Building a billion dollar enterprise

[KiwiEC]

So inspiring. You made it, you escaped the matrix. Congrats.

Very nice house (if we can still say it's "only" a house).
Can't wait see what color you will choose for the Lambo.

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

Congrats - this is incredibly inspiring for my own real estate journey, so thank you so much for sharing.

Now hoping you'll post a thread on maintenance costs and organizing your army of cleaners, landscapers, etc. XD

 

[Tiago]

Congratulations!

 

[door123]

In the process of simplifying my life and selling my small properties I bought myself a new house. I should close in a week.

For the last 9 years ive only lived in investment properties and its served me well. I started with a duplex and sacrificed nights, weekends, friends, family and the human experience to build the life I used to dream of in my head. I remember scrubbing floors on friday nights and spending years meticulously counting every single penny to work my way up from nothing.

I don't think I've ever lived in a house larger than 1200 square feet in my life.

The most bizarre part of the whole experience is im not excited or anxious or anything. I dont feel anything... I feel like Ive lived this before and have thought about moments like this everyday for years ever since I was in the trailer.

I wanted to post it here so you can see that what @MJ DeMarco teaches is real and if you put in the time and effort you can transform your life. From the back of a trailer to multi multi multi millionaire.

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I hope this motivates you and I hope you realize you can do it for yourself in your own way too.

Thank you MJ... and everyone else on here that helped me along the way. You know who you are.

Congratulations. Looks stunning

Would you have invested in real estate if you would have to do it all over again, besides the house hacking of course? I ask because real estate investing usually requires some capital and just overall mental space, which could be used on a higher value opportunity ie growing your business.

 

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[door123]

Congrats - this is incredibly inspiring for my own real estate journey, so thank you so much for sharing.

Now hoping you'll post a thread on maintenance costs and organizing your army of cleaners, landscapers, etc. XD

Assuming the house is purchased around $4-$5MM, Yearly upkeep would about $40k-$50k a year, just shy of an average income of family in USA

 

[biophase]

Assuming the house is purchased around $4-$5MM, Yearly upkeep would about $40k-$50k a year, just shy of an average income of family in USA

That seems really high for upkeep. I’d say it’s closer to $25k. Unless you include property taxes as upkeep.

 

[Andy Black]

In the process of simplifying my life and selling my small properties I bought myself a new house. I should close in a week.

For the last 9 years ive only lived in investment properties and its served me well. I started with a duplex and sacrificed nights, weekends, friends, family and the human experience to build the life I used to dream of in my head. I remember scrubbing floors on friday nights and spending years meticulously counting every single penny to work my way up from nothing.

I don't think I've ever lived in a house larger than 1200 square feet in my life.

The most bizarre part of the whole experience is im not excited or anxious or anything. I dont feel anything... I feel like Ive lived this before and have thought about moments like this everyday for years ever since I was in the trailer.

I wanted to post it here so you can see that what @MJ DeMarco teaches is real and if you put in the time and effort you can transform your life. From the back of a trailer to multi multi multi millionaire.

View attachment 48232
View attachment 48233
View attachment 48234

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I hope this motivates you and I hope you realize you can do it for yourself in your own way too.

Thank you MJ... and everyone else on here that helped me along the way. You know who you are.

Congratulations on all your hard work @Envision. Love those photos.

 

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[CardinalFlame]

I've been thinking about ways to bring value to the forum and I think creating a progress thread about my real estate business and investments could provide alot of insight to members interested in investing (especially at a young age) and also help myself stay accountable to doing what I need to do.

Current Situation:

Currently, I work a full time job (VP of Operations of a real estate holdings company), run my e-commerce business, attend school full time (just 1 year left), and invest in real estate when I have the opportunity to. I would like real estate to become the bulk of my income as it has many benefits with the major one being secure form of income.

Current Properties:

I purchased my first property when I was 20 by house hacking it. I lived for free, paid down the mortage, and purchase my second property when I was 22 and house hacked another larger duplex (i've spoken on these at the summit). If you're interested in househacking check out @G_Alexander thread here it's jam packed with good info.

I live in 1 of my 4 units.

Current Units: 4

My overall goal is to build a multi million dollar holdings company that self manages assets ranging from multi family to storage and other commercial assets. I have a number in my head pertaining to net worth and maybe one day I'll disclose it but in reality I just love the process of doing deals, seeing my tenants lives change because I can provide them with a place they love to stay in, and seing my life change because of the Unscripted ability that real estate provides.

Where to go from here?

• I'm focusing on my ecom business and scaling it to provide me with the income to purchase real estate.
• Connecting with other investors and establishing relationships in my city.
• Keep learning at my job about how to manage and scale a real estate business.

This isn't a thread that will see a ton of success in 6-12 months (like many gurus tell you) it will be 5-10 years to see substantial gains and in the overall game plan will be something I do for the rest of my life but I hope some of you can gain a lot from it if you're interested in real estate investing.

Found this GEM! How things have changed!!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Assuming the house is purchased around $4-$5MM, Yearly upkeep would about $40k-$50k a year, just shy of an average income of family in USA

On total upkeep this probably is the right ballpark, but as fixed costs, it is a bit too high. Roc is slightly north of me in Boise so I expect his costs will be similar.

I'm in a $5.5M house with 13,000 square feet and the yearly fixed upkeep is roughly $31,000/year. This includes taxes, all utilities, pool/yard maintenance etc. However if you include extras like window washing, cleaning services, and misc. repairs it ends up around $40k/year. And it's the best money I've ever spent.

BTW, if you can afford living like a king in your own palace, it's money well spent. Don't believe the "frugal gurus" who want to convince you that a big baller house is mistake. Yes, it's a mistake when you can't afford it, or can't afford to pay for the help. But of course, the frugal gurus aren't teaching you about living like a king, but like a peasant.

 

[biophase]

BTW, if you can afford living like a king in your own palace, it's money well spent. Don't believe the "frugal gurus" who want to convince you that a big baller house is mistake. Yes, it's a mistake when you can't afford it, or can't afford to pay for the help. But of course, the frugal gurus aren't teaching you about living like a king, but like a peasant.

Maybe we need a fastlane baller house thread!

 

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[CardinalFlame]

I hope this motivates you and I hope you realize you can do it for yourself in your own way too.

Thank you MJ... and everyone else on here that helped me along the way. You know who you are

It absolutely does. Thank you for sharing your journey! Congrats on making your own luck!

 

[heavy_industry]

Congrats on making your own luck!

Wisest thing I've read today.

He made his own luck. We are making our own life.

Whether we are aware of it or not.

 

[Envision]

Thank you all!

Congratulations. Looks stunning

Would you have invested in real estate if you would have to do it all over again, besides the house hacking of course? I ask because real estate investing usually requires some capital and just overall mental space, which could be used on a higher value opportunity ie growing your business.

My answer to this is yes. I think you should do everything and learn. Investing taught me so much in so many areas of my life and i still do invest, I just own commercial real estate now. We listed my properties yesterday and they're all pending with cash offers which feels good and that will more or less pay for the house... I think i bought all 5 of the properties I own/bought for less than 100k over the course of 5 years so it didnt take much capital - just used a lot of leverage wisely.

 

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[mikecarlooch]

Thank you all!




My answer to this is yes. I think you should do everything and learn. Investing taught me so much in so many areas of my life and i still do invest, I just own commercial real estate now. We listed my properties yesterday and they're all pending with cash offers which feels good and that will more or less pay for the house... I think i bought all 5 of the properties I own/bought for less than 100k over the course of 5 years so it didnt take much capital - just used a lot of leverage wisely.

Man.. When I make entrepreneurship work in a big-time way, you are one of the first people I'll reach out to to get to know.

I'm 20 right now and have been watching your moves in business for a while. First came across when I was 16.

You are someone I look up to a lot, Roc. I'm sure others can speak for that as well.

No joke, whenever I start hearing self doubt, one of the first things that always comes to mind is - Roc made it young, therefore I can too.

Congrats and I'm excited to see you build into the billions.

 

[Isaac Odongo]

@Envision big congz man. That's a huge move. You make huge moves. At the pace in which you move, in a while you will be in billions.

That's a crazy house. I love it. Great work.

Thanks a ton for sharing your process. It becomes more exciting as I read on.

Looking forward to seeing more of it come.

 

[Mikkel]

Damn, that is incredible and freakin' inspiring. Congratulations @Envision on such a great accomplishment!

 

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[Bicollo]

In the process of simplifying my life and selling my small properties I bought myself a new house. I should close in a week.

For the last 9 years ive only lived in investment properties and its served me well. I started with a duplex and sacrificed nights, weekends, friends, family and the human experience to build the life I used to dream of in my head. I remember scrubbing floors on friday nights and spending years meticulously counting every single penny to work my way up from nothing.

I don't think I've ever lived in a house larger than 1200 square feet in my life.

The most bizarre part of the whole experience is im not excited or anxious or anything. I dont feel anything... I feel like Ive lived this before and have thought about moments like this everyday for years ever since I was in the trailer.

I wanted to post it here so you can see that what @MJ DeMarco teaches is real and if you put in the time and effort you can transform your life. From the back of a trailer to multi multi multi millionaire.

View attachment 48232
View attachment 48233
View attachment 48234

View attachment 48235


I hope this motivates you and I hope you realize you can do it for yourself in your own way too.

Thank you MJ... and everyone else on here that helped me along the way. You know who you are.

Congratulations!

 

[Envision]

Moved in. Got my new gym/sauna/plunge en route. I think the neighbors are all thoroughly confused. Everyone is 20+ years older than me, doctors, dentists, senators with families. Really nice people but the reactions are entertaining. My housekeeper lost her shit today lol, she's been with me for 4 years.

Business is going great. We have just knocked down 3 huge retail accounts (you know the names) and our new CMO is an absolute savage and the partnerships we are coming up with are incredible.

Going to continue scaling, more buildings, more products, more employees, more sales channels.

I get asked alot for mentorship (hope this is okay with MJ) and i am going to start a paid group. If you're interested DM me, if you don't have a business and are still in the idea phase this would not be a good group for you. Im just getting into the nitty gritty with a group of individuals who want to grow their companies.

 

[Envision]

One other thing. I think you should read this twice.

The difference between scarcity and abundance and your mental state.

The first week I moved into this house, I was incredibly uncomfortable. I had old embedded thought patterns of me not deserving this, people like me don't come from places like this, what will everyone think, can I afford this? My mind was a warzone for a couple weeks wondering what I was doing because I had pretty much removed myself from one life (very modest) and dropped myself into another. It's a jarring adjustment.

But the physical adjustment is not the primary jarring part, its the mental adjustment. I had to really think through everything and level myself up mentally (I am there mentally, however, I am not aware of being there mentally) to realize where i am now. I don't think people tend to talk about this because honestly i don't think people really encounter mental states that take them to these places in reality and their mind - thats probably been the biggest realization from the entire thing.

Follow me here...

If you think about it, if I handed you the life of a billionaire and said this is you now. You're worth $7 billion dollars, you run a business empire spanning businesses and real estate with 4,000 employees with an executive team that more or less completely runs the empire. You make decisions and strategically think through the most pivotal decisions that shape the lives of tens of thousands if not millions of people around the world. Imagine the mental state and shift you would need to make and the human you would need to be to handle that stress, responsibility, pressure, and pain.

If you're reading this, the odds are 100% you couldn't do it. Not today. You would crumble, pass off decisions, hide in your bed... You're body and your mind would break down because of the stress and pressure of realizing the sheer weight on your shoulders. You would try to think about 4 massive problems that you HAVE to solve and you couldn't... you can barely think through 1. And that 1, if you F*ck it up may cost people their livelihoods, could cost you tens if not hundreds of millions...

You aren't mentally the person that is capable of this. Not even close. And if I 100x it down, ask yourself, are you the person that can mentally be capable of that life? 4 employees? 7 million in revenue? Are you worth having people listen and follow you?

Some of you have a hard time waking up on time in the morning.
Others are worried about making $1,000 dollars "passively"
Others choose to write the dumbest F*cking post on this forum to mentally masturbate their way to entreprenuership.

I am trying to show you here, the difference in mental states... Are you a prisoner of your mind? Do you know if you are or not? Or do you live in an unconscious reality of your own making?

But there are some savages out there. That mentally are leveling themselves up to states of awareness and understanding where they can handle the weight of worlds. For me, in business I don't feel a ton of pressure - I am desensitized to more or less running a $100 million company, it's a toy to me and I want to make 8 more of them. But my physical reality was stuck in the state of who and what I was 5-6 years ago. I think I did myself a deservice trying to "save" money not leveling up my personal life - it kept me thinking small in an area of my life that I can now see was holding me back across the board.

When I was living in the trailer. I truly didn't give a F*ck. At all, i hated my life so much I said F*ck everything, all offense, I have nothing to lose. I remember that pain and rage and it drove me to this place. And somewhere along the line I started to play defense and my mental state started to shift, your mind has an inner critic - it seeks safety and operates out of scarcity - I think that part of me piped up and freaked out when I moved. I couldn't control it and I didn't even know it was there, it took me time to get on top of it and kill it.

This is a just a reminder, that you should kill that part of yourself. Before it kills you.

I think that is the difference between dying having lived your dreams and dying as an old man with nothing to show for yourself other than your old age.

 

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[Ocean Man]

I think I did myself a deservice trying to "save" money not leveling up my personal life - it kept me thinking small in an area of my life that I can now see was holding me back across the board.

Could you expand on this topic a bit more? I'm interested to hear what you have to say about it.

 

[Envision]

Could you expand on this topic a bit more? I'm interested to hear what you have to say about it.

Sure, I spent two hours with my coach today working through this topic.

We are prisoners of our minds. Our beliefs, our systems, you were raised in a system that formed your beliefs, habits, structures. A good example of this is my parents beat into me that I had to do my homework and to not hangout on school nights. To this day, if its a work day, I get ready for the next day and dont do anything else. Its engrained in me like an automatic behavior.

I found my notebook from when I was 19, theres hundreds of pages writing to myself about what I would be become, who I am, what I have and what I do. It's insane, because today my life is so far beyond what I wrote in that notebook. Why the story? Because my reality and my mind and my life has changed over time because of the circumstances I have forced reality to change to what I choose with my mind through action. Most people's lives never change, so they never need to think differently.

My mental states didn't change as fast as they needed to in certain areas of my life. I thought having a 1000 dollar mortgage was a great thing because I was being conservative. I was doing what my dad would do, or my friends dad, or my buddy, or an old mentor. But they havent ever lived my reality, they dont understand it. So why would I shape my beliefs and thought patterns around them?

By staying in the small 1000 square foot house I was living in scarcity. I was thinking small.. I can save the money, I can prepare for a worst case scenario, I can put that money into something else...Sure.

Or i could buy the multi million dollar mansion because Ill never even notice it and I can go 10x my company and asset base. This week, I have noticed I am changing how I think about things. I am just becoming more aware of the mental prisons Ive made for myself.

How do I get more leverage, I dont need to do the work, I need to find the experts and get them around me.
How do I get into more stores? Before I was an ecom brand, how do I get in every retail store on earth.
How do I get more exposure? Before I was just trying to make X per month. Now I want to aggregate exposure at scale.
I offered on another 100k sq ft warehouse and i got the plans submitted for the other 120k sq ft warehouse..
Im turning everything back onto offense. My prison was pushing me to defense.

Today, with my coach - we started to talk about the mental prisons that are going to come with this house, or that I am not noticing. He is working to get me ahead of my current situation (He's actually the reason I bought the house, otherwise Id still be in that other place trying to save).

Some of my other limiting beliefs...
1. I dont have enough money and I need more of it
2. My body cant keep up with the stress and pressure of this - I get injured or sick often
3. I have an underlying feeling that I am going to lose all of this.
4. I feel like I have to do everything in my company.

All these keep me in my own current prison. Awareness, and taking leaps out can wake you up. But we're always in a prison.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[ShamanKing]

Envision,

What’s an automatic red flag for you when hiring employees? Do you ever let your gut feeling make the decision when you’re sending out offers?
Last question is have you read Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Gudra.

 

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[Envision]

Envision,

What’s an automatic red flag for you when hiring employees? Do you ever let your gut feeling make the decision when you’re sending out offers?
Last question is have you read Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Gudra.

I only let my gut make the decisions. I probably reject 97% of the people that want to work here. The majority are lazy, they only care about money, they're here to punch a clock and make cash to F*ck off the rest of their life. There is no purpose in their lives.

I only hire people that can see how my company ties into their purpose and they want to see it grow because there is more here for them that what meets the eye..

 

[Ocean Man]

Sure, I spent two hours with my coach today working through this topic.

We are prisoners of our minds. Our beliefs, our systems, you were raised in a system that formed your beliefs, habits, structures. A good example of this is my parents beat into me that I had to do my homework and to not hangout on school nights. To this day, if its a work day, I get ready for the next day and dont do anything else. Its engrained in me like an automatic behavior.

I found my notebook from when I was 19, theres hundreds of pages writing to myself about what I would be become, who I am, what I have and what I do. It's insane, because today my life is so far beyond what I wrote in that notebook. Why the story? Because my reality and my mind and my life has changed over time because of the circumstances I have forced reality to change to what I choose with my mind through action. Most people's lives never change, so they never need to think differently.

My mental states didn't change as fast as they needed to in certain areas of my life. I thought having a 1000 dollar mortgage was a great thing because I was being conservative. I was doing what my dad would do, or my friends dad, or my buddy, or an old mentor. But they havent ever lived my reality, they dont understand it. So why would I shape my beliefs and thought patterns around them?

By staying in the small 1000 square foot house I was living in scarcity. I was thinking small.. I can save the money, I can prepare for a worst case scenario, I can put that money into something else...Sure.

Or i could buy the multi million dollar mansion because Ill never even notice it and I can go 10x my company and asset base. This week, I have noticed I am changing how I think about things. I am just becoming more aware of the mental prisons Ive made for myself.

How do I get more leverage, I dont need to do the work, I need to find the experts and get them around me.
How do I get into more stores? Before I was an ecom brand, how do I get in every retail store on earth.
How do I get more exposure? Before I was just trying to make X per month. Now I want to aggregate exposure at scale.
I offered on another 100k sq ft warehouse and i got the plans submitted for the other 120k sq ft warehouse..
Im turning everything back onto offense. My prison was pushing me to defense.

Today, with my coach - we started to talk about the mental prisons that are going to come with this house, or that I am not noticing. He is working to get me ahead of my current situation (He's actually the reason I bought the house, otherwise Id still be in that other place trying to save).

Some of my other limiting beliefs...
1. I dont have enough money and I need more of it
2. My body cant keep up with the stress and pressure of this - I get injured or sick often
3. I have an underlying feeling that I am going to lose all of this.
4. I feel like I have to do everything in my company.

All these keep me in my own current prison. Awareness, and taking leaps out can wake you up. But we're always in a prison.

Hope that makes sense.

I guess I'm reading into the financial aspect too much or too literally. Missing the message?

As an average W2 employee, how would this apply to me? I'm definitely conservative with money. Watching the money I spend, and as much as I'd like that first-class flight or larger house, financially it wouldn't make sense for me to just splurge.

Could you help me understand, am I just seeing a different message or not understanding?

I do wholeheartedly agree with the rest of the message about being prisoners of our minds. How we need to find ways to think differently, that most of us are thinking small, that we need to change our reality through action, and that we have to find ways to break out of that to grow.

Appreciate the reply!

 

[biophase]

Some of my other limiting beliefs...
3. I have an underlying feeling that I am going to lose all of this.

To me the easiest way to get rid of this feeling is to segregate you finances. This means moving the risk from your business to personal assets. Now that you have your home, you could pay it off as quickly as possible. Then you'd have a multi-million dollar asset that can't be taken away from you. You may not get the maximum ROI on the money but you will be more stress free.

You don't want your networth to be 90% business, 5% house and 5% cash. 30% business, 50% house and investments, 20% cash would feel much better. Then you can only lose 30% of "this".

 

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[biophase]

Sure, I spent two hours with my coach today working through this topic.

We are prisoners of our minds. Our beliefs, our systems, you were raised in a system that formed your beliefs, habits, structures. A good example of this is my parents beat into me that I had to do my homework and to not hangout on school nights. To this day, if its a work day, I get ready for the next day and dont do anything else. Its engrained in me like an automatic behavior.

A few years ago, my friends and I were playing a game on PS3/4? It was 12am on a Tuesday and we decided to try to finish the game. Instantly, there was a guilt trip growing in my brain. Playing video games to 3am on a weekday? Only losers do that. But then, my realist brain kicked in. Why the F*ck not. I'm an adult and can play video games whenever I want. I can also wake up at noon and not feel guilty about it.

By staying in the small 1000 square foot house I was living in scarcity. I was thinking small.. I can save the money, I can prepare for a worst case scenario, I can put that money into something else...Sure.

Or i could buy the multi million dollar mansion because Ill never even notice it and I can go 10x my company and asset base. This week, I have noticed I am changing how I think about things. I am just becoming more aware of the mental prisons Ive made for myself.

I felt like I had been living below my means for a long long time also. I was doing the responsible thing. But the reality is that you are working hard so that you can afford the things that you want. There has to be a point where you harvest your investments.

I did this in the past year. I sold 2 rental properties that I've owned since 2005 in order to purchase my primary home. My investment did its job right? I didn't do anything wrong, but it did feel weird. Selling cash flowing properties to buy a primary home. However, If we never sell our investment, then why did we sacrifice the past now "2005" for the future?

 

[Envision]

A few years ago, my friends and I were playing a game on PS3/4? It was 12am on a Tuesday and we decided to try to finish the game. Instantly, there was a guilt trip growing in my brain. Playing video games to 3am on a weekday? Only losers do that. But then, my realist brain kicked in. Why the F*ck not. I'm an adult and can play video games whenever I want. I can also wake up at noon and not feel guilty about it.


I felt like I had been living below my means for a long long time also. I was doing the responsible thing. But the reality is that you are working hard so that you can afford the things that you want. There has to be a point where you harvest your investments.

I did this in the past year. I sold 2 rental properties that I've owned since 2005 in order to purchase my primary home. My investment did its job right? I didn't do anything wrong, but it did feel weird. Selling cash flowing properties to buy a primary home. However, If we never sell our investment, then why did we sacrifice the past now "2005" for the future?

This is exactly the feeling man - i sold all my "investment" properties that served their purpose and paid for my house, all my payments now coming from CC points. So im technically out nothing to own the house. I could have done it a long time ago but there is so much guilt associated with selling these properties because at one point in time this was my only play and I am not cashing it all in so the idea now dies. Or to your point, has served its purpose.

I have to make the mental adjustment that I have a new life now and im not staying in the past - there is a new future and a new level.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

This thread has been restored and I've taken it back in the time machine to 10 days ago.

 

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[Raja]

yey. this is the thread I look forward to.

 

[Coolledge]

Wow, very cool see how you began and where you are - i wanted to say end, but im sure that's not the case.

Congratulations