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Show Summary
In this conversation, Benson Juarez shares his extensive experience in the real estate industry, emphasizing a data-driven approach to business. He discusses the importance of enterprise partnerships, the transition to multifamily investments, and the challenges faced as an entrepreneur. Juarez highlights the value of leveraging virtual assistants to enhance productivity and the significance of building meaningful relationships in business. He also stresses the importance of continuous education and providing clients with the necessary tools for success.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Benson Juarez (00:00)
I don’t know it’s every journey of my life, but more recently I’ve realized my time is valuable. And so I would find things to keep me busy. Yeah. Administrative things, emails, you know, just checklists of things that just need to be done. And so I was finding my, I was finding ways of being busy, but not always finding ways of being productive and moving my business forward. And so.A of years back, a friend of mine opened my eyes up to the opportunity of using a VA’s so virtual assistants and being able to leverage the power of money,
Q Edmonds (02:13)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the real estate pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds and I am excited to be here. I have another fantastic guest and of course I’m gonna let him tell you all the nuances of what he, you we do and what his business is and how he approaches real estate. But I will tell you that he’s data driven. he, the analytics, the data matters and I’m sure he’s probably gonna hit on that. AndI’m just excited to introduce you all to, for you guys to get to know Mr. Juarez. Mr. Benson, how you doing today,
Benson Juarez (02:50)
Good, Quentin, good and very good. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.Q Edmonds (02:54)
Absolutely. No, thank you for being here. Thank you for the value of your time, right? Time is very valuable. You know, we could charge a premium for our time, you know. So I just want to say I appreciate your time. I appreciate you being here. And so with that being said, because I value time, I kind of just want to get right to it. I would love for you to tell the people what your main focus is these days. I would love if you give maybe an origin story.kind of like, you know, the lead up to how you got to doing what you do. And then if you don’t mind, them apart of where you win, what markets you’re operating in. And so Mr. Wilrash, sir, you have the floor.
Benson Juarez (03:33)
Thank you. Yeah, I’ve been in the business in one way or another for the last 20 plus years. I started back in the 2002 ish. Um, I was active duty military at the time and I was looking to what I was going to do next after my deployments were coming to an end. And a friend of mine was loaning money, uh, doing, uh, private money lending, hard, hard money brokering, you know, just regular loans for people who are buying houses.And it really interested me. So I started doing that in my spare time to get a sense of, you know, am I going to be have any success in this business as a salesperson? Uh, it was always an entrepreneur. started my first, you know, I guess hustle when I was like 12 years old with a paper out, right. And then other businesses, other side hustles, uh, but with the military, it’s a little more constraining with the time, right? So you have to figure out interesting ways of doing that. So I was,
working nights at the base and then during the day I was doing loans and then I got really interested in the hard money side of things because my investor clients were making money doing fix and flips and I was like, I want to do that. So got into the investment business, started doing fix and flips, buying holds, wholesale deals. I eventually got licensed as a real estate agent, still licensed to this day. And, you know, I’ve done every sort of strategy that you can think of.
You know, and, but recently I’ve been tweaking my strategy more to either like private money lending or a, an approach where it’s going to be raising money for different scenarios. either, uh, know, taking down a large multifamily deal, doing debt financing on a larger scale, um, than just, you know, private money lending with my own funds, but you’re bringing in funds from others and then deploying that cash.
So that’s where I’ve been spending my time and in different markets. I’m pretty opportunistic. So I’ll just go where the deals are. And so I’ve done deals and I’m based out of Colorado, Colorado, Missouri, ⁓ Arizona, Texas, a lot in Missouri, most specifically St. Louis. So, you know, I kind of go where the data tells me to go, how we started off and, ⁓
And that’s another part of my, my, I do on a daily basis is I own a part owner of a small software company called privy. We help real estate investors find and analyze deals nationwide, all using data algorithms. got our patent in April of this year, finally. And so, um, yeah, we’re moving that along as well.
Q Edmonds (07:04)
Love it. Love it, Mr. Benson. Thank you so much for sharing the origin story. Thank you for sharing where you are now. And I love how you started talking about strategies and I love your journey. Like, you know, talking about entrepreneurship, being in the military and then finding different kinds of focuses within real estate. And so what I want to ask you, you know, I have a saying where I say destiny has no wasted moments. Meaning like as you journey through life, you just pick upthings that continue to help you in life and no matter what field you go in, you kind of apply different things as you keep going on in the journey. And so I want to ask you about personal strategies. Are there core strategies that you found that have helped you in life? You talked a little bit about business strategies, but core strategy, you know, some people do cold plunge, some people may do gym, like some people do reading. Are there core strategies that you know you have identified?
that has helped you kind of in every journey of your life.
Benson Juarez (08:07)
I don’t know it’s every journey of my life, but more recently I’ve realized my time is valuable. So we’ve kind of led with that. And so I would find things to keep me busy. Yeah. Administrative things, emails, you know, just checklists of things that just need to be done. And so I was finding my, I was finding ways of being busy, but not always finding ways of being productive and moving my business forward. And so.A of years back, a friend of mine opened my eyes up to the opportunity of using a VA’s so virtual assistants and being able to leverage the power of money, right?
So you can pay them, you know, six bucks an hour, but that’s like a good wage for somebody who was working out of the Philippines as a virtual assistant. And so it’s a win-win where they’re getting a good stable job for good money for where they live and they’re
their cost of living, but I’m also getting somebody who can be on my team and take some things off my plate. So I basically off-boarded, you know, all of the email stuff, daily, daily tasks that were really bogging me down. And that allowed me to focus on the more important things, but also to diversify. So I could do different business verticals. So instead of just focusing on one business, I could maybe start another business or expand or scale.
one of the businesses that I was having some success in and I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I was still doing everything on my own.
Q Edmonds (09:43)
Yeah. And I mean, I think that’s a powerful strategy that you just laid out for people with talking about the VA because what it really afforded you to do was to get your time back, to get your time back, to get your freedom back. And these are things like time is one of our most precious commodities because for one, we’re not getting they’re not giving more time. Like once the time is gone, it’s gone. Right. So you got to find a way that the that the optimizedyour time. And so with the VA is like kind of trying to get your time back. And so I definitely hear that and I appreciate you saying that. And I think that’s a nugget that so many business owners should take and really strive to is getting your freedom and your time because they’re priceless. You know, so find a way that you can get. I know some people say, you you got to delegate and automate, you know, it’s really elevate, you know, and so really getting that time back is definitely, definitely precious. And so as you was building Privy,
As you was, you know, know, moving into, I know you said about, you know, private funding has the role been easy or have you bumped up against some adversity?
Benson Juarez (11:28)
Oh, it’s been a challenge every step of the way. There’s always a challenge when, you know, it was just a startup to where we are today and nationwide and working with thousands and thousands of users. Um, so that that’s a constant challenge. And so, yeah, we’re always looking for ways of, doing things better and we’re having to pivot because of, you know, competition and the way that business ebbs and flows andSo yeah, it’s, it’s always, there’s always a challenge in all of those verticals privy being one of them, but also my real estate business. then where I invest in real estate, but you know, the private money lending has its own set of, of issues and, problems. And then I have a podcast as well that I push out. And so that’s a challenge too, right? You’re always looking for new guests and interesting topics and new ways of engaging the user to keep them interested in what you’re doing.
And then, so with that came a newsletter. So I’m just like adding stuff to my plate, right? So I didn’t free up time to go play. I just freed up more time to create more problems for myself. It’s all self-inflicted, right? This is just what we do as entrepreneurs is like, okay, I got some time back. Well, instead of using that to go do fun things, right? Or spend time with my family, I had more fires, right? That’s just, that’s part of it. What we do.
Q Edmonds (12:52)
No, that’s understand for sure. And you are so right. And so many people that’s listening can identify with exactly what you just said. So let me ask you, Mr. Benson, what is the next real goal for you? Like, are you looking to solve something or scale something? What’s next for you,Benson Juarez (13:13)
Yeah, I think it has to do in the fund space. Right? So I told you how I’m looking for ways of funding larger opportunities. Previously, it was all residential and with a couple, you know, small multifamily properties, like, you two, three, four units, maybe many years ago. ⁓ but you can spend the same amount of time doing a 50 unit building as you do on just like a normal single family residential property.You know, with all of the things that go into it. So it’s more of like a leverage situation where I think that if I can really just learn that space, which is what you asked me about a community. So I found this really amazing community called Avestor where they have a whole technology platform where they, you could start a fund. Um, you get, you get all of the sec filings, you get all the sec, um, compliance. Um,
And then you get the community. Now the community is there’s a monthly cost to it, but it’s well worth the cost. But the upfront cost is way less than if you just went and started a fund on your own. And the best thing about these funds is that they’re customizable. When in past, if you were to start a fund, like you had to know what the fund was going to be. And anytime you started a new project, let’s say you were
you went and you started a fund for multifamily and then you wanted to do a debt fund. And then maybe you wanted to raise money for a startup or then you wanted to do some other venture. It’s customizable fund. You just do it once and there’s no additional cost after that. And then can start projects underneath it. So if your, your palette changes along the way and you figure out you don’t like multifamily anymore and then you want to do
I know a guy who’s in this community who’s doing Forex futures and crypto all in one fund. It’s super interesting. I think I’m going to invest with them, but you don’t have to choose early on. can, you can adjust and it organically will can transform into something else. So that’s been really cool to be part of that, that community and just grow with it. Right. It’s just, it’s a, it’s an interesting thing. And you know, where I’m at in my
this stage of my career, you know, I’m always looking for interesting ways of growing professionally, right? Educationally, what can I learn that’s new and up and coming? you know, this is just one of those things that I’m doing.
Q Edmonds (16:30)
Absolutely. Forever. Sound like you’re forever the learner, right? And that’s the best thing, growing you, growing your capacity, growing what you take in, growing your mindset. I love all of that. And I love how you talked about investor. I love how you talked about connecting with other people. I have a saying where I say community, I believe, is common unity. It’s people working together, people of like-minded doing the same things.And pushing whatever forward, the partnership forward, the agreement forward, the business forward. So I would love to get sure perspective when it comes to relationship building has relationship building been important to you? Is this something that you put a premium on? Like what’s your perspective when it comes to relationship building?
Benson Juarez (17:19)
Yeah, I think it’s really important. And then there’s, there’s relationships within business, which are different than the relationships that you have in your personal life, right? Your friends and your family, those, those are based on different kinds of feelings, but relationships and business typically it starts off with like a win-win. What can I bring to the table? What can you bring to the table? How can we help each other? But oftentimes out of that friendships grow where you don’tOften you’re not always looking for the give and take like you would just do anything for a friend who helped you maybe a couple years back Right, and so it’s not so much like what can I get out of this? early on it can be because Again limited time so you have to find the win-win and who’s bringing what to the table? But now I have friends that I’ve been I’ve worked with for a decade That I could pick up that maybe I haven’t talked to you for six months and they’ll pick up the phone be like hey What’s going on man?
What do you, you know, catch me up? What have you been working on? And if I need some help, there’s no, there’s like, of course, what do we need brother? You know, that kind of, that kind of thing is what you’re, you’re striving for, but it really, it can only grow if you invest in it early on and it, you’re, it’s a true give and take. It’s a true investment of your time, not always expecting someone in, in, in return, but that’s typically how it works. ⁓ but you, you have to really,
nourish those relationships because they can slip away. And depending upon who’s on the other side of that phone, they may view it differently. They might pick up the phone and be like, what do you want? What do you need? Right? Like you’re only calling me because you need something. Right. And that people develop those kinds of reputations of just calling when they need something. So part of the things that I’ve been trying to do more is like, is reached out when you don’t need anything.
You know, just connecting, just want to see how things are going. Just want to say hi. And that’s, that’s a challenge, right? Cause we’re all juggling these things. And if you don’t make relationship building, but also main maintenance, priority, then those people that would help you if you needed it won’t in the future because they know that you’re just calling because you need something. And it’s, it’s, it’s really challenging to do, especially with how busy we all are.
Q Edmonds (19:41)
Absolutely. And I love how you use that word, nourish, know, really nourishing the relationship, learning the nutrients that it needs with the person that you’re connecting with. so because we all need different things, you know, sometimes, you know, again, not even try to exacerbate the point. We all need different things. So really nurturing the relationship, making sure you’re adding value. And like you said, the win win, like I’m giving, I’m planting, I’m putting into.That way, if I need to make a withdrawal, there’s a win-win, there’s stability and balance there. So I definitely hate that. Mr. Benson, is there anything that you want to say that we haven’t said, any topic that you want to touch that we haven’t touched? Is there any kind of word of motivation, inspiration, anything like that, that you may want to give to the listeners before we kind of transition?
Benson Juarez (20:36)
Yeah, I think like you nailed it earlier when you said something about, you know, education being something that we should always have there. Even if we’re, we’re kind of stuck in a rut, right? Or nine to five, maybe that’s it. Or maybe we’ve got a business that is, we don’t own the company. The company owns us sort of scenario, right? We’ve evolved. I’ve been there. A lot of people have been there and,So education is important at all stages, even when you feel like there’s just no point. ⁓ and so I recently, one of the things that we’re doing at privy is we, launched, ⁓ I guess like a bundle where you can get access to privy and you can use it for three months. And then I went in and I built an entire course, which essentially it’s, it’s, it’s worth quite a bit, but we wanted people to be able to use privy, understand the data, but also have a step by step.
⁓ explanation of, how to use it, but all linear, right? So everything from the top down. And so it’s almost like an hour and a half long. but I didn’t want to just fill it with fluff. Right. A lot of courses just have just the stuff. isn’t, that’s not necessary. This is every module in this course is a completely intentional and there’s tons of like walkthroughs and checklists and handouts and step-by-step stuff. So that like, if you decided you wanted to use this,
software in your business, show you exactly how to do it from end to end. And so I think that education piece is key for a lot of people who are out there thinking about selling something. if you sell people something, give them all the tools they need to be able to have success with it. Don’t just give them a product and say, good luck, make sure they have the tools to succeed. And if they do give them that, then they’ll keep using it.
But then they have to need they have to have that success early on that aha moment. And that was one of the things that I was working on with the course was I wanted them to kind of like be like, my God, like that’s. That’s groundbreaking, and so we did that by looking really digging deep into the data.
Q Edmonds (22:45)
Yeah, yeah, I love it. And I love how you said you’re giving away a bundle because if you, if you show people to value, give people value when they see the value, they’ll keep, coming back to it. And, know, not in a manipulative way, but they, because they see the value, they will understand that, if you put a premium on this, I’m going to pay the premium because I actually see the way that it’s affecting my life, the way it’s changing my business.And so I hear you very clearly on making sure that you give people the value. So Mr. Benson, sir, I thank you. I thank you so much for your time. If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, learn more about what you’re doing, learn more about your podcast, how can people get in contact with you,
Benson Juarez (23:32)
Awesome. Yeah. So I, um, I’m on all over, uh, Instagram, TikTok, Um, you can do a little search for, you know, Benson underscore Juarez and you’ll find me there and then, um, we’ll give you guys some links that you can put into the show notes. So you just got some direct access there, but, yeah, it’s been great being here. I appreciate you giving me the, the, platform to talk about what I’m working on and what I’m excited about.Q Edmonds (24:02)
Well, again, I want to say first, I thank you for your time, because as we said, time is so valuable. So thank you for the gift of your time. Two, thank you for your story. You know, I believe all of us have a story and I thank you for taking control of your narrative and sharing your journey with us. So thank you for your story. And definitely thank you for your perspective and you for the way you think. I believe that you’ve given enough seeds and enough for people to possibly have a mind shift.around something that they was tackling or thinking about tackling. So I really appreciate you being here today. Thank you so much.
Benson Juarez (24:39)
it’s been my pleasure. Thank you.Q Edmonds (24:41)
Absolutely, absolutely. So listen, y’all can’t tell me y’all did not get the nuggets and the value from Mr. Benson, whereas, and so definitely check him out. But definitely make sure you’re subscribed that way when that alert comes off, you just come in and get the content from these amazing people, just like Mr. Benson, that we’re going to continue to bring up. And so, Mr. Benson, I thank you again. And to everyone else, we’ll see you on the next time.
