Adam Carswell - The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing Podcast - Real Estate Marketing

Welcome to the Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing hosted by Wayne Courageous iii, a place where active and passive investors come to hear the good, bad and ugly of real estate investing. Our guests consist of experienced operators and investors who want others to succeed by sharing their stories. If you're looking to syndicate deals or grow your wealth passively in real estate, you've come to the right show. It's now time to sit back, take mental notes and enjoy next episode of the Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing.

Welcome to the Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing. This is your host, Wayne Courageous. For our next episode, we're excited to have Adam J. Carswell who's a real estate entrepreneur and podcaster. He's a LinkedIn power networker and new media marketing maverick. His expertise in communication sets him apart from the crowd. He's also the co founder of Raise Masters, the number one mastermind for elite capital raisers. Adam has earned the moniker the Voice of Liberty as the master of ceremonies at Liberland National Events and hosts the nation's podcast, the Liberland Show. He's also a cryptocurrency pioneer and the co host of the Blockchain Real Estate Summit. Over the years, Adam has interviewed world leaders such as Grant and Alina Cardone, Doug Casey, Roger Ver and G. Edward Griffin. Adam is a former semi pro basketball player and was inducted into the hall of Fame as alma mater for his accomplishments on the court as well on his track. P.S. in his spare time he's well, he's training to become a world class dj. Welcome to our show, Adam.

Thank you, thank you. And thank you for, you know, putting the effort in there on the intro. I know sometimes it's a little bit interesting as a fellow podcaster and appreciate all the hard work you're doing and creating your show, a lot of people don't realize it basically is, it is another job. Oh, I want to start a podcast. Do you want another job? Yes. So just thank you, thank you Wayne for all you do in bringing me here.

Yeah, and you know, we were talking before the show, like sometimes getting on a podcast, it, you know, there's a lot of pre work that goes on and then life happens. Like we've, you know, had to reschedule. Thanks for your patience a few times and it's sort of like, hey, we're here today. Really want to dig in. Obviously on the real estate side, we met through Race Masters and really have enjoyed that program and enjoyed the value that you and Hunter has brought. So let's start There, like, what's your real estate journey's been up to this point and how did you get into your role as educational product manager for Raise Masters and co founder?

Thank you. Thank you. So, man, where does it all begin? I think it traces back to my first entrepreneurial experience that was a lot of fun and was profitable, which, you know, mentioned my background in basketball. All of that happened probably before the age of 23. I was pursuing a career in coaching. I realized after a few years in basketball coaching at the NCAA level, it's not something that I was just. I just was not passionate enough as like some of the other guys, like they would lead basketball. I just happened to like it a lot. So I shifted and I was like, you know, I'm going to kind of fulfill the parents dream and the American dream, which is go get a job at a Fortune 500 and work your way up and live a great life and work the W2. And I had a great time at Sherwin Williams. Don't get me wrong, that's where I got started. I had someone, a friend of mine who I went to college with, who was a recruiter for the Washington D.C. area. So after basketball, that's where I went, started managing stores there, you know, quickly started realizing that the people that I looked up to, who are very successful and still making six figures, whatever, they were still working like 80 hour weeks. And I'm like, man, it seems like most of the world's millionaires that I can observe are either in technology or they're in real estate or they're in both. So I'm like, I guess I'm just going to go with real estate. I had read Rich Dad, Poor dad twice and I'm like, that was the push that I needed. And I just remembered, I said there was an entrepreneurial journey in there. So where I was going with that was when I was working at Sherwin Williams. I had a client, really good client who would always come to my store. And I'm like, man, I got to give this guy a gift back. And I knew he loved Cristiano Ronaldo, so I got him like this Cristiano Ronaldo T shirt off of a Chinese website and gave it to him. He's like, oh man, this is great. And he could kind of tell it was from China. He's like, did you make this? And I don't know what got over me, but I was like, because I could tell he was going to ask for more. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I made it. He's like, okay, it's like, my crew needs T shirts for our company. Can you help us out? I'm like, yeah. Walks out the store. I'm like, wow, okay, how are we going to do this? Call up my buddy Chaz Irish, who I don't know if we'll go down this rabbit hole later in the conversation, but I'm actually working on an NFT project with Chaz right now. And at the time I'm like, dude, he's in graphic design. I'm like, is there any way we can make T shirts for a painting company? And he was like, yeah, do this, this and this. And then boom. So next thing you know, we got our first order out to my buddy Johnny Cruz. And then we started scaling for there and we realized there was a huge niche in Washington D.C. and probably other markets around the U.S. for, you know, his first language was Spanish. And many of my clients, their first language was Spanish. And thankfully I learned Spanish growing up. My mom taught it throughout high school and stuff. So hablo poquito. And I was like, you know, helping out all these guys who would have probably been intimidated to go into an English speaking store and order T shirts. We were supplying my paint clients with T shirts, which, you know, I didn't really tell Sherwin Williams was going on until, you know, later. Until now, I could talk about it. But that's when, you know, Chetty and I chat. That's my friend Chaz's nickname, Chetty. We started making money and, you know, all of a sudden they're like, wait, this doesn't need to go through anyone else before we get paid for the success that we're right now. Like, this is going straight to our account. This is kind of nice. I think I like entrepreneurship. So I backtrack there. To go back to when I read Rich Dad, Poor dad and I put the two together, I'm like, okay, I'm going to become a realtor and pursue real estate. See what happens. And that was, you know, 2016, 2017, which is crazy to think that's like, yeah, like six years ago now. But during that time I quit my W2 like a crazy mid 20 year old kid. Not really like the best plan ever, but I just quit. Had three months of savings, probably should have had six months, but it was like, whatever, I'm going to do this. And I found Hunter on a podcast because that was also the first time in my career that I'm like, whoa, I have all this time. I just started going down all these like, YouTube university type of rabbit holes. And I found Hunter on there. I'm like, man, I like this guy's worldview. He's in commercial real estate, which I'm interested in getting into, but I don't know anything about. I'm going to reach out to him. And he said that interview that he did, if you guys, if you want, I'll shoot it to you when you just make sure you follow up with me. That interview got like 15 to 20,000 plays. And he's like, dude, you're the only. For whatever reason, you're the only one that reached out from that interview. Okay, it's cool with me. So that was the straw that broke the camel's back for Hunter and I to start working together, because that's when he first started creating educational products. I became one of his first mentees. And then that relationship has just snowballed over the past roughly five years into now. We started raise masters last year, and things are just very fun, profitable and good right now. So we want to obviously keep that momentum rolling and pour it into the lives of all around us, including yourself and those who are tuned in.

Yeah. And, you know, one thing that I've really noticed about you is one, you're obviously your personality, you're very outgoing, you have a really good way of marketing. And I think that's part of, you know, I mean, you're growing up, et cetera, but also with Hunter coaching and all. So let's talk about, you know, media and marketing, investor relations. You know, how do all those tie into real estate more so at the commercial real estate level? I mean, I guess even when you're a realtor, you know, what all were the marketing and media tools, whether you were trying to find deals or you were trying to market for your clients to sell and obviously raise capital.

Yeah, it's so interesting because the whole concept of the power of communication, the power of marketing, what sales truly is, like, every entrepreneur at their core is actually a salesperson. These are all things that I feel like I didn't consciously start paying attention to until the past two years at the most. And so I look back on my journey, which was a bunch of connect the dots and not knowing what the heck I was doing for a while and wondering where money was going to come, definitely at some points. But, you know, I think at the core of it all, if there's anything that I could take from that experience up until now, you know, I had a phase in my life between the coaching and that transition into, like, the more I don't know if you want to say professional world, because obviously coaching is professional, but I had a moment where I took a step back. I like deleted all my social media everything, cleaned house. It was actually really nice for a moment to just like, just be accessible by cell phone. But the one thing that I did not delete in the one social media platform I've had this whole time is LinkedIn. And that platform has served me well and continued to serve me well in so many ways. And yeah, you know that it's a question where I think I could probably give like 30 different answers or strategies that just happen to work for me. But if there's one that I. And we can dive into this, but from a very high level, it's something where I feel like if you're not leveraging LinkedIn to your advantage, commenting, liking or, or posting on your own, you know, once a week is a really good place to start. And that's the level and capacity that I've been at on that platform for about, about the past five years now, where I'm kind of in cruise control at this point.

Yeah. So how part of your LinkedIn strategy are you posting daily? Are you creating your own content? Are you more trying to find, you know, other people that is putting content and you're responding and putting thoughtful comments? You know, how, how about, what's your strategy with LinkedIn?

It definitely started from a place where I think like many of us who are on LinkedIn and are active and are posting, we've all had that moment where we were getting started, where it's like, should I really be doing this? Like, who's going to see it? I think that's a huge thing that holds a lot of people back from doing anything on LinkedIn. Besides, lurking is like, who's going to see this? And for the right reasons, like, especially if you're working a W2 or some job where you got to be just really careful about what you put out there, you can't help but have reservations. But whether you're working in W2 or an entrepreneur, I think whoever you're associated with is actually going to admire your activity on LinkedIn than you might think as far as getting started. Because every name, every face out there, whether you realize it or not, you are a brand. You're a brand. And whatever jersey you're wearing, that's going to take the level of whatever team you're playing for up to the next level. So I remember someone who's very well known in our circles now through LinkedIn. Yona Weiss, when he did his, I happened to be connected with him when he did his first ever like 10 day LinkedIn challenge. And I had already been posting a little bit before then and that's how I, how I found him. But this was so this was probably like 2017, 2018. But Yona started this challenge where it's like, hey, everyone in my network, we're going to see what happens if we post on LinkedIn for 10 days in a row. And you know, being in that first group that he did, which is, I guess looking back on it, a bit serendipitous, but what I learned was, whoa, I just posted every day for 10 days. And like, my, my likes, my comments, my engagement, like, everything went up. Because another thing that I think holds a lot of us back is you get one or two likes and you go, you know what? This isn't for me. I'm making myself look stupid. You'd be surprised how many people lurk on your content that you don't know are paying attention to you. Because if anything, I feel like the most comments I get about people seeing me on LinkedIn are the people that I've never seen like or never seen comments on my stuff. So I say that all to circle back to what you're saying, which I think is either where did it start or what is the best strategy. But getting yourself in the habit of posting daily or weekly or just, just engaging on that platform really will serve you if you stick with it.

Yeah, I've noticed because I don't post as much on my personal. More so because I'm driving people to the business LinkedIn page that we have. But there's definitely, it seems like the business LinkedIn page, it's harder to get, I don't know the number of views or there's, there's something in the coding for LinkedIn and you're right. And I don't know. So I'm curious on, you know, how do you, from what is your experience with the, you know, for those that have a W2 or not as wanting to post day to day on their personal page, more so on their business page. I mean, how do you, is there any hacks to, you know, increase the views?

There is. There's definitely at least a couple hacks that I want to, I want to share here. I mean, one from the business page perspective if, for anyone out there. And maybe you can relate here, Wayne too, like if you are posting consistently on your business page, you're getting one or Two likes or whatever. I would not be concerned about that. What I would be most concerned about is when someone's going to check out your company and they see that your business page hasn't posted for eight weeks. That's what speaks. So even if you're getting no likes on the business page, I know that's what I always look for when I go check out someone's business. Oh, they posted four months ago. They must be whack, right? So don't get discouraged there. I do think it's just become so much more. It becomes more and more prevalent that someone's face, your brand, your name, is ultimately what's going to sell and move the needle forward the fastest. So if you're in, this is what my buddy Tyler Lyons, who's now the director of investments at Asin Capital and can very much just go out on LinkedIn and be himself now. Less than a year ago, Tyler was in a position. I had many conversations with him, and he wasn't working with Asim at the time where he wanted to create this thought leadership platform, but he was also concerned that his W2 was going to see it and start thinking things and whatever. So he did something very brilliant, which I would encourage to anyone out there listening. If you have certain platforms where you know or you feel as though everyone's watching you, I'll use Tyler's thing as an example. He went to Twitter and he got himself on there and he's like, no one that I work with, to my knowledge, you know, obviously you're risking it a little bit. He's like, no one that I work with is following me. No one that I work with is doing this. And he started building out a Twitter brand and a Twitter following. And what you can do with that is one either just keep growing until it goes out of control and you could probably go full time at that point, or you just do it like one thing at a time. Like so many people see, like Grant Cardone, like, oh, I gotta be on Snapchat and TikTok and every single thing that exists. It's like, no. Unless you're at that level. How about you just. You master the LinkedIn, you master the Twitter and then you slowly branch out to the other channels once you have a following too, right? Because then you just drivetra. Hey, come follow me here. Boom. So those would be my. My simple hacks.

Yeah, those are. Those are great, great points. Great hacks. I. I am curious. Facebook and LinkedIn are two of my primary. I think most people default what about Instagram? You mentioned TikTok and other. I mean, where do you see the most success from a real estate capital raise standpoint? Or does it just, you know, it's up to the individual and the group.

Oh, man, we're cooking with gas now. So Facebook never, ever, ever. Especially right now. You just cannot underestimate the power of Facebook groups. And groups could be actually be for someone who is working that W2 situation. You know, you can make your group private or closed or whatever, so you can kind of control who's coming in and out. So I just. You definitely don't want to overlook Facebook groups because out of the, let's see, 2020 to, I don't know, out of the past 12 years, roughly, or however long I've had a Facebook, the only time that I can remember seeing an actual commercial on TV for Facebook was in the past two years. And guess what? It was for Facebook groups. So if a company with that much capital behind it is going, hey, our first commercial is going to be on groups, might be worth, you know, checking out. So create a community, Facebook groups. That's one thing I would recommend. Instagram is so interesting because I personally, this is just me. I do feel as though maintaining an Instagram, you either got to be in a position where you can just pay someone to run it for you, or you don't. You don't do it. And I would like to use my Instagram as an example. I've. You use it as kind of like your reality TV show. But I think Instagram is the one platform, if you're not careful, you kind of build yourself into a cage. You get caught up like millions of followers, whatever. Oh, it's so tricky though, because then there's some people who like their success comes from their 2 million followers on Instagram. So personally, I'll say this, Instagram is a direction that I have no desire to like, pursue hardcore. But I do think maybe we'll say this, maybe it's important to just have one. And then I think the ultimate hack that most people really aren't paying attention to right now is YouTube. And you might even heard me. I know I've shared this a few times, even on the Raise Masters calls. It's like you look at Instagram, you Look at Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok might be getting there as a competitor with YouTube, but I haven't seen it yet. And what I mean is, you know, I have videos that I've posted within the past decade that will just randomly get like 5,000 views, 10,000, whatever. But I remember when I posted it, it had five. And so it's like, YouTube is the true evergreen machine. I might even argue, going to what I was saying about LinkedIn, I might even argue that it might be more important to post consistently on YouTube because my buddy Adam Gower once said the host of. Or you go to Gower Crowd.com to check him out. He's awesome. Is like, marketing is like a. It's like a good workout. But it's even better than a workout because when you, when you, when you get a piece out there, it still works for you even after you put it out. Like, man, that was good. So.

Well, I know, let's hit on YouTube because, man, I started a YouTube channel year and a half ago or so, but since the first week of April, I have. We have posted every week. So we're probably on our third video. So consistently every Thursday we're posting new video.

Awesome. That's really. That's a big one.

Yeah, but I was using was it Big View for the. Where you sort of type out your script and you can either use your phone and it scrolls. It's, you know, the word scroll. So, you know, because I always wonder, like, how are people, you know, they're just talking to their screen and you know, not saying or, you know, stuttering or whatever, and they're just being free flow. Well, a lot of times they're, you know, typing out their script and you know, in front of the camera or for the computer, it scrolls like a teleprompter and, you know, you're going through it and you know, so. So I've been doing that, but then, you know, trying to look relaxed. You know, it's like even on these podcasts, like, I don't post the video of it. I don't, I don't know. It's just. I don't feel comfortable with the way I look, I guess.

I don't know.

But the Voice, I'll put it on podcast. But I. From a YouTube standpoint, I 100% agree with what you're saying, is that it's almost like, in my opinion, it's like a Google search of its own. Right. So if someone's putting in Wayne Courageous.

Or YouTube actually is by stat, it's the number two search engine in the world behind Google.

Yeah. And it's not as much talked about versus the other things we were talking about, LinkedIn and all. So I'm, I'm definitely viewing that as a great way to provide a lot of educational value and information out there. But it's getting, you know, for anybody out there who's starting and this is, you know, we can. This is great for real estate in general, whether you're a realtor or you're buying a home or you're selling a home or you're raising capital, small or large. Social media is disrupting the real estate industry and has been and will continue. But part of that is getting the confidence and feeling like I can do it and somebody is going to listen to me. And, yeah, I'm going to look a little uncomfortable at first, but I'm going to get more natural at it. So that's, you know, if y' all see my first three or four videos that have been posted, I look very uncomfortable. But I hope that it will change through YouTube, you know, and that's.

That's really. What you're alluding to is the beauty of it, which is. I had a friend of mine, Sam Miller, last time I checked in with him was about a year ago, but he's like an Australian, American, Canadian. He's all everything living in Colombia. And, you know, he's. He's raised a little over $10 million for real estate projects in South America. So he knows a thing or two about what he's doing. And he does it all pretty much through YouTube and TikTok. And he showed this simple graph of like, you know, exponential growth, and then he circled the beginning and the end and he's like, you know, you're here or something as an example. But when you're getting started, sometimes you get caught up thinking that everybody wants to see the. A finished product. When humans intuitively are like, we're designed to just crave observing the adventure and the journey and the trials and the errors. And so if you have content, Wayne, or anyone out there that you feel like is subpar, but it's still content and it still has some value there, you know, I would challenge this to you. And anyone listening is like, just get it out there. Because five years from now, you look back at it, you can also be on stage at that point telling everyone who's listening to you, like, look, you can do it too, right? And I think all great speakers, we all. I had an introvert moment too. Like, we all had introverted moments in our life. Mine in a nutshell was, you know, up until about age 13, my. My siblings were always like, acting and singing and on stage and all this stuff. I was the one behind the scenes doing wardrobe, and I hated it because they were out there getting all this praise from the crowds and like, man, I wish that was me, but I have no skills. I was wrong. You know, it just start came down to pressing record one day, just doing it so well.

What there's a lot of people listening, including myself, that we've got a lot going on, very busy. We're focused on whatever is on fire at the moment. Right. And so the, the thing that we should be doing on social media and, and providing, whether it's educational or, you know, just posts that, you know, hopefully are of value to people. But what are your thoughts about outsourcing and you know, what systems and places have you used or known other people to use to help make that a little easier from a time commitment standpoint?

Sure. Yeah. I think a big myth with outsourcing right now is the best way to do it is Upwork or Fiverr. I say that and then I think, oh well actually, you know, I do use Fiverr pretty frequently, but it's for one specific thing. It's a repeated job. I've been working with the same person for like five years. But you know, I, I guess what I would say is yeah, great, you can go to upwork, you go to Fiverr, you can find some great talent. It's out there, but it, it takes comes with a lot of trial and error. What I've seen most successful in the world of virtual assistants, and this is from, from our own experience now at ASEN Capital. And Wayne, you've probably heard Hunter already tell this story like 500 times. But for those who are new to it, we hired an executive assistant based on some observations and guidance we got from someone that we really admire in the space. We hired a six figure EA and found out quickly that the workload we were expecting was more than that individual could handle. And kind of out of panic, we had someone who was working with us part time from the Philippines. To answer your question, actually onlinejobs PH is the punchline of the story. But if you don't feel like listening to anymore, you just want to go check it out. It's Onlinejobs ph. That's where we made this hire. And as 30 days went by, Hunter and I started to realize like, wow, this person that we've never physically met who's in the Philippines working for 10% of whatever the other person was making is actually outperforming her. There might be something here and what we like about online jobs at PH, and there's another really good one, such as RocketStation. RocketStation.com and give them a shout out. You can tell them we sent you those two services. Do a good job of assessing where you're at and kind of figuring out what, as an entrepreneur, as someone who needs an EA or va, what do you need? And then equipping you with the talent that they have. Because I think what we see sometimes on like 5 or upwork, if you meet someone there, they're always just going to be looking for like the higher paid job. But if you're with someone who's kind of in that environment that I just outlined, it can, it can really be a game changer. And it also just starts with like, I think the key to hiring an executive assistant or a VA and what to outsource. Sometimes you just don't know. You got to dig your well before you're thirsty, right? Like, I don't know, I'm gonna hire them and then all of a sudden, oh, wait, I can have them do this. Oh, they can do this with my email. Hey, actually, you know what, can you check my calendar? And like all of a sudden it just, you just, you just get into it. So that would be my take there.

Yeah. I've been very fortunate this year to listen or go through the Raise Masters modules. And one of the first modules is, is to hire, you know, any, you know, it's a big step, someone to help. Right? And we've done that and he's been amazing. Like, he's taken over like my email sorting and he's always willing to help with underwriting. And, you know, today I was like, hey, can you go search online for some podcast editing? So hip hop, help me edit this one. Because, you know, at the end of the day, it's like you have people out there who are just hungry and grateful and wanting to do whatever they can to help you, help you and your business grow and such.

There is one more hack to finding good talent that I just remembered, and this one, you know, it might, it might be a little bit more challenging, but definitely worth looking into, which is, I'll give a shout out to Yakov Smart, who came and spoke to our group recently. If you're looking to hire talent within the U.S. take a look at your family, take a look at kids that are going to the same university that you went to, or anyone who's interested in becoming an intern. It's very easy to get paid. Your nephew Jimmy, who just wants to get into business, 10 bucks an hour to go send LinkedIn messages to someone. So as far as spamming people with LinkedIn messages. I could sit here that I endorse that. But that's just an example of something you could have people do. So don't underestimate your inner circle. Cool. Or like your alma mater as well.

Yeah. So switching gears a little bit on investor relations. What are you seeing people do right and wrong when it comes to nurturing investor relations?

Ooh, wow.

I always ask questions that I'm really, you know, it's like selfish of me. So I write my script, I'm like, yeah, I'm focused on investor relations. So curious on your, on your thoughts on what, you know, people are doing really well and wrong and nurturing those.

Right. I'm going to just take a hard look, hard moment to think here about what have I observed that I really enjoy about that role?

Well, more so what are you seeing people doing right or wrong when it comes to nurturing those investors?

Right, right. And so where I was going with this is someone in our circle who's in Raise Master is actually Brian Spear. He's partners with Kevin Bupp over at Sunrise Capital Partners. And there's something about the way Brian carries himself that you just go, wow, he knows what he's doing and I want to get to know him more. And I think the intangible there. So within Raise Masters, we have these sessions called Fund or Flop, which I don't know if you haven't used one yet, Wayne, we got to make sure we get you on one. But it's just these, these one on one moments with some leaders in our group and watching how Brian works with our members. It's the simple, it's the simple cliche of like just being very observant and listening to, you know what someone actually, what is the payoff for them? What's going to have them walking out of this conversation feeling like, Wayne, oh, he gets me, Adam, he gets me. And so when you're on the phone with an investor, or any form of a potential client for that matter, the conversation is, what about us coming together right now? What was it that actually inspired you to hop on this call? Because no one's just. I mean, maybe some people out there will just randomly take a phone call, but for the most part in this game, people are consciously getting on the phone with us and so getting clear on what truly inspired them to get on the phone with you and remembering that and making note of it and serving to that surprise. You gotta listen, be observant like that. That's, that's the key right there.

Yeah, yeah. I love it. So I know I'm bouncing all over the place, and I wasn't really gonna go this route, but whatever way you want to go. I don't really even know much. I mean, I own crypto. I'm just gonna. We're just completely shift subjects here because I'm like, I told you so. It's like, okay, so I own a little bitcoin and. Is it ethereum?

I was going to say. Well, you're. I thought you're about. If you were about to refer to it as eth. Just Eth. Like that. That's what the OG call it.

That's what people are saying. Okay, Eth. And then I bought dogecoin.

Oh, did you get in?

I bought it the day that Elon Musk went on Saturday Night Live. I was like, okay, this is going to be. I put like 100 bucks. Like, I wasn't going too crazy on it. But, you know, now it's like nothing. But, you know, you had mentioned it during your beginning the bio. And also, obviously it's something of interest and something you're probably very passionate about. What could we take away from NFTs and blockchain? And so where you're seeing, you know, and. And how does that fit into real estate, too? Because I'm seeing, you know, some interesting things going on on the real estate and the metaverse and all this other stuff. So it could go however far you want. I mean, we got like 10 more minutes, but I'm just like, you know, we might as well go there, because that's something I knew really nothing about.

Sure, man. This is such a juicy question. And for anyone tuned in right now, who is in the world of blockchain or crypto, you understand, because it's one of those industries, and there's a lot of industries out there, honestly, like it too, like commodities, stocks, even real estate. But I think crypto is cream of the crop, example of something where you got to figure out which lane you want to go in and give everything. You got to just be dedicated to focusing on that lane, because every day you will hear about the next big thing. It's the Wild West. It's Wild West. So it took me a while to learn that, because from 2017 up in, well, 2017 and 2018, which was like the last boom, similar to what we've seen past couple years here, I was a crypto head who went to the moon and back, I like to say. So it still worked for me, or it worked on me. And worked for me simultaneously. Meaning, you know, okay, next time, let's just not be the typical millennial thinking that I'm going to retire at age 27. So this time. So that would be my advice. And then as far as someone who's looking to get started right now, what I would say is, keep it very simple, do your own research. But I would go to either Coinbase or crypto.com, buy some Bitcoin, buy some Ethereum, or as we like to call it, eth and just hold it. The people who. I've heard so many stories of someone who had 100 Bitcoin in 2012 and then it went up to $1,000 and like, oh my gosh, this is cr. And they sold it, but that's because they didn't think it was going to go to 40 grand. It's like real estate. The people been in the game the longest always wish they never sold. That's what it seems like. So buy some Ethereum, buy some bitcoin and just plan on holding it for life and watching it grow. Once you do that, you'll probably get kind of hooked or addicted or into it or whatever. So from there I'd like to say, what am I working on now? Or what am I focused on now? I like Bitcoin, I like Ethereum. There's another project that I've done a lot of research on called Hex that I like. I'm still kind of testing it out, so I don't want to. This is not financial advice, right, guys? But there's some things about Hex and some people in my circle that like it. So, you know, I'm testing it out. And then I really, I really have been fascinated by the NFT and Metaverse space. And it's funny and I get it. Like, it's one of those, like, where it's at right now, a lot of, like, jokes and tomatoes and everything can be thrown at it. But what it reminds me of the most, the NFT space, the Metaverse space, is I remember in 2017 and 2018 when Bitcoin and Ethereum were like a big time joke. And maybe they are still a joke to some people now, but I'd say most of the fact that I'm watching the NBA playoffs and Coinbase is on there and crypto.com bought the Staples center, people have warmed up to it. I don't think the world has warmed up to the NFT and Metaverse stuff yet. So I do think it's a prime opportunity to dabble with it. So with all that being said, it just comes down to finding the time to put into researching it. And I'd say about, yeah, about a year ago is when I first got into NFTs through some people in my network. I was just like, this sounds really cool, I don't understand it at all. Connect me. And they had my friends happen to have someone with. There's a company, metacollect.com and I started working with them about a year ago. I do some podcasting for them on the side and over the past year, just by doing that show for their platform, I've absorbed so much NFT information that I would have never had to the point where I do feel very confident in the future of the space. I do think we're going through a fad right now, but similar to Bitcoin and Ethereum, the people who just stick with it and weather the storm when it comes are going to be the ones coming out shining. And yeah, so I know again, it's a lot to unpack there. I guess. The last piece I'll say is the crossroads between real estate and blockchain, which I've gone down many rabbit holes here as well with Michael Flight of LibertyFund IO. That's our website and I say ours because I've been a part of the inception of that with Michael Flight and I met Michael through Hunter over the past four years on this wheel and dealing real estate journey. But Michael is awesome and he really is someone who has also created and provided a platform for people to come and learn about the crossroads of blockchain and real estate. Because I do think if there's any sector out there that I've observed that does move the slowest, typically especially with technology, it is us. It is the real estate guys. So yeah, that's, that's the roundabout answer to your fantastic question. Yeah.

Well, last night my wife, she's always on TikTok watching shows and she showed me this TikTok video about a lot of the institutional companies. The reason why, it's one of the reasons why it's so hard to buy a single family home right now is because you got billions of dollars going towards from these companies buying these single family homes. Everybody's looking for yield and then it shifted and it said so follow the money of where those companies are also investing and those companies are also investing millions into crypto. So it's sort of, you know, they're buying single family homes and they're buying crypto and going into the NFT Space and all sorts of, you know, I think if anything, I mean, we're. We're not gonna be able to. It's probably a whole nother podcast diving deeper and deeper. But, you know, I think even for myself, it's something to continue looking into and trying to. I mean, it seems so foreign, but it's like what you've done over the last year is you. You just embraced it and every day you're learning more about it. Right?

So, yeah, and I think the big, the big takeaway there because I remember when I first committed to doing some podcasting with Meta Collect, I was like, dude, I have no idea how I'm going to find the time for this. But it really just boiled down to having an hour a week. That's where it all started. So some good resources, sources to go to actually learn because the show, I mean, you can go check out our show, meta collect on YouTube. I wouldn't really say it's necessarily for beginners. If you're looking to just start immersing yourself in the. We'll just call it the NFT and Metaverse space. There's something that I really like in our circle as well. His name is Cryptostache. Crypto Stash is a good guy. And then on the block or on the crypto side of things, Data Dash is someone who's been very persistent and committed to delivering valuable information in the crypto space. And then for the intersection of blockchain and real estate, libertyfund IO, go ahead and get on our. Get on our mailing list.

Nice. Well, Adam, thanks so much for your time. I always 1 want to have you mention how people can find you, which you've already mentioned your website, but there could other ways that people can find you. But also I always ask this question at the end and it's really, you know, what is your proudest moment? Whether it's in real estate and life in general, Love to our audience.

I might have to steal this one. This is great. I'm actually kind of shocked. I feel like this is a question more people should ask. Okay, proudest moments, aside from getting married, because can we. Can we say that that's number one?

Is she gonna listen to this podcast?

Probably will. I love you, Nikki.

Getting married.

Number one, proudest moment. I'm looking at our picture right there. It's great. Petty Harbor, Newfoundland, June 27, 2021. Coming up on a year. So the next moment. And I'm just gonna go off of what shot to my head first because I mean, we could all think of a lot. But I remember my senior year of college, as we mentioned, you know, I played basketball. What was kind of underestimated in that intro was I actually had a much, much better track career in college. And that's what actually led to me getting inducted into the hall of fame. I was still good at basketball, don't get me wrong. But track, like, we won a bunch of championships. I was really good at the 400. We broke a bunch of records. And my senior year, we're running the. Is the open 400, which was my race. I had won the conference championship the last two years in that event. So, like, huge target on my back. Like, no one wants me to win three in a row. And coming into the race, actually, there was two other people in the. In the race that had ran faster times than me that year. So really, they, you know, they were the favorites to win it. But I will just. I will never forget coming down that final hundred meters. I was probably in, like, fifth place. And one thing that I was kind of notorious for in. In the races that I would run and my teammates would tell you is, like, you know, that final 100, that's. Adam, that's where you're going to see it. It's going to see the magic. And so that's what happened the final 100 meters. I just remember, like, sprinting, thinking in my head, like, they can't hold me back. Like, they can't hold me back. And I finished first place three times in a row. And just the feeling of, like, that feeling right there was just so good. And then we did win the title that year, too, so that's what came to mind for me. Thank you for jogging. Jogging that memory.

Well, I mean, it's probably a great example of all the success in your life. You know, the grit, hard work, the discipline, you know, go get it. Attitude.

So.

Well, Adam, how can listeners find you and reach out to you?

Yeah, this is actually a question that I've been thinking very deeply about how I want to answer it at this stage in life, because I know we've dropped a lot of references here throughout the interview, but ladies and gentlemen, you can go back to the interview, check out those references. But I would say, you know, right now, the one call to action that I have. If you found value today and you want to continue to hang out with, you know, someone like me or someone like Wayne, I gotta be honest, the best way to get the most out of my time and the best way that I can serve you is for you to go to raisemasters.com go ahead and check out our mastermind. We'd love to spend some more time with you, get to know you and serve you and help get you connected on the capital raising front. Really just as an entrepreneur. So thank you for the opportunity to share. Wayneraisemasters.com yeah and I've been a member.

Since October and I've gotten so much out of it. So grateful for you and Hunter and everybody. We're actually working on a. We have a contract signed for 101 units in Houston and entire GP are race masters.

Wow. Okay.

I'm the silent guy in the background in the group but we, we're doing some great things and, and it's, it's, I mean it's really great people with Race Masters who are getting things done. So shout out to y' all and everything y' all are providing.

So thank you and congratulations. That's one of, it's another example. I'll leave this teaser stories like what Wayne just shared. I do freak like periodically hear that and I just go this is awesome. I gotta even know this is happening. It's so cool. So I'm sure it's happening other places and just keep up the good work waiting and keep me posted next time you got a cool story like that.

I will, I will. You know, but hey, thank you so much for your time and I know you, there's so many other things you could be doing this evening. So thank you and we'll connect soon.

Looking forward to it. Thank you for having me.

That's all for this episode. We hope you subscribe, share and leave a review of the show. For more information about passively investing in multi family apartments, check out Wayne's free ebook by going to creipartners.com forward/ebook. Also follow us on Facebook by searching CREI partners. This was the untold story.