Why Discipline Beats Motivation in Real Estate Investing (Veteran Strategy)

Jonathan Berryhill (00:00)
Yeah, absolutely. know, know, motivation only lasts for so long and then discipline better take over. If not, you’re going to stop and turn around and say, this is tough, I’m done, I’m going do something else.

Scott Bursey (01:44)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros Podcast powered by Investor Fuel, where we light the fuse on investment strategies. I’m your host Scott Bursey, and today we are privileged to have a true battle-tested champion in the studio. Our guest, Jonathan Berryhill of Warrior of Wealth, isn’t just talking about building financial freedom. He’s deployed a systematic approach that takes military discipline and flips it into real estate dominance.

Jonathan brings that high octane fuel of structure and execution that every pro needs in their arsenal. Get ready to lock, load and learn because this episode is about turning service into success. Jonathan, welcome to the show.

Jonathan Berryhill (02:25)
Awesome, Scott. Thank you for having me.

Scott Bursey (02:27)
Man, it is fantastic to have you here. And what really caught my attention about you was the way you’ve been able to translate the incredible discipline and mission focus of military service into a scalable wealth building framework for real estate investors. That’s awesome.

Jonathan Berryhill (02:43)
Yeah, absolutely. know, know, motivation only lasts for so long and then discipline better take over. If not, you’re going to stop and turn around and say, this is tough, I’m done, I’m going do something else.

Scott Bursey (02:55)
For our listeners who may not be familiar with your journey, please tell us how did your career begin and what is your main focus now?

Jonathan Berryhill (03:02)
Yeah, a little bit about myself is I’m married to my high school sweetheart for 30 years. I’m a father of six kids, four boys, two girls, grandfather of three young men, young little boys, little tiny boys, and then one on the way. So I’ll be four grandsons here for too long. I’m a man of faith and ⁓ most of all, I’m a US Army combat veteran, former law enforcement officer, ex-collegiate football player.

And over the last 18 years, I’ve been building businesses and also buying and flipping real estate. I became a real estate broker about three and a half years ago. And fast forward to today, I own three real estate brokerages and in two states. we have, I’ve recruited over 50 plus agents in those two and a half, three years. And we’re still growing. actually just signed a new agent yesterday and we’ve got agents calling us left and right saying, Hey, I’m hearing that culture, something special, what’s going on over there. ⁓

Yeah, pretty excited to continue the path that we’re going and help other people to include ⁓ veterans, ex-law enforcement and athletes because that’s what I’ve done. But anyone’s welcome to join us.

Scott Bursey (04:09)
Jonathan, that is an incredible path. Let’s dive in.

And I know our listeners are gonna wanna hear this from you. What single military trait instantly gives an investor the edge?

Jonathan Berryhill (05:10)
I think serving in the military, again, we talked about discipline. Motivation is great, but also it’s the pursuit. We have to pursue our enemies. I was an infantry guy. I was a sergeant leading guys into combat. We did all kinds of training. So those kind of things is, motivation lasts for a little bit, but discipline’s gonna continue on. So being disciplined, pursuing opportunities, and just having that positive mindset, waking up each and every day, being thankful.

You got to create your own success in your head. You got to see it, vision it, and then focus on it and then get after it. And again, there’s going to be times where you’re motivated, but then you’ve got to use that discipline and dig it up from what we had to do when we went through boot camp or infantry training and stuff like that.

Scott Bursey (05:52)
That sense of mission critical execution. No delay, just action. That’s pure fuel.

Jonathan Berryhill (06:00)
There you go.

Scott Bursey (06:01)
Jonathan, if you could walk us through this, what common post-service mindset limits early wealth creation in your view?

Jonathan Berryhill (06:10)
What limits it, I think, is doubt ⁓ and not having the focus that we forget. It’s easy to forget the discipline, the drive that they instilled in us in the military, even in law enforcement, police academy. And you think of any sports, whether you played in high school or college, not all practices are fun, but you do it anyway. And the reason you’re doing it is to execute at a better level than your opponent. And so…

You know, those are the things that you still have to dig in, you know, as an entrepreneur or real estate, you know, agent or broker or investor. You know, you have to just be willing to be, pursue it and dedicate it and discipline.

Scott Bursey (06:51)
Great point. 100%. What’s the fastest real estate opportunity for a veteran to leverage today?

Jonathan Berryhill (06:59)
I think, you know, just like me, I got my real estate license in a little bit under five weeks. And because of the discipline, the drive and, you know, us being mission focused, we know why we’re doing it. You know, I know why I’m doing it. My mission was my wife and my kids to give them a better life. So I wanted to do something bigger and better each, you know, every three to five years, it seems I’m setting another goal or setting another high thing to achieve. And so ⁓ I think getting a real estate license,

will put you in opportunities to invest, to flip, whatever that may be in real estate investing. But I know for me, it got me into flipping land and I have done very well over the last five years, because I had to be an agent for two years and then got my real estate broker’s license. ⁓ And so I think that’s been the best thing for me. And I’ve helped a lot of other veterans. I’ve got a major that’s, retired and he works for us. I’ve got a lot of ex-military guys and gals that are working for us right now.

And it’s a real estate license, it’s easy to get, and you can literally turn into a sixth figure income your first year, such as some of the agents that I have. It’s not guaranteed, but you put in the work, it’s gonna come.

Scott Bursey (08:10)
and take us down the road of your flipping.

Jonathan Berryhill (08:13)
Yeah. You know, the, so we like to buy, I say we, me and my sons, two of my sons work for me. My son-in-law works for me. My daughter-in-law works for me. We’re a big family, big on family and legacy, something I dreamed of. And so we’ll buy a big chunk of land. We’ll come in, buy, you anywhere from, you know, 20 to 50 acres. We like it on road frontage and then we’ll come in and cut it up into lots, smaller lots to where.

you know, more people can afford the lots, but still have, you know, maybe three to five acres, you know, instead of living in the neighborhood. We’re based out of North Alabama, which is Huntsville. And then we have an office over toward Florence, Alabama, ⁓ office in Rogersville, Alabama. We’re also in Tennessee as well. And so, you know, we like to buy the big chunks and cut them up and sell them in small chunks.

Scott Bursey (09:00)
is awesome and this is a must know. What is one system you use from your military experience that is a must have for all investors, Jonathan?

Jonathan Berryhill (09:46)
⁓ I think just again going back to the positive mindset ⁓ of just you know we get up every morning we do PT you know we do the things to condition our bodies and I think we forget a lot about that stuff as ⁓ ex-military guys when we get out we forget about all that discipline and it’s still there you just have to find it apply it and then you know get after it start looking for the opportunities get out and start pursuing these opportunities they’re not going to fall in your lap.

Scott Bursey (10:13)
Absolutely and could you take us back to your first deal? What went right? What went wrong? What was the biggest thing that you learned and what could you share with our audience today in that regard?

Jonathan Berryhill (10:27)
So I’d say one of my first deals I remember is we bought a 35 acre track, had a road front all the way down, was backed up on a creek. We cut it up into five, seven five acre tracks and we sold the first two or three pretty fast. And so you get excited and you’re like, yes, this is it, this is it. Well, the next three, the last three did not sell as fast. I guess, going into this as,

I love land. I own hundreds of acres now. Currently we live on a couple hundred acres and I have other land that I’ve invested in own. ⁓ Land is a commodity that is not being made more of, you know, so I think land’s always a good investment. That’s me personally. ⁓ I’ve done some house flippings and stuff and I think it’s great money. To me, there’s a lot of worry that I don’t wanna deal with on the house. So I choose to do land because…

Land’s always gonna escalate. If there’s no structure on it, I don’t have to worry about damages or home inspections that aren’t gonna pass and stuff like that. So the thing that we look for is, is it gonna perk? Is it gonna be a perk test? Cause most people wanna buy. And just be willing to, once you get into some land, you may have to sit on it for longer because land does require usually a 15 to 20 % down payment if you use a land loan bank. So you may end up having to sit on them longer.

But in my opinion, can make double, triple your money and easier. You just may have to sit on them just a little bit longer.

Scott Bursey (11:57)
And Jonathan, this is a must know with all your training and so forth. It’s easy to stay hungry, you know, when you’re, you’re trying to escalate, trying to scale, trying to make it. But how do you stay hungry when you’ve reached a certain plateau?

Jonathan Berryhill (12:16)
Good question. ⁓ And that’s what I tell folks that asked me a lot, know, why do you keep doing this? You know, we’ve been fairly successful over the past 18 years. I own a healthcare company and government contracting company, and now the three real estate brokerages. I guess it’s because I want to leave a legacy. I come from a broken home. I’ve been on my own since I was about 15 years old. And I knew I wanted different. didn’t want, you know, once I became a dad, I knew I didn’t want my kids to have that kind of life.

And now I’m looking at it from a grandkid perspective is I want to leave a legacy and an opportunity for them to be able to come in and say, hey, I’m working in one of my companies that my Papa John started. That’s what they call me at the house. So I think that’s my biggest drive right now is leaving a legacy.

Scott Bursey (13:02)
That is some rocket fuel right there. And if somebody’s listening, they want to partner with you or say, hey, this is somebody that I like ⁓ to collaborate with. What’s the first thing that you’d like them to know about your business?

Jonathan Berryhill (13:16)
I would say go to jonberryhill.com J-O-N-B-E-R-R-Y-H-I-L-L.com. I’m writing a book. It should be released. We’re aiming for July 1st. It’s called Warrior to Wealth. They can also go on Instagram or Facebook and look me up. I think my Instagram handle is at Jon.Berryhill. But they can go on and look. We’ve got a number of websites from our land sites. America’s Outdoor Realty is for our land realty.

It’s aor-land.com But I would say go to the jonberryhill.com site. They can send me a message, they can subscribe and get my ⁓ emails on a weekly basis where I’m just trying to ⁓ share and give other folks vision, hope, know, inspiration. You know, again, coming from a broken home and coming from nothing and being able to create what I’ve created has been such a huge joy and blessing.

And if I can give someone inspiration or hope to do that, that’s what I’m hoping to do with my book. And the way I live, I try to do that as well with my kids and the people that work for me and stuff like that.

Scott Bursey (14:20)
Please tell us more about your book.

Jonathan Berryhill (15:03)
So, Warrior to Wealth is a book. It’s not a biography about me, although you’re gonna hear a bunch of stuff, the things that I’ve done from having dinner at President Trump’s house in Mar-a-Lago, ⁓ getting to meet and hang out at the Robertsons, the Duck Dynasty guys down on their farm. I’ve been fortunate enough to be in the right room at the right time. And so it’s all about identity though. It’s all about creating your identity and becoming who

you envision you want to be. The biggest thing I tell folks is when I’m at a talk, I’ve gotten asked to go talk to lot of athletic groups and stuff is, I’ll tell these young men, what do you want to be? Do you want to be a CEO? You want to be a founder of a company? You have to envision what that person looks like, what he’s doing, and then you’ve got to start doing those steps to become that person. So the book’s just about, it’s about really finding out who your identity is.

finding out what your purpose is, your mission. You’re gonna hear my stories. Again, it’s not a biography. It’s to give you hope, you inspiration by reading the stories and the ⁓ challenges that I have faced. Everything from marriage problems to business problems to raising children to now being happily married to my high school sweetheart who, we almost got divorced in our first five years of marriage. was very rocky and…

I was unfaithful and not a very good person at the time. And once I gave my life right with the Lord and got my marriage back on track and started pursuing business opportunities and becoming an entrepreneur, doors just started flying open.

Scott Bursey (16:41)
That’s incredible. That is ⁓ such great words of wisdom right there. All right, Jonathan, it’s time for the money question. This is where you supply the high octane fuel.

for the pros out there who are veterans or even civilian investors who are struggling with transition or scaling. What is the single most important deployment strategy or tactical piece of advice that you use to generate your biggest financial win that they could implement in their real estate business next week?

Jonathan Berryhill (17:13)
I would say, you know, a few things. The biggest thing is discipline, create systems and discipline yourself to do those things on a daily basis because motivation only lasts so long. Again, I’m just repeating that because so many people get so motivated their first 30, 60 days and that motivation fades when you start hitting roadblocks and stuff, but discipline does not. So the discipline, having the focus and positive mindset and just practicing that each and every day.

That’s key. That’s key to success in anything you do in life, whether it’s relationship-based, ⁓ investing in real estate, or anything like that.

Scott Bursey (17:50)
What additional information can you give us on your philosophy on groups being in certain networks that sort of thing.

Jonathan Berryhill (17:57)
So we talked earlier about, I had the pleasure ⁓ of having dinner at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s home, being ⁓ up in Washington, D.C. at the inaugural ball and seeing Donald Trump and his whole family. And not only that, not just the same thing about Trump, this is about the last few years. It’s also about getting to hang out with ⁓ Willie Robertson and those guys down there on their farm.

and tons of other opportunities because of networking. You have got to get out and network. People, meeting and knowing people are gonna take you to another level. It’s hard to, I tell my kids all the time, you need to be good at talking to people. You need to be able to make people feel good because those people are gonna be the ones that carry you up to the next level because the more people we can network with, the bigger our circle grows. You always wanna be in a room with people that are smarter.

wealthier than you, if you can get in those rooms, hey, you’re doing right. And so that’s been my big approach is how do I get in that room? How do I get in that room with those people? And it’s just get out there and network, join networking groups, and then just use that, build relationships and continue it.

Scott Bursey (19:10)
Jonathan, this has been pure gold. Thank you for sharing your experience and your high octane fuel with all of our real estate listeners today.

Jonathan Berryhill (19:19)
Awesome. You’re so welcome.

Scott Bursey (19:20)
It is just wonderful. It was wonderful having you in the studio. Thank you so much.

Jonathan Berryhill (19:25)
Yeah,

I was glad to be here. Absolutely.

Scott Bursey (19:28)
and for all of our listeners, we appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you so much for listening today. And if you got value out of this episode, please subscribe. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you on the next episode, everyone.