How to Scale from Wholesaling to 40+ Unit Syndications | Real Estate Coaching for Women

Gladys David (00:00)
Let me tell you, Michelle, this requires a very solid mindset. If there’s any doubt, then investing space is not the right space for a person. So mindset work has to begin before investment work. You have to believe it to achieve it. I don’t mean to sound like a cliche, but that’s really the truth. You have to really have a good mindset. It takes risk in everything that we do, even if it’s just a single flip, even if it’s just a wholesale. If you doubt yourself, then you will not be very successful in this business.

Michelle Kesil (02:07)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Investor Fuel podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. And today I’m joined by someone that I’m really looking forward to chatting with, Gladys David, who’s been making serious moves in the investing and real estate teaching space. So yeah, so glad to have you here with us today.

Gladys David (02:31)
Thank you, Michelle. I’m happy to be your guest today and I look forward to our conversation.

Michelle Kesil (02:35)
Absolutely, I think our listeners are really going to take something away from how you’re approaching combining your legal knowledge and investing knowledge as well as empowering women to learn how to invest. So I’m excited to dive in with you.

Gladys David (02:52)
Let’s do it.

Michelle Kesil (02:53)
awesome. So yeah, just first off for people who don’t know you and your world, can you give the short version of what you’re focusing on?

Gladys David (03:02)
Sure, so I’m Dr. Gladys David and as Michelle said, I have been investing for the last 17 years. I am a real estate coach, ⁓ former big law attorney, turned real estate investor, 28 years attorney, 17 years investor, and I’m also a residential real estate coach for EXP.

Michelle Kesil (03:21)
Awesome. And what markets are you operating in?

Gladys David (03:25)
Sure, I’m in southern New Jersey. So New Jersey is a very linear state. And while I’m not limited to do investments in New Jersey, but when I work on fix and flips, I like to keep it closer to home. And so I keep it in southern New Jersey at the border of Philadelphia, 30 minutes outside of Philly.

Michelle Kesil (03:42)
Awesome. Yeah, I would love to hear like what got you into this investing space, especially from law to investing. It’s a big change.

Gladys David (03:52)
You know, not really. When you think about, you know, real estate, it has a lot of quirks with it that may require some legal understanding. So it wasn’t a really big leap. So I did it simultaneously. So again, I practiced for 28 years and I did 17 of those years as a real estate investor as well. So for me,

It was deliberate. really was looking to make that leap in order for me to move from this space of practicing law every day and being in the corporate world. So I built a business alongside of it intentionally. I started out by reading a book that I’m sure

your artist is familiar with, even you, ⁓ Rich Dad Poor Dad. I went to a seminar and that really changed the trajectory of which way I was gonna go with my future. I loved the idea of making chunks of money at one time, especially through fixing and flipping and wholesaling. I saw an opportunity and I seized it. It was very deliberate because I got a real estate coach like I am now. So I got a coach to teach me to do what I needed to do. And I joined a real estate investing group.

and the rest is history. started out by doing bird dogging, then I started out

expanding into wholesaling and from wholesaling I eventually grew my business into fixing and flipping. I’m proud to say that I’ve done over 225 to date.

Michelle Kesil (06:00)
Wow, that’s amazing. I love how you really saw your law knowledge and career as a stepping stone and were able to extract what you could from there to bring with you on this journey to investing.

Gladys David (06:17)
Indeed, it was really a seamless process, but it happened.

Knowing the law and knowing real estate are two different things. So I definitely delved in and got the right education, which is what I teach my students to do. Don’t just leap from one to the other. I happen to be a licensed agent in New Jersey, but being a real estate investor is completely two different fields. So the ones that are in residential and would like to learn investing, said, invest in your education because that’s what I did. Even though I had the legal background, I invested very well in my real estate education.

connected

through sources of my local real estate investment clubs. I stay connected nationally to other real estate investors as well because I have invested outside of New Jersey. done Ohio, I’ve done Detroit, so I am familiar with how other states work as well.

Michelle Kesil (07:08)
that that’s so important to always be educating yourself and yeah you are your biggest investment so that education piece is important. So what has been like one of the main keys to keeping this business running smoothly?

Gladys David (07:26)
For me, it’s definitely the education, but consistently, the business is always evolving, right? So for me, learning different strategies and not just doing the same thing. I did share with you, I’ve done a lot of fixing the foot, but I also know a lot of buy and holds, BRR, and of course syndication as well, doing multi-units. that in itself is a whole nother education and a whole different topic, but multi-units requires a lot of education and a lot of partnerships. So for me,

I’m always looking to grow my business by adding new strategies every year.

Michelle Kesil (08:01)
I love that. What are some new strategies that you’re looking to add at this time?

Gladys David (08:09)
doing 40 units and more. So I’m expanding from under 40. So moving 40 and up. So I’m looking for big deals at this point. General partnership is the position that my partner and I will play. And we are looking forward to those 40 units and above. And we are looking in areas like Charlotte and Tennessee. So if there are any deals out there anybody wants to forward our way, please do. I am absolutely ready to move in that space.

Michelle Kesil (08:37)
Amazing, yeah. Like, where do you kind of see yourself scaling to? I know you’re mentioning like, yeah, those 40 deals, but yeah, what’s kind of like your process to scale to that extent?

Gladys David (08:52)
Well, we are actively seeking to buy 40 unit apartment buildings. So this year, moving into 26, our goal is to buy at least two. And so we’re going adding more doors. That’s where we see. once we complete our portfolio with a couple of 40 units and more, then we will see what else we can get into. Definitely the commercial space is the arena that I want to spend the next five to six years.

Michelle Kesil (09:22)
Awesome, yeah, that sounds like a great big goal.

Gladys David (09:27)
We will accomplish it because what we set our minds to, we will do.

Michelle Kesil (09:32)
Yeah, absolutely. Has mindset been something that you’ve been training yourself or studying and yeah, like kind of what’s your perspective there?

Gladys David (09:44)
Let tell you, Michelle, this requires a very solid mindset. If there’s any doubt, then investing space is not the right space for a person. So mindset work has to begin before investment work. You have to believe it to achieve it.

I don’t mean to sound like a cliche, but that’s really the truth. You have to really have a good mindset.

It takes risk in everything that we do, even if it’s just a single flip, even if it’s just a wholesale. If you doubt yourself, then you will not be very successful in this

I’ve done a lot of mindset work and because I am a speaker as well, I’ve trained with Les Brown. So there you go to set my mind right. ⁓

Michelle Kesil (11:04)
Yeah, amazing. I would love to hear more about your speaking career. What does that look like? What are some of those things that you speak on?

Gladys David (11:12)
Yeah, I’m scheduled to speak in Paris. ⁓ I go out to women conferences and I talk about my journey. My journey from being a single mother, ⁓ from raising my special needs son after my divorce. Of course, I’m remarried and happily remarried, but my journey to put my special needs son through.

private schools and get him all the therapies that he needed. That’s, that was one of my first big why is why I got into real estate on top of seeing chunks of money to be able to afford the services that he needed. So I encourage other women to not give up on themselves, not in education, not in life or love, because since then I’ve remarried, but I do go, I’m scheduled to be in Paris. And so I’ve spoken in Miami. So I speak to women across all platforms, across all walks

of life and sharing my journey with them on what it took for me to rise from a six to a seven figure business owner.

Michelle Kesil (12:16)
Beautiful, I love that. I love that you’re empowering women to, yeah, grow their careers, grow their value system. How are, yeah, like what are some of those tips that you give to women maybe that are just starting out and don’t know like how they’re gonna be successful, maybe money isn’t something that they have in.

a grand capacity, but they want to get started on this wealth creation journey.

Gladys David (12:49)
Sure, so that’s a perfect question because the course that I teach in my academy, She Rises Academy through She Invests Realty is exactly that. They should keep their corporate jobs, right, while they still have that income to build that wealth. Wealth is not…

a one stop shop. is a continuous progress. So my advice to those women when I speak to them and also when they meet with me on a one on one, if they’re going to move into real estate investing is keep that job and let’s find something that’s going to work for you alongside that job. So be it if you need to do it.

before work, if you need to do it after work, if you need to do it when you put the kids to bed. Like for me, I work Thursday, Friday and Saturday when I was in the space when my son was much younger. He’s 14 now, but when he was much younger, I worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday so that I can go to my real estate investment meetings from six to eight. They need the support to hire somebody or a family member. They need to stay focused. They need to really, really see themselves

doing this thing and when they surround themselves and be in the right room with the right people then they will be in the right space and that alone is going to be encouragement. can’t do it alone. It does require you to have people around you that are more empowering, encouraging and say well if she can do it so can I.

Michelle Kesil (14:21)
Definitely, I think that the people that surround you and that network is where your growth lies. So let me ask you this, when it comes to like that relationship building and that network growth, what are some things that have made the difference for you?

Gladys David (14:30)
It’s gold.

Well, I belong to three different real estate investment clubs. So because I’ve lived in New Jersey for such a long period of time, I’ve gotten to know it very well. So I still have my central New Jersey connection as well as my southern New Jersey connection. And the people that I meet there are the people that I am going to be doing business with.

I’ve met lenders there, I’ve met attorneys there, I’ve met other real estate investors there, I’ve done partnerships and joint ventures. So that network for me is everything. I have quite a few loan officers that I can call hard money lenders.

That’s all part of building my business. That’s all. And since I still have that network in central Jersey, I still do deals in central Jersey. So if it’s a central Jersey transaction, then I keep my connection there. I can’t emphasize enough to belonging to a club. It’s very important, especially if you’re getting into the beginning of this business as a wholesaler, who are you going to flip your deal to? I mean, you have to be able to have those connections. And again, I told you that

It’s all about collaboration for me. It’s not competition.

Michelle Kesil (16:32)
I love that collaboration aspect. So when it comes to investing, what are like your primary methodologies that you find have worked for you?

Gladys David (16:48)
I still love the fix and flip arena, I do. I’m probably one of the few people that really looks at an older home and see the potential of it. I just love that space. And I train and I teach women how to do it. In fact, when I launched my program in 2024, I did one-on-one coaching with women and…

to see that the methodologies that I did back, you know, 17 years ago still work now. And of course, multi units are very good. love BRRR, you know, which is you’re buying your rehab, renovate, refinance. love, I still love that strategy. It works. It really does work. I love DSCR. So there are so many things about investing that I love you and I could be here forever. just enjoy the space of real estate investing.

I do believe that it is your path to wealth and it is your path when you do it right and you have the right training and education.

Michelle Kesil (17:49)
Totally. So let’s say someone wants to take this path for wealth, but maybe they don’t have a lot of wealth currently in order to like get their first investment started. What would you suggest that they can do?

Gladys David (18:08)
always suggest learning how to wholesale. ⁓ Wholesale is a low entry point. You can get into wholesaling very early on or you can do a house hack. mean house hack is people don’t look at it as investing but it is. If you have an extra room in your house ⁓ that’s investment. You can rent out that room or if you have a two-family house. So house hacking is definitely a way to do it. If you have

Nothing but a room just getting an extra 200 or 300 dollars a month can be a game changer I don’t think people should underestimate that that’s one way to get started That won’t take you to the path of wealth But if you do that over a period of time you you can have enough to generate a down payment towards a purchase of an investment home if you don’t already own your own home and that’s another thing that I teach if you don’t own your own home

I strongly suggest that is your very first purchase. Ownership, buy your own home first and then move on to other investment strategies. Because that entry point at three and a half percent down, it’s not going to get any better. So you might as well take advantage of it and be your own homeowner and make it a multi-unit if you don’t have a family. So right there, I just gave you three tips.

Michelle Kesil (19:27)
Yeah, those are so helpful. Amazing. I love that. So when you run like your online course, what is kind of the ideal person that would be suited for that like material?

Gladys David (19:44)
Sure, the avatar is exactly who I am. So it’s a woman ⁓ who is working and is looking to build a side hustle to become their business. That is the ideal person. So classes started last week and

I have to tell you, these are all my avatars from previous years. have had nurses who were in my class. I’ve had speech therapists who have been in my class, pharmacists. It’s usually professional women who really see this, but A, don’t want to do it alone.

B, need the proper guidance and just kind of guide them along their way. And what’s really interesting about the courses that I teach online, we go into a general session and our goal is to determine what does Michelle want to do? I don’t want to teach you what I like. I want to teach what you want. So we customize your.

program to what you need. And then we compartmentalize you into the groups that you belong in. this semester, we have wholesalers, fixers and flippers, and BRRR. So those are people all in different rooms. I just never know what mix I’m going to get. And since this is my first time doing it online versus one-on-one, it’s exciting for me to watch what’s going to happen in the next nine weeks and how they want to develop their program. Because to graduate, you must complete.

the project. So they picked a strategy and now they’re getting ready to start. So week two is this week. We’ll see how it goes.

Michelle Kesil (21:23)
Amazing. That sounds like an incredible offer and yeah, you’re really serving so many people.

Gladys David (21:25)
I can’t come up with anything. It is.

I love serving, I love teaching, besides being in my own company, my own real estate investment courses, I coach several days a week in a residential space. So I’m always teaching and coaching and training and I love giving back, I really do. And I still do my own investments as well. So if opportunities come arise, that seems to make sense for my partner and I, so absolutely, I jump in on them. So that’s why I continue to do what I do.

Michelle Kesil (22:04)
Amazing that is wonderful. Yeah, like when it comes to your own investments what kind of Goals, do you have for that side of your business moving forward?

Gladys David (22:18)
So you know I want to do the multi units for sure this year. We’re looking at 40 and better, but the little ones I call them the under 40s ⁓ We’re still looking at you know up to six units. We are no longer flipping We’re buying and holding so that’s something that we’re focusing on and we’re also doing more ocean front here in South Jersey So we’re looking at ocean properties that we are buying and holding as well and a very much

resort area and we’ve adding the Airbnbs into our portfolio as well. Those are really good and because we live not too far from the Jersey Shore, it’s perfect for us to be able to offer that opportunity for those that are looking to spend time.

have a vacation in New Jersey and not leave New Jersey and those work all year long by the way. I know the Jersey Shore is more popular in the summer because we have a casino area here in New Jersey. It’s booming all year long so that’s perfect for us. That’s the areas that we’re spending our time and focusing on and looking at those opportunities but buying and holding not flipping.

Michelle Kesil (23:25)
Amazing. I love that. Such an exciting goal and opportunity that’s coming for you. before we wrap up everything here, if someone wants to reach out, connect, learn more from you, where are the places that they can find you?

Gladys David (23:42)
So many so on Facebook I’m Gladys David Realtor .com on Instagram Gladys a David Realtor and of course, dr Gladys David Of course coach Gladys. Those are all my you know handles you can find me anywhere. So coach Gladys

And of course drgladysdavis.com, but I am on all socials including LinkedIn Facebook Instagram and developing my YouTube channel. I run women wealth Wednesday where I do a live ⁓ Interview and I talk to Lenders that I bring in as my guests former students that are my guests every Wednesdays at 7 p.m They can definitely catch me doing a live where I am always educating and teaching women about real estate investing

Michelle Kesil (24:30)
Perfect. Well, listen, I appreciate your time, your story, your perspective. Thank you so much for being here.

Gladys David (24:37)
Thank you for having me. It’s been my pleasure. Thank you for having me as your guest.

Michelle Kesil (24:42)
and for the listeners tuning in. If you got value from this, make sure that you’ve subscribed. We have more conversations with operators just like Gladys who are building real businesses and we’ll see you all on our next episode.