HOW FLIGHT SCHOOL LAUNCHED KIRK WRIGHT’S LAND CAREER

Hey, it's Mark Podolski, the land geek for the niche real estate website thelandgeek.com and on this week's Art of Passive Income podcast, I have a investor toolkit and a flight school soon to be grad, Kirk Wright. Actually I should say Dr. Kirk Wright. Dr. Kirk Wright. Welcome.

Thank you. Great to be here.

So Kirk, how did you find the land geek?

Well, I have a history of some real estate investing, but that all occurred prior to 2008 and at that point I lost everything, as was the norm, it seems back then. So anyway, fast forward. I've been searching for something else to do and was really looking to go back into the real estate market and buy some rentals. But I ran across an ad on Facebook which was intriguing to get out of the real estate market that's super competitive. And so I saw an ad on Facebook, red Dirt Rich and I was hooked. There was never any, never really any decision. I think I signed up for flight school the next day.

No kidding. Okay, so you sign up for flight school. What's that experience like? And how did your wife. I can imagine that's a difficult conversation because flight school is not an insignificant investment.

It's not an insignificant investment. You know, I'm older and I, you know, I've been blessed with a six figure income, but I certainly don't have a six figure savings. And so we were looking for a way to supplement that and a way for us to be able to have more time spend together and for me to be at some point. So it is the financial investment, but you make it almost impossible to say no with the guarantee you're going to get your money back. And that certainly happened for me.

Yeah, yeah. See, I make it easy for you.

That's right.

Well, I mean, but that's, you know, that's confidence. I mean, and I, and the reason we do that is it's a skin in the game guarantee because that's what I love about pilots, right? Like they're in it with you. And so if they're not staying up to date with what you need to do to fly a plane and do it well and do it safely, they're going down with all their passengers. And so I thought, well, we should have skin in the game too. And if what we're teaching isn't working in the current market because you see people, oh, you know, like anyone can make money, mark money in a, in a, in a great market. Right. I think back to those early days, 2001 to 2006. Right. And people are teaching. You know, what worked then or. And then they don't stay up with it. They don't stay current, they don't stay cutting edge. Well, okay, well, it doesn't work, and they don't take any risk with their. The people they're teaching. So I thought, oh, this is, this is the way to do it.

Let's.

Let's have a skin in the game guarantee.

Agreed. And it got me involved, got me signed up, and it certainly didn't disappoint. I mean, not only did I, of course, make my money back, but the community, like you said, is super supportive. Everybody's got skin in the game all the way through the coaching. And so it's a fun community to be a part of. I've enjoyed it.

Yeah, no, it's great. So what has been your favorite deal that you've done so far?

Favorite deal is actually my first deal, and it's kind of a crazy story. My very first mailing that I sent out, I had a row off on my spreadsheet. And so I mailed out a couple hundred mailers to people offering to buy their property, but it wasn't the correct parcel. And the first phone call that I received was from someone that did not want to sell me their property. They actually wanted to buy the property next door to them, but they just didn't have any information. And so I didn't know I was very new to the process. And I looked it up, who had the parcel next door to his and gave him that information. Little did I know I was giving him the wrong information because I was. I had messed up the original spreadsheet. Well, fast forward a month later, I have successfully bought several properties. I mailed out a bunch of neighbor letters to those that I had bought. And so, lo and behold, when I sent the neighbor letters out, I mailed one to this guy. I had inadvertently or unknowingly bought the property next to him. So he was obviously super interested in buying. So that was a pretty cool experience. My first experience with mailing, first experience with sales, first term style. Pretty cool story, I guess.

That's cool. How. How were the numbers?

Oh, they were really good, I think. Well, I know I purchased that property for 400 bucks, sold it on terms for 100 down 100amonth for the next 36 months, but also got a 250 doc fee. So I immediately recovered 350 of the 400 right up front.

That's. That's a. That's a pretty good deal.

That's Pretty good returns, pretty good return.

Especially for your first deal. What. What did your wife think?

Yeah. Yeah, she was. She was standing next to me when I got the call, and I did a little stupid dance, but we celebrated. I mean, that was. That was proof of concept. And it's been off to the races since then. It's been fantastic.

I love it. I love it. So what have you outsourced first and why?

The first thing I outsourced was due diligence, all that research. And actually I'm working in a county that doesn't have much available online or electronically, so just starting out, it was tough for me to do all the research, so that was the first thing I outsourced. And, and, and I mean, I've been paying 16 bucks for a complete due diligence package worth every penny.

Not. Yeah, not bad. Not bad. And so you did. You did miss the first day of boot camp on that Friday, but you were there on that Saturday and Sunday. What was that boot camp experience like? And, and how does it supplement sort of flight school and the learning there?

Yeah, boot camp was great. I had been to a virtual boot camp before, so this is my first in person, and we had some travel difficulties. I missed the first day. I was super disappointed. But the boot camp experience is outstanding. Not only do you get to. Or did I get to co. Mingle with other coaching students, other people in flight school, but all the coaches themselves. And it was really a great experience. I brought my son in and now we're working this together. We were both able to go to boot camp and that was the first experience for him, really being motivated and being in the presence of others. So it was super motivating and reassuring just being part of this community.

Yeah, no, that's. That's really. That's really cool. And, you know, everything's not especially a learning curve. Not rainbows and, and candy corns and. And all that good stuff. I mean, there are going to be dips in the lamb business. What would you say has been your. Your biggest frustration going through this journey? And how are you. How are you going about getting out of it?

Yeah, we had some just amazing successes right off the bat. As soon as I got to the sales and marketing portion in flight school, I already had some properties. I mailed out neighbor letters. We started listing them on one or two land sites, mostly on Facebook, but just had immediate response. And in the first month, sold five. And then all of a sudden it just seemed to dry up to some extent. But I'm working on Identifying exactly what's changed. I think it was some of the Facebook marketing, the weird hoops that you have to go through through Facebook. I haven't been put in jail yet per se, but certainly had some issues. I just don't think I'm reaching as many people as we were at the beginning. But talking with my coach, we're working through it. I'm also, also outsourcing the posting of the Facebook ads and the monitoring of the ads, and that's getting rid of a huge sore spot of just reading through all the tire kickers myself and letting somebody else do it.

Yeah, yeah, no, that, that's. That's. I love it. Absolutely. So if I, you know, if. If you were listening to you and you're thinking you're on the fence about investing in flight school and what it's going to take over the next 16 weeks, what, looking back now, what advice would you give yourself?

I would say if you, if you have the commitment, then to absolutely do it, Flight school is extremely rewarding. You've got somebody basically, not only coaches, but fellow participants with input and somebody almost holding your hand through the whole process. Yes, there's this money back guarantee, which is an easy thing to make because if you follow the system and put in the work, then the results are there. And so, You know, I, I have, I have. I'm a veterinarian by trade, but that's my second career. I was actually a CPA before I did this. And so, you know, I've got book knowledge and experience and knowledge of a lot of different things, but the key is the execution, taking the chance, taking the first step and just doing it.

Yeah, that's. That's great advice. And it's so funny because you can read book after book after book. You can listen to podcast after podcast or podcast, watch video after video after video, but if you never take any action or execute on the information, nothing really meaningful happens. And I'm not discounting the knowledge, but it's knowledge combined with experience that helps you get to that next step. And then as you make mistakes in the, in the market combined with more knowledge, you're able to iterate more quickly and more confidently, where if you just go in with no knowledge, you're just. You could be spinning your wheels, spending a lot of time and money making mistakes. And if you just go in on all, you know, theoretical knowledge and, and not testing the market, then it's. It's not going to move the needle either. So I think that's. That's great. Advice. Go ahead, Kirk.

Sorry, no, I, I was just going to agree with you and say flight school provides the necessary knowledge and sometimes the kick in the pants, the call to action. So it's a combination of both. You have to be willing to take that step to put in the work and actually execute. But it's a, it's a well set up marriage. If you've got the desire to put in the work and you can see the vision. Flight school kind of gives you a path on which to execute.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Kirk, your, your mentorship, your story has been outstanding, this podcast, but now we're at the point where I'm going to ask you for your tip of the week. A website, a resource, a book, something else actionable for the art of passive income listeners to go improve their businesses, improve their lives. What have you got?

Yeah, you know, we almost kind of brushed on it. It's a book, and it's a book that I actually received going into the coaching program, and it's called the 12 week year by Brian Moran. But I mean, within the first chapter it makes that point that you can be well connected, well educated, have natural talent, full of knowledge and wisdom, but in the end, you have to execute, you know, and it goes on to say, a vision without action is just a dream and it takes consistent action to turn your dreams into reality. I mean, that was a real kick in the pants for me. A shot right between the eyes. And so it's a good book. I mean, it forces execution and it does that by measurement in 12 week intervals versus 12 month intervals. So you don't have, you don't have a lot of time to procrastinate before she into action.

Exactly. Yeah, there's a built in intensity in the coaching program for sure. I, I love that book. That's a great tip of the week. And before I give my tip of the week, I just want to give a shout out to our podcast sponsor, which is Flight school. Be like Dr. Kirk Wright. Go up the mountain of land, investing quickly, safely, efficiently, with Scott Todd as your Sherpa who's done it thousands of times. Start building that passive income without any renters, rehabs, renovations or rodents. You can always make more money. You can't get more time. Let us help you get to a point where you have total freedom to work when you want, where you want, and with whom you want. Because once you reach that point where your passive income exceeds your fixed expenses, you're totally free. And flight school is the first next best step to get you there. And I know what you're thinking. What about that tuition Kirk and I just talked about? It ain't gonna cost you nothing, guaranteed. You make that back that money 180 days or less. Just go to the landgeek.com forward/training thelandgeek.com forward/training all right, Kirk. My tip of the week is learn more about Kirk and what he's got going on with his properties. Go to freedom properties.co freedom properties that co and check out what Kirk has got going on. All right. Are we good, Kirk?

Yeah. Awesome. I enjoyed it.

Awesome. Well, I want to thank the listeners. Remind you the only way I'm going to be able to get Kirk to come back and talk about his coaching experience is if you do three little favors. Follow rate Review the podcast. Send us a screenshot of that review support@thelangic.com I'm going to send you for free a signed copy of Dirt Rich and Also Dirt Rich 2 is coming out. I don't know if you know that how to scale your land business. So very excited about that. All right, let's do this together. 1, 2, 3.

Let freedom ring ring.

Not bad. Thanks, everybody.

Thanks, Mark. Enjoyed it.

Thank you.

Thanks for listening to the Art of Passive Income podcast. Are you ready to learn how you can start building a passive income without renters, rehabs, renovations, stations or rodents? Schedule a free consultation at thelandgeek.com forward/training let freedom ring.