He Quit Big Four Accounting to Build a Real Estate Empire | Lee West

So 18 hours I would just like consume podcasts, Audible, everything. And then um I quit cold turkey. It took me eight months to find my first deal. So I know >> you know what it is. >> I know what it is. >> So all the people that are out there that's saying, "Hey, after 3 months or 6 months, this doesn't work." What do you say to that? >> Bit too early. >> Bit too early, baby. Keep

going. >> Yeah. That's it. I had, you know, status and, you know, having the hotel points and the the flight status and all of this stuff and all of these things and really what what they like to call you in in a good in a really good salary. It's called the golden handcuffs, right? Where you kind of get trapped by that stuff and eventually if you stay too long, you will get trapped because >> if you

want to go work somewhere else, they're probably not going to match that salary, right? So, you're going to reach a cap to where you're now kind of enslaved to to that company. just getting better with sell skills too. I can't imagine the amount of money we left on the table in the early years just because dude >> it's I know a lot of times people talk about the money that they make but I think if you

look at the money that you didn't make it's probably like 10x 100% of a grapefruit or you want 50% of a watermelon, right? And even though we split it 50/50, it still ended up being two to 4x what we, you know, two to three times what we thought we were going to make in the first place, right? And that just really >> pick up the phone podcast. I am your host, Jose. I am the founder of

Gets You.AI, the first emotionally intelligent voice AI for real estate. It's not artificial intelligence, it's emotional intelligence. Lee, today's guest is Lee West. Lee West has been nine years in business, wholesaling, flipping, real estate, 300 plus deals closed and um man, you you said something really um really important here. You know, when when you found your piece as as an entrepreneur, uh there's a lot of anxieties that come with it. So, I think finding your peace

as an entrepreneur is probably one of the most biggest accomplishments you could have. So, Lee, thank you so much for being here, bro. >> Thank you for having me, Jose. Absolutely. >> Appreciate it. Glad to be here with you, man. Dude, incredible. Incredible, man. Let's uh let's get started at the beginning, bro. Um let's go. >> Let's talk about Lee West. Who is Lee West? >> You didn't tell me you was going to ask that question.

[laughter] >> No. Uh Lee West, who am I, man? I'm just uh you know, I feel like I'm just a vessel, man. I think uh when I just in simple ways, man, I'm here to just be the best version that I possibly can be and just present that person to the world, man. That's that's that's what I'm here to do. So, >> I'm here. I love people. Love working hard, being a hustler. Yeah. >> And anyway,

I've always trying to trying to leave with value, man. >> Love it. Love it, brother. Absolutely. Are you from Houston? >> Originally from California. Born and raised in Los Well, let me be exact. >> Got to give credit to where home is, man. So, born and raised in Compton, California. Louisiana roots. [laughter] >> Yeah, I know, man. I got I got layers, man. I got layers, man. Holy [ __ ] Like an onion. I don't give

it all up front, man. So, >> how did I not know this, bro? >> I know. I'm an onion, man. But, uh, originally from Compton, California, man. So, uh, I've, uh, that's why that's why I don't have that, uh, Houston accent. So, originally from Compton, California. Still got a lot of family out there. >> I've lived in many places all over the West Coast. Oregon, Washington, >> uh, Dallas, and then I've been in Houston. Houston is

the longest place I've ever lived, man. So, I've got a lot I can relate to a lot of people, man. So, absolutely. >> You're telling me, bro. So, how'd you end up in in Houston? >> College. Go Cougs. >> Cougs. >> UFH. University of Houston, man. That's how I came to Houston. >> Love it, bro. Love it. So, um, originally from Compton, Compton, California. Um, >> bro, I would love to find out. Can you tell me

a little bit about how Compton is? >> Uh, Compton, uh, to be honest, is probably one of the uh, greatest chapters of my childhood, man. It's it's literally just like the movies you see. >> Is it >> on, you know, get out of Compton? That was like a biopic, right? Um, straight out of Compton, I'm sorry. Straight out of Compton. Um, when you look at the neighborhoods and the kids playing outside, riding the bikes, hula hoop,

hopscotch, uh, going to the ice cream truck, hanging out in the streets, you know, drawing the chalk in the streets, that's literally how my childhood was in Compton. And, you know, you you hear about the the stories of like, oh, you're from Compton, like, oh, you I got to be safe. But, you know, even though it was a lot of gang culture, there's, you know, even though I have family members that's in the gangs and stuff

like that, uh, to be honest with you, at that time, you know, in the, you know, '9s growing up, you know, gang culture was different than it is now. Now it's there's there's not that the same level of respect that it was back then. Early on is you got to protect the kids, got to protect women. So, it was just that was the law, right? So even though yes we there was gangs and and you hear

about all that violence and street violence and stuff like that like I would honestly as a kid you would you would never really know that it was around you just because you know the kids were protected. >> So it was a little bit of like street street law right like uh a known gentleman's agreement between gangs to protect the children protect the women. >> Absolutely 100%. So, you know, I had, you know, even I just remember,

you know, growing up like it was like the street that I grew up, it was kind of like a roundabout. >> Yeah. >> Uh kind of like a culde-sac at the end. It was kind of L-shaped, but you know, if you went too far down the street, you know, they'll tell you he's like, "Hey, you know, you're not supposed to be down here, right?" Kind of reminds you go back to the side of the street, [laughter]

you know what I mean? So, it was just Yeah, it was just a different It was a different time back then than it is now. So, you know, I know a lot of times people hear Compton, it's like, "Oh, it's like oh man, it's crazy just bodies in your front yard and stuff." This is nothing like that, man. Would you say that a lot of people have lost respect now? >> 100%. >> Yeah. >> 100%. >>

Did the the the laws no longer apply now, >> which is what we're seeing now, right? You know, the people with you know, protecting themselves. It's not about loyalty. It's just it's just gone now. >> Mhm. >> So, it's just different now. >> I'm not in it obviously, so I don't know. I don't know all the details now, man. But, you know what I mean? So that's that's not my life, but I can just speak to

it, you know, when I was when I was a kid growing up and and seeing it and and knowing it's just different now. >> Well, the reason why I asked Lee is just to like, you know, kind of bring to light, you know, your your upbringing, you know, and I think it's important to share um where we're from, right? Where we're from, where we're, you know, the person that or the environments that that makes us. But

I think most importantly to showcase the fact that even if you are in that area or even if you're born in a uh in a limited upbringing like I was. I was born in >> the one I think it's one of the poorest counties in the entire US in South Texas. So >> you know if people like you and I can get out of those situations anyone can you know. So if you're listening to this you

know you can get out of there. You're not a tree. >> Absolutely. And I had great parents man. So it's like I'll be the first to say like even though I was living in Compton, I was I was at Catholic private schools. >> Oh yeah. >> You know what I mean? So I wasn't in public school. Like I didn't I didn't grow up in that lifestyle. I didn't. So I'm I'm the I'll be the first to

say like, bro, I'm not >> that's not my lifestyle. That just happened to where I live. My my my family's roots is Louisiana, man. So Okay, cool. You know, that's just southern hospitality and all of that stuff. So you know, it's just it is what it is. Good food. Good food. >> Good food. [laughter] Great great people, man. Hospitality. >> Love it. So you ended up in Houston, man. How did you get into real estate? >>

Uh man, great question. It's it's a very loaded question, but just to be as as efficient as possible, you know, uh you know, for your listeners and stuff like that, your community. >> Um my prior career was actually in accounting. So went through the whole college college route, right? Went up and even got my master's degree. >> So I got my undergrad in uh in in in business and then I got my masters in accounting uh

and worked for one of the top accounting firms in the world. It's called Big Four Accounting. It's kind of like how big law is like you have your top law firms in the world. And so, uh, one of my firms, not to name them, uh, was big four. So, I was a tax consultant and traveling all over the United States consulting on Fortune 500 companies on how to save millions of dollars for taxes, right? And employment

tax specifically. >> And then, um, when it came to my journey into entrepreneurship, it really just kind of being in that world where you you're working for such a massive company, you've got the benefits, right? because I travel so much. I had, you know, status and, you know, having the hotel points and the the flight status and all of this stuff and all of these things. It really what what they like to call you in in

a in a really good salary. It's called the golden handcuffs, right? Where you kind of get trapped by that stuff and eventually if you stay too long, you will get trapped because >> if you want to go work somewhere else, they're probably not going to match that salary, right? So, you're going to reach a cap to where you're now kind of enslaved to to that company. And I saw that and it's really the relationships I had

with the partners at this accounting firm that just kind of I would overhear these conversations. I had direct communication with them. So I really kind of got to see behind the curtain of it. And I just realized like, you know, I got to have control of my my own life cuz if if I don't make the decision to leave um in the near future, I'm going to get trapped here just like a lot of the other

people that that I see. And I just didn't want that for my life. So, uh, really just entrepreneurship, just first that idea coming in and I guess specifically in in our story getting into the business. Uh, you know, my business partner and myself, um, uh, Kirk and I, we met at UFH. Goks again. Uh, we actually, he had a friend that was actually in wholesaling. He was wholesaling. First time I'd ever heard of it in my

entire life. I was kind of familiar with real estate. Never heard ao wholesaling before. He introduced us to it. He was up in the woodlands. He was like, "Hey, just come out. I'm at my buddy's house. Come up. Uh >> what was his name? I don't I can't remember to be honest with you because he wasn't my my friend. It was one of Yeah, one of Kirk's mutual friends and forgive me cuz if I can recall

his name, I wish I'd have known that before here cuz I want to definitely give him credit. >> Um but >> he just introduced us into it, right? And and by doing that, it was like our way of getting into the business without having to use too much capital, right? And just like having a chance to be successful. So that's really how it started. >> Love it. >> Yeah. >> So you did you met uh Kirk

in in college? >> Yeah. Okay. So Kirk and I Yeah, we met in college in like 2008. >> Were you guys working at the same uh firm together or? >> No. So I was working for what we call public accounting which is you know big four accounting which is really kind of accounting services for big companies. And then Kirk was working for one of the largest uh car dealership conglomerates in their accounting department. >> Wow. >>

Yeah. So, we're both in accounting, but just completely his his technical term is like industry accounting where you're working for like a a company and then mine was in public accounting. >> Gotcha. Gotcha. And for anyone that's listening um to this right now, Kirk is uh Lee Lee's partner. So, >> Correct. Correct. >> Yeah. And uh you know, real quick, I I would love to just point out how great of a partnership that you guys have.

And I I'd love to get into uh some of the challenges and some of the lessons that you've learned along the way with having a partner because I feel like I've seen way more partnerships dissolve, break apart, and end up in bad terms. And so >> I I'd like to really uh dive in in terms of how you guys actually made it work and are still making it work, you know, but we'll get into that here

in a little bit after we're done with your story. >> Um, so you guys you guys uh got into real estate. Uh, someone uh showed you guys uh how to buy and how to flip properties with no money out of pocket. Is that the first thing? >> Really? It was just wholesaling. >> Wholesaling, >> right? Just getting deals under contract and you can make money on an assignment. Like what's an assignment? >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Right.

And then after that conversation, yeah, I just went down a rabbit hole with like YouTube University and stuff like that. >> So, when was that? When did you first get introduced to real estate? >> Uh, that would have been late I want to say that would have been late 2016. >> Late 2016. >> And then we were just kind of going back and forth on what we can do, what we can do. And then we in

we officially established our LLC February 28th, 2017. >> February 28. Nice. Fe, you said 28. Hey, 2018. February 28th, 2017. >> 2017. >> Yeah. When our LLC was incorporated. >> Love it. So 2017. And you met Kirk in 2008. >> Uh two Yeah. 2007, 2008. >> So you knew him already for 10 years, >> correct? Yeah. We we're best friends, already knew each other, and very close. I always like to say you can't go into business

with all your friends, right? You got some friends that just drinking buddies and some friends at this, but >> we really uh Kirk and I's mindset was definitely different. And it's kind of like one of those friends where you're talking about your visions aren't align are in aligned. And it just so happened at the same time like we were both kind of really having that that struggle of figuring out like man we have to figure out

how to get out of the rat race before it's too late. And it just the the timing of it all kind of aligned for the both of us. >> Yeah. >> I think there's a lot of insights and a lot of takeaways right there, bro. you know, um because I feel like the stars really do have to be perfectly aligned for anyone to go into business together. From from my experience and from what I've seen, >>

I've seen so many more partnerships to solve than I care to admit. You know, like >> same >> close friends, um acquaintances, I mean, it >> partnership is one of the hardest things in business. And >> if anyone that's listening to it to this right now, I'd say don't get into partnership with anyone. uh just do it alone or uh unless you have a similar story with Lee and the stars are lining perfectly. >> Other than

that, I would I would just advise that it's better to just do it on your own. Uh for for most things, you know, especially for real estate, I'd say. >> Yeah. I mean, I I mean, I think because of my situation, I can sometimes beg to differ, right? Just because in this business, it really is it's it's very hard to do by yourself at scale, right? or when you're really trying to grow, it's it's difficult or

you're gonna have to bring in hire in those people to kind of be your partner, right? I gotta hire a CEO COO or or you know, you'll be the CEO or you got to hire your COO, which is essentially going to be your partner in business, honestly, right? It's your partner in business without being your partner. You're just employing them, right? >> And so either way, you're still going to need help along the way, right? And

you're absolutely right. I would say in in my opinion when it comes to partnership, I would say unless you guys have just extreme alignment in terms of your goals, the your outlook on life, who you guys are, your character, uh the character is so important. Uh because there's so much trust involved, right? Uh when it comes to a partnership and um you're right, I I I really did just get lucky. I do there's a lot of

luck involved, like you said, in alignment. But I'd say before you get into partnership, I'd say just date first. Have your own separate LLC's. See if there's things here that hey, if can this actually work? And then if you guys decide to join in the future, fine. But I mean, I think you're if you were to do a partner today, if you don't really have that type of relationship like I like I like I had having

somebody that you know knew for 10 years. I mean, what are the odds of that, right? >> Um just have your separate LLC's and just do business together, right? >> And that way if something happens, it's a clean clean breakup. >> Yeah, I agree. I agree. So, you met Kirk 27 2017. You guys started an LLC. Uh, what happens next? >> What happened next? Uh, >> Harvey. >> Hurricane. [laughter] Well, before Harvey, I mean, we we

really got into really YouTube University, right? So, February 28th is when we incorporated the LLC and then I actually quit my job full uh cold turkey June of 2017. >> Really? >> Yeah. So >> obviously there was things that were there was things that had to happen before then that we were already planning because I said that conversation his and actually just so I can give him credit I finally recall his name is Brandon Brandon show

uh so what's up show if you're listening to this he was the guy that introduced and planted that seed to us right he gave us some gems >> amazing human being and um so so June is when I quit cold turkey but before that I always like to say this for people that are getting into business trying to figure out business uh Kirk and and I really were on a get out of debt plan on a

personal level, right? So, we got to the point where we both didn't have any personal debt outside of uh you know, at my at the time, you know, I had a mortgage on my home, but everything else was paid off. >> Yeah. >> Uh cars, credit cards, student loan debt, everything was paid off before I quit cold turkey. And I had, you know, a little bit of savings as well. I had savings set aside to where

I knew like if everything hit the fan. I had approximately at that time I had about a year and a half of runway that if I made no money, you know, I could still have food, lights paid, mortgage paid and everything like that. So that gave us enough runway to be successful because leading up to your question, right, uh, Incorporated LLC February 28th, 2017, our first deal did not close in fund until November 28th, 2017, 9

months to the exact date. Nine months. >> Nine months. Took us nine months before we f we got our first deposit into our bank account. >> Yeah. >> So, imagine, you know, I always like to say, imagine going and chasing your dream and for nine months not seeing a dime. >> Yeah. It's tough, bro. My first deal took me eight eight months >> to get my first deal. And I I did something similar. I quit my

job cold turkey. I was uh working as a as a field engineer for a pipeline inspection company. >> So we had uh >> Never knew that. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. So we we had intelligent pigs. We call them a pig. It's a pipeline inspection unit and we would throw it through the pipeline. It had magnets. It had calipers and it would measure the uh the thickness of the steel to see if there's any corrosion. And

it would measure the diameter on the inside to see if there's any sort of uh dents or anything like that. that any sort of hits the pipelines. These are pipelines that are transporting gas, right? So, >> like natural gas. >> Natural gas. And so, if there's a leak, I mean, that could be a potential explosion, right? Huge liability. >> Um, and it's all managed by the Texas Railroad Commission. So, um, by law, they have to get

inspected. So, we had job security. And so, I mean, we would just be out there, uh, I'd travel from like here to North Dakota, 18 hours straight driving. So 18 hours I would just like consume podcast, Audible, everything. And then um I quit cold turkey. It took me eight months to find my first deal. So I know >> you know what it is. >> I know what it is. >> So all the people that are out

there that's saying, "Hey, after 3 months or 6 months, this doesn't work." What do you say to that? >> Quit too early. >> Quit too early, baby. Yeah. Keep going. >> Yeah. That's it. >> Yeah. >> Um I think, you know, especially in real estate, I'd say, you know, like I wouldn't quit this at all for at least minimum a year. You know, I would give that much of a runway. I think kudos to you for

having a year and a half. I think I only had like maybe probably like six maybe six months of of leeway. So >> the last two months I was living on credit cards. [laughter] >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> That's what it takes though, man. >> That's what it took. Yeah, >> that's what it takes. >> When I got my first deal, I think I had like a $20,000 credit card bill >> and I made 20,000. [laughter]

>> So I'm back at zero. >> Broke even. >> I love that. But now I proved the point, right? And then I got my second deal, I think two months later. >> Um, and I made 30,000 on the second one, >> 20,000 on the third one, and the rest is history. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah, it was beautiful. >> Absolutely. >> Um, man, that's amazing, dude. So, uh, took you 9 months. Let's talk about, um, how you

guys started actually systemizing and started getting deals consistently. Um, what what did that process look like? And before we jump into that, we uh we're just going to take a quick commercial break to hear from our sponsors. Let's go. If you're a nationwide real estate investor, you need to go check out gethardmoney.com. get hardmoney.com is the number one place to find local hardmoney lenders. You can connect with them directly. You can request term sheets. You can

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cost ever. So if you're investing and you need lender connections, this site works nationwide. Uh if you need deal analysis, this thing is a no-brainer. There's no cost to sign up. It's just free value, free connections to any real estate lender out there. So, get go sign up. get hardmoney.com. All right, Lean, we're back. So, let's talk about what happened and how you guys were able to systemize and start getting Well, first I think at the

beginning, you know, you don't have a whole lot of systems in place, right? So, first at the beginning is like how do we get money in the door every month? >> Yeah. >> Right. So, what did that process look like? Yeah, that's a great question, man. And I'll and I'll and I guess just to just so I never forget because it's something that we share, you know, when you know we do our our meetup, always being

reminded of that first deal, right? So, just to understand the kind of breakthrough moment for us on that first deal, too, is a lot that happened. So, one is just not quitting, right? So, it took us nine months. A lot of people give up too early. But then another thing was how important collaboration is in this business, right? Uh that first deal, we did everything. We met with the seller like two times. I mean, we probably

spent four to six hours with these sellers. Hurricane Harvey deal, great area. And it was off of a bandit sign, right? This is when we're putting out bandit signs. We were in this whole nine months, we're sending out, we're folding letters. We had a little letter folding machine, stuffing letters. We're doing this. We're going out and putting direct mail. Had a little PVC pipe uh with a little stapler gun on it so we could go up,

you know, 6 feet up on the, you know, 9 ft on that pole, staple the the bandit signs in. So, it really was grinding. got pulled over by police. You know, we're doing this on the weekend. So, Friday night, we're going out starting at like 10:00 and not finished up till like 2:00 in the morning putting out bandit signs. So, it was really a grind. But in that in in that first deal, we spent so much

time with the seller. And, you know, every when you're getting into this business, they say, you know, if you're going to sign a deal, wholesale a deal, you can only make five or 10 grand, right? And we went in with that mindset, right? Like, all right, maybe I think we can make five or 10 grand and, you know, we can do this deal. But we didn't have any buyers. >> Yeah. Right. And thankfully we we we

had some guys in our industry and I'd like to point shout them out to uh Andy Andy and Andre uh and they were some operators at the time and they had a meet up and stuff like that and kind of built relationship with them. And so we were like, "Hey, we got this deal. It's already under contract. We got it locked up. Can you help us move it?" We thought we were going to make 5 to

10 grand on the deal. They found a buyer and ended up being almost a $40,000 deal. our first deal, right? >> First deal. >> First deal out the door and we ended up JVing with them. So after, you know, after, you know, kind of little fees and stuff like that, um, we ended up, our first our first wire was even splitting that like 50/50. Our first wire was $18,125. And so I always like to say going

back to that that analogy is like you want, you know, you want 100% of a grapefruit or you want 50% of a watermelon, right? And even though we split it 50/50, it still ended up being two to 4x what we, you know, two to three times what we thought we were going to make in the first place, right? And that just really opened our minds up into like how much we can actually make >> wholesaling. Like

we don't have to just make 510. if it's a great deal, dude, we can make 30k assignment fee, 40k assignment fee. And then I think after that, I believe our second or third deal was in the same neighborhood um off of Brian Pond. And that deal ended up being uh I think that was like a 70 $80,000 deal. It was like our second or third deal we ever did. And and that was driving for dollars. >>

Driving for dollars. >> Driving for dollars. We in the neighborhood. We're leaving that property. >> Mhm. >> And uh Kirk and I were driving. He's like, "Hey man, back up." saw that property overgrown grass. >> I had forgotten about it. He went and skip traced, found the owner. It was an old lady who lived out of state, got in contact with her granddaughter or something, and she's like, "Yeah, I've been trying to sell it, but haven't

been able." And come to find out in that deal, she was an older lady. She had power of attorneys that were kind of like blocking the deal and stuff like that, but we end up getting in contact with the seller uh with her her granddaughter and um yeah, and the power of that deal. So we ended up uh buying that deal, cleaning it out, and then uh selling it. So >> So you guys closed on it?

>> We closed on it. >> Okay. So it was like a hotel. >> Yeah. And we didn't even know what it was called at the time. No, >> we were hoteling. Didn't know it was a hotel. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> Were any of you guys say uh a real estate agent at the time or? No. >> So you just bought the deal. >> Um you threw it up on the market, sold it, and that

was what your second third deal. >> Yeah. Second or third deal. >> Nice. >> Yeah. >> 70 $80,000 deal. >> Yeah. I think it was like I think it was right at 70. >> So after that it's it's time to clean house then. >> Yeah, [laughter] >> absolutely. >> And so what happened after that, man? Like uh what was what was kind of like the first year in business with uh after you you started actually closing

deals? >> Well, our first deal that was the only deal we made in in 2017, right, was that that that first deal for 18 grand. So we had $18,000 of revenue in our first year. Yeah. >> Uh I think the second year I think it was probably about another 150 or so like in year two, you know. I know that was a big one. That was a big chunk. >> I think we did a few more

deals after that, but really >> um we still didn't have we I think at that time we still didn't have any systems. It was like yellow pad driving for dollars and B still doing bandit signs. I think we started cold calling a little bit. So much of it is a blur at this point, but um we still didn't have any CRM system and I think probably was until year two, year three, that's when of course everybody

was on Podio. So we had a Podio system off of that. >> Yeah. >> Um and yeah, all of our marketing there was no direct mail marketing. All of our marketing was still I think it was just cold calling. >> Yeah. >> Like Mojo Dialer. I don't know if you remember that. >> Yeah, of course. >> Yeah, that's how I started. >> Yeah, [laughter] >> that's how we all started at the time. Yeah. So, we had

a Mojo dialer and then Yeah, we were we were cold calling and setting the appointments and going out and closing the deals. >> Just Kirk and I. >> Wow. Back to the beginnings, huh? >> Back to the beginnings. >> So, uh Okay, cool, man. So, then you guys closed um after you guys got on Podio, is that kind of like around the time that you guys started building systems, processes in your business? >> Uh if you

would call it that. >> You know, looking at it now, I mean, it was >> pretty rudimentary. Yeah, very rudimentary. Um, but we we really didn't have I wouldn't say we have processes. >> Um, I wouldn't even really say we had >> well-defined systems, but I maybe a process so to speak, but just kind of knowing with Podio having that serum system, knowing how to classify, okay, these are in the lead stage, these are in our

follow-up stages, long-term follow-up. We probably had like at the time we probably like 15 buckets of where which is way too many at the time of really where we're isolating isolating these leads. And so that's kind of where we were taking them from the mojo dialer flowing in a podio putting them into these different buckets. Yeah. >> And then after that and then we start you know hey how we need to bring on hey we need

to have a VA and start doing these different things. When was when was that that time when you had kind of like a breakthrough moment um and you guys started actually picking up speed and doing a lot more deals, getting a lot more revenue? I'd probably say breakthrough moment was probably I would say like 2019. So it's about 2 years after we started 2019 right before co uh was a breakthrough moment uh for us. I think

that was our that year. I think we hit and I think we hit somewhere between like 800 I think we're about we're it's like year two year three I want to say we did like 700 800,000 in revenue right and it was just like it's like insane to us that wasn't profit but you know it's like revenue so it was like >> dude this is crazy you know I mean it's working >> you know what I

mean so >> um and I probably think we probably did in that year it was probably like closer to about 200,000 or so gross profit you know, nothing crazy or anything like that, but it was just really just seeing the growth of it, though. It's nothing but growth when you're starting from 18,000 in the first year. [laughter] >> Everything is going to be an uphill. >> Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So, yeah. >> So, uh 20 2019 kind

of hit that breakthrough. What What led you guys to get to, you know, 800 grand in revenue? >> Yeah. I mean, just just just getting better with sales skills, too. I can't imagine the amount of money we left on the table in the early years just because, >> dude. It's I know a lot of times people talk about the money that they make, but I think if you look at the money that you didn't make, it's

probably like 10x, you know what I mean? Because >> so much of the early years, you got to imagine kind of remembering in our early days, we're were accountants. Yeah. >> Right. We still had personality, right? I'm not your typical accountant because I had a personality. I was like the personality hire at my firm, >> but there was so much I didn't know when it came to sales, >> right? So, I don't even know at this

point how many millions of dollars we probably left on the table just because I just didn't have the sales skills. >> Right. >> Right. It was just I was talking to a lot of people, but I don't know I didn't know anywhere near what I know now when it comes to understanding the skills and the understanding the psychology of people and understanding how to make sure, you know, mirroring and and the tonality and the understanding, you

know, all of these different things. that's so important when it comes to closing and just the importance of actively listening, >> right? >> You know what I mean? >> Yeah. >> And um >> yeah, it was just so much that I just didn't know. So all of those early years was just really refining >> sales skills. >> Yeah. >> Honestly, >> did you ever take any sort of like sales courses or any resources that you invested

in? >> Uh yeah. So um when it came to sales, one of the things we did um was it was like early like kind of sales like masterminds >> like very cheap like we go to these like sales courses and stuff like that. >> And then um I think in 2020 I think it was during co I think it was like in 2019 2020 I want to say we did uh did Sandler. >> Mhm. >> Understanding

that that was kind of a breakthrough for me as well. >> Great. >> Yeah. Sandler was really good. And then um after that just all of these other courses, sales courses that we were just kind of just really just devouring, right? Just how to get better with these sales skills. And you there's so many. I mean, I have a a folder of all the different sales trainings and programs that we did, you know, without dropping names

and stuff like that, but just the constant obsession with trying to get better with sales. It just it just takes time, honestly. You got to have reps. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So, anyone that's listening to this, would you what advice would you give them when first starting off to try to get uh you know, as efficient as possible when it comes to sales and closing deals? >> How to get as efficient as possible? >> What advice

would you give someone that's starting off um the the path of least resistance to get efficient at closing deals? >> That's a great question. That's a loaded one cuz I feel like sales is just man it's it's such a journey. Sales is like a lifetime journey honestly. Yeah. You never you can you can always improve with sales. Um you never get to a place of arriving with sales and I think that's why it's such an amazing

industry. But for someone that's starting, I would say really finding a sales someone who is doing sales at a high level uh with an affordable course that really can break down where you can like listen to calls, not just talking about theory, but having calls to be able to listen to. Because I would say for me, one of the best things for me that helped me get much better with sales was not only going out because

sometimes you just got to make calls, right? Always got to say you can learn all day, but if you don't pick up the phone and make a call, you you're never going to get better, right? So, you have to feel comfortable of picking up the phone and calling people. But what I say if it's something tangible that I could share with share with your community would be >> go to YouTube University. Start for free first. Go

to YouTube University. Just try to understand as much as you can. Find a course that someone that you can relate to that really matches your personality that you feel like you can relate to cuz there's a lot of sales coaches out there. But you got to find one that you can relate to. Spend the money, invest in that, and then really try to apply that to your calls. And then where you're going to get really, really

better with your sales skills is that then once you start making these calls, you have to you have to go back and listen to your calls and then cross reference back with your training, right? figuring out, okay, in this call I didn't listen enough. Okay, I didn't hear that. Why didn't I hear that? Because I was thinking about the next thing to say, right? Okay, when I was in this call, listening to this call, oh man,

sounded like I was mumbling. I was saying yes too much. I was saying mhm too much. I need to be silent. All these different things that's so important in sales skills. You can really only know that when you start listening to yourself. And for me, once I started listening to my calls, that's what helped me kind of grade myself and get better. So on my next call, my next session of calls, like, okay, don't do this,

don't do this, don't do this. Because everybody's different, right? >> And you don't know what is your natural cadence when you're talking with people. If you don't listen to yourself, you might think you had a great call, but it's until you listen to yourself, you don't realize. Like, I didn't realize like I say mhm a lot. >> Yeah. >> I didn't realize like I overtalk people a lot. I thought I was listening. >> You know what

I mean? So that was very helpful for me. >> I think I think the Sandler sales method says something really really important. You don't learn how to ride a bicycle at a seminar, >> right? And so I think >> the biggest portion with that is uh understanding that in order to learn how to do anything, you have to get on the bike and start pedaling and just and just expect to fall, expect to scrape yourself. And

then knowing that that's part of the process, I think is what gets you closer to having [snorts] proficiency in anything, right? >> 100%. >> Yeah. So, uh I couldn't have couldn't have said it better, Lee. Uh so, what what happened after you guys got on podium? I mean, you guys now are on Salesforce, you guys are um what would you guys say um you guys are doing in terms of deal volume now? And uh what what

do you what do you guys tracking primarily? Are you guys tracking deals closed, revenue closed? Uh what's the most important KPI for you guys in your business? >> Yeah, great question. Uh most important for us is uh closed profit and appointment set. >> Yeah. >> Right. Appointments. We we realize in our business I guess well to answer your question um last year we did uh 2.8 in top sell and after you know our GP gross profit

was a little over 700 last year. Not the best year for us. Um but you know this year our goal is to exceed that right and you know our goal for this year is 1.2 to in in GP gross profit. So for us it's what we realized is in this business our biggest issue that we were having one of the issues why you know last year wasn't the best for you Q1 was okay was because we

were getting we were becoming too much of a stickler on when to set the appointment and go meet with the seller right cuz we just got comfortable just closing people over the phone >> especially after co right cuz when co people didn't want you in their house and stuff like that so it's like oh we can close a Bill over the phone like let's just keep doing that and that's what we really refined and got good

at. But then now in in kind of 2025 2024 coming into now like you have to be aggressive now. And we were when I mean being being too much of a stickler when it came to setting appointments meaning that we weren't setting appointments unless they were kind of within like a 10 20% range of where we need to be on our cash price. >> Now it's just a very simple metric. Now it's like as long as

they're um within 90% of ARV, >> we're making an appointment. >> Yeah. >> Because we realize that our you're where you shine the most is always going to be bellyto belly. >> Yeah. >> And it was something that someone shared to us. It was like what's the point of getting too refined and too efficient if you're not getting the amount of deals that you want, >> right? >> So you got to go back, you got to

go back and be barbaric. You got to go back to the trenches. You got to just go make these appointments. got to drive around town. Houston is huge. And that was one of the reason why we were doing like a man, Houston's so big. We got to drive to the Woodlands, then we got to go to Baytown. We got to do this. Doesn't really matter. So, it's like cuz if you don't have the deals on the

board, you got to go out there. Got to go to the appointment. So, I think we've done a really good job this year of really with our team of just getting in that mindset of like we just got to set the appointment, just go out there. And it's it it's showing. We knew it always worked but we realized like yeah this is what we should have been doing more of anyway. >> Yeah. What have you seen

now in terms of you know revenue-wise or production wise uh difference after you implemented that >> in terms of what >> bellyto belly appointments. >> It's just a higher close rate. It's just a higher close rate belly to belly. And then also too, what we've realized is that what separates the men from the boys and the ladies from the girls is having the guts to go meet with somebody. >> Yeah. >> Anybody can talk to somebody

over the phone, >> right? >> But when you go and meet someone, that's going to separate you from everybody else. And what I realized too is that when you're meeting with people and you get to talk with them and be bellyto belly and be personal with you now they actually have an emotional connection with you, right? When is where we talk about your your AI voice agent, right? We talk about how important that that >> uh

emotional intelligence is, right? That emotional quotient. >> And once they can attach an emotional feeling with you, now Jose Okay. Yeah. I remember I remember when Jose came over, we were talking about uh you know our dogs or we were talking about drinking beer. I have an emotional connection to you now. So now when I when you follow up with me, I have a much deeper connection with you than the other 10 people who have been

connecting with me over the phone. >> Mhm. >> Cuz you're just a voice. >> When I meet with you person to person, I can attach something to you now. And so that makes it so much easier for our follow-ups. >> Right. >> They're connected to us. >> Right. >> Right. And then it's a higher close rate as well. And then one of the things we were we realized too is that even if they're at 90% of

ARV when you talk to them, when you actually go out there and see the house and meet with them, you're going to reveal the truth a lot more efficiently than you would over the phone. Cuz someone can say, "Oh, my house is in good shape." >> Yeah. >> You go see it. You see, oh, >> we got water leak here. We've got floors that need to replace. that wasn't said over the phone. So you get and

then you see the person too. You see your audience, right? If you can, you know, connect with them, you could see that >> they're going through a lot more than what they were telling me over the phone. And now I've got to focus on how can I be a solution provider now >> and it's not about the price. Now I got to focus on just providing so much value to this person that price doesn't matter. >>

Yep. >> Yeah. >> One of the biggest things that I learned early on when it came to sales is focus on the problem. the price comes later. >> 100%. >> So, anytime that I was negotiating with anyone, I one of my favorite thing things to say when even even now, you know, I always tell people um sellers, I would say, "Hey, listen. Right now, I I understand you're asking for this price and we're going to get

to that at the end of the conversation. Right now, it's not important. Right now, what's important is getting to know you and what you need. That's what I'm really focused on and solving your problem." >> Absolutely. >> Uh you know, if I focus on that first, they're going to give me whatever price we need to be at. >> 100%. Yeah, >> 100%. >> I've learned that over time and I think it's something that uh a lot

of people need to focus on is don't even focus on the price at the beginning and focus on the problem. Focus on uh solving that pain and you'll get any price you need. >> Yeah. And I say to even add to that, I think you're 100% on point with that. And I always like to say the difference between what the difference between the price that someone wants and what you purchase it for. The difference between the

two is the value that you bring. >> Yep. >> That's it. >> Yeah. >> So, I wanted 200,000. Why would this person be willing to sell me this property for 120? Cuz the difference was the value that you brought. >> So, you brought $80,000 worth of value in that example. >> Exactly. >> It's a lot of value you're bringing to the marketplace. Lee, >> got to leave with value. >> That's right. That's it. [laughter] >> Love

it, bro. >> Yeah. >> So, um, man, let's, uh, let's shift gears a little bit here now and, uh, let's talk about some of the biggest challenges >> and some of the biggest lessons that you've learned, um, having a partner in business. You guys have been in business for 9 years, so I I'm sure there are a lot of >> um, more importantly, the challenges, and I think more probably more uh, insightful would be the lessons

that you've learned along the way. Um, >> but before we do that, let's uh take a quick commercial break. >> Let's do [laughter] it. >> All right. >> Good, baby. >> Cool. All right, Leon, we're back. So, what have been what have been some of the biggest lessons that you've learned over the nine years of being in business with successfully in business with a partner? >> That's a loaded question, man. There's a lot of lessons learned

in nine years. Are you talking more so of just being in business or just with a partnership? What do you think would be most valuable? >> I I think what would be most valuable for anyone that's listening is that you know I I don't I think um man of all the people that I've I've interviewed very few of them have been in successful partnerships. I you know I think even like uh two guests ago um I

had Blake in here and he you know we spoke about 20 probably 20 minutes just talking about two failed partnerships and how to avoid failed partnerships. >> Um so I think what would be extremely valuable is how to spot a great partnership, what defines a great partnership >> and then what are the lessons that you learned along the way. Absolutely. Great questions, by the way, too. [laughter] Um, I would say, man, it's so much about alignment.

I would like to say your your business partnership is the same things you need to look for in a spouse. >> Mhm. >> Cuz you're married to them. >> Yeah. >> Right. You you don't realize how connected you are with a how deeply entrenched and connected you are with a partner. Yeah. >> Till you get in business, right? when it comes to access to bank accounts, when it comes to making business decisions for your entity that

can directly impact you on a personal level and your family and anything that you have going on, right? >> Uh this person has access to all of that just like you do, right? So, they truly are your spouse. You know, I like it's it's that true, right? Their spouse. Uh you know, Kirks has been married for me, you know, we've been been married together for nine years, I like to say. And um but at the end

of the day, so much has to be alignment. Some things we were talking about before we even got started on this podcast, how important uh respect is, right, >> and communication. >> One thing I could say between Kirk and I is that I think we have the utmost respect for each other. >> We've never had a we've never cursed each other out. We've never um we probably raised our voice, but we've never yelled at each other

or anything like that. So I think we're very emotionally intelligent and we can communicate in a way to get our point across but also be respectful to the other person so that they can receive it. Right? So we just had there's a lot of mutual respect, a lot of mutual trust. And one of the things that was very important for us in our business early on cuz I told you early on, right, where we were both

in acquisitions, we're both trying to get these deals. I forgot about the deal. He skipped it. Ended up being our biggest deal, you know, at that time. And we made the decision early on after we started doing some deals. We started figuring out, okay, what are you good at? What am I good at? And what area we're going to focus on? Because just because you're good at something doesn't mean that you want to do it or

you have the capacity to do it. >> And so we made the decision early on that, hey Lee, >> this is acquisitions is something you enjoy doing and you're good at it and you have the capacity to do it. So you're going to be in acquisitions. Kirk, you're really good with being, you know, you're you're you're less emotionally connected with buyer with sellers than I am. So, it's probably going to be better for you to be

on the dispo and the systems and all of that stuff. So, I always like to say not having two kings in one castle. So, we just had clearly defined roles and really just trusting each other in that. So even to this day I lead acquisitions and to this day Kirk leads and runs dispositions, marketing, all that good stuff, operations in the business. >> Yeah. So that division that you guys made, you feel like is part of

one of the biggest lessons that you learned. >> It is because you can't again you can't have two kings in the same castle or two queens in the same castle, right? Cuz I think two if you have two acquisitions guy and they both want to be in acquisitions, they're going to butt heads. if you got two operations. So, it's kind of like the visionary integrator, right? I'm the visionary, Kirk is the integrator. >> Clearly defined even

in our personality test and stuff. It says that to the tea. So, again, that was luck. We didn't take personality test before we got into business together. All the stars align to to to what you were alluding, right? All the stars had to align. So, absolutely clear division in a business, clearly defined roles. What do you want to do? What are you good at? And what do you have the capacity to do? And I think anybody

that's listening to this in business, those are decisions you have to ask even as you're growing your team, too. Those are three great questions to ask in business for every single role, have a personality test to know, okay, is this person actually good and have the the the skills and personality to be able to handle this position. But asking those questions is, is this something that you're is this something that you want to do? >> Is

this something that you're capable of doing? >> And is this something that you have the capacity to do? right? >> And asking those questions and that's what we did and that's how we made that decision. So that way we're not stepping on each other on each other toes. That's definitely helped us. >> Some really great insights there Lee. I think um you know it goes to show the the level of thought process that you put into

successfully carrying this for 9 years. I think it takes a lot of focused effort, right? Or very, you know, a lot of communication, a lot of respect like you mentioned, but more importantly, you know, staying intentional with what it is that you guys are looking for and uh and carrying that for 9 years. I, you know, I applaud you guys for doing that. >> Thank you. >> You guys have been one of my favorite people when

it comes to like anytime that I'm having a conversation with anyone and they're like, you know, they they mention anything about partnerships, I'm like I always say, man, Lee and Kirk, they're one of my favorite ones. Uh because I I love how you guys carry yourselves and um I I commend you guys because it's so something so rare and unique. >> Pro. You have no idea how many people I've interviewed that's sat in your chair and

have told me about failed partnerships. So >> I think that's probably one of your biggest accomplishments. [laughter] >> I appreciate that, man. I should have wrote that down. >> Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. >> Yeah. Shout out to Kirk for sure. >> Shout out Kirk, bro. I love Kirk. Yeah, for sure. So um man um one thing that two questions first uh I want to ask you about the market um how did you see the market in 2025

how do you see it in 2026 where do you see 2027 and then uh the next part is you mentioned 1.2 two in GP. Um what kind what is your business looks like look like right now in terms of people marketing um budget allocation what what does that look like? So uh so let's start with the uh but uh let's start with the market right okay >> what do you see how did you see 2025 >>

and how do you see 2026 >> yeah um 20 2025 was uh you know the year of uh I think this was the the year of Trump right [laughter] so there was just so much uncertainty right there's so much uncertainty there was a lot of things that were happening uh in 2025 that a lot of people were just kind of figuring out hey what does this mean what does this look like and in the real estate

market, you know, obviously high interest rate market, right? And so for us, we really had to really just kind of focus on the things really kind of focusing on the activities that we there's a lot of things that you do that you don't need to be doing, right? And some of that stuff was kind of cleaning up those things. And so we we really just kind of really gotten a a better job of focusing on what

are the deals that we're going to pursue and what are the deals that we're not going to pursue cuz there's going to be deals that you feel like you you want to say yes to everything but it wastes so much of your time. >> Yeah. >> And really focusing on the deals that okay these are the areas that are the money makers. This is where we need to be focusing our time and being a sniper on,

right? And not focus and really just being like you said intentional with some of these things. But as far as the state of the market for 2025, it was just weird. >> It's a weird market. >> It was a weird market. It was so weird. There was properties that we thought were going to do just okay and they end up being bangers for us and the deals that we thought were going to be bangers ended up

being >> [ __ ] >> Like >> we thought we were going to make all right, this was going to be easy $40,000 deal and then we end up making 15 on it or something like that. It was like what? This property's in like a great area. Like this property's in in Woodlands, you know what I mean? there's just really really weird things that were happening on. So man, in 2026, what I think in 2026 is

going to happen, obviously AI, >> which is what you're focusing on, right? I think there's such an AI disruption >> and in coming into 2026, I really think people have to be >> you're going to have to go back to the basics, honestly. Like you cannot get comfortable in 2026. You cannot rest on your laurels. you're going to have to work harder than you've ever worked before to get the same amount of revenue, the same amount

of deals, and you're just going to have to be you're just going to have to focus in 2026. That's the message that we have even for our team even to this day. Like we have to um our our our theme for for this quarter is always be closing, right? That's our Q2, right? And so, um, being so living that lifestyle, being obsessed with it, anybody you're talking to, anywhere you're going, if there's an opportunity you can

pursue that's going to lead to us closing some deals, that's what we need to be doing. And similar to going on more appointments, right, is just there's so many people making calls, there's so many people reaching out to these sellers that we got to be in front of them. And you got to be quick. >> Yeah. >> Speed to lead. >> Yeah. >> Got to be quick. I think now even with the advancement of AI, it's

so easy now for someone to go on to Chad GBT, Claude, Gemini, and just ask a question. What's the lowest barrier of entry for real estate? All it takes is one prompt now. >> Yeah. >> You know, not even YouTube University. You can just sit in an afternoon and learn how to wholesale in in 15 minutes. >> Agreed. >> You can probably bust out an entire marketing plan now [laughter] just using AI. You know what I

So I think more now than ever are we going to have a lot of new people come on onto the market and try to wholesale. You know now you got you know Lee and Kirk 2017 from 2017 in 2026 market out there instead of doing bandit science doing whatever AI is telling them to do to go and pursue all of these deals. >> Absolutely. >> So um yeah I think man I agree with you. You know

I think it's time to go uh work harder than ever before to remain competitive. >> Agreed. A great Yeah. cuz AI AI is just um I we're seeing it. I mean with the a mass amount of unemployment and I do think unfortunately with the you know with the current administration is that there's a lot of numbers and metrics that are muted >> right that are not being disclosed. There's a lot of things that's kind of just

really being muted >> that we really don't know the numbers to. And the beautiful thing of us being on the front lines seller facing and seeing what these people are actually going through unemployment is I think it's so more so much more significant than what the current numbers are saying >> really >> uh because of this AI stuff. A lot of times people are saying oh we're just restructuring and they're not a lot of companies are

not feeling comfortable to say like no this is just because of AI efficiencies that we're letting go. And I think that goes back to you know when you're asking me how I got into this business and working for my former employer. I thought that was a secure job for a lifetime. And in the last six months, they completely wiped out um the HR and recruiting department at my former accounting firm that I would have never thought

in a million years that they would be going through unemployment. >> They took what up? >> Uh human resources. >> They took HR out. >> Yeah, human resources and unemployment. Yeah. I don't I wouldn't say the entire department, but there was like a specific like recruiting team that was going into college campuses and recruiting and getting these people in. >> Oh, I see. >> Those are all things AI can do. AI can >> send a you

send a resume to AI, it's going to clean it. It's going to identify it and source out through the best candidates. >> Why do we need HR recruiters and a whole recruiting team that you know in these big companies that are these are six figure roles, >> right? So they're really doing a hu AI is having these companies do a massive reset and when you start implementing AI you it forces you to look at your inefficiencies.

>> Yeah. >> And when you're looking at your inefficiencies you like why do we have this department >> right? >> Why are we paying this many these people this much money to to do what? Put some spreadsheets together. >> Yeah. AI does that in two seconds. >> Two seconds. >> Yeah. So, all of that to come full circle to say I think with AI and everything that's going into 2026, I just think there's going to be

a lot more motivation. I think there's going to be a lot of people that are going to need to uh >> sell properties uh and and to get some get some liquidity, man. >> Go to needtosell.com. >> That's it. >> That's it. [laughter] >> 2027, where do you see it? >> Uh I don't know. I have no idea. And one thing I I I'll say this. One thing I've learned no matter what happens in the market,

we learned this from co be the first to say I got scared in 2020. We got scared in 2020 being fear-mongered by the news. We was like, "Oh, let's slow down marketing." And that was one of the worst decisions we could have made because 2021, 2022, 20 was an absolute windfall in the real estate market. People were getting richer than ever. >> Prices were skyrocketing. And so we felt that right of obviously we recovered of course

but if we just kept our foot on the pedal through 2020 >> it 2021 and 22 would look completely different for us. And so that is a lesson that we learned in business that no matter what's going to happen in the market >> we're keeping the pedal to the metal. >> Yeah. >> Staying focused head down grinding. I don't care what's going on in the news going on the world foot in the gas. Not getting scared

>> and just going to try to help as many people as we can. >> Yeah. Love that bro. 1.2 2 million in revenue for 2026. >> GP. >> Yeah. GP revenue is van. I always like to say ranity revenue is vanity. >> Profit is sanity. Cash is king. >> Love it. >> Where'd you learn that from, Lee? >> Uh, my business partner, Kirk. [laughter] >> Shout out to Kirk. >> Yeah, shout out Kirk. Revenue is vanity.

>> Profit is sanity. >> Cash is king. >> Cash is king. Love it. >> That's it. Such a great slogan. >> Absolutely. >> I love it. >> So, uh, obviously revenues much higher than that. Much higher than 1.2. >> Yeah. >> Over two over two million. >> Yeah, we did 2.8 last year. >> Oh, almost 3 million. Nice. >> So, um, what are you guys doing to close that much in revenue now? >> So, now we,

uh, man, we taking it back to the basics. Honestly, we are focusing on our primary bread and butter for our business is essentially what I like to just call anything that's quick flipping, right? So [clears throat] quick flipping is wholesaling. Quick flipping is double closes. Quick flip quick flipping is wholesaling. >> Everything when it revolves around quick flipping where we're in and out of a deal within 30 to 60 days, that's what we're doing. >> Yeah.

>> Um this market is too uncertain. There's too many things and we just don't want to be caught holding the bag when the music stops, you know, playing musical chairs. >> Yeah. You guys have a big team now. >> Uh, so it's nine of us now. >> Nine. >> Yeah, it's nine of us. Just had an interview yesterday. Um, you know, I think, uh, we're going to be bringing that person on. So, we'll have a team

of 10. So, uh, so yeah. So, that consists of two acquis we have two acquisitions. I'm on acquisitions as well, so if you want to call that a third, but we've got two acquisitions. Uh we've got one dispo uh TC. Uh Kirk and I are as well. We're still in the business, right? So we're not in a position where we're just resting on our laurels. So we're Kirk and I are both very active in our business.

We're not we can't just kick back and just go sit, you know, my ties for the next month or so. We're very active in our business because we're still growing the team. And we've got uh two we've got two data. Uh we've got admin assistant and I think that I think that rounds out nine. >> Yeah. >> Love that. >> Yeah. Absolutely. >> Okay, cool. So, I mean, two, you know, three almost three million in revenue.

Um, still like not a huge team. So, yeah, I think you're you're still keeping expenses pretty low. That's good. >> Absolutely. >> Um, and uh, and in ter So, in terms of your workflow processes, what kind of marketing are you guys doing? >> Yeah, so marketing uh, we definitely we do a lot of direct mail. So, we do a lot of direct mail. Um, we do uh, and we do, uh, partnerships. So, we we do JVS

as well. So, we got business partnerships with people that really need help dispoing. So, we're like their back-end part of their business where they struggle with, you know, hey, I'm I'm good at acquisitions. I'm getting these deals and they really use our company to be their backend and really partnering with us where we're disboying their deals for them. So, we get we've got deals through there. We've got deals through um PPL. We do, you know, paper

leads and all that good stuff. So, we do PPL um and uh referrals. So referrals, realtor, realtor referrals, repeat business. So I'd say I'd say our our best performing right now is still direct mail and and JVS. That's that's still our bread and butter. >> Yeah. >> Nice, man. >> Um the last thing that I uh kind of wrapping up here, uh I think you mentioned at the very beginning finding your peace and how that's one

of your uh biggest accomplishments. I I think that's something that's not commonly spoken about, right? I think >> for the most part a lot of times people you know the main conventional um conversation I think that comes around in entrepreneurship is grind grind grind grind grind [laughter] >> get up at 4 in the morning go out and work your ass off until 2 a.m. and sleep for 30 minutes and get back to it, right? >> Um,

>> and I don't think that's very sustainable, right? I mean, you can you can definitely do it for a year, right? Um, I did I, you know, I was working for I think that's how I uh got started, but I think in terms of having longevity and finding a place of balance, I think it's important to talk about it, right? So, >> what did it mean to you finding your piece as an entrepreneur? Uh I think

a little bit of that is just really uh in one word is just contentment, right? I I I truly believe that as a business owner, entrepreneur, you're you're naturally an ambitious person, right? >> And where you stress and have your anxiety is feeling like you've you've never arrived, right? You've never reached the goal that you want to be at. And the reason why that happens is because as a business owner and because you're ambitious, it's because

you're always moving the boat the goalpost. >> Yeah. [snorts] >> Right. Yeah. >> And that was actually something that my sister >> revealed to me. >> Really? >> Yeah. Absolutely. My sister is an amazing human being and uh she told me, she was like, you know, Lee, I know you're go go go, but she was like, you still need to be proud of how far you've come and what you've accomplished. Like it's amazing, but the problem

why you're never satisfied is because you're constantly moving the goalpost. Mhm. >> And I was like, I never realized that, >> you know, and when if you think about even for you, right, just think about that. Like when you think about like not feeling like, oh man, >> I can always do more. I should I want 10x more. Like, yeah, I made, you know, there's 100,000 in the bank, but I want it to be 250. It's

250 in the bank. I want 500. It's 500 in the bank. I want it to be a million. You're just never satisfied, right? It's because you're constantly moving the goalpost. And so that contentment is really not meaning that you don't want more. Um, but it's just not operating from a place of lack, but but just being appreciative for what you do have. And I think at every stage in every level of business, you just have to

be in the present moment. We live too much in the past, we live too much in the future. But really focusing on being content, just if you're not grateful for where you're at right now and how far you've come, if you just look back and see the person that you are today, if you can't be happy in the present moment, you'll never be happy in the in the future either. >> Yeah. How long did it take

you to get there? long time 30 35 plus years [laughter] uh but I would say in business I mean to be honest with you in business I think where people say that most entrepreneurs really start to hit their stride in business in that 7 to 10 year mark and that's exactly where we're at >> and I think it's so true 7 to 10 years of being an entrepreneur >> I think that's truly how long it takes

for you to really um really start to hit your stride and come into who you are as an entrepreneur and as an individual. >> Man, I I heard about it such a long time ago and I think I heard about six years also, you know, and I think I was like in year three or something that I heard about it and I'm like that's [ __ ] [laughter] >> And then I got my ass kicked. >>

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> I I feel like I feel like most entrepreneurs that are in business um go through the same thing, right? I think it couldn't be truer. I think the biggest lesson that you learn after being in business for six to seven years plus is knowing that it's just a game. >> Knowing that it's just a game and there are no rules to the game. And I remember at the very beginning I would seek

for comparison, >> right? How how am I doing in relation to that person? How am I doing in relation to that person? And when you stop externalizing your production, your process, and you start internalizing it, that's when you have a lot more momentum. >> You know, I feel like at that point is where you're like there's no limitation. There's no um you stop you stop thinking inside of a box because if you think externally, you're always

in a box, right? How am I doing in relation to this person? I'm in a box. I can't think outside that box. Right? As soon as you start thinking about internalizing it, how am I doing in relation to myself? Well, there is no limitation. There is no box. There's no cage. There's no uh limitation now to the only limitation then becomes the how creative you can be with the vision that you want to create >> or

the product that you want to make or the company that you want to establish, whatever it is. And so I think that's I feel like the breakthrough that I've had in terms of you know being in in business after you know uh I don't know how long it's been out seven eight years. >> Um it's it's you know this platform that I've created I don't think I would have been able to create it in year two

or three or four or five. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. the the insights I think that I've had in business are what's what's what's being able to what's given me the vision now to create I mean you saw the platform right like >> it's absolutely >> it's crazy >> it's absolutely amazing >> there's no way that I feel like you can have some sort of vision without have without having a lot of experiences in business so >> agreed

agree agree and do you know when you talk about comparing yourself to outside you know the term for that >> no >> comparia >> comparia Huh? >> Comparo. >> I've never heard of that. >> Yeah. >> You get paranoid because of comparisons. >> Yeah. >> Right. And it drives you crazy. >> Yeah. >> So, you're absolutely right. You got to go inward. >> Got to go inward. >> Don't compare. Just look at the mirror. That's it.

[laughter] >> The man in the mirror. That's it. I love it. >> Competition. >> Yeah, >> man. So, um, so what's next for you guys, man? >> Uh, what's next for us, man? Is just really just really focusing on people, right? just really pouring in the people. That's the hardest part of any business is the people, right? And I think >> with us maturing as as operators and all the mistakes we made, the tons of mistakes

we've made as operators and uh with people, with our business, with deals, whatever, all the mistakes we've made over the years, I think we've really understood of like what what we need to be looking for. And because we've developed and become better as leaders, I think we're attracting better people, too, right? And so I always like to say whether it's in business, in your personal relationships, you don't attract what you want, you attract who you are.

>> So as we become better, >> uh just better in what we're doing, better operators, better leaders, we we've attracted better quality people. So for us and my goal in business is just really just creating our company to just be a platform and a vessel for people to be able to reach their goals and dreams. >> Yeah. >> And so if we can do that, I mean, how amazing would that be? >> Incredible. >> Incredible. You

guys have a community now that you guys are doing every Thursday? >> Yeah. So, absolutely. Every Thursday we call it the real estate power hour. All right. So, the real estate power hour and really what we do there, we limit it to one hour. So, you can come uh you actually meet at our office. There's a conference room on the first floor. >> So, it's open to anyone. >> Open to anyone. Uh you can go through

Eventbrite. >> If anyone is listening and they're in Houston, >> absolutely. >> Can they show up? >> Absolutely. Don't be shy. We we encourage you guys to come out. So, uh you can check it out on on Eventbrite. Uh Real Estate Power Hour. Is that what it's called? >> It's real estate power. That's what it's called. We limit it to one hour and really what we do is there is where you know a lot of times

you do a lot of meetups and it's like a pitch fest and it's about oh what we're doing and this is how great we are and all that. For us it's really about the people. Right. Hey >> introduce yourself, where you from? What are you about? What are you struggling with? What do you need help with? >> Right. >> Right. and and we can really at in that one hour, not only with us, but our uh

some of our team is there, other people that are there, and collectively as a community, we're solving each other's problems. Yeah. >> Right. And that's really what I feel like people need. People need a place if you're, you know, like a solo >> operator, right? A place to go where like, hey, if I'm struggling with this, what can I offer? Is this a deal? Is it not a deal? How do I structure this uh creatively financed?

Um how do I get into, you know, real estate? is like, am I making the right decision? Whatever it is, having that community and and meeting weekly is just really having that velocity of being able to get quick quicker answers, right? Instead of having quicker feedback, shortening that feedback loop to where it's like, >> hey, we're going to solve your problem this week and then when next problem arise or next week, hey, we'll be back here

next Thursday. >> Nice. >> So, yeah, really trying to focus on that. >> How did you guys come up with that idea? >> Uh trial and error. Uh we were doing it monthly. We started doing it monthly and then um we just realized like a month is too long to have a feedback loop, >> right? People need feedback. People need to know what they're what they're doing right, what they're doing wrong. >> Absolutely. So it's like

if you're doing it once per month, you're only meeting 12 12 times a year. You're doing it every week, you're meeting 50 plus times a year. >> Yeah. >> Imagine the growth for the people that are coming there when they have trusted people who are actually doing the business. >> Yeah. and are trying to go back and emulate the same thing that was done for us on our first deal of being able to help people, right?

And and and show them the way and show them, hey, this is the possibilities of things and having people you can trust and not someone that's just here to just try to, >> you know, steal your deal, you know, it's $50,000 deal and you only get paid five grand on it or something like that. >> Right. Right. Right. >> Absolutely. True partnership. >> Absolutely. And um for anyone that's listening to this uh Lee um I mean

this sounds like you're giving a so much value to anyone that shows up man. I mean this this has got to be extremely expensive. What is it like,000 bucks to show up? >> Yeah, it's 1,000 bucks if you don't do anything. [laughter] >> But as long as you're doing something, you're coming in with value. All we always The only the price of admission is coming in with courage and adding value. Courage to speak up, not be

scared to say what you're doing, not be scared to ask for help. That's all we ask. And we start off with our core values, right? And we we go through our core values with them and how important that is. As long as you come in with value, coming in with courage, that's the price of admission. >> That's it. >> So, it's free. >> It's free. >> Free.99. >> Free free 97. >> Free. [laughter] >> That's a

pretty good deal, right? >> Seven. The seven is the one that got me for sure. [laughter] I'll show up for the seven. >> Free 97, man. Free 97. >> I love it. I love it. So, um, anyone that's listening to this, anyone that's watching this on YouTube, man, please, uh, go show up at leave. You want to learn how to close deals? >> Thursday at 12:00. Thursday at noon. >> Thursday at noon. >> 12 to1. >>

Dude, I wish >> every Thursday. >> I wish there was something like this when I started. >> Same here. >> Holy [ __ ] >> That's amazing, man. Good for you guys. >> Thank you. >> Hope you guys hope you guys are able to do a lot of business through there. So, that'd be amazing, >> man. Lee, uh, thank you so much for coming out doing this podcast, man. Is there anything uh that you'd like to

uh end with here at at the end as we wrap up this podcast, >> man? I just If there's anybody out there that's listening, all I can tell you is just don't quit. >> Yeah. >> That's it. >> Don't quit. Took us nine months to get a deal. >> Took you eight months to get a deal. >> Yeah. >> So, just keep working. Don't quit. You're never going to know all the answers, but I can tell

you if you don't quit, you'll get there. >> Absolutely. Wise, very wise words from Lee West. Thank you so much for being here, brother. I really appreciate you and uh had a great time. >> Great time. Always a great time with you, man. >> Absolutely. >> Appreciate. Thank you for the opportunity. >> Always, bro. >> Always. Let's go.