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Show Summary
In this conversation, J. Nicole shares her extensive journey in real estate, from flipping properties to developing resorts in Belize. She discusses her commitment to educating locals in the real estate sector by establishing a school and writing a textbook for agents. The conversation highlights her multifaceted approach to real estate, including interior design and collaboration with investors.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
J. Nicole (00:00)
I find that having three different streams of income in the same industry allows you to basically sell to your customer three times. And you use your marketing person, you use your facility, you use everything under the same roof. So now I havetechnically three businesses under the same roof, which allows me to keep my expenses down to run all three businesses. And then they all feed off of each other. So when someone may come in for a pillow, they turn into a real estate customer. They might come in for real estate, they turn into a construction customer.
Dylan Silver (02:01)
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest is a realtor, builder, author, former Texas mayor, and splits time between Texas and Belize. Please welcome Nicole Jackson. Nicole, welcome to the show.J. Nicole (02:19)
Hi, thanks for having me today.Dylan Silver (02:20)
It’s great to have you on here. We were talking a little bit before hopping onto the show and I also checked out your website online at jnicoleenenterprise.com.. You’ve been involved in so much, so much, but I always like to start off at the top by asking folks how they got into real estate.J. Nicole (02:39)
So I’m ex-military, US Army. When I came home from the military, I had to try to find a career. And I honestly was working at a male prison. Can you believe that? And one day when I got off work, I had a vision of basically selling properties and having a real estate company, a home decor company, and a construction company. And I seen it as clear as day.But I knew nothing about real estate. So I said, I guess I better start from getting my real estate license. So I started with Keller Williams and I got my real estate license in 2013. And that’s how I… So I started in Houston. I’m originally from Houston, but then I moved to the Dallas Fort Worth area shortly after. And so I’ve been doing real estate and have been licensed since 2013. But then I kept going after that. I just fell in love with real estate.
Dylan Silver (03:14)
Which part of Texas?I want to ask you about two things. First, Houston versus DFW. Talk me through the differences there. Because I lived in San Antonio. I also lived in Denton, right? North DFW. And it feels like every city in Texas and every corner of Texas has a different vibe. But how would you compare Houston and DFW?
J. Nicole (03:51)
Because there’s so many people in Houston, you’re kind of trapped to one area. So if you’re on the south side, you’re pretty much going to stay on the south side of Houston, because of the traffic and the population is crazy. But living in the DFW area, I have sold real estate from Fort Worth to Dallas and everything in between. Because you can kind of move around a little bit better in the DFW area than you can in Houston. But I love both cities, of course.Dylan Silver (04:17)
And you know what, that can be a little bit, I’d say difficult to wrap my head around because I know how difficult it was to get around DFW, but Houston is so big, so large. You I remember the first time that I went to Houston, there’s a gym out there, a big gym. I’m forgetting the name of it, but it’s run by Christian Guzman.And I had friends from San Antonio. We drove from San Antonio to Houston and they told me hey, we just got to Houston I’m like great. We’ll be there soon. I took a nap I wake up about 50 minutes later and they’re like, hey haven’t arrived yet. I’m like how there’s no They’re like we’re still in Houston. I’m like, how big is this city? So Houston large very large
J. Nicole (04:56)
Yes.Mm-hmm. Yes. That would be the biggest difference, I would say, the population, the traffic. my goodness. But yes, that would be the biggest difference.
Dylan Silver (05:06)
I want to ask you, Nicole, about getting into ⁓ building and developing and how that transpired.J. Nicole (06:01)
So remember I had the vision in 2013. So I started with my real estate license in 2013. 2017, I mastered everything I could possibly do from 2013 to 2017. Then I started flipping properties. So I started off by flipping properties and learning the construction. I went back to school, learned how to read blueprints, learned everything I could possibly about construction management. Then I went from flipping properties to building homes. So building brand new homes. And then in 2020,Of course, when COVID hit, I opened my first home decor store and I started getting involved in interior design. My goal was to be a one-stop shop for my customers because as I walk them through homes, to purchase homes, they would look at something and I could tell them, you could just remodel that. And this is how much it would cost, you know, or we can decorate it like this. So I became, like I said, a one-stop shop to be able to help them in every aspect from buying the property to remodeling the property to decorating the property.
Dylan Silver (06:55)
I want to ask you, Nicole, about scaling a business in the real estate space. We have so many different entrepreneurs on this show, really from every asset class, from single family all the way up to flex use commercial, commercial residential, even building out subdivisions or hospitals. But when we talk about real scaling a business, there’s so many different ways that this can be done. It can be referrals and word of mouth.J. Nicole (07:14)
Mm-hmm.Dylan Silver (07:21)
you repeats you can be your hot one hundred list you can by leads you can develop a brand online you can have a large team and have the team function as a unit and be successful that way which approach did you take or was it maybe a blend of some of theseJ. Nicole (07:36)
I would always start with purpose. And when I was younger, I moved around a lot and I didn’t have what you would call a home per se. So my passion for real estate started there. And that was my purpose to help people get into homes and create that feeling of home. And so I knew I had to be able to touch on every aspect from building to remodeling to decorating to create that actual home and not just have a house.So that passion is what drives me. You can make money any kind of way, different ways. But you have to find something you’re passionate about, and then you build from there. And so my passion for helping people find homes and creating homes for themselves is what built my business. And then I always say I work for referrals. I don’t work for money. So when you work for referrals and you’re servicing your customers, you’re going to automatically get business. People are going to automatically refer you to their family members, to their friends.
J. Nicole (08:27)
That’s the approach I take. I work for referrals, not money.Dylan Silver (08:29)
I want to ask you the decor, right? The decor interior, right? This was around 2021.J. Nicole (08:35)
2020, I opened my first home decor store and COVID hit and I had to close my store down. And at that moment I realized people were still shopping online. The sales online went up dramatically. And so I said I had to kind of reposition myself and become the creator of the product and not just a retail store. And so that’s why here in Belize, I have teamed up with local artisans to create products. I was telling you about this fabric here. It’s hand sewn by a local artisan.take this fabric and I create pillows and I create other products that I can sell. I have a local person that does wood. They create charcuterie boards for me, chopping boards for me. And so I’m able to team up with the locals and provide the experience I believe to Americans that they may not ever get to experience or come here.
Dylan Silver (09:23)
This is phenomenal. I want to pivot now and ask you about Belize. Before we were starting the show here, we talked a little bit about how you got down to Belize, partly because or largely because of your involvement as mayor. At what period of time were you mayor? Was it during this time period or was it shortly thereafter?J. Nicole (09:37)
Mm-hmm.was elected two terms for mayor in a small town in Texas in 2021. And I was invited to Belize to speak as a woman in government to local women here in Belize. And that’s how I was introduced to this beautiful country. And I just kept coming back. I met friends and they invited me, took me to their homes, they cooked for me. mean, the people here are amazing. And so from 2021 to the beginning of this year, I just kept coming back.
And I found some opportunities. I had a chance to meet with the prime minister, a lot of local diplomats, and doors just started opening for me. So expansion happened. So I still do business in Texas, and I have a Texas team and I have a Belize team. So I go back and forth between the two teams. We have properties that we sell in Texas. We have properties we sell here in Belize. We build in Texas. We build in Belize. And now we have the home decor manufacturer here in Belize as well.
Dylan Silver (11:09)
I can relate to that element of building communities and having friendship and like never eating alone and people opening up, you know, their homes and friendship because when I came out to Santo Domingo, which is where I currently live, I felt the same thing. I’m like, man, I lived in Texas. So I am familiar with Southern hospitality, but this is another level of Caribbean hospitality or Central American hospitality.J. Nicole (11:25)
Mm-hmm.Never level.
Dylan Silver (11:34)
I want to ask you about, you’re vertically integrated with decor, with building, with retail, sales as a realtor in two countries, Managing these teams, I’m imagining you have to have the right people in place, you have to hire well, but you also have to make sure that everything cash flows. What’s been your approach to vertically integrating and to managing your teams?J. Nicole (11:59)
So the biggest thing is a lot of people talk about multiple streams of income. And you will find someone that has one stream in one industry, one stream in another industry.I find that having three different streams of income in the same industry allows you to basically sell to your customer three times. And you use your marketing person, you use your facility, you use everything under the same roof. So now I have
technically three businesses under the same roof, which allows me to keep my expenses down to run all three businesses. And then they all feed off of each other. So when someone may come in for a pillow, they turn into a real estate customer. They might come in for real estate, they turn into a construction customer.
So I’m able to be able to tap into all of them. And then also we have real estate agents, but they refer clients. So they may be dealing with that client for a real estate deal, but when they refer for a construction or interior design job, they get basically a kickback for referring them.
So I have sales agencies that only selling real estate for me, but they’re selling the home decor and they’re selling the construction as well. So now you have a sales force that’s being able to do all three businesses for you instead of having multiple sales forces for each one. So that allows me to scale dramatically.
Dylan Silver (13:07)
I want to ask you about the new construction space. Also the asset classes of homes that you’re developing, communities that you’re developing. Are these single family homes? I also know that construction in Belize is probably different than construction in the United States, maybe even higher quality in many cases. I can speak for Santo Domingo and the buildings out here are indestructible versus, know, stick built on site construction.J. Nicole (13:30)
Mm-hmm.Dylan Silver (13:33)
the typical builds in the United States, you’ll have termite damage, water damage, they age rather quickly. ⁓ What’s the asset class that you’re mainly involved in? Is it single family out there in Belize?J. Nicole (13:40)
Mm-hmm.Yes, so we’re located in what’s called a village. It’s right outside of Belize City. It’s Ladyville, which is a village. So the neighborhood that we’re building right now, that we’re working with right now, is called Lake Root. And it’s for your middle class. The price range is about 200,000 Belize, is the area in the area we’re building. And we’re building block homes. That’s concrete homes, like you’re saying. And so it’s totally different from what I’m building in the States.
The neighborhood we have in the States is called Wining Creek and it’s your stick homes, your regular homes and it’s similar. My price range is about $2.99 to $3.50 there. So technically we are spending a little bit more on the U.S. than what we’re spending here in Belize. And like you said, the homes, can’t flood pretty much. I mean, they can’t get termites. can’t, you know, cause they’re block concrete solid homes with metal roofs. And I love it. I actually love it. The construction.
Dylan Silver (15:11)
Yeah.I’m with
you. I’m with you. live in a I’ve said this before in other episodes of the podcast. I live in a two bedroom, two bathroom, three tenths of a mile from the ocean. I can see the water gated community. Very secure, you know, tile floors. This would be considered very high end luxury in the United States. And I’m not I’m not paying a fifth of what I was paying in San Antonio.
J. Nicole (15:37)
Mm-hmm.No.
Dylan Silver (15:44)
DFW what the going rate would be and At the same point in time. I also know that it’s indestructible So when you talk about you know where I’m based out of the Caribbean You’re having to deal with of course Tropical storms you’re having to deal with wind and every type of you know insect you can imagine these things would be damaging to the stick-built homes that we see in the US and actually I’veJ. Nicole (16:02)
Mm hmm. .Dylan Silver (16:09)
Now seeing more I don’t want to say general adoption because I think it’s probably far from that but I’ve seen more interest from developers from the public at large in kind of disaster resilient builds all across the country whether it’s Los Angeles whether it’s California whether it’s you know southern Florida. So we may start. I don’t know if it’ll be concrete rebar metal rules but we may see some type of.change in the next five or ten years.
J. Nicole (16:40)
Well, with the 3D built homes, have you seen those? They’re doing it in Austin, where they’re doing a 3D construction with concrete homes. And that’s something that I want to bring here to Belize. We have to get that system here. That’s going to be the hardest part, getting the 3D printers.to print the concrete homes. I think that’s the next level and that’s where we’re going.
Dylan Silver (17:00)
You know, it’s interesting because there’s things that I picked up on that were kind of, I would say, understood that, for instance, Texas solar panels, there’s lots of sun, let’s have solar panels on every home. I’m in the Caribbean, we’ve got just as much sun, if not more sun, and solar is very rare. And I was wondering, know, why is it that I don’t see so much of this? And I’m sure there’s a variety of factors, but you mentioned like 3D printing. When you’re doingblock homes, it’s easier than when you’re doing like a modern design. So it really be great for some of these areas. We are coming up on time here, Nicole. I know you’re involved in even more than we got to touch on the show here. Like for instance, you’re an author, you’re teaching locals in Belize about the real estate space. Do you want to mention any of that before we hop off here?
J. Nicole (17:49)
I do. Yes, when I came, I started my real estate company and have a real estate brokerage and I realized there’s no license in Belize. There’s no education in Belize. So I had to do something about that, of course. So I wrote the first textbook for real estate agents and I opened the first real estate school here in Belize. And that actually we just had our groundbreaking for that last month. So our classes start in November.And we are excited about educating the locals and creating a certification for our real estate agents here at Belize. So that Americans and other people that come here will feel more comfortable knowing that these people are educated and they’re meeting a higher level of ethics and standards.
Dylan Silver (18:30)
Congratulations on that. I can imagine with everything else that you’re involved in the vertical integration and three separate businesses now author and running a real estate school. Impressive, impressive. Where can folks go if they would like to reach out to you in Belize and in the US or if maybe they’ve got a deal that they’d like you to look at? How can folks get in contact?J. Nicole (18:50)
jnicoleenenterprise.com. I do want to thank my team because none of this is possible without my team. jnicoleenenterprise.com. Everything you need to know about what we do is on our website.Dylan Silver (19:03)
Nicole, thank you so much for coming on the show here today.J. Nicole (19:05)
Thank you for having me. Have a good one.
