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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Micah Johnson interviews Jonathan Beam, a successful real estate investor who shares his journey from a power line technician to a thriving real estate entrepreneur. Jonathan discusses his strategies in real estate, including the buy-and-hold method and value-add opportunities. He emphasizes the importance of networking, taking action, and building relationships in the industry. The conversation also touches on personal development through business and the significance of having a long-term mindset in real estate investing.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Jonathan Beam (00:00)
And like, I know it’s quite cliche to say like, you know, your network is your net worth. Like you hear that quite a bit, but how true is that? Right? Like I wouldn’t have had either of those businesses if I hadn’t spent some time joining some real estate groups, going to some meetups, talking to people, learning from other guys, learning from the challenges that they’ve had and the successes that they’ve had. ⁓ And that network,Micah Johnson (00:05)
that’s in there.Jonathan Beam (00:25)
is something you can always fall back on. If your businesses fail, you can always go back to that network and ask, okay, what did I do wrong? How can I do this better? And these guys, everybody, people like to see people succeed and they will support you on that journey, right? And yeah, if it wasn’t for that network, like neither one of those businesses would have been successfulMicah Johnson (00:38)
Right.Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host, Micah Johnson. And today I’m joined by Jonathan Beam, who’s been making serious moves in real estate since 2016. Jonathan, welcome in, man. How you doing today?
Jonathan Beam (02:28)
Hey good man, thank you for having me, appreciate it.Micah Johnson (02:31)
Absolutely, absolutely. I know I got that wrong. 2017 is when you got into real estate. So let me correct that. 2017. Well, I’m glad you’re here today, man. I’m excited to dig more into your story of what you’ve created, some lessons you’ve learned that I think are really important for listeners to hear so that one, anybody can do this. That was kind of one of last things you left off with for joining in. So to kick it off for folks who may not know you yet, what’s your main focus right now? What markets you operate in?Jonathan Beam (02:35)
2017, yeah, yeah.Yeah, so I’m from the Niagara region of Ontario ⁓ for the American listeners that’s right across the border from Buffalo, New York. And so I got started just doing ⁓ like, you know, buy and holds with value add opportunities. So purchasing like, you know, duplexes and fixing them up, purchasing single family homes and converting them to duplexes. I ended up
with a commercial building that I rezoned residential and added some units to it, turned a rooming house into a triplex, like that type of thing, right? ⁓ Over time, you’re able to refinance your money out of it and continue on, right? The classic BRRR strategy. So that’s been what I’ve done historically. Moving forward, I’m looking into some more, I was just talking to Mike about this, we’re just looking into purchasing businesses as well.
Micah Johnson (03:50)
Excellent, man. So, all right. That’s where you’re at today. How’d you get here? Take us back. What led you to where you are right now?Jonathan Beam (03:56)
Yeah, so I always had an interest in real estate from little on that. I remember talking to my parents when I was just a boy and it’s like, you know, how much does a house cost if you sold it, you’d get all that money. Oh my goodness. I couldn’t imagine having that money in my bank account. Right. So I just always had this like this drive, this interest in real estate and the value that it can, it can provide in your life.I guess I got started right after I got married. So my wife had a single family home up in St. Catharines. I had my place. She ended up moving in, so we had an extra house. And rather than selling it, we rented it out. And then three months later, I’m like, this is kind of cool. I started kind of trial by fire. I just kind of learned a little bit and ended up buying a triplex and learned a lot that way, screening some tenants and doing some work there, some minor work.
And then it wasn’t very much longer later is when I bought that rooming house and did a a triplex on my own conversion. They come my own time that did a triplex conversion. So yeah, I just kind of went from there, got into some joint venture partners agreements and things like that. Had a fourplex in Niagara Falls that it was a bit of a horror story. I learned a lot on that one. They ended up burning down a tenant, burn it down. So I learned a lot in that one. But yeah, it was anyways.
Micah Johnson (04:59)
youJonathan Beam (05:05)
Real estate has been very good to me over the years and there’s a lot of things I’ve learned along the way for sure.Micah Johnson (05:58)
What were you doing before you got into real estate?Jonathan Beam (06:01)
So I’ma power line technician by trade. So, you know, build and maintain high voltage power lines. Yeah, that was kind of, that’s my main focus there. Yeah, yeah.
Micah Johnson (06:04)
Okay?No
That’s cool, man. That’s cool. I love hearing how people got to real estate because it’s, it’s a big world. It’s a huge umbrella and there’s a lot of ways into it. And that’s where like your, your main method you were talking about it is buy and hold value adding and conversions. And that’s awesome. That’s what you’re into. It’s possible. You can really be creative in the industry. You can go find things that line up with what you’re building. Now you’re buying businesses. Now have you built any other businesses out along the way?
Jonathan Beam (06:16)
Yeah.I have, yeah. So it wasn’t too long after I got into real estate. found that I couldn’t manage all my books myself. I was the classic real estate investor with pulling up spreadsheets and stuff. it’s like, it just took way too much of my time. So I was like, okay, I need to get a bookkeeper here. I’m not a bookkeeper. I don’t know how to book keep. I need to get a bookkeeper. So rather than going to a bookkeeping company, there’s a thousand of them around.
you know, paying top dollar, started, I actually posted an ad, I posted ⁓ just a job posting for a bookkeeper and did a bunch of interviews, picked someone up that had some experience, ⁓ got her through all of my books. And then I started marketing her skills to people in my network. And I’ve got a fairly big real estate network. So I was able to her out and we built out ⁓ a bookkeeping business with
At one point we had five employees and hundreds of customers, hundreds of clients. And ⁓ yeah, we did very well with that. ⁓ And then it got to the point where her and I ended up parting ways, but we split that business. And she still does my books to these days, but I was able to give her a good boost along the path. And it created some value for me, created some value for her, and created some value for my clients. So that’s what more can you want out of that. ⁓
Micah Johnson (07:57)
That’sJonathan Beam (07:59)
Yeah, so right after that, I got intoMicah Johnson (08:00)
like the essence of vertical and verticalJonathan Beam (08:01)
general contracting as well. I, ⁓ but because I do value add opportunities, I had all the trades, right? I had, you know, I had the electricians, I had plumbers, I had like drywall guys, painters, floor guys, like all that stuff. So whatever, they weren’t working on my projects. Again, I would market them out to people within my network. And I just, you know, started doing unit turnovers and projects like that.Again, it was a way to keep my guys busy, make some money. And then when it came time for my projects, I knew I had the guys that were there ready and willing and able to do my work without waiting long lead times and paying big deposits to get to work.
Micah Johnson (08:36)
It’s man, it’s one of the cool things about real estate is if you’re like yourself, you there’s opportunities in each thing that you’re doing. And the more you learn how to do it just keeps qualifying you to do more like by naturally learning how to flip your own or convert your, your triplexes and duplexes. Like by going through the process, it showed you something. Now you have all these people and then it, okay, now how else can we do this? CauseThere’s a lot of ways to solve that, keep my guys busy in the downtime. And sometimes guys just buy deals at bad numbers to keep them busy, but you’re buying them or you’re actually leveraging it into a whole different stream of revenue, which is really helpful for them. ⁓
Jonathan Beam (09:15)
Yeah, I mean, why would you buy abad deal? And yeah, okay, you can keep people busy, but if you’re not making any money on it, what’s your time worth, right? So that’s where I was like, again, I have that client list from the bookkeeping business and from my network. And I had that client list and I would just reach out to the network, hey, anybody got any projects going on? Anybody need help with this? I’ve got guys available. I’d always, know, people would just reach out and people would just keep.
Micah Johnson (09:24)
Right.Jonathan Beam (09:42)
coming back and coming back for more and for more. And before long, you’re like, yeah, you’re too busy. You have to start turning people away, right? But it’s one of those things that like, yeah, you can keep the guys busy and you can make money out of it. on the general contracting side, there’s no risk, right? If you structure it properly, there is no risk because you’re getting your deposits upfront. You have like some good contracts in place and you’re not buying a bad deal. Just keep your guys busy.you’re making what you’re guaranteed or almost guaranteed to make money on each and every project.
Micah Johnson (10:10)
Right.Right. You’re piggybacking on someone else’s deal. They already did that part. So it’s like, okay, how can I connect in a different way? have another friend who does that that way. And it’s brilliant. One of you was telling me what he was doing. was like, it’s so smart, man. Like if you have that ability, and this is kind of going back to where we were talking about, you know, anyone can do real estate. What I hear through each thing you’ve gone through. And now even the little bit we’ve talked about getting ready to buy a business. It’s you’re willing to do the little things.
Jonathan Beam (10:53)
That’s right.Micah Johnson (11:15)
Right? You’re willing to look into your network and make phone calls to see, does anybody need guys? Anybody need guys? That’s that little task is the difference. You know, you were, you were sharing a story beforehand where, and this isn’t an uncommon one in real estate. I’ve heard it from others as well, where someone was some sort of addict and they one day just started knocking on doors and you know, I’m gonna learn how to do this. And now their whole life is completely different. But the secret sauce is the action.It’s the, you actually do it? Will you go feel silly? Will you go do what it takes to learn things? Because you’re going to expose yourself to a bunch of stuff you don’t know, right? And it’s nuts to me how much more we’ll pick misery of feeling that way. I’ll just be miserable and not have it, then be miserable at least trying to get it, right? Like, which one would you rather do?
Jonathan Beam (11:43)
Absolutely.Yeah.
Right.
Micah Johnson (12:09)
Man, one benefits you forever. One’s taking everything from you. Like that action part of just getting it done. Each step counts. You know, we all want to just wake up and check our bank account. But in the end, there’s nobody out there says they that has a real number because why put a ceiling on it? I have a minimum number, but I don’t have a top one because I’m not going to put a ceiling up there. I’m just looking down here. I’m going to raise my floor over and over and over again.Jonathan Beam (12:29)
Right. Yeah.No.
Yeah,
Micah Johnson (12:36)
See what happens. Like it’s not about,Jonathan Beam (12:36)
100%. Yeah.Micah Johnson (12:38)
I’m not out running anything. I’m walking towards things. And to do that requires you to pace yourself, take those, realize that it is the little stuff. It’s all in the little things. That choice. I’ve been in sales a long time. I remember an insurance world. It was the choice to get out of the truck and walk into the business. That was the most important one. Right. Once you open the door and you’re talking, you’re in there now.Jonathan Beam (12:41)
No. Yeah.Yeah.
Sure.
Micah Johnson (13:02)
But it’s those little choices in the times where you could not do it. When you do, it changes everything. It’s literally what changes everything.Jonathan Beam (13:07)
Yeah.Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. And like, I know it’s quite cliche to say like, you know, your network is your net worth. Like you hear that quite a bit, but how true is that? Right? Like I wouldn’t have had either of those businesses if I hadn’t spent some time joining some real estate groups, going to some meetups, talking to people, learning from other guys, learning from the challenges that they’ve had and the successes that they’ve had. ⁓ And that network,
Micah Johnson (13:18)
that’s in there.Jonathan Beam (13:38)
is something you can always fall back on. If your businesses fail, you can always go back to that network and ask, okay, what did I do wrong? How can I do this better? And these guys, everybody, people like to see people succeed and they will support you on that journey, right? And yeah, if it wasn’t for that network, like neither one of those businesses would have been successfulMicah Johnson (13:51)
Right.Jonathan Beam (13:57)
because I would have, nobody would reach out to, maybe I could have advertised, maybe I could have picked up clients that way. And I’m not saying that I couldn’t have, it’s just that having that network is like amassive boost to get you started in the right direction.
Micah Johnson (14:09)
It is, it’s a cliche for a reason. That’s the reality. It’s a cliche for a reason. It’s one of the biggest things my mentor talks about is who you, who you put in your phone, man, who are you talking to? Who’s who are you actually out there with? Because when life does all the things that does right, that network, that network you created, it’s great for business. It’s great for other things too. Like it’s great for the all around experience that we all have. Cause as youJonathan Beam (14:12)
Yeah. Yeah.Micah Johnson (14:35)
If you’re somebody that’s going to go after this, you’re, choosing to be a high level performer. That’s what you are. You’re putting yourself in that world. That’s what people in that world respond to. That’s why they’re so willing to talk to people. Like you’re saying, get out there and go to the meetups, ask questions. The successful ones will tell you what they did. Right. If you don’t put any action behind it, they’ll stop talking to you eventually because they’ll know, but it’s not because you it’s because you’re not asking. It’s not because they won’t tell you. And it’s,Jonathan Beam (14:41)
Mm-hmm.Yeah.
Right.
That’s right.
Micah Johnson (15:03)
getting out of that comfort zone of just, know, you have not because you asked not. That’s, that’s, it’s really just that simple and no one’s going to give it to you. No one’s as much as you want them to just walk in the room and be like, that guy looks interesting. Here’s all my secrets. That’s not how it works. You got to come in there and talk to people, be a part of it. And that’s where I think having a long game mindset and real estate is the most powerful, especially upfront.Jonathan Beam (15:12)
Right.Yeah. Yeah. Now.
Yeah.
Micah Johnson (15:31)
Think about doing this for the long haul. You’re not in a race, you’re not in a sprint. Knowing, I try to encourage people, education is step one. Offers are step 10. There’s a lot of steps between you and offers. Spend plenty of time in the education phase, meeting people like you’re talking about. Because like you said, when it’s done right, business comes from it. Businesses come from it, right?Jonathan Beam (15:34)
Yeah. Right.Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 100%.
Yeah, that’s right. Yeah.
people respond to, like, if you walk into a networking event or really any event and you have something to sell, people know that. But if you’re there for value, to get value and to provide value, people respond to that, right? So yeah, it’s how you approach these things, right? networking can kind of sound a bit like greasy or grind, like whatever, however you want to describe it.
Micah Johnson (16:53)
That’s it.Jonathan Beam (17:03)
But if you come into it with the right mindset, you’re there to provide value, you’re there to share what you know and also learn from everybody else and just make some friends while you’re doing it. Like, you you can’t go wrong with that, right? And people respond to that.Micah Johnson (17:16)
Right?They do. They do. like the quote, your vibe attracts your tribe. Like just go there and be yourself. that just be you. You’ll attract the people you want. You know what you’re trying to do. When you show up there with that mentality to, to, to get everybody knows we all need something. It’s not a mystery. What do you have to give though? What are you willing to share? And that’s where it’s easy if you’re new or if you don’t know much to
Jonathan Beam (17:20)
Yeah.Yeah. Yeah.
Micah Johnson (17:39)
Well, I don’t know anything, you know, feel like you don’t have a point of view. What I love about real estate is it rewards life experience. It is one of the things where because you’re dealing with the base thing we all deal with, the more you’ve been through in life, it’s kind of more valuable it is, the way you can relate to people, the way you can understand. So when you go into those, it’s not about you. If you can realize that it’s a superpower, it’s not about you. It’s about the person or person of you. What do they have?Jonathan Beam (17:45)
Sure.Yeah.
That’s right. Yeah.
Yeah, it’s relationship based, like, everything is relationship based, right? But like right from, from the people you’re talking to, like, you know, potential client meeting, potential investor meeting, right down to your tenants and your contractors, it’s all relationship based. ⁓ And I’ve
To be honest, I’ve never seen people more sensitive to that than contractors, right? If you don’t have a good relationship with your contractor, you’re going to get screwed. You know, if you treat your contractor bad, they will not, they will not be happy and they will not, you know, it just, kind of, that’s what I’ve learned dealing with contractors over the years. It’s, all relationship based. And that same way with tenants too. Like if, if a tenant calls you and it’s like, Hey, like, you know, my faucet is leaking. I got this problem. ⁓ and you ignore them and you don’t take care of it. You know, are they going to take care your apartment? They might.
Micah Johnson (18:29)
Right.interesting.
Jonathan Beam (18:51)
but they’re not gonna have the same outlook as what they did if you have a good relationship with them, right? Everything is relationship-based.Micah Johnson (18:56)
Right.It is a great man. Real estate’s a relationship game. It is, it’s, we say a lot, it’s a team sport. You need, there’s literally nothing you can do alone in it for the most part. You need, you need an attorney to close it or a title company. You’re going to need a lender. You’re going to need, so many different people that you got to interact with. And when you can do that in a way that, where you are benefiting everybody in a sense where you’re, you’re in just the way that you’re being.
Jonathan Beam (19:04)
Yeah.Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Micah Johnson (19:25)
It’s one of the reasons I love Muhammad Ali in a way, man, where he talked about judging people by how they treated people who served him. was actually, had a conversation with an Olympic boxer trained by his trainer. And we were talking about this and how it impacted him. And I was like, man, it had a big impact on me too, because it’s very interesting. just made me start watching it from a young age of how people treat people. And it’s really not hard to treat somebody well.Jonathan Beam (19:25)
Yeah.Yeah.
No.
Micah Johnson (19:52)
It’sreally not hard to have a little patience, to have a little empathy, to create a little space for them to do their thing. If you just pay attention to it, right? We all want what we want, but when you do that, there’s a quote, no one knows, cares what you know until they know you care. That first, lead with that part. There’s a million quotes about it, but it’s as simple as, and I hope that takes pressure off of someone that’s listening to this and goes to an event.
Jonathan Beam (19:57)
Yeah. Yeah.Right.
Yeah. Yeah.
Micah Johnson (20:20)
You may feel nervous walking in, but it’s not about you. And if it’s just a bunch of people talking about how many deals they do, walk out, wrong room. You’re looking for a room where they’re talking about the process. They’re talking about the good things and the bad things. You’ll get the vibe really quick on who, I call them deal bros and who like real estate professionals are and be in those rooms. Go find it. There’s no reason to feel less than or anything becauseJonathan Beam (20:27)
Yeah, right, right, yeah.Yeah.
Micah Johnson (20:48)
One thing I want to point, talk about real quick before we sign off is those actions that led you to renting out your wife’s old house, to the creating the conversions, to starting two other businesses and to now buying businesses. Would you say they’re in a sense the same? Have you really changed any of the things that you’re doing or you more just doing them in new places?Jonathan Beam (21:11)
100%, man. Yeah, I haven’t changed much. I mean, I’ve evolved over time, right? Like, you you learn a lot along the way, you refine processes, but you know, evaluating a business and evaluating a real estate deal, essentially the same, there’s more, you know, there’s more things to look at in a business, but essentially it’s like your income coming in, your expenses going out, does a cashflow at the end of the month, right? Like that’s, it’s the same thing that way. I’m just doing it, I’m doing it differently, but it’s the same, it’s the same process for sure.Micah Johnson (21:16)
Right.Right. ⁓
Yeah. So same math problem, different people problem is really, it’s really the separator and it’s, it’s, and it just shows you, it works everywhere. Like the same skill set once you develop it.
Jonathan Beam (21:40)
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. 100%, man. Yeah.Yeah,
exactly. Yeah. And that business experience too, it just made, to me, it’s almost like personal development. As you get better personally or better in your business, you become better personally, just because, you know, it’s those soft skills that you develop along the way, like the grit, the determination, like the stick with it, like never give up. ⁓ Like all of those attitudes that you bring to
your real estate deals and your business deals makes you a better person, makes you a better person at home with your family as well. ⁓ Yeah, just patience with your clients, patience with your kids, patience with your tenants. It’s when things don’t go right, it’s conflict resolution. Like all of these things make you a better person and you can take that however and wherever you want.
Micah Johnson (22:25)
Right?love that, man. You zoomed out a little bit and saw it. Thanks for pointing that out because it’s… Life is literally practice for life. It doesn’t matter what you’re going through. Each situation we go through as a human is designed to help us get better at being human, in my opinion. And your career is a powerful one to do it. It’s why it’s so important that you choose things that you like to change for, right? That’s it.
Jonathan Beam (22:48)
Yeah. Right.Yeah, exactly.
Micah Johnson (23:07)
We don’t like change naturally as humans. It’s uncomfortable, but participating in things that you want, you, you’re okay with it. You’re going through that process. like parenting. Parenting is another one for me. That was a huge personal development grower because it’s there. I’ve never seen a bigger mirror in my life ever. Right. It was all about like, Whoa, okay. Hold on. I got to understand why I’m doing this. You want to talk about soft?Jonathan Beam (23:19)
Yeah.Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know. Yeah, I got two young kids, man. I know all about it. Yeah, I know all about it. Sometimes
I see my son on myself, like, oh, I do that. And now I see how frustrating that can be. Yeah. Yeah.
Micah Johnson (23:38)
I remember that experience, man. Oh my God, when you realize that they’re getting onto the kid, but you’re like, wait a second, I do that same thing. Hold on, hold on.Jonathan Beam (23:41)
Yeah.Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. ⁓
Micah Johnson (23:50)
But again, it just lines up with if living well is taking action, creating that dedication and doing it towards something that’s worth going there for. Right. That’s everything. And you’re allowed to adjust along the way, you know. So, man, Jonathan, I can go deep in that subject for a long time, but I appreciate you being here. Thank you for sharing your story, your perspective. I appreciate.Jonathan Beam (23:54)
Yeah. Yeah.Yeah.
I know.
Micah Johnson (24:13)
how you go about your business, how you think about it, just what you’re building, man, great job there. So thank you so much. For folks that are listening in who’d want to follow along with you, keep track of what you got going on, what’s the best way for them to find you?Jonathan Beam (24:25)
Yeah, so I’m on Instagram. I’m on all the socials, but yeah, Instagram is probably the best way ⁓ at beam property partners. I’m sure there’s a link in the show notes. ⁓ My website is also beampropertypartners.com. ⁓ Yeah, there’s, ⁓ yeah, you can reach out to me via that. And yeah, if you have any questions or concerns, I don’t mind just even having a chat and seeing where you’re at and see if there’s anything that I can help with.Micah Johnson (24:50)
Excellent, man. I appreciate that. you’re listening out there watching, check the show notes. We’ll have Jonathan’s links there. Follow along with them, man. I always say it. Follow along with the professionals that we bring on. There’s a reason they’re doing well. And again, Jonathan, thanks for being here. Thanks everybody for watching. As always, please don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast. We appreciate every single one of you that follows along. If y’all got value out of today’s episode, like this episode, share it with someone else you think get value out of it as well. Until next time, we’ll see you on the next one. Bye.
