Overcoming Real Estate Challenges: Mindset, Networking & Future Opportunities

Mike Hambright (00:00.94)
Hey everybody, welcome back to the show. Today I’m here with my buddy Clark Lunt. Old friend, we’re gonna talk about some challenges today. we were talking about, you guys might expect every show we do, we always talk upfront about what are we gonna talk about, right? And I’m generally agnostic. I just wanna hang out with my friends and meet some new people sometimes, and then also talk about what they’re passionate about. And what we came up with today was to talk about just challenges and not massive challenges that…

necessarily that Clark’s overcome, but just a bunch of pivots and things he’s had to make over the past few years, which I think will resonate with a lot of people listening to this is just like kind of in the moment you’re in these challenges and you’re kind of stuck and how do you get out and a little bit about how kind of Clark’s got out or is getting out. And so I guess we’re that’s what we’re going to talk about today. So Clark, good to see you, bud. Yeah.

Clark (00:47.441)
Mike, it’s great to see you, man. It’s been a while. I know that you were on our show last week, but before that it had been a couple years. And, you know, I always enjoyed following you and I’ve been following you for probably got at least a decade now, if not more. So yeah, it’s great to be on here, man. Thanks for having me.

Mike Hambright (00:51.982)
That’s right.

Mike Hambright (01:02.476)
Yeah, glad you’re here. And it was cool to be on your show last week. It’s kind of funny, in the podcast world, there’s a lot of podcasters that when you ask somebody to be on their show, like, will you be on mine? And we just kind of do a swap, basically. So that’s always fun. Sometimes they do them back to back. So that’s efficient, but doesn’t always work out that way.

Clark (01:13.317)
Right.

Clark (01:20.443)
Yeah, I don’t know. You tend to get a little bit stale because you’re like, wait, did I say it on this podcast or the last one, whatever it looked like? So that’s not quite as what I have to do.

Mike Hambright (01:25.39)
Yeah.

Yeah. Hey, before we jump into talking about some of the things, maybe just tell us a little bit about your background and some of your backstory a little bit.

Clark (01:35.549)
Sure, yeah, and I’ll keep it short too. I’m not gonna give you like a 30 minute monologue about my backstory, but I grew up, I’ve got a background in sales, Mike. I graduated from Oklahoma State in 05, which makes me 41 years old. So I’m not getting any younger. I’m not a spring chicken anymore. I got a degree in broadcasting, which didn’t use that whatsoever, but ironically now I sit on a podcast. So it’s funny how life comes full circle, but.

Mike Hambright (02:00.366)
Right.

Clark (02:02.707)
Did that, did the W2 sales thing for about eight or nine years, 2015 bought like a real estate franchise, ran that for five or six years, bought a couple of those in different locations in Florida. That’s where I kind of cut my teeth and fixing and flipping, wholesaling, starting to really ramp up buying rental properties. And then got it, left the franchise, got a new partner, tried to do it for a year where I was just on my own.

And that was less fun. I didn’t enjoy that very much because you’re kind of wearing all the hats and there’s not really anyone to talk to. So it’s a bit lonely. In 2022 partnered with kind of my existing partner now. We have a podcast together and we bought some real estate together, did some clips. And then again, in 2022, when the market started to shift, I don’t know if you may have heard interest rates ticked up just a hair in 2022, 2023.

We had a business model, Mike, where we did turnkey rentals to a group out of California. And we got to the point where we couldn’t sell them where they made any money. So that kind of burned our boats a little bit. And so I’ve been kind of wandering around, pivoting a little bit, trying to figure out what the next step is. And that’s where I’m at today, Mike.

Mike Hambright (03:15.779)
Yeah.

That’s great. So let’s talk about some kind of pivots you’ve made or that people make too. want to, you know, we’re going to talk about changes that people needed to make. I’ll say there’s, I mean, there’s probably everybody’s different. There’s some different driving forces. Like sometimes there’s, you know, macro economic things that drive your decisions, like interest rate changes that have, you know, the economy drives a lot of our changes. And then sometimes there’s the personal shifts too, right? You’re just like, I don’t like to do this anymore. Maybe I’ve done a bunch of it and I hate it. Or, or you’re just not good.

something right so sometimes I think you know for both of us that have been doing this for a while there’s things that I made a lot of money doing but I didn’t necessarily like it and there’s things that I do now that maybe I don’t make a lot of money doing it but I love it so I’m gonna do it anyway right and so I think it just it really takes like a lot of runway to figure that out sometimes a shorter runway but it just takes time to say like I this is cool but I don’t like it or I’m not good at it or I don’t want to do it for one reason or

another and so for those listening right now it could be pivots you were forced to make with the economy or it could be things that you just like you know what I tried this for a little while and I don’t really enjoy it I’m not very good at it and therefore I’m not gonna do it anymore

Which sometimes is tough when you make a lot of when you make decent money because you’re like, yeah Sometimes you kind of sell out to yourself, right? Because you might have to but so you obviously used to fix and flip a lot And so what are some changes that you that you are making or have kind of made along those lines?

Clark (04:33.277)
Right.

Clark (04:36.882)
Yeah.

Clark (04:47.283)
So when COVID hit, so when I was full-time fixing and flipping and wholesaling from 2015 and 2020, it was interesting because the competition was in my backyard, right? It was like the guys and girls I saw at the Rio meetings and the people you’d see at the coffee shops. And then once 2020 hit, COVID hit, a lot of things went virtual, right? We’re all taking Zoom calls with sellers, we’re docu-signing contracts, and it became much more of a virtual thing, right? And that enabled a lot of

people to come into the market and start living in their hometown of Nebraska, yet they’re competing with me in Tampa, which is where I live and work. There became a lot more competition, and so that started to change a little bit. Anytime that I’ve learned is that I don’t know of … I’ll ask this question to you too, Mike. How many fix and flip companies do you know that are really

well designed so that they have like levels of management, right? So they actually have like a CEO, then they have like managers that manage like the contractors and the employees. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know that many, right? I know a lot of people where they’re the manager, you know, they do have employees and they have VA’s and things like that, but they don’t really have that. They’re not a CEO. They’re just kind of working in their business. And I started to see that and I’m like, there’s, it’s, you’ve got so much money.

Mike Hambright (06:05.422)
Yeah.

Clark (06:10.141)
that’s out all the time, right? You’re always taking the profit from deal A and quickly throwing it on deal B. So there’s always money out there. You’re not really running a business. You’re just running a really good job. So I noticed that when COVID started to happen, I’m like, man, this is getting a little bit more difficult. I’m not enjoying it as much. Then 2022 hit with the interest rates. And I’m like, now our business model of selling turnkey rentals, now there’s no cashflow that we’re selling. So now we got to appreciation only.

And I’m like, I don’t know if this industry is really what it, it’s changed and evolved and it’s not something that just enjoy anymore.

Mike Hambright (06:45.198)
Yeah, it’s, you got to enjoy it. mean, there’s people like I’ve, you know, you’re right. don’t, I know, I know people that have large operations, but it’s mostly, you know, I usually compare this to kind of Robert Kiyosaki’s cashflow quadrant, right? So there’s a ton of people that are self-employed. They might have a good business to make a lot of money or they have a business, but they’re, usually don’t have redundancy. So you’ve got, let’s say you have a construction manager or a project manager or a couple of them. But if you lose.

Clark (07:01.703)
Yeah, exactly.

Mike Hambright (07:15.292)
one, like as the owner, you often get pulled back in, right? And you’re, you know, I have a good friend that spoke at Investor Fuel a while back and he talked about this phenomenon that as CEOs of our companies, like we often are doing the job of the people that weren’t able to do it. Like we’re not necessarily doing what we’re great at or what we thrive at, but we’re doing the job that nobody else could do as well as us or if somebody gets hit by a truck or

Clark (07:18.963)
Immediately.

Mike Hambright (07:45.084)
quits or sick or whatever, we’re doing their job. And so he’s like, that’s not, you know, of course his take was, that’s not how it should be. But that is often how it is because we’re just, you know, we’re the captain of the boat and we’re the one filling the holes in the boat. Like, right.

Clark (08:01.863)
I always say like I’m the CEO of my company and I’m the janitor all in the same day, right? So I’m cleaning toilets one minute and you know, I think one of my challenges, it’s humbling to have to like identify it, but like to be a really good leader, right? To be able to attract people and lead them properly is a very highly desired skill set. I’m just not a great leader, right? It’s hard for me to attract really good talent, keep them, pay them well.

Mike Hambright (08:06.999)
Yeah.

Clark (08:29.427)
And it’s not because I don’t want to, it’s just because it’s very difficult, right? And I’m sure a lot of listeners here on your show can kind of understand that it’s like, I just want to go out and close deals, right? Just give me the next seller to talk to and I’ll talk to them all day long, let’s close it. But in terms of being able to figure out how to incentivize and put the systems in place is very difficult for me. But also too is like seeing the fact that there’s so many other people out there that are running these companies and…

They’re good jobs, you know? I’m like, I don’t think, I’m not gonna be the Mark Zuckerberg of fixing and flipping houses. Like you just said, I’m sure you have operators that are the Mark Zuckerberg, and it’s not gonna be me, right? So it’s like, it’s time for me to kind of look to point the fire hose in slightly different direction.

Mike Hambright (09:11.79)
Right, so I know some of your pivots and some of what you’ve done and some of what you’re trying to do more of, but what would be common in our industry is that a lot of people are like, they just shift back into more wholesaling. And then something changes, usually in the macro economy and they’re like, hey, I’m gonna shift back to doing more rehabbing, because interest rates came down or.

Clark (09:26.958)
Yeah

Clark (09:31.399)
Right.

Mike Hambright (09:32.3)
I more access to capital or I’m not getting as many deals and I make twice as much on each rehab. let me just kind of the pendulum in my life. It’s the same way. Like sometimes I everything I almost everything I do is an extreme. Like I have an idea and then I take it to the extreme and then I might it might work or I might you know very soon after just stop doing it completely or whatever. But so so you kind of you know pivoted away from doing as many fix and flips and I know you do some lending and some other things but are there any you know kind

Clark (09:40.115)
You

Clark (09:48.403)
Right.

Clark (09:55.132)
Right, yeah.

Clark (10:01.457)
Right.

Mike Hambright (10:02.345)
What did you pivot towards, would you say?

Clark (10:04.499)
So, you know, I think that the number one thing that we have right now, the number one thing that is most important for, say 2025, in my opinion, is attention, right? Is eyeballs, right? It’s like brand building. So if you have a brand and people respect you and trust you, right? Like you have a huge following, Mike, right? So if you wanted to go lend money or raise capital for this multifamily syndication or to run a…

a debt fund, right? Because you have the following, it’s going to be easier, right? People are going to come to you. You’re not going to necessarily have to go cold call a list of everyone that fits that criteria. And so I think that part of the pivot is being able to get out there, get uncomfortable, right? I don’t enjoy walking around on a Sunday on a sidewalk telling you about the deal that I did or that. It’s not something that I naturally like to do. And I think a lot of people are the similar ways.

But in some degree, it is something that I think is necessary as the industry has evolved as a whole to be able to say, look guys, I’m Clark Lunt. I’m in Tampa, Florida. I raised capital. I’m doing this, this and this. If you’re interested, let’s have a chat and see if we can work together, right? If you’re not interested in doing that yourself, right? So I think a bit of a pivot was just getting uncomfortable, getting in front of a camera, starting a podcast, putting stuff out on YouTube.

I enjoy talking about it, the everything behind it, I’m less enjoying of it. So I think that’s one pivot, Mike, is to just get uncomfortable, start getting on camera and telling people what you do. It’s not super complicated.

Mike Hambright (11:43.022)
Yeah, yeah. So.

You know, you were buying, we were talking about this before, buying a bunch of rentals. We have about portfolios around the same size. And, you know, lot of them are, are, yours are probably, it sounds like yours are probably the same. I have a lot of B-minus and C-level properties, like squarely in the very blue collar areas of the DFW area for me. And so, and I think, you I got to a point to where I was like, you like love them or hate them, right? And usually,

Clark (11:59.345)
Yep. Yep.

Clark (12:14.013)
You

Mike Hambright (12:15.064)
it’s in the same day you love them and hate them. Right. You’re like, I’m going to sell them all. these things are doing all right. So, you know, I think for me it was realizing I got up to a certain number of rentals.

Clark (12:17.373)
Yeah.

Mike Hambright (12:27.966)
and I didn’t like them for a long time and I was like, wow, these things are, you it just takes the perspective of time to kind of see the value of it. But when I got to a certain point, I was like, you know what? Man, I wish I had 10 X as many as these now, but I knew how much work it would take to go by them the way that I did before, one at a time.

know, stuffing one away every once in a while. And that’s when I shifted into kind of multifamily, because I was like, okay, I can move the needle a lot faster by doing this and partner with people in syndications and stuff where I’m not doing it all. a team effort to do it. And I just have a very specific role that I can pick what I’m good at, right? So I know you’ve obviously done some multifamily stuff as well. So same type of thing. Is that your pivot point?

Clark (12:57.127)
Right.

Clark (13:10.043)
Yeah, I think and we are sharing the story with you and I’ll share it on here is that you know, let’s say I’ve got about 40 doors It’s just a hodgepodge of C plus B minus got some B plus or than they’re probably started as C plus and over last six seven years have like evolved into a B plus or an A minus and I’ve also got some C pluses that started as C pluses and they’re still C plus like it’s frozen in freaking time so those are the ones where it’s like

Mike Hambright (13:33.218)
Right.

Clark (13:35.091)
I think being able to look at your portfolio and constantly evaluating the bottom 20 % to able to scrape those out and then go put that on top instead of holding onto those old gals that just haven’t moved up the ladder at all. But in terms of the multifamily side, I think that like, I’ll give you an example is that I walked like a 200, like almost a 300 unit a couple of weeks ago, right? And I’m looking at a kind of who not how is kind of my motto for 2025, right? Like who?

I don’t know how to buy 300 units, but I know that there’s other people that do, right? And they put their pants on one leg at a time, just like I do. They wake up in the morning. So if they can do it, why can’t I? But maybe it’s better for me to kind of hook myself to their wagon to see what value I can bring to them so that we can kind of come in together and tackle it arm in arm. But I remember buying … I’ve been buying Reynolds since I graduated college in 2005, did a bunch of house hacking and stuff like that.

And you get experience, whether they’re a C class or an A class, like tenants or tenants, rotted wood is rotted wood, old roofs are old roofs, right? It doesn’t really matter if it’s on an apartment complex or some crappy 800 square foot house in the ghetto, right? And so I remember when I was walking this 300 unit complex in Tampa, I was looking around and I was like, this all makes sense. This is not something that’s scary to me at all. Each one, it’s just a business of 300 little individual doors. I see old ACs, I see…

Mike Hambright (14:43.459)
you

Clark (15:01.159)
you know, pools that don’t have the proper fencing. see inadequacies in the washer and dryer, you know, in terms of like cords hanging down and things like this is just because it’s a lot bigger than what I’m used to doesn’t mean that I can just look at the individual problems. And I remember I walked out of there and I was like, I can buy this. Like I’m not intimidated by, you know, a 30, 40, $50 million project because it’s just a bunch of little mini challenges.

that I’ve already faced, right? I’ve just faced them on a smaller scale, but an old AC is an old AC. So I think that that is something where I saw it I was like, if I can put all my energy where I can go to one property that has X amount of units and being able to really make a lot of decisions and choices very, very quickly, it’s going to be so much better than just driving 20 minutes here and 30 minutes there, different neighborhoods, different tenants, different property managers, the whole nine.

Mike Hambright (15:55.03)
Yeah, yeah. So that you spend a fair bit of your time now looking for multifamily deals.

Clark (16:02.035)
Yeah, I mean, that’s where I’m spending a decent amount of time is being able to snuff out, know, getting on Craxi, getting on, you know, trying to make relationships with brokers. I do think that there’s going to be more opportunities to start getting maybe, you know, pocket listings and things like that, whether it’s direct seller through brokers or not. So I think more than ever in 2025 is making relationships with brokers saying, hey, I’m here. You know, I do have access to capital. can close.

and then being able to leverage someone else’s track record. So even if you’ve never bought 100 unit before, you’re like, I’m working arm in arm with person A that has bought 500 units and they have performed. Being able to have those discussions with brokers is to me is the most important thing right now I can do.

Mike Hambright (16:49.068)
Yeah, and I do think, I mean, I don’t have a crystal ball, but I know that there’s gonna start to be some deals that are shaking loose here, because we were buying a bunch of them for a while. The past few years, the deals are very few and far between the good deals, and you’re often trying to force them to work now, right? But I do think that, unfortunately, there’s gonna be some people that…

Clark (16:58.163)
Right.

Yeah.

Mike Hambright (17:09.678)
are on the losing side of that. It’s people that are on winning side of that. But there will be some deals popping out here, I think, over the next certainly over the 2025 and 2026 for sure.

Clark (17:18.611)
We said that in 2024 and 2024 came and went and that, you know, we were shaking the bushes, shaking the trees. Not many apples are falling down from it, unfortunately. But, you know, I think that maybe toward the back end, but it’s all about making the relationships today, right? It’s not once the blood starts hitting the street and then you start reaching out to raise capital or to who, not how, find someone to hook your wagon to or reach out to brokers. You’re already going to be too late because there’s a lot of people sitting on the sideline right now.

waiting to kind of jump in. Some people are being proactive and they’re getting ready. And then there’s other people that are just sitting around watching Netflix and they might as well stay watching Netflix when the blood hits the street if it does.

Mike Hambright (17:59.734)
Yeah, so another thing that you’ve changed, and I have too, is to be less of a solo operator and more seeking partnerships. Obviously, we just talked about multi-family, so you’re seeking them there. I you’ve got a partnership with David and maybe some other folks as well. Just kind of share your thoughts on that pivot of being the solo, prenewer, and then saying, I need to find other people to align with.

Clark (18:10.643)
Yeah.

Clark (18:24.881)
I think it depends a little bit on your personality, sure, depending on what your role is. If you’re a visionary, if you’re an integrator, I think more and more we’re constantly referring to Rocket Jewel as to what type of personality type you are. Are you a high D? Where are you at on the disc profile or whatever personality tests you use. for me personally, I enjoy working with people, right? So I tend to gravitate towards working with at least one other person.

I’ve learned a lot about being able to evaluate the person that you’re gonna work with. you know, there’s so many opportunities. I do think that with all of the virtual working together, right? It’s like, Mike, me and you, let’s say that we see a great deal and it’s in Minnesota. And I’m like, hey, Mike, do wanna buy this deal in Minnesota? It’s a great deal, right? And you’re like, okay, cool, the numbers look great. I think there’s gonna be a lot of fallout from that because, you know, I’ll see on Facebook groups and it’s like, hey, great deal here. Who wants to partner with me?

And it’s like, you partnering because of the deal? Are you partnering because you like this person, you like their track record, you know their ethics, their morals, their financial background? And I think there’s a lot of people that are gonna make huge mistakes, not because the deal is not a good deal, quote unquote, that you partnered on, but because you got in bed with someone that you don’t even know who they are. You’re not asking the right questions, right? You’re not asking like, you know, what happens? And I think one of the biggest challenges is what happens, Mike, when we buy that property and, you know, fill in the blank city and in five years, right?

Mike Hambright (19:39.576)
Right.

Clark (19:51.219)
you’re in a different point of your life than I am, right? Like you may want to it in five years, I want to keep it or vice versa. I don’t think those conversations are happening enough. There’s like, Mike, this is a good deal. You’re like, yep, I think it’s a good deal. You got the cash, right? Going 50, 50 and done. So that’s a big fear of mine. There’s gonna be a lot of partnerships that are gonna end poorly.

Mike Hambright (20:12.278)
Yeah, no, that’s a common thing as people are going, I think those posts that you see are financial, they’re basically saying, who can provide the financing because I have the deal.

Clark (20:20.785)
Yeah. Yeah.

Mike Hambright (20:22.048)
Right. And so on both sides, it’s like, well, on the, guess, kind of the person without the money, they’re looking for somebody with money because they feel like it’s hard to get money. And at some point when you figure out how to attract money, it doesn’t require 50 % of the profit. So then you, so then all of a sudden you, you know, you’re like kind of, there’s a little kernel of anger there that you’re like, I gave up half of my deal and this person’s not even doing anything. And then on the other side, the person giving the money, they think that finding deals is hard, which it is.

Clark (20:36.68)
Yeah.

Clark (20:44.211)
Resentment. Yeah

Mike Hambright (20:52.252)
However, they also presume that that person’s a good operator which you have no way of knowing that and most likely if they’re if they’re willing to give up 50 % of their money 50 % of the deal for money, they probably Also have a shortfall on skill set to be a good operator So it’s kind of like, you know, it’s like getting married on the first date after you’ve been out of Vegas all night It’s like there’s gonna be some regrets here

Clark (21:08.337)
Yeah.

Clark (21:17.179)
Like buy him like a steak dinner first. Like don’t just jump in a bed, you know? Like I know that like with my partner David that you mentioned earlier, like I started off, I was wholesaling him deals. I literally wholesaled him deals for like two years, right? And then we’re like, hey, this is kind of working. Why don’t we start joint venturing, right? So we weren’t partners, but I would give it to him at cost. So if I had the contract for 200K, he would get it for 200K. He would renovate it and we would just split the profit on the backend, right? It’s like kind of like dating to more seriously dating.

And then a few things happened and we ended up kind of coming arm and arm together and joined LLCs and all that. But we had like three or four years of like going on a lot of steak dinners together to see if we liked each other and seeing when things went wrong, how that other person handled that rejection or handled that bad thing. And I think that just jumping in bed together and getting married in Vegas, you know, three, you know, after a wild weekend is probably not the best business model to make a quality partnership.

Mike Hambright (22:13.57)
Yeah, but somebody do it, right?

So let’s talk about kind of your network a little bit more. I think, you know, there’s been some evolution there for you and for me and probably everybody here, just the power of your network and not just from a partner standpoint, but those who you kind of surround yourself with actually just made a little meme yesterday that I put out. And it was the picture I put out on social media was I like had it was like a bowl full of strawberries. And there was like one that was like really moldy and it was kind of spreading to the other ones, you know. And I basically just made a comment about this kind of saying like who you surround

Clark (22:41.511)
Right? Yep.

Mike Hambright (22:46.16)
yourself with is contagious whether it’s success or success mindedness or whether it’s like somebody that is moldy you know essentially.

Clark (22:49.448)
Yeah.

Clark (22:55.857)
Yeah, yeah, well, we don’t want the moldy strawberries, so they don’t taste quite as good. I think networking is, it’s hard to quantify it, you know, because sometimes you meet someone and then they introduce you to someone and then you get like two or three levels past that and you forget the person that originally met, you know, introduced you. It’s challenging because I think the biggest challenge that we all have in just succeeding in business is mindset, right?

Mike Hambright (22:59.852)
No.

Clark (23:24.433)
And mindset is like the least sexy thing to talk about on this podcast, right? Like no one gives a crap. Like a lot of people that are listening to this are probably high D, like let’s go, let’s start this company. And they’re like, do not give me any things. I don’t want to talk about mindset. I want to talk about the top five things that I need to get done right now to make my company successful. What’s the best AI thing out there? Who’s the best VA company? I’m not interested in talking mindset. And as I’ve gotten older,

It’s like mindset is the only thing that matters, right? Like you can have all the best tools in the world. You can have all the best employees in the world. But if you don’t have the right mindset and you don’t have the right vision for where you need to go, or even if you even know your vision at all, then you’re screwed. Like you’re never gonna get past a certain level and you’re just gonna bump your head against the ceiling. And for me, I’ve kind of had an epiphany is like, how am gonna change my mindset if I still continue to hang around the same people that…

Maybe they’re successful, but they’re not going the same direction I am. Good, bad, or indifferent. I’m not saying they’re wrong or right, but for me, I need to surround myself with people that are experiencing similar challenges, people that are above me, that are bigger, faster, stronger than like Clark. I was in your shoes three years ago. I was at a mastermind in Dominican Republic last week, and I was talking to a guy, and he was literally telling me all the problems that I had eight years ago. I’m like, listen, buddy, I already know how the story goes. I experienced all your problems.

and just gave them like a couple tips to like kind of skip over some of those things. so, power of network is honestly so much more important than people think in terms of just like getting some business cards and you know, maybe getting a tool or here or there. To me, it helps to enable you to think bigger, to think smarter, to think more efficient, to think more effective. And you’re just not gonna do that with your current state of your friends and family that haven’t done what you do.

Mike Hambright (25:17.56)
Yeah.

Yeah. And I think, uh, you even if you have successful people in your circle of friends, they’re not necessarily like, if they’re not entrepreneurs, they’re like more of W2, employers, whatever. mean, that’s great. Like they’re not going to not be my friends, but you know, they’re not going to be a source of inspiration for where I’m going either. Uh, maybe they are in other ways like family or health or whatever. Right. But I think the important thing is to surround yourself with people that are. Have done, you know, are, you know, ideally where you are a couple of years ago and they’re, they’re a few steps ahead of you.

Clark (25:26.065)
Right.

Clark (25:30.163)
You

Clark (25:47.336)
Right.

Mike Hambright (25:48.857)
and they’re very open-minded to helping you get there because somebody’s in front of them helping pull them up too.

Clark (25:54.675)
But the thing though is that I’ve learned is that these people where I want to be, they’re three years into the future or five years or maybe even behind me a little bit, they’ve worked on some new ideas or techniques and I’m the old dog, right? I think that it’s something where they’re not going to just DM you and be like, Clark, I’m you three years in the future, man. Let’s just hop on a call. Let me just give you all my time.

Mike Hambright (26:09.015)
Right.

Clark (26:22.183)
You have to go out and you have to do a couple things. A, you have to get off your ass, unfortunately. You’re not gonna find them through watching Netflix. And B, usually, Mike, you have to pay for it, right? Like, I heard someone that said you have to pay for your friends. Like a mastermind, for example, is like, you buy your friends. And I was like, God, that sounds horrible, man. That’s so superficial to say that you buy your friends. And then I started thinking about it I’m like, well, shit, you’re right. I am buying friends, but I’m buying…

Mike Hambright (26:31.32)
Yeah.

Clark (26:47.163)
I’m buying not to be in these rooms for the people in it, I’m buying for the people that I don’t want to be in the rooms, right? I’m there to not have a bunch of naysayers in the room saying, that’s risky, that’s this, that’s that, why would you ever do that? Even though they’ve never done anything close to it. So unfortunately, these people are not gonna just tap you on the shoulder while you’re working on your laptop at Starbucks and say, Clark, I already know your challenge is let’s sit down for 30 minutes. You’re gonna have to pay your way into these rooms, you’re gonna have to get on planes, you’re gonna have to drive, you’re gonna have to go do it on a Tuesday night.

But that’s the difference between someone that’s gonna be uber successful versus just you know settling

Mike Hambright (27:22.252)
Yeah, yeah, it’s interesting hearing you talk about that, because obviously I run a mastermind, Investor Fuel, and I’ve had people say that to me, like, well, I have to pay to pay for my friends. And I was like, well, no. I mean, you’re kind of paying for access to knowledge, really, right? But I think you said something there that’s pretty valuable.

That’s your pain for to not be in the room with certain people. Right. And so that’s unfortunately one of the things that happens when you go to, you know, not to knock like local Rio clubs and stuff like that. But if you go to free events, you get the people that are showing up for the free lunch and you know, they’re not going to, don’t, you don’t want to be sitting next to that person. Your time is not, your time is not worth it, quite frankly. So it’s just the exclusivity. And you know, the other thing that I think for accomplished entrepreneurs is

Clark (27:45.181)
Right.

Mike Hambright (28:10.72)
You can look at it as like I got to pay for access, but you’re like a nugget hunter. You’re like, you know, I said that I’ve said I say this all the time. I actually give people this advice when they come into our mastermind is like, look, you could fill a notebook here over the next few days. But what you really need to look for is like two or three things that you can implement as fast as possible that are going to move the needle the furthest. So don’t try to like implement everything because it’ll never happen. So just look for a couple of big things, some big aha moments that are easy to implement. And it’s like, what is that? What is that worth to you?

business to just see these like you’re going from stair steps forward in your business. I mean we’ve seen it over and over again with people that have come in and double or triple the business in like a year just from you know being around the right people to ask the right questions or to see what’s possible.

Clark (28:44.936)
Right.

Clark (28:55.603)
I think to double up on that is that enabling you to talk to that person that you were just talking about, and if they’ve already kind of been where you’ve been and they’ve experienced some of the challenges you have, and I’ll give you an example. So we were building a house, right? And we’re building it in St. Pete. And like everyone, they’ve got these permitting challenges, right? If you’re out developing right now, especially after COVID, like everything was delayed, delayed, you know, the interest on your loan just keeps ticking away and the city doesn’t give a crap how long it takes to issue that permit, right?

And so I call my buddy and he builds like hundred houses a year and I say, hey, Michael, listen, man, I’m experiencing problems X, Y, and Z with the city. They’re taking forever. I don’t know what we’re going to do. We’re going to have to shift a little bit. And he goes, Clark, he just said, stop. He goes, you just described like a regular Tuesday for me. And I just thought to myself, I’m like, huh, okay, regular Tuesday. So it’s not that big of a deal, right? Because to him, because he’s out, he’s doing bigger things. I just described like a regular Tuesday, right? Where to me,

because it was newer to me and I didn’t understand it as well. I’m like, oh my God, are we not going be able to finish the bill? Well, guess what, right? We ended up figuring out the challenge. We got it done and we finished it and we refinanced it, right? So it wasn’t a huge deal. So it’s like, want to constantly be surrounding myself with people that tell me, Clark, this is just a Tuesday. Chill out. Stop worrying and run around like a chicken with your head cut off. But you have to be around those people because if you’re around the person that’s built one house,

Mike Hambright (30:14.637)
Right.

Clark (30:22.395)
and they’re experiencing the same things. Or if you walk into a room with a bunch of fix-and-flippers that have been doing it for one year and they’re like, this is hard. And I’m like, you’re right, this is hard. Maybe I shouldn’t do it. And they’re like, God, sometimes I wish I could go back to my W2, right? So it’s like, I can’t surround myself with those people, not saying I don’t love them, but for me, selfishly, I’ve got to be able to buy myself into rooms where I’m the dumbest guy in the room.

Mike Hambright (30:43.554)
Yeah, that’s awesome. Clark, if folks wanted to connect with you and like learn more about what you’ve got going on, follow your podcast, tell us a few links where they can go.

Clark (30:51.889)
Yeah, so you can just, I would say the easiest way to get a hold of me is to just go to our podcast. can follow us on all the social media stuff, YouTube, it’s called Burn Your Boat’s Wealth. And we put out a weekly podcast with like an interview style like this one, and then me and my partner each put out like a quick 10 minute snippet of just whatever’s on our mind for the week. So, you you can go subscribe to us, we appreciate it. And that’s probably just the easiest way. And then

and just DM us on Facebook or Instagram. That’s going be easiest way.

Mike Hambright (31:25.356)
Yeah, awesome. Well, thanks for sharing your some time with us today and some of your stories.

Clark (31:29.851)
Mike, listen, man, it’s always a pleasure. Love seeing all your growth and let’s get after this. 2025 is going be a big year of opportunity, but it’s going to require us all to get off our tail and shake some bushes, man. Let’s do it.

Mike Hambright (31:40.63)
Yeah, let’s do it, buddy. One of the things that Clark just said is super valuable. It’s like.

Sometimes we just have to push through where we’re at. So I think, you know, it’s like, as time goes by here, you don’t, get better at solving problems. Like you get more efficient at solving problems, but you also just become more tolerant that it’s like, eh, this problem isn’t as big as I once thought it was. Right. And so we just kind of get like, our muscles get stronger at saying that while that weight used to be heavy and it’s not that heavy now, that’s just a normal Tuesday or that’s just, look, all you do is just kick it out of the way and move forward to the next problem. Right. And so I think if a lot of us just stayed focused,

and looked at our problems as just a stumbling block instead of a brick wall that you can’t get through. A lot of folks that are listening to this right now would be further along in their careers. it’s just becoming more tolerant. don’t wish, as they say, wait, you got it right there behind you, the Jim Rohn quote. Don’t wish, don’t wish, that’s from us too, right? That’s from, is that an investor on team?

Clark (32:22.387)
You

Clark (32:32.915)
Clark (32:36.851)
You know where I got that from Mike? That was from you.

Mike Hambright (32:39.982)
Yeah, it’s funny because I have that same one. was like, looks familiar. We have so many of these things. Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better. Don’t wish for fewer problems. Wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge. Challenge. Wish for more wisdom. Jim Rohn. Yeah, that’s great. I think we just we didn’t even need to talk for 30 minutes. We could have just showed that canvas. That’s hilarious. Yeah, awesome.

Clark (32:55.933)
There you go.

Clark (33:00.083)
Why a wise man sent me this in the mail and ironically it was from from you and your team Mike. So yeah, yeah, I love that man. Yeah

Mike Hambright (33:08.728)
Well, great to see you as always, buddy. Yep. And everybody have a great day. Keep pushing forward. Don’t wish it was easier. Wish you were better. See you guys in the next show.

Clark (33:11.325)
Thanks Mike. Talk soon buddy. See you guys.

Clark (33:17.107)
Wish you were better. Amen.