How to Know If a Real Estate Deal Makes Sense Before Getting Private Money Funding

LeAnn Lyon (00:00)
And I was at an a chamber event yesterday, the Minnesota Christian Chamber of Commerce had a speaker who talked about the importance of rest. And actually, for those of us who are believers as well, resting in our business is often the way to go instead of striving in our business. It was rest that actually spoke. It was while resting that I heard that I needed to write a book. It was at 2 a.m. that the first chapter came into my brain.

Quentin (00:04)
Hmm.

LeAnn Lyon (00:29)
And it was 72 hours later that the book was written. Complete. So if you are always striving, then you’re always relying on yourself. And you’re not allowing, you know, if somebody wants to call it the universe or whatever else, you and I understand what that means. And but we have to allow that to happen. And that takes rest.

Quentin (00:32)
Yes, yes, yeah, yeah.

Right. Exactly.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I’m excited to be here today. I am excited about my guests. Y’all know what it really gets me excited is learning different things from different people. And so I believe this is just my opinion. All my all my guests, they’re special. There’s no way we’re gonna have a bad podcast, right? Because people show up as their authentic self.

I created space, they tell their story. So it’s gonna be good always. But today, this person just has a light about them. There’s a light about them that we have, you know, we’re in sync in a lot of different areas. And I just she’s a pleasure a pleasure to talk to. And she’s very knowledgeable about what she does, very confident about what she does. And so I’m so excited. I’m so excited that we all get a chance to learn from Miss LeAnn Lyon. Miss LeAnn, how you doing this day, ma’am?

LeAnn Lyon (03:17)
so good. So good and so blessed. Thank you.

Quentin (03:18)
Yeah.

Absolutely, absolutely. Well listen, I’m so glad you’re here. I am the type. I like to dive right in, right? So I would love for you to tell people what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got into the space that you’re in, and then tell them what part of the world you’re in, because people love to know geographically where people are. So what you’re up to, your origin story, where you are. Miss LeAnn, ma’am, you have the floor.

LeAnn Lyon (03:48)
thank you so much, Q. Really appreciate the opportunity to be here. This is beautiful. I am a Minnesotant. So just so you know, at the time of this recording, it was 75 degrees in the morning when we woke up. So a lot of people are shocked by that. But yes, it gets hot in Minnesota in the summer. And yes, it gets very, very cold in the winter, but everybody knows that. I am native here. fun fact, I speak Swedish because all eight of my great grandparents moved to Minnesota.

Hundred plus years ago. Kind of fun. All right. So origin so there’s a real origin story for you. But yes, my focus is private money brokering. I’m in love with private money brokering, which involves working with private money lenders, specifically institutional private money lenders, and matching them to so that they find what they love to lend to. I find the

Quentin (04:25)
Yes, absolutely.

LeAnn Lyon (04:45)
you know, the borrowers and matching the borrowers and lenders together. Love being a matchmaker that way. And how I got there was, you know, as many of us are on a journey. I woke up from a head injury and I said, God, I’m still here. You kept me here. What do you need me to do? He said, become a teacher. I became a math teacher. I burned out after five years, went into sales, loved it, thrived. I’ve got a few things behind me about that.

You know, awards and different things, but I thought, why am I making money for other people? So I became an entrepreneur. I did fall in love though in one of my sales jobs with business. And I just love talking to business owners. And I also did some trust sales. So I really dug into the real estate side of legacy. So those kind of combined, then I

Got into entrepreneurship, 2020 hit, everything fell apart, somebody said join real estate. I did, got my license, still have it, but didn’t like doing residential real estate. Still kept my license because I thought there’s just something. And when I came across private money brokering, it all came together.

Now I get to teach people, connect people, do math, be in real estate, own my own business. It all it’s all there. It’s so fun, cue.

Quentin (06:56)
Yeah, yeah. Well, Miss LeAnn, thank you, ma’am. Thank you for taking us through the journey. showing us kind of the journey, how you got to where you are, kinda explaining where you are. And now you gave me a recap roughly maybe like three minutes, but you and I both know life doesn’t just unfold in three minutes.

Everything that you said has been years of unfolding, years of moments, right? So, Miss LeAnn, I have a saying that I say most podcasts: destiny has no wasted moments. Destiny has no wasted moments. We are building momentum as we go through the journey. We are reinforcing our whys. We know what our passion is. Things are becoming more clearer as time goes on. So I would love to know from you, ma’am.

LeAnn Lyon (07:27)
Mm.

Quentin (07:44)
What has the moments taught you about yourself? Have they taught you discipline, resilience? What is these moments as they have have unfolded? What have they taught you about you?

LeAnn Lyon (07:55)
Resilience a hundred percent. I have a podcast as well. And when I do when I run the transcripts, hey, I use AI. Every single time hashtag resilience comes up as a theme. not only for myself, but for all the entrepreneurs that I interview as well. Resilience is probably the number one thing that anybody in business needs. And yeah, whether it’s recovering from a head injury.

Quentin (08:03)
Okay.

LeAnn Lyon (08:21)
Or hey, I broke my leg last w year. You have to go through it. You’re gonna have to go through some stuff. You’re gonna have to go through some pain. You’re gonna have to go through some physical therapy. but you just keep on, keeping on, keep on on, keeping on, and then one day you’re healed. Or one day the next step shows up.

Quentin (08:38)
So much for that answer. And I asked that question. I mean, you highlighted it so brilliantly. You know, at the center of our businesses, strategies may change, we may try different directions, but at the center is you. You’re always at the center. And so tapping into that growth mindset, not that fixed mindset, tapping into my why, like why do I do this? Tapping into that.

that that tank builds that resilience. And I just, you know, I asked that question because I want people that’s that’s watching to be able, if times get tough, to tap into that source, tap into that that that well that’s inside of you, that got you where you are, that sh that that that originally brought brought to past the idea that you’re conquering right now, right? And so when we get stuck or we have to pivot, tap into that resilience. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate you so much for answering that question.

What’s next for the business? What are you looking to solve a scale next?

LeAnn Lyon (09:33)
You know, I’m right now actually building out a system because I am kind of techie too. Another fun fact, sold a computer program when I was eleven. built it on a Commodore 64, just dating myself there. And I so I’ve always been techie. And so I am building out a version of a system, you know, just to manage everything. There’s so much to manage, and I know AI is making it easier to do some of these things, but

You still it’s still a people business and you still have to follow up with people, talk to people, connect with people. And so I’m building a system really that will help those private money brokers that are ready to scale to be able to scale faster and easier than than the ground up that I’ve had to kind of do in many ways.

Quentin (10:20)
Absolutely. So you hit the nail on the head for me. Y this is a people business and that’s never gonna change. And so I love to get my guests their thoughts, their philosophy on this word, relationship. When you hear the word relationship, what rings true for you, Miss LeAnn?

LeAnn Lyon (10:36)
A relationship is everything. For me, my relationship with my heavenly father is key. It’s number one. It’s the only thing. Everything else has to be based on that and and needs to reflect up there. I so appreciated earlier when you said that when you sc you said that I’m a light, but it’s just a reflection. And that’s exactly what it needs to be. And so relationship is everything, but there’s one relationship that matters most. Everything else flows from it.

Quentin (11:37)
Yes, indeedy. You are the light of the world and you sit on a hill and you can’t be hit. You cannot be hid. And so we are the salt, we are the light of the world. And so absolutely I I listen, that’s the number one relationship for me as well. That’s where I get my center from. And so I absolutely one hundred percent agree with that for sure. it’s listen, I I I love what you’re talking about. I would love to know what are some of the strategies that you use.

that have really made you successful in the space that you’re in. Like if you give people some strategies that maybe will help them out, where would you go? Where would you pull from? What strategies would you pull from?

LeAnn Lyon (12:16)
No, I’m not exactly sure on what you’re saying with strategies, but the word that comes up is persistence. It’s very similar to resilience, but it’s persistence. You know, when I decided to get into this, I said, you know what? I don’t I don’t like doing things in the evening. I’ve reached a certain age where I would like to sit around in the evenings, work during the day, enjoy my evenings, enjoy my weekends. That’s why I didn’t like residential real estate. But

Quentin (12:21)
Who

LeAnn Lyon (12:44)
In order to get this business off the ground, I had to start going to meetings. I had to start going, and some of the meetings are not in my neighborhood or city or even below the river, as we say in Minnesota. I had to go some distance. And I didn’t love it, but I haven’t missed a meeting since. I go every single month to every single meeting that I need to because if you don’t meet people, you don’t have a business. It goes right back to relationships.

Quentin (13:09)
Yes.

Yeah.

LeAnn Lyon (13:11)
So

persistence, persistence. Did I get deals the first meeting I went to? nope. I don’t ironically, I got a deal from the first post I put on Facebook. That was godly, thank you. But but meetings, you know, it just takes time. You have to show up. You have to keep showing up, you have to be positive, you have to ask people to connect with you.

Quentin (13:23)
⁓ Yeah.

Yeah.

LeAnn Lyon (13:36)
I did my first vendor table recently talking about my book and I was very excited about that. You also have to tune in to what do I need to do to add value to these people so that they will want to work with me? And writing my book was part of that as well.

Quentin (13:49)
Yeah, yeah.

Absolutely. So if I heard you correctly, you said you like to work in the morning, relax in the evening. Did I hear that correctly? So that gets me early, right? Right? So that actually puts me in a mind frame of a strategy of time management, right? Knowing what works for you, what’s what’s what’s efficient for you. I am the same way. I like to work hard in the morning, but when it’s time for me to take that break, I am transitioning. I’m I’m leaving that part there and I’m doing

LeAnn Lyon (13:59)
Yes. ⁓ bright and early, four thirty AM. Let’s go.

Yeah.

Quentin (14:22)
This relaxation part right here. And so I love it. You know, I think time management is something that’s should be big for all of us, knowing how you process, how you work best, because that makes you more efficient and more pro productive. Would you agree with that? Yep.

LeAnn Lyon (14:35)
And I was at an a chamber event yesterday, the Minnesota Christian Chamber of Commerce had a speaker who talked about the importance of rest. And actually, for those of us who are believers as well, resting in our business is often the way to go instead of striving in our business. It was rest that actually spoke. It was while resting that I heard that I needed to write a book. It was at 2 a.m. that the first chapter came into my brain.

Quentin (14:40)
Hmm.

LeAnn Lyon (15:04)
And it was 72 hours later that the book was written. Complete. So if you are always striving, then you’re always relying on yourself. And you’re not allowing, you know, if somebody wants to call it the universe or whatever else, you and I understand what that means. And but we have to allow that to happen. And that takes rest.

Quentin (15:07)
Yes, yes, yeah, yeah.

Right. Exactly.

Yeah. Well let’s talk about I mean, so we want to say same wavelength, we’re having a conversation and people wanna take what they take from our conversation. So that’s you and I have the conversation, right? And so I love how you talked about rest. because when I read the Bible from the beginning and I watch how God created the earth, he did things in segments. Now he’s God. He got a

LeAnn Lyon (16:31)
You know.

Quentin (16:32)
Done whatever he wanted. He could have just snapped his fingers and everything was here. But it lays out a blueprint how he did one something one day, then evening and morning was the first day that was gone. He did something another day. And then on the last day, seventh day, he rest, right? And so for me, that paints an outline from creation of how I need to rest.

We talked about that time management. I worked on the day, relaxed on the evening. I have a blueprint from my creator that shows me how not how to be overwhelmed, how to pace myself, and then when I’m done working, rest. And so I believe rest is so paramount to us as believers. I think it’s in our spiritual DNA. And so now I agree. I think absolutely. Absolutely. So when you hear these words, what resonates with you? Go.

LeAnn Lyon (17:15)
Absolutely. A hundred percent.

Quentin (17:24)
Grow and go beyond. When you hear that, what resonates true to you, Miss LeAnn?

LeAnn Lyon (17:30)
We are never supposed to stop. Not really. I heard recently in a s in a a sermon that they see said, if you’re still here, you still have purpose. The minute your purpose disappears, God’ll take you home. You’re done. But God gives us purpose. We believe that God gave us purpose before the beginning of creation. That’s a long time ago. No matter how you do the mark the math on that one. But

Quentin (17:53)
Long time.

LeAnn Lyon (17:57)
You know, if we if we were known, if we were given purpose back then, like wow. And so here we are, we’re here to fulfill. That’s why I said I woke up from that head injury. By the way, I’d been hit by a drunk driver and had somebody a b a car that I could have been in, everyone was killed by a drunk driver all in the previous three years. So when I woke up from that head injury, it wasn’t just that one thing. It was a three things in three years, basically saying.

I still have you. You need to get back on track. I believe that God will give us, He’s like a GPS. We can take all the left turns and right turns and get off track all we want. He’s always steering us back onto the path because he has a purpose for us. It’s our goal to submit to that purpose. It’s not easy. We are wayward. We are the one creature he created that can resist him. And he will let us resist him.

But it should be our goal and our and our wish and our desire not to resist.

Quentin (18:59)
Yeah. Yeah. Now one of my favorite scriptures is, and I I this a different translation, but it says, We we create our plans, but the Lord determines the outcome. I think King James say we make our plans, but he orders our steps. And so you just beautifully that scripture, you just synthesize that scripture. I think God He allows us to make our plans, right? He allows us and I think that He allows us to make our plans, but we have to yield the outcome to Him.

So we make our plans, but he orders our steps. So we can be right in the midst of doing, but then maybe he may divert our plans and we allow him to, because like you said, he’s the GPS. He courts corrects. He puts us on the right path. And so I appreciate that.

LeAnn Lyon (19:39)
Yep. And

first Corinthians says, So what so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. And that’s the last words of my book. Right there.

Quentin (19:51)
Mic drop.

That’s the mic drop moment right there. Missing man, I thank you so much for this conversation. If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you, man?

LeAnn Lyon (20:06)
Well, if you can figure out how to spell my first name, it’s L-E-A-N-N, last name Lyon you can go to leannlyon.com. That’s easy. My business name is beyondimpactcapital.com And there you can pick up a deal checklist, like how to know if a deal makes sense. So being a math teacher, when I kind of figured this out, I’m like, okay, here’s exactly the math you do to math it out. Because not every deal makes sense.

You know, there’s people that come up with the crazy things that they think we can do. so it’s a free deal checklist. Go pick that up. And then of course you can find me on Amazon or on my website. I have a book called Grow and Go Beyond. It’s part of a seven seven-step system called the sailing system. Grow and go beyond is what you do after you’ve reached a measure of success, after you’ve gone through navigating the storms, after you’ve launched.

Right? So you launch and then you integrate and adapt and you navigate the storms and then you get to a point of being able to grow and go beyond. So I have a speaker page coming up, and on my I have several different keynote speech talks that I’m doing to different groups, investor groups, yes, but also faith groups, also business groups, because business groups, faith groups, there’s a way to use real estate to grow.

those industry to grow as well. You can grow your financial bucket and grow your community, which matters more. Because values driven impact housing, which is in this book I think seven times. values driven impact housing is gonna matter much more than your bank account a hundred years from now.

Quentin (21:51)
There she is. Miss LeAnn, I want to say three things to you sincerely. One, thank you for your time. I think time is our most precious commodity. And so thank you. Thank you for giving us your time today. I consider that a valuable investment into us. So thank you. Secondly, thank you for your story. Thank you for your narrative. for the gift of what I say, your transparency, your authenticity, and the gift of your vulnerability.

Jesus taught in parables, right? So stories carry a premium weight. And so thank you for sharing today. Thank you for planting seeds. those seeds we may never see the growth, but the seed is there and it can grow at any given time. So thank you for planting seeds. And lastly, thank you for your mindset. Thank you for the way you think in bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming on today.

LeAnn Lyon (22:45)
It’s a blessing to be here. Thank you so much.

Quentin (22:47)
Absolutely, absolutely. Well listen, y’all heard Miss LeAnn. Her information is in the show notes. Please go get in contact with her. Go get the book. Grow and go beyond. Definitely make sure you are subscribed here, because I’m promising you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Miss LeAnn. So, ma’am, I say thank you again. And everyone else, y’all have a fantastic day.