How Discipline and Resilience Create Real Estate Success | Diana Brand

Diana Brand (00:00)
Yeah, I I think the whole thing is staying ⁓ physically fit also translates into being mentally fit and staying focused. ⁓ you start losing out when you’re not able to stay focused. And if you feel exhausted and you’re having to sleep more and emotionally you can’t face certain things and then you turn into just

being in a fetal position on the sofa and not making the calls anymore, you’re losing time. You’re losing where they say the early bird ⁓ catches whatever they need. ⁓ you’re losing all that momentum there if you let yourself go down that path. So for me it’s really important to work out every day. I usually walk just as a base five to ⁓ seven miles every day.

Issa Hanna (02:21)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros show. I’m your host, Issa Hanna, and today I have Diana Brand, a single family residential investor here to share her knowledge with us. Diana, welcome to my show.

Diana Brand (02:31)
Hi, I’m so happy to be on your show. ⁓ my name’s Diana Brand and I am an accredited real estate investor. And the thing that I’ve learned the most is that you need resilience to stay in this game. And you need to build certain characteristics that can come from childhood or something that maybe you don’t have right now, but certain things that you do will build that for you.

Issa Hanna (02:54)
Definitely. And we and we talked before and you said ⁓ what built what built it for you ⁓ when we were talking earlier is is you grew up as an athlete as a child and you faced resiliency. So can you give us a little bit more about that?

Diana Brand (03:08)
Yeah, so when I was a child, ⁓ my parents had split when I was five years old. And basically my mother wasn’t equipped to really teach me what discipline or resilience or any of that was. She was so busy. She we were latchkey kids. So ⁓ by the time I was ⁓ in the fifth grade, I was a very athletic kid. I just naturally ⁓ moved towards that. So by fifth grade I got involved with track and field.

And I started entering city meets and I continued to do this ⁓ all through c high school and college. And when I was a kid, it was building resilience in me and perseverance, confidence, tenacity. I didn’t realize that at the time, also discipline, because when you get up in the morning, you have to just do it. You’re scheduled to

you know, workout, you have to put so many hours in. In my case, I think it was I had to do it around six thirty AM. So I had to get up at five. And even if I was tired, I didn’t feel like it. I still had to do it. ⁓ my coach would call me and say, you know, get here on the track. Get your tennis sheets on. And I had to do it before, you know, classes started. So classes usually started at eight AM.

Issa Hanna (04:26)
Wow. Yeah. And and that that instills ⁓ you know, you face resiliency, but it instills a lot of discipline at a young age to where, you know, you you can do something, you know, not nobody wants to wake up ⁓ and get their butt to the track, ⁓ especially during summer break. ⁓ that, you know, they wanna lay at home in the AC, play some video games and and hang out with their their friends. But

When you’re an athlete, you know, you can’t do that. You do have to show up for the team and and it instills lifelong skills, which then you took later on in life to become a successful consultant. And now ⁓ I kind of want to get into your main focus these days, your new project. Can you tell our viewers about that?

Diana Brand (05:09)
Well, I have a lot of different things that are coming down the pipeline. I’m interested in investing with Windermere Hotels located. Their project, it’s ⁓ in Thailand, and they will fly me out. They’ll cover all the expenses for four nights and I’ll get to tour the property. It’s not one of those ⁓ timeshare situations. It’s literally buying one of their hotel units.

you are a passive investor. ⁓ you get a monthly check and that’s it. They manage everything for you. So I’m very interested in doing that. I also love Thailand, so

Issa Hanna (06:37)
Definitely Thailand is a beautiful country, beautiful people, great food, and then ⁓ very good passive income opportunity, you know. So it’s basically a hotel chain. You own the unit in it, and and you know, when people come stay there and they and they book that hotel, they book your unit, you get ⁓ a percentage of of that sale, ⁓ and they manage everything for you. So ⁓ definitely a great opportunity for the future. ⁓ and then

I wanted to ⁓ ask you, I read your bio a little bit, right? And you are an athlete and life isn’t all about business. ⁓ you do a lot of other stuff. You have a lot of other hobbies and interests. ⁓ some that stuck out were the working out or the painting. can you kind of give our viewers a little bit about that and then why why do you do that and how how that probably helps you translate into being a better business person?

Diana Brand (07:30)
Yeah, I I think the whole thing is staying ⁓ physically fit also translates into being mentally fit and staying focused. ⁓ you start losing out when you’re not able to stay focused. And if you feel exhausted and you’re having to sleep more and emotionally you can’t face certain things and then you turn into just

being in a fetal position on the sofa and not making the calls anymore, you’re losing time. You’re losing where they say the early bird ⁓ catches whatever they need. ⁓ you’re losing all that momentum there if you let yourself go down that path. So for me it’s really important to work out every day. I usually walk just as a base five to ⁓ seven miles every day. ⁓

I do have a reason I have to. My my dogs, I have a border collie and English Springer. They’re both working dogs. So yeah, they keep me going. I break it up though. I don’t do it all at once. So in the morning after breakfast, it’s a nice constitutional. I walk maybe two, two and a half miles. And then evening after dinner, that’s where I put usually in more. So ⁓ and then I go to the gym.

And I swim and I cycle on the weekends and I like hiking. So I think that kind of activity is good for me. And then I also make room for the arts because I I’ve always had a knack for painting and drawing and photography. So I just enjoy that process and I think it just keeps a person well balanced so that you’re not just always focused on work and your concerns about work.

Issa Hanna (09:11)
don’t burn yourselves out, folks. I I know a lot of us ⁓ real estate investors, entrepreneurs, business people, we are those type of people that like to take the bull by the horns and just go, go, go. But ⁓ you will burn yourself out eventually. You’ve got to take a step back, ⁓ and and get your mind and your body right because when that’s not right, you can’t make the best decisions. And and I love that advice, Anna.

So you’re bringing so much so much value to our show already. I did also want to ⁓ talk about one more thing that stuck out when we were talking earlier. You said enjoying the process. So when you have a project, you’re not that person that’s gonna, I bought this, I’m gonna go buy this, or I’m biting all this stuff off. ⁓ you’re gonna focus on your one project and you’re gonna enjoy the process. So can you give us little bit more about that?

Diana Brand (10:38)
I think it’s important for people to understand their personality type. And there are different types of tests out there where you can figure out, you know, if real estate investing really aligns with you. ⁓ also a lot of your skills that you build can transfer to other types of businesses and careers. But with this, you really need to stay ⁓ mentally tough. And I feel like

A lot of the work that I’ve done has ⁓ helped me with that. I’m trying to just tenacity, working on your confidence, ⁓ team building. That to me, all this feeds into team building because it’s leadership and you are role modeling that. And if you can’t team build, then there’s a problem there because you want to bring on the same kind of people that

kind of mayor what you’re about. ⁓ you wanna create your A team and your B team, you always wanna have a backup. And just I don’t wanna lose the thread. Did I cover what you were asking or keep going?

Issa Hanna (11:42)
Yes,

yes. No, perfect. Great, great advice. ⁓ and I’m gonna I’m gonna segue into my next question because it actually touches on that, team building and and even relationship building. A lot of people are, you know, watch this show and they’re just getting started or they’re looking to get into a different field ⁓ of of real estate. but some people struggle to build those relationships, establish those business relationships.

⁓ and grow their network. Can you give them some advice on on how to start doing that?

Diana Brand (12:14)
If you are already in this business but you’re still starting out, ⁓ well yeah, well I just wanted I you know project base for me, I I’m going back to your first question is part of that. You you gotta decide, are you gonna be a person that tries to build your portfolio quickly and you’re gonna be really aggressive because you want a thousand doors? Understanding what your goals are to

Issa Hanna (12:19)
I’m sorry, go ahead.

Diana Brand (12:41)
in the first place when you enter real estate. For me it was okay, I think I’d like to to build up to 50 doors, but I’m a project based person, meaning, like you said, I enjoy the start, the middle, and the end. And I derive a lot of pleasure from that at the final, when you see the results, to me that’s very pleasing. And I wait until all that’s done. And it might take three years.

And then when it’s completed, that’s usually when I’m starting to look into another investment. so you have to work out what kind of a schedule you want and how you want to move.

Issa Hanna (13:17)
Definitely. Now as far as like timelines for your project, do you do you stick to a an a timeline ⁓ or do you kind of give it a lot of leeway ⁓ if it goes?

Diana Brand (13:27)
No,

I s I stick to a timeline. ⁓ usually two to three years. this is like if you bought for example a property, it’s an older building, maybe built in the nineteen seventies and they never painted the stucco or the siding is a little old and it needs to be replaced or maybe just repaired and then the whole exterior needs to be painted. ⁓ the parking lot might have asphalt and cracks, so

You’d have to get bids on that. And I do the asphalt parking situation usually last, but I like to get basically everything that I’m gonna need to do to that property after I’ve assessed it on a schedule.

Issa Hanna (14:07)
Definitely. And obviously with with their experience.

Diana Brand (14:10)
Bye.

Issa Hanna (14:11)
Definitely. And obviously with your experience you can underwrite an investment. You can you can get your project timeline down to a T. So ⁓ I love that about you and I love that about I love everything you’re you’re kind of saying, the whole balance you’re bringing to your to your business, everything is just ⁓ very refreshing to hear because sometimes you talk to the people that they want to beat their chest and eat the world and and you can’t do that. You know, you you gotta take a step back.

So it’s a very real fresh perspective that that’s coming in. ⁓ and I wanted to also ask you now, and I know you you focus on on the project at hand and and you know you’ve talked about possibly the Thailand deal. ⁓ in an ideal world five years from now, ⁓ you’ve got the Austin project and then the Thailand thing cooking up. Where would we see those at in five years with you?

Diana Brand (15:46)
Well, I’m hoping to move faster. ⁓ I’m hoping to get the property that’s it’s in Texas tracking right ⁓ and then making that ⁓ basically elevate from where it is. It was a D and C class when I came into the property May of twenty twenty one. ⁓ there were a lot of unforeseen events that happened, even starting right near the end of my escrow.

⁓ but I won’t go into that. Five years from now, I mean, once this is elevated and scaled, ⁓ I would like to be in Thailand really in a year. And then there’s some other investment opportunities that have been brought to my attention. ⁓ buying in ⁓ London and also outside of London. ⁓ some people have come to me about different projects that they’re doing where

Again, it would be passive. ⁓ and they will pay for my flight there and give me a tour. ⁓ they said I probably should take seven days. So they asked if I could fly there now. I said I I will have to wait. So it’d probably be in about three months.

Issa Hanna (16:56)
Nice.

Diana Brand (16:57)
Head there. ⁓ the other is an opportunity that’s right here in Ventura Camp. ⁓ their developers and they have already completed one build and then they invited me to their breaking ground project and they even treated us to appetizers and beer right on the beach. The beach was beautiful. We all got to watch the sunset together and we toasted. So

Issa Hanna (17:19)
Wow, that’s yeah.

Diana Brand (17:25)
I’m really hopeful that I can get involved with them as well.

Issa Hanna (17:28)
How exciting. You’re so you’re you’re planting your seeds and and watering ⁓ and you know, five years down the line they’re gonna be very fruitful trees hopefully for you. So

Diana Brand (17:39)
Yeah. And then there is one group I I should mention, they’re in New York City, and they’ve been courting me for a good two years. And I’ve never paid any kind of a club fee, which apparently they have annually. They just like me. And they just say, you know, we have these events that are happening and we’d like you to come to this. And they’re very expensive events. they’re meeting in different hotels around Manhattan. It’s like, you know.

Come and definitely don’t miss this. it’s a syndicate group and they’re doing all these investments in Ohio and they’re in upstate New York and also down in Miami, Florida. And they just at some point would like me to get involved as a passive investor. So again, that that’s something I’m looking forward to.

Issa Hanna (18:27)
Wow. I I love that. And in our business, it’s all about networking, it’s all about relationship building. And and you’re explaining all that through your relationship building, your networking, your research, you’re finding all these different passive investment opportunities ⁓ that you know that you can assess and and pick the best ones and and go with. So I love that. ⁓ Diana, if people wanted to learn more about you or maybe ask you

You know, a question or or reach out, where could they reach you at?

Diana Brand (18:56)
⁓ I’m active on LinkedIn and Facebook. I have a Facebook page I can share with you. And that’s really the best way to go into my DM. I have that open so people can communicate with me directly there. And ⁓ also I’ve done some calls on WhatsApp with people. So if you prefer WhatsApp to Messenger, I can do that with you there.

Issa Hanna (19:20)
Nice. So if you guys ⁓ want some great advice from somebody who is down to earth and and has a really good outlook on how to approach business, make sure to contact Diana. she’s definitely a great ⁓ person to talk to, very knowledgeable about different aspects of of not just the real estate industry, but other things as well. ⁓ Diana, I’d like to thank you so much for coming on the show.

it was a true honor to host you and and very refreshing to hear your perspective and exciting to hear about all these cool ⁓ opportunities you got cooking up. So

Diana Brand (19:52)
Thank you so much. It was a pleasure.

Issa Hanna (19:54)
It was a pleasure talking to you. I enjoyed our conversation and to our viewers at home, if you guys enjoyed this conversation with Diana and want to see more like it, make sure to hit like and subscribe. I talk to people every day that could bring us different knowledge on every aspect of the real estate industry. Until next time, the Real Estate Pros are ours.