Stop Blaming, Start Building Gino Barbaro on Family, Wealth, and Taking Control

0:00 Speaker 0: Alright. Speaker 0: If you do not wanna change your life for the better, you probably shouldn't Speaker 0: listen to this episode. Speaker 0: Gino Barbaro joins us. Speaker 0: It was fantastic. Speaker 0: It it's just such a good conversation. Speaker 0: High energy, a lot of positivity, and some tough love. Speaker 0: We talk a lot about taking ownership and and not blaming, you know, politics Speaker 0: or the economy, Speaker 0: everything else that that's very easy to blame. Speaker 0: He talks about once you take ownership, it's it's so liberating Speaker 0: to be able to take control of your financial situation and your future. Speaker 0: Gino is a big multifamily investor. Speaker 0: He had a multifamily education business that he recently sold, Speaker 0: and now he's much more focused on legacy and family.

0:46 Speaker 0: And, he's certainly still into multifamily real estate investing, and we Speaker 0: talk we do whip out the crystal ball, toward the end, and we and Speaker 0: I ask him what he sees in the in the near future as far Speaker 0: as multifamily real estate goes. Speaker 0: But, man, he is so focused on, Speaker 0: the family and teamwork and building a legacy and Speaker 0: that it's not one size fits all. Speaker 0: That, you know, maybe multifamily real estate is best for you, maybe single family, Speaker 0: maybe a w two. Speaker 0: Every every question is is really personal, but he delivers a Speaker 0: lot of frameworks in this episode that are very practical. Speaker 0: He's got a new book out that you can get for free, actually, which Speaker 0: he mentions toward the end.

1:26 Speaker 0: And I just I just love this episode. Speaker 0: This is really good for anyone who's interested in real estate and building wealth Speaker 0: and taking ownership of your future. Speaker 0: I mean, he just seems he he's just feels so blessed, and he's and Speaker 0: he's not even sure how he's been able to he he looks back and Speaker 0: he just you know, there's been a lot of adversity, a lot of ups Speaker 0: and downs, but if you take the long term view and you approach real Speaker 0: estate investing and life as a team sport, man, you Speaker 0: can't go wrong. Speaker 0: And Gino's story is is the epitome of Speaker 0: how to do that. Speaker 0: Enjoy this episode. Speaker 1: From adversity to abundance, hosted by entrepreneur and Speaker 1: seasoned real estate investor, Jamie Bateman, is the ultimate guide Speaker 1: for active and passive investors seeking clarity, mental fitness, and Speaker 1: the confidence to make inspired decisions in the world of real estate.

2:18 Speaker 1: With a decade plus of investing experience across various niches and Speaker 1: a background as a combat veteran, former army officer, and Speaker 1: multimillion dollar mortgage note company owner, Jamie brings a Speaker 1: wealth of knowledge and inspiring stories to each episode. Speaker 1: Through weekly episodes featuring insightful interviews with industry leaders Speaker 1: and solo explorations of mindset and strategy, listeners Speaker 1: will uncover actionable advice and tips to overcome challenges Speaker 1: and build lasting financial success. Speaker 1: Whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting, from adversity Speaker 1: to abundance is your road map to turning obstacles into opportunities Speaker 1: and achieving financial freedom.

3:02 Speaker 0: Welcome, everybody, to another episode of the from adversity to abundance podcast. Speaker 0: I am your host, Jamie Bateman, and I'm thrilled today to have with us Speaker 0: Gino Barbaro. Speaker 0: Gino is a very experienced multifamily real estate investor Speaker 0: and author, Speaker 0: has a lot of experience in real estate education, and we're getting it get Speaker 0: into more detail later as to what Gino's up to, Speaker 0: specifically, today. Speaker 0: But, Gino, for the listener out there, let's talk about some of the abundance Speaker 0: that you've been able to reach, able to accomplish, and that that you're living Speaker 0: in today. Speaker 0: What does it look like? Speaker 0: What's a day in your life look like? Speaker 0: What are you up to? Speaker 0: What's some of the abundance that you're experiencing?

3:43 Speaker 2: Jamie, thanks for having me on, number one. Speaker 2: And number two, the show should be called from adversity Speaker 2: to adversity Speaker 2: to adversity to maybe a little abundance and then to a Speaker 2: little bit more abundance, then back to adversity, and then back to a little Speaker 2: bit more abundance. Speaker 2: I love that. Speaker 2: How life really is. Speaker 2: A life in the day of Gino. Speaker 2: Well, listen. Speaker 2: I have six kids. Speaker 2: The oldest one is twenty five years old. Speaker 2: She's gonna go back out and become a missionary again. Speaker 2: She's going back out to camp and being a missionary. Speaker 2: That's her passion. Speaker 2: Her passion is art. Speaker 2: She's such a creative person. Speaker 2: She loves music. Speaker 2: She loves film, and she wants to spend, you know, time with kids this Speaker 2: summer, you know, preaching the word of God.

4:23 Speaker 2: That's what her passion is all the way down to a ten year old. Speaker 2: She is at home. Speaker 2: She is going to be the entrepreneur of the family. Speaker 2: I think, we we homeschool our kids, so I see my kids all Speaker 2: the time. Speaker 2: I'm living and working out of my house currently right now. Speaker 2: I bought a farm about a year ago, six acres. Speaker 2: I've got a shooting berm on there. Speaker 2: I've got two donkeys. Speaker 2: I've got a little cow, five and a half month old, black Angus, called Speaker 2: Antonio. Speaker 2: I've got a but I've worked at thirty chickens right now. Speaker 2: I've got a nice vegetable garden, so my day is filled. Speaker 2: Listen. Speaker 2: I just had a big transition in life. Speaker 2: We just sold the education company, and it's one of those things where I'm Speaker 2: just resetting right now.

5:03 Speaker 2: I'm focusing on a family company, and it's one of those things where people Speaker 2: think they become financially free. Speaker 2: They think they become abundant, and they're gonna sit on a beach. Speaker 2: If you've worked your entire life to become really good at something, all of Speaker 2: a sudden you become good at something. Speaker 2: Do you think that person who's been motivated their entire lives is just gonna Speaker 2: go check out? Speaker 2: That's not how life works. Speaker 0: Absolutely. Speaker 2: How life really works is you finally get good at something. Speaker 2: You finally find your soul passion and your purpose. Speaker 2: You're like, I want more of this. Speaker 2: How can I get more of this? Speaker 2: And you end up putting more on your plate. Speaker 2: And my wife, who's an amazing person, always has these ideas. Speaker 2: I've got this idea, and if she's gonna give me an idea, I have Speaker 2: to go off that idea, and I have to actually expand upon that idea. Speaker 0: Love it.

5:44 Speaker 0: Yeah. Speaker 0: That's so good. Speaker 0: And you're you're absolutely right. Speaker 0: And we do talk about that on the show as far as the the Speaker 0: success or happiness or abundance. Speaker 0: It's not a a path that's, you know, a straight line up into the Speaker 0: right. Speaker 0: We we often talk about how we all experience adversity, and we're Speaker 0: gonna experience more adversity for sure in the future. Speaker 0: It's it's more a matter of how do you deal with that. Speaker 0: You don't you don't know what it's gonna look like exactly. Speaker 0: But, Speaker 0: but that said, you're in a position now, Gino, because you've been successful financially Speaker 0: to pursue your passion and focus on your family business and focus on the Speaker 0: things you just you just rattled off, which sound amazing. Speaker 0: So it's not to say you don't have any problems or challenges, but you're Speaker 0: experiencing a level of abundance that I don't think you could have experienced Speaker 0: decades ago.

6:32 Speaker 0: So there is something to be said for, you know, grinding Speaker 0: and and working and and fit finding a way to make make money and, Speaker 0: and and overcoming adversity, financial adversity, specifically. Speaker 0: So for the listener out there, let's jump back, Speaker 0: and and we're gonna I know before we hit record, you and I were Speaker 0: talking about I mean, we have a lot of practical value that we're gonna Speaker 0: deliver in this episode for sure. Speaker 0: I mean, with with you all all the educational experience you have and the Speaker 0: multifamily investing experience, we have a ton of practical value for sure that we're Speaker 0: gonna deliver. Speaker 0: But let's talk about your backstory, Gino. Speaker 0: Two thousand eight, what was your life like personally?

7:12 Speaker 0: What was going on? Speaker 2: So for those of you listening, you may be saying to yourself, why should Speaker 2: I listen to this Gino guy, this pizza guy? Speaker 2: I mean, simply, I had one restaurant for literally twenty something years. Speaker 2: I partner up with my business partner, Jake, in two thousand eleven. Speaker 2: And within five years, we own over a thousand multifamily units. Speaker 2: It didn't happen by accident. Speaker 2: And one thing when I look back that really shaped Speaker 2: my financial future was that time in two thousand and eight where it seems Speaker 2: like it was a hundred years ago. Speaker 2: And it seems as if we're going back into the o eight period. Speaker 2: At least I hope so because we need a reset. Speaker 2: And, hopefully, with all the work that the government is doing right now, cutting Speaker 2: all these useless jobs, trying to cut the spending, it it it slows the Speaker 2: economy down.

7:57 Speaker 2: I'm hoping that happens. Speaker 2: But in two thousand and eight, I was the person who was blaming everybody. Speaker 2: I was blaming Obama. Speaker 2: I was blaming Bush. Speaker 2: This recession. Speaker 2: But I had to take a step back and say, how is that person Speaker 2: making millions of dollars and I'm not? Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: I pick up the book by T. Speaker 2: Harv Eker, The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. Speaker 2: I start reading it, and I say to myself, this guy's a jerk. Speaker 2: But then I I I I read it again, and I'm like, this guy's Speaker 2: a hundred percent correct. Speaker 2: I mean, for lack of a better word, I'm being a little bitch. Speaker 2: I'm I'm blaming everybody. Speaker 0: Right. Speaker 2: It's everybody's fault except my own. Speaker 2: Everything I've done up until that point in my life is all Speaker 2: on me.

8:39 Speaker 2: All of the results that I've had up until that point in my life Speaker 2: were all mine. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: Once I understood everything, I would say ninety five percent of Speaker 2: our problems, we call them energy blocks, are external. Speaker 2: I I I'm sorry. Speaker 2: Our internal. Speaker 2: Mhmm. Speaker 2: Mhmm. Speaker 2: Five percent are external. Speaker 2: I can't control the economy. Speaker 2: I can't control who gets elected, but I can control what goes into my Speaker 2: mind. Speaker 2: I can control my thoughts, my limiting beliefs, my assumptions, all at Speaker 2: once. Speaker 2: I understood that. Speaker 2: It's as if something a weight was lifted because now all of a sudden, Speaker 2: I have hope. Speaker 2: Now all of a sudden, I can start planning. Speaker 0: Absolutely. Speaker 0: It's very liberating, Speaker 0: once that that mental transition to to not blaming Speaker 0: and not being the victim constantly, once that occurs.

9:21 Speaker 0: I had a similar experience in around a little bit later. Speaker 0: It wasn't until twenty fifteen where I'd been working at w two for for Speaker 0: years and and then just kind of it was Groundhog Day. Speaker 0: And I was like, my life is going nowhere. Speaker 0: It's fine, but I wasn't passionate about what I was doing or anything. Speaker 0: So had a a mental reset, and we won't tell my whole story Speaker 0: here. Speaker 0: But just ins I I just I flipped the script mentally, and I Speaker 0: I said, what what what is what strengths do I have? Speaker 0: You know, what people do I have in my corner? Speaker 0: What's my network? Speaker 0: What do I what can I focus on that are positives that I can Speaker 0: kind of take ownership of my situation with? Speaker 0: Right? Speaker 0: And so there was a real mental shift then, and that's when I started Speaker 0: really diving into real estate myself.

10:02 Speaker 0: But I I couldn't agree more. Speaker 0: It's it's it's liberating. Speaker 0: It's it's hard to do initially. Speaker 0: It's hard to accept that maybe your our problems are due to our Speaker 0: own choices and our own behavior. Speaker 2: Been living a lie your whole life, and you have to accept it. Speaker 2: Let's see what's been going on the last ten or fifteen years. Speaker 2: All of a sudden, doctors are starting to realize, wow, maybe pharmaceuticals aren't Speaker 2: the answer. Speaker 2: Maybe a little nutrition. Speaker 2: Can you imagine understanding that you think you've been right for the whole last Speaker 2: twenty or thirty years of your life, and you need to admit to yourself, Speaker 2: I may have made a mistake? Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: And it's all comes down to the pride and to the ego. Speaker 2: Ray Dalio says ego, there's your blind spots. Speaker 2: And if you can really have an honest assessment and have people Speaker 2: around you and be able to look, as Stephen Covey says, through that paradigm Speaker 2: and start widening your paradigm, it's really difficult Speaker 2: because it does hit the ego.

10:56 Speaker 2: But if you can start to do that and you can start asking yourself Speaker 2: better questions, you're gonna start getting better answers to your life. Speaker 0: I love that. Speaker 0: Alright. Speaker 0: So set the stage for two thousand eight. Speaker 0: What did things look and I know you mentioned the the pizza business and Speaker 0: and all that, but, you know, kinda how did those next you said three Speaker 0: years, I think, from two thousand eight to two thousand eleven. Speaker 0: What did that look like, that growth period after you made that mental shift? Speaker 2: It sucked. Speaker 2: I had a I had a real estate deal that I overpaid on in Speaker 2: two thousand and six. Speaker 2: At the end of two thousand six, I bought at the wrong part of Speaker 2: the market cycle. Speaker 2: I overpaid. Speaker 2: I didn't know how to do underwriting. Speaker 2: I didn't know the asset class itself. Speaker 2: I bought in the wrong city. Speaker 2: I didn't know what a or or a commercial lease was.

11:38 Speaker 2: I made every mistake imaginable, and I was in the midst of that. Speaker 2: So I'm trying to rectify how do I get out of that? Speaker 2: How as I'm working harder and making less, How do I, you know, deal Speaker 2: with that? Speaker 2: Because at the time, I had four children. Speaker 2: I need to put food on the table. Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 2: I don't see a future. Speaker 2: The GDP of the country literally sucks. Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's horrible. Speaker 2: And I said to myself, I need to learn this real estate business. Speaker 2: I went out and I started getting mentored by Rich Dad Poor Dad. Speaker 2: I'm at a company, a gentleman named Dave Lindahl. Speaker 2: I met another gentleman named Craig Haskell. Speaker 2: I started pouring money that I didn't have into my education Speaker 2: because I saw there's two ways to learn. Speaker 2: You can either learn on the street or you can learn in the classroom.

12:21 Speaker 2: I had learned on the street, and that education had cost me hundreds Speaker 2: and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Speaker 2: This education was a lot less, but it gave me some type of framework. Speaker 2: And when I met my business partner, Jake, he was selling, you know, pharmaceuticals Speaker 2: to doctors, coming to the restaurant, getting catering food, and going to the doctor's Speaker 2: offices. Speaker 2: I was ready. Speaker 2: He knew nothing about real estate. Speaker 2: He was following his passion about building sports equipment. Speaker 2: That's what he wanted to do. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 2: And then I said, Jake, let's do real estate together. Speaker 2: And he ended up moving down to Knoxville, Tennessee. Speaker 2: When he moved to Knoxville, that's where we started investing. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 2: And I was ready. Speaker 2: I had the mentorship. Speaker 2: I had the skills and the understanding of the business.

13:02 Speaker 0: Yeah. Speaker 0: Yeah. Speaker 0: Interesting. Speaker 0: So how so you just already you two knew you were gonna be partners. Speaker 0: It was just a matter of what what industry you were gonna venture into. Speaker 0: Is that right? Speaker 2: At some point, I liked the way my business partner functioned. Speaker 2: He was a young dude. Speaker 0: Uh-huh. Speaker 2: And and at the time, I didn't know the word values based decision making, Speaker 2: but our values truly aligned. Speaker 2: Mhmm. Speaker 2: We both didn't wanna stay in our businesses. Speaker 2: He he obviously hated the job he was at because all of a sudden Speaker 2: Obamacare started coming in. Speaker 2: Things started changing. Speaker 2: His compensation started changing. Speaker 2: As far as being long term minded, being family focused, focusing Speaker 2: on one asset, wanting to create wealth having no shiny Speaker 2: object, all of those things really aligned well for the two of us.

13:48 Speaker 2: And we found our partnership to work really well. Speaker 2: The only unfortunate thing actually, it's a fortunate thing now. Speaker 2: It did take us eighteen months to find that first deal because we had Speaker 2: no map and no process. Speaker 2: We didn't have what we call our three step framework of buy right, manage Speaker 2: right, and finance right. Speaker 2: We didn't have that. Speaker 2: That's why it took us eighteen months to find the first deal. Speaker 2: But after that first deal, three months later, the same broker brought Speaker 2: us another deal. Speaker 2: So it's one of those things where you're in la la land. Speaker 2: You just in in multifamily, and I think personally, real estate is a team Speaker 2: sport. Speaker 2: Trying to do it trying to do it on yourself can be challenging. Speaker 2: I was just fortunate to understand what the partnership look like, and we took Speaker 2: it slow in the beginning.

14:30 Speaker 2: We did one deal together, then we did a second deal together, then we Speaker 2: realized that our personality is really aligned. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: I never made mistakes. Speaker 2: I I'm sorry. Speaker 2: I never made excuses. Speaker 0: Gotcha. Speaker 2: Jake never made excuses. Speaker 2: We made tons of mistakes, but we we we at least live up to Speaker 2: those mistakes. Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 2: I'm on I'm on a podcast right now. Speaker 2: I've been sick for the last four days. Speaker 2: I'm not gonna call Jake up and say, hey, bro. Speaker 2: I can't make this podcast today. Speaker 2: No. Speaker 2: That's that's not even in a a thought in my mind. Speaker 2: And the same thing with him. Speaker 2: He's on vacation right now. Speaker 2: And guess what? Speaker 2: We just put an offer in on a deal. Speaker 2: So it's one of those things where he got a deal sent to him Speaker 2: by our quote, unquote deal dogs off market. Speaker 2: He's not gonna sit there and go, oh, well, you know, I'm out here Speaker 2: in, in in the Caribbean.

15:12 Speaker 2: I'm hanging out. Speaker 2: I'm chilling. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: He checks his phone. Speaker 2: He puts in that offer. Speaker 2: It's it's a life changing deal. Speaker 2: So that's the that's the mentality that we have. Speaker 2: We don't wanna let our we don't wanna let our our partners down. Speaker 2: And if you're gonna go part with somebody, make sure your values align and Speaker 2: make sure your work ethic aligns as well. Speaker 0: Yeah. Speaker 0: That's really interesting. Speaker 0: And that I don't know if we've really had that that, you know, approach Speaker 0: discussed on the show as far as choosing your business partner before you really Speaker 0: choose which which industry you're gonna go into. Speaker 0: Because a lot of times, most people generally, you know, oh, I like real Speaker 0: estate. Speaker 0: I see successful people in real estate, and then they go into a niche Speaker 0: in real estate, and then they look around for for partners. Speaker 2: You can do that. Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong with that. Speaker 2: I think that's a good idea. Speaker 2: I just I just knew that I wanna do some I I knew that Speaker 2: I wanted real estate.

15:55 Speaker 2: And then Jake, luckily for him, met a doctor who was Speaker 2: financially free through investing in real estate multifamily up and down the East Speaker 2: Coast. Speaker 2: And he's like, wow. Speaker 2: That's great. Speaker 2: You're the only doctor who who's not getting bought out by all of these Speaker 2: different medical groups. Speaker 2: He's like, I love being a doctor. Speaker 2: I can be a doctor because this real estate is providing for my financial, Speaker 2: you know, life. Speaker 2: I can do this because I love to do this. Speaker 2: And I think that concept and that thought of Jake, like, wow. Speaker 2: I can do real estate, create a business, and really love what I'm doing. Speaker 2: I think that's what hooked him into the business. Speaker 0: So say, two thousand eleven, how were the the next ten Speaker 0: years? Speaker 0: I know you mentioned there were lots of ups and downs, a lot of Speaker 0: mistakes made, but say, what what did I mean, you said the first eighteen Speaker 0: months, you didn't do a deal, then you did a couple deals pretty quickly.

16:42 Speaker 0: Say years two through ten. Speaker 0: I know that's a long time, but what did what did the scaling look Speaker 0: like? Speaker 0: What did your business look like? Speaker 2: Well, I had two more children. Speaker 2: So in two thousand eleven, my fifth child was born. Speaker 2: Two thousand fourteen, my sixth child was born. Speaker 2: I wish I'd had more kids, to be honest with you. Speaker 2: I'm fifty four right now. Speaker 2: It would have been nice to have a couple more, but I, you know, Speaker 2: we we stopped. Speaker 2: As far as the portfolio goes, I was really fortunate Speaker 2: that I'm sitting at my restaurant one day. Speaker 2: I've got my chef coat on. Speaker 2: I've got some pizza stains on my shirt, and in walks a friend. Speaker 2: Look up, and he's got these beautiful shoes on, Bruno Speaker 2: Maier shoes on. Speaker 2: He's got a nice watch.

17:22 Speaker 2: And I'm like, let me start talking to him. Speaker 2: I haven't talked to him in a while. Speaker 2: His name was Mike. Speaker 2: We sat down. Speaker 2: He worked at a hedge fund, and he was buying single family homes. Speaker 2: And I said, Mike, you know what? Speaker 2: I'm investing in real estate and multifamily downs in the southeast. Speaker 2: I just bought this asset at six hundred thousand dollars. Speaker 2: The rent we're collecting monthly is thirteen grand a month. Speaker 2: It's a hundred fifty thousand dollars in rent gross we're collecting a year. Speaker 2: That's a four gross rent multiplier. Speaker 2: And he he remember him looking at me going, really? Speaker 2: I'm buying these two million dollars single family homes, and I'm getting ten grand Speaker 2: a month. Speaker 2: So it didn't take a rocket scientist to find out that I was on Speaker 2: to something. Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 2: But that's where luck and and and taking a chance happened. Speaker 2: I was ready. Speaker 2: I was I was Right.

18:03 Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: With the information. Speaker 2: So when Mike sat down, I had an intelligent conversation with him. Speaker 2: He eventually ended up partnering up on that second deal. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 2: And then from there on, he's been our partner ever since. Speaker 2: And the reason why I mentioned that story is people are always using limiting Speaker 2: beliefs to say, well, I don't have the money. Speaker 2: I don't have the balance sheet. Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 2: I did neither. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: I found my mic, and Mike was our balance sheet. Speaker 2: And on our third deal, it was a four million dollar deal. Speaker 2: Mike lent us five hundred thousand dollars to get into that deal. Speaker 2: He diluted his equity to do that for Jake and myself because he saw Speaker 2: saw the value in the deal. Speaker 2: So don't let lack of money hold you back.

18:43 Speaker 2: That's the relationship you have with money. Speaker 2: I knew that I wanted it bad enough. Speaker 2: I knew that I could provide value to Mike, and I knew that Mike Speaker 2: saw the value in our proposition. Speaker 0: Right. Speaker 2: And that's what we aligned, and that's why we got together. Speaker 0: But I love that you mentioned that that you're providing value to Mike be Speaker 0: because it's not it's not something you're selling to him that he doesn't need Speaker 0: or anything like that. Speaker 0: You're you're solving a problem for him, and he's solving a problem for you. Speaker 0: And that's, like you said, it's a team sport, and that's the whole point. Speaker 0: It's mutually beneficial so that it can be win win win. Speaker 0: Absolutely. Speaker 0: What did that first deal with Mike look like? Speaker 0: I mean, how successful was it, and how did things go from there? Speaker 2: I mean, the deal was a thirty six unit deal. Speaker 2: We paid twenty three thousand dollars per unit on that deal.

19:26 Speaker 2: It was actually four of us now because my brother was a partner. Speaker 2: So we were all twenty five percent in. Speaker 2: We bought the property. Speaker 2: It was generating ten thousand dollars a month in rental income. Speaker 2: Within five months, I think it was up to eighteen thousand dollars a month. Speaker 2: We currently still own that asset. Speaker 2: We paid eight hundred yeah. Speaker 2: We paid eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars for that asset. Speaker 2: Today, conservatively, it's probably worth four and a half million dollars. Speaker 2: So we still own it. Speaker 2: We've refinanced it twice. Speaker 2: We we had it with the community bank. Speaker 2: We refinanced Yeah. Speaker 2: To community bank, then we refinanced the agency. Speaker 2: That debt is coming due probably in the next three years. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 2: But the ability to to do that one deal and him to understand and Speaker 2: this is for the listener out there. Speaker 2: When you're buying real estate, it is income over expenses.

20:08 Speaker 2: It's your net operating income. Speaker 2: It's how are you adding value to that property. Speaker 2: That's what real estate really is, and it's a business. Speaker 2: And Mike understood that because he's a numbers guy. Speaker 2: And if you can understand real estate from that perspective that you're buying a Speaker 2: business, every deal we've done, we own, I think, little over forty LLCs, Speaker 2: forty different properties. Speaker 2: Every single one of them is its own cash generating machine. Speaker 2: Every single one of them has its own future stream of revenue. Speaker 2: And if you can understand that going in early, you'll look at this Speaker 2: business completely different. Speaker 2: Interesting. Speaker 0: And now you're up to over you you own over two thousand multifamily units, Speaker 0: and two hundred fifty million in assets under management.

20:51 Speaker 0: Right? Speaker 2: We have eighteen hundred and sixty units right now. Speaker 2: We have sixty under contract, and we have a potential to get another sixty Speaker 2: eight under contract. Speaker 2: I think the number is four hundred and fifty million dollars in assets. Speaker 2: Wow. Speaker 2: But more importantly, there's no syndications. Speaker 2: It's all our capital. Speaker 2: Gotcha. Speaker 2: And you may be saying to yourself, how the heck did you do that Speaker 2: in ten years? Speaker 2: The real answer is I have no idea. Speaker 2: I guess if you expand on that answer of having no idea, it just Speaker 2: takes a little bit of time. Speaker 2: We're able to refinance this equity out. Speaker 2: It's like a loan payback to us. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: And I'm not one that goes and spends money on toys and gadgets. Speaker 2: I just take that money and reinvest it back into the business. Speaker 2: And this is an important point I need to make.

21:32 Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: When I started in two thousand eleven, I was still working at my restaurant. Speaker 2: I was there for five years. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 2: I left in March of two thousand sixteen. Speaker 2: So all of the money that I made into the business, I reinvested it Speaker 2: into the real estate business. Speaker 2: The restaurant paid for my lifestyle. Speaker 2: At a particular point, there becomes law of diminishing returns where you're saying Speaker 2: I'm spending too much time on my job and not a much time on Speaker 2: the real estate. Speaker 2: That is a very personal question to you, but I what I would say Speaker 2: is if you're starting out, if you have what I had, I had a Speaker 2: large family. Speaker 2: I had decent amount of expenses. Speaker 2: I could not quit early on. Speaker 2: I stayed out longer. Speaker 2: And to me, I think it was a benefit because it actually made my Speaker 2: balance sheet stronger, and I was able to live off of my restaurant earnings.

22:16 Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: And everything I made in the real estate, I continue to plow back into Speaker 2: real estate. Speaker 0: I love that. Speaker 0: And like you said, it is a very personal question, and we we I've Speaker 0: we've talked about this on the show before. Speaker 0: When do you know it's time to leave your your you know, make that Speaker 0: transition from whether it's a w two or another business in your case, and Speaker 0: what and whether to do it instantly. Speaker 0: You know? Speaker 0: I did I went part time at my job for seven years while I Speaker 0: was building out my real estate. Speaker 2: Excellent. Speaker 2: I went part time for six months. Speaker 2: Great. Speaker 2: That is excellent. Speaker 0: Yeah. Speaker 0: And, you know, it's it's over time. Speaker 0: And then eventually, you know, when I did quit my w two, did my Speaker 0: income go down? Speaker 0: Yeah. Speaker 0: Because I had a w two income that was no longer there. Speaker 0: So people talk about, well, I need I need to replace my income. Speaker 0: Well, yeah, but there's still gonna be a point where you when you walk Speaker 0: away, you actually do have a a drop in income.

23:00 Speaker 0: But to your point, Gino, it's how are you spending your time. Speaker 0: You mentioned this already. Speaker 0: What there's opportunity cost when you're working at the in the pizza business Speaker 0: because you're not working in the real estate business, and you you longer term, Speaker 0: the real estate business, in your case, was a better bet for sure. Speaker 0: Mhmm. Speaker 0: So anything else to add to for the listener as far as when when Speaker 0: is the right time to transition into real estate if that's the right path Speaker 0: for them? Speaker 2: Jamie, I need to give a little tough love right now. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 2: If you're serious about doing this, you need to really become an expense Speaker 2: hawk. Speaker 2: If you've got cars, if you've got personal debt, if you've got Speaker 2: a dog, if you have a farm and you wanna transition, Speaker 2: you need to get lean.

23:44 Speaker 2: You need to get mean, and you need to focus everything on earning. Speaker 2: You need to get rid of as many expenses and as many luxuries as Speaker 2: you possibly can because for the next twelve to twenty four months, it may Speaker 2: be a bumpy road. Speaker 2: But then after that, Speaker 2: life changes, and you're not even worried about the material possessions. Speaker 2: You need to go into producer mode. Speaker 2: You have to shed the consumer mode and say, you know what? Speaker 2: I'm not gonna consume. Speaker 2: I need to focus everything, all of my efforts on producing. Speaker 2: I'm producing value. Speaker 2: I'm producing income. Speaker 2: That's hard for the vast majority of the population, and that's why the vast Speaker 2: majority of the population lives paycheck to paycheck. Speaker 2: That's just the reality. Speaker 2: But if you want it and I think everybody listening to this deserves Speaker 2: to have that opportunity, but there is a little tough love.

24:28 Speaker 2: There's a little bit of denial. Speaker 2: There's a little bit of, like, instant gratification needs to go by the wayside. Speaker 2: And it's hard and it's challenging, but when you get through that period, Speaker 2: you're not even worried about buying another car because you don't really care. Speaker 2: You're having so much fun buying deals and building the business that that comes Speaker 2: secondary. Speaker 0: That's awesome. Speaker 0: That's so good. Speaker 0: I that's that I I think the listener needs to rewind that last Speaker 0: two minutes and just listen to it again. Speaker 0: That that was fantastic. Speaker 0: So finishing up your your story here, I mean, you know, it's never finished, Speaker 0: of course. Speaker 0: But, Speaker 0: say, what did the last, like, five years look like as far as your Speaker 0: real estate business goes? Speaker 2: In two thousand and eighteen, we got into the syndication world, now that I'm Speaker 2: looking back, because we had to teach it.

25:14 Speaker 2: All of a sudden, syndication became this catchword because the two thousand seventeen Speaker 2: jobs act, it became a lot easier to raise capital Yeah. Speaker 2: Cross segregation. Speaker 2: We did three syndicated deals. Speaker 2: We found that it was not to our liking. Speaker 2: We didn't want to work with investors, although it was an amazing bridge Speaker 2: because we started running out of capital. Speaker 2: So we're saying to ourselves, how do we continue to expand the portfolio? Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: One way is to start syndicating deals. Speaker 2: And at that point, it was a great avenue. Speaker 2: We'd built up our social media content. Speaker 2: We had a brand, and it was I don't wanna say easy, but it Speaker 2: was fairly easy to raise ten million dollars for three deals, and that's what Speaker 2: we did. Speaker 2: Ultimately, we ended up exiting those syndications.

25:55 Speaker 2: The third one, we ended up exiting, I think, last February. Speaker 2: So a little over a year ago, we exited our our third syndication, and Speaker 2: it was great. Speaker 2: But since then, we've been able to accumulate enough capital where we're just investing Speaker 2: in our own deals. Speaker 2: And we're basically, on average, doing twenty five to thirty million dollars in Speaker 2: deals a year internally. Speaker 2: We're vertically integrated, so we don't wanna do thousands of units. Speaker 2: We have to manage our own assets, so we have to hire our own Speaker 2: people. Speaker 2: So that becomes a challenge in and of itself. Speaker 2: So we love to buy newer assets, and every now and again, we'll sprinkle Speaker 2: in an older asset where it takes a lot more bandwidth of our team. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: So we're really, I guess, cognizant of that. Speaker 2: What I would say to anybody listening to this, read the book Small Giants Speaker 2: by Bo Burlingham.

26:38 Speaker 2: For me and Jake, we realized that we did not want Speaker 2: to become the Facebook of multifamily. Speaker 2: We wanted to focus on one metric, and that's PPU or Speaker 2: profit per unit. Speaker 2: We wanted to run it with the intent of extracting as much equity Speaker 2: and as much value out of every deal that we bought. Speaker 2: We weren't out there trying to accumulate units and try to accumulate fees. Speaker 2: That's a great strategy in a market going up. Speaker 2: But the problem is there's no long termism there. Speaker 2: Those investors tend to have to sell out after three or four years and Speaker 2: return capital to their investors. Speaker 2: We had done that. Speaker 2: We just didn't like that. Speaker 2: When I read the book, Small Giants, it made total sense to me.

27:19 Speaker 2: I wanna have a smaller company, not in size of units, but just Speaker 2: smaller as far as being able to manage the culture, having values, Speaker 2: having the mission statement, serving whatever investors we had. Speaker 2: And then, obviously, what we started doing is we started allowing our employees that Speaker 2: were with us for more than two years to start investing in our deals Speaker 2: as well. Speaker 2: Oh, that's awesome. Speaker 2: Me, that was a seminal shift reading that book and saying, This is what Speaker 2: I wanna do with our business. Speaker 2: I wanna have a business that way. Speaker 2: We can profit three hundred bucks profit per unit on every deal that Speaker 2: we own, and that's that's the metric for us is we're gonna do a Speaker 2: deal. Speaker 2: That's what we gotta focus on. Speaker 0: Yeah. Speaker 0: I've heard that, book recommended. Speaker 0: I need to I need to read it. Speaker 2: Oh, that's great.

28:00 Speaker 0: And, I love that the focus on quality over quantity and and just, Speaker 0: efficiencies Speaker 0: and people, right, and team and, adding value, Speaker 0: you know, in every every asset, every instead of Speaker 0: it just trying to amass a bunch of units, just really approaching it in Speaker 0: from a quality and efficiency standpoint and investing in your people. Speaker 0: I love that. Speaker 2: Jamie, I'm I'm not here to tell people to do that. Speaker 2: I'm here to tell people that's what I did. Speaker 2: It really served me well. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 0: Right. Speaker 2: And I would caution everybody out there. Speaker 2: It it could be very challenging. Speaker 2: During twenty one and twenty two, we were buying smaller deals, twenty units and Speaker 2: thirty units, and then everybody had seen we're buying these big deals.

28:40 Speaker 2: Everyone's doing great. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: You guys suck, and that's how it felt. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: Pull back. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: Go off Instagram. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: Focuses on what you want. Speaker 2: Focuses on what you see yourself doing the next five to ten years. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: Pull that back. Speaker 2: And if if that is going after a hundred units and three hundred units Speaker 2: and only five thousand units, get clear on that. Speaker 0: Yeah. Speaker 2: You don't have to be brainwashed into Instagram and to say you need Speaker 2: to scale up. Speaker 0: Right. Speaker 0: If you Speaker 2: don't feel like scaling up and owning a couple hundred units, that's phenomenal. Speaker 2: This sixty eight unit deal that we're gonna do, if we buy this deal Speaker 2: at three point four million dollars, once we're repositioned with it, it's gonna Speaker 2: be probably worth I mean, at a hundred and fifty thousand a unit, Speaker 2: it's probably gonna be worth nine or ten million dollars.

29:27 Speaker 2: It's seventy, sixty eight units. Speaker 2: If you're doing three hundred dollars in profit per unit, it's generating eighteen to Speaker 2: twenty thousand dollars a month in revenue, in profit per unit for yourself. Speaker 2: So if you don't don't think that you need to own thousands of units Speaker 2: to become financially free through real estate. Speaker 2: That's what we the bill of goods we've been sold. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: Old Burlingham's book lays it out and says, you don't have to do that. Speaker 2: You have to do what makes you happy. Speaker 0: I love that. Speaker 0: That's really good. Speaker 0: So you recently sold off the education business. Speaker 0: So what does your business look like today as far as, you know, the Speaker 0: people? Speaker 0: How many team members? Speaker 0: What are the part what's the partnership look like? Speaker 2: We still are vertically integrated as far as the property management company and as Speaker 2: far as the acquisitions.

30:07 Speaker 2: We probably are approaching a hundred team members, maintenance techs, property Speaker 2: managers, regionals, COO. Speaker 2: And as far as the education company, I just stopped falling in love Speaker 2: teaching real estate because it's very challenging right now. Speaker 2: And I decided, you know what? Speaker 2: I love talking about money. Speaker 2: I love life coaching. Speaker 2: I love talking about family. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: I love talking about legacy, so I created a company with my family called Speaker 2: Barbro three sixty. Speaker 0: Awesome. Speaker 0: And and what is dive into that a little bit. Speaker 0: What is that all about? Speaker 2: So for us, what I've seen over the last thirty to forty years has Speaker 2: been the degradation of the family. Speaker 2: And you could point every and I don't maybe maybe I'm overstating Speaker 2: this, but almost every single metric that's gone down in this Speaker 2: country has due to the family.

30:53 Speaker 2: You can blame the school districts all you want, but it's really hard when Speaker 2: you have a when you have a kid going to school that doesn't have Speaker 2: a great family life and he's trying to learn. Speaker 2: Right? Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 2: You can see crime. Speaker 2: You can see, you know, as far as as far as kids being born Speaker 2: out of wedlock, every problem that we have. Speaker 2: Poverty, it's due to the disintegration, in my opinion, of the family. Speaker 2: So I wanna take it upon myself not to complain about it Mhmm. Speaker 2: But to be a light, to shine a light on it. Speaker 2: And my mission with the new company is to change the world one family Speaker 2: at a time. Speaker 2: And if I can change one family, that ripple effect will start changing Speaker 2: other families. Speaker 2: And how do you do that? Speaker 2: You don't do that by telling people. Speaker 2: You do that by showing people.

31:35 Speaker 2: Mhmm. Speaker 2: And that's what this whole company is all about. Speaker 2: It's showing people through faith, through family, through finance, Speaker 2: through health and wellness, how you can start transforming your family Speaker 2: and become the light that others need to see as well. Speaker 0: Okay. Speaker 0: So get a little more granular, and then I do have, some questions to Speaker 0: to fire at you. Speaker 0: But what what does that mean for the listener? Speaker 0: How do they work with you? Speaker 0: What, you know, what does that mean for me? Speaker 2: For me is the first thing is just to read our book, Happy Money, Speaker 2: Happy Family, Happy Legacy. Speaker 2: For every person that is is in a family, it's like running a business. Speaker 2: It's your your family should have core values and a mission statement. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: You as a father should be transparent, open, and honest.

32:16 Speaker 2: We teach people through our mentorship, through our coaching, through our platform. Speaker 2: We've got podcasts out there. Speaker 2: How to start connecting at a different level with your family? Speaker 2: To me, it all starts with the finance. Speaker 2: It all starts with money. Speaker 2: I love talking about happy money. Speaker 2: How do you start that conversation with your kids? Speaker 2: How do you even start talking to them about money and laying that foundation? Speaker 2: Because through generating and earning what I call happy money, positive, Speaker 2: you know, energy, money that comes into your life, you can start earning that Speaker 2: and and showing your kids that. Speaker 2: All of a sudden, you can start empowering your family and the legacy piece. Speaker 2: You know, Jamie, you were talking about the restaurant years ago. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: I was in the throes of unhappy money, and I needed to be Speaker 2: there because I needed to pay the bills.

32:59 Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: But most of us continue to make that excuse of, well, it's a job, Speaker 2: and I need to be there. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: Not stepping aside and saying, well, where's my happy money? Speaker 2: Where do I love to reside? Speaker 2: And for me, it was always the real estate aspect of it. Speaker 2: I never gave up on that dream. Speaker 0: Right. Speaker 2: And once I got out of the restaurant, became financially free Right. Speaker 2: I started Jake and Gino. Speaker 2: That was my happy money, coaching, helping others. Speaker 2: I mean, over a hundred and fifty students have left their w twos, over Speaker 2: five billion dollars. Speaker 2: They've raised over eight hundred million dollars in that community. Speaker 2: That's where the happy money came from me. Speaker 2: That's where I showed up. Speaker 2: That's my abundance. Speaker 2: That's my sole purpose. Speaker 0: Love it. Speaker 2: And now I've just shifted into trying to help out families. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: And how do we do that? Speaker 2: Try to go a little bit broader.

33:40 Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: And multifamily is an important aspect of it, and investing is an important aspect Speaker 2: of it. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: But I think this whole different brand brings on a level. Speaker 0: Well and I think what you what you're getting to as well is is Speaker 0: life has seasons, and your your passions can change, and that's okay. Speaker 2: It doesn't mean Speaker 0: Gino's passions have been identical from age five to however old you Speaker 0: are now. Speaker 0: So I love that. Speaker 0: And it's you were leaning into multifamily more for a long time and when Speaker 0: it was more of your passion, and now it's not that you're not passionate Speaker 0: about it, but you're maybe a little more passionate about a a broader topic. Speaker 0: And Speaker 2: You bring you, Jamie, I don't I'm sorry to cut you off. Speaker 2: No. Speaker 2: You bring you bring an amazing point up. Speaker 2: And now that you're saying that I'm going back, I started Jake and Gino Speaker 2: for a dual purpose.

34:23 Speaker 2: I started it, and this is a mistake that most business owners make. Speaker 2: We start a business to provide for the family. Speaker 2: We don't start a business to provide for the customer. Speaker 2: And and I have a little bit of bias for that with Jake and Speaker 2: Gino. Speaker 2: I started it because I wanted to start a brand where Speaker 2: I could raise capital, where I could be more at I I could actually Speaker 2: be more, Speaker 2: viable, be be more known to brokers and and start that. Speaker 2: When in reality, Speaker 2: I start to look back at it. Speaker 2: It was dual purpose. Speaker 2: I really started it because I loved what I was doing, and I was Speaker 2: providing value to the customers and to the Jake and Gino members. Speaker 2: So if you're out there and you're looking to get into your passion, there's Speaker 2: nothing wrong with that.

35:06 Speaker 2: But try to couple your passion with providing value to the people you're delivering Speaker 2: your passion to. Speaker 2: That's where the link was. Speaker 2: Because the restaurant, it became at first, I love to cook. Speaker 2: I love to be with my family, but then it became a drudgery Right. Speaker 2: Because all I was thinking about was myself and not looking at my customer Speaker 2: as the end user and saying, man, this person is paying me. Speaker 2: This person, I need to put love into the food. Speaker 2: Mhmm. Speaker 2: It became more of a job, and it became more of just Yeah. Speaker 2: A soul sucking experience when it shouldn't have been. Speaker 0: Absolutely. Speaker 0: And we we were talking we talked a little bit about that before we Speaker 0: hit record, and we we've talked about this on the show before as far Speaker 0: as when to follow your passion and when not to or what, you know, Speaker 0: when to Speaker 0: do something you don't love doing.

35:51 Speaker 0: But I think, ideally, there's that Venn diagram of I'm passionate about it in Speaker 0: this circle, and the other circle is someone will pay me for this. Speaker 0: But but like you said, at some point, you need to be not focused Speaker 0: on yourself and your own, quote, unquote, passion because many people will turn their Speaker 0: passions into something they despise if they're trying to milk every dollar out of Speaker 0: it, and they're only focused on what am I getting out of this. Speaker 0: They're not focused on delivering value, adding value to the customer. Speaker 2: Jamie, the problem is that most of us don't know how to start a Speaker 2: business. Speaker 2: So could you imagine if you're passionate about sewing? Speaker 2: My kids love to sew. Speaker 2: You can make a ton of money with sewing if you find the correct Speaker 2: visionary that will help you monetize your passion.

36:33 Speaker 0: Sure. Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 2: Find a partner that will help you with systems, with processes, Speaker 2: with creating, core values and a culture within what you're trying to create. Speaker 2: You do the sewing. Speaker 2: You're the you're the technician, as Michael Gerber likes to say. Speaker 0: Right. Speaker 0: Right. Speaker 2: Visionary that will help you out. Speaker 2: Now most people say Elon Musk doesn't do whatever he does. Speaker 2: He's he's not really that smart at all. Speaker 2: Give me a break. Speaker 2: The guy is not only a visionary. Speaker 2: He knows how to build businesses, So he's a rare person. Speaker 2: But if you have a passion, you can create it into a business. Speaker 2: You just need to understand the business principles, and value creation is number one. Speaker 2: But there's also income expenses. Speaker 2: And if you're not that kind of person that doesn't like that Right. Speaker 2: Either number one, don't get into the business, or number two, find someone that Speaker 2: can help you monetize what you love to do.

37:18 Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 0: That's really, really good. Speaker 0: Awesome. Speaker 0: Alright. Speaker 0: I've got some, rapid fire questions. Speaker 0: You ready? Speaker 0: Gino? Speaker 0: Yes. Speaker 0: Let's see. Speaker 0: What's one thing that people misunderstand about you? Speaker 2: I really don't think people misunderstand me. Speaker 2: I'm an open book. Speaker 2: I just I'm transparent. Speaker 2: I'm honest. Speaker 2: I think sometimes when we talk politics, I may get a little heated or Speaker 2: passionate about it, and they may think that, I get a little tough on Speaker 2: people, but Mhmm. Speaker 2: I just try to Speaker 0: I just Keep it real. Speaker 2: Stay like it is. Speaker 2: Exactly. Speaker 0: Love it. Speaker 0: What's one of your biggest failures, and what did you learn from that experience? Speaker 2: That's a that's a great question because so many different ideas pop into my Speaker 2: mind.

38:03 Speaker 2: But as far as financially, failure financially, well, I'll give you failure personally. Speaker 2: As a father, it took me years to learn how to say sorry to Speaker 2: my kids, and I still I still struggle with that because it's part of Speaker 2: the ego. Speaker 2: As a parent, you think you're always right when in reality, we make tons Speaker 2: of mistakes. Speaker 2: And I always thought being sorry and that vulnerability was a weakness when in Speaker 2: reality, it's a strength. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: Now my financial mistake was that deal that I'd mentioned to you back in Speaker 2: two thousand six. Speaker 2: Mhmm. Speaker 2: Probably lost close high six figures, touching Speaker 2: maybe seven figure over a span of ten years once I sold out of Speaker 2: it, but the lessons that I learned were invaluable. Speaker 2: The pain that it went through, that's why the adversity through abundance, through Speaker 2: adversity, there was adversity for a ten year hold on that.

38:47 Speaker 2: But while that was going on, I got together and partnered with Jake, and Speaker 2: I started buying other assets. Speaker 2: And that deal pushed me into the mentorship. Speaker 0: Which has obviously provided a good bit of abundance for you. Speaker 0: It sure has. Speaker 0: Obviously, paid it forward, you know, many many times over. Speaker 0: If you could go back and give your eighteen year old self some advice, Speaker 0: what would that be? Speaker 2: I really like where I am, so I don't really wanna change the trajectory Speaker 2: of my life. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: But early on, when I got married, I would have told that eighteen year Speaker 2: old self, you don't need to buy new homes. Speaker 2: You can buy fixer up homes, get in there, fix them up, save Speaker 2: that equity, and invest in other things.

39:30 Speaker 2: But I and the the homes that I built, there's so much memory there, Speaker 2: and there's so many great times there, so it's really hard to. Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 2: But for me as a younger person, anyone who's listening to this younger, your Speaker 2: goal is to really focus on producing and really focus Speaker 2: on learning how to create value for others Right. Speaker 2: And learning how to save money because that saving of money will allow Speaker 2: you to invest money. Speaker 2: Do not go into debt where someone else Speaker 2: owns you. Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 2: That is today's form of slavery is when you are when you are shackled Speaker 2: by debt payments and you can't see your way out. Speaker 2: Please avoid that. Speaker 2: That's one thing I would say to young people. Speaker 0: Yeah. Speaker 0: And defer that satisfaction, Speaker 2: you know Yes.

40:10 Speaker 2: For a Speaker 0: period of time. Speaker 0: If you were given ten million dollars tomorrow, Gina, what would you do with Speaker 0: it? Speaker 2: That's another great question. Speaker 2: I really don't know other than I've been on this website called James Edition. Speaker 2: They've got beautiful villas in Europe. Speaker 2: I'd possibly buy a villa in Europe for three, four mil in Tuscany Speaker 2: and use that as a retreat Speaker 0: Nice. Speaker 0: For, Speaker 2: for for my daughter, have missions going out there and have pilgrimages out there. Speaker 2: If I had to be honest with you, that's probably what I'd wanna do. Speaker 0: Nice. Speaker 0: There you go. Speaker 0: What is the challenge that you're facing in your business right now? Speaker 2: The challenge for me right now is trying to start this business and and Speaker 2: see where it's where where we wanna take it.

40:50 Speaker 2: Mhmm. Speaker 2: I've been burned out with social media for the last several years doing Instagram Speaker 2: shorts and YouTube videos and trying to get clicks and likes. Speaker 2: To me, anybody listening to this, one of my mentors, Speaker 2: Brenda Bouchard, said this, and it's really stuck with me. Speaker 2: It's purpose over popularity. Speaker 2: Too many of us focus on trying to become popular by not focusing Speaker 2: on our purpose. Speaker 2: And that's something that I've struggled with and I will continue to struggle with, Speaker 2: and I wanna be able to focus my purpose on what I'm trying to Speaker 2: accomplish. Speaker 2: And, hopefully, some popularity comes from that. Speaker 0: Sure. Speaker 0: And I think that's, just as you were saying that, it it I I Speaker 0: realized that that as another version of taking the focus off of yourself Speaker 0: because popularity is really, how does it make me feel?

41:35 Speaker 0: It's all about me. Speaker 0: How many people like me? Speaker 0: Whereas purpose is not really about you. Speaker 0: It's about serving others and what am I meant to do? Speaker 0: What was I called to do? Speaker 0: How do I add value to others? Speaker 0: So that's really Speaker 2: the hero and the guide mentality. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: On this podcast, typically, the person who's hosting the podcast is Speaker 2: the guide. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: And the person that's being interviewed is the hero. Speaker 0: Right. Speaker 2: And and I think anybody listening to the show right now is also a Speaker 2: hero. Speaker 2: You're on this journey, and you're taking them on this journey. Speaker 2: And if you can look at life from that perspective where you're a guide Speaker 2: and you're helping other people out and you treat others as the hero in Speaker 2: their story Yeah. Speaker 2: You're gonna have a lot of friends. Speaker 0: That's the, Donald Miller marketing.

42:16 Speaker 0: Forget Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 2: StoryBrand. Speaker 0: Yes. Speaker 0: Thank you. Speaker 0: All about the being the guide and and the customer is the hero, and Speaker 0: you're just the guide providing, you know, assistance along the way. Speaker 0: I love that. Speaker 0: And it's really really gets down to I heard, Alex Hormozi talking about this Speaker 0: the other day, but it's, Speaker 0: you know, talk as far as understanding people's pain points, he was saying Speaker 0: it's fine to talk about your your solution a little bit, but it's really Speaker 0: more about if you can well articulate the pain that the customer is experiencing Speaker 0: Yeah. Speaker 0: That's empathy and that's, like, understanding, and that's what's gonna sell. Speaker 0: I mean, that's that's that's what's gonna really do it for you. Speaker 0: And then sharing then you're not selling something Speaker 2: they don't need.

42:58 Speaker 2: I've listened to a gentleman named Zig Ziglar for the vast majority of my Speaker 2: adult life. Speaker 2: He used to say there was a radio station called WIIFM. Speaker 2: What's in it for me? Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 0: I've heard that. Speaker 2: If you can really look at it from that perspective, and that's what the Speaker 2: person the customers want. Speaker 2: They don't care about you, honestly, and and that's just human nature. Speaker 2: And if you understand that, what's in it for them? Speaker 2: Don't tell them about yourself so much. Speaker 2: They wanna know how you're gonna help them out. Speaker 2: And if you can cut to the chase and, like, Hormozi, the genius that Speaker 2: he is, understands that, he's providing them a solution. Speaker 2: He's providing them a problem to their pain. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: Are you gonna become rich doing that? Speaker 2: You're gonna become fantastically rich if you can realize that.

43:39 Speaker 0: Right. Speaker 0: Right. Speaker 0: Love it. Speaker 0: Awesome. Speaker 0: Before we get to well, I know you've, well, before I get to that Speaker 0: one, back to the multifamily space. Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 0: You know, get out your crystal ball. Speaker 0: You know, what what do things look like going forward? Speaker 0: I think, there are a lot of, loans and debt that's gonna be coming Speaker 0: due. Speaker 0: You mentioned earlier about, you know, possibly removing back toward two thousand Speaker 0: eight or something similar to that. Speaker 0: I know whatever we say is gonna be not a hundred percent accurate here Speaker 0: because nobody knows. Speaker 0: But what are your best guesses on the next, say, five years as far Speaker 0: as the multifamily real estate space goes? Speaker 2: If you go back to two thousand and nineteen or two thousand and twenty, Speaker 2: if you're listening to this, I have a question for you.

44:23 Speaker 2: Would you have bought an asset five years ago? Speaker 2: The answer is probably yes. Speaker 2: Mhmm. Speaker 2: So if we fast forward to the year two thousand and thirty and I Speaker 2: ask you the same question, would you have bought an asset in twenty twenty Speaker 2: five? Speaker 2: What would that answer be? Speaker 2: Probably yes. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: So for me, long term, understanding the market cycle, Speaker 2: understanding what we call the three pillars of real estate and our buy right, Speaker 2: manage right, finance right framework. Speaker 2: If you're an investor and you understand risks and market cycle, to Speaker 2: me, this is one of the best times to buy real estate in the Speaker 2: last fifteen plus years. Speaker 2: Right now, debt is very difficult to obtain. Speaker 2: They're being a pain in the ass. Speaker 2: They're pulling back. Speaker 2: They're asking for more.

45:04 Speaker 2: So what happens is sellers sooner or later are gonna have to continue to Speaker 2: drop pricing. Speaker 2: We're going into a softening of the economy, which we should. Speaker 2: I hope Trump slows this economy down where we can start dropping interest rates. Speaker 2: We need to take care of inflation. Speaker 2: So shorter term, there may there may be bumps. Speaker 2: And, yes, debt has been trying to reset for the last twelve to eighteen Speaker 2: months. Speaker 2: There's gonna be a lot of older assets coming online. Speaker 2: Don't overpay for them. Speaker 2: Mhmm. Speaker 2: Be careful because sixty five, you know, nineteen sixty five Speaker 2: plumbing is still nineteen sixty five plumbing. Speaker 2: It still costs a lot of money. Speaker 2: Roofs, driveways, you need to be able to budget for that. Speaker 2: So understand where we are. Speaker 2: To me, long term, as far as demographics, just be aware of where you Speaker 2: are as far as investing.

45:49 Speaker 2: The southeast is great. Speaker 2: The Midwest is great. Speaker 2: The sun belt is great where people are moving to. Speaker 2: And, obviously, you want more favorable landlord laws if you can. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: You want great. Speaker 2: As far as I'm concerned, you want great areas where they promote business, Speaker 2: where they promote growth, where they promote jobs. Speaker 2: If you can lock all of that in and you have a long term Speaker 2: mindset and you're not there trying to flip out every two months and you Speaker 2: can say to yourself, I can hold this asset for the next three, four, Speaker 2: or five years, you're in a great position with real estate. Speaker 0: Love that. Speaker 0: It's really good. Speaker 0: Real estate is very forgiving over the long haul. Speaker 0: You can make a mistake or two or you know? Speaker 0: But, yeah, I love that I love that answer.

46:31 Speaker 0: Closing questions here. Speaker 0: How has financial abundance made your life better, Gino? Speaker 2: It's been my life better with one word. Speaker 2: And in the book, Happy Money, I talk about it. Speaker 2: It's giving me autonomy. Speaker 2: I mean, money doesn't make you happy. Speaker 2: No. Speaker 2: But the the option to get on this podcast with you this morning Yeah. Speaker 2: Made happy. Speaker 2: As you I freaking love talking about it. Speaker 2: If I had to go and work at the restaurant at ten o'clock on Speaker 2: a Friday, god forbid, you would Speaker 2: want a chance in a you'd see snow in hell before you saw me Speaker 2: in a podcast at ten o'clock on a Friday morning at the restaurant. Speaker 2: That's the reality. Speaker 2: It gives you the options. Speaker 2: It gives you the ability to create impact in your life.

47:11 Speaker 2: Money is just a result. Speaker 2: Money is a tool. Speaker 2: The last thing I'll say is profit to me is the fuel. Speaker 2: It's not my destination. Speaker 2: That's what's changed in my life, and I'm trying to use money to impact Speaker 2: others to create more happier experiences in my life. Speaker 2: It's not the money that's doing that. Speaker 2: It's the autonomy that's allowing me to do that. Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 0: That's so good. Speaker 0: Now you've mentioned several books. Speaker 0: Is there another book or two that you could recommend for our listener? Speaker 2: It's interesting. Speaker 2: I had a book that jumped into my head and jumped right out of Speaker 2: it. Speaker 2: You were talking about, I forgot what you're talking about. Speaker 2: Well, you've got Speaker 0: three three books, Wheelbarrow Profits, The Honey Bee and Family, and then Speaker 0: Food and the Friars, and then you've Yes.

47:53 Speaker 2: It's a cookbook. Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 2: And and I would say The Honey Bee is an excellent book because it's Speaker 2: a book about multiple streams of revenue. Speaker 2: If you're in there, it's a story about Noah who's who's a pharmaceutical rep Speaker 2: who meets Tom who's a beekeeper, and all of a sudden Tom starts telling Speaker 2: him and teaching him about various ways to start building a real estate Speaker 2: empire. Speaker 2: I mean, if I'm looking at a book right now, the book that I'm Speaker 2: reading right now, I would say it's James Clear's Atomic Habits. Speaker 2: I'm reading that for the fourth time. Speaker 0: Yeah. Speaker 0: I need to read it. Speaker 2: Of marginal returns. Speaker 2: I mean, there's just so many different Yeah. Speaker 2: And I'm looking at I'm looking at goal setting, and I've been goal setting Speaker 2: for the last twenty years. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: And I love what he says. Speaker 2: Goals are the results.

48:33 Speaker 2: That's the problem. Speaker 2: We all focus too much on the results, and those those results don't create Speaker 2: happiness in our lives because once we get the hundred units, all of a Speaker 0: sudden it's like what next. Speaker 0: Yeah. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 0: It's like and and you do need and I read it. Speaker 0: I've read it. Speaker 0: I need to read it again. Speaker 0: It's so good. Speaker 0: But you need to know the direction you're headed in for sure. Speaker 0: You don't just start doing stuff without any kind of intention. Speaker 0: But at the same time, yeah, James Clear is all about process and Speaker 0: habits, obviously, and not not just the end result. Speaker 0: So I think he I don't think he puts goals down necessarily. Speaker 0: It's just they're No. Speaker 2: He doesn't. Speaker 0: Yeah. Speaker 0: People are just a little less you know, a little too focused on goals Speaker 0: without being focused on the process and habits.

49:13 Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 2: Great great synopsis. Speaker 2: I love that. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 0: How do you like to serve others, Gino? Speaker 2: That's a great question. Speaker 2: I've got all the community members calling me up. Speaker 2: I mean, obviously, their time is done. Speaker 2: I've sold the business. Speaker 2: Mhmm. Speaker 2: They're calling me up, asking for advice, asking for help. Speaker 2: I I just love talking real estate. Speaker 2: And now I struggle with others. Speaker 2: I've got this book for free. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: I I hand it out to people. Speaker 2: And the book is more of having a conversation with yourself. Speaker 2: Once you start reading it, you start listening and hearing stories. Speaker 2: And I had my deacon at church a couple of weeks ago. Speaker 2: I handed him the book. Speaker 2: Out of all people, I thought, you know, he's not gonna have a conversation Speaker 2: with me. Speaker 2: And he says to me, you know what? Speaker 2: I've gotta get my will going.

49:54 Speaker 2: I've gotta secure my legacy, and he's seventy years old. Speaker 2: So there's a little bit in this book for everybody. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: And it starts conversation. Speaker 0: And how can the listener get a hold of that book, did you say? Speaker 2: You can go to barbero three six zero, b a r b a r Speaker 2: o, three six zero dot com. Speaker 2: It's on our website. Speaker 2: We're selling it on Amazon as well. Speaker 2: If you want a free PDF copy, just email me gino at jake Speaker 2: and gino dot com, and I'll send you a free PDF copy. Speaker 0: Perfect. Speaker 0: So good. Speaker 0: What's one question that you wish I'd asked that I have not asked? Speaker 0: Anything you think we should cover here before we hop off? Speaker 2: You know, Speaker 2: that's that's another great question.

50:34 Speaker 2: I could talk about real estate forever. Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 2: One thing that I love to talk about is our three step framework. Speaker 2: This is really important because you want to talk a little bit about real Speaker 2: estate. Speaker 2: So when you're looking at a deal, you're looking to buy a mobile home Speaker 2: park, you're looking to buy a business, look at it through the lens Speaker 2: of buy right, finance right, and manage right. Speaker 2: Think of a wheelbarrow. Speaker 2: You have the two back legs. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 2: Buy right? Speaker 2: What's your buy box? Speaker 2: What are you buying? Speaker 2: That's right. Speaker 2: Where? Speaker 2: Median income. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 0: Number of Speaker 2: units, unit mix. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: Average rents. Speaker 2: That's the buy right. Speaker 2: Mhmm. Speaker 2: Finance right is how you financing this. Speaker 2: When those both legs are done, they're fixed. Speaker 2: That's it. Speaker 2: Then it's the manage, which is the wheel.

51:17 Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 2: Barrel. Speaker 2: I love that. Speaker 2: And if you don't understand that the real estate is a business, and even Speaker 2: if you're buying a business, a franchise, whatever that is, that wheel is Speaker 2: crucial. Speaker 2: That's why a lot of these assets are having issues. Speaker 2: People just thought they could buy real estate, raise rents, and flip out. Speaker 2: Nobody was managing these assets. Speaker 0: Sure. Speaker 2: That's the Speaker 0: important good. Speaker 0: And and I and I I actually it's interesting. Speaker 0: I hadn't thought of it till you explained it so well just there, but Speaker 0: I I talk with my team. Speaker 0: I have a a mortgage note fund, residential mortgage notes. Speaker 0: We raise capital and we buy fund, buy notes and and manage those those Speaker 0: notes. Speaker 0: And that's exactly it's you know, I talk about the three legs of the Speaker 0: stool and, you know, one leg is raising capital.

51:58 Speaker 0: The second leg is finding the deals and and doing your due diligence. Speaker 0: You gotta have your buy box to be able to do all that. Speaker 0: So it's essentially first leg is is getting money. Speaker 0: Second leg is is getting deals, buying, you know, buying the notes. Speaker 0: And the third leg is managing those two two things, managing the capital and Speaker 0: managing the notes, which most of probably seventy five percent of my Speaker 0: time is is spent in that asset management area, maybe even more, Speaker 0: because that's where the work happens. Speaker 0: And that that's that's what I'm good at, quite honestly. Speaker 0: But but, it's it's that's so true, and it's whether it's, note business Speaker 0: or multifamily business or or, like you said, buying a business, those are Speaker 0: the three three things to consider. Speaker 0: That's really good. Speaker 0: I've never heard it put exactly the way you did, so that's that's awesome.

52:42 Speaker 0: Do you know anything before we hop off? Speaker 0: Where can our our listeners find you online? Speaker 2: It's been a pleasure to be on. Speaker 2: I love talking real estate. Speaker 2: I love talking family. Speaker 2: I love talking money. Speaker 2: Just go to barbero three sixty dot com. Speaker 2: Check us out. Speaker 2: We have a YouTube page. Speaker 2: You can go online to jake and jeano dot com as well. Speaker 2: We've got our podcast on there as well. Speaker 2: And I just launched a show called The Happy Money Podcast with my twenty Speaker 2: two year old son. Speaker 2: So go check that out on Apple as well. Speaker 0: So good. Speaker 0: You've delivered a ton of value, and I I this is definitely one I'm Speaker 0: gonna be listening to for sure. Speaker 0: So, Gino, thanks for joining us. Speaker 2: Thanks, brother. Speaker 0: This has been great. Speaker 0: And to the listener out there, thank you for spending your most valuable resource Speaker 0: with us, and that is your time.

53:22 Speaker 0: Thanks, everyone. Speaker 0: Take care. Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us on from adversity to abundance. Speaker 1: We hope today's episode has equipped you with valuable insights and practical advice Speaker 1: to elevate your real estate journey. Speaker 1: For more inspiring stories and resources, visit us at w w w Speaker 1: dot adversity to abundance dot com. Speaker 1: If this episode has inspired you, please share it with a friend who could Speaker 1: also benefit from our conversation. Speaker 1: Together, let's turn adversity into abundance. Speaker 1: Until next time, keep building your mental fitness and your real estate empire.