How I Made My First Million Dollars
Dean Graziosi narrates how, in his early 20s with no money, he bought a 28-acre vineyard from artist Mark Miller (asking $180,000) using a partner loan and negotiated $90,000 upfront + $90,000 later. Facing neighbor opposition to a major subdivision, he sold lot-line revisions (cushions/buffers) to several neighbors for over $250,000 and later sold the subdivided center parcel for over $800,000—bringing total proceeds over $1 million. He frames the story as a lesson in thinking differently: be naive, hungry, and refuse to take no as an answer.
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Does life and the world around us sometimes paint us inside the box without us even knowing? Welcome to the Dean Graziosi Show. All success starts right here. I just told a story to a dear friend of mine that I haven't shared in ages. And I always. I look back at this story, it's the first time I ever made a million dollars. I was in my 20s, it was on a real estate deal. And I say that now, a dollars to me then might as well been $200 billion. But I look back and I wonder if I would be as creative and as hungry now as I was when I did that deal. Because here's what I know is a lot of times being successful has a lot to do with being naive or not been told no to where you start believing what other people say. To not have watching the news for years. So you just want to play small or listen to people tell now this isn't the right time, not the right president. You know, all these things in life, these outside influences, outside game affects the inner game. It makes you play small without even realizing. Like every year you just start playing smaller and smaller. Well, I was in my early 20s, had no money. I mean, when I say no money, nothing, right? Just working hard. I was hustling cars. I was fixing wrecked cars and selling them. And this piece of property came for sale. Well, it actually wasn't for sale. It came for sale because I became friends with the owner. His name was Mark Miller. He's a famous artist. And he owned 28 acres of vineyards because he owned a winery. And there was an old vineyard, had the grapevine still in it, but the weeds had grown up. And everybody stayed away from this property because he wanted $180,000. And all the neighbors got so used to the property being vacant, that one guy shot his bow and arrow. He practiced, you know, his arrow for archery, hunting. He practiced on the property. Another guy had his four wheeler trail through the whole thing. Another guy, there was a barn on the property. One of the neighbors kind of adopted the barn because it was kind of vacant. No one was around. So he kind of adopted the barn and used it. And to him it was his. Any other guy up on the hill just wanted complete privacy. He didn't want anybody building next to him. That's in real estate, we call it. Not in my backyard. I could build a house, but I don't want anybody building in my backyard. Right. So everybody stayed away from this property. And plus, he was asking maybe a little bit too much, but Mark Miller and I, the gentleman on the property became friends and I made a deal with him to give him 90,000 up front and 90,000 in two years or a year, something like that. And I was going to subdivide this property. So I didn't have the 90 grand back then. And I told this story prior. One of my clients and friend lent me the money to buy the property. I made him a partner on it. So I went to Mark Miller, I locked up the property and I go through the. Now I'm sharing this story specifically. Take the lessons out of it is one of it was being naive and one of his. And I put this in my first real estate course which was called Think a little different. Because I want to encourage you to think outside the box. Life paints you inside. Life is forcing you in at all times. We go to school and they, they give us time frames and buzzers and bells and, and don't talk to anybody else and sit in your square, sit in your, in your world. Don't stray out, don't. I mean in, in business if you don't collaborate with others, you die. But in school, if you do it, it's called cheating. Makes zero sense to me. It's like the world is designed to put you in the box and the only people who make it to live at their full potential the of the box. So I'm sharing the story because being naive, being young and being frickin hungry, I mean I was hungry for another level. There was nobody telling me no made this a million dollar deal. So buy the property. I start going through the subdivision process and I'm big borrowing, steal. I'm hustling cars during the day to use the money to pay for this subdivision. I have engineers and architects and then I gotta lay out the road. And I'm learning all this stuff about a big subdivision. It's called a major subdivision. I had done a minor subdivision which was like three lots or four lots or less. So now I'm. And all of a sudden it starts. I go to the first planning board meeting and all the neighbors show up and they're just like, I murdered their children. For lack of a better word. They just despised me. And I'm like, wow, how am I gonna do it? And you gotta realize in business one person upset can stop or cause you years. And I didn't have the money to drag this thing out for years and fight the neighbors and all that kind of stuff. So they go and one of the guys name was Wade Sargent. His mother and my mother were Best friends grow. So Wade was still there fighting me. He didn't want this subdivision to go in his backyard. So I walked away's house one day. This is being hungry. This is being not afraid to go after your dreams. Not taking no as an answer. When's the last time you gave up too easy and someone else got their dreams, maybe with your idea. So I knock on Wade's door. His name was Wade Sergeant. I said, hey Wade, what's up? Ay, Dean. He was kind of like, you're my friend, but you're trying to ruin my backyard. So I said, wade, listen, I'm going to make that subdivision happen. It might take me longer. Everybody can fight me. I'm going to make it happen. I don't give up. But how can I make you happy? And what he told me changed everything. He said, well, I just really don't want the road to go close to my backyard. If I had a little buffer. He said, if I had a little buffer, I'd be fine. I'd support you. I'm like, well, by buffer you mean if I sold you a piece of that property, you'd be happy? He said, yeah, would you do that? I said, heck yeah, I'll take your money. So I do a lot line revision. Not even a subdivision. You don't have to know real estate to understand this. I did a lot line revision and I gave him a half of an acre. And he cut me a check like, wow. I went to all the neighbors. The guy that was using the barn like it was his carved out an acre and sold him the barn. The guy that wanted privacy, I sold him 4 acres. Another guy wanted a 2 acre cushion. Next door neighbor wanted to sell some, wanted to put a house for his daughter on his property someday. I ended up selling over $250,000 worth of lot line revisions to the neighbors. And all of them happy all of a sudden, all of them from hating me. Everybody staying away from this property. They all love me. I was the guy going down the road. They high five me, they waved to me. And then guess what? Then I subdivided the center piece of property and sold the center for over $800,000. Brought in over a million dollars on this piece of property by making the neighbors happy. Now people much SM developers in our town looked at that property, told me I was crazy. Rick Afuso, his dad told me because he had farmed that property when he was a kid and I respected him. He was a great real estate developer in our little town. And he told me, you paid 180 for that property. You just lost your butt, he didn't say. But you just lost your ass, he said. And I was like, damn it. Maybe I did. But they were all looking at it from inside the box. I was desperate. I was hungry. I didn't take no for an answer, and I looked at it completely different. Like the name of my first course, Think a Little Different. Where in your life right now are you inside the box and you don't realize it, and you need to think a little different. That's where change happens. That's where innovation happens. That's where breakthroughs happen. And that's when people go, holy crap. How did he do that? How did she do that? It's by not taking no for an answer, not looking from looking at it through a set of glasses that everybody has. Everybody's got the same glasses on. Wear a different pair. Look at things differently. Go for it. Don't let the world talk you into being complacent. Make your own decisions. Follow your vision. If you're listening to me, that means you want another level of life. It's time you go out after it. What's up? What's up? Hey, before you go, you need to watch these next few videos. They're absolute game changers. Hurry up and click right over here and watch them, and I'll see you there.
