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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Michelle Kesil interviews Chris Forsythe, a Midwest real estate investor and entrepreneur. Chris shares his journey from corporate leadership into real estate investing, detailing the strategies he uses, the challenges he’s faced, and the importance of building strong relationships in business. He emphasizes the value of a disciplined morning routine, encourages new investors to bet on themselves, and highlights networking and mentorship as critical tools for success. Chris also discusses his goals for scaling his real estate portfolio and managing multiple ventures, including a coffee shop and an insurance agency.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Chris Forsythe (00:00)
Most people don’t make it out. Right. And, and it often comes down to the people, the rooms they put themselves in, the people they put themselves around, their coaches and mentors. And if they don’t have that growth mindset and they don’t, they aren’t willing to go all in on themselves, um, they’re, probably not going to make it. So you have to come open-minded, ready to learn and ready to bet on yourself.I quit my corporate job without a loan from my insurance agency. That’s how much I bet on me.
Michelle Kesil (02:02)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chat with, Chris Forsythe who is a Midwest real estate investor and entrepreneur owning a coffee shop, insurance agency, and real estate investor association. So, excited to have you here today, Chris.Chris Forsythe (02:29)
Well thanks for the invite Michelle, I’m excited to be here.Michelle Kesil (02:32)
Definitely, think our listeners are going to take a lot away from how you’re approaching your investing business as well as your other entrepreneurial endeavors. So let’s dive in. Great. So first off, for those not familiar with you and your work yet, can you share what your main focus is these days?Chris Forsythe (02:43)
Let’s do it.Yeah, so we do a little bit everything and I sometimes people kind of tease me about it. It’s like, what don’t you do? But my main focus right now is real estate. We do a lot of buy and and holds. We do a lot of the burr method and we see a lot of renovations. We see a lot of the rough properties and we have a fun time bringing those back to life. So right now it’s all acquisitions for me and ⁓ we’re taking on some new challenges. We’re looking to buy a house in all 48 states right now.
So we’ve got a lot of fun things going.
Michelle Kesil (03:26)
Awesome. How did you get started as a real estate investor?Chris Forsythe (03:31)
Yeah. So 2017, I jumped out of the corporate world. was in corporate leadership for quite some time. It’s like, there’s got to be more. So I jumped out, bought my first insurance agency. Fast forward two years from that. like, well, there’s got to be something else. So I started buying my first rentals. think one of my first one was a seller finance. It was a seller finance on a commercial property. And from then on, I’m like, okay, can I buy some stuff creatively? Can I use…⁓ my brand and what I’m doing to acquire more property. And I just started in 2019, started chiseling away at seller finance and creative deals. And right now we’re over 150 doors. So I’d say it’s working a little bit.
Michelle Kesil (04:14)
Yeah, definitely. And what do you feel has been some of the main keys that have made the biggest difference in allowing your business to be able to have success and grow and continue to run smoothly?Chris Forsythe (04:29)
Yeah. So oftentimes we like to complicate things and we like to try new, new things. Um, kind of the shiny object syndrome. I’m, I’m guilty of that. But for me, what’s really, uh, what’s really been working since 2017 is, the fact that I get up early and I put the first things first in my mornings. So if I start my morning right, and I start with the right mindset the rest of the day, even though as an entrepreneur, it’s a crazy roller coaster.A lot of times that structure in the morning, that simple, simple structure in the morning is what starts my day. So it’s always being consistent.
Michelle Kesil (05:48)
What’s your morning routine?Chris Forsythe (05:51)
Yeah, so right now I get up around between 3.30 and 4.15 depending on how I feel. And I immediately hit the gym. I have a gym in my house. I hit the gym. I do a devotional and I do miracle morning. So that’s like the first three things I do in my morning are those three things before I get started. And then I start a power hour at about 5 a.m. So 5 a.m. I’m hitting my email. I’m hitting my follow ups. I’m sending out some thank yous. I try to send out 10 thank yous.10 appreciation texts every morning. So that’s kind of how I get my day rolling.
Michelle Kesil (06:27)
Yeah, amazing that works for you so well. Awesome. And so what would you say has been like one of the biggest challenges or roadblocks that you’ve encountered on your investing and entrepreneurial journey? Then now looking back in hindsight, you can see the bigger lesson.Chris Forsythe (06:51)
Yeah. So there’s so many like every day, like before the podcast, I had some big ones come my way. Um, and you know, for me, I talk about my personal life, blends in with business pretty easily because it’s almost seamless at this point. Um, but really it’s like the biggest challenge that I see, and we work with a lot of new people get out of their corporate jobs and going in from their nine to five to a 10 99 working for themselves. And it’s one thing it’s like, you have to have relationships and I didn’t build.Looking back, I didn’t build relationships fast enough coming out of corporate. And it provided me more challenge. As I always say this, like ⁓ if you put a relationship in a contract and you put that R in the contact, you have a contract and it’s building relationships faster. And I don’t think most of the people I work with, we’re not building those relationships quick enough. And for me, that caused challenges early on is really getting out and building relationships.
Michelle Kesil (07:51)
Yeah, and what was, like, what are some of the ways that you’ve been able to build these relationships? Are there any sort of ideas or organizations or ways that you foster these relationships?Chris Forsythe (08:05)
Yeah. So back to simple, simple is boring, but simple works is, uh, go back to my morning routine. It’s 10 thank yous. So I’ll send people thank you for what you do in the community. Um, but those 10 thank yous or sometimes I’ll send out cards. So I’ll send out like five thank you cards, whatever, but something as simple as grabbing your phone and going to your contacts and saying, I want to, appreciate you for what you do. Uh, those simple texts mean so much to people.I used to send out voice messages to people just thanking them for their involvement in the community. When you see somebody in the community do something great on Facebook or Instagram, pick up your phone and send them a thank you and say, you did really well with that organization, that charity organization last weekend at that event. I want to thank you for what you do. So oftentimes we try to sell our product to somebody and we cold call and we try to sell when really it’s just a simple thank you.
Michelle Kesil (09:01)
Yeah, absolutely. The appreciation can go far.Chris Forsythe (09:05)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.Michelle Kesil (09:08)
And so what part of investing, like when it comes to strategies, are you supporting people with? Because I know that you run some associations, so what does that kind of look like for the ones that are a part of it?Chris Forsythe (09:23)
Yeah. So, ⁓ we, we run a real estate investor association. We’re part of the national RIA. So we are able to connect with over 40,000 investors nationwide. And that what we do in our little portion of the world here in the Joplin, Missouri area is we really support investors. And what we found is new investors. They’re looking to get out that, that rat race and they’re looking for something more. And so we, we are able to walk along with side them and help them with that first.through their fifth acquisition. Usually they need the most support going from their job to that first, second, third acquisition. And so we’re able to provide, bring in national speakers into our area to get them more and more education and exposure, and then put them in a room with like-minded people in the region so that they have the confidence they need to get out of that nine to five and get into investing. So I think we’re just connectors.
Like that’s one of my avatars, me, is I’m a connector and being able to provide this monthly meetup to people is huge. I love seeing people grow. I love seeing them get out of their mundane nine to five and really explode into something that they’ve always dreamed of.
Michelle Kesil (11:10)
Yeah, absolutely, that’s awesome. And so what would you say to the entry level investors that are just getting started? Like what kind of action steps would you suggest for them?Chris Forsythe (11:24)
Yeah. So it was, you know, we love to see success and we love to see what the bottom line is.Most people don’t make it out. Right. And, and it often comes down to the people, the rooms they put themselves in, the people they put themselves around, their coaches and mentors. And if they don’t have that growth mindset and they don’t, they aren’t willing to go all in on themselves, um, they’re, probably not going to make it. So you have to come open-minded, ready to learn and ready to bet on yourself.
I quit my corporate job without a loan from my insurance agency. That’s how much I bet on me.
And you have to have that confidence. And it doesn’t come overnight. Like you have to put yourself in rooms to get there, but being willing to bet on themselves.
Michelle Kesil (12:11)
Yeah, absolutely, that mindset piece is crucial. Is there anything that you recommend as far as like first steps for those that don’t know where to start, whether it’s like a certain investing strategy or yeah, just steps for people to take?Chris Forsythe (12:15)
Mm-hmm.Yeah. So if you’re looking at properties, I mean, we do a lot of different things other than this property investing, but if you’re looking for property specific, like everyone usually comes in thinking they’re going to wholesale and wholesale can be a great avenue for revenue, ⁓ low barrier of entry. Now there’s a question on, you know, how professional are wholesalers or there’s that whole thing getting training is crucial. But really it’s this, it’s reaching out to folks like me, like
I don’t mind taking a text from someone across the nation. Like it doesn’t have to be in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma or Arkansas for me to take your call, but it’s getting yourself in front of somebody who’s doing it going, Hey, I’m thinking about this. What should my next step be? really reaching out, Googling your, your local investor meetups, like what’s going on in my city or my town and how can I just show up? Talk to somebody there as scary as it might be on the first night, reaching out to one or two people.
That’s really going to be what elevates you to that next step and builds a little bit of confidence. I I see people come into our meetups and they sit in the back of the room. I’m going to go right back to them and get to know them, figure out what brought them there tonight. So I’d say reach out. Don’t be scared to reach out, even if it’s to me and I’m not in your state. Still make that call, still make that text.
Michelle Kesil (13:50)
Definitely, that’s important. And so what are you most focusing on solving or scaling to next in your business?Chris Forsythe (13:59)
Yeah,good question. So we, we are at about $150 and we are working on, we’re working on running that in 26 up to 50 million and, holding. I’m looking at, ⁓ a pretty large ad this year. And with that comes internal constraints and things like that we’ve got to work through. but for me right now, it’s hitting a 50 million mark in, in, ⁓ in assets. So it’s going to take a lot of me. ⁓
back to my morning routine and discipline. It’s taken more and more of that ⁓ to grow out my team. But that’s my true goal right now. And I’m going to be doing that with real estate. I might add a few businesses throughout the year, but it’s really going to be through real estate.
Michelle Kesil (14:44)
Yeah, and what is like adding businesses to real estate mean? Is that just more like offices or what kind of assets are you looking at?Chris Forsythe (14:54)
So I’m looking for the boring, right? So laundry mats, we’ve bought some insurance agencies. I’m not really in the mood to take on more of those right now. We’ve got plenty there. So it’d be like laundry mats and stuff simple, maybe some car washes depending on how they look, how they look on paper. And then really it’s gonna be some multifamily and we’ve got some single family queued up too. So nurturing those leads that we’ve got and…and really being willing to being ready to creatively take those down this year.
Michelle Kesil (16:08)
Awesome. When it comes to lead generation and getting leads, what it does, that aspect of your business look like?Chris Forsythe (16:19)
Yeah. So we have some VA’s that work for us. ⁓ We do a lot of list pulling. So we use PropStream a lot. We pull lot of vacant lists. We’ve got some other strategies we use with multifamily. So we do a lot of that with a VA. But generally we’re on the phones. Like today after this call, I’ve got a Zoom with an investor with 53 doors. ⁓ We’re pulling lists. We’re always asking one more. So when I go look at a property, I’m going to ask you what else you have.Then I’m going to ask you, if you don’t have anything else, what else your friends have? And for me, getting those contacts, getting those in our database, we use Go High Level right now, but getting those in our database and then nurturing those leads is critical. So, ⁓ but yeah, we use a lot of EAs, we use a lot of our, our own, you know, getting on the phone, using our dialer to really build relationships with people.
Michelle Kesil (17:16)
Yeah, absolutely. Sounds like the relationships are the biggest piece of the business for you. Yeah, absolutely. And so what are some maybe challenges that you’re currently looking to overcome as your business begins to scale even more?Chris Forsythe (17:21)
Mm-hmm all of it. Yeah. YesYeah. So we’ve, we’ve, we’ve, ⁓ we’ve, have a personal coach or my team has a coach. You know, we have that piece pretty dialed in, in a sense. but with growth, you have to have a team that’s willing to grow, that’s willing to challenge themselves. So adding team members of that, you know, that are the top 10 percenters, it’s, it can be challenging sometimes. ⁓ so making sure we continue to develop, but also banking relationships. So when you scale.
⁓ Oftentimes, as we know as investors, our financials, our tax returns, we have to stay on top of. ⁓ I do a lot of the BRRR method, which means I pull out a lot ⁓ of bank loans ⁓ on projects I do, which drops my actual taxable income. So being able to stay on top of it with a high powered CPA and ⁓ being able to be bankable is a huge task for me this year because once I start scaling at this rate, we all know what happens with commercial lending.
And so back to relationships, I’m going to have to build more relationships and I’m working on that now with private money. So right now we’re raising private capital for what we’re doing. But yeah, it’s staying on top of our financials and our P &Ls and also knowing that with this quick growth comes challenges on the commercial lending side.
Michelle Kesil (19:02)
Yeah, definitely that makes sense that those are the new challenges that you’re hitting and working to overcome. Yeah, absolutely. Part of the long game of this industry. Awesome. And so what is it like running multiple businesses? Like how does managing all of these different pieces work for you?Chris Forsythe (19:08)
Yeah, yeah, always fun.Yes.
Yeah. So, so the analogy drinking from a fire hose is something I use really early on. And, um, right now I’m, I’ve been adding, um, talent, um, to help manage those, uh, those different, like my coffee shop and, and my insurance agency is hiring top, top talent to help manage those. Um, we, we run KPIs, so we run a weekly check-in. our top leaders meet every Monday at eight 30, as we kick off the week to review KPIs.
Where did we win? Where are we stagnant? And where do we regress? And then how are we going to tackle this next week? So it’s really putting in good talent and providing them the right coaching and training to help elevate their KPIs. So I haven’t mastered it yet, but I’m well on my way to putting the right players in the game to help manage these entities. Because it’s a lot to take ⁓ on one person.
thinking I’m gonna answer every customer, because every customer still thinks I should be answering them. And it’s trusting my people to go out and do it.
Michelle Kesil (20:38)
Definitely that makes sense to hire the right people and the right team. And so what are you most looking forward to for this year maybe in terms of new projects or where you see the market heading?Chris Forsythe (20:42)
Mm-hmm. Yes.Yeah. I mean, we’ve, we’ve seen interest rates and I don’t want to date this podcast, but we’ve seen interest rates where they’re at or dropped a little. ⁓ I’ve seen some underwriting tighten up on, the lending side as well as our insurance side. So I know there’s a little bit more to navigate, ⁓ but I know this like going into this year, what my expectations are that we’re going to build better relationships with, people with private capital. and doing so we’re gonna, we’re gonna, it’s going to enable us to scale faster and for them to.
to grow their net worth. So really I see this year’s a lot of more relationships being built and less reliance on commercial lending. But with that said, for me, it’s getting all of our financials dialed in and blowing up this year to know that in 27, we’re gonna have a whole different landscape and a whole different picture of where we’re at. So it’s gonna be a fun ride. We’ve got a marketing team on board that’s doing lots and lots of videos for us.
We’ve got a 48 state challenge that we’re taking on. So I ⁓ really want to see people follow along with us as we take on these new challenges. And we learn along the way and hopefully we can share some of our ⁓ key learnings with the people around us to help them grow. That’s the whole goal here is to help other people along their path.
Michelle Kesil (22:16)
Yeah, absolutely. That’s super important. So before we wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect, learn more about what you’re up to, where can people find you and connect with you?Chris Forsythe (22:29)
Yeah, we’ve got several avenues. So I’ve got the Joplin area, reia.com that I’ve, you know, email Chris at Chris Forsythe is a good way to get me right now. ⁓ and then, ⁓ we, we, the Forsythe agency.com is another website. We’re always working. They’re not, they’re not fine tuned yet with everything we’re doing, but that’s a great way to reach out and connect. ⁓ and I appreciate being on this podcast. Like we were so much going on. know you guys have a lot going on.And anytime you can jump on a podcast and talk about what you’re doing and the passion we have behind what we’re doing, it’s great. So I really appreciate this opportunity.
Michelle Kesil (23:06)
Of course, thank you so much for your time and your story. Appreciate you being here as well. Awesome. And for the listeners tuning into the show, if you got value, make sure you have subscribed. We have more conversations with operators like Chris who are building real businesses and we’ll see you on our next episode.Chris Forsythe (23:12)
Absolutely.
