Failure Files: 5 Deals That Almost Sank Us (And the Checklists They Created)

Mm. I once dined on steak with a candle's soft glow, but the bill left my savings despairingly low. Now wisdom has taught me, so simple, so grand, Eat baloney, buy land!

Oh!

Eat baloney, buy land! Trade the fork for the deed in your hand. Skip the filling, let the sandwiches stand. Your fortune will grow when you buy your own land!

Hey everybody, welcome to Land Geek Nightcap.

Cheers!

Cheers!

Let me ask y'all something, you million viewers. What if the difference between working another 5 years or retiring in 2 years came down to just one decision? Tonight we're going to talk to somebody who's not waiting around to find that out. Our guest, Don the Land Thrasher has spent the last 11 years as a respiratory therapist. His wife is in the same field. And instead of accepting the timeline they were on, he decided to change something about it. So he's building a land business to create more time, more income, and more freedom for his family. So tonight, lands— tonight we're doing a Land Geek Spotlight on Don the Land Thrasher. Don, good to see you.

Cheers, guys.

Where did Mike go?

I don't know where Mike went. And as always, uh, I have my, my land brothers from another mother all here with me. My name is Scott Bossman. I'm the Dude Buddy. And, uh, with me we have John And some Rob. Is it enough? It is enough, Burnett.

Cheers.

How are you, John?

I'm great. I'm drinking a very weird drink that's got a lot of ginger in it, so it'll be great.

It'll be great. Be interesting to see what happens. Yeah, uh, very good, John. Good to see you. We have— here he is. Coming to the stage sideways, Mike, the Zen Master Zeno.

Mike, sorry about the tech issues this evening. I'm doing great. I'm happy to be here. Don, nice to see you, brother.

Hey Mike, how are you?

I'm doing great. Miss those hugs.

Yeah, absolutely.

We'll bring it in, uh, in the, in the top middle of the Brady Bunch, uh square here, we have none other than the Godfather himself.

Anybody hear him?

I don't hear him.

I'm here.

The reason we're all here, Mark J. Podolsky.

Cheers, Don Thrasher. The Land Thrasher. So happy, uh, you're here.

Me too, brother.

Yeah, and he, uh, he rounds out the lower right here, Don. Down the Land Thrasher. Don, good to see you. Thank you so much for coming tonight. What I love in this community are the stories, and, uh, it's nice to get some, some new folks on here to, to tell, tell us about their journey. So Don, can you just kind of kick it all off for us and, and let us know a little bit about, uh, who you are, um, what you do, and, and why you maybe started looking at land investing. That'd be awesome.

All right, all right. Thanks, Scott. Yeah, my name is Don Thrasher. I grew up in Florida, was a field artillery officer, went through Desert Shield, Desert Storm, got shot at a few times. And this is about the 7th career choice that I've made to try to figure out what I wanna do when I grow up. I've been a respiratory therapist now for the last 11 years, and with that going, especially going through COVID, um, respiratory and COVID didn't quite mesh so well. So faced a little healthcare burnout, and what I'm doing now is trying to get into a position where I can move out a little bit ahead of the traditional retirement and take control, grab some freedom, enjoy what's— maybe I've topped the hill, maybe the hill is still climbing, I don't know. But to be able to enjoy the years that are coming and be able to really enjoy freedom, to not be a slave to the taskmaster that is a regular job. So that's, that's a little bit about it.

Well, thank you for that. You know, and let's, you know, I think this is, those are all some pretty powerful, I mean, it's powerful background and a lot of powerful statements within that. But have you thought a little bit down about, you know, the retirement time horizon and, you know, what would it look like for you normally?

And, you know, well, I mean, what, what, uh, I'm hearing from, uh, Social Security is that my typical retirement age would be at 67. So that would be 7 years from now. Uh, I'm 60. Uh, I know I look just a couple days over 29, but That was my goal. I'm sure it was, John. The, you know, I don't, I didn't want to get to 67, sit down in a chair and die. I believe in staying active. I love to fish. I love to play golf. I love to travel and I would love to have life at the end of work to be able to do those things. And so the whys are kind of self-encapsulated. Um, plus I believe in giving back. Uh, right now, uh, I'm sponsoring, uh, a young lady. She's, uh, 6 years old in Honduras, uh, based off of some of the revenues that I've gotten through the land business that she wouldn't have a life like, some of the other kids. Um, so it's an opportunity to give back. Uh, so that's, that's a lot of it as well.

That's awesome.

That's great. And thank you for your service.

Oh, thank you, sir.

Well, that's all, that's all amazing, Don. And I guess, you know, what What got you looking at land investing in the first place? Were you looking at anything else?

Well, I wanted to have my own business for a long time. I did have a landscaping business for 8 years and it just about killed me. And so, I was looking for something that was a little less taxing on a 60-year-old body. I read this book by this guy named Mark J. Podolsky and book 1 led to book 2 very quickly and I reread both of them. And that is when I started digging into what this was really about. I answered a, uh, something that said, hey, are you interested in looking at this a little bit further? And I talked to this guy named John Burnett, and he would get on the phone with me every week for 10-15 minutes and just ask me where I was going, what I was doing, and really helped guide me through the initial phases of of where I am now. I've been doing this— I, I checkmarked today is day 300 of logging into the Mighty Network, uh, 300 consecutive days. Um, and for those who are not touching the community, get involved. Uh, the bet— one of the best things that you can do is get involved in the community. There's a lot of awesome people in the community. And part of my mission is I make it a daily task just to log into Mighty Networks, see if there's anything new, go back, take a look at a lesson, look at, you know, what might have been in a coaching call or something like that. And it's staying involved kind of helps you through, as Mark J. Podolsky would say, embracing the suck. Because, you know, there, there are times. But if you can stay connected, the length of that suck time is a lot less, and it's a lot more palatable, especially when you know you've got others who have gone through the same thing. Cheers to that.

Cheers.

Cheers.

300.

300 consecutive days too. Never broke the chain.

Never have.

That's awesome. So, so like with the embrace the suck, can you elaborate on that? Like what are some, what were some moments where the, where, where it had to be embraced?

Well, I mean, there, there, it goes in waves. Um, there's a lot of good And then there might be a short time of where you experience a little slowdown, a little, I don't know where I go next. And part of the community aspect that I was talking about is when you can rely on either your flight school cohort or your Dirt Rich Starter Kit cohort or the coaches and be able to, uh-oh, my light just turned off— be able to rest your, um, what's going on in your world with some things that maybe some other people have experienced. And that's what, uh, I think that has been a very positive thing about the community. Um, some of the things that you run into is You know, as you're going through flight school, where you're satiating your thirst with a fire hose and it's coming at you 1,000 miles an hour. So getting your arms around that and figuring out, okay, it's not as difficult as maybe what you made it out to be in your head. It's sending out the— it's following the roadmap, following the recipe. Day in, day out. I was a little slower member of the class. John, you said that, you know, I think when we were initially talking, you were talking, you were working in the business maybe about 10, 10 hours a week. I didn't, I haven't experienced that yet. And I think part of that is I just want to speed up the process. And maybe some of what I've gone through in trying to speed up the process has slowed the process down. I think at some point there's just needing to be happy right where I'm at. I'm here for a reason. And so determining What that reason is, it all always reverts back to the why. But some of the things that I face is, you know, how to do due diligence, getting in with the county websites. Each state, each county is a little bit different, and trying to figure out those nuances, you know, getting a VA on board, uh, how do you progress while building the business? How do you progress while trying to scale the business? What happens if a VA leaves? Bringing that back around full circle where you're taking it back over or you've got another one waiting in the wings. Those are some of the things that I've faced along the way that I don't know, it just builds character. In the last couple of weeks, I've had to take a little pause, get my arms back around some things. It's nothing that is insurmountable. It is just thinking through what needs to happen. And even during that time where I felt kind of sidelined, I made 3 sales. And yeah, I don't know, it's hard to argue with that. There's a guy on a commercial on XM Radio, he calls himself Dutch Masters. Perhaps you've heard the commercial, I don't know. But He says, stop talking to people who don't make you money. And that just hit me today for some reason, you know, because of this program, because of The Recipe, because of Mark's book, because of what Land Geek is about. I want to talk to the people that are making me money. So I'm happy to be here with you guys.

Yeah.

That's literally why I only talk to Mike Zeno.

You know what's interesting about what you said there, Don? You were saying that you tried to go— try to go fast, sometimes you go slow. And Mark, we, you know, I think we were talking about this collectively a while back about slowing down to go faster, right? So it's kind of the inverse. It really does make sense, like that, you know, sometimes you— that rush to the end, you can miss some fundamentals. But if you slow down and get a little bit smoother at your processes, then the results come better. So you really— it's kind of interesting to hear you say that because you said it from the opposite side that we would typically talk about it.

Well, you're a martial artist, Mike. You know that slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

I concur.

Oh, I know the rules.

Yeah, there's no shortcuts. And sometimes I think, you know, to the point you are making, Don, you know, you can have some days that get frustrating, but that's when you recalibrate and you come back to the fundamentals and you dig deep. And that's where the community can help. The fact— I love the fact that you log into the Mighty Networks every day. I think that you are now like the poster boy for consistency.

I don't want to be the poster boy for anything.

We tell people, it's, you know, this whole process, it's simple, but it's not easy. There's so many things in life that's not easy, you know, staying the course is really what's difficult. And when you have a community, it can ground you, it can bring you back, and if you have a structure that can bring you back. So, I really am impressed with that, um, you know, logging in to the Mighty Networks. And I think people listening should take note of that. That's really, um, that's really good. That's really, really good.

Well, on days where, where I've been down, sometimes going back and listening to an old podcast or listening to a, uh, after— I don't even know The one-on-one coaching calls with Tate in the afternoon, or, you know, just going back and watching a video from flight school. It re-centers and re-grounds where I've been and said, oh yeah, I'm not that far away. I'm not that far away at all. And being able to find the path back.

Yeah, and you're not— it's not, you know, you're going back with a new set of eyes, with a new set of experiences that you've gone through. So you're seeing it from a different lens, and then it's making sense in a different light. So I think that's very powerful.

Absolutely, absolutely, I concur. Oh man, I slipped it in there.

By the way, please, uh, put in the chat, a, uh, a happy birthday to John Avison of Burnett.

His birthday. How do I not know this?

I know, it's my belated birthday.

He had a great picture of himself with his kids and the donuts and celebrating. And so for me, Don, like, that actually sort of re-centers me.. And in my why, to see and live vicariously through John as he's growing his family and what—

Absolutely.

—being able to give him as far as solving not just his money problems but his time problems so he can fulfill his greatest why. So I think—

Absolutely.

—we can all find these little things to recenter us, reground us.

It's great. So John, just out of curiosity, how many kids have you had under the Land Geek umbrella? Hello. So I—

my, uh, second— so my daughter, who's my second oldest, was 2 weeks old when we started flight school.

That is awesome. Yeah.

Or wait, no, 3 weeks old. 3 weeks old. I correct myself. Incredible. Yeah, I know. So it's crazy. So none of my kids remember any life outside of me being land investor.

That is awesome. So it's crazy.

Yeah, yeah, to have that freedom is something we all strive for, right? And, um, Don, I love your story and your why. And, and, uh, you know, curious to ask you, uh, if you were going to talk to somebody who's just watching this for the first time or just learning about land investing and they're kind of on the on the cusp of making a decision whether or not they wanna do this. You know, what almost a year ago now made you decide and maybe what recommendations would you have for people who are now where you were, I guess? Great question.

I mean, in my world, I started with the Dirt Rich Starter Kit because it was affordable. And it did not take long being in the Dirt Rich Starter Kit that I had to call John one day and I said, I need 15 minutes. And he said, well, we'll whittle out time. And he did. And we got on the phone and I said, look, I have to go through flight school because what I'm getting in DRSK is just— it's tantalizing. Tantalizing is the best word I can put on it. So I said, I figured out that I can take out a Chase 0% for 15 months card. And if, if Mark's guarantee holds true and I will make my flight school money back, this is what I need to do. I very well made back my money. So, you know, Mark, thank you. You were right, I didn't have to opt for the guarantee. It was the first, I think it was the first week I was in flight school or maybe the second, a property I'd bought when I was in the Dirt Rich Starter Kit, I sold. It had been on the market for 26 days when I sold it. So, you know, the system works, the recipe works. Bake the cake, get in there, do what you got to do to get the training, to get the education, because it's going to take you to where you want to go.

I love it. I love that you bet on yourself. A lot of people would be wracked with fear in doing that and having that sort of time limit. But the fact that you, you know, bet on yourself, you had faith in, in the program. And of course, you know, we do have a skin in the game guarantee, right? You do the thing, we guarantee it's going to work. I mean, look at us. If, if we can do this business, we know you can do it.

Nice. I tell people that's the magic of this show, is like, they look at us, these guys can do it, man. Excuse me. Magic of the show here, man. What was that? That's the whole magic of the show. They're like, if these guys can do it, yeah, exactly, I'm gonna shoot it for success.

Yeah, but, uh, I mean, Don, do you, do you have a favorite deal?

Yeah, the last one. Or the next one. Um, I think, um, let's see. Um, I think, well, the first one was magical because it, it just happened. But I had been— I had 3 contiguous properties in Luna, New Mexico, and having 3 together was really a blessing. And so I was working the marketing angle. I was, I was going through the buckets. I was doing this, and I had this guy, uh, shoot me a, a text off of one of my marketing angles. He said, look, I want, I want to buy all three of them. I was like, okay. Uh, I said, what do you want to do with them? He says, well, I've got a process where we're taking ground-up tires and mixing it with concrete, doing precast concrete walls and putting up houses that are better insulated, and the desert squares are the best place to do that. And I was, I was kind of blown away by, uh, the vision that he had with that. Um, and then, you know, being able to transition, um, it wasn't like he tried to come off of my price. He paid the price that I wanted. And, you know, that was, uh, what was that, September? Uh, I'd gotten started in July, and so September, it, uh, I, I sold 3 together, and I was, I was like, wow, this really works. Um, the other deal that it was, it was on the first property that, that I'd purchased and listed, I was sitting on the beach in Fort Lauderdale with my wife and somebody inquired about that particular property. And I kind of nudged her and I said, "Hey, somebody just inquired about the property that I've got listed in Mojave." And I said, "I'm gonna answer them right here on the beach. And then I'm gonna take a picture from right here." And I took that picture and I put it on my, on my profile and I said, it's amazing proof of concept. It works. And I said, just answered an inquiry from right here. Did a picture of the beach. Tate emails or texts me back and he says, wait till you close it from that same place. I'm like, oh yeah. I can see that working. So, um, the deal where I packaged 3 of them together was a great deal, but just answering the ad while on the beach in Fort Lauderdale was pretty amazing, kind of surreal.

Those have been like some of the most meaningful, um, moments for me in the land business. Are like when I'm hanging out with my kids and then I get a ding on my phone and something just sold, you know. Like, you know, like the other day, like, we had— I was driving my kids to school, I get a little ding and something sold, and I'm like, praise God, we sold a property!

Well, last, last week I had to shoot a picture to, uh, Scott Elliott. Scott, if you're out there, hey, um, But I went to— I, I did the old-fashioned route. I haven't done the electronic mailbox, virtual mailbox, whatever. So I got a, um, you know, the one, the PO boxes, the— what do you call those daggum things at the post office? Um, anyway, I got one of those and I went in and here's this, uh, FedEx or, uh, uh Priority Mail. So I open it up and it was a check. I'm like, that's what Mark was talking about, mailbox money. And it was, it was kind of, kind of cool. So I had to snap a picture and send it to Scott Elliott. Scott, hey, I see you out there. I thought it was going to be more crowded in here.

It's really not as crowded as I thought, but the square has worked out.

Yeah, I was really hoping that Don would be right in the middle with all of us on the corners.

Then it would really look like the Brady Bunch. I'm looking all around.

Either that or just Don in the background and all of us—

well, I love being here. I really do. Amongst friends. Cheers!

I can hear— Yeah, and speaking of amongst friends, Don, talk a little bit about the community and what you've experienced here at Land Geek the last year or so. I know that we've all met you, which was an amazing, which was a really amazing thing, but I think some of the relationships you form with the people going through are pretty awesome.

Yeah, it's a great point, Scott. Starting off with, John. John was my introduction to the Land Geek community. And from there, in Dirt Rich Starter Kit, I got in touch with, uh, Tri and Quinn in checking out if they had any properties to buy. But they were very helpful even though I didn't purchase at that point. Um, since then I have. Um, and then, um, just meeting other people from a distance Then we do this thing called the Dirt Rich Summit, um, go to Austin, Texas, have an opportunity to meet in person, um, not only you guys, but my flight school cohort became very close with them. Um, and, you know, I could, I could list off the names. I've got my coach Jeff Detmer, who being able to meet in person again, the virtual things are cool, but that in person, oh, there's no, nothing that compares because you can actually get a hug from Mark J. Podolsky.

I mean, Mark's hugs are great, but they're not as good as yours, Don.

That is true. But the contact with the community, the contact with my, I mean, with my flight school group, we're on, we get on a call every week and it's talking about successes, talking about the things that we've gone through, who needs to be picked up. And we're there for each other. We're in the bowl, of soup together. And there's, there's nothing like that. Um, I, I think Graham Nichols said one time, those who go alone go for, um, oh, what? Oh, I wish I, I shouldn't have started it because now I can't finish it.

Um, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

That's it, that's it, that's the one. Um, How did you pull that out of my head? That was, that was, that was amazing. Um, that's the power of the Don hug.

I just have it.

Ah, whatever. Um, but, but you know, when that group means a lot to me, this group means a lot to me. Uh, I haven't met anybody in the community that isn't 110% giving back and helping with, you know, if I, if I, if I had a problem, I know I could pick up the phone and call Scott, or I could call Mike or John or Mark and say, hey, I'm running into a roadblock. And I know each one of y'all, as well as the, the folks in my Monday night meeting would do the same thing. And I've been on the phone with each and every one of you at some point, um, that has really picked me up and has helped in my success. Um, my success is going to grow. I hope to be able to give back as much as I've gotten, um, because it is— it's an amazing journey. Uh, it really is. So before I get too nostalgic and verklempt, I'll, uh, just say it's an amazing— do what?

I, I tell people, when you go to these events, like, you will find your people. You will find somebody. You'll have a coffee, a beer, a meal, and you'll find somebody, whether they're in your cohort or not. You'll find someone to be like, that's my people, and you'll become friends. And it's just The power of those beatings are so, so incredible.

Absolutely. And we've got a virtual event coming up, um, and then we've got a live event coming up in October of this year. Yeah, we're back, we're back to Austin.

Yes, the other one's what, end of May, Scott? Uh, is the, uh, Boot Camp 2.0.

May 29th through the 31st, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

I've got to work two of those days, but I'll whittle out time.

Our next virtual boot camp. Mark, you know, I think, I think we've all kind of really grown to like the virtual boot camps. I think we were really nervous back. When we first started them because we always used to go live. But, uh, talk about that a little bit. Coming— we're coming up on our— I don't know how many virtual boot camps we've done now, but it's been a few years, and that was quite the transition after COVID. But I think it ended up being a pretty decent one.

Yeah, I mean, it— we, we really worked really hard on that technical aspect to make it feel live as much as possible. And go into those breakout rooms with a smaller group where you can really meet someone new, just like you would at a live event. And, you know, we, we, we really curate it as, as much as we can to, uh, be really just cognizant of Zoom fatigue. So we take, you know, a lot of breaks. Um, you know, we, we try not to, uh to overwhelm anybody, right? And it's like, you know, we get to the essence of the core of the module and then, uh, do a breakout and talk amongst yourselves and go back. And you just really get a sense of everyone, um, in the community. So you get to meet other people in the community, see where they're at, help them. But then you get to, uh, you know, meet all the coaches as well and learn from them. You get a sense for what it's like, uh, you know, to be trained by them. And it's— yeah, those events have— Scott, to your point— have turned out to be way better than I expected, especially for years and years we'd only done these live events. And, uh, and I, you know, look, there's, there's, there's nothing wrong with saving a flight and a hotel room And, uh, and the expense too of, uh, you know, when you have a virtual event. So we get more people actually on the virtual event than we probably do at the lives.

If you can stay in your pajamas, learn how to make a ton of money, it's a good deal.

I work in pajamas every day.

I am, I am planning on wearing my pajamas to the live event.

Oh my gosh, where'd Dude Buddy go? Scott, where'd you go?

Well, Don, you've got, you've got a couple questions. Uh, well, first of all, Scott Elliott wants to know, he's, you're the, he's the favorite in the group, right?

Uh, more to come on that, Scott.

And, uh, Brad Kelly, great way to answer that. I love it. Wow, that was perfect.

Yeah. Did you sell the 3 on a note or did you flip them? What's that? The 3 properties. Brad Kelly wants to know, did you sell them with owner financing or did you sell them for cash?

That was a cash sale.

That was a cash sale.

That was a cash sale. Yeah. This guy knew what he wanted to do with it and he came prepared.

Nice, nice.

Dude, buddy, do you have any more questions for Don? I have so many questions.

Yeah, please jump in.

So, so, I mean, what is life like now at the W-2 knowing that you have this other income source?

Is it like, how have things shifted there? Well, I mean, it's kind of an interesting perspective, Mark, because I was just thinking about today. I was like, man, I am this close. Well, maybe this close, but I'm close, closer than I was to vaulting out of this. Get up at 5 o'clock in the morning, be at work by 6:15, stay there. I'm still in my pajamas. Uh, that's the work pajamas, um, because being there for 13 and a half hours really, it kind of drains the life out of you. Um, but the perspective that, uh, having that additional income stream and, and seeing that snowball start heading downhill and growing, I think that's one of the biggest aha moments when, you know, you get that first sale, but it may not necessarily— if it doesn't go into that second one, and which mine didn't, you know, it was a, it was a month or two before that next one made. But then they start coming faster, and you get better at marketing, and you get more comfortable, um, talking on the phone and, and Talking to prospective buyers and taking prospective prospects and turning them into leads and taking leads and turning them into sales and taking sales and turning those people into friends. And, you know, just seeing that whole process and, oh my goodness, I have to deal with this deed, but that's not the property I was thinking about. What Yeah, sometimes you can even get lost in your own web, and I think that's where the beauty of the VA comes in, because they can help you detangle the web that you create for yourself just by trying to manage the whole process by, by yourself. Um, so yeah, it's— I have a lot better perspective now that, yeah, it's not just a light at the end of the tunnel. And oh, by the way, it's not a train moving down the tracks either.

I love it, I love it. Well, I, I don't want to be the question hog, so, you know, you guys have another question for Don?

Or maybe, you know, other people. I don't have to talk.

Well, okay.

So I would say it's not all puppies and rainbows, right? No. So tell us about some challenges you've experienced in this and, you know, how did you push through the roadblock and keep churning away?

Well, I'll just go with a recent challenge. I lost a VA who I think was probably overworked. I'm a perfectionist. And part of that process was getting my arms back around somebody who was fairly, very skilled at marketing, being able to put ads out and things like that. So here I had, I don't want to say dumped, but I had relieved myself of the responsibility of doing the daily task, working in the business, and I had tried to cast my, my lines out where I was managing and working on the business. Now I've had to move myself back into the business, and in the process, I guess, have regained appreciation for some of the things that I had done in initially and some of the things that my VA was doing that I could separate myself from. So building that scaling process is— I said process too much. Building that scalable business model where you're delegating some of those tasks and in the swim lanes, that is very, very valuable. I may have moved a little bit too quickly to— and that's what I was talking about earlier that Mike highlighted— was I may have moved too quickly in trying to get to that, that next level. Um, so it has been a little bit humbling. It has been very confusing. Because I had basically divested myself of some of those responsibilities. Now I've got to take them back. And if I— if like Scott Todd had said, says, if you have two of these VAs, then if one leaves, you still got one. Well, I didn't have two of this one, so it, it has given me a chance to recenter which I think is very good. And like a former president had said, given when I get to the hiring of that particular position again, I will always inspect what I expect.

Inspect what you expect. He was in the He was in the '80s. I think I want my, uh, my collection of Don Thrasher posters, like the, you know, like they hang on. I got a— inspect what you expect. And then the other one would be consistency, which is Don's face on it.

What— whatever, whoever put together that, uh, I don't know if it was on the the thing, but the land thrasher that was up there, I, I really want that picture. That was, that was a, that was a, that was a cool picture. I don't even know where you got that.

I may have gone to— so that was me. I went, uh, yeah, I figured, yeah, because we're Facebook friends, and so as a friend, I have the right to steal your profile picture. And then put it in the AI.

Probably one of the top land investing nicknames I've ever heard, if not the— there it is, straight out of context. Fantastic.

That's so good. I'm gonna turn that into a 24x36. I love it. It's gonna go on a magnet on the side of my truck.

Oh, there you go.

I have a question for you, Don. All right. You know, we always talk about money loving speed, um, uh-huh, core principle. Someone who's new out there, how would you say, you know, to evaluate a parcel quickly but without overanalyzing?

Any tips? Oh man, well, knowing your area is key. Get in, you know, what I— one of the things that I did when I, when I got my first county is I dug in and started seeing what other land was going for in the area. I made a call to the assessor's office, I made a call to the recorder's office, I made a call to the treasurer's office of that county. And I just, I just talked with them. I said, hey, look, I'm new doing this. I would appreciate any help that you can give me. What tips, uh, would you provide? Each area gave me, uh, some things that they would, would suggest that I look at. Um, but with regard to how to do it quickly, um, the big thing is ensuring that you have good chain of title. Um, the understanding who bought what from whom and when, um, and understanding how your state, your county processes that and what their lookback period is, is key. And then, you know, it was funny, my first, uh, my first One of my first parcels that I purchased, um, had no legal access— or no physical access. Had legal access, but it had no physical access. And it still sold. Like Mark says, every property will sell. It sold. Um, and but I didn't know how to take a look at an aerial photo and determine Okay, this, this doesn't really have a physical access point to it. Um, and then I determined later, okay, so the road did exist here, but perhaps it's just gone away. Taking a look at, like I said, chain of title, taking a look at, um, the things that you're going to get asked by buyers is, you know, do you If you're, if you're on Facebook Marketplace, the first thing you're going to get is, is this still available? Um, from there, people are going to want additional pictures, they're going to want additional information about it. Can they build on it? What type things that they— what type things can they do? And that's where being in with your county, the P&Z, the assessor's office, um Those people will be able to help you infinitely, uh, to determine what type things can be done, uh, and what type things cannot be done. What, what can be built? What can't be built? Is— are mobile homes available or legal here? Um, so it's just a matter of sifting through that, uh, pretty quickly. Um, going back to the main question that you asked, Mike, you know, how to do it quickly. I'm more concerned with chain of title and making sure that there's no encumbrances on that, uh, to move through the process.

Yeah, I love that. Now you bring up such a great point, um, about the county. You know, they, they will not— they're going to tell you, we won't give you legal advice, but they can give you a ton of information. They can give you a ton. Absolutely. Prompt them correctly, you know, maybe a couple of muffins here and there, some donuts and coffee.

Yeah, comes Comes Christmas time, send them, send them a, send them a basket.

They love that. You gotta appreciate them. They don't get appreciated enough there. So I think you're really hitting upon a really important point. You know, when you start to become, uh, dive deep into an area, become an expert, one of your resources are the people that work at the county. So treat them right and, uh, you know, learn how to approach them where you're not asking them for legal advice. You're just saying, geez, could you just I wonder if you could just help me understand this. And, you know, they'll take their time and do that. So what a great point, for sure, Don. How about this? What's the quickest way for me to get a land deal done, Don? I just wanna get a deal done. I wanna prove this to myself.

What's the quickest way I can get a deal done? Check a neighbor. Ah. Neighbor letters are fantastic. The, you know, you're already dealing with a captive audience that has a parcel right next door, right? Um, rather than, you know, go out and beat the bushes, talk to the captive audience that you have right at your disposal. They're on the left, they're on the right, they're in the front, and they're in the back. You send 4 letters and say, hey, look, I'm sending, uh, this marketing letter out to other people also. First Cash gets it. Or, you know, first person to respond who wants it gets it. You know, the neighbor letter, it's a template. You've got it, use it. It's fantastic, and it can get you sales on something that you didn't even spend time or money to market.

Yeah, yeah, beautiful, beautiful. I was talking to someone today, or was it yesterday, and I said, you know, the The version of the neighbor letter for the wholesaler is the other investors in the area that are doing deals there. You reach out to them if you have property you want to wholesale. You reach out to them because, you know, they get— they're going to want to scoop up that property. So that's like the wholesaler's version of the neighbor letter— other investors, right, working in that area. But the neighbors are definitely, uh, yeah, quickest way to get something done. Sure, captive audience. I like I like how you say that. So, uh, where do you see this going for you? What, you know, uh, I guess when you initially started, you may have had some thoughts, some, um, hopes, some desires in terms of— but has it shifted? Is it the same? Like, what, what's, uh, what, where, where are you seeing the future for you, Don?

That's a great question, Mike. Um, I feel like I'm right on track. I gave myself 3 years coming into the business. I think in 2 years I will be retired. I will have a passive income stream. This year I anticipate doing 36, uh, land sales. Nice. There's going to be a portion there, going to be cash, there's going to be, uh, terms deals. The passive income stream will then grow The following year, I mean this year, I've mapped out that 80% of the business I'm gonna get is going to go to terms deals. That's gonna be passive income stream. Right now I'm sitting a little over $1,000 a month in passive. So with those 36 deals, I anticipate passive income stream will move up to where it could feasibly replace mine and my wife's income. But there's also the reinvestment back into building more of the land. Next year, I anticipate doing about 100 to 120 land deals. So at that point, I think I'm where I want to be 2 years from now to be able to step out of the work world, to be able to tell the, the hospital, look, I'm ready to retire Robin and take myself to a PRN status. Yes, I would like to still come in. I will do 1 to 2 days a week. Just to keep my foot in the door, kind of like what, what Scott did with physical therapy. Um, and with that, be able to give myself an opportunity to build even further the passive income stream. There's going to be cash deals along the way, we can't help it. There's going to be somebody who just says, look, I, I want to drop $10 grand on this property. Well, if you really want to, I'll be happy to help you. Um, but it's the passive that, you know, takes us 5, 10, 15 years down the road where, you know, I'm looking at Social Security. Yeah, I could just about replace my income between my VA disability and Social Security. Um, but, you know, if I have notes or terms deals that are providing me an extra $6,000, $8,000, $10,000 a month. Now I'm living. I'm not just surviving. I'm not going from paycheck to paycheck. I'm not living for the first of the month. The first of the month is going to Honduras, plain and simple. I'm supporting girls in a, in a girls' home that wouldn't have a life unless they had a sponsor. Yeah, you know, that's, that's what I see this business being able to do. I love that.

Do you see yourself ever, um, you know, everybody that's with Mark has come up just like you. Do you have any desire to have a coach? You think that that could be in your future? You really seem like a helper by nature. I'm curious if you have that in you, if you have that desire, would you consider it?

I have coached baseball. I have coached financial planning. I'm happy to help whether I want to necessarily say, yeah, I want to lock into a coaching role because part of that, I don't know, I want to be a little bit selfish. And there's a golf course that needs me to visit it quite regularly. There's a boat right in the backyard that needs me to to take it fishing. Um, but I'm not going to say that I wouldn't, wouldn't do coaching. Uh, yes, I do love to help, Mike. I really do. And so, yeah, I mean, I, I think there might be a point at, you know, that I could, but I'm not going to commit myself. I'm not going to commit.

No, I get it. But that's our community. It's people that have achieved time freedom, but they still love to give back a little bit and, and feel the joy of helping somebody else do the same thing. And I get a sense of that for you. So we're not going to hold you anything, but, uh, let's, let's, let's talk in Austin, okay? Yeah, we'll talk it up. Bring us a cigar. Oh yeah, yeah, we're wrapping up here, top of the hour. We got any more questions out there for people?

We have a question from Brad Kelly. Don, what are you doing for your marketing? SMS, mail, cold calling, acquisition side, it sounds like.

Yeah, all the above. Acquisition side, I'm still doing mailers, but I've found, Mark introduced us, or these guys, these guys here. They've introduced several tech stacks. I mean, we talked tech stacks, what, last week, two weeks ago? One of the things that we haven't talked about in a while, and, you know, I'm just going to throw it out there because it's working for me, is Reworked AI or Reworked.io. And what I've done is I've taken a larger, larger square and I've run it through Betty and I've scaled it down to the top Betty scores and I'm sending that and I'm getting, I'm getting the the numbers that are talked about in, in flight school. I'm getting the 3 to 5% conversions because I'm not just randomly shotgunning and getting a bunch of yellow slips back. So for the tech side, reworked I/O, reworked AI, whichever one it is, and then is very worthy to take that and scale it into your Xamplio list. Another tech side. But yeah, I'm doing that. I'm doing neighbor letters on acquisition and I still visit the wholesalers. So, yeah, I'm going for the whole three-legged stool thing.

Yeah, yeah. For those who are wondering, we, we had them on our show, Reworked AI. Um, yeah, yeah, that was— well, you go back and check them out. Um, sort of, um, makes it, uh, increases the efficiency, I would— is how you say it, Mark? Increases the efficiency of the mailing, I would say, is the idea behind that.

Yeah, and they were at our summit also.

Yeah, yeah, they were, they were a sponsor.

Hopefully they'll come back again. Yeah, very cool. Well, I personally have really enjoyed this. It's great to have you, Don. I know we're always, we're always chit-chatting with you while we're on here. Um, you know, be great to see you again in, in October. But, uh, yeah, anyway, thank you for coming here.

Hey, thanks for having me. I've definitely enjoyed it.

Thanks very much, Don. Uh, gentlemen, you guys all have a good night. And, uh, Chinese baloney.

Wait, can we, can we get one group hug for Don? Oh sure. 1, 2, 3.

Yeah, the pizza baloney. Good night, everybody.