The Land Geek Podcast #20

Welcome to the Land Geek Podcast, your resource for information and tips to making money by buying and selling land. Let the Land Geek show you how to make a passive income by working smart, not working hard. Learn strategies and tricks to make money buying and selling raw land today. And here is the man that's gonna help you do that. The Land Geek.

Hey, it's Mark Podolski, the Land geek from the landgeek.com your favorite website on the Internet. Besides maybe landhub.com because I've got today the CEO of reserveland.com landhub.com rural property finder.com and I'm sure he just registered a domain as I was introducing him. Duran Frazier, living the dream in Carlsbad. How are you, buddy?

I'm good. Let me just finish up this transaction here on GoDaddy, and I'll get back to you there, Mark.

Okay, so while he's doing that, I just read an interesting article on Forbes.com and I was talking to Duran about it, and the title is, I Stalked Steve Jobs and How to Get a Meeting with any vip. And it was pretty interesting because she was so tenacious. But the way that she did it wasn't just persistence beats resistance. She actually thought about it and has this sort of way of doing it. So, Duran, you want to hear what you did?

I'd love to.

You really don't care, do you?

You know what? I do. I really care.

Okay. And we'll. We'll talk about how this gets into land in a second. But. All right. So she wants to get a hold of Steve Jobs. So what she does, she sends him a FedEx letter, then she sends another. Then she starts calling. She sends seven FedExes to the guy, makes 12 phone calls. Finally, Steve's assistant says, steve wants to talk to you. Seven FedExes and 12 phone calls. So he says to her, very tersely, you keep sending FedExes and calling. Let's end it. What do you want? So she's like, five minutes of your time. I really admire your accomplishments. And as a young CEO, I have a few questions no one else can answer. He says, bring a timer, and hangs up. So, Jerome, what do you think of this approach?

You know what? I like it. I mean, that's persistence. We know that persistence pays off. You know, Steve Jobs. I mean, gosh darn it, that'd be an amazing conversation to have with anybody or anybody to have with Steve Jobs. But you know what? It goes to show you that there are anybody in this world we can talk to who really wanted to. And I like that approach.

Yeah. And you know what's interesting about it is how powerful the FedEx is when you get a FedEx. It, it's so much more, I don't know, what's the word I'm looking for? Just, I guess, powerful. When you receive a FedEx from somebody versus a letter or priority mail, FedEx means, you know, I really. You really want to see this? Who doesn't open a FedEx? Anyone? Would you look at it? Would you get a FedEx and not open it? Even if it was, you know, it says Toyota Corporation, you know, they're trying to sell you a car, you'd still open that FedEx, wouldn't you?

Yes, but if it said like so and so attorney at law, I might go ahead and just toss the trash can.

It said irs, you'd still open it.

Yes. No, I agree. And that is true. And like anything else, if you're creative in your approach from a marketing aspect, you can get a lot farther. And this is just a marketing play. How do I get to them? What do I do to get to them? And this, this obviously works for her. And I think it's probably a great approach for anybody.

Right. You know, it's interesting is if you've got a seller that you can't crack, he's got 50 properties and, you know, he owes back taxes or whatever it is, and he's just not responding to your letter writing campaign, do this. Send some FedExes, make some phone calls, just keep going until they're like, okay, let's talk. Do you like that approach for a seller?

I love it. And you know what's interesting too is if you walk into it for me and I think, Mark, you know, I meet people, several people, every single week, new people. I get in contact and I tend to be the guy that likes to, likes to hear about new deals. So I have no problem meeting with anybody. And occasionally I have, I have a person that I sit down with that, that I can tell is arrogant and they may not know my background and, and not that I, you know, ever talk about what I've done or what I do. So I just sometimes let people talk because I'll have an introduction from a friend. It'll be just a, you know, and not everyone, even though a lot of people will search your profile on LinkedIn prior to sitting down with you. So they know about you. Some people don't. And then you just listen to these guys go on and on about themselves. So. But the interesting Again, the interesting part about that is if you meet people, you learn how to conversate, you learn what makes people tick, and you never know what that person could offer. So sitting down with people and just getting out there and interacting with others is a really good tool.

Yeah, you know what's interesting about that is this is something that I personally need to work on. I mean, I'm sitting in my casita, actually I'm standing on my treadmill desk. But, you know, and it's very isolating. You've got to really make a concerted effort to get out there. I think there was a book I saw out there that said never have lunch alone. I mean, how many people out there that are working in this business, you know, they might be doing it part time, but you've got to start networking and making connections and I guess you could do it on LinkedIn, Facebook, but there's nothing like a face to face connection. So Durant, what, what do you do then to make those connections and sit down with somebody? Like, what's your process?

You know, initially I just sort of wanted to, you know, I wanted to learn about people's companies. Right. So what do you do? Are you looking? What, how can I help you? That's always some sort of my introduction, like how, how do I, how can I help you from a, how can I help you from an idea level? And like, you know, just, just to give you, for instance, last week I met with two different companies. One has an app company called Get Me Rated. And basically it's a, it's like kind of a teeny bopper app. You put, you ask a question and you post a picture. You know, how do you like my new shoes? And you get, you know, 5,000 likes and 2,000 dislikes. It's kind of an interesting app, but it's done very well. Apple's picked up on it. They're building this really neat platform and they just, I gave them a lot of ideas on how to monetize their, their business. And I also was potentially interested in investing if it made sense from a financial aspect. So I, and then another, another company I met had a social or a action sports app that, that basically tracked how fast you went down a mountain when you're snowboarding or skiing, how many tricks you did, what kind of tricks you did, who went the fastest. And basically it's like a, you know, same kind of situation. It's these, it's these apps that, that, that are kind of a, this one's a niche on action sports. But, but again, a social media platform and again, an action sports space. So for me, learning about new companies, thinking about ways to help them grow and in a simple conversation can help them a ton. Now I have a conversation sometimes with people and they're just too arrogant. They don't, what they, what I say to them means now they don't care. I know when they walk out the door and then they'll get, they'll call me back a week later and ask me if I want to invest. And I'm like, Dude, 99% of the equation is execution. And you're an arrogant person who, I don't believe business model. So I won't, I won't invest. But I think for me, the strategy is I can hold a conversation with anyone about anything because I can relate to anything. Right. And I want to relate to anything. So I want to learn. Oh, you're a doctor. Great. What kind of, you know, what kind of, what kind of work do you do? What kind of, you know, what's your specialty? Oh, you do, you're a brain surgeon. Great. Well, I have a couple friends that, you know, you just always relating the topics to something that you're interested in or that you like to do. It's really important because if you can eventually turn that conversation into something positive for you and them, you earn a really good friendship there.

Right? Right. And it needs to be mutual. It can't just be, you know, what can you do for me? Right. And I love the fact that you said when I sit down with them, my attitude is how can I add value for you? Right.

Yeah.

And really, that's what this podcast is about is how can we add more value to people that may be interested in learning how to buy and sell land. And obviously the tagline is work less, earn more, learn how. And really, that's the focus of our podcast, is helping people. So it's not, okay, what can you do for us? But ultimately we will find that because of the podcast, people will come to us and because we're adding value or into their lives, ultimately they can add value to our lives. So it's always a two way street. Do you find that to be true or do you find that there's just some people out there that are users, they just, they just want to take.

Oh, you know, there's plenty of those. And, but does that bother you?

I mean, it doesn't seem to bother you.

No, I, you know, I'm not bothered by very much, but I will say that you have to go into every meeting with the aspect, again, of just wanting to benefit them. Because the minute you start pitching something yourself, hey, that turns people off instantly. Instantly. And I've had that happen where I walk into a meeting and I'm trying to help them and they're pitching me on what they want from me. And I know instantly I'm turned off because I don't want to have. I don't want to finish the conversation because I know I'm not interested in what you have. Not that I wouldn't be, but I didn't come here for you to sell me. I came here to see. What are you. What are you doing? Tell me a little bit more about your company. What kind of ideas can I help you with? So if in that approach, it's very interesting and going back to the land, yes, we're doing a podcast and we're real estate guys, but at the end of the day, we're here to help people in general in life, because. Not because we've been successful, but because we like to help people and we believe we have some tools maybe that you don't already have and that we can maybe help. Help you achieve.

Right, right. I mean, you know, we have attained a level of success in our niche, and as a result, we are mentors in a way for people that want to do the same things, because we've already done it and it doesn't. And honestly, I really think everyone needs a mentor at some level for wherever they want to be, whatever goal they want to accomplish. It's so much easier when you can go to somebody that's already gone through it and has already done it and it's already been successful and can help guide you. There's. I mean, unfortunately, nobody can do it for you. Right. But at least somebody can guide you. But, you know, I don't want to get too off track here, so let's kind of get back to our VIP letter, and then I've got a story to tell you as well that kind of relates to this.

Okay, hold on. Before you go on, I just want to say one of the cool things about me meeting with all sorts of people is that eventually you get asked to join certain things or judge or whatever as a mentor. So this morning I was in a room with a bunch of guys. One of them happens to be the ex CEO of active.com and it was just eight of us in the room together. The other guy had just gotten back from Africa with the. With. I don't know if he's the ambassador to Sudan. But he does some very big things in Africa. And so all these guys, they all have different perspectives on business, on life. And we all are, because we're all people that like to get things done. We all work together. We all do things together. So you get to a point where the doers in life end up working together and doing things together.

What's the saying that you are the. You become like your five friends, right?

Yeah.

Like the five people you hang around the most is who you become.

Yep.

Because we're social creatures. So if you surround yourself with people that you want to become like, you will ultimately become like them. But if you surround yourself with people whom, you know aren't that motivated or goal driven, you're gonna be like, oh, yeah, you know, I watched, you know, Nickelodeon at night reruns last night. Instead of the guy that said, hey, did you just read this incredible book on this new thing or whatever it is, or these people that are going out there and have the attitude that we only have so much time in this world and while we're here, let's make a difference, and we're going to make an impact with whatever we're doing. We're not going to, you know, take this life as, you know, just a privilege. Like, we're going to go out there and make a difference in whatever way they do it. But. And that's. And I know you do that. I mean, pretty much every day you're out there mentoring, working on your various companies, whatever it is. But ultimately, at the end of the day, whatever you're doing, you're adding value.

I mean, look, if somebody told me today, and I think I've said it before many times, is that if somebody told me today, hey, we're going to pay all your expenses. All you're going to do is try to better the world. I'm like, I'd be, let's do it. Because I love it. I mean, for me to just walk out of a room and go, hey, I just gave that guy an idea that I think is going to be really powerful. And it sounds like he's going to execute. I have given. What's neat now is I can look back at companies that are fairly successful and go, hey, I gave them that idea. And I'm not going to pat myself on the back for it, but I'm going to say it is a feel good to walk out and know that you've given somebody an idea that's going to help their business grow or help them grow as a person. Or help them grow as a company. So those are things I like to do. And I don't call myself a consultant or anything. I just, you know, it's just being. It's just being a good person.

Right. All right, so getting back to the story. So she meets with Steve Jobs, and she says, it's glorious. He describes a world where computers are seamlessly integrated into our lives, that everything we need is accessible. She describes iPad, or he describes iPod, iPad, iPhone, two decades before they hit the market. But what she really got out of it. She watches how his brain moves without limitation from what might enhance a customer's life to what that would mean to them and how they would benefit to how this would change the world. And he doesn't question that whatever he's envisioning could and would be created. He doesn't agonize over whether current limitations would hold him back. And she says, okay, I feel my brain expanding now. Duran, have you ever been in any meetings with these uber successful people where they just kind of go on and on and you're like, oh, my God, I feel smarter just by being in the room with them?

Oh, yeah, there's a doctor. In fact, there's a doctor in Hawaii who's pretty close to me. He's one of the top dermatologists. The guy's a scientist. He's created. He develops these different procedures for melanoma that help people live longer with melanoma. And we'll talk about business. And the guy is. I mean, not only do I feel a little bit more intelligent, walk in the room, I realize how intelligent people really are. Like, there are. I am not very smart. I am not. I might. I might educate myself, but this guy is a freaking genius. He'll come out and he'll tell me these things. I'm like, how do you. How do you know? How do you do. How do you know that? Like, are you. Are you a robot? It's just crazy. So, yes. That is the neat part about meeting these uber successful people. And not necessarily super successful, but just super brilliant.

You know, right now I've got a guy in my life that is the CEO of a tech company out here. We try to meet once a week over coffee, and we just talk about business and the world and what's going on. And every time I walk away from that meeting, I feel so much smarter. I mean, this guy's really making a difference in the world from a security standpoint. And he's a Kleiner Perkins funded company. He's probably going to get bought out. And right now, he's focused on a charity to help kids in Africa and provide them soccer balls. So he starts a charity. He knows he's going to be worth a couple hundred million, but that's not the point. He's not doing it for the money. He's doing it because he loves it. And he loves every day that he's accomplishing something. And he's just brilliant. But I can feel myself expanding in my mind expanding just by being around him. And then I can kind of share that with other people as well. So she's like, I feel my brain expanding. It felt so big around Steve. So open, limitless. And after five minutes, ding, the timer goes off, and he goes, I'm not done with you yet. Sit down and zoom. They're back in brain expansion mode. Immediately, he's flying into the future, and everything's possible, everything's important, and we needed to create it. It was our destiny. So 45 minutes later, Steve lets her go. After this meeting, she says, I no longer saw barricades. Stumbling blocks would be seen as stepping stones to something better or something to crawl over or walk around. Previous limitations would now be a mere triviality. At worst, a slight inconvenience. And I know you and I can talk about deals that we've done where there were tremendous barriers to getting that deal done. Do you remember some of those deals?

Oh, my gosh. I. Yeah, I mean, we've. We've talked about them several times. But, yeah, there's. I mean, let's talk about our big one. Have we brought that up or.

No. The million dollar deal. The Nevada deal.

Yes.

Yeah, I don't. You know, right now, we don't have much time.

Oh, okay. Well, then let's not talk about it.

Let's do that on another podcast.

Okay.

Yeah, but that was a great deal.

Yes, we've had.

That's worth its own podcast.

Yeah, no, Mark and I have definitely gone through. We've done a lot of deals together, and some that I've shied away from. His Pennsylvania deal, thank the Lord, I didn't get involved with. But some are good, some are bad, but most, I would say that 99%.

Right. And, you know, even that bad Pennsylvania deal, which I should probably talk about, it had a property owner's association with it, and I knew deep down I didn't want to get involved with it. It was just overdeveloped. You know what? I still broke even on that deal because I bought. Right. Even though I didn't structure correctly. And I didn't, you know, I didn't have the right mentor at that time to help me structure that deal like I would today. It still kind of worked out. And man, you learn so much more from your mistakes than you do your successes. And I think about that deal a lot, especially when I go into any other deals. I'm really grateful that I had that Treasure Lake deal go so badly for me. I think it was 2006, 2007, but, you know, I got out of it.

Yeah, you know, a beautiful place, so that's for sure.

No, it was beautiful. It had, you know, it's two PGA rated golf courses, three lakes, a gated community restaurant. It just wasn't what the market wanted. It wasn't in my right niche and you know, I should have tested it first before I got involved. And that was my big mistake. And let me tell you something, I won't go into a big deal again without testing the market. So I'm really thankful for it.

Yeah.

So. All right, so let me ask you this. When you, have you had any issues as far as what they call veto letters, very important top officer letters, do you send FedEx out to meet with people or is this something that, you know, you're just so busy with your VC stuff you don't really work on?

No, you know, I think, I mean, my approach is different. I don't need to, I don't need to send out letters because I don't feel like, I don't know. You know what's really interesting about me, Mark, is I've never looked at somebody and gone. I really, really, really want to talk to them. You know what I mean? And I'll tell you why. Because I think I tried several people growing up. I tried with several people to have a mentor and they never. And I tried several way and they were friends of mine or, you know, they. One degree of separation and for whatever, for whatever reason, they just wouldn't, they weren't interested. And I was really bummed about that. Right. So for me it was sort of like, okay, I'm going to do this on my own. I'm going to make it happen. I'm going to learn myself. I think for me that, that real need to like talk to that, that really big CEO. Although I feel like maybe an educational experience for me. I don't want to, I'm not a pushy guy and I'm not, I don't, I don't really care to, to go to that level. But that's not saying I Shouldn't do it. It's just saying that I just, I've always been the kind of guy like, well, I tried when I was younger and I never really, I never really succeeded. So now I'm educated by, by a, by a homeless man on the street. So I get educated in several different manners. And I don't feel like that CEO is going to be that much more valuable sometimes, if that makes sense.

Right, right. So this is her advice then to get. There's three steps, she says, to get a meeting with any vip. And again, you know, this can relate to any kind of real estate deal where you're trying to get in the door. You know, maybe you want to get an investor and you know that this investor needs to talk to you, but for whatever reason, you just can't get through. And this is phenomenal advice. So the first thing she says is find out what causes they care about. And today that's really easy. You can go online and figure that out right away on the Oracle, Google. But then there's LinkedIn, there's Facebook, there's Twitter. There's millions of ways now to find out what that VIP cares about. She says write a half to one page genuine letter about their specific accomplishments that you admire, and then offer 5 hours donation of your time to their favorite nonprofit for five minutes of their time. But make sure you request a meeting in person versus phone. Do you like that advice?

I love it. I love it.

You do love it.

And the fact that I don't. That I don't do it or that I. It doesn't mean that people shouldn't do it. It just means that personally I don't. And you know, Mark brings up a good point in regards to the land aspect. You know what, for whatever reason you're trying to buy land, whether it's for a business or you're trying to build or, you know, and let's say that you want like maybe a parcel has been in the market for five years. You know, the people have money, they just need to get rid of it, but they don't really care and they're not super motivated price wise. You maybe you make them an offer and you're like, you know what, I wonder, I wonder if, like maybe they'll give me the land or maybe they'll, you know, I mean, and that stuff happens. I know. I actually, I actually heard a story recently where somebody was begging for a while, they wanted to. I don't know what they want. They wanted to do something for, for a nonprofit. And they asked these people several times, would you. Would you, you know, would you give it. Would you give it to us? And they said, you're crazy. You know, no, no, no. Then they offered a little bit of. They made an offer, and they said, no. And then, like, I think six months later, they came back and said, you know what? We want to give it to you. So, like, that kind of stuff happens. And it's a rarity that there are really good people out there, a lot of people that have money, that want to do good for others. So it's that using that aspect of, you know, approach where you send them some FedEx letters, get in front of their face, show your persistence, tell them what you're trying to do, because it works, right?

Right. Then she says, send your letter via FedEx and then call to ensure it was received, and bond with their executive assistant. Only call first thing in the morning or last thing at night, and they'll be more likely to answer then. And then she says, just keep sending FedExes until you get that meeting and keep calling. And if for some reason this doesn't work, give the letter to them by hand at an event they are speaking at. And then just Keep repeating the FedEx letters and calls until you get a meeting. And she says, In 30 years in business, the approach has always worked for her. And she said the key is the letter. Be authentic, heartfelt, compelling care. Make it a work of art. Yeah, yeah. I think it's great advice, and this can be done for anything. Even if you want to find your mentor, this could be a great way just to sit down and say, five minutes. I just want to pick your brain. So think big. Think big. There's no limitations. There's no reason that you can't do anything that you really want to set your mind to. All you have to do is know what you want and then make a plan and figure out the steps involved to get what you want. And sometimes that's the hardest part, is just, okay, what do I really want?

Yeah, no, I totally agree. And that's something that you always need to assess. You know, like before going into a situation, before going in to buy a property. What. What are my needs out of this deal? What can I. What can I make? What do I want to get out of it eventually? So that's always something you need to assess before sending out a letter because you don't want to needlessly just throw letters out there and say, hey, I want to meet with you.

Right? Right.

Not have an end game.

Yeah. In my investors toolkit program, with the more deals that you can handle program, I talk about the letter writing campaign. But before you do the letter writing campaign in that county, you want to research that market. You don't want to just start sending out letters before, you know, okay, this is an area I really want to commit to. Right. You want to research that market, figure out the comps in that area, the comparable sales, and then make your offers based on that. And, you know, of course, I teach step by step how to do that. So let me ask you this. What's going on with you right now? What are you working on?

Oh, boy. I'm working on. I'm heavily working on the mining project and landhub.com so two big projects. I'm actually very focused right now on those two projects, but the mining has kind of popped back up because we had some very big things happen with Newmont Mining, which is the largest mining company in the world. And our project seems to be sort of a target at some level or an acquisition target for some of these bigger companies. So we're sort of just playing our cards, hopefully the right way and looking at different things there. And I'll be up in Reno in the coming days here for four or five days to get some meetings done. And then. And then we're going to be. And then I'll be back and also have some land stuff as well going on up there, which I'm trying to sell a big parcel of land. So that's. That's good. And then focusing on land hub.

So that's great. That's great. Well, we're kind of running out of time here. I've got to jump on a. Do you want to jump on this call, by the way? We're going to do a Gold Mastermind meeting, or actually it's a platinum Mastermind with Jeff and Tori. But then, you know, we, the Gold Mastermind people get to listen in on that call and we just. We talk about deals. You want to jump in on that?

I'll jump in.

All right, great. So, no, they'll be pleased. It's hard to get ahold of you. All right, fantastic. So. And you know what? Send me an email if you're interested in just signing up for the Gold Mastermind. If you want to listen in on just how we structure deals, do our deals, do our marketing, and all that good stuff as it relates to land specifically. So, Duran, I know I'm putting you on the spot, as always. Have you thought about your tip of the Week.

You know what? I absolutely haven't. Let's start with you, Mark. Go ahead.

Okay, my tip of the week this week is going to be no longer should you go to wegolook.com no longer should you spend the $79 or even more to have people go out and take pictures of your property and research that property for you, for your marketing. Because thanks to Jeff. Jeff, I really appreciate this tip. It's worked beautifully. Set up a gig on Craigslist. I did this on my East Texas deal. I had six or seven people contact me. Professional photographers, videographers, they'll do it all. And they were literally 20 to 30% less than what WeGoLook.com was going to charge me. So I was really pleased with that tip. Go on to Craigslist, go to gigs and just put up your gig, which might be. I need someone to go out to this area, take 50 pictures. They need to take pictures of the roads. They need to take pictures of the signs, the general area. They need to assess for me what these GPS coordinates in these lots look like. Are they flat? Are they level, are they rolling? What are the quality of the roads? Are they dirt? Are they gravel? Are they paved? How far are we from power? Everything. Give me the whole story, let me know. Take tons of pictures. And it's worked great. So my tip of the week is, next time you need someone to check out a deal for you if you're not nearby Craigslist gigs. It's worked out great. All right, Duran, it's on you, man.

Wow. The time has come. Okay, well, I don't know if we've talked about this one before. We may have, but one website that I like a lot of. In fact, there's two that sort of do similar things. One for primarily real estate. Two, the other one kind of, you know, delves into land a little bit more. But BiggerPockets.com, we already talked about, which, if you haven't signed up for Biggerpockets, a great place to go, a great resource. You can ask questions, you can get answers. Anything you need to know.

Yeah, you know what, you say that, but Biggerpockets, I think, is so focused on single family homes.

Not really, dude. I mean, you can find. But you know what, there's a lot about deal structure.

There's.

So if you need help on financing or ideas on how to put things together, there's a lot of people there that are willing to help you. So I like.

All right, I agree. Go ahead.

Okay. And then another one I like which this is more focused on on on Single family is active rain.com and again.

Wait, what's Active Rain?

It's another real estate platform for, for, you know, brokers and, and, and sellers and buyers to ask questions. So another just two platforms, similar but different that are, that are sort of a great educational piece when you're, when you're really getting focused on buying and selling land.

Awesome. All right, I'm on active rain.com that's AC T I V e like I'm very active today on my treadmill desk and it's raining, which it never does in Phoenix. R a I n.com activerene.com connect share learn duran frazier from reserveland.com landhub.com rural property finder.com hey, give us some feedback on this podcast and we'll keep, we'll keep doing these each week.

Oh, and sign up, sign up freelandreport.com.

And sign up for the Freeland Report.com do me a favor, give me some love. Download for free the Passive income blueprint at www.thelandgeek.com Sign up for free for my virtual coffee Talk series on YouTube. YouTube.com TheLandGeek Anyways, thanks for taking the time to listen to our podcast. Certainly. Feel free to email us, leave a comment, let us know how we're doing, what other issues, questions you'd like us to discuss. And this is Mark Podolski, the Land Geek, saying make it an extraordinarily profitable week. Go out there and test those FedEx letters and see what you can make happen in the world. Duran, thanks a lot. And hey, stay with me. We're going to go ahead and do that Platinum Mastermind now.

Sounds good.

Thanks, buddy.

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Land Geek. Join us next time for more tips, secrets and information that will help you succeed. Stay connected with the Land geek on Facebook. Facebook.com thelandgeek.