How to Build Wealth Through Real Estate Without Losing Your Purpose

Jarek Jastrzebski (00:00)
So so you need to have the reason why, and the reason need to be bigger than you. Yes, sir. Okay, need to be bigger than you. So that’s why, like for me, I always mention well, there’s another I have the roles in every for my life as a as a real estate agent, as an investor, as a father, as a as a son, as a brother, as a friend, as a community member community member. Whatever it is. And I need to I need to, you know, have that reason why I wanna do this. Because If I’m comfortable, I’m not going to do it. But if there is another people out there who are counting on my performance, I’m going to go and perform.

Quentin Edmonds (02:05)
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. Excited to be here today. I have another fantastic guest. This gentleman is an agent in an investor. He is the man in Jarek Group. That’s the name of his company. And I cannot wait for us to learn more about him, his business, and his story. So I want to introduce you all to Mr. Jarek. Mr. Jarek, how you doing today, sir?

Jarek Jastrzebski (02:31)
I’m doing outstanding. Thank you very much to have me here. I’m I’m really grateful for this opportunity and happy to share and discuss, you know. So wherever we can, you know, and learn both from this experience.

Quentin Edmonds (02:45)
This is gonna be good. I’m so glad you’re here because I know you’re gonna teach us a lot. And so I wanna start here. I I’m the type I like to dive right in. So I would love to know what’s your main focus these days. Give us a little origin story, kind of how you got started, and then let us know what jig geographic markets you’re operating in.

Jarek Jastrzebski (03:02)
Yeah, so I’m an immigrant from Poland. and really for me I got fascinated by by real estate, you know, very early. When I came to United States, you know, the idea about you know owning the piece of real estate was was a blown blow was blowing my mind, you know. I I just couldn’t imagine that that you know with the with the small down payment you can own the piece of real estate, you know, the leverage, you know. the principle of leverage you know made a great impact on me and I was I was also blessed that I have you know mentor around me in the beginning of my of my stage as someone who explained it to me and show me the way and how I can actually buy additional properties as well. So so this this is really my beginning. I started as a as an investor and started start buying you know real estate investment property simple condos and then I transitioned to also to become an real estate agent. So I do operate in Chicago for since as a real estate agent since 2004. My first investment property I buy in 2001 I believe. So so I have that experience so I through this entire process from the beginning and What what I really enjoy is helping people into the greatest I think assets that we can possess, you know. it’s not only a piece of brick or or or of the building, but it’s a home for the people. But also this could be become an passive income. So that’s what I do. I love what I do and I enjoy it.

Quentin Edmonds (04:45)
Yeah, yeah. I love it. Thank you. Thank you for taking us through the journey. Let us know where you are, kind of how you got there. And Mr. Jarek, I often say, you know, destiny has no wasted moments, right? Meaning like there’s nothing random. We’re building to the people we are today based on our experiences. And we’re learning from the journey. So I would love to know what has the journey taught you about yourself? Has it taught you discipline, resilience, tenacity? Like what is the journey taught you about you, sir?

Jarek Jastrzebski (06:07)
Yeah. great question. well I will say I think the first thing what is important to me it’s people, which you are surrounded yourself with, right? it is important, you know, the people who who you have around you, right? because you you you will learn from them and then you will become, you know, alert you will talk like them, you will think like them, you will eat whatever they eat and most likely you’re gonna have the same amount of demand. So people are important. The other thing, which is even more important, it’s a compass. You have to have the right guidance. So we all talk about money, but money, you know, are important, you know, and make the life easier. And you know, if if it’s a money problem, it’s not a problem, right? So that’s why the money are important. But the money have a different meaning for any everybody. You know, for me, money. Are helping me to contribute to every area and to every role that was given to me by God. I’m man of God, and I I believe that this is the reason you know I’m doing what I’m doing, right? So for me it’s very important the compass and the guidance is very important because when we when we talk about money. the decisions sometimes are very difficult. Decisions sometimes are very difficult, and you need to make a right decision. And for me, that guidance, you know, and to make a right decision, that that was the right guidance for me. So so that’s another thing. The other thing through my journey, what I need, what what I learned is the motivation. Right? You need to have the reason, right? Because You know, we as a human being we like comfort. We we we do like comfort, right? So so we we we we like com we don’t wanna like get out of the comfort. It’s good. Well it’s especially man, by the way. This is crazy, but but we are really comfortable, right? And then we so why I need to change it if I’m comfortable. But the thing is if you’re comfortable you start drifting. Yes, sir. Right? You start drifting and you don’t even notice this.

Quentin Edmonds (08:01)
Mm-hmm.

Jarek Jastrzebski (08:25)
So so you need to have the reason why, and the reason need to be bigger than you. Yes, sir. Okay, need to be bigger than you. So that’s why, like for me, I always mention well, there’s another I have the roles in every for my life as a as a real estate agent, as an investor, as a father, as a as a son, as a brother, as a friend, as a community member community member. Whatever it is. And I need to I need to, you know, have that reason why I wanna do this. Because If I’m comfortable, I’m not going to do it. But if there is another people out there who are counting on my performance, I’m going to go and perform. So the reason is important. What else? Perseverance. You need to yeah, you need to have you need to be persistent, you need to have the perseverance. You know, during the my journey, you know, I fail so many times. But that’s that’s good. That’s good because I learned faster. And the idea is perseverance. We I always thought, okay, okay, I will fail. Good. I I’m going to learn from them. It’s gonna continue to to to do whatever I need to do. Right? So so the so having that perseverance helping me to go through this process. Yeah. and I don’t know about else, you know, I think maybe. I think that that’s about it. You know, I don’t know, I probably messed some other stuff, but you know, just from

Quentin Edmonds (09:44)
No, I love it. And I and I and I’m so glad you talked about you know knowing your why. You know, one of my mentors told me when you know who you are, you know what to do. So when you know who you are, you know when you know your why, you know how to proceed forward. And so I love it. I I I love that you brought that out. I want to ask you a little bit about operations, right? So what’s one what’s one operational thing that you’ve put into place the last two years. That’s really made the biggest difference in how you run deals.

Jarek Jastrzebski (10:49)
you know I will say that, you know, I’m I’m going to come back to clarity. Right. I’m going to come to clarity because, you know, clarity is very important, right? because if you have clarity, you’re gonna move forward, right? So for me, planning and organization and me myself, I’m going to be honest with you guys, I was not organized. I was not organized. But these days, if people get involved with me, they are thinking like I’m very organized. Because I I I learned through the mistakes. So I was I was looking for the system, I was looking for the books, I was reading the books on organization and stuff like this, whatever I can get. And my wife is very organized. She kicked my ass, you know. Yeah, yeah. So so so so so so for me, organization is important. So meaning meaning, I you know, I do plan my weeks.

Quentin Edmonds (11:31)
Yeah.

Jarek Jastrzebski (11:43)
And I do have a system that I adapted, you from Tony Robbins. Maybe some of you are the fan of the Tony Robbins. And so I do my weekly planning. I I connect with my vision. It’s very simple. So I connect with my vision. I see where I wanted to go in my what is important to me, you know, what I wanted to achieve in my life. Right? And based on this, I just take everything out of my head first, which provides clarity. So how do I do that? I get everything from my head on the paper. Everything, whatever it is. When you do this first time, it’s gonna maybe a little bit overwhelming, but with time it’s gonna get easier. And then, you know, when I have this, I all of those tasks I’m going to put into different kind of buckets or roles that I that I do. So as a real estate agent will be one of the set of tasks and or activities, as an investor will be another one, as a father will be another one, as a husband is gonna be another one. Why is that important? Because each of those circles of my life or area of my life or roles of my life are very important to me. And I cannot just be, I made that mistake long time ago. I just cannot be only good in one area. Because if you if you picture in your in your mind like a circle, and this circle is like chapter into the different pies, so each pie represents each role that you have. And remember, life is spinning and actually it’s accelerating these days. So if if any of this area it’s kind of flat on the scale of from one to ten, it’s it’s maybe flat and the other one, let’s say I do great in business, but I’m I’m doing very poorly with my with my health or with my relation, the the circle cannot operate. Because you cannot be great investor or great real estate agent or whatever you do in your life, right? Or great husband if the other area it’s Because you’re going to feel it. You’re going to feel it. So so this this process helped me to see hey, where I am with all of those areas. And I put those in all of those areas. And then I create the RPM blocks. Which is, I’m not gonna go into details, but it’s pretty much the system that that helps me. Okay, this is what I need to do. But before I’m going to jump to execute on all of those tests, I’m going to ask myself, what Do I want to achieve in that role as an investor? What is important to me right now? Because life changes, circumstances change, and for that reason, this will change for me as well. Maybe some of them will not, but if if they will change, I have the opportunity to adjust. And the idea is the idea is not to execute on all of them, because as you guys probably heard about, you know, what was this guy, Italian mathematician? Pareto is that twenty percent of activities will take care of 80% of the results. So the thing this is like the shortcut for me that like hey, I need to I don’t need to go all of those. If I just maybe hit first couple, I’m gonna get to my to my to my goal faster. And because guys, you know, I’m doing this because I do have you know that gift from God. I am I’m man of God and I believe. I have this gift from butts, I need to execute the best as I can. Because I don’t know if I’m going to leave tomorrow. I have no idea.

Quentin Edmonds (15:07)
Mm.

Jarek Jastrzebski (15:49)
I have no idea. So today I’m going to do the best I can. So that’s the organization process that I incorporated in any area of my life because all of those areas are important. We cannot talk about you’re going to be a great investor and then you’re gonna have a you know not good relationship with with with with your with your with with with your wife or whatever, you know, with with your family or with your business partners, right? So all of those are important.

Quentin Edmonds (16:15)
I appreciate it. Clarity, organization, how it applies to every aspect of your life. Absolutely love it. Absolutely agree. Let me ask you this, sir. What is the next real goal for you and your company? What are you looking to solve to scale next, sir?

Jarek Jastrzebski (16:30)
Yeah, so I I as you know right now I I do I’m a real estate agent, right? So I I I sell properties, but I’m also an investor. So I have maybe I I will I’ll mention two goals. You know, as an investor, I’m at the point of my life that I wanted to enjoy a little bit, you know, whatever I have built. And it is important that we do that because you know, I I I have seen my career, you know, the you know Owners who purchase the property, you know, six-unit building, three unit buildings, right? and they own it for so you know, like for 30, 40 years. And you know, and it is beautiful, taken care of, everything is great, and they want to pass to the next generation because they appreciate that, they build that from nothing. So have this emotional charge to them. Unfortunately, sometimes I see it that when they pass away. Then the family first thing, first thing they are doing, they are selling this and they’re using their money. Which is kind of a sad story because you know, we build it, he build it, they build it, they should use it. So, for that reason, I think each investor should kind of like evaluate okay, how much equity do I have in this property, what I can do with this equity right now to whatever I wanted to achieve in any area of my life. Maybe maybe I take my wife finally for a vacation because we’ve never been. I don’t know. You know? And then maybe rest of that I will reinvest in something that I don’t have to work that hard. I don’t know. Whatever is that is that fits your needs. So so so for me is like I I I’m thinking about, you know, buying you know Airbnb property. I’m going to evaluate, you know, some of the properties, some of the equity, and then I will figure out the way if this is something that you wanted to do. Why? Because I’m thinking, okay, how about if I can maybe enjoy it a little bit more? Go for a weekend from Chicago to Michigan and enjoy a little bit. And at the same time, because I I’m an investor, Airbnb will provide hopefully some of the income as well. So I need to do evaluation. So this is something that I wanted to do for me. And then look, this is me and everybody’s different. Everybody’s different. You need to look at your own situation. From from the point of the you know, a real estate agent. I’m actually, you know, always looking for the area where I can generate new business that doesn’t really exist. Because I don’t really I think the competition is healthy, but at the same time, if we compete that we have scarcity mindset, that it’s not enough. So and I don’t want to go that route. I want to think about the abundance. So so I wanna generate, I wanna generate the business that doesn’t exist yet. So I Have connection connection with Poland, right? So I’m from Poland. So I am building network of agents in Poland and every other country where I want to provide the service for the people who are thinking to either move back to Poland for retirement because the money means a little bit more there than here. Or maybe they want to buy an investment property there. So I’m looking at that as well. Or maybe they wanna buy you know, like a vacation property for some people who can afford that kind of luxury. Right. So so the idea is to to build a network of people and and and support there so the people here think that it’s easy because there is a system in place. Like anything whatever I wanted to do, I wanna make so easy so the people will know it. Like I’m doing with the first time investors, right? So this is this is what I’m building in my in my in my real estate career. But at the same time, guys, look. Every day, you know, selling the property. So if you have the property for sale, I’m I would be happy to help you out as well. So this is this is the this is the vision, but you know, every day I still sell properties like and other ages.

Quentin Edmonds (20:25)
Yeah. Absolutely. Well, sir man, I thank you so much for coming on and sharing. 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?

Jarek Jastrzebski (20:44)
So you know, my email is [email protected] so that will be the best way. and you know, through my Facebook, I mean the the Instagram account will be it’s my first underscore last name, jarek_jastrzebski This is my Instagram account, that will be the best way to reach out.

Quentin Edmonds (21:06)
Yeah. Well listen, sir, I want to say three things to you sincerely. First, thank you for your time. I think time is our most precious commodity. So thank you for your time. Definitely thank you for your story. Thank you for you sharing and planting seeds. I know they’re gonna impact people in a positive way. And also thank you for your mindset. Thank you for the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming on today, sir.

Jarek Jastrzebski (21:29)
Well, thank you very much for having me, here. Thank you, Quentin. Thank you very much.

Quentin Edmonds (21:32)
Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard Mr. Jarek. His information is in the show notes. Please 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. Jarek. So, sir, I say thank you again. And everyone else, y’all have a fantastic day.

Jarek Jastrzebski (21:50)
Thank you. Goodbye.