Tresa Todd ON: Doing it Afraid: Taking the RE Industry by Storm and Leading Over 300,000 Women Investors To Do The Same

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, I broke the rules once again and decided that even though we had wrapped season number one and we have not launched season number two, I couldn't help but take the interview request and meet with the Ms.

[00:00:16] Tresa Todd. She is an incredible woman in the real estate investing space. She got into this whole world about six years ago and in a very short amount of time, not only nearly built herself an incredible real estate portfolio,

[00:00:29] but went on and created what is now the number one largest learning and networking community for women real estate investors in the nation with over 300,000 women served. She's done this just in the last few years. And so I wanted to do this special podcast with her right now.

[00:00:48] I didn't want to wait. I wanted to release it. I think especially at a time in a shifting market, hearing her voice, hearing her story, hearing her message of being fearless no matter what is going on will deeply resonate with all of you.

[00:01:02] So I couldn't be more honored to have her on and without further ado, here is the podcast we just recorded as a special release with Ms. Tresa Todd. All right, everybody, welcome back to Elev8. I am really, really, really grateful to have the opportunity to have

[00:01:22] the conversation we are about to have today. Joining us from Texas is Ms. Tresa Todd, and I will read a brief bio about her. And then of course I will have her share her story. But the reason I'm super grateful about this is that I feel like

[00:01:42] Tresa and I share a very, very similar heart for the women. And that's really about making sure that women can be empowered, that they can see that they can do this, that there is not a boys club.

[00:01:56] It is an everybody's club, that there is no barrier to entry. You can do it no matter where you're from, what your education is or isn't, who you grew up with, where you went to school, what you know, who you know, what neighborhood you live in.

[00:02:10] It does not matter. This is a playing field that is equal for everyone and it can literally change not only your life, but generations, the legacy of your family. And so I'm getting goosebumps because when I first saw Tresa come on the scene

[00:02:27] a few years ago, my heart exploded because she had really taken the reins to go do some things I thought about, but wasn't in a place to feel that I had the capacity to do. And better you than me, Tresa, you've done a beautiful job.

[00:02:42] So I'm grateful to have you here. So all that to say here is a bio. I will read it because I want to make sure that I get exactly right. Tresa Todd, she is a real estate investing expert, speaker, best selling author

[00:02:56] of the book without fear of her future, a women's guide to real estate investing, which I have read highly recommend, host of the podcast without fear of her future. And by the way, these are, you know, top ranked selling Amazon

[00:03:10] and top of the charts on podcasting and then probably most importantly and her baby, the founder of the Women's Real Estate Investors Network. It's WRIEN. This is the largest learning and networking community for women real estate investors in the nation with over 300,000 women served, which is really impressive.

[00:03:32] Congratulations. And so spoiler alert. And this is the part that I especially love. All of this came about since 2017. So just a mere six years ago and up until this point, she had never done a real estate deal in her life.

[00:03:51] She was working and sharing information that she shares everywhere. So I'm not throwing out sneaky stuff. She was working for an annual salary of $60,000 a year. And fast forward now, she is a successful real estate investor

[00:04:05] with over $17 million in holdings and the founder of a multi-eight figure business. That is a heck of an introduction. So welcome to the show, Miss Teresa. I'm so honored to be here. So thank you for having me. Really glad to have you.

[00:04:22] The ladies are going to love this and not just the ladies, by the way. It's funny. I'm sure your podcast is the same. We have a decent men's following out there too. So the tables have flipped a little bit. I know your story very well.

[00:04:37] I'm sure many of the people that are listening do, but there's always a few that for some reason have not yet had the opportunity to hear your story or know who you are.

[00:04:45] So rather than me keeping talking, I would love for you to share in your own words a kind of a cliff note version of that. And the part I don't want you to leave out that I think is so compelling is what your son said to you

[00:04:59] when he called you from Vegas. OK, gosh, you do know the story. I love that. Honey, I know I like I take my I take these things seriously. All right, I'm I'm into it. Well, like you said, I was working at the end.

[00:05:14] I mean, I was in a 25 year career and had finally worked myself up in the medical field to $60,000 a year and in Tyler, Texas and had three amazing sons that were in Dallas who had went into business together in real estate investing

[00:05:33] and had found their niche, they had found their calling. They were like crushing it and they had done over 100 real estate deals in two years. And all along, they kept calling me and saying,

[00:05:44] Mom, you need to come to Dallas and let us teach you how to invest in real estate. And, you know, I was 50 years old. I was not thinking of changing careers, but I was just proud of them. So proud of just watching them that found the success

[00:05:58] and working together and all that kind of stuff. But the night that you're talking about my youngest son called me and he said, Mom, it's time I need it was like in the serious tone. I'll never forget this as long as I have.

[00:06:13] He's like, Mom, you need to come to Dallas and and and leave your job and we'll teach you how to invest in real estate. And I remember just saying why? Why is that so important? He said, Mom, if you don't, you're going to end up a Walmart breeder.

[00:06:27] Yeah. And I was like, why? Because I really felt like I had done all the right things. I was not. I had followed the Dave Ramsey. I mean, I was not in debt. Other than my home and my car, I had zero debt. I live within my means.

[00:06:43] I had put money in my 401k for all those years. And so I just thought I was going to be OK. But he had been looking at all of my numbers. My 401k, my savings, my house payment, all that.

[00:06:56] He said, Mom, you've got a few years after you retire and you're going to really be broke. And it was such an eyeopening statement that I'm so thankful for. And so long story short, I gave my two week notice

[00:07:12] and I went to Dallas, Texas, and they began to teach me how to invest in real estate. And I had no idea that an average girl like myself without his big stash of money somewhere could begin to buy and sell real estate

[00:07:25] and have rentals and flip properties and all the things. And then I was looking around like where are all the women? I would go to the networks with my sons, men everywhere. And I wanted women, all the women that I had worked my butt off with

[00:07:40] for all of those years that I knew were good women that like me had no idea that they could transform their life through real estate investing. And so it was my sons. I was always whining about where are the women? And they said, Mom, start something.

[00:07:56] And when I look back on it and I think I started the Women's Real Estate Investors Network with 14 months experience, which is absurd. I love that. I love that. What was I even thinking? You were thinking there's a need. Let's go do something about this.

[00:08:14] Yeah. And I didn't even know if women would want to come. Didn't have a clue. And I had that very first meeting and exactly 40 ladies walked in the door that night and that was the beginning. Of course, they were live meetings in person

[00:08:28] in a whole actually in my office at the time and I just began and it like it just took off and it grew. Then when COVID hit, we had to close down all of those live events and I started teaching online and it went absolutely crazy.

[00:08:45] And like you said, we have had over 300,000 women all over the nation come through a master class, which is still just absurd in my mind. I'm just so grateful. It's it's it speaks to seeing the need

[00:09:01] and then doing something about it, even when you don't think you're ready, you know, and I love that part about you. I will I'm not going to lie. You and I could do a three hour podcast. I feel like we need like the three hour Joe Rogan format

[00:09:14] and this we're not even going to get started right now because there's so many things about this that I think are so important. And even though the women know this, my my listeners know this, your listeners know that I don't think we can say it enough times

[00:09:28] about there's no perfect time and you just have to go. And, you know, I I really feel like there has been a massive shift, obviously, in the market. I had a similar experience. I had a big, very difficult lifetime out

[00:09:47] and kind of came back into the world a couple of years ago as before covid and went to when I started my real estate and career, there were no meetups. That didn't even exist. It was just for yourself and figure it out.

[00:09:59] Right. And so I knew this time I wanted to have community. And I seem like you I went to a big, well-known investor meetup here in town. There were over 600 investors in the room and there were four women. I was one of them. Ah, this was this was 2000.

[00:10:15] It was right before covid and I went home and same thing. I told my husband, I said. This is mind blowing to me. I thought things had changed and I knew that the women were out there

[00:10:27] investing and I also knew they wanted to be and I couldn't understand why. And same like you, I did some things during covid and then and then started something up here. And I will say one of the things I'm most excited about

[00:10:39] and I give you a lot of credit about this and all the other women in markets like myself and doing other things on a local scale. I can now tell you that in our market when I see an event

[00:10:51] and this has been very recent, this is last 12 months, there are now women featured on the panel, women speakers and there are at least a quarter to a half of the room is full of women at those events.

[00:11:05] And so I'd love to ask what you think that is about why do you think that is? Do you feel that women now are seeing modeling happening or are they is there they feel that they have a voice or do you think the tone of the room

[00:11:19] has changed or what do you think that's about? I'd really love your question. I think there's several answers to that. First of all, I believe this is as a woman, this is our season. This is this is the season for women to rise up.

[00:11:33] The doors are opened and we better we better run through those doors and and and I think men know that and they're like, we better let them in. But so I think that's that's one.

[00:11:47] But I also think that COVID was an eye opener for a lot of us and women who had we knew we had to do something. So many women lost so much during COVID. Yeah. And it was a time of if I'm ever going to make it switch

[00:12:03] in my life, this is the time. And I think women are resilient. They love their families and it was the time for them to that was the time to make a pivot. And so many did, you know, more women, you probably already know this,

[00:12:17] more women started businesses in 2020 than men. And that's incredible. And so and then it just took off. And so here we are. And like I said, I think that the doors opened and the world is like, OK, the women are here. They're killing it. They're doing it.

[00:12:38] You know, part of my desire to have something for women is this could be a little controversial. There's different ways to show up in this world as a woman. And you know what? I want to keep my femininity. I can be a powerful woman.

[00:12:56] And still be a woman and still, you know, I don't have to use all the colorful language. I don't have to hate me in and that is what I want to shout from the roof.

[00:13:06] Talk, let's just be women, but let's be powerful, confident and at the same time, humble women. And that's what I see rising up and my heart is so happy about it. I love that too.

[00:13:18] One of the things that I've heard you say is so funny when I hear you talk and like, oh, my gosh, like are we spying in on each other? As you I hear you say that when you started seeing how your sons were doing

[00:13:29] their business, you were so impressed, particularly with your young because he was always looking for a win-win. Yes. And and that you that resonated with you because that you wanted to know if you

[00:13:39] could do this and like it and that you had done a lot of you had done a lot of ministry work. You've done a lot of things helping people. And so I think it can be often perceived that real estate investing,

[00:13:49] you've got to be a shark and you got to stick it to people. Yeah. Yeah. And so I'd love for you to talk about that. And I and really, I think, you know, women are tend to be community builders and nurturers. We can be very sharp.

[00:14:01] We can be our numbers. We can negotiate. We can be very project managers. Right? We we run households. We know how to get lots of things done. But this win-win piece, how what an incredible strength that is as an investor? Yes.

[00:14:17] If we're not just always thinking about ourselves, not taking advantage of somebody that is in a distressed situation, but but always thinking this is not just for me. If I can create a win-win for not only my seller, but my contractors and my

[00:14:32] realtors and everybody that you do business with, you know, I believe that we reap what we sow and if we will reap goodness and fairness and and that's what we're going to get back. We may lose a deal that, you know, here and there because we decided to

[00:14:49] do the right thing, but I'm going to tell you who are going to come back to you. That's what I have seen. So that's what I love to not only do, but teach is create a win-win with everybody, your team, just every person that you're involved with.

[00:15:05] And there's such a payoff for it. I agree with that. The other thing that I know is one of your big mantras is, you know, do it afraid. Yes. And I really love your story because I'm sure you are very afraid.

[00:15:23] And I know you kind of skipped over it because we're short on, you know, we don't have a ton of time here, but ladies and men that are listening, not only did she leave like what she knew in her career, she left her town,

[00:15:37] her friends, everything to go take the sleep of faith into an entire different thing at 50 something years old. Right. When I'm sure some of your friends were like, that ship has sailed, sister. What are you doing? Like, shouldn't you be just retiring and having fun?

[00:15:52] Like, you really want to go do this? Will you talk a little bit about what you were feeling and what those fears were and how you worked through that? Please. Well, you mentioned that I was in ministry, so I literally cannot tell the story

[00:16:06] without including this part of it. I was actually teaching a Bible study at that time when I got that phone call on the book of Joshua, and that is the story where he is taking the children

[00:16:18] of Israel into the Promised Land and the scripture that came alive to me in that season was Joshua one nine where he says, have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid.

[00:16:32] Do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Here I am. Y'all, I'm just this little gal working in the medical industry making $60,000 a year. But for whatever reason, that scripture,

[00:16:43] I decided that I was going to live the rest of my life being brave and courageous. I was not going to live small. I didn't even know what I'm with that meant. I just began to declare it.

[00:16:54] And then when I got that phone call from my son who said, hey, mom, you got to come, I was like, oh, is this here it is? When I said I was going to be brave and courageous. Here it is real world.

[00:17:07] Yes, so I did it and I walked. But you asked the question. I had every fear that you could imagine. Of course, I was 50. I was used to it was a small paycheck, but I knew it was coming every two weeks.

[00:17:21] I had learned to live in that little amount. I had a vibrant life. I had just built my home. I had so many friends and ministry. And so I was very comfortable. I had a good life, which we've all learned.

[00:17:36] A good life is that can be the enemy of a great life. So I was very comfortable. And so heading out and then if you heard my story, I wasn't an instant success.

[00:17:47] I mean, I struggled and I thought, oh, my gosh, I've got myself into the biggest mess. That was the most stupid thing I could have ever done just because my sons are good at this doesn't mean I'm good at this. But when you have closed all the doors,

[00:18:01] I want the only choice I had was to keep going and keep trusting. And I did. I knew that God was with me. I knew he had led me out this door. And so I just stayed with it.

[00:18:13] And then it finally started clicking and the things started happening. And I had no idea when I walked out that day that I would one day be teaching women all over the nation, you know, I just thought it's an incredible story. It's an incredible story.

[00:18:29] I mean, sometimes I think the best stories come from people who don't see themselves as the hero because other people can see themselves in it. And and I believe that that happens for a reason sometimes, right?

[00:18:41] Yes, I wonder if you know, I think sometimes people see women or men like yourself on stage and oh, my gosh, she's done all these things and everything. She says it was hard, but like look at her and her sons were in it.

[00:18:54] So of course that had to help. She had all, you know, would you be willing to share if it's appropriate? Something that maybe was a big setback or something that really went wrong where

[00:19:04] you were like, I don't know if I should be doing this because I think that's what I hear a lot of times from the new investors is they they stub their toe pretty hard or maybe get some really bad beat up, especially coming through the shifting market.

[00:19:17] I think that, you know, it doesn't matter how much of those of us have been around a long time. Our guys be careful of this. Watch the interest rate change. Watch the it doesn't matter. Sometimes we all and I speak, I learned all the hardest things through

[00:19:30] the hardest experiences, right? So I think hearing sometimes that those of us that have some success, have some battle wounds is very, is very comforting and lets people know that if maybe they had a mess up or something didn't go quite right,

[00:19:45] it doesn't mean they suck and this isn't the game for them. So would you be willing to share something? Maybe if there's a story or two around that? Well, I can and in all facets.

[00:19:53] So when I first started out, I don't know why in the world I chose that I was going to go door knocking to find my deals. And, you know, because there's all different ways to market off market deals. But that's what I chose.

[00:20:07] And so I was getting out there every day and I was knocking on doors of people who were facing a foreclosure and door after door after door was slammed in my face, yelled at, cussed at all of the things.

[00:20:20] And, you know, I always say, I remember like hitting knock 27 doors and nothing and thinking, oh, girl, what have you done? What am I doing? What have you done? And then I just kept going in 37 doors. And by this time, I'm humiliated and I'm scared.

[00:20:40] And I'm like, oh, I need to go beg for my job back. I got it. You know, I just and every now and of course, my sons have been so successful, but I want to say this. I didn't depend on my son.

[00:20:51] I did depend on him to teach me. I did not take any money from them. They did that. There was no way that this mama was going to ever take something from my kids other than I think that's important.

[00:21:02] I think that's important to say, and I'll just address that because I think sometimes people will go to, well, she or he had it easy because X, Y and Z. And I'm sure that you've had that feedback. So let's just talk about it.

[00:21:15] What you did, you went out and you didn't take their deal list and just start picking you went out and knocked your own doors. I surely did. I surely did. And so and then 47 doors, nothing.

[00:21:28] And just and they would call me because they knew I was doing it and they would be like, I'm on how to go and to have to just like have that phone call every single night after night after night saying, oh, nothing. Oh, nothing.

[00:21:43] And and and I'm glad I moved here. This is wonderful. Exactly. And just feeling so lonely because I've left every person behind. I've got a whole new world and I'm doing this by myself and I'm not really trying

[00:21:59] to let my kids know what I'm really feeling on the inside. And so anyway, door number 57 was it for me. And I will never forget that because that literally changed my life because I understood that it was a numbers game and that I just did it long enough.

[00:22:18] I was going to find the right person that needed my help and that I was going to be their answer. And so it didn't matter how long the next one took.

[00:22:25] I just I just knew I'm just going to keep at it and keep at it and keep at it. And so it doesn't matter if you're sending out mailers, if you're doing cold calling, if you're door knocking, whatever your form

[00:22:33] of marketing is, it's a numbers game and you can't give up shy of it. You know, you've got to you have to keep going. And I also was getting better because I said the wrong thing 56 times. I didn't know how to negotiate.

[00:22:48] I didn't know how to even I was just making it up as I went. I would get back in my car and go, oh, why did I say that? Or oh, I should have done this or I should have said that.

[00:22:59] And so you get better as you go and you can't beat yourself up. Even though I did a million times for all the wrong things you say or do. And but you just get better and the only I would have never gotten better

[00:23:13] had I not got out there and done it. So many people just want to wait. They want to practice the script so they want they need one more class. They're going to read one more book. They're going to attend one more seminar.

[00:23:24] Listen, just get out there and do it. That is the best way to learn. I love that. It is so true. It's not it's not sexy. Right. I think sometimes people see the highlight reels and they just think it's it's just a sexy business and the HGTV.

[00:23:43] And you know, all the fun things that Bravo shows and the reality of it is is that the work is firing contractors and firing contractors and opening up walls and finding fun things. And oh, yeah, it's just all the good stuff. Yes. You know,

[00:24:02] it brings me back to like I said, I need three hours because there's 57 things in here and I'm really hitting the broad stroke pieces to start because it's one thing for me to talk about it and then another person.

[00:24:15] But sometimes it takes the third, fourth or fifth or sixth person saying the same message in a different way where it really hits somebody's heart and that changed their life. So thanks for thanks for kind of bouncing around with us.

[00:24:26] One of the things I loved about your story is that, you know, when your son said. Mom, you're going to run out of money. And I share a story when I speak about my three grandmothers and one of them stumbled into some real estate halfway through her life.

[00:24:42] Not God bless her soul. She's gone, but not the sharpest tool in the shed, but she just happened to get some real estate and she she lived the end of her years living off of that residual income in a very bougie retirement home.

[00:24:57] And she just happened to get talked out of selling it. Right. And then I have other relatives who did like you had done so smart, so frugal with their money, investing, saving, not living me on their means, doing all the right things.

[00:25:11] And now are really faced with some very difficult decisions at the stage of the game because they don't have that residual income. And so one of the things that I really would love to hear how you share

[00:25:24] when people getting into this real estate game is everybody loves a quick hit. They love that 20, 50, 100 grand, 400 grand. Like I want the money and it's like kicks off if $500 a month, $200 a month, a thousand dollars. That's why would I want to do that?

[00:25:39] And really this idea about finding this balance as an investor between the quick hit cash and the wealth building long term cash flow. I'd love to hear in your words how you decided that matrix was going to be

[00:25:52] and how it sort of clicked for you that it's not just flipping and pocketing money or wholesaling and taking cash. Yes. Yes. Yes. So I did exactly that. I had a very scarcity mindset when I began.

[00:26:05] So I started out and I only wholesaled for the first four months. But I'm telling you, after I got that 57th door, I was on a roll. I knew it worked. And so I was just doing deal after deal after deal. And I was building up some cash.

[00:26:20] I just was wholesaling everything and built up some cash so that I always had marketing money. Girl, if I don't have anything else in my pocket, I'm going to have marketing money because that's how you make more money. And so you don't spend your marketing money.

[00:26:33] You know what I mean? And then I began to flip and that's hard work, but it brings it again. That 50, 60, even sometimes 150, all the things. But first of all, that is the grind, to be honest, but I was willing to do that.

[00:26:51] That's how I got started in this business. And that's how my sons got started because I didn't have money when they got started. And then not that I would have had to wait, but it was a scarcity mindset.

[00:27:03] Listen, I'm going to tell you right now, you can jump right into the rentals. You don't have to, you know, but that's how I did it. And then I call it now and later money, rentals, midterm, short term rentals. That's building long term wealth.

[00:27:17] And I love to call it now and later money because it is one at one rental. You only you might only cashflow $200, maybe $400 a month, a little more around midterm or but that's not life changing right now. That's the now money.

[00:27:33] You can either pay some bills or go shopping. That's money you can spend right now. But it's that appreciation of the property. You're paying down the loan. All of the, you know, the assets that you're gaining. You're you're building long term wealth, not only for yourself,

[00:27:51] but now I'm so proud that I'm going to have something to leave an inheritance to my kids and my kids, kids, which is something that I would have never had before. And that's fun. That's that there's nothing like that feeling to know you can leave the house

[00:28:07] to all of I have seven grandkids right now and more on the way. And I'm leaving them all at least one house. You know? And so that yeah, there's nothing like that feeling of the long term. Nothing like that feeling. There's nothing like that feeling.

[00:28:23] Well, and I think the other part that I want to underscore in your story again, I'm sure there's some women here that don't know and you really need to go read a book and listen to podcasts and go to events and do all the things.

[00:28:33] But I think that there is this misnomer that it's a really hard long game. And for those of you that weren't paying attention, you know, this has been a six year, not even full six years journey for you as my six

[00:28:50] year anniversary started on April Fool's Day, April 1st 2016. So this month, six years in the game, six years and 17 million dollars in assets later, right? And so starting from scratch, you know, and so I really want to underscore that that the life change doesn't have to be.

[00:29:10] Oh, I'm 20, but I don't want to play this game for the next 50 years. Play it for 10, pay it for five and set it and forget it and go do whatever else you want to do. Or if you are waking up just now and you're 65

[00:29:23] and, you know, it's too late, that's that's ridiculous, too. Right. Things can change very, very quickly with the right focus for the woes and you've taught, I mean, hundreds of thousands of women now. What is your top three things that you're like?

[00:29:39] These are the first three things you need to do. Just get in there and do X, Y and Z and go. Whoa. And I know everybody's a little different, but let's say it's somebody let's set the stage that you have no real estate

[00:29:52] experience and your goal is I need to create some cash flow today. Because that's a different scenario. You have to find a community and you have to get the education. You have to have some kind of a mentor that can guide you along the way.

[00:30:07] Don't go out there and try to do it yourself. Don't go the YouTube university route that you're going to be chasing. You know, all the podcast and learn. Those are great things to do on side, but you need a mentor.

[00:30:19] You need somebody to guide you and teach you. That would be number one. And then take action. Do exactly what your mentor tells you to do. Don't sit back and just read the books and watch all the podcasts. You actually have to take action.

[00:30:33] And that's why being brave and constantly talking about that, we as women can do hard things. That was such a mind shift when we start living as women that do. We make a decision that we're not going to take the easy way out of life.

[00:30:48] We are going to do the hard things. That's life changing. And then just decide once you learn a little bit about it, what is it that what is your lifestyle? What is your dream? Do you want to flip some properties?

[00:31:03] Do you or do you only want to build the long term wealth? You don't have to do it all. You can choose one or all or two or three. There's there's so many different strategies. You and so many people say, well, I don't want to be a landlord.

[00:31:19] Well, I'm not a land. I mean, I own property, but I have property management companies that handle all the things it is making me money while I'm on vacation, while I'm sleeping, while whatever I'm doing. So yeah, those are the things that I would say.

[00:31:35] Well, I just and I like to underscore the part that you just said, you know, decide what you want. Right? I always am preaching this like define your own success just because you saw something on Instagram doesn't mean that that's the only way.

[00:31:49] And, you know, and so I love that you preach that, you know, some people loved, love to flip. They love it. It's so fun and creative and wonderful. And they just they just love that. And other people hate it, hate everything about it.

[00:32:05] Like, so maybe that's not your version of success. Maybe you're making like fast money and then you're a hard money lender. Like you can go make your like depending on who you're lending to, you can make your 18 percent right now without running contractors.

[00:32:19] Right. So what is it you want? How many hours do you want to work and as women, what are you trying to do? What not everybody needs once a thousand doors. Some people want to pay for that.

[00:32:31] Some people want to be able to be like, hey, I want to I want to have homes for my for my college tuition for my children. I want to, you know, I want to have an extra five thousand dollars a month. Yeah.

[00:32:43] Just just to go do what I want to do. And so I really I really like that. I'm going to shift gears just a little bit and talk about some things that I know are some of the fear things and the challenge things that are happening right now.

[00:32:56] So super practical. So one of the things that I know is very difficult in our market as well as in your market. So this is a good conference, maybe not so much in middle America right now. I think it's much easier to be picking up deals, either wholesaling,

[00:33:12] creative finance, do whatever you're doing in other markets. But our market right now is as challenging and competitive as it ever been. Right. If there's a pre foreclosure, they're going to have 300 phone calls that first day, properties being sold to hedge funds.

[00:33:27] The margins are very thin and I know your market is the same. So what do you say to people, not just new people, but even seasoned people that are up against these shifting markets right now in their home markets that are that are more invested, saturated?

[00:33:44] What kind of advice are you giving? I have two things. First of all, I'm going to keep going in my market. I'm just going to be right in there with my if there's 300 people, I'm going to be 301 because I'm going to get some of those deals.

[00:33:59] So, however, invest outside of your market. There's we got we have 50 states. You don't invest in Dallas, Texas or Scottsdale or, you know, listen, we are looking for people that are in distressed situations. And there is a distressed people in every city and every state in this country.

[00:34:21] And so when you know that, then just find another market and send your mailers there, do your cold calling there. You know, I always like to see it seems like I'll find a honey hole. That's what I'll call it.

[00:34:34] I'm like, boy, I'm getting and then it dries up and I just go. You know, I just throw, I just scatter the seed and whenever something starts landing, I'm going to like spend more money in that area.

[00:34:46] And then when I see that that's drying up, I'm going to scatter. That's how. But I am always consistently marketing right in my backyard as well. And and then as you become the expert, make sure that you're blasting who you are and what you're doing all over your

[00:35:04] social media because that's going to bring in deals. That's free marketing because we all know somebody or that knows somebody that knows somebody that's in a situation. And so those are bringing deals all the time. So, yeah, that is my advice.

[00:35:21] And just making up your mind not to get caught up in, oh, there's too much competition or there's two because you can beat yourself up and then you want to give up and then you find you're just, you don't believe you can do it.

[00:35:33] Yeah. But if you just keep doing the things that you've always done, it's going to slow down in seasons. But you just keep doing it and they're just going to trickle in for a little bit and then all of a sudden that's how it's worked for me.

[00:35:47] And I see it even in my students, you know, you're it's your and you can get a little bit scared when it starts slowing you're slowing down and like, oh, I haven't really closed a deal in a bit.

[00:35:58] But if you just keep doing what you know to do, all of a sudden, you know, you get one here and you get one there and they're all so be consistent. I like that you said too is that there's different honey holes.

[00:36:12] And that's definitely been my experience over the last couple of decades is different seasons are there's different types of investing that make a lot of sense and things that I did early in my career went away when the market came

[00:36:25] very hot that just it just didn't that wasn't the type of investing that made sense anymore. And I think that that's something that there's a lot of conversation around right now is what type of investing. Obviously, we know creative finance is very,

[00:36:39] very appealing right now for a lot of people and makes a lot of sense in a lot of different scenarios. Are there other are there other niches that you particularly are very intrigued in this in today's marketplace? Are you are you doing more?

[00:36:54] Obviously, I'm sure you're doing more creative finance, but are you really more interested in multifamily? Are you doing more lending? What types of things at your stage of the game? Are you finding are a good thing in this season? For me personally, I'm doing more lending

[00:37:09] because obviously running of this business and I don't have time to go out and do all the things. And there's always somebody that needs some money that I can lean and make that's the easiest money to make in the whole world. And yes, I agree.

[00:37:27] Yeah. So my goodness, if you've got some money sitting somewhere in a 401k or a savings or any under your mattress, making you somewhere between zero and four percent, you should be lending that money and making 10, 12, 14 up to 18 percent. Just depending. Learned it, you do your due diligence.

[00:37:48] You've got to learn to do your due diligence so that you're giving that money to the right people. But also what I love about lending is that I'm helping somebody else their dream come true of being an investor.

[00:38:02] And I know how important that was to me when I first got I did everything using other people's money. Somebody need that money and it changed my life. And so I love to lend my money to some woman.

[00:38:17] I almost only lent to women because I want to lend to a woman who knew, never knew she could do this. Yeah. And so not only am I making money back, easiest money I've ever made in my life,

[00:38:29] but I am helping another woman see what's possible for her life and begin to change her life and her the trajectory of her children and children's children. But yes, I'm definitely interested in all the things.

[00:38:42] I don't chase after multi-family because that's just not my niche and I don't know it, but I've been come my way and I'm certainly not going to overlook it. Yes, you know, I'm still finding so much success, right? Even in the midst and during covid,

[00:39:00] during when the market was crazy high, we there's still deals to be found. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Just this morning, it's super funny about I in our own backyard, you know, people calling and saying, hey, I trust you.

[00:39:19] I want to do a do I had one yesterday. Shane, I've got another investor, but I want to deal with you. And then turned to find out the person selling it is somebody I knew from another life went back and I had my brokerage and they're like, oh,

[00:39:31] if it's her, we'll give you a better deal because I trust her. And I think that goes back to the relationships. You know, I really like to touch on that because I think it gets lost sometimes

[00:39:43] again in what's propaganda out there, how much of this business is you and people trusting you and your team? Oh, I think that is so huge. And I'm going to be honest, I really think that so many times women are better in this business than men

[00:40:04] because you mentioned it in the beginning. We first of all, we tend to care about people. It is more than just a transactional thing and about money going through our fingertips. It is about helping somebody in a situation, helping them. You know,

[00:40:23] we I love to do things not only I'm going to put some cash in your pocket when we close this deal, but if I need to help you have an estate sale, if I need to help you figure out where your dog needs to go,

[00:40:35] if I need to help you move, if I need to help you just finding you a place where your daughter can stay in the same school, just going beyond and doing those things and building that reputation. Not only with your seller,

[00:40:50] that is the most important thing to me is having integrity with my title company, with my realtors, because in my title company is going to reform me, the realtors are going to reform me, hard money lenders are going to reform me. And I think that's been huge.

[00:41:10] I love that business. I think it's I think I think it doesn't get talked about enough. I think that people, especially if they're new to investing or real estate, don't realize what a small, small world it is. Yes. Even on a national scale and that that

[00:41:29] reputations spread quickly. If you're slimy, it's going to get out there and just don't be slimy. Do the right thing. Do the right thing. I had asked the women if they had questions to submit them ahead of time.

[00:41:45] So I have a couple of questions that I thought were particularly good that I would be beneficial to a lot of people. So I'm going to read those and then and then we'll have a few minutes at the end for anything that's just on your heart

[00:41:59] that you just really want to share. And then, of course, how everybody can get involved with you and so on and so forth. So let's see. This first one was you have a lot going on and, you know, a lot of the women,

[00:42:15] they are moms or maybe they do have full time jobs or their caretakers or whatever else. So this question that came in said, do you have any boundaries on your work time to protect your personal time? And do you have habits daily, weekly, monthly, yearly that you consider

[00:42:31] significant contributors to your success? So it's kind of a two part question like how do you set those boundaries in? And I and I'll fill in the blank because she didn't say it, but we all know. You know, speed to deal.

[00:42:46] Right. A lot of a lot of real estate is fast when it's especially if you are dealing in the wholesaling side or even buying from wholesalers in a very competitive market, how did you manage that and how do you continue to manage that

[00:43:00] in your career and set those boundaries as a new person who's really grind in and try to make it happen, but also as a as a person now that has a team and things around you, but still has a lot coming at you.

[00:43:14] I think I think people think that once you get to a certain stage, it gets easier and it's been my experience. It gets harder. There's more asks. So take that question, run with it how you want. You could go 100 ways with it. Yeah, I love this question.

[00:43:27] I'm going to answer the first one first. And that is the boundaries. So I am a time block fanatic. So now I did have that luxury. I quit the job. I was doing this full time on my kids were grown.

[00:43:40] So I know that that's not every woman listening. You have the kids and maybe you're taking care of a parent. You have the full time job. You have to sit down with the calendar and you have to time block.

[00:43:52] What can I work on this business, whether it is Tuesdays and Thursdays? While you're your child is at practice. Is it from eight to four on a Saturday? You have to like figure out on your calendar. I'm going to work this business between these hours.

[00:44:07] And then you have to be so married to that that when your friend says, hey, let's go to lunch or somebody. I mean, I said no to birthday parties. I said no because this you I mean, you have to be that's a boundary.

[00:44:22] This note, this is what I'm going to change my life during these hours. These are the hours that are so important. So that's the first thing. And then do I have habits? I think so coming from a nine to five corporate job.

[00:44:39] I learned more medical stuff every year to be good at that job. But I did not know anything about like true self discipline, entrepreneurs have this whole other world where they are learning about self discipline and time blocking and all of those.

[00:44:55] And when I got into this and begin to experience that, it was such a mindset shift. I thrive on those things. And so I have a morning routine that is crazy. I get up, I have a rule where my feet hit the floor.

[00:45:11] I'm laughing because I do too. It's nuts. Successful people do. Don't you believe that? I do my feet hit the floor at 6 a.m. My alarm goes off at 545. I give myself 15 minutes to like think about what day it is, what I'm going to wear.

[00:45:26] Who am I? What are we doing? Actually, and then six o'clock, my feet hit the floor and I make my bed. That dumb little little rule, make your bed. And then I have a personal time that I read my Bible and I pray and I have that.

[00:45:42] And then I have a gym in my house and I work out and then I start getting ready for work. So I don't really show up outside until 11 o'clock. 1015 is usually when I leave my house. And that drove my team crazy talking about a boundary because they're trying

[00:46:00] to make me appointments at 9 a.m. And I'm like, no, I don't do that. I am not free until after 10 15 every single morning. Game changer for me. And so I'm taking care of myself first. I'm taking care of myself.

[00:46:15] I listen to podcasts the entire time I'm doing hair and makeup. I'm listening to podcasts in that window I read for 20 to 30 minutes. So I am taking care of myself spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally. Then when I get in my car, whether I'm going to a flip house,

[00:46:30] whether I'm going to close on a deal or I'm coming to the office to work, I mean, I'm feeling powerful. I am like in the right mindset because I've taken care of me. Now let's go get this deal done. Let's go face the day.

[00:46:44] And so that is, I believe, has been the biggest one of them. It's helped me to accomplish what I've accomplished. And I think it's helped me to be successful. I love that. The other part that this person's question was,

[00:46:59] are there any habits that had been barriers to your success that you realize now that maybe you undid or I'll tweak it because I like to. I can't just let it lie. I have to make it my own. I'm going to ask, are there any

[00:47:14] habits that have been barriers to your students and your women's success that you see over and over and over again? You're like, gosh, it's just I see it over and over again. And that that habit is really killing their success.

[00:47:29] I'm going to think about, well, first of all, not time blocking the I mean, you know, binge watching TV, binge watching anything. You those I always try to think about, is this is this making me money or costing me money?

[00:47:46] Not that I'm all about making money every single minute. I do believe in relaxing and having a good time. But mine were not so much habits. The things that stumped me were mindset fear. That is the one blocker is fear. Again, I had a such a scarcity mindset.

[00:48:05] I was always trying to save every little penny. And so you don't want to let go. You're scared to spend marketing money. You're scared to even risk on a deal. But that's the only way you're going to make money is if so scared,

[00:48:18] overcoming scarcity and overcoming fear and just getting out there and doing the thing quit and analysis paralysis, sleeping in is a bad habit and going to bed late so that you're not, you know, getting up and moving and doing the things. And this will be the last question

[00:48:39] because I want to have time for you to share anything left that you're like, we didn't hit again, these go so fast. You mindset is like my number one drum I beat. I give me somebody with a strong mindset. They'll trump everybody else all day long, right?

[00:48:54] That's just the truth. But you said you didn't have it and I know I had to learn it too. Are there any books or podcast or tools or mentors that you just like to point people to with their like, I'm really struggling with that.

[00:49:08] Well, yeah, a book that was a game changer for me was The Power of Habits by Charles Duhigg. I don't know why that was one of the first books that I read that made such a big difference is Failing Forward by Michael Hyatt.

[00:49:28] So reading and then podcasts, obviously, I'm listening to different podcasts than I was back then, but I like I love Ed Maulette and the people that he has on guy and Mel Robbins are two of my favorite. They're probably the two most popular in the world.

[00:49:44] And I know why because they're speaking to the everyday man and woman who are entrepreneurs, who are struggling with because we all really struggle with the same things. Absolutely. It doesn't change. The fear never goes away. The bar raises there's new challenges. There's new risks. There's new everything.

[00:50:04] And I just like to say it's like a muscle. The more you work it, the easier it is to be able to like when you get that look, you get past it. No. But it never goes away, you guys. I hate to say it.

[00:50:16] Yes, maybe it makes you feel better if you know it never goes away. There's always something that's the next level of taking a risk, taking a shot, being vulnerable, being exposed, whatever it is. Right? It just is. It's just life. That's part its growth.

[00:50:32] That's grow. And then I have to just say, I don't know. This is so crazy because it was my sons that were my biggest mentor, which is so crazy. But I don't know they came out of the womb entrepreneurs.

[00:50:45] I mean, they were wheeling and dealing at seven and nine. It was just like where they were. And and I don't know how I raised them with such a scarcity mindset, but they didn't have a scarcity mindset. It's interesting.

[00:50:59] And so they have you've probably heard me say this. They had this little saying that they say all the time it's not what it cost you, it's what it makes you. And so even when we started, you know, we were in business,

[00:51:11] I was always the one that didn't want to spend the money on this and didn't want to spend the money on that. And they were always saying to me, mom, it's not what it cost you. It's what it makes you.

[00:51:21] Look at the potential if we're willing to do this. What and when I finally it was a breakthrough, it didn't just come easy, but it took time and time again of seeing that to be the case.

[00:51:33] On that rare occasion that I get to say it back to them is like one of the best. You're like, wait a minute, what do you guys do? I love that. Yeah. What comes around goes around. I love it.

[00:51:46] Well, I know your team will absolutely kick my butt if I don't make sure to get you on to your next appointment. So is there anything burning that you were like, I really want to share this with the audience. This is something that, you know,

[00:52:00] there's always that thing that's kind of percolating up. OK. I two things. First of all, if you can create an abundance mindset, there's plenty of money to go around. There's plenty of love to go in there.

[00:52:15] There's plenty of everything to go around when we get into a scarcity mindset. We think there's not enough when we're in abundance mindset. We just know that there's enough and and I'm going to go get mine. I'm going to do it fair. I'm going to do it right.

[00:52:29] But there's plenty to go around. And I believe this is the other thing that I can't I can't leave without saying it's all about courage if you have the courage to chase your dream. If you're brave enough to do it,

[00:52:41] I believe that God put a destiny in every single one of us. He wants us to soar. Why in the world does he want us to just barely make it? Yeah. So so you have something. You have a dream on the inside of you.

[00:52:54] And if you will chase that dream, if you will be the one to dare to do the thing, you have no idea what lies on the other thing. And I do it scared all the time. I have the same fear. We all have the same fears.

[00:53:09] But and I'm trying to teach my granddaughters this. If we will decide to be women, that fear doesn't stop us. Yeah, we feel it. We see it. We experience it. But we just move right through it. We just do what whether it's doing a hard workout,

[00:53:26] whether it's doing a hard deal, whether it's taking a risk, whether it's having a conversation if you or we can be the kind of person that I was for so long, anything that was hard, I diverted it. I just went right. I digged and I zagged.

[00:53:43] You will never ever accomplish your dreams. You will probably never be wealthy if you're ziggin or zagging unless you happen to be like the grandma that fell into some money. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't happen that often, right? Like it just doesn't happen.

[00:53:58] Yeah. Well, yeah, I think our protection becomes our prison. Right. And and that's that's a saying that I think rings true is if we try to protect ourselves and not fear and not fail, that protection becomes your

[00:54:10] prison and you can't you can't soar if you're in your prison. So where can the ladies follow you, learn from you? What's coming up that they need to be aware of? Well, of course, we're having Rain Live coming up in July. That is absolutely going to be amazing.

[00:54:31] I have a master class that you can attend in April, but you can find out. Of course, I'm on Facebook and Instagram, but it's women's R E I N. Real estate investors network.

[00:54:46] You can find me there on all the places and I would love for you to follow me and listen to our podcast without fear of her future. And I can't thank you enough for having me today. This was so fun. You are my pleasure. You are amazing.

[00:55:00] My pleasure to have you. Thank you for taking the time. Thank you for everything you're doing. Thank you for all the free teaching you put out there, ladies. She does these challenges and things that don't. There's no excuses. You've made it so that there's no excuse.

[00:55:15] So thank you so much. We're on the money. If I keep you a second longer, I'm going to be in big trouble with your team. So I can't wait to see you the next time. Yeah, and I think we're going to meet someday.

[00:55:27] I want to meet you face to face. We will meet. I know what'll happen. Take care. Bye, Trisa. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks guys for joining me on this really incredible special podcast. Stay tuned. Season two is not yet out.

[00:55:43] There are some special things in store, so we'll be launching that later this year. But in the meantime, I will be soon coming off of my social media hiatus. And you will find me at Shereen Dora on Instagram is the best way to follow

[00:55:58] along and see what's new and exciting and coming up soon. See you then.