How to find funding partners: How to Scale Land Without Using Your Own Capital

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!

Fellas, welcome to Nightcap. It's so much better than the banjo version.

It's so much better. Should we say that every time? Nobody, nobody knows what the banjo version is anymore. It's very true.

Welcome, everybody. So tonight, here's what we're talking about. What if we told you the biggest thing holding most land investors back isn't leads, mail, pricing, or even finding deals? It's the belief that they need to do everything themselves. This weekend at virtual boot camp, we saw people of all walks of life taking action toward financial freedom through land investing. Some came with money but no time. Others have time and hustle but limited capital. And that's exactly what we're talking about tonight. How do you build a land business when you don't want to or you can't using your— using— sorry, or when you don't want to or can't use your own money? We're going to share our biggest boot camp takeaways tonight. We're going to talk about the power of partnerships and community, and we're going to discuss how successful investors combine skills, relationships, and capital to scale faster than they ever could alone. Gentlemen, good to see you all.

I, I feel like, uh, like we should do something really dramatic with like, like, like ripping up the script and being like It's Dude Buddy's birthday. That's all I'm talking about tonight. We're just celebrating. Let's take a walk down memory lane.

Oh, thank you. What's it like?

What's it like to be so loved and celebrated? Oh, and you know, just—

it's—

the world's a better place because— and all of you— he was born today. Word for today.

Yeah, and all of our, all of our live listeners, you are officially invited to Scott Boston's birthday party. And, and this is it. This is Scott's virtual birthday party. Everybody else, surprise at the same time.

This, this is the baby photo. No, Stuart, I'll maybe see if I can pull up a baby photo. I'm not sure if I can do that, uh, on, on short notice, but, uh Uh, lots of love coming in. Thank you all, thank you all. Those all count as shoutouts, Mike Zano.

So yeah, this is it, you slam dunked the shoutout.

Yeah, yeah, I sure did.

So it's a, it's a shoutout shoutout.

Scott, you're not even 5-0 yet.

Yes, I am.

You are?

5-1. 5-1.

Wow, wow, you're still just such a baby.

Such a baby.

Yeah, yeah, John's only 27.

Yeah, been having kids since he was 15— since 18. We'll say 18. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I thank you all very much. I've had a great day. It's actually been very— I was actually thinking about it today, uh, you know, 10 years ago I'd have been— I would have been working all day unless I had taken the day off, but I didn't do that very often. I don't think I— I don't know if I ever did that, in all honesty. So, you know, wake up on my own schedule, have, have some coffee and chat with Aaron for a while. You know, just kind of tinker around the house a little bit. I had a couple calls, I worked on the land business a little bit, spoke with family and friends. And I never would have been able to have a low-key day like that, uh, 10, 11 years ago. So I've been actually pretty grateful all day. It's been very nice and low-key and been able to kind of reflect on, on where I, where I was and where I am now. And I'm just, uh, just very grateful.

So beautiful. I concur.

Cheers.

Oh, thank you guys. Cheers to you guys.

Our birthday presents are only shoutouts and concurs.

So, well, it's good to see everybody here, and thanks everybody for tuning in. Thank you for all the birthday wishes. We had a pretty big weekend this last weekend in the land geek world, and I thought we'd chat for a few minutes about that before we got into the topic at hand. But we had our virtual boot camp, which is an event we do, what, 2 or 3 times a year?

Yeah, 2 times a year.

2 times a year. We're down to 2 times a year where we all come together as a community, albeit virtual. It's still a lot of fun. I think day 1, Mark, we had like 250 people in the room. And then as the days go on, it gets a little less just because people are busy. But 250 people in the Zoom room day 1, learning all things land investing is pretty awesome. So let's get everybody's takeaways. Mark J. Podolsky, The Godfather. I'll introduce people as we go. Biggest takeaways from the weekend?

You know, my biggest takeaway was that as much as we've all through the years talk about land and the fundamentals of land, I'm still learning. Like, the Matt Nun Pizza Tracker was such a great module. The Jesse Otterblad module on you know, the, the, the best bang for your buck in marketing to the neighbor letter and how he does it was unbelievable, you know. And then Tate's always coming up that new State of the Union, the Tate of the Union, showing his numbers, breaking it down, what's working, what's changed. John Burnett's modules were incredible. Of course, just, you know, like the nightcap sort of vibe of it all. Look, the cherry on top— I, I don't want his head to get too big though— oh, it was the Zen Master being the master of ceremonies and keeping that energy up. It's hard to do on Zoom, and just, it was incredible. So for me, I think the biggest takeaway is that I'm always shocked how much I learn, how much I love hanging out with the community and, and giving back and, uh, and being with you guys.

No, it really was an amazing weekend, and, uh, you know, kudos to all of the presenters. Uh, you know, we have a great events coordinator now, Mackenzie. Uh, she is just killing it with every event we have, live or virtual. It's been so fun to see what she puts together here over the last couple years. Couple years now, Mark, maybe a year, year and a half, maybe.

Yeah, year and a half.

Yeah. And then, you know, all the people behind the scenes helping out, you know, Tammy and David and the tech crew and the support crew and the marketing folks. It was— it— I thought, I thought it was just— I thought the weekend just came off seamless. It was just, it was like a very well-orchestrated weekend. And then, yeah, you know, The master ceremonies here, Mike, you know, breathe in the mailing, breathe out the marketing. The Zen Master Zaino.

Make me blush.

I mean, you did awesome, man.

It was a lot of fun. Please go on.

I'm sure it was very exhausting, 3 days on Zoom having to be on the whole time, but did you have a good time? Did you have fun?

You know, the best part about it, I was telling Mark and Mackenzie, is that you guys, all the 4 of us together, it It doesn't feel difficult when we're riffing together— riffing together, that's the right word. Is that it?

Riff, riff, riff, riff, riff, riff, riff. When we're together, it's like a dog with a speech impediment.

Yes, we riff together. It's, uh, it's just beautiful. I love it, you know. And I'll tell you what, every boot camp I come a little— I come away like it just solidifies the model for me because I just hear again and again and again the different success from different people. And Don Thrash, you're right, the whole weekend I had my name misspelled, Zaneo, but it worked. Foster pointed it out to me, but I left it there because I was like, hey, whatever. But, and I'm surprised, shocked actually, that Scott got through this whole description without using the two words hive mind, because maybe he knows how much it just causes me to cringe.

I love that word.

It reminds me of The Arrow, the TV show, and all the evil people, the hive.

But I mean, it came to your mind, didn't it? So it must be subliminally there for you. I think you've grown to love that term.

I do. And you know, um, the role play— people keep— I'm getting on a lot of people taking advantage. If you're still out there and you haven't taken advantage, jump on a call with us. I don't know if we can put it in the chat. Like, if you guys just have a— all we do, literally, it's whether it's me or Scott or John, let's just talk to you about where you are my whole Brady Bunch thing. Who you are and what you gonna be. We just want to find out where you are and what you're looking to do, and if it's a good fit, we'll walk you through it. If not, at least you find out and you can get clarity and move on to something else. So I'll encourage anybody out there, if you haven't had the opportunity, you know, jump on in and we'll talk. But the role model, Scott, people were telling me how much they enjoyed— now you and Tate Mark and my role play. Yeah, people love that, love that. Oh good. Yeah, I hear it over and over again. I also heard a lot about yours, uh, John, you know, um, although we don't want to blow his head up too much, he gets so much praise. But I know the reality is, I'll tell you what, it was relatable probably to more me more than anyone because I've gone off and tried it. For those who don't know, Scott talked about the idea of potentially varying off into bigger deals and whatnot and following that shiny object. These small deals, I guess what, they always show up, they always repeat themselves, they're always available, they always build upon each other. The bigger deals, I've done some great bigger deals, I'm also sitting on some bigger deals. It's not fun. Um, and so, um, that was so relatable, your, your discussion there. And of course, Mark, you always bring it, you always bring it. The man can't stop, always brings it. But it was great. I had a great time. I thought the community was engaging. Uh, you know, the reason I was able to stay on, I think, is because all that positive energy and you guys being there. It just felt like we were hanging out at Nightcap for 3 days, and I'll do that any day of the week.

Awesome. No, it was really— Mike, you did an awesome job. And, uh, I did notice, however, that many times during the weekend, uh, you know, you got this fancy new microphone, thinking you're pretty cool. Now you're like trying to purposely drop your voice to be MC Zeno.

So bass there. Yeah, a little bass.

Yeah, I'm surprised that doesn't come out tonight yet. Uh, I figured it would.

So personally, but I got my— some people think that's really my background. I, you know, I wish I could play the piano. My grandmother tried to teach me years ago. I didn't, I didn't really pick it up, but, uh, sometimes.

Well, hey, speaking of backgrounds and backdrops, uh, that is not AI behind John Burnett tonight. He's like I mean, this is like the epitome of like location freedom right here. Look at this guy, he's out on the dock. The sun is setting in Idaho. Are you in Idaho or Wyoming, John?

I'm in Idaho, Southern Idaho connecting via Starlink.

Yes, via Starlink.

Rumor has it he's gonna jump in that lake at the very end for the crescendo.

That would be amazing actually.

That would cost at least half an acre. For half an acre, I just might. Oh, wow.

Just half an acre?

I mean, maybe one. I'll take bids.

Oh, okay. Okay, all right. All right, all right. But anyway, so John, yeah, you as well this weekend, you spent a lot of time and energy helping us get smarter as a community. And it's always inspiring to hear your story, but it's fun to hear now your perspective on like what Mike was saying, the bigger deals versus the smaller deals. I think that was really helpful for the entire community. So thank you. And I guess coming back to you now, you know, what were your impressions of the weekend and any takeaways from the weekend?

Yeah, I'm always just like, I remember the first boot camp I went to a number of years ago now, like I was at a point where I was kind of burning out in the business. And, and then I got a takeaway. And that was back when we were doing we did like a roundtable thing and I said my pain point and then everybody just beat me over the head, told me, you have to delegate, John, you have to delegate, John. And it was just so rejuvenating to be around everybody. And then the insight that I got ended up being exactly what I needed that was transformational to my business, you know, and I think that like I'm always grateful for that. And it's neat to just see other people in that same spot, right? Who are just— they're just so energized just being around other people that are doing the same thing that they're doing. And we really do have a great community. Like Mark talks about the airplane or the airport test, you know, if you're stuck in an airport for 8 hours, is this somebody that you would mind being with, right? And we have like a great community that passes the airport test, you know, like they're just very kind, very generous, very giving and very encouraging. Like it was very positive energy, like Mike was saying. And it's something that I just keep on hearing from people over and over again is that they've just been so energized by the community itself.

So that was great.

Yeah, I love what Matt Nunn said. I think he said like our community is like a team. And they're all winning towards freedom. And so as a team, like, we all have the same goal. And that's really rare to have this big group of like-minded people all helping each other for this, this one singular goal of solving our money problems and our time problems, but doing it together and just giving and giving. It's like, oh, you know, try this or do this, or this is what's working for me. And no one's holding anything back, which is really rare in real estate.

Mm-hmm.

I don't know about other industries, but I know it is in real estate. Yeah.

Yeah, the abundance mindset. And, you know, I think that, that stems from how big the market is. I think the bigger the market, the less abundance mindset, but, you know, something that I think this community, Mark, and, you know, this is— this has come from the top over the last 10 years where, um, let's be abundantly minded as we approach this thing, uh, together, because we're all the same mindset here, um, and we all want to help each other succeed. And I just feel that so much in our community, and that's, that's what I really love. So, um, for, for me this weekend, just, you know, seeing all of the evidence. And the, the, uh, the, the student spotlights were some of my favorite, uh, this, this week where we spotlight somebody for 10 or 15 minutes. You know, Danny Walsh, um, who I actually sold his first property, which is just kind of fun to think about. And he was all nervous when he bought it from me, right?

And, uh, really nervous. I was worried about him, especially when he got into coaching.

Yeah. And Valerie Young, who's, who's just done so well. And then And then Hannah, uh, Hannah Bartholomew, she started when she was 17 years old, and now she's on a panel for Grill the Geeks talking about her experience as a senior in high school. I mean, how cool is that? That was really motivating, I thought. Mike, you interviewed her. What were your thoughts on that?

Cool. I thought it was great. You know, she started with her dad, and there's actually a fair amount of people that have done that over the years, and if you're out there thinking about it, it's actually a great idea. You know, we have, um, someone who's just graduating high school. Maybe you don't know what the exact path is for them. It's not going to hurt to start a business, I can tell you that much. It's going to give them a leg up in life to start off as entrepreneur. And that's what she did with her dad. And then it's funny listening about how she took over and then she fired all the VAs that came in. Um, but she's doing so well, and she was such a, a pleasure to interview and talk to, and I know people got so much value out of it.

She just seems ahead of her years, doesn't she? She's just so with it. And yeah, just very sharp, very on point, very sharp, very sharp, uh, very, you know, uh, highly, highly engaging and just a high-performing entrepreneur at this age of life. So cool to see. And just goes again to, to, you know, just speaks to the fact again that you know, all walks of life can do this.

Yeah, it also speaks to something that I think was part of Jeff Detmer, by the way, who did an incredible presentation on sales. People really connected because he was just so low-key and human about it, you know, where he didn't have to be— and he was just talking about being who you are and embracing that. And then listening to her talk about when she was, you know, how young she is, but she doesn't shy away from that. She tells people, yeah, I'm building this business with my dad. And we've heard people say Well, when, uh, you know, moms who are staying at home building this business and have their kids yell in the background, all of a sudden people are like, oh, you're a mom, and they instantly trust them. So I say, like, don't pretend to be something you're not. In fact, embrace what you are and use it as a superpower.

Yeah, I mean, you know, it's so— it's such a cliché to say, oh, be yourself, but when you're Hannah's age and you're still building your identity, it's hard. And you do try to emulate other people. And but she just seemed real poised and real confident and, and just was super kind of, you know, honest and vulnerable about where she was at, what she was doing. And I think because of that, we were just all able to connect. And, and I think it's like a superpower in a way. It's hard though.

It's hard.

Yeah.

I love the story that she told, uh where, um, someone saw an ad for her property for sale or something like that, and they gave her a call. And that person's son actually went to this college that Hannah was going to at the time. I mean, what a coincidence. And then these— they hit it off so well, they had such a connection that these people bought like 5 or 6 properties from her, which I thought was just amazing.

Yeah, yeah.

A lot of, a lot of land, a lot of good land stories out there, right?

Lots of boot camp magic. You know, basically every time we have one of these events, somebody sells property during the event. We had multiple people do that, um, people having accepted offers, first sales. I mean, you name it, it all happened during, during the boot camp live, which was so awesome.

Yeah, and, and, you know, and Jeff's story, uh, I forget, you know, I don't know if it was, it was, it was the, you know, Inside the Minds of the Coaches panel, but when he was talking about his favorite deal on the buy side, when that woman sold him her property so she could get eye surgery, and like we're all getting emotional and people are putting in the chat, I didn't think I'd be crying this weekend. I mean, it was, it was just so touching. Um, and we forget, like, yeah, we're buying land, but we're also helping that person because that what was once an asset to them is now a liability. And they're able to do really, uh, great things now with that, that money that they couldn't have done because left to her own devices, she didn't know what to do with that property. And, and Jeff came in and and helped her.

Yeah, so powerful.

Yeah.

One of the things that really struck me when we were doing boot camp was the last, the last session with all of us together where we were doing the 90-day plan. And it was just— it's striking to me what can be accomplished in 90 days with intense focus on something, right? If you just pick a thing and you focus on that thing intentionally for 90 days, like, you'll be in a much different spot at the end of those 90 days than you were at the beginning. And, uh, and one of the things that came to mind that we talked about too was the, the P90X program, which I don't know if it still exists, but they always have, like, they had all It does.

Okay.

Yeah, it was like they have, they have all those pictures of the people before P90X and they have pictures of people at the end of 90 days. Right. Just 90 days working on this program. And, and it's completely transformational. But I think the same thing with like with land investing to give something like this intense and intentional focus for 90 days. It's, it's absolutely transformational.

Yeah, yeah, I love that. Land 90X. I hope we don't get sued. We're probably gonna do that to the Derwent Summit. Here's your Land 90X plan before, after.

Speaking of jacked, um, I got Landon and Terea both delivered up. They're a power couple. I think Terea's was on Know Your Avatar and Landon was on the three-legged stool, basically don't have one marketing platform. And talk about a power couple, right? They really delivered some just solid advice to help people start moving forward with something that typically is pretty difficult, you know, initially, is marketing and dialing that in. Terea was making sure that you're very focused on who you're marketing to, and then Landon, you know, making sure that you have multiple platforms going so you don't rely on one, and if it collapses, you know, it's all said and done. So We had that power couple going as well during boot camp.

Yeah, they're, they're so good, and their depth of knowledge is just insane.

And then Leonard behind the, the special effects and the scene, uh, the, you know, the music and, uh, cueing Mike up all weekend was awesome.

Oh, I love it.

He'll be in Austin, by the way, again.

Yeah.

Oh, nice.

Yeah, for the summit.

Well, we can— I think we, you know, I think McKenzie's released, and we can start talking a little bit about this more, can't we? The, uh, the summit, it's going to be coming a public thing now. Like, you can almost pre-register. Can you pre-register now?

I think you can pre-register now.

Well, Aspen's usually good at those things.

I'll, I'll see if I can find the link.

So it's the first week— what's the first, second, or third, I think, of October? We go to Austin, Texas. We're live.

Um, you—

I mean, it's a small intimate group of land investors from across the country. You go there, you will leave there inspired. You'll be— your business will be better off, but you're also guaranteed you're going to make a friend or someone that's going to be like just your person or your people, and you're going to have lifelong accountability partners. I mean, it's just so much comes out of these live events.

Yeah, and how much barbecue do you think you'll eat in those 3 days?

I'm just gonna try a different place. I don't know what we went to, but I think we're gonna try a different one this time.

Yeah, it's gonna go to Terry Black's. We should all go to Terry Black's.

I went to Terry Black's, it was great.

It was incredible.

Laura was great. That combination of, uh, the, the The Sushi Guy and Franklin Guy. Yeah.

Yeah, Mike, I think we got ripped off at that place. We got 3 pounds of, 3 pounds of beef ribs for $105, and I think about a pound and a half was fat.

Yeah. Well, then we were full and I went over and said something. He gave us a whole bunch more. I'm like, I'm just— we give them to Sebastian. You'll eat these tomorrow.

You know? But yeah, let's get some Bobby. Let's get some barbecue in Austin.

Um, it's gonna come quick. I mean, that's October. We're— I mean, you might as well get your Christmas tree out, right? We're already rolling right into July, so start picking out that Christmas tree. I'm sure that, uh, you know, if you go to Target, they already have the Christmas trees up, ready to roll. Uh, they're usually right on top of things. But, uh, I don't know what we got going on for comments in there. And the—

in the—

you've been—

it's, it's pretty, it's pretty quiet so far. So, so if you were at boot camp Put in the chat what your biggest boot camp takeaways are. Charles Jones is in for, for Dervish Summit. So is Brad Kelly. Brad said he had some problems getting into boot camp, so maybe we can do something for Brad.

Like, yeah, I was trying to look into that, Scott. I was trying to text him on the side, like, well, I know a couple of things we could do to make up for that.

So yeah, Brad, let's, let's, let's talk about that. Lisa Lyon, they did awesome on Girl to Geeks. Thank you guys.

So good.

Yeah, and, and I seem to remember, Stuart, when we had a call maybe a year and a half ago, one of your goals was to be one— was to be one of the geeks on Grill the Geeks. So, uh, you made it, man, and that's really cool. So that was fun, fun to watch.

I think they were traveling too, like, we were lucky that we got to talk to them.

We were very lucky. Yeah, yeah. Uh, Julie Howard was there. Lots of great training and information, really enjoyed her first boot camp. Ace Sites boot camp was a lot of work for these guys. They did a great job. Thank you very much. Jeremy Defoe was extremely helpful for him. Thrasher was there, I think, maybe. Yeah, McZaniel, he was there. So Todd Williams boot camp was fantastic. So, so yeah, thank you everybody for being there. And we're making it a really great event and we look forward to the next one because everyone is a little different, right? There are different presentations and there's different energy. And but what's, I mean, what's consistent is the fact that, you know, people are doing deals the whole weekend and we talk about it in real time. It's a lot of fun. Oh, here's the biggest takeaway from Kyla, Jeff, John Martin, who signed up for one-on-one coaching. Kyla is going to kill it, Mark.

Let's go, Kyla!

She, she twisted JT's arm and they joined coaching. So biggest takeaway was Jeff's presentation on sales, uh, Jesse's on neighbor letters, and, uh, her session with Tate for laser coaching, which is, which was really awesome.

I heard a few people talk— everybody actually that I— that did the laser coaching was really— you know, here's the thing, these are people, they were brave enough to come up there in front of everybody and talk about what's going on in their business. They want— it's not easy, right? And But the benefit from it was huge.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, very inspiring. Liz Sunley, good to see you. She just signed up for flight school today. Inspiring student success stories. Jessica Allred, who's just doing awesome. She's so consistent and she's buying land and she's selling land. She's never been such a part of a community quite like this one that chooses encouragement over competition and celebrates each other's wins. Instead of competing for them. Oh, that's screenshot worthy, I would say. Yeah, that's pretty awesome.

Thank you, Jessica.

Thank you, Jessica. Oh, and her son would like to personally apologize for crying on camera. Well, very family friendly around here. Yeah, John's about to have 2 or 3 kids come over and push him into the lake, so it is very, very possible.

So again, half an acre at least.

Are you the only one on that lake? Like, you and your family? Is there like nobody else on that lake?

No, this is— I mean, this is a pond. It's very small.

Yeah, but still, that's it? Just you guys?

I have a pond.

Yeah, just, just me. Just me and the pond.

You and the crickets that we can hear in the background. Yep. Awesome. Well, thanks for the boot camp review, guys. This was awesome. What are you gonna say, Mike?

No, Tony's in here. He said, picked up my first sales lead after Laser Coaching.

Tony, nice.

So happy that you were willing to go up there and, um, you know, open yourself up so that Tate and Mark could bring some value, and I know they did. So that's pretty awesome.

That's awesome.

Well, amazing, Tony.

Uh, thanks everybody for the boot camp review. Uh, so much, so much just, uh, momentum in that group this weekend was felt and is still felt, I think, days later. So use that momentum to move forward in your business and look forward to the next one. But we should probably get to— we do have a topic that we can, you know, chat on here for a few minutes, I think. You know, one thing that comes up repeatedly on bootcamp weekends is that people think they need more money. Before they can really build a land business, right? So maybe we can spend a few minutes on that tonight. You know, obviously capital helps, but the reality is that many investors scale, you know, later after they learn how to leverage capital and partnerships and that type of thing. So it's not really just about money, it's about strategy, it's about relationships, it's about experience, it's about different skill sets. So, uh, so let's talk a little bit, guys, about, uh, how people might be able to move forward here, um, if they don't have all the money in the bank account they wish they would have in the bank account. Can we do that? And while you guys chat amongst yourselves, I'm home alone, I gotta go let this dog out. I'll be back. I'm gonna put myself on mute.

Okay, no worries.

Mark, you take over.

Sorry.

All right. Yeah. All right. So I think it's a really interesting topic. Because it is, in reality, a mindset issue. Because when you get practical about it, there is so much money out there. It's just a matter of How do I get money? And oftentimes, people just stop there. It's like, I look in the bank account, I don't have enough money. And that's it. But that's almost never the case. And I think the first thing is, you know, to think about is, okay, well, What are— what resources do I have at my disposal? And, and then getting very realistic about, well, how much money do I, I really need? Because you can do a LandArm deal with $100, right? Um, you could probably use a credit card to get started. Uh, and so I don't know, John, what does it make you think of?

Yeah, I think that like the way, the way that I I've talked to some people about this. I was actually talking to someone about this today, which is that when it comes to buying property, if you have limited capital, there are a number of levers that are available to you to pull to make that capital accessible. Right. And so one of those is Land Arb. That you mentioned, right? And I've used that a number of times in my business. If I was low on capital and I was like, man, I'm selling X many properties, I need to make sure I've got enough in inventory so I can maintain that level of sales. And so I would buy property, land arb, and have some, some land arb always sitting in my inventory. Another way is you can generate more income by wholesaling property, right? And you can get a quick pop of cash. To, um, which you can use and, and push into additional property. You can sell notes if you've already sold properties. You can do partnership deals, right? So sometimes we have people in our, in our community where one person has, you know, they're highly liquid, right? They've got a lot of money at their disposal, but they don't have, uh, enough opportunities to put that money to to use, right? And then you have another person who has all these opportunities, but they don't have enough capital to put towards those. So those people get together and one person funds the deal and they do, you know, they'll do a profit split. So sometimes you see stuff like that happen in our community. And then the last thing would just be taking a loan, right? Where you have, where you would maybe take a private loan for a certain amount of money at X percentage and you put that towards property. And when you look at the returns, you know, they cover— as long as you get a reasonable loan, right, it pencils out very, very well. So I think there's, there's a wide variety of approaches that you can use when you are in that type of a situation to, to make the opportunities come. Yeah, sorry, I rambled.

No, I mean, you really hit all of them.

You've rambled and did everything, leaving nothing for me at all.

There's nothing for Mike to discuss now. I mean, you know, Mike, your story is so powerful. You were $50,000 in debt, and yet you still found a way to do this business.

Yeah.

So the question is, well, how did you do it?

Yeah, I started small. Um, I bought small properties and then, you know, remember, we— our buy box is anywhere from $4,500 to $5,000, maybe $6,000. So you go to that small buy box, just get one, scrape together $4,500, and maybe you make, uh, $300, $400 when you wholesale it. Now you go back and you scrape together, you buy 2 more, and you just kept— once you realize if you buy these at the right price, the disposition can be pretty quick with another investor, it'll motivate you to keep buying and buying and buying, right? As long as you're buying at the right price. So that, that's how I did that. And I think, you know, although John did pretty much cover everything, I think I'd like to give a little opinion or thoughts on two very simple ways that people typically can do deals with other people's money. One would be, I guess, Mark, you would call it straight debt, right? Here's this much money, you pay me back that's less likely to happen, in my opinion, in the beginning because you haven't really proved yourself as an investor, and that someone's going to really be shying away from that. So then you go to the next option, which is partnership, and you literally could have your first deal. And if you— I always tell people selfishly, come to me, but you can go to anyone here, anyone in our community. Scott likes when I go into the mic.

I'm gonna call that your— it's like, uh, it's like Bizarro Mike. It's like— but we're gonna call it McZaneo. No, yeah, that's your, that's your new, uh, that's your new low voice DJ alter.

Although I'm watching the new Spider-Man. Can I be Zaneo Noir?

Yeah, let's do this. How is that?

So good, so good. So anyways, the partnership you could get out of the gate, I mean, and here's the thing With a straight debt, in my opinion, you're going to make a lot more money because you're just going to be able to do multiple deals with this borrowed money. But what you get with the partnership, maybe it's a 50/50 split, maybe it's whatever, but you get another set of eyes on the deal. And that's, I think, in the beginning, invaluable in terms of like, okay, you have this deal, you think it's a great deal, you ask another investor to partner with you. Well, if the investor is a good investor, they're going to look at the deal and they're going to say, hey, John, Scott, like, we crazy? I'm not funding this. So they're going to say, yeah, I'm in. And you know that you've got a good deal. So it helps you sort of learn the ropes too. So, um, you might not make as much money, but you still get the other set of eyes on there. And I think that's probably more in line with what would happen with someone who's new. But, and you're probably better off that way. Do you want to go take a bunch of money when you really don't have have a fully deep understanding and grasp of the business? Probably not. But once you do these deals over and over again, it opens up the next possibility of just borrowing money from somebody. So to me, the deal is what's most important. I'd rather be the rainmaker than the moneymaker— the money provider— because I can find deals all day long. Um, I've gone to Uncle Mark with some great deals and it's worked out great. I love— by the way, I love it. I just— this new thing that I didn't discover this until this weekend It's Uncle Mark. All these people keep calling him Uncle Mark. So now it's like the Land Geek is now Uncle Mark when it comes to doing deals together. Uncle Mark is there if you got a good deal.

Yeah.

But you know, it's true. Like, you know, Uncle Mark, Aunt Mildred, they've got money sitting in their bank account doing nothing. Go to them and ask for some advice. Hey, I'm looking for investors, I'm going to pay them, you know, 10, 12%, uh, interest only for the first year and then principal and interest for the next 3 years. And I'm doing these deals and I've, you know, these guys are teaching me. They're kind of crazy, these guys, but I'm learning so much and I'm just implementing what I'm learning. I'm following this recipe. And so, you know, I just would love your advice, like how would you structure this deal if you were me, Aunt Mildred? She's like, oh, 10, 12%. How much you need? Well, I don't know, Aunt Mildred, maybe only $10,000, right? She's like, only $10,000? I was gonna gift that to you anyways. I'll be— I'll make 10%.

Okay.

Yeah, give her promissory notes. You can have her have an unrecorded UCC-1 filing for security. You sell the property on easy terms. You let it season for 3 months, and then you go to Uncle John. They say, Uncle John, you want to buy this note, 50 cents on the dollar? Yeah, heck yeah, I do.

Uncle John always wants to buy notes at 50 cents on the dollar.

And now Uncle John buys a note, and you, you give Aunt Mildred back her money early if you want, and you take that money and you'll do it again.

Yeah.

Or she's like, no, let's just roll, let's keep rolling it. Like, you sure, Mildred? And so there's so many different ways to do it. Yeah. Um, but ultimately there's a way. I mean, even, you know, Fund and Grow— if you go to, uh, I think I have a special link, I'll put in the banner. But like, we'll get you $500 off of Fund and Grow. It's just credit card stacking. It's like a business line of credit if you don't have an Aunt Mildred or an Uncle Mark. But everyone, look, everybody has a rich old core aunt. Everyone does.

So tap into them, especially. And Elizabeth, you know, if they're providing you capital, inevitably on a partnership deal there's going to be a little bit of advice. And even if it's just like, yeah, that's a good deal, no, that's not a good deal, right? It's just kind of, kind of, it's going to happen. Uncle Mike, Grandpa Scott, Cousin Mike, and Little Bro John.

Grandpa Scott. What do you mean, Grandpa Scott? What?

I think someone hit a nerve.

I'm actually a grandfather.

On my birthday?

Happy birthday, Scott.

You're gonna call me Grandpa Scott? I mean, wow. I'm not— I, I will remind everyone I'm the third youngest on this call, though.

That is true.

Yeah.

And I'm in the bottom half.

Yeah. Uh, Jessica Allred, uh, wait, where'd it go? Ask for money, you get advice. You ask for advice, you get money. There you go.

Love it. That's, that's it in a nutshell right there.

Yeah. Uh, question from Kev's— Kev's Jew 96. Uh, did someone mention double closing as a way to not use your capital? You could— when I was gone—

great strategy. We didn't talk about it, but okay. Uh, yeah, absolutely, you can do that, especially when you sell the neighbor for cash, you do a double closing, right?

Yeah, I, I think that one thing that has happened in our community a good bit is the takedown deal too. Where somebody owns a bunch of property and you say, hey, I'd like to buy all of this and I'll do it on this schedule or something like that. And so that way you've got basically a good chunk of inventory lined up, but you can do it just over time, you know. So I don't know if that really solves the funding problem. I guess that's just inventory lined up.

Well, it spreads out how quickly you need the capital because you could wholesale one, then go buy two more.

I mean, yeah, you can pre-market too.

Yeah, yeah, it's a capital conservation play. I mean, I learned this the hard way. I spent a bunch of money on a big deal. I could have just done a takedown deal. I would have learned so much more from it. But I don't want to talk about all their mistakes.

Oh, oh, but if you work with another— like when I was selling all the wholesale deals, then the investors, we built a lot of trust, and then you know, they could help me out with bigger deals, or perhaps, you know, front money. Like, I'd all kind— because I built so much trust because I'd done so many deals with them. And, you know, that's— what better way to build trust is just do a couple deals, right? It's a, it's a great way to sort of get the ball rolling.

Awesome. Well, that was a good, uh, good discussion about other people's money. It's a great other people's money business. We love it. It helps us grow our businesses and scale our businesses.

And that's got Papa Scott. I see all the comments.

Wow. All right, all right, McZanio.

Put that in my chat. McZanio, that's my new nickname. I put it in there. There you go. McZanio, that's my name.

I'm gonna call you McZanio. That's better. Um, uh, but, but I, I think, uh For so many people, I would say this, I think maybe just one last thing that we haven't talked about. So many people are resistant or hesitant or nervous to use other people's money. And that's where the growth really occurs in this business too, right?

Yeah. So—

Big glass ceiling.

Yeah, exactly. Once you learn how to do this and you're doing deals and you're buying and selling and you're doing that with confidence, the, the best way to scale is to use other people's money because, um, you don't want to see your bank account drain to zero every month as you're doing this, right? And you want to buy more inventory and, and, uh, consistently send out mail, right? Um, because the mailing creates opportunity for you. So, uh, look at that, Mark, throwing up the website fundgrow.com/landgeekfunding. That's for the credit card stacking strategy, which I've used in the past actually for, for growing my inventory. Um, it's, it's a helpful service. So that's something, uh, to do when you're first starting up in a business or trying to scale in a business as well.

So yeah, it's a very creative way of doing 0% interest for the first year with like a business line of credit essentially. Yeah, but you have to have good credit. If you don't have great credit, uh, they have a different program for you to improve your credit, uh, for sure. But they've been around forever. We vetted them. Bossman used them. So if you— I mean, I— you know, it's so funny because like I was joking, everybody has a rich aunt, a rich uncle, but if you don't, guess what?

You're it. Yeah.

So it's like, oh wait, I'm the rich uncle. Uh, and so If that's the case, then, you know, you might have to get a little bit more creative. Yeah, especially in the beginning. But, you know, to your point, Scott, like, it's all about confidence, getting educated, and then just talking to friends, family, the community about what you're doing. And people want to help. Everyone loves to help somebody. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so it's great. Uh, we gotta give some shoutouts to people who are on here. Todd Williams, Brad Kelly, Michael Martinez, Mike Caviey, Ethan Lutz. Uh, he said a shout out to Scott's Corner.

Oh, he's just giving me a shout out.

Oh yeah, yeah, it's— yeah, Mike, another shout out, another shout.

And, and it actually says shout out on there, so Just saying. Yeah, so it's like, oh, he's not frozen. No, he's back.

Okay, I was pretending.

Oh, okay. Ethan, good to see you. Ethan, uh, Ethan just began his journey, uh, in land investing. Uh, young guy actually from Idaho, John. And, um, yeah, he's, he's gonna do really great in this business as well. So it's been fun, uh, having a, having a few calls with you, Ethan, and getting to know you. So looking forward to seeing what you do.

French fries all day long. Land and french fries.

Yeah, yeah. Sean Love's got a question.

I love—

hey, Sean Love, what up, Sean?

Uh, if you're partnering with someone for the first time, is it better to wholesale the properties and build trust, or better to wait for retail deals so you can get them the highest yield? Dude, buddy, I feel like that's a birthday question for you.

Okay, if you're partnering with someone for the first time, is it better to wholesale the properties and build trust, or better to wait for retail deals so you can get them the highest yield? I mean, I, I think, um, I, I think whatever moves the money, Sean, your investor is probably going to be happy with, right? So, you know, if you wholesale the properties and make a quick profit, your investor is gonna be happy. If it, you know, takes you a little while to sell the properties retail, but you're still giving the investor a nice return, they're gonna be happy. So, yeah, I don't know if I— I think what I would do is just put your energy into marketing the land. And the buyer will come. And who knows, you may get a retail cash deal, right? And then you're both going to be really happy. So, put your energy into the marketing and into the sales and the sales will come. And, you know, whether it's wholesale, retail, Holiday Inn, as Mike Zano says. That was nice.

I think you're—

Hotel, retail, Holiday Inn.

I think your investor is going to be happy. And I think it just comes down to, you know, I can imagine if you've already secured money from this person, they already trust you, right? So, um, yeah, so, so, so they're excited to work with you, and I'm sure it's gonna, um, it's gonna be fruitful, uh, fruitful relationship for both of you. Hopefully that helps.

Yeah, John, see how that feels when someone gives such a thorough answer? Now there's no nothing left for you to say.

I know, I'll just, I just say all— there's one thing for me to say. Which is, I concur.

Oh, hey, I got it!

I got the— I got the pity shout out from Rick Colcock.

Thank you, Rick.

I will still take it.

Pity shout out's better than no shout out. But I think we need to do something before John goes and jumps in that— yeah, on lake body of water. I think we need to sing a little happy birthday. Oh, ready, John? Cue it up. Where's your guitar? You didn't bring it with you?

Where's my—

I've got a guitar. I could go get a guitar.

How long would it take you?

Uh, 2 minutes.

All right, I'll talk for 2 minutes. Get the guitar.

Oh, this is exciting.

Do it! I love it!

The first ever guitar debut on—

this is gonna be awesome.

This is gonna be— this is a really special nightcap.

This is a very special nightcap.

But yeah, you have to sing your own birthday song because you do have the best voice.

I'm not singing Happy Birthday to myself.

Is that weird?

It's a little strange.

Yeah, is it weird to sing your own birthday song even if you have the best voice?

Uh, here's a question. Let's answer a question. Uh, Chammy Garcia, uh, had a lead on an acre in Torrance County, New Mexico. Mike, we've done some deals there. But found out that no RVing or camping, no water. So now I have to change my marketing to off-gridders.

Yeah, pink for everybody, as Mark says. Uh, it's so true. Listen, um, someone out there is going to love that property. That's just the way it is, you know. Um, uh, I won't go singing Sawyer Brown again, but that was a great analogy. But the reality is that, uh, there's always somebody out there that's going to love the property, right? So You just have to now embrace what Taria was talking about and market to that correct avatar. All right, do you know the happy birthday? Nobody cares, you just play guitar, we'll sing it.

Good luck. I mean, this— can it get any better than John Burnett sitting on a dock with crickets chirping and holding his guitar. Yeah, exactly.

Singing birthday songs for Bossman.

John, you tell us when to start singing.

Okay, I don't know if this is in tune, so this might be just—

don't worry, my bad singing is gonna like totally drown out the guitar.

All right, I think this is gonna totally blow up my channel, by the way. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, everybody!

Happy birthday, dude buddy! Wow, happy birthday to you! I think we're all in.

And many more That was amazing.

That was one of the best renditions.

Listen to that every night before you go to bed.

Yeah, one of the best I've ever heard. And I, I, I, uh, I may need to, uh, just, you know, uh, may need to repurpose that so I can listen to it every year for sure.

So appreciate it.

I appreciate you guys.

John's not gonna get the joke, but it would be really cool if like Scott just had a gong and just gonged us off. It's like, Scott, why did you gong off the nightcap, guys, on seeing your birthday?

The Gong Show.

Oh man, that's the one where the thing would come out and it was like a cane and would pull him off the stage. An unknown comic.

Yeah, yeah, no comic. And they, they'd gong them off the stage if they were terrible.

Yeah, it was like, uh, you know, the 1970s version of America's Got Talent. Really was.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, my favorite show growing up, I think, was Solid Gold.

I wonder why.

Do you remember that? That was a great Music show, Scott. Solid, Solid Gold. It was dancers and music back. You remember that?

Solid Gold. Solid Gold was amazing. Are you kidding me?

You know, by the way, they're bringing it back. Did you guys know that? No. Really? Yeah, they're bringing back Solid Gold on Netflix.

John's like, what's this Solid Gold you speak of?

Stuart. Yeah, Stuart liked it for the same reason you didn't like it.

The Dancing Machine.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh man, well, this is great. I really, uh, hey, hanging out any day of the week. You guys want to hang out, drink wine, and talk land, just ring me up.

Brad Kelly, thanks, uh, for a super fun night, uh, and Um, yeah, I'm still mad at you though. Mad at you for, for what you said. But, uh, come to Dirt Rich Summit and Julie is right, A for effort.

We got a whole year to practice.

Yeah, that's great. Oh man, awesome guys. Well, thanks everybody for a good night. This is a lot of fun, uh, as always. Uh, we should we should have said earlier in the call, I always forget to do this. But next week, remind me guys, we gotta ask earlier in the call any topics you guys want us to talk about next week. That's why we're here. We're here to help. We're here to, you know, talk about what can help you move forward as land investors. So if anything comes to mind, anything you want us to talk about, let us know. Thanks for throwing that up, Mark. If you want to have a conversation about land investing and where, you know, where you are now in life and and maybe where you want this business to take you, schedule a call at thelandgeek.com/training. And any of us would be happy to chat with you.

Forward slash.

I said slash, I mean, can I just say slash or?

Well, I don't know if that might, they might hit something wrong. It should be forward slash.

Maybe we'll do one of those. Oh, okay, yeah.

I don't want anybody to go to the wrong one. I don't know what they'll find at slash, but they'll find they'll find us.

Oh, all right. Yeah, thanks, Mike.

I love you, dude.

Buddy, love you guys. Have a good night. Love you guys. Thank you.