Roberto Chavez Doubled His Passive Income and He Can Show You How to Do It Too

Hey, it's Mark Podolski at Land Geek with your favorite niche real estate website, thelandgeek.com and on this week's Art of Passive Income podcast, I've got a real treat for you because he is our latest and greatest new coach, Roberto Carrajio Chavez. I just, I, literally, we just, Nick, I just nicknamed him that. Roberto. Welcome.

Thanks, Mark. I, I love the nickname, but that, I don't know that people will know what that we might have to give a little explanation on that because otherwise.

We have to do a little inside baseball. All right, so before we talk about the nickname, a lot of people have heard your story either on, like Nick Loper, the side Hustle podcast. I think you're on Wealth Without Wall Street's podcast. You're on our podcast last year talking about your story, and we had a retirement party with you on the Roundtable podcast. So just to kind of give people a little update. So how have things been going since the last time we talked, which is a 2021.

Oh, yeah, it's a lot, A lot has happened since 2021. But yeah, you're right. I, I, I was fortunate enough to, to come on, on you guys podcast, Wealth Without Wall Street, Nick Lopers and got a lot of messages coming from those podcasts. But yes, it's 2021. On a personal level, I got married, all right.

And I, and I was there, which.

And you were there. So we had a good time, drank some carajillos. But business wise, yeah, 2021 was a big year for me. I, I retired from the law firm profession. I took the leap and went 100% into the land business. I've still been doing a little bit of freelance legal work just from, just kind of the natural inertia from working at the firm for so many years, but that's taken up 10, 20% of my time, if that. And I've really been focused on scaling the bland business, growing it, putting pieces in place, and you know, as Scott Todd says, building that machine and, and making it grow and, and work as much as it can on its own to be managing it day to day.

Yeah, I mean, there's always that big fear of the loss. And I think you and I had this conversation back when you were thinking of, of, of quitting the law firm and going to land full time. There's always that fear, like, okay, I'm losing my benefits, I'm losing the salary, I'm losing, you know, potentially these relationships that I've, that I have at work. But Then we don't really, we kind of discount all the energy that's going to go into what you're doing now for your land business and how that can really grow. So since you've quit, can you kind of give us an idea of how much the business has grown and I don't know. Are you comfortable talking about passive income numbers?

Yeah, I don't mind. I mean, and I think I talked about passive income numbers back in the Nick Loper podcast and maybe with you guys. But from, from 2021 to where are we? 2020, 2023, it's doubled in, in passive income from where I was back then to, to where I am now, it's, it's doubled. And so that's something that I am pretty confident I would not have been able to accomplish had I still been doing this part time. And, and it's not, not so much the actual time put into it, but it's the quality of energy that I'm now able to put into the business, whereas I'm not split up into managing two quote unquote careers. I guess here I'm more focused and my energy and my thoughts are more focused towards how do I improve the business, how do I tweak it so that I don't have to be doing X, Y and Z every day. And now I can focus on, on the, the bigger items and the larger ticket items that actually generate money for the company.

Yeah. So you're over 40 then, is that right?

Yep.

A month. Yeah, right around there. So that's, that's huge. And what's even cooler is that now you have decided to give back to the community and actually teach people how they can learn from your success and get to a machine of passive income where you work when you want, where you want with whom you want, where your passive income exceeds your fixed expenses, you're able to replace your corporate law income. I think it took what, to take three years?

Yeah, so, so that, that was a very calc. I could have probably stepped away a little bit earlier, but yeah, it, I, I officially, officially started at the end of, at the beginning of 2018. So it was all of 18, 19, 20 and mid 2021. So 3, 3 and change is what took me.

Awesome. So your coaching clients are going to learn a few things from you. But I think if I was listening to this, what do you think there is going to be like the big leap for you from going from 2021 to 2023, like doubling? What do you think what had to happen in Your business for you to be able to scale. Like, what pieces did you put in place?

Oh, yeah, it's a loaded question. Because there's something funny about the land business in that it's at the beginning. It's maybe, maybe for a good reason, but it takes time to really start putting the pieces together and to see results. It takes a while for you to actually see or reap the benefits of what you're putting together week by week, day by day. So those first three and a half years were really foundational for me of really establishing the. The fundamentals of the land business and really having. I mean, because anybody can hear about the land business and kind of understand the model. Yeah, you buy raw land at pennies for the dollars and you turn around and you sell it. But it's a completely different thing to really understand the intricacies of all of that. And I think it does take a couple of years to really master it and really understand it to the point where you can start putting other people in charge of other tasks or automating certain tests. And it's. Until you're really vested and you're kind of burning the boats behind and saying, okay, I'm all in. That you're really able to put in the energy and effort to start scaling the business by putting all of those pieces behind you in the land business, to actually see it grow on strong foundations, which take time to. To really put together to be able to build a strong business that. That can grow on those strong foundations. I hope that makes some sense.

No, it totally makes sense. And it's so funny because that first year, especially when people go into coaching, I always say this is a foundational year. It's not like flipping on a switch. We want to learn how to delegate. We want to start putting the pieces in place. We don't want to abdicate. We don't want to have to be the blind leading the blind, if you will. So you have to know enough in those key fundamental areas before you can delegate. But there's also so many other pieces that come into play and you have to grow as an entrepreneur. And I always say it's the second year after coaching where you really see your business hockey stick up. And. And that's where, you know, people have. Have had tremendous amount of growth. But that. That first year is a. Is just a crazy learning curve.

Yeah. And you're not. I mean, my processes.

Exactly.

And I wasn't delegating very much that first year because I really wanted to understand. And so you Go slower because you're doing everything. And so just by the nature of it, you're, you're, it's, gonna, the growth is gonna be slower because it's just you kind of moving the machine and moving from place to place and changing hats and trying to do everything all at once. So just by nature, that's gonna take you more time to see growth and change. But once you understand it enough to be able to teach somebody or put it in writing so that somebody else can do it for you, then that's when you're like, you're doubling your time, you're doubling the efforts. Next thing you know, you're 5xing the efforts because you've got more people. And that's really when you start seeing the, the drastic changes and, and the growth that you were hoping for since the beginning. But unfortunately, anything that's worth having is, is going to take time and effort. So I mean, that's just the nature of, of anything that's worth having.

Yeah, absolutely. This is definitely not a get rich quick type of program. It's, it's a get wealthy slow program program. But look, those three years, those five years, if it takes seven years to get to total freedom, they're coming either way. So are you going to have the pieces in place that you need or you not?

Right.

And so it's, it's better to invest like a tree, right? What's the best time to plant a tree? Yeah, 20 years ago. Second best time is today. So, yeah, I, I, it's, it's so interesting. So what, what about the process of scaling fuels you?

When you say fuels me, what do you mean?

Like, like kind of excites you. Like as you were going through that process.

Okay, so what's been most exciting for me is to have my marketing slash sales manager make sales because for the longest time it's been, well, for the, for the entirety of my business, previously it was just me making the land sales. So to see that and, and it's hard because there's kind of a mental ball like, oh, well, I'm the only one who can sell land. I'm the only one who's really vested in this and who's, who's really going to put in the effort to make a sale. And there's nobody else who can do it as good as me. That's one that's probably wrong. And even if it's right, there's still other people that can sell land for you. Even they don't do it as good as you. Or if you don't believe they do it as good as you, as you. And to see that coming off my plate to a certain degree is like, whoa, that, that really opens up the door because that takes up most of the time. And now to, to realize that, okay, that big, big piece of the, of the business model is off my hands to a certain degree. To me, it's like, okay, now I can go tweak things a little bit more, make it a little bit better over here. Is there something on the intake that I was maybe disregarding, that I can maybe implement either a person or a system to improve it? And so it just opens up the panorama of what I can do in the business from a CEO level and not from the sales manager level, which I was at for the longest time, which I still have some of that responsibility, but little by little, it's going to somebody else. And that's just an amazing feeling because it opens up all the other possibilities of what I can do to improve the business.

Yeah, that. It's, it's an amazing feeling. I, I struggled with it, and that's why I love the coaching program so much, because it took me literally five years of, of, of fighting because I had that Superman syndrome where, oh, no one's going to do any of this as well as me.

Yeah.

And I had to have a mentor kind of pushing me and pushing me, and I mean, I was just slow to do it. And if someone wasn't pushing me, there's no way I would have done it. I'd still be in my business today. Yeah. You know, doing the intake, talking to sellers, making offers, you know, printing out maps, sending out packages, you know, closing the deal with the buyers, working on the marketing aspect. I did everything. I mean, for me, it was a fun job, but that's not the whole point of you want to have a business. You want to build this machine so that you should be able to travel around the world. And you're getting this mailbox money, this passive income coming in every single month without you doing any of the work. And that's how you really scale a business. So those, those three levers, if you will, other people's time, software and automation, and then other people's money to get to that next level.

And that's. And, I mean, that's kind of the beauty of, and, And a great value I've received from, from being immersed in the Lange community is that for the last three, four or five years, I've been, I've been surrounded by people Like. Like Tate, like Eric, everyone who's. Who's at that point where they have their systems in place, they have people selling land for them, and it's just a natural thing where you start seeing other people around you doing it, and then you just start doing it. I mean, you start implementing things that step by step, take you to that point. So it's kind of the energy and the magic of being surrounded by people who are doing what you want to achieve and eventually do.

Yeah, absolutely. So when you started the land business, I know I've asked you this in the past, but I just want to hear it again. What was your big why?

Oh, yeah. Well, it's. It's. It's a pretty strong why in that it's not your typical why of an aspirational why. It was. There was a combination of I was running away from something, and so my big why was I didn't want to be in a 9 to 5, well, a little longer, 8 to 6, or whatever. A law firm career where I'm stuck in an office and I'm helping other businesses solve their problems. I just didn't want to see myself being stuck in that position for the rest of my life. Even though the pay would be okay and all that is great, but I just didn't feel like that was what I was meant to do forever. And so there was a really strong push for me to build something that I could grow for me and my family and something that would give me the freedom to literally work from wherever I wanted to work. I've always been a big traveler, and when I started my legal career, that kind of dwindled down a little because, of course, work. And so I wanted to find something that. That gave me that opportunity to continue to travel, enjoy my life in unconventional terms that a lot of people think about and dream about, but really don't put into action. And so that was the big why. I just wanted to get out of the. The career path that I was in and build something that. That really brought that freedom along with it. And it's fun. I mean, it's. It's. It's a fun business model. So that's. That's an extra little kicker there.

No, for sure. And I. I can imagine that conversation with your parents about, you know, doing this and Marie at the time, what was that like?

Yeah, it's funny you. You actually mentioned that, because now my. My parents are. They kind of see that. That I'm doing okay, and they're like, okay, I guess. I mean, it was his call. But recently my sister told me that when I told my parents that I was gonna quit the firm and just do land, they were really, they were really nice about it. They didn't. I, I saw my dad's face. He was like, I don't know about that, but he didn't say anything. But my sister told me that that same day, when I left the house where we were and my sister stayed behind, my dad told her, like, hey, maybe you should talk to him. Maybe this is not the best idea. I mean, he went to law school for three years and he's just throwing this away. Is he doing the right call or is it an impulse? And so he was a little worried, but he trusted me enough, I guess, not to tell it to my face, I guess.

Right, right.

And now he's, he's, he's happy for me. I mean, I think he, he sees that I've been doing it for long enough that it, it should continue on its. On its successful path, hopefully. So at the beginning, it was a little bit of a shock for them, but I think at the end of the day, they appreciated and respected the fact that I, I kind of ventured into something that would be more long time fulfilling for me. And with Maria, it was a very natural transition because I was already dating her when I purchased the toolkit back in 2017. And I remember we were out having dinner and I told her, like, I bought this toolkit online. I don't know if it's going to work or not, but I mean, the business model sounds like, duh, it makes sense. So.

Right. Right.

And she was like, okay, well, if it's something that, I mean, you think you can do, let's go for it kind of a thing. And so she's been with me the whole, the whole way. So she was actually pushing me to, to quit the firm before I took the decision to do it. So she's been really supportive all along.

That's amazing. You know what's so funny though? The irony of all this is that when, you know, lawyers have a big hourly rate.

Yeah.

And if you do the calculation today, what your hourly rate is compared to when you're a billable attorney, like, you're probably. Your hourly rates probably just like more than 10x than what it was.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, especially because now, fortunately, we're. I mean, I'm spending five to ten hours a week. I mean, sometimes I'll spend more just because I'm working on special projects or whatnot, but to keep kind of what we've got going on Right now, it's 10 to 12 hours a week. So, yeah, it's. It's a pretty. It's a pretty steep rate.

Yeah. Right. That's crazy. That's crazy. So, all right, now, why do you want to be a coach? What makes you want to give back? Like, so. So many people are like, well, I don't want. Sure. My success secrets.

I mean, the reality is you guys shared it with me. I mean, and, and whatever it is that got you back in 2010 or 12, I don't. I can't remember when it is that. That you started to tell people what it is that you do. Yeah, there's enough land out there. I mean, we talk about this in the land community, in the Lange community. Excuse me. There's. There's so many counties out there. There's so much land. I don't think the hunger for land ownership is going to go anywhere. If anything, it will probably increase. So I don't have an issue sharing what you guys shared with me and kind of spreading the wealth. And if there's people out there in a similar situation to mine where they're just fed up with. Or maybe not necessarily fed up, but they just want to try something different because they have a strong. Why. Whether it's they're running away from something that's not making them happy or they want to get to something that is going to make them really happy, I'm more than happy to share it with them. I mean, it. It opened up doors of, of vibrant colors and food tasting better. Why not open that door for other people as well?

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, you'll get to that point, like me, where it feels so much more satisfying and professionally gratifying when your clients close deals than when you close deals. And it's just. It's amazing because, yeah, I mean, we're closing deals every day. It's, it's. It's. The novelty has worn off.

Right.

But. But when you take someone who's, you know, like this young little investor ling, and they don't know, they still don't know if it's going to work for them.

Right. Yeah.

And then you guide them and you help them and you push them and you encourage them, and then suddenly they. They cross that point like, oh, my gosh, this really does work for me. And then you help them scale it to that next level where it's become a machine and not just, you know, it's not just doing deals anymore. It's how Do I graduate now to scale and create this machine, to live my best life and find out my, My greatest purpose in life? It's, it's. There's. There's really nothing better. I mean, I think there are maybe some things better, you know, maybe watching your kids grow up, but other than that, it's. It's up there like the best things in life for sure.

I, I agree. And I, I wish I could re. Live that feeling of when I did my first sale, because I don't think there's a rush like that first time that you prove the. The business model to yourself where you bought a piece of raw land and you sold it for at least four or five. Five times what you bought it for. There is like this thrill of, like, whoa. There's a rush going through your body and yeah, as many people as can. As I can help experience that feeling. That's a pretty cool feeling to have.

That's amazing. Well, Roberto, I'm. I'm so excited to be working with you more closely. I'm so excited for you to inspire our language community. And if you're lucky enough to. To work directly with Roberto, I'm excited for you just to have his talent and his wisdom and. And just his Roberto ness rub off on you because you'll just be not just a better land investor, but also just a better person as well. So very, very exciting times. And then. Okay, so before we go to the tip of the week, we have to mention. What is the carajillo? Am I pronouncing it right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's. It's a typical drink. I think it was originally from Spain, but it's become very popular in Mexico. And it's something you usually drink right after dinner. And it's kind of a digestive, but it's one shot of espresso and then one shot, and you're putting me on the spot. But it's a Liquor 43. It's called Liquor 43. So it's like a sweet licorice. I'm not sure what the alcohol itself is, but it's. It's like a, Like a Bailey's kind of a thing. It's sweet.

Yeah.

So you mix those two together and it's a. It's a really good drink for. For after having dinner.

Yeah, I had it at your wedding, and I. And by the way, I don't drink coffee. I quit drinking alcohol. But I had to try this. And it was worth. Was. It is delicious. So before we get to your tip of the week I have to just give a little shout out to our sponsor, which is flight school. Learn how the next 16 weeks can transform your life. Go up that mountain of land, investing safely, quickly and efficiently with Scott Todd as your Sherpa. Start building that passive income without renters, rehabs, renovations and rodents. Oh, yeah, I know what you're thinking. What about the tuition? About the tuition. It ain't going to cost you nothing. Guaranteed you're going to make back that money. 180 days or less. Just show us your work. Learn more. Go the land. Geek.com forward/training TheLangic.com forward/trading Roberto Chavez, what is your tip of the week?

I. I like that. Just a side note, I like that you're already implementing the nickname so that the rest of the group can't sabotage your name like they did with Landon.

Exactly.

Notice.

Notice how I'm doing this on I'm learning. Yeah, this is, this is not a nickname. Democracy.

So we're talking about scaling. I think this book has been mentioned before in the podcast, but I don't think it's. It's never a good time to. Not a good time to mention it. It's who, not how by dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. And it talks about, I mean, you can implement this book into your land business to scale and grow your land business and become the CEO of your business and not be working in it all the time. And it's about finding the right person, the who that can help you do certain tasks and get those off your plate so that you can focus on bigger and better things that will make your business stronger and better. So I love that book. I've read it a couple of times and it's, it's a great read for anybody who's looking to grow their business.

I love it as well. We were talking about it. It's also on my desk as well. And so my tip of the week is going to be another Dan Sullivan, Dr. Ben Hardy book. And it just came out. It is 10x is easier than 2x. It's also this, that same sort of mindset when you're doing a task. It's like, you know, who should be doing this task? Not how do I do this task. 10x is easier than 2x is also going to be that similar mindset of having bigger goals as well as thinking, okay, I don't want to have incremental. I don't want to double. I want a 10x it. And what are the pieces I need to have in place? To do that and ultimately to 10x, 80% of what you're doing has to change and you sort of keep that core fundamental 20%. And it takes a lot of courage to do that. But it's, it's a great read. It's a great book. So check those two out. I think combined you're going to get a lot out of it. There was, there was another dance. There's three of them. I don't forget the first one they did.

Yeah. The Gap in the Game.

The Gap. I love that book. So all three are great. That's a. It's a nice little trilogy. The Gap in the Game who not how 10x is easier than 2x. Yeah.

Yeah. I think the Gap in the Game might have been their first book together.

Yeah. And we've talked about the Gap in the game as well. So these are great books. Not difficult reads at all, but sort of these foundational mindset type of books that will help your. Help you grow your. Your land business. So, Roberto, are we good? This is amazing. It's always great seeing you, man.

We're good. We're good. Thank you for welcoming me to the community. I'm excited to jump on and help as many people as I can. It's exciting to give back, especially because I went through the whole process and I know how difficult it can be and there's gaps there that are hard to get through, but excited to help people get through them and onto the other side and, and with a strong business model.

Yeah, absolutely. I, I remember when you were at Elite Week in Newport beach and we were going through your. Your processes and, and I was like, chastising. I'm like, you're spending too much time in your business and, but, you know, it. It took some time, but here, here we are.

Yeah, it takes time. It's. It takes time, but it's worth it. 100% for sure.

For sure. Well, I want to thank the listeners and remind them that the only way I'm going to continue to get Roberto to come back on the podcast and, and drop pearls of wisdom for you if you do three little, three little favors. Follow rate Review the podcast. Send a screenshot of that review. Support thelangic.com I'm going to send you free a signed copy of Dirt Rich. And Roberto, I don't know if you knew this Dirt Rich two is coming out and you're prominently featured in that how to scale your land business. So if you combine 10x is greater than 2x who not how with dirt rich 2 you might have a powerful combination there.

There you go.

Yeah. But I'm so excited for you, man, and I'm so excited for the community again to learn from you, grow with you. It's just. It's. It's amazing. So thank you, Mark. Let's do this together. One, two, three. Let freedom ring. Wow. Pretty good. You got that done.

Not too shabby.

Not too shabby at all. All right, now. Now the pressure's off. After the podcast, are you gonna go drink a carajillo?

It's a. Yeah, I mean, I guess it's. It's five o' clock somewhere, right?

Exactly. I mean, yeah, but ideally, it's after a meal. Is that before the meal?

Yeah. You don't want to do it on an empty stomach. The whole. The whole idea is that it helps with the digestive process of if you had, like, a large dinner.

Right.

And you're too full, that helps. And it's. It's like a dessert. It's a nice dessert to have.

Yeah, I. I think that's a really good metaphor for when you go into coaching. If you're. As a coach, you're the carillo. So you're digesting all this information. You feel like you're drinking from a fire hose. And then you go, and it's like, okay, we're going to break this down. We're going to reverse engineer your vision, your goals for your land investing business in the daily action steps. There's not going to be any ambiguity about what you need to do every single day. And it's going to have that delicious feel. Like a carajillo.

Exactly. There you go. Anytime I have a coaching call, have a carajillo in hand.

There you go. All your clients that drink carajos. You know what? I'm starting to really warm up to this. I was kind of iffy on that, on that nickname now. Now I'm starting to warm up to it.

We're gonna have to have at the live boot camp some stand so people can drink the cocktail hour.

There you go. Absolutely. You know, it's funny because we did take that away, though.

Oh, really?

Yeah. But maybe we'll bring it back just for that.

There you go. It's just a special occasion kind of thing.

Special occasion, but it's not a bad idea. Or, you know, even if we go to the local bar and meet up with people, we'll just order carrillos.

Yeah, it's. It's. It's hard. There's several places that do have it, but it not. Not all places serve it because it has to be an espresso. It can't just be regular coffee because otherwise it won't taste the same.

Yeah. For those of you fancy, I know Maple and Ash has a really good one.

Yes, Maple is a really nice one.

If you got a. If you got a fancy Maple and Ash. We have a fancy one in Scottsdale.

Yeah.

So is there one in El Paso?

No, no, no, no Maple in Ash. There's a couple restaurants that, that serve it, but it's because it's, it's like a new thing. It's like a two, three year kind of Karahia revolution that's hit the, the streets. Popular five, ten years ago.

Nice. Well, if you're, if you're listening to this, go ahead and put post in like Facebook group or my networks. If you've had a cardohio, they're very good. Very good. All right, brother, I'll, I'll see you later.

All right. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for listening to the Art of Passive Income podcast. Are you ready to learn how you.

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