EP11: The Mindset that Makes You More Money w/ Kyle Karges
Mundo Sanchez talks with Kyle Karges about real estate investing and the mindset shifts that drive business growth. They cover house hacking, flipping properties, creative financing, and how calendar management and partnerships help scale operations.
So tell me about. I gotta know the Secret Sauce, man. Tell me the Secret Sauce Owners Club.
Here's the line, right? If you could look at someone's calendar, you could predict how much money they make. Wow.
Okay.
Because it's. Oh, how. It wasn't that long ago, a couple years ago, when I was like, oh, I almost don't have anything on my calendar. I know what I'm doing.
Right.
Welcome to the Mundo Show. My name is Mundo, I am your host and I am one of Pace Morbi's business partners where we own a 181 unit apartment complex together. I'm a two time CFO of the year. I own multiple companies, I have been featured in Forbes and I've spoken on the same stages with some of the best, such as Grant Cardone, Cody Sanchez and Pace Morby. I am your host where we talk all things related to real estate and business. So let's go ahead and dive right in and talk to today's guest. Welcome back everyone. Today we have a special guest. We have Kyle Kargis in the house. And I am really excited to hear about all the cool stuff you're up to. Welcome to the show, Kyle. Thanks for coming, dude.
I appreciate it. I'm super stoked, super excited to be here. You know, it's like, dude, like one, that intro is phenomenal, like awesome. I'm like, okay, cool, this guy's doing stuff, right? And the name of the game here, right, is you got to be around people doing stuff.
Exactly, exactly. Gotta elevate yourself and be surrounded around like minded people and even people that are better you. And hopefully they'll, they'll keep you in the same room. Right? But you gotta be offering something in return as well. And that's the whole point of this, is just to be around good people and learn from their experiences and hear about the success and hear about some of those challenges. So we're definitely gonna dive into that today. So why don't you start off and give us some insight about your background, how you got started and you know, what you're doing.
Okay, cool. So I did it. I would say I did it wrong, but there is no wrong in my opinion. But I started off solo for like 15 years.
Okay.
So didn't partner with anybody. I'm like, okay, I knew I wanted to get into real estate. I, I wouldn't go as far as saying like, I was kind of a weird kid. Like, I was a normal kid and in like high school, in junior high and stuff. Like, I started reading like rich dad, poor dad, right? And like most kids, you know, at that age, like, aren't getting into that stuff. So like, I knew I wanted to be in real estate, I didn't know exactly how I was going to get into it, etc. And I just. Okay, and then you fast forward, I get married, you know, I, I actually, I'll pause for a second. I, I bought my first house before I got married. House hacked, right? Rented all out like that. I was trying to force it, right? I'm like conventionally bought the house and you know, and I bought at the time where I bought that was 2007, right? So right before the big crash. Okay, so yeah, guys, anyone watching, right? Like timed it perfect, right? I'm like, yeah, first purchase, let's go. You know, my dad's like, you're making the biggest mistake of your life. And so anyways, bought that house. I wouldn't say it was a mistake. I bought that house and I ended up short selling that house, right? Because the market did crash, right? And I ended up selling that, I bought that house for $230,000 and I ended up selling it for 120. So a hundred and ten thousand dollars less, I want to say, in 2009. So within two years, right? So, so I jumped in and I just got creamed, right? But still I would do it again, right? Because one, doing a short sale, that type of thing is just, you're following the words in the execution of a contract, right? Because it's like, hey, we're gonna do this. I'm gonna, you know, this is exactly what's going to happen. And if, yeah, if something like this happens, this is what, this is what's going to happen next. A short sell, right? So, but I did that. I got married in the meantime, right? So we moved. You know, I was already in the house, brought the wife in. What was your pickup line?
Was like, hey baby. I just, you know, I short sale this property, just so you know.
Yeah, well, so, so I brought her into the house right before. So I'm like, so luckily, like, hey babe, I'm like a 23 year old and I already own a house, right?
Yeah.
So got married, lived in the house and it was good. I felt so grateful. I was make, I was making pretty good money. I mean, but the house is just so far upside down. So as a young kid, I was like, oh my gosh, this is going to take me forever to get 100,000 or plus right back out of there. So we ended up short Selling it. But I wouldn't change it because I learned so many important things when I rented it out. I learned how to house hack. I learned that I had to get people in. I had to learn how to deal with people. Tenants write leases, all of that stuff. Invaluable, honestly, invaluable. And I was playing the game even though I was losing the game originally, right? So that was my first deal, right? And I didn't get a discount on it. It was actually a new build, right? So like I paid premium dollar, all these things, right? So like, guys, you don't have to do everything perfect, right? In fact, you can. You can rolly screw up and there's ways to get through things. So we did that. I lost that house. You know, me and my wife went to go rent and I'm like, nope, this is. We're in real estate. This is what we do. So we got together in like two years after that, bought our first house in my wife's name because I just did that short sale. But we did that with the plan of it being our first rental. So bought it and I'll fast forward. But basically bought houses. Then I lived in it for 10 years, rented it out. So you can see my start was very slow, right? And conventional. And so we started to accumulate a few different rentals. The cash flow was, okay, these are all in Arizona, which is where I'm from, in Phoenix. And I was like, okay, cool. Hey, we're making it. And then you run the math. And I'm like, this is going to take forever to actually make good money. And actually, like. And I'm working my tail off, right? And so we sell a bunch of our houses and capitalize and start flipping houses. And best thing I ever did, started flipping houses, started making really good money. And so we. We flipped houses for a while. And that's where I would say most of our massive growth came from, was flipping houses. We still flip houses today and then, but the market will never always be the same, right? So I'm like, okay, so sometimes it's you that changes, and sometimes it's external variables that change. So I needed to change the fix and flip. I needed to grow up actually at different parts, right. I probably wasn't even all the way mature enough at certain things and I had to grow. And I went through those experiences to do that. But then fast forward, I'm still doing this all by myself. Like, it's me and my wife, right? We're doing this all by ourselves. Then comes, you know, Covid Right. And you know, the market shift and I'm like, okay, I paid a coach 14 years ago to learn how to do zero percent creative finance. And I didn't get a deal from it, but I paid him, you know, a bunch of money as a coach and still super grateful that I did because I learned more about contracts, I learned about how it's done, all of that stuff. So then I knew a world existed that I hadn't played in all the way when the market started shifting and I go, okay, I need to add officially this to my tool belt now. And that's when join sub two. We now do, you know, really learned about subject two, learned even more about seller financing etc.
Right.
And put so much tools and knowledge into my brain and in my tool belt. And I will say we. That was like putting gasoline on top of stuff.
Right.
I finally.
Did you join sub 2?
I joined sub 2 about two years ago.
Okay, nice. Yeah, that was, I joined about a year and a half ago. So a little bit you joined before me, so that's nice.
Yeah, just a little bit. Yeah, just a little bit before you. And you know what some of the biggest thing for me was I've been all by myself and I have my realtor's license here in Arizona. I don't market and everything, but I do sell probably about 20 houses a year. Just I was born and raised here. So people just asked me and for years the answer was no, I can't help you. I'm an investor. Like you know, but people just assume when you do real estate that you could help them do that in your license. So I got my license and I just say yes. But so that was also an additional income stream at that point. So I was grateful for that. But I will say as a realtor I had one client, I helped him buy a house and I said, okay. I started getting, I joined sub 2 and I start getting exposed to subject to and the community. I'm like, wow, all these people are so friendly and they're all working together. Like that was so different than what I'm used to. And I started seeing and then the guy that I helped buy this house, he calls and I, he calls me up one day and he goes, Kyle, let's go to Disneyland in two weeks. You know, I have three little girls, he has a couple little kids too. He calls me up and I had, just after joining sub 2 I had the thought I was like, okay, I just got to start saying yes to people going to more networking events etc and he asked me that and I think for a second, like, gosh dang, I just said I would say yes to like more stuff. So I, I, dude, I, I literally, I just respond, I'm like, yeah, let's go, right? And I'm down here in my basement office down here. I go upstairs like, hey babe, we're going to Disneyland in two weeks. Let the kids know, you know, big old party, they get excited, you know, and, and, and the biggest takeaway from that was we rent an Airbnb in California and we share it, right? Both families, we share it. And I used to be an introvert, okay. And, and honestly, straight up, my dad, he's an introvert, but he's, he's more of antisocial, right? You know, love the guy.
Yeah, right.
Taught me so many good things, right. But I was very reserved. Um, and so doing that, I'm like, oh my gosh, my dad would die, right? Like in this house with other, another family. And, and we had such a blast. And I'm like, why am I not having more friends, right, that can go and travel and do these things? How am I not working with other people, right, you know, like moon like you, right? You know, I'm like, how come we're not friends to those type of levels where we're working together and having fun together? And I'm like, nope. Time to take things seriously on partnerships, working together, etc. And so that's, that's how I started. And that bring, you know, it was, you know, you had, I had to change myself. Lots of things adjusted and we there not everything went smooth. I already shared a little bit about, you know, the short sale. I got more, man. We, we'll be able to talk about that. But like not everything goes smooth all the time. And I'm just grateful for the blessings that I was. My dad taught me to work hard to, you know, and like now, okay, fast forward, you know, if I fast forward till now. I just had a conversation with one of my partners and this year, right, we want to buy between somewhere between 10 and 20 co living houses in Arizona this year.
Wow, that's awesome.
Yeah. So you can see there's a massive difference. Big growth and working with people, in my opinion is a huge part of that.
Wow, that's awesome, man. So how many, how many fix and flips have you done so far? Approximately total.
To be honest, I'd probably have to go back and count. But like those years was like, you know, start off a 2, 4, 6. And then I would say our Largest was at one point. We had about 20 happening at one time from like, like, maybe, like, hey, we just purchased it, right? Like, haven't started any demo to like, four or five that were, like, on the market selling.
Right.
So that's. That's as large as we got.
That's awesome.
But did it for years and still doing it. Just locked up. It's so fun, man. I just locked up a deal in Gilbert, Arizona on Thursday night. Really good spread, happy about it, and, oh, it's gonna be so much fun.
Did you have any, like, trade skills before doing fix and flips or you just acquired that along the way? Because you don't necessarily have to know how to do it, but you have to be pretty knowledgeable about it because you can get burned pretty easily, obviously.
Yeah. So. So no. And unfortunately, like, yes and no, right? So, like, I had no trade skills. So, like, my skills growing up is. Is sales. Okay? So I come out of high school and I go, what I get. What was my. Like, I mean, not my first job, but really it was sales. I. I worked for a school first when I was like, 15, scraping gum off of desks, you know, and then. But my. And then I worked for, like, Montgomery Wards and Sears, like. Like, just in, like. And from there, it's just like one sales position to another in different. Different industries. I sold concrete, decorative concrete in people's backyards. I worked for, you know, financial institution. Just all of it was sales. And I love the power of being control and just going out, working harder to make more money, and that's what's carried me. But the construction, like, no, I had no construction background whatsoever. It made it more scary initially, I would say. My first deal of my first flip was actually a condo, though, so. Didn't have to worry about the roof, right. AC was in good shape. I was like, okay, those are the big two things, right? I'm all. I'm staying inside the interior. And I. You know, so I. And. And I went more of the GC route.
Okay.
So sometimes people are like, hey, we're gonna. They're gonna be like, almost like the gc, right? And they're just gonna hire all the subs. And I was like, nope, I'm just gonna. I. Because I didn't have that background. So I hired a gc, and I was grateful I did from the by on the expansion side, because you. You have to either hire a GC at some point or you have to hire a project manager or something if you're going to scale right?
Yep.
Cool.
Yeah, that's. So literally anybody could do this with no skill.
That's. That's my. Yep, absolutely. Anyone with no skill. You. You. Once again, going back to what we had said at the beginning, right, you don't want to be the smartest person in the room. You need to surround yourself by heart. You know this. People that have the skill sets that you desire.
Right.
And then surround yourself with other people that have skill sets beyond what you might ever want to obtain.
Right.
And those can be very specific. Okay. Masonry, whatever those construction things are. If you never want to pick up a hammer, just make sure you get those experts on your team and they take care of that. You do need to learn a general scope, right. At some point. But I mean, dude, you can partner from the beginning to fill in all of those gaps.
That's a. That's a lesson I'm trying to learn right now as far as just releasing control, because I've been in a. I've been an operator pretty much my whole time in real estate, specifically since joining sub2, and even been on the TC side too. So I kind of learned. I. When I started sub 2, I learned everything there was to learn about everything. Paperwork and just. I kind of. I was like that engineer mindset. I kind of wanted to know it all before I jump in and start doing it. A lot of people kind of use that as a cop out. Like, they just. They. They're taking their time to learn, but then they never actually do the thing. Right. I actually went and did the thing, but first I started learning, and I was really thankful for that because it laid down the foundation of everything I know for creative finance. But now I'm to the point where it's like, can I really excel at the paperwork and the contracts and all that stuff? Yes, but it's very time consuming. And if I'm trying to scale, like, my personal goal this year is to buy a 15 million in real estate. It was 5 million. And I was talking to a friend of mine again, going back to surrounding yourself with the right people, and she was like, 5 million. Like, that's it. Like, it really needs to be like, 15. I was like, all right, let's go. It's 15 now. So that's. That's the goal I got. We got 1.1 million closing either at this point. It'll probably be first week of February, so that's a good start for the year. And then I got a bunch of. Bunch of deals in the works right now, a bunch of leads. So Some big ones, too. So I'm on. I'm definitely on track. And so now I'm focused on scaling. Been going through this whole.
What type of deals are those?
A lot of them are seller, finance, creative deals.
Okay. Like single family or like multi family?
Yeah, single family. There's been some. So this one, the 1.1 million, that one is a portfolio duplex one that I'm doing right now. And so I'm probably. Those are. Those are nice because you can acquire. It's five different properties. So you can acquire, you know, obviously, some. Yeah, some very quickly. One shot, right? Sub two, you know, looking at a lot of sub two stuff as well, whether that be, you know, low equity kind of stuff. And then there's another one I might get under contract in the next couple days. That's a sub 2 deal. So plenty of deals flying around, and I've never really gone this quickly at scale, but I feel like I'm ready. And I've been setting up systems, processes, hiring people, releasing control of property management, putting the right people in place. So.
Yep.
You know, just to your point, it's. If you don't have the skill set, or even if you do have the skill set and you want to scale, you really need to evaluate where you're spending your time. Is that the most effective use of your time? If it's not, you know, go hire someone for that role. So then you can go focus on sales or acquisitions or whatever, right? Yep.
Oh, dude, that. That was powerful, bro. Absolutely. That's powerful. Everyone needs to hear that, right? And it's because it's. It's a mix of learning and action. And yes, most people do stay in the learning phase for too long, right? You. So you have to kind of, you know, know yourself a little bit and be truthfully, you know, honest with yourself and be like, okay, now, yeah, take action. And now you can see you didn't just go slow to learn, right? And using as an excuse, because you're over here going, hey, I'm running now.
Right?
Like, you are a man of action, right? And I love. I love hearing that. That's why you, you know, I want to be on these type of podcasts, right? I want to be connecting with everyone. And you're going to be attracting a certain type of person that's going to be listening to this, right? And they're going to be trying. That's exactly why they're listening to this type of interview, because they want to surround themselves with these type of people and know what's possible. You had to be around people and know, can I really buy a portfolio?
Right.
1.1 million, right.
Like, yeah.
Now, you know, you're like, yes, I can.
Oh, yeah. I mean, I've. I'm sure you've had to overcome, you know, mindset issues at some point. I think everyone has, but for me, it's.
I'm.
I still have a mindset issue when I think about, like, taking the leap into larger multi family projects. Like, am I ready for it? Am. Am I capable of it? You know, and it's just. You just got to take action when the opportunity comes up and. And go for it and figure it out on the way there and hire some good people in the process and partner with people that have been there, done that, and can kind of hold your hand a little bit through that process. And then that's how you. That's how you get to the next level. Yep. And you're doing it.
So I love that. Congrats. I think that's phenomenal.
Appreciate that. So how have you scaled in what you've been doing? Because obviously you're to the point where you're doing a pretty decent amount of volume, right?
Yeah. So on the flip side, I was blessed to have gone, like, the GC route, right? So I'm like, okay, I was kind of. Now I will say pros and cons no matter what you do, because it was like, okay, GC route, okay? And to your point, right? Nothing ever goes smooth. So, like, we've had some big problems, right? Some. One huge thing that we had to go through is. And this happens, like, as you scale, right? Because it's. You start like, okay, let's go. More flips in my case. Okay, got it. Okay, got this gc. Add this house now. What do I add another GC now? Or do I give the same house to another to the same gc? And as that grows, you put different people in place. So we start doing that, and one of the things we did wrong was we gave too many houses to one gc, right? And so I had a general contractor that was with me for six years, right? And ended up stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars, tons of money, right? Because. And he timed it perfectly, right? He had money for different reasons. And then on top of that, he timed it where basically we had given him deposits because we had just. Because that's the thing with flips versus, like a hold is it's like when you buy a hold, it's like, oh, here's the big money moment when you buy it, and then, like, there's not really that same moment again, but when it's a flip, it's like, okay, there's tons of big money moments, right? And timed it good, right? We had just bought a bunch. It's like, okay, here's some new houses. Hey, we got to get these deposits down, because guess what? We got to buy a cabinets, right? All the. Because you're. When you. As you scale, there's efficiency that you need to come with it, right? And so you put your systems in place. I need to order this stuff early enough. I need to do this, right? You do not want to be waiting for things. So we put down big deposits on houses, and all of a sudden, you know, he wasn't answering the phone. The timeline slowed way down. Tons and tons of stuff. And turns out, all of a sudden, eventually, he's like, well, I mean, I'm. I'm out of money. What? What do you mean you're out of money? I gave you. What. What about my money? I don't care about your money right now. I. And so cost us even more because now I have to pay for things I already paid for. And. And to be honest, I even lost so much money because I had to change my focus to, boom. I now have to push through these projects when I should be finding more deals, when I.
Right.
So we went through a big issue, right? I think a lot of people. There's a lot of people that just be done quit at that point, right? And so you. I think. But I think sometimes you can measure, you know, success a little bit by when looking back and being like, oh, how many things that I push through, right? And how big of things that I push through. And when I look back and I go, okay, I learned massive lesson from that one. And then this. I learned this and this. I'm like, wow, I wouldn't be who I am today without those moments, without those situations, without those obstacles to overcome. And so I am honestly like, yes. Can I still get a little bit frustrated inside, a little bit angry, right? At the contractor? And I'm like, why? How in the world did you do that to me? But then I'm like, you know what? It pushed me to do this, right? And. And take the next step. So we scaled. We did it, and now it's, hey, we're going full steam on flips, right? We just got that new one right now on my calendar. I have things scheduled out, and I have, like, reaching out to wholesalers. Like, that's on my calendar.
Right.
Underwriting fix and flips. Right. It's like every day you have to keep doing those little things. Otherwise the fix and flips acquisitions, right. Will dry up. And, and then we also buy creative like you subject to seller financing.
Right.
So we, you know, this year I think we've got like 3 0% seller finance deals and we've gotten some other incredible deals. And I need to buy 10 to 20 more on these co living properties.
Right.
Rent by the room. So lots. Just grateful. Grateful, man.
Wow, man, that's. That's awesome. You mentioned the calendar thing. I kind of want to sidestep for a few minutes and then I want to come back to some of those challenges that you overcame. Okay, so tell me about. I got to know the Secret Sauce man. Tell me the Secret Sauce Owners Club. I know pasted a zoom about calendars. I want to hear all about the secret Sauce if you can, what you're willing to share and then just your experience overall as far as if is it worth it? What are your thoughts? Are you going to be in it next year? Tell me about all that.
Got it. Yeah. So yeah, Owners Club, just a separate kind of exclusive little group, right. You know, did cost more money. The filter, right? Like it, like at the end of the day, that's how I look at it is I'm like, hey, by. I've been in different groups and there's times when you go to a networking event and they're like, why is this networking event better than this one?
Right?
And it's like 99 of the time. It's quality of the people that are there, right. 99 of the time. And so what I love about one subject coming into sub 2 was there's a filter. And now it's not like, okay, I'm like, okay, cool. And then Owners Club was just another filter. So that's. To me, that was the number one benefit that I saw from day one. And I'm like, boom. I want to surround myself once again. We have a little bit of a theme here, you know, coincidentally of surrounding yourself with the right people. That's what I did. I learned that when I joined sub 2 and all the story. I already told you. So that's why I joined Owners Club now is it? Am I grateful for other things beyond. Yeah, I mean, we partnered. All of us as a group have partnered in ownership.
Right.
Of different companies. Because really the purpose of Owners Club is to become an owner.
Right.
Pace himself said it well.
Right.
It's a lot of people in real estate are Just very high income earners, but they're not owners. And running a full company.
Right.
And what. And multiple companies. So how do you get yourself from this. This high earner of doing everything or doing almost all of it to how do you get people in the right place? How do you bring an operator into. Into your business? How do you bring all these pieces in and then own these different companies and different revenue streams?
Right.
So super grateful for owners club. I will be in it. I have no plans on going anywhere. And. And then in regards to the calendar part, so part of it is we meet kind of regularly and we're. We are here to elevate ourselves. And. And so going through this process of becoming a better owner and connecting was, oh, I got to develop some of these skill sets. And one of the big skill sets that we focused on was calendar and how you run your day to day, your week, your month, et cetera. And it was. Here's the line, right? If you could look at someone's calendar, you could predict how much money they make.
Wow.
Okay.
Because it's. Oh, how. It wasn't that long ago, a couple years ago, when I was like, oh, I almost don't have anything on my calendar. I know what I'm doing.
Right.
But I didn't have a ton of stuff on there or I'd have, like, important things because I knew the rest.
Right.
And that was years ago. And then. But I had transformed and I was like, okay, I've gotten these things and everything, but there was still like. But that's white in there, right? And it's like, oh, all these gaps. And you would. It's, you know, it's not like you go and just waste your time, but it, but that also means you're not focused because that means that that amount of time is not defined on what you're supposed to be doing. So why in the world are you letting chaos and the world dictate how you spend your time? When you could choose how you want to spend your time based on the results that you want to achieve.
That's awesome.
Oh, dude, it was booms. And now I'm like, yep, every Sunday I plan out my whole week. And I'm like, yep, I fill it in. And so time blocking, but also, it's multiple things, but time blocking was huge. So you can be efficient, but then it's also filling in with that stuff and being able to learn. How do you. What's the right way to adjust? How do you say no to things? How.
Right.
So, like, there's so many pieces. And you know who else is really good at this would be Dan Martel teaches.
Right.
All of that type of stuff. So people, I think he just came out with a new book too. They should go read that book.
Right.
But it's, it's down that similar pathway.
Yeah. I saw the zoom he did with Pace a couple weeks ago and that got me started to work on my own calendar. As far as like the color coding system of like, you know, red, orange, green, and then associating dollar signs with it. And it really helps to evaluate where you're wasting your time. Right?
Yep.
That's definitely on my goal list for 20, 25. I want to make sure that I free up. One of my very specific goals is to free up 20 hours out of my week and remove some of the wasted things that I've been spending time on. Either one, eliminate it completely just by. Why am I spending my time on this? You know, measuring what I'm actually doing with my time. Get rid of it. Like junk emails. Get rid of it, all of it. Unsubscribe, unsubscribe, unsubscribe.
Dude, you're going to double. You're going to double your money. I'm not joking. You'll double your money probably just by doing your calendar.
Yeah. And so that's what I've been starting focused on. I hired someone to help me out with, you know, lead acquisitions, cleaning up my inbox, you know, all that kind of stuff, administrative stuff, property management. I'm in the process of looking to hire someone for that as well. And that's the goal. Free up 20 hours. So that way I can spend on business development, personal development, you know, additional growth opportunities. And I have five hours that I'm going to have five hours blocked specifically for managing all my goals for the year. Because every Sunday I want to sit down, like you said, plan my calendar. And I also want to measure my KPIs of all my goals, even my personal goal. It's like one of my personal goals is I want to teach my kids. I got two kids. I want to teach them one skill a month. So I even have in a spreadsheet, okay. This is the skill they're learning this month. Right. And just tracking all of them. So every Sunday, looking at all my KPIs, making sure I'm on track. Because essentially, you know, what's that old saying? What gets tracked gets managed. Right. So you got first gotta start by tracking it, then you can manage it and then that's how I'm gonna eventually accomplish those goals. And if I just say, hey, I'm gonna. I'm gonna work out this year, well, I didn't define anything, and I'm not reviewing it. And next thing you know, it's December, and I'm like, oh, I think I was supposed to work out.
Right.
Let me just do a workout real quick.
It's exactly what happens, and everyone listening knows it.
Yeah, right.
Like, that's just how it works. And that's. That's the power. And that's what I meant by, who are you letting take charge? Are you taking charge, or is chaos taking charge?
Right.
Still, it. Focus. Focus on what you want.
Yeah, that's. That's huge. I think the thing that resonated with me most and what you said was you can predict how much money they make, and money is just really more of a. Almost like a scoreboard of success. Right. To some extent. I mean, I know it's kind of a vanity metric, and everyone wants money because they. You got to feed their family, obviously, but it. It is a way to measure success. And by looking at your calendar, I didn't think about things like that. And, you know, I got a lot of white space in my calendar still, so I got some work to do improving that.
There you go. Absolutely. You know, the money you make, right. Is kind of evaluation of the value that you're bringing to the marketplace and to other people.
Right.
You will just naturally make more money because you're helping more people and doing more good. And. And that calendar, 100%. You go look at it. I don't care. Like, sure, there's outliers, right? Not. That doesn't mean every single person manages their time that way, but statistically, super high. You go look, and you're like, someone tells me, oh, I make this much money, you could say, let me show me your calendar. You look at their calendar, you'd be like. If you were gambling, you'd be like, nope, nope. You're. You don't really make that. Like, you're kind of trying to, you know, project what you're going to be making.
All right, well, next. Are you going to Squad up Summit? Right.
Oh, hands down, I'm going to squad up Summit. I got. I got. I did have some extra tickets, so I gave some tickets to some other people to get them there, and so I will be there for sure.
Awesome. Well, I will make it a point. When I see you in Squad Up Summit, I will show you my calendar.
Let's go.
Thank you.
Oh, yeah, dude, get that filled in. Show me your calendar. And are you bringing, you know, the, the family too?
No, I did that last year in Orlando and I didn't see my family while I was there.
Yeah, it was extra time. I brought the. I brought the kids and the wife and like, I didn't see them either, like during it, but. But we stayed like four extra days after and you know, then we went and did it. So just.
Yeah, we, we did. Yeah, we stayed an extra day or two last year. But no, they're gonna, they're gonna say here, nothing, nothing wrong against Dallas. But, you know, when we take vacations, we kind of want to be like on a beach, you know, so my wife was just like, Dallas, like, I don't, I don't know.
At the top of the list.
Yeah, I'm originally from Texas, so I'm pretty familiar with Dallas. Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
So less fun for you too, just from that standpoint, right? Like, yeah, and okay, so that makes sense. And yeah, I mean, we're gonna be going all over the place. Like I will say from one, from owner's club and sub and sub two with squat up some and all this. I didn't think joining all this stuff was going to be as much traveling as. As it is like we, you know, I'm like, okay, I still gotta fit in all the vacations that my wife wants and all that stuff, like around. So it's fun to manage it all.
Yeah, no, specifically on that. I mean, I have as far as deals that I'm doing this year. It is in my underwriting to allocate a budget to travel and meet other people and be around, you know, events like SWAT up and you know, go to Pace's house in Phoenix. Because I went there like I met you there, you know, a couple like last month or so. And I went. I think I went to Phoenix four times in like six weeks. So I'm just getting, I'm literally getting in the right room and getting a seat at the table. That's what I'm doing. And magic happens from doing that.
It does. That's where my, my latest partner. I told you we're going to be buying 10 to 20 co living deals, right? Just show up to networking events, showing up in person to things. And we're like, okay, start clicking and then boom. Now, now it's like, okay, cool. We've, you know, and if I could go back in time and tell myself, right, Because I did that, like I said, For 15 years, all by Myself, you know, I. And I worked hard and I did reach my own kind of success alone, right? But if I could go back and tell myself anything, it would have been, man, break out of your shell, go start networking, connect with people earlier. That's what I would say.
Awesome, man. Well, kind of maybe to. To recap things and end on a motivational note. Maybe tell me a little bit more. You mentioned about that GC kind of screwed you over. Was that the hardest thing you had to overcome or what are some of the other things you had to overcome on your journey to get where you're at today?
Yeah, I would say, I mean, that probably is the hardest thing overall. But I will say long, like, there's just certain things that once they cross a line, right? It's like, okay, this is hard. This is really hard. And like, certain things, it's like no matter how hard something is, if it crosses one of those, you know, especially the second line, it's like, okay, it just sucks, right? It's so hard. Maybe you're thinking about like, okay, why am I doing this? You're second guessing, you know, the moment you cross that line and you're like second guessing what you're doing, why you're doing it, is it worth it? All those type of things. I think those are the critical moments, right? Those are the critical moments that you have to be prepared for. They're not. It's not if it is win, right? Every single person is going to go through those moments and it is best to prepare for them, know that they're coming. And what are you going to do about it when you, how are you going to realize that it's there and that you're having those thoughts? And then what are you going to do to alter the course, right? What are you going to do? You know, and this applies to more than just real estate, etc, right? I mean, this could be, you know, happiness, you know, getting depressed about something. You know, it's like, oh, do you play music to trigger something? Do you, you know, what are the things you can do? And I'll say so. We've had multiple things. You know, we've had the contractor, we've had, we've. We've lost money on deals, right? On fix and flips, right? When the. Even when the economy shifted too, right? It's like, luckily, you know, you do enough that you got to make enough money, right? But not everything's going to go according to plan, right? And so sometimes. And some of those issues that I had early on that I. That were this level now today, like, oh, I mean, like, that's a little. That's not even an issue, right? Like, that's kind of like just what happens. I even remember Mundo. I even remember. I mean, the first time when I bought that first condo, I bought that thing for $50,000, okay? And that was a lot of money.
Okay?
That was a whole lot of money. And I had to. Now I was buying a property with it, though, right? So, like, you know, at the end of the day, it's. It shouldn't be that scary because I wasn't just spending this and unknown a little bit, right? It's like, that wasn't the construction costs. It was like, I'm buying a property. All the data is there to tell me that this condo is. Was worth like 80,000. And so it's like, yeah, you're pretty safe to buy this condo, you know, for 50, and I'm getting something in return. But, man, I remember I was so. I was scared to hit that send button on, you know, for the wire, you know, and now, you know, and then every time, like, that amount goes up higher and higher on the total that you have to send for something, right? You're breaking a new threshold. And so just remember, anyone starting off, it doesn't matter. Those feelings that you have are real to you in that moment, and it's okay. And it's normal to have those. But you will not have that same feeling as you keep repeating and crossing new thresholds and doing things over and over again. You will become a new version of yourself, and those feelings will go away for those specific things. And guess what? Open your arms up for the next time. You're going to feel it at the next level. So. But that's what makes it so fun and exciting. I had.
Dude, I had a moment like that today, to be honest, where I thought about, why am I doing this? So I had a property that I eventually had to evict. This tenant. They went. I went a total of five months of not getting paid rent. So you can imagine, you know, that's coming out of my pocket, right? I'm paying the mortgage at that point with no rent coming in. Then I spent. Between those five months, I spent like three, four weeks getting it cleaned up. They just trashed this place. I mean, sir. Like syrup smeared everywhere. I mean, it was. It was bad. And I finally get it filled, so it cost me about 7,500 bucks. I finally got it filled, contract signed. Let's see, is today Monday or Tuesday? Lose Track if I would have had my calendar, you know, I would be on top of what day it was, right? So on Sunday I get it signed and I'm like, let's go. I got my problem solved. Let's move on to the next one. Let's go buy some more deals. And then today a tenant text me and said that they're moving out on the 1st. They didn't give me 30 day notice. I'm like, well, let's pump the brakes. But first you got to give me 30 day notice, right? But it was just such a deflating feeling because I go five months with this problem, right? I finally fix it and then I got another problem. And then also the gutters, because it snowed a lot, they got ripped off the house and the soffits were damaged. And like it's going to be a pretty expensive job. So I'm going to have that, that I got to repair, plus it's going to be empty. And I was just sitting there like, man, what am I doing? You know, is, am I doing the right thing, right? Is this, this is just exhausting, right? I'm, I worked so hard to fill it and then now I, I'm finally stable and then I have this problem problem happen. And then five minutes later I proceed to searching. Hey, let me go find another property to buy, right?
And you know why? And you know why? Because someone listening right now, right? Someone listening right now. I was like, oh my gosh. Because that, that's the real world, especially when it comes to rentals, right? Because, and this is why. Like, yeah, cash flow. Cash flow, cash flow. But like in all reality, when things break, tenants move out that will eat up that cash flow that you made all year on that deal. So it's really. Yes, cash flow can be a bonus, it can be really nice. But you do not go, in my opinion, and just go buy, you know, for most properties, most single family homes, right. You're not, you should not just be buying that strictly for the cash flow, right? It should be okay. Nope, you're dealing with those issues. But what's the real value to you? And it's the appreciation on the house, the depreciation, right. On your taxes. And, and honestly, it's. You're growing that. And what you should be doing simultaneously is your active income, right? Whatever that is, you know, for different people, it's their W2 job, whatever. For me, I fix and flip to create that active income. It's. Yeah, you go make, go make high level money doing something and then do the rentals. And then you're, oh, my gosh, you're going down the perfect path because you're like, oh, and now I'm hiring people and putting them in the right place. That's how you solve that. Because you'll still have all the issues. You just don't have to personally deal with it. And you just know. You tell them. So some of this bad stuff's going to happen, and when the people move out, this is what you do. And get new people in. And you just tell me, I'm taking care of it, Mundo.
Yeah, yeah. It's not even really the, you know, for me at this point, you know, over the past couple months, it's not even really. Yeah, the financial part sucks as far as, like, okay, well, now I gotta service the debt myself. It's more of the time. It's like, I know what that the true value of my time is, goes way beyond the loss of rent. It's taken away time from, you know, getting more deals and growing and achieving all the goals. Because I'm having to remove myself from that, you know, case of the vision for the year and go solve a problem that I really shouldn't be spending my time on. And that's what I'm trying to remove myself out of right now. But that's the emotional drain for me at the moment. It's like, dude, now I got to go fill this property. I got to go do A, B, C, D, E. But guess what? I know how to do A, B, C, D, E. And I can teach someone that. And that's a skill set that I have that I can pass to someone else and bring on the team and being a better manager, too, because if you know how to do the actual thing, it's a lot easier to manage.
Yep, exactly. And set the right KPIs. And honestly, as you do this, though, the coolest part is, even though it can be, you get upset about the time, I always tell myself, just be grateful that your business has grown to that level that causes that problem and that after the next step of putting the right people in place. And honestly, it might not be the first one, Mundo. It might be the second, third, fourth person you put in place that actually, like, grabs a hold and does a great job. But you're gonna look back and be like, wow, I'm so grateful for those problems that caused me to go ahead and finally start the hiring process and to fill that, that now you have done that, and you'll see the blessings and the growth Come after that, it's gonna be phenomenal.
Yeah, I'm. I'm not even the same person I was a year ago and especially started doing content. Like, I would have been so pissed if I walked into a rental and saw it. Trash. The first thing I did is I took out my camera and I was like, dude, this is gold content right now. So I started filming. I wasn't even. I wasn't even mad. I was happy. I had a smile on my face and my friend was like, bro, what's wrong with you? This is trash. I'm like, dude, we're gonna get a great episode.
The story, right? The story it's creating. You're like, oh, my gosh. And it's just fun. It's just fun, right? I. I liken that to my. When I was telling you about going the friend to Disneyland in California.
Right?
Like, that's what I want. You're gonna have issues. Go work with people. Get to go to a house with a friend, you know, and do work business. And then you. And then you're filming and just having a good time, no matter what happens, good or bad.
Awesome. Amazing, man. Amazing. Well, hey, I really appreciate you coming on the show. How can people find you? I see your IG handle. Is that the best way to find you?
So, yeah, I would say find me on Instagram at the Kyle Cargus. My YouTube would just be at Kyle Kargis.
Right.
By the way, I was watching some of your, like, zero to Hero kind of stuff with your. One of your friends. It was awesome. I love that idea.
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, that one more on to Millionaire and so on that. It's because I've seen all these zero to Heroes, but it was always like the expert pretending to be the zero.
Yeah.
And I'm like. I'm like, okay, I get that. But once they jump on the phone, I'm like, well, of course they got the deal. They already knew. They already had the skills up in here, and they knew how to do it. And so it's been fun with him. You know, I've known him for a long time, but, like, yeah, he's. Recently I hired him to help with our YouTube. And so he started, like, YouTube Specialist. So it was like, oh, the titles, thumbnails, that type of stuff. And he. So he has to watch them to know how to do that stuff. He's like, dude, this. This real estate stuff's kind of cool, man. Like, yeah, I'm like. I'm like, yeah, yeah, it is kind of cool. You know, and that's when it clicked. And so thank you.
We.
Yeah, so that's cool. We do some interviews type stuff too. So, yeah, people should definitely go to the channel. We have a good time. I show the. I try to show as many before and afters with the flips and all that. So we have a good kind of variety to it. So thank you. I appreciate that. But those. Yeah. Follow that IG is probably the best way for DM to DM me and kind of start connecting that way.
Awesome. Awesome, man. Yeah, I'll put those links below for people to check you out. So thanks again for coming on the show. Always a pleasure. And again, I will be showing you my calendar here in a few months.
Let's go, Mundo.
See you, man.
Thanks for watching.
Subscribe for more.
The coolest part is, even though it can be, you get upset about the time, I always tell myself, just be grateful that your business has grown to that level that causes that problem and that after the next step of putting the right people in place. And honestly, it might not be the first one, Mundo. It might be the second, third, fourth person you put in place that actually, like, grabs a hold and does a great job. But you're gonna look back and be like, wow, I'm so grateful for those problems that caused me to go ahead and finally start the hiring process and to fill that. That now you have done that, and you'll see the blessings and the growth come after that. It's gonna be phenomenal.
Yeah. I'm not even the same person I was a year ago and especially started doing content. Like, I would have been so pissed if I walked into a rental and saw it. Trash. Like, the first thing I did is I took out my camera and I was like, dude, this is gold content right now. So I started filming. I wasn't even. I wasn't even mad. I was happy. I had a smile on my face and my friend was like, bro, what's wrong with you? This is trash. I'm like, dude, we're gonna get a great episode.
The story, right? The story it's creating. You're like, oh, my gosh. And it's just fun. It's just fun, right? I. I liken that to my. When I was telling you about going the friend to Disneyland in California, right? Like, that's what I want. You're gonna have issues. Go work with.
