I'm Too Old to Start Investing

A Land Geek YouTube livestream (hosts Mark J. Podolsky, John Burnett, Scott Bossman, Mike Zaino) dismantles the idea that age is a barrier to starting land investing. The panel argues older beginners often have advantages — wisdom, focus, motivation, equity and ability to delegate/partner — and describes practical entry tactics (land arbitrage/wholesaling, owner-financing, MLS/listing services, using home equity or partners). They emphasize community benefits (coaching, networking, summit) and routine/habits as catalysts for long-term success while repeatedly inviting viewers to join Land Geek programs and upcoming events.
Chapters
I once dined on steak with a candle soft glow. But the bill left my savings despairingly low. Now wisdom has taught me so simple, so grand. Eat baloney, buy land. Eat baloney, buy land. Play the fork for the deed in your hand. Get fulfilling, let the sandwiches stand. Your fortune will grow when you buy your own land. I'm supposed to do an opening after that. That was phenomenal.
Is it bad that I've been, like, singing this to myself for like three weeks?
Okay, that is so good. I like. We need to put a link to that song. I want to listen to that song. That is legitimately good and legitimately inspiring. I am going to buy baloney and buy land. In the meantime, for those of you that are here, we're live. And you might be thinking, I'm 50. I should have started investing decades ago.
It's.
It's too late now. By the time I figure this out, I'll be ready for the nursing home. Or maybe you're 60, retired and watching inflation eat your fixed income while telling yourself, real estate is a young person's game. I missed my shot. We hear this all the time. People convinced age is a barrier. They see 25 year old house flippers on social media and think that ship has sailed. But here's the truth. Some of our most successful land investors started after 50. They built wealth quickly because they had what you can't buy. Wisdom, patience, and experience. In today's episode, we're dismantling the myth that you're too old to start and showing why age might actually be your biggest advantage. Even if you've graduated out of bologna.
Sandwiches.
It'S not cat, fellas.
I mean, I think, I think baloney. You know, there's a lot of baloney in the early years, and there's a lot of baloney in the late years. I think in the. In the middle, we kind of leave it alone, but we come back to it eventually.
Baloney sandwich.
Baloney.
Baloney in the end. And then Brad in the middle. I don't know.
Can I request a bologna playlist?
Yeah.
Like all different jobs. It's so good. It is so good. We'll play it at Derrick Summit. Yeah, we should.
Yeah. John's got them all. He'll send them. He'll send them over.
Land that'll be on a shirt. People gonna want them.
Yeah, I. I want. I did find. I've been looking for baloney memorabilia, and so one idea I had was baloney badges. It's just like a pink circle with your name in it. And then they do have baloney sticky pads, which is just a piece. I mean, it's just pink circles.
How about a baloney mouse pad?
Oh, I like that. Also, just the pink circle. It's pretty easy, product wise.
I love it. Oh, young Dean hanquist. What about 65? He's already. He's already asking. Let's. Okay, can we get on topic here?
Are we.
Are we too old for investing? All right, so. So, dude buddy, let's just start with you, Skyrim. I'm too old to keep waiting, so. Good. Dude buddy, quick question. Who are we? What do we do? Why are we talking about this?
So we are Land Geeks. We're land investors. And we're members of the land geek community, which was established by our very favorite and famous Mark Podolski in the upper right over there. We don't have names over here, but that's Mark Podolski the Land Geek. Check out Dirt Rich on Amazon and Audible. But we all discovered you, Mark, somewhere along the line on a podcast or on an Instagram ad or maybe even in the public library for the older folks. Right? And we find this guy who talks about land investing. And it's an amazing real estate model because it's easy. There are no tenants, termites, toilets, no rodents, rehabs, renovations. You can get into it for cheap. It doesn't take a ton of time. It's not overly complicated. But the really cool thing about this business is we can scale it with people and systems and automation, and we can buy our time back with this business. And we're big on owner. We like to own refinance land. Right. Because that creates a passive income for us that leads eventually to time freedom. We love a cash deal as well. So that's who we are. We're land investors. I'm Scott Bosman.
We've got below Scott Bossman, Nicknames Dude Buddy, the Nightcap og. We've got Handsome Rob John Brunette. And we've got the Breathe in the mailing, Breathe out the marketing. The Zen master, Mike Zano. So Handsome Rob John Burnett. Oh, Dean, Hank was signed up today. Okay. We gotta give him congrats. Congrats. If you guys don't know what the flight school is, we should drop a link to learn more about that. But anyways, Handsome Rob John Burnett, you're the youngest of. Of the group.
Yeah.
And you know, the. The question is, like, can anyone be too old for land investing? Let's break it down. Definitely.
So, I mean, the way I think about it is that a lot of it just has to do with, like. So in one sense, no, Right. Like, you can jump into this older, you can jump into this younger. I jumped into this when I was 27, was when I, when I started. Other people have started later. We've seen people start a lot older and be really successful. A lot of it comes down to, like, following the recipe, right? We spell out the recipe. You need to be able to. You follow the recipe, you do the work, and then you see the results. Now with that, like, it's an online business, right? And you need to be able to operate in an online world, right? And so if the, the idea of being within three feet of a computer gives, like, start sending you into connections, you know, then maybe it's not the right, the right fit for you. But I've also seen people, like, I've got a friend who wasn't the most tech savvy and just focused really heavily on delegation. There's a lot of things that you can do to learn. So you do need to, like, be able to operate online. There's an online business, but with that being said, like, it's a, it's just a proven recipe. It's a simple model. And so if you can do the work and if you can learn and apply your learning, then it can work for you.
I love it. Zen Master, what are your thoughts?
I think Scott said something about buying back your time that really triggered me in a good way.
Like, triggered a bad way. Like, are you upset?
No, I said that maybe. Anyway, not. I digress. So because you get older, you recognize the time, right? I mean, yes, it's nice when you're younger. 27. By the way, how old are you now, John? Are you like, 30 something?
I'm 28, so I'm 35. Yeah.
Oh, my goodness.
He's got the Benjamin Button thing going.
Buying back our time, Mark. I mean, you know, you see it when you get a little bit older, you realize how precious it is to. With the time that you do have left. So I think there's more motivation there. So. And I. Starting later in life. Yeah, I mean, we'd all like to start sooner. You know, I, I was just at a. A jiu jitsu camp up in Mendocino, and there was the world champion guy that I said, you know, I just wish I started the sun. He goes, mike, you ask anybody here, including me. Everybody's gonna say the same thing. They wish they started younger. Everybody's gonna say that. But the most important thing is that you're here doing it now, right? You're doing it now. You know what, what's the other option? Throw the towel in, call it quits? Like that's it, I guess. Well, that life was good. It's, you know that that's not going to happen. Right. We have to have some hope that we can create time freedom, especially when the time we have is starting to, we can see the horizon. Right. And, and have this real sort of, you know, honest look at ourselves and what's going on and, and, and realize that, yeah, this is how important it is that I'm gonna spend three years, five years building something really significant so then I can really enjoy my life. So I think, I think there's more motivation. When you start older, you're more focused. You see the real reason why you're doing this. Yeah. Younger. Yes. Younger people. Yes. Out there. Yes. I know you can be focused. Obviously John was focused at 27. I'm just saying when you take a look at the, your life and you, and you realize the, with true perspective, what's going on, I think you're just going to be dialed in. You're going to be ultra focused and you can harness that to be successful.
Yeah, I, I love that. And you see so many times for the, the people that are attracting those younger, the younger crowd into like the E comm game or some biz op or, or crypto and it's some, you know, bulky dude in front of his Lambo and it's all ego, right? As if, you know, the, the subtle or not so subtle message to the, to the youngster is, hey, you know, you're, you're just kind of forming your identity. But if you want to get, you know, a great life and, and you know, the, the woman of your dreams, the house of your dreams, the car of your dreams, do this right? And to your point, like when you get older, that ego kind of goes down and you're, you're more purpose driven. Reminds me of Pastor Larry Merle. He was in his, this is mid-60s, wasn't he, when he started? And his. Why was. His grandkids. It was for his grandkids. And that guy is a pastor. He's working what, 50, 60 hours a week plus his land business and he, he did so well. Rest in peace, Larry. And just on the golf course one day and that. That was it. But what is interesting about that is that he had the legacy as well. So he, he left his spouse and his family in a better place with these assets and with that passive income than if He. If he was just relying on something else.
So.
It'S, you know, Mike, to your point, like, having that purpose when you're older and that wisdom and not having such a big ego in the beginning and knowing why you're doing it. I think you're.
And.
And, dude, buddy, you can. You can disagree with me. I think you're. You have more grit when you're older, too. Like, you've. You've gotten. Life's kind of beating you up a little bit and, you know, like, oh, I'm gonna come back, like, nothing. Really. You've gotten your road rash. I mean, what do you. What do you think?
No, I'm not gonna disagree with you there. I'll totally agree with you. I mean, you have your experiences to draw upon in this whole business. You're. You're more mature, you're more focused, you're less distracted by the shiny objects, right? You bring your mistakes to the table and. And think, hey, I already did this. I'm not doing that again. Your. Your frontal cortex is developed, right? John's getting there, but it's.
I mean, it's a very small frontal cortex.
But. But no, I think. I think for a lot of people who are considering getting into this, you know, and I. And I found it when I was 40, right? And I think by then I had had some good life experience. I had worked, you know, I'd been a PT for 15 years. I'd worked in a lot of different areas. I needed something else to challenge my brain. I needed something else. I needed to, you know, I had some goals in mind that my career was not going to be able to help me accomplish, and I was able to take a chance, but I was able to take my discipline and apply it to this business and my experience with school and apply to this business because if you're, like, if you were a student back in the day, I find those people are really good. If you went to college, you're really good in this business because you just have to follow, like, a curriculum and you need to do your homework.
And if.
If you're in a. If you're in a customer service business, like healthcare or maybe your teacher, I find those people are really good in this business because there's a lot of talking to people. And, you know, if you're in real estate, obviously you're gonna be great in this business, but if you're in it, you're going to be great in this business for so many tech tools. So, like, I look at our Landi community And everybody brings their own gifts to the table which make their land business work. And that could be 10 or 20 or 30 or even 40 years of experience that you've had in the rear window bringing it to something new. So, like Dean's, Dean Hanquist, you know, hand it to Dean today, right? He's 65, he's, he's on the verge of retirement, so he's excited, you know, and I think for, for those people who are maybe a little bit older, it does give us a little bit of, I don't know, lights a little, gives us a little bit more purpose maybe too, if we're, if we have something new to learn and some new goals to reach and maybe some people to provide for in the end. So.
Yeah, no, I love that. I mean, John, what, what do you think about. I mean, you kind of brought it up where it's, it's someone who's older, right? And because we're the land geek, we're all geeks, so we're very tech savvy. We're using AI and we want to automate everything. It could be intimidating for somebody who, who's not real tech savvy and they're a little bit older. How would you dissuade them from even doing this business? Or how would you, how would you navigate that?
I think it depends on the level, right? So, you know, if somebody is like, I only use a flip phone and I go to the library to check my email, right? Then I'm like, okay, like, let's, let's back up a little bit, right? Maybe not, maybe not the right fit. But if you are somebody who's able to learn, like, there's a lot of things you can learn on, on YouTube, right? If you're like, okay, I can navigate my way around the Internet, I can visit websites, I can check the news, I can check my email, I can write emails, send emails, and I can watch YouTube videos, right? And learn stuff, right? And so you can learn stuff and maybe it's a little bit harder for you to apply, but you are determined to actually to do it, to learn and apply it, and you're able to do that, then I think that you're in a fine spot and able to learn and grow. The other thing is that, like, one thing, like, I have a friend who started this when he was a little bit older, has a successful land investment business and he delegated automation, right? So when you needed to automate something, instead of like digging into all of the text and figuring tech and figuring out, like, how do I automate this thing? He just figured out how to bring people onto his team that could do that for him. So even when it comes to some of the techie stuff, you can still delegate some of those pieces.
I love it. I love Daniel Bryant. Had some comments. Michael leon. In my 50s and hopefully retiring three years. Excited to get in land business. Never thought of age thing. Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's kind of funny because, you know, the three of us are in our 50s. Like, I don't really feel my age and I even. My parents are in their 80s. Like, they don't feel their age.
They're.
They're still, like, my dad's still extremely immature. Extremely. And my mom puts up with them. But, you know, but he's, you know, he's. He's in his 80s and. But they're living this great life. They, they're social, they go out to eat, they can still travel, they walk. My mom gets on the treadmill even though she's a pacemaker. My dad plays golf. But they have a purpose. And I think that that's, I mean, Mike, I think that's the key, right, Is like, why, like, we got, like, I don't think we should ever retire. Like, we gotta get up and do something. So, Mike, make the argument, like, if I'm in my 50s or 60s or 70s, in my 80s, why would I wake up and do this?
Yeah, good. Good question. And I was thinking too, as John was talking, that older friend, he was, what's he, like, 40? John, you said you had this older friend at the start of the business. Was he like, 40.
The 38?
38, yeah. I was thinking when Scott was. I'm kind of echoing. What Scott was saying is like, why can't this just be the purpose in and of itself? You know, because, you know.
To do.
Nothing, you know, this whole idea of retiring, doing nothing is. Just doesn't suit me well. And I'm sure a lot of people feel this, feel the same way. It's like, how about, this could be the purpose, right? And it's not a bad purpose. And you can use it to make money and you can go out, but you have something to do every day that's going to challenge you. It's going to help you grow mentally. It's, you know. So I think this in and of itself can be its own purpose. It doesn't have to drive towards something else.
Yeah.
It doesn't have to be even about the money. It can be just. I mean, I think honestly, I Think money is just a byproduct of the value we bring. And it's kind of like one of those funny paradoxes. Like when you chase money, it, it's elusive, right? But when you just chase helping people and providing them the asset that lasts forever, nothing maintained, nothing protect, can't be destroyed. And, and make it affordable, you get this byproduct of the value you create called money that you can do other things with. And so I think as, as we get older, we have that sort of advantage as well where, you know, we don't have that. You know, we're not chasing anything anymore. In a way. In a way, right? We, I think like your 20s and your 30s. Sorry, John. Like, you're still, like, you're still forming your identity. And you, you know, you sort of have that existential crisis in your 40s and 50s when you're on the back nine, so to speak. And you're, you're, you're evaluating what your life is about and what, what it's, you know, the meaning you're creating and, and the, the things that you want to do with your family if you haven't done them, say the things that, that are unsaid and, you know, it's about your relationships and your community, your faith and your spirituality. But this could be your vocation, not a job, your vocation, your calling. And I think that's really exciting, especially as we get older, to have that and find that if you're, it's. Look, if you get it when you're younger, more power to you. Absolutely. I would say you're precocious. I think most of the time in your 20s, you're just kind of knocking around. You don't know what you like, you don't know what you're good at. You're kind of knocking around and you're figuring it out. And then your 30s, hopefully, if you figured it out, but then, you know, you're still kind of ego and you're preparing and you're miserable and, you know, you're like, john, and you got five kids and like, life is like just one long day. But then you get to like, graduated from it all and it's like, oh, like just a different pace.
Dude.
Buddy, what do you think?
No, you're exactly right. I think one of the great things about the. One of, One of the great things about what you have created, Mark, is, is you're exactly right. It's not all about money. Like, I have grown professionally in the last 10 years. I have made some really amazing friends. I have learned things that I never thought I would be able to do. Right. And the fact that I have been able to do those things as a result of this community and make some really amazing friendships and lifelong connections, I mean, it's, it's a whole. I mean, that's a whole other part. That's a whole nother part in Land Geek, in my opinion. You know, we're, we're all going to gather here in about two months and about a month and a half in Austin, Texas for the, for the dirt rich summit, and it's going to be a meeting of minds and it's going to be a meeting of, of old friends, it's going to be a meeting of new friends. It's going to be a meeting of a community of people who all believe in this business model, because the business model really does. It really does the same thing for everybody. It creates if, if you, if you do it how you teach it, Mike, Mark. It results in more time for us and more time for our family. It's really cool to belong to a group of people like that, in my opinion. And I mean, we're gonna, I mean, we're in this for the, for the long haul, right?
Yeah. No, I love that. John, would you rather join a pickleball club or hang out with, like, the land geek community?
I mean, can I do both? Can we have a land.
You absolutely can do both. You absolutely can. Yeah, I don't, I don't think. Yeah, but which would you, like, if I said, hey, you get to do this or this, which would you pick?
I mean, 100. I would want to be in the lane geek community over at pickleball club. But I also, I mean, I was just thinking while Scott was talking, like, I, I feel like I've grown so much in, like, just building this business. It's funny, Mark, because Valerie and I, we were on the podcast like, years and years and years ago, and then we were on, you know, more recently, and it's crazy watching the one from a long time ago because I can hardly even recognize myself myself. Like, it's, it's just crazy how much I've grown in just building this business and making all this happen. So it's, it's great. And then I echo Scott. Like, I still, I meet with people every single week, you know, and just talking about our land, investing businesses and catching up and it's great. I've, I've built very good, very strong friendships out of the community.
Yeah, no, absolutely. Zen Master. I Mean, not. Look, I. I know Scott's gonna hate me for saying this. Oh, there goes the bromance. I will say that if you are lucky enough to have a look at this. I'm not gonna say it. Fine, I'm gonna say it.
Go ahead. Just block him out.
Let me block him out.
So.
So, like, Jessica Tran, who's one of our coaching clients, she had to have. She got to have a mindset call with Mike, and she's like, it changed my life. Right? Like, we're not. We're not. We don't have those opportunities in life to really bond with. With people that, you know that often.
Right.
Like, in my life, like, that's the power of this community, is I can be myself, I can be real, I can be vulnerable. I can share my fears, because we all have the same kind of fears. Writing that check for a piece of land, you know, did I screw up my due diligence? You know, should I do this big bulk deal, you know, that kind of thing? And, you know, to go to somebody like Mike or Scott or John, who've been there, and it's like they care, but they're not emotionally attached. And I think that's that. And Scott, you said it like, it's something we don't really. I think tout enough is, like, you find your people here, and it lasts years and years because we're all on the same journey. And it's not. It's not about the money. It's not about the passive income. Yes. It's about the freedom. But within that freedom and comes deepening relationships, because I can't deepen my relationship with all you guys. Like tonight, if I'm. If I'm grinding away all day and I'm exhausted for my, you know, my W2 or whatever it is. Not that there's anything wrong with the W2, right? We gotta start somewhere. But there's. There's something else out there to help you to become more free. Zen master, what are your thoughts?
Yeah, totally aligned. That I think the personal development is huge. You know, this is just a vehicle that can truly help us just grow in so many different ways. And, you know, I've enjoyed just applying different principles, life principles into the business and using the business as a way to grow also. You know, obviously, we're all talking community here. I've just. From mailing an offer letter, I've met an incredible. I've built relationships with people that I've actually bought land from. And, you know, I have one, you know, Jack, a Friend of mine, I've known him for a decade now. Very close. Another friend, mentor. Just a. Just an incredible person that I met because I mailed a letter to a subdivision that he owned. And, you know, that has just deepened. You know, all. It's just created such a. An awesome friendship, you know, and so there's so many parts of this that are just beyond buying and selling land. Right. The personal development community you're talking about. And.
Yeah.
I mean, you might even meet a new best friend by just sending him an awful letter and getting a random phone call. It's pretty awesome.
Yeah. No, it's. It's incredible. Not that this is the same. I mean, it's different. But I remember. Remember Dr. Demick, remember the deal with the sisters?
Yeah.
So he sends an offer letter to. To this woman, and the three sisters haven't talked to each other in 20 years. They're estranged. They don't even remember why. They're not even talking. Right. Like, it's one of those things. It's like, wait, why don't we met each other? Why don't we talk? But the land deal brings them together because they all have to sign the deed. And it, like, he. Like, by making this offer and buying this land, he literally changed his family's dynamic in one land transaction. I know it's not the same as you having a close relationship, Jack, but. But it is. You know, we always.
Therapy, you know, it's real. You know, like, when you buy a property from somebody, many times it's an older couple. They've used the property years ago, and then now it's just kind of sitting there. They kind of forget about it. But then you start talking to them, and. And they go through this whole process of remembering why they bought it, the things they did with their kids. You know, maybe they were camping, RVing on it, and now it's sitting there. They're really just letting it go. Right. And this is their way of doing that through this land therapy. Now you need to. You're a witness to it, and then you buy it from them, and they're happy. And then you turn around, you help somebody else. Like, their dream is, you know, is coming to an end, but somebody else's dream is bubbling, and we're right there in the middle between both of them. We're right in the middle of these two dreams that are happening. So it's pretty awesome. It really is. Land therapy is real.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. And that's one of the. The great in, you know, things about an Intake manager. Because at some point you graduate from being that land therapist and you can't hear the conversation. You can't have the same conversation again, and you outsource it to an intake manager, and that's their job. It's one of the. The, you know, the. The best pieces of. Of buying back your time as well. Holy cow. Scott, what does this say? Am I reading this right?
I think it's from Robertson.
In the business together. Yeah.
Yeah. He just says that he's here at 72 with no plans to retire. Played with dirt as a kid, and here I am again. So that's amazing. And we had a. We had a comment earlier from Michael. You know, he's. He's in his 50s, hopefully retiring in three years, excited to get in the land business. Never thought of the age. Well, you already read that, Mark. But he also said this has been the most focused and determined part of. Of his life. And, And I can. I can echo that. Like, I think I was in a lot of pain when I started this, and I was never so focused, I think, to remedy a situation. Right. Or to just feel at ease or to not feel stressed about finances or to not or to. Or to be able to spend more time with my kids. Right. So I love that, you know, the focus, Michael, is going to pay off for you, right? The focus now is going to pay. Is going to reap rewards later for you, which is really awesome.
Yeah. I mean, you know, Scott, you. You work with the. The elderly, right?
I do.
I don't. I mean, I don't know how you defined it, but you work with older people who are in pain in physical therapy, as a physical therapist. And so I've always heard. And I think my parents actually sort of embody this. Like, it's my ages. Like, aging is a mindset. Like, I. I feel like my parents have opted out of aging. Like, they can't physically do the things they want to do, but mentally, like, they're still, like, doing it. Like, they're still dreaming. Like, my parents are like, oh, you want to go on a cruise? I'm like, no, I don't like you guys. It's, like, not safe anymore. You know, like 83. Like, it's just physically very hard for them to do Europe. It's a tough place to go. But, like, they want to do it.
So.
I feel it's safer if they want to do the land business with me. Honestly, I think it'd be great.
But.
But to that point, like, what, like, what do you see in the differences of somebody who, you know, is, is older physically, but mentally and physically, they're, they're vivacious, right? They've got a lust for life versus the person who's waking up and they're in pain. And you can, you can sense their, they are, they, they literally are old and they've, they act old.
Well, there's so many, it's multifactorial, right? I mean, there, there are just so many things that contribute to an elder person's health. It's physical movement. It's, it's, it's mental movement like we talked about last week, right. I think people who read and write and engage mentally in classes and that type of thing, they just do better in the long run. It's support system, right? It's what you subject your body to over the years. Right? So, you know, that's a big question. Right. But I guess I would say there, you know, when, when I, when I come across the folks who are.
Who.
Are really mentally sharp and they're, they're physically in good shape, in their 90s or even 100 plus, I've met these people, you know, they just, they make it a point to have a routine for themselves, physically, mentally, emotionally. And routine is really big, I think, right? So I think, and routine is big in this business. So, so I think if you guys could just, you know, create a routine for yourselves to do this business and then just keep a routine, it's, that's what leads to longevity. And Mike, Mike Zano's laughing or smiling at me for some reason.
Oh, John. I'm curious, John, did they teach you cursive? Are you too young for that?
Oh, I, I, Yes, I, I, I just.
Because you talk about lifelong learning. I, Mark, I can't see it because of the fuzzy, but I got my cursive book because it's kind of like I always print and like, cursive is like an art form. I don't know if they even teach that to the kids.
They don't teach it anymore.
They don't teach cursive.
Wow.
My, my daughter is like learning cursive right now.
I think it depends on the, depends on the school or whatever.
But, yeah, lifelong learning. I'm relearning how to do my cursive so I can do my diary in cursive. And then later on, my great grandkids will have to have it translated. I love it.
I mean, I mean, John, you know, based on what Scott said, would we be, would it be too much of an exaggeration? To say that the land business is the fountain of youth.
I mean, I was expecting what Scott was saying. The one thing they have in common, I expected it was going to be. They're all land investors.
Yeah, exactly. They're in their 90s and their hundreds, and they're mailing and marketing every day. You know, they're. They're running a robust land business.
Do you remember that movie Cocoon? Mark? Remember Cocoon?
Oh.
Oh, yeah.
First of all, I love that movie.
No, they would land in.
Oh, my gosh. I make jokes all the time to my parents. I love talking about my parents. It was like, oh, we're sick of your parents. Like, like on this. On this Viking cruise. If you guys ever go to a Viking cruise, I would say to my parents all the time, I feel like an extra. On the set of Cocoon, we were, like, by, like, by far the youngest people there by, like, 20 years. 30 years is awesome.
Do you know. Do you know. Have you guys seen that. That meme online about Cocoon and Wilford Brimley? Do you remember that guy? So he was. He was the older.
He was a cleat guy, right?
Yeah. But do you know, Mark, that when he filmed that movie, he was like, 49 years old or something?
What? No.
Yeah. It's crazy. It. It's, like, insane. It's like, it makes us look amazing. Like, you know, 50s, the new 30. But, yeah, I'll. I'll look it up. But there's a meme that shows Wilford Brimley at 49 or 50 versus me at 49 or 50. Like, what?
Wow.
Well, no one.
I mean, no wonder he's doing those crazy stunts.
Oh, man.
Unbelievable.
So the land business. Look. Look what the land business has done to us. It keeps us young. It does hold bigger.
Exactly. Because we're waking up. Yeah. We know what we're doing. Like, we have a routine.
I'm actually 85. Fun facts.
Yeah.
Zed Master, are you. What are you doing?
I was just looking up that guy. You're right. He was.
He was 49.
Looks way older.
That's crazy.
It's crazy. He was 49 during the filming of Cocoon.
Wow. I. I don't even know where we go from here. I think we just end this. I think we end the show now. Like, what else is there to say?
That's it.
We got a lot of comments coming in, questions.
We haven't even question.
This topic has struck a chord. We've got a lot of comments from everybody. Thanks for. Thanks for chiming. In, James has had, had the dream to own property. Many different ideas to expand on that. Can't wait until you can join this community. Anna is here. She's 51.9 and excited about this new life venture.
I love that. I do too. That's 51.9. By the way. What age do you stop counting? Like months, like John, you got young kids, like how old you are? Yeah, I mean, we've two and a.
Half month old, so. Yeah, I mean at some point you're like, I'm 10, 50 months. That's probably a little bit high.
Yeah.
Steve Ailer. Oh, he has a question about the dirt rich summit. What? Steve, I'll, I'll find this out for you. You also know what time the first session is on the 6th and the last session on the 8th. I'll, I'll, I'll check for you. While we're on the call here, here's a question.
Make it, just, just make it happen.
Just. Yeah, I mean, if you get in late, late Wednesday night, the 5th, you're in good shape. And then I think the last session on the eighth ends at around noon or something like that, doesn't it, Mark? Maybe.
No, we, we. I, I'm later here. You guys talk about yourselves. I'll find the agenda. Hold on.
All right. Okay. This is from Paul Sable. Paul, this, this podcast is for 50 and above, so we don't. No, just kidding. So Paul, Paul's a younger guy and yet he's active duty. Active duty military. So good to see you. Good to see you here. Paul, his question. Here we go. I'm gonna hit, I'm gonna hit Mike Zano with this one. This one's from Paul. Mike, how do I get this business moving forward effectively when I'm just In my early 20s, poor kid, recently married and doesn't have that much capital for getting this business going.
Yeah, well, one of the simplest ways we, we talk about it often is land arbitrage. I mean, you can literally control a property through an agreement and a payment and then sell it through another agreement and a higher payment and make the spread and you don't have to buy the property outright. So go into our Facebook group. There's people offering. Now what I always little just advice is just treat anybody in there selling as wholesale or land arbitrage like you got an accepted offer and run the due diligence, run the numbers. Never feel like there's an emergency where you need to. There's never, as Tate Litchfield always says, no land emergencies. Right. Go through a few of them, like look at somebody, what they're offering, run, look to the market, see what they're selling for in the market, see if it looks good, do that a few times, get familiar and then, then pull the trigger and buy one. You know, you got a low holding cost, you sell it quickly and you make the spread and you don't need much capital to do that.
So. Mike. But, but, but Mike, what about, I mean you, you created the wealth pretty quickly. I think you should talk about that strategy for Paul as well.
It's called wholesaling. So when I first started 40 plus thousand in debt, you know, I needed to create cash. So I bought these small properties, 4, 5, $600, and then I would flip it to another investor. So the wholesale play, they would sell to the end user. Once I got two or three investors that I knew one of these properties, the disposition was almost immediate. So I just unleashed all my, all my money that I had into mailing and acquiring properties and then just making cash. You know, wasn't the model that we're all after. The recurring income, but it certainly served its purpose in the beginning, allowed me to pay off the, some debt and build up some capital to go to the next step.
Yeah, I, I love it. I feel like I, I've become a passive income snob now. It's like, oh, you don't have a passive income. You're not doing a note. Like, what are you doing? Cash is trash. You know what depends, like if, if it's gonna solve your money problem. Yes, it's solve your money problem first. There's nothing wrong with it. Yeah, yeah. Which, which means to say like 50 of what I say.
Just ignore.
If it doesn't apply to you, it doesn't apply.
And look who's here. My karate buddy, Kenneth Green.
Kenneth Green.
We have another young man.
He's a youngster.
I, I think you have some great advice though, right? The business is great, but the family, you develop without worrying about the money you make or trying to take another's deals. There's so much to be made in terms of dollars. I still struggle with technology, but who cares? It won't make me quit. And I'm older and more active than all you youngsters.
Yeah, Ken's been going a long time in the land business. Ken, where in the world are you? Every time he pops up, he's like, oh, I'm in Europe, I'm in Colorado.
In the world is.
He's in Italy.
And it's Green.
He's In Italy.
I'm guessing your guess is Italy for some reason.
My guess is going to be Croatia.
I think he's been parked in Italy a while, hasn't he? Oh, Ken, where are you? Throw it in the chat. No, go ahead. Okay. Daniel's throwing out some tips for Paul, which I love. Again, community, helping community. Right. Oh, and something to touch on what Ken, Kenneth Green said there. Right. He, he said that basically we're not worried about stealing deals from others. And I think if you're just tuning into this and you're wondering, hey, you know, there's all these people teaching how to do this and that type of thing. And Mark, how many people have you taught in the last 10 or 15 years doing this? And you know what? The market's so big, like so big. Like we aren't worried about it.
No, I was just talking about that today. I was on a webinar today. I was telling the story of how I started teaching and I didn't want to teach.
Right.
Analyze how big the market was. I'm like, this is ridiculous. Of course I should teach it.
Yeah.
And there's no big money in it. It's all little cottage industries. No private equity groups, no hedge funds. They have too much money. This niche, honestly, it is the best passive income. It really is a model, I should say. What's better? I'll tell you what's better is life insurance because it's just an idea but it's, that's way more competitive and, and you know, who wants to go to a life insurance, you know, summit, but a dirt ridge summit for sure. And Steve, to answer your question, we start at 9 on that Thursday. We end at 3:30 on Saturday.
Thank you for checking into that.
You're welcome.
Don Thrasher, another young man who has had a sail or two since starting flight school. This business can return youth to an aging body in mind.
There you go.
I love that.
There it is. See Don, it's not, it's not too much of an exaggeration. Say the land business is the fountain of youth.
Very much so.
Am I wrong?
Awesome. Mike, were you saying something?
I concur.
You concur. Nice.
I have one concur every night.
Another great comment from Daniel. He's just given James some. Some. He's giving James a tip here. You know, find people in the business you trust to take over aspects of the business automate when you can. Similar to how Langee teaches. So maybe a James had a question about VAs, which I might.
I love the way Daniel's giving back and, and teaching, brother. If you're at over 10,000amonth in passive income, let me know. You know, you can apply to be a coach.
Daniel's coming to Dirt Rich Summit here. There you go. Awesome. What else we got here? Does anybody have any technical questions? We love answering some technical questions as well. Every now and then we let John answer them. Here we go. And then a comment from Daniel. Is thinking for a while recently that there were some. So many people getting into this. Like it was a huge wave that was catching. Then I realized it was just the algorithm. And that's exactly right.
Right.
That's something that's a lot more present nowadays than 10 years ago is the algorithm. Because once you learn about Mark Podolski, then you're learning about this person and this person and this person, half of whom have learned from Mark Podolski.
But I, I look, what is the, what's the cliche? It's like when they copy great artists. No, no, it's like the sincerest form of flatteries. When they copy you. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's nice.
No, but there, no, there are some great, there are some great. There are some other great land investing mentors out there. I think our models is different. I think we're really laser focused on a very specific model and we kind of just stick to that and where some of the other folks are just doing different things.
Yeah, I feel like we're good. Like we want to help you just want to, like, I don't care how you have, you have your passive income exceed your fixed expenses and what niche you choose. If it's ATMs or multifamily or mobile home parks or E comm, I really don't care. I just think our thing is the best way to do it with the least amount of risk. But if it doesn't fit you and then it doesn't fit you. But like, at least we've opened that, you know, you open your mind to the idea. Like, I think that even has value.
Yeah. And that's what we do when we first talk to someone. Mark, we're all, you know, whether, you know, any one of us here is just trying to figure out if what we do is a good fit for someone in their goals. If not, we can point them towards some resources, but if it is, then we can walk them through how to get set up.
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, John's really the only one who's high pressure.
Yeah, I'm extremely high pressure.
Oh, man.
I can't believe he's like 34. That's blowing my mind. 40 something like.
You kidding me?
He seems much more mature. Much. I know than that.
It's crazy. I think, I think it's because he's got so many kids.
Yeah.
Yeah. I can be the honorary 50 year old.
There you go. Yeah. Love it.
Yeah.
So when you're 50, I will be 65.
You'll be almost 70.
Oh, great. This is great.
This is. By the way, John, when, when you get. When you get there, like I've got all these tips for you brother to sleep through the night. Like, honestly, my prostate is probably bigger than your head now. Like, this is what you have to look forward to. And I help.
Oh man. Oh. Never thought we were going there tonight, but.
But we did talk about aging.
We got five minutes left. Where can we go?
That's right. This is the best. This is the benefit of being older. You could get up through the night and just work on your land business all night.
I can't sleep, honey. Let me go do some research.
Scott, too much information. I'm sorry.
Oh man. Scott does have a. He does have a technical question. Not about Mark's biology. What's the story on the zamplo integration with LG pass and where's the link for the promo discount?
It's just if you sign up for LG Pass, it's embedded in there. So it's like, we call it example a day. It's like LG pass data. You automatically get the discount when you subscribe to OG Pass.
Love it, love it, love it. I think we hit most any other questions out there and I think we've hit a lot of the comments. Ken Green is off to Europe for the winter.
Wow.
He said where he is currently.
It's a big concept of Barcelona.
Barcelona. I'll tell you, working in Europe is the best though. It really is fantastic because have I.
Told you guys this?
Have I ever talked about this on that cap?
I don't think so.
Okay. This is the secret is you've got to work in Europe because especially if you're. If you're doing u. S. Business, you wake up, us is sleeping. 2:00 now the us is waking up. So your whole day and afternoon you do whatever you want. And you can work like say 2 to 10, right? And somewhere you have dinner and you go to bed. There's no wasted time like here, you know, I'm tired by six, I'm gonna, I'm gonna read or.
Right.
You know, watch a silly Ch. Show and then, and then go to bed. It's like wasted time. Europe is where it's at. If you're working in the US.
I actually love that. I mean you can even work from two to four. Two to four. I mean we only work like, you know, should be able to have a really good work day from 2 to 4 over in New York.
Oh, it's amazing.
Yeah.
In the gelato. Oh my gosh.
We have a question from James. James, I feel like I've talked to you about this, but I'm not sure. He has a property outside Goodyear, Arizona. He's asked a few realtors to help him sell it. No luck. He's on the road 24 7. I have talked to you about this, James. He's on road 24 7. Any advice on how to sell this is what I'm trying to do so I can get the course. Great question. From what I can remember, he's got a great property in the path of growth and don't sell it, James. Well, I mean, but what if he wants to use it as a vehicle, Mark. To start a land investing business.
Sell it on owner financing.
I don't know if he's in the path of growth, honestly, like he's in the path of growth. That, that, that's. I, I mean I wouldn't sell it. John, what do you think?
Well, I was gonna say like one thing to think about. If you're ever using a realtor, you need to make sure you pick the right realtor. There are many, like I won't say bad realtors, but realtors, we'll just say they're bad at selling raw land. Right. It's, it's the kind of a thing where it's a set it and forget it listing three sentences, gis picture and then six month contract. We'll see what happens. Right, but what you want to do is go onto a land selling website and find realtors that have properties like yours that have good listings. And so if you need to use a realtor, I think that's the way to find it. You know, for a lot of the types of properties this sounds like it's, it's probably one that's kind of outside of our model, the one that he's got. But if, if you know it's because usually we don't use realtors.
But if you are looking for a.
Realtor, look for one that sells land like yours and does a good job and you can filter in some of these platforms by price point and within an area. You can even do a map search and see if you can find someone good.
That's great. And land.com is a great place to list for higher price properties.
Yeah. And James, you. You may not even have to go through a realtor. You could use an mls, because it looks like he said he's trying to find a realtor, but no luck. So there's MLS listing services out there too, where you can pay a couple hundred bucks to get your property listed on Zillow and other sites like Redfin. It'll get it on the MLS as well. And then, you know, you just, you just, the, the leads are funneled to you. Right. So that's another, that's another option for maybe a higher value property.
Yeah. I mean, also, like, I'm, I want to challenge the, the, the lack of choice, James.
Right.
It's like this is the only way I can start.
What?
That's not true. That's just not true. Like, there's so many different ways that you can be creative in, in finding the capital to start a land business or any business, right? If you have the grit, the determination, the energy, there's someone else out there. I mean, we're talking about working with older people, right? Well, partner up. They got money, you got energy. Like, look, I'm, I'm gonna go through this course. You're gonna fund me, we're gonna split the profits until I pay you back, and then I'm gonna be on my own. Right? And then if you want to fund me more, we'll do a debt deal. Like, there's so many different ways to think about this, but in the meantime, your Goodyear property keeps going up and.
Up and up every year.
You can, you can list it, but if it doesn't sell, it doesn't sell well, but that way you're not, you're not stifling your own growth. As, as the Zen master would say, when's the best time to plant a tree?
Yeah. Not yesterday. Today.
Right. Well, it was 25 years ago, but second best time is today. Right? So every day that you, you wait because of something that's outside your control, I can't find a realtor. Like, what's into your control? Like, like start there. And, and how can I do this? Not. I can't do this unless this and, and that mindset is going to catapult you into higher and higher levels of success in every aspect of your life. Because the only obstacle is right here. That is it. I mean, look, look at John Burnett, right? If this guy can do it. Anyway, come on.
We've already talked about my prefrontal cortex. It's very small, very small.
Super young. I mean, like, like, like the four of us, you know, schmoogies can do this thing. It's a, it's a, it's a recipe. You just follow the recipe. And like, Mike had $40,000 in debt. He was like, well, I'm not going to start a business until I'm out of debt. Like, he figured it out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, another thing that I'm surprised we didn't talk about on this call is usually older people have equity, right? Like, how many people in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s own a house? How many of them own it, you know, outright? Like, that's a really great vehicle, in my opinion, to get into this business. Like, take 20 grand of your. Of your equity in your home and make this thing grow. Right. And pat. And pay it back right away if you want to, but. You're exactly right, Mark. Like, there's so many ways out there to find the funds to do this business. And that's one of the first eye opening conversations I ever had with you, is you. I told you I was strapped for money, and you're like, scott, there's so much money out there. Like, go find it. Like, you're a smart guy. There's ways to do this. And there are. And that's more apparent to me now than ever. Right. I just found a nice. I found a really great investor for my land business.
And I mean, ideally, like, I think, I mean, not to make Mike and John jealous, but maybe the best funder on the planet.
I don't know. I mean, pretty awesome, too. So.
Yeah.
But if, you know, can't sell the land, you got someone who can sell the land.
Confidence in my.
Oh, man. But this was fun. Should we see what we're talking about next week?
Yeah, what are we talking about next week?
Let's see what we're talking about next week.
Am I, by the way, am I still invited to keep coming back? I took a the summer off and I feel I'm ruining the mojo. Not that I'm fishing for compliments, John Burnett.
I mean, I feel like it's good mojo. Okay, here's your compliment. You elevate our mojo. The mojo is not the same with.
It's the mojo elevator.
You are the mojo elevator. If we were here, now we're here.
All right, fine. I mean, look, you know, I have thick skin. If you guys, like, look Go eat that bologna sandwich, buy some land. We'll see you next week. I'm cool.
And, you know, Mark, like you and I were talking about, because you needed a little context on the eat baloney, buy land, which our. Our entire audience probably needs continued context on that because it's a little obscure. But. But, I mean, so. So the whole thing comes from, you know, how many people waste money on, you know, coffee and. And fast food and whatever. Like, if you cut back just a little bit, you can own an affordable piece of land for 100, 150 bucks a month. But, you know, if you. If you cut back to bologna and rice and beans, you can also, like, start a land business. So it's. It's really on both ends of the spec. It's the baloney sandwich again, right? We got people that are going to buy land from us and people who want to become land investors. Just, you know, eat baloney for a while. You're good.
I'm not giving up my Ghirardelli mocha. Oat mocha every morning. I'm not giving it up in case.
Wait, wait, wait.
You're so bougie. Look at you throw. They're throwing out the Garadelli. Oh, did you just.
Okay, can you. Wait. Can you just say this word for me? I'm gonna spell it. Yeah, I'm gonna spell this word. It's A, M, O, C, H, A.
Okay.
Oh, that's. Now, you said Just. You said moker just a minute ago.
Well, you know, I. It's. When you put it all together, Scott, it changes it.
Wait, so tell me about this Ghirardelli poker.
Oh, I found this little. Little coffee shop nearby. After Jiu Jitsu. I go there. I go into the. To the butcher shop next door, get some food. Then I come out and I get my. I'm not, if I'm saying it right, but it's Ghirardelli with the. With the coffee. It's a garlic oat mocha, they call it. And it's just. It's just amazing and funny is I'm talking to the guy that owns it. He just published a book, a mindset and stuff.
It was just.
What?
It's just synchronicity. It was pretty awesome.
That's really cool. Okay, I'm gonna change your life right now, all right? Because you. Because I didn't know you like mochas, so I quit coffee, right? But I'm kind of still drinking it, like, maybe on the weekends. Just whatever.
Treat yourself. But.
But Herb Islanowicz Who's a coaching client.
He.
He lived in Guatemala, and he lived across from this guy named the Chocolate Shaman, Keith. Keith's Cacao. Keith passed away, but there's this thing called Keith cacao. So Herb's like, yeah, I try this Keith cacao and replace it with your coffee. And so I make like. Like ceremonial cacao every morning. I chop up this chocolate, I put it in my little blender, I put hot water, and I froth it. I'm telling you, it's pure cacao. It's great.
Sounds amazing.
It's amazing. I mean, it doesn't taste maybe as good as your Ghirardelli chocolate, but it's like no sugar or, you know, very little sugar.
I'm ordering it right now.
Okay. Yeah, I'm telling you, you're gonna thank me. I get no affiliate from this, by the way. I have no. No deal with them.
What's it called again, Mark?
Keith's cacao.
Keith's Cacao. Okay. Yeah. Awesome. Check it out.
I gotta shave it. Not that I gotta shave it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what, though? You appreciate the labor involved. Like, I'm shaving this thing, I'm cutting. I'll make a whole video for you. How I do it.
All right, ordering it right now. Large box.
You know, land investing, baloney sandwich and cacao, possibly the fountains of youth.
Yeah, I was gonna say really, really old guy. Old people, things to do.
Yeah. So wait, so next week, the housing crisis solution you haven't considered. I don't even know what that means.
It's because you haven't considered it.
I haven't considered it.
It's true. I think it's. I think it's catered maybe towards the traditional real estate folks, but I don't know. We'll see.
All right. And by the way, can I ask the. The listeners a favor? Is that cool?
Of course.
Will you guys do us a quick favor? Because we should have millions and millions of live viewers. We're not getting millions. If you have one friend, one, just one, that you can send this link to and say, buddy, let's watch this together. On Tuesday nights, this nightcap, these four schmaggies, they talk about baloney and land and aging and prostates. It's incredible. And. And they drop little nuggets of wisdom. It's so great. One person is all we're asking. So that we could have a double our audience for next week.
Mark, I got one better. I got a live studio audience. I have my friend watching the whole time. We're filmed in front of a live studio audience.
Wait, who is it?
I'm gonna take it off mute. My buddy Chris, he's from. You're in Kansas now, right? Kentucky. I haven't seen him in 20 years.
Hey, Chris. What's up?
What's up, Chris?
How are you all? Any friend of mine of ours, we're.
Filmed in front of a live studio audience.
That's awesome. Chris, what do you think of the show?
Great information tonight here.
I'm soaking it up.
Just sitting here, ready to become a land investor.
I'm gonna start doing watch parties.
Yeah.
Have the whole neighborhood over.
I love it.
Clapping when I say good things.
Now science.
You know what? I think you might be onto something here.
You might be.
I'll bring my six kids. It'll be great.
Yeah. Huh? Okay.
Oh, man.
All right.
So thanks, everybody.
Thanks, everybody. Scott, you want to land the plane?
I mean, thanks, everybody for tuning in. We're not prejudiced. We don't take only older people. Right. We take people of all walks of life into this community. So come join us. Grow. Grow with us as, as professionals and land investors and grow your passive income while you're at it. And we're happy to help you do it. So learn more@thelandgeek.com if you want to schedule a call with Mike Zanel lower in the lower right. John Burnett in the lower left, or myself, Scott Bossman in the upper left, right next to Mark. We're cuddling. You know, give us. Book a call with us. We'll chat. We'll chat with you. And I love that Anna. Age with us.
We're all aging together. We're all aging together. We're all growing together. It's, it's, it's, it's a. Is the community's amazing is on its way.
I already ordered it. It's on its way.
All right.
I can't wait. I'll. As soon as you get it, let me know and I'll walk you through it. Yeah, I got. I got you.
We.
We'll. We'll.
We'll drink. We'll drink together. But you're three hours ahead of me.
So we'll have to have some in Austin.
Oh, fantastic.
I have a cacao break.
Laura will love it, too. Like you feel very open hearted after you drink it too. Yeah.
Love it. All right, thanks, everybody. Have a good night. We'll see you Next. Next Tuesday, 9:00pm Eastern on YouTube.
All right.
Have a good night.
Peace.
Cheer.
It.
More from Mark

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









