Embrace The Relaxation—What Time Off Looks Like For The Land Geek Team

Hey, it's Mark Podolski, the land geek, with your favorite niche real estate website, www.thelandgeek.com. and on this week's roundtable, we've got the usual suspects. We've got the technician, Eric Peterson. Eric, how are you?

I'm doing well, thanks.

Fantastic, dude, buddy. Scott Bossman, the nightcap Meister, the O.G. how are you, Scott?

I'm great, Mark. Thanks for having us.

Good to see you. We've got the most feared woman in the country, the terrorist hunter, Mimi Schmidt. Mimi, how are you?

I'm great. Happy to be here.

Glad to have you. And then, of course, breathe in the mailing, breathe out the marketing. The Zen master himself, Mike Zaino. Mike, how are you?

I'm doing well. But did you call Scott Bossman the ouchie, The Uchi? What was the last.

The original land gangsta?

That's awesome. Like, what's the ookie?

Yeah, I mean, Tate's nodding his head. He's like, yeah, I knew exactly what he said.

And I approve of that nickname, too. That's a good nickname for him.

Oh, gee, appreciate that.

Yeah, but we can't skip the big papa. Tate Litchfield. How are you?

I'm hot, Mark.

I'm hot.

It doesn't matter how.

Yeah, it doesn't matter how cool. I have the thermometer set.

I'm hot, man.

Oh, by the way, guess who's not on the round table today.

The brains.

And, well, I don't know what Aaron Williams is doing, but Scott Todd is in Hawaii, which means if you're spending a full week in Hawaii, you've lost all complaining privileges. Like, I don't want to even hear if that guy's got, like, a painful, you know, sunburn. Sunburn, anything. Got food poisoning, whatever it is. Oh, I'm so sorry that you had to suffer through Oahu in the perfect weather in paradise. So, which leads us to our topic. But before we get to our topic, I just want to mention that today's podcast is sponsored by Flight School and Flight School Live. If you want to learn more, just go to Langeek.com training, the only training program in the country that will get you results in real time. Tate and Scott did it in literally three days. Sending out offers, getting offers back, getting a down payment in three days, and, of course, regular flight school. We're going to get those results. 16 weeks with Scott Todd, your land geek Sherpa, taking you up that mountain quickly, efficiently, and effectively. The next flights go live is going to be August 23rd through the 26th in beautiful Tampa, Florida. Learn more. Schedule a call with Mike or Scott. Thelandgeek.com training okay, let's get to our topic. It's summer eight and I, we're miserable. Okay? It's hot. We're definitely going to be hitting a beach. Eric, what's your weather like?

It's been warm, mid-80s or so. Nothing like out west by you guys, but, you know, summer's here, that's fall here.

Scott, Boston, how about you?

It is 70 and rainy today. It's been cool. It's been a very cool June so far, which I'm fine with because a month from now it'll be 100 humid. So we're good.

Mimi, how about you?

Beautiful. Like 76, 79 degrees today. Absolutely beautiful.

Tate, are you getting angry?

Yeah, yeah, it's, you know, I think I'm gonna disappear and go to the pool right now because I'm hot, man. It's like that time of the year where I just gotta get out of dodge.

I know I'm too hot to even go to the pool, like, go in our backyard. It's like, that's not even. Even providing enough relief.

I got in the pool Sunday. It was 91 degrees. In the pool.

In the pool.

That's a hot tub.

We still had the hot tub on because nobody wants to catch a cold, but 91 degrees? Yeah, it was pleasant, put it that way.

Even my cold showers aren't cold. Mike, what's your. What's your weather like?

Similar to me to mimi in the 70s. Beautiful. Still able to take a nice cold shower.

So as we go into summer, the dog days of summer, the. The question is, how do you enjoy your summer and your family? You know, we all have kids. I mean, Tate's got a little one, but eventually she'll be in school and then she won't be in summer. So how do you enjoy your summer vacation, your summer with your family, while simultaneously pushing hard land, investing. Eric Peterson, what do you do? So I knew you'd start with me.

We always take a couple week vacation, oftentimes in July, and head up north to Illinois and Wisconsin. My parents have a place up there. I grew up up that way, so. And my wife has some family up there as well, so we. We do a lot of visiting relatives and then spend some time on the lake at the cabin, you know, just relaxing. So. So that's oftentimes our kind of major summer event. And the rest of the time, you know, the kids are home from school. So we do try to do a little more kind of throughout the days, whether that's, you know, taking the kids to different activities or camps. But we also try to do some, some family things too, where we'll just, you know, go to a movie in the middle of the day or go do a baseball game or whatever it might be. Try to just take the opportunity to do some fun things as a family. But, you know, I mean, this business working from home allows us that opportunity to just take a break whenever that might come upon me. So.

All right, awesome.

Mark, can I just give a thumbs up for daytime movies?

Oh.

After you do that, you know, once you start attending daytime, you got it made. So Eric is doing all right. No loud kids or teenagers there to disrupt him. Love it, man, that's so good.

Yeah, yeah. But, you know, so the land business then completely on hold?

No. So with the proper team in place, the land business can still run, you know, when I'm. When I'm away for a longer period of time, a couple weeks, the land business can still run on its own. I've got an acquisition manager, a sales assistant, and they kind of carry a.

Bulk of the work.

And I might have to still check in from time to time and maybe follow up on sales or different things. But for the most part, my time in the business, especially when I'm away, is pretty minimal.

Wow. Okay. How about you, Scott Bosman?

Well, I mentioned this last week too. I'm really looking forward to this summer. It's my first summer home and looking at the calendar, it's going to be pretty, it's going to be pretty nice because the boys all have things to do in the morning. So they have weightlifting or football or strength and agility class or music or whatever. Those things are all pretty much in the morning. So I'm going to be able to get whatever work I need to get done in the mornings. And then, you know, the beauty of this business is I'm going to be able to spend time with them, more time with them than I ever have in a summer. And I'm already looking forward to it. I got, I got a golf outing scheduled with my 14 year old this Friday with my new golf clubs. I haven't golf. You know, I used to golf a lot growing up and this is, this, this business now has made it possible for me to start reconnecting with my boys and start doing things more that maybe I haven't had time to do. So really looking forward to it. As far as the business goes, it's just, you know, Like Eric said, it's a great business because you can focus, get a couple, couple hours of work done and maybe not have to work hard the rest of the day because you've really gotten some drastic things done.

Fantastic. Fantastic. Mimi, how about you?

I remember three years ago I started, I went to April boot camp and then I started coaching in June and I literally packed up my printer and my folding machine in a suitcase and checked it to go to our vacation in Florida. I remember we left there to go to the Walmart to get myself the computer. What was it called? And on the tv, this big huge TV in the house we had rented trying to post ads on Craigslist. Truly with that, with. What was it called? What's it called?

Lenovo Stick.

Idea stick. Yes. For posting domination. Yeah, that's where I was three years ago on my vacation. So this morning I overslept. I Woke up at 8:10 and Dave took Natalie to school and it was okay that I had overslept. You walked in with some bedrooms. It was very nice. I took my son to get haircut. A haircut and look for John. And then we're going on vacation in a week and a half and my new sales associate, it'll be her first time doing it herself. So she did one by herself this. Yes, last night. So I think she's got it. So. And that was the last kind of piece of the puzzle that I was still doing myself. I'm pretty excited.

Wow. Wow. The Zen master. What about you?

This is a great topic, Mark. I think that you know what becomes important and it's year round but it can be really highlighted in the summer is just to build some sort of scheduling like. So for me, for us the morning is about getting up, going to work out, getting some breakfast, getting some things done and just then come into the afternoon, meet with the team, get together and talk about, you know, different projects we're working on and just really segment it. Right. So I mean I'm kind of of the belief now where even though we should, we can do this business at the beach, we can do this business anywhere. Doesn't mean we absolutely should. Right. I think that you should build in those times because that could rob the benefit of that enjoyment. Right. So yeah, you're at the beach but you're not really in your head's in the computer. Why not just have that segmented time at home, have it done, get it out of the way. I think that's important. I think that you know, you schedule the day in a way there's things I want to do every day. I want to. I want to have some family time. I want to work out. I want to. I do a new thing. Mark, which is my audible. Just like this is. This plays into the business, the audible. Just because you can listen to it while you're driving the car doesn't necessarily mean that's the best way. So it's like Zen audible listening. I go down in my basement, I'll put it on. I want to do an hour a day. I want to. I want to sit there and like a meditation, like, type pose and listen to the book in full with my eyes kind of maybe, you know, half shut and just like, really take in what the person's saying. And like that. That's like, pretty cool, right? So I break apart certain segments of my day for certain things so I can. At the end of the day, you want to feel like you've accomplished something. A lot of times that really comes down just to your mental outlook, right? It's really how you feel and from what you've done. And so you want to end on. The way to end a day well is to have filled all these things that are important to you, right. And make room for them in the daily activity. So the business fits in in a way that if you have automation, delegation, you have team members, you. You have that scheduled time where you. You meet with them and you set them on their way and then that's it, you know, let them do their thing. That's the hardest part, I guess, at some point is doing nothing.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's. It's a thing that you gotta. You. You actually have to, you know, sort of embrace in a way, is that relaxation and being okay with it. For a lot of people, they don't think it's okay. Tate, how about you?

Yeah, summer's a fun time around here. We try to do a nice family vacation, kind of like Eric and everyone else on the call. And I think the days leading up to those vacation, it's a little bit chaotic just because I'm trying to get everything prepared. And I really want to spend that time with my family. And I don't know if everybody listening here got your. The email you sent out for your birthday where you talked about the lessons that you've learned. Right. And one of the things that stood out to me was you made note of truly enjoying family time and not overdoing it with other things when you were supposed to be with your family. And so we kind of have a very Similar approach to that. When I'm on vacation, nobody minds if I wake up an hour or so early and I run downstairs to the and have breakfast or get ready and answer a few emails. But come, you know, 8:39 in the morning, it's family time. So I love going on these type of vacations because it's a great opportunity to stress test your business. Something's going to break, nothing's going to go according to plan, but that's kind of how life is, right? And that's the beauty of running your own business or being an entrepreneur or a CEO of a land business is you get to learn from these opportunities. And hopefully while you're gone, the entire business won't crumble, but you will see what cracks you can improve on and fill in those foundations a little bit, a little bit better. So I'm with Mike. Just because I can work on the beach, I'm not doing it. I got a, I'm going to be out in the sun enjoying it with the family or with a, with a fly rod in my hand running around.

So, yeah, you know, it's too bad for my children that I didn't know you guys earlier because when my kids were younger, I was, you know, they were babies when I started the land investing business. So I had all this free time, but I didn't feel like it was okay to be where I was. So I would be at the park with my children on the phone doing deals. And you know, I was like that dad, you know, pushing the, on the, on the swing, you know, half present, talking on the phone, closing deal. You know, my, my son would look at me and say, dad, what are you doing? I'm saying, trying to, you know, buy you clothes. Like, you know, like he didn't care. He's like, get off the phone. Like, let's play. I'm like, no, you're gonna have crooked teeth one day and this deal is gonna get you your orthodontics, right? So it was always this constant struggle before I was able to really, you know, create the systems, create the automation, delegate and really treat it like a business instead of this constant sort of job running in the background. Even though it looked like I was home around, I really wasn't. And it's, it's one of the, like, you know, the most shameful things I can, I can think of in my past was, you know, squandering that precious time because now, you know, I've lost it. Like that time. I'll never get that time again. I'LL never get that moment again. To be in that sort of idyllic situation where my children want to be with me. They wanted me at the park. Like. Like, you know, I was it, and I wasn't there because I thought I had to be working all the time. So good on all of you for being able to enjoy your summer vacations and not, you know, having that struggle and setting things up in place so that you can do it. It's really amazing how this business has evolved in that way where before it was like, you know, flip some land, be a solopreneur, but not really.

Mark.

That's the thing. Like, it's never been a better time to run a land business. Think about it. When you started, LGPass didn't exist. That was. That wasn't even a pipe dream. Remember, I've seen your old Excel sheets. I don't know how you got anything done with those. I mean, you're not the most organized guy to begin with. And then you introduce, like, 60 Excel programs that you had developed for you. Who knows how much you spent on those? And nowadays, you just put it all in one thing. You hit create deed and you have a deed like, two seconds later. I mean, truthfully, it's never been a better time. And the reason we're all able to actually enjoy our families during family vacations, because we have automation. We have a team, we have VA's. It's. I mean, it's gorgeous, right? I was out of town this weekend and I got a message, and it's like, oh, great. We bought something and we sold something. It's like, that's what you want to see. And it's like, who bought this? Where'd this money come from? What's going on here? It's the greatest feeling. But it wasn't always this way. So if anybody's on the fence about it, better talk to Zaino or Bossman.

Yeah, you know, I'm taking all of August off and moving my son into college at Indiana University, my alma mater. So proud. And just to be able to do that, to clear up that calendar is an amazing feeling. Now, that being said, we're having boot camp in July in Vegas. So if you haven't built your systems, you haven't built your automation, you don't have your team, you don't have a lot of land inventory. Well, incorporate boot camp into your summer plans. Just go to landgeek.combootcamp and that way your next summer will be way more enjoyable than your current summer. What do you guys think of that? Pretty good. Yeah. All right, so we're at that point now in the podcast where we get to pick on Mimi and ask her for her tip of the week. A website, a resource, a book, something actionable where the art of passive income listeners can go improve their businesses, improve their lives. What have you got? Oh, Mimi on mute.

I have an article about the nine biggest reasons why ads on Facebook are rejected. So I get a lot of questions from people hitting me up on Facebook, messenger, boot camps, and coaching about why their ads are getting flagged. And the more Facebook launch, the harder it gets. Right? So look at this. When you get a chance, read through it. The number one reason is because of text on your pictures. I'm not sure a lot of people realize that. And then there's a list of things not to mention. So above and beyond hunting and guns, there are a lot of other things that. Cash loan services, penny auctions, tobacco, tobacco products. I had no idea. So I learned a lot from this article myself.

Wow. Well, Eric, sorry to disappoint you. You can't be selling any of those tobacco products on Facebook anymore.

I know it.

You know, who knew? You're going to get a legit side hustle now.

Bad grammar usage. So it's trying to find ways that it can tell when people are not truly an individual. Trying to sell something.

Right, that's it. That's a great tip. That's a great tip. I want to know from Mike, what. What book are you listening to now? In the basement in. In your Zen master form?

Maps of Meaning by Jordan Peterson. So I loved his 12 Rules for Life. His Maps for Meaning is an older book, but chapter two is 12 hours long, so get 12 good sessions there.

Holy cow. I thought the 12 rules was a meaty book. I can't imagine maps.

This is.

I don't even know how his brain thinks this guy's crazy smart. It's unbelievable.

Wow. Wow, Tate, you got a good summer book.

I ordered something. I don't know where it is. I'm still. I'm not on the audible thing yet, guys. I'm, like, one of the only guys that still likes to have a physical book in front of me. I know Eric gave me a look that would kill, but there's something about, like, sitting down and, like, turning a page that I really, really like. I don't know. So. And July will be busy because that's Tour de France month, so no reading will be done then.

And hopefully, you know, no doping either.

That's doubtful. Mark, Very doubtful. Yeah, but no, it'll be. I got something. I don't know where it is. That's what we need to do, Mark, is next week when we come. Everybody needs to come with their summer reading list. Yeah, mine might be. Just watch the tour, but, you know, doesn't mean it's gonna make you a better person. But it's our summer reading list.

That's a good idea.

All right, so next week we'll talk about our summer reading list. All right, cool, cool. All right, well, I want to thank all the listeners. Just another reminder, you know, go to thelandgeek.com training schedule, a call if you haven't looked over Tate's shoulder yet. Go tolandgeek.com Lots, lots. And look over Tate's shoulder. See how he works. And then if you're getting value out of the roundtable podcasts, send it to a friend, email to a friend, share it on the interwebs, and then, of course, do us three little favors. You got to subscribe, you got a rate, you got to review the podcast. Send us a screenshot of that review to supportlandgeek.com we're going to send you for free the $97 passive income launch kit. Mike and Scott, are we good?

Great, Mark. We're doing well.

All right, awesome.

We could actually, if you wouldn't mind, Mark, we could. We could plug our event next week.

Yeah, next week.

Because. Because this will be. This will be published a couple days before June 20th. So on June 20th, Mike and I are having a virtual event on the Zoom platform. And basically it's for beginning land investors, for people who may not be altogether familiar with what we do. And we are speaking to them about land investing. We'll have a nice PowerPoint presentation about land geek programs as well. And then at the end of that virtual call, I think we're doing something that I don't know if we've ever done before, Mark, and we're actually giving away a toolkit to someone in the room. So that's going to be pretty exciting to see the turnout for that. So if you're new to this, if you've been listening to Mark for a long time, like many of us did, and you want more information and you want a chance to, you know, take a massive step forward with getting your hands on a toolkit, join us Thursday night, June 20, at 7pm Pacific.

That's awesome. That's awesome.

It's gonna be fun.

Yeah. Awesome. Eric Peterson, are we good? We're good, Mimi. We're Good?

Yep. Great. Great, Papa.

Yeah, we're good. Let's do it.

All right. One, two, three. Let. Let Freedom.

That's good.

That's pretty good. All right. Good. That's good.

Yeah.

All right. So. So what's everybody's afternoon plans?

Mine's got some froyo on the agenda.

Oh, yeah. It's just. It's, like, so hot here now that even just, like, five minutes outside, I'm just. I'm just drained.

Yeah. I was walking, I don't know, to Target yesterday. I was in my sandals, and I stepped on, like, some of the road where they sealed the cracks, and, like, the back of my flip flop, like, kind of sunk into the sealant. It was kind of putty and gross and nasty, but it's hot. Like, it's not a good time to be in Vegas, you know? It is what it is.

Yeah. Yeah. Scott, how about you?

We actually rented a dumpster, so we are. We are emptying out the house of crap we do not need, which I'm pretty excited about. We have an old trampoline sitting in the backyard that needs to be buried. So there are a bunch of things I'm gonna go out right now. The dumpster just arrived. I'm gonna go out and start throwing. Throwing stuff in there. It's a very liberating feeling. Throwing crap away you don't need.

I love that. I love that Marie Kondo book, the Joy of Tidying Up.

Yeah, I haven't read that yet, but I need to check it out.

Well, Warren Aaron, before you do, because after I read it, my wardrobe went from, like, you know, went down, like, 75%. My wife's like, you've no clothes. I'm like, they don't spark joy. She's like, well, I'm sick of you wearing the same thing over and over again. But I'm happy, but I'm happier. So. Yeah. Mimi, what do you got going on?

I am diversifying my land business, which is my intention. Has been my intention for a while. So my husband and I are doing some due diligence. We have a field trip planned for Friday, so I'm pretty excited.

Nice.

Very nice things for us to look forward to.

Excellent Zen master.

I've got a couple of meetings, and then I'm gonna have my coffee, then my Maps of Meaning session, and maybe a little workout. And then later on tonight, can we watch binging Game of Thrones with my new whiskey, which is Conor McGregor's preferred proper.

Really good.

And so it's a pretty booked up day.

Nice. Very nice. Eric, how about you? Nothing much.

I've got a. I've got a coaching call later. I've got some training with some new VA's to do and few deeds to make sure get recorded from some wholesale sales I recently made. It's about it. Nothing. Nothing too crazy.

Nice. Nice. Well, I'm just gonna live vicariously through Scott Todd today. Just, you know, find my inner beach somewhere. Get some work done, spend some time with the kids.

That's a good book title, Mark. Find your inner beach.

All right. I'm just gonna buy the domain right now.

You should do it quickly. Wait a minute.

Very quick. Yeah, we still gotta write our sequel to Dirt Rich, by the way.

The.

One where everybody contributes.

It's like a tool of titans for land investing.

That'd be awesome. Let's just do it.

We gotta do it.

Let's just do it. We'll bring a rough draft to boot camp. Bring a rough draft. Your chapter to boot camp.

There it is.

Perfect. There was my summer.

There you go.

Just the outline of your chapter.

I'll bring an outline, but I want Bossman to bring at least 5,000 words.

Yeah, that'll be my summer reading for next week's my rough rack.

Nice. Nice. All right, well, I want to thank you guys and everybody we're seeing next week. I don't know about, like, you know, summer schedules are getting crazy, but. All right. Yeah, we'll see every next week. We got elite coming up, too. Phenomenal. All right, thanks, everybody.