:01
Rod
Still going to want those returns and hopefully they don’t lose their capital. I think there is going to be some capital losses. And I’ll tell you, a lot of this debt is held by banks. And I mean, I pulled a Forbes actually, I got it right here, actually, this episode or this issue of Forbes talks about the office occupancy in the top six cities in the country, Chicago and all that.
00:22:04:01 – 00:22:29:09
Rod
And the average is 70% occupied. Those assets don’t cash flow at 70% occupied. So they’re either going to go back to the dip the banks. And again, I think we’re going to see some significant bank failures. And so, you know, I, I don’t want to scare you. I want to get you excited because opportunities come in so so back to you in your lengthy career.
00:22:29:11 – 00:22:45:19
Rod
Talk about some some I mean, you’ve done a lot in a short amount of time. So I will tell you, you’ve compressed time. You compress time by getting involved in a mentorship group, you know, aligning with people that are making stuff happen. Very smart. You’ve compressed time, but that said, talk about some epiphanies that you’ve had along the way.
00:22:45:23 – 00:22:54:03
Rod
And it can be in the single-family space, multifamily space, but just some like, okay, aha moments now I get it. Talk about that. If anything comes to mind when I ask that.
00:22:54:04 – 00:23:08:23
Donato
Sure. One of the first ones is actually when I when the reason I got started in real estate, you know, I had thankfully during college, I got this scholarship that, you know, pay me some money to go to school for the Department of Defense, and I’ve been saving that money up. And my family was like, you got to put that money in the stock market.
00:23:09:01 – 00:23:27:21
Donato
I said, okay, great. You know what you guys did? I’ll I’ll do that as well. And did it. And then COVID hit. And I watched the value literally half overnight. Wow. Literally half of it gone. And it was that moment that I realized and asked a question that every real estate investor, every entrepreneur was ever asked, you know, like, is there a better way?
00:23:27:23 – 00:23:39:07
Donato
That was the first moment I realized I was not in control of my own financial well-being. Yeah, there had to be another avenue that I could build it and be in control of it and continue to grow it. And that’s what first got me into looking into real estate.
00:23:39:09 – 00:23:58:22
Rod
You know, I’ve got a webinar next week talking about the fatal mistakes that investors make. I’ve made these last couple of years like bridge debt, you know, not, not raising enough operating reserves. I mean, I know these operators that have no operating reserves at all. Yeah, like a big operator came to me and wanted me to help him on a deal.
00:23:58:22 – 00:24:06:12
Rod
I mean, this is a big name, you’d know. And I looked at his proforma and they’re pulling the they’re going to pull the operating reserves from cash.
00:24:06:12 – 00:24:07:22
Donato
Yup, yup. From cash.
00:24:07:22 – 00:24:31:19
Rod
Flow. I mean you talk about a recipe for disaster, you know, And then then I looked at his rent pro forma and he is performing 7% this year increase and 5% each year thereafter. I mean come on seriously. That reminded me, you know, of someone else who’s pro forma I looked at and everybody knows him interview initials GC and I looked at one of his pro formas and it was 10% a year.
00:24:31:21 – 00:24:32:21
Rod
Oh, five years.
00:24:32:21 – 00:24:33:10
Donato
I mean, certainly.
00:24:33:10 – 00:24:37:00
Rod
Not know this. And there’s not a chance I mean, the average this year, 2%.
00:24:37:04 – 00:24:42:11
Donato
And that’s why we underwrite our deals right now to run growth 2%. Right. Because just because the last three years was super.
00:24:42:11 – 00:24:43:12
Rod
Hot last year, not.
00:24:43:12 – 00:24:45:22
Donato
Going to the sex market, assuming that. No, absolutely not.
00:24:45:22 – 00:25:02:13
Rod
No. And the same operator, I just had somebody really well-known who’s who’s raised money for him send me a text and he’s like, should I do this deal? And I looked at and I’m like, they’re claiming they’re going to get the expense ratio down to 36% in the first year. And I’m like, You don’t even get that on a brand new asset.
00:25:02:13 – 00:25:23:22
Rod
And this actually happens to be a brand new asset, but you don’t even get that. There’s no way. And so definitely not in Texas, where this is with the high insurance and everything else. So but anyway, you know, by the way, guys, when I’m talking about expense ratio, the average is about 50%. So, you know, 50% of your income is going to go to property related expenses, does not include debt.
00:25:24:00 – 00:25:40:20
Rod
But so let me ask you this as your moving forward in this multifamily syndication business and you’re buying assets and you’re already, you know, doing some small multifamily as well, what do you think is the most challenging part of your role?
00:25:40:22 – 00:25:43:19
Donato
Well, my role I specialize in due diligence and market research.
00:25:43:20 – 00:25:44:01
Rod
Okay.
00:25:44:02 – 00:26:06:04
Donato
So what I’m what I’m answering for the team is why are investing in the state, this city, this neighborhood, this property, what’s happening around the asset itself and what’s happening with our competitors to understand why we buying this property and why is it a good deal for us? It’s a difficult part. I think going forward is, one, identifying the right markets for us to be looking into and capitalizing on the most opportune and most opportunities possible.
00:26:06:04 – 00:26:08:01
Rod
What markets do you like the best Right now?
00:26:08:02 – 00:26:16:05
Donato
I like secondary and tertiary markets in central northwestern Texas, so I like Lubbock, I like Waco, Alex and Angela, like Amarillo. And the deal we’re working on right now is in Arlington.
00:26:16:05 – 00:26:17:12
Rod
How’s the insurance up there.
00:26:17:17 – 00:26:19:19
Donato
If you know the right person? Not too shabby. Really?
00:26:19:19 – 00:26:21:03
Rod
Yeah. Like how much per unit?
00:26:21:06 – 00:26:24:19
Donato
You’re not going to believe me. I tell you this, though. So 52 door. Really? Yep.
00:26:24:21 – 00:26:25:20
Rod
Wow, that’s not bad.
00:26:25:21 – 00:26:26:23
Donato
Got a pretty awesome provider.
00:26:26:23 – 00:26:28:11
Rod
That’s not bad. Yeah, that’s not bad.
00:26:28:11 – 00:26:29:11
Donato
I mean, looking at we’re getting.
00:26:29:11 – 00:26:44:11
Rod
Quotes at 2000. Yep. We looking at a deal in Louisiana. It’s 3000. I mean, it’s just insane from 500. That’s what the seller is paying. 500. So tell me, what’s some of the best advice that you’ve ever received? And as it relates to real estate, specifically.
00:26:44:13 – 00:26:55:07
Donato
Some of the best advice I’ve ever received when it comes to real estate would definitely be find the individual that’s doing what you want to be doing, make their life easier, and they will open the floodgates of wisdom to you.
00:26:55:11 – 00:27:10:17
Rod
Oh, that’s great. That’s great. That’s really good. Yeah. You said you try to you try to add value to people. I get hit up all the time. Can I come work for you for free or not? You know, but. And which is, which is basically what we’re talking about here. But, you know, that’s a great approach. Absolutely a great approach.
00:27:10:19 – 00:27:20:06
Rod
Let me ask you this. How did you get past the fear of doing that first big deal? I think I know the answer, but I’d like to hear you say it.
00:27:20:10 – 00:27:40:12
Donato
Yeah, well, first off, when you’re approaching it, I know there’s a lot of a lot of book reading, a lot of failures that go into this, but definitely then start off with this magical mindset. Took a lot of growth in reading and understanding where people have failed and asking a lot of questions. But aligning myself with a great team that has a track record, that has the experience to know I’m going to be coming in and I’m responsible for this piece of the puzzle.
00:27:40:14 – 00:27:58:14
Donato
And that piece is going to help complete the entire picture of making us successful investment. So first off, the right partners was crucial in getting over that fear. And secondly, instead of asking myself, What if it fails, I started asking, what if it goes right? What if this property actually does close? What if we are able to implement the renovation plan?
00:27:58:18 – 00:28:20:17
Donato
We’re able to get in Reno, the units, increase the rents, bump their occupancies back up. What if it works out? How life changing could that be? And instead of being like my own worst enemy and kind of tear down all the different possibilities are out there being my own biggest supporter and realizing, yes, there’s risk and with the right partners we can mitigate that and choosing to believe in the possibility of what if.
00:28:20:19 – 00:28:35:18
Rod
That’s good and that’s good. And the only caveat I would say to that is and I love that you look, you’re not just looking at what could go wrong. You’re looking at what could go right. The only caveat I would say to that is, is to not look at what could go right to the extent that you overlook what could go wrong.
00:28:35:18 – 00:28:55:01
Rod
Right. Okay. That, you know, I talk about, you know, when you first get a property under contract, you know, you might have looked at 300 deals to find that deal and you get it under contract and you doing backflips the whole way home at that very moment. You’ve got to take off. You’ve got to put on the hat basically that says, Why do I not want to do this deal?
00:28:55:01 – 00:29:16:23
Rod
Yeah, because sometimes the best deals are when you don’t do. And so and it’s very difficult. That sounds really simple, but it’s very difficult because as human beings, when we make a big decision, it’s human tendency to look for reasons to shore up and justify the decision we just made, not look for reasons to negate it. And so you really have to be careful with that because otherwise you will subconsciously overlook things you shouldn’t be overlooking.
00:29:17:04 – 00:29:33:23
Rod
Absolutely So, but I do like what you just said, though. Look at the look at the positive side as well. So let me ask you this. You know, you want happiness. And I think I think, you know, and you want success, whatever that means to you. Tell me what success means to you. What’s success going to look like for you?
00:29:34:01 – 00:29:54:01
Donato
Success to me in a short form. Board games. I love playing board games with my family, my parents and I. My 21st birthday, I spent playing board games for 14 hours. It’s my folks. When I’m able to go home, I sit down with my parents at the table. We’re spending time together. It’s cutting each other up in our lives and we get to play board games.
00:29:54:01 – 00:30:19:18
Donato
And what success looks like to me is having the time to be able to go home, sit down at the table with them, go back with my grandpa, smoke a cigar with him in the pool house, and be able to dedicate the time that I want to with the people that continue to fill me up without having to put in a request at work, by having to wonder if I can afford the trip to get back home and being able to continue to do the hobbies and work with the people that are really fulfilling me the most.
00:30:19:18 – 00:30:23:21
Rod
Nice, nice. That’s good stuff. And so it’s time. Freedom, basically.
00:30:23:21 – 00:30:24:14
Donato
Time. Freedom.
00:30:24:14 – 00:30:26:18
Rod
Yeah. That’s your definition of success is to have freedom.
00:30:26:20 – 00:30:35:09
Donato
I’ll tell you a story real quick. One of the people that I work with that my job he’d been working for several, several years. I think it was 15 or 16 for what.
00:30:35:09 – 00:30:36:06
Rod
I’m working for.
00:30:36:06 – 00:30:37:19
Donato
What are the Department of Defense? Right.
00:30:37:19 – 00:30:38:21
Rod
But you said something else.
00:30:38:21 – 00:30:40:17
Donato
I have been working there for about 15 or 16.
00:30:40:17 – 00:30:41:21
Rod
Misunderstood, okay?
00:30:41:23 – 00:30:58:20
Donato
And he didn’t have many kids. And so I was wondering, you know, you know, almost 20 years in maybe might be close to a traditional retirement. And so I went over and asked him, because I am always curious for these kinds of things, Hey, you’ve been here X many years. Are you close to being done? And he laughed in my face really well, that to my face at work.
00:30:58:22 – 00:31:15:03
Donato
And he said to me, I’ll never forget. He said, Donato, I’ve mentally prepared to do another 17 years. Okay. What does that mean when you when we both know that real estate, you dedicate your life to it? You, you put in the time a few short.
00:31:15:03 – 00:31:19:21
Rod
Years you can do in three years, you rebuild a life of your frickin dreams in three years. Three years.
00:31:19:21 – 00:31:32:09
Donato
Right? And so to be a person with the mindset of I’m mentally prepared to do another 17 years is telling me I’m prepared to waste 14 of my years for this. For comfort.
00:31:32:13 – 00:31:49:16
Rod
Yeah. For comfort is right for you because of fear. And I’m assuming you’re in a room of a lot of analytical people. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Which of course, you know, for an analytical person, you’re an anomaly in this regard. For an analytical person to make a decision, they have to check off every. And I love you. You know who you are.
00:31:49:18 – 00:32:09:17
Rod
You have to check off every single box. And then very often they can’t check off all the boxes. They don’t take action. You know, And for those of you that that that that that shoe fits, just recognize that you’re not going to see the whole path, but you got to take that first step. And faith, Dr. Martin Luther King said you take that first step and faith, the next step will be revealed.
00:32:09:23 – 00:32:27:20
Rod
And here’s the analogy that you’ve maybe you’ve heard me say this before. If you listen to me a lot is, you know, you can drive all the way across this country at night, your headlights seeing 60 feet in front of you and you know, you’ll make it. You know, your your other people have made it. You may have some obstacles, but you know, you’ll make it the same way with this multifamily business.
00:32:28:01 – 00:32:43:15
Rod
And then if you align with a group that’s already done it, you know, you don’t have to build the wheel. The wheel is already built, you just have to work the wheel, which is what you did, right? I mean, you just stepped in and found your your spot on your team. Exactly. And that’s and this business is a team sport and there are lots of different hats.
00:32:43:15 – 00:33:06:13
Rod
You can be the the acquisitions person finding the deals. You can be the the investor relations person raising the money. You can be the person like you that does the due diligence and an advanced underwriting. And and, you know, that’s that’s what that’s how you get into this business. And that’s the beautiful thing. It doesn’t matter. You know, you just determine what your superpower is and that’s what you bring to this business.
00:33:06:14 – 00:33:13:21
Rod
So let me ask you this. Are our anything else that’s kind of weird about you that nobody knows about you?
00:33:13:23 – 00:33:30:02
Donato
Oh, man. Nobody knows about me. Geez, Louise, when I was in high school and college, you know, I people always looked at me, and I was a bigger kid. I was, I definitely think a michelin tire man. That was me as a kid, for sure.
00:33:30:03 – 00:33:31:03
Rod
Gotcha.
00:33:31:05 – 00:33:50:20
Donato
But I love bodybuilding and weightlifting. And so when I was in high school, I went from 225 to 135 and now months. It’s actually another kind of a cold turkey story. I remember one day I got super upset about something, something my mom had said, you know, as a kid, it all that no frustrates you. I started making food because that was my emotional kind of outlet was eating at that point.
00:33:50:22 – 00:33:58:21
Donato
I remember I was making a sandwich and I put it in my mouth and I stopped. I was like, What am I doing? And I ran outside my back yard. I threw it.
00:33:58:21 – 00:34:00:23
Rod
It was comfort. Yeah. Yeah. You’re doing it for comfort. Oh.
00:34:00:23 – 00:34:08:23
Donato
Grew it in the backyard, threw my tennis shoes and did a little TV voice version of running as far as I could on the bike path and got about a mile.
00:34:08:23 – 00:34:10:03
Rod
That was an epiphany moment.
00:34:10:03 – 00:34:14:11
Donato
That was an epiphany moment and about a mile. And then I walked myself back but.
00:34:14:11 – 00:34:16:03
Rod
Vomited and.
00:34:16:05 – 00:34:17:00
Donato
Rolled around like.
00:34:17:00 – 00:34:19:22
Rod
Oh, man. So you’re in a weightlifting. Do you like my gym down there?
00:34:19:22 – 00:34:23:14
Donato
Oh, I love that. I took a couple of pictures down there. Yeah, No.
00:34:23:14 – 00:34:40:04
Rod
I that’s my pride and joy. It was a two car garage and I’d convert into a credible, incredible gym. I’ll have to do a video now. I’m sure you guys would. It’s. I’m really proud of it. So let me ask you this. You know, you are you freakin valedictorian. So you understand school. You understand what they teach in school.
00:34:40:06 – 00:34:49:07
Rod
If you could teach schoolchildren one thing for an hour or two a week, what might you choose.
00:34:49:09 – 00:34:51:01
Donato
As far as a topic or anything in the world?
00:34:51:05 – 00:34:52:23
Rod
I don’t care.
00:34:53:01 – 00:34:53:19
Donato
Discipline.
00:34:53:21 – 00:34:58:18
Rod
Discipline. Good answer. Absolutely. Okay, so expand on that a little bit.
00:34:58:20 – 00:35:05:11
Donato
Discipline is the ingredient that will make a fantastic cake or, you know, deflate a souffle. Hmm. Hundred percent.
00:35:05:13 – 00:35:07:16
Rod
That is cooking. Cooking metaphor. You like cooking?
00:35:07:16 – 00:35:26:22
Donato
I do like giving it to discipline. I would say even at my young age is the thing that differentiates a lot of what I do from some of my peers around me. Not to say that I’m this special guy who done this, the stuff just showing up on a consistent basis asking how can I do more? How can I help those around me?
00:35:27:00 – 00:35:38:12
Donato
And they’re working with individuals who are asking themselves the same question, How can I do more? How can I help? Donato Being disciplined in your actions day to day is what gets you further than anything else.
00:35:38:14 – 00:36:06:06
Rod
Love it. No, that’s such a great answer. That’s not the answer I expected. But that is a great freaking answer. And, you know, I’ll tell you, which is why I spend so much time on mindset in in all of my communication, because it’s 80 to 90% of it. And, you know, you’ve got to really want what you want to create that discipline in yourself so that you get up at 4 a.m., like you said, me get my ass in the cold plunge that I just of every day for 5 minutes.
00:36:06:08 – 00:36:22:23
Rod
I’ll show it to you when we’re done here. And it’s been kind of cool. We set it up really nice, but, you know, it’s it’s that willingness to get uncomfortable, right? Yes. You that the incredible life of your dreams is just on the other side of comfort. But in you don’t have to be uncomfortable forever. But that’s why I did.
00:36:22:23 – 00:36:38:12
Rod
I started doing the coal plunge because that I was really not looking forward to. I bought I bought Wim Hoff’s book, The Ice Man guy named Wim Hoppy’s can go in ice for like an hours and and to learn his breathing exercises and everything else because I was not looking forward to it because I like to be comfortable as well.
00:36:38:17 – 00:36:58:15
Rod
I’m like, Man, I need to get uncomfortable. And now I love that damn thing, man. It’s been awesome. I literally go in there every day for 5 minutes. But, you know, are there any things as you been doing this I mean, you got your full time job, now you’re doing this multifamily gig. Were there any things you had to cut out of your life to make this happen?
00:36:58:15 – 00:37:03:05
Rod
Any sacrifices? You had to speak to sacrifices for a minute, Absolutely.
00:37:03:07 – 00:37:18:06
Donato
And I think you alluded to it a little bit earlier, but that period of your life where you’re sacrificing things, it is a season of life. And I felt it is extremely crucial that even for myself, when I was going into this period of my life to say, look, I’m going to give up a lot of things right now and that’s going to happen.
00:37:18:06 – 00:37:21:20
Donato
I’m going to do that for these reasons to get to this goal. So what you.
00:37:21:20 – 00:37:22:23
Rod
Have to give up.
00:37:23:01 – 00:37:45:10
Donato
One lot of social activities. So I’m not going out very often with friends. I’m not spending money frivolously when it comes to like certain trips or hobbies or things like that, curtailing spending. And then my time, you know, most of these days I’m up at five, I’m at work at six, I’m working 6 to 2 or three. Well, then I get off work and I have 30 text messages, five missed calls.
00:37:45:11 – 00:38:01:01
Donato
I’m in meetings where I’m working from 330 to about 10:00 at night. At that point, I go back to bed and continuing to do that over and over and over again and saying no to trips, saying no to. In recent months, I’ve had to take some time off the gym even to be able to continue to like, Hey, I don’t give.
00:38:01:01 – 00:38:01:11
Rod
That up too.
00:38:01:11 – 00:38:13:00
Donato
Long, not too long. You know, I think I’ve been doing it for like six years where I’m I’m able to take like, you know, a six month time off and take some information and, you know, dedicate the extra time. But thankfully, we’re coming back to that point where I have more time.
00:38:13:00 – 00:38:32:13
Rod
My that you need to make time for that, brother. I’m just telling you, you know, energy, you know, to do what you do and you and those are you listening. Listen up. You know, to have a family and kids and a spouse. And even if you’re by yourself, but you’re you’ve got a full time W-2 gig that is consuming like yours and you want to build this side hustle.
00:38:32:15 – 00:38:55:14
Rod
It requires incredible energy. And to have incredible energy, you need to be eating well and you need to be exercising, period. And so, you know, I can’t stress that enough. So let me ask you this. Talk about some setbacks or some failures on this journey in the real estate side of things. And we all have them. And it’s think of a try to think of a doozy and maybe the lesson you got, if anything comes to mind when I ask that question.
00:38:55:16 – 00:39:12:11
Donato
Sure. When my first wholesale deals, definitely I locked up a deal from a seller and publishers looking sell shoes out of state. And I had gotten assigned to a local real estate investor and I was in about $25,000 on it that was in recoup all the expenses I’d made, give me a little profit. My first successful real estate investment.
00:39:12:13 – 00:39:34:18
Donato
And about a couple weeks later, I got a text from the seller saying, What’s your address? And I thought it was odd, but I gave it to her. A week later, I get a letter from her lawyer asking to get out of the wholesaler contract. And what happened was, you know, her son, who’s living there rent free and spending all of his money on trucks and boats and not taking care of the property, had talked to mom and say, You’re going to throw me out.
00:39:34:18 – 00:39:38:13
Donato
I’m going to be on the street, What are you doing to me? And weaseled his way back in.
00:39:38:15 – 00:39:44:18
Rod
So now, now that’s the guy that just sends me hate messages on my on my social media, you know? Sorry to interrupt.
00:39:44:18 – 00:40:06:15
Donato
You know? Exactly. Exactly. And so I was faced with this decision, you know, am I going to as a 21 year old at the time, going to try to fight this? Am I going to try to, you know, get in between this mom and her son and forces transaction, or am I going to cancel the contract, basically burn a bridge with this buyer who no longer trust me anymore and eat the $25,000 in operating costs.
00:40:06:17 – 00:40:08:00
Donato
And I had 20.
00:40:08:00 – 00:40:09:01
Rod
Five grand in the deal.
00:40:09:04 – 00:40:13:19
Donato
I the entire time I’ve been working on wholesaling company, spelling out mailers, dealing.
00:40:13:19 – 00:40:17:22
Rod
Oh, I see, I see. Got you. Yeah. The money that you spent to be able to get that deal.
00:40:17:22 – 00:40:26:08
Donato
Exactly. Got you. This one deals and recouped me for all of it. Right. And I had to make a decision. And the decision I made was, I’m going to let her out.
00:40:26:10 – 00:40:26:22
Rod
Yeah.
00:40:27:00 – 00:40:38:01
Donato
I let her out. Well, let her out. It was, you know, my thought process was and great advice that I was given to me by my mom and my partners. Now that no pillow is a soft is that of a clear conscience.
00:40:38:02 – 00:40:55:21
Rod
Yeah, no question. Then our number one core value in every one of my companies is integrity. We do what’s right, even if it freaking hurts. And you know, there was a a book by a guy named Huntsman Billionaire. Yeah. The book’s called Winners Never Cheats a small book. It’s incredible. But it’s about that. It’s about doing what’s right, man.
00:40:55:21 – 00:41:06:23
Rod
And that’s why you’re successful. It’s why I’m successful, you know, it’s you do what’s right. Like, like I say, even when it hurts. So what are you not good at? Because you’re good at a lot of stuff. What are you not good at?
00:41:07:01 – 00:41:09:13
Donato
I’m not good at letting go at all.
00:41:09:15 – 00:41:11:08
Rod
It give an example.
00:41:11:10 – 00:41:19:02
Donato
So within the company or another company I work in, software company, I founded Bright Investor, I read the book Who Not How by Dan Sullivan.
00:41:19:03 – 00:41:19:19
Rod
Oh, that’s a great book.
00:41:19:20 – 00:41:20:09
Donato
Great book. Yeah.
00:41:20:09 – 00:41:23:07
Rod
In fact, I’ve got it right next to my recliner right now. It’s literally right there.
00:41:23:07 – 00:41:25:21
Donato
It’s fantastic. And my partner.
00:41:25:23 – 00:41:30:00
Rod
By the way, if you said that fast called who not how. Okay, Please continue. Yeah.
00:41:30:00 – 00:41:49:06
Donato
So my partner is massive into reading books and Q mindset in education. So we first started getting together. He was telling me, Hey, look where we business together. You got to this book and reading. It’s all about you can be a who for someone else, but you also need who’s the have the skill sets or the capacity to do things that can make overall your ventures more successful.
00:41:49:08 – 00:42:12:15
Donato
And so putting the right people in the right seats and continuing to recognize that even though I can do something, maybe I’m not the best person to do that thing and my energy is best spent somewhere else, and then consciously letting go and allowing them to fully fulfill that role has been a challenge for me and having that trust in all the people to believe in what we’re doing and dedicate themselves the same way that I would do the role.
00:42:12:16 – 00:42:17:01
Donato
And as a business owner and person who’s founded 27 different companies, you know, that’s like it’s.
00:42:17:07 – 00:42:31:22
Rod
That’s the bit that was my biggest hurdle as well, is is giving up the reins. I mean, the CEO of every business is always the bottleneck. You can ask Matt up there. I mean, that’s the CEO is always the bottleneck in every business and you have to leverage and you have to come to the frickin realization they can do it better than you.
00:42:31:22 – 00:42:50:08
Rod
Yeah, but that’s tough for a control freaks like you and I. Right? And that’s that’s but you have to you have to absolutely do that. And on that note, that’s certainly one answer to the question I’m about to ask you. But what are some characteristics that you believe leaders should possess or.
00:42:50:10 – 00:42:57:14
Donato
You saw for this one? To me, leaders do two things right. They give credit and they take responsibility.
00:42:57:16 – 00:42:58:19
Rod
Oh, I like that.
00:42:58:19 – 00:42:59:13
Donato
Above read.
00:42:59:13 – 00:43:00:07
Rod
Answer.
00:43:00:09 – 00:43:02:01
Donato
Give credit, take responsibility.
00:43:02:01 – 00:43:28:22
Rod
That is a great freaking answer, brother. For a 23 year old. Holy cow. That is a great answer. Yeah, I remember. You know, I’ve had some big companies, 60, 70 employees, 80 employees, and and and I used to make myself, like I wrote down on my plan or go congratulate five people today, every single day. Go just find something right to talk about And that’s how you built an incredible, incredible culture people people you know you can pay bonuses and do all sorts of things.
00:43:28:22 – 00:44:05:07
Rod
And I try to do things like that. But people appreciate, you know, the the validation and the acknowledgment more than anything else. That’s a great answer. But I’m very impressed. Now, I know you’ve started a company called Bright Investor, and it’s a market research company. And I think your tagline and it’s bright investor dot com, if you want to check it out, guys, and your tagline is Real estate research made simple, you know, and we talk about, you know, we talked about this before we started recording there, you know a lot of demographics site census dot gov you know best places dot net data USA dot I O and you basically accumulating research so someone
00:44:05:07 – 00:44:23:14
Rod
can search based on a zip code, an address a city whatever and and you know that’s that’s cool that’s very very cool. So if you could give one piece of advice to my listeners, what would you give them? Would you tell them?
00:44:23:16 – 00:44:30:07
Donato
I would tell them have urgency in your ambitions, but the patience to do it right.
00:44:30:09 – 00:44:51:21
Rod
So funny you said urgency. That’s one of the I think that’s one of the precursors to success. You know, successful people have to have urgency. And it’s not that they don’t like you, they just have something to do. And that’s why they’re moving and making things happen. And a lot of people struggle with that. But that’s that’s really, you know, one of the biggest factors of success.
00:44:51:21 – 00:45:02:11
Rod
I do talks on habits, you know, and strategies for success and urgency is absolutely one of the most important topics. So I’m really glad you brought that up. The other piece, though, the patience piece. Explain that a little bit.
00:45:02:13 – 00:45:19:00
Donato
I think when you start as an entrepreneur or in real estate space, you are so excited because you’ve seen the vision. You have this picturesque vision of what your life’s going to be like, what you’re going to be able to create. And that makes that gives you that fire to continue to do the dedication and be disciplined and the acts that it takes to get there.
00:45:19:02 – 00:45:40:16
Donato
But in doing so, sometimes you turn the heat up too much and you’re actually melting away the foundations of what will be a very stable foundation for to build a business on top of. And so if you do it too quickly, if you rush things, if you trip over yourself and you don’t take the time to make sure that while you’re doing things urgently, you’re doing things correctly, you can create a shaky foundation that won’t be able to support the vision.
00:45:40:16 – 00:45:41:00
Donato
You’re trying to.
00:45:41:00 – 00:45:42:11
Rod
Build this based on personal experience A.
00:45:42:13 – 00:45:43:19
Donato
Little bit. Yeah.
00:45:43:21 – 00:45:51:18
Rod
Same here. No, I that’s a great description, but I’m really impressed with some of these answers from you. So what comes first? Finding the deal or finding the money.
00:45:51:20 – 00:45:59:15
Donato
Or finding the deal? I mean, finding the deal. Once you got a good deal, money comes in, you know, by and large, you know, if I can find a good deal and good market.
00:45:59:15 – 00:46:14:13
Rod
I’m going to push back on that. Okay. I’m going to tell you why I’m going to push back. Okay. Because I think finding the money right now is going to be harder than finding the deal because. A lot of investors are very shaky right now. So here’s my answer to you. And this is what I teach at my bootcamp, and that is both.
00:46:14:15 – 00:46:29:15
Rod
They both come first. You need to be working. You need to be building relationships with investors all the time. Yes. If someone holds still long enough, they need to know what it is you do. You’re going to work for that question. What do you do right? You want to work for that question And I’m so glad you asked.
00:46:29:20 – 00:46:50:20
Rod
You know, I, I, you know, I invest in multifamily properties. I’m super excited about where we are in the market cycle right now. I really believe exponential deals are coming, So I’m kind of coming out of my skin. By the way, if you know anybody that, you know, be interested in partnering, let me know. I’m always looking for partners and I call them partners because they’re not necessarily just investors, but, you know, there’s a quick elevator pitch that you can use.
00:46:50:22 – 00:47:08:18
Rod
But most mornings I do kind of a Hal Elrod miracle morning, kind of a set up in the morning. I, I well, I jump in my cold plunge. I actually exercise now in the afternoons I used to do in the mornings, but I journal a little bit. I do a light meditation where I, you know, do gratitude for the things that I want.
00:47:08:20 – 00:47:11:12
Rod
What do you do in the mornings? Do you have a morning ritual morning routine?
00:47:11:12 – 00:47:24:23
Donato
Yeah. Recently it’s been leveraging the pre-roll principle and 2020 for the 80. I’m saying this all the time and people around me get up in the morning and look at my calendar, Look at the things that are coming in the pipeline. And I look at what the 20% of actions I can take that are going to give me 80% of the results today.
00:47:25:01 – 00:47:35:22
Rod
It’s called the parental principle guys, or Perrigo Pro guy 300 years ago came up with this on every list. There are always a small number of items that will get you exponentially further. Typically, things you don’t want to do.
00:47:36:00 – 00:47:38:00
Donato
It’s almost always. Yeah, right, right, right.
00:47:38:02 – 00:47:55:23
Rod
But, you know, I teach a weekly planning process. And by the way, if you’re listening and you haven’t done your goals recently, go to Rod’s links dot com and at the bottom is my goal setting workshop I do it every year on New Year’s Day. The reason I bring this up at the tail end of that, I do my weekly planning process and I teach you that.
00:47:56:01 – 00:48:15:04
Rod
And you know, it’s how I manage two very large companies at the same time. And one of the pieces of that is when you’ve got your list done, you incorporate the parental principle and you look at that and then you take that 20% and you actually block time for that. Yeah. So you for sure get it done. So from 8 to 10 I’m doing this 10 to 12, I’m doing that.
00:48:15:06 – 00:48:26:04
Rod
And then you’re incredibly effective because you’re focused on what’s going to move the needle the furthest. Good answer. So what inspires you.
00:48:26:06 – 00:48:45:12
Donato
And what inspires me is being able to have the opportunities for things to come along and be able to choose them. And so what I’ve kind of discussed and told people along my journey is I’m pretty young and it’s no secret anybody that I’ve got a lot of experience, a lot, a lot of experience yet to gain and a lot of wasn’t coming on the pipeline in the years to come.
00:48:45:14 – 00:49:08:22
Donato
And while I’m young, there’s so many things I have been exposed to. And so one of my driving factors, one of the things that’s inspired me to continue to continue on this path has been I may not know exactly what I want right now, but when that person, that place, that hobby or that idea comes into my life, that movement that I’m really passionate about enters my life, I want to be able to choose it wholeheartedly with nothing holding me back.
00:49:08:23 – 00:49:11:11
Rod
How do you know how you’re going to recognize it when you see it?
00:49:11:13 – 00:49:27:12
Donato
The people around me and, those things that for from I remember as a child, that always gave me a lot of joy. When I was a kid. I was very involved in drama and drama and theater. Really? Yes. Loved it. And those were some of the happiest moments of my life, being able to go and perform in verse.
00:49:27:13 – 00:49:29:23
Rod
No kidding. Wow. Yeah. For you. Good for you.
00:49:30:00 – 00:49:30:23
Donato
Really enjoyed it.
00:49:31:01 – 00:49:49:15
Rod
Love it. Yeah. You know, it’s it’s one of the things that I have really embraced these last, you know, 20 years is is buying all the things that I always wanted, you know, all the stupid crap that I thought was important. And, you know, some of it sits unused, but I love having it. I love playing with some of it.
00:49:49:15 – 00:50:07:12
Rod
You know, I’ve I collect and I’m collecting these models, ships, these big model ships that’s always downstairs. Coming up, I’ve got two more coming the next day or two and you know, and you know, so. So I feel you so, you know, that will not go away. Is there a question you wish I would have asked you?
00:50:07:13 – 00:50:14:03
Donato
I think the question would have asked is any regrets? Any regrets?
00:50:14:06 – 00:50:18:15
Rod
All right. So what what regrets do you have?
00:50:18:17 – 00:50:31:02
Donato
The regrets that I have would be I know it’s weird, but not getting started sooner. Yeah, nothing sort of sooner. Ends.
00:50:31:04 – 00:50:33:00
Rod
You need to let that one go further. Just.
00:50:33:05 – 00:50:52:07
Donato
But there’s a deeper reason behind it. Two deeper reason being. Almost all my childhood was built around this belief of good grades, good college, good job. And it was a lot of that was not necessarily my own vision or my own dream, but what I believe that needed be doing in order to be someone.
00:50:52:13 – 00:51:09:07
Rod
Of live in someone else’s life. Exactly. And, you know, I tell the story about this hospice nurse in Australia that asked patients, her patients that were dying a question, do you have any regrets? And the number one regret was what you just said, live in someone else’s life, not live in what I know I’m capable of not doing.
00:51:09:09 – 00:51:31:14
Rod
You know what I know I’m capable of? Well, you’re good, buddy. Okay? You’re good at your age, you’re just fine. Okay? And if you’re listening and you’re 60, you’re still good. It’s okay. You just get frickin started, okay? Pick your vehicle now. Okay? Because it’s coming. Everything’s going on sale. So figure out how you’re going to capitalize on what’s coming in and get up to speed as fast as you possibly can.
00:51:31:16 – 00:51:50:12
Rod
Donato I’ve really enjoyed this conversation, and I don’t say that every time I do one of these interviews. This has been a real treat and I can’t wait to see where you’re at five years from now. In fact, circle back to me and make sure you get on my show in a few years, okay? Because I want to see and we’ll see how quickly you close the gap to what you want.
00:51:50:14 – 00:51:52:17
Rod
Yeah, I’m excited to see what you come up with.
00:51:52:20 – 00:51:57:20
Donato
Thank you so much. It’s been an absolute pleasure and I’ve really enjoyed our conversation as well. And I’ll hold you to that. I’ll love to come back.
00:51:57:20 – 00:52:02:05
Rod
Oh, absolutely. Done deal, buddy. Done deal. Okay. Take care, guys.
