Bronson Hill, the Managing Member of Bronson Equity, joins us to discuss his start in single family home investing, leveling up his peer group and rapidly growing his multifamily private equity company.
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Transcript:
Devin:
All right. Bronson welcome, thanks for being on the show. How are you?
Bronson:
I’m good. It’s so good to be here, Devin. Thanks for having me on really excited to talk about real estate.
Devin:
Yeah, excellent. So let’s dive in and we were talking a little bit about before about your journey on raising capital and how things can tend to escalate quickly, once you get around the right people and get the right mentors, right business partners, all that. So I want to hear about that journey and what you’re up to now, but if you could start a little further back. Where are you from? Where’d you grow up? And then what was that turning point that led you to looking at real estate in the first place?
Bronson:
Yeah, so I’m originally from Seattle, but I’ve been… Life since college, so I’ve been here a long time. Always been interested in real estate, I became an accidental landlord through buying a house when I was living in the state of Montana of all places for a job. So I actually ended up keeping that house over the years and then it actually turned into be a really good investment for me and so I thought I needed to do more of this and so I started buying single-family homes, with a relative, we started buying homes in the Cleveland area that were just 15 to $30,000 each. [crosstalk 00:01:27] That was really wow.
Bronson:
So we started basically rehabbing them, trying to rent them out and then I realized I wanted to get a bunch of them because I wasn’t really getting the cashflow that I wanted and so my goal was to get 30 of them and they basically have this passive income. I was doing a corporate consulting in the medical field for a number of years and I have this cousin that I had a chance encounter with this was three or four years ago, and he said, “Hey, your plan sounds interesting, but it sounds like a lot of work, why don’t you consider doing multifamily?” And so I said, “Well, I’d love to, but I don’t have the money.” And he said, “Well, you can raise the money.” And he said, “Go to this event, read this book, listen to this podcast.”
Bronson:
I’d pretty much did everything he said, I started a large multifamily meetup in Pasadena, California and since that time I’ve raised over $17 million. So it’s been quite a journey, but it’s just come through the ability to scale instead of thinking single-family is going to create financial freedom, it’s being able to use the power of other people’s money and even helping them along the journey to be able to get great returns on their money as well.
Devin:
I love it. I love it. There’s that saying, no doubt you’ve heard it and many listeners, but if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with the team, and once you crack the code on raising capital, which is not that difficult, but there’s some steps to it, then you realize, gosh if I can find good deals there is effectively unlimited capital out there and this is a big turning point for me because I was new to raising capital when I started all this, you start to realize there’s a huge contingent of folks out there with the real problem of what do I do with all this money, that’s a real problem.
Devin:
For a large amount of people and so connecting the dots there and realizing how awesome it is for your limited partners to just come along for the ride and not have to do all the dirty work that you are no doubt familiar with. It’s huge, I love it, so that’s a big progression. Was there something… A little bit earlier on where you said, “Oh, I’ve got to go do a house.” Was there a buddy that was doing it or a book that just got you into that first real estate deal? Or you said accidental landlord, so what happened there Montana?
Bronson:
Yeah, so in Montana I had this house, lived there for a couple of years, the job was ending and so I was moving back to California and I just thought, should I sell it? Can I [inaudible 00:03:42] or would I be able to keep it and have renters in there and things like that. I look back, it really wasn’t a ton of work, but I thought, okay, maybe I could do this I could scale, but I don’t know that… I think just over the years, I’ve always been pretty curious on how people make money and different ways to do it, and the book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, the idea of really buying assets rather than just working for money and so actually in my professional background as well, just seeing a lot of physicians that were doing… Making sometimes hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars literally per year, but they’re working 60 to 80 hours a week, every week, seeing that that really didn’t lead to financial freedom.
Bronson:
So I just think the idea of really trying to own assets rather than just to be a big spender or to make more money really became very attractive to me. But I like what you said about a lot of wealthy people have a money problem. They have too much money, they don’t know where to put it, they don’t know where to deploy it. So the idea there are always… People that are wealthy are always looking for places that are safe to be able to put their resources where it will generate great capital and that’s what I found with real estate and particularly multifamily.
Devin:
Love it, love it. So you’ve done the single-family thing, You’ve been through some of the grind there, which I think can be helpful, it can be instructive to play with your own account, have some successes and failures before you start taking on other people’s capital. What did that transition look like for you? Because if you’re going out and going to do a deal, flip a house, buy a $15,000 house, whatever, borrow some money, that’s one game. Bringing on outside capital is quite a different game with a very different set of challenges and what did that first transition to raising capital look like for you?
Bronson:
Yeah, so the first deal… They say the first deal is always the hardest because you’ve never done it before. I had 62 conversations, phone calls with different people that could potentially invest with me, friends and family, and zero of them actually invested and so-
Devin:
Was this on multifamily or was this on another type of projects?
Bronson:
This was on multifamily, so this was literally trying to find investors and on my first deal I literally had zero of them actually invest. My first investor though came from when I started a meetup in Southern California in Pasadena, we had maybe 60 people at the first meeting and a guy came up to me and said, “Hey, I had invested in one of your deals.” So I got coffee with him and basically found that he was interested and so we said, well here’s a sample deal of what a deal could look like, how much would you be interested in investing in that? And he said 100K. So I said, great. I basically found another guy at the same meetup that I just met, that here I’m leading, I met him, he’s actually raising money for a deal, so I basically brought those two together and I was able to get into my first deal.
Bronson:
So it was a small amount of capital, but it gave me some experience, I was able to be involved, be able to go walk the property, do some things as far as asset management, they say from getting from zero to one, particularly in multifamily can be challenging but I think one of the more challenging things is just getting your head around… Okay, this works a little different, there are some different legal things that you need to do to make sure that you’re doing things in a compliant SEC type of manner, I see stuff-
Devin:
No doubt.
Bronson:
Sometimes or promoting deals on social media that they should not be promoting and so the things you should or should not be doing, but when it comes to an investor, just making an investor feel comfortable that you know what you’re doing, it can be challenging on your first deal.
Devin:
For sure, a hundred percent and it should be. People shouldn’t just be throwing money at somebody that’s getting started, investors should be doing their due diligence and that’s fine. And I also want to underscore what you said, 60 some odd conversations, zero result. And for those people that are listening, I think we’ve got some folks that are passive investors listening that just want to learn a business more and we’ve got some inspiring operators out there too, or capital partners that want to go out and do this stuff. Yeah, 60 calls, no results, expect some of that in the beginning and keep the longer horizon in mind.
Devin:
Another thing I like to point out about what you said was going where the fish are. I think we tend to start with our network, which might be good for raising capital, some of us are in networks that are good for that, some of us are not in networks that are good for that and just talking to everybody, you might not find a lot of interest, whereas if you go specifically and join a group or go to multifamily real estate meetup, this is going to be a much denser environment for people that are already gotten educated, already interested, already looking for deals and putting yourself in that environment can speed things along.
Bronson:
Yeah, I think it was a real benefit to be in Los Angeles because it’s such a large metro area, but maybe people that are listening that are not in an area where you can find multifamily specific real estate meetups, there are meetups that you can go to that are conferences. So there’s quite a few happening in the Dallas area, they’re happening in Florida, especially these days during COVID, but there are live meetups that are happening in certain areas that allow for the ability to do networking and specifically talk about multifamily. But I think the biggest thing that I learned too, when I started is that I didn’t have to do everything. The first deal we did, multifamily, was 225 units I didn’t find a deal-
Devin:
Big deal.
Bronson:
Yeah, it was a big deal, but I didn’t actually find the deal, I wasn’t the direct asset manager and actually it gave me comfort to not be the direct asset manager. So I found somebody who had a lot of experience, had multiple exits, been doing this for 10, 15 years, and I partnered with them. And so I think that’s one thing when you go from single-family to multifamily, or you go to larger deals, is you have to learn to trust the team and really learn how to vet different partners because not every partner would be a great partner, but you have to learn what the questions are to ask, their reputation, you’d be willing to do background checks, do different things just to make sure that when you’re bringing money to deals, you should look at it like it’s a huge responsibility, not just from the legal standpoint, but these are people that hopefully will invest with you 3, 4, 5, 10 years from now and they will refer to all their friends and family and that’s the kind of experience you want people to have.
Bronson:
So you never want to give people a deal that’s just out, it’s a mediocre deal, I’m really not sure about these partners, you want to make sure that you’re very, very careful about who you partner with and what kind of deal you’re doing.
Devin:
Hundred percent, take as much time as you need to upfront, if it takes you two years upfront to do all that, do it. There’s just no other way around it, this is a long game, that’s the only way to play this. I love it. I love it. And you’re right, getting in the environment in some type of a weekend deal or a meetup, that’s multifamily specific, somebody gives up their weekend, buys a hotel and airfare, it gets a pretty low barrier to entry to spend a thousand bucks for the weekend, but that’s a level of commitment, even that small level that everybody in that room had to cross and you’re just going to be dealing with a whole different set of committed folks, which is really, really refreshing, really refreshing.
Bronson:
Absolutely. Yeah, when you go to an event it is a big barrier to go because you’ve got to take time out of your day, you got to spend the $1000 or $2,000 to go and but the type of people you meet are similar to you are typically much more serious. So that’s where a lot of people I find too, if you’re more passive or you’re interested in getting involved in bigger real estate deals. I remember when I first got started, I felt kind of overwhelmed, like how do I even do this or whatever. When I started going and I started meeting people that were full-time passive investors, that have been doing this for 10, 20 years. They literally make… They quit their job because they’re making more money doing passive investing than they were being a doctor or a dentist or at least they’ve covered their living expenses.
Bronson:
To me that was really amazing. So for people that may be on the fence just saying like is this even real? Is this a scam kind of thing, I’ve never heard of this kind of thing, but actually when you go and you get to shake hands and get to meet other people that are not necessarily trying to sell you anything, it’s just amazing to get around them and then it builds your network of, “Hey, let’s look at deals together.” And it just that’s I think a huge way to grow.
Devin:
No doubt and there’s an important component in any of our journey of just believing it. There’s the old Napoleon Hill adage, “Conceive, Believe, Achieve.” Anything you can conceive and believe you can achieve and what I’ve found is the achieving part just happens, the conceiving of it is pretty easy, I want to do this idea, but then actually believing it and believing it in your gut that you could do this, takes some work, you really do have to get around some other people that have done it and then go, well they’re kind of like me, they’re just regular guys, they’re just a little further along, they put one foot in front of the other, they got a network of good people and they did it. That belief part, even though it sounds woo-woo is… That’s important, man. You really have to get that part dialed in to take the next steps.
Bronson:
Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s completely true or there’s so much of this that has to do with mindset, particularly if you’re an active investor and you’re looking to scale, one thing I’ve learned just in watching people and even in my own life is just, there’s really no limits to what we can accomplish except those which we put on ourselves. So if we can just put this vision out there and to make it big and say, okay, if this is what it is, then what type of person do I need to be? What sort of actions do I need to take in order to be the type of person that achieves these kinds of goals? And so I’m a huge personal development goal-setter, Tony Robbins, all that stuff I think is just awesome. So I think it’s huge.
Devin:
Yeah, and you’ll find a lot of people in this space are, which I think is really cool, you’re in multifamily in general, especially you come from the single-family world, it is a totally different cast of characters. Your single-family cast of characters, whether it’s wholesalers or contractors, it is a… You have some questionable characters there and I find in the multifamily world, everybody’s got this level of sophistication to be playing ball and it’s so refreshing. As a professional, it’s just like, all right, everybody seems to be at some kind of level of professionalism and experience, which is nice. They’re really nice.
Bronson:
Yeah and that can be intimidating as somebody who’s a beginner if you’re just starting out. But I think the biggest thing is, and Robert Kiyosaki talks about this too, the difference between the rich and the poor, or you’d say people that are more sophisticated or less sophisticated is really their vocabulary and learning how to speak and understand financial terms and that’s why the best investment you can ever make really is in your own education, just educating yourself, learning, getting around people that are more experienced, asking all the questions, asking the dumb questions, just so that you can really be someone who’s just absorbing it and then it will allow you over time to be able to add value to a lot of people and also other partners as well.
Devin:
I love what you said about vocabulary. I’d get people sometimes, “I want to go talk to some brokers.” And I’m like, hold up, you’re going to say one wrong acronym to a broker and they’re going to instantly know what’s up and they’re going to put you in rookie category and you may be there for a long time till you earn your way out of it. Just wait, keep getting educated, keep listening to podcasts, keep going to events till you feel like you can have an intelligent broker conversation, but just wait on that because your vocabulary is going to betray a lot about you if you’re newer and there’s so many resources now to get educated, there’s no excuse to not start with some period of education at the beginning before you go out, frankly make a fool of yourself in front of somebody more experienced.
Bronson:
Yeah, absolutely. I think it’s important to learn and keep learning, keep growing and having mentors is huge too, that can walk you through that I think is amazing.
Devin:
Yeah, there’s no doubt. So what is… We’re talking in the middle of 2021, what are you thinking for the next year ahead and how was last year for you? Was it a disaster? Did you guys hobble through? Was it not much of a change? Looking back and looking ahead, how’s it been for you?
Bronson:
Yeah, so now we’ve got about a hundred million in real estate or a hundred million in multifamily about 1400 doors back then we had about 800 doors, but I would say in general, our stuff performed very well in 2020, we didn’t do a lot of acquisitions, I think we only did one acquisition of a larger property in the Atlanta area in 2020, but we found really in general that most tenants were continuing to pay, there was one property where we were very mildly affected, some are like 3% or less of the tenants had some COVID issues that they stopped paying rent, but it was pretty mild. So we really didn’t see too much of it, I am a huge student of the economy and a student of monetary policy and all of this and I’m just really big on the fact that I think with all this money printing that’s happening, I think it’s going to lead to some substantial inflation in the future.
Bronson:
And so I think getting out of cash and getting into things such there that are real, such as multifamily, I think multifamily is a very different type of asset class than single-family and that it’s much more of an inflation hedge, it’s much more stable, particularly the default rate in 2009 was 10 times less than single-family so it’s a much more stable as you know, but it also depends where you’re buying. If you’re buying class A or brand new apartments, there’s a little more risk there, if you’re buying in areas such as San Francisco or New York, where there’s been a lot of migration out of, I think those areas have been hit a lot harder, but if you’re buying on the Sunbelt, which is for us, Texas to Florida, we’ve done phenomenally well. We expect these areas only to grow because of COVID movements.
Bronson:
If there is a recession, those areas we’ll probably do just fine. It may even grow more because all these companies from California where I live are all moving to the Sunbelt and then also a lot of older people retiring or they want to go to places that are nicer and that are warmer. So I just really think that multifamily in this season is an amazing place to be, especially if you can get some long-term debt at a low rate. It’s amazing, I really think it’s amazing and it’s going to be interesting to watch the next few years as inflation picks up, I think.
Devin:
Yeah, there’s no doubt, I love it. I echo all those sediments, rents are going to go up, asset prices are going to go up, you want to be in that asset class in general and then we’ve also been pounding the drum for years about how resistant multifamily is to economic swings and it was a weird deal, it was a Black Swan deal with COVID and the fed sure was quick on the trigger with all the money, which helps some things, but also we know you can’t inject that much money supply and not see asset prices… You name it, lumber, name the commodity. And we’re seeing just incredible prices and some of that supply chain issues, but some of it is just inflation that is here to stay.
Devin:
And so I want to get as much of that bank debt as I can on these deals, lock it up in bank debt, make the bank hold the bag on the value, let’s lock up as much stuff in 2021 dollars purchasing power as we can and watch these rent and asset prices increase. It’s going to get harder on the acquisition side too, I’m sure you guys underwrite deals and go, wow, that’s a lot. I don’t know how somebody’s paying that and then somebody comes along and they do, but there’s always going to be headwinds and tailwinds. It’s a constantly changing environment. I love it. How about for your business specifically? did last year shake you guys up or is it business as usual? Let’s just keep doing deals and growing our network for the year ahead.
Bronson:
Yeah. So to be honest, last year I had a primary partner I was working with and then I launched my own group called Bronson Equity, so we just pretty much launched toward the end of last year and so started working with a couple of different groups. I’m a passive investor, I’m also active that I get involved and I do the underwriting, I’m involved in every level of a deal, but I’m not the primary asset manager. So basically for me, it just meant, okay, I need to find the right partners to work with. So I’ve got a pretty good network, I found a couple of partners I just love, love, love working with so, but it takes a lot and this is something that’s when you’re doing your first deal, you’re a little less selective, you just want to get a deal done but after you go along, you want to make sure that you’re working with partners that have similar values.
Bronson:
So our values are being very conservative, I’d rather have a lower projection if something very modest and then there’s all these other upsides that we didn’t include in the numbers and I found a lot of people really resonate with that because otherwise, if you’re doing these really high projections, people are saying, this kind of sounds a little too good to be true. So just making sure I find people that resonate with that, that also have that partnership type of mindset because these are people I want to treat like my family, like my dad, my mom, they invest in deals, I have relatives that invests, I have other people that I’ve more recently met, but I want everybody to have the experience that, I’m not only invested, but I care and we’re doing this together and this is a long-term partnership.
Bronson:
And then what goes with that is that really a high level of transparency that, anytime you have a question, I’m going to get back to you within one to two business days. You can ask about anything, if you want to visit a property, it’s all there. So it’s just really that idea of partnership. So I think for me really right now, it’s trying to continue to get the word out, my person I’m really trying to help or we call it an institute, like our avatar, who are actually really trying to help is the wealthy professional. I’ve had over 1200 individual calls with high-net-worth investors and so I found that this person, who’s a doctor, a lawyer, a business owner, an attorney, very busy, very low time, really the desire to grow wealth without taking up more of their time.
Bronson:
And that’s what this investment allows people to do. And so for me it’s much more of a passion of just really helping this group of people because really the options are, they go to Wall Street, the fees, if I had more time we could get into all the fees, but it takes, honestly, most of the return is taken away in fees and a lot of the fees are hidden and not disclosed. Tony Robbins had a book that just said that the average mutual fund will say it’s 1.2%, but it’s actually like 3.2% and then if you have a money person, they’ll take one 1.5% to 2% on top of that. So that’s 5%, 5.5% and the returns are only 6 or 8% per year in the stock market, so there’s almost all of your returns, which is crazy.
Bronson:
So to me I almost feel like it’s an ethical thing to get people out of Wall Street and into Main Street, getting them into real assets where they can have a great experience and so I just love helping to add to that conversation and helping people that don’t even know. I feel like as a syndicator, 98% of people that could be investing in syndication have never even heard of it, or they don’t know what it really is. So I think there’s a huge… Why a huge message to go to those people say, no, you’re going to be better off, look at all the tax benefits, look at the returns, look at the… You’re not going to have the volatility of the stock market. So I can talk for a long time about that, but definitely passionate about helping those professionals in that way.
Devin:
Yeah. I love it. I marvel at that a lot myself and we talk about that with our team. We live and breathe this stuff every day, but most people out there don’t have a clue, the people in your avatar set that you’re talking about and have worked really hard to get a career that’s a high W2 situation and that was… Seemed like my perspective from a lot of folks that was the end of it, to you say just work hard and then you start looking at how much taxes you’re paying year over year and as a W2 employee, you have zero tax advantage, you got to be on the business side of things to get it to the investor side of things to get a tax advantage.
Devin:
So we’re on the same mission, we’ve certainly experienced that as… We love getting folks in and you see the progression of like, well, my buddy referred you, so we’re talking, but I don’t know about all this and then they get it. They do one and then they’re like, “What else you got?” It’s like once they get over the hump of seeing it and why haven’t I heard about this? It’s great, there’s a huge market of people that you can talk to and share this with and you can grow like a boutique business with the… You’re not trying to have 10 million investors and be some public company you’re trying to have relationships with a handful of people that you go do good deals over and over again. That’s a pretty cool business model.
Bronson:
Right, absolutely. It’s really a high trust way to do it. You’re really… Because you get a lot of people will spend a lot of time and effort trying to get clients in their business or try to get investors and then only have the investors have a bad experience and they have to go out there and try to generate more business, but it’s really the wrong way to do it and so that’s why I tell people that are just starting out and this is something for somebody who’s like, how do I get from single-family to multifamily? The first thing is start a MailChimp or ActiveCampaign email account that you can send out to the 100 or 200 people that are friends and family just, Hey, this is what I’m doing now, because they may know you as flipper, they may know you as… Maybe you’re a professional and you’re looking to get into multifamily.
Bronson:
You just have to start telling your story because I think when I first went asking for money, people had no idea, they were like, “Well, you work in the medical field, you’re a medical Bronson. You’re not real estate Bronson.” And so the idea of rebranding yourself because of those 62, I’d have to go back and see now, but of those 62 people that I reached out to and I called with whatever zero invested, well now I’ve probably had, after several years, I’ve had five of them invest. So again, you’re not just selling people on what’s there for now, it’s just that the time may be right and things will happen and you’ll win people over just by you serving them and really giving them a great experience.
Devin:
I love it. And the rebrand, if you’re starting this business as an adult, you’re going to have to do that at some point and for those of you listening that haven’t done that, it’s probably not as bad as you think. You’re going to get a domain name, you’re going to hire a designer, get some stuff done, you start putting out content and you’re going to do that rebrand and once you get on the other side of that, it’s going to become more familiar, it’s totally doable. I think it’s non-negotiable, if you’re trying to raise capital with a Gmail address, I don’t know, for me that’s just like, I don’t know. I don’t know that I need to know anything else, I’m not doing it unless you’re my childhood best friend or something it’s probably not happening. So you could do the rebrand and get on the other side of that and the time’s going to go by and pretty soon, six months in, you’ve got content out there, you’ve got rebrand done and people could start thinking of you through that different frame.
Bronson:
Yeah and that’s why I think too, I’ve learned as well, is that the thought leadership platform is huge. So just by adding value in different ways, whether it’s through doing a podcast, like what you’re doing for your audience, you’re doing a webinar periodically, you’re writing a book, you’re doing things that they take some time and effort to do, but people find them and then they find value and I remember when I first met one of my former partners, I just went up to him and said, “Hey, how’s it going, man?” And I felt like I knew him because I had spent all these hours with him, we’ve been trust developed, so I was like, oh, I know this guy, but he was a little stand-offish, He didn’t know me yet.
Bronson:
So it was kind of funny, that’s the way that as an individual, you can really multiply your time and then even too you can actually do that while you’re still doing other things you can actually have, same as you have a team, so you have a team of people that can help you with some of the technical stuff, but it costs money. I spend a fair amount in doing videos and putting out blogs and different things like that, but it’s well worth it because people find you, they find your stuff, they get to know you, they get to trust you, they get to see that you’re serious about it. But at some point as you develop, I think it does take a commitment saying, Hey, you know what, this is really what I’m doing, I’m transitioning and I’ve transitioned eventually that is happening.
Devin:
Right. Yeah, it’s a little scary to declare that to the world upfront with zero deals under your belt, but that’s okay, you’ve moved through the fear, get out there and do it and as long as you’re have this investor first long-term mentality and you get around the right people and just keep showing up, you’re going to make progress.
Bronson:
Absolutely. Yeah, I know it’s all about just taking small steps. I really think that there is an action bias in life that we can talk about it, we can learn it, but it just by… Even if you fully don’t know what you’re doing to can just start taking action, going to events, doing those calls, looking at the deals, analyzing them, whatever the next thing is, making lists of things, this is how I’m going to continue to grow, this is where I want to be and just starting to take those actions.
Bronson:
Over time you figure it out, you figure it out on the way and I’m sure if I heard more of your story, it was probably a mix of things, but it really involved taking a lot of action and over time, you really developed as an individual and as an operator and that’s how you got where you were, is continuing to be consistent with this is the person I want to be, where I’m going, this is the way I want to live and by doing that, taking those actions, it really does begin to change and the learning curve is much higher.
Devin:
No doubt. Yeah, it’s consistent action and can’t stress enough being around the right people to do that. It’s real easy to just be in our own heads and have fears bouncing around and am I on the right track? And once you get around some other like-minded people that are further along the road than you that’s when things really start to accelerate and start to solidify for you as you go through it. I love it, man. Well, that’s exciting, congratulations on the trajectory of the business, on your success so far. I think you’re probably at a point now where you’ve been doing it a while, you start to have referrals come in and it starts to get a momentum and a life of its own. You started to experienced some of that?
Bronson:
Yeah, it really does. Really I think it comes down to the more value that you add for people than the more people will really be willing to share it and so we’re getting referrals, people come in in different ways and then I’ve actually got, at the time of this recording, I’m still doing a little bit of medical consulting and it’s just been too hard to walk away from because it’s so lucrative. But I’ve said, those 10 to 15 hours or 20 hours a week that I’ve been doing on that, if I were to focus just on real estate and creating resources, I’m planning to write a book, I’m planning to get my own podcast going here shortly and do things that hopefully will really add a lot of value to that conversation.
Bronson:
But I think that really the biggest thing that makes people successful is the ability to focus and that’s when you ask really wealthy people, Warren Buffett was asked that question. He said, “The number one thing that made me successful is focus.” Bill Gates independently almost gave the exact same answer, and so it’s the idea that if you’re just simply able to focus and then just keep doing the actions, it will happen and even if it doesn’t happen right away, I remember the beginning it was like, I don’t know, this feels like a lot of pushing, is this really actually doing anything? I’m just keep putting stuff out there. My mom’s reading my blog, but is anybody else reading it? And then after a while then you get all this movement and you’re like, oh wow, this is surprising, how quickly and how much is happening.
Bronson:
And so it definitely is like a snowball, it takes some momentum to get going, but once it gets going and people see you that way, then they see, oh, this is a person that is really interested in adding value to my life, as an investor, as an individual that this isn’t just about money because people can tell if you’re just simply a greedy person and you’re doing real estate only for yourself, and so I think it has been really fun. I think that’s the thing that you mentioned as well as just the idea that personal growth and real estate, a lot of these are connected and I found when I have a breakthrough in my personal growth, it almost always brings a break through my business or vice versa. So it’s just how that is linked together, that I become a different person, I become a better person by growing and by continuing to put myself out there in different ways.
Devin:
I love it. It’s a great game to play, it’s great for the person development, it’s great for your network, you’re helping people, it’s a win-win all around. Love it, man. Well, thank you for sharing the story. If somebody wants to connect with you and some of this resonated, what’s a good avenue for them to do that?
Bronson:
So I’ve got a free report that I wrote, it’s called The Single Best Investing Strategy During and After A Pandemic and that’s at my website, bronsonequity.com, or you can just shoot me an email, is bronson@bronsonequity.com. So whether you’re passive and interested in looking at deals or you’re active and you just have questions on how do I scale? How do I grow? I’d love to be a resource and I know that’s exactly what you’re doing as well, Devin. So I’m just excited and really grateful to be on this podcast with you.
Devin:
Awesome. Well, thanks for jumping on it. I’m sure a lot of what you shared is going to resonate with our audience. So thanks for being willing to share it and here’s to continued success.
Bronson:
Awesome. Thanks so much, man. I appreciate it.
Devin:
All right. Take care.
Bronson:
You too.
Devin:
Sweet man. Let me just record here.
Bronson:
How long have you been doing your podcast here?
Devin:
It’s weekly and I think we’re in 120 episodes.