Thanksgiving A Time To Be Thankful Amid The Coronavirus Pandemic

Hey, it's Mark Podolski, the land geek with your favorite niche real estate website, www.thelandgeek.com. and on this week's roundtable, we've got almost all the usual suspects. We've got. Dude, buddy, the Scott Bossman. Scott, how are you?

Great, Mark, how are you?

I'm great. I'm great. I can't tell you how much I'm loving Nightcap these days, especially, Especially as it's getting cooler at night, having, you know, just a nice drink of scotch or, you know, a good tequila, watching nightcap, learning and just, it's just great.

It's been a good couple weeks. We've had good engagement and good topics, and it's been fun.

Yeah. And there's a whole new format, which is cool. So check out Nightcap, everybody. We've got the technician, Eric Peterson. Eric, how are you?

Wonderful.

Happy to be here.

It's good to see you. Good to see you. And for those of you don't know, Eric's got some cool courses on investor ninjas dot com. Check them out. Speaking of cool courses, wouldn't it be great to watch Tate Litchfield work and look over his his shoulder? I love it when you call me big papa. Tate Litchfield, how are you?

I'm good, yeah. Doing well. Happy to be on the show again.

Yeah. Good to see you. Check out lots. Thelangi.com lots. And of course, the brain, the professor, your flight school sherpa. Scott. Todd. Scott. Todd.netlandmodo.com Learn anything about anything. Even follow up, boss. Investorninjas.com or is it Airtable? Airtable is in there too, right, Scott?

Complete Facebook marketing system.

The complete Facebook marketing system is in there.

That's right. How's it going, Mark?

It's good. It's really good. I'm very excited to talk about today's topic, which is, as of this recording, next week will be Thanksgiving. And it's going to be a weird Thanksgiving this year. So the first topic is, are you getting together with your family this year? Like, what is the Thanksgiving tradition at the Bossman household typically? And what's going on this year?

Well, the last few years we have hosted probably 20, 25 people. And I'll just have to say that right now the plans are still a little bit up in the air. I'm not really sure what we're doing. Things to consider are, you know, people who are a little bit older who are maybe at high risk for, you know, getting this nasty virus. So it's a very good Question mark. Not really sure what we're doing yet. We would like to get together, obviously. So we'll see. Stay tuned, I guess.

Okay. Okay. Kate, how about you?

Yeah, I mean, normally we do a big shebang at our house, have a lot of people come into town. I mean, who doesn't want to come to Vegas in November? Weather's perfect. Get the pool nice and warm, spend our days outside in the sunshine. It's a. A great place to come. Normally for Thanksgiving. I think we're kind of up in the air like bossman. I think we have my sister. She is planning on coming to town, but as far as extended family, I don't know. I mean, most of the family that would have to fly here is not flying in. If you're within driving distance, they're kind of up in the air. Some of them are in Arizona. Some of them are, you know, Utah here in Nevada. So I don't really know what's gonna happen. I don't think they really know. Nobody's made up their plans yet. So it'll be sad. It'll be sad.

It's so weird. So it's so sad this year, but it's so nice to know that 2020 is coming quickly to an end with a vaccine, no less. So we're assuming that a year from now we will be having a normal Thanksgiving. But I'd love to be a fly on the wall at that Peterson household. Eric, what goes on over there?

I think this year we're just gonna have a small family Thanksgiving. I do have plans to put the smoker to use and smoke a turkey. I've already acquired a locally raised fresh turkey, and it is waiting in the freezer to be prepared and smoked in a little over a week.

All right, well, we have our next topic for next week, which is, you know, who's gonna help prepare Eric's house after it burns down?

That's deep frying. Smoking.

That's deep frying. That's right. That's such a fun.

I'm deep fry. I'm deep frying a turkey.

You're deep frying this right here.

Oh, every year, once you deep fry. I'm excited to hear Eric's sophisticated barbecue opinion of a smoked turkey.

Well, Eric would have. After smoking, like, the smoke gets in his eyes.

I'm excited to hear what he has to say about it because that's.

Is Eric. Is he going to be out back with the chicken rib in his. In his mouth while he's doing all this turkey leg?

Yeah.

Yeah.

The Turkey leg.

Eric's gonna have, like, the Fred Flintstone turkey leg out there.

Yeah, no, that's gonna be Scott walking.

Around Disney with the turkey leg hanging out of his mouth.

Could be. Could be.

So, Scott, Todd, what do you guys do out in Beautiful?

We are actually going to have a. I mean, a normal Thanksgiving, per se. That's the plan at least, obviously. I think it depends. Now, look, this isn't the tip of the week segment, but I'm going to put this in a chat, okay? Check out this link I just gave you, okay. And we can use this as the tip of the week so we don't have to give it now. But I will talk about it. But see, the thing is, is that you can use this map, okay, that everybody's going to want access to. Now that we've talked about it. You click on this map and basically you put in how many people are going to come to your Thanksgiving? So let's say you're going to have 15 people at your Thanksgiving. Then you zoom in on your county where you are. So with 15 people at our get together, there's a 14% chance of getting Covid. Okay, now that's taking a lot of information there. Now that's for me. Now for you, Mark, where you live, it's 18%. Where Eric is, it's 34%. Or maybe it was taped. So one of them was 34% or 38%. So, like, there are pieces of the state or the country where the risk is higher. So maybe you want to use this event risk assessment planning tool in order to determine, like Scott Bossman saying, 75% for you.

Oh, it's over.

Thanksgiving's canceled for you.

Wow. Okay.

Okay.

So when I. When I lowered it because I'm like, I want to go out to a restaurant maybe this weekend and sit outside. I got 10. I got a 13% risk. I loaded 10 people. I guess it'd be more than that. But if it's outside, I don't know.

For me, it's 8%. At 10 people, it's 8%.

So, Scott, 75%.

I mean, yeah. So Scott should cancel.

Scott should cancel.

That's based on our current. That's based on our normal attendees of 25 people. Yeah, 75%. That's insane. Now, if it's down. If we bring it down to 10 people, it's like 25 to 50%. But yeah, I'm thinking that a small nuclear family Thanksgiving is probably in order to.

Wow.

When I go up to 25 people, it's 29%.

And for me, it's 22%. You know, like, it just, I think it all depends on, obviously, where you are in the country and what. What's happening in that spot of the country. So I think that you just, you know, I think that, honestly, I think that you have to use good judgment, right? If you're not feeling well, don't go somewhere, wash your hands. I mean, I mean, you do have to think about typical Thanksgiving.

I don't.

Want to say processes, but Thanksgiving, you know, the way that things flow for Thanksgiving, typically, there's like a buffet setup, right? Like, you know, you go and you take.

Okay, well, you're going to go use.

A scooper that everybody else is using. That's going to increase. Why not like, take some plastic silverware and take your plate and get your stuff with your utensils and then throw them away. Throw your plate away, wash your hands and go start all over again. So, you know, I think that you got to just be aware of contamination, cross contamination, and, you know, just use some good common sense. I mean, not saying it's gonna prevent it, but it helps.

Yeah, good. Good judgment for sure. I mean, this year we know we normally have family, like, morning, afternoon, and then at night we go to a friend's, eat, like dessert and do all that. And then, you know, at some point make fun of that uncle that we had to deal with earlier in the day that would say the inappropriate things at the Thanksgiving table. And everybody kind of rolled their eyes. Oh, that's just uncle so and so, you know, kind of thing. I'm just kidding. Uncle so and so. We didn't make fun of you.

What? If you don't make fun of. Of anybody, does that mean that they're making fun of you? It's like, if you don't.

Well, yeah, obviously, if there's not that, like, everyone has, like, that crazy uncle. If you don't have one, you're it. Or the crazy aunt. If you don't have one, you're it. So isn't that the way it always is? Everyone has, like, a rich uncle. Everybody has, like a crazy uncle or aunt. Create a rich aunt kind of thing. Scott? Yeah, he's. He's saying hello. He's saying, yes, Scott. Todd, do you have the. The rich aunt or uncle? And the.

We won't, we won't talk about the, the money side of it, and we better not talk about the craziness either. So.

I know. I'm sure the Todd family listens to this podcast.

Yeah. You're right, they don't.

Yeah, exactly. So just.

Just write them out.

No, no, I'm not saying tell us their first and last names. I'm saying, is it in the Todd family? Yeah. See? Can we make that generalization? Sure. Yeah. Okay. Eric, can we make the generalization? See, he's thinking about it. So he is it? He is.

I guess it's me, then.

The rich, crazy Uncle Pete.

Oh, yeah.

You got one. You got both. See, there it is. So I thought it'd be in the spirit of Thanksgiving, a really phenomenal time now to just talk about the things that we're most grateful for this year because of what we've been able to accomplish in our land business and what that passive income has been able to provide us. So, Scott Boston, let's just start with you. It's just like I'm going around the Thanksgiving table, but there's literally no food. You just have a microphone.

I wish we could join hands, but no. So I've been thinking about. I think about this so much, just how I have. I'm really kind of the captain of my. My own ship right now. I'm the captain of my fate, if you will. So much more now than ever before. I don't have to worry about getting time off from my job. I used to work a lot of holidays. I used to have to work Thanksgiving half the day, the Friday after Thanksgiving. The fact that I don't have to worry about those problems anymore makes me feel so much at ease and just, you know, realizing the sense that I have this time. Freedom, this location, freedom is absolutely phenomenal. So for me, that's the biggest thing is it has eliminated so much stress with trying to figure out how we're going to do this. How are we going to do this in and amongst the holidays. And I have a big family. I come from a split family. So in a typical year, it's been a lot easier to deal with these things. So for me, that's what I'm most thankful for. And the fact that I have a growing business, it continues to grow over time. It's becoming more and more solid and is providing in ways that I never thought possible. So that's what I'm thankful for.

Beautiful. Beautiful. Tate Litchfield, how about you?

A lot to be thankful for, especially in a year that's been very difficult for a majority of the world, not even just our country. And one of the things I'm grateful for is obviously the fact that I've avoided a lot of heartache and a Lot of hardship for my family just because of what we've built. And I'm proud of that. At one point I realized, like Scott, I was the captain of the ship, and if we were going to be successful, that was on me. And I found a lot of comfort in that. I found a lot of trust in that. I thought, you know, who better to be responsible for my family than me? And so I'm grateful for that opportunity within the business. And it's proving to be something that is very, very scalable. And we don't have to be ever limited or content with where we're at unless we are content. You know, we can keep growing. And that's a cool thing and. And worthwhile. I mean, the other thing that I'm grateful for is we had a baby this year, and despite the chaos, babies stayed healthy, family stayed healthy, and that was a big stressor. It happened. You know, everybody asked me, how old's your son? And it's one pandemic old, right? He was born the day before lockdown. And just the difference there you go to the hospital. The first day, things were kind of on edge. Go. Day two, I couldn't even get into the hospital room anymore. It was just, you know, my wife and him. And so to see that kind of contrast and that difference, it really made me grateful to you make it out of there safe and sound. So I'm grateful for good health and obviously my group of friends here. You guys are awesome. You've kind of made the pandemic more bearable. It's been really nice to get on and talk with you guys. But not just that. The other land land geek family members that we have, they're awesome. We get to do office hours. And, you know, I speak for. I know Eric on this one. We love that. We enjoy doing that. We enjoy getting to know you guys on a more personal basis and being involved in your businesses. And when you win, we win. It's probably a bigger success. I'd rather you sell property than us sell property. I mean, it just. It goes that much further for me, so I'm grateful for all of it. I don't want to hog the whole show, but the list goes on. But, yeah, it's been a good year.

Yeah. Yeah, it's one of those things that just kind of goes on and on and on. But everything you said is amazing. I would definitely drink a shot of gravy to that or two. The technician, Eric Peterson. How about you? What? What for 20. 20. Are you most grateful for that? The Business has provided you and your family.

Well, I think I can, I can mirror what's, what's already been said. I mean, I'm grateful for, for all of those things as well. But if I were to. To find a couple different things to talk about, it might be just the, the mere fact of finding this business in this niche and being able to build it up into something that could support my family is pretty amazing. So I am thankful for that. I am super thankful for my team that supports me and allows me to have the freedom I want to have, because without them, I would just be working in this business all the time in order to have the success I'm having. So all of those behind me that, you know, kind of do the day to day things in my business are the keys to my success, honestly. So I'm extremely grateful for them.

Yeah, that's really well said. I think we can all agree that, you know, the teams that we put together are so critical in the systems and processes and the software, all of it combined. We're so grateful that we're living in today's day and age where literally we can tap global talent and a guy like Scott Todd can look at a system process, like I can automate that. And there's so much coming down the pike in the vein of that with, you know, process moto that's just, you know, saving everybody time, money and energy. It's so much to be grateful for. The people and the technology. It's the best time ever to be alive. Scott Todd, how about you this year? What are you most grateful for for your business in 2020?

Honestly, I'm grateful that I have almost like that pandemic resistant business. Okay. You know, like I didn't know what to expect when the pandemic. Pandemic was coming. And you know, you think like, oh Jesus, worst case scenario. And then, you know, people start locking down. You're like, oh man, no one's gonna be able to pay their bills. Well, the note portfolio kept going strong and you know, we continued to add to it. And then, you know, I'll admit over the last couple years, I had gotten kind of gotten shiny obvious syndrome. I never really like executed on it, but I looked at things, right? Like I spent time to go look at things like multifamily, for example. Okay. Like I talk about it multifamily. Well, then you look at multifamily and you're like, geez, man, you know how many people are not paying their rent today? Or I often thought, oh, it'd be kind of cool to own a retail strip center. Not when they're closed down and they're not paying their rent either. At one point I looked at, a couple years ago, I looked at getting a franchise for a haircutting company and I thought, well, that'd be cool. That's a recession proof business. Everybody needs a haircut until the pandemic comes. It's not pandemic proof. Right. So those are shut down. So look at the entire business. And I'm like, man, this is really kind of cool that the business continued to grow in a pandemic. It continued to grow. Additionally, I've been able to add very good people to my team in this weird time. And you know, people that are working on me, not only are they great, but essentially they're growing, you know, from a skill set piece, but also they're making more money too. Right? Like everybody's making more money. So the business is helping not just myself, it's helping other people to have just good years, great years, even in a time where the world is a little nutty. And I'd say last is I am kind of grateful too, that my business is able to survive. It doesn't matter if the Donald is the president or the Biden is the president. It doesn't matter which one is there, because we don't. I mean, I guess we kind of know. I don't know if we know or not. But look, whoever it is, the business will be okay. Because people who don't like one guy might want to buy land out in the middle of nowhere. If they don't like the other guy, they might want to buy land too. Who knows?

Yeah, I mean, everything you guys said, I completely agree with. I am so grateful, all of it. And Scott, you're right. We probably don't talk about it enough how incredible this business model is in almost any circumstance. A pandemic, a recession. If the dollar collapses because we have a real asset, dollar collapses. We do have a real asset. And we could play this game all day long. You know, what if, and we always talk about the Saboot camp, if everything's going to change and everything is going to change, what's not going to change and what's not going to change, in my opinion, is people are going to want a real asset, like raw land, and they're always going to want a good deal. And as long as those things continue, we're always going to have this incredibly vibrant niche to allow us to work when we want, where we want with Whom we want. I mean, every day I'm kind of getting chills just thinking about the fact that I don't have to put on a suit and fight traffic and be somewhere at a certain time five days a week. And the anxiety of, like, oh, my gosh, if I'm late, I could be fired. And the impact that could have on my family. Just the psychic freedom of knowing that I'm in total control of just about everything I can control in life. There's not that much I can control, but those things that I can't control, it's amazing. And then just the fact that to work with you guys every day, it's amazing to me. It's amazing. Our community and the collective intelligence and the personalities and the tapestry of our amazing community, I'm so grateful for. Every day you learn something new, somebody leaves a comment, someone found this, someone found that. Such generosity, such giving back. It's just. It's humbling to be a witness of. And I'm just so grateful for all those things. And my son right now is sick, and just to be able to be home with him, not have to take a sick day is great. I mean, I could go on and on and on. I don't want to bore the listeners, but it's an amazing, amazing time to be alive and to be working in this business in solving the two big problems in life, the money problems and the time problems, and then be able to enjoy the fruits of that and really just live anyway we want. It's. It's amazing. So, you know, and you guys are a big part of that as well, so thank you. Wow. It's. It's. It's like, I don't. I just want to, you know, say, okay, let's read a ring now. But we do have to do the podcast format, which is the tip of the. The week. A website, a resource, a book, maybe a Mike Zaino quote. Something actionable for the art of passive income listeners to go improve their businesses, improve their lives. Scott. Todd, should we do the COVID risk tip? That's a good. It's a good site. Wait, you're on mute.

I got a Mike Zano quote and tip of the week. I got two. All right, here's a Mike Zeno.

All right, let's. Okay.

Don't get yourself sick with COVID Use the tip of the week, which is go to the COVID risk map and eat a turkey leg for Eric Peterson.

Go to the COVID risk map. Eat it. Eat a turkey leg for Eric Peterson. Don't get yourself sick. Don't get yourself sick. Be wicked smart. Wash your hands. Put on a mask.

That's right, put on a mask. Okay? Eat good, but eat outside and use a Covid risk mask. Risk map. If it's too risky, don't go. And if you do go, eat a turkey leg like Eric Peterson style.

That's a lot of good tips right there.

Three things in a row, man.

Yeah, absolutely. If you are listening to this and you have not joined flight school yet, you actually owe it to yourself, your family. You are obligated to learn more about how this passive income machine can be built so you can solve those problems of time and money and be so grateful for the life that you've built. It won't be easy because nothing is easy. Nothing is easy. But if we can do it, you can do it. So learn more. Go to landgeek.com training and schedule a call with Scott Bossman or Mike Zano and go in to 2021 and start building that passive income machine and changing your life. So do that, which is my tip of the week. And our sponsor is flight school as well. You know, be great. Scott. Todd, what's that? If the person that took you up that mount of land investing had done it a few times, how many times have you done it now?

Thousands.

I don't.

Thousands of times. Thousands of times Years. Thousands. I've done this 20 years. The collective intelligence is crazy, crazy long. It's crazy long. If you're going to learn from somebody, go to somebody who's got some gray hair, for crying out loud. Someone's done some things. Thelangique.com training.

I'm laughing because, like, my wife's. Like, my wife and kids, they will pick on me. They'll either say, like, I don't have hair, which I tell them like this. His hair. They'll say like, you don't have any hair. Or they'll say, wow, you got a lot of gray hair. They're like, you can't have it both ways. Okay, Like, I do have gray hair, but like, come on, that's crazy.

You keep it short, you know?

Keep it short.

Yeah, you just keep it short. It's just for convenience. It's for speed.

So wait for the Zano to fulfill his boot camp.

Yeah, he owes us. He owes us on that one.

You're listening to this.

Scott, Todd, did you happen to see the Halloween episode or even a snippet of the nightcap? Because he kind of addressed the. He addressed the shaving of the head during that episode.

I must have missed that.

I'll send you a screenshot of what his costume was.

By the way, Scott Boston. Mike, if you're listening to this, Scott is stirring the pot.

No, right now.

Not at all.

Stirring the pot.

We're gonna get this issue to rest.

We're gonna get our pound of hair.

Wait a second. Are you telling me that he's mocking me?

No, he's not mocking you. No, not at all. Publicly.

All right, give me that screenshot. Cause I got. I got some actions to take to Zaina.

So I was a no. Rip Zaino.

Yeah. I want to thank the listeners. We're so thankful for all of you. And, well, I want to wish everyone a happy, very healthy, and just a wonderful Thanksgiving, even in the midst of a global pandemic. We have so much to be grateful for. And, you know, just thank you for allowing us to. To bend your ear twice a week with our podcast. So thank you so much and happy Thanksgiving. So with that, you guys ready? 1, 2, 3. Let's let freedom ring and eat a smoked turkey. Not bad, man. Eric, how big is that turkey?

I think it's 17 and a half pounds.

That sounds big to me, Tate. Is that a big turkey?

It's a big turkey. And, you know, it'll be good. I mean, Eric probably had this turkey picked out for the last six months. It has a name, had a birth certificate. He said he got it from an organic grass fed farm or something like that.

You know, it's got like a sheet on it. Its name is Mabel.

Yeah.

Date of birth. Yeah, I'm jealous.

I don't know when it was born.

But it did come from a local farm. That's cool, man. Staying local, supporting local. That's awesome.

Yeah. Tate, did you get a new mic? You sound good. You sound crisper, clear. Is it me?

No. Say, Mike, I did accidentally bump the settings, so maybe that helped.

Oh, okay. There you go.

I shouldn't say I did. I should say one of my daughter did. She was in here the other day, so everything was unplugged in on the floor.

Yeah, well, look, you know, soak it in, man, because the day is going to come where she's not going to bump into it.

Yeah.

No.

Be grateful.

Yep. Yes, indeed.

Oh, yeah. I miss those days of, you know.

Patrolling, getting up, getting up three times a night. You miss that really?

Well, that I don't miss necessarily, but when it's gone, it's gone. You don't know when the last time is going to be that you have to get up for the kid. But there will be a last time I think about this stuff. Could this be my last Thanksgiving? Could be this last time that I'm.

Bringing it down, Mark. You're bringing me down.

I know. I'm just saying.

I'm not trying to bring it down right now.

You got to be mindful. Like these. These precious moments. Like, don't. Don't wish it away. Like. Like this. There will be a last time. Like, go in there. Like, oh, yeah, it's three in the morning. I'm so lucky.

So ecstatic to be here. Changing your sheets again.

Yeah.

Wet the bed again.

Yes, exactly. Because there will be a time that you won't.

I'll vox you. I'll vox you every single night. Better yet, I'll call you when I'm up in the middle of the night. Help you, you know, revert back to some of those hidden memories.

I'm a trifle deaf in my left ear. Anyways, you guys have a great rest of your day and see everybody later.