I Lost It All Then Built a $100M+ Empire: How Justin Colby Built His Wealth & How You Can Too

Then you have mentors like my parents. I never wanted to be them. I have two children, they're incredible and like, I want to love them in a way that I wasn't loved. I graduated UCLA. I've never had a W2 job. I went directly into door to door sales, which is a great opportunity. From there I went into real estate. End of 2006 was not so great. And so I ended up on a couch and my $100,000 Lexus was taken by the repo man and my $500,000 house taken by the bank. And so that point of losing everything allowed me to do some internal searching and a whole lot of therapy to say, I'm gonna go create a fucking epic life. Those lessons to say, okay, I deserve more and I want more. Come out of a place of my childhood. My mom was an alcoholic, my dad was an alcoholic, my stepfather was an alcoholic. I remember waking up in the back of a car in a parking lot because my mom had to sit in a bar all night and drink. And I was know, four or five years old. And that lesson I had to learn, unfortunately, through not being loved, seen, heard, felt comforted as, as a kid should be, led me to who I am today as a parent and in a business owner.

So I'm sitting here with Justin Colby and I actually met him through one of the masterminds that I'm a part of called the family. And then we just have so many mutual connections and friends. And one of our friends is sitting here today, Adam. And it was just time that we got together. So it worked out great that you're here in Scottsdale today. And thanks for being on the show.

Well, thanks for reaching out, inviting me and thanks to Adam putting us together. Adam Williams, everybody.

Yeah, Adam Williams and Dana.

And Dana. Adam and Dana, the power couple here in Scottsdale. I love it.

So thank you. And Justin's amazing. He's a real estate mogul. He's been investing in real estate for almost 20 years now. Done about 3000 deals. He has over 50 single family rental properties, a handful of apartment complexes, storage facility I believe as well. He's a national best selling author. Flipping to wealth is his book, you should definitely read it. And he's also the host of two of the top 10 podcasts on Apple. So with no further ado, like, I mean, you're just incredible in all areas. So I'm super excited to like dig into your life and your story and, and you also do coaching and mentoring for people to learn how to wholesale.

Flip Fix and flip and buy and hold. I believe everyone should be a full, what I call like a dynamic investor. I don't really believe in just do the one thing anymore. Like, yes, wholesaling is great, and that's where the masses go because they think they need money and credit. But you can fix and flip with none of your own money. You can buy and hold with none of your own money. I've been doing it for years. I still do it today. Although I have money now that I could do it with good credit. I still use other people's money to buy my rentals, to buy my fix and flips, because it's just good business. Right? So the thing that I tell everyone is when you went and bought your home, your actual home, did you use the bank's money to do it? Well, yeah, but I put down 10% or put down 20%. Okay, great. Well, when I bought my first home in 2006, which says how old I am, the banks were giving 100% financing. Literally. I got a Wells Fargo loan. I didn't. All I had to do was cover closing costs. I think I bought my first $500,000 home, my own home. So if the banks were willing to offer it and everyone was willing to take it back in 2006, why would you ever treat investment properties any different than your own home? Because if people just have this, like, mental block when it comes to, like, borrowing private capital versus borrowing bank capital, as if, like, there's worse or better, it's just still getting a loan, right? And so I just tell people, be dynamic. Don't just do wholesaling. Don't just do fix and flip. Don't just do buy and hold. Look at every property and say, what is the best potential of that property? And then figure out, what am I going to do here, right? And for a lot of people, it might be a cash crunch, personally. So then just look at your bank account. Do you like where your bank account's looking or not? And if you don't, then just wholesale it quickly and make more money. Right? So that's what I really try to teach and educate in reilive co's the community. You guys can all go check it out and make sure everyone knows came from Hannah, because I want to know where you came from.

Yeah, yeah. No, and I love that you say that because something I've always done is diversify. You know, vertically integrated along real estate. Expert in real estate, but diversify. As far as you know, I invest in real estate, I flip some Real estate, I buy and hold. I own a brokerage. I broker commercial deals and residential deals and various asset classes, various representations. And that's always been, I feel, very important because when the market pivots, which it does, and I'd love to dig into more of your store, you out started when the market was really high. Most people who did lost everything and then were scared of real estate forever. So. But yeah, I like that that you're diversified as well, because it really is. It's just a game. And then that way you can put all these puzzle pieces together and then as the market shifts, there's other opportunities that come and go and then you can just pivot quickly and take advantage of that best opportunity at that current time.

You brought up something I think most people need to understand. So I've done this for 18 years now, and I'm bald because of it. But I say that just because really I'm bald because of contractors beyond all else.

Oh my gosh.

But I say that because people are like, that's a long time in a general sense. What have you ever done for 18 years? Right. Like besides school, there's not a lot of people who have done something for 18 years. So I've been able to kind of look back at it and really the success has been because of my ability to adapt and pivot, which kind of is the same thing. Like I was buying from auctions here in Phoenix back in 2007 and 2008. Well, everyone understood when the market tanked, the hedge funds came in here in Phoenix. We were one of the first markets. Well, a little guy like me with a couple hundred grand that I borrow from, you know, people, I can't compete and pay a hundred cents on the dollar with a hedge fund. So all of a sudden my inventory drives up. So you always have to adapt and pivot. There's no one straight line trajectory to winning in anything, let alone new real estate. Right. And so that's what I try to tell people is adapt and pivot over time. People are all worried about this. Interest rate is irrelevant. The interest rate to me is basically irrelevant because it's all about how you're acquiring the property. Right. Cash out, refi. They still exist. I just put a portfolio of five of my properties under one loan. I took out 15 grand and cash out refi on rental properties. Like it still exists if you buy.

Right, Right. It's all, you know, on the buy and have a proper execution and have a good exit. And that's. I have a private lending company and a debt fund. And it's the same thing. People are like, oh, well, you know, why would someone pay 12% when they could get a bank loan at 6? I'm like, well, you don't have 45 days to close on a property. That's a good opportunity. So would you rather pay an extra 5,6% for a handful of months and save 20% on the property and have speed and ease and more time to find more deals, or would you rather market value for a property and then you make no money on the property? So it's just getting creative with the numbers. And, you know, when interest rates go up, property values tend to go down. And so it's. It's always just finding solutions to make it profitable for you.

I think we have a fun. You and I and those that know what we're doing. I think we have a fun 18 months. Yeah, I think it's going to be interesting. I think everyone's looked at Trump as the savior. I think he will be over time. I think his first 12 to 18 months, he's gonna have to just kind of play the course and try to rectify a lot of the stuff that's happened. But I think going into his third trimester, that's even the right way of saying that that's where his third year will be, where we will see, like Trump, the guy who was able to get back down to 0% interest rates and all those type of things. I think the first 18 months, he'll just have to kind of tread water and get us there. In his third year, he'll. He'll do it.

Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think there's been so much money printed and so much circulating the economy. It's not just as easy as, you know, we have a new president, Everything's perfect. Like, there's consequences to the inflation that we've had and the massive amount of money that was given out through Covid and stuff like that.

I don't think people. I don't think. I don't know. I don't think the news or the government is being honest with unemployment.

Mm.

I. I think they're hiding some of the stats of that kind of stuff. I mean, I'm in this day to day just like you are. Like, it's a lot of people out there hurting for money right now a lot. And I just think for the people that know how to do this and are. If you're wanting to get in this game right now, I'll tell you, to get in the game right now. Because if you know how to do this, there's going to be a lot of opportunity and then even more so beyond.

So what do you think is the biggest opportunity in the real estate market coming in the near future?

I think there's a lot. I mean I think you can make an argument for commercial. I think there's going to be some great opportunity for commercial. But I also think even just the normal single family homes right now, I mean I just got hit up a. I used to work a lot with the funds while I was here. The funds are coming back pretty heavy again for the single family space. Well, they're going to pay 110 cents on the dollar relative to someone even like myself. I can't pay what the funds pay, their cost of capital is so low. So why wouldn't I just wholesale everything to the fun or double close? I'll close it out and sell it back and I'll go make my 25 grand because they'll overpay on something I can't. So I think there's opportunity in commercial. I think that'll be a big play. That's where I'm going to be driving a lot of business for myself. But I think the low hanging fruit is single family will always be there, especially over the next 18 months.

Yeah. And if you were to start over again with no network, no money, no properties, anything like that, what would your advice be to somebody like to make their first million dollars into real estate or just to get started in the business in general right now?

Great question. There's two network like crazy. Understand who are the needle movers and go get next to them. Right. Like me for example. You like we actually buy real estate. We actually do the thing I like to tell people, like go get next to us. Like I did a training last night for totally free. I literally did an hour of analysis on properties. We did four different properties. I basically took 25 minutes on why is the deal, why it's not a deal. What is as is value. What is rehab value? Here's my buy buy box, my actual buy box. I was showing it on the zoom. Like here's why I would buy this, here's why I wouldn't buy this. Getting next to those people with intention. Point number one. Do that. But then the other thing is go create the opportunity. You provide me a whole lot of value. If you can go find me a deal to buy a lot of value and you'll make a lot of money doing it. I have members of My community that make a ton of money off of me because I show them how to do it and then I go buy it from them and they, I don't care how big the wholesale fee is, they can make. I had One guy make $33,000 in November off of me. I don't care. Great. Here's your. You know, the coaching paid for itself a bajillion times over. Right. And so I say that to say, if you are a marketer, if you are a lead gen specialist, you don't need to know everything I know or what Hannah knows. You just need to go find the opportunities. It could be with realtors, it could be direct to homeowner, and then find the people who could move on those properties, whether you wholesale them. And everyone says start with wholesaling, okay, fine, you can, but go line that up for a couple deals and then you'll be able to go, you know, sky's the limit. But the combination of knowing the right players and then going and finding them what they want, that's the easiest way to do it.

Yeah. If you can find the deal, the money's always there.

Right. The reason. So great example. So the hedge funds dried up for the last, what, three years? Ish. Here. Two weeks ago, I get a call right before the Christmas holidays, hey, we're buying again. We're buying in Vegas, we're buying in Phoenix, we're buying in Oklahoma, blah, blah. We've done a lot of business with you. Hey, keep finding us deals. We're buying again, same buy box, blah, blah, blah. Like newer type homes. And it's because I aligned myself with the hedge funds that I get a call back. After two and a half years of basically crickets, they call me back. It always boils down to people. I mean, you know that. That's why we're doing this podcast. That's why you're going to be on my podcast. It's like, I'm very intentional with 2025 about collaborating. There's more money to be made with people than there is about spending money on marketing. You can make a lot of money marketing, I get it. But if you know the right people, the opportunities and the money that you can make is going to be way greater. So I really lean into collaboration, finding the doers, finding the people that are further down the road with you. If you have to pay for a coach, do it. But like, go network and understand that like, those relationships will open up way more doors down the road.

Yeah, relationships have been everything for me. And just Totally serving people and not burning bridges and building more relationships and then seasoning the one that I have. And I. I actually have never done any paid marketing ever.

No kidding.

In my whole career.

I wish I could say the same.

Yeah, no, I'm not. I haven't. So it's just 100 relationships and referrals.

Yeah. And. But that's the. That's what I'm saying. If I were to tell someone, go make a million dollars, but lean into the people first. You've done well. Right. And you leaned into people and you said, okay, let's go find a way to collaborate. Let's go find deals. Let's go find business to be had. I'm at a place in my life financially where I would rather split the pie. And that's what Reilive Co is all about, is I'm going to help someone do more deals because of my resources and my ability to get deals. But then we're going to split the pie. You're probably getting your first deal. I'm getting my. Whatever number of deal, but I'd rather do that than go just do my own deal, make all the money and not be able to share it. So I want to be able to collaborate way more, especially with newer people, to try to actually help them reach the levels that they want to reach. But even at our level, like, I want to collaborate with everybody. I mean, mutual friend Andy, where I'm heading from here over to Andy Elliott's, Zach keeps working. I'm going to tell, you know, so I just want to be able to do more. And I think people need to really lean into collaboration, working with others.

Yeah, I agree. And it's so much more fun. Like, it's so fun to do it with each other. And just to.

So I have, like, this rule. Make money, have fun, do good, do good by others, have fun doing it, and make a whole lot of money. I mean, if you can just do that, isn't that, like, the perfect kind of life for an entrepreneur?

Yeah, it's the dream. And so many people struggle, you know, I think in entrepreneurship, and this is a lot of what I talk about in a lot of my personal journey of excellence and fulfillment and the pursuit of both of those. Right. So many entrepreneurs think that they'll find fulfillment through their pursuit of success, and then every time they hit a new success, they lack the fulfillment. And once you start to feel the fulfillment, it doesn't actually drive more success because you're like, this actually feels really good right here. I don't need to go chase more.

Always chasing. I was just sitting down with a friend about this and we were talking about it is when's enough enough. Right. And there's. There's the A type Alpha. Never. I'm gonna go more. And I. Fine, I get it. But most people aren't that. Right. So Jen Gottlieb is a friend of mine and we were talking about, like, when you get to a place where you're genuinely financially do whatever you want, have the like and you're happy. Pushing more just for the sake of pushing more doesn't provide any more value. Now, I play that line because I still nowhere near the goals I want to get. Although I've done very well, I would need to go way further for where I want to get going. But it's not out of need now. It's more of a. I don't want to call it legacy, but, like, kind of, what else am I going to go do?

Yeah. It's the love of the game.

Yeah. I do love the game. Right. And by the way, the game is not always easy. Right? Like, I've taken plenty of Ls in 18 years. I've taken an L just this last year, that was just more of a relationship we went down, a strategic partnership that didn't work out well. And that sucks. But, you know, the game isn't for everyone either. Right. I want everyone to also know that. And that's entrepreneurship game. Not necessarily real estate, but just being an entrepreneur.

Yeah.

You got to be able to have thick skin, tough stomach. Like, it is not always puppy dogs and rainbows. None of us who have been on this podcast shit gold every day. Like, this is like, it's work, real work. It looks glamorous. Right. This all looks amazing. But this is part of our work because you and I know the value of people. But anyways, it's not always just a direct, uphill straight line. Right. You know that you and I have seen it a million times. Not emoji, but, you know, the little image of, like, the straight line to success and then all the squiggly.

Yep.

Right. I mean, that's the perfect definition of what it takes to win as an entrepreneur.

Yeah. And it's. I always like the quote that life is like a heartbeat. It's filled with peaks and valleys because once it's flatlined, you'd be dead.

I like that.

Yeah. So just embracing the hard times, embracing the failures, the lessons, the difficulties. But, you know, I think it's easy for me, like, success was an addiction. It still is an addiction that I, you know, I. I always thought, okay, the first hundred thousand, I'll be happy. The million, I'll be happy. The 10 million, I'll be happy. Right. And it was just always, like, the next thing.

Yeah.

And now, because I'm around so many older, wiser people and these masterminds and these groups in my networks who are in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and I realize they're all doing the same thing still. Like, they're still not happy, they're still not satisfied, they're still not fulfilled. And I'm like, I don't want to be 60 years old.

Right.

And feeling this way, you know? And so that's what's caused me to really start to become really honest with myself.

Yeah.

And zoom out and be like, what are my intentions behind what a. What I'm doing? Like, is this truly coming from a place of abundance and love and passion and creation and purpose and service and. And fulfillment, or is it coming from a place of lack and need and scarcity and fear and ego and all of these things that I don't want?

But it can start that way.

It does. It always does.

Most of it starts in that ego, fear, scarcity. It did for me. I was. I don't want to say homeless, but, yeah, essentially, like, I was living on my friend's couch. You brought up the point of. I got started when the real estate tanked. I tanked with it. Right. Just like so many others. I lost my home. I lost my car. The repo man took my car. Like, I lost it all. And I was doing really well as a realtor at the time, but the real estate market tanked. Right. So that's going to hurt me. So that desire, like, fuck this. This is not going to happen to me. And I'm going to create a way. Brought me 18 years later to where I'm sitting here on your podcast right now. There's 18 years of history there. But I don't think it's terrible to start out of a need or scarcity or fear. I don't think that's a terrible starting place. As long as that's not your trajectory for your career, because it can be the biggest motivator. Your pain can be your biggest motivator. Right. And so now you're more enlightened. Now you realize the mistakes maybe you made along the journey because you stayed too long in that. But that's part of the learning process. Right. Like, I don't know how long you've been in the business, how old you are. But, like, you're gonna adapt and mature and grow otherwise again, what are you doing flatlining? You're dying. Right. And so you're gonna have these learning iterations. I mean, I made a post today, blew my mind. I don't know if you saw it or not. Demi Moore just won her first award ever as an actress ever. She got up on stage and said, I've been doing this for 45 years and I've never won an award. And it just kind of blew my mind that for 45 years she stuck at it. She kept going. TV, commercials, movies, everything where we know her to be. And she just wanted, do you have the maturity and longevity and drive and stamina to keep going even though you don't get the accolades that you're really kind of looking for? Her maturity, Right. I would argue was already there because most people said, I'm the best actress and fuck this and blah, blah, blah. No. You know, but her maturity said, I'm just going to keep doing what I love, regardless of all the ego and all the other things. And, you know, I'm not named the biggest act, Julia Roberts, winning all these awards. Right. I just thought it was impressive. I mean, it just takes a level of maturity to keep doing something like that without having the accolades and rewards and all those other things.

Yeah. And I think that's where the passion comes in, too, is like, you, in order to sustain what you have to go through as an entrepreneur, you have to have a level of love for it. Like, you can't. You know, that was me trying to get in the construction business and starting construction companies and having all these, you.

Know, did you do it? Are you still doing it?

Or you said, oh, no, yeah, yeah, no way.

Yeah.

I lasted like a year and a few months, and I was like, I'm done. Like, I don't care what I lose. I don't care what I'm making. I don't care anything. I hate my life. And I had no passion for it at all. I was just doing it because it was money, you know? And so there has to be a love of the game. And if you don't love the game, that was a big mistake I made in the beginning was I was just chasing money. Like, I became an engineer because I knew an engineer and they had a lot of money. So I was like, I just want a lot of money. I'm going to become an engineer. Had no passion for engineering, Ended up quitting engineering. Then it was the next thing I was a mining engineer in for Cat for construction. So I'm like, oh, I'll start construction companies because he's a billionaire. Like this sounds cool, right? And absolutely hated it. You know, and the one thing that was always consistent for me was real estate. I always was doing real estate and I always just kept going back to it, never quit it, and. And then just started to pivot into directions of real estate that I really enjoyed, like commercial, you know, real estate and just investing and value add and stuff like that. So that passion is important for longevity.

You have to, for any type of longevity. Right. Because again, you're gonna. It's not always perfect. Right. And so the life of an entrepreneur is challenging to say the least, but so rewarding because I, I just. So fun fact about me, I graduated UCLA. I've never had a W2 job ever.

Wow.

I went directly into door to door sales, which is a great opportunity. From there I went into real estate, which we Talked about in 2005. 2005, 2006 was great. End of 2006 was not so great. And so I ended up on a couch and my $100,000 Lexus was taken by the repo man and my $500,000 house was taken by the bank. But those lessons to say, okay, I deserve more and I want more come out of a place of my childhood. Because I never went without in my childhood. My family was. My mom was an alcoholic, my dad was an alcoholic, my stepfather was an alcoholic. I don't have incredibly terrible stories, but that's not an easy childhood. Right. I remember waking up in the back of a car in a parking lot because my mom had to sit in a bar all night and drink. And I was, you know, 4 or 5 years old. I say that because I realized, you know, when I did lose everything back to this, like, point of, like, pain, I was not willing to create a life that led anywhere near that. Right now it's not about the alcohol, but it's about, like wanting more. Like, don't let the. Your circumstances or all the other things dictate whether you can go achieve it. Just go out and achieve it. And so that point of losing everything allowed me to do some internal searching and a whole lot of therapy to say, I'm gonna go create a fucking epic life. And I chose real estate. It's not for everyone. I just love real estate. To your point, like, name the billionaires and almost all of them have a massive portfolio of real estate. Some of them got created like a Trump. It was created through real estate. And others are like, it is the best asset to put anything in. So I'm gonna go take all my fortune and put it into real estate.

Right, right. So when did that drive begin for you as a child? I mean, you know, I, I talk a lot about and study Dr. Gabor Mate. He was a therapist, one of the most renowned therapist on addiction and trauma and healing and all that. And he says the primary trauma in most people is simply not feeling seen, heard, or protected by their parents when they're just a toddler. So it doesn't need to be extreme abuse or things like that. And so. And because we don't feel loved or seen or heard from our parents, that is what causes that need for proving our worth or that deep rooted insecurity where we have to prove it to others and to ourselves and become so disconnected and kind of give up our authentic selves to be loved by the people that are around us. And even society in America is, is toxic in itself with how it's so rewarding towards, you know, success and things. So were you like a troublemaker kid or were you always like, I was an overachiever, hyper overachiever, reading rich dad, poor dad at 13 years old.

Wow.

But then I know a lot of people that were complete trouble, like, you know, gang members or beating people up or whatever. And then they hit a rock bottom and kind of shifted. Like, what was that like for you? When did you realize, I want to be successful and I'm going to do whatever it takes to have a life that I want to live.

I mean, the, the moment of my own adult rock bottom right where I lost my home and lost my house was kind of the moment in terms of like, I'm absolutely a statistic to the doctor talking about. Right. My childhood, it was, I wasn't seen. I wasn't again, I didn't have some very overly traumatic. I wasn't sexually abused. I don't have that story, thankfully, and I know a lot of people do. But I also like that I made a post recently again about mentors. You can pay for a mentor like you or like me that have what you want. And so you're going to pay them to fast forward to the front of the line to go get what they have because they know how to do it. Then you have mentors like my parents. I never wanted to be them. I want to love my. I have two children. They're incredible. And like, I want to love them in a way that I wasn't loved and that lesson I had to learn, unfortunately, through not being loved, seen, heard, felt comforted as. As a kid should be, led me to who I am today as a parent and in a business owner. And so, you know, the interesting thing is sometimes I look at it where I'm at and where I could be potentially, if I was like a shark, killer beast, business guy, and I don't give a, and I'm gonna come after your throat all the time, and those people are there, I just. It wouldn't be my genuine, authentic self. Right. And so because I have compassion and empathy, and that's not normal for most males, I think. But I. I lean into, like, saying, hey, I'm. I'm not perfect. I make mistakes and not everything's perfect, and I'm can be understanding it. And so the moment was when I lost everything, was. The actual moment is saying, I need an awesome life because I deserve it. This isn't what life's about, you know, sleeping on a couch and not affording anything. But also, I would tell most people, when you're shooting, when you're writing goals or like people talk about, write out your perfect day, write out your perfect life. Like, what do you want this to, like, it changes. It's not a static thing. So if you write something today about your goals in your life and what you want your life to look like in three years, you might go back and read that and be like, it's not really what I want my perfect day to look like or what I want my like. Because we grow, right? And so we're not a static individual. We're growing, we're developing, we're adapting. And so I hope people can just understand that, like, there's no right, there's no wrong. Adapt it to what you really, really want. Right? Money doesn't solve everything. It just gives us choices. And I just really like nice shit and choices. To go on six vacations every year with my family that are very expensive. And instead of going to Disney World the normal way, I hire the VIP host that walks us behind the building so we don't have to, like, I want those choices. So I do. I get viewed as, like, money hungry. But it's not because I necessarily want nice things, although I do. It's because I want the choice to be able to do the thing, do the things I want to do.

Yeah, I'm the same way. Money is just a tool to have freedom.

That's right.

The choices to live a life that you want to live. And we have one life so might as well have an amazing life. And I think that's the thing is like that line of money doesn't buy happiness. And it's like, well, money buys me happiness all the time. It can't buy that internal like deep rooted fulfillment and, and joy and peace inside.

I saw your post you today whenever you talked about your car.

Yeah, that's.

That post was brilliant. That's right on the spot. Because you feel better getting into a G wagon every day than getting into a Honda Corolla. It's as simple as that, right? Like you just feel better about yourself doing that. And so would everyone, by the way. But they would rather make excuses for why they can't work and why they can't go make as much money as Hannah and why they can't get the G wagon. Because it's easier to say I can't, I can't, I can't and here's why than to say, I want to just be happy every day getting in my damn vehicle instead of getting in a vehicle. I'm like, yep, it's as simple as that. The money gives you the ability to be happy every day. Not because you can go buy one thing. Right. It's because you have the things that make you happy.

Yeah. And the freedom. And that's the big thing, is the freedom to enjoy it. Now if you were buying a G wagon just to try to show somebody that you could afford it, but you're slaving your life away in a miserable career and a miserable relationship and you're unhealthy and you're sick and you're like, that's different. Right? But if you're a thriving person who's created a life of abundance and of wealth and of freedom and you can go, you know, put it in sport mode and haul ass on the freeway and get a feeling of adrenaline and just love it and get a back massage and your heated seats and everything's so nice, then that's worth it. Like, that's something that's awesome and that's something that brings joy. And some people don't give a about cars and that's great, but to each his own. There's different, you know, like my horse. Most people would never care about a horse, but that horse is a lot of money. More than the G wagon and, you know, brings me more joy than almost anything in my life. And so you can't have those experiences in life if you don't have the time, the money, the health and the freedom to do so.

That's right.

Yeah. So cool. And so what was the moment when you hit the rock bottom moment where you lost everything and you were pretty new? You know, you had massive success, exponential growth, and then huge sell off. Right. And hit rock bottom. And that was a pretty long period of really bad real estate market. Like the Great Recession. Like, how, how did you feel in that moment? Did you lean into addictions? Did you go into deep depression? Did you, like, how did you cope? And how did you kind of bounce back and weather the storm in that and not give up and not just go back to a normal job or say, you know, screw real estate, this is not for me. And because you saw, you know, you saw the best of it and the worst of it so quickly.

Yeah. So I did not. I have a very, and this is very hard to teach as an educator, as a leader. Like, I have to try my best to give the Tony Robbins at times to people because it's like, not always easy, but I have a very shoulder shrug mentality. All right, what's next? What's my next move? What's my next play? What am I doing next? What. So I've always had that and partly, probably from my childhood, like, oh, fuck, I just came home, my mom's passed out on the floor. Okay, I'm going to go upstairs and, you know, do my homework or whatever. Right. So partly that, like, shoulder shrug I would, I would guess came from that, my ability to come like, all right, this is. It is what it is. Right? So if you can lean into that. And I think the other component would be, is if people can lean into. It's never as good as you think it is and it's never as bad as you think it is. It never is. I don't care what it is. It is never as good as you think it is and is never as bad as you think it is. So if you can realize, like, all right, everything has a way out or a way in or whatever the case is, you don't get overly dramatic. So I didn't go through a depression. I didn't go through this dramatic, oh my God, I'm going to go become an alcoholic like my parents. I didn't go through that. Now, I spent my 20s and 30s here in Scottsdale and had way too much fun. And so, but it wasn't because of like a depression. It was just like, I want to go be a fuckboy essentially for a decade. And that was a choice. I chose it. Right. And so, but what, what that dark time allowed for Me was space to say, okay, what vertical again. I never had a W2, so I've never had a boss. What do I want to go do? And this is God. 2007 is before, I think, any flipping shows. Maybe flip. This house was on maybe. I don't know for sure. But it's like MySpace, I think was around. There was no Instagram. There's no TikTok. There's none of what we have today to create insecurities and fear and oh, I suck. And look at everyone else and they're amazing and I'm not. I didn't have any of it. So I really had space back then. Just like, what do I want to do? And at the time, I saw a YouTube video. So YouTube was around in 2007 of this guy, and I still know him today with spotted hair. And he was a short sale flipper. And it was a YouTube video on a property that he made some big number flipping a short sale. And I'm like, holy shit. Because obviously being real estate, I realized there's a lot of financial pain. People are losing homes and banks had to figure this out. And I'm like, real estate investing, that's what I want to do. Because as a Realtor, I never liked driving people around. I don't. Honestly, I don't know many Realtors that do. They deal with it and they can be good at it, but they don't love that part, right? I didn't like doing open houses, etc. And so I was like, dude, I don't want to be a Realtor, but I do love real estate and I know it creates billionaires and a lot of money and blah, blah. So I saw this video simultaneously. The circuit of real estate investing seminar started coming out, right? And I saw the video. In the video, there was an ad for a product called freedomsoft. So I called my grandfather because I have no money for $1,000 to buy Freedomsoft. Well, when I bought it, they gave me two tickets to a seminar. Shocker. So I bought it thinking, okay, this is. I'm gonna get all my short sale leads in because I'm a Realtor, I know how to da, da, da. And then I'm gonna whatever. So it was basically a CRM. So I go to the seminar for three days, which is a long seminar now, and they're selling $25,000 coaching. And I call a friend and borrowed $25,000.

Oh, my God. That's a good friend.

It's a great friend, by the way. And it speaks volumes. Of who I am and then who he is. Right. Like, he trusted me to 25 grand, but he also was willing to give it to me.

Yeah.

God. So that was kind of the scenario. And then I said, well, shit, I got to get him his 25 grand back. And then when you put yourself in a corner, at least for most people myself, like, when you're in that corner, there's only one way out. Forward. Like, you got to get out of the corner. And so when I borrowed the 25 grand, it's like, I can't. There's no failing. This is a friend of mine. Borrowing money from your parents would almost. And I didn't. My family never had enough money to borrow. But you can always be like, oh, sorry, mom and dad. You can't really do that with a friend. I mean, you could.

Yeah. If you want to lose a friend.

Right. And so I had to go make it happen. And it wasn't easy. And it took nine months to get my first deal. And trust me, the friend conversation started to get a little squirrely. Right? Like, hey, dude, how's it going? Is my money coming back anytime soon? Like, I'm working on it. But then I started to, you know, first deal led to immediate second deal. Because the best time to get your next deal is right after your first deal. Right. And then that started the train of momentum. But, you know, I would almost advise people to put themselves. You don't have to go out and borrow a bunch of money and put yourself in financial harm, But I'd put yourself in a position that you don't have anywhere else to go but to go in. Right. And if you can do that. And I don't know exactly everyone's scenario listening to this, but, like, if you can put yourself in a scenario, like, I have to win because of this scenario. So one of my first coaches told me this, actually. You know Michael Bernoff.

Yeah.

So I love Michael. So we used to share an office suite together.

Oh, wow, that's funny. And he's in my Genius Network.

Yeah.

Group. And yeah, he's great.

So he's incredible. So we just got really, really close. And my first mentor said it one way, but then he really says it that I think a lot of people can understand. So we were sharing an office together, and I was thinking about getting a Maserati. And he was like, you have to go do that now, because you told me that now I'm going to hold you accountable to go get your Maserati. I'm like, damn, man. Like, what now? Why? He's like, because if you put yourself spending, because I think the payment was like four times the payment of what I was currently driving or something like that, right? He was like, if you put yourself in a financial position of needing more money, guess what you're gonna go do?

Make more money.

You're gonna go make more money. And again, I'm not trying to give advice like, go put yourself in harm way and go buy a Maserati and go do these things and run up your credit card so you have to go, don't do that shit, don't be dumb. But put yourself in a position that you're like, okay, I gotta go win, right? Because as humans, we will likely go win as long as you're mentally strong enough. I don't think people talk enough about the mental strength it takes in the fortitude and the overcoming the negative self talk and all the other stuff. But I'll tell you, it's always at another friend, close friend and business partner, he said, when I started having kids, I was gonna make more money and I've ever made in my life. And I'm like, huh, okay, I get it, you gotta pay for kids. Oh, he was dead, right. Because there's something instinctual about like, oh, I got to go provide, not just for me so I can make sure I can eat, but kids in life, in vacations, and you get forced in this position, like, I'm going to go create a great life for them now, not just for me, for them. And so, you know, it's that position of like when you're in those dark days and you're having trouble and like, there's light, but the light's only going to shine on you if you're willing to open your eyes. A lot of people would rather keep their eyes closed and put their head in the sand. It's dark, it's tough, it sucks. So I'm just going to try to ignore how bad this shit is. But if you can open your eyes, you can actually see that there is light coming out of another door that just opened for you. You just actually have to go find the door and walk through it. And that's where people break. They don't, they don't have the mental strength, willpower, fortitude, say, okay, I got to keep my eyes open because God is giving me something that it's going to be a gift. It is going to be the new door that I'm going to be able to walk through. And so, and listen, like I said, 18 years. I've taken plenty of L's, financially, business partners. I've had two business relationships blow up. It sucks. It's never fun losing a quarter million dollars on a flip here in central Phoenix, right. Like losing multiple millions on a development play out in Mesa. Like, I've taken lumps. I just have the ability to keep my head up, keep my chest out and say, okay, there's light here. It's not gonna be easier, fun, but I'll be able to get out of this darkness. And every time I do and every time, I kind of rise up as a phoenix.

Yeah. And I love the saying. You know, I forget who says it, but I'm sure a lot of people say it. But think of kind of what you said. It's never as great as it seems. It's never as bad as it seems. If we really. So many people are so afraid to take action that they don't take action.

Right?

And I don't think it's so much the fear of failure, but it's the fear. Fear of embarrassment, judgment. But if you think about, like, what's the worst thing that could possibly happen? And then if that happens, what's the worst thing that could possibly happen from there? Like, you go down every scenario. If it's the absolute worst thing that could happen, are you still gonna. Like, what are you gonna be? What's your life gonna be like? Are you gonna be okay? Are you gonna be alive? Is it gonna be fine? And the answer is yes. And so a lot of our fears are so great, but it's just this anxiety inside of us. But in reality, even if the worst thing possibly happened, like, you lose everything, you go bankrupt, you start over, you're still going to be okay. Like, you know, you're still there, and you. You have skills that you can go out and make more money. Like, if I lost everything today, I lost my properties, I lost my businesses, I had to restart, I lost my networks. I have all the skills that got me here today, and I could go probably make $100,000 in 10 days without a problem. And so. Or whatever amount of money, at least enough money to put food on the table, you know, So I think that's what's so important, and it's something for me is like, I. As you make bigger moves as an entrepreneur and you start to scale companies and delegate and you take on more risk and more overhead and liability, and you're more exposed to lawsuit. You know, I filed three lawsuits last week, and I'm like, oh, I hate This. I always said I would never file any lawsuits. And I'm like, well, you know, at some point in your business, there's going to be lawsuits if you're growing. And. But just thinking of like, what I'm the same way as I don't really have that anxiety anymore because it's like, what's worse? I can happen.

It is really sound advice. So when I lost the multiple millions out in Mason development play, my one of my best friends and what I consider a big brother mentor, Kent Clothier came out, literally flew out. He heard my tone on a call. He called me at random, heard my tone. It's like, hey, dude, I'm going to bring a couple of boys out, we're going to come hang out with you in Scottsdale. I'm kind of thinking like, dinners, cocktails in Old Town. And it turned into like, hey, dude, I know shit's going down, talk to me. And literally the whole point was, what is the worst that can happen? And he kept saying it. And then I'd say this and he'd say, okay, what's the worst that can happen? And he did that exact exercise with me. And I got to a point where I'm like, oh, I'm great, let's roll. Yeah, because you just really realize, like, there is no worse. Like me and you at least. Sure, people do some real fucked up shit, but, like, if you're doing good, your heart's in the right place and you made a mistake. There's no real worst. Killing someone, that's different. But like, making a business mistake, there's not a level of like, it's over, you're ruined, you're done, you're going. You know, no one loves you and no. Right. And so that is a great exercise for people to put themselves through and just say, what is the. Okay, what's the worst. If that happens, what's worse? Right? And so that was great. The other thing is, I've been in several lawsuits myself. And I'll tell you, settle every time. Not that you need this advice, but I'll tell you, just settle. Like, what plays into is the ego of I'm right, you're wrong. And I recently just went through this. Right? I'm right, they are wrong. And I went through Christmas and the holidays and I said, fuck it, meaningless text him, hey, dude, why don't just get this done? Settle. Yep. So like today or tomorrow, I should be getting an email from the lawyer. Yeah, settling. And it's because I got to a place in my life Where I'm just like, what am I fuck over what now? If it's like a $10 million swing, okay, I'm going to probably fight and do that couple hundred grand here, there, one way or another. And I'm just like, I can. To your point, if I work and do what I need to do, I can do it in 30 days.

Yeah.

What do I. What am I doing? So I would tell anyone, if you're ever out there listening to this or getting like, I would try everything you can to not right. And then just settle and get your ego out of the way and say, go make the money. Unless it's some really big number or defamation or fine.

But I'm the same way. And that's why I always would say I would never be in a lawsuit because it's not worth. Because I've had tons of huge financial losses and business partnerships were same thing as, like, I'm right, you're wrong, but I don't care. I don't have the ego. Like, I don't want to waste my time because that's opportunity cost.

Yeah.

Like, my time, my energy, my thoughts, my attention. It's not worth.

I didn't want to do it. Right. And so then all of a sudden, I realized, like, I basically am not sleeping because my mind's running all night. And you know, the scenarios. Like, I don't even have bad feelings towards the other side, really. I mean, I really just don't. I just. There was classic miscommunication. Classic guys, you know, or lack of communication. Classic. And it led to this shitty scenario that we ended up in. And I'm like, who cares, right? And so I wasn't sleeping. My wife could tell I was stressed out. Like, it was just an obvious. Like, this is not. And it was going to drag out. Every lawsuit drags out because if both sides are stubborn and any good lawyer is going to tell you to settle. So if both sides don't want to settle, then it just keeps going. So I would just tell anybody, like, be done. And if that helps you in whatever your three scenarios are, I would tell you immediately if there's a number, if there's a way to get it done and not have to do it. I'll tell you to do that just for you, not for nothing else. Just, like, go clear your energy for 20, 25. That was another thing. I was like, is this really the energy I want to start the fucking year with? So I'm like, fuck it. And the lawyer is going to send me a settlement Agreement. And yes, it is way less than I would have wanted. I don't care.

Move on. On to the next.

On the next.

Bigger, better things. Yeah, I know in a lot of people, I mean, most like mine are I lend money to people and, you know, two of them are fraudulent. They just took the money. Like friends. Not friends, but acquaintances. Real estate agents like to ask me for money because I have a lending company.

Sure.

And I lend money, but if it's, you know, 50,000 or 100,000 or something less than that, sometimes I won't collateralize it if I trust them. And then they take the money and run. So that's those situations. And they're small. Like super, super small type situation, if you feel valid.

And I'm not going to take away from validity of feeling like you need to go do that because that's pretty shitty in. But if there's a way for you to say, fuck this, yeah, then do that.

Yeah, I just tell the attorney to handle it and call me when he needs me.

For sure.

Yeah. That, you know, fraud who are fraudulent and people who are liars and people who use people like, you know, I get a little trigger just even saying that because it just is so sick. It's so wrong. Like, that's not how you win in life. And that's why you're, you know, in your 40s and you have nothing and no one and you're asking, you know, everybody that you possibly can for money and you owe 100 people money. Like, that's just not the way to get ahead. No matter what position you're in, if you be a good person, person, and you're honest and you have integrity and you don't deceive and manipulate and screw people over, like, you will be successful. People will help you. People want to help you.

Right.

And even if you're just getting started and you're looking for a mentor, like you can find successful mentors for free. Some, like there's people out there that are older and have done it all and they want to give back. Like, that's part of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, right. Is that it feels so good to teach and to give and things like that. So I think it's just the most important thing over all else is be a good person and be good to your word.

That's why I have the big three, right. Make a lot of money, have fun, and do good. So the do good is everything you just talked about. Have integrity. Right. And do good by people. So that's the big three for me.

Yeah. Yeah, it's important. So what have you struggled with on your journey throughout building your companies? I mean, you have companies now, you've built multiples, you know, seven figure revenue businesses and are obviously a huge success financially and all these other things. And you're in really good shape. Like you say, fit and usually people. It's hard to balance everything, right? It's so hard to be. Have good relationships and be a good parent or spouse and you know, have amazing friends that you maintain and have. Be successful and be good looking and follow a good diet and don't have any bad addictions and all these things. Like, has there been at least speaking for me, I've always struggled to keep that, that pie balanced. Has there been any area of your life that's been hard for you to maintain balance in or that struggled that you've sacrificed throughout this journey?

The hardest for me right now, frankly. And it's not a bad thing. It's just like I don't know completely how to balance fatherhood with business and being a husband all at the same time. Because you can't be a master of all three. Somewhere you're gonna make sacrifices, but I'm gonna remove that for the sake of the question. You know, I think the reason why I talk so openly about like my late 20s and 30s, essentially, and being a fuckboy is what the kiddos call it these days, is because that actually was what was needed for my soul. I know it sounds dumb. Oh, you really needed to party three nights a week, fucking Friday, Saturday and all day Sunday, and drink like a crazy, crazy person kind of. And it's not because I needed it because I was hiding something. It was because I needed to just go through that and allow my selfishness and allow these things. And I just went through a pretty terrible breakup. And like, I'm like, I can be selfish because I don't have wife and kids. And so it was never a problem. I didn't become an alcoholic, I'm not an alcoholic. But that was a time that I needed, so I didn't become one. That was a time I needed, where I didn't. So I know I'm not going to cheat on my wife. That was the time I needed that I can really be intentional with my kids and not feel like they're a burden. So for me, that kind of really flushed out a lot of the selfish tendencies that I probably would have been going through at 43 right now. And so, you know, I don't know if I Have a challenge of, like, how to balance. My biggest challenge, frankly, is the kid's side. Because you just want to be so there. At least I do, right? Because my childhood, so I'm like, I know what I don't want. But then I also want to be able to provide this really epic where I can take six massively expensive long vacations every year with them. And I can. So there's this balance of like, how do you do it all? And I'll tell you, that's the hardest thing that keeps me a little restless is like, I want to be more there for people. My kids, although they're very young and there's not a lot more to do, per se. I never miss a recital, I never miss anything. My 3 year old daughter, like, I never do that. But I think, you know, eating or alcohol or any of that, I just think, listen, people have real chemical imbalances. That is a very real thing, right? But unless someone physically has that chemical imbalance, which my mom was bipolar and manic depressive, which is, I can't even imagine, I think it just has. You got to have the willpower to like, I'm not gonna overeat or I'm not gonna go drink eight beers a night or whatever. The thing is, right, I just. You gotta have some reasonable willpower. The last thing I'll say to that is, I also allow myself to go have fun still, right? I allow myself to go out and have five or six drinks and actually have fun enjoyment. And then when I wake up the next day and go, I'm not sure I love this, then I can realize, okay, I don't want to do that for a while. So giving yourself a little bit, like, again, I've never had a problem eating, but the idea would be like, hey, if you're really good on your diet and you eat chicken and broccoli every night, go have your cheat day, right? Because then you'll realize, okay, I'm bloated and don't feel great. It tasted great, but like, I'm groggy and don't feel them. Like, allow yourself some of that. Because I think most people won't give themselves grace these days. They got to be perfect. Because on Instagram, everyone's perfect, Hannah. Duh. Their bodies are perfect and they're making all the money and they never have issues and their marriage is amazing. Their kids never cry ever, right? It's like, okay, so like, I just think, give yourself grace. Go do the thing that society was, oh, I'm going to Judge you. You're eating pizza and donuts. Or go and party for a weekend if you want. If you're single, like, go do it right. I mean, the reality is, like, this is life. It's experiential. I just. I don't know how much time we have, but I only fly first class. Here's why you never know who you're going to sit next to. I've met the most amazing people and built the most amazing network work because of flying first class. Very expensive. I get it worth every penny every time because of people. But I say that because the last trip I took, I don't even remember where I was going. But the guy sitting next to me, he's a financial advisor and he's older, you know, semi retired. And he gave me this quote that I will quote for the rest of my life. Invest in current living. And I'll never forget that. Spend the money, do the thing, have the fun party in Vegas. Do it. Because your life and it is finite. And if you don't go do it, then you're always going to have that pit in your stomach or when the days are ending, you're God. I wish I would have. I wish I would. Don't do that. Right? That will be your biggest regret is the wish. I would. I wish I would. So go do the thing again. Like, fuck society judging you because you spent two days in Vegas at a pool party and drank too much. Who cares about society? If you want to go do that, because that'll bring you some level of joy for that moment, go do it. Or hey, eat your donuts or pizza or whatever. Or hey, you know, whatever the thing is. Yeah, don't overly judge yourself, right? No one is perfect. It isn't Instagram, it isn't perfect, it's fucked up, it's a mess, it's crazy, it's wild. This is our life. So invest in your current living and live. I'm also not saying be an idiot, right? So I also want to make sure I'm clear with my audience here. Like, I'm not telling you to go fucking party and do all the drugs and be an idiot for four or five days. Like, that's not healthy. But like. Or eat donuts every day of your life. Not healthy. So I just. There's a line and I don't want to be too extreme and jump over it, but I just believe in, like, you have one life and it's finite and it can be short. So go enjoy it.

Yeah, I think that's Amazing. And it's so true. And you know, I was, I used to be just the delayed gratification. I'll do this when. Right. I think so many people, like, even retirement, they're like, oh, I'll travel when I'm 70 years old and I don't have to worry anymore. And I think it's just so backwards. And all we have ever in our life is the present moment. That's right. And, and that line is an investment is supposed to do something that is better for your future. And so it's making the decisions and investing in the things for your current living today that aren't going to negatively impact your future. And so like having the fun, that's a positive impact on your future because you need to let loose and you need to enjoy life and you need to have fun and you need to take the trip and, and do the party or have the cake or whatever. And then you, you know, make the decision the next day to eat a good, nice diet that feels really good for you. And that's that where that investing comes in and some investments you make and you lose a little bit and then you learn from it and you invest in and something better the next day or the next time. So I think that's really awesome advice.

Yeah.

And I was actually going to ask you, like, what's one? I know you said you recently heard that, but throughout the course of your life, like, what's one quote or philosophy that you've lived by that's helped you get to where you are and stay on track?

I mean, as generic as it is is, everything is up to you to create. And that probably stems from my childhood again because I basically had to feed myself and get myself ready. Like, I just, I had to grow up fast. And so it was just something that, you know, wherever I heard it first, I don't know whether it was Tony Robbins or whoever it was the first time, it just has always resonated like, it is my choice to create the life I want. It is also my choice to not if I don't want to work as hard and I don't care about making as much money. It's my choice. There's no wrong or right. But I need to understand what I want. I need to understand what I want my life to look like. And then I have to make the choice to go in that direction. So that's just always. And you got to take a lot of action to get there. And if you don't want a lot, then you take a Lot of unaction, inaction. But like, if you want what I want or what you want, like, go fast, take a ton of action, shit's gonna break while you're doing it. But like, it's always up to you, is always a choice that you have to make.

Yep.

Yeah.

Love it. And then the last question I like to ask this one is, if you could give advice to your 20 year old self, what would it be?

That's hard because I wouldn't be where I'm at if I made different decisions.

Right.

So it's one of those, like, I mean, if I have to give you an answer, I'd say maybe, you know, be done with the fuckery a little earlier. But ultimately, like, listen again. I'm so happy. Like, I met my wife late because of it, like, and she's my wife and I dated girls while, you know what I mean? So it's like, it's very hard to say what advice I would say, if anything. And then I would say, really study and understand business above all else. Like, I went to UCLA and I have a diploma from UCLA and I've never used it. I've never had a W2 job. It was meaningless. I got an English degree. Okay, well, it does nothing for me, right. So if I could have leaned into, hey, go and study business, finances and real estate and you know how business and economics, how that all works, I would have told them, the 20 year old me, lean into that. So you have that skill set going into your adult life.

Awesome. Yeah. Well, thank you, Justin. It is so great having you here. And then what's the best way for the audience to get a hold of you?

And Instagram is usually easiest. It's really me. I really communicate with people. So the Justin Colby, the Justin Colby on Instagram is the easiest way. If you're into real estate and you're trying to get deals, go to Reilive Co and I'll help you guys get some deals.

Awesome. Thanks, Justin.

Right on. Thank you.