Transcription
Trader Dur was a military officer making $30,000 a year with a 45-minute commute when he discovered a real estate strategy so powerful that it generated $95,000 in profit on a single deal. And fast forward to today, and he's built multiple seven-figure businesses and made millions in real estate, while most investors and entrepreneurs are still doing things the old-school way, like cold calling for scraps or just doing everything manually.
But here's the wild part. Trey doesn't cold call, doesn't drive for dollars, and barely spends any time chasing leads. Instead, he cracked the code on what he calls the invisible funnel that brings motivated sellers directly to him. Even when other investors have already given up on those same leads, and most real estate entrepreneurs think that they have a lead problem, they're spending thousands on marketing, hiring virtual assistants to make hundreds of calls, and still waking up with empty pipelines. They realize the truth: You don't have a lead problem, you have a systems problem.
The breakthrough came when he stopped thinking like a wholesaler and started thinking like a tech company, like a real business owner. He built what he calls the four-pillar system, combining AI, offshore talent, creative financing, and automated follow-up sequences that work 24/7. The result: a business that generated over $400,000 in profit while he was literally sleeping in the last 4 months, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in the pipeline.
And today, Trey owns multiple companies, including a nightclub, and has investors begging him to take their money for his deals. He's about to show you the exact playbook he used to go from broke military officer to real estate mogul, including the one AI tool that's replacing entire acquisition teams, and why hiring offshore might be the smartest business decision that you will ever make, and how going online is going to help you scale your business. If you're ready to stop trading time for money and start building a real empire in real estate, pay attention.
What's up, everybody? Thank you, brother, for coming. This is the uh entrepreneurs podcast. We get REI entrepreneurs to listen to this podcast and also watch these episodes that we put on YouTube. I want to talk about what you've done and the things that you do because you do really cool stuff. Uh, first of all, let's actually start with the things that you've been able to accomplish with us. Um, so tell us a little bit more, how long you've been working with us and, um, kind of like the deals that you've been able to do. Do you remember how many deals you've done so far?
>> Yeah, we've did probably 15 plus. Um, some really, some really good deals. Uh, now coming up on 10 months. Crazy to say it's been that long. U, but yeah, it has been 10, 10 months. Um, like it's been a great, you, you know, you guys have been a great company to work with. Uh, definitely made us some really great profitable deals. Like I said, it's been 15 plus deals. So, um, really, really good initiative, which...
>> And and these ones that you've been mostly doing have been uh like a mix of flips and novations, or or mostly wholesale?
>> Uh, I would say, I would say mainly uh fix and flips, then novations, then uh we did one wholesale deal. Um, I even think back, you know, I said 15 deals. We probably could have did maybe 35 deals with you all. We would have, you know, um, I would say focused uh more broadly versus, you know, I, I focus uh on fix and flip, flip deals. Uh, definitely. Yeah, we could have did, did more.
>> Let's talk about that real quick. So, you did about 15 fix and flip and renovation deals with one wholesale in about 10 months uh in North Carolina. Um, you're spending around maybe $100 a day or something like that?
>> Yeah.
>> Um, and you're also doing mostly Meta ads, Facebook ads, and Instagram, which...
>> Been great. Yeah. Meta.
>> And now you're going to add Google ads as well. I, I think that we saw your your account kind of like being built out, but why do you choose to stay with fix and flips as opposed to just also doing a lot more wholesales?
>> Yeah. Uh, for me, I just, I think I just like fix and flips. It's like the, the auto real estate for me. I, I still just like going to a project, looking at it, taking a, you know, ugly house on the street and making it a beautiful house. That's just, you know, personal passion for mine. Uh, and, you know, for a lot of people, real estate still, you know, it still is about money. Um, but for me, that's just something that I'm very passionate about. Just taking the ugliest house on the street, uh, the street, making a beautiful, um, home for a first-time home buyer.
>> So, most flippers actually don't do direct to seller marketing. Neither run ads, actually. Um, and uh, they mostly will be getting like a team of wholesalers or other realtors to send them deals, right?
>> What, what made you kind of go and start running ads and, you know, getting with Facebook, Instagram, Google, all that stuff?
>> Uh, man, I would probably say the biggest thing, you know, I saw your ad. Uh, it was a really trustworthy ad. Uh, and, you know, getting the, I mean, I, I think when I first, you know, did it, it was like, ah, Google ads, Facebook ads, like, will this really work? Um, but I was already kind of, you know, making a good amount of my fix and flip business in the, in the first place. So, at that point, I had some capital. Uh, you know, after talking to you all, I think, think we suggested, I want to say 3K a month, uh, at first in marketing. I was, you know, it's not too, too bad. I never, I remember, I think within the first week, um, I remember we got a deal, a contract signed, like in, I want to say 5 days, and I was like, okay, this, this is real. Uh, so, but after that first deal, you know, it just made sense to me, like the, you know, if you're getting a, uh, you know, a three, even a, you know, a six, uh, you know, return on your investment, I think it's, you know, I think it's great. I think it should, you know, uh, you know, if you do, if something's...
>> What's the biggest deal you've had so far? Biggest deal.
>> Um, I think we profited like $95,000. That was the biggest one. Was a fix and flip.
>> From one deal. Wow.
>> Yeah. Yeah. So, it was, that was, uh, pretty, pretty lucrative. Um, I mean, even this, this like three weeks ago, we got another deal. Uh, I'm actually wholesaling that deal. We're making $35,000 off of that one. So, this be our second wholesale. If I flipped it, we'll probably make $75k off of that one too.
>> Yeah.
>> I mean, we're getting a lot of deals. We just got a, a deal, uh, 5 minutes ago that was on your balcony. Um, and that's, that's probably like a $45,000 profit deal. So, uh, yeah, we're doing, I mean, you all are, you know, doing great, uh, from the marketing side with us, and I think from an acquisition standpoint, um, that's running, running well.
>> So, obviously, you've, you've closed 15, but I, I've seen at least in the dashboard that I see from the, from the contracts you get.
>> Yeah. Yeah. We got...
>> It's a lot. Yeah, that's, and that's why I kind of, I said earlier, if we, you know, did subject to, um, did wraparounds, like it, we could be, we could get very creative and still do and make probably way more money. I've, it's legit just been on me only wanting to focus on fix and flip deals. And I mean, a lot of these other deals we could have wholesaled them, like a, a few times, like, right? That's more just from an operator standpoint for me, probably being too busy sometimes, um, and not having...
>> I've been seeing here, here's how I picture it with you. So, you're a lean, lean team. So, you got about three team members in total with you,
>> but you obviously got crews and everything for the flips and so on. And you also have other businesses that also give you a lot more money. I, you told me that you have a multifamily...
>> um...
>> a multifamily business, basically you're acquiring. And what, what are you doing with this multifamily?
>> Yeah, so the multifamily business, um, I've been doing that around eight years now. So, uh, the primary thing, you know, we go buy anything from a five to 50 unit apartment complex. Um, and now probably we're more around the 20 units. We started off with fives, but we're buying anything from a $2 million um apartment complex to $5 million. Fix them up. Um, get them, get them fixed up, get the rents increased. Uh, normally getting those property management companies out of there, too. And then we're selling, like, you know, smaller, either a smaller private equity firm or a lawyer, doctor, um, those type of individuals so they can just park their money in those apartment complexes and keep generating those returns that they need.
>> We're going to dive into that a little, but so the way I see it is that you're, you're very, you're very profitable and efficient on everything you're doing.
>> Uh, because, I mean, even though you're a small team, you're getting a lot of contracts. I've seen at some point, I think it was like four to five, six contracts or even more per per month, and sometimes sometimes per week. I was like, dude, how is this guy like getting so, so many contracts? I also saw that you also uh closing a novation deal, right? Was that new to you? Or you did...
>> That, that was new to me. Um, that was something, you know, you, you've been, I've been hearing that where, uh, and I feel like me being an older real estate investor, it's hard for me to kind of take on, take new things in. It's like I can stick to the old thing. This made me a lot of money over the, you know, um, the past few. But you got to change. You got to be adaptable. I think that's one of the, the, you know, the biggest things in business. You know, you look at Blockbuster, why did they go out of business? Um, they didn't, you know, conform to to the new, uh, streaming world that that we have. And I think you could take that, those, t, those same business, um, philosophies and take them into real estate, and you just got to understand that that, um, you know, when things change, you got to be adaptable. Um, and I think that's kind of, you know, what novations are right now.
>> So, you ended up hearing about it, um, and I'm, I'm assuming you like studied it and then putting together a contract, like, how, who did you learn it from, or how do you come to get an ovation deal locked up?
>> Um, so I think the first time I heard it, you all actually had a class. Um, it was, it was one of the, the class that you, that you all, um, had. I think it was one of the office hours, actually. I think you all brought it up. Um, they had, end up, I didn't come to the live class. End up, uh, just doing one of the replays. Saw it there. So I'm like, "Okay, all right. So what is this?" Dug into it a little. Um, then I actually had a friend in Charlotte. Um, he had posted on Instagram that he had just closed in novation. I'm like, "Okay, let me really look into this." He was like, he made $30,000. So, I'm like, "All right, I really need to look into this now." Uh, winning and rewatched you all's, uh, replay. Um, and then reached out to him also. He kind of like explained a little bit more. Uh, sent me his paperwork that he, he utilized, and kind of off to the races. So, now, you know, if a deal comes in, we will do a novation. Um, I actually like novations a lot. I think it's probably...
>> Why?
>> Um, I think it takes a lot of the risk off the table, right? Um, if you can come in and you tell a homeowner, hey, you know, you know, the easiest thing I, I do when I come in, tell a, uh, you know, I'm talking to a homeowner, I just let them know, hey, you know, when that inspection report comes back, nine times out of ten, they're going to want all those things fixed. And we're a licensed general contracting company, so we'll get all these things taken care of for you, and you're going to get white glove service. Uh, in regards to that, makes sense to close. It's dude, and it's, I mean, it's not hard to to grab the concept of it. Obviously, I'm assuming in the back end, it might get a little bit more lengthy, uh, and let's say many more steps, but there's a lot more now, more services or people that can even help you get to that point. How do you figure that out? Like, how do you figure it out? Like, let's say something new comes into your business, a new product, novations, how do you implement it so quickly?
>> Yeah. Um, and I think it's, I think it's about just, you know, um, execution, just moving really quick. Like, even if you don't, you know, know the answers to everything, it's someone out there that knows the answer. It's a book called, um, it's, uh, Who, Like, Well, Who, Not How. So essentially, it just talks about figuring out like, who knows how to solve this exact problem that you have. Like, everyone has, it's a, it's a person out there that knows how to do anything in this world. You just have to go figure out who that person is. Yeah.
>> That's one of the big things I do. Like, I didn't know, you know, how to actually complete a novation. So, I saw this guy post in Charlotte, North Carolina. He completed a novation. So, what did I do? I reached out to him. Hey, I got this novation deal. Can you help me out with it? I'll split the profits with you. You know, you know, a lot of people look at it as, hey man, you walking away from 50%. For me, it wasn't me losing 50%. Like, I could have lost, I could have walked away with zero and not made any money. But I learned in the process, and I also kept 50% of the profits. Yeah.
>> So, for me, that's how I look at, look at life in general, right? Just figuring out who can help me.
>> Yeah.
>> And how you were 30 years old, super young, and you've been in business since you were 20.
>> Yeah.
>> Right. And the way you started in real estate was multifamily first, and then single family.
>> Yeah.
>> Kind of backwards.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Completely backwards. Uh, but multifamily is where you made the real money so far.
>> Mhm.
>> Right. So, why, why are you doing single family now?
>> Yeah. So, I would say single family to me, um, you get on, you know, social media, everyone is talking about new construction, new construction, new construction. Um, it's almost like buying at the, the, the high in the, in the stock market when it's at an all-time high. Everyone else is, you know, buying, um, everyone, I feel like, is buying new construction. They're buying, you know, lots. No one's really focused on buying fix and flips right now. Um, so that's why I've kind of re-gathered. For me, it makes the most sense. It's less, way less competition buying fix and flip right now. A lot of people don't want to, you know, have a project and they, you know, they inspect and then they find that the crawl space or something's wrong with the crawl space in the foundation. You got to repair six peers. Um, so for me, it's just, it's just less competition. That's why we really focus on fixing flips right now. And then, like my experience, I can go into a house and the house can just about be caving in. Like, I got a guy that can fix the foundation very, very quickly in three days for the most part. So, uh, for me, that's probably been my main reason I'm focusing on fixing flips. Just my experience, number one, then it has been less competition in the market.
>> Nice. So, let's talk about something I'd love to know from you, and I haven't personally asked you this or ever kind of figured out from from my team, but how much money do you do you think that from all those deals that you have actually closed, you have generated already?
>> Um, I would definitely probably say $200, $225,000 plus for sure. Um, I don't know the exact number. I don't have my spreadsheet out in front of me, but it's, it's been a, uh, good amount. And probably, and like I said, it, it would have been more. It definitely would have been more. Um, I would probably, we definitely made $400,000. Um, plus also on the period where I really, I would say I really started focusing too. So, I would say from, I would only, I would count from January to now, cuz I don't feel I really, honestly don't believe we was as focused before January. Like, we were getting deals, but I wasn't as focused. Like, I was so many other, had so many other...
>> Yeah, cuz majority of the deals you got them since January.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. See, you look, you can tell, like, and I was spending money since September. I just wasn't really focused. I was like, I'll play around with, let me see how it goes. Like, if a deal comes in this month, that's fine on me. I wasn't. And then I, I just clicked. I took like a, a hiatus from, you know, December to January, just really, I looked at all my businesses and I, I kind of looked over the six months, like, this should have been a deal, this should have been a deal. So, then it was like, okay, let me really, you know, analyze this. Um, fired the old acquisition team, brought in a new acquisition management team, really sat with them for a week and told them, this is what I want them to do. Um, also, even with my new, you know, acquisition team, you, uh, going to, um, the trainings on, on, uh, with you all, like, really helped. Like, I think it really brought you...
>> MPQ trainings.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Those trainings have, um, have been really beneficial for my team as well. I think that was great. Um, and, you know, just from, you know, with your team, just really, you know, having meetings with them, like, really being focused with them, um, and giving them, I would say, you know, SOPs and, uh, guidelines of of what looks good in the business for you. So, you have generated about $250,000, uh, in profits in just less than two quarters when you were so focused on actually building out the team, getting deals locked up,
>> flips, uh, mostly, it seems like it's your go-to, and and novations. Also, you've been doing some of them, and just a few wholesale, right? So, what, what's going to be the game plan that is going to, I mean, where do you want to go in terms of this business? You want to keep it small, or what are you going to focus on moving forward?
>> Yeah. Um, I, man, I just want to scale. Nothing's broke right now. So, for me, like, we're making a great amount of money with the fix and flip business. So, for me, it's just scale marketing. Um, do, you know, do more fix and flip deals, get, get, you know, better contractors on the, on the, um, well, I won't say get better contractors, get more contractors on the team. Um, and that's it, man. Like I said, just, I don't think you should, you should fix anything if it's not, not broken. And right now, um, we're having a run, a pretty good run. Um, so I, I would definitely say kind of just stay, stay in that regard with the fix and flip. Um, we're going to start doing a few more new construction projects, I would say, pretty soon. Um, I've kind of just not always been a fan of new construction. Like I said earlier, I went to develop, went to development school. Went and got my masters in real estate development, but, uh, I, I just really haven't liked, uh, development as as much as most people. Um, but we're going to still focus on apartment complexes, too. I still think, you know, right now everyone is, uh, shying away from them. But when you look at the, I think the new economic activity is getting ready to happen, especially, um, looking at the, the Trump administration, what they just did, um, and, you know, hiring a new Fed chair, I definitely think we probably have two rate cuts, um, in the near future here. Um, you know, you have rate cuts, uh, real estate goes up, essentially. So, you're going to have, you know, more builders, want lots, so that's going to increase, you know, the new, new construction spread, but you're also going to have more people want to buy multifamily apartment complexes as well, um, which, you know, those cap rates are, are going to compress because of those interest rates dropping. So, um, I think, you know, real estate has a, a great way ahead. Um, and right now, I think it's just driving, keep driving the boat, but just make sure you're driving in the right direction.
>> I feel like as you're growing your team right now, and obviously we've been working together for some time, you're going to increase this, I guess, the deal flow that, you know, with with, uh, more marketing and so on.
>> Oh, yeah, for sure.
>> I feel like a lot of more people start to not only hiring really high-quality people and get them into like the right training, get them with, give them the right playbooks, SOPs, and tools, but like, I feel like they need to start building AI teams under under them.
>> 100%.
>> You, you were saying that you wanted to get into investing into AI businesses,
>> right?
>> Right. Uh, so, you know, AI startups, software that is focused on AI, and stuff.
>> What do you feel like right now, investors, or anybody, like any entrepreneur that is watching this,
>> should be implementing that is AI-based right now in their business?
>> Um, oh, yes, that's a great question. It's, I mean, AI has so much right now. Um, I think, I mean, something as simple as just, you know, imp, like, if you got a team, like having your team, you know, utilize Slack and, um, have, you know, integrate that with Claude. Like, Claude is probably, like, my one of my number one things I use every day. Like, Claude co-work. I mean, I mean, it changed my life. Even just something simple, my email, like, it's going through my email for me. Like, if I want to find a lender that I need, uh, that can help me with a bridge loan for one of our properties, like, I don't have to, you know, over the years, it's kind of just on me as an operator. I maybe should have kept a, you know, Excel of all my, my lenders. I didn't. So, now you can just go on, you know, Claude and say, "Hey, go through my email, filter for all the lenders that could refinance this property for me over the course of three, four years." Um, that, you know, and it'll pull all those contacts, you know, create a draft for you, an email to send out to all those lenders for you in what, maybe max 5 to 10 minutes. And these are from people in your database, or you didn't have before?
>> Yeah. Well, they were already in my database, but, you know, Claude can actually go out there and do email scrapes too and figure out.
>> Yeah, that's true. For me, I think it just does so much. It is more so about the use case of that person's business and what's their, you know, what is the output that they actually want to get.
>> So, basically, like, you're using it as a, what type of AI employee you're using it? What would that be called? Like...
>> I would say just probably reducing, uh, well, I would just say increasing productivity for me, because, I mean, that that used to would take me, I would say maybe anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to go through my email and scrub it to find, you know, lenders that I can shoot an email to. Now that takes legit five minutes. So, that's, to me, it's just, it's crazy to be able to do that. Um, I mean, even some of the things that you all are doing as far as, like, the lead follow-up, like being able to call soon as a lead comes up, sending them emails, sending them texts, like, all of those things are AI. So, like, even from a real estate perspective, I think that's great for someone to be able to doing their business, right? Um, yeah, it's just so many, you know, different use cases, uh, that I think you do. Even just calling, you know, calling, um, if you, if you have a, a scrape list of, uh, tax, tax deeds, you know, you have AI just call all, all those people, uh, for the next two weeks for you until you get, even if you just get one person that signs a contract, you know, that could be $30 to $45,000 right there. Um, I, I just think AI has so many, um, think, so many ways you can integrate it right now. It just depends on the use case that that person actually actually wants. Um, for me, and I'll probably say, even for me right now, I haven't, uh, implemented a lot, like directly into my, my real estate business, more so just productivity for me to, um, stop doing a lot of the useless things that I used to do and spending time on. Like, even if it's, you know, a lender needs me to produce a file for refinance, um, I would say AI's tremendously helped with that, like cut, cut that down like 10 minutes versus it used to take me maybe an hour, hour and a half to produce all these documents. Um, so it's been, it's been great for our business.
>> So, what's, you know, have you invested in business before? You're going to start investing in businesses?
>> Oh, AI business.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I'm already investing now.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> What do you see is kind of like hot out there that, you know, people are not seeing right now, but it's really, really coming?
>> Yeah. Um, I know, you know, robotics and AI, they kind of merge together. I would say I think that's the, that's probably going to be the biggest thing. Just, uh, like robotics combined with AI. Um, I think that's probably going to be the next biggest thing. Um, AI with with data, uh, orbit, commute, AI filter. Um, I think that's going to be pretty big. So, like the space, space area, robotics. Um, those are probably my two biggest things. I think people aren't really realizing how big they're going to actually get. Um, I mean, you just look at SpaceX, you know, $1.75 trillion IPO, which is...
>> Damn.
>> You know, uh, that's in, yeah, that's insane. Um, and you look, you know, ChatGPT or OpenAI, what, two years ago was valued at, I think it was like $135 billion, and now they're about to, they're trying to IPO for $900 billion. The numbers right now are life-changing. Like, in the last two years, all this has happened. It's kind of scary at the same time. Um, but I also think we're in an industrial revolution that a lot of people aren't just realizing. I think if you're not focusing on AI and learning about it every single day, you're going to get left behind pretty quickly.
>> So, you will not buy robots, you will invest in the company that makes the robots.
>> Exactly. Yeah.
>> Or will you buy robots?
>> I, I'll probably have a robot, uh, in my house. I think Figure is probably the best company to buy a robot from. Um, I invest in them, by the way. Um, I, I definitely think Figure is probably the best company.
>> Do you know the owners or how do you know about them?
>> Um, so I actually met them through a venture capital firm that we invested alongside, and that's kind of that's how...
>> Let's do a pause one sec.
>> Okay.
>> Let me see. Let me just make sure that everything is good. All right, cool. All right. Should be good. It feels good in here now. What's up? I said it feels good in here. Yeah, bro. What are you going to do later?
>> Uh, I ain't got nothing planned now. This is my last.
>> If you want, we can go walk after this.
>> Oh, yeah, man. That'd be cool. Like I said, I ain't got nothing planned.
>> I don't know if you're a walker.
>> Yeah, I, I walk. I work out a lot now. Got a trainer and everything.
>> You ready to train this morning?
>> Yeah, I got to. Well, I got a trainer. I didn't, uh, do this week. I got, he's in in Charlotte. I do boxing on Fridays, then Monday through Thursday, train 5:00 AM.
>> Yeah, the shots are the shots are sick so far.
>> Okay.
>> She's also taking some pictures.
>> Okay, cool.
>> Babe, uh, his girl, his girl also is like a, I guess boss babe, right? Is that how you would call it?
>> Yeah. Yeah, I guess what you call. She works too much.
>> But like in her own business, right?
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She got a, um, she's a dentist. She got her own practice.
>> Oh, she's a dentist.
>> Yeah, she's a dentist.
>> How do you meet her?
>> Uh, man, I, it's funny. I was following her on Instagram for like 3 years, and um, she lived in LA. She went to USC, um, dental school. She ended up moving to Greenville, North Carolina, small town. Somehow she ended up, um, finding this guy about a practice from in Charlotte. She moved. She was probably in Charlotte for like seven months. I saw a post, still didn't never reach out to her. She was getting coffee one day and walked into the coffee shop with me. Then I just had to go talk to her. But so, you were following her on Instagram.
>> Yeah, she was following me too. We followed each other. We just never, like, you know, you don't talk to somebody, you don't for three years. Yeah, you could, you may, yeah. I mean, you could message them like, she'll ask me like, "Oh, you at the Hornets game tonight?" Like, "Yeah, we never like..."
>> Just never met. And I saw her in a coffee shop, and then I just, that day I was like, "Yeah, she's too beautiful for me to let her walk out of here." So...
>> And she's Latina.
>> Yeah. Yeah. So, then I just went up and started talking to her. I was like, "I'm not letting her walk out of here without talking to her or getting a date or something." So, end up talking. I was like, "What you doing tomorrow?" Like, we talked for like 30 minutes when we get coffee. She was like, "I'm free." So, um, I took her to a restaurant. Um, she stayed with me all day, like, and we probably, we was in, we've been in separate bars.
>> Nice.
>> So...
>> Let's restart again. I mean...
>> Let's keep going. Cool. All right. So, let's talk about real quick about, um, how you set up your businesses for success.
>> All right, cool. Um, so, brother, you've been pretty successful in business. You know, most people don't even make it, don't get to, uh, create the net worth that you have, or even by working, let's say, like you call it, you, you, you were not working as focused as as you needed to, but you still were doing deals. And when you got into focus mode, you started doing a lot more deals, like...
>> A crazy amount of more deals than before. So, how do you set up your current businesses in order to be successful the way you've been doing it?
>> Um, I think just now I'm 10 times more committed and strategically, um, looking at everything. I think before I will work, uh, I was working in my business versus working on my business. So, that's kind of like one of the big things I do now. Try to take myself out of the business as much as possible. So, I reverse engineer everything. I say that's probably like the number, the number one thing. Um, having great employees is 10 times better than having a great strategy. I believe. You know, everyone, I think thinks very differently of that. Um, I mean, I was, I was a military officer, so I was kind of ingrained to always think about strategy and systems more than people. Cuz in the military, it's all about your strategy. Like, they taught me, you know, you have a great strategy or system, nothing else really matters. Um, and then I think once I got out, you know, to the corporate world, um, becoming a consultant, I realized like having great people and and hiring smart people is 10 times better than systems. Um, you know, you have a lot of great CEOs that believe that, like, you know, Steve Jobs believed that. He believed just hire the best people and get out of their way. It's a book called Good to Great by Jim Collins. I think one of the best books out there, right? And he talks about just making sure that you hire the right people. You hire A players. Um, you know, you have an A business. It's simple as that. Like, you have, you hire B players, you have a B business. C players, C business. I think it all correlates to the, the people and the culture that you, that you have in your company.
>> Yeah. I mean, the level that that you, that you hire, uh, it all equates to the level of your business. You, you set it yourself. Now, at some point, you were also solo, right? At some point, you didn't have a team.
>> Now you have a team, small team, and crews and all that stuff. But what, what is it that you got from the military that you applied when you were doing solo, and then, well, we can jump into like, what you applying it right now as a, when you're building a team, like, what is that that military taught you?
>> Um, I would say the military taught me just discipline. Um, be disciplined, then, you know, you, you'll go through a lot of things, but, um, you can always, you can always come out of those things too. That's probably the biggest thing I would think the military taught me. And you can always do, uh, a lot of people feel like you have to have a, you know, a lot to do, um, things with. Taught me, you know, you could just, you can get by with the bare minimum. Just, you got to be focused and make it happen yourself. Um, because, you know, a lot of time in the military, they just give you what they can afford to give you. Still got to complete the mission. So, I would probably say that was the biggest thing.
>> So, it gave you a lot of mindset...
>> and a lot of inner strength, I'm assuming.
>> Um, which a lot of people actually lack whenever things are going wrong.
>> Oh, yeah. Yeah. For sure. You get discipline at a young age. I mean, man, I went in at 17. So, it's like going in at 17, you know, guys are 28, and you know, they're coaching me about life problems. So, I'm hearing, you know, about things that happened to them, and they're, like I said, they're 28, but they've had, you know, 11 years over me, and just giving me, you know, guidance in regards to life. So, it was, you know, great. And then for me, coming up in Mississippi, um, I'm also, I mean, people from different, um, you know, backgrounds. Remember, Mississippi only had black and white. Going to the military, you have, you know, I met, you know, people, um, all the way from from Cypress. So, it's like, just, I didn't even know, you know, where Cypress was when I was 17. Um, so it really just, it, it just gave me a broad understanding about life in general, too. So.
>> Yeah. So, you went to corporate after that. What do you do in corporate?
>> Um, I was a consultant.
>> A consultant for businesses.
>> Yeah. Yeah. For, uh, just different, yeah, different businesses. I worked at, uh, Deloitte and Accenture.
>> Okay. How did you end up getting that job?
>> Um, so I was coming out as a military officer. Normally recruited very heavily. Um, Accenture and Deloitte both had, uh, like these military leadership programs. I was a military officer. Um, they had a program, essentially you apply, go through this rigorous training with them, and then they hire you, bring you on as a senior consultant.
>> Um, and their big thing was being a military officer, you know, you're fighting for your country, and you're, you know, anywhere from 22 to 25, uh, managing, you know, a group of 40 to 60 individuals, and, uh, you know, that's a pretty big deal. So, uh, one of their big things is just bringing you as a, as a senior consultant and putting you in these big, big companies like Hilton, um, corporate, the corporate arm of McDonald's. Those are just a lot of, you know, kind of like you're drinking out of a water hose learning.
>> So, yeah, I mean, you learn high-level business skills while in the military, put you into like a corporate,
>> you know, into a corporate position.
>> Yep.
>> So, when did you make the switch from corporate to entrepreneurship?
>> Um, I, I would say I just, I was, I was always doing, um, the real estate fix and flipping on the side the whole time, like since I graduated college. Like, the day I graduated college, I, I, I kind of got into it, and I just never, um, never left it, I would say. And I think when I was like 24, it was like 24, 25. I never forget my banker. He was, he told me, he was like, "You can't, you can't, you can't have one foot in and one foot out in this life. Like, you got to pick. He's like, you're getting too big that you're going to, like, you think this corporate job is going to help you, but you're going to lose more money with this corporate job than anything." Um, and I really didn't take it as serious until I think like maybe, uh, two years after that, I started realizing like my, my real estate business was failing, and I was doing great in corporate, but I was focusing too much on corporate versus real estate, and I was making three times as much money as in real estate than I was with my corporate job.
>> Your attention was in the wrong place.
>> Yep. Exactly. But you thought that you were, you were doing it right because it was a corporate job, like senior consultant, dude, like...
>> Nobody, not a lot of people get to that point.
>> Right? Yeah. Just in life in general, like to be a consultant at Deloitte, like that's a, that's...
>> You're from Mississippi. So, and the average yearly salary is what? $35,000?
>> Exactly. Exactly. So, of course, you hear my family, like, they're like, "Why would you leave this? This is, this is...
>> A, this is on a platter for you for your life. You're set for life. You become manager, director, you know, you'll make eventually make $300, $500,000 a year. You can retire easily by doing this.
>> You coming from a small town, Mississippi?
>> Mhm.
>> Right. Right.
>> Which, which town?
>> Uh, McGee. McGee, Mississippi. Yeah. Like, two, population 2,000 people. So, it's crazy.
>> And, and did you come from like, you know, a family that had a lot of good financial resources or like...
>> I, I would say humble, humble beginnings. Middle class family.
>> Middle class. So, but either way, like being in a state like that where it's, you know, yearly salary and hourly pay, it's not that high, you know, to now moving, being able to move to North Carolina and Charlotte downtown.
>> Mhm.
>> And I'm assuming you live, you know, in a good area. As a, as a good story to be a great story. Yeah. Yeah. I've been, I've been blessed. I would definitely, I...
>> Yeah. I think about my life. I would probably say every day on how blessed I am and how fortunate I am too. Um, to, you know, live my life and...
>> I wake up to a great family, financially free. Um, it's been a, it's been a blessing. It's been a blessing for sure. I would say. What, what's the best thing that you've been able to accomplish that you've been able to do personally, um, with all the business results, money, and just everything that business has created for you?
>> Um, I, I would say the biggest thing is, uh, yeah, just every year for, like, uh, my, my family, taking my family to a new place for Christmas every year. And like, our big thing is, I want all of them to come, and they don't have to worry about money at all. So, we rent, like, a super big mansion, normally, somewhere, and we just have fun, like, super big mansion.
>> Yeah. Something crazy. Probably like 10,000 square feet or bigger, every year. I do it for them.
>> Holy crap. Christmas. I bring all my family. Pretty big.
>> I want to do that as well, man.
>> Yeah. So, it's pretty, that's like my, my number one thing that I, I enjoy, um, that I, that I do right now to give back. And then scholarships, too. Um, in my, uh, in my hometown, like the high school, trying to give scholarships back. And then mentoring those, those, uh, kids also, because, you know, you can't be what you can't see at the end of the day. Um, I, I think that's like one of the most important things for me in life, just, um, motivating our youth and letting them know that they can, they can be somebody that they want to be.
>> Yeah. So, what do you, uh, what's your kind of mission, uh, in business right now? So, are you one that, you know, want to lay low, or build a big brand, or just in, be investing with different...
>> businesses? What's your...
>> That's a, that's a great question. Um, I was, I would say, you know, past the few past years, I've always just wanted to lay low and, um, kind of just, you know, just make my money and and go on for the most part and be quiet about it. Um, now I've gotten to the point where I do want to share everything I learned. Especially, like, like I said, I think right now, um, you're on a verge in America where things are costing so much. People need to have at least seven different streams of income. Um, and I want to be able to, like, teach people everything I've done to help me become successful. Um, also, I think, um, getting to that point, like me, like I said, just being able to educate other people. Then I got, I have bigger goals now, too. Like, I got one crazy goal that I tell people all the time now, cuz I just want to kind of hold myself to that goal. Um, I want to be a minority owner in the Carolina Panthers. So, I want to do that in the next 15 years. So, having that goal, like me telling everyone that now, I, it resonates with me more and more because people going to ask me every year, am I closer to that goal, right? And I need to be able to say, yes, I am. I did X, Y, and Z to get closer to that goal this year. Um, so being able to, you know, to be able to purchase, you know, a minority stake in the, in the Panthers, I'm going to need to make a good amount of money. For me to make a good amount of money, I need to network way more than I have. Also, cuz what got me here is not going to get me there, and I know that. Um, and networking is probably going to be, you know, one of my, one of the biggest things to get me there. I think.
>> I, I want to ask you right now, so how many businesses do you currently have?
>> Uh, six.
>> You got six. Okay.
>> Uh, which ones are they? Oh, which...
>> Industries?
>> Yeah. So, home service, um, of course, real estate, then hospitality.
>> Oh, wow. Okay. And, um, so which one is the biggest business that you currently have from those six?
>> Um, I would say real estate and hospitality are like neck and neck. It's just, yeah, it kind of, I feel like...
Real estate is that one month you can have a deal that's, you know, anywhere from 100, 200k. So it's kind of, um, hospitality. I think if you own, if you own like 50% of one of those businesses, then it is better. Um, but it's, it's a lot of work too, cuz it's the, the hospital is a club.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. So, is it like a day club, nightclub as well?
Uh, day night. Day night.
Day night. Okay, cool.
So, tell me more about that business a little bit. I, I don't know how that works.
Yeah, I would say I feel like nightclubs are, uh, very lucrative, um, just due to the fact, you know, people want to go out and have a good time, especially in in a type of city. So, you're like a Miami, Charlotte, you got a lot of young professionals, you know, Monday through Friday, they're slam, they're working. They're trying to make, you know, make make money, get promoted. Um, so, you know, it get to a Friday night or Saturday night, they want to go out and have fun. And that's kind of where we come in. Um, giving people, you know, that that escape from reality, I would say, from, you know, from Friday to Sunday, then Monday through Friday, they're going right back to work and then coming right back to us from Friday to Sunday. Um, but it's just giving people experience, man. I think making sure people, you know, having a good time. Um, they're just they're they're happy while they're in our establishment. Um, that's
Did you invest in that business or are you operating it?
I both.
Okay.
I I it was more so of me just investing. Um, and I probably I it was like I would say five years ago I spoke to Benny. Um, you know, made uh investment in hospitality business. Um the guy I invested with, he's been doing like this was his sixth uh sixth club. Um so me and kind of grew more of a personal relationship too. Um and then I would find myself in his nightclubs spending money. Um and then this last time we just had a sit a long sitting and I told him I was going to do it. I liked the location, like the concept. Um and to date it was a great business um business.
What what are you going to do for this nightclub?
Um, we're going to be uh I would say more like we're the area that we're in is like you consider it uh if you're in Miami the Bickle of of Charlotte. So, it's a great area. Um, but we also have a very unique crowd base, too. Um, it's very very diverse. the music even the music we play right it's like more EMD music um just very very uh very unique um very unique nightclub I would say.
Nice. So, uh, what like when someone that has few businesses obviously and it's hard to obviously pay attention to all of them?
Right.
And it's hard to let's say if the nightclub is taking away time from you at night or whatever right or during the day whatever like how do you handle these other businesses that you have. What's your strategy there?
Yeah, my biggest strategy strategy now a lot of people is against this. A lot of people don't like having partners. For me, I partner like now like when I was younger, I was like no partners, no partners. Like just do just do a lot of due diligence on your partners, right? Like that's the biggest thing I do. Like if I'm going to bring someone in the business with me or go 50-50 with someone on the business, you know, I just do very thorough due diligence on them. Like is this some this a person that, you know, has similar qualities to me, right? Like, um, you know, I'm not married but I'm I'm looking at does he have a fiance? Does he work out? Uh, does he party all the time? Like, um, those are like big things for me. Like what is his mindset on his the next 10 years of his life? Um, those are big things I look for in partners now. Um, that's probably like my my my biggest thing. Just doing due diligence, um, on my partners and making sure I have partners. Like I never try to do a business by myself anymore. Yeah.
Um, I think that's the the biggest
There's a good book for that. It's called Rocket Field. Have you heard of it?
M check it out.
Yeah, it's a good it's a good book that essentially talks about how businesses work best when there is always a visionary and there is an integrator.
So it kind of actually like tells you what you are the most. You're probably like a visionary and you probably like partner up a lot more with with integrators.
That's that's funny you say. It's a guy that wanted to partner with me. Uh uh I mean me and him met like three weeks ago. That's what he told me. He was like, "Man, I want to partner with you because you're a visionary." He's like, "I know I execute, but he was like, you going to think big, big bigger than big." That's kind of funny.
So, it it does talk about that, right? Um, and it's good it's good to know what what level you are because some visionaries are actually like very visionary, very low integrator, but there's some visionaries that also have some sort of integrator, execution type, uh, of inequality. So, uh, there's actually a test called the crystallizer test that every time that if I want a partnership on a product on a new pro on a new service on a new business, whatever, I guess I just send them a test, you know, I just call it crystallizer test. As a matter of fact, for executives that are going to take like big roles in my companies, I actually do send them also that test because I want to see like, okay, are they more of the visionary side or, you know, integrator side?
Whether they could be like a good operator and start, you know, executing on things or they're just going to be given ideas and like doing the strategy but are going to be having a hard time at executing stuff.
Gotcha. Okay, I like that. Makes sense.
So, hold on. It got paused for some reason. I think it's overheating for some reason. That's crazy.
Oh yeah. The [ __ ] It's overheating.
Oh snap.
Yeah. It's weird because I mean it was hot, but I've never had it in front of the sun or in front of like close to the sun like this. Maybe that's why. Let me finish with this one and then
I'll put this one here.
Hold on, man. I got to buy all this stuff. You got to send me this Amazon package or if you where you got it from. I'm like, I need this setup.
I like this. This one is a very simple setup, too. I I paid a guy to kind of teach me everything.
Gotcha. You're like me. You'll pay for stuff quick. That's what I do. I rather pay for something quick and I learn it then like try to go get on YouTube. I'll pay I'll pay fast just to tell me everything like
Yeah. Exactly, bro. Um, so, so yeah, man. And, um, All right. So you said you wanted to build something for the minorities to feel like they can achieve more and they can,
You know, execute more, really achieve good stuff. Like what is it that you've done or you're building right now?
Um, I would say the the biggest thing that I uh just built, um, we took a script center on, uh, Charlotte has this program called the corridors of opportunity. Um, these five corridors are have been marginalized over the last say 15 to 25 years. Um, you know, drugs, prostitution, anything you can name of has happened in these five corridors and the city of Charlotte just really hasn't focused on them. Now the new mayor or mayor LA like her one of her big initiatives is to focus, um, on these areas. So, I've been primarily purchasing like commercial strip centers, apartment complexes in these areas. The the turnaround more focused on the commercial, um, commercial projects right now because I I also realize a lot of minority, um, investors, they can't find retail spaces or even office spaces even, you know, set up and thrive, uh, help their businesses thrive. So, that's like that was like my my biggest project.
Why is that?
Why why can't you find retail space?
Um, I mean, you just quite frankly when you think about it, right, who owns a majority of the retail space in America? Um, they're not minorities.
Is it Jews? Why Jews or
I I would say
I don't know. I don't know.
Yeah, I I would say it's more so, uh, yeah, Caucasian men for the most part, own a lot of those spaces. Uh, and them, you know, they can at the end of the day, they're a private investment. So you can decide, you know, who, uh, who who you going to allow rent rent from you, right? Um, and when you also look at minorities, right? Minorities for the most part haven't had the best credit scores, the best, you know, uh, net worth or, you know, you know, money in their accounts. Um, and a lot of people that own those buildings, right, they're not looking at, you know, what does this person have to go through, um, you know, to build this like, did they come from, you know, did they come from Egypt? Uh, didn't have a dollar in their pocket and now they're building a business from the ground up. And, you know, um, let's, you know, you, we could say that they have a, you know, a business that that's, you know, is selling loaves of bread, but they're making money and they didn't have anything. They came to America with a dollar in their pocket in a suitcase, right? And they built this this business is now making it, you know, anywhere from 50 to 100 grand a year, right? That's to me that's big. That says a lot about this person. Like they're a person that you should give a chance to, right? And not give up on them. And just because they don't have the perfect credit score. Um, it's one thing that they do have and that's grit. And I think you can't you can't teach grit. That's something that, you know, someone has to have. So for me, you know, doing this project was me saying that I'm going to give people chances that otherwise haven't been given a chance yet. Um, and that's what I want to do. That's why I want to focus on minority, uh, investors and just give them a chance.
And, um, is this chance through investing into the business, education, uh, resources, what have you thought?
Yeah, I would say it's it's a, uh, it's a, I would say it's a pleasure of all of that because, um, it's more so of a entrepreneurship like center. Um, like even the suite setups, right, is all of the entrepreneurs are doing different different things. But we've had real estate investors over there. We had attorneys over there, accountants, um, and just about anything you can you can name of we've had over there. Um, now now we've kind of even just, uh, shifted that switch because that I'll say that was like phase one, getting all of those, uh, guys and girls in there. And now they've all, you know, gotten bigger office spaces. They've outgrown our space, which is something, you know, we wanted. Um, and now I've I've I've shifted that model to have entrepreneurs that I I realize in Charlotte now, uh, they're not like we've looking at tattoo artists, um, estheticians, uh, barbers, they've been marginalized recently, um, in Charlotte. Now, those retail spaces have went up 50 to 70% over the last two years in Charlotte. So this this second phase, we've been allowing them to rent the spaces so you know they can grow their businesses and eventually, uh, outgrow us too. So that's kind of where we where we at right now. Um, anyone that's a, uh, entrepreneur that also a minority, those have kind of been our focus. Not really I would I would say focus too much on what business they're doing. Um, but if they have a a viable business that's actually making them money, um, and and and we can help them give them that space that they need.
Nice. Well, brother, how can people find you online?
Um, Instagram, Trade Dare. Uh, YouTube, also TikTok. Uh, same thing. So, that same hashtag, email, trade their capital group.
All right. So, you guys heard it first here, uh, Trader Dare, my brother, uh, that we've been working together for a few months now and just under a year, he's made good amount of profits and he's looking to grow. He also has different businesses. He's been in the business for 10 years now and, um, he just recently acquired a nightclub and, you know, he's here in Miami, just I don't know, we're in my in my apartment, um, just having a conversation about this. So if you learned anything from this episode, don't forget to subscribe to this YouTube channel and if you're listening from the podcast, leave us a review if you feel like it was a good, uh, episode and if you want more of those. Also follow my brother at, uh, with Trader Der at Instagram and TikTok, um, because he's also going to be starting to post a lot more content and, you know, teaching about real estate and all the things that he's been doing. So thank you brother for this.
And, uh, we're gonna see you in the master class, right?
Yeah.
All right.