Key Takeaways from the Passive Income Retreat with Wealth Without Wall Street

Hey, Mark Podolski here. I want to introduce the extraordinary podcast with Sharan Sharad. Sir, if you don't know sharan.com he's a 4 times 8, 500 entrepreneur. He's had 19 exits and is an absolute genius. Along with wealthwallstreet.com's the slow talker, Joey Murray, this podcast is coming to you with an extraordinary introduction from Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, in the monkey forest. So I'm really excited to learn more about the Passive income Mastermind group, our biggest takeaways from it, and you're going.

To learn a lot.

See you on the other side.

All right, guys, I am super stoked to. To break down some of our key takeaways from this most recent Passive Income Mastermind retreat in Austin, Texas. But to give a little background, we. We started the retreats back in the fall in Nashville, and all of us were there. And to me, there was so much like magic in that room that was like, hey, let's try this out. By the time we got done with that, I think we all looked at each other and were, like, convinced this is something special. We need to continue. Like, this is a need in the marketplace. What would you guys say to that?

Sharon, Joey, first off, I. When I. The more serious the topic, the more important the topic in our lives, I think the more important it is for us to be live. Live events change lives. And you know, Tony Robbins could easily do a transformational experience by re. By listening to his audiobook, but there's a reason they do the hot cold walk. There's a reason for that. And because the transformation, the seriousness of the experience is so important for us to be live together, to be in the tribe together. Because very few big, serious, audacious things have been accomplished through an audiobook, right? It can be the seed, it can be the spark, but so much more has to happen when things are real and serious, especially when it's got to do. As you know, we talk a lot about Mark is the financial bloodline of our families. Like, we are responsible for that in a lot of ways. So with the, with the entire idea of passive income being greater than monthly expenses, I love that theme because I think that is people wait their entire lives to have that later. But we have all talked about how you could have that now or in a planned way. So my big takeaway was, man, the more important the topic, the more serious the topic, the more transformational the topic. Being live, even for a short amount of time, really live events change lives, no doubt.

No Doubt. Mark, what about you?

I love what Sharon said. Live events change lives. And what I think differentiates our group from other groups is the fact I didn't walk out of that room and that weekend depressed thinking about all the things I now have to go home and do and implement and just be completely overwhelmed. So to be in a group of people that are thinking smart and not, oh, I want to, I want to work smarter, not harder, how can I, you know, build my infrastructure, how can I reduce my tax liability, you know, how can I look at these other passive income ideas and then, you know, meeting them in, in a real time and getting to know them in a deeper level? That deeper, deeper level that you can't replicate virtually is. It's an ineffable experience, honestly.

Well, and not to take away from the fact that we do in within our mastermind, right. The members get the access to these two calls a month. And I don't want to take away from the virtual experience there because the content that we're covering is life changing within those meetings. And not to mention the mastermind around the collective of having everybody experience one topic and then be able to break it down with their unique experience that they bring to the table. Those things are changing people's lives and we're going to get to that in a little bit. But there is something about being in person that anchors those experiences, anchor relationships and significant change in people's lives. So I, I definitely, I mean, I'm super stoked that we're going to continue this. This is twice a year now that we're going to do these events. But the, the purpose of today is to really go deeper on how did you experience it? Like, I, I would, I'm just really super curious about Sharon. Like, for instance, what was one of the major things that you took away from being in that room with the people present? Maybe it was one speaker, one topic or one conversation sidebar that you had. So tell us something that you took away.

I think she. Is Sharon Frozen Joey?

He is. Yeah.

I'm gonna speak as Sharon because I know exactly what his biggest takeaways were. So I'll just speculate. Okay, I'll answer for me and then hopefully Sean will, will jump on. So, you know, when I think of some of the biggest takeaways I had, Dave Zook and his talk and one of his phrases was that really, you know, hit home for me was all his liabilities, he turns into assets. I really love the way this guy thinks. He thinks so big. He thinks so Creatively and just the way he sees the world. So the way that I like to see the world is everything can be on sale. And the way Dave sees the world is all the liabilities can turn into assets. So whether he's doing long term rentals, short term rentals, renting his boat, renting his car, all of these things, and they all have favorable tax consequences. It was just one of those mind expanding talks.

So.

Okay, so really hit for home.

Based on that, was there anything that you thought, okay, I'm going to take action and change something that I'm going to do?

Well, yeah, absolutely. And you know that. But what was so great about it, it was like an easy, actionable step versus, oh, I'm depressed now, and I have so much to do. So an easy, actionable step for me was my daughter's Honda Civic. She doesn't need it this summer. We have enough cars. Turo, such. Such a simple solution that I never would have really connected with. I mean, I knew about Turo, but it's very different knowing about something and then hearing someone in the room, being able to have a sidebar conversation about what's really your experience with this. And so that. That was a. A big takeaway for me. And now that Shron just jumped back on. Sean, I answered the question for you as you.

Hey, we. Everyone should know that we should all do what the land geek says, right? Like, whatever Mark says, you should just do, because Mark has found a way that. But, Julie, we should. We should talk about this. Mark has this magical gift, right? If he realizes there's an opportunity, his brain works in such a way that he's like, how can I work to set up a system to implement this opportunity so that this opportunity just works on its own without me? Like, there is. It's. It's. It's amazing. Like here. Here, I'm the opposite of Mark, right? I meaning I'm like, I see this opportunity. He and I see the same opportunity. We may get the same result, but I am the workhorse. I will continue to work all day long, right? I was like, I got to grind to earn my keep in this opportunity. But Mark, on the other hand, just has this magical way of saying, you know what, Tura? Let's utilize assets and make income for ourselves. Like, Mark, you're. You're a total stud now.

Total stud.

Look, I'll be honest. Flattery for you guys will get you everywhere with me.

Thank you. So, Sharon, what was one thing that you took away? I mean, you added so much to this event, I don't want to. You know, both of you did, but I want to hear what was something you took away.

Okay, Sharon again is frozen. And now I'm definitely going to answer for Sharon. Oh, no, no.

Now he's. I think he's dodging me at this point.

Yeah, he. At this point, he's like, you know, I added so much value to that. That mastermind. Joey, I don't even need to answer your question. Like. Like a. Like a. Like a great politician.

I'll tell you. I'll tell you my big takeaway. The one thing that I've learned a lot is with very successful entrepreneurs is this idea of big goal, no plan. So I talk to people all the time. Founders, we invest in our portfolio companies, CEOs that I mentor. It's like, well, I want to have a $55 million net worth before I'm 55. And I'm like, bro, I love that goal. I love that passion.

Cool.

Like, walk me through maybe, like the next 30, 60, 90 days. How are you thinking about it? What do you mean? You can't just manifest that. Like, it takes a little bit of work and I see. And that's why a lot of times you go to these big kind of seminars, and people will say, write down your goal, and you say, hundred thousand dollars. And they'll say, put a zero behind it to expand your thinking. I'm like, I appreciate that, but that actually causes more anxiety for people. And you've got this big goal. And I understand the big goal is important, but big goal, no plan is really sad. So, like, I'll take a Dave Zuck, for example, one of our speakers who's done a lot in the ATM space, in the multifamily space, in the residential kind of income space. And he had this goal. He's like, hey, I want to make X amount of dollars. Pick a number. A million dollars a year. But I want to do it by increasing income and reducing taxes. So he had a two pronged approach on how to do that. And he said, I want to do it with real estate to increase income, reduce taxes. What's the most efficient way to do that? And he came up with a multifamily syndication model and the ATM model. And that's all he did. And he did that. He got really good at that. And he broke down the plan of how he did that. So when the biggest takeaway for me was it allowed me to have a big goal, I was like, I can have a goal for anything because someone else has done something like this. And maybe I don't have to replicate their plan. Maybe I can use their plan as a starting point. At least. At least that is helpful. Then I can do my own. Because a lot of people like, I don't want to use a template. I'm like, if Mark gives you a land flipping template, use the template. Like click the button in the software and send the trust deed out. This is not difficult. If Russ and Joey give you a template for how to do short term rentals, use the exact template on how to talk to the landlord. Like, there is no reason you can tweak it after it doesn't work a couple of times. But start with that. And to me, my big learning was a lot of people in the room had big goals, but I think a lot of plans came to life. And when plans come to life, I think it builds like insane courage for us. Because the goal is not the courage. The plan is the courage. The plan is what gives you the courage. Right? And Mark, I walked out of the room like you said, a little bit overwhelmed, but I walked out of the room more courageous. And that's pretty cool.

No doubt, no doubt. Especially for somebody like you, Sharon. And by the way, the fact that you helped set up the event to help people gain that plan, I think that was critical. So many people were writing down on the, like with the format that you gave them to. To come away. In fact, yesterday I was on a call with one of the attendees and he pulled out his. His paper that had the format that you laid out with the. The different quartiles and everything. And it was just, it was awesome to see he's still using that. You know, what are we, two or three weeks after the event? My biggest takeaway from this, guys, I'm going to kind of do it in two buckets. The first was around bitcoin. For me, hearing Bob Burnett so passionate about and not just the strategy of bitcoin from how does this make us all wealthy? I mean, that was covered, trust me. Like, if you weren't convinced that you need to be very, very bullish on bitcoin after that event, you weren't paying attention or you were asleep. But Bob, as you guys know, was. Was instrumental in helping El Salvador change their national currency to bitcoin. But the story behind it being the actual freedom from oppression that that will create for that country and the 44 other countries that were meeting in El Salvador at the same time we were at our trip in Austin that got me really fired up. About, you know, the possibilities that this is going to create and you know, being in that room, being connected to somebody like Bob, you know, he's really the first domino. As I love your, your story on that shroud, maybe we can talk a little bit about that in a second. He's that first domino for me that knocks down all of the future opportunities within the crypto space that you know, you're getting from a source that's reliable and who is on the cutting edge. And to be honest, there's a lot of just people out there that are just trying to make a quick buck in the cryptocurrency space and the next thing that comes along they're going to go to that. But Bob is that guy that understands at the fabric of what this means for our world. So anyways, that, that to me was huge and you're not going to stop that momentum. So. All right, what about one other takeaway from you guys? Mark?

Yeah, I mean what's, what's the term when Apple comes out with a, a software product like WWDC and it completely takes over another like really popular third party software. Like they're coming out with their like I think they're going to destroy like 1Password or LastPass. Joey, you just did that to me with the last domino. But that's okay because I want to talk about it.

Well, I was talking about the first domino. Maybe you can come up with.

I've talked to the first, the first domino.

So.

Okay, so first of all, the way that the, the weekend was, was bookended. Sharon, who is probably too humble to say it, but I'll just say it for him. He's an amazing presenter, an amazing speaker. And when you leave after talking with Shiron, you feel smarter and more capable and more competent because he doesn't just give you information, he gives you the framework on how to use that information and then go home and execute on it. Which is again why I don't leave depressed. I leave literally like motivated and I know how I can implement on the plan on the information that I digested so many times. We go through a webinar, we go to an event and we are just, it's like drinking from a fire hose. We're like, oh, now what do I do? And Sean, what's that line?

A line.

A mind that has too much to do won't do anything.

Yeah, yeah. Confused mind stalls.

Yeah, confused mind stalls. So Sharon's right there on the, you know, that first day, a confused mind stalls. Here's how you Take this information. Here's how you execute it. But then on the. On the end of it, he was talking about the first domino and how that that first domino really then transforms everything that you're doing and really moves the needle in your life. So we can all look back on our lives and say, okay, who's the first domino that really was able to get me more passive income or, you know, Russ and Joey for me are the first domino for me to have my own bank. And this the, you know, just to think smarter about money in. In a way that I wasn't ever even exposed to. So there's so many first dominoes in that room for me. And I love that Jim Rohn line. You're the average of the five people you hang out with the most. Well, if I'm the average of these people, I'm big. And so for me, that was a really great takeaway, no doubt.

Sharon, what about you?

You know. How the event was set up? What happens a lot of times is. You're in the seminar setting and then you have these breakout rooms.

So.

And the breakout rooms end up just being a smaller seminar set. And that really bothers. Like, that really affects me. I'm like, well, if all of these. All of this information was good on the main stage, why did you break up the stages? To make it all on the small stages. So you have. You essentially have the same presentation, the same format, the same kind of the setup. And I said, and I think what Russ, you and Joey did, Joe, you and Russ did, were really great. Where you said, hey, are we're going to do. Our breakouts are not breakouts anymore. The small groups are curated. You hand pick the small groups. It was three to five people sitting around a table, and they had a chance to share exactly what they were doing and get feedback from the other group. So you almost created mini advisory boards, which I thought was really powerful and not another mini seminar.

Right.

And so it did. That did two things for me. One, it changed the information gathering mode or just me receiving it from a seminar stage to then actually talking about it. And one of the side conversations I had with one of our speakers, Philip, who was a tax attorney, and he's also Mark's tax attorney, which is funny. And then we were talking about something, and he said to me, he's like, hey, man, I think I can save you, like $100,000 by just restructuring things. I was like, wait a minute, what do you mean? Right? I'll take another 100 grand. That sounds awesome. He Goes, well, you talked about this idea of setting up a leasing company. And I said, well, I don't need a leasing company. I don't. I don't lease anything. He's like, do you buy anything in your life? I said, yes. He goes, cars, computers, hardware. And I said, yes. But he's like, if a leasing company buys that and the entire sole purpose of that is to lease, and it leases that to you for everything, now you have the ability to actually operate a leasing business and you can take over depreciation, you can take. There's a lot of these. And I. And that was such a practical, tactical thing to get that I would have never gotten from stage because I shared my personal situation, right? But here's the. Here's the more powerful part of that. The more powerful part of that is I got that value. And then Mark and I were in the lobby that afternoon, and I'm like, hey, man, did you know that you could do a leasing company? And he's like, who told you that? And I said, what, Phil? He's like, he's. He's my advisor. And I was like, you should talk to him about this. Right? But it's interesting because sometimes, even. And I mean this in a very positive way, even our advisors, they don't come to us with every possible idea. They are very good responding to a specific situation. So when we can present a specific situation and they respond, now we have the ability to learn from that, tactically implement that and share that. And I think that if I had not asked Philip that question and I had not shared that with Mark, that would have never come up. And so that could have never happened in any other situation. So I want to highlight the format, which is the breakouts were set up in such a powerful way, and I spent in the three or four small group settings, I felt like I met 20 to 30 people in such an intimate way where I shared. I was either able to share something that was personal to me or was able to directly help somebody. That would not have happened in any other format. So the main stage and the small group breakouts were really, really well designed.

Well, and I can't agree more, that was a big takeaway for me was how many events have I been at that you literally walk away with way too much content. And you. You, like you said it before, Mark, you mentioned just being overwhelmed and almost like depressed because you don't know where to start. You don't know what to do with what you just gained. And the longer you. The longer it Takes after the event, the. The more depleting that knowledge becomes. And you're kind of like, man, it just like, it's like sifting through your fingers, you know? Whereas with this event and the whole purpose of taking it to a live event is. Is not content, right? Even though we had four amazing speakers and a panel that, you know, I mean, we were on the panel, so I can say like, hey, it was, it was awesome. I mean, just humbling. But I mean, Mitch, Stephen of course brought the house down on the. On the panel. But. But the thing that we purposely do is we carve out an hour to an hour and a half in between these major speakers just for that, like you said, mini advisory board. Because that's the stuff that's going to really stick with you long term. And that's what's going to affect change. Those sidebar conversations now are kind of purposeful. So if you're an introvert, you may not be able to go and like, just go out to anybody at that event and try to start up a conversation, but if you're forced to sit around a table and mastermind with people, you're going to be and have the questions already laid out for you ahead of time, it just takes that barrier down for no matter who you are. And man, just so many cool things. The power of association is a major. Of course, I knew that before, but being in that room and being around the people there, it just takes you to a whole nother level. And the authenticity. So those are like the themes of this that I would say the authenticity of everybody that I met and the speakers, it just, it just made it a rich experience. And it's hard to explain in an audio format or even this video, but you have to be there to experience it. And that's really kind of for. For those of you who have never heard us talk about the passive income mastermind, we call it the Club 200 for a reason, that we're trying to get to 200% of our expenses in passive income. Like, we want 200% of passive income to cover our expenses. And the reason for that is to build legacy, to build depth, to impact our families and others. Because what are you going to do with that surplus? You're going to find ways to give more creatively. You're going to find more ways to impact the next generation. And no matter what that 200% is for you, that's what each one of us are on the journey to do. And so if this is something that you're interested In I want to call you to action to go to apply for this because again, this is an experience you can have if you're a part of this group. And so I want you to go to wealth without wall street.com forward/club200. There is an application process. As you can imagine, there's a lot of people trying to get into this, but we're very choosy, if you will. And so we want you to be a part of this if you're of the like mind, so that we can continue to raise the bar within this group. What would you guys add to that? I want to hear from you, Mark.

Well, I, I, I, I love the fact that, you know, I'm an introvert and the fact that the way it was structured, I was completely comfortable. I didn't have to, you know, spend a day, spend the energy thinking about, oh, what, what topics am I going to bring up, what questions am I going to ask people? And that setting was perfect for me. And then just the fact that there was other side fun events for the members. You know, the go, the, the go kart racing, watching Russ ride a bowl and, and, you know, the bowling and hanging out and those side conversations that I could have made it so much easier for me because then I could follow up with the members after the event, which I've done. And we immediately have that connection, like, oh, yeah, I remember when, you know, that that happened, like Sharon got a gutter or whatever. It was like, oh, yeah, we could.

All kind of like every time.

Yeah, yeah. Or whatever it is. And so we have like the shared experience, this, this sort of intimacy that again, it's hard to explain until you've been there. But the people in the group, like, I've been to other events where there's just a lot of signaling and, and no one's really real. It's like, you know, you guys have probably been in these events, but you know, it, though.

You know, nobody's real.

You know, no one's real. There's no, there's no conversation. But, you know, there's a lot of small talk. There's just, you know, are you impressed with me or not? You walk away like, oh, that, that guy was like, you know, there's no exchange of value. Where this was sort of like the exact opposite. No signaling, just everyone wants to give exchange of value. How can I help you? This was my best investment. This is my worst investment. This is what I'm doing. This is what I need help with. And that level of depth in Such a small amount of time and then to be able to take that afterwards again, I, I think was just for me, priceless. And so if that's something that can appeal to you, I would say definitely apply because the investment in, in your time, money and energy in this, you're going to 10, 20, 30 exit over, you know, three to five years.

Yeah. The piggyback I have on that is the one thing that the Internet has done for all of us is, has provided us access to the 80%. We can get 80% of knowledge or information about almost anything that is out there. True or false or fakeness or real, doesn't matter. But we can get 80% information on almost anything. And for most of the time that 80% works. Because if we're putting a marketing funnel together and I have 80% of information, I can put the marketing funnel together. I can figure out the other 20%. Right. If I'm reading a book and I have an online recipe, well, I can figure out the other 20% just because my cake went bad the first time. It doesn't matter. It's not life changing, but I think for life changing things like what we are doing for life changing things, when it comes to money and financial freedom and our financial bloodlines of our families, the 80% is not enough. We. I knew that there was an opportunity for land flipping. I hundreds of millions of acres in the United States. I have no idea where. Like, I kind of know how to start it, but I'm like, how do I buy it? I had all these how to questions and I think that 20% is the most profitable last mile, the most transformational last mile. And the only way we can do that, the only way we can get access to that last 20%, that most profitable last mile, is by being with the tribal people who are actively walking that last mile. I think that's super important because. So whether it's a live event or whether being live in the mastermind, the reason for us, this application process, which I'm a member of the mastermind and I'm actually glad we're doing it, is you want the more people that are in that 20% that are, you don't have to be a master of it, but you have to want to walk that last 20%, that last profitable last mile. And if Russ and Joey can show you how to actually build your own bank, if Mark can actually show you how to actually start land flipping. I sat next to people at the event in their 20s and their 30s who have been in the in the last 24, 36 months, have created complete financial freedom, left their corporate jobs because they did what Mark talks about in land flipping like that is mind blowing if you think about it, right? But because they took the most profitable last mile, they took the last 20%. And I think the last 20% you can only get with a tribal people that are walking that last profitable mile. And so yes, if you are listening and you're like, hey, listen, I know how to do infinite banking. I know, but I'm almost there. I have a how to question, I have a how to question on setting up Airbnb rental arbitrage. I have a how to question on doing multifamily. I have a how to question on buying turnkey rental. I have a how to question on doing bitcoin mining. I have a how to question on flipping land like you are in the last most profitable mile. And that can only be done with the tribe. There is no other way. And that tribe who has walked that path can get you there so much faster and so much more joyfully than you can ever get any other way. Right? And I think that's why I love, I love the premise and the theme of the Mastermind so much.

That's so good. And I'm going to end it with actual results, right? Because it's good for us to talk about, it's good for us to share our experience from this event and from this membership. But one of our members texted us totally unsolicited and I just want you to hear when you say that last mile get you there faster and more joyfully. I just want to share this with you. Hey, just FYI, since I've joined now, he called it WWS WWWs welcome at Wall Street. But let's just call it the Mastermind because that's ultimately where he's landed. Here's what I've done. One big IBC policy with with one of our companies. One multifamily deal in Nashville, one multifamily deal in Savannah. One car wash deal, one self storage deal, one CO2 scrubbing deal. If you don't even know what we're saying, just stay tuned on that. I'm also putting the finishing touches on one done for you. Land flipping business, one bitcoin fund investment, one mobile home deal, one ATM deal. Looking at some other things as well. Most of these opportunities have come from the Mastermind group. I'll keep you updated once I get a little history and some data on how they're all doing. I'm hoping financial freedom at 200% will be here soon. Also excited for time and location freedom as well. This is somebody who joined about three months ago. Do you want to talk about velocity to freedom? This guy has the momentum and the motivation and the tribe is getting him there faster. So I just to me that this gives me chills to see somebody taking that amount of massive action but being in a tribe, that's getting there. So, guys, thank you, thank you for being a part of this, adding so much value and, and for, and for being a part of this movement that we've been able to create together. It, it would never have happened with Russ and I alone. It had to be the collective mind of you guys as well. So thank you so much. Anything else you guys would want to add before we, we shut off here?

I, I just want to say Joey and Sharon, Russ, who's not here, thank you guys for, for creating this because it has really moved the needle in my life in, in so many ways besides just, you know, reducing taxes and more passive income and, and building in, in infrastructure and, and being, you know, better passive income investor. It's just the connections, the relationships have been priceless for me. So thank you.

Yeah, I'll say, I'll say one thing. The biggest transformation for me was defining the success. I think defining for a lot of us, it's like the only way to quote financial freedom is let me just make a lot of money and accumulate it and hopefully when I'm X age, I'll have that money to pay for my, pay for my lifestyle and keep me, keep me going. Right? But Russ and Joe, your premise of financial freedom is the definition. The definition of it is how your passive income, which is time freedom and the income freedom is greater than your monthly expenses. Just, it seems so basic to a lot of people, but if you ask somebody that definition, they don't have it. And defining that success was so powerful. It gives us a lens, it gives us a filter. But now what it's done is given us a tribe and I think that is that, that that excites me more than anything else.

Well said. Well said. Well, thanks guys as well again and as well. Thank you for listening. We will catch you on the next episode.

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