The Land Geek Podcast #33

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 your most visited website. Forget Facebook, forget Instagram, forget Pinterest, because I know you're spending all your time on www.thelanegeek.com. and today I had to beg, I had to plead. But because I love you guys, I was able to secure Joanne Frazier from landhub.comreserveland.com I'm sure he just registered another domain while I was introducing him. Duran, you're living the dream on the beach. How's it going?

To be honest with you, Mark, the weather stinks in San Diego right now. I'd much rather be in Scottsdale.

Well, good, because all year round all I hear about. It's 72. Just. Just went surfing.

Yeah, that's pretty much. Well, here's, here's the. Here's what happened on Friday. It was pouring rain and the surf ended up being. We get these days where there'll be these, these rain squalls where it'll rain, but the wind will be kind of an offshore breeze. It's really strange. It'll be like an offshore breeze and the waves will be perfect. And it was really good on Friday. But you don't really want to surf in the rain because all those bacterias in the water.

Right.

Of course. Of course I get out of the water and that night I get this massive sore throat and I'm feeling like crap. But I'm like, you know what? It's okay. I'll. I'll. I'll live to see another day.

Do you put nose plugs in when you surf?

No. What do you think? I mean, what do you think I wear some Speedos too? Come on.

No, no. Like, I read that terrible article about some girl that fell in a lake in Minneapolis or something and she got.

This rare brain amoeba.

Brain amoeba? That doesn't happen in the ocean, Mark.

That doesn't happen in the ocean. That's a lake. And usually it happens from warm water.

So I worry. I'm a worrier. I'm a warrior.

You sound like it. Yeah, anyway, no, we don't wear nose plugs in the water. I'm sure some people do. We go out there we surf. I actually did have a dermatologist appointment for all my surfing today and had a couple things sliced off my back. In fact, we talked while I was at the doctor.

Oh, yeah, that was. That's. That's always good. I've had a bunch of those things sliced off as well.

Yeah. So for all our listeners that have some. Some, you know, some Western or European. European descent background, go get yourself checked out. Anybody? It's just for everybody, actually. Not just. Not just, but people that are really white, like myself, tend to have more. You know, their risk is a little higher for melanoma and different. The different skin cancers, but go get yourself checked out.

Yeah. The most preventable cancer in the world, skin cancer.

I totally agreed.

Wait, where. Where are you going?

I'm just letting. I've got a crazy dog. I don't know where he came from. He just showed up my office. I'm letting him out right now.

This is how unprofessional our podcasting has become. Duran can't even control his own puppy.

All right, man, that was. I don't know where that came from.

Are there going to be any more interruptions?

There might be. I heard that Batman's in the neighborhood, so if he shows up, I'll let you know.

So, so. So let's get to the point of the podcast. We want to talk about being authentic, being your authentic self. And so Duran just now is being very authentic. He had to take care of his puppy and telling us about the travails of surfing and his doctor's appointment. But as it comes to business, Duran, what's your philosophy about being authentic?

You know, I don't know. I think for me, it's. I mean, honesty and integrity plays a key role in every. In every aspect of what I do. I. You know, I don't have many enemies, and if I do, I don't know where they are. In general, the people that don't like me are the ones that probably maybe don't like me because I work super hard and I'm somewhat successful. But, you know, being authentic to me has allowed me to achieve at a much higher level because people work with people they trust. And I find that the old.

As.

As I get a little older and I put these, you know, various deals together, whether it's real estate or technology, software, whatever I do, I find that people like to work with me because they know I'm honest, I'm trustworthy, and I'm authentic in everything I do.

Okay. Okay.

So.

Well, I. I have. I have A different spin on it. I think all those things are important, but I think that's. I think that more applies to business ethics. Okay, Right. So you're, you know, when you say you're honest, you're trustworthy, that, I think applies to business ethics. So when I buy a piece of property from you and I give you Money, I know 99% certainty. Right. I'm going to get that deed. You're going to, you're going to do what you say you do.

Correct.

And I think that falls into business ethics. And that pretty much goes without saying. If you're running a land business or real estate business, you've got to do. You gotta, you know, you gotta walk the walk. You gotta talk. You've got to be honest in that sense. But what I say, you know, but you can be honest and not necessarily authentic.

That is true. And I think what you, what you're trying to say is, for me, in a conversation, it doesn't, I don't, I don't like to end a conversation with business. I like to be very personal. I like to find out how people are really doing. I let people know how I'm doing. If somebody asks me, how you doing? Like, it's funny, my reply to a lot of people at restaurants, because you know that if you walk into a restaurant, the first question, how you doing? How's your day? Or whatever. And, And I always, I always used to wake them up, I say horrible. Thanks for asking. That's always my, that's always my reply. This is literally for the last year, everywhere I go, just to wake them up and go. Because they're so used to hearing great things.

Right.

Is it really great or are you just saying, you know, great? So I always say horrible to get them to start, you know, to really build that rapport with whoever you're dealing with. I mean, I love talking to a waiter and, you know, chatting with, how's. How's business today? What's going on? I just, that's just me. I'm really personal, really authentic. And I do that same thing in business. I like to sort of build relationships and I like to dig deeper. And a lot of people, not, not everybody wants to share about themselves, but those that do, I enjoy talking about, you know, stuff going on in their lives and maybe how it pertains to my life and, and how we both have similar things going on. You know, I have a hard child, you have a hard child. What are we doing to solve those problems? So I, I think that's sort of from an authentic standpoint where people really like to go and to really build that rapport with you.

Right, right. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Now, you know, when I think of authenticity, I think about being yourself, which for a lot of people is really hard because, you know, we're born into this world and we have these distinct personalities. Like, I guarantee, you know, every one of like your two boys, they're completely different personality wise, right? Even identical twins, same DNA, right? Yeah. Completely different personalities. My three children, completely different personalities. So. But then what happens? We go to elementary school and what do we learn from day one? Follow the rules. Don't be different. What happens if you're different? If you get up and you start talking in class when the teacher's talking, you learn from a very, very early age that our society and our culture doesn't want you to stray outside, to color outside the lines, right?

And I, and I'm probably walking proof of what happens when that happens. And it's funny, you say, what do.

You mean you're walking proof?

I'll tell you in a second. I was watching a video and I'm on a high, I'm on a little hiatus from Facebook for a while. I canceled, I deactivated my account just to kind of focus on what's in front of me. And Facebook can sometimes be a little bit challenging to ignore when you've got someone that says something a little controversial and you want to spit something back at them. And so anyways, but I had a friend ran to a friend yesterday and she goes, you know, Joanne, I don't post very much, but I really, I tried to tag your name and I didn't find you. I said, yeah, I'm no longer on Facebook. She goes, I have this really interesting video about a little boy who's 13 that says that everybody in school teaches you to be, to basically like, not to harness creativity and to just be very structured and not think outside the box. And it's a really interesting video, Mark, that I actually want listeners to listen to this little 13 year old boy out of Reno or Lake Tahoe and he basically talks about, like they tell us that happiness is graduating from high school, getting your college degree, getting married, having children. That's happiness. Instead of teaching that happiness is being healthy and happy, like, like, you know, like those are the things that make you a happy person. You just want to be healthy, you just want to be. You want to be able to be, you know, in a position where you don't have to worry about, about, you know, about What I have to achieve to be somebody. And so this, this little boy went. It was a 13 minute video. And again we'll put. Well, maybe we'll post if we can find a way maybe on, on your website. But, but I was. And so you. Sorry to make this a long story, but me as a child, I went through 13 different schools growing up I got kicked out of four or five. And I'm pretty open with people about this because as most of you know, I'm pretty crazy. But it's not crazy that I'm a lunatic or I'm psycho insane. I just have a lot of creative energy inside of me and no one knew how to harness that energy. And so here I am at 36 now and, and I realized looking back how. And I have. My oldest son is just like me. How, how, how many teachers basically were just discouraged me growing up that I was going to be nobody or nothing or a loser or worthless. And then I had a couple like one or two teachers that I can recall that were like, you're going to be somebody special. And so, and you know, and it's neither here nor there. But it's really interesting how much creativity is lost in school as a young child and, and, and, and your authenticity is pulled away from you because they want you to be a certain way.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So we're all sort of conditioned in school. And what happens if you're different in school? Either the group gets you back in or the teachers or society. And it's. You're right, it stifles your creativity. And I mean really, if someone had a different mindset and could appreciate your creativity and your energy when you were younger, boy school could have been pleasurable. You know what I mean? I mean it would have been a great thing. But you know, when we grew up, it's, it was toe the line. So that's why people who are truly authentic. It takes so much courage today. It takes bravery because essentially to be. We're all weird. We're all weird even if. Because we just are. I mean, I think of Lady Gaga, right? She's like the most popular musician on the planet now. She's completely crazy. You can't walk down the street being Lady Gaga, but look what she's done with it. Or you know, think of any kind of artist that's a creative artist there when they're being.

You may, you may want to reference Kanye West. Talk about crazy.

I mean.

Yeah, different kind of crazy.

Yeah, it's every kind of crazy. But you know, look we're talking about him. He's getting attention and you know, like him or dislike them, you have an opinion about them. They're. They're on their, they're being their authentic selves and they're getting attract. You know, they draw people to them. And so it takes a, it takes a certain amount of courage and bravery to just be yourself today. It's hard. And when it comes to the land business, if you can harness that creativity and, you know, show your true authentic self and kind of be vulnerable. Right. And when I say vulnerable, I don't mean, hey, I screwed up your deed. Sorry. That not, not, you know, vulnerable is different than incompetence. Right. So. But being vulnerable and, and letting that kind of show that you're, you're a person, you're not just reserveland.com. i'm not just frontierpropertiesusa.com. you know, here's our corporate policy. Sorry, you know what I mean?

Yeah. And it's really, yeah, it's really hard to sort of. What's the word? Translate your. And that's where things are kind of coming now in terms of the web and YouTube and all these, you know, and the way people are. Video marketing is that it's really hard to kind of create that identity and show people how authentic you are through your website. I mean, you're not going to go to reserve land and go, oh, these guys are so authentic. I mean, there's just. That doesn't happen. Right, right. I go to Lang Geek and I go, all these guys are amazing. I mean, they want me to put my email address in here. Wow. How authentic is that? That's not what, that's not what we do. But we do this, we podcast for free for you guys to listen to because we want you, to show you that we're authentic. Because we want to show you that, hey, you can email either one of us whenever you want and, and say, I've got a problem with this deal and we'll help you because that's what we do now. Sure, we're not going to do a bunch of stuff for free for you, but we're here to help. And if you have financing issues, we can potentially help you with that. So that's what we're here to do. And that's what authentic means. And not going to our website because you're just not going to see that authenticity with a website you want to. People do business with people they know and like.

Right. And I think a great tactic is if you get, if you can just take something concrete from this podcast. A great marketing tactic is to start videotaping yourself and start making a YouTube channel and providing something of value for your prospects and your customers. So, for example, I do the morning coffee talk videos. I go out in my backyard, I'm drinking my bulletproof coffee and I do a quick, you know, it shouldn't be more than two to three minutes because nobody has time, right? So do a quick two, three minute video of something, hopefully will provide some value to someone. Now, obviously, when you first start, like if you look at my early, early videos, when I first started making videos with three fatal land buy mistakes, they were terrible. They were horrible, awful, awful. I can't even watch them today. But as you get, as you get going and you start getting what? Your voice and creating your voice, authentic voice, which takes time to develop because you don't just have it because you're not used to it. And I mean, it's taken me, I would say, What a good 14, 16 months.

It's interesting you say that. It's kind of like a singer, right? Like a singer doesn't know what voice he or she's going to want to use in their music in a week. It takes them a year or two or three or five to really figure out the voice that's going to sell and that becomes, that's them. So, I mean, everybody can sound the same. I can mimic anybody's voice. I mean, I, I sing so I can, I can sing opera music, I can sing whatever, but, but I sound just like the other guy. So you want to have an authentic voice and, and, and I'll never be a singer. But I still, funny enough, I still, at some level I'd love to do it and put an album together and work on music and I've written a bunch of stuff, but at the same time, I'd have to spend a year just to find what voice I want to use. So like you say, just like that. Like you and I from podcast one to now, there's a lot of things, we listen back and we'll go, why did I say 84 times?

Right, right. I'm still saying right, by the way, every time.

And I'm very, it's really interesting because I'm very cognizant of saying, but I still say it a lot. So. And as I learn to not say, I believe that I will eventually find that comfort zone of what I, of how I like to talk.

Right, exactly, exactly. But I think with, with your online and offline marketing today, we're in this connection economy. You can't hide. You can't hide who you really are. I mean, consumers are so smart now. I mean, our BS radar is so attuned today that we'll just. We just know. We just know. So, you know, a good example is I'm working with a coaching client, Adrian, and he's a doctor. And we're helping set up his website, his landing page, and for his About Me page, I thought it'd be great for him to position himself as, look, I'm a doctor, so who do you want to buy from, right? Do you want to buy from some guy that you don't know, or do you want to buy from the guy that could potentially save your life one day and, you know, has gone through all this schooling and all this training and that says something. I've accomplished something that, you know, I can differentiate myself from the rest of the competition because not only do I know how to buy and sell land and help you achieve that dream, but, you know, I'm also more accomplished than the average bear. Does that make sense?

Are we talking about like a doctor of love?

No, no, he's a real doctor. He's a psychiatrist.

I'm teasing.

You went through medical school, but, you know, some of them went through medical school. That's, that's, that's a huge achievement.

That is a huge achievement.

So, you know, but you want to. I don't think you should hide that.

No, I agree. Unless you're a really bad psychiatrist.

Well, I don't think he is.

I'm teasing. I'm teasing. So anyway, that's, that's interesting And I agree 100 with you. I think people find, like in my business now and sitting on some boards and of different companies, I think that the more I share with them of what I've done and it's, you know, it goes back to kind of the self promotion aspect. Like there's a fine line, right? There's that fine line of, of that, of that self promoting and being authentic and we have to kind of find that happy medium.

Right? I think, I think, I think it's a one. One for five, right? So for every, let's say five things that you give your customer, one can be self promoting. Because, look, at the end of the day, we all need to pay our bills. Correct? Right. And everyone knows, look, they're, they're not doing this for fun. I mean, it's, it's a business. They're in this to make money, but they're also providing Enough value for me. I mean, that's the reason we buy anything.

Yep.

I mean, I go to Starbucks. I pay $6 for that latte.

Why are you still supporting Starbucks or.

Some of the local coffee shop, whatever it is, for that coffee buzz. But that's why I pay it, because I'm getting more value than the actual amount I'm paying. Yeah, that's why we buy anything. Yeah.

No, I agree. I agree. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I still, I still have a little hatred towards Starbucks.

What's, what's your deal with Starbucks?

I think it was, I think my problem was I was so addicted for six years and then I went, and then I went into rehab. And for those that don't know, actually I actually bought the domain, Starbucks Rehab and StarbucksAddiction.com and I still own those domains today. And so those are. Now I'm back to the old school coffee shops and the more organic coffee shops and supporting local.

It's just a matter of time before you grow a ponytail. You're listening to I've Got a Couple Earrings, the Indigo Girls, you know what I'm saying? So, like indie music. You're gonna get a nose ring. What?

I already got three of them.

Yeah.

Oh, man, it's terrible. Anyway, so, but yeah, no, I, you know, Mark, I mean, that's it. Like, you guys, you, in a nutshell, like Mark and I are as, as probably as authentic as you can get when it comes to, like talking to people and, and letting people know how, how, how we operate in life and not just in business, but in life. Right. I mean, I'm, I'm a, I'm an open book when people go, hey, how's it going? You know what? My dog just had diarrhea all over the floor this morning. I had to clean it up at 5am My kid woke up at 3am I'm having a horrible morning. But it's going to get better.

Yeah. Okay, so you know what? I disagree with that. I think that freaks people out. It's a little, it's a little too intimate when you first meet somebody, but after a while.

Yeah, yes, of course, of course. I mean, if the waitress goes, hey, how's your day? I don't say, hey, my dog diarrhea and my son walked me up, kicked me in the face. No, I don't say that. Yes, I'm talking about.

I can see you saying that.

Yeah. Oh, you know, you're right. I, I probably would say that. You're right. I don't Have a problem. I don't hold anything back. So. Yes, but for Mark. Yeah, Mark would take about. About four months before he said anything like that.

I'm a little more reserved. Right. But, you know, but, you know, look, it's. It's. I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing. It's just we're different. But again, with marketing, with business, with life, finding your true authentic voice isn't easy. And I think that you're deluding yourself if you think that you can just go out there and let yourself out to the world and not be scared because it's hard. Especially because we've been conditioned from kindergarten through college to not, you know, leave that pack. And for those of you that are getting involved in the investors toolkit, that's a brave thing to do. To start any new venture is brave. And hopefully it's hitting you somewhere where it's striking a chord with you for you to be your authentic self. Where somewhere down the line in your life, you really like the idea of hustling and doing deals and buying something at a great deal and then going out and flipping it or going out and adding more value and dealing with customers and marketing. And somewhere that was stomped down and someone said, no, go get a job. Don't do that. That's risky. And now you're seeing there's, oh, here's some other people that are doing this. They're successful, they love it, it's fun. Maybe I can do it. But I'll tell you what, I talk to people every day. Very scared. A lot of fear out there about starting something new like this.

But. But our government basically, you know, is programming us that way, which is really sad if you think about it.

Why the government? Why are you blaming the government?

Well, I believe. No, well, here's my. Here's my sister. Here's my belief. My belief is we have. We have a very structured system. A system of kindergarten to graduating high school to getting your college diploma, to getting maybe a, you know, maybe a master's or PhD to getting your job. Right? And to me, it's a very structured system. And unfortunately, a lot of people don't fall in that category that can. That can do that. Right? They can focus enough or that have. That have harbored all their creative thoughts into focusing on school and then graduating and then getting on, getting that beautiful career. My belief is that the people that graduate high school with these great ideas are just as talented and have abilities beyond. Beyond the college degree and the master's degree. And so it's just interesting because I think the government sort of programmed us to follow a path. And, and like you say now, like that same path is go get a job, go work for, go work for the man. Go pay your, you know, go pay your taxes and that's life. Retire at 65, and that's it. Guess what? A lot of us can't do that. And a lot of us won't do that. Like you and I, like, I'll be, I'm 36 now. I don't. In 30 years from now, I can't see myself retired ever. And whether I'm a, you know, a millionaire or I'm a thousand error and I have no money, I guarantee you I'll still work because I enjoy working, because I enjoy doing what I do. And a lot of people that are working. I got an email this morning from my poor mom who is so frustrated with corporate America, who hasn't moved up the ranks simply because she doesn't have a college degree. And that's not why I'm frustrated, it's just that it does make sense. She's very talented. She's at a super high level with this big, with this big Fortune 500 company. She can't get any further up the chain because she doesn't have a degree. And they've told her, hey, you're at this level, but we can't pay you at that level because you don't have a degree. My mom's like, are you kidding me? I'm, you know, I'm 60 years old. I'm, I've been doing this for 25 years. I mean, so. And she's in a really tough position just to drive an hour and a half to work every day, an hour and a half back. So it's just that to me is, is the fear and the risk. That's where it comes from. It's like we don't, we, we are teaching people to, to be fearful, to not take these risks. And that's why we, you know, that's why I think that we are where we are today with America. I mean, honestly, like, economically, there's some challenges, but in those economic times, there's also a lot of, a lot of, you know, potential positive from a business aspect as well.

Right, Right. Yeah. I mean, look, I was scared when I first, you know, started doing this. I did it part time for 18 months, then I was able to quit my job.

But was I scared, Mark?

No, I tell you what, you weren't scared.

That was Funny, I just remember the days I was thinking I was what, 22, 23?

Yeah. I mean, you, you were too dumb to be scared.

I was hilarious. That was awesome.

I mean, you were a kid that, I mean, you know, look, when you think about all these, these kids doing these startups, that's, that's the time to do it. Because they have nothing to lose. They're so young, you know, they're living on, you know, on ramen noodles anyways.

Yep.

But, you know, I had a wife and a house and a mortgage and, you know, a baby, so I had real responsibilities at that time.

But. And that kind of goes back to the calculated risk. You know, we talked about this in a, in a previous podcast where you can still take risks, but educate yourself so that you take a calculated risk when you're making those moves.

Right, right. All right, so hopefully we've given the listeners a lot to think about some concrete stuff to help apply to their business. Duran, I'm putting you on the spot, as I love to do. What is your tip of the week?

Okay, so generally Mark and I give a website that is helpful or software or something that works today. Today I talked about it briefly, but I want you all to go to YouTube.com okay and type in this word. Hack schooling.

I'm doing it right now.

H A C K S C H O O L I N G Hack schooling. And it's one word. And you're gonna. The first video is gonna come up is this little 13 year old named Logan LaPlante. And Logan is this little boy up in the Reno area.

This is a TEDx talk.

TEDx talk. And I want you to listen to Logan. And Logan talks sort of about that creativity. And this is kind of. This is me. This is Logan is me as a 13 year old. And so listen to him. Logan's parents pulled him out of school at 9 years old. He was just too creative, probably similar issues like me. He just had a lot of creativity and no one knew how to harness that energy.

I'm really impressed with this 13 year old that's up talking at Ted.

Yeah, it's pretty cool. So anyways, take a listen. That's my tip of the day. Mark, I know you don't have a better one, so go ahead.

I don't have a better one than this kid, but I will, I'll still give one. All right, so I just finished the book. Duran, I know you don't read.

Oh, I. Oh, Mark, hold on. Before you say anything else, I just read my first book in four years. It was 240 pages.

What'd you read?

I can't tell you the name of it. It's a surfing book. It's pretty funny.

Oh, okay.

It's called. It's like To Hell. It's like Hell and Back. It's a surf story about the North Shore of Hawaii. It's a really interesting story for me. It's interesting because I know a lot of the characters in the book, so.

All right, cool.

So anyways, go ahead.

All right, so my tip of the week is this book that talks about beating the resistance. Right. The resistance is what's working on us every day. The resistance is what's stopping us from being our true, authentic selves. The resistance is what's telling us and whispering to us, don't go out and be creative. Don't go out and make a dent in the universe. That's what it. Basically it is. So he talks a lot about that. How to beat the resistance, how to be creative. Be your true, authentic self. You know, a writer writes, an artist paints, a land, guy buys land, and if, you know, do what you were meant to do. So the book is called the War of Art, and it's by Steven Pressfield. He is the screenwriter of the Legend of Bagger Vance. He's also a novelist and pretty interesting guy. A great podcast to listen to is the Rogan Experience, and he's on there often as well. If you're listening to Joe Rogan and.

The Rogan Experience Podcast, he's an interesting dude.

Yeah. But I'll tell you what, those three hour podcasts are pretty cool.

Wow, three hours?

Oh, yeah. They go for as long as they go. There's no. There's no limit.

I don't know if I have enough time in the day to listen to a three hour podcast.

I wish, but, you know, you're California. You got a lot of driving. You could. You get a lot done.

That's true. That's true. All right, well, hey, I appreciate that, Mark. That was a kind of a good one. I like. I'm going to. I'm going to check that out.

All right. Yeah, so check that out. So listen, if you want to learn more about how to make an incredible income buying and selling raw land, go to my site, www.thelandgeek.com. download for free the Passive Income Blueprint. Get the ebook how to Avoid the Three Fatal Land Buying Mistakes, and of course, get this podcast delivered each week, delivered straight into your inbox. And you also go on YouTube, subscribe to the Coffee Talk videos. We'll have a virtual cup of coffee together. And please, Duran is working so hard. Give the guy a little love. Go to reserveland.com buy some wholesale land from Duran. Check out landhub.com if you're addicted to Starbucks. Starbucksaddiction.com.

Those domains aren't up there, but thank you. I appreciate it.

Yeah, whatever.

You know, they're not live. I just own them.

And then, you know, the only thing that's going to keep Duran motivated to keep doing this with me is if you leave us some feedback. Go on itunes, leave us a comment, preferably positive. But if you don't like us, email us that and tell us what you want to hear. Give us some ideas. So give us some feedback, let us know how we're doing and we'd really appreciate it. So this is Mark Podolsky. I'm very grateful again to have Duran Fraser from reserveland.com landhub.com joining me on this podcast and we'll see you next week. Thanks, everybody.

Thank you.

Thanks, Duran.

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Land Keep. 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.