Month: March 2025

Jewels of Wisdom Newsletter – Make $500K by Thanksgiving

How to Make $500,000 by Thanksgiving

It’s much easier to “Make” money than it is to earn it. In our business we make money by making deals. Earning money to me is more like being employed and paid by the hour. Very limiting because you only have 168 hours in a week, maybe half of those would be available for work. I always preferred sales & negotiation with commission & profit available with no cap – Like real estate brokerage or house flipping – You can “make” money quickly instead of earning it by the hour.

I chose Thanksgiving to highlight the current 6 month window of opportunity in which we now live- The Spring Market!!. Now through mid October is when 80% of 2025’s deal flow will be made. By Thanksgiving, most of that will have gone to closing. Hence, setting a goal now to make $500,000 by Thanksgiving. Here is my framework for creating this result:

Belief System – If you don’t believe you can make $500,000 by Thanksgiving, I can assure you: “You’re right”. If you DO believe you can make $500,000, I can tell you it’s possible. When I first set my sights on goals of this size, I had to believe in them first-for quite a few years actually-before making it happen in real life. Some reading say to themselves, “I’ve done this & more. Thanksgiving-no problem, maybe even 4th of July.”

My mentor, Dan Kennedy, is known as a Marketing Guru. However, much of his work is centered on belief systems. Like Tony Robbins teaches. He taught me how to change my beliefs about what’s possible by reading biographies of successful entrepreneurs. The Founders Podcast is a shortcut to this-giving you a summary of many, many, more biographies than any of us could possibly read.

Knowledge – Knowledge about HOW to actually make $500K is necessary. If you’re aligned with business partners who know how to do this, you found a shortcut. If you have never done this before, or come close, you might have a longer road than 2025 to make this happen. Hitting the $500K mark in a single year took my just under 10 years of trial & error to figure out-not including my career in car sales which certainly helped me learn how to close deals.
Communication Skills – Income in our business is directly tied to your communication skills. How you conduct appointments & present offers. The wording in your emails, text, and advertisements. The description in your listing. How you talk on the phone – the questions you ask – your ability to LISTEN. All these and more are intentionally developed as you increase your ability to make deals.
DO THE WORK – Extraordinary Results ($500K this year is not ordinary) require extraordinary effort. In our business, that means working the phones and negotiating deals. These are the money producing activities. Now, since it’s the Spring Market, I’m asking my team weekly to level up more now than ever. I’m asking myself the same thing.

The 2025 Spring & Summer real estate market is still a once in a lifetime opportunity, and the market is not guaranteed to be as favorable as it is right now.

Jewels of Wisdom Newsletter – How to Build a Pipeline of Off Market Deals

How to Build a Pipeline of Off Market Deals with $0 Marketing Expenses

I had lunch with a long time friend & business partner this week. We discussed his strategy for doing 40-50 fix & flips per year without losing a ton of money on marketing. This 3 step strategy assumes you have strength in funding deals & renovation resources. First, find & build relationships with wholesalers & agents who find deals. Then, methodically strengthen those relationships-sometimes this is hard, because it can cost more money. Finally maintain contact as time goes on.

I shared this strategy with my buddy Evan, from the Milwaukee, WI area. He more than doubled the number of projects he was finding & flipping without a penny in marketing. This works:

Build Relationships – New or low experience wholesalers are the best place to start. Many don’t have much money or experience when they join the real estate industry, so they get ignored-until they start finding deals. Invite them for lunch, ask them to call you with deals, and offer to provide them pricing guidance (what you’d offer) if they have a deal where they’re not sure the value. Keep any information they provide in strict confidence-or you’ll ruin the relationship forever.

As time goes on, you’ll notice 9/10 of these folks either quit the business OR grow from wholesaler to landlord & flipper themselves. It only takes 3-4 of the remaining 1/10 to feed your real estate business more off market deals than you can handle. Here’s how to keep them happy:

Strengthen Relationships – Below are 5 tips to keeping a wholesaler loyal. When you do these things below, you’ll get favorable treatment. That might mean steering a deal to you even when you’re NOT the highest offer OR perhaps being the only person in the world to know about the deal-and buying with ZERO competition.
- Decide Quickly – If the deal is not for you, pass quickly. Nothing is worse than being strung along by a buyer who knew they had no interest, but instead said, “I’ll look into this later when I’m at the office” or something similar. On the other hand, if you say you’re interested, view it as quickly as they can provide access and present your offer immediately-at the showing if possible, but same day every time. It shows confidence in your ability to ACTUALLY CLOSE the deal, if awarded. I still judge buyers on their speed to offer.
- Pay More if Possible – When you have a reputation for paying the highest price, you will absolutely get favorable treatment. Be careful, if you’re always negotiating hard, your agents/wholesalers will find someone more generous as their #1 buyer.
- ALWAYS Close as Agreed – Going under contract, even with Due Diligence, and then NOT closing at the original price you offer earns you a black mark in the eyes of your deal source. The best method is to make the offer at the price you KNOW you’ll close-and follow through on that. If you earn a place on the blacklist of an agent/wholesaler, it will be very difficult to regain favor.
- Never Renegotiate – In most real estate negotiations, the inspection period comes with a renegotiation. In the wholesaler & investor agent world, this behavior will deteriorate your reputation as a go-to buyer. Even if it’s something big-roof, HVAC, electrical-if you can still profit and eat the expense, you will gain future deals with that deal source.

Maintain Relationships – Many agents/wholesalers only come across a few deals per year. They aren’t super professional-yet this is to your advantage. Their lack of professional business skills, while irritating to you, actually creates the opportunity for YOU to be their go-to buyer. These are the type you’ll have to call every month or so to check in-otherwise they’ll simply forget you exist. Perhaps a lunch meeting a few times per year. Make them feel special. Not “buy them roses” special, but some time & attention. Maybe ask them their goals in the business, make a book recommendation, etc. And of course, ALWAYS ask if they are working on any deals where you might be able to add value.