Financial freedom is not just a dream; it’s a feasible reality for those who are willing to step off the beaten path and take control of their financial destinies. In this episode of the Raising Private Money podcast, guest Paul Thompson, an expert in real estate and private lending, shares invaluable insights on achieving financial freedom by investing in real estate.
The Philosophy of Private Funding
Paul Thompson and Jay Conner delve deep into the core principles of Raising Private Money. A central theme is the strategy of building relationships rather than making direct financial requests. This approach not only opens more doors but also establishes a foundation of trust and mutual benefit. Key to this strategy is the concept presented by Jay Conner: ‘Dig your well before you’re thirsty.’ This means building your network and relationships long before you need to tap into them for funding.
Realizing Personal Agency and Redefining Goals
Paul discusses the common trap many fall into following life patterns set by society and family expectations. He encourages the audience to awaken to their personal agency—choosing paths that align with their deepest values and goals. This redefinition of success shifts the focus from societal expectations to personal aspirations, paving the way for more targeted and satisfying achievements.
Introduction to Seller Financing
One of the episode’s most enlightening discussions revolves around seller financing. Paul Thompson explains this as an advantageous approach where buyers propose to handle maintenance and payments directly to the sellers, releasing them from the hassles associated with traditional bank dealings. This method not only simplifies the purchasing process but also aligns the interests of both parties toward more favorable terms.
The Power of Asking the Right Questions
Paul stresses the importance of asking the right questions, both of oneself and others. It’s about identifying what really matters in a transaction or a business relationship. The ability to pinpoint these critical questions can transform challenges into opportunities, driving forward more effective and prosperous engagements.
The Wake-Up Call to Entrepreneurship
A significant personal revelation is shared by Paul as he recollects a pivotal moment in 2015—being denied the flexibility to work remotely. This was the wake-up call that pushed him to leave his corporate job and dive headfirst into real estate investing. It’s a powerful reminder of how moments of rejection or failure can lead to life’s most transformative opportunities.
Building a Life by Design
Both Paul Thompson and Jay Conner conclude by emphasizing the overarching theme of the episode: living a life by design. This vision encompasses not only financial strategies like private lending and seller financing but also the broader philosophical shift toward personal fulfillment and freedom. Listeners are encouraged to sketch their ideal life’s vision, focusing on lifestyle, purpose, and time management to facilitate a pathway to financial independence.
“The Quality Of Your Life Depends On The Quality Of Your Questions”
– Paul David Thompson
10 Lessons Covered in this Episode:
1. Life by Design:
Define individual priorities to create a purposeful and fulfilling lifestyle according to personal values.
2. Financial Freedom:
Explore real estate investing to achieve financial independence and escape the conventional 9-to-5 work paradigm.
3. Unasked Funds:
Master the art of raising capital subtly by building genuine relationships rather than direct solicitation.
4. Seller Financing:
Leverage seller financing to negotiate better terms and manage payments directly without traditional bank involvement.
5. Private Lending Benefits:
Utilize private money lending to bypass traditional loan requirements, enhancing flexibility in real estate deals.
6. BRRRR Strategy:
Implement the Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat method to efficiently scale real estate investments.
7. Wake Up Call:
Recognize personal turning points that inspire shifts toward entrepreneurship and more fulfilling life paths.
8. Creating Systems:
Establish systems for real estate management to transition from active roles to passive income generation.
9. Relationship Building:
Prioritize establishing strong connections to facilitate opportunities in both personal and professional spheres.
10. Mindset Shift:
Embrace change, focus on important life elements like family time, and redefine success personally.
Fun facts that were revealed in the episode:
1. Paul Thompson’s wake-up call to switch careers came when his boss refused his request to work remotely.
2. Jay Conner teaches a private lending program focused on relationship building rather than direct solicitation for funds.
3. Paul Thompson emphasizes the use of seller financing in real estate, preferring it due to the advantages it provides in the current market.
Timestamps:
00:01 – Raising Private Money Without Asking For It
03:47 –Utilized BRRR method to build rental properties.
08:14 –Create value, attract investment, and overcome financial hurdles.
09:59 – Buy assets at deep discounts to profit.
13:16 –Seeking cash flow without managing property work.
16:33 – Traditional borrowing involves begging, but not here.
22:18 –Choose between active business operator or passive owner.
24:38 –Business success through system creation, like Chick-fil-A.
28:07 –Realizing agency, defining desires, finding true self.
30:20 –Connect With Paul Thompson: https://www.PaulDavidThompson.com
31:37 –Life’s quality lies in asking the right questions.
32:54 – Jay Conner’s Free Money Guide: https://www.JayConner.com/MoneyGuide
Connect With Jay Conner:
Private Money Academy Conference:
https://www.JaysLiveEvent.com
Free Report:
https://www.jayconner.com/MoneyReport
Join the Private Money Academy:
https://www.JayConner.com/trial/
Have you read Jay’s new book: Where to Get The Money Now?
It is available FREE (all you pay is the shipping and handling) at https://www.JayConner.com/Book
What is Private Money? Real Estate Investing with Jay Conner
http://www.JayConner.com/MoneyPodcast
Jay Conner is a proven real estate investment leader. Without using his own money or credit, Jay maximizes creative methods to buy and sell properties with profits averaging $67,000 per deal.
#RealEstate #RealEstateInvesting #RealEstateInvestingForBeginners #Foreclosures #FlippingHouses #PrivateMoney #RaisingPrivateMoney #JayConner
YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/c/RealEstateInvestingWithJayConner
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-money-academy-real-estate-investing-with-jay/id1377723034
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/jay.conner.marketing
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JayConner01
Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/JConner_PrivateMoneyAuthority
Paul Thompson’s Insider Secrets to Raising $30 Million in Private Money
Jay Conner [00:00:01]:
Welcome to another amazing episode of Raising Private Money. I’m Jay Conner, your host, also known as the Private Money Authority. And it’s on this show that we talk about how to raise Private Money without even having to ask for money. Well, as you know, I have amazing guests that join me here on the show. I pick their brains as to how they raise Private Money. Well, my guest today, believe it or not, has raised over $30,000,000 in Private Money so far. And back in 2015, he actually decided to leave his corporate job, the 9 to 5, you know, hustle and bustle. And since that time, he has already gone.
Jay Conner [00:00:43]:
He’s already secured over 500 real estate deals. And since he started doing this, he’s living his best life outside of that 9 to 5 corporate rat race. He also has a podcast. It’s called The Wake Up Call, And there on the show, he features inspiring stories from industry professionals who have used owning and renting property to take control of their own lives, just like he has. He also shares tips, tricks, and valuable insights into all things financial. Well, in just a moment, you’re going to meet my very special guest, mister Paul David Thompson, right after this.
Narrator [00:01:23]:
If you’re a real estate investor and are wondering how to raise and leverage Private Money to make more profit on every deal, then you’re in the right place. On raising Private Money, we’ll speak with new and seasoned investors to dissect their deals and extract the best tips and strategies to help you get the money because the money comes first. Now here’s your host, Jay Conner.
Jay Conner [00:01:51]:
Well, hello there, Paul, and welcome to the show.
Paul Thompson [00:01:55]:
I have to say that’s about to be the best introduction I’ve ever had.
Jay Conner [00:01:59]:
Do you think so? Well, you see, it’s easy to make a good introduction when you have a great guest.
Paul Thompson [00:02:04]:
Thank you.
Jay Conner [00:02:06]:
And, yes, Paul, you and I go all the way back to, QuestTrust events where we’ve met before.
Jay Conner [00:02:12]:
I love QuestTrust. If you’re listening to the show right now, QuestTrust, in my opinion, has the best hands-down customer service and service of any self-directed IRA company that I’ve worked with.
Jay Conner [00:02:25]:
I’ve got 47 private lenders and, those that are using their retirement funds, which are over half of them, to loan us money on our deals. They all got their accounts at QuestTrust because I recommended they go there. But, Paul, let’s I mean, you’ve raised over $30,000,000 in Private Money, for goodness sake. You’re ahead of me, my friend. You’re ahead of me. Of course, I wouldn’t know what to do with $30,000,000. I mean, I got 47 private lenders, 8 and a half $1,000,000 that I just rotate from, you know, property to property to property on the funding of it. But it’s been my experience, at least in my own personal experience, there was something, quote-unquote, there was something that happened, out of the blue, not by my design, not by my desire, that triggered me starting to raise Private Money.
Jay Conner [00:03:17]:
In my first 6 years, I’ve relied on local banks. That’s all I knew to do.
Jay Conner [00:03:22]:
And then I lost my line of credit. I had to find a better, quicker way to fund my deals. I didn’t know anything about Private Money, self-directed IRAs, or anything for the 1st 6 years until I was forced to find another alternative. What is your story? What is it that happened? Maybe you did it intentionally. I don’t know. But what happened when you started raising Private Money instead of using institutional money?
Paul Thompson [00:03:47]:
That’s a really interesting question because when I first started, I didn’t have just a whole bunch of money to begin with, and I had a little bit. I had just enough to be dangerous, but I stumbled across this idea of doing the BRRR method, you know, the buy, rehab, rent, refi, repeat, which is coined by BiggerPockets. And in 2015, when I started, the market was really ripe for doing that. So, housing in the southeast where I live in Rock, Arkansas was just very readily affordable, it was easy to find deals. And I found so many deals that ran out of my own cash. And so I was in this, mode of I just wanted to buy as many rental properties as I could because I wanted that to replace my day job because I really wanted out of my day job. I wanted to, kick the corporate job aside and be in control of my own time, and, maybe we can go into that story as well. But, I learned very quickly that, when it comes to raising money, it really helps to dig your well before you’re thirsty.
Jay Conner [00:05:04]:
Wait a minute. You said dig your well before you’re thirsty. So is that the same thing and means get the money raised first?
Jay Conner [00:05:16]:
Let me tell you something, Paul. You are far but don’t lose your train of thought because I know you’re on a roll.
Jay Conner [00:05:21]:
But you are far that there are not many of us around that actually dig our well before we’re thirsty. You know what drives me stupid crazy, Paul? Do you know what drives me stupid crazy? And I know you’ve heard it like I’ve heard it a 1000 times. They’ll get up there the gurus will get up there on the platform
Jay Conner [00:05:42]:
And they’ll say, quote, unquote, oh, just get the deal under contract. The money will show up. Have you ever heard that?
Paul Thompson [00:05:50]:
Oh, yeah. Many times.
Jay Conner [00:05:51]:
Yeah. And I wanna go, where is the money gonna show up? Is it just gonna, like, rain out of clouds? Do you know? It drives me stupid. I was either a guest or hosting a podcast, Paul, not too long ago. And me and the other fellow, we were having this conversation. I said, tell me, why in the world do they teach that stupidity?
Jay Conner [00:06:12]:
I can’t tell you why they teach that stupidity. Because they’re selling a course on how to find deals, and they ain’t gonna teach you nothing about raising money. Right?
Paul Thompson [00:06:21]:
Right.
Jay Conner [00:06:21]:
Anyway, back to you, Paul. I’m sorry I interrupted you. Go ahead.
Paul Thompson [00:06:24]:
Yeah. You wanna, basically develop your relationships, and this is a relationship business. And so when you do get that deal under contract, it’s so much easier to figure out how to actually build your capital stack on a single family or commercial deal when you have people who are expecting the call, where you’ve already planted the seeds that, hey. This is the business I’m into. This is the kind of thing I’m doing. I don’t have a deal right now. But, you know, when I do come across something, would you wanna hear about it? And that’s kind of usually the conversation that I have.
Paul Thompson [00:06:59]:
I don’t really raise money as I establish relationships.
Jay Conner [00:07:03]:
Man, you and I align, like, perfectly. You know? Here on this podcast, we talk about raising 1,000,000 of dollars without ever asking for money.
Jay Conner [00:07:13]:
And I do exactly what you just shared.
Jay Conner [00:07:16]:
I teach them my program. I put on what I call my teacher hat. Right?
Jay Conner [00:07:20]:
I put on my teacher hat. Yeah. All 47 of my private lenders never even heard of Private Money.
Jay Conner [00:07:25]:
That’s all I put on my teacher hat. Right?
Jay Conner [00:07:28]:
And tell them they’ll and, you know, desperation’s got a smell. Right?
Paul Thompson [00:07:31]:
It does.
Jay Conner [00:07:33]:
And so I never talk about a deal that I’ve got in that initial conversation. I do exactly what you just said, establish the relationship as far as they’re they’re interested. And like you just said, I got a deal to fund. I don’t call them up and ask them if they want to do the deal. That’s the most stupid question I got to ask them. I give them the great news phone call. I can now put your money to work. And you know what? If they’ve moved their retirement funds over to a self-directed IRA company, at my advice, they ain’t making no money until I put their money to work.
Jay Conner [00:08:04]:
I’m ethically bound to use it. Anyway, I’m so glad you said that. Go ahead.
Paul Thompson [00:08:08]:
Yeah. We’re on the same page, aren’t we?
Jay Conner [00:08:11]:
Like 100, maybe 1000%.
Paul Thompson [00:08:14]:
Well, I’m sure there will be something that we can argue about. So the the story behind, building one of these businesses, and I think this is the idea is, like, we want to be in a business where we are buying assets and controlling assets. And most people, struggle with that the first thing they say is, you know, where am I gonna find the money? And that’s, you know, a reasonable question because, you know, I don’t have $30,000,000 in my back pocket. You know, I wasn’t I wasn’t born to the Walton family. I was, you know, lower middle class, you know, or working stiff. Right? So, you have to figure out how to provide value. I really believe in this concept of this value creation opportunity because you can talk to all of the people who have cash and are interested in investing, but you have to give them something to put it into so that they can get a reasonable return. And they have a problem if they have cash at hand and they put it into a class or a similar self-directed IRA custodian, you know, they have a problem.
Paul Thompson [00:09:18]:
Like, they’re not getting a yield and they’re paying high fees until they put it to work.
Jay Conner [00:09:23]:
Absolutely. And as, you know, I just said, you know, particularly if we tell somebody about it, we’re ethically bound. You better put that money to work. And, of course, the quicker, the better. Now, you mentioned the BRRRR method again, which is, you know, you buy the property, renovate the property, rent the property, and refinance the property with institutional money Yep. Cash out, rinse, and repeat. How’s that how’s that method working these days for you in this climate of higher institutional refinance rates?
Paul Thompson [00:09:59]:
You have to get incredible deals. Okay. The only way it makes sense anymore is if you’re just buying an asset at ridiculously low, discounts. Right? So or high discounts and you’re you’re getting just this this deal. Because when you’re buying an asset that has a cap rate of 7% or less, and you’re borrowing money at 7% or higher, it doesn’t, the numbers don’t work out. There’s just no like, especially when you’re financing the whole thing like you just, it doesn’t work, right? So you have to buy, you know, you can pay high interest rates on the front end for a short term if you’re really confident that you can create value in the asset to force appreciation, improve, management, or do an improvement or whatever your business model is so that on the back end, you can get into the institutional debt. You just gotta be careful that you’re not buying into an asset, or getting trapped into a short-term high-rate interest that you can’t get out of.
Paul Thompson [00:10:54]:
Like, that’s that’s the risk with that strategy.
Jay Conner [00:10:56]:
Right. Do you have a preferred strategy in today’s market?
Paul Thompson [00:11:02]:
For me, I’m buying, its commercial assets, but I love seller financing. And right now, there is a huge transfer of wealth, the silver tsunami, we’ve heard about it. 10,000 baby boomers are retiring every day. 19% of them own some sort of business. I don’t know what percent of them own real estate, but a bunch of them do. And they need to transfer that asset to something, and they’re ready to retire. And with the prevailing interest rates in today’s market, the idea of having a seller financing conversation is so much easier than it was 3 or 4 years ago.
Jay Conner [00:11:41]:
Interesting. Well, this is the Raising Private Money podcast, but let’s detour for a moment.
Jay Conner [00:11:50]:
Let’s talk seller financing for a moment. How do you have a conversation with a seller? I mean, you know, 30,000-foot view here. But what’s what that conversation sounds like when you’re talking to, of course, this is to get seller financing, you gotta be talking to a for sale by owner. That’s, like, the only place you’re gonna get it that I know of. Mhmm. What does that conversation sound like? How do you how do you approach the subject? How do you talk in terms that a layman would understand that’s never considered seller financing? And, how do you make that, that offer of them carrying back a note appeal appealing?
Paul Thompson [00:12:31]:
Well, it’s it’s very interesting. So a lot of these people that I’m talking to, they’re they own small apartment complexes or storage facilities. They’re they own an asset. And in the commercial space, you can get seller financing even through a listed property in a way that you can’t with a single family. It’s just a different conversation.
Jay Conner [00:12:51]:
But to begin with to begin with, these are business owners.
Jay Conner [00:12:54]:
They are. This is not Mister Homeowner or Miss Homeowner. Correct.
Paul Thompson [00:12:59]:
These are mom-and-pop landlords, typically.
Jay Conner [00:13:01]:
So you already have a different audience.
Paul Thompson [00:13:04]:
For sure. For sure. Yeah. Right. So go ahead and ask. And they have an interesting problem. Right? They’re about ready to retire or they’re they are retiring. And they have cash flow, and they, like, they want the cash flow.
Paul Thompson [00:13:16]:
They want the cash flow to live off of, but they don’t want the work to manage it anymore. And so I’ll talk to somebody who owns a, you know, a 10, 12 unit apartment complex, and they’ll want, you know, kind of a fictitious number here. They want $2,000,000. And that’s a little high for if I were to buy it all cash. And I’ll say I can get really close that number of $2,000,000 if you would entertain taking payments. So that would be something you’d be open to hearing more about. And I’m like, what does that mean? And they’ll even say, do you mean, like, seller financing? I was Like, yeah. That’s what I’m talking about.
Paul Thompson [00:13:45]:
Is that do you are are you familiar with how that works? And most of them have some idea, but they don’t know the details. I said, well, you’re enjoying the income from this property right now, but you’re taking over all the hassle. Right? You’re taking on the hassle. How about I step in and take over the hassle, and I’ll make your payments just like you do to your bank, but I’d much rather pay you interest than pay the bank interest.
Paul Thompson [00:14:10]:
I find that that’s a good segue into having a conversation. I’m very, I don’t say, hey, mister seller. Would you do a seller financing? I say, would you be open to the idea of taking payments?
Jay Conner [00:14:22]:
Well, they understand that.
Paul Thompson [00:14:24]:
Yeah.
Jay Conner [00:14:25]:
Right? I mean, they understand.
Paul Thompson [00:14:26]:
It’s more intuitive to them.
Jay Conner [00:14:27]:
Right. I love it. What kind of interest rate do you offer? Or do you let them send you or do you give them to you?
Jay Conner [00:14:35]:
5% or less. Do you do you get them to do you ever have a conversation with a seller and you just don’t bring up interest, or do you always bring up interest?
Paul Thompson [00:14:45]:
I don’t bring up interest until they do. And, I find that for most investors that are open to this, their interest is not their primary consideration. The sale price is their primary consideration and the amount of payments they’re gonna be receiving. That’s more important to them than getting an 8, 9, or 10% return like a lot of Private Money lenders would because it’s a different scenario.
Jay Conner [00:15:07]:
Yeah. Do you make multiple offers I can pay if you want all cash, I’ll pay you this. If you’ll you’ll take payments, I’ll pay you this.
Paul Thompson [00:15:15]:
I do what they call a 3 letter option of intent. And so I made 3 offers, and I used to do 1 cash, one principal only, one interest only. I’ve got a door now. I don’t even put the cash number out there anymore because I’m just not interested in buying an asset right now. That’s not a seller financing situation. The market is ripe for it. It’s the best strategy that I know of in the current cycle, the current market environment.
Paul Thompson [00:15:42]:
And I can get way cheaper interest and work with a situation where there’s often no bank financing at all.
Jay Conner [00:15:53]:
You sorta get to make the rules.
Paul Thompson [00:15:56]:
Yeah. And all you’re gonna do are you and
Jay Conner [00:15:58]:
your seller, you’re making the rules.
Paul Thompson [00:16:00]:
Right. Both sides have to agree. But, yes, I’m not, like, I’ll have to wait for an appraisal. I don’t have to get all the paperwork that’s done. Like, the paperwork was that we do the closing with the seller financing when there’s even when we have the second that’s being held by Private Money. Just like with Private Money lenders, you kinda of make the rules because you 2 are working out the details, and you and your attorney are writing the paperwork. So I’m controlling the the the details, and the devils are in the details. And if a bank controls the situation, you know that paperwork is written to their benefit, not yours.
Jay Conner [00:16:33]:
When I was borrowing money from the banks, they made the rules, as you said. And the traditional way to borrow the money is you go to Mister or Miss Banker, and you get on your hands and knees, and you put your hands underneath your chin and you go, please fund my deal. Right? You know, you’re begging. I mean, in this world of Private Money, we’re not begging, chasing, you know, persuading, trying to talk anybody anything. You know, the traditional way of borrowing money to fund a deal is you gotta pull up your skirt and let the bankers do your personal assets and your financial statements and all that mess. Well, here in this world, there’s no credit score that drives this decision.
Jay Conner [00:17:14]:
There’s no, as you said, appraisal. There’s no application. You know? When I’m talking to a new real estate investor who’s never used Private Money, they’ll say, well, tell me about the application process. I said, let me tell you about the application process. First of all, there isn’t one. And number 2, you’re already approved. It’s like
Jay Conner [00:17:34]:
It’s like there’s I mean, the only here’s the approval process. Your lender wires the money to your closing agent. That’s the approval process. Oh, wow. Wow. What a refreshing conversation to be having with you. So let’s go back to you it was 2015 when you were still in corporate. You left corporate. Mhmm. What happened? What happened? Something something happened.
Paul Thompson [00:18:03]:
So I had what I call a wake-up call. And that’s why I call my podcast. The wake-up call is, anybody most anybody who’s gotten into this business or started their own entrepreneurial endeavor in some way, they had a moment where they were just fed up. They had some new information that just kind of changed their perspective and a kind of light bulb moment happened for me in 2015. I was I think it was actually 2014 when I went on this trip, but it was the summer of 2014, and I went on a trip with my family. And we had a beach vacation. My kids were out of school. My wife is a stay-at-home mom.
Paul Thompson [00:18:39]:
I had a day job. Like, I was we’re single income family, but I was, you know, an engineer, professional, making good money, white collar kind of job. Good income, decent life. But the problem is, if you don’t go to work, you stop paying you. And I was at this beach vacation, and they offered up the place we’re staying and said the people after you canceled, would you wanna in your family wanna stay, we’ll offer to you for half price. So I had the money. I worked for, an Internet service provider. So we, like, made the technology that allows what we’re doing right now to stream this conversation happen.
Paul Thompson [00:19:14]:
It was 2015. It’s not or 14. It wasn’t like it was unheard of for people to work remotely even for a week. And none of my employees worked in my office in Little Rock. They were all remote. And I just had the freedom and flexibility except I need to make sure my my job is okay with it. So I called up my boss and said, hey. I’ve been with the company for a long time.
Paul Thompson [00:19:33]:
I really wanted to take this, vacation. I’m just going to work from the beach house next week. Everything is the same. I’ll work normal hours. All my employees are remote anyway. We get this opportunity. I haven’t been away like this for a long time. I really need a need this week.
Paul Thompson [00:19:50]:
It’s like, oh, no. We don’t do that here. I expect your tail back in the office at 8 o’clock, Monday morning, click. Not even not even the conversation. Not even, oh, what’s going on? Like, well, I really wanna make this work, but it just isn’t a good fit for us right now. We’re just like, we don’t do that. Click.
Jay Conner [00:20:08]:
It seems he sounds like a sensitive a sensitive soul.
Jay Conner [00:20:20]:
What was your response to the click?
Paul Thompson [00:20:23]:
I was pissed. I was just like
Jay Conner [00:20:26]:
Tell me how you didn’t feel.
Paul Thompson [00:20:28]:
I was so irritated. I mean, I would. But what else? But what was I to do? I mean, I was like, I told my wife. She understood, but she was frustrated. My kids were kinda resigned to their fate. And I had this kind of moment where I got the car the next morning where I had to drive home because I just kinda tucked my tail between my legs and went back to work. I had to. Right? And I wasn’t in a situation where I could just say, you know, f off.
Paul Thompson [00:20:51]:
You know, it’s like, I needed the job. So I swore to myself that I would never be in that situation again. I would never ask permission from my work or my boss to spend time with my family. I was gonna flip the script somehow where I was gonna ask permission from my family to spend extra time at work. And it took me a while to build that, but that’s when I said I’ve gotta figure out something. And after quite a bit of, soul searching and some and some researching, I’ve realized that real estate might be a path for that.
Jay Conner [00:21:24]:
You didn’t read, Rich Dad Poor Dad, did you?
Paul Thompson [00:21:28]:
I have you know, what’s funny is I read that before, and it did not have that, like, that moment that people have. I wish I had, like, I wish I had of because I just started this earlier. That’s really the only regret I have in this business if I didn’t start earlier.
Jay Conner [00:21:43]:
I got you. Now so you love the BRRRR Method. In today’s market, you gotta buy them really, really at deep discounts like you talked about. So, you hear sometimes people saying, well, I’m not so interested in being a landlord because I don’t wanna have to deal with tenants and toilets. I know you’ve heard that a thousand times. Yep. And so how about sharing some tips on how to be a successful landlord to where you’re running it and that business ain’t running you?
Paul Thompson [00:22:18]:
So a whole big important lesson to realize when you get into business, and in this case, you know, real estate and being a landlord, is do you want to be an active business operator? Or do you want to be a passive owner of a business? I realized that ultimately my end state was I wanted to be an investor, not a business operator. I’m fine being a business owner. Fine being an investor, but I didn’t want to always be forever and always be an employee in my own company. So I was very careful not to just switch from being, an employee for a corporation to being an employee in my own, self-employed company where I was just I was still trapped in a job. Right? In the
Jay Conner [00:23:01]:
words you in the words you didn’t want to quit, the corporate 9 to 9 to 5 and start working for yourself 9 to 9.
Paul Thompson [00:23:09]:
Right. Twice as twice as much. Probably making more, but eventually, but, like, you need to set up if you don’t want to be tenants and toilets, if you don’t want to actively be in the weeds of managing your rental properties, or any sort of business that you’re in, every business has some sort of challenge. It’s like, that’s like saying Walmart, well, people steal from you. So I’m just not gonna I’m just not gonna have a retail office. It makes you know, that every business has a challenge. And with tenants, you’re gonna have some challenges, like, owning real estate, like, requires responsibilities. So what you really wanna invest in is business operations.
Paul Thompson [00:23:45]:
And so that’s what most people have a hard time learning how to do. They learn real estate very quickly, and they probably learn how to run their own business very quickly. What they don’t learn how to do is elevate themselves where they’re the conductor of their business and not a musician in the play.
Jay Conner [00:24:00]:
So how do you do that?
Paul Thompson [00:24:03]:
So you you take a time audit of the work it takes, and you create a ways to, like standard operating procedures of how to take care of things for you. So in my case, in the rent rental properties, I wanted to have a property manager. And people say, your property managers never care about your stuff as much as you do. That’s true. You probably will never find a property manager who is as good and cares as much about your stuff as you do. So, therefore, you’re just trapped in the shackles of being a landlord forever and always. And I know a ton of people, good friends of mine, and they live that way every day. And they complain about it, and they talk about the ups and downs.
Paul Thompson [00:24:38]:
Like, you can just, you know, sit there and complain about it, or you can create a system to replace that. Business operations are fundamentally all about creating systems. You hire employees to do the operating procedure, and you have them do the job as well, or maybe 70% as good as you would if you were there yourself. I really like to use Chick-fil-A as an example of this. If Chick-fil-A complained about the turnover of their employees so much, then they’d be just like McDonald’s or Wendy’s or whatever fast food joint you go through that it’s just kind of a crummy experience. Somehow, Wendy’s, I’m sorry, Chick-fil-A is able to create a standard operating procedure where they train and turn over employees constantly. But yet your experience as as a customer through a Chick-fil-A drive-through is far superior to anybody else out there. So you wanna be the Chick-fil-A of the landlord business where you’re creating systems so that it’s simple, repeatable, and you build a machine that scales.
Jay Conner [00:25:43]:
So, you answered the big question that is, obviously, you’re not managing yourself, the properties. You’ve got property management etcetera.
Jay Conner [00:25:52]:
One thing that you talk a lot about on your podcast, Wake Up Call, You talk a lot about really designing the life that you want. In other words, leading a life by design, Intentionally. Unfortunately, as you and I know, most people walking around are not leading a life by design. The tide is taking them wherever the tide takes them.
Jay Conner [00:26:21]:
I would say the first thing you got to fix to lead a life by design is, you’re not going to be leading the life by design with a victim mentality. Right.
Jay Conner [00:26:31]:
You have to have the victor mentality. But what is, you know, 101? What is what is Lead Life by Design 101 on 1? How do you start? How do most people I’ve discovered, Paul, they don’t even know what they want?
Paul Thompson [00:26:47]:
Right. Yeah. That’s the answer, actually. Yeah.
Jay Conner [00:26:50]:
So what’s the 101, lesson on how do you lead a life by design?
Paul Thompson [00:26:56]:
Start with the end in mind. Like, I mean, what is it do you actually want? And that can be pretty deep when you really get into it. Like, what is the lifestyle? How do you wanna spend your time? What is it that you really wanna do? What do you feel like your purpose on this earth is? You know, where this awareness that’s plugged into these earth suits walking around on earth. We don’t know why we’re here. We don’t know what’s going on. We were born naked. No, speak the language, and we’re just trying to figure it all out. That’s, I think, completely normal.
Paul Thompson [00:27:24]:
It’s the human condition. And then you get wrapped up into the economic forces and the socioeconomic powers that that are, and you leave you leave life by default. Like, you just follow the pattern that the people ahead of you gave you. And they probably meant well. Like, they’re trying the people who raised you and the and the teachers at school, they did the best they could for you, like, given what what what they knew. And so now you need to do the best that you can do. The best that you can do for yourself is to find realize that you’re the instrument of improvement. Like, if you want to make things better, then you have to invest in yourself and figure out what the possibilities are.
Paul Thompson [00:28:07]:
And that’s the kind of wake-up call for me. It’s just like realizing with new information hits you, circumstances or or reading a book or whatever, you’re like, oh, things can be different. I have the agency to create the environment and lifestyle that I want. And I get to define what’s important to me, not society, not my family, not culture, I get to define what I want. And that really is the deep journaling exercises where you ask yourself why 7 layers deep because it’s super heavy, really fast. But in that writing, you’ll catch yourself, your ego popping up, and realizing that your ego is trying to protect what you’re you need to push that aside and, like, find your true self. And when you find that true self and figure out what they actually want, that that awareness that is us and what they actually are here to do, And that you get to find that and you get to discover that on your own. And that discovery process then will find you the tactics of how to get the life you want.
Jay Conner [00:29:11]:
Isn’t it so liberating once someone realizes they can actually design a life that they want? I mean, how freeing, you know, is that? It reminds me I’m sorry.
Paul Thompson [00:29:25]:
It’s empowering, isn’t it?
Jay Conner [00:29:27]:
Empowering and powerful. You know, it reminds me of, Jack Canfield’s book, which I absolutely love. It’s called The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. There are 69 success principles in his book. The very first one, which is the foundation for the other 68 success principles, is you must be 100% responsible for everything that happens in your life. I love I love his, formula, that I don’t have time to share here on the show, but with that, I know, Paul, you work with business, business professionals that, you consult with. You work with them on designing their life.
Jay Conner [00:30:12]:
You work with them, teaching them battle-tested in the trenches, stuff you’ve actually done in your business. How can people connect with you, learn about how they could learn from you, and, continue this conversation?
Paul Thompson [00:30:29]:
The best place to find me is on my personal website, pauledavidthompson.com, and that’s where you can get on to my newsletter. You can find out, all my, handles are are are there. Like, I think we can go through them here if we want to, but they’re they’re they’re long. They’re all some version of Paul David Thompson. I have the curse of a common name, so I had to use all 3 of them. And so that’s where I’d like for you to reach out and find me if you want to follow anything I’ve I’ve talked about here if it’s gotten your attention in any way.
Jay Conner [00:31:01]:
Paul, final comments.
Paul Thompson [00:31:14]:
Yes. I would like to leave a final thought with everybody. You’re here listening for a reason and you’re looking for something. You’re looking for an answer to some sort of question. You’re trying to figure out what to do, how to raise money, how to, grow or scale your business. And there’s something that is holding you back. There are some obstacles. There are some limitations.
Paul Thompson [00:31:37]:
There’s something you gotta learn, And that’s why you’re here. And if I could take, if I could give you anything to take away from here is that anything that you find that is difficult right now, that is like the obstacle that you must overcome, you like, your life opens up and you will find a way to solve it. And the answers are here, probably every answer to every question that you’re ever asked is here, but you may not be asking the right questions. So the quality of your life is the quality of your questions. And if you ask the right question, the answer will appear.
Jay Conner [00:32:23]:
I love it. There’s a rider downer, folks, right there. The quality of your life is based upon the quality of your questions. I love it. Paul, thank you so much for joining me.
Paul Thompson [00:32:33]:
Thanks for having me.
Jay Conner [00:32:34]:
There you have it. Another amazing episode of Raising Private Money. I’m Jay Conner, your host, Private Money Authority. Thank you for joining us right here. Be sure and tune in next time for another episode of Raising Private Money, and we’ll see you right here.
Narrator [00:32:54]:
Are you feeling inspired by the knowledge you gained in this episode? Then head over to www.JayConner.com/Moneyguide. That’s www.JayConner.com/Moneyguide, and download your free guide that shares seven reasons why Private Money will skyrocket your real estate investing business right now. Again, that’s www.JayConner.com/Moneyguide to get your free guide. We’ll see you next time on Raising Private Money with Jay Conner.
