00:00 - 05:00

David:

What's up military millionaires. I'm your host, David Pere.

Today we have an exciting episode about adding value and the amazing opportunities that it can open for you with Jake voelen, who is just phenomenal. I'm super excited about this episode.

If this is your first time listening. Thanks for joining the community. This podcast is produced every week for your enjoyment.

Show notes are found at Frommilitarytomillionaire.com/podcast. Now relax and enjoy the show.

Intro:

You're listening to the military millionaire podcast, a show about real estate investing for the working class. Stay tuned as we explore ways to help you improve your finances, build wealth through real estate and become a person that is worth knowing.

David:

Hey, what's up everybody? It's Dave From military to millionaire.

I'm here with Jake Volin today, he was a senior cadet at the Air Force Academy. And Jake and I got connected on Instagram.

We started, we talked on the phone. And I heard a little bit about a story. I was like I got to get you on the show. So Jake is an absolute just model of finding ways to add value and getting your way into space and not letting things get in the way.

So Jake, welcome to the show. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Jake:

Thank you.

Well, it's great to be here. It's Friday afternoon, when everyone at the Academy is gone, they're going up to the mountains, they're going out to their sponsor houses. And I am sitting here and after this podcast, I'm going to get started with work for the week. And I love it.

So I've been doing real estate investing basically since my sophomore year. And so I came to the academy out of high school to tell you a little bit about the before side of it. So I'm from Denver, so the Academy is an hour south in Colorado Springs of Denver. I grew up in my backyard. I always wanted to fly and wanted to serve. combination of those two things, I think is what led me to the Air Force Academy.

It's different than I thought it was going to be. But it's been a great experience. So far, I made the parachute team after my freshman year here. I've absolutely loved skydiving. You know, the school, you know, believe it or not, even though I don't consider myself an academic type. Just like a lot of I think people like me, and you like entrepreneurs and real estate investors necessarily don't agree with traditional forms of education, I think it's important to learn, you know, a certain level of academia. And it actually has helped me a lot in my real estate investing career.

So the Academy has been great. I can't say enough positive things about him going to pilot training after graduation and you know, less than two months. So I'm excited, things are good.

David:

Yeah, it's super exciting. So what got you started in real estate investing?

Jake:

So this is cool.

The Air Force Academy works like this. So after your second year at the Academy, the first day of classes, your two degrees or your junior year, if you show up to classes, you are committed to the Air Force. And you're committed for a minimum of five years, if you go pilot, you're committed for 10 years, or you know, a little bit of extra time. But your minimum commitment is five years, right? So USAA sees that commitment and they go, Man, these people are gonna be guaranteed jobs for five years. They're prime contenders for these personal loans.

And so they give you this loan for $36,000 at .75%. With payments deferred until post graduation. So you don't make a single payment on that $36,000. Until you graduate, you know, we only make an $800, you know, between five and $800 stipend at the academy each month. And obviously we're going to school for free. So not complaining or anything but you know, paying a 5 or $600 a month payment on that loan. Be kind of challenging, but you know that the loan is so cheap, it's the cheapest money you'll ever get. Right? I mean.

David:

Yeah.

Jake:

What can you get at point .75?

David:

No, absolutely.

Jake:

Right. So you take it, right. And so I took the loan out. And I was just, I don't know, this was in 2017. And this just shows how long this fear about the economic cycle, like where we are in it has been going on, right. But I was scared about where the stock market was. And I was like, I don't know if I feel comfortable putting my money. And so I maxed out my Roth IRA. And we're not eligible for the TSP no thing. Maybe you are, but I wasn't aware of it at the time. And so I was like, I have all this money, and I don't know what to do with it.

So inadvertently I didn't know anything about actually buying real estate yet. But I knew that buying real estate made sense. And because Colorado Springs at the time was a decent market to buy in, as I want to go buy a duplex and I think the down payment, the cheapest downpayment, I could possibly find on a property that wasn't like in a war zone was about 100 grand.

05:00 - 10:00

Jake:

So inadvertently syndicated the deal, because I went to a couple buddies and said, Hey, guys want to go in on this downpayment together and go buy some real estate and so ended up raising about $200,000, between me and my friends, all this totally clueless, none of us really knowing what to do with their money in the first place. And I told them, I said, Listen, like, I don't know how this deal is going to go. I hope it goes well. And you know, I'd started educating myself more on it. I said, if it doesn't go, well, like you guys have my word, his friend that like, I will do everything I can to pay you guys back like this, this no matter what will be like a growth opportunity for our friendship in the first place. And nobody put so much money and it was a whole bunch of people, nobody put so much money in, that our friendship was going to be destroyed if the deals fell through which they ended up some of them, you know, put the money across a couple different investments. Some of them did fall through. And I still, you know, I stayed true to my word. And I didn't take any distributions that year. Even though we had cash flow distributions, I didn't take any distributions because I wanted to offset some of the losses that we had taken.

So that's how I got started.

David:

That's actually really cool.

I mean, I wish I had 30 grand laying around, not not laying around. But you know, like, I wish I had had money and friends at the same time. It seems like I have one or they have one and aren't around at the same time to be like, hey, let's go do that. So that's a really cool way to...

Jake:

Yeah, I saw the opportunity. A lot of cadets will take that money, and they'll go buy like a Camaro. Like some people, they're called, like, it's nicknamed, like the cadet loan. Some people call it the Corvette loan, because people will go by like really nice cars or, you know, put 25% interest on a car, you know, it's ridiculous. I knew I did not want to do that. And I also didn't want to take out a loan and then let it sit in a bank account that was making less than .75%. And just, you know, I knew I needed to put it to work. So it was like it was a good setup.

David:

Yeah, that's awesome. That's super cool.

Alright. So from there, you have eventually moved into large scale syndications apartment complexes and everything like that.

What was the next step? Like? What made you decide to jump into that?

Jake:

Hmm, good question.

So I started reading a lot of books. So, I did. I didn't know it at the time. But I skipped the whole period of analysis paralysis that I think a lot of people get stuck in, right.

David:

They do.

Jake:

Like a lot of people will start with the books, they'll start with the podcast and the content will start with the content. And they will work really, really hard to make sure that they're 100% ready before they ever put $1 down. And I don't think that's necessarily a bad strategy necessarily. Like I definitely, in hindsight, would have loved to put more time into studying it.

I'm not saying I didn't put any, like I read I read a whole bunch of books. You know, I started in bigger pockets, they had a relatively active presence before I bought my first piece of real estate. But I didn't I definitely didn't spend as much time as a lot of people do.

So uh, you know, for me I got the hardest part out of the way which was taking that first piece of action. And then what ended up happening was I knew immediately that single family homes were not what I wanted to get stuck in because the scale was was challenging for me because the reasons that I got into into real estate in the first place and my goals didn't align with really I think what was possible a single family and so I found out that multifamily existed I started getting into different multifamily resources and I realized that that's where I want to kind of head towards so that so I ended up I ended up getting into a program I bought a course so up to that point, I hadn't paid for a course I paid for a course I took Michael Bloggs Ultimate Guide course which fantastic course. I finished all however many hours in like one night I basically just binge watched the whole thing I thought it was awesome. And that kind of kick started my multifamily career.

David:

It's an ultimate guide. I’ll write my notes down.

Jake:

No worries. Yeah, yeah, I definitely link it to the notes. I owe a lot to Michael and to a lot of people but Michael for sure. He's, he's put a lot of faith into me that I definitely would not be where I am without that dude. So yeah, happy to pitch his course.

David:

Yeah. All right. So exciting stuff. What happened next?

Jake:

Okay, so I got access.

So okay, so really quickly, I want to take a more strategic level discussion about this, because this is where things started to. This is where things started to get frustrating for me. And be like, you know, the main thing is basically, like when I was you know, this is only about two and a half to two and a half years ago, right? So I watched, It started about two and a half years ago. But this like, really is beginning about a year and a half ago. Right? So I'm like a junior in college.

10:00 - 15:00

David:

Yeah.

Jake:

So I'm really young, I have really no experience, because a duplex when you're talking to people who buy hundreds of units at a time isn't worth it, right. So I have no experience. I'm very young. And as a whole is just like, I have all these things that are seen as disadvantages kind of working towards me, right? So I, oh, and not, you know, not to mention, I have no money, right, which is everybody's problem, I had no money. So not only was I worthless as a, you know, operator, but I couldn't even be a passive investor. So I was totally worthless.

So what I decided to do was, figure out something that I was good at, right? Like, I refuse to take this defeatist mentality that I have to wait 10-15 more years until I have more age and experience under my belt before people take me seriously. I was like, I'm gonna find something, right. And I just remember thinking like, and I don't mean to insult anyone who's listening to this, that's on the older side. But I remember thinking like all these, you know, rich old people who are, you know, been doing real estate the same way for 30 years, or whatever. A lot of them are kind of not fantastic with technology. And one of the places that I saw, you know, my skills potentially being valuable is like, you know, if I could become really good at analyzing real estate, like finding my niche and analyzing real estate, I think that I'll be able to add value to these different operators. And that's exactly what I did. I basically took this course and showed you how to basically analyze a deal. It came with a spreadsheet, that was basically a fully built out totally usable spreadsheet called the syndicated deal analyzer. And I just started getting to work on it.

I mean, I underwrote probably five deals a day, I mean, I would come back from classes at like three or four, you know, get done with everything. And by the time, you know, it's all said and done, you know, I'm done with my day at like 9:30 or 10 o'clock, and then that's when my real estate started, I would stay up routinely, like my entire junior year, I'd stay up routinely until three o'clock in the morning, just analyzing deal after deal after deal deals that I would never be able to buy. That would never make sense numerically. But I was just getting the muscle memory down. And it was very, you know, it's challenging to convince yourself that it's worth it.

David:

Yeah.

Jake:

Because I wasn't making any money. And I wasn't seeing any progress. It was getting kind of frustrating. But I said to myself, like, this is like the strategy that you decided to attack, you're going to stick with the strategy until you get feedback on if it's working or not. And I was like, You can't make this decision. You're getting frustrated after a week or two of doing it, and you stick with it.So I ended up sticking with it for like three months.

And I was a part of this mastermind group where people are put in their underwriting and I ended up getting a name for myself, you know, being somebody that people could submit their underwriting to this mastermind, and they would get feedback from me on it, and I had never done a deal. Right? I had never, I don't have any experience from young, all these things that were disadvantages. And yet, I was the only person who would routinely give back in off my own time for free to give people advice on their deals.

I ended up catching the attention of Michael Blank, who is the mastermind, and the guy ended up offering me a job. As you know, it was like an hourly job, I wasn't getting any equity. I only make like 20 bucks an hour, right? And the more you know, the better I got at underwriting, the less money I made it because I was underwriting faster than ever.

So, you know, it was a whatever setup, right? But I finally started making a little bit of money. And I started to see things starting to pay off a little bit. And so I started you know, I felt like holy smokes, like I'm starting to feel like a little bit of traction. So that's where that's what I would say came next after the duplex was honing in on my underwriting skills, and then doing it for free for a while.

David:

Underwriting.

And underwriting is a, you know, an extremely sexy and exciting job that everybody just drools over doing. So I'm sure you had a ton of competition.

Jake:

Yeah, exactly. No, nope. Nobody. Nobody wanted to do it. And so that, you know, like, Listen, like I thought I was like thinking I was like, everybody's selling a course everybody is involved. You know, there's so much. This place is so saturated, how am I going to find a problem to solve? Right, because the only way they think of you, I think you said it right or I mean, I've heard it, you know, whether it was from you or through the community, that you get paid in proportion to the problems you solve, right.

David:

That's an Elon Musk quote. And it's a great right one.

David:

Yeah. It's a great quote, right. So I'm sitting here thinking like, I want to start making some money. And you know, at least seeing some you are making some connections or anything, right. I was just like, I want to start solving some problems. And all the problems I was solving were very simple.

15:00 - 20:00

Jake:

So I was sitting here thinking, gosh, what big problems can I go out there and solve because I felt like everything had been solved already, everyone was out there attacking, and monetizing every aspect of the business. And that I saw, the easiest one was right in front of my eyes, like, nobody was providing value to other new investors for free. And by me, looking at dozens and dozens and dozens of deals, every week, I picked up a lot of rules of thumb, and underwriting techniques, and strategies and different ways to model things and baselines that, you know, expedited my underwriting, you know, significantly. And all of a sudden, I had this problem that I could solve. And eventually, that's what got me the I have, you know, obviously a very powerful educator and syndicator.

David:

Yeah. Which is just, I mean, that in itself, is incredible that you got the attention of somebody like him, and you were able to, I mean, really to get hired, like, not go looking for a job, but to just get hired because you're already adding value, which is awesome. But that's not where it stops, which is where this gets really crazy. And that's why this is so cool. Because, like I talk to people all the time, and you'll hear guys like Brandon Turner and David green, and people who, you know, on these podcasts talking about adding value, and that dreaded word mentor, right, they're like, yeah, you know, people are like, Alright, great, you want to come be a mentor, awesome. But, uh, you know, sort of everybody else? How are you getting your foot in the door, that adding value thing.

So I, I'm similar in a lot of ways I have not had the success that we're about to hear about, but I, you know, I found a deal at one point, and I could have, you know, bird dog that to someone for 10 grand, and I said, Hey, you know what, hey, if you give me two grand, let me just tag along and learn through the whole house foot process. You know, you get it for dirt cheap. And I ended up doing that. And it was great. And I like doing things like that I'd rather you know, drag people around in the car and show them how to drive for dollars, then just say, hey, look, this is what you would do. It's just more fun for me, you get more of a story and to get in the nitty gritty. That being said, the way you proceeded that value, and some of the stuff that's come from it is awesome. And that's what's so cool about this, I'm eager for you to share the kind of some of the next stuff that came from this.

Jake:

Yeah. Well, okay, so this is, yeah, you're right, this is I guess, where it starts to kind of take off a little bit. Because at this point, I haven't received any real equity and these bigger deals, I'm just like watching a lot of people make a lot of money. And I'm just kind of sitting on the sidelines.

I want to preface this by saying because I don't want you to blow me up too much. Like, I'm a very, like, I'm literally a 2.0 student at the Academy. So I'm not a fantastic student. I'm a management major at the Academy. So, you know, we do our STEM classes, you know, I've taken a lot of different technical classes. But you know, a lot of my classes have been, you know, in fuzzy subjects they haven't been in, you know, so I'm not. I'm not the smartest guy in the world is what I'm trying to say.

But if I don't know the answer to a question, I look it up. You know, I don't, I don't just immediately go to someone and ask them, you know, hey, what do you know this, I'll look it up well in this business, right? So if I don't know how to like, do something in Microsoft Excel, I'm not just going to not learn it, I will look it up, and I will learn it. And I just basically did that. And I brute force my way through the basics. And that's really where I gained all these skills. So I just want to let everyone know that like this is, you know, not special at all. Like there are a lot of really special dudes at the Academy. You know, guys and girls at the Academy, and across the whole military, people who just get it right, people just pick it up like that. Not one of those people, though, so I hope that inspires you it's possible.

So what ended up happening was after working for Michael, I, he This is pretty recently actually this is not that long ago. This is like a couple so all really the big successes that I've had have happened in 2019. Right.

So I had been trying to source deals to bring as a, you know, joint venture partner to these bigger companies that brought on students and basically offered them a percentage of the general partnership in exchange for, you know, certain parada aspects of their acquisition process.

So for example, if he, you know, if you brought the earnest money to the deal, you got 5% of the general partnership, and if you did the due diligence, you got 5%. And if you helped out with the ongoing asset management, you got your share of 20% of the general partnership, and if you raise money, you got 30% of the general partnership, and so on, right. So I was trying to make some money doing that stuff, but I wasn't making any money. I wasn't finding any deals. I wasn't, you know, I was underwriting deals but underwriting deals doesn't really, you know, fall into any of that percentage. No one ever pays you for that.

20:00 - 25:00

Jake:

I was starting to get pretty frustrated. I had been you know, I'd come really close, got best and final on a couple really big, really, really big deals. And I was like, gosh, man, these deals if they happen, they change my life. Right. And of course now in hindsight, I know like, it wouldn't have, you know, it's just, you know, it's not one deal that changes everything. It's the summation of all of the efforts that you put in across time.

But this was, you know, mid, late 2018, Michael Blank offered to fly me out to a conference, I was gonna help out with some technical support for people at his financial freedom summit. At that conference, I met a ton of people. And I had no idea the power of networking, I mean, I've met a bunch of people online, but until you sit down, have a couple drinks with someone or you know, sit down over a cup of coffee, or get to know their story and just talk and, you know, shoot the automatic customer show.

David:

Absolutely. Go for it. We're military.

Jake:

Great.

So if you shoot the shit with someone you realize you're connecting, you're much more likely to do, you know, business than those people.

David:

Absolutely.

Jake:

I met a navy seal, fantastic, dude, we still stay in touch. And you know, like, this is like a Navy SEAL talking to a cadet? Why would he ever like why would we ever see eye to eye but we liked each other. And we both saw the value that we can add to each other. So it just worked, right?

So I met all these people, and that the right people and ended up getting put in touch with a company that I now do full time, while full time, right? I do basically any deal that goes through their pipeline. I am the point guy for their underwriting. The guy in charge of the company, his name is Daniel Woodford, he's prior Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel, he's a space officer, he has a fantastic career before him, you know, he moved into multifamily has been exceptionally successful. And he took me under his wing, you know, like the guy, he, me and him, we got along. And he had been doing all the underwriting for his company until then, that's a busy job.

You know, his company, Mission Bay Capital Partners, you know, portfolio size is over $80 million, they have 1000 plus units, they're on a serious acquisition streak right now, you know, buying off market deals doing but they need somebody to be in charge of underwriting the deals, because managing a portfolio that size and raising that kind of money and you know, managing everything, it just is tough to do.

So I ended up getting put into that slot. And we set up a fantastic deal where every deal that goes through their pipeline, regardless of how much or how little work I do on it, I get a percentage of the equity. And I get a fair share of the if there's an acquisition fee, I get an acquisition fee. But most importantly, IMCC on every email they send. And I cannot tell you the value of that. I mean it like every email I get in my inbox is like a seminar.

You know, something I didn't know or I didn't know, that's how you do that, or I didn't, I would have never phrased it like, you know, it's amazing. I mean, I feel like when I could go through my inbox, and look at email chains from these guys that are doing these big deals. And, you know, I'm doing my fair share of the work. It's definitely not easy work. But it's not sexy work for sure. But I have an inside look at you know, this amazing ecosystem that I never knew even existed, right? No amount of online courses can teach you the intricacies of really human relationships, because that's what a lot of real estate investing is. There's a lot of relationship building in it. So.

David:

Absolutely, it's a huge teamsport and you're right about the networking. You know, so many people, they hear it and they think it whatever and I'm like dude, just show up at a meet up. Like you don't have to know the first thing about real estate. But if you start getting to know the right people, you know, I've always had this phrase I've always had like, just be the right person and show up in the right place. And it'll, things will work out for you. And, you know, that's kind of my thing as far as finding a way to be a person worth knowing and add value. And all of a sudden, you'll connect with the right people. And it's amazing what will happen with that networking has been huge for me throughout life. And it's just cool to hear how you showed up to one event, and made just the right connections.

I also really like what you said about being cc on emails, I think that shows a lot as far as your character and kind of what your future holds is the fact that getting a chunk of the pie was great. But that's not the most important part to you.

Jake:

Oh, it didn't matter at all.

I mean, I knew I knew before I received my first check from these guys, that it was going to be different with them not that working with Michael had been bad or working with any of the other investors that I've been working with up to that point have been bad because it hadn't been it's it was all you know, building blocks of part of my process. But as soon as I started working with Daniel and Christine Jefferson and these different members of Mission Bay, as soon as I started working with them, I saw that something was to be different, like they answered strategic questions for me, like I could I could ask them questions like, hey, like, why are we doing this like this?

25:00 - 30:00

Jake:

You know, questions that were waste of their time probably right, and things they probably shouldn't have needed to explain, but I asked them, and instead of, you know, kind of like making me feel lately encouraged these questions, they want me to be a powerful, you know, educated, knowledgeable member of their team. And I just can't tell you how valuable that is.

I mean, I really feel it. And again, all of the equity that I've received as a multifamily investor has been with this group, and it's because they've taken really good care of me. And I think it goes to show you know, like, you know, these, these guys take real good care of me when it comes to, you know, bringing me along, treating me like a partner, right? Because that's, they call me. You know, they have my pictures on the website, they have all these things going for me, treat me like a partner, and they expect a lot from you, right? And so in return, because I'm treated like an adult, which doesn't happen much when you're 20 years old. You know, I work a lot harder. Yeah, exactly. I work harder.

David:

And what's cool is that everything you learned and did in this process, their skills that you can continue to hone continue to get better at and you're not gonna, it's not something that's going to get outdated, right, like, you know, the technology side, you know, the underwriting, you know, the ins and outs of the deal. Now you understand networking. And now, and this is probably the, like the capstone to this pillar of growth is, now you have credibility, right? And that's you had credibility. But now now, it's not, hey, look, I've been analyzing these deals, and I'm good at it.

Now. It's, I've been partnered on a couple 100 units with this huge company out here. And I've done all their all their underwriting, and it's like, it all just comes together to be this like, you're set. Right? Not set, not only say that, like you could just quit, you know.

Jake:

Right, right.

David:

But like, you're not 30 you're not, I mean, you're young, and you have so much going for you already that my peers. By the way, I'm not 30 yet either, so..

Jake:

I love it.

David:

But, you know, my peers, and those a few years older than me, I have so many friends that still haven't figured out the like, hey, just add value. Like, that's it. If you like the quote, you said earlier, you get paid in proportion to the size of the problems you solve. That's it.

Jake:

Yeah.

David:

That’s awesome.

Jake:

Yeah. And so just in case, it was in case it was lost in the story, which I want to make sure that the story like I'm not trying to, like come on the show, just to like, tug myself, right? Like, I want to go there.

David:

Oh, no, I dragged you on here. Because I wanted you to do that.

Jake:

Yeah.

David:

I think the story is awesome. And 10 years from now, when you're like a household name with 50 books, I want to be like, I know that guy.

Jake:

Yeah, I don't know about that.

But you know, in case it was muddy through the story, I really want like, if there's one thing that I want taken away from, like the show, is the age, experience, and age and experience, mostly in money, if you want to throw that in age, experience, and money, if you lack on all three of those, which most young people or you know, even if you're just getting started, right? If you see those things as a disadvantage, then your mentality is going to be what holds you back, it's not going to be your age, it's not gonna be your experience, and it's not going to be the money. It's your it's your, your attitude, that's going to hold you back. Because in my opinion, the biggest advantages I have had are my age, my experience and the lack of money.

I tell people, hey, like, this is my sales pitch on myself. Alright, so this is how I sell myself. I say, Listen, I know that I'm 20 years old. And I know that you probably don't want to, you know, take me all that seriously. And listen, I, I totally get that. Like, you probably didn't make your money by listening to 20 year olds either. So I don't blame you at all. And to prove to you how serious I am about wanting to get in on this, I also don't want to make any money. And let me tell you, like I live off of less than, you know, $9,000 a year. So I'm not making a lot of money. You know, I'm not a rich dude. So, you know, I'm not asking for anything, I don't want you to pay me with equity. I don't want you. All I'm asking is for your time. I promise I'll make you valuable.

And so if you show people like you're eager, and you're excited, they want to help out younger people. And younger as I found it is not limited to 20 year olds. I mean, younger if you're 70 or 60, or 70, or you have a bunch of real estate, anyone below you is considered younger. And so it's not too late to get started. I've talked to a bunch of people about that.

So you need to see your age and your experience and money. You need to see all of that as your biggest advantages if you want to get started and use them as advantages.

30:00 - 35:00

David:

Yeah, that's huge. I mean, can you imagine like If I started learning about how to network and invest in real estate when I was like, 15 I mean, that's just, you know, people people shun the idea, but I mean, there's people who hit me up on Instagram that are like 17 asking questions you're like…

Jake:

That's awesome.

David:

If you stick with this, you are gonna be so successful. Super cool. I did not, I blew all my money on Harley's.

Jake:

I love that I had a ninja 650 in high school, and it was so dangerous, I can't believe letting an 18 year old have access to a big old sport bike. But the one thing that worries me, that I've noticed a lot is a lot of people I think want to make money, I'm not saying there's a right and a wrong reason to make money. Right? So I don't want to sound preachy in that sense. But I do think that a lot of people want to get started in real estate for potentially the wrong reasons, you know, they have the, the Grant Cardone, you know, yachts and mega conferences and smokin hot wives, you know, whatever, they have all this stuff. And they think that real estate will be the vessel towards that, right.

And I have not met a single person who is successful, like, seriously successful in real estate, that lives the sunset and palm trees lifestyle, like people just they're hard workers, they're grinders, they're hustlers. A yeah, they vacation and they live, like higher quality lives, for sure. But they work. These guys are hard workers. And so sometimes, you know, I, I know people that definitely, I know them, right? I know, they're my friends, right? And asked me how to get started. And I'm just like, you know, man, maybe this form of real estate investing is not for you. But being potentially you know, once you start saving up enough money, being a passive investor, is totally the way for you, right? Because you're still going to get those 15% returns that you're hoping to get. But you're not going to have to worry about all the stuff on the back side, which, you know, again, not to knock on courses or anything, the courses make buying real estate sound like it's a lot easier than it is there is a lot that goes into acquiring a piece of property. And even more, so that goes into managing it, managing it lien and well, right.

So you got to be in it. Because you really want to do it, you got to be in it, because you're committed to the lifestyle that entails. And yeah, the money will come . I think that for most people the money comes, but you gotta be ready to put in some sweat equity with very little if any reward for at least a couple months, if not years. Right.

David:

Yeah.

Well, you know, cool thing. And you mentioned this, I'm sure this, you know, I'm going to say this. And I'm going to say that this isn't your thought, I'm sure you've had this thought but this is my thought. So I'm the asshole not him. That those friends of yours who are asking about this, that you just know, aren't necessarily cut out for investing. When you're ready to syndicate your own deal, you have a melting pot of friends who will have for the next five to 10 years solid jobs where they can afford to invest. So you've got I'm sure there's like this little black book of like, Jimmy wants to invest his money now. And if there's not, you know, that's how I would be thinking like, you know, I wish that I'd thought about this sooner when I had friends like, Can you imagine what I could have done if I'd known about real estate. And I've been thinking about this when all my buddies came back with 15,000 a piece from a deployment that is just sitting in a savings account. Like we all bought cars, tattoos, Harley's and booze, which is great. But like none of its left, but the tattoos so.

Jake:

Yeah, so I mean, I think that if you run your business responsibly, and again, this is a business, right? So investing real estate, investing as a business 100%.

So if you run your business, with a mission with vision, and part of your mission is to help your friends and help your family and help your network, create and sustain long term wealth, which is totally doable in real estate, right, it is the vessel that does that it is the investment that make that that is, you know, that makes that a reality.

So if you as a private, you know, security sourcer can bring investments that make a difference to your friends and family. I think you are not only you know, potentially, you know, making money from the deal, right? Hopefully, you're purchasing an asset that's going to make you some money, but you're also doing a service for the people that you love and that you care for. And if you treat your business with the respect that it deserves, if you work at it, and you perfect it and you take it seriously. And you can no, you know in good faith that you're doing a good service and you're doing good by your word. And I think if you attack the business from that perspective, raising money no longer becomes an issue.

David:

No.

35:00 - 40:00

Jake:

Because I am seeing how Mission Bay raises money. And I'm seeing a lot of fundraisers which are becoming a huge part of the industry. People are, they don't do anything except to raise money for deals.

So they find people are making deals happen. And they connect the deals. So the private equity sources, you know, the doctors and the lawyers and the post deployment folks like they connect them, right. They're professional money brokers. And you know, these people, I'll tell you, I know, a couple are very successful. Like guys who could raise a, you know, a couple million dollars in a day. I mean, it's ridiculous. Some of these people are very well connected, right?

David:

Yeah.

Jake:

And the one thing they all have in common, is every time they go to an investor, and they say, Hey, I got a deal for you, they believe in that deal. And they know that deal inside and out. And they've done their due diligence. And they feel comfortable bringing it to someone because they know that they're doing that person a service, they're not seeing it as a, as a, as a scheme or a scam or, you know, whatever. Like they're seeing it as a legitimate respectable business, and they feel proud to be a part of that.

So it takes some time to get there, though, you know, so it takes some time.

David:

I think that's all part of the having your why right. You know, if you, if you know what you're doing and why you're doing it, and you believe in it. Yeah, absolutely. That's huge.

And yeah, I always, I always joke with people, because the money thing is like the number one reason I don't wanna say reason, number one excuse for why people don't start dealing with real estate, you know, oh, I don't have any money. Like, dude, find a deal. If you find a deal. Everything else can fall into place. If you don't know anything about the deal. Other than that, it's a deal. You can find someone to buy it, or you can find a way to wholesale it or you can find, I mean, it all just comes together. That's the hardest part. And that's the irony, the cheapest part to like, it's not. I mean, I don't wanna say it's not hard to find a deal, but it doesn't cost money to find a deal.

Jake:

Right, well, there's an opportunity cost, right? But for military members, luckily, we don't really have to deal with it as much, I don't think.

Again, so I'm a cadet, I'm taking active duty, right, but I'm a student, right? I mean, I'm in a different part of the military than you are in probably a different part that a lot of people listen to your show, by the way, you have like over 10,000 followers, right?

David:

On Instagram, it just hit 11, which is kinda cool.

Jake:

I saw that. Congratulations.

You have grown your page so much. Last year, it blew my mind, you are the reason that I decided to start doing it myself was like, You know what, he said, he said, just do it, like stop getting stuck in the, in the thinking about and just do it. And so I took the plunge too.

David:

That’s awesome.

Jake:

But I, what I was gonna say was, you know, the thing about the military is like, no matter how much work you do, or don't do after hours, you're still going to make your, your W two income, you're still going to get paid, right? Hopefully, you're still doing your job in the military.

But if you can take like three or four hours extra out of your day, which I think for most people is pretty doable. And even if you don't do it all, what you know, consistently if you like, dedicate, like half of your day on Sunday to doing it. Just like educating yourself or like taking things a little bit more seriously. Man, at the beginning, the difference, that growth is just exponential, you just like take off because you start to read more and learn more, and you're like, God, God, I could do this, I could totally fucking do this. And all I need to do is just work a little bit more and a little bit more eventually, that little bit more turns into a ton. And before you know it, you're out and off to the races and you're just like, you don't know how long it'll take, but it's only a matter of time before you get that first deal.

Once you get that first deal, the second one comes a lot easier. And then the third and the fourth, and I don't know why it works like that. But that's how it works. I mean, like, once you get that train rolling like...

David:

That's exponential.

Jake:

Yeah.

David:

It's huge.

Man. Um, I don't think we got to like any of my normal questions, cuz...

Jake:

Yeah, sorry about that.

David:

No, I totally don't care.

Most of these questions people don't care about anyway. So this might be the most watched video and then I'll know I need to change my questions.

No, so okay, so I do want to ask you, though, since you've been around the educational side a little bit like you already shouted out Michael Blank course, so I'll be sure to put that in here.

But what's another resource you might recommend?

Jake:

Um, if you're not listening to podcasts, you are fucking up big time.

So it blows my mind. Like when I talk to my dad, right? So my dad's dinosaur and he, and yeah, I'm just kidding. But he My dad is a super smart guy. And, you know, he's a doctor, right?

40:00 - 45:00

Jake:

So, my dad tells me about how he learns, right and like, you know, he knows something about everything is one of those guys, right? I remember like asking, like, how did you learn so much? Like, you know, you, you, uh, you know, you just know something about everything. How do you do that? Like, how do you become like such a mini expert? And his answer is books, you read a lot of books. And that's great. And so I think books are great. But podcasts are literally, like, as a generation, we have access to a library of some of the most prolific thought leaders in any subject you can possibly imagine. And all you have to do is listen.

David:

Yeah.

Jake:

You have to read. You know, you can listen in the car instead of listening to music, you can listen to podcasts, when you're doing your cardio. You can do it. I mean, when you're when you go on walks, whatever. I mean, like whenever you have downtime, you can listen to it. And, to me, the most growth of God by far is our podcasts.

So the podcasts that I like that have to do with real estate are Kevin Bob's podcast. I can't remember the name of it right now. But I mean, I just know Kevin Bob, right. He shows up in my feed I subscribed to and Kathy Fettke show. So Kathy Fettke does a show or she talks about, you know, the real estate industry five minutes a day. very quick, very succinct. It's awesome.

Kevin, Bob, dude interviews people about all kinds of real estate and opens up your eyes. I mean, his show is a launch pad, you know, I mean, like, he goes perfectly in depth on that with his guests. And then it sends you in a different direction. You can look up on YouTube or whatever. So I think podcasts are by far the best resource out there. By far.

David:

Yeah, I would agree with you. I think podcasts are awesome. And not just because I have one now but you know, I mean, I listened to probably the first 150 podcasts on bigger pockets when I first started real estate investing and just one after the next and I was convinced I was going to catch up. But you know, sometimes there were weeks I wouldn't listen to one and they would have like one come out and then I'd be like, well now I'm behind. There's so many of them. I don't know.

Jake:

But you don't even feel like that right like it's your journey like you listen to it, how you listen to it and you get behind like whatever.
David:

Yeah, I get sidetracked. I end up on Jocko Willink and then Tim Ferriss.

Jake:

I listen to a lot of Joe Rogan. I love Joe Rogan.

David:

Yeah. Oh, man, but you will never catch up on his podcast. You can listen to this podcast 24 hours a day and only finish like three episodes a day.

Jake:

Yeah, exactly.

David:

That means podcasts like his podcast are like a workout on a work day.

Jake:

Yeah, totally. I hear it.

David:

I love it.

Jake:

One more thing about bigger pockets because I spend a lot of time on bigger pockets. mentor of mine, by the name of Greg Scott. I met him in bigger pockets. Fantastic dude. Investor in Michigan.

And he told me something about bigger pockets that has resonated with me. And I think it saved me from a lot of advice that maybe isn't so great.

So bigger pockets in the forums is kind of like a flea market. So there people are selling you, you know, dogshit next to fantastic artists and pieces, you just got to be able to discern the difference between the two, right, you need to be able to see when you know where good information is and where bad information is. Because there's really good content out there. There's some people who it blows my mind how they post so much. He should say so many great things about investing. And then someone will say something that is so comically dangerous in terms of advice that you know, you just have to be on the lookout for it.

So if you're in bigger pockets, just know that like, the good content for sure exists. So does the other side of things.

David:

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Got to make sure you filter. That's cool. I appreciate you throwing that out there.

All right. So before we wrap anything, wrap this up. Is there anything else you'd like to add any last thoughts?

Jake:

No, man, unless you got any questions, but no, it's been great to be on the show.

David:

I can't think of any I mean, the biggest point in this whole thing is like, don't let anything stop you just find a way to add value and solve problems.

Jake:

Yeah. Hey, that sounds about right.

Yeah. And I think I got your I think you were before the show. You're talking about advice to an E one or E two?

David:

Oh yeah.

Jake:

Yeah. Um, I think that again, like, you know, I am the age, right on that same age frame. So it's a little strange to give advice. But again, like I was saying, like, it's not my advice. This is advice that I've picked up and I'm just transferring on.

A huge piece of advice is you are really not entitled to any of this.And I think that, you know, you a lot of this is luck, right? I was very lucky to make the connections I've made. And I think that a lot of people who would have been successful I think they'd say like, there was an element of luck at the beginning.

But you got to make your own. You got to create your own destiny. Right like if you just sit on your hands and You know, if you're if you're out there and you're just like, finding excuses to not get started, or you know, you're thinking that like, you know, maybe you're just not cut out for it, then maybe that's true.

45:00 - 48:37

Jake:

But until you like, give it a solid effort, like you, you won't know. And it's not gonna fall into your lap. Like, you're not entitled to anything, anything. Again, this is gonna come because you weren't at it.

So my encouragement is like, find someone else, you know, keep you accountable. You don't need to look for mentors, necessarily. Find an accountability partner, find somebody who's gonna check in with you, hold you to your goals, hold you to what you say. And that will, you know, keep chugging, you know, chugging along, because that's really what it's all about, like I said, it's a whole bunch of different things that you do that combine and add into this bigger picture that hopefully leads in the right direction. And I firmly believe that anyone could do real estate investing if you work hard enough at it.

David:

Yeah. Yeah, that's huge. And it is hard work. But it's fun work. So especially if you like numbers.

Jake:

So yeah, yeah. It's weird how that works.

David:

Hey, where can people get a hold of you? If they want to reach out?

Jake:

Okay, so you can reach out to my email, giving you my personal email. It's [email protected] I know I'm still on Yahoo. Again, that's voelen Volin_jakeyahoo.com.

And I also am now on Instagram, I just started a podcast that is going to be aimed at developing financial literacy amongst young adults, because I just think that it is such a huge problem.

Real estate is great, right? But most people don't really care like most people are like me. I've been talking to don't knowing how to set a budget on how to track their net worth or whatever.

So I'm on Instagram @theJakeVolinpodcast. So if you look up the Jake Volin podcast, I'll be talking about a lot of those things. So those are the two ways that you can get in touch with me right now. And I answered everyone, right. So if you want to, if you reach out, I'll get back to you.

David:

I'll make sure I tagged the podcast in there. That is super cool. Congrats on getting started with that.

Jake:

Right on.. Yeah, not it's nowhere near yours yet.

David:

It's just for fun.

The best part of having a podcast, I'm gonna say this, I'm going to ruin it for everyone else. Yeah, so people have podcasts because they want them to get sponsored and earn a little extra income and market and get to know people and the networking part is great.

The best part of having a podcast though, is that I get to have a one on one with people and ask them the questions that I want to know the answers to. So you know, sometimes you listen to a podcast, and someone's saying stuff and you're like, oh, man, I wonder how he did that. Like, there's just that one piece. And no one asks a question. You never hear.

Jake:

Right.

David:

I don't have to worry about that. I get to ask the question. So that's like, my favorite part is that I get to talk to people. And then whenever something pops in my head, I'm like, Oh, I get to ask that question right now. And as long as they don't tell me to go to hell, I will get an answer.

Jake:

Right on. I hear you.

Interviewing people is a tough skill by the way.

David:

Yeah, I don't know what I'm doing.

Jake:

You're killing it.

David:

Hey, Jake, thank you very much for stopping by. I really appreciate it.

Jake:

Yeah, man, I look forward to keeping in touch.

David:

Absolutely.

End:

Thank you for listening to another episode about my journey From military to millionaire.

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