REIA 199 Matthew Baltzell: 5 strategic ways to find off market deals

Welcome to Real Estate Investing Abundance, the show for busy, fulfilled professionals like you to learn how to develop financial independence built on solid passive real estate investments. Now here is your host, Dr. Allen Lomax.

Hello, enlightened investors, and what a delight to be back with you again today. We are going to take a look at 5 strategic ways to find off-market deals amongst other things. So Matthew Botzel is a real estate investor with a portfolio of over 743 units and 4 years of asset management. He is also the former host of Real Estate Journeys, a top 400 business podcast. With his vast experience in podcasting and real estate, he founded Elite Podcast Bookings, a company that specializes in helping real estate investors attract more capital and become thought leaders. So Matthew, share with us a memorable experience that helped you to be who you are today.

Yeah. First off, thanks for having me, Allen. I really appreciate it. Good to see you again, as always. So it's a formidable experience that shaped me for who I am today. Talked about this offline earlier, but when I kind of was asked that question, I was thinking when I was younger, I used to have kind of always like the entrepreneurial spirit. And so I know a lot of people always had lawn mowing businesses, or that's the stereotypical thing, but I had a lawn mowing business when I was growing up, me and one of my buddies. And we were like, I think I was 13 and he was 12. And basically we'd go door to door knocking on people's doors asking if we want, if we can mow their yards. We had about 5, 6 people, but, you know, just pushing young bucks, pushing the mowers around the neighborhood. And I've always had the kind of had that entrepreneur mindset. And so, you know, now looking at my life and how it's progressed, like you said in the introduction, Now I started a company called Elite Podcast Bookings, which basically helps specialize in real estate investors and real estate professionals basically scale and use podcasting to help attract more capital and more deals and basically achieve their dreams. So yeah, it's kind of a little tidbit about my past and how it's kind of helped sculpt me into the way where I am currently.

Well, it was a couple years ago we last, I think, touched base, and at the time you were overseas and you were preparing to come back to the States. But even overseas, you were doing some real estate investing. But that's just part of the interesting thing about your background, which you haven't shared with us. You were also into acting at one time. And so very varied background, very interesting background. And so I know you're going to have a whole lot to share with our audience today, but take us into the program and share with us the 4 Habits of Highly Successful Capital raisers?

Yeah, for sure. So when you're looking at capital raising, right, a lot of people that are actually using capital raising that are successful today is one of the first things they're doing is they are utilizing current media, right? So an example would be like you having this podcast, right? You basically have a platform and you are able to basically expand upon and broaden your network, right? So let's say someone that wants to start raising capital that doesn't have a platform, right? A good way to about doing that is they could do blogging, they could be going on other people's podcasts, but a lot of people aren't necessarily utilizing that. So for, let's say for yourself, example for you, like, do you go on other people's podcasts a lot?

I haven't up to this point yet, but I, I will start doing that here at some point in time.

So yeah, see, exactly. So it's almost like a two-way street, right? So people that have a podcast, right, they want to grow their audience, but they often have trouble growing their audience because they're not purposing their content in the correct way. So let's Let's say you have a podcast and you're like, hey, I'm going to post on Facebook and I'm going to post on LinkedIn. Well, you might not be getting that much traction because your followers on Facebook are your friends, your family. First, they have to be interested in real estate, then they have to be interested in investing, and then they might listen to your podcast. So they're already kind of battling up the creek. But if you are posting that, if you're posting that to people that are actually willing to listen, or if you're going on other people's podcasts, Then one, you already know they're interested in real estate investing, and then they're more susceptible to come and listen to your podcast. So that's a great way to first is to utilize the power of media to help grow to be a successful capital raiser. Let's see, number 2. Number 2 would be having a strong marketing funnel or having a strong call to action. So for example, a lot of times when people go on your podcasts or other podcasts in general, right at the end of the podcast, They typically say, hey, where can people best find you?

Right.

And people will say, oh, Allen, thanks very much. You can find me at matthew@elitepodcastbookings.com. I'm also on LinkedIn. Here's my phone number. And I really, really love talking real estate, so reach out to me on LinkedIn. I'm really accessible. Right? That's a very weak call to action. And a lot of times when people are listening to these conversations, podcasting's a very intimate experience, right? It's between your ears. And so, you know, people that listen to podcasts, they start it and then they finish it. It's not like a song where you can pick it up in the middle. It's a very intimate experience from start to beginning. So when they get to the end, it's almost like the reward, right? And so you don't want to drop the ball. So when you get to the call to action, you're going to want to have something that basically delivers scarcity, right? You're going to want people to take action. So what are you going to say? You can give an example of an ebook or not an ebook, a hardback covered book signed, right? So you could say, Hey, the first 10 people to reach out to me via email, whatever, matthew@leapodcastbookings.com, will get an autographed copy and a rare underwriting template for your multifamily syndication underwriting model or something like that. And people will be like, okay, wow, there's only 10 of those available. Let me take action. But if you just kind of give a blasé overview, then people aren't really going to be doing that. So that's number 2. And then number 3 is to always constantly be expanding upon your network. So I had a podcast interview a couple days ago and somebody was talking about the power of— we were talking about the power of networking, right? And so whether the economy's going to go up, whether the economy's going to go down, whether there's going to be a boom or a bust in real estate, nobody necessarily knows. But if you need capital today, right? Or you need capital tomorrow or next week, Like those people that can raise millions of dollars in a drop of an email or a week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or whatever have you, they've been formulating and curating those relationships for a very, very, very long time.

Right.

They're not saying, and you could feel the desperation from people, right? When they reach out to you like, hey, I haven't heard from Allen in 2 years. Oh, hey Allen, what's going on? Oh, by the way, I have a new deal. It's like, well, you know, yeah, okay. All right. But you don't have that consistent point of contact.

Right.

So when people are joining your email list, you're sending out 2 emails, you have great branding, you have good colors, you have good logos, you're consistent, you're consistent with your messaging. And after that kind of parlays into number 4 is when you're expanding upon your network, You constantly have deal flow, right? You're almost like a date matchmaker, right? If you were a single guy and you were like a date matchmaker, right? And you're like, listen, I got this girl for you. You can go on this date with this girl this weekend. It's like, oh, great. Okay. That didn't work out. All right. And then maybe 2 weeks later, hey, here's another girl you could go out. You're always presenting new opportunities. So people want to be around people that are on the up and up, right? Like if you think about it as like a tornado spiral, like It starts lower in the cyclone and the bigger it gets, the bigger it gets, the bigger the tornado is and the more it can attract. But if you just start off small when you have something right away, then you're not necessarily going to be able to attract a lot of capital or you're not going to be able to necessarily attract a lot of deals. So constantly expanding upon and building your network is going to help you attract more deal flow, attract more capital, keep your podcast going, And people that do this over time, it's just like an avalanche and like the tornado that just gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And they don't have to work as hard to raise $4 million. But the first time they were raising $100,000, they had to beat the drum, pull their parents' hair, claw tooth and nail just to get $100,000 from 10, 20, 15, 12, 5, 7, whatever investors have you. So that's kind of just a high-level overview of how to generally be a successful capital raiser from what I've seen and what I've studied and what I've worked with and people who we have with as clients.

Yeah, that makes perfect sense there. Wonderful suggestions there. So Matthew, tell us what you have to offer and how it is we can get in touch with you.

Yeah. So like I was saying, if you're looking to attract more capital deal flow and learn how to take your real estate investing to the next level, You can go to leadpodcastbookings.com and you can book and schedule an appointment with me and enter the promo code Allen. And the first 2 people to do this will get a completely free month for us. So just enter the promo code Allen so I know where you guys came from and we'll set you up and all that. We'll look at your marketing funnel and we will provide a free month's worth of service there for you.

Free month of full service?

Yep.

Free month of full service for the first 2 people.

Wow. That's a deal and a half there.

Wonderful.

So how do you attract capital like a boss with using the media of podcasting?

Yeah. So like I was trying to, it was correlating a little together, right? So that's basically kind of like a high-level overview of a formula of how you would do it, right? So with podcasting, with the podcasting, you're basically putting yourself out there, amplifying your message to your potential investor base. Now, a lot of times people will say, Oh, there's all these other real estate podcasts. What do I have to say? Right? Well, it's just packaged in a different way, right? There's thousands of syndicators, thousands of capital raisers. And I mean, let's say you're raising money for multifamily, right? I mean, at the end of the day, what's the difference between a 200-unit in Orlando and a 200-unit in Jacksonville? I mean, they're kind of the same. Relatively the same area, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They might have different submarkets, et cetera, but they're basically 200 units. They have a roof, you know, 2 doors, whatever, whatever you want to have, whatever you want to say.

Well, so in terms of podcasting, what are 3 things that you should never do as a podcast guest? Yeah.

So 3 things you should never do. One, like I was saying earlier, is you should never not have a call to action, right? You should never not have a call to action. And number 2, Is, for example, like if you look at my setup, I have a clear professional image, right? I, I don't have a green screen background, which I never recommend. I think those look very tacky. You got to have high quality production. You have to have your camera angles set up at eye level. These are kind of things that people don't think about, right? This is your first impression. This is your initial meet and greet, right? So if someone were to see this production value, Of quality, right? And they would see this and be like, oh, this guy's serious, right? But if they were to see an HD granular image of me and my camera's up here and I'm looking down at you and it's like, they can't even get the camera set up. What makes me think that they can handle my business? Right. And another thing that people should always do is be professional and be courteous and follow up and thank the host. I know you had, we had it, or you had a podcast earlier and I have, I had a podcast in the past and currently have a podcast, I bet you that very few and far between people actually follow up and basically say, hey, thank you for the time. I appreciate it. Or they help promote the episode, right? It doesn't feel good when, you know, people are coming on your platform just to use you to promote their message, right? When it's a symbiotic relationship, cohesive relationship, You know, podcasting's a great way to develop your network, to gain friendships, to gain partnerships, to gain investors. But when you're just coming in strictly as a transaction, you know, the host can feel that, the audience can feel that. And when you're not leading with value, then it's not good for anybody. So I guess the last one would be also lead with value.

Very good. Actually, I mean, most people follow up with a thank you if nothing else. And most people tend to, well, a good number follow up with additional referrals as well. And which I appreciate all of that. So what are 4 unusual ways that we can use our real estate to leverage our overall business?

So I think the last bullet point maybe should have been omitted, but can you, can you repeat that again? What were the 4 unusual ways that—

what? 4 unusual ways to leverage your real estate business.

Yeah, I think, I think it should maybe possibly say the ultimate way to leverage your business was like, again, podcasting, right? So with the podcasting, right? It's the up-and-coming new form of media that basically is designed— or not designed, but basically it's a new up-and-coming form of media that is helping people promote their businesses. Very interpersonal, like I was saying before, right? If you are going on, you know, media tours, right, you might have to be a bigger, more popular Grant Cardone or something like that. But if you're initially starting out and you're looking to Develop these relationships, develop your network. You know, you could start a podcast, right? And you know, I've seen your emails come in, your drip campaigns. You have good communication. You've been doing this for a while, right? But these things take a lot of effort, right? It takes a lot of work to have a successful podcast like yourself. So if you don't have the time or you don't have the resources or you don't know how to do that, right? It doesn't take a rocket scientist. To be like, hey, I should be going on podcasts, right? And then you're leveraging other people's platforms and now you're helping build your brand. So if Allen's podcast has an average downloads of, we'll say whatever, anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 an episode, right? And you do 3 or 4 podcast bookings a month, right? Of those kind of caliber of shows. Now all of a sudden you've reached 40,000 potential listeners. And the old school traditional way would be, hey, everybody knows real estate is almost like a good old boy network, right? You got to go to the conferences and you got to shake hands and you got to kiss the babies. And yes, all that's still necessary, but when you're reaching 40,000 people, you can't be doing that, going to 1 or 2 conferences, right? It's almost exhausting. It's draining. You got to remember people's names. You got to do all this. But when you're doing this over time, right? Let's say you do 4 podcast bookings a month. Or 2 podcast bookings or whatever you want to do, and you're going out there and you're sending your message, people over time are going to like you, know you, and trust you, and then they'll eventually invest with you. And we've had a client who they just recently had somebody listen to one of their podcast episodes, listens once or twice. They've heard them in the past, seen a couple of their blog posts, and they invested $250,000 with them. But that's not going to happen to somebody that's just initially you're hearing from the jump. Right? So if somebody hears Allen's podcast randomly and they hear one piece of content from you, they're not going to be like, oh, I'm going to invest with Allen. As cool and great as a person you are, it's going to take time. So maybe they'll start consuming your content. They'll go back, they'll listen to podcast episode number 2, 10, 15, 20. Okay, Allen knows what he's talking about. And then you're doing it on somebody else's platform. If you have 7 different touchpoints, like American Express says, Then people on the 7th time are the most susceptible to take action. So it takes time to build these things, but when people just jump in and then jump out, they don't necessarily see the results, but it's a lagging indicator. So the ultimate way to basically, or the number one way to help promote yourself and your business and your real estate business would be to get into podcasting. Yeah.

I mean, I couldn't agree with you more. I mean, it has just been a wonderful platform for me. And as you stated, you were on my previous program, which was Creekside Chats with Real Estate Investors. There were, just for those who are contemplating doing this, there, I mean, there were 2 reasons I changed the labels there. One is that like most of us, when we're first starting out, we're going to make a whole lot of mistakes and do a whole lot of things that are probably not all that beneficial. And that certainly happened with my Creekside Chats. I mean, I was just starting out green and I had no clue what was going on and what I was doing, but I learned a whole lot from that experience. A whole lot. I did 158 episodes before changing the label and the platform. But anyway, the reason I changed the platform is because Creekside Chats with Real Estate Investors, it's way too long a name and it doesn't really directly relate to real estate investing. So I selected a better label and also I was starting out scratch from a year's worth of experience and from 158 podcasts. So I started out on a very positive note, knowing exactly what kind of platform I was going to have and knowing exactly how it is that I'm going to interact with my guests. And also having had that year's experience, I also knew how to put in so much of what it is that you are talking about, the drip campaigns and invitations from acceptance of invitations to the day of the podcast, you've had several reminders that this is coming before this day. Well, all of that took time to put in place. It also took experience on how to do all of those things. And it took time and effort to find the apps that helped me to do this, because there's no way I could do all of that without all of those backend apps there. So yeah, great information there. And yeah, I mean, it has just been a godsend to me in terms of developing all of those connections. And I haven't put in all of those drip campaigns, but we're coming to that place where we're putting in those drip campaigns. So you're not only going to have that prior drip coming up to the show, but you'll be hearing from us consistently, you know, for the next year, essentially. We've got all of that in place now. So all of my guests, we'll be in touch with them over the next year. But beyond that, and you didn't really touch on this, but we've started our direct marketing campaigns and reaching out to potential potential sellers. And in all of the direct marketing campaigns that I'm putting out there, I'm always referring back to the podcast because in the direct marketing, these people don't know me from Adam, but I say, here's my podcast, go there. Not only is it informative, but you could get to know me through that as well.

It's your digital resume, right? If you, I think you said you had 168, it was 158 episodes prior.

We had 158 with Creekside Chats.

Yeah.

And I've recorded over 150 in the new format.

Exactly. So it's, it's like saying, you know, you've, you've run the marathon and you have 5 medals to prove it, right? Yeah. So that having 158 episodes is a good digital footprint to have, right? It shows that you're consistent, right? You, you're dedicated. You, though, like the, the amount of effort that it takes to put in that, that much and get those episodes, like you can't just say, hey, you know, go online and look me up. And then there's like one piece of information, right?

Yeah.

So it's like, wow, there's 158 different things this guy's put out. Like, you know, what does this guy talk about? What did this guy talk about 3 weeks ago? What did he talk about a year ago? Well, how's Creekside Chats different from this podcast? How's it different from this podcast? Right? So that in itself, having a strong digital footprint basically is good for yourself and your brand because people can see you and they have more trust and they can see the evolution. And like you were saying of the drip campaigns or whatnot, like I've seen your growth. You know, I think you're a lot stronger podcaster now. You're asking great questions. better questions, you have a better show flow. And these things come with time, right? And when you're raising money or you're doing more real estate deals and you're selling, these are things that everybody that struggles with, right? Or you're faking it until you make it, or imposter syndrome, right? But now I could definitely say that you're killing it. You're doing a great job with the podcast, and I'm sure you're doing very well within the real estate industry as well.

Well, Matthew, tell us, you offer a full list of services and you haven't really told us exactly what those services are. So what services do you have Yeah.

So my company is Elite Podcast Bookings, elitepodcastbookings.com. You can find it there. Basically, we are a podcast booking service agency that specializes in booking real estate investors and real estate professionals on industry-leading podcasts that helps them attract more capital and more deal flow.

Okay. Well, Matthew, it has certainly been a delight. Wonderful to touch base with you again, and congratulations on your new endeavors. And viewers and listeners, as always, what a pleasure to be with you today. I look forward to our next episode. Thank you, Matthew. Thank you, Allen.

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