Creating Balance with Liz Faircloth

You welcome. This is the Insider's Edge to Real Estate Investing with James Nelson, the principal and head of Avis and Young's Tri State Investment Sales Group. In this program you'll learn game changing strategies to outperform the market. James will teach you how to source, execute and capitalize on the best real estate opportunities in New York and around the world. Now here's your host.

Welcome everyone to episode number 168 of the Insider's Edge to Real Estate Investing. Thank you as always for joining. If I have not announced, we are now a top 2% podcast globally. So we moved up from 3%. You know that for those of you who know me, know that I am relentless and I will not stop until we are a top 1%. So that's, that's thanks to you all. And as we climb in the ranks, what that does is it lets others know about what we're doing with this show and helping you gain that inside edge to real estate investing so you can outperform the market. And the way we're doing this is by having great guests on our show like today, Liz Faircloth, who is co founder of the Real Estate Investher community and Facebook group. So Liz has developed this model that connects women who are interested in getting started in real estate or, or looking for a way to scale and listen. This episode is not just for our female listeners. Guys, you're going to get a ton out of this as well because she is going to talk about creating balance and she has great experience having been the co founder of the Derosa Group, a family owned business that invests in residential and commercial property with a mission of transforming lives through real estate. So you're going to hear some incredible things that she's accomplished but doing this all with balance. So you're. If you are looking for tips, Liz shares advice on how to focus on one task at a time, creating the right spaces and stepping back periodically to think about the picture. And I love that one of my mentors and coaches, Rod Santomasimo, who's recently been on this show again talks about working on your business as opposed to just in your business. So it's a great lesson for us all. And you're doing that now by listening to this and taking a step back and, and putting these lessons into your day to day. So the real estate investor community offers mentorship and accountability to reduce a sense of being overwhelmed. And this holistic approach includes three pillars which are real estate investing, business strategies and self care. And you can connect both online and in person meetings at US and in the US and Canada. So I love that. So as always you can find the show notes on this episode we where you can find out how to connect with Liz and her community. And for those of you looking to connect with me, you can go to my site@jamesnelson.com if you have not signed up for I have a new newsletter out there which will always share the latest article that I have. I'm contributing not only to Real Estate Weekly but also Forbes. So you're going to get great insight on how you can really step up your game and capitalize in today's market. And you can also connect with me social Media James Nelson, NYC, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter so we're gonna have a brief word from our sponsor and we're gonna get right into that interview with Liz Faircloth. A different approach to putting our clients first Avis and Young's Tri State Investment Sales Group sells multifamily office, retail development and specialty sales throughout the New York metro area. As experienced thought leaders in their industry, our 35 member group is available to help you make informed investment by advising you on your current holdings or identifying new opportunities in the marketplace. Our one unified team is built on an industry unique platform which promotes unparalleled collaboration and teamwork. We share core values of hard work, integrity and expertise. We put our clients first providing tailor made strategies to achieve superior results. Please Visit us at aytristateinvestmentsales.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram amesnelsonnyc to learn more. Welcome everyone today. So thrilled to have with us Liz Faircloth who is co founder of InvestHer. Liz, you've done such tremendous things for the industry, especially for women looking to get into the business. So excited to have you with us here today.

Thanks for having me James. Excited to be here with you. Wonderful.

So Liz, before we dive in, for those of you and I would imagine for our listeners, not just women, everyone benefits from the content you put out there. Maybe just tell us a little bit about what investor is.

Sure, sure. So the real estate investher community is a it's an intimate global platform I like to say that's really about empowering women to live a financially free and balanced life life. So the way we do that is that we have online events, offline events, our once a year conference really bringing women together to one know what to do in terms of growing their portfolio on their own terms but more importantly getting the community around them so that they aren't Alone. A lot of the women in our community have done a number, a handful of deals and you know, they're trying to figure it all themselves. They're the project manager, they're the bookkeeper, they're the, they're the acquisitions specialists. They're everything. And so what we're about is really creating this holistic community that's worldwide where women can get plugged in to our meetups that are across the country of 50, where they can give and get support and really grow their wealth on their own terms. So that's the bottom line. That's what we stand for and we see the trajectory for women to really step into more and more investing in their own space is the key.

Liz, I love the mission and what you're doing and had the privilege of also having Beth Azure on the podcast and I forget the stat. Exactly. But I think she said that she believes that only a couple percent of real estate investors are women. And so her goal as yours is to level the playing field and to promote more gender diversity in real estate, which. Which is certainly needed in the commercial space. So Liz, I want to go back and talk about because I'm sure someone is listening to this show right now and they were in your shoes. Back in the day when you were in your 20s, you were in social services, I believe, and you were looking to break into real estate. So how did you think at the time that you could break into this pretty complicated business and overcome these challenges?

Made a lot of mistakes, James, to be honest with you. But you know, back, back when I was in my 20s, I was getting my degree in social work, so I wanted to become a therapist, wanted to become a social worker and at the same time my brother in law handed me rich dad, poor dad. So I said what am I, what am I reading this for? You know, had nothing to do with what I was learning, but I like personal growth books. And, and he said, you need to read this, it will change your life. I said, okay, I'll trust you, Tony, but I don't know about that. So I did read it and it really, it presented concepts. James, I'm sure you hear this from folks, but it presented concepts I had never thought about. So then I proceeded to read all the rich dad books from the bi quadrant to all the books and start to consume what it takes to be effective in investing and buying assets and having those assets work for you and, and then you. And then I started attending rea meetings with my now husband. At the time we were boyfriend, girlfriend. So on the weekends, you know, couples in their 20s were just hanging out. We were going to rea meetings together and learning as much as we could about real estate. We didn't have the resources. We didn't have anyone in our family that ever done this. But we saw real estate investment as a, as a vehicle to buy tangible assets to figure out how we can buy it. Right, with loans and figuring that out. But tangible assets that actually can pay us money. Right. So we're not trading our time. We'd have an asset building wealth for us and not just, again, transactionally trading our time for money. So we love that idea. There's a lot of things around that that we didn't know anything about that we've Learned. And then 17 years later, right. We now focus mostly on large multifamily. But our first, first deal was a duplex. And I think the key, James, is that for us, we had a goal. We figured out the money. We got a loan from my father at the time for 30,000. He loaned his money at 6% interest, which was, was, was great for us at the time. And my dad's a school teacher, right. So he didn't have that much money to lend to us. But he, we all figured it out and then we bought the property. It was $150,000 row home right outside of Philadelphia, and it was a duplex. So that got our start. And I think, you know, we ended up selling it and doing a 1031. But I think so often, right, for us, we, we had a goal, we got educated. Not that we didn't make any mistakes, but we took action and we figured out the money because I think money holds a lot of people back. We figured it out and ended up that really launching us into our investment. Seventeen years had we waited five years and try to perfect it and find the right, right, right, right. You know, you could be waiting around a long time. I always say, like, you shouldn't wait for the home run. Take a single. You know, it was a single for us and it was a great single to propel us. And I think that's so important for men and women, right, on their journey of just taking a step, making it happen, and being part of the local RIA meeting group helped us get some contacts. We got a contractor, we got a local realtor who can help us assess what is this property worth. We didn't know all those things.

So, Liz, I really hope that our listeners are taking notes right now because you just said so many good things. I want to Just quickly go back and kind of break those down. But right off the bat, you're going to make mistakes. Right? So. And we learn by making mistakes. Just don't make the same mistake twice if you can help it. So it is something. And I think back to an interview that I did with Jordan Vogel, who again, started off with a deal, and now he's built out a successful fund that owns well over 100 properties. And I actually, I took a page out of Nike's playbook and I called the episode Just do it, because he said, look, nothing's ever going to be perfect. And if you let yourself, you can talk yourself out of any purchase, but at some point, you've got to start. Right? And so the other thing is, it's progress, it's not perfection. So I really appreciate your laying out the groundwork. I know our listeners will also really appreciate you're giving the specifics, because I believe that, number one thing, maybe you're listening right now and saying, okay, this sounds great, but investing in real estate takes hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars. I'm not independently wealthy. I really believe that that fear that is holding most people back who's listening to the show right now is saying, I would do this, but I don't have the capital. So, Liz, I might press you a little bit more on that question, because, yes, it's great that you went to a family member, but let's say you didn't have that family member that you could go to. So for someone listening right now who doesn't have their own capital, what would you say to that person to get into the game?

Yeah, I think everyone has something to offer. I really believe that. I think whether you have time, because that's a, that's a value to people. Right? So. So if I said to you, James, you know, if you're going to enter a partnership or new business, I would, I don't know if you'd say, Yeah, I got 24 hours to, you know, in my day, you might give something else. You might give your expertise, you might give your financial backing, you might give something else. But I think everyone, time is just as valuable as money, right. Expertise is just as valuable as time. So when you have a busy business that's growing and thriving, what do you have less of? Usually time. And you might need someone to go to those projects. So my point saying all this is to really assess. I'm a really big fan, James, of people to look inward, to say, what, what can I bring to the table? And it just Might be persistent as hell and time, meaning you might be able to help a more experienced investor and start educating yourself, start adding value on some level. Every. Every company that's growing needs trustworthy people that they can rely on. Think about what properties, what you need in properties. You need people to actually put your eyes on the properties. We invest out of state. We have properties that we don't invest as much locally anymore. We got our start there, and we now have properties in North Carolina and Kentucky. So we have folks that are actually on our team, and they actually go to the property, not the property management company, because they'll see it differently, but on the owner's side. That's a value. Now, are they learning as they're doing that and talking to us? Absolutely. So I think to look inward and say, okay, you know, number one, where do I want to be in five years? And then take a step back and go, what can I bring to the table and what do I want to learn? And how can I add value to people? So many times you just reach out to more experienced investors and say, oh, I can, you know, let me pick your brain, take you out to coffee. They don't want coffee from you. They don't want their brain to be picked. No one has time for that unless they literally are nothing else to do. But they wouldn't mind someone reaching out to them that can actually add value to their current business or their current life. And how you can add value, I don't know that that's something for you to understand and start to understand who they are. But I wish I did that, James. I wish we followed in the footsteps of more experienced investors. I think that would have prevented us from making a lot of mistakes early on, and it would have been able to. I always hear, like, Robert Kiyosaki talk about how he used to sweep the floors of this, you know, organization, you know, this, this. This place that he wanted to learn more. So that's what he said. I said, how can I add value? You know, I can do this, this. How can I help you? And I think if people took that mindset, they would be much further along, because you're learning under someone else's dimension. You're adding value to someone else that you want to learn from. I would have done that in a heartbeat. And we didn't. We just figured out ourselves. But if I were to learn a new business, I probably would do that now if that was my, you know, growing the businesses we have. But that's what I would do. I would add value to someone's life. That's how you get further in life.

Liz, this is such amazing advice. And please, if you're listening to this, and to quote one of my mentors, Rod Santomasimo, and one of his recent books, Knowing isn't Doing. So, I really hope that you take down this advice and then really put it into action again. You said so many great things about what you can bring to the table. And when we talk about mentorship, never make it that one way street. I love what you said about don't just ask for that cup of coffee. Right. Don't give the person another to do on their list. How can you bring value to the table? In my book, I talk about your value being your expertise and finding the deal, the opportunity. And if you don't have the capital, bring it to a partner and say, can we do this together? Right. So it's not this like one way street where you know, you're just expecting that this person is going to give value. You really have to think about what value you can bring. So that, that is, I love that. Liz, talk about your background in social work. And this might seem like a strange question because some might say, what value could you bring from that to the real estate realm you're investing? Talk about how that experience has shaped you as a person and as an investor.

Yeah, it's funny because when we, when I got together with my husband and we said, okay, we have this one rental property, we really wanted to build a business. So he quit his job within the first, first week of us getting married. He's like, I'm quitting my job. We're going to do this full time. He might have like two rentals, you know, And I, we all know that two rentals is not going to replace people's income. But I said, okay, I'll keep working. We're going to do this together. We're going to figure it out. So my point saying that is we sat down and said, you know, I highly recommend a great book called the One one Page Business Plan. And why I'm saying that, I'm going to answer your question, James, but it really helps you bring you through your vision, your mission, your strategies, and then all the way down to like, what are you going to do this week? I love that. And one of the things that asks you to do is to figure out your mission statement. So my husband and I get together and said, okay, where do we want to focus? What market do we want to focus on? What type of asset do we want to focus on why do we exist? Right. Because most people, like, I just want to buy a rental property, but you got to go a little deeper. So does everybody. So you got to, like, what differentiates me? And so we came up with the mission statement. We wanted to transform lives through urban communities. At the time, this was 17. This was. No. Yeah, probably less than 17. Probably around 2005, so 16 years ago, whatever. So we wanted to transform lives through real estate. And at the time, we focused on Trenton, New Jersey, which was the market we focused on to kind of for many years. And we really wanted to make a difference. We also wanted to make money, but we also wanted to, like, make a difference in the community. There was a lot of dilapidated properties. So my need for. Right. Making a difference in a community came from my social work, Mother Teresa, I don't know, way of being that. That has always been with me my whole life. My husband was really bought into as a shared mission. So that's what got us going in Trenton, and that's what has got us going with buying dilapidated properties, renovating them, and doing the classic brrr strategy for many years, and then. And then bring in investors. And that's how we started to grow and leverage, and then we've expanded beyond that market. However, I think that's really key, and that's how I brought my social work interest into things. You have to be mindful of that. Right. Because we were a little lenient to tenants sometimes and got taken advantage a few times. I've had to learn, you know, how to trust but verify. So there's been a lot of learnings. There's. But beyond that. Right. The need to be very mission oriented, which brings me to invest. Her has always been with me, and I think that came from my interest in connecting with communities and making a difference in a holistic way.

Well, Liz, you answered my next question, because I was going to say there are times when you're in that adversarial relationship, and maybe the social worker in you says, look, this is a person who's clearly not making the right decisions, but as a business person, I need to take care of the investment. But it seems like you've been able to thread that needle, so to speak. So. And I love the fact that your husband and you were all in, which is a little scary, right. To say, you know, it's the we're gonna burn the boat, that kind of thing, where, okay, we're. This isn't gonna just be a side hustle. So I've gotta imagine there was some sleepless nights there where you were thinking, a couple months into this, what were we thinking? I mean, how long did it take.

Before so, so picture this, right? The market crash, as we all know, it happened in 08. At that point we probably had about 30 rentals. Some of them were performing, some of them weren't. So I wouldn't say we were like super cash flow positive. It was a little bit of a, of a, of a hamster wheel. And then we had the idea of, of buying a commercial building. 10,000 square foot commercial building that was vacant, no less. And right before the market crashed in Trenton, New Jersey, which is still an area that's figuring itself out in many ways still. So we, you know, we had a lot of challenges up ahead. I mean, we had a vacant building. There was no one looking to rent a 10,000 square foot building. We did all our little cash flow analysis and like, this is going to make us five grand a month and it's gonna be amazing. And no, no, didn't do that. So we figured it out, we got a bank loan, we renovated it, we ended up cutting it up to small business spaces. So we had about, you know, over time we had at that, you know, at the peak, about 18 tenants in the building. We just sold that building a month ago and we sold it to one of our tenants who really brought the building up to a whole new level, more than we ever could. And we profited, you know, close to, to 175,000. Never made any cash flow from the building over the, what, 13 years we had it or so, or 14 years. But my point saying all that is that so often there are a lot of challenges. You know, like, there's so many moments, you're like, what did we get ourselves into? Because, because, you know, you're a little naive. You're, you know, I want to say we're in our 20s and we're naive, but we were, we had a little bit of the rosy colored glasses on. But you figure it out and you get resourceful and you start to ask the questions that you probably should have started with asking, like, what does the market need here? The market doesn't need a V. The market didn't need a 10,000 square foot, one tenant building. No one. That would have been, that would have been a no and we would have moved on. We were also, we were also investing in multifamily at the time and then decided to get into commercial space, which is such a different animal. Never, you know, I'm not saying you can't pivot in your business, but you got to become good at something and really good at it and then you can pivot. So just my bottom line there is that through the different challenges you start to say, you know, we're not going to give up. We had a loan on the building that came from a line of credit from my parents. So James, even if I really wanted to give up, right. I couldn't give up. Then I'd be affecting the livelihood of my, my mother in law. Right. Which is a big deal, right? It's a very big deal. So we really made that project, right. We paid off, you know, everything worked out, you know, all that, the line of credit was taken care of. But you know, when, when you are newer to something and you're learning, you know, and it was quite some time ago, you start to say, okay, what can I do differently here? And then that's really propelled us around 2010 to say, where are we having success? And it was in multi family, small, multifamily. And that's what really grew our multi family business to what it is today of a couple thousand units. But you don't give up and you get really resourceful. I mean there's nothing that can happen, I feel like that I wouldn't be able to figure out. That's how I feel. Not by me, but by relationships or you know, other people or okay, we had money stolen from us and we sued. I mean I can go on and on. So you just figure it out and you get resourceful and you, you have to look in the mirror and say how did I, how did I add to this? How did, what did I do not do? But how could I have done this differently? You know, because it ultimately is, it's us, you know.

So Liz, you're making my job very easy because you're answering some of my, my follow up questions. But I do want to dig a little bit deeper because I'm sure there's someone listening to this right now saying, okay, I've done the duplex, I've done the live invest the burr, I want to take the plunge into commercial. That's my world. And clearly you said when you bought this 10,000 square foot vacant building in Trenton that you were in over your skis, meaning whatever you thought was possible was not what the market wanted. Okay. So knowing what you know now, okay, what would you have done differently to figure out what was the best way to reposition this asset? Or maybe this was one to stay away from what would you have done differently knowing now to take that on?

Yeah. The end game, Right. Of the building was actually to cut it up and to create small office space. So that actually was a need. We didn't even know that that was a need when we bought the building. And then it ended up growing where it became like a community building where people, the accountant would be there, the attorney would be there, the real estate investor would be there, the title company would be there, and they'd be doing business together. So it ended up working, but it took. I don't think we're entrepreneurs, right. We need to have our. You need to be able to say with some confidence, like, this is my plan for the, for the asset. Now the plans change. Right. But I don't think. And now that we're in large multifamily, you don't, you don't buy multifamily and go, who knows what we're going to do with this? Right. Well, we'll see. Like, you're not going to have an effective building, right. No one's going to invest with you. No, I wouldn't want to invest in that. Right. So I think having that business plan and saying, okay, who am I serving? How am I serving them? And is this needed? Is really obviously the key. Now, how do we ask those questions? Maybe we would have answered, you know, what's really needed in this area, small business center, and maybe we would have bought it with those eyes. But to me to tell you that, James, that would be lying to you, that that was our original intent. Our original intent was one user, one office, one office user, and that they would, you know, stay with us for 10 years and it'll be a beautiful relationship. Not needed in that community. So I think the key, especially in this market, as we know, you have to really have a bit. I mean, no one's gonna even loan to you if you don't have a business plan. Right. So that. But at the time, you know, we got the loan anyway, which is a different world now. I think the key is to really have a pulse. Okay. There's two things you need to have a pulse on the market and the asset class. And then the third thing, quite honestly, is your customer. You know, I think there's so many ways to, like, revitalize commercial buildings right now into residential. There's an enormous opportunity since COVID people are not, you know, people are still meeting and they have office space, but I would venture to say the amount of office space that actually can be converted in communities. Right? Now in the United States is probably tremendous. Now is every community interested in that? That's a whole other. Right. Research you have to do. But we brought on a woman on our podcast that went into how you do it and how you reposition buildings to, to create more housing for people and housing for the community. That's the kind of thinking you need to have now versus I have a great idea. Great ideas aren't going to get you anywhere right now. You have to have some research and some idea of how what you're about to do is going to solve people's problems. And there's a housing shortage. So solve that problem with quality housing and however you can get that quality housing. That would be my 2 cents on that.

I love the way you put it. Knowing your customer, knowing what makes sense, having the pulse, I really love that. Having the pulse of the area, the business plan. And I talk about that in my book, that you really need to understand the area and have that thesis right? So what's the driver? And you don't build a project just to what you like or aesthetically. You need to build to that market. So that's why when you get to know an area, you have to go and look at other competitive product and see and speaking with professionals, if you're going to do a multifamily project, you better speak to a rental broker and ask, what does this market want? Is it an oversized one bedroom? Is it a two bedroom? What are the level of finishes? Because the last thing you want to do is over improve an asset or miss the market entirely. So there's a lot of great lessons in there for our listeners. Uh, so Liz, I want to shift now a little bit and talk about work, life, balance. And I know that's a big part of what you do with your community and maybe talk about what that was like at first starting off. Because what can begin as kind of a side hustle can become all encompassing. You know, you're, you're married, you have kids, you have, you know, responsibilities. How do you balance this all?

Yeah, yeah. No, and that's kind of the. When, when my, my partner and I, Andresa, came together, we said, you know, we'd be meeting. We're actually investing in a lot of different deals and real estate. And we said we're, we're, you know, where are all the women in this business? And, and how do we create a, how can we create a community that not only women are thriving and investing, but there's a level of. On their own terms, right? Because if someone quits their job and says, you know what, I'm going to go all in on investing and grow my portfolio, and then they look back a year later and go, I'm busier than I was when I had my W2, and no one really wants that. We moved to entrepreneurial ventures because of the freedom aspect, right? Time freedom, money freedom. So, you know, when we started our community as well, we were really committed to how do we create something that, that, that has a level of balance. So when we started our community, we started the podcast. We, we were starting with a passion. We didn't know this could be a business. We didn't, you know, honestly. And then women would be like, what are you guys doing here and there? And we're like, okay, we can, we can really serve women through a lot of different free resources and building a whole community, but also through our mentorship program that we have for women who've been. Have five to 10 deals. So the idea is, okay, how do we balance ourselves, right, because we're, you know, we're growing in our real estate. We also have our real estate investor convert community. I think it comes down to James, like, if I can give a tactical action, step is to. I, I really think that what women don't create them, at least women maybe and men, I'd say both is creating the space to kind of work on your life, not just in it. And I, and I always say on a weekly basis, if you're not actually sitting in some sort of silence, solitude, just kind of like what's working, what's not, how do I create some more balance here? You know, right now I don't have balance right now. I'm all in on trying to give the best content I can and information to. With you on James, to, to your listeners. I'm not being a mom right now. I'm not being a wife. I'm not running outside, I'm not praying, I'm not meditating. I'm literally all in on what I'm doing. And I think, I think that's important for balance is like, are you all in 100% to what you're doing? And when you're not doing that, then you're 100% there. Easier said than done, right? Because if I'm with my kids and I get some sort of message from a, from my, from my partner or from our team member, I want to. But more and more, as I've gotten a little older, a little wiser, a little bit, really trying to create that Space for whatever role I'm in. And really going all in on that role took my kids yesterday. So hot in the Northeast, and they got home from school. Like, there's like this little river by our house. We're going to go jump in the river. It was safe, of course, but I left my phone in the car. I didn't even take my phone to the river because I knew I'd just look at it, left it in the car. Everyone will be fine. The world will not end. And I was all in on jumping in the river with my kids. So I think in life, right, we have to just be focused on the role that's in front of us. And I think that's how we have balance. Because ultimately, balance is not really anything. It's really just creating space to do a lot of different things that you love and like and want to pour yourself into. That's what we really want. At least that's what I want and I know a lot of people want. So is it perfect all the time? No. Is it off balance? Sometimes? Yes. But you have to have that weekly space to say, what do I want more in my life? And then how do I create more of that balance for myself? What do I need more? No one takes the time to do that, James. Men and women, for that matter. I just know so much from the women we speak to, right? They're just going and going and spinning a bunch of wheels. And at the end of the day, they don't even know what they need because they don't give themselves space.

Liz, I love that answer about how you find balance, because I think a lot of us probably think about compartmentalizing, and I'm going to work this many hours per week, and I'm going to take this many vacations, and I'm going to dedicate this much. And it is important to schedule things out and make sure that you have time for yourself and whether it's meditation or working out. But I love the fact that you are 100% committed to what you're doing at the time, because I think so many of us think that you can multitask, right? And we're fooling ourselves because you're only cheating both things. So I love the fact that you left your phone in the car while you're spending time with your family. So I think we can all learn a lot from that. So really appreciate your sharing that. So, Liz, I want to talk more about this incredible community that you've created, and I think our listeners could really benefit from this because we know that real estate is really about the people. And it was interesting. The first interview that I ever gave was with Bruce Ratner. He and prolific developer here in New York. And I kept asking Bruce, how did you do it? And he just kept. He kept talking about the people and we. He didn't speak an eye. He spoke in we and the team and how essential it is. And then we talk about all the different types of professionals that it takes to do a real estate transaction, and it's about the people. So talk about how you built this community. Right. And then how do you actually ensure that it functions as a community?

Yeah. You know, when we started as well, we were, you know, going to different events and we'd always be the only women in the room, to be honest with you. Right. And if you go to a conference, we were like, why aren't there women speaking at this? You know, there's got to be some women who know. And I could speak, I mean, at that point, you know, and so, so we're always like, there's got to be a place that we can create this safe space for women to give and get support. I think, you know, what I, what I. What I found around community is that people all want community. I think community, you know, it's not just a women thing or a men thing or a women and men thing. It's really for really how you move the needle in your life. Meaning how many times do people say, you know, if I go online, I can figure out how to flip a house? I mean, you could Google it and you can get the seven steps on how to flip a house. But how many people are fearful and never take the first step to flip a house? Now, there's a lot of reasons for that. Is it because they don't know what to do? Maybe they could probably figure it out. They probably can Google it and get the information, but the support there is lacking. Right. So often. So that's what we really stand upon, is that, you know, knowledge is not enough. You know, everyone knows how to lose weight. Stop. You know, less calories and moving your body more. This is not. Not rocket science. I'm not saying it's easy, but it's not rocket science. But how many books every single year come out about diets? You know, because it's still something people struggle with, because the community piece is lacking. It's not so much the knowledge you'll disappoint yourself, but if you say to someone, an accountability partner, hey, I'm going to go look at three properties. You're not going to disappoint them as much as you disappoint yourself. And so that's the kind of community we built in the sense of where women can really give and get from each other and have each other's backs. There's a really interesting article that came out, James. This summer, Wall Street Journal said, women owned the summer. Excuse me, women owned the economy of the summer. And it went through basically how between the Barbie movie and Beyonce's tour and Taylor Swift, the amount of money that was generated from these. Of these events was. Was, you know, crazy amount of money, billions and billions of dollars. And they said there was a women's multiplier effect. And then it went through how women did these things all in groups. Women got together, mothers, daughters, went to go see the Barbie movie, went to go do this, went to go see Taylor Swift. And they said, there's a very interesting effect because women are doing things in groups. Women go to the bathroom together. Not literally go to the bathroom, but they go to that area together. So when I say that is that. And I. And I. And I've spoken to my husband, and he's like, you know, Liz, the community aspect is critical for everyone, not just for women. And I believe that. So I think that's the key to move the pendulum on thinking and doing is that you can't do it alone. And it's about the getting. Getting having a safe space to ask questions and not feel like you're. You don't know enough or I'm not enough or anything. You know, it's. It's really about getting the support that you need when you need it. And that's what a community is about. And that's what we've done here from a Facebook group when we started to our conference that we do every year that had 500 women and. And 20 women speakers. And it's just. It's about that aspect of, okay, what does this community represent? What are the values of this community? And then how do I move the needle in my life so I can go partner with someone or go get the money I need or the amount of, you know, actions that have been taken from. And it's not about me, right, because I'm not the community. It's about the women that are the community. I'm just, you know, one of the co founders.

So what you just said makes me think about why. And I'm here in my office today, here at 45th and 5th Avenue, and I'm looking out. And I see the team out there, and, you know, we all figured out how to work remotely, and we know that there's a lot of the job that can be done virtually, but there's so much that happens in person. I think what you miss virtually is that community and that interaction you get with people. So maybe talk a little bit. I know you have an online platform, but clearly you're also bringing people together. So how does this all work and how does this. You're giving mentorship. It's accountability. You know, someone who joined your program. What. What would be involved?

Yeah, I would say from a community aspect. You know, the. The Facebook group was kind of like the first place that we were, you know, really encouraging women to just talk about, you know, ask questions, give support, et cetera. That then led us creating a meetup. And we created one meetup a few years ago in Philadelphia. We ran it, you know, and it's all about. I remember this one woman that came out. She's like, this is a big deal for me to get here. She had two little ones, you know, four years old and below, and she's like, just the fact that I'm here is a big deal at the point. At the time, she had one rental property. She's part of our STRIVE mentorship program. She's got 12 properties now. And she just said to us, yeah, I can go online, but to be here with all of you and to connect and to share best practices, there's something really, really important with that. And that's why we created our meetups. And we have 50 meetups across the country, Canada, for women to plug themselves into a local group. And it's in person, it's not virtual, to really just get this local community of women. And it's cool, because women are living in New York, go to the St. Louis meetup because they want to invest in St. Louis, or all the California ladies who are like, I'm not investing in California because they want to invest in St. Louis, or all the California ladies who are like, I'm not investing in California, you know, go to the. You know, go to the other areas that are. That we have meetups. So we've created this neat network where women can kind of have a safe space to go to, and we kind of embody the same principles. And then in terms of, like, actual mentorship. And that's for all women, James. Women who have never done a deal, children who've done deals. Our STRIVE mentorship program is very specific, and it's our paid Membership where women are, you know, they've done five to 10 deals, they're doing it by themselves and it's really more accountability, masterminding. It's all about access and speed because they want to grow their portfolio and, and they're just done doing it by themselves. So that's what that, that piece is for and that's what our mentorship program is for. But, but our community's for everyone. You know, it's certainly for everyone to, to get what they need so they can do their first deal, their fourth deal. And then like I said, our mentorship programs for women who are scaling a.

Little more, it's wonderful and it's incredible that you're doing that and paying things forward. So I guess looking back and if, you know, you've probably gotten this question before, if you were to give yourself advice back in your 20s, I mean back then you didn't have that community. So what, what, what advice would you give yourself then? Clearly there's a lot more resources available today. But what would you say to the person starting out, yeah, get plugged into.

I'd say get plugged into a community that you feel like you found your tribe. You feel like, all right, these people. I can, you know, I can give support, I can get support. You can always give support. If you have no real estate experience, I always say that you have something to give. I, I really believe, James, that Matt and I, you know, our growth, you know, we got a lot, we accelerated, you know, later, later in our tenure, if you will. But those first, you know, handful of years, you know, I'd say we probably struggled more than had successes and we didn't give up, we persevered and then we had a lot more growth very quickly once we started to, you know, do the things that we've been talking about today from 2010 and on. But had I have a community, I, I, I probably wouldn't have made the, the wrong investment choices. Someone been like, what are you buying a 10,000 square foot building? Like, someone would be like, what are you doing? That doesn't make any sense and, or giving me the, the, you know, support I needed once it didn't work out, rather than just, you know, rolling up your sleeves and figuring it out. So I, I can't stress that enough. I think finding a group a safe space to, to give and get support that has your back and that's very mission oriented, it's not just self serving is important. So that's number one. But I think you pay for what you get for, you know, you pay what you. So if it's something that you're like, I need to accelerate. I mean, I paid for coaching, I paid for this, I paid for that. I'm paying for it now because I want to, you know, I want to grow. I want to, you know, get to the next level. So that's important in life. So there's nothing. It's important to know where you are and where you want to go and then, okay, what's the. What's the quickest way to get there and with less pain?

So, Liz, with the members of your community, and it's wonderful to hear that some have risen to become mentors. The most successful women in your community. What do they have in common?

That's a great question. Oh, I think it's. I think it's holistic. There's three pillars that we really stand upon. Obviously, real estate investing is the vehicle. Think of the other investment strategies, but that's the vehicle asset class that, that we, you know, we kind of have as our core. And then we also believe that they're running their investment as a business and they're taking care of themselves in the process. So it's. It's kind of like mind, body and soul, if you will. It's not just like, how can I acquire a thousand units? Not everyone wants to acquire a thousand units. And quite honestly, it doesn't mean you're going to make more money if you're doing that. You could. You could own 20 properties or 10 properties. Own them free and clear. And, you know, so we can get into that debate, especially coming from someone who owns and manages a lot of units with a lot of investors. So I think the key that commonalities are this persistence, this ability to work in the business, not just on the business. Take accountability for the decisions you're making and not do it alone. I think that's the biggest thing that holds people back and certainly holds a lot of women back, is it really are. They've been trained and quite honestly, they do a good job at it. It's not like they're doing a horrible job of doing it all alone, but it's exhausting and you're going to get further and faster if you're able to tap a community and say, who do you know in St. Louis? Because I want to invest in there. And with one phone call from one of the mentors, they have their realtor, they have their contractor, they have their closing agent. And within three months, one of our STRIVE members, bingo, bango. Bought her duplex. I mean, she could have figured it out. So I think communities that can help you plug you in and not make it so hard to figure it all out yourself, I think is incredibly valuable. Something that I learned and I, you know, we created it with the quite honestly, because I didn't have would have been a lot easier.

Well, Liz, it's really remarkable this community that you've created and the value that you've provided and without question today. So just so grateful for you giving your time. And what you just said reminds me and going back to one of my coaches, Rod Santomosimo, and this idea of working on your business as opposed to in your business. And Rod talks about being on the transaction treadmill and we can all get caught up with that just doing the next deal. And it does take discipline to take a step back and look at the big picture. So you can make that quantum leap. For Stephen Covey, that would be second quadrant type stuff. Important but not urgent. So and by our listeners right now tuning in, they are doing that right now. They're taking a step back from the daily grind and really thinking about big picture. So which is really great. So I have no doubt that people listening are getting a lot from this discussion. But that being said, it is then incumbent upon you to put this into action. Right. And if you're an atomic habits person and you know, putting these practices in place and I love the accountability as well. So there's just so many wonderful things. Again, great to have you on the show. Let our listeners know how they can find out about what you're doing and follow all the great content that you're putting out.

Yeah, absolutely. So the realestate investher her.com is kind of our best place to go. And I would encourage them to go to our events page. We do two free webinars a month. These are literally free webinars just to start learning, engaging with the community. In our Facebook group, just go to. It's a group, it's not a page. The real estate investor and literally post what's coming. Post something you learned from this podcast and tag me. And I'd love to say hello and give you my two cents right there. In the Facebook group, we're very accessible. We're here to serve and help. So yeah, that would be my recommendation, is to start putting yourself out there and doing things that are uncomfortable and really giving yourself space because anything can happen.

Wonderful. Well, thank you again and I really hope our listeners take you up on that offer. I know I learned a ton that I'm going to certainly put in practice. So as always, this is your host, James Nelson. If you go to my website, james nelson.com I built this for you to help you gain the insider's edge to real estate investing so you can outperform the market. That's where you can find out show notes as well as Liz's contact information and a lot of other helpful tools. And if you like this show, would really appreciate if you rated it, if you left a comment and share it with a friend. Certainly if you have female friends who are looking to get into the business as well, Liz's mission is definitely to help get the word out there. So until next week, thank you again.

Thank you for listening to the Insider's Edge to Real Estate Investing. We appreciate your subscribing and sharing with your friends. If you haven't already, please connect with James at James Nelson NYC on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. Please also visit jamesnelson.com where you can find the show notes and other episodes along with an exclusive video series and other helpful resources so you can gain the insider's edge to real estate investing. Until next week.