5 Years Of Real Estate Investing Advice In 15 Minutes (I Wish I’d Known This Then)

If I could go back to my 25-year-old self, and if he wanted to start in real estate today, I wouldn't tell him to focus on revenue or having a big team or just to hire like a ton of people. What I would tell them is you need to simplify things as much as you can and do things smartly. Because nowadays, if you really look into the wholesaling game, you know, after being in it for 5 years and making millions of dollars but then also losing a ton of money, I've narrowed it down to 6 main things that I wish I knew before I started. So with that being said, let's dive into it. Number 1 is you need to focus on fast cash. Fast cash is going to beat maybe cash because a lot of the advice out there is, you know, you need to raise capital, take on a ton of flips. But if you really think about it, with wholesaling the biggest fulfillment— I'm sorry, the biggest bottleneck is fulfillment because you never really truly can guarantee what the delivery is going to be because you're always depending on outside sources that have an input in your deal. You know, the market, interest rates, the country, affordability, buyers, agents, inspectors, lenders. So with wholesaling, we are fronting most of the cash and the risk up front before a guaranteed payday. You can do everything right, underwrite the property correct. You could do your rehab right if you are flipping, but just because you think something is going to sell for whatever you comped, it doesn't mean it's going to sell for that price. So with that being said, I would much rather take on the guaranteed cash today instead of risking more capital to make more money. So if we can quicken that conversion cycle, I would do that over and over again. Because looking back, one of my worst mistakes was just getting into flipping. And I think that would have scaled way quicker if I would have not focused on flipping in the beginning and just gone straight into wholesaling and focusing on just doing the cash, you know, the fast cash sales. Number 2, it would come down to you really need to figure out how to scale based on profit and not revenue. Because with your wholesaling business or flipping business, you are never going to sell it. So the only thing that matters is how much money do you actually net at the end of each month. So the quicker that you realize that, the quicker you'll be able to have a game plan and a blueprint where you know exactly what your expenses are, how much you need to spend in marketing, and how much you can net at the end of each month. Because I see these big-ass guys that are in real estate investing and they have huge overheads, huge team. But I think to myself, some of these people are making millions of dollars a year in revenue, yet they're netting $1 to $2 million with all that overhead and stress and moving parts. I don't want to do that. I would much rather have a business that crosses 7 figures and I can net $500,000, $600,000, $700,000, but I still have everything delegated by my team. So I wish I didn't romanticize on the fact that, you know, you make millions of dollars, you know, on top line revenue when the main thing that matters is how much money you net at the end of each month. So if you can simplify that, and if I could have simplified that way better in the beginning, I would be in a much better spot. And I know for sure that we would have made way more money if we would have focused on profit instead of revenue. And I know in the beginning, the there's a lot of things that you don't know because you're green to it and you are super hopeful. You want to take on the world. And it's not until you get into it and the true entrepreneurship really pushes you and teaches you a lot of the things. And you really find out that it is not for everyone and it's way harder than what everybody makes it seem. So if you can focus on the fast cash and if you can focus on scaling based on profit, you're going to be at a much better spot because then you know exactly what it takes in terms of team members, marketing, and close revenue per month in order for you to get to your goal, whatever that is. Number 3 would be to really focus on, on your KPIs, your key performance indicators. And in the beginning, I was just worried about hustling and chasing after deals and just being a dealmaker rather than being a business owner. Of course, it takes a while before you develop that skill and you need to go through the storms and the mistakes and the losses before you can develop this. But I wish I would have known about this in the beginning because it's just going to add on to point number 2, which is scaling based on profit. Because if you don't know what you are tracking and you don't know what you're shooting for, you're just throwing spaghetti at the wall, hoping something sticks. And that is never a good plan. So looking back, like some of my worst mistakes was not tracking this. And it took me 2 and a half years to, you know, start tracking my numbers and figure out which marketing channels were giving us the best returns. And I found out that I would have saved around $600,000 last year if I would have tracked my numbers. I realized that one marketing channel was making us most of the money. We're getting a 5x and I wasted $150,000 in other channels that didn't perform. So if I would have known about this, would have been in a way better spot making way more money as last year things were a little bit easier than they are right now in this 2025. There's a lot of pain in the water. People want to sell, but there's not enough buyers just due to the market, like I was saying in the beginning. But if you don't really develop this skill and you don't know what you're shooting for, I mean, you're never going to get to your goal because you are just guessing. And it's way easier to have a plan. And if you know what your average cost per lead is, how many leads you need to get a contract, how many leads you need to get a closed contract, which is different than a price per contract, and you know exactly how much you're making on average, it's way easier to delegate those things and those goals to the team so that you can actually focus on making the money that you actually want to make. So it's not until you develop that skill that you will truly get the fruits of your labor when it comes to actually scaling and getting to where you want to get. Number 4, it's going to come down to marketing. I think with wholesaling, it's all about sales and marketing. And lead generation is the real business. So number 4 is getting really good at lead gen, because if you know exactly how to always get leads, you're never going to go out of business. Because once you know how to get people in the door, it's just way easier to make changes based on that and to have a plan and the things that you can focus on. So for me, I wish I would have just gone straight into wholesaling and learning how to do lead gen, especially with paid ads on Facebook. Right now we crush with that. I made a ton of videos on this on the channel, but with Facebook you can get cheap leads that are high quality and it's way less headache to maintain. Maybe take a while in the beginning to learn it, but the return on that investment in learning it is going to have huge output. I like to, to call it infinite ROI because once you learn exactly how to do it once, it's super easy to just keep on doing it because the quality is going to pay for the investment, but then you're going to make way more money. So for us nowadays, we only do Facebook ads and we're going to save around $150,000 this year in our marketing by just focusing on Facebook. So in the beginning, I wish I would have learned this skill way sooner because I would have been way more profitable. My net margins would probably be around 60, 70%, and it would have been way easier to just keep more money. Because looking back, the flips that I did were some of my worst mistakes because I had to put extra cash down, and then the future profits of the company, I was putting them to try to recuperate those losses and paying back investors and all that. So it just became a huge headache that actually kind of made me scarred on the business. And just kind of being honest, that's kind of like one of the reasons why I stopped flipping. And that's why, like, a lot of people quit. I know people that lost millions of dollars by wholesaling. So I wish that if I knew this in the beginning where I could have just gone straight into wholesaling instead of flipping, I would have been in a way better spot because I know how to get leads and I know how to close. And those are the two most important things that you can have in your business. So if it's not inbound ads with you, maybe another channel that you know and you trust, but I would just kind of give you the advice that if you can bring any of these channels in-house, your conversions are going to be way better. And just stop listening to other people that say that it's not worth your time. They just want to sell you like for some coaching or pay a service in an agency. I think you guys can learn it and it's the best ROI that I have found in terms of skills that I have learned. So I just recommend people just basically just doing this. Number 5, cash conversion is going to keep you alive. So with wholesaling, you can, like I was saying, you like, you never guarantee the fulfillment. Meaning the average cash conversion cycle takes 60, 90, 120, 160 days before you get paid because you are fronting the marketing, you're going through a ton of nos. And then with the real estate cycle, it just takes way longer, right? So once you put a property on the contract, it's very rare that you're able to sell something within 30 days because like I said, you're dealing with inspectors, buyers, all that stuff, right? So what we want to be is we just want to be as lean as possible. And if you can, If you're one of your channels, your marketing channels, you're able to convert cash way quicker. Well, why not just spend more money on the channel that is making you money quicker? That way it's way faster to scale. So for us, I spend around $10,000 in ads each month and we're closing around $100,000 each month. And for me, that's good. That's plenty. I have a small team, 6 people team. So probably operating at around 50 to 65% margins. And I think that's great. So really focusing on the cash conversion cycle because Unlike other service-based businesses or home service businesses, when we sign a contract, our A to B is when everyone else would get a deposit or would start getting paid. But for example, for a roof, maybe you sell a roof, you get a deposit, and then you start working, but the customer is the one that's paying you. But for us in wholesaling, like, we don't have that luxury because we are dependent on a third-party purchaser that's going to buy the property. And of course, like, we don't have all the buyers. So Sometimes we do, but if we only focus on wholesaling, a lot of these flippers are going to lowball you. And it's not a cookie cutter, meaning we don't deal with the same type of houses all the time. And other situations are different, meaning we can always contract it for what we want. Sometimes if we actually want to make a profit, we need to offer a little bit more and, you know, just try and get a buyer at the right price. So if we can really hone in on the cash conversion and really optimize for What's giving us the best results? That's what you must focus on. So number 1, fast cash beats maybe cash. Number 2, scale based on profit. Number 3, track your numbers. 4, focus on lead generation. That's the name of the business. If you know how to get leads, you're always going to be able to make money. Number 5, focus on your cash conversion. In the end, it's all about what you net, not about what you gross. And Number 6, as a final bonus, you can never scale without a team. So you need to be very good at hiring, delegating, attracting the right people, and really training them and giving them the resources that they need in order to succeed. Because I think you can get to a couple hundred thousand dollars a year on your own, but if you really want to scale past $750K a year, you're probably going to need to have to hire a team. And I know most of you won't want to be a wholesaler forever. Like for me, I'm at that point where I don't want to just be a wholesaler. Like, I feel like my skills, uh, are meant to do something else. And that's why we started the coaching with the other investors, where we teach them the marketing, because like that gives me fulfillment. And with wholesaling, I feel that I'm at what I call wholesaler nirvana. Lean— it operates without me. I just focus on the marketing and leading the team, but they can do almost everything without me. So if you can hire the people, you're going to be able to replace yourself And for me, wholesaling is just a cash flow business where if you put the pieces together in terms of marketing spend, team, and you know exactly what your lead-to-contract ratio is, how many appointments you need to have, the profit you try to make per, per deal, you're going to be at a way better spot. So if you can add $30,000, $40,000, $50,000, $60,000, $100,000 a month, that's really good. And then you can move on to somebody, something else, depending on what your goal is. For me, I just don't think the juice is worth the squeeze in scaling the wholesaling company further than that. We are going to do it, but strategically, just because, like I said, just a lot of risk, and I'm scarred from all the losses that I had, and I don't want to go through that again. I'm hopeful that the market's going to get way better following year, but we just can't wait for things to get better. We actually need to get better ourselves. So also, another bonus is if you can invest, invest in some sort of coaching or like mentorship mastermind, you're going to fast track your way to success where you are going to cut your learning curve in half by having access to the blueprint, the resources, learn from other people's mistakes. That way you don't repeat them because I think you can figure it out on your own, but it's going to take you way longer. You're going to lose way more money. So it's much rather pay the money, learn it quicker and just apply it so that I make the investment back. And, you know, just focus on having that skill and keep on developing as a person and keep on keeping on growing, get to our goal much quicker. Like I said, to this point, I've invested more than $200 grand in coaching and mastermind, and every coaching that I've gotten into has always given me a positive ROI. So that's why I'm a huge fan of investing into this. I love learning and I love becoming better. So I guess for you guys, if you don't know how to do something, hire someone to do it. Whether it's us for the marketing or somebody else, I don't really care who you choose, but just be sure that you vet them, be sure that you put in the work and that you take actions fast. Because like nowadays I'm talking to a ton of people and they are quitting, exiting the business because they are giving up. And I think the people who stay consistent and stay disciplined are actually the ones who are going to win when things get better. Because if it was easy, everyone would do it and it's way easier to quit. Than to keep on going. But over a long time horizon, I know for a fact that if you keep on showing up and doing what's required, you're going to win. So hope this was helpful for you guys. I put a lot of time and effort into these videos, so I hope you're getting some value. If you haven't subscribed to the channel, please do so. Means a lot if you would like it and subscribe and left a comment. If you're going through anything in particular, I'd like to know about it. Send me a DM on Instagram. Let me know how we can help you. And if you are already doing deals, maybe you're making $20K to $30K per month, right in the truck, I'm outside my house. If you're doing deals and you want our help scaling the marketing side where you don't need to have a huge team where you can focus on inbound, less moving parts so you can focus on profit, I would love to talk to you. So click on the link down below. Let's book a call and see if I can help you. You got to be willing to invest in yourself and show up and do the work. This is not for people who are entitled or princesses or think that we're going to do everything for them. You have to show up and actually do the work. I can only help you so much, but only if you help us as well. So I hope this was helpful and I'll catch you on the next video. Thank you guys.