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Real Estate Investing Changes Everything: Build Wealth, Freedom & Legacy (Beginner to Pro)

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Show Summary

In this episode, real estate expert Natalie Pilkinton shares her 20+ years of experience, insights on building wealth through real estate, and the importance of integrity, networking, and long-term planning in the industry.

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    Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

    Micah Johnson (00:00)
    It’s fine to have a job, but those passive incomes that protect you when weird stuff happens, when that job goes away unexpectedly, when somebody passes away, it’s truly, in my opinion, it’s if you have to do something, like as a person in today’s environment, if you are not creating some sort of passive income stream some way, you’re not taking advantage of your existence here.

    You’re not, you’re not really capitalizing on what’s possible and creating a life and a legacy for your family that is really there.

    Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host, Micah Johnson. And today I’m joined by Natalie, who’s making some serious moves in real estate investing now for a little over 20 years. Natalie, welcome in. How are you doing today?

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (02:18)
    doing well. I’m glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

    Micah Johnson (02:21)
    Me too, me too. I’m excited for what we’re getting ready to dig into. You’ve been doing this a while. You have a heart for education. You have a track record of success. And I think there’s a lot of value that’s going to come out of today for those that are listening, no matter where they’re at in the path on real estate investing. So let’s dig in there. For the folks who aren’t familiar with you yet, tell us, give us a more about yourself and what your main focus is right now.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (02:44)
    Okay, I am Natalie Pilkington. I have been in real estate for 20 plus years. I don’t want to date myself. However, I have a passion and a love for real estate, whatever it is. If it’s investment property, if it’s, I’ve been doing real estate locally, like as retail lately, and that has been such a joy just to help people find their home. But I really enjoy helping people move forward and progress and betterment of themselves, educating themselves, whether…

    it’s buying a new home or it’s buying an investment property or it’s buying an apartment complex. Wherever across the spectrum they are, I think there’s power in helping people move forward. anything real estate related, I can eat, talk, sleep. I breathe it, I dream about it. It’s always on my mind. just, don’t know. Real estate’s awesome.

    Micah Johnson (03:34)
    got the bug. Those are the

    folks I enjoy talking to as well. Like if you’re a real estate person, you can’t really talk to everybody because most people have no desire to talk about what we want to talk about. Right.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (03:43)
    Or they think you’re bragging. You’re like, oh, I closed

    on three doors. I sold two. did this. You know, it’s like, they’re like, oh, you’re a realtor. And it’s like, even before I haven’t been a realtor that long. So the new side, the retail side is new to me. But being in real estate, they think you’re bragging. They’re like, or they think you’re a realtor. And you’re like, no, it’s just, it’s just part of the process. Just like you would talk about your stocks or your mutual funds or your, your IRA. Let’s talk about the doors that we added to cashflow or return on investment or cash on cash. Let’s go.

    Micah Johnson (03:54)
    is

    you

    you

    I have the nuts and bolts of it. Cause that’s if you like it and you geek out on it. And I’ve learned that if you stay in real estate longer than two years, you got the bug. It takes about two years to know if you really like it gets you and you get it or not. But my folks who stay in past it’s got them. And it’s a big umbrella. Like you were just talking about, you know, there’s a retail side, there’s investment side, there’s commercial side, there’s multifamily. There’s so many ways that you can find yourself in the industry.

    But I say a lot, like I love how it can pay your emotional paycheck and your financial one. There’s not many things out there that can do it as good as real estate can.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (04:55)
    Yeah, absolutely. I had a buyer come in and this isn’t investor focused, but I did have a buyer come in that was from New Jersey looking to rent. I was listing properties for investors in the area. And I had this guy come in and he was looking in an area that was, we’re in Houston, Houston’s huge. You can drive an hour and a half, still be in Houston. And he was looking in the north side of town, but he was living, his job was in Brenham and I’m like,

    Micah Johnson (05:17)
    Yeah

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (06:10)
    That’s a good track. mean, yeah, highway hours, you know, windshield time. But then whenever I was talking to him, I said, why don’t you buy? And we had this great conversation. He just never thought he could. He had his savings, his credit was good, he had done everything he should, he was in his 30s, and he ended up buying. his father and his younger brother came in from Dominic to drive his vehicles down from New Jersey to Brennan.

    Micah Johnson (06:34)
    So.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (06:35)
    And they first told his dad that they were renting this house and his dad told him, my dream is for you to own a house like this someday. The next day we went to the title company, we closed and he brought his dad to the house and he said, Papa, this is my house. And he told him in Spanish, but you could just see that quiet pride on that father’s face that that was his dad’s home. And seeing little brother who was 13, 14, walking through the house like this is it, this is awesome, that American dream that they were living.

    Seeing that side when you’ve been on the transaction side all the time, like of closing, you know, when you’re buying apartments, it’s capex. How are we building? How’s this business plan going to get executed? Where are my quotes? Do I have the bids? Are they insured? You know, like everything that you go into on the front end when you’re looking to buy from raising the capital all the way through, it’s all transactional. It’s like, yeah, when you’re working with the investors, you’re telling their story, but it’s still transactional. They’re in it like what, you know, what.

    Micah Johnson (07:21)
    Thank you.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (07:30)
    What tax deferment do I get? Is there any kind of cost segregation study? What percentage is shared? They come at you with those questions, but it’s not, how am gonna change my family’s life? How am I gonna do this? Because they’ve already moved past that, they’re into the nuts and bolts of it. you know, it’s fun working on the different sides and they each have their own thing. So yeah, the emotional roller coaster of it. Not the…

    Micah Johnson (07:40)
    Right.

    But

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (07:55)
    ⁓ crap, that didn’t go through or that fell through, but the journey of people. So on the real estate side, when you have somebody that’s new and they’re just learning and they buy that first investment property, it’s that same kind of like feel like, ⁓ that’s awesome, you’re on your way. You’re on your way to getting it. You’re on your way to making it happen.

    Micah Johnson (08:14)
    You’re doing it. It is. It’s one of the more happy transactions, right? In single family, if you’re buying direct, you’re dealing with a distressed seller 99 % of the time. Like life has actually hurt them. It’s a different conversation. The empathy you need looks way different. It’s not the same. Cause I got into real estate as a retail agent first. So I went opposite your direction.

    I met, I met an investor about three years and I was like, my God, what is this? I can sell one guy a hundred houses. Hold on, hold on. Like, wait, wait, wait, what is actually happening right now? But that experience, like you’re talking about it branches across. It’s actually helping somebody. That was my favorite part of retail. Cause I sold insurance years ago, but that’s a sad sale, right? Nobody calls you back after selling them insurance to be like, Hey, everything’s great. You know, like life’s awesome. No, they’re calling to tell you like hard stuff happened.

    However, selling somebody their home, like if you want your career to be as an agent working the retail space, it is very fulfilling, very, very fulfilling because you get to be a part of extremely happy transactions. And it was something I took really serious, right? Cause home is a big deal. It really is. We don’t, we don’t think if you’ve had one and you think about one, like if you’ve never had one, when you get one, it is.

    It is, my God, it’s in your soul that you feel it. It’s not just four walls and a roof. is this, it’s safety, it’s steadiness, it’s this ability. And to be a part of that, like you’re describing, ⁓ financial or emotional paycheck paid, like it’s so good.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (09:43)
    Yeah.

    investor side, single family, when you start chunking in those single family and all of a sudden you realize that you can take that, your family, on a vacation every year because you’ve chunked in those passive streams of income. And when you realize that yeah, you may only be getting $200 cash flow and I know our cash flow is kind of lean right now, but…

    even though you’re getting light cash flow, you’re still chunking in bank accounts, like in essence, little savings accounts that are appreciating that somebody else is paying. And yeah, the AC may go out. You can put in a warranty if that’s your thing. Having a strong vendor list is very important that you can just call. So when you are, of course, in a situation and the AC goes out, you want to take care of your resident, your tenant. But

    You know, when I see a family that’s plugged in, you know, those passive streams of income, and then all of sudden they’re able to take their kids on vacation, they’re able to live the life, they’re able to go to college if they want it, or they just do a refi cash out and they don’t pay taxes on that, then they can go and move into multifamily. Just that ⁓ progression of life and how they change their family’s future. We had an investor that had about 15 rentals and then he passed away.

    And you know, he was, I know ⁓ he was a lover of the Lord, always had joy in his heart, joy in his life. But when he passed away, his wife was able to step right in and take that over. So she was left with that insurance policy of sorts on the investment property. So the emotional side, I think you find joy in everything that you do. think kind of you’ll find it. You know, whatever you’re looking for, you’ll find it.

    Micah Johnson (11:23)
    Exactly.

    agree. I agree. it’s just a different level. That’s more for the person themselves. That’s where an investor, if you get it and you understand it and you hear so many cliches about real estate, it’s life changing, wealth generating. Yes, it is all those things, but you have to go do it. You actually have to participate in it. You can’t just give it lip service. And what I really love about real estate is who it forces you to become.

    Right? You don’t just own a thousand doors. You have to become somebody who can own a thousand doors. Like if you just got that out of the gate, you’re going to lose it. Just like lottery winnings. That’s just not how it works. It’s seeing those eyes light up, even in my own life, realizing that, you know, it’s not about just get a job and work and retire later. That’s, that’s not the best solution.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (12:29)
    ⁓ no.

    Micah Johnson (12:46)
    It’s fine to have a job, but those passive incomes that protect you when weird stuff happens, when that job goes away unexpectedly, when somebody passes away, it’s truly, in my opinion, it’s if you have to do something, like as a person in today’s environment, if you are not creating some sort of passive income stream some way, you’re not taking advantage of your existence here.

    You’re not, you’re not really capitalizing on what’s possible and creating a life and a legacy for your family that is really there.

    Just simply someone gave me a bad idea. Like I grew up in a little town and as I got out of it, was realized, my God, those were such little town ideas. were such, this is why nobody leaves or ever gets out or ever become successful because you’re taught this idea that just keeps you small. And

    You know, just struggle for your whole life. There’s glory in it. No, ain’t y’all. There’s no glory and struggle. It doesn’t have to be terrible. Like you’re saying done well. It creates what you want it. And in my opinion, beyond what you can imagine, that’s what it’s done. Like you can’t even guess what it’s going to do. You could imagine that vacation, but you don’t know what it’s like to actually be on it. What are you doing when you’re actually there with your family, sitting on the beach in the mountains, ski and wherever it is you’re doing. You get that moment to step back and be like,

    my God, look at what created this. This wasn’t by accident. This was intentional. And that’s what I love about real estate. If you do it on purpose, it will create what you want. There’s hard times, sure, in everything, but it’s the best get rich slow scheme out there.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (14:20)
    Well, and start with your why, right? Like you gotta know why you’re doing it. What’s motivating you? Because you will get that call that the tenant’s been throwing bacon grease down the kitchen sink and doesn’t know why everything is backed up. So when that happens, why am I doing this? What’s this point? And they say tenants, toilets and taxes, and it’s all in how you structure. If you have a property management company, if you’re going passive and you’re just the money guy, there’s different ways to structure things that fit your needs and your requirements.

    Micah Johnson (14:22)
    Right.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (14:47)
    But with that being said, I got a house back that my tenant had lived in it for 10 years and he paid the rent pretty much regularly. He’d have his moments and I’d work with him and I’m a big believer in treat others as you’d want to be treated. And then once they show you who they are, then you treat them accordingly. Boundaries are important, but this particular tenant, he was a good tenant, lived in the house forever. He was hard, hard, hard, hard on the house. It was a little starter home. I ended up

    When he moved out, that place was trash. Everybody like I did a TikTok on it. One of my highest viewed TikToks like this place. What do you think? Like it’s horrible. And then through the walking through it, I I owned it for 10 years. He paid my mortgage for 10 years. I was able to get the appreciation in this property. I was able to do a refinance cash out and do this with that. And then so what you guys see in here.

    As you see filth, you see disgust, I’d never deal with it, but let me explain what’s gonna happen. I’m gonna hire a crew that’s gonna come in off the money that he paid down, the appreciation that I got, and I’m gonna have all this left over. So I’m very thankful for him living in this property for 10 years and taking care of it, and I wish him well. So here’s.

    Here’s how that goes. So it’s like painting the other side because you can focus on the negative, but there’s gotta be a gem in there that’s positive. Now not everything’s not always rosy. If a tenant moves in on it in less than a year and you’re evicting and you’ve got a property back that’s destroyed, yeah, that kinda sucks. That’s why you have insurance. That’s why you have certain protectors and barriers in there. And you have good contractors that you can call that’ll do a clean out for you real quick and get that property turned. So.

    There’s beauty in all of it, you can look. And learning experiences. So yeah, you’re gonna have some L’s, right? Everything’s not peachy. We’ve all had an L, especially if we’ve been in this market for any kind of time. And how do you handle that L? What do you take away and what do you learn? And how are you sharing that and how are you giving back? And are you being honest? Are you walking around like a big old ego or big old head? Oh, do do do. No.

    We’ve been in this market long enough that you know that there’s going to be market shifts and you know in the market shift like, that hurt. Like that, that hurt. Nobody saw that coming. Or we like, I didn’t see it come. And you may have because you’ve got God’s gift of clarity, which is fantastic. But I didn’t see it. And I lost half my portfolio last year, you know, and I did, you have questions like, why are they giving loans like this? Why are they lending on these apartments like that? And, and yeah, well, you see that it didn’t work. So you’re, you’re discernment that you ignored. Okay. Then yeah.

    But you learn in those moments and you become better and stronger and you don’t tuck your tail and you don’t run and you don’t lie to anybody else. You have that integrity and that character to be truthful so you can share with others. Like this is what happened in 08, you know, when the market shift and then what happened a few years after.

    Micah Johnson (18:01)
    Right.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (18:17)
    You know, so how did you navigate those waters and how did you capitalize on that market shift? Because you make money when the market moves. Not that you don’t make money in stagnant markets, you make money in situations, on people’s individual situations, which is tough, especially if you’re dealing, I’ve done door knocking. Hey, I want to buy your house. The house I’m in right now was a door knock. It was, you know, it was an IRS foreclosure. here.

    Micah Johnson (18:25)
    Right.

    Wow.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (18:41)
    Here I was, hey, I’m buying your house. And as my family grew, because I was in a starter home, and as my family was growing, I’m like, I need the house. So you either execute whatever we’d agreed upon, or you don’t. So he ended up moving out, we moved in. So there’s just that door knocking aspect, that human component behind it, and providing solutions. That’s what you’re doing. You’re providing solutions and protecting somebody’s credit to the investor, like dealing with hedge funds and dealing with…

    Micah Johnson (18:54)
    Thank you.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (19:11)
    the sterile investor that’s coming in to put capital, moving a million into this deal, this is what they need, they can’t own more than 10 % of this, so you’ve got different kinds of people in market and how are you providing the solution? But I don’t know, like I said, I love real estate, I can talk real estate all day long.

    Micah Johnson (19:28)
    No,

    what’s your point now? And this is something I love for people to hear is the fact no matter which asset class you get into, you’re going to experience challenges. It’s just coming. It’s just coming. Like you can call them hard times or whatever you want to call them. But just because it’s hard, just because it’s challenging isn’t a reason not to. It’s just not right. And as I hear it all the time, well, I don’t want the tenants, toilets and things. And that’s fine. If that’s an educated, if you have done it and you don’t like it, like you truly don’t.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (19:39)
    Mm-hmm.

    Yeah.

    Micah Johnson (19:58)
    fine, I’m okay with your choice. If it’s just because Uncle Remus told you that that’s hard, you don’t want to do it, not a good reason. And that’s typically how I hear it is it’s somebody told me it’s terrible and this and this and this. Okay. And I reply back, my folks that do this professionally, guess what? That doesn’t bother them. You can choose for that not to bother.

    like you just did, it’s just worth it. I’m not seeing a dirty house, I’m seeing a house that this guy paid for for 10 years and put money in my pocket. And literally, I’m not actually paying for this in all reality, it’s paying for itself and making me money. That, that is the mentality that you take in because whether you’re dealing with a single family, whether you’re dealing with an apartment, it doesn’t matter the scenario you get in. One of my favorite books, it’s back here, right here on my shelf. If y’all can see it.

    This is an amazing one because what he talks about is no matter what you pick, there’s going to be hard parts. You do not like it doesn’t matter. So choose the hard parts you want on purpose. And that was like, ⁓ I love that because we all want it to just go smooth. That’s my like the number one thing about a new investor. I just wanted to go smooth. Well, it probably ain’t. ⁓

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (21:14)
    Every house has a surprise.

    You just get to unwrap it along the way. You just don’t know what it’s gonna be and when, but every house has a surprise. Pick your heart.

    Micah Johnson (21:23)
    We need to adjust your definition of smooth. Like three bumps are less smooth. That was super smooth. When we get to the four bumps to 10, 10 and up. All right. You got yourself a problem there. You’re ready to do something big.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (21:40)
    But that’s where having the right team, like having people around you who’ve done it. That’s why networking is so important. That’s why education is so important. Because I can pick up the phone and call any one of my vendors in any trade and be taken care of. At a fair price, I’m not going to rake them over the coals to get the cheapest. Because when you are that kind of person, you reap what you sow. But I do go for fair.

    I go for repeat business and I want to know that it’s going to be taken care of. So in my guys that I call, whether it’s my AC, my electrician, my plumber, I get it taken care of. And I know that they’re going to take care of the resident, the tenant on the other side. And then they also tell me what’s going on with the property too, because I’m not going to the property. I’m not babysitting like it’s a hobby. Like I’ll get the property back when I get the property back. So, you know, my, my, they’re my eyes and ears on the, on the property. And I just,

    you know, you cannot discount education. And if you are beating your head against a wall on something, then you need to stop, stop, take a look at whoever’s mentoring you, not Uncle Bob or Uncle Phil, whoever you said from your small town, but go to the people who are doing it successfully. Like, hey, I have this tenant that just keeps paying late. How would you handle it? What do you do? You know, it’s simple, corrective measures that you can take.

    to correct that so that you’re not having to deal with that. And so it’s beauty in the collaboration that we all have and work together.

    Micah Johnson (23:11)
    couldn’t agree more. Real estate is a team sport, whether it’s your vendors, I call it your tool belt, the folks you have to have there to make sure your business goes smooth to the people that you’re learning from, to your peers who you’re surrounding yourself with. And that’s where I love getting in rooms full of active business owners. Big thing is the accountability.

    When you see somebody else moving and shaking, it lights a fire under you. It’ll get you going. You don’t want to come back to the next event saying I’m still in the same place. You want to come back with something done, something to say. And that’s where, you know, I used to think opportunity was like the big deal or like the next chance or what I slowly learned through putting myself in those rooms is the opportunity is actually the process. That’s your opportunity. If you run the process.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (23:58)
    you

    Micah Johnson (24:02)
    then you will put yourself in the way of more opportunity than you know what to do with. It’s not a mystery is how to do it. But like you’re saying, it’s getting around people who have built that machine before, because that’s all it is. It’s a machine that trades in real estate. It’s not random. How fast you can get that set up for yourself determines how far you can go. It’s because like you’re talking about, you don’t get all those vendors out of the gate unless you meet with people in a room. Who can you talk to who already knows?

    Hey, I’m calling you, you’re the AC guy for Natalie. We go to this group together and she referred you to me. Right in. My mentor says this, if the solution to your problem is in your phone, you don’t have a problem, you have a phone call. That’s what you have. And make it, make the call. So it’s putting those people intentionally around you, putting yourself in the right kind of rooms, the right kind of part of the industry. I really am big on this. If you’re just getting in,

    In about couple of years, you may not like the part you’re doing. Don’t throw real estate out. Just look for a different avenue. Find yourself whether you just want to be the money person. I love folks who just want to be the money people. are the most, you’re incredibly valuable because the amount of exist of you versus the ones that like doing construction and dealing with it all. That’s a whole personality difference. So don’t discount yourself for that. Find the place you like to be and then Amazon it.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (25:10)
    right?

    Micah Johnson (25:27)
    go only sell us books for nine years, right? Just go as inch wide and a mile deep. You get good at that. Then you start branching. Now all these other opportunities start showing up like you’re experiencing where you were single family. Now you’re multifamily. Even the hard part, you add 1600 doors and now back to 800. Like you’re still messing with massive economies of scale and living in the area that you want because one thing you said in our pre-recording call,

    You had built a life where you were working 12 to 14 hours a day and you didn’t enjoy what you were doing. It was not what you wanted to create, which is a common story in entrepreneurs where we build ourselves this job that we don’t know how to get out of. We may love what we do, but we hate what we’re doing. It just is sucking the life out of us. How much of networking and being around people helped you start creating that life that you wanted to really see, huh, I need to change some things.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (26:22)
    Invaluable, invaluable. My people, like they are everything to me and I can pick up the phone and call anybody. Like I told you I was just in Florida. You know, do you know the Aspire Tour? The business tour that’s going around. Eddie Wilson, Andrew Portol, they are fabulous guys. I met them 15 years ago at an expo that I was putting on for a different real estate organization that I was with, education and mentoring. And

    Micah Johnson (26:34)
    I do not.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (26:48)
    When I put this event on, I actually got cursed out by the owner of the company that this was my event. He had been given plans for weeks, didn’t review them. The day of on the expo floor, on the vendor floor, he starts talking poorly about me to everybody on the loudspeaker. And it was, was very clear to anybody who had half a sense that he is the CEO of the company and didn’t make decisions.

    beforehand, he had information he didn’t like the way things turned out. He wanted the fireside chat or the round table to be in a different room, not on the vendor floor. But the VP, everybody else had said, yeah, this is where we’re doing it. And everybody agreed and signed off. And so the grace that was shown to like by me, like it’s okay, it’s whatever, it’s him. Like it’s not on me, it’s on him. But I’m not gonna call him out, but my vendors knew.

    My exhibitors knew, my members knew. Now the guest maybe didn’t know, I don’t know, but the subtle art of not giving a helps people, helps you react to situations. So when all this was going down, I just handled it with grace and class and was just like, that’s on you in my mind, but hey, what do you need? How do we fix it how do we get there? Like let’s make your vision happen. And so we did.

    These guys remembered that and I stayed in contact with them throughout the years and they run the Aspire Business Tour. Eddie Wilson is known as the king of exit. He runs AAPL. He does all these different things. By working with integrity in class, I’ve been able to maintain these relationships and I told you I was just in Florida. have a podcast, Sugar Spice and Spirits podcast where we do business life and real estate. On that, I reached out to Eddie. We were talking about some, said, you wouldn’t want to do my little podcast, would you?

    And he said yes, and my heart stopped. For a second I’m like, snap, he said yes, what do I do? ⁓ he’s not the one that plans this. ⁓ Hey, that’s fantastic, can you give me your assistance number? I’d love to chat with her and get you on the calendar. So then, you know, I’m always asking, like, okay, I got you, what about Drew? Like, can we get Drew on the podcast? Which Drew, if you are needing tax strategies above and beyond next level, he is fantastic. If you’re, I think their goal’s 10 million and up, like whatever.

    fantastic for tax strategy and structure and wealth preservation in legacy building. But I said, hey, can we get Drew as well? Because we use Riverside. We love Riverside. But I wanted to fly there if we could get them. So we got them both. And I don’t know how it worked out. But we flew there. They have their big studio. We sat down. And we’re just little. We record off our phone with lapel mics. They had four cameras, four audios. We don’t know how to edit that stuff. ⁓

    Micah Johnson (29:37)
    Right.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (29:41)
    But by asking, was able to get that. But by maintaining my relationship, was able to have that. Now, Drew sat down after Eddie. Drew sat down and he goes, I’m just trying to figure out how in the hell I ended up here. I don’t do podcasts. This isn’t my thing. But here, what are we going to do? And I said, oh, you’ll be fine. You’re here now. We’re here now. Let’s make it happen. Let’s go. So we rolled with it. And we got an hour and a half of great. We haven’t dropped the episode yet, but we dropped Eddie.

    That one’s coming, we had to find an editor to help us edit it. So, ⁓ asking, maintaining those relationships, and reaching out and asking questions. But don’t become an ask-hole. You you can ask questions so many times and not take action that people will stop taking your calls. Because my time, value of money, TVM, is so important. So if I’m gonna pour into you, I expect you to take action. And if you don’t take action,

    then I’m not the one for you. need to move on because you’re not ready. You’re not ready for what I have to say. And I don’t mix my words. The podcast is Sugar, Spice, and Spirits. The spice comes from me most of the time because I don’t have time. And being on the radio, we have these callers that would call all the time. it’s like, didn’t you call about this last month? What did you do? Did you call the insurance company? Did you protest your taxes? Did you do? No, don’t call me back unless you want me to kick you the butt again. Let’s go.

    Micah Johnson (30:38)
    Yeah.

    Right.

    Right. Right.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (31:04)
    Your network of people that you work with, remember your integrity, they remember your character, and they remember your heart. And they will come back to you time and time again. And if you admit when you made a mistake, like I have seen, and I know you’ve probably seen this in the industry, where there’s good people that go bad because they get so much money and their head gets so big, they can’t even get on the private jet that they’re flying in. So, you know, there’s true character and content that people watch.

    And trust me, you may think they’re not watching you, but if you put yourself up in any kind of level, people are watching you on the sideline and they are taking notes. And when they’re ready to take action or they’re ready to move, they call you and they let you know. So your circle of influence and your networking and how you treat people, how you treat vendors matter. So it’s all a people relationship and how you treat your investors. was with the company for a very brief time and I heard him say,

    The investors aren’t running things, we’re running things. Like they can’t dictate reports. I’m sorry, what? Like, and I wasn’t even in that meeting. It was a closed door meeting with their IR, their investor relations and a few other people. And I’m like, I don’t want to be affiliated with these people.

    I don’t want to be around this organization. This is not where I need to be. This is not what I work for because I’ve lost jobs, I’ve changed jobs. But the one thing people can’t take from me is the integrity and the heart that I have. And through all of that, that’s why I started my Meetup. That’s why I started doing it my way. And that’s why I have fun.

    Micah Johnson (32:21)
    Right.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (32:41)
    My meetup is on the north side of the Woodlands, Texas, and it’s at a Mexican restaurant that has fantastic margaritas that are half off on Monday. And I talk like I’m an alcoholic, but I’m not, I have to. I enjoy a margarita, I have fun networking, and then I go on. So your network is important, because when you do have a problem and you need a solution, who are you gonna call?

    Micah Johnson (33:04)
    Right.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (33:05)
    You can gripe about it to your spouse, can gripe about it to your kids or your coworkers. Nobody really understands what you’re doing or going through, but your network, that matters. Your network is your dollars. Your network is everything. So I’m sorry, I’ll get off my soapbox.

    Micah Johnson (33:18)
    couldn’t agree more. No, I couldn’t

    agree more. Couldn’t agree more. And I’m definitely going to take ask holes because that’s such a great way to say it. Most real estate investors have great hearts and will share their message with you until you stop taking, you don’t take action because that’s what the, where the line gets drawn. Nobody has time to waste just talking cool things. And that’s the biggest difference. So if you’re in

    Talking about network, if you’re watching or listening this and you’re surrounded by a bunch of people who just talk and don’t do, find a new group. Send us a message here at the podcast. We’ll help you find one because that’s the game changer. As cliche as it is, the five people you surround yourself with determine things. It’s 100 % true. It’s 100 % true.

    Natalie, I could also go on and on and on about these types of conversations. They’re my favorite ones. I really appreciate you being here today. Sharing that heart, showing that integrity, cause you’re right. This is a long game play. Don’t chase the fast money. It’s always going to burn you. It costs you something. There’s a quote I like trading your truth for membership. Never do that. Don’t violate yourself just to do what’s happening. Keep that because

    Like you said, you have no idea who’s watching and you have no idea the value of what they saw later. It’s, it’s my mentor calls it, paying it forward to your future self. Every moment you have that opportunity, what you’re doing matters. So thanks for sharing that for those that are listening and viewing in that really bought into your story, enjoy what you have going on. What’s the best way for them to find you and follow along more.

    Natalie Pilkinton, Realtor (34:59)
    Yeah, obviously follow the podcast, Sugar Spice Spirits, if you like. There’s three of us. But nataliepilkinton.com, my first last name. No G, people like to add a G, but it’s just like nataliepilkinton.com. to have you, love to connect if you have thoughts, ideas, always looking for different connections, collaborations, money. Like you said, if somebody wants to invest passively, there’s just different things, different needs, whatever works.

    Micah Johnson (35:29)
    So if you’re listening or watching in, check our show notes. We’ll make sure that Natalie’s links are there for you to reach out to her. Like I say constantly on here, these aren’t random people you’re talking to. They’re professionals in their industry. They’re actually doing the business and that is who you learn from. People still with their ear to the ground. Real estate changes too fast to be dealing with someone who hasn’t done deals in years. I promise you, won’t help at all. So again, Natalie, thank you for being here. I appreciate your time, your story, your perspective.

    I think we need more folks out there doing it like you do it with that long game in mind, especially when it comes to the people you’re working with. It truly is that game changer. Like closings come and go, but the people you work with don’t. They stick around for a while. So I love that message. For our viewers and listeners, if you got value out of today’s episode, please like this episode, share it with someone else you think could get value out of it as well. And if you’re not a subscriber yet,

    Follow along, subscribe to our podcast. We appreciate every single one of you that follows along out there with us. We have more conversations coming up with operators just like Natalie, folks who are out there building a real business in the industry. Thanks for being with us today. We’ll see everybody on the next episode.

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