The Art of Passive Income

We have a fun and interesting topic for you on this week’s Round Table discussion. The team is going to give an evaluation of each others superpowers that they think propelled them to success.Joining Mark for this fun exercise are:Scott BossmanMimi ScmidtErik PetersonMike ZainoScott ToddBut first, the team shares their favorite Bootcamp moments...Scott Bossman—Meeting the people he’s been talking to on the phoneErik—Seeing everyone in person and the St. Anthony hotelMimi—Meeting everyoneMike—Seeing the successScott Todd—Meeting flight students face to face and hearing their successMark—Seeing the success around the room and how many lives he’s he impacted. Mark also gets complete gratification when all questions have been answered!What rituals or superpowers do we think helped propel our colleagues into success?Scott Todd on Mimi—She slowly and methodically built her business. Went to every Bootcamp and used the opportunity during the open sessions to work on her business to get out of working in her business.Mimi on Erik—Erik developed a niche within technology to create processes.Erik on Mark—Mark saw the opportunity in land and ran with it. Eventually he decided to share it with the rest of the world, taking it from opportunity to community!Mike on Scott Bossman—The master of getting things done. He believed in the model and carved the time to make it happen.Mark on Scott Todd—There are two components that are Scott Todd’s superpowers:infrastructure building—He is very good at building a good laser focused team to avoid bottlenecksHe is the master of execution—He doesn’t put off what needs to be done and gets it done quickly and efficientlyScott Bossman on Mike—He is the king of rituals. The first year his goal was to erase debt so his repetition was to mail and market. He stayed the course and he got it done!Did everyone agree these were fair and accurate evaluations? Listen in for more details and to find out everyone ‘s thoughts on how they are perceived by their colleagues.Also, Mike gives everyone a spirit animal and why it symbolizes them.Scott Bossman—Buffalo. Endurance to overcome, great emotional courage and provider to all.Mimi—Armadillo. Slow, sure of yourself, in no hurry, keeper of the houseErik—Elk. Teaches that pacing yourself will increase your staminaTate—Butterfly. Outer transformation, and the ability to know and change the mindScott Todd—Eagle. Creator, teacher, loyalty, integrity, and a spiritual connection to the great divineMark—Mtn lion. The power of leadership and ability to lead without insisting others followTIP OF THE WEEKMimi: 2 tips this week. The first is the chrome app—Message Saver for Facebook.The second is a blog post from Hubspot to improve your sales—The Ultimate Guide to Objection Handling: 40 Common Sales Objections & How to Respond.Bonus tip—don’t volunteer to do the tip of the week!Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

Today's guest is going to take one of the biggest pain points in your business, bookkeeping, and solve it.Ben Day, owner of LionShareBookkeeping.com, gives business owners back their time, money and sanity. He specializes in small businesses and real estate investors: from wholesalers, flippers, and rentals.Listen in as Ben talks about all the moving pieces of accounting and why, as a business owner, you need to educate yourself and get financial clarity so you know how to communicate with your accountant.We dive deep into:Why bookkeeping is killing people’s businessesThe biggest mistakes Ben sees people makeBusiness types—LLC, S Corp, C CorpFind out why Ben suggests to do a deal before you choose your business type. Plus, he gives advice on getting set up right from day one.To learn more about bookkeeping in general, Ben recommends reading Rich Dad Poor Dad to get financially literate. Also, check out his website for free resources.Most of us can probably agree, bookkeeping ranks pretty low on the fun-o-meter. But, whether you do it yourself or you outsource it, it’s important that you get educated on this vital piece of your business.TIP OF THE WEEKMark: My tip of the week is to get yourself out of bookkeeping, let the experts handle it, go to LionShareBookkeeping.com. Focus on working on your business, in growing your business, and allow the bookkeepers that are experts on it to make our life better, improve your cash flow, do some tax planning.Scott: We just made a change, we took Posting Domination and Accounting for Land Investors, we put it under the umbrella of InvestorNinjas.com. Go learn how to build your accounting system for your business.Ben: Work communication is always the hardest part of any business, regardless of the business type. Check out the Chrome plugin—Loom.com, a tool that helps you get your message across through instantly shareable video.Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

In this first recorded episode of 2020, the gang's all back together and ready to discuss their newbie expectations when first starting out in the land business and what the reality really was.Joining Mark are:Tate LitchfieldMike ZainoMimi SchmidtErik PetersonScott BossmanScott ToddEverybody comes into this business with some sort of expectations, whether it’s with high hopes of getting rich quick or cautious optimism, I think I’ll dip a toe in and see if I can do this. The question is, what is the actual reality?Team Land Geek is going to share their reality with you today.In short:Mimi—Thought there would be more cash soonerMike—Just wanted to make enough to pay off debt but didn’t expect what really happenedErik—Very optimistic but then the sales didn't comeScott B—Approached with cautionTate—Underestimated the amount of work requiredScott T—Thought they would be knocking down the door with accepted offersAnd Mark, well, he had to come to terms that he couldn’t go through life buying everything .25 cents on the dollar!The reality is—this is not a get rich quick plan! This model is simple, but it’s not easy and it’s not going to happen overnight. You’re setting up a business and that takes time and effort. So take the time you need to set up your systems and a good team of VA’s that will ultimately take tasks off your plate giving you that time freedom you seek. GRIT—Grit is passion and perseverance for long-term and meaningful goals. It is the ability to persist in something you feel passionate about and persevere when you face obstacles.Mimi, who is the epitome of Grit, reads the definition and the importance of having it in this business. And, Mike comes up with an acrostic for GRIT…GetReadyIt’sTough!Listen in now to find out all the details of the team’s expectations vs. reality and how they overcame the obstacles… you just might find you can relate to one of them!TIP OF THE WEEKMimi: Subscribe to the Hubspot Sales Blog for some great tips!Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

Our guest today is Scott Krone—founder of Coda Management Group. Coda teams up with investors to purchase strategically located, undervalued warehouse space and convert it into climate controlled self-storage facilities. They are a top three operator.Scott began his career in multifamily 25 years ago and when the crash came in '08 he began buying into the commercial realm and started seeing that there were some inefficiencies within the self-storage arena that he could take advantage of.Listen in as Scott gets into the weeds of self-storage and why it makes such a great investment. As Scott describes, “it's apartments without toilets”... a more simplified version that costs about 1/10th of multifamily. There's a lot less risk making it the safest asset class in real estate with the lowest default rates of all asset classes.We delve deep into:The costs that go into buying a buildingLocation, Location, LocationMitigating the risksA typical hold periodCreating valueThe definition of pace financing and opportunity zoneInvestor’s ROIThe perfect time to sell is when you don’t have to sell - Scott KronePlus, find out the biggest mistake Scott sees people make in the self-storage arena and so much more on today’s Episode of The Art of Passive Income!TIP OF THE WEEKMark: Learn more about Scott and his company at CodaMG.com.Scott: Google the 12 Steps to Intimacy in Attracting and Keeping Customers. If you think about this through the same concept as going through and building a relationship with your customer, you can apply the same 12 steps to marketing and to your customer.Scott Krone: Check out the book, The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron. This book has helped us the most in the past few years. The concept is—that we all have— the nine personality types; the idea of this is the more healthy you are, the less this personality types get highlighted; the less healthy you are, they become more magnified and ugly in essence.Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

In this week’s Round Table, the team rings in the new year by taking a look back at a few of their favorite things in 2019.Joining Mark are:Scott BossmanTate LitchfieldScott ToddWithout giving away too much, listen in as the guys talk about their:Favorite land dealsFavorite booksFavorite showsFavorite habitsFavorite purchases—$100 or lessWhen it comes to favorite deals, find out who said:“The moral of the story is if you remain consistent, these little gold nuggets show up in this business.”“I was able to buy 700 properties from one person. That might sound crazy to those listening to the podcast for the first time, but I basically bought a whole subdivision. I was one of the largest property owners in the county overnight.”“My favorite deals were the ones that I didn’t do.”And, find out whose sales team talked them into purchasing a property for a considerable amount more (8k) than usual (3k)...with the promise it would sell for 25K.Did it end up selling for that much? Find out now along with all the usual antics & banter as the battle of the razors rages on in this week’s episode of The Land Geek Round Table!Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

Today’s guest has a really intriguing niche, in fact, it leaves both Mark & Scott with that shiny object twinkle in their eyes.Brad Smotherman joins the guys to talk about his unique niche within the niche of house flipping. Brad is a professional house flipper but the way that he sells houses is very unique and as Mark says, very cool.What makes Brad’s strategy so unique from the typical house flipper?After doing some fix and flips, Brad soon realized that there was no money there and that the real money was in the financing, so he became the bank. Brad's strategy is to get the property under contract, buy it with equity and sell it on owner financing, creating a wrap note.Listen in as Brad walks us through an average deal, along with:The passive income on an average noteFinding the houses and the buyersThe types of properties he buysWorking in multiple statesForeclosures Another perk to Brad’s strategy, there are no repairs to deal with!What about the Dodd Frank act?Dodd Frank is a banking regulatory act, part of which  clamps down on owner financing, but Brad says it’s not a concern in his strategy and explains why.He also give us the details of a buyer’s pool that is vast with very few players in it... and so much more in today's episode of The Art of Passive Income!TIP OF THE WEEKMark: Learn more about Brad at BradSmotherman.com also check out Brad’s podcast, Investor Creator Podcast With Brad.Scott: Check out ColorZilla.com—a chrome extension that allows you to get the colors from any website.Brad: Read the book, 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson.Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality. -Lucius Annaeus SenecaThere is always some level of fear when it comes to scaling your land business—whether it’s spending the money, losing control, or putting your trust into the integrity of others, the fear of the unknown can be debilitating.So how do you get over those fears in order to grow?Joining Mark this week are:Scott BossmanMimi SchmidtTate LitchfieldScott ToddListen in as the team talks about their biggest fears in the beginning, which in short include:Mimi had a fear of making mistakes that resulted in losing money and how it would reflect on her family. She was able to move forward by taking little steps and working through it. But it’s something she still struggles with today."I feel a lot of anxiety but I take the steps and work through it, then realize, it wasn’t a big deal afterwards." -MimiScott Bossman had a fear of outsourcing because he felt the quality of work would suffer. And like Mimi, he finds that moving forward is the only way to get over that fear and explains it will get easier the more you do it.“One of the reasons we do this business is for money but a major reason is for time. So you need to approach your business in that regard. You need to hire people that are going to save you time and scale your time, and it all starts with that first one. So if you're on the fence you need to just do it. Take the most mundane tasks, the thing that's mundane but painful and costing you a lot of time. Then create one training video and get a couple of people on it and your life is going to become that much easier and then you just continue down the chain.”Tate brings up a fear he sees often and that is the fear of success and not being able to keep up with productive VA’s.“You don’t have to be an expert at anything except hiring expert VA’s.” -TateScott Todd’s fear, of all things numbers, almost sent him running in the beginning. He reverse engineered his passive income goal and the results left him feeling sick. But once he started taking other factors into consideration he realized it can become self-funding if you start asking different questions.“You can't financial model this business the way that you think you can and ultimately that was my biggest struggle, getting my brain around the fact that I don't need a ton of money to do this business.” -Scott ToddThen, Mark talks about how he fought scaling, tooth and nail, until an upsetting conversation he had with a mentor. It was the pivotal moment that ultimately helped him overcome his superhero syndrome.Find out what Mark’s mentor said to him, the questions that turned the tables for Scott, and the full details of the teams fears and how they deal with them, then & now, on today’s episode of The Land Geek Round Table!“The temporary pain of going through the process of hiring somebody, training them and getting them going is temporary, but the time that you save now is permanent. Then the passive income that you continue to grow is permanent. But you do have to go through that initial piece of being uncomfortable, being anxious, exerting some energy and some forethought into doing this, but it’s a one time process and boy does that scale.” -MarkTIP OF THE WEEKMimi: Check out TitleSearchCourse.com. It’s a great and inexpensive way to train your VA’s on title searches.Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

On today’s podcast we talk with The Mindful Landlord, Terrie Schauer, about how to run a rental property while keeping your peace of mind.Terrie is a real estate coach with a PhD in nothing to do with real estate. And today, she talks to us about how to reduce the headaches in rental properties by bringing zen like qualities to the landlord experience.Terrie has been managing rental properties half of her life, it was what helped finance her PhD. But during the process, she discovered that she liked being a landlord and was good at it, so she decided to follow that path after college instead of her chosen field of study.Listen in as we discuss:The dangers of scaling too fastVetting tenantsIncremental progressOvercoming fearProperty management automationAnd finally, don’t sweat the small stuff!Terrie’s number one tip of being mindful is to be able to prioritize between the small and the not small stuff for your own peace of mind.For those thinking about getting into the realm of property management, check out Terrie’s book: Mindful Landlord: How to Run Rental Property For Profit and Peace of Mind.“I feel like you can’t overstate the importance of choosing your tenants carefully because you’re really choosing your quality of life when you let someone into one of your units.”Listen in now as Terrie Schauer teaches us a thing or two about mitigating the headaches behind the three r’s—renters, rodents, rehabs... on this episode of The Art of Passive Income!TIP OF THE WEEKMark: Learn more about Terrie at TerrieSchauer.com.Scott: Read the book, The Miracle Equation: The Two Decisions That Move Your Biggest Goals from Possible, to Probable, to Inevitable by Hal Elrod.Terrie: "A little bit of something is better than a lot of nothing." If you're ever sitting there and thinking I don't have time to run a 5k, or I don't have time to learn this piece of real estate knowledge, I don't have time to read this book, do whatever you can. Those little 5-minute things that you do will add up and they will put you further ahead over a long period of time than if you do nothing.A great book on the topic is: Incremental Improvements: Change Your Life One Small Step at a Time by Mike Brodsky.Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

In this week’s Christmas eve edition of The Land Geek Round Table, Team Geek is going to stuff your stockings full with a treasure trove of tech goodies that will assist in the growth of your land business!Listen in as the team goes over:OptimizationDelegationAutomationJoining Mark this week are:Erik PetersonMimi SchmidtTate LitchfieldScott ToddWhat comes first, automation or delegation? This is a mistake often seen in the optimization process. The team goes over the steps they take in their own business optimization to help equip you with the best knowledge possible. (Hint: Humans first!)Then, Geeky Stocking Stuffers—tech tools you can’t live without that will have you optimizing, delegating, and automating like a pro!LGPass—Automates the paperwork. Fills in and prints out offer letters, contracts, and closing documents in seconds. Available to Flight School and coaching students.Airtable—Team organizationGIS SystemsZapier—Connects apps to automate the workflowFollow Up Boss—Automate lead follow upProcess Street—Process management, task automationG-suite—Collaboration toolSlack—Team messagingFleeq—To create training videosLastPass—Password manager that allows you to share login information securely with your VAsInvestorNinjas.com—To learn anything about anything. Courses on finance, marketing, technology & more!GeekPay—Note collectionZoom or Loom—To record training videosTrello—Team project boardAll of us here at Land Geek HQ want to wish you a very Merry Christmas!TIP OF THE WEEKTate: Check out JustWatch. A guide to help you find your favorite shows across all the streaming services.Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

Just a year after starting their land investing journey, our guests have completed over 30 deals and have $2,500 a month in passive income coming in, working just 5-10 hours a week on the business... they were able to pay for Flight School with their first two deals.Land Geek students, Evan Bollier and Chloe Bawmann, join us on today’s show to talk about what their journey has been like so far and what their future plans look like.In the summer of 2017, Evan had just finished his MBA and felt he needed a little more direction in his life. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to go on to a PhD to start teaching full-time until he picked up the book, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.That book inspired him to take a deep dive into real estate and down the rabbit hole of podcasts where he came upon one featuring Mark… and it all made sense to him. Now, he just had to convince Chloe.So, Evan took Chloe on a cruise where he got down on one knee and proposed to her...will you be my business and lifetime passive income partner and make beautiful 300% to 1000% returns with me?Chloe said yes, and while a little skeptical at first, she attended the next Bootcamp with Evan in Orlando. It was there, sitting next to someone who was selling properties while Bootcamp was in session, that she knew that if anybody else could do it, so could they.Timeline of SuccessionBought the Toolkit in September 2018Went to Bootcamp in October 2018Signed up for Flight School in November 2018Bought their first property in December 2018Paid off Flight School during the last week after selling two propertiesListen in to find out the details behind:Their first dealTheir favorite dealWhat they would have done differentlyTheir favorite and least favorite parts of the businessTheir preference between cash and termsChloe also talks about how it was Mimi’s podcast, The Little Tortoise With Big Grit, that had inspired her and moved her to tears. Her advice to those who are skeptical or don't know which course of action to choose...I would say not to overthink it. If you can only afford the Toolkit, then at least get the Toolkit. And if you can afford Flight School then you should definitely do Flight School. But, I mean stop complaining I guess, just do it and stop overthinking. Evan is the biggest over thinker I know and if he can do it and stop overthinking then I think anybody can do it.Failure is not an option—Evan & Chloe both have the mindset that the only way they are going to fail is only if they stop and they have no intentions of stopping. They have seen that this model really does work if you are committed to making it work.Their success is summed up to:They have a why—they’re trying to solve a problemThey have direction—they know what they want and what they have to do to get thereMental fortitude—They know the only way to fail is if they stopPerseverance—The aptitude and commitment to keep going even through the roadblocksI felt like I was a little directionless, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Now I know exactly what I want to do and I couldn't be happier doing it. I love this Land Geek community and I love working with Chloe. And, oh yeah, we have fun. -EvanThey jumped in with both feet, took action, and continuously plowed through one roadblock at a time, clearing their path to passive income.And, even though both still work their full-time jobs, Evan & Chloe talk about how life has changed for them, giving them hope and a sense of direction. They can see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and know it's just a matter of time before they reach it.TIP OF THE WEEKMark: Learn more about Evan and Chloe at ParadiseParcels.com. Email them. Ask them about Flight School, ask them a question that I didn’t get to on the podcast and have them give you the inside scoop of what we like to refer to as the DHR method of Scott Todd’s Flight School program.Scott: I think everybody should read or listen to, Talking To Strangers: What We Should Know About The People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell. We all think that our messages are being received or communicated properly. Or worse yet, we're able to understand people but that may not be the case. This book will help improve your communication.Evan: Get an old fashioned piece of paper and pen then write down your goals of the week. I've got a little notebook and Chloe and I spend 30 minutes each week every Sunday and we write down our goals for the week. On one side of the piece of paper we have our business goals and on the other side we have our life goals. It feels incredibly good to cross things off one thing at a time and it feels really satisfying to see just how one small thing can make a big difference. We've even taken it a step further and we do this quarterly as well. So on our fridge we have one month at a time.Chloe: I recommend reading the book, Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life - Before 8AM by Hal Elrod. That book totally changed my life. Evan has always been a morning person and I don't like to get up in the morning but we get up consistently now at 5:30 before we go to work and it gives us time to work out, talk to each other, figure stuff out and then go to work so that when we come home we can work on this business together and we move together instead of having other things that we need to focus on.Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?