5 Life-Changing Lessons from a Corporate Career to Real Estate Success

Dylan Silver (00:01.396)
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. I’m your host, Dylan Silver. And today on the show, we have a ex fashion industry merchandiser to full time real estate syndicator and co founder of a technical underwriting coaching program, Hitomi Yasuda. Hitomi, welcome to the show.

Hitomi Yasuda (00:21.742)
Thank you so much. to be here.

Dylan Silver (00:23.826)
It’s a pleasure to have you on the show. I always like to start off at the top by asking folks how they got into the real estate space.

Hitomi Yasuda (00:33.86)
For me, pretty much.

I knew that I needed to make a change in terms of my corporate life and where it was going. So I come from a very strict Asian family where education was super important. So from a very young age, it was pounded into me about going to school, get good grades, and then become a good employee. My parents, for whatever reason, never really put into my head that I could be the boss. I could own something. It was always about learn to be a good, obedient employee. And so that’s the kind of route that I went down.

Dylan Silver (00:54.837)
Yeah.

Hitomi Yasuda (01:06.391)
rabbit hole.

And then I actually saw my father at 58 pass away from stress and cancer And that was like a big wake-up call for me at that young age of my life like wow life is precious You know and if we don’t take care of our health and everything What’s the point of like grinding away and working so hard when boom just like that life is over? Unfortunately for me however I kind of got into like this sleepwalking trance and for the next 20 years afterwards I also got trapped into that hamster wheel of just

Dylan Silver (01:36.49)
Yeah.

Hitomi Yasuda (01:37.452)
trading time for money. And the thing that I’m so mad at myself about is that years ago, way back then, I did read books like Think and Grow Rich. I did read Robert Kiyosaki’s book, you know, like Rich Dad Poor Dad. And at the time, I think it’s that famous expression, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

even though I read those classic books at the time it was more like entertainment like wow that’s a really interesting story I can relate to it I never took action on it right I got myself now like what was I thinking but it was almost like I was just

Dylan Silver (02:05.8)
Yeah.

Hitomi Yasuda (02:10.924)
like in a habit, right, in a habit of just doing what was familiar, grinding away and trying to get that next promotion and all that kind of stuff. Until one day about eight years ago, I hit rock bottom emotionally. You know, I was just so depressed with the state of my life, right? I pretty much was living a very lonely existence because all I did was work. I was just like this workaholic, right? So I was like not even hanging out with friends because I became that flaky friend. I would have dinner plans with a girlfriend two weeks before. And then the night before, I’m like, I can’t go. My friends

So like, why? You gotta eat? No, but I got this report that’s due on Monday and all this kind of nonsense. my whole job thing just became this total whirlwind of just anxiety, scarcity, I’m gonna run out of money and all this kind of stuff. Just existing, you know? And the unhappiness of my life outgrew fear of change. Right? The unhappiness of my life outgrew the fear of change.

Dylan Silver (02:54.313)
Yeah.

Dylan Silver (03:04.264)
I think that that’s huge, huge thing. You know, when we talk about, and I mentioned this before hopping out of the podcast here, the idea of job security, right? Well, what about your life security? Like, what about the fact that I’m trading, you mentioned trading time for money, right? Well, at what point in time are you able to enjoy the money? And then not only that, and maybe you can, this resonates with you Hitomi is,

So many people when you kind of scale a ladder, well now you’re in kind of a different social tier. So there’s kind of advanced expectations for the kind of lifestyle that you’re going to be living. So actually you almost feel pressure to spend more money. And now you’re like into this thing where you’re not exactly managing assets super well and then you’re also constantly working. And then you’re like, I should be feeling pretty good about this. I’m achieving all my goals. And then you wake up and boom it’s like 10 or more years later and you’re realizing, you know, I’m actually

completely stretched thin, like I’m at my wits end with, you know, everything that I need to do to take care of myself. And what do I do? Like, I thought this is supposed to be it. And then you kind of realizing, Whoa, this whole paradigm that I was in is not the answer.

Hitomi Yasuda (04:18.988)
My life was just definitely out of balance.

You know, in all aspects, it was just all out of balance for sure. So I started, you know, observing people around me who I felt seemed to display happiness when it came to their health and relationships, you know, and even enjoying what they did for their career. Like I wasn’t even enjoying what I did for my career anymore. It was just like everything about my life. I was just like miserable and unhappy. But the thing was, it was sort of a facade because to my friends, they’re like, you know, you drive a nice car.

Dylan Silver (04:22.452)
You know?

Hitomi Yasuda (04:52.24)
You have fancy clothes you come from the fashion industry and like you look great, you know, like what do you what you’ve got to complain about? But internally I was very empty, know, like there’s got to be more to life than this So like so I really I really just took a hard look at my life as to I need to make a change like this is ridiculous and so by by observing and talking to people that seem to have that much, you know better life I started noticing certain trends right and many of them were saying what what helps

Dylan Silver (04:55.391)
Ryan.

Dylan Silver (05:04.064)
Yeah.

Hitomi Yasuda (05:22.09)
create like stability is multiple streams of income right where you’re not just relying on one thing so you don’t so the anxiety of money goes away right and then the other thing was with that real estate I just kept hearing real estate over and over and over in different avenues right there’s not just one way of real estate but

whether you’re a landlady or landlord with a single family home or flipping or wholesaling or this or that, right? I just kept hearing real estate. I’m like, man, I need to like check this thing out, right? Really learn about this thing. And then, you know, I came across one of those free weekend seminar things and it really opened my eyes to a whole different world. And in this instance, it was with multifamily and syndication.

Dylan Silver (05:54.888)
Yeah, this real estate thing.

Hitomi Yasuda (06:10.486)
And I seriously was like one of the first people running to the back of the room with my credit card going, this is what I’ve been looking for, someone to teach me how to do this thing. You know? So for me, it was like a no brainer. Like, this is what I got to learn how to do.

Dylan Silver (06:23.678)
Now you mentioned before hopping on here, you know, it wasn’t like it was smooth sailing. wasn’t like you just, you know, went to that event and then boom, life changed. It was, it was a slow burn. It took some years. took some time. It took meeting people. It also took kind of a change maybe in your comfort zone, you know, and it was, it was trying and then COVID happens and things become difficult. So

You know, what was it like chronologically? How long did it take to make the first deal happen? And were there, you know, bumps along the way?

Hitomi Yasuda (07:00.61)
I would say I’ve been able to do this full time without a W-2 now for about four, four and a half years. So I definitely was not an overnight success for sure. And a lot of it has to do with the fact that I as a person had to become the entrepreneur that I needed to become. I needed to grow as a person, right?

Because entrepreneurship, a lot of it is about personal growth. And in my instance, real estate happened to be the vehicle that I used to bring me the freedom and all that kind of stuff that I was seeking. But I still had to become that person, right, the self-discipline, right, the consistency, the persistence, because suddenly I don’t have a boss to answer to anymore. It’s me. I got to make it happen. And so with that, I had to go through that own growth, right? So I did surround myself with mentors that helped

Dylan Silver (07:41.642)
Yeah.

Hitomi Yasuda (07:50.592)
me in different aspects of my personal development. So some mentors were very technical and all about real estate and underwriting and all that stuff. But I also had other mentors that helped me with mindset, right? About limiting beliefs, my own demons about scarcity, my own demons about my self worth and stuff. And getting over the fear of what I wanted, like I know it sounds super ironic, but now that I’m a coach as well, right? I’m an underwriting coach. see it in my

my students, they self-sabotage a deal that they could win by not submitting the LOI. And I’m like, why didn’t you submit? Why didn’t you submit? And they’re like, because I was actually afraid. What if I did win? I can’t take it down. So that fear of being afraid of what it is that you actually want, right? So I had to go through all that growth. And also, the lack of support of my family. I love my family.

Dylan Silver (08:27.658)
Yeah.

Dylan Silver (08:47.956)
Yeah, that’s a huge thing.

Hitomi Yasuda (08:49.858)
Yeah, I love my family, but honestly, they thought like I was crazy. Yeah, they thought I was totally crazy. They were like, my God, if dad was alive today, he’d be turning in his grave that you went to graduate school and this and that and you threw all that away. Now you’re doing this like, my God. So I had to get away from the naysayers. So that was also hard for me as well. There were some friendships that I had to end because my friends who I thought were my friends were actually, yeah, they were holding me back from growing.

Dylan Silver (08:52.372)
They said, what are you doing?

Dylan Silver (09:13.546)
We’re naysayers.

Hitomi Yasuda (09:18.242)
You know? And so that was hard.

Dylan Silver (09:18.3)
Wow, I had I had that same experience. Now, I’m actually grateful that I don’t have graduate degrees because if I did, it told me I would have been one of those people where I just would have stayed and just been miserable and then like, you know, died on the job. Like because I realized that and this is why it’s so, you know, not to sound melodramatic, but like a really difficult, hugely courageous decision to leave that I was speaking with an attorney. You can probably relate to this speaking with an attorney.

gets his degree, passes the bar, is an attorney, he’s happy, or so he thinks, gets his job about, sometime like a year or two years into his job, he just realized, I cannot do this. Like this is not, I don’t know how he had the courage to do it. But with your story, and I’ve experienced it, you tell people, hey, I’m gonna go do real estate. For me it was, hey, I’m gonna go do cash for keys. I heard about this cash for keys thing.

And you know, there’s this wholesale thing. I don’t really know what it is, but I was working for Nissan and everybody that I told this to was like, yeah, you’re crazy. Like, what are you doing? Like, do you know anybody who does this? Is anybody in your family? My family was even like, what are you doing? Right. So the only person that believed the only person that believed in me, and you can probably relate to this, was myself and then the people that I met within real estate. And I was like, wow, these people are shockingly supportive.

Like they don’t know me from a hole in the wall. And here I am. And they’re like offering to mentor me. And it was amazing. And I found that the people in real estate are at times, many cases, these rooms are the most welcoming people and they’ll happily just give you all of the game that you need in order to succeed. It’s just a matter of executing.

Hitomi Yasuda (11:06.434)
Yeah, and one of the things too is the mentors, right, the people in our network, right, because we’re all in it together.

One of the big changes I made in my life less than a year ago, so around this time last summer, different mentors have said, look, you’re free now. You don’t need a W-2, right? And at the time I was living in California, they’re like, you need to move. And I was like, wait, what? Like my paradigm kicked in, right? Comfort, security, right? Been living at my condo that I’ve owned for years, right? You need to move. And I’m like, wait, why? They’re like, you should move to a state that like you’re not going to get hammered on income.

Dylan Silver (11:36.373)
Yeah.

Hitomi Yasuda (11:44.794)
tax but also personal growth. Force yourself to just start over from scratch. The growth you’re going to go through, the people you’re going to meet, all that stuff, you don’t even know what you’re capable of yet but you’re holding yourself back by staying in your familiarity. Nothing ever grows in the comfort zone. So last year I slapped myself and I did it. I packed up and I moved to Wyoming where I didn’t know anybody.

Dylan Silver (11:45.791)
Yeah.

Dylan Silver (12:02.794)
Ryan.

Dylan Silver (12:12.532)
Wyoming. All right. I was going to say I was going to say Florida because there’s so many real estate entrepreneurs out in Florida. Wyoming. What an interesting what an interesting place. I’ve never heard. There’s a rooster going off. We’ve got a rooster here on the ranch. But what an interesting place. How did you pick Wyoming.

Hitomi Yasuda (12:14.092)
I moved away.

Hitomi Yasuda (12:31.384)
Well, Wyoming is one of the most tax friendly states, but also I’m an outdoorsy kind of gal, so I live in beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

So it’s surrounded by the Grand Tetons, there’s beautiful lakes, right? It just caters to my outdoor lifestyle, you know? And, you know, I have property with my team that I own in like Texas, know, Nevada is another tax, you know, favorable state and so is Florida. I have business partners there. So I’ve been to many of those places over time through events and things, and it just didn’t feel like home, but I really liked the feeling at any time I visited Wyoming, you know? So one of my mentors said,

Dylan Silver (13:06.656)
Amazing.

Hitomi Yasuda (13:09.04)
I’m like, all right, but I had to fight my paradigm, right? It was like, well, but what about this? And right the obstacles I caught myself. Well, how what am I gonna do with my place in California? How am I gonna find a place to live? my god, like I all the excuses I saw coming out of my own mouth, right? So I had to like slap myself, but I made the move and it’s been the best decision ever just by coming here

Dylan Silver (13:14.035)
Yeah.

Dylan Silver (13:30.624)
Do you have one of these Wyoming, I’m thinking like rolling mountains and like landscapes in the background? Is that what Wyoming is like?

Hitomi Yasuda (13:39.332)
my god, it’s like gorgeous. Yeah, I’m like 20 minutes from the ski resorts, you know? And this place is just, it’s just, if you’re an outdoors person, this place is just heaven on earth, you know? But here’s the thing, right? And I realized, you just jump on an airplane and you can just go back to California. can, I can just, it’s not like I went to Mars and I’m like cut off from everybody, you know?

Dylan Silver (13:45.065)
Yeah.

Dylan Silver (13:51.882)
So I’m, yeah.

Dylan Silver (13:59.904)
Yeah, you didn’t cut yourself off from humanity, but one of the things that I’ve noticed you probably relate to this is changing your zip code can just totally like snap you out of anything. Like, you know, there’s a different vibe. There’s different people. There’s different culture. Even there’s potentially different food. You know, the the courtesies may be different. I can tell you, I was talking with someone in Alabama yesterday, I believe.

talking about the differences kind of between East Coast where I’m from and Texas and in Alabama. We were both kind of saying like, where he was from Chicago, I’m from Northern New Jersey. It’s just about the numbers out there. Like people don’t want to know really who you are. Like, that’s great, you know, nice to meet you, but let’s get down to brass tacks. And we were both talking about how Alabama, Texas, it’s like people really want to get to know you. Like he was talking about

If he sells a home in Chicago, it’s here’s the numbers. But if he sells a home in Alabama, it’s OK, I now have to go to their whole barbecue for indefinitely. they’re going to invite me. And I’m pretty much obligated to go. So it’s a cultural thing. And so going from California to Wyoming, what were some of the biggest shifts that you noticed in your life?

Hitomi Yasuda (15:22.806)
I think for me it showed how if you’re open, right, you open your heart, you’re open.

people will come. making friends has actually been a really joyous experience, like starting from scratch, right? It’s not as scary as people think, right? The other thing that it’s really helped me is work-life balance. Because I’m in a new, gorgeous place, I forced myself to shut that laptop off by 6 p.m. and go outside.

Dylan Silver (15:38.197)
Yeah.

Hitomi Yasuda (15:53.1)
Go for a walk. Go walk along the lake. Get in my car. Go drive to the mountains like on the weekends, right? Before I was that workaholic person, man. Like I literally was just like working all the time. It was crazy. And now it’s like, you know, I look outside my window and I’m like, wow, there’s a new hiking trail I want to explore. There’s a new restaurant I want to check out. You know, it’s just really.

Dylan Silver (16:02.186)
Yeah.

Hitomi Yasuda (16:16.44)
kind of given me a rebirth that this is what life is supposed to be all about. It’s about relationships with people, going out, enjoying the beauty. I’ve been able to schedule time to do like lot of volunteer work, because I really like animals and animals are really big thing here, right? So I can do volunteer work for the wildlife conservation and stuff like that, right? Like there’s just so much more, my life is richer because I’m just not all about work anymore, you know?

Dylan Silver (16:32.573)
Yeah.

Dylan Silver (16:42.45)
It’s a huge, it’s a huge thing. tell people I was never, I’m living on a ranch here. We heard the rooster that’s out here and you know, we’ve got cows, we’ve got chickens, roosters, neighbors have goats. And sometimes I kind of get wrapped up in like, man, I got to get this deal done or, you know, I’ve got to talk to so-and-so. And then I just kind of look outside and the cows are still chilling like they were the previous day. They’re huddled under a tree in the shade. And I’m like, hmm.

Are those cows happier than me right now? I’m like, if they’re happier than me, I got to change something up here because they’re not worried about this. They’re probably worried it’s just hot outside. you know, it’s an interesting thing to compare, you know, my existence to the other living creatures outside. We are coming up on time here, Hitomi. Where can folks go to get a hold of you? I think you have a contact card or a slide to show folks.

Hitomi Yasuda (17:35.318)
Yeah, so again, one of the things that my journey here is that underwriting became my superpower. And so if people are, you know, trying to get into their first deal and they’re struggling with understanding numbers and stuff like that, by all means, they’re welcome to reach out and we can kind of help them with that. And I have a technical underwriting coaching program that I run with my business partner. I can quickly just show you that where they can reach us. Let me see if I can find it.

Dylan Silver (18:00.448)
Yeah.

Hitomi Yasuda (18:09.805)
Here you go.

So I have kind of a little bit of an unusual name. So Hitomi is my first name. And people could reach out.

And we can talk about underwriting. We can talk about how, you know, how we got into our first deal. We are live investors, you know, and so just something I’m very proud to talk about is me and my team. Just last week, we closed on 84 units in Tucson, Arizona. So not only do we teach underwriting to our students, right, in the whole process of trying to go from finding the first deal to actually getting it close, we’re doing it live, you know, live with them right in front of them that look, we just got a deal.

Dylan Silver (18:33.13)
Congrats.

Hitomi Yasuda (18:49.178)
under contract and now we actually closed. So something that we’re super excited about and super proud. This is something that I wish I had this kind of mentorship when I first got started because like I said right you can have all the work ethic in the world but if it’s the effort is misguided and you’re doing all the wrong things you can waste a lot of time. Yeah.

Dylan Silver (19:09.162)
Doesn’t matter.

Hitomi, thank you so much for coming on the show here today.

Hitomi Yasuda (19:18.072)
Thank you so much. Really appreciate your time.