Land Geek Student Michelle Bridger Shares Her Real Business Results

Hey, it's Mark Wolowski, the land geek with your favorite niche real estate website, thelandgeek.com and the team is off for July, but because I was traveling in Southeast Asia, I'm not taking July off. I already took my June off. So it is a total pleasure for me to interview one on one. I don't know if anyone else is going to jump on. They might with Michelle Bridger, who started her journey in land investing. And these are always my favorite podcasts, is we get to hear a case study about someone who's just a little farther ahead in their land business than you and how they have proceeded and what their journey was like. So, Michelle Bridger, welcome. How are you, Mark?

I'm wonderful. I'm so happy to be here today. An honor and a pleasure.

The, the honor and pleasure is all mine, as it will be for the listeners. But let's just rewind the tape, Michelle, and let us know what were you doing before land investing and how did you find me? And then how did you start your journey?

Okay, great. So I've owned my own business for nine years and it's an advertising agency. I had been praying for a while that I would find an additional business that had passive income. That was a good plan B. That would be additional revenue. Something. If something really went, you know, went wrong with the first business, I would have this great backup. It would also then lead me into retirement years so that I had ongoing income. So this was like, this was my dream about what I was looking for. And in December 2020, two things happened. One, there was huge disruption in my industry. A tech issue that really affected us. Not my business, but much broader in scope. Anyone that was doing a similar type of business, it was, oh my gosh. And that was again, a real wake up call about the instability. And my, my clients are great. They come, they stay for a long time, but when they leave, the income stops. And so the other thing that happened was I had a great vacation planned and last minute that got canceled, but my team knew that I was off. I was already off. I'm like, this is my week. I'm going to figure this out. In my mind, I had all these like, what about this and what about this kind of business and would this be viable? And I just said, no, this is my week. I am going to figure it out and, and walk away at the end of this week with a plan and I'm going to enact that plan. So it was going to be a busy, but it was a very Productive week. And I really dug deep. I researched all these different ideas that I had about what about this, what about that? And during that week I came across this podcast and listened diligently during that podcast with someone giving their testimonial. They had been doing the business part time in addition to their corporate job, and they had built the land business up through two years. And then he wanted to retire his third year. And so he looked at his numbers and he said, if I just do more of this mailing, then I can see that it's going to do this to the business. And I want to finish at the end of year three at 25,000. And I got it. I saw that, you know, he knew his numbers, that it was a numbers based business. I get it. My other business is databrun. And so I'm like, if you knew it, undo it. Because then at that $25,000 mark, when his first child was born, he would retire from his corporate job. So that made sense to me. And then I listened to Dirt Rich, your book, Marc, and I got it. Like it just it. This is a, it's not a complex business. It's just the same thing with systems. And it made sense to me. And then I had a sales call with your team and thoroughly looked at the business and prayed like crazy and I was all in. December 31st, I was, I was all in and started January 13th in flight school. And I've been all in all the time. Now it's been part time in addition to the long hours that I put in with my other business. Then I've been doing this business. But I'm super happy with the results.

Okay, so when you started flight school, you've got this full time business you're running?

Yes.

How did you feel? I mean, how is your energy level? Because a lot of people ask us like, hey, I've got this going on, I've got a big life. Well, I have actually enough time to do this business alongside with either my high stress corporate job or my full time business. How was that for you?

So I knew that I was very motivated to make it work. I decided to do flight school rather than the do it yourself toolkit just on my own time because I knew that I needed the accountability and I needed the hand holding to be able to walk me through the process or I, I would still be saying, oh, I really still want to do that land business now. That motivation caused me to just make time. And so I'm an early riser anyway. 5am every morning on the nose. But that time now I made, I set aside like, okay, so I set aside an hour. I'm going to make sure that my team has what they need or I'm hiring, I'm doing the most important thing during that hour. And then I work in the middle of the day, I'm doing X. At the end of the day, I'm spending a couple hours on it. So it was long hours, no doubt. But I am happy with the results and I made it work because I'm still making it work because I still run both businesses. I'm still making it work just simply because I want to. I'm passionate about building the land business and have made the time for it.

Now, what were your results in flight school?

In flight school itself, I kind of think that's a. I wasn't ready for that question mark. Like in terms of. Yeah, I was buying property, I was selling property. So by February, so we'd already been, I don't know, the. Maybe three weeks. But we're required to buy a property. So I bought a property and I sold that one. I Also, during those 16 weeks is 16 weeks. I also was buying and selling other properties. So as to how much, I don't. That part. I don't remember how many I bought and sold, but I was actively buying and I was actively selling. I had property on terms. I don't think I sold any for cash during that time. But I was, I was on the move. I was doing it.

You're executing and so why did you join the one on one coaching program? And what convinced you?

Do you think so? The one on one coaching program? Again, I, I was, I don't want to stagnate in the business. The business is too good that I don't want to stagnate. And also there's so much that I still don't know. Flight school to me was amazing and there's so much more to learn. So there was flight school and then I took about three months off so that I could. Yeah, I just took about three minutes. Not off of the business, but off of the training so that I could get certain pieces in place and then be ready for one on one coaching. But I wanted that, that accountability. I wanted the personal look at my business. I wanted the community. I wanted to know what I, I didn't, I don't even know what. I don't know. Being so new in real estate, I'd never done real estate before. Never done this. So I'm, you know, been really, really happy with all the coaching, all the training, it's been just, just what I needed.

So what do you love most about the business and what was the like the first thing you wanted to outsource? You're like, oh, I can't wait to get this off my plate.

Okay, good question. So I'm, I already know to delegate. So before I ever started flight school, I had hired virtual assistants. So because I knew I would need them and I knew that I absolutely could not do this business on my own. You really can't. Like there's just so many steps that you have to outsource it. So what did I, I knew right away, like the list, the pulling the list, scrubbing the list, looking at comps. So I oversee that. But then this detailed work, like especially the scrubbing the list and things like that that I outsourced right away. Creating the agreements, the contracts, the deeds, the using LG Pass that was outsourced right away. Then it wasn't. It was probably nine months in that I had brought on an intake manager to manage when we buy property. So again I still oversee that process. I know what's going on, but she's handling the details of that, of reaching out to the sellers, et cetera. I actually love working with the people who are buying. I think that's really fun. But it's also getting tiresome so soon that will be off my plate as well. So yeah, I hate the very detailed work. I love working with the, the people who are buying the land. But I also know that it's time to let that go.

Okay. And then as far as from the very beginning of flight school to now, which you're almost the end of coaching, how many hours a week are you working in your business? Hmm.

I would say I'm working about 15 hours per week in my business, in my land business.

So about two to three hours a day.

Yes, yes. And it's common that I'll put in about a half a Saturday in as well. And Saturdays are for systems. S is for systems. So my Saturdays, if I'm going to be working any part of it, it's about how are my systems, what needs to be a new system, what system needs refined, what holes did we find in the system this week? What needs fixed? So high level stuff.

Okay. And is most of your time now on selling or what's left for you to do in your business?

What's left for me to do? It's more and more marketing, refining the marketing process. So I have people who are posting ads, I have people I have a copywriter bringing on another copywriter. So it's, it's doing more. I would say it's doing more better and constantly looking at how we can do more marketing better. Right Now I have 27 properties in inventory, which is a good number for me right now. And so we have plenty of land to sell. But then one. But it has been selling really fast and so got to, you know, keep bringing in in more. We sell the property today. So it's, it's just by land. Sell and buy land, sell land. Very simple and very systematizable.

Yeah, I love it. So I know like in Gorilla the geeks at boot camp, everyone asks the same question. How much do you spend a month on your team and tools?

That's a number that I should know, Mark. So kind of warn me on these tough questions.

Would it be 1000amonth, 1500amonth?

It would be. Give me just, just a second. Think about that. I would say it's 1700 per month would be a guess. And that's a great question. I have a bookkeeper, but I haven't looked at that in a while. So that would be a good question. But I bet it's 17. Around 1700 per month.

Okay, let's talk about some fun numbers. So what have you been able to accomplish and since you've started the business.

So look up here because I'm a little numbers. Okay, so my business is based on retail, but I have sold five property for wholesale. I've sold 21 properties for cash, which was $162,000 in cash. I have 47 properties under contract. And this is the fun number. It's right now, currently I have 8,100 25,000. $8,125 per month coming in in passive income.

Okay, so 8,125amonth in passive income.

Yes.

So let's just do some math. So that's. If we multiply that by 12, that's 97,500 a year in passive income. Just mailbox money. And how does that make a difference in your life?

It's just so cool when you see money. You did the work once and now it keeps coming in. So I'm just so pleased with that because I see that this business, it works. But I knew that before I ever start that I can continue to scale it, that I have the skills right now and the knowledge base to continue to grow that more and more and more and to carry me into retirement as a solid base for that. And then I'M just eager to know how to do more, better so to learn more and to keep growing it. So it's a wonderful number because, I mean, I don't know another business that's as clear and as I don't know of another business where you can bring in a six figure income in less than 18 months. I mean, that's a sweet deal.

I don't either. I mean, everyone starves their first year in real estate. This is the only niche I know where you can ramp up really quickly.

Yeah. In passive income. So six figures in passive income per year and growing it with that in 18 months is just. I'm happy.

I, I love it.

A great training system, Mark.

Thank you. Do you know what's an interesting number about that, is that if you went to the bank and said, okay, I'm going to deposit this much money in the bank to earn an aggressive 2% interest per year, you would to, to generate the passive income that you're generating right now, you'd have to deposit $4.875 million.

Wow.

And so would it take you longer than 18 months to save up that kind of money?

Oh, yeah, you better believe it.

That's insane.

Yeah. Isn't that fun?

It is so, so amazing. So if you're listening to this, what. So for someone listening to this, what would be your advice to them if they're just getting started and if they want to replicate the results that you've been able to do in those last 18 months?

I think the reason why I've been successful at this is because I've been all in. So having been in business or I don't know that that's the key, but I could see that this was a simple business and that it's. What you were doing was you had a business, that model that was simple and it was, you taught the systems like that's so big in what you guys do. And the product happens to be land. That all made sense to me. And so it's what, what I could see was that all of this made sense, that it was work. It worked for you, it worked for so many others that it's a great product, which I love land anyway. And so I, I've just been all in. Like I haven't done it perfectly. I don't, I still have some systems to put in place and more people to plug in, but I get it. And I've just been all in from the start to make this work. And I would just say if you're considering it, just do it just be all in. The training is amazing. Do flight school. Don't just dip your toe in a water. It's not a business to me that if you just dip your toe in the water and just see, well, can I buy one property? Can I make it work? Well, I don't know. I'll just. It really is best because of the cost of the software, because of the cost of having a team, because of seeing your results and getting traction and going. It really to me has made all the difference to be all in.

I think that's almost the blueprint for success in life. In any aspect of life. If you're just dipping your toe in the water with your relationship or your job or a hobby and you're not fully committed to, to really being the best version of yourself in that area of life, you. You won't get the, the results you want. I think that combination of commitment we talk about burning the ships and grit is, is so important to success in any endeavor in life. So before we get to the tip of the week, I do want to ask you about your grit because it can't all be butterflies and rainbows in the land business. Tell us a story about a time where things didn't go well and you had to pick yourself up and how that went.

Grit. So in hiring. I don't know if this is a great story, Mark, but I, I would say that I've just like just, just gr. Just, just do it. But I did. I spent time to create a job description for someone who was going to be the marketing manager. She sounded really good. I. I thought that I had the systems in place to train her and explain it to her, but. But she like, apparently my. Either she wasn't a fit and she didn't get the systems or. But she felt like she didn't have enough training and so she just quit on me. And I was like, ah. She had sounded really good. So I don't know whether it was truly. My systems could have been better. They really could have. I expected her to know more coming in than I should have. My system should have been better. But I was so busy and I was really sorry to lose her and I cried. And then I moved on. It was a Friday afternoon. I met with her. She said goodbye and she had only been with me for like 10 days. But her communication was poor. But my systems were poor. And so it just simply wasn't a match. But it just was like, oh, darn. And so, but after a good cry, I picked myself back up and Monday, I was back at it again. And now I have a great mark. Two great people in my marketing team. And they're. They're well trained. They're just singing along. I'm super happy with them. One of them, It's a bonus every time we sell a property, and that's super motivating for her. And so I'm. I'm happy with how things are in marketing right now, but I just took grit, just create better systems, move on, put the right people in place. And next.

Wow, it's so inspiring. Okay, last question before tip of the week, because I forgot to ask this. What's your favorite deal that you've done?

Favorite deal? It's just like, how fast land can move. So before I. So I just. Property was just closing. I had bought it for $2,700. It was five acres for $2,700. And. And just before, like, he just closed it. And then I just, like within that same day, I had it sold. So it wasn't like I resold it for cash for 7, 500. But it was. That was sweet. Like, that's a lot of money. That's to make instantaneously, like, sells it same day. But the fact that you can just move things so fast and the pace of this business, I just love that. I just love, you know, it's. It's just fun. I. I just have a lot of fun with it. Like, let's see how fast we can sell this puppy. So it's fun.

Yeah. We don't talk about the joy of it enough because so many people want to solve a money problem and their time problem, and in that process, they're only looking out the horizon of accomplishing their goal. But there's so much joy in between. During that journey. As you get more competent, as you start putting your systems in place, there's all these little wins. And the business can be so joyful. If you just look at, you know, where you started and how far you've come. Don't you? Don't you think?

Oh, absolutely, I do. And people will ask me, like, are you holding them for an investment? Nope. I don't have any property right now that I'm. I would not sell. And so we're moving them really fast. Like, we've selling a lot. It's just been a great quarter. And. And it's not slowing down. And so just buy a property. How quickly can we sell it? That is just. Just fun. It's a lot of fun.

I love it. All right, well, Michelle Bridger we are at that point now in the podcast where I'm going to put you on the spot one more time and ask you for your tip of the week. A website, a resource, a book, something else actionable for the art of passive income listeners to go improve their businesses, improve their lives. But before you do that, I have to give a shout out to our sponsor, which is flight school. All I'm going to say is if you want to replicate the results of Michelle Bridger, go into flight school schedule, call with the team, just go to the landgeek.com forward/training. Oh, and by the way, that flight school tuition ain't going to cost you nothing. Guaranteed you're going to make it back 180 days or less. So you got nothing to lose. Just show us your work@landgeek.com training Michelle Bridger, what is your tip of the week?

So my resource is a book called Tapping into Wealth. This is by Margaret M. Lynch. It teaches a technique called emotional freedom Technique. It's also called tapping. So many, many, many, many people teach this technique. But this is a great book. I recommend the technique and I recommend this book, Tapping into Wealth. So it's how emotional freedom techniques can help you clear the path to making more money. So it's a simple, scientifically validated process that clears inner blocks and limiting beliefs that keep you stuck. So give it a try.

I remember reading this book about the tapping technique years ago and for whatever reason I didn't have the self discipline to keep up with it. But I do remember, you know, just for my own experiment, doing it. And I do remember feeling better and for whatever reason because I have like self development add, I went into something else, probably like meditation, I don't even know. But now that you have that book, I am going to buy the book and then I'm going to see you in San Antonio at boot camp.

You bet.

August 12th through the 14th. So for those of you listening, come to Boot Camp August 12th to 14th go tolandgeek.com forward/bootcamp and let's start our own tapping group and see what the results are. So after you listen to this podcast, get the book, let's all tap together and just compare notes at boot camp and see what amazing stories we can just, you know, compare notes and see. My tip of the week is learn more about Michelle Bridger and her land business. All you have to do is go to bridgerland company.com bridgerland. Bridgerlandcompany.com Michelle Bridger this has been so inspirational. So motivating and what a treat for myself, the team, the listeners. You are just a land gem and such a valuable member of our community. I cannot thank you enough. I hope you feel the gratitude.

Thank you. Such an honor. Mark. I really appreciate all your training and all that you do and it was just wonderful to be here.

Well, thank you. If you're listening and you got value out of this podcast and hearing Michelle's journey, do us three little favors. Follow Rate Review the podcast. Send us a screenshot of your review. Support thelandgeek.com I'm going to send you for free a signed copy of Dirt Rich, so please do it. Michelle, are you ready to do this?

Yes.

One, two, three. Let freedom ring. All right. Thanks Michelle. Thanks everybody.

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