How to Build a Real Estate Business Around Freedom, Focus, and Peace of Mind

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (00:00)
Between us, I’ll be honest, guess between everybody listening to this, I made a million dollars on a flip. One flip, I made a million dollars. I’ve also lost 150K on a flip.

So like I’ve also lost 35K in a flip. I don’t sleep well at night when I’m flipping homes. It’s not about the money. I don’t sleep well. So I don’t want to do that. So what do I want to do? I want to do something I can be great at.

Quentin (00:12)
Yeah.

Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds and I am excited to be here today. I’m excited about my guests and listen, this guy, he’s on a little bit of everything, right? So listen, I’m going to let him dictate how much information he’s going to give you because he’s a wealth of information. He’s done a lot so he can talk about a lot. But I’m excited because the way he’s positioning himself, well, he’s always been helpful.

But the way he’s positioned himself, I love the innovation and the things that I’m hearing. And so again, I’m gonna let him tell you all about it. But I am so excited to introduce you all to Mr. Dan Rivers. Mr. Dan, how you doing today, sir?

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (02:33)
Thank you Q, I feel like I should have some music that I’m coming out to the way. I appreciate that. Okay, yeah.

Quentin (02:36)
Right, right. Don’t worry. I’ll add that. I’ll add that at the end. We’ll talk about

the song. We’ll talk. You better come in there. But no, I’m saying…

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (02:43)
Maybe

a little biggie small skies the limit something like that that could work. Yeah, there we go

Quentin (02:47)
Bro, ⁓ listen,

you ain’t said listen. I love it. Listen, I can hear it now. This is gonna be good, Just so we clear there, we’re not gonna do that, but I do like the idea. I love the idea. listen, that part of the show is kinda out of my hands. I do the, I’m the host, but I let the tech teams do what they do. So, but I would love that. That actually would be kinda cool, but man, how can

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (02:52)
you

Right?

You

Quentin (03:15)
How you ⁓ feeling,

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (03:17)
Oh, I feel excellent. Another great day. It’s funny. I woke up this morning. went to the, I couldn’t sleep last night. I don’t know why. Thanks. I knew it was going to be a good day. And I hit the gym at like 5 a.m. and I’m pumped up and I’m like leaving the gym. I’m kind of like hit or miss. And I’m like, you know what? Today’s going to be a good day. And I started getting myself pumped up in the car. And it’s been an amazing day. It’s beautiful here in Charleston. It’s my daughter’s coming home soon from school. I to hang out with her like a perfect day.

Quentin (03:24)
Wow.

Yeah. ⁓ man.

I love it, man. So I too, I normally do hit the gym earlier, especially when I can’t sleep, but I too could not sleep. So my sleep schedule was a little off. So I opted to sleep in. However, me and my wife do have a gym date once we get, once we finish this podcast here. So, so yeah, so I’m going to get it in. I normally get it in the morning, but I’m going get it in too, man. So I love it, man. And listen, sir, I’m glad you’re here. And I am the type, I like to dive in, right? So I would love for you.

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (04:02)
I love it.

Quentin (04:11)
to tell the 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 to the place where you are. And then man, also tell us what part of the world you’re in. People love to know where people are geographically. And so what you’re up to, your origin story and where you are. Mr. Dancer, you’re on the floor, man.

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (04:28)
Yeah,

I’ll talk where I’m at. Beautiful Charleston, South Carolina right now. Originally from Boston area, yeah, down here in Charleston, South Carolina. A lot of history here for America. So it’s got some similarities there too. But origin real quick. I started real estate in 2005 when I was about 24 years old out of college, kind of managing a bunch of high rise condominiums down in Tampa, Florida, ⁓ Clearwater Beach area.

Quentin (04:38)
Yeah.

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (04:53)
I got my feet wet in that, did that for about 12, 13 years. And then when I moved to Charleston, South Carolina in 2018, I got my real estate license. I started ⁓ selling real estate. That’s when I started investing in real estate. That’s when I met some great group of people down here to open up my mind to believe in myself. I had a very limiting mentality just because I grew up in a middle-class neighborhood and you work hard and you make your salary and that’s about it. And then I started being around people that are talking

just adding zeros. They’re like, you know, you can do 10 million, you can do 100 million, you can do a billion. And it just opened up my mind and it’s good and bad. You kind of like, you mentioned that like it’s good and bad. Like the good thing is it got me thinking I can do anything. The bad thing is I try to do everything. So, so one of the biggest things I did was, you know, I’ve done a lot of things from sales to flipping to buying holds, but now I’ve realized I need to hyper-focused and be great at one thing. And you asked me what I’m doing now.

Quentin (05:35)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (05:49)
that synergy stays or a short term rental revenue growth partner where we help people with short term rentals, especially investors with pretty much, you know, between two and 30, 40 units, help them grow their revenue in all aspects, not just with pricing, but also, you know, optimizing their property, making sure they have a lot of non pricing levers that they can utilize and just being their partner to make sure their property and their honestly their business because a short term rental is a business. It’s real estate, but it’s a business. Their business thrives.

And that’s what I’m excited about because we do it so well and when we have the right people we work with, man, it’s fun. It’s fun watching them make more money.

Quentin (06:27)
Mm,

mm, mm, very succinct, very detailed, man. Thank you for taking us through the journey, letting us know kind of how you started and the road to kind of where you are now. And what I’m going to do, I was actively listening. As you was talking, I was actively listening. I was writing things down. And what I want to do, I kind of want to give you a quick summary because I want to make a statement and I want to ask you a question. OK? All right. So from Boston, 2005, you started, you know,

in real estate managing condos for about 12 years, correct? I think I heard you say you moved to South Carolina in 2018. Did I hear that correct? 2018, started investing and people started having you believe in yourself. know, talk about the zeros that you can keep tacking on. And you said it came, it was good and bad, right? Because it made you feel invincible, but then also you went to chasing everything at the same time, right? And so you started believing in yourself and you started doing sales. You started…

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (07:49)
Corrective.

Quentin (08:08)
doing flip and buy and hold. ⁓ But now, we’ve landed with SynergyStays as you helping people with short-term investment. And I love the idea of the partnership word that you’re bringing out is that you want to be revenue growth partners. And so is that a good summary of what you said? OK. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. And I do that because I’m little flared for the dramatics, right? Because I like to build up to this statement and this question, right?

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (08:27)
You nailed it, nailed it.

Quentin (08:37)
Because I really believe in this question. So here’s the statement. The statement is destiny has no wasted moments, right? It has no wasted moments. We are building momentum to the people that we are now. And we’re borrowing from each leg of the journey. We’re borrowing from the success. We’re borrowing from the failure. And it reshapes our mindset. It reinforces our passion. It can even reinforce our focus, right? So we’re borrowing from the moments.

I would love to know Mr. Dan, throughout the moments, throughout the journey, what has destiny taught you about yourself? What has the journey taught you about yourself? Has it taught you discipline, resilience? Has it changed the way you look at innovation? Like what has the journey taught you about you?

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (09:21)
Oh, geez, so much, so much. So I’m the kind of person like a word of the year. And probably the biggest year that I opened up was 20, I think was 2020 or 2021, where my word of the year was humility. And, and that was the year I probably grew the most as a person. I was able to in that year, I read a book called Worthy, great book just about just being worthy and forgiving your past and forgiving who you used to be.

You know, because used to I used to be kind of a jerk back in the day. I wasn’t the nicest kid Long story short, I’ve had two major heart surgeries one when I was 16 one when I was 29 and when I was 16 Instead of using that to like motivate me which it does now it absolutely does back then it just made me angry and and and in just ⁓ Not the best person. Let’s put it that way. I I wasn’t a horrible I just wasn’t I made a lot of mistakes a lot of mistakes so

The last few years in this journey in real estate investing and believing in myself and then being around other people that like I know people who used to be alcoholics or people who struggled in a lot of different ways and now they’re successful because they forgave themselves and they decided that their past was not going to define their future and they were going to use that to drive their momentum to be successful. And what is success? Social media these days got us way too confused on what success means. You see in all these days of some of these

big gurus are now losing people’s money and there’s issues going on and everything. like, I don’t know, to me, success is the ability to live the life on purpose, to live your life by design. And that is what I truly feel success. It doesn’t mean I have to need 10, 50 million in a bank account. I want to be able to live the life that I want to live, however I want to live it, when I want to live it and who I want to live it with. And to that degree, I truly feel I’m one of the wealthiest people out of all my

people I know because I do that. I live the life I want to live by design. I definitely don’t have as many zeros in the bank account as lot of people I know, but that doesn’t matter to me. I have the life I want.

Does that answer it?

Quentin (11:19)
Sir, I guess I can go with that answer, Dan. No, no, no, no,

no, no, seriously. Thank you, man. Seriously. Thank you for that reflective answer. ⁓ man. Thank you for that just well thought out answer. What you just did is literally why I asked that question. Because I said quite often, at the center of our businesses is us.

We’re at the center of it. So I love how you talk about, I mean, you took me back to 16, just with the growth mindset, this is book worthy, I’m gonna look up, because I really want people to understand that you are the anchor of your business. And sometimes you gotta look back and just see kinda, where did I, know, how did I get here? You know, search the steps a little bit, or, hey, what’s my why? You know, one of my mentors told me I was at the brink of divorce, just like you, you know, I decided to go through with it. But one of the things,

The way I was going to exit the exit the divorce mattered to me, right? And one of my mentors said, when you know who you are, you know what to do. So when you know who you are, you know your why. And so, again, man, I love the way you answered it and thank you for the way you answered it because I want people to understand that we are at the center of our businesses. And so the mindset is everything. And so I love it. And I feel you, man. I wasn’t.

the worst person, but I’m growing every single day. You know, I’m reflecting back on just even in my, you know, the past me, like, you know, taking accountability for some of the things that I did, you know? And so, yeah, man, man, I appreciate you, sir. Let me ask you this, And you can respond to that a little bit. I’m going to put this question out there as well. What’s next for you? And like, what is the next goal? What are you looking to solve with Scale Next?

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (13:39)
Yeah, so it’s the next big thing and honestly getting everything off my plate and the only big thing right now when it comes to business is just trying to, not trying to, I take that back, I don’t like to word try, I’m going to and we are going to build SynergyStays to be one of the leading names in the revenue management industry for short-term rentals. That is what we are going to do and the way we do that is

We collaborate at the top. have a lot of ⁓ friends that are also revenue managers and revenue management companies, owners of a few other ones that have been around the past two, three years. A lot of these new ones popping up, all great, different things, but like these are people that the OGs, the people that we were in rooms with, you know, talking to for years and these people know what they’re doing. So like just building those relationships, getting to know as many people in the industry, because I think it’s a much, I know it’s a must need an industry in the short term rental world to be truly successful. So we want to be

We want to be the best, but we also want to be different. The reason why we’re different is we are revenue growth partners, as I mentioned. We truly want to be there to help you grow and see you succeed and have a personal touch with you. There are some things that AI and automation is going to be great for, but that personal touch has always been important to me. It’s always been a reason why I’ve been successful. And that’s one of our core values at SynergyStays is

truly caring and doing what’s best for our clients and trying to and working to help them achieve their greatest success with their properties. Yeah, so that’s it.

Quentin (15:07)
I love it, you know, we all of us use AI, right? And we noticing it’s only as good as the information you feed it, right? Like you got to care rate this thing. You got to train this thing. So I am with you. The people element is to me is always going to exist. You’re not going to be able to get rid of the person. Yeah, we have different tools that’s going to help us that can make things faster, times our productivity or efficiency, but it’s still, we got to give it the information. So it’s still this intellectual property that’s up here.

that’s powering our businesses, everything around us. And so, nah, man, I definitely hear you, I love how you synthesize revenue growth partners. I just love that phrase. I love the word partnership. I think at the foundation of any sustainable business is servitude. So connecting with people, being of service to people, and then making space for them to be of service to you, the whole partnership aspect, I think is brilliant.

So I want to get your perspective on this word. When you hear the word relationship, what comes to mind to you then?

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (16:08)
you

Bond relationship is more than just like knowing someone and being an acquaintance. Relationship is actually knowing the person who they are and looking beyond maybe like surface level things. Like one of the biggest things like, oh, when you meet someone for the first time, oh, where do you work? What do you do for a living? Well, that’s great. How about what makes you happy? What gets you up in the morning? What gives you energy? Where’s one of the coolest places you ever traveled? You know, those types of questions like

getting to know the person in a different way rather than ⁓ almost in like a, I don’t want to say superficial way, that’s not fair. It’s just maybe the way we’re programmed to be in relationships with people. So I think it’s just really getting to know people and caring for who they are and respecting whether they’re different or similar to you, just respecting them.

Quentin (16:54)
Yeah, yeah. I used to say, you know, when I was talking relationship, just, you know, just on a dating level and stuff to people. I would say, man, you know how they say your first impression is your best impression? I would say first impressions are your worst impressions because most of the time your representative is showing up. And I said that in the idea of just like that you said, did not ask surface questions, to not be, to not put on any air, to be my authentic self when I show up. That way the person know

who you’re dealing with. And that way we can have deep meaningful relationships and we can decide where to go from there. And I think it’s the same thing in business. ⁓ Renee Brown has a saying where she say, clear is kind, unclear is unkind. The kindest thing I can be is crystal clear. And so I love, man, how you talk about, you know, not being superficial, you know, really asking questions, really have your best representative there which is your authentic self. And I think that carries in every relationship that we’re in.

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (17:24)
you

Yep.

Quentin (17:52)
rather be business or even impersonal because a lot of times the business turned into the personal. Like sometimes you can’t divorce the two, right? I mean, you’re you you start to care about people, start to care about kids. You start to merge together, you know? And so, yeah. So, so now, I love it. I love your mindset, ⁓ Dan, is there any topic that I have not brought up that you want to talk about? Is there any other words of inspiration, education, motivation?

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (18:04)
You

Quentin (18:20)
Like maybe you came in with something on your mind that you like, hey, I want the viewers to notice. I kind of just want to create space so you can land that message if you have.

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (19:09)
Yeah, I guess one of the biggest things we were kind of chatting about this beforehand, if you’re a newer investor or even if you’re honestly a seasoned investor and you’re doing a bunch of things, because I see this all the time, people make a lot of money doing a lot of things. But one of the one of the biggest things that actually made me the happiest is I sat back and I looked at all avenues of my business. I’m like, all right, what’s making me money? What do I enjoy doing? What is higher risk than I probably should be taking, especially in a volatile market? And

And then I even went a couple of steps further. I love to travel. I want to travel the world with my family. I want to live abroad elsewhere and I want to be able to do a business anywhere in the world. So how can I do that? And when I did all that and I stepped back, I’m like, you know what? Real estate sales, I’m really good at real estate sales. I love it. I love working with people. ⁓ But I can do that a little bit. I can wind that down a little bit. I don’t like flipping. I hate flipping.

Between us, I’ll be honest, guess between everybody listening to this, I made a million dollars on a flip. One flip, I made a million dollars. I’ve also lost 150K on a flip.

So like I’ve also lost 35K in a flip. I don’t sleep well at night when I’m flipping homes. It’s not about the money. I don’t sleep well. So I don’t want to do that. So what do I want to do? I want to do something I can be great at.

Quentin (20:10)
Yeah.

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (20:16)
And what can I be great at? SynergyStays is an area where I believe in my partner. He’s been doing revenue management. Well, he didn’t realize that’s what it was because it wasn’t the word then, but he’s been doing it for 11 years now. So he’s very good at it because he did it before it was the thing.

Quentin (20:24)
Yeah. Yeah.

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (20:32)
And I believe in him. He’s a good person. We share the same core values, both my partners, same good people. We have something great. We have something buildable. We have something we could do anywhere in the world, not even just the United States. We have somewhere we help people generate more money on maybe a troubling asset or a good asset that they want to bring to the next level. Like it’s got everything I want and I can do it on my time. Like I don’t need to work at four in the, you know, eight at night. I could do this. As long as I’m intentional with my time, I can do it then. So my point here is.

I think one of the biggest things that have really helped me get a big burden off my chest was saying no to more things and then focusing on one thing to be great at instead of just good.

Quentin (21:10)
Man, I read a book a while ago called Essentialism. the premise is to know what to say hell yes to and know what to say hell no to. And that book taught me that no is a complete sentence. It’s a no and a period. And it’ll help you know.

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (21:24)
Mm-hmm.

I wonder if it’s that book that

I heard someone say it’s either a hell yes or it’s a no. There’s no like, well maybe, well no no no, the maybe just means no later.

Quentin (21:38)
Yeah!

No.

Yes. Yes. I think it’s the same book. think it’s got to be the same book. I wish I could remember the author. I think it was Benoist. I can’t remember the first name, but it’s called essentialism. Black and white cover with like a red circle on it. I think, I think that’s it. But yeah, bro, I’m with you. Like, and that has, again, stuff like that. Knowing my why, when know who, you know, know when you know who you are, you know what, stuff like that. These are sayings, but they

they imprint themselves in my mind. That way, if I know myself, I know I can say no to very quickly. And I don’t have to give no explanation. It’s a no. And I also know what I’m saying yes to. And so I love the way that how you are focusing yourself on SynergyStays. You have evaluated yourself to know that I can be successful at flipping, but I don’t like it. And I can’t even say it as eloquently as you said it, but to have the opportunity to do what you want to do, that’s success.

That’s success. Our time is our most precious commodity. And so being able to determine what I give my time to, that’s success. That’s success.

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (22:46)
You know,

it’s funny, it’s funny recently, I’ve even gone a step further because I 100 % agree with you with the time. It’s also headspace. I don’t think that’s talked about enough too, because we talk about you want your time to yourself. But like, if you’re if you have your time to yourself, you only working out, you know, four, five, six, whatever it is, like, I don’t care about working long hours, like it’s stuff that I’m doing that I like to do. But if I have things that are weighing down my headspace, like a flip going wrong, or all this, like, I don’t do well. So I want all that stuff, anything that weighs my headspace, write all that down, and I don’t do that anymore.

I don’t need it.

Quentin (23:15)
Man, sir, that is, you’re absolutely right. And I am learning to get better with the people I care about, giving them language around that. But sometimes what you’re asking me to do, I cannot do it because of the head space is going to put me in. I know the way I operate. If I’m going to something, I’m bringing my whole self there and you have me, you have my total presence. But sometimes it’s tagged into my mind.

to really focus on what you’re asking me to do. So sometimes, again, I got to say that complete sentence, no. And I’m getting better around the language to be able to, to the people that you care about. Some people just know, and that’s it. But you know, with the people like you talked about being in a relationship with, that bond with, I do want them to understand my processing, but you hit the nail on the head, protecting that head space, protecting your thoughts. That’s everything, man. Because you can be…

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (24:07)
Yeah.

Quentin (24:07)
Your

body can be somewhere else and your mind totally somewhere and in a whole nother place. You can physically be home, but your mind is still there. And so you got to be able to know to protect your mind that sometimes I’m not going to even put myself in it. That way I know I can protect the head space. So that’s true, Oh, man.

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (24:21)
yeah,

100%. Yeah, time and headspace. Two biggest things I look at before I say yes to anything.

Quentin (24:26)
Yeah, man, as you talk so many things, I archive information, so books that I read, things that I think about, just so many things that jump into my mind, sayings that jump into my mind to just validate what you just said. And so I appreciate you saying that. That was a good thing for us to stop on. Listen, man, 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,

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (24:49)
Yeah, so if you want to get to know me a little bit more, it’s my Instagram handle is Dan Rivers, Life by Design.

Quentin (24:55)
Dan Rivers, Life by Design. Dan, man, let me say three things to you sincerely. this is so brilliant. Because I say this at the end of each show, but I think it’s going to get, it’s really going to resonate. So the first thing I say, Dan, is say, I tell people thank you for their time. And I tell them because time is our most precious commodity. And I know how to podcast work. know, I’m the host. You know, people are the guests.

It’s valuable for both of us, but still you didn’t have to give me your time. You know, so it’s like, I want to tell people, I really, really appreciate you giving your time. So then I appreciate, man, you giving your time. Time, to you is precious. You get to choose what you want to do and you chose to be here. So to me, that’s valuable, sir. And I appreciate it. Thank you for your time. Secondly, man, I tell people, thank you for their story. I think what they talk about, their narrative.

his stories, O.B. Brown, before he passed away, he said, nothing in this world moves without story. That was one of the last interviews that he did. Everything has a story to it. Everything has a narrative connected to it. So, man, thank you for your gift of vulnerability, the gift of your authenticity, the gift of your transparency. Thank you for planting seeds because those seeds are going to take root. And we may not know when it’s going to grow, right? It could be two years from now, five years from now.

But still you planted seeds that literally could cause corrects in my life. So thank you for that man. Your narrative. And lastly, thank you for your mindset. Thank you for the way you. And bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming on,

Dan Rivers- SynergyStays (26:32)
I appreciate you Q. Thanks for our candid conversation. I really enjoyed it. Yes.

Quentin (26:35)
Absolutely, Well, listen, y’all heard Mr. Dan. You can’t deny it. He gave the nuggets. Please look in his show notes, get in contact with him, but definitely make sure you are subscribed here, because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Mr. Dan. So, sir, thank you again. And everyone else, you have a fantastic day.