The Power of Partnerships

Mike: [00:00:00] Hey everybody. Welcome back to the show. I’m really excited, uh, to talk to my buddy Michael and Ryan. Today we’re gonna be talking about their partners in the real estate investing business. You’re gonna get to know them really well today. And I talk to people a lot about partnerships and I have lots of partnerships and I’m, I’m always interested in having these, uh, conversations.

Mike: Cuz early on I was a one man band, or I say my woman was my, my woman, my wife was behind the scenes running stuff. I’ve never referred to my wife as my woman. She would probably punch me if she heard that that was an accident, by the way, but, Um, at the end of the day, like none of us that run significant businesses can do it alone, and so it has to come down to people.

Mike: And partnerships are perfect for the real estate space and really excited to kind of talk about the power of partnerships with Ryan and Michael today.

Mike: Professional real estate investors know that it’s not really about the real estate.

Mike: In fact, real estate is just a vehicle of freedom. A group [00:01:00] of over a hundred of a nation’s leading real estate investors from across the country meets several times a year at the Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind to share ideas on how to strengthen each other’s businesses, but also to come together as.

Mike: And build more fulfilling lives for all of those around us on today’s show, we’re gonna continue our conversation of fueling our businesses and fueling our lives. I’m glad you’re here.

Mike: Guys. How are you?

Ryan: Very good. Very good. Amazing. Looking forward to talking with

Mike: you and I’m excited to talk to you guys today too for, because your partnership is unique in a lot of ways in that. Operate virtually in a bunch of markets, and you don’t even work outta the same office. You guys live in different states.

Mike: I know it wasn’t always that way, but that’s kind of how the future’s going. Like, just tear down the walls of anything that was a, you know, a challenge before and just figure out how to do things virtually. So, um, uh, [00:02:00] Ryan, why don’t you tell us a little bit about, uh, yourself and maybe after that let’s get into kind of how you guys met.

Mike: But first maybe just do a brief intro to, to you and then Michael you go.

Ryan: So, yeah, Ryan Omel and I live in Lincoln, Nebraska, and I’ve been in Nebraska my entire life. Uh, married for uh, a little over 20 years and we have five children and, uh, and actually probably young adults at this point, some of ’em are out of the house, and we still have a couple left.

Ryan: And we live on a small acreage just outside of, of Lincoln and we have some goats and chickens and a dog. And you may hear the dog barking in the background. So, um, I’ve been in real estate. I bought my first house in 1996, if that tells you a little bit about my age. But, um, I’ve been ac actively investing in real estate since 1998, and then I had to learn a few lessons in the downturn in the 2008.

Ryan: Market and, uh, then still going. And, um, I actually, during that [00:03:00] time, I had to take a full-time job because, um, I had a, a family to support and then, A few years down the line after that, that’s when Michael and I met. So we’ll talk about that, but I’ll let Michael introduce himself.

Michael: Yeah, awesome. Thank you.

Michael: Yeah. Yeah. So about me is, um, born and raised in Nebraska and it’s been about five years since I learned about real estate investing and coming up on five years in my first business and failed my way forward. I invested tens of thousands of dollars to learn the ins and outs of invest. And, um, after about a year of wholesaling Ryan Properties, I, I realized that, um, I can make some real money in real estate and I should probably quit my job and go full-time in it.

Michael: But, uh, it’s funny, right after Ryan and I met, Which we can get into. The story on that is, um, I’m get getting a little bit ahead of myself here, but I told him, Hey man, um, my wife wants to move to Vegas. So back up a little bit. I’m a husband, of course, to [00:04:00] my beautiful wife in you high school sweetheart.

Michael: Your woman. My woman. Um, and we have two kids, and at that time we had one kid, but she wanted to move to Las Vegas and. Hey, we just started business with Ryan. Like, I don’t know what he’s gonna think about that. And so, uh, long story short, I cold called Ryan to meet him. Um, that’s how we met. I was hustling.

Michael: I was running the streets, finding rundown properties, cold calling for rent sites, cold calling FSBOs. And I, I ran across his property and, uh, he said, Hey, you seem like you’re out there and let’s go ahead and, uh, grab a lunch. And so we did. And started in business, um, that was what, three and a half, four years ago?

Michael: Almost already?

Ryan: Yeah. A little over four, four years ago. So we met five years ago, and I think Michael and I both were comfortable where we could have done real estate on our own individually. Yeah. And, but I, I just knew that I did need some accountability. And so after [00:05:00] Michael and I met for lunch, Yeah, I probably bought a few more properties from him that he was wholesaling, but, um, shortly thereafter, I think, uh, my wife and I invited you and your wife out to our house and had dinner.

Ryan: And it was like right after that I was like, dude, let’s, let’s, uh, become partners and, and, uh, quit the jobs and get going. And he wasn’t too sure about that at first. And maybe I’ll let Michael explain that. But then, yeah, right after we started the business, then, uh, shortly after Michael decides to move to Vegas.

Ryan: So, um, He’s a lot younger than I am. I know I look a lot younger, but, um,

Mike: yeah, you look like you’re a teenager. Ryan. Yeah. .

Ryan: So, um, he’s a lot younger, but I just knew like if that was on his heart that he wanted to move from Lincoln, Nebraska. Cause that’s, we were where we were both located to Vegas because he had family out there.

Ryan: I was like, He’s always gonna wonder if he could have done this or if he should have, you know, down years down the road. So I was just like, yeah, if you wanna do it, go for it. So,

Mike: Ryan, let me, let me ask you, cuz I think, you know, in the vein of talking [00:06:00] about partnerships, like the way that partnerships. In my experience are successful is that each party brings something to the table that the other one, you know, either couldn’t do on their own or saw the value in kind of unifying.

Mike: Right. And so you had been in the business for a long time and you were, you know, I, I like to say this. I, I said this about, uh, myself sometimes as it, it over time you have this, Personal maturity probably as you get older and then like business maturity, you kind of realize like, I, I thought I could take on the world and I can, but I can’t do it alone.

Mike: Or you start to realize what, what your capabilities are, and it’s not even. And you do it, it starts to get to like, I don’t really want to do that . Right. Um, but just talk about maybe, uh, I wanna talk about the structure, but maybe you could just share and then we could ask Michael too. Like, cuz I think people, when they think about partnering, sometimes they end up partnering with like, their best friend and that ends bad because they’re, they’re too alike.

Mike: Like their skill sets are the same and they’re, they have the same gaps that like neither one of ’em are. [00:07:00] A thing, and it’s like, well, you need that. So partnerships are good when they’re symbiotic and, uh, there’s, you know, different skillsets there. So what were you missing or what did you see in Michael that you started to say, Hey, maybe we could be partners instead of just competitors in the same market?

Ryan: So good question. So I should clarify. So after the, the market crashed in 2008, I took a job with the state of Nebraska as a real estate appraiser, and I thought I was gonna be there for like a year or two. And you know, fast forward like 10 years later and I was still there. And that’s about the time when Michael and I met.

Ryan: So it wasn’t like I had a business active there, I was. I see, I see full-time during that time. But then I also was doing real estate deals on the side, so to speak. Yeah. And you wanted

Mike: to get back in and you saw that as a path.

Ryan: Yeah. And so, um, I knew I was basically going to be leaving my job within, you know, a year or two.

Ryan: And then Michael and I met and he called me and off of a for rent sign in the yard of a property that I had for rent. And I just knew like, [00:08:00] okay, he’s young and he’s a hustler. And those are some skills that I might not necessarily have. And that’s kind of answering your question. So, um, when we talked, it was just evident that he was, you know, intelligent.

Ryan: Um, Not as good looking as I am, but you know, ,

Mike: I’ll let you guys fight that one out. . Yeah.

Michael: And I had a feeling that was gonna come up ,

Ryan: but I could just tell he had some talent and some skills that I didn’t have. But then I knew that I had a lot of experience with real estate. I’m a certified general real estate appraiser.

Ryan: I worked for a title insurance company years ago, and I had flipped and remodeled probably 20 or 30 houses, you know, previous to that. So I just knew I had a lot of knowledge. I, I wasn’t like skilled in all those different areas and so that’s, that’s where I think Michael and I complimented each other, and that’s why I wanted to talk to him about becoming a partner at the time.

Ryan: And, um, it’s worked out well because we, we do have different, we have the same core values, so I guess that’s one Yeah, [00:09:00] that’s an important thing, idea to mention. Yeah, so we talked about that at the very beginning cuz faith is really important to my, to me and my wife. And so, uh, Michael and I talked about that and we both knew that in this profession you can make money pretty quickly and you can be a little dishonest and make even more.

Ryan: But we wanted to be in business for the long haul and we wanted to do things the right way. And so we, we aligned in that respect. But, um, I just knew that Michael was, you know, good at those areas that I was not. And so we talked, but we didn’t, like at the very beginning, beginning we never did like establish, like set, uh, I guess roles, if you will.

Ryan: Yeah. We just kinda like morphed into it. So maybe Michael can expand on that a little bit. Yeah. Michael,

Mike: go ahead. Tell, tell us what you saw in Ryan in terms of, because I know how it works. When I was younger, I thought, I don’t need those thinking partners. Like I can do all this myself. Right. And it just took time to realize the power of collaboration and partnerships.

Mike: But what did you see early on? Because my guess is you just wanted to whole Salem houses at some point and then, and [00:10:00] then it popped in your head, or maybe he popped it in your head about the opportunity to work together.

Michael: Yeah. I had no idea that I would’ve been going into a partnership. Um, it was. Seven or eight months from the day that I found out about wholesaling and started actually finding some success because it took me six months to get my first deal.

Michael: But then when I met Ryan, I realized that I could wholesale a lot of houses, but I felt like there was a missing component and that was the the desire to even wanna flip properties, because flipping contracts are just so much easier for me, and I’m like, do I really wanna reinvent the wheel with the construction, the project management, all of that stuff?

Michael: Or could we just partner. And I just wholesale him a deal, per se, in within our own business, except for we can then maximize that profit. So it allowed us to give ourselves an ability to make a lot more money doing that versus leaving, you know, obviously as a wholesale you have to leave money on the table for the investor, but by having the ability to just keep that in-house, um, it was, it was big.[00:11:00]

Michael: And I think the biggest thing. His expertise in, in, uh, real estate, in valuing properties. And then just the alignment in our goals. Um, I talked to a lot of people prior to Ryan and a lot of people in my market started approaching me. I, you know, not to sound full of myself, but I did have a lot of people come up and say, Hey, we wanna partner with you.

Michael: We want to do the same thing that Ryan wanted to do. And I had conversations with everyone. I listened and I evaluated. It, um, it seemed to me that we were on the same path versus other people. They already had businesses. They were basically trying to buy me as an employee, and I didn’t want that. I wanted to have my own business, and that’s why.

Michael: What Ryan and I, um, created is, is pretty cool. And, uh, it’s been a fantastic partnership since we, since we started four years ago. Yeah. That’s awesome. That’s

Mike: awesome. Maybe you could talk a little bit, Michael, about the, just kind of high level, about the structure of, you said, uh, RI Ryan said that you guys didn’t def clearly define your rules [00:12:00] before you started and you just kind of fell into it.

Mike: For folks that are listening, that’s one of the things that I would definitely advise you on. You guys would probably say that too, if you have those conversations up front, because what you don’t want to do, You know, start a relationship with all the intentions of this being long lasting thing. And then right in, right, right out of the gate, you’re like, oh, you’re, you’re not good at this.

Mike: Or like, literally at this point, I remember when I partnered with, uh, Jason Lewis on our business, he’s like, Hey, will you take a predictive index? Uh, before , it was just like, there’s profiling me and everything. I was like, man, I’m, I’m great at everything. What are you talking about? So, but in hindsight, it was gr it was good to really know who you’re.

Mike: Who you’re effectively getting in, in, into business with. Right. Getting in bed with ultimately, cuz it’s like a marriage, like you don’t ever want that thing to break up and you know, not saying that you should go profile, test your spouses, but, or potential spouses. But maybe, I mean, I don’t know, but Michael, talk a little bit about how you guys kind of divide and conquer and then maybe a couple tips that you guys wish you had done differently than you did.

Mike: Not that it’s not worked out, but just advice for people that are, listen.

Michael: It’s really [00:13:00] funny to think back to this because I just remember we were, we were offering out of one of Ryan’s houses at the, like when we first met, and we had every intention to build an org chart to establish the seats. We were following e o s with an intern.

Michael: We had hired an intern. He’d come, we’d have a meeting and we’d talk about all these things, about what seats people need to be in all this and. . But then what happened is Ryan quit his job. I quit my job. We needed to make revenue and we just like threw all that on the back burner and just like, we’ll get back to that later.

Michael: Yeah. Went. Yeah. And we just started making deals and so, um, defining the roles. I think we both knew what our skillsets were and mine. We’re sales and I, I, I, I enjoy, I actually enjoy talking to homeowners and like, making deals. And so my role at the time was just to yeah, market to find the opportunity.

Michael: And then I would go close the deal and then on the backside, Ryan would, um, take on the project. Mm-hmm. . So that was. The long, the simplest way to put it. [00:14:00] And obviously we were missing a lot of components along with the operational and hey, what about the books? What about, um, hiring and all of these things?

Michael: But, um, eventually we just found our way by. Time and, and discussions and failing for, maybe you could talk a little

Mike: bit about the Ryan, maybe you could talk a little about the money side, cuz that’s always an important part of a partnership is like, you know, who’s putting in what and if you have to borrow money for your business and things like that.

Mike: Like how did you guys. Um, do that in a way to where it made sense for everybody. And you know, sometimes that’s how partnerships are. It’s like there’s a money side and that’s really all they do. And then there’s the operator side, but you guys are both operators and you have different functions inside of the business, but how do you keep the money side fair to where everybody was happy with it?

Ryan: Well, I think, um, that’s a good question. The, from the very beginning, we knew we were gonna split pretty much everything. 50 50, I say pretty much because there was one deal that when we first got [00:15:00] started, it was a little bit bigger than I would normally do. It was a 12 plex instead of just a, a regular house.

Ryan: And, um, that one was slightly different. But basically we decided to split everything 50 50 and then we would also contribute. To the, because we started with zero. So I think when we first started, I think we were both contributing like a thousand a month towards marketing. I mean, it was, it was pretty nominal.

Ryan: Yeah. But, um, from that standpoint, um, we just knew that it was gonna be both of us, but. From the lending, uh, side of things, when we decided to purchase and remodel, then we did have to take on some, um, some loans and we just signed for them. Um, again, 50 50. But, um, at the time, I did have some, some equity built up, um, and some lines of credit.

Ryan: And so that definitely helped things. So getting started, um, we went that route, but we could have, we could have borrowed money from private lenders or from other [00:16:00] sources, but, um, I think all of us would agree when you’re starting out and you’re, you’re younger, um, unless you, you know, win a lottery or have some really good success, like right outta high school.

Ryan: You just don’t have as much for funds, right? Sure. You’re just getting started. And so that’s where our partnership helped. And I don’t know if I actually answered necessarily the question,

Mike: but Yeah, it’s always just like, sometimes people are like, well, I, I’m doing half the like, and whenever I’ve seen partnerships go south, it’s usually somebody feels like they’re doing more than their share of the work in getting paid proportionately less, whether it’s effort or it’s like, well, I’m doing half the job.

Mike: I’m bringing in all the money, like, or I’m, you know, I have all the lender relationships, or you’re using my money. And so sometimes people are like, well, what’s the return? I should get on that. And then that could cause problems. And so anyway, at a high level, just kind of curious how you guys fund the business and fund the deals in a way that, um, doesn’t cause a divide, because that is one of the things that could cause the divide, right?

Ryan: Yeah. And that’s, that’s something that, [00:17:00] you know, Michael and I have not had a. Like any necessarily like major arguments or disagreements where, um, maybe some partnerships, especially if you’re friends and you’re, and you’re the same type of personality, I’m sure you’re gonna like, wrote, you know, just there’s gonna be some friction there.

Ryan: So we haven’t necessarily had that, but I’m sure, well, I know probably for a fact that I drive Michael crazy at some point and, or sometimes, and then I’m sure you know, because we are, we are different and that’s why we compliment each other. But I think we’ve just resolved. We, we do realize that yeah, maybe in this area Michael’s gonna be working more and contributing more effort, but then he might have a season, uh, where maybe he, he’s not working as much and I’m working more on some project management or something like that.

Ryan: Yeah. Um, it also helps like that I’m a little bit older and a little bit more mature and I’m just, Like, I just understand like sometimes things aren’t exactly fair and just equal and [00:18:00] sometimes it’s, it’s gonna benefit both of us at different times and. There, there is a benefit to that because like you said earlier, at the very beginning, like when you’re younger, you think you can conquer the world and do everything, and you don’t need a partner, you don’t need anybody, you can just do it.

Mike: Yeah. I, I think in, in my experience, um, the important thing is to just have, uh, Like an op. Everybody understands that if you ever have a problem with something that I’m doing or not doing, like let’s talk about it and work it out. Like let’s have this arian of grievances or this hug it out period or whatever.

Mike: Because what happens, it is just like in a real, in a, in a marriage or a relationship, right? Is that, um, sometimes if the person, if you don’t have that something festers for a while and it just gets to a point to where there’s no turning back from that. And so you have to have this, it’s almost like maintenance on your car.

Mike: Like you have to have maintenance on your car. Why wouldn’t you have maintenance on your relationships every once in a while? Just to check in, check up, make sure everything’s cool, you know? Do you have any, do you have any problems with me that we need to talk about or whatever?

Michael: I, I gotta, I [00:19:00] gotta add something to what Ryan said because you mentioned there’s typically like a money person and then sometimes there’s the operational person.

Michael: I was not interested in that. That was actually one of the proposals that somebody provided to me. They just sold a tech company for hundreds of like millions of bucks. Like it was a big payday, and they’re like, You should be my partner and I’ll fund the whole thing and I’ll pay you a salary and then it’ll be great.

Michael: And I’m like, sounds kind of cool. You know, I quit my job right now and do that, but I’m like, you are not going to be doing anything like right. You have a lot of knowledge, but you’re not gonna be in the business. And so it didn’t make sense for me versus with Ryan is I knew that we are going to both be involved and that’s what’s made it work so successfully so far.

Mike: And certainly the past, you know, 10 or 12 years, it’s changed a little bit here recently, but it’s way cheaper to just borrow money than to make that person a partner. Like, you’d be better off using hard money than giving somebody half of the profit on your deal if you’re doing all the work. Like, it’s not worth half the profit, you know?

Michael: And what’s funny is, um, you know, Ryan made a good point. I, we would [00:20:00] meet up like for lunch once a week with like us and then a few other players in our market. And we talked about our goals and when he heard my goals, he probably, in his mind was kind of laughing because he is like, dude, you, you have some pretty big goals and you’re kind of crazy.

Michael: And deep down side cuz he knew what the reality of it was. And I didn’t, I was just kind of naive. Yeah. But in, in talks yesterday, or two days ago actually, we were talking about just the last few years and the proformas that we had established, like, hey, this is what we wanted to accomplish and we’ve blown that out of the water.

Michael: Yeah, that’s awesome. Since then, and so it’s just kind of interesting to, if you dream. You know, you can accomplish pretty big things. And so anyway.

Mike: Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Can you guys talk a little bit about, uh, maybe Michael, you could share a little bit about, you guys operate virtually, so now obviously you’re in Vegas.

Mike: Most of your business has been in, uh, Nebraska, but you guys are operating in several different markets now. So not only are you located in different markets here, investing in a bunch of markets where, where, uh, in some instances where neither of you live, right? So just maybe [00:21:00] talk. That and kind of your vision for, uh, the future of your business operating virtually?

Michael: Yeah. Yeah. So it’s um, a lot of lessons learned as we’ve expanded, obviously, uh, we thought it would be a cakewalk, um, just plug in more marketing, plug in more people, and it’ll all be fine. Well, never that easy is it? Never, no, not even close. So our first, uh, our vision. Two years ago may be different than what it is now, but ultimately we felt like Nebraska, we had pretty much on lockdown.

Michael: Um, we felt really confident about our abilities to close deals there, and so we wanted to expand our reach and then obviously with some things that have come up with the last year. So it’s kind of a good thing we did because, uh, Nebraska has made it required to have a license and, you know, to be even be able to wholesale, but.

Michael: I guess growing the vision was, is 12 core markets, so we wanted to have 12 core markets where we [00:22:00] could basically replicate what we’ve been able to do in Nebraska and, and then just plug in and, and then continue to do that in these 12 core markets. And big, big picture. We wanted to be national, um, and having a very, uh, big presence with that and what we’ve learned.

Michael: Scaling a team has, has, has had its challenges, right? Sure. Um, holding people accountable, uh, closing the gaps on, you know, Hey, you should have closed that deal. And yeah, we just spent $30,000 in marketing to get these leads for this month, and, you know, if we don’t get X, Y, Z, then we can’t continue to grow how we want to.

Michael: And so it’s like having those conversations and, and just realizing. Um, leadership is everything when, when it comes to growing. And so, um, you know, that’s a long story short, I guess, but Ryan, what do you have to add to that in terms of the market and growing and all that? Well, I would say

Ryan: that, uh, Yeah, I mean, so from the very beginning we knew we had, um, goals that were [00:23:00] bigger than just being in Lincoln or Omaha, Nebraska.

Ryan: Mm-hmm. . And so we aligned there, but it’s like, how did we want to grow that? Michael mentioned we wanted to be in 12 core markets, and, um, we started, we did start that and our first test run was in, uh, Tampa, in Orlando, Florida. And Michael can probably provide some more insight on, But, um, it did not go as planned, which, um, that’s kind of the way it goes.

Ryan: But, uh, now obviously Michael moved from Lincoln, Nebraska. He lives in Las Vegas, so he’s already been doing a lot of the acquisition virtually and handling some of the operations and the team. And been more recently we’re, we’ve done marketing in Denver, Colorado, Des Moines, Iowa, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Ryan: Um, Las Vegas, and I’m sure there’s some others. And we’ve hired some acquisition people and dispositions that are also virtual. They don’t live in Lincoln, Nebraska [00:24:00] or Las Vegas. And it’s, it’s had some good results. And as Michael said, we’ve, we we’re learning some lessons on leadership and that’s kind of our biggest pain point right now.

Ryan: Michael, do you wanna expand a little bit maybe on the different markets and how that’s going and, um, provide some insight for, for some others on that?

Michael: Yeah, absolutely. So the best thing about real estate, um, especially with wholesaling is you can do it anywhere in the country. And that’s what I absolutely love about it.

Michael: It’s the same method that applies as you market. You find the leads and then you, uh, negotiate a good deal. And so, We knew what we had worked because we had success with it. And that was during the hottest market in real estate. We did, you know, 40 to 60 deals the first couple of years in business and each year, and that was like when the real estate market was nuts.

Michael: And we’re like, okay, well we’re pretty good. You know, we can go plug into this market, do the same thing. So we hired five cold colors. We plugged in Google ads. Um, we started [00:25:00] basically, Spending 20 to $30,000 a month in Florida and we had hired an acquisition manager and we would still be running that market.

Michael: I think if, um, the four or five contracts that that person had were kinda like fluke deals, they all, like three of out of the four fell through. We made money, we probably broke even after all things considered. But the lesson that was learned is, uh, we didn’t really have any. Like good onboarding process.

Michael: We didn’t have any like huddles. Um, it was just like, Hey, here’s how you do it. Um, and like, go and. . As you start to grow, you realize that if you have this market in this market and you have these team members that are kind of needing some help still and you don’t have a leader in place to be able to, um, assist them, then you’re gonna be getting pulled in too many different directions.

Michael: And that’s sort, kind of what happened. And so we rew. We realized that we can go deeper and we can improve our systems and processes, and we need to have somebody showing up to a daily huddle. We need to have metrics and tracking [00:26:00] of not only the marketing, but also the, you know, the offers and the contracts and the projected profits and all these things.

Michael: But you just don’t know that in the beginning until you kind of go through some things where you, you know, may, may, uh, learn some lessons. Yeah. And so that’s some of the things that we learned along that process of expansion. Any, any

Mike: other? Words of wisdom that you can share, Michael, with folks that are considering partnering with somebody, like let’s talk to the people that are out there that are thinking about partnering with somebody.

Mike: Maybe just a couple words of wisdom on what to look for or what to avoid. A few things like that.

Michael: Yeah. I’m really glad you asked because this is such a important topic. Um, you definitely want to make sure that their long-term goals align with what yours are. You definitely wanna make sure that they’re a good human

Michael: As crazy as that sounds, you don’t really know until you’ve actually done some business. So Ryan and I, we did several deals together. So I got a feel for how he rolled. And, um, you know, we [00:27:00] met and had lunch several times before we decided to do that. So you really gotta, gotta get to know the person. So that’s, that’s key.

Michael: But also, um, what value do they bring to the table? You know, are they just wanting to partner with you because they can see that you have the probably what’s most people consider the most, the hardest thing to do is find the deal. Are they only wanting to partner with you for that reason or are they wanting to partner with you?

Michael: You guys can do some big things together long term, not just like a make money. Um, there’s a lot that goes into a partnership. So those were a few things I’d mentioned. Anything you’d

Mike: add, Ryan?

Ryan: Well, I would say like if I had to do it all over again, I probably would’ve done a predictive index on Michael, and that probably would’ve, no, I’m just kidding.

Ryan: But, um, no, I, I think that, uh, Michael. I mentioned it earlier and Michael has said it as well, but I, I think Mike, you mentioned it as well, like a lot of times when people are first getting into business or starting, it’s like it’s natural to want to connect or partner with somebody that’s like a family [00:28:00] member or a friend because it’s easy and it’s convenient and you think that, Hey, because of this friend or or family member, we’re always talking about this business idea or whatever that, Hey, this is just gonna go.

Ryan: But you forget about the fact that Yeah. What, what skills, um, what talents do they bring to the table and how are they gonna compliment you? Because, um, it is a long-term relationship. And Michael and I both, um, knew that and know that, um, and it is like a marriage because, um, yeah, we’re buying, we’re actually buying pro.

Ryan: Not only do we have the business, but, but we are buying long-term investments together so that that’s tying us in for a long-term relationship. And so that’s probably the biggest, the biggest thing. Been overstated, but it’s very important. So, yeah.

Mike: Yeah. Uh, Michael, would you mind, so one of the things that you guys talked about is obviously you get a lot of wisdom as you move forward and like how you would do it differently or what you do differently on here.

Mike: We, we all, that’s how, that’s how, um, Evolution [00:29:00] works right? As you touch a hot stove and you’re like, okay, don’t do that again. And you try something that works, you’re like, okay, do more of that. Right? And we’re all like, Pavlov’s dog, right? We just like, oh, this worked, do that, don’t do that. Do you know? But obviously one of the benefits is obviously experiencing it yourself.

Mike: And one of the best ways to move forward that I found in your business is to learn from others too, right? You guys are both in the Investor Fuel Mastermind. Uh, would you mind maybe Michael, just kinda sharing a, a, a quick testimonial on your experience of being a part of investor.

Michael: Absolutely. Yeah. So I, I’ve been in a lot of masterminds, so I’m gonna, I’m gonna caveat with that, and I’ve met a lot of amazing people and every mastermind has a little bit different of a feel.

Michael: And what I love about what you’ve created, Mike, is the camaraderie. Um, when you show up, you truly feel like you’re, you’re gonna be hanging out with friends, but it’s not just like friends that, that wanna just hang out with you, um, to just hang out and like, A lot of people in the group are givers, and that’s one thing that I’ve noticed that you’ve done a great job on is like, Hey, [00:30:00] don’t just come to take, um, go there to be vulnerable and share and give.

Michael: And I’ve met some incredible people through the mastermind already. In fact, we’ve done deals, uh, with some, the, uh, members in there as well. And so I just love the network and the community and it’s been a great experience. Yeah.

Mike: Awesome. How about you, Ryan? Any any thought?

Ryan: Yeah. So Mike, I appreciate you having us, uh, together, I guess to talk about some of these things.

Ryan: But, um, of all things, Michael is the one that got me introduced to education because, um, as far as spending some significant money investing in education or mastermind, because when Michael and I started. I had not spent hardly anything. I just, I guess, learned from the school of hard knocks. And so there is a benefit to, you know, to joining networking, talking and learning from others that have been through it.

Ryan: And so from that standpoint, we’ve been members of Investor Fuel for going on just one year right now. I, [00:31:00] I think last January was our first meeting Vegas. And so, Yeah. Inve in Vegas. Yeah, that was fun. We gotta see Mike do the big guns. Right. That was awesome. . But anyhow, the, the benefits I guess for me, um, would be that I’ve noticed is a lot of what Michael had said about, um, people giving and being willing to share.

Ryan: But if you go to one of the events, you’ll notice that people in the morning at breakfast, before the event even starts, they’re talking, they’re sharing stories, they’re helping each other. And then of course during the meetings, um, you get to learn even more and network. But then afterwards there’s events in the evening.

Ryan: I mean, so it’s literally like from, I don’t know, maybe six or seven in the morning until probably 11, 12 o’clock at night or later if you go out to the bars. But, um, it’s been a great experience and it is my first mastermind, so I can’t really compare it to anything. But I do love the family atmosphere and the [00:32:00] fact that people want to give and help each other out.

Mike: Yeah. Well, we appreciate you guys being a part. I know you guys are both big givers too, and, and that’s, I think that’s what makes the difference here is it’s not just coming to an event to pound your chest or hide behind problems you’re having. It’s like, let’s talk about those problems and work it out.

Mike: That’s the value of the group is getting around effectively or room full of people that actually care about you and wanna help you solve the problems you have and nobody. You know, ideally nobody has so much ego that they have to pretend to be somebody that they’re not and they can really kind of share what’s working.

Mike: And you know, hopefully, like a lot of folks look back and say, I couldn’t have done this without being a part of the group or, and it’s not, it’s not me. And it’s not even investor fuel per se. It’s just the community of people that are willing to help anybody. Right. And I think you guys would agree. Even outside of the events, like just calling somebody or sending them an email, like everybody is, everybody’s busy and everybody’s open to like help each other out whenever they can because it’s this, it’s this kind of, uh, [00:33:00] a group of just, you know, givers that are sharing and willing to take time out to help each other cuz they hope that if they ever need it, that they’ll get that back.

Mike: Right. 100. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome guys. Well hey, thanks for sharing all your experiences as a partnership and your business with us. Thanks for, um, sharing some tips on, you know, pros and cons of our kind of what to look for in a partnership. Cuz I, this is a perfect business to partner in, I think. Um, and I think a lot of folks go into it a little more blind than they should be.

Mike: And some of the stuff you shared today I think will be. Absolutely. Uh, guys, if folks want to connect with, with you guys, Michael, you have a podcast. You guys are operating a bunch of markets. Uh, you got a lot of stuff going on. Where, where should folks go to just connect with you guys if they want to?

Michael: Yeah, so, uh, I’ll, I’ll speak for myself first and then Ryan can, uh, speak for him. I, I would say for me, um, social media, uh, you can find me on Instagram, Michael McDonald, r e i, [00:34:00] uh, you can find me on. Michael McDonald. And then obviously I got, I have the podcast behind me, the Virtual Millionaire Show, uh, where we show people how to start and scale their business.

Michael: And so check that out. And then that’s for you, Ryan, what you got.

Ryan: Well, I have so many places on social media to reach out to me, . Actually, I don’t, I really am not active on social media and I took a sabbatical from Facebook, which was my one, uh, point of social media. So I guess if they need to get ahold of me, look up Rocket Homebuyers in Lincoln, Nebraska and they can gimme a call.

Ryan: But otherwise reach out to Michael and he’ll, he’ll connect us if we have to.

Mike: It’s funny when people talk about like not being active on social media, cuz I’m way too active and way too involved and I’m like, I, I kind of appreciate that. Like I I wouldn’t mind swabbing places with you sometimes, so.

Mike: Awesome. Well, we’ll add links, uh, for all those things down below on the show notes here for interview that couldn’t write it down there. So, uh, guys, thanks again for spending some time with us today. Really appreciate you. Always good to see you. Looking forward to [00:35:00] hanging out with you, uh, week after next and add investor.

Mike: Absolutely. Look forward to it.

Ryan: All right, see you,

Mike: Mike. Thank you and everybody, have a great day. Hope you got some value. By the way, if you haven’t yet talked to us about investor fuel, if you’re a professional, single family, real estate investor and active, uh, or a multi-family investor, we’d love to talk to you.

Mike: Uh, just go to investor fuel.com and you can click apply, which basically means schedule a call with us to learn more about it and see if you’re a fit, see if we’re a fit for you. So go to investor fuel.com to learn. Until then, see you on the next show. Thanks guys.

Mike: Are you an active real estate investor? If so, and you want to latch onto the power of surrounding yourself? With over a hundred of the nations leading real estate investors, all committed to building stronger businesses and living richer, fuller lives, you should jump on a call with us. To learn more about investor fuel, simply visit investor.com to get started.[00:36:00]