Fearless Innovator

It's national go RVing or camping month and in this episode, we're going to play a little game of did you know?  While I was attending the RV Park Conference two weeks ago, I learned some very interesting facts about camping.   Some of these facts for those of you on the fence about camping, you may just find that you're going to suffer from FOMO – you know Fear of missing out syndrome? But for the rest of you, you're planning your next camping trip! Did you know that in 2021 there were 93.8 million active campers in the US?  The population of the United States is 332 million.  It's time to entice the remaining 238 million that camping is the new way to travel this summer, for work or extended stays! 56.9 million of those campers camped at least 1-time last year. 9.1 million were first time campers. Covid most definitely had an impact on those numbers as we tried to distance ourselves and escape back to nature.  Who's camping? Back when my mom and dad would come to Florida for the winter, the demographic was easy to identify as you drove through any park.  They were all retirees or baby boomers!  Today, it's a combination of Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z.  They are all finding their own way to afford this new lifestyle.  The new camper is likely to include a majority of non-white's including 22% of black campers. It may be hard to believe but millennials are digging this too, and yet they maintain their style by going glamping. For those not familiar with the word glamping it's a combination of Glamourous meets camping – glamping.   What does that look like?  Think of an insulated teepee with fluffy bedding and an AC unit also known as Yurts.  Treehouses are quite popular too!  You have to say they are quite creative!  Did you know? That 56% of campers prefer tent camping?  This one blew my mind!  I thought for sure it would have been RV'ing but let's face it, we all started out tent camping and graduated our way up to an RV as our desire for finer things were enhanced by our age and level of income. Tent camping is running in first place over the last 3 years! 54% are millennials? 54% are non-white campers? And to say nothing good came out of Covid would be an understatement.  Did you know that 21.5 million people will be camping over the 4th of July holiday, and if you haven't made your reservations yet, you may be too late! Why are people camping? Like I mentioned above, it may have been caused out of a need for security and safety after the Covid pandemic.  Campers also agree that it helps with emotional well-being, helps to escape the day-to-day grind and relieves stress and it improves relationships with your family or friends, or they just want to sit around a campfire.  Sign me up for that one any day!  I get lost just looking at the dancing flames.  In 2022 they are predicting 61.3 million camping households in the US. I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, thank you for listening and I hope you found this information helpful. 

WOW! For those of you who own an RV Park, or want to  own and RV Park, like me, attending an RV Park Conference will put your whole body into a tailspin! The shear amount of knowledge in every session was well worth the money we spent to attend.  In this episode I'm going to share with you several guest experience takeaways I learned from the Florida and Alabama 2022 Outdoor Hospitality Conference and Expo that was held in Daytona Beach. This conference wasn't really a conference where your everyday RV traveler would go, it was more in alignment with RV park owners with existing parks or if you're looking to develop your own park. This conference was loaded with new ideas and upgrade options! I'm mainly going to focus on how technology is being used in the RV industry and because you already know I have a technical background and this stuff is just plain exciting, and it makes my heart jump out of my chest. When I first decided that I wanted an RV Park my goal has always been to focus on the best of use of technology so I could lower the number of employees or overhead and capitalize on the profits.    I have visited a lot of parks especially here in Florida and no one that I could tell was using technology to their advantage.  One of the things, that truly drives me crazy is when you pull into a park after hours, it's dark and you start looking for the guy on the golf cart, because he's going to take you to your spot. It drives me crazy because I feel sorry for the sucker that had to make sure he was at the gate at the exact time you arrive just so he can show you to your spot.  I'm pretty sure he'd rather be at home with his wife than tending the gate until midnight and I'm pretty sure the owner doesn't want to have to pay for that kind of service either. Now, I know not all parks have the guy at the gate, so they leave you an envelope that has your site number on it and now you're left to drive around in the dark trying to spot that itty bitty, barely visible site number with hardly any well-lit roadways to help you find your way. Wouldn't it be cool, if there was a way, to notify the guest upon arrival, where your site is and a directional map that told you how to get there?  Well, there is! When you arrive to your site at midnight and you begin your regimen of setting up your RV, you notice that there's no water coming out of the spicket.  UGH!  What do you do?  You know you'll be good over night so it's no big deal, but tomorrow you'll need water because you'll need to take a shower after your long day of travelling yesterday. Your first gut reaction is I'll walk over to the office tomorrow morning when they open at 9am to let them know we have no water.    What if I told you, you could place a service request from your phone and when the maintenance crew arrives to work tomorrow at 7am, they are already working on your situation before you even get out of bed!  Yes, they have it! Ok, so here's another one.  You leave bright and early to go run errands and get groceries and you've been gone all day and when you return home to your RV, you notice a sticky note on your camper door.  The note reads, for anyone that would like to play pickleball today, there's a tournament that starts at 1pm and will go to 5 pm.   You realize that you've missed the tournament and pickle ball is your favorite sport and you are immediately defeated.   Wouldn't it be cool to get announcements much quicker and easier than a sticky note on your window?  Yes, they have it! Ok, so it's laundry day.  You gather up all your laundry, soap and the quarters you've been collecting in a zip lock baggie and set foot to walk about 300 paces over to the laundry facilities and when you arrive all the washers and dryers are full and instead of waiting for a washer to become available, you carry your laundry back to your camper and try again later.  If you're like me that whole scenario just made my back hurt! Later arrives and you head out, only this time without your laundry and you notice a washer is available, so you rush home, grab the laundry and rush back only to realize someone beat you to it again.   Don't tell me this has never happened to you because I know it has, it's happened to me several times.  When it finally opens up, you place your items in the laundry and go back to the camper after setting your timer for 45 minutes.  You walk back over in 45 minutes and then place your wet clothes in the dryer and set another timer for 15 minutes and walk back home. What if there was a way to know a washer or dryer was available without walking to the facility?  What if you no longer have to collect and use quarters?  What if the washer sent you a message letting you know that there are 3 minutes remaining in the wash cycle?  Yes, it's all available now! In Episode 56 – Elon Musk is helping the RV Industry – you learned that you can now carry your own internet service with you in your RV for a low cost of $135.00 a month.  With technology on board there are no more limits to where you can travel.  If your favorite park is out in the boonies UT and it may be a while before their park is wired for sound, you can be streaming under the stars! Jump aboard the technology train because it's coming and it's coming fast. One question that's probably lingering in your head is, ok, Mechiel now that you told me about all of these new fantastic technology features, where do I find parks that have this technology. Great question!  Here's a general rule.  If the “park” was created or existed 50 years ago and they've not done any upgrades – you won't find them there.  You will, however, find them at new “Resorts” or parks that are upgrading to resorts.  Notice the terminology?  We no longer use the word park when talking about RV resorts.  Today, it is the upscale resorts or RV Communities that have the updated technology. While I was at the conference, I met several park owners that were changing their mindset around adopting the new technology but it's true not all parks today have this technology, but I will promise you this.  My resort or community will have the latest and greatest technology. I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, thank you for listening and I hope you found this information helpful.  Starlink

One of the challenges I've faced when traveling and working out of my RV is getting high speed internet service.  It's estimated that over 1 million people are living in their RV's Full time.  For those that work out of their RV's it's challenging to first off get a reservation and secondly to find a park that has fast fiber service. Let's look at this another way, most RV's today may come with 3-4 TV's and most parks offer cable connections and I'm sure I speak for others, but cable just isn't working these days.  At best you'll get old cable channels that offer old TV stations from back in the 70's.  Our society is much hungrier for internet TV these days where you can login to your App of Choice like Hulu, Netflix or Pandora. How can we get that kind of service if the park we're in doesn't offer fiber?  Well up until now, you could use your own portable Dish Network satellite which did lessen the pain, but it still wasn't great.  There were a couple of other options, but none of them offered the speed you need. In my RV alone, I have 3 TV's, 2 phones, my desktop computer and a laptop.  At most, I have 7 connected devices and that's just one RV, take 7 the number of RVs in one park, let's just say 100 RV's at best.  That's 700 connected devices at one time.  How can you get excellent high-speed internet while traveling? Insert Elon Musk. It seems everywhere you turn these days, you're hearing about Elon Musk and how he's changing the world in a good way. If you don't know, Elon Musk is a South African entrepreneur known for founding PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX.  He became a multi-millionaire in his late 20's and today he is the richest man on Earth surpassing Jeff Bezos. Musk became more famous in May 2012 when SpaceX launched a rocket carrying the first commercial vehicle to the International Space Station. In March of 2018 SpaceX received permission to launch a fleet of satellites into the low orbit around the Earth for the purpose of providing internet service. He named the satellite network – Starlink.  He intended to “deploy the world's most advanced broadband internet service and make it more accessible in rural areas where the current service is not available, too expensive to have or just unreliable. It's hard to say how many satellites have been released above our skies but I know that he's gotten permission to launch 12,500 though 30,000 are planned right now. Right now, if you live in a remote area that's never had internet service or you just want the service to replace what you're currently using, you can order the Residential service.  However, because his service is so popular and he's still recovering from the Covid delays, you can expect to order Starlink now with a future delivery date.  I have ordered the residential Starlink and it was expected to delivery in late 2021, but I'm still waiting.  I also believe that because I'm in a heavily populated area that my delivery will be late because Elon is smart and he's going after the remote area's first. I know this because a friend of mine ordered his way after me and he's been using his service out in the boonies for several months and I'm still waiting.  The really cool aspect of this is that this residential service can have up to 128 connections!  The hardware cost is $599 and it's $110 a month for the service, which is way less than I pay now and the service is expected to be a lot better than what I have now.   I want to use this service for my short-term rentals and I'm really excited to try it out, but I have to be bit more patient until mine arrives! I checked back the other day, and now Elon is offering Business Service which gives you more broadband service than the residential service.  This means that any RV Park that currently does not have service can now get service!  The hardware cost $2500 and the service is $500 a month.  I'll leave the link in my notes so you can check your service address. I've saved the best for last!  Elon now has service for RV's!  Basically, you'll need to check to see if service is available at your home base.  If it is, you can place an order and from what I understand the unit will ship right away.  It's an easy setup.  Place it in your RV and when you get to your destination, you setup the unit with a clear direct path to the sky, start up the service and start using it.  As you travel you can stop and start service wherever you want, but you cannot use the service while driving. Here's another helpful hint, go join the FB Group call Starlink for RV'ers and other mobile users to learn about individual experiences.  So far, I have not read anything that would deter me from buying it now.  The only reason I have not is because I'm not traveling right now in my RV otherwise I'd be on board.  I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, thank you for listening and I hope you found this information helpful.  Starlink

Last year, when I went rogue and went home to Iowa for 3 months in my RV, there were several things I had to do to prepare for the length of time I would be gone.  I had short term rentals that I personally managed and I had other real estate dealings that needed my attention while I was gone I hope to one day, be a true nomad and out on the road in my RV full time. But how am I going to do that? Going to Iowa for a short time, while it still required lots of planning, it was relatively easy for me to make that decision.  I was already living in my RV, I just needed to transplant myself and continue working in another location.  It was also easy for me because I had a homebase that I could return to as I wasn't quite ready to call myself a minimalist.  But what about those of you that have sold everything and now your only home is where you park your RV?  I've known several of my friends who have done just that!  However, before you back yourself into a corner, here are 7 things to consider before becoming a nomad. What state are you going to file your income taxes?  You no longer have an address. Where is your truck and camper registered and insured? You no longer have an address! What state is your driver's license in?  What if it expires while you're out traveling around the US?  Where do you get it renewed? You no longer have an address! If you're a registered voter, where will you now vote? You no longer have an address! What about health insurance?  Can I get treated in another state?  You no longer have an address! Where will you get your mail?  You no longer have an address! Where will my Social Security check be deposited?  You no longer have an address? To avoid all those questions, you'll need a domicile.  What's a domicile? The short answer is it's a State that you consider your permanent home.  You could also consider that it's the state you do all of your business out of.  The government requires that you have a domicile. Let's not confuse this with your residence.  A residence is where you're at for the moment. My mom and dad's domicile was their home in Iowa, but in the winter their winter residence was Florida. What if I've sold everything and I can't call my state home anymore?  You may consider asking a friend or family member to use their address, but now they will have to manage your life so to speak by retrieving your mail and helping you conduct your life. You could do what I did, and house hack your personal residency and make it a short-term rental?  That's probably a tough pill to swallow for most because you either move everything out of your house or allow strangers to be in your home when you're not. What if I don't want to use a friend or family member?  Then you may consider researching the best states to live in as a full time RV'er.  The 3 best states are Florida, South Dakota, and Texas. All 3 states are income tax-free which means you'll save a ton a money right there, they will accept mail-forwarding addresses, these states generally have lower vehicle registrations, insurance options and don't pay taxes on personal property, like your RV. Basically, it depends on your situation so you can pick any state you want, but just know you do have options.  There are also other states like Alaska, Nevada, Washington, and Wyoming that have no state income tax. To establish a domicile in Florida here are a few of the steps Move to Florida Perhaps buy an Upscale RV Lot that is deeded in your name Get a Florida driver's license File a Florida Declaration of Domicile in the office of the circuit court in your county Update your will and estate plan to reflect your new Florida residency Open one or more bank accounts in Florida Register to vote in Florida elections Register and insure your vehicles in Florida For me, because I already live in a desired location, selling my home is not an option but I'm still afforded the opportunity to be a nomad when I want and you can too, you just need to plan ahead!  I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, thank you for listening and I hope you found this information helpful. 

I know when I quit my J.O.B to become a full time Real Estate investor, I did several things to improve the bottom line. 1) cut up credit cards 2). Reviewed every expense I had and called all utilities, other expenses and insurance company looking to cut expense but not reduce the coverage, 3). Paid off all old debts 4). Traded my time for cashflow. Hi, I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast and it's no different in an RV Park, I'll share 4 ways you can improve your bottom line.  This episode will be directed mostly towards RV parks that have the room to make enhancements, been a business a while and are looking for opportunities for more growth. 1). Marketing is at the top of the list.  If you do not have a shiny light highlighting your park, you won't get visitors.  I know of a park in Northern Florida right now that does not believe in doing any marketing.  They prefer word of mouth.  Let's face it word of mouth works but it doesn't promote rapid growth, more of a steady stream of growth and it certainly won't help in the summer months in Florida.  This park also banks on the fact that it is strategically place, hoping that passersby will just drop in. We discussed the online marketing strategies in Episode 50 – Marketing Is NOT My Thing.  I think honestly, most people just fear marketing because they don't understand it and you'd be right.  That's why you hire a team to do your marketing for you.  Then the fear becomes the cost, well the cost is covered because you'll be able to increase your visibility online, then you'll increase your occupancy.  If you increase occupancy, you increase your bottom line. It all goes hand in hand. Signage or billboards. Take advantage of using billboards and signage in front of your park.  How many times have you driven by a park that has a crappy sign out front?   I see it a lot and my gut reaction is this park is crappy, and I won't even bother driving in.   Customer Service However, if the signage is freshly painted and attracts you, you'll drive in out of curiosity.  If you're like me, now I'm looking for a body to talk to.  If I encounter a non-friendly, less than happy person, I'll bang a youie and leave.  But if I meet a person that has enthusiasm, maybe he has a uniform on, that tells me he works there, and he waves at me and maybe smiles, I'm going to stop and talk to them.  This draws me in.  Now, I can ask questions and more than likely I'll plan to stay because their customer service just promoted their park!  The longer they make me happy, the longer I'll stay! 2) Increase Revenue So many mom-and-pop parks are afraid to increase their rents because they don't want to lose their current customer base.  Well, you're missing out on the potential customer base you could have.  All you have to do is a little research to determine what other parks in your area are charging.  Trust me, your current customer base may be coming to your park because of the amenities, or it may because they know all the neighbors and they really enjoy their neighbors.  Trust me, if you raise the rent, they will gripe but I'm pretty sure you'll gain new customers and you may lose a few here in there, but your park will be flourishing.  3). Cut Expenses.  You should plan on reviewing your expenses at least every 6 months to 1 year.  Let's face it, costs are going up and its best you stay on top of what's going out the door.  As costs go up, the market becomes more competitive.  So that insurance policy that was great last year has now raised its rates over 20% with less coverage.  Then it's time to start price shopping an insurance policy to fit your needs, often times you can find a reasonable policy for the same coverage, but you will have to put in the time and research to find it. 4). Hire people to do the work more efficiently.   Let's say my strength is answering the phones, well you wouldn't want me doing your books.  So, when you hire people, make sure to ask them what their strengths are and only assign them to roles that fit their skillset.  I wouldn't hire an accountant to cut the grass.  When you hire the right people, it's likely they will enjoy their work and do their best work more efficiently.  At the same time, let's say it's your slow winter season and now you only need one person to take care of yard maintenance, so you let one person go and treat them as a seasonal person. Make sure that the roles for each team member are laid out so each team member understands their roles vs other roles on the team.  Sometimes there are gray lines between roles, so be sure to spell out their boundaries.  All of these are strategic moves that an outside manager of the park or resort would manage, and they all improve your bottom line.  It sounds like a lot to think about but if you have all your team members strategically placed on your team, I'm confident it will improve the bottom line.  I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, I hope you found this information helpful. 

In Episode 50 – Marketing is NOT my thing, I mentioned that I had learned that the RV space I'm playing in is called Outdoor Hospitality.  I had never heard anyone refer to it as that before.  Because I'd never heard it, I did what most curious minds do, I “Googled it”.  Hi, I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast and today I'm going to share with you what I learned about the Outdoor Hospitality Industry.   Wow! A whole new world opens up when you know the right keywords to search on.  This journey in RV Parks is sounding very familiar to the journey I took in Real Estate Investing.  I first started out on my own and before you know it, I found out where everyone with like minds was hanging out.  This is no different, I just had to keep digging!  They say to surround yourself with those smarter than you!  I've found them! This episode is going to be a bit shorter, but I wanted to get this information out to those that own parks because you could be like me and didn't even know this existed! I feel comfortable saying that perhaps the mom-and-pop parks may not know about this while the larger parks should know about it. Just like in my IT days we would go to Microsoft events to learn about all the latest and greatest upgrades to products, new features being added and to surround ourselves with the experts in the field.  The vendor room was where the rubber met the road.  We'd learn about all the new integrated products coming out and how they integrated with our Microsoft products.  The best part was the networking!   Networking for me was key because when I quit my J.O.B, I leaned on my network to bring me work and it did, until I was ready to quit that! Well, if you own an RV Resort or you're thinking about owning one, I've found the conference for you and it's right here in sunny Florida on the beach, yes, Daytona Beach! In all my travelling around looking at RV Parks, no one ever mentioned that there was an RV Park and Campground Conference & Expo June 6-8 in Daytona Beach, FL.  I guess I wasn't talking to the right people! I took one look at the website, which is well put together, I might add, and I looked at the Vendor list and the agenda for the 3 days and I mentioned it to Kurt, the next day we cleared our calendars and booked us a site at Daytona's Endless Summer Campground near the event on Daytona Beach. We live in our RV so it's just as easy as hooking up, loading my cats and we're out of here!   I know 3 of the vendors so I'll definitely be stopping by their booths! I will post the agenda in my notes below because there's just too much to mention.   We did learn that they will have breakout sessions, so Kurt and I are going to divide and concur and then discuss later what we learned. I thought my days of attending conferences was over, but this conference has got me really excited.  I've already connected with the some of the Staff Members and one of the Board of Directors who just happens to be in my back yard.  I drove through her park a couple of weekends ago.  Small world!   I'm excited about meeting people and learning everything I can and surrounding myself with Smart RV Park owners!  One day I'll grow up to be one! I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, I hope to see you at the conference! Florida and Alabama RVCA 2022     AGENDA Monday, June 6th 1:00 – 5:00 pm Conference Registration – Bill France Foyer  (Registration will also be open on Tuesday Morning from 8-10 am) 5:00 – 7:00 pm Welcome Reception – Ocean Terrace –  Open to all paid attendees and exhibitors Tuesday, June 7th Breakfast on your own 8:00 – 10:00 am  Conference Registration 10:00 – 11:45 am  Welcome & Opening Session:  Lead with Certainty – Managing People Not Promises – Creating a Culture of Ownership, Strengthening Communications, and Improving Team Performance – Presented by Motivational Keynote Speaker, Eric Papp 12:00 – 1:30 pm Lunch, Annual Meeting, and Special Guest Speakers 1:30 – 2:30 pm General Session – Legislative Review, Governmental Affairs, and Legal Updates.  Important legal changes that impact your business and our industry – Marc Dunbar and David Eastman 2:30 – 3:30 pm General Session – Industry Challenges, Opportunities, and Trends – Industry Panel, group discussion, and Q&A. Topics: FL & AL Insurance Update, RV Tech/Campground Program, Industry Partnerships 3:45 – 4:45 pm Breakout 1: The EVs are coming – Is your RV Park ready for the future? Technical tips on how to prepare and profit from Electrical Charging – by Heidi Doyle, Utility Supply Group 3:45 – 4:45 pm Breakout 2: What you need to include in your Park Policies, Rules & Regulations – Best practices and standards for protecting your park while providing a great guest experience – Panel and Q&A 5:00 – 7:30 pm Reception, Auction & Appreciation Dinner: Grand Ballroom   Wednesday, June 8th 8:30 – 11:30 am Exhibitor Set-up in the Grand Ballroom 8:00 – 9:15 am Cracker-Barrel Breakfast – Topics: How to Get Started in this industry, Construction and Developing Do's and Don'ts, Working with your local government for approval, and more 8:00 – 9:15 am Cracker-Barrel Breakfast – Topics: Park Operational Issues, ADA, Taxes, Guest Ejections, Best Practices, Common Problems and Solutions 9:30 – 10:30 am Breakout 3: Emergency Preparedness – Natural Storms, Man Made Disasters, Dangerous Situations, Sewage Spills, Power Outages and more – How to customize a plan for your staff and your guests – Presented by Patrick Hardy, Hytropy 9:30 – 10:30 am Breakout 4: Is your RV Park maximizing it's earnings potential? How to make changes to your RV Park to attract different (new) guests and increase your profits. The pros and cons of long-term vs. short-term guests and rentals, and how your park “type” affects operational costs and revenue potential. Discover what's best for you and your campground – Panel Discussion and Q&A 10:45 – 11:45 am   Breakout 5: Mitigating Risks and Lowering your Insurance Costs – Irene Jones, Marshal & Sterling 10:45 – 11:45 am Breakout 6: Employee Labor Law and Employee/Employer Legal Issues – Department of Labor 1200 – 5:00 pm SUPPLIER EXPO and LUNCH: Grand Ballroom 5:15 – 6:00 pm Wrap-up Group Session: One last gathering to recap the conference, discuss newfound valuable tips, network with others, and have all your questions answered.

So, you've gone out and upgraded your fifth wheel pull behind to a Class A Motorcoach.  There are several things to consider when you upgrade or for that matter change from a tow vehicle and an RV pull behind to what they call diesel pushers.   I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast and today discuss several challenges and advantages of owning a Class A motorhome. Here are some of the disadvantages of owning a Class A Motorhome Let's consider buying a Class A.  New Class A's start around $75,000 and go upwards of $2 million with the average sitting somewhere around $350,000. You may want to consider buying a used Class A Motorhome for a less expensive approach.  The cost of maintenance is also high. How do I run to the grocery store? It's highly unlikely, that you will use your 45' Class A to run down to the grocery store  and doing errands, so now you have to decide what you're going to use for excursions and grocery shopping!  I've known several people that will drive another vehicle like a jeep or smaller vehicle to their destination along with the Class A, but that can become pricey!    I just saw a Class A over the weekend that was towing a fully enclosed trailer behind their Class A.  I know my F150 would have fit in that trailer!  Others will tow smaller vehicles like a smart car that's more fuel efficient.  I know last summer when we were in Iowa, we saw that MacDaddy Space Craft RV being towed with a semi-truck, on the back of the semi-truck was a very small, enclosed box.   One day we happen to catch the guy unloading what was in the small box – and out came a smart car!  Smart guy but this was over the top!  If you don't know about the Space Craft RV – it's a custom RV and they only make 10 of them in one year! Class A motorhomes are like driving a BUS.  First off, how many people actually get the experience necessary to drive one of these big rigs!  Driving a truck with a pull behind has its challenges, like backing up.  Well, when you're in  drive a Class A, they are typically longer up to 45' and they have height requirements, too and guess what they don't bend, so taking corners is like taking square corners and if you don't, you've just ran over something or you've hit something.  Now let's add a small trailer on the back, that you can't even see, so most put cameras on the back so they can keep on eye on them during transit.  Ok, you've arrived at your destination, how and where do you disconnect that trailer, get the car out and park your rig?  These are all things to consider! They call them Diesel pushers for a reason! Fuel tank sizes on a Class A can range from 50 gallons to 250 gallons! Ok, let's see I just checked the diesel price at my local Race Trac, and it says I'll pay $5.09 today for a gallon of diesel, that's $1272.50 for 250 gallons and we may need to stop again before we reach our destination! If you have no concern for money, you're good!  You can always get discounts on Fuel with memberships like Good Sam and others! What parks can accommodate the size of this rig?  Today, there is a shortage of Upscale RV Resorts that will have the width, the length and turning radius needed to accommodate a big rig!  I've found a couple of things that may help you in your search!   There is a website called Upscale RV Resorts and you guessed it; they also have an App for that!  They even have a FB group called Upscale RV Resorts that you can join after agreeing to their rules.  Jim Wolfe is the administrator and he's doing a great job monitoring and holding you accountable for your content.  So go join the group but be nice!  As I mentioned in Episode 51 - How to tell the difference between campground, RV park or Resort, my park will be an Upscale RV Resort, so I'll be adding mine to their website soon! Advantages of Owning a Class A Motorhome: Ok, now that you know some of the down sides to owning a Class A motorhome, there are some really great advantages too! Comfortable as a couch on the road – Unlike the tow vehicle and tow behind RV where the ride is seriously bumpy and clunky, Class A's offer superior riding comfort, you don't have the discomfort of a bumpy road, it's as comfy as a couch! Roomy Interior – Class A motorhomes can be as long as 45 ft and when the three slides are opened, you'll extend to up to 14' wide giving you an extra 400 square feet of additional living space. Most are equipped with a King size bed, a lot of closet space in the living area and the storage space below is enough to store plenty of clothing and supplies.  The kitchen will have upgraded granite features with a full-sized refrigerator.  Outside the kitchen will be a full-sized bathroom with a larger shower.  In the hallway, you'll be equipped with a washer and dryer!  This makes it a perfect full-time home!  You have everything you need. Luxury at its Finest - Most Class A motorhomes are well constructed with the highest grade of cabinetry, stainless steel appliances, tile flooring, and riding comfort.  Sitting in the captains' chair reminds me a flight cockpit! You want a sandwich? – No problem!  “Hey honey, can you make me a sandwich, our next pit stop is another 2 hours away and I'm hungry.”  The passenger while in transit has the ability to get out of the passenger's chair, step up into the kitchen and make you sandwich all while traveling down the road.  Now, if the driver needs to tinkle, well, you'd better stop somewhere for that one! Where do I put my motorcycle or golf cart?  You're in luck!  They make class A's that have storage underneath your King Bed.  It's enough space for 1 motorcycle or 1 golf cart!  I'm not ready to quit riding my own bike, so I'd be more interested in towing our bikes with a small vehicle.  Guess what?  They also make a 2-story elevated open trailers!  You put the bikes on top and your small car below on the first level.  There's an answer for everything! Automatic Systems – You've just arrived at your resort and it's time to setup.  Easy peasy!  All your leveling systems are automatic with the touch of a button!  No more running around the coach and manually lowering your levelers.  You paid big bucks for this rig, so it should be automated!   I know when I got my first RV, I had to take a 3-hour training course to understand all the button and gadgets, understanding this rig will take loads of practice! I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, I hope you found this information helpful!  Spacecraft MFG Facebook Group – Upscale RV Resorts Upscale RV Resorts Website Good Sam Club Perks

In Episode 47 we talked about the differences between Destination and Overnight parks, well there's one more thing you need to consider when you're doing your search.  Too make it even more complicated but to ensure you have the best experience, you also need to know what type of park you're searching for!   I'd first start with what type of equipment will you be bringing on your trip? I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast and today we're going to discuss the differences between Campgrounds, RV Parks, and RV Resorts! If you have a car, a tent, and a camp stove, you should consider the Campground.  I know growing up as kids every park was considered a campground because Recreational Vehicles (RV's) weren't really a thing yet, and everyone loved camping in tents back then.  A lot of the mom-and-pop campgrounds still exist but they are doing upgrades to keep up with today's standards.  Campground  According to Webster, this is an area or place (such as a field or grove) used for a camp, for camping, or for a camp meeting.   There are no defined sites.  In today's terms that means that basically any type of camping is allowed.  Tent camping, car camping or you may park your self-contained RV but be careful of low hanging trees!  They may also offer cabins or today even Tiny Homes.  Campgrounds don't have the amenities beyond providing a space to park, walkways to general store, public bathrooms, showers, and maybe electrical hookups. You may find picnic tables or campfire rings and a BBQ grill.  I know when we were kids, mom and dad would take us to a campground on Sunday mornings just to cook breakfast over an open fire.  The kids were left to find their own entertainment, because there was nothing to do there but create your own fun.  These campgrounds have no frills and it's the least expensive option.  I know of several campgrounds that even today just charge $10.00 a night to camp. One word of caution, because Campgrounds are very reasonably priced it's very attractive to the younger crowds and typically, they are not so quiet during the quiet hours especially if there's a college nearby. RV park A recreational vehicle park or caravan park is a place where people with recreational vehicles can stay overnight, or longer, in allotted spaces known as "sites".  The RV Park is a bit more structured and will offer more amenities.  However, RV Parks may also contain park models, tiny Homes and spaces for RV's, laundry, and showers.  You will notice that the RV park will now start to offer 30amp, 50amp electric with water and sewer hook-ups.  The sites themselves are probably either made of grass or offer some type of gravel.  You may find that the sites aren't as roomy as you need for the tow vehicle and the RV.  You may find a picnic table and a fire ring. Depending on whether this is a destination or overnight park the rates will fluctuate but the rates should be very reasonable for short term or lengthy stays.  RV Resorts What's in a name, right?  A resort implies this is the top of the line!  Staying at a resort will cost you more money but they have the amenities to back it up!   If it says Resort, you can expect amenities including laundry facilities, a clubhouse with a pool, pickleball courts, fitness centers, eateries, dog parks, etc.  But wait, guess what?  There are 2 types of Resorts! Upscale RV Resorts and Luxury RV Resorts and in that order  Upscale RV Resorts Resorts that are the nicest available in a particular area that appeal to vacationers and short-term renters looking for an upscale resort near a major attraction, like a national park or beach.   Now we have requirements! Requirements Include: Big rig friendly – accommodates motorcoaches or Class A's but this can also mean Fifth-Wheels or coaches up to 41 ft 50-amp Service with full hookups Paved or firmly packed gravel roads Paved or firmly packed gravel RV sites Paved or firmly packed gravel patios Resort style pool and other outdoor amenities like walking trails Social events and activities It is not required that Upscale resorts be class A only.  Luxury RV Resorts Upper-Tier Resorts that typically cater to seasonal renters or owners who come to the resort because the resort is a destination itself. Luxury resorts typically have more social interaction and activities. Big rig friendly – most cater primarily or exclusively to Class A motorcoaches 50-amp Service with full hookups Paved roads Paved RV sites Large patios to accommodate outside dining, grill, etc. Resort style pool with swimming lanes Social activities and encourage social interaction Landscaping between sites Fitness options (gym, tennis, pickleball, golf) Clubhouse where social activities are scheduled There you have it!  Are you as confused as I am?  There's a lot to consider when booking your next short vacation or extended stay somewhere. I think the best way to determine which category you fit in, is first pick your style.  If you like tent camping, then go to a Campground and/or look for RV Parks that allow tent camping. If you have a pull behind camper or caravan, or Fifth Wheel Toy Hauler try out the RV Parks/Resorts. If drive a motorcoach that's less than a Class A, you'll enjoy the Upscale Resorts. If you drive a Class A Motorcoach that's up to 45 ft, you'll enjoy the Luxury RV Resort. Just keep in mind, that when you move up the scale the daily rates also increase due to the amenities the parks offer. Let's face it there's a flavor out there for everyone's taste.  The best advice I can give is before you book, go to their website, and do your research first. As a sidenote:  When I get my park, I'm going to hang out in the Upscale RV Resort area.  Why?  I believe that the industry today needs more parks in this space due to the increased sizes of the RV's being manufactured. I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, I hope you enjoyed this episode. 

If there is one thing I know for sure, I know that marketing is critical to the success of any business, and I know this is one of my least favorite things to do and it's a weakness because I don't like it.  You may be thinking, then how are you going to own an RV Park without marketing it?   Hi, I'm Mechiel Kopaska the host of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, and today, is my 50th Episode and I'm going to talk to you about something I don't even like and I'm going to share with you how I'm going to market my RV Park. First, let me give you a little background on what I've been learning about marketing in the RV space.  In 3 words, It's a mess!  What do I mean by that? I've been searching for RV parks for the last 2 years.  I have done everything from driving around on country roads to find them, I've downloaded I don't know how many Apps in an attempt to locate them, I've Googled and used multiple search engines, I used Prop Stream – a paid subscription for Smart Real Estate Software for Investors, I've used county records, word of mouth and referrals from friends.  And if you're looking to find an RV Park for sale, that's a whole new series of problems! Do you know what the common theme is?  Mom and Pop and the majority of RV Parks don't advertise, so you can't find them unless you drive around.  Some RV parks will use a combination of different Apps to advertise on like Camp Florida, Campendium, RV Life, Harvest Hosts, etc., but then some won't.  The big conglomerate parks like Sun Resorts will use their own marketing strategy.   Then you can sign up to use Campspot or Newbook as your reservation system and they help with some marketing too, but it's not broad enough to capture the attention I'm looking for.  The ole standby is using Billboards!  Billboards are still popular and there's printed materials at rest stops.  Searching for an RV Park was painful and a huge time suck for me.  This got me to thinking, that if I'm having such a difficult time just trying to locate parks to either go look at or go buy, then people that are searching for an RV Park for their vacation must be having the same problem. To prove this, I logged into several Apps in an attempt to locate a park I wanted to visit on vacation.  My search proved that not all marketing is created equally.  Each app or Google search yielded different results, but I was able to find a park that I liked but it took some time! Now to take this a step further, I was now trying to envision me sitting down at a computer and going into each of these apps, setting up accounts and creating my RV Profile to ensure my listing would appear in these apps.  Then I thought, shoot, I also need to be creating profiles on FB, Instagram, etc.   After thinking about this for a few minutes, I said to myself, “self you need to spend your time somewhere else doing something else you're great at rather than attempting to be great at something you're NOT great at”. So, I began my google search for a marketing team.  I wanted a team of people organized strictly around the RV Market and specializing in promoting my RV park to the world, that had a huge footprint and team players that had specific roles that would market my park across multiple platforms without Me lifting a finger. I found several in my search but I'm going to be honest that if someone used the word I in the online presence it immediately turned me off, because I knew it was a team of 1.  I know from my IT days that it's best to use a team of individuals because not everyone is great at everything.  Meaning, web designers are best at web designing and social media gurus are great at creating content and posting daily on FB, Instagram etc., this typically isn't a strength for a web designer. I ran across a lot of I's, but I skipped right over them. Sorry Then I ran across a team in California.  At first, I thought California is a bit of a stretch beings we're in 2 different time zones, but then I saw their name.  Their name alone drew me in.  Big Rig Media, I'm not sure their name meant what I was thinking, but when I hear big rig, I think, it takes a big rig to either pull an RV or it could reference a Class A RV.  I read their content on their website, saw they have a team with the specialized skills I needed, and they even shared content on other RV Websites that they had developed.  I then jumped over to look at their RV Websites and found one that interested me.  I went back reviewed more content and then whacked the button to setup a meeting. When the call was scheduled, it said that Jeff Beyer the CEO and Gregg Kuperstein their Chief Growth Officer, would be attending.  Within one day, I was on a conference call with the CEO and CGO.   Who does that?  I almost felt a little intimidated.  What a call it was, we were only on the phone for maybe 20 minutes, but here's what I learned. The number one search engine for RV Parks is, you guessed it Google and number 2 was FB and all those other apps I mentioned before were just a blip on a map.  I would waste my time setting up each of those apps. I also learned they have dedicated skills for Web Site development, Graphic Design, Copywriter, social media, and Content Marketing. Can you imagine if I had to hire out and manage all of those skills just to get my website up and productive and marketed on Google and FB? I wouldn't have time for the RV park if I had to do that! I don't know how to market on Google and get my park to the top of the search engine and I clearly don't want to learn it now! But I do know who does! Here was my favorite takeaway, 50% of RV Travelers will use the internet or Apps for searching, the remaining 50% still call the 800 number to talk to a person.  My hope was that this statistic had a much higher internet use.  The main reason that RV'ers want to pick up the phone is because there are too many variables when booking an RV.   If it were to just select your dates, how many people and pick a spot, that's easy.  But when you book an RV, they want to know, are you traveling with a group, the type of rig, your tow vehicle and the length of your rig, bundle this with the date and number of people, it just becomes too cumbersome, so they pick up the phone. I went on to learn that when I choose them, they will need at least 12 weeks for development and about 6 months before opening the park to begin their marketing. I now know that my marketing budget will need to be 6 to 8% of gross sales.  This will certainly help me when preparing my budget numbers for the investor. I learned about Outdoor Hospitality – this is the space that RV Parks are in.  I'd never heard of that before and in a later episode I tell you what I learned when I Googled Outdoor Hospitality. I also learned the golden number of RV Sites I need to entice the big players when I go to sell my park.   I'll just keep that one a secret for now.  The best compliment, I can give this team is, they are doing a GREAT job of marketing to me.  On a daily basis, when I get on Google or FB, who's face do I see, Jeff Beyer.    I'm confident that if they are marketing to me on daily basis, that my RV Park will popping up everywhere.  They are certainly in this game to win! I will definitely be calling them back when it's game time! I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, I hope you enjoyed this episode.  Big Rig Media Camp Florida RV Parks Campendium RV LIFE Harvest Hosts Campspot NewBook

No matter what kind of real estate opportunity it is, we must do a thorough job of dissecting all the moving parts prior to a purchase, just like when I was a Project Manager in IT.  What do I mean by that?  Hi, I'm Mechiel Kopaska the host of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, today, I'm going to share the 4 steps that we will take before purchasing an RV Park. Granted when I was in IT, it was my role to determine the timeline, scope, and budget prior to the sale.  Buying an RV Park is no different, we still need to evaluate and plan out the project. Every park I've visit, I take extensive notes then go back to my desk and write up everything I learned from the walk thru and from speaking with the seller.  Sometimes I'll even record my voice so not to forget any details.  This is very important to me, because those notes become a useful tool where I'm able to analyze everything I learned, and it helps me to visualize the changes that need to be made ultimately leading me to this first topic. 1). Risk analysis and due diligence. All projects require planning, and a Project Plan will help in doing risk analysis.  Each risk has to be identified, mitigated, and a probability analysis.  I believe that Risk Analysis and Due diligence go hand in hand. A risk on a project could be the weather.  Let's say we're building a park that is due to be complete in November and the park is in Florida.  Well Florida's hurricane season begins June 1 and ends November 30th.  What happens if a hurricane comes through and destroys all structures?  You have to plan for the worst-case scenario.  In this case, I would ensure we have the proper wind and water insurance coverage.  If it doesn't happen, perfect.  What's the probability that it will happen, we may decide it has a 5 % or less chance of happening, therefore it could be a low risk to the project. Another risk, How and when does an Angel Investor realize a return on their money?   We would evaluate the risk tolerance of the Angel Investor and insist  on open communication and being transparent with our automated  record keeping and determine a win-win solution for all parties  involved.  The probability could be 90% or greater, which means this is  a high risk.  We would also evaluate how this impacts our scope, budget  and timeline and decide our mitigation plan, which may be to give  monthly or quarterly reviews to the investor.   What is the likelihood of getting all the supplies and at the budgeted  cost we estimated at the beginning of the project? We already know this is a high risk due to the economic issues the  world is facing right now, and the probability will be high.  We mitigate  the costs by increasing our contingency funds and we mitigate our  supplies by perhaps checking in with multiple vendors or ordering the  product well in advance.   We may also identify Show Stoppers!  What is one or two things that  the risk is so high, you cannot move forward with the project.  Mine is  Internet Wi-Fi service.  Remember I'm a nerd and I love my technology  and apparently, I'm not alone.  There is a significant amount of Full  Time RV'ers and those folks are working out of their RV's, just like me.  Without exceptional Wi-Fi my project is dead.   Due diligence is also critical to evaluate.  In the beginning of a development project it is necessary to do all your homework up front such as working with a civil engineer to determine all county, state and federal guidelines.  What if we find out that FEMA needs ingress and  egress boundaries that consume more of what we thought was  buildable ground?  What if turn lanes need to be added to  accommodate for the vehicle size and shear number of RV'ers entering  our park?  We need to know all of that up front to determine if the  project moves forward or if it's a complete roadblock that can't be  overcome and the project is halted.   I know of a RV Park here in Florida  that built the park and was ready to open when the FDOT shut down  the project because they didn't have the proper turn lanes.  Can you  imagine what this has cost them?   2). Scope of work – it depends on what type of project this is, this could be a development project, or it could be a rehab project. Scope of work in its simplest form is identifying the tasks we will do and will not do for this project.  For this example, let's say it's a new RV Park development project and we already know that I'm not fond of Pickleball (unless someone can convince me!) – so we won't be doing a pickleball court, but we will be adding a swimming pool.  The Scope of Work on a development project is much more extensive in the number of tasks in the project plan that need to be done and the amount of money it will take to complete a project like this. In my years of IT Project Management, we went through different phases to identify and manage the Scope of Work.   First phase being Design – we will need to work with a Civil Engineer or Design Architect to design the RV park layout (often referred to as a Site Plan) and cross referencing that with a Survey.  Once the design is complete and we've passed all the county, state and federal regulations and we received all signoff's required to begin work, we now enter the build phase. Build Phase – This is at the point you see the large heavy equipment coming in to clear out trees, bring in more soil to bring elevations up to code and the exterior boundaries being identified.  Build is also when roadways are determined, and you can begin to see the RV lots easily identifiable due to the concrete pads, electric, water and septic being plumbed in.  Build phase is complete when the Certificate of Occupancy is signed off on or the park is ready for its first customer.  Let's also assume that the operational side of things, like your website, accounting needs and your Property Management System (PMS) is up and running near the same time the build was complete. Now we enter the Test Phase – let's also assume that before any visitors arrive that every RV Site has passed the initial sniff testing on electric, water, and septic system and this goes for any structures being built like laundry facilities or showers.  Once that's complete, bring on the visitors.  If we've done a great job, we should get minimal complaints about the utilities and probably more complaints about the systems.  As time goes by, we will learn from our mistakes and adjust accordingly. The scope of work is now complete.  We know what we're doing from the concept to test phase. 3). Estimate budgets with contingency - Once the scope of work has been determined, we'll need to determine cost estimates to start and complete the project we may even include future projections for the investors.  Contingency funds are almost as important as the bids we will get from the vendors.  Contingency funds are set aside for the moments we may not have evaluated our risks well enough or the rapid pace supply costs are rising these days. We all know that supply costs are relatively high, so we will go plan ahead and put contingency funds in our budget.  4). What's my exit strategy or timeline for ownership?  We discussed Exit Strategy Disasters in Episode 46 and I won't fall victim to my own advice.  We will know at the beginning of the project or ownership what the plan is and the timeframe it needs to be done.  With a development project the timeline to exit or sell could be 7-10 years if it's a rehab project we might realize our gains in a shorter time from of 3-5 years.   As a recap, we've now discussed 4 critical steps to consider before purchasing an RV park.  As a side note, this list is not inclusive of all tasks that need to be done, but it should give you a good idea of the amount of work necessary to develop an RV Park.  I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, I hope you enjoyed this episode. 

Depending on who you are, what you're looking for or where you're going, prior reviews of a property or experience really matter.  I'm Mechiel Kopaska host of the Fearless Innovator podcast and That's what we're talking about today is I love bad reviews!  Call me weird, I don't care, maybe you'll see the value too! I'm not going to focus on how to write a good or bad review, I'm more interested in what you learn from the bad ones! Let's face it is most rewarding when you get the awesome reviews because people tend to write more about their negative experiences rather than their positive ones.  Although, I think people are doing better these days The bad reviews keep you honest! But I'd challenge everyone that has a short-term rental or an RV Park to read the negative reviews because it's teaching you what needs to be improved and that value alone could be worth money in your pocket but only if you choose to make the changes.   It's sad when I go back and read the same bad news over and over again because an owner didn't make the changes necessary to get the good review.  Good review = cha ching more visitors! I had a review once at my short-term rental where a guy said my cat shit on his car.  Well, I guess not everyone knows that cats bury their poop.   Clearly, I knew he was lying, I had my security team review all footage and I couldn't fix ignorance and besides I knew he was mad because I charged him for the extra guests that he did not register, simply because he didn't read the House Rules.  I don't care where you go there are rules!  Go to Disney, there are rules!  Go drive a Nascar, there are rules.  Shoot, drive any car, there are rules! One bad review didn't kill me, it made me stronger and more determined. I read another review from an RV Park where a guest was extremely pissed (those were his words) that upon arrival he quickly learned that there was a gun club next door because of all the shooting noise.  If he had done his homework prior to arriving at the RV Park, which I encourage everyone to do, he would have learned that the RV Park was actually there since 1940 and way before the gun club.   My question is, how can you hold an RV park owner accountable for something they had nothing to do with, nor can they fix it and you're easily offended by gun noise?  By the way, this is mainly an overnight park like I mentioned in my last Episode 47 – Differences between Destination and Overnight parks – today we have to plan our RV trips well in advance and do the research to know exactly where you're going and what the area has to offer.  I could see if this guy was at Fort Wilderness in Orlando and heard gun noise – that WOULD BE very suspicious, but dude you were in the Midwest where practically everyone outside the city owns a gun and yes, they practice! Here's another actual review. “On our third day here, while we were away from the campground from 2 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., we had an item stolen from our campsite. This is the first time this has ever occurred at any campsite we have ever been in. Can't wait to leave” How do you fix that?  First time it ever happened.  Does the owner now hire a security team?  NO, I would update the terms in the contract to include a clause not responsible for lost or stolen items – which is customary everywhere you go.  In general RV Parks are safe and have very little crime reported. I read about this one A LOT and that's the cancellation policy!  Here's a clear warning to everyone, you must read the Cancellation Policy.  Most of the cancellation policies are relatively strict and limit the ability to get a partial or any refund at all even under extreme circumstances.  But here's the deal, if the RV park or Short-Term rental is hiding their cancellation policy from their website, then you may have a claim, but if it's clearly defined and in public review, the responsibility lies on you. Not that I want to encourage you to continue to write bad reviews, but you all are clearly telling me what kind of amenities you like and dislike in RV parks, what kind of activities you like, what you like about the location, what you like to do in the area, etc.  So, keep writing them!   If you go to Trip Advisor, they have 4 categories that you get to score a facility on, Location, Cleanliness, Service and Value. Reading the good reviews, I learn you love clean bathrooms, the distance it is to walk to the dumpster or laundry facilities and friendly people in the office with smiles and your Wi-Fi! The good reviews also share that there are amenities like shuffleboard, cornhole, pickle ball, bocce ball, community fire ring, heated pool, and scheduled activities.   Did you catch the pickle ball?  If you recall in my previous episodes, I've mentioned to you that I have yet to see anyone playing pickle ball.  I was just at another park over the weekend and while they “offer” pickle ball – no one was playing.  And to that end, the reviews that I read are people talking about ALL the amenities but I have yet to read one where it may say, “we played in a corn hole competition and I won first prize” or perhaps, the pickle bar court was perfectly located under some trees and we didn't sweat to death while playing”  You all talk about the amenities but are you actually participating?  My takeaway is you're still not getting a $100,000 pickleball court at my park unless you can prove me wrong!  And if I'm wrong, I'll even join you in a game, but I'll warn you I'm pretty competitive! Ok, what's wrong with this picture? Here's another actual review from a customer. “Our first stay was disappointing. We hadn't planned a stop here, but due to a delay in Tampa, we found ourselves racing sundown and decided to stop. No one was around to assist - office closed. Flyer said to choose a spot and pay in the office in the morning. We literally pulled in at sunset, did not hook up water or sewer - only electric for lights and furnace blower. Tried to sleep through loud highway noise and were ready to leave long before the office opened. We were eager to be on our way but waited an hour for office to open. Since buying our RV we have traveled this country more than we've stayed at home and the only place we can recall being more expensive was Yellowstone. For a little bit of electricity and a parking spot we're paid $62 this morning. NEVER AGAIN! This place is simply not worth it. Sites are small; area noisy; and WAY OVERPRICED.  The park they decided to stop at was combination between a Destination Park and an Overnight Park! It was a destination because of the amenities it offered, and its closeness to everything Florida and it was an overnight park due to its proximity to the interstate.    Do your homework before staying that way you are not disappointed with no one to assist you at check-in, loud noise or you're not upset about the price point.  Food for thought, why didn't you use the water and septic?  You paid for it? I have another take away from this example but I'm not ready to let that kitty out of the bag until I get my park. Please keep writing those reviews because I'm taking notes so that when I get my park, I should have most of your issues resolved before I even open the park!  It's not likely that all negative reviews will go away, shoot even Fort Wilderness get's their share of negative comments.  I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, I hope you enjoyed this episode.  TripAdvisor Fort Wilderness – at the time this episode was published, Fort Wilderness was still shut down and I'm unable to give you a valid link to their website.

Back in the day when I was little, we planned camping trip routes to our destination like Opryland, but we didn't necessarily plan where we would stop for the night and park our motorhome.   If we came upon a campground that was full, we'd just keep driving until we saw a billboard for another campground.  When we found one it was anyone's guess what type of adventure we signed up for.   The kids of course just wanted a swimming pool, and we were always disappointed when there wasn't one.  Why wasn't there one?  I'm Mechiel Kopaska host of the Fearless Innovator podcast and That's what we're going to discuss today, the differences between overnight parks and Destination parks.    Overnight parks really haven't changed that much, but what has changed is the amount of people travelling and looking for their perfect camping spot.   Today, you need to do your homework before you start travelling and you need to make reservations well in advance as the shear number of RV travelers has increased significantly in the last 2 years, so finding your perfect spot may be a bit more challenging.   You also need to know your family's needs while travelling.  Like I said before one of our needs were the kids wanted a swimming pool, mom and dad didn't much care what else as long as the kids could be preoccupied.  I'm sure if I'd ask my dad, he would have said he wanted a level spot large enough for the camper with hookups.  Hookups back then were nothing like they are today, our generator was not built in and there was no cable or fiber because there were no TV's or internet. I know there are a lot of new RV'ers hitting the road these days, so I'd like to help everyone understand that not all parks are created equally and you should know what type you're going to because it could save you from writing a bad review on the park! Let's first talk about Overnight parks.   Overnight parks are generally well advertised along the highways with HUGE billboards because they are only getting 1-2 nights of revenue, they need to do a lot more advertising.  The overnight parks are generally found within 5 miles just off interstates or major roadways.  Once you're in the park, most have no frills, no swimming pools just the basics and just looks like a parking lot. The guests that generally come just stay for 1 or 2 nights and then they move on to their destination park. They usually have a higher vacancy rate as people are just passing through.  Which means it's much easier to get into one of these parks.  The overnight park will have limited employees and more of a self-park feature.  You may not even see anyone as you can book your reservations online and pay online. Pricing for an overnight park will be less expensive because the park itself has less to offer and they have no overhead. The overnight parks have a definite purpose and are very much needed as the average RV traveler will only drive 4 hours a day.  If your destination is 800 miles away, that's possibly 3 overnight stays before you reach your destination.  If my dad was driving, he'd only stop once! Destination parks.  Our destination one year was Opryland in Nashville. These days destination parks have a lot to offer.  I just visited Renegades on the River 2 weeks ago, it had a marina for the fishermen, a Tiki bar with live music and a restaurant onsite.  The Spirit of the Suwanee River Park here in Florida is nothing but a Music venue that brings in BIG Music names.  I know of another park that has hosted Burger challenges, Car Shows, Corn Hole Competitions, Chili Cook-offs, Super Bowl parties, the ideas are limitless, and I have yet to see someone playing pickle ball! Destination parks are also well advertised, however now the billboard is going to attract you with all the amenities the park offers like 4 tickets to Opryland, Swimming pool, 4 show tickets, free shuttle, a kids play area and an ice cream shop onsite, etc.  Destination parks are typically located near the destination or may even offer a music venue onsite like the Spirit of the Suwanee River Park. Guests will normally stay for a week because this area can keep your family occupied with a number of things to do in the area.  If you're a snowbird you will stay for a season typically just to get you out of the northern weather.  It's not every day that you have to have an activity but it's nice if the area has a lot to do.  Most snowbirds love to eat out – so good reasonable restaurants are always a hit with you. You will also look for a good car swap meet or flea market.  Here in my area, we have the Florida State Fair and the Strawberry Festival, and they used to have a Grand Ole Opry day. These parks will require advanced booking, sometimes even the year before.  Most snowbird parks allow you to prebook for the following season with an advanced down payment. If you're the summer vacation RV'er make sure to plan ahead! The destination parks will have a lot of employees such as greeters at the gate to show you to your exact RV spot.  You will notice how well the property is taken care of by the maintenance crews and the well-manicured lawns.  There will always be someone in the office to answer any questions that you have from prebooking to exiting the park on your departure day. Some destination parks allow for an overnight parking. These parks are capitalizing on both markets. Pricing at a destination park will be significantly higher based on what the park itself can offer.  If you're Fort Wilderness, you can pretty much charge what you want, because the people will come strictly because there is SOOOO much to do at this park. My last bit of advice is read the reviews!  The reviews will tell you what others did not like about the park.  Now, take each with a grain of salt as there can be some sketchy reviews and certainly dig in and find the good reviews. Key point is do your research ahead of time to ensure you know the surrounding area and you know what your park offers or does not offer in amenities before you book! I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, I hope you enjoyed this episode.    Grand Ole Opry - Home - Grand Ole Opry Renegades on the River - Home - RENEGADE'S (renegadesontheriver.com) Spirit of the Suwanee River Park - https://www.musicliveshere.com Florida State Fair - Florida State Fair Strawberry Festival - Florida Strawberry Festival

One of the best ways to ensure you get the best price on your RV park when you sell it, is to keep great accounting records of everything you do in the park.  I'm Mechiel Kopaska and this is the Fearless Innovator Podcast and today we're going to discuss several things you can do as an RV park owner to ensure you get top dollar and we will talk about the things you shouldn't do. I believe that as an RV park owner when you get into a deal you also need to plan for your exit strategy.  If you have no end game, you have no goal to make it to the finish line.  I also believe that many owners think that when they start their journey, they enjoy the ownership and managing and the money that comes along with it.    However, they now realize that they are now 70 years old and possibly struggling with health issues and need to get out, but they had no plan on how to exit. RV parks can actually pay you twice if you think about it.  You get monthly cash flow and hopefully, if you've managed the property well for several years, you can now sell it for high gains.  I'm going to share with you several life examples of owners that didn't have an end goal in mind and how I believe that hurts them.   I hope by sharing this information with you that it's helpful in making your exit strategies less painful.  Let's talk about the project I went to in GA.  This gentleman, for the most part did everything right, the property was listed at a fair value, his record keeping was in line for the operational years, although it was mostly done on paper it was still recorded, the park was in great condition and in a position to be rehabbed and updated.  The issue here was his health issues resulted in shutting down the park, in other words perhaps he should have considered his exit a bit earlier because he wasn't able to run the park for the last two years, making this property more difficult to sell with no accounting records.  Accounting records are very important especially if you want to use a bank for financing.  The bank will make you get an appraisal, and that appraisal will consider the lack of income as a negative on the report therefore reducing the property in value.   The only option for financing here is, pay in cash, use an investor, or use seller financing.  We already know that you learned in Episode 45 – The Best Ways to Fund an RV Park that this seller was encouraged by his daughter to just take the cash and run.   This seller did sell his park, but it took him 1 year + to do so. I evaluated another park in Tennessee.  This park is located near the Dragon's Tail.  The Dragon's Tail is a bikers dream road, it's 11 miles of nothing but 318 hair pin turns!  I've done the tail twice and by the time I made it to the top, I was dizzy but what a thrill!  This park obviously is a draw for bikers and fast car enthusiasts.   I was drawn to this park obviously because I can relate to the biking, but it has room for improvements, upgrades and the possibility of expansion acres and I'm very familiar with this area.  It is owned by an older couple. It was listed for $1.1M.   After reviewing the financial data that was supplied, I learned that the sellers in 2018 decided to lease the property, well that lease did not go as expected and they had to take the property back and to make matters worse in 2020 their Campstore burned to the ground and fast forward now the sellers have health issues.  For the last 3 years there is no financial data to review.  In hindsight, these owners would have been better offer to sell the year they decided to lease the property while they still had financial data.   Why is the financial data important?  Its important because your gross income can be used to calculate what the property might sell for or at least it can give you a range of it's worth. After my evaluation, I determined what I was willing to pay, but since they had already turned down a much higher offer, I didn't feel they would entertain my offer.  I also didn't want to spend $1,000 to travel there if I couldn't get an accepted Letter of Intent first.   You may be thinking, why didn't you get an appraisal?  I believe appraisals are more relevant in the residential market than they are here.  An appraisal in its simplest form is a person doing an educated guess based on costs and recent sales within the area.  This park was unique and there was no data from the surrounding area to compare it too, besides the only time an appraisal in necessary is when a bank is involved.  I won't be using bank money for my RV Park purchase.  Why did these owners stay in the game?  If I had to guess, they really enjoyed what they were doing and just got caught up in the game.  They enjoyed the income they were making and let's face it, sometimes we just feel like we're all invincible and age and health issues won't catch us! This property was a development project sitting on 21 acres and listed at $1.5M.  In other words, this was 21 acres of vacant land with one structure on it, but the RV park would need to be developed.  The property itself is well groomed and well taken care of. It seems to be ideal for an RV park.  The seller operates a cash business and according to the seller he does well however none of it is recorded.  Here lies the problem.  Because the seller and I got along very well, respected each other, I did dig in under the sheets on this one.   Why did I do that?  It's simple, I felt, and I still feel there is an opportunity here. What did I do?  I went to the county and presented my future use of the property and got a soft approval to move forward.  I went to my civil engineer that I told you about in Episode 43 – My Civil Engineer Rocks and he validated that because this was in a 100-year flood plain that FEMA would be involved at a much higher cost, and we could potentially lose 1/3 of the property for flood elevations which equates to only 15 acres that are buildable.  If we only have 15 acres, we can no longer get 85 sites on site, we could only get income off of 50 sites and when we compare the income to just the vacant land cost of $1.5M, it's not doable for MY exit strategy of 5 to 7 years and because this is technically not a business.  I have no financial data to move forward.  Something has to give.  In this case, it's the cost of the land.  I believe what this seller is doing is seeing the potential future value after the park has been built and up and running for 3-5 years. Yes, it will be worth much more than his $1.5M. The potential is there, for sure!  However, today it's vacant land.  I certainly don't fault him for seeing his vision.  I can see it too but not at that price.  The numbers don't lie.  anything X 0 = will always be 0. This property has been on the market for some time and the seller isn't in a hurry to sell, but I am hopeful that at the end of the day he finds his win-win solution. This next one is a doosie!  This next 5-acre parcel is owned by a couple, it sits on a nice lake, with 3 boat slips, a marina that sells fuel, Campstore, 16 RV Spots, 6 cottages, 3 park models, they hold fishing tournaments.  The place is immaculate and well taken care of but after it was built spending over $1.5 Million dollars the sellers discovered that they were not good managers.   So here's a guy that could create the vision by hand but can't implement.  Now, I'm not faulting them for their vision but here lies the issue – they have no business income and no financial data, and they want over $2.5 million.  In other words, they got so wrapped up in their vision that once it was built, they didn't know what to do with it – they had no exit strategy.  Remember that RV parks pay twice and, in this order, monthly cash flow and equity when you sell it.  It doesn't happen any other way. Here's a valid case of “If we build it, they will come!”  Open the flood gates - the RV'ers and fishermen are ready to come but there's nowhere to go! Their exit strategy now, they just want to sell.  But once again, there is no business so a bank won't lend a person money on it, so unfortunate for them the people that could afford to buy this would be someone with cash or a bunch of investors go in together to purchase it. The point to this whole episode is make sure you know why, how, and when you want to exit the game.  Exit the game on top, consider your age, and the possibility of health issues in the future and if you know you can build it, but you don't have the people skills or technology skills to manage a property, find that solution before you end up in a bind.   And for God's sake always track your income and expenses – you need great record keeping for a fair selling price and it will save you time during the negotiation process.  I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, I hope you enjoyed this episode.   Catch me later!  Fearless Innovator: My Civil Engineer Rocks on Apple Podcasts

Welcome back!  In this episode we're going to discuss the best ways to fund or invest in an RV park? In Episode 43 – My Civil Engineer Rocks – you learned of 2 development opportunities that I had evaluated.  When working on development projects there are a lot more costs involved.  First, you have to procure the land.  One of those projects cost 1.5M to secure the land only.  2nd you need solid estimates on the cost for development.   That would involve working with the civil engineer and the developer to obtain the costs.  This project had expected projected cost estimates upwards of $2 million dollars. So now you're thinking, where on Earth do you get 3.5 million dollars? And you might be thinking that I have it in my back pocket and the simple answer is no, it's not in my back pocket but I wish it was.   How awesome would it be if I found 1 real estate investor that had that kind of money and was willing to risk everything on my success? I know you're out there; this investor is called an Angel Investor. It's likely that I could find an Angel Investor, but it would take a bit more hunting, so the next best answer is I'd have to raise the capital.  Raising capital although it can be done, and I have friends raising capital right now for a project in Key West is a huge undertaking and you have to have several team members in place.  One of those players would be an SEC Attorney that would help you setup for Syndication.   What does that mean?  It just means that I would have the ability to raise capital from multiple sources.  Hiring an SEC attorney is also another added expense.   For now, and for the costs listed above developing a park may not be in my near future – unless my listeners, now of an Angel Investor? …..I still know of a great development opportunity I'd be willing to partner on!    Let's look at buying an existing park. In the past 2 years, I have evaluated 13 parks and now I'm on my 14th. 8 of those parks I dealt directly with the seller and for different reasons they never came to fruition. I'm going to focus now on the 2nd park I ever evaluated because this park had loads of opportunity's that were missed by the sellers and by me too. This opportunity was in Waycross, GA.  It was 40 acres, that had a 200-person banquet hall, barn, a stage, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The sellers had owned this property for over 40 years and in it's day it was a local attraction.  The seller was getting older and due to health issues wanted to sell this property, but he didn't want to change anything about the Historical features.  I presented making this into an RV park on the undeveloped ground, hosting large events, placing some tiny homes onsite and using the barn as a wedding venue.  He loved the idea, and we began negotiating. The seller wanted $425,000 and I had put together an extensive estimate for the build-out estimating another $2M in costs. I was working with the seller to hold the paper.  What does that mean? I had already predetermined that the seller liked me and my approach, and I knew that the seller owned this property out right, meaning he didn't not have an existing mortgage in place.  And he was in position to make more money off of his investment or so I thought. Balance is $425,000 My offer was this, I would make a down payment of $85K, leaving $340,000 on terms.  My terms were 5-year note on the $340K, amortized over 30 years at 4% interest and the first payment being due 1 year from closing.  I needed the 1 year to turn around the business to start producing income.  This park had been shut down for a couple of years, so I needed time, which effectively 1 year wasn't enough time, but I was up for the challenge.  What were the benefits to the seller for holding the paper? His investment was collateralized by the property.  Meaning if I failed, he gets the property back. He would get 4% on his money over time.  You only get 1% by putting your money in a bank or a CD.  Even IRAs aren't doing that great. We could close quickly as we didn't need to wait on a bank loan for approval.  Let's not forget the tax benefits.  If the seller had received the $425,000 in cash.  At the end of the year, he would have to claim that amount and pay income taxes on it.  Even at 20% that's $85,000 in taxes.  He would save in taxes by just receiving the monthly payments of $2000 or $24,000 for the year.  He'd only pay taxes on the $24,000. One of the sellers' concerns was his health issues, for that a Trust could be setup for future payments should something happen to him before the end of the term. The benefits for me: I didn't have to qualify going through the lengthy bank loan approval process. The loan didn't have to go through underwriting. I could negotiate my own terms.  Banks won't do that. Down payments are also negotiable. Here's the only downside challenge I ran into.  I wasn't just negotiating with the true owner of the property.  There was also a daughter that was looking after the best interests of her father.  The father was all on board, but the daughter was encouraging her father to just take the money and run.  At the end of the day, this encouragement ultimately won. They had decided to pass on my approach, and we parted ways.  I learned several things that day.  One being, I really needed to understand their pain point better.  Perhaps, there was a reason they needed the money, and I didn't fish that out in my due diligence. If I had understood their pain point, I could have solved that problem and perhaps been in a different situation. What made it even worse was to learn that several months almost a year later, the property did sell for their asking amount and the new owners are doing exactly what my plan was. Was I disappointed?  Sure, I was but at the end of the day, I still feel that negotiating terms with a seller is the best option for everyone, making it a win-win solution. I just needed to get better at negotiating. Today, I'm working on a park in TN.  Again, this is another Seller Financing opportunity with a twist.  The twist being there is an existing mortgage in place at a small local bank.  The sellers are open to seller financing, and I can see an opportunity to use the small bank.  My plan is going to be to go establish a relationship with this bank. I love small town banks!  I'm from a small town and it's all about the relationship you hold with them.  Smaller banks are more willing to do business with you because they “know” you.  Big time banks, that I don't like, treat me like I'm a no body.  I'm just a number to them.  I learned this lesson way back in the 80's when I lived in Kansas City.  I realized that my name alone was no longer good.  But if I walked into my hometown bank even today, they know me, my character and are more willing to work with me.  For this park in TN, I plan to approach the sellers with seller financing and the bank may come in useful in the future for an expansion to the park. Another way to fund a park is by using the Small Business Administration – they even have loans specifically for women in business. Here's another win-win opportunity for my listeners.  Have you ever wanted to own an RV park, but you don't want to do the work, but you still get interest payments monthly?    (As a side note, I know of another opportunity that's doing just this.) Well, with every opportunity I've researched, most require down payments. Down payments can generally be $50k to $100K or even more Sometimes, that down payment is more than I have in my pocket and quite frankly I'd be pretty stupid to use my own money anyway because this is an opportunity for you to earn income on money you either have laying around in a savings account (earning nothing) or in an IRA account (earning nothing).   I can't share online what your return would look like because I'm not certified to do so, but I can guarantee your return has the potential to be much higher than you are currently receiving depending on the opportunity, of course.  Rich Dad Poor Dad teaches this very principle.  I'll leave the site in my notes.  I'm Mechiel Kopaska of the Fearless Innovator Podcast, I hope you enjoyed this episode.  Rich Dad Fundamentals: Other People's Money (OPM)

Welcome back!  In this episode of Find your dream RV destination, I'm going to share with you 11 ways to locate your perfect RV destination. When my mom and dad decided in the 90's to get their first camper (back then they weren't called RV's) they wanted to come to Florida for the month of February to visit me because it was my birthday month.  The only source for locating a “campground” was to use the yellow pages or their other option was for me to go drive around and find one.  Dad had predetermined that he wanted to be in the Zephyrhills area. My dad was very resourceful and had done his homework.  He had already learned that there were several parks in that area.  The rest was up to me.  One weekend, I drove up to Zephyrhills and I bet I stopped at 6 parks. I gathered all the pertinent information, pricing, location, amenities, and availability. I reported back to dad and then he made the decision as to which one he and mom would like the best. They had decided on Grove Ridge on US98 for the next 13 years until dad's death in 2007.  They faithfully travelled from Iowa every year for 1 month, except the year dad passed, they were here for 2 months. I remember taking a vacation in a rented motorhome when I was very young.  There was no need to plan for a predetermined stop over for the night, as the parks simply were not full and there were road signs along the interstates telling passersby where the next park was. It's kind of the same thing I say about biking.  We used to bike when biking wasn't cool and now it is.  Well, we used to camp when camping wasn't cool and now everyone wants in!  This isn't just a sport for baby boomers, the millennials love it too! Things have changed!  Now we need to pre-plan our stop overs and book in advance, and I mean in way advance because suddenly RV'ing is cool! So where do we begin our search?  How do we find our perfect RV vacation spot? Let's first figure out what we're looking for.  Are you looking for a campground or an RV park?  Yes, there is a difference and it's often confusing when you're doing internet searches. Typically, campgrounds offer RV Sites and Tent sites, but RV Parks are exclusive to RV sites.  Campgrounds usually have a more casual and relaxed atmosphere where RV parks will offer more premium amenities.  Shoot there are even RV parks just for the premium Motorcoaches, yeah, they are not called motorhomes any longer and there are RV Parks exclusively for Airstreams.  I don't have and probably won't have an Airstream, but I love concept! If you're the baby boomer, you may or may not yet be App or internet savvy, and that's OK, because there are still choices for you! 1).  If you've been traveling for a while, Word of Mouth is a great way to find your next destination. 2). KOA's are still popular.  If you call or stop by one, they will give you a book with all their state destinations and they offer discounts when you join their club. 3).  Everyone has heard of Good Sam.  Good Sam also has a book with all their listings, and you can find their book at Camping World locations.  Who hasn't been to a Camping World for supplies? 4).  Billboards are still popular so be on the lookout as you're travelling busy highways and interstates.  When I get my park, I have a clever idea that I'll be using on a billboard to grab your attention! 5). Here's the best advice yet for the not so savvy internet or App users!  Let's face it, the internet is the probably the most useful tool at finding an RV Park so, don't be afraid of it, just ask your kid or your grandchild for assistance!  I know they will gladly help grandma or grandpa and ta dam they will enjoy hunting and booking your winter trip to Florida! 6).  Here's another helpful hint I bet you don't know anything about this site.   This will require your kid or grandchild's help.  Did you know that you can find RV spots for free across the US?  YES, you can! Have Susie go look up www.boondockerswelcome.com. You will pay a very small nominal fee to join, but this site gives you access to over 2909 + camp stays with NO camping fees.  The best part is you'll get to stay for 1 night free of charge at cool places like wineries, someone's farm stay or perhaps on someone's beachfront property with an awesome sunset view.  I know, you're saying, what's the catch, right?  There is no catch!  It's true that if you stay at a winery for a night, you may indulge and purchase a glass of wine, maybe the farm stay offers homemade soaps that you can purchase for a nominal fee.  You will meet amazing, gracious people across the US.   This option will require you to preplan your trip across the US as I'm sure most of these places stay busy – so plan ahead!  I'm planning on doing this at my farm.  I won't be selling anything (yet) so it's a complete free stay, but you'll need to deal with 2 very friendly Iowan's that love entertaining! Ok, for the Millennials – here we go!  It's all about the internet and Apps for you because you like Glamping – or glamorous style of camping which means you want all the amenities (electric, water, etc.) while sleeping in luxury but still enjoying the outdoorsy feel. Glamping site locations can often be found on RV Sites.  Here are several types of glamping, perhaps you want to find a Tee Pee stay or a tiny home stay.  These are typically individuals that placed a Tee Pee or Tiny home on their property and offer a stay for a nightly fee.  There are also Tiny Home developments popping up all over the country, but I haven't really located one because I haven't looked for Tiny Home at a daily rate, I usually see people living in them.  Here are a few of my favorites. 7) Campspot - Offers RV Sites as well as Glamping sites. 8) Campendium - You can find Caravan Parks or Unique RV Camping sites. 9) HipCamp – Offers outdoor stays, cabins, RV Parks, and Glamping 10) Airbnb and VRBO – also offer unique glamping stays, as well as unique camping stays. 11) GORving.com You can find Tiny Homes, Bungalows, RV Spots and Fish Camps. There you have it folks!  I just laid out part of my marketing strategy for when I get my park.  One day soon, you will see my park on these sites!  I hope you found this information useful.  If you know of another site or information I missed, I would be interested in adding it to my list!  Please reach out to me at Info@fearlessinnovator.com Catch me later!   References: Boondockers.com BoonDockers Book for Free Camp Florida has a book - Florida RV Parks & Campgrounds KOA has a book - KOA Good Sam - Good Sam Camping World - Camping World Airstream - Airstream of Tampa Campspot - Campspot Campendium - Campendium HipCamp - HipCamp Airbnb - Airbnb - RV's, Cottages, Bungalows  VRBO - Vrbo Cabins, Cottages, Bungalows, RV  GoRving.com - Find a Campground | Go RVing

Over that past several months, I have been trying to determine if I want to develop an RV park or purchase an existing RV park.  Today, for the most part, I'm still undecided. Here's why.  It all depends on what makes the most sense from a resource, financial and management perspective.  The team I need for development is much more than if I just purchase a park. Option 1 – I could develop a park; it will take quite a bit more time until my books see green and I'm pretty sure that won't fit my timeframe for my exit strategy.  There are numerous other factors to consider, I would need to add additional team members to my team, how much money will I need to fund a development project, where will these funds come from, and who will I get to develop and manage all the city, county, state regulations for the park?   While I believe I'm capable of managing a team from a high level, I would need an extensive team to pull that off.  One team member I have already added to my team is a Civil Engineer.  I'm not going to share his information here as I have not asked for permission to use his name or the company he is associated with simply because I have not yet engaged with him at a contractual level because I haven't found “THE DEAL” that I'm looking for. However, when I do engage with him at a contractual level in the future, I will ask his permission.  Option 2 - I can always purchase an existing park.  My best scenario would be to buy an existing park that needs work and perhaps there's the ability to expand on adjoining acres.  This option would give me the best of both worlds - developing and operating. Option 3 – Buy an existing park.  Perhaps, I can find a mom-and-pop park that's already up and running located here in Central Florida that's just plain tired of working with the public and they are ready to retire. I'm going to share with you a couple of development opportunities that I have recently evaluated.  Development Opportunity 1 – This property was centrally located in Florida in an area that was heavily travelled.  The location itself would draw in the people.  It was an 80-acre parcel, that had been subdivided off from an existing RV Park. Back in the day, one owner owned the whole property, and his plan was to build a much larger park than the one that exists now.  This owner went as far as hiring a Civil Engineer to draw up the Master Site Plan for the 80 acres.  Upon my review of the Master Site Plan, it appeared to be doable. I'm thinking, this property has potential, as part of the battle with water, electric and septic had already been won.  Upon further inspection of the Master Site Plan, I noticed the name of   the Civil Engineer, so I called him.  He was quite helpful and offered to get me original copies of the Master Plan and then he gave me this useful tidbit.  He told me that the existing park had an HOA.  This was significant because according to the Master Site Plan the only way to access the 80 acres behind this HOA was to drive through the HOA and use their well-manicured roadways.   This meant we would need the HOA's permission to have construction vehicles and future RV's traveling through their development.  Then when I asked him if he'd like to take on this project, he simply replied, no.  Hmm? I believe he had said no because he had indicated that he was at retirement age, and he was very picky on the opportunities he worked on.  Nonetheless, I was still curious, and my driving nature wouldn't have me stop here.  I am the type of person that needs concrete evidence or a complete roadblock before I call it quits. Now, that I had a lot of documentation in hand, I reached out to my civil engineer for his high-level review and opinion. Before I dive into that, I would like to share that this Civil Engineer that I'm working with came to me as a referral as being the best there is.   Why? Its simple, he has extensive knowledge and experience with RV park developments and is well seasoned at his craft.  You will learn that much later in another episode. I gathered all my documentation and sent it via email over to my civil engineer. His initial review yielded that this property was within the 100 Year Flood plane.  This would complicate the design and require extensive research meaning a costly Feasibility Study amongst other costs and it would reduce the number of RV spots from the original plan which would impact future projected revenues. What I haven't told you yet, that on this project I was working with an investor, who would ultimately fund this deal. I gave my investor the direct feedback and for whatever reason, he wanted to continue to do more research. Ok, so I kept digging! From here, I pointed out to the engineer that there was an HOA in place with the current RV Park and that the only access point was through this HOA.  I thought that since this parcel was so large, then maybe we could locate another possible access point.  I asked the engineer if he could validate moving the access point to another location, therefore avoiding the HOA. The result as expected, there were no other access points anywhere on the property due to low lying water areas.  He then told me that the HOA will most likely stand in the way of further development.  As we both knew, the development had been planned at one point in time, but now the HOA had the control. My investor would now have to sue the HOA to gain the necessary access. After reviewing the roadblocks of suing the HOA and dishing out a lot more money than expected, the investor was out. Now, I understand why the initial Civil Engineer did not want to play this game. Development Opportunity 2 – As with each I property I evaluate.  I not only determine my exit strategy, I determine the best use of the property.  The last project I just mentioned would have been a Destination Park – meaning people will come to stay here for longer periods of time.  This next project I considered would have been what I'd call an overnight park – simply because of its location. This is a 21-acre parcel sitting right in the cross hairs of 3 major highways but by my own definition it's out in the boonies which makes this property attractive for several reasons.  It's quiet, rural and an easy stop over for snowbirds heading to their destination park. Another unique feature of this property was that it has an existing 3500 sq ft building that was currently being used to host large events such as music festivals, car shows and other local events. I worked directly with the owner on this project.  Let me just say, that I wish every owner/seller was like him.  He was kind, easy to work with and he gave me the time I needed to make an informed decision.  I always kept him the loop with all my actions, and he did the same. My vision for this project was to take the remaining acres, call it 21 acres minus the building and develop an RV park with the possibility of putting a convenient store onsite. Let's face it, the nearest town was 10 miles away.  This project also came with a predetermined Master Site Plan and a Topographical Survey that was years old and had been drawn up by a prior landowner. I knew that in talking with the current owner, that this property was already zoned C3 -commercial for the RV park but I may need to meet with the County Zoning department, if I intended to change the use.   Off to the county I went.  To make this story short, I dropped off a letter that I had created to describe what I wanted to do and the positive impacts it would have for the county, in hopes that someone would call me.  I didn't get a call, but I did have the opportunity to have a Zoom meeting with the Zoning Director and her assistant.  After presenting my idea, she soft approved me.  Meaning, she was allowing me to move forward with the 10 Step Special Use process that would ultimately put me in front of the Board of Directors for approval.  That didn't scare me, I used to present for CEO's and CFO's back in my IT days. My next step was to once again, pass this along to my civil engineer and at this point I did not yet have the topographic survey. Upon his initial review, he said it would require re-zoning and work regarding the flood stage, but he would need the topographic survey. Upon his review of the Survey, he found that the elevations of this property were several feet below the 100-year event.  This just meant that any buildings, septic systems, or water systems would have to be 1 ft above the elevations or 3' to 5' above the current elevations.   I clarified with the engineer, you're just saying this is not cost effective, but what if someone had enough money to jump that obstacle?  He then pointed out that yes, money solves that problem, but it doesn't solve that you now no longer have 21 acres to build.  Due to the fact, that the elevation was taken away then that increased the ingress and egress, which ultimately means that the future income projections I calculated for 75 RV sites just dropped to under 55 sites.  This means that it would take longer to see the profits.  This didn't fit within my exit strategy timeframe.  So now, I was out. I really had high hopes for that project, but the numbers don't lie but I must say, I really enjoyed working with the seller and I really do pray he finds what he's looking for.  He has the right attitude and I'm certain it will work out for him. I'm also very thankful for the referral I got for the Civil Engineer and the opportunity to one day soon engage with my Civil Engineer.  As it is, he has gone above and beyond to help me out! For the record – developing an RV Park does not scare me. In its simplest form it's nothing more than playing in the dirt and burying some water and electric lines.  Shoot, I'd even drive the bulldozer!  With every opportunity I review, I gain more knowledge and one day, I'll be ready to implement! If you know someone that is selling an RV park or maybe they are just tired of dealing with the public, please reach out to me at Info@fearlessinnovator.com or go to fearlessinnovator.com to connect with me. 

Every January, since I don't know when, Tampa has hosted the Tampa RV Super Show.  I believe it's called a Super Show because all the heavy hitters are in town.  Who are the heavy hitters?   General RV, Lazy Days, Camping World and Airstream of Tampa to name a few.  All of which are centrally located here east of Tampa on I4.  If you want to know anything RV, this is a show you must go too.  Even if you don't have an RV (yet), it's still a must go show!  If all you get out of it is dreaming that one day you could own a Class A Motorcoach or a more conservative pull behind trailer or you're looking for something to haul your golf cart or motorcycles in, this show will knock your socks off!  This outfit that put this on, knows what everyone is looking for. Everyone that goes, has their own purpose in mind.  I first went years ago to evaluate all types of RV's to match my need.   I went looking for a Fifth Wheel Toyhauler. You get to compare all manufacturers designs and new features.   The manufacturers also have their RV units on discount, so if you're looking to buy this may be a great place to hunt for your next RV.  I would be lying to you, if I didn't tell you the real reason I go. I go for the Kettle Corn!  Every Iowan, loves popcorn and my favorite it Kettle Corn!  This year, we were so focused on why were there,  I completely forgot about the Kettle Corn – nor did we even smell it!  I know it was there, I saw someone eating it!  I should have stopped and asked but I didn't.  You'll have to wait and see towards the end of this broadcast to see what my number 1 thing I learned at the Tampa RV Super Show! Why did we go to the Tampa RV Super Show?  We went specifically to learn more about RV parks.  How did we do that?  We talked to a lot of people!  We got so wrapped up in talking to people that we closed the place down, and in fact, we should have gone back for a 2nd day but we simply didn't have enough time. I'm going to list out our take aways! First off, let's talk about where is everyone coming from?  Well, unless you're like me and you just walk up to someone and start talking to them to find out, just check out the parking lot! I counted 10 state license plates including Canada as we were walking into the show. I'm sure there were others.   Of course, everyone is from the North, LOL.  Here are the states I saw Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, New York, Maine, Michigan, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin and drum roll please……Alaska and then of course, there was Canada. These same states have appeared in the RV parks that I've visited.  Funny how Iowa doesn't have a grand appearance. I attribute this to Iowan's like to go to Texas and Arizona for the winter, along with Minnesota and Missouri, must the the Mississippi divide.  LOL  I don't know. These same states visit my short term rentals.  So for me, it's safe to say I'm confident where I'll be marketing in the future! When you first walk into the RV Show, they conveniently route you through the Airstream display.  It's a red carpet display and it's inside out of the weather!  The day we went it was blistering cold, so it made it nice inside.  Airstream revealed it's new eStream Concept Travel Trailer – what is that?  Think about the green energy Tesla – same concept but in an RV.  I'll leave the link so you can see it for yourself.  My takeaway from this is a no brainer, I'll need to research what type of connections they are using for the Electric hookups.  Hmmm. Once you move along the red carpet you now enter one of the 3 vendor rooms.  OH, the vendors and let me tell you, this is where the bulk of everyone hangs out except if you're RV shopping.  Why?  Some vendors offer Free Stuff, if you sign up for there newsletter.   I don't typically like to collect junk mail, so we only collected 2 free items.   1 was a fly swatter!  Every RV'er needs a fly .swatter, so this was a useful free thing.  As luck would have it this same vendor which I'll share in a moment also gave us a free T-shirt.  That I'll either sleep in or work in.  I'm always on the hunt for a good t-shirt. This Vendor, RVezy caught my eye because they offer a service, where I can advertise my RV on their site for rent.  In other words, it's kinda like a short term rental, but you're renting out your RV.  You might have this awesome mountain view where you could allow someone to come stay in your personal RV.  This was attractive to me, because we just put in 100amp service in our front yard and soon we will hosting RV Farm Stays or they can even rent out the RV space and bring their own.  This is also applicable to RV Parks, it may be an option where we purchase  RV's and place them in our parks for rent.  This would allow those who have not yet decided to purchase their own camper but it would give them the experience first!  Then they could decide. Here's something else about RVezy we found quite entertaining, it's their logo on their T-shirt.  It features a picture of a camper on the front of the shirt and it says – “I Sleep Around”.  We definitely thought that was a catchy marketing strategy!  I'll post a picture in the notes.  Another cool thing I saw this year, is a lot of vendors starting sharing their own QR Codes on their booths.  This allowed you to download either an app or information about their products.  So if you're the shy type and don't like interacting with people or don't want to get stuck talking to a sales person, you click and keep strolling.  I did this at Camp Florida.  I didn't need to talk with anyone to download an App that basically has a bunch of RV parks listed in their app.  This was interesting to me, because I want to see parks that may be new or it may list a park that I missed in my google search, as I search for a mom and pop park that may want to sell.  This app just made it a lot easier for me to locate a park in the area that I'm looking to purchase in.  And this just became a site that when I get my park, I'll be marketing it! Cool stuff!!    I told you from the beginning, you can go to a show and learn a lot!! As I continue, my search to find my ideal RV park in Florida, I like looking at what other RV parks have to offer.  We ran across a display that was advertising a new RV park in Webster, FL that we hadn't heard anything about.   We collected the information on Oak Valley RV Resort as we will be booking a stay with them in the very near future.  When you go to their website, the first thing you see is a YouTube video on their new Fiber Service.  They know that a lot of RV'ers today need or want great WIFI service, as a lot of RV'ers today are full timers and work from the RV, so they tout their new fiber service.  It was interesting to learn how they setup their fiber service, reminded me of my old IT days. What is your favorite RV app that you use to locate a park with all of your needs?  Please email me at info@fearlessinnovator.com! Ok, listeners, you gotta help me out with this one.  A lot of newer parks are starting to add Pickleball courts.   Just to keep this real, I have not yet played pickleball to understand the draw to this game. Believe me, I am the competitive type and if I could have played basketball all my life I would have, if I could have earned a living.  Sorry, I digress but here's the deal.  I can't tell you how many RV parks that I've been in and I have yet to see ANYONE playing pickleball!  Quite frankly, I really don't understand it either.  I mean the average age of RV'ers years ago was 69, it's closer to 49 these days.  Along with age comes knees and hip problems, ask me how I know! I just don't see RV'ers getting into Pickleball.  Give me your feedback on this one, because I truly want to know if pickleball is something you all are interested in.  If I get compelling evidence that you all enjoy this, then I'll consider adding it to my park but for now I'm going to hold off. Please email me at Info@fearlessinnovator.com. After a couple of hours in the vendor hall, we ventured outside to go look at all the new designs and features the manufactures had to offer.  WOW! Not only were the upgrades fantastic but there were new manufacturers there that focused on green technology.  There were manufacturers focused on newer travelers on a budget.  Some units even had a tent on one side for the kids and inside was for the adults.  The point is they have RV's, Coaches for your desired purpose and all shapes and sizes. As we were turning the corner looking at the tons of RV's, out of the corner of my eye, I see a guy carrying a camera and filming who I believed to be his wife.  I said to myself, that looks like a YouTuber.  So beings the shy person that I am I walked over to them and say, “that just reeked of YouTube!”  The girl giggled and said, yes, we actually a host a YouTube channel.   I said, that's too funny, then she said the name of it is, Enjoy the Journey.  I said, cool.  She then went on to ask us questions about our journey in RV'ing and once she learned that we were full timers and said could you mind sharing a bit of your story and then giving us credit for the show.  Of couse, I said yes. So we did a little segment.  That was fun!  In complete transparency, I had never heard of the Enjoy the Journey and this was just a complete random event that occurred, I wasn't star struck or anything like that.  I now subscribe to their show!  They have over 158,000 subscribers.  Who knew? Another little tidbit for clarity, we actually ran into these folks at a much smaller RV show, it wasn't the Tampa Super Show but I thought it was worthy of telling you. I can't tell you how many people we ran into that day at the Tampa RV Show but I will tell you about 2 of my favorites.  When I say, we ran into them, they actually ran into me.  I have this tendency to check out what you're wearing, and if you have something that I either recognize or just happen to know something I about, I will strike up a conversation with you.   So Kurt and I were in line to get something to drink and I see this couple, their doggie a German Short Hair had on a sweater that matched the guys hat!  It said, they were Iowa Hawkeye fans, well you bet I hollered out, GO IOWA! The guy smiled and then I asked where they were from and they were from Eastern Iowa – and of course, they were super friendly, just like all Iowans!  We actually hung out with them for several hours and then the guy says, hey, you want to go see the RV we picked out, of course we said Sure.  So they took us to the Road Warrior by  HeartlandRVs – (heartland, go figure!)  The specific module was RW414 – I'll put the link in my notes.  Gosh, when Kurt and I looked at this module, we immediately went into dream mode.  This module fits our needs to a T.  It's a toyhauler with plenty of room for the bikes, the kitchen has a lot more space than our current one, the seating area is comfortable for 4 people to sit and visit, our current module, not so much.  The best feature was the KING bed vs. our now cozy queen bed, but even better there was room to walk around the bed.  Keeping this in perspective, we were just dreaming and we will afford a change much later down the road.  We are comfortable for now.  Although, I will tell you that in comparison to other models from other manufacturers, the discounts with this one was worth considering! I decided to poll this couple and find out what they most desired at an RV park.  Here are their top 2 choices.  Pool was their number 1 and number 2 was to have plenty of activities and the activities did not include Pickleball.  Bingo, oh I didn't mean play BINGO… I meant, see I can't find anyone that likes it. Help me out here, what's your favorite feature that you look for in an RV park?  I'll give you hint what mine is as I work out of my RV – it's high speed internet with as many WIFI connections that I can get.  Our RV has 3 TV's, 2 cell phones and 1 computer – so I need at least 6 connections!  Later on I noticed an older gentleman with a Jimmie Johnson hat and shirt on, now of course, Jimmie had been my number one driver in Nascar, since 2002, he's since retired so I found it interesting that this gentleman was still representing.  I approached him and Said, so how's Jimmie Johnson doing these days?  He jokingly said, maam, I got this shirt at a garage sale!  I really didn't follow him. We were more into drag racing.   Man, I got a chuckle out of that.  We learned that they were ‘good' bikers back in the 70's when biking wasn't cool.  He said we didn't hang with them gangs, you know.  I said, oh yes, I know all about that.  They were at the show looking for their next RV.  Super cool couple. Now, my favorite thing I learned at the show, may not be sexy to you, but it sure lit me up!  While we were in the 2nd vendor hall, I think.  We ran across CampSpot.  Campspot is the software that many parks use to manage not only their camping store inventory but their RV spots.  They have unique algorithms that can move your RV spot inventory around to wisely manage the inventory most efficiently!  While we were in Waukee, Iowa this summer at Timberline Campground the park owner there Marta had told me about CampSpot so I actually saw a demo of it in action and I was able to bang some ideas around with Marta.  So to run into them at this event, was epic!  There were 2 ladies in the booth, one focused on marketing their product and the other lady was very helpful as she was on their development team.  It's not that often that a company will client face a member of it's development staff, developers are usually not client facing and they do their best work when everyone else is sleeping…..so I took advantage of the opportunity and shared with her the IT specific functionlity that I would like to have at my park.  I bet I pelted her with 20-30 different ideas.  As expected, she'd have to take my ideas back to the development staff, but I did learn more about how their software worked and some possible work arounds that may work for the functionality that I'd need.  This encounter just made my day and made me hopeful that my park design one day will become reality. That concluded our Tampa RV Super Show experience, remember if  you have any great ideas you'd like to see in an RV Park, I'm your girl.  Reach out to me at info@fearlessinnovator.com, I'd love to share your ideas or may be even interview you on a future show! I'll see you next Thursday on the Fearless Innovator Podcast. 2022 Florida RV SuperShow  General RV Lazydays RV Camping World Airstream of Tampa Florida eStream Concept Travel Trailer | Airstream Electrifying Adventure RVezy Camp Florida RV Parks and Campgrounds Oak Alley Resort EnjoyTheJourney.Life Road Warrior - Heartland RVs Campspot  Timberline Campground | RV Park RVEzy – T-shirt  

Good morning, I bet you've all been wondering where did that Fearless Innovator, go? Right?  Well, I owe, YOU, my listeners a huge apology and I think you can tell by the sound of my voice, that I've not been feeling well.  Yup, I caught the dreaded virus 3 weeks ago and it knocked me down.  I mostly suffered with absolutely no energy, even after 3 weeks I'm crawling back.  This episode will be short today. I really tried to produce content, I promise you I did,  but I just couldn't get my brain wrapped around it.  So, for that I'm very sorry for the lateness of my show but rest assured I have been working behind the scenes on producing my next content. You all know that I want to own an RV park by now, so my next few shows are going to focus on RV Parks and I even have one very interesting character who's  a friend of mine.  She's going to share with us her RV journey.  Her name is Melia Jacobs and her RV is called Lilo – yes, she names her camper and she works out of Lilo.  I can't wait to share her story with you! I also recently went to the Tampa RV Show (prior to being sick!) and I specifically went there to investigate everything RV Park and I even polled a couple of the guests to find out what they like and don't like in RV parks.  In the last several months, I've been evaluating a couple of properties that I was hopeful could be turned into an RV park, so I'll share with you my experiences and where I'm at today with them. Again, I'm very sorry for my lateness and thank you for following me..  I'm now back on track!

In this episode Put my money where my mouth is – you'll learn that you'd better say what you mean and mean what you say or those around you will call you out! In episode 38 New Goals for 2022 I mentioned Quit Telling yourself you don't have enough time, to get up early if you have too and go to bed early & find your mojo. Two weeks ago Kurt came up to me and said, I listened to your podcast where your advice was to get up early and go to bed early, and he said why aren't you doing that?  And I said, “well I got up early on Monday and I completed the bulk of the heavy tasks I needed to complete all before 8am! – Like that was going to impress him.  Well, it didn't.  Because the rest of the week, I didn't get up early.  He said, so what happened to the rest of the week?  This made me stop and think.  The root cause in my head was I didn't have anything to focus on that would drive me out of my warm bed.   Then he said, instead of going to the gym 3 days a week, why don't you go 5 times a week, that will force you out of bed.  I said, “ok”.  So last week I did go to the gym 5 days a week.   However, in my head this issue is still not resolved.  I do wake up early now meaning I don't fall back to sleep when Kurt leaves in the morning, but I still don't have  a great routine nailed down. I also think that my routines got a little out of whack when life events happened and I'm not making excuses here but there's been a lot of change and new distractions in my life over the past several months and I think, I just lost my focus and I needed a reset.   I think by having Kurt hold me accountable, brought this issue to light and now I can regain my focus and get back on track.  Thank you, Kurt!! Then a couple of days ago I was listening to Shawn Yesner's Crushing Debt Podcast  Episode 305 Always Sharpen Your Saw he mentioned that he too get's up early in the morning when there are no distractions and reads for 30-45 minutes to start his day.  This routine lead him to read 52 books last year.  That's 1 book a week!  What a great accomplishment! That just inspired me even more to get up early!  Here's the take away for me.  I like to read in the mornings too, right before I head into the gym.  But now instead of listening to Nickleback every day when I'm on what I call the eucalyptus (elliptical) machine I'm now listening to my favorite podcasts.  I'm a serial learner to so I think I'm going to love this change!  Thank you Kurt and Shawn for the inspiration. Ok, this next call out stung like a bumble bee.  This one hurt but I loved it at the same time! I'm fortunate enough to be an Inner Circle member of a Real Estate mentoring team hosted by Tyler and Jill Sheff – you know the Cash Flow Guy or now known for teaming up with Michael Marino and putting together Key West Cashflow opportunities. This is a quaint small group, we've been together now for 2 years and we watch how everyone on the team, over time has grown and prospered in their in their business or real estate adventure.  We have one note investor, 2 small business owners, Michael and Tyler are focused on multifamily/short term rental opportunities in Key West and I'm focused on owning or developing an RV park. No matter what everyone is focused on, each one of us learn from the other members every week.  All of our sessions are recorded so that we can go back and review the content.  Each one of us is encourgaged to help the others out when the content is relevant.  We also post our topics of discussion prior to our meeting time so that Tyler and Jill can be prepared for what we want to discuss. It was my turn to have the floor and this I was giving the status of an RV park development project that I've been working on and we were discussing the marketing I was doing.  Quite frankly, I told the team I wasn't getting the result I needed in my marketing.  My marketing quite frankly wasn't aligning with my true desire to own or develop RV park.  Tyler even spoke up and said, you're marketing is boring.  I agreed 100% and put the kabosh on my marketing efforts.  That's not to say, that my marketing won't come back in another form, I'm just switching gears. Then, Michael unmuted himself and ever so stoickly with no emotion said, Mechiel, I'm curious if you're really into RV Parks, why aren't you going to RV parks?  He went on to say, I think of you like a gypsy because aren't you living in your RV right now?  I'm not sure what my facial expression was at that moment,(but I intend on reviewing that recording) but I can tell you my heart stopped.  I said to myself, he just called me out and he's right!  I let him finish my perceived digging at me and my response was well you're right I can easily be a gypsy but I'm no longer an I and I have to consider that I'm a we but to your point, I will see what I can do and I'll talk with Kurt tonight.   Michael went on to say, your houses are a both on short term rental so why not go stay at an RV park?  Perhaps you'll find an owner that wants to sell or at least you'll learn more about what RV'ers want in an RV park.  Why the heck didn't I think of this, is all I could think!  This was such an easy solution and it was right in front of me.  How did I miss that??? The next day, I got to thinking about what Michael did without him even knowing what he had done.  I said to myself, I'm going to reach out to him and let him know, how grateful I was for him to speak up and call me out. As expected, he had no idea what he done, but I thanked him for pushing me and calling me out! Within the next few weeks, after a few things calm down and we can “get” a reservation at a local park, we are out of here!  My goal is to do what I do best – go talk or interview folks on what they like about RV parks and what they dislike and I'll be talking with the park owners too, much like I did this summer in Iowa when I met Marta at Timberline Campground in Waukee. By the end of the summer, I'm sure she was tired of me but I learned a lot from her.  So I'm off to research and find a park to visit!  I'll see you next Thursday on the Fearless Innovator Podcast.   Key West Cash Flow - Key West Cash Flow   Tyler Sheff and Michael Marino Crushing Debt Podcast - Episode 305 - Always Sharpen the Saw  Timberline Campground - Timberline Campground | RV Park 

For anyone wanting to get into real estate, you must know that real estate is a team sport.   I'm thankful  for my high school years when I participated in team sports.   I never realized that lessons I learned on the basketball court would come in handy one day in business.  If you think about it it's where I learned discipline, how to be a leader, structure, hard work pays off and strengths and weaknesses.  Without the “team” we could have never made it to the Iowa State Basketball tournament.  I had one position and I did it well.  My team mates had their strengths and they did them well.  Without each other, we could have never defeated the number one top seated team at the state tournament in 1982.   It's the same way in real estate, I have my strengths and weaknesses but you also need to surround yourself with skills that you dont have.  Even though I started in real estate pretty much on my own,  I wouldn't advise that. I can look back now and realize I did a lot of things wrong. When I started in real estate, I really stumbled into it when my friend Patsy, needed to sell her townhouse. I have this tendency and it's not a great tendency  by the way, to just go into a project head first without even thinking about what I'm doing, hence the Fearless Innovator.  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be where I'm at today without that attitude but I tend to overlook a lot of risks early on and just tackle the risks when they happen.  I do realize too, that every issue has a solution. As time went on, I graduated from being a landlord to flipping houses, then I bought commercial property then I became a lender and today I'm looking for an RV Park. It really depends on what swim lane in real estate you choose to be in as to what kind of team you need to build. For example:  When I was flipping houses, I needed a team that I could manage through the process of actually doing the work, so I hired a contractor for all the permits I needed to pull, I hired floor specialists such as tile and carpet, plumbers, electricians, roofers, AC technician's, etc.    Here's the key, I always hired a team player for the strengths, not their weaknesses.  If my end goal was to complete a flip within 4 months, I never hired a person that wasn't skilled at the talent I needed complete in other words if someone told me, yeah, I've laid tile before. That would never fly with me, I wanted the skilled talent on my team. When I bought the 8-unit multifamily apartment, I knew that I could manage it by myself, but I wasn't willing to give up that much time and let's face it there are a lot of laws that I just wasn't that familiar with and I wasn't willing to risk what I didn't know, so I hired a skilled property manager to handle the day to day stuff. Now, when I became a lender well, this changed the rules too and even before I became a lender, I added Real Estate Attorney Shawn Yesner to my team.   Shawn has become a critical member of my team and critical to my success, as an investor.  Since bringing him on he has helped me structure and secure the sale of my 8 unit complex.  Not only does he know the law well, he has the ability to break things down for me.    He has successfully structured a wrap around mortgage on one of real estate deals. Then there are times when you need a real estate lawyer to defend your position.  Shawn has also assisted me in enforcing agreements and holding others accountable for their role in a real estate deal.  Most people frown on real estate attorney's when in reality they should embrace them as they are another team member and critical to your success. In Episode 37 – Reflecting on 2021 you learned that I fired my CPA! Well, that wasn't the first time I fired my CPA it was actually the 2nd time!  I first added a CPA to my team when I could no longer do my own taxes.  When could I no longer do my taxes?  When my status changed from just W2 income to W2 and passive income.  In other words, it was in 2000 when I was still working my J.O.B and I had my first rental property.  I didn't realize back then that not all CPA's are real estate focused CPA's.  It wasn't until I really started to learn more about real estate that my CPA should be a real estate focused CPA.  The really bad news is it took me a long time to realize that my current CPA was doing me no favors.  How did I figure this out?  I had a real estate focused CPA review my prior years taxes and what I learned was that my current CPA left money on the table and gave it to the IRS.  Yeah, not so happy so I quickly made the change and hired the new CPA.  The new CPA only lasted 2 years.  Why?  Well, there comes a time I think when people just get too comfortable and their egos' take over.  So, lets just say we just didn't align anymore so that CPA was fired and now I believe John Hartung, PC is skilled, well rounded, real estate focused and well structured.  The point is here, it's ok to remove players off your team if they are no longer supporting your end goal. Now, I'm building my team as I focus on my RV park. The foundation of my team is in place.  I have Shawn Yesner as my Real Estate Attorney and John Hartung as my CPA.  I've secured my Civil Engineering team and I've begun the relationships necessary at the county level. Just to give you a quick update – in Last Week's Episode 38 – New Goals for 2022 you learned that my goal for 2022 is that I will have an RV park by the end of the year.  Well, as luck would have it, I have identified a park in North Florida.  Well, it's not a park today but it will be tomorrow.  I'm currently working with the owner on negotiating on how this deal may play out.  This would be a development project with expected up to 81 RV sites.   The location is situated perfectly between busy highways and I believe it's the perfect size for my first development project!  I'm currently working with an investor but no deals have been made yet!   So, if anyone out there is interested in learning more about investing in this RV Park Venue, I'll gladly entertain any and all interested parties, but you better hurry! I'll see you next Thursday on the Fearless Innovator Podcast.   Shawn Yesner - Yesner Law John R Hartung – Jhartungcpa@gmail.com

It's a new year, I have new energy and a new focus.  Every year about this time I sit down and write out my goals for the year.  I've been doing this for a long time!  I can tell you this, not always do I accomplish my goals that year but at some point I do accomplish them.  It's most rewarding when I can go back and cross them off my list.  I was also not great at spelling out exactly how I would accomplish those goals, but for some reason as long as I kept them in my mind and always thinking about them, they all would eventually come to fruition.  In my last episode of Refecting on 2021, I told you that I never make resolutions. That's true!  I feel like you're just setting yourself up for failure.  Instead, I focus on the action of what it takes to reach that goal.   Each year, I focus on a business, personal and spirtual goal. I don't overcomplicate it.  I try to make it achievable.  Last year, my focus was to bring 2 Short Term Rentals online, maintain my health status(my last checkup was excellent – my cardiologist wanted to know what I was doing because my tests were better than the prior year!)  and I committed to attend church and small groups regularly. What actually happened was way more than I planned for! 2 short term rentals Got to travel in my RV for 3 months Went to Laconia NH for Bike Fest Started Podcasting Got engaged! Here are 6 things I've done in the past that may help you focus on your new goals. 1).   Quit making resolutions!  Make solid goals and work at your goals, daily, monthly and weekly. 2).  I used to be a diet coke-aholic.  Instead of saying, I quit drinking Diet Coke.  I did this instead.  I quit buying diet coke and replaced it with Green Tea.  I haven't drank a diet coke or any soda for that matter for over 10 years.  It's simply not a part of my diet any longer! 3).  Exercising has become a priority.  My dad died of the widow maker – which is essentially a silent killer.  When I went to my cardiologist I discovered I have the same silent killer.  One of his recommendations was to work out.  Most people will make the goal to go to the gym to workout so they can loose weight.  I don't!  First I'm encouraged to go because health reasons and honestly, my body will tell me if I've mistreated it.  Here's the way I think about it.  My plan is to go to the gym at least 3 times a week.  If I can't go to the gym, I get on my bicycle – something that maintains action on a consistent basis for my body.  I never park close to any store, I will walk.  The key here is to be consistent.  I never focus on my weight! I focus on routine and being consistent!  Guess what happens?  The weight falls off! 4). Develop daily routines – I know what I'm doing each day the night before.  At the end of each day, I write down what it is that I'm going to accomplish the next day.  The next day, after completing the tasks – my day is complete.  These tasks are all related to my goals for the year.  The key here again is to stay consistent! 5).  Quit telling yourself you don't have enough time.  That's bull pucky!  Make the time, get up early if you have too, go to bed early and find your mo-jo!  I'm not talking about coffee with a bunch of creamer either!  Get moving our bodies were meant to stay in motion, not lay around and be lazy! 6).  Get great sleep!  Sleep is critical.  Get the 7-8 hours our bodies need.  I know if I've slept good, it's gonna be a great day! I believe that for the reasons I mentioned above I feel young or maybe I'm just telling myself I'm younger than what my calendar age is.  Now you're wondering, OK, Mechiel what are you going to focus on next year, right?  Well, I'm glad you asked! You know how they always say that in order to learn something new, you have to step outside your comfort zone???  Well, I'm going to step way outside my comfort zone and I'm going to hang on ledge – no I'm not going rock climbing but it may feel like it to me. For my personal goal – I will be getting married!  Prior to the marriage Kurt and I will be attending a couples group at Grace Family Church.  Once the class is complete, we will have a small wedding and then we're going to Hawaii for our honeymoon.  Spirtual Goal – Kurt and I will continue to attend GFC weekly, attend couples small groups and volunteer.  I will also be attending the Beautiful Conference for Women February 4th and 5th at Grace Family Church.  I highly encourage this for all women – the speaker this year is Lisa Harper.  She's a hilarious story teller!  You will laugh so hard your stomach will hurt. Business Goal – OK, here's the big ta dah!  What I haven't yet talked about on my podcast is what I'm doing behind the scenes of my podcast and behind my real estate transactions.  For the past 2 years, I have been traveling between GA and anywhere north of Tampa doing research on RV Parks. Collectively, I have worked with at least 6 sellers and visited over 30 RV parks.  Why?  Because I made a goal a long time ago to own an RV park and this year I'm going to make it happen!  Ever since my mom and dad stayed in an RV park in Dade City, I've wanted to own one!  NOW is the time! I have gained enough knowledge over the past 2 years, to know what I want, how it's going to work, where I want it and why I want ite and who's going to help me. I wasn't able to negotiate any great deals with the 6 sellers that I met and I was Ok with that, because with each opportunity, I learned something new and I met great people!  Now, with everything I've learned collectively, I'm ready to move forward. What kind of park am I looking for?  I'm looking for either a mom and pop park that's ready to call it quits in Florida or I'll even consider developing a park.  Maybe there's an existing park already generating income with the potential to expand another 20 acres. How am I going to do this?  First, I need investors!  I'm looking to partner on deals and give a fair rate of return for Angel Investors.  If you're an Angel investor and you need a place to park some money, I know this girl that's going to have an RV Opportunity soon! How am I going to find the park?  I've put together a marketing strategy that will hopefully snag the park I'm looking for and I've got you, my listeners.  If you know of anyone that has an RV/Mobile Home park in Florida and they are ready to retire!  Reach out to me at info@fearlessinnovator.com What are my plans with the park?  Let's just say that with my technical background, technology will play a role with this park!  It is my plan to get this park up and running with limited interaction and limited personnel running it. Who's going to help me?  You know it takes a team.  I'm already building my team.   I have mentors in place, Civil Engineering in place, I even have experience working with county level governments. Do I have an exit strategy?  Yes, I do!  On the surface, it's a 5 to 7 year plan but we may decide that when the park is producing steady cashflow we may just keep it going until we decide to part with it.  I'm very excited for 2022 to get started as I have a lot of work to do, so that's it for now. I'll see you next Thursday on the Fearless Innovator Podcast.   Www.fearlesssinnovator.com Email me at:  Info@fearlessinnovator.com   Grace Family Church Lisa Harper

Today, is a new year and I wanted to reflect on 2021.  I don't know about you, but I keep a diary of things I accomplish each month to ensure I align with my goals.   What were my goals?  I set goals each year related to business, personal and spiritual.  Well, let's see how each month turned out. January – My first short term rental Iron Horse Acres, was setup and running and I was working on getting my 2nd short term rental setup. February – Went to the Daytona 500 with my girlfriend Brenda Veldman and reconnected with Kurt Kalbach– whom I hadn't seen in over 35 years.   I also attended the women's Beautiful Conference at Grace Family Church in Lutz. March – I was working hard on getting Iron Horse Acres Too setup.  Getting a house setup for Short Term Rental takes a minute.  Making sure the house is stocked with everything, like you lived there.  I used Andrea Bryant from Staged Right, LLC to assist in decorating my house.  I can't draw stick people let alone decorate a house.   Setting the App platforms are a bit of work too.  After the house was completely decorated, then I hired FireLight to come and take the professional pictures.  Cell phone pictures don't cut it, you must have professional pictures done.  I decided on 2 platforms.  I did one first, tweaked it the way that I wanted and used it on Iron Horse Acres first.  Then once it was tested by my guests, then I setup the 2nd platform. Now I had 2 platforms and 2 houses.  At one-point last year, I had double booked some guests – SO, then it came time, and I implemented a new software which at the time was called SmartBnb, which is now Hospitable.  Hospitable integrates multiple platforms so your calendars are now in sync, so you won't make mistakes like double bookings.  Hospitable is also great for canned messages.  This saves me a lot of time communicating with my guests.  They now get timed messages prior to arrival, during their stay and at departure. It ensures I don't forget to send my guests a message.  April – I had made the decision to go home and see my mom for the summer.  I had planned on going home in 2020 in my RV, but that nasty virus shut me down.  This year, I was going to make it happen!  I planned to leave in June.  I made a short trip home in April to see my mom and to see Kurt.  I also made the decision well; I was highly encouraged by my real estate mentor Tyler Sheff that I should begin podcasting.  He felt that I had a voice, and I was a great storyteller.  Although I could agree on the story telling part, I wasn't quite sure what my focus was.  He told me to just “Start Ugly” and encouraged me to read Chris Krimitsos book called Start Ugly.  After reading his book, it totally aligned with who I am and so came up with the Fearless Innovator because I felt that described who I was and then I began talking to myself behind a camera and microphone, much like I'm doing right now.  My focus was centered around my book that had been launched in October of 2020, entitled Why My J.O.B. Quit Me, jump-start your Firing.  I wanted to inspire people with my stories of the lessons I learned growing up on the farm and how I took those lessons and applied them to my corporate job in IT and how it ultimately led me to become a real estate investor. May – Iron Horse Acres Too launched and now I had 2 short term rentals!  My Fearless Innovator Podcast launched on Apple Podcast and Spotify!  I was now earning cashflow on 2 properties and was free to travel for 3 months while earning cashflow! June – I left Florida with 13 of my Latino friends, we called ourselves the Insane Wanderers and we trailered our bikes to Laconia NH Bikefest where we met up with Kurt.  Kurt had ridden his bike from Iowa to NH to join us for bike fest.  This was my first time to the northeast on my bike.  We traveled through 12 states and road at least 2000 miles in a week.  The Kancamagus Highway even though we road it in the rain, had amazing scenery!  After one week of riding, Kurt traveled back to Florida with me and within one week we did a turn and burn, loaded up the RV/Toy hauler with our bikes and 2 cats and we headed home to Iowa for 3 months.   Once we arrived in Iowa, we unloaded the bikes, and the toy hauler was now converted into my office so I could continue with my real estate business.  First agenda item, Go see my mom!!! I saw my mom every week, sometimes twice a week!  Unfortunately, she's in a nursing home now, but I made my mom a priority for 3 months. Great news is she's doing great, and we laughed a lot! Second agenda item! I Fired MY CPA! There comes a time when in business you just don't see eye to eye and it's time to make a change.  That change was made and now I have a CPA that aligns with my real estate business.  July - I joined two Real Estate Investing Groups while in Iowa.   FIRE – Financial Independence Retire Early Local Meetup hosted by Ryan Renze and the DSM Real Estate Investing Meetup – Hosted by Mitch Coluzzi.  My goal was to learn more about the DSM area Real Estate Market and learn I did!  The best thing I can tell you about real estate is that no matter where you go, if you just get involved and put yourself out there, you can go anywhere you want and learn what you want in real estate.  I met the most down to Earth, knowledgeable people in Iowa.  It would have been extremely easy to put a team together there and do business.  As it was, I met this dynamic duo young couple Tyler and Allyson.  They were both working J.O.B's but they had already begun their journey in real estate and I'm confident if they stay focused, they will be out of the rat race before they hit 30!  Super excited for them! I flew back to Florida for quick trip to go look at an RV Park in Perry, FL that was for sale.   It was 8 acres with the potential of 20 more acres. He had 10 sites setup but not operational.  I met with the owner but after a short time, I wasn't able to come to terms.  He eventually sold for his asking price, but I just learned the other day, that the guy who bought has lost his shorts.  Note to self – this one may be worth looking at in the near future! For fun in July – We went to a Goodguys Car show with Kurt's 79 Trans Am, visited 7 Freedom Rocks with my cousin Stevie, Went to Prairie Meadows Horse track, went to my first dirt track ARCA race and an Iowa Cubs game, First Kopaska Family Reunion. Checkout Fearless Innovator - Episode 27 – You Only Die Once to get a better understanding of everything that happened this summer.  Let's just say, there's no grass growing under my feet! August – I had the pleasure of speaking at the FIRE Meeting.  After attending the meeting, I learned it was a relatively young audience, so I chose to inspire them with my story about Financial Independence that I shared with you in Episode 24 – Financial Independence. My sister Melissa came to visit us from AR, Lantern Festival, Visited Templeton Rye Distillery, Iowa State Fair, kayaking with Kurts's sister Julia and her husband, won a partition lawsuit (that story is for another podcast). September was a big month!  I got engaged to Kurt! Rode my bike to the Field of Dreams, saw the Antique Archelogy or the Iowa Pickers as you may know them and drove my 1st Nascar! October – It was time to head back to Florida but not after visiting 65 of the 99 Iowa Freedom Rocks, mostly on our motorcycles.  We put over 3000 miles on our bikes this summer looking at Freedom Rocks.  Kurt moved to Florida!  Now, instead of Kurt attending church online, he now joins me weekly for the in-person services! November – Well everything slows down over the holidays, but we focused on enhancing Iron Horse Acres for the impending busy season.  The house got new paint, Kurt built a large wood fire pit in the back yard, fences were pressure sprayed and trees were trimmed, enhanced the pool with a heater all just in time for our short-term rental guests.   You may be thinking, where are you living right?  Great question! We are still in the RV and living in the barn!  This just isn't your regular barn, ours has a nice extended living room area, my office and a patio out back.   We are capitalizing and being capital pigs and loving life and meeting awesome people that come from up north to escape the cold! I attended my first PodFest Origins in Tampa! December – After attending PodFest Origins, I learned I have A LOT to learn in the Podcasting space, so I hired Bruce Wawrzyniak as my Podcast mentor.  He has helped me make significant changes to my podcast show.  I now have a new tagline and a new focus!  I'm focused on sharing my journey on how I went From Cubicles to Cashflow.  Checkout my new thumbnail! We enjoyed the Christmas season with my sister Melissa.  I have been focused on my real estate adventure and clearly, it's an adventure, but more like learning every day something new in real estate! I'm excited to share with you in my next episode what my goals are for 2022.  I do not do resolutions, only goals! I'll see you next Thursday on the Fearless Innovator Podcast.   Www.fearlesssinnovator.com Email me at:  Info@fearlessinnovator.com Grace Family Church (gfcflorida.com) Firelight - Firelight Images  Staged Right  - Staged Right Order:  Why My J.O.B. Quit Me; Jump-start your firing Laconia Motorcycle Week®  FIRE - Financial Independence Retire Early Local Meetup  DSM Real Estate Investing Meetup Vacation Rental Management Software | Hospitable Fearless Innovator Episode 24 –Financial Independence | Podcast on Spotify The Freedom Rock | Facebook Artist: Ray "Bubba" Sorensen II - The Freedom Rock® Chris Krimitsos  - Start Ugly - Start Ugly Bruce Wawrzyniak - Now Hear This Entertainment www.NHTE.net Bruce Wawrzyniak – Catholic Sports Radio Catholic Sports Radio Insane Wanderers – Fearless Innovator Episode 27 -  You Only Die Once You Only Die Once Tyler Sheff - 7 Things That Will Cause You To Lose Time & Money in 2022  Tyler Sheff - Key West Cash Flow - Key West Cash Flow  

Today we're going to discuss are piles of money better than streams of money? What do I mean by piles of money?  A pile of money are profits made from the sale of a property.  For example, when you sell a property such as a rental property. What is a stream of money?  Its the rents earned off of a lease. It's the mortgage payment earned from a mortgage, if you're the lender. Which is better?  There is no right or wrong answer, it depends on your risk tolerance and how much you're willing to pay in taxes. Here's how I learned my lesson.  For several years, I had been flipping homes with a partner.  At the end of each year, I found out from my CPA that I was paying a lot in taxes.  Why?  Because the income from a flip was taxed as a short term capital gain and the rate was a lot higher than if I held the asset for a year or more which was a long term capital gain. Clearly this wasn't fitting my objective. And if that wasn't enough punishment, I decided to do my own flip and if you recall in Episode 7 – The Flip that Flopped where I told you about a flip I had done and at the end of the deal the house wouldn't sell and I had put too much money into it and I bought it at the wrong price?   Plan B - I decided to put that house on the rental market.  This is the great thing about real estate, there's always another way to solve the problem. Why?  Because if I held the house for 1 year and then sold it, I would pay Long Term Capital gains which is a lower tax rate.   I placed great tenants in the house and held it for 1 year. The tenants were so great that after 3 years of rental history with me, I decided to sell the home.  I decided to sell for 3 reasons,  The house had appreciated enough for me to recapture money  I no longer wanted to be a landlord and fixing everything that broke I wanted to trade-in being the landlord for being the lender. How did I do that? First, I did not sell this house outright because this time, I didn't want a pile of money!  Everything I had learned about piles of money meant to me that I'd be paying way too much in taxes.  I wanted to lessen my tax burden!  This time I wanted streams of income! Second, I reached out to my tenants to see if they wanted to buy the house and they were all in. Third, I hired an attorney to structure the deal.  In this case, there was an existing mortgage on the home and I did what is called a Wrap Around Mortgage – basically, we agreed on the selling price, the tentants became the borrower and I went from being a  landlord to Lender.   Each month they pay their mortgage to me, I pay the existing mortgage and what's left is mine.  The money that's left over is considered passive income and at the end of the year I'm only taxed on what I earned.  If I had sold the house outright I would have been taxed on a pile of money and not the stream of money. Today, I have several streams of money coming in and I always shy away from piles of money, even though for some reason I seem to attract piles.  Now, I plan my exit strategies so I don't end up with a pile of money. I often run into many sellers in the market that are of the belief that a pile of money is what they want.  When I believe in their minds, they are thinking, if I get a pile of money, I can do XYZ with it.  Which typically means, they are going to go buy doodads (unnecessary items) or they say they want to pay off their bills and before you know it, the money is gone and now they face regret. Why do I know this?  It happens every day, because in general most people, including me early on, don't know what to do with their money once they get it – meaning they don't know where they can invest it.  I know several individuals now with money and they have no where to put it because the real estate market isn't in what most people consider a buying market, so they are holding on to it. These are typically seasoned investors.  If you're well versed in real estate you will find a viable investment but for those not yet educated in real estate may invest in the stock market.  Personally, I don't invest in the stock market because I can't control the asset.    Here are 5 reasons you should consider streams of income. 1). You save on taxes!  Let's say you earn $100,000 on the sale of a property and your single. Your Short term capital gain tax rate for 2021 is 24%  meaning you'll pay $24,000 in taxes.  If you held on to that asset Long Term Capital gain rate is 15% meaning you'll pay $15,000. 2).  Pays down Debt. If you have multiple streams of income, you can pay down existing debt quicker. 3).  Provides a safety net.  What if you lose your J.O.B or become ill? Having streams of income you could take your time looking for another job or take the time off needed to heal from an injury or illness. 4).  Creates Financial Security – Let's say your debt is paid off, then you can take this stream of income and invest it in more real estate. 5). Allows more free time – With multiple streams of income it allows you flexibility in your free time for more vacations or starting a new business. It has been my experience that when the piles of money run out, you're either left with nothing or you're left with nothing and a huge tax bill at the end of the year.  I've seen this happen with first time Wholesalers.  They make their first $20K profit from their first deal and then they go on vacation.  It's not until tax time, that they are faced with a big dose of reality when they realize they don't have the money they need to pay their taxes.  Obviously, based on my experience I prefer streams of income over piles of income, and for you maybe your circumstances are different and you prefer piles.  My best advice would be to play out each scenario and understand your tax implications before you decide on a pile or a stream of income.   Www.fearlesssinnovator.com Email me at:  Info@fearlessinnovator.com   Episode 7 - Flip that Flopped

This week I want to share with you an experience I had with a recent short term rental guest.   Short term rentals or you may know it as vacation rentals are a great way to earn passive income or cashflow.  As with any investment there are risks and rewards.   The communication with this guest went as usual with no hiccups during the reservation process. The reservation was made for 3 guests for 3 nights at Iron Horse Acres, a farm stay.  The guests had planned a 3 day golf excursion. At check-in, 2 of the 3 guests had arrived and we greeted them to ensure they had gained proper access to the house. We talked for a bit and then left them to get settled in. Within a short time frame, I got a message from the guest that they can't figure out the WIFI password.  I immediately replied with the password Within about an hour our security team notified me that 2 more guests had arrived.  For 2 days there were no unexpected events and I believed all 4 guests were enjoying themselves.    All was well, until the night before checkout when I received a message, I'm going to call it… Let's see what we can get away with Hi Mechiel, two of us would like to take a shower if possible after golf tomorrow. We expect we would be done with showers by 2:15ish. Is that possible? We could restrict ourselves to one bathroom if that helps. My reply was Well checkout is tomorrow at 10am. My cleaner will be here at 11. Did you want to book another night? Understood. We'll find a shower elsewhere. Appreciate things otherwise. I want a discount plan I took the opportunity to disclose, I'd also like to take the time to notify you that my security team has identified a 4th person at check in, and per the house rules, there's a charge of $10 per person per night for extra guests.  Hi Mechiel, they are not even here tonight so what discount do we get for having less people one night? 4 people in 3 beds using 3 bathrooms versus 3 people using 3 beds and 3 bathrooms, no I do not understand an additional charge for that. It was clear to me that he hadn't read the rules, so I sent him a copy to his phone, through the App and let him know that there was a hard copy of the House Rules laying on the counter.  I presume he read them because he then stated. Hi Mechiel, I was not aware of these rules which are very silly in this instance. I certainly could not have read them in your house prior to arrival. We would have been happy to notify you that there was an additional guest coming last minute, but I was not aware of it. Their presence will not cost you a penny in expenses as I pointed out. Again, I pointed out Rule number 3 inside the app before you made your reservation states, “guests not registered during the initial booking will be charged $10 per day, per person” It's common courtesy to notify a host of any changes. The Diversion Plan. I read the house rules and the stated motivation of not having unannounced people coming and going. We had two vehicles as planned. And no comings and goings that would not have happened without so and so being here with the 3rd guest.   Again, they are no longer here, driving back to their home. So, you will have even less comings and goings than we actually paid for. Sir with all due respect that statement in the House Rules about comings and goings, has nothing to do with you and is not relevant to you or your friends. This has everything to do with other guests with very bad behavior. Clearly that's NOT you or your friends. I have had no issues with you only that you didn't communicate the extra person. That's it. Mechiel, I am sure you have people that have tried to abuse one or more rules and I can understand the point of rule but certainly not in this case. I suggest that since again it doesn't cost you anything for So and so to join us and that we had no additional vehicles or comings and goings that we call it good. Sir there absolutely are costs. Did this person take a shower? Did this person use the bathroom or any towels or soaps? Did they blow dry their hair or use electricity?  It's $20 and you wanted extra time tomorrow which you may not realize it's difficult to find cleaners that want to work! My cleaner can only come tomorrow at 11. Typically, I must give them a weeks' notice. Hi Mechiel. Yes, so, and so used the same bathroom.  So and so presumably used an extra towel but they are not using any extra towels or anything tonight. So again, it is a wash. Your cleaning service is cleaning the house exactly as it would have been saved perhaps for one towel. Same cost to you. We are leaving at 7:45 in the morning and had no concerns about your lack of flexibility with the checkout time. Makes sense but we just asked. house rules explaining this $10 charge are on the App under more house rules and not on the front page and even then, the sentence is partially hidden to right on my phone. I simply did not see it and would appreciate your understanding given the spirit of the situation Sir, I'm sorry but I have no control over the App only it's content.  Have a great night and safe travels.  The Threat Thanks, Mechiel. I am rule follower but this one is not only difficult to find and therefore unknown to me. I will leave $20 in the house. I will also give this house a terrible review and will warn people about this arbitrary rule. Your harassment of me while I'm in on my vacation and will tell them to be careful with their car because the cats jump on your cars, scratch the paint and shit on the car - yes that did happen. I replied, Thank you. Mechiel, we left at 7:45 this am. I left the $20 inside. I hope you appreciate how rigid you are and if you were running a real business, this mindless following of capricious rules would ultimately result in failure. So good luck. You can be certain that in every other way we have been model guests and left the place as good as we found it. I replied, I appreciate your candor and the $20.00.  Have a great day.  Safe Travels.  Upon checkout and after gaining access to the house, I realized even after he read the House Rules, he didn't follow the rules on what to do with the linens.  In all fairness, they respected my house, and my overall assessment was good.  I would host them again. I did find the $20.00 so I assume he will follow thru with his threat to write a terrible review and to that, I offer this to all my future guests.  Welcome to Iron Horse Acres – home to friendly hosts and a lovely farmhouse to share with our guests I thought I'd take the opportunity to share with future guests a little more about staying here on a farm, especially for those who may be travelling from the city. This is a working horse farm; we have an injured rescue on site. She stays to herself, is well taken care of and you will see her only at feeding times 8am and 5pm.  We are often visited by other non-threatening wildlife in this rural area.  During the day, you will see Gopher Turtles.  They are protected by the State of Florida and the only thing you can do with them, is take a picture.  You may even get a laugh out of them, as they will often leave poo behind on the driveway, not to be mistaken for cat poo. You will never encounter cat poo, as cats bury their poo.  We also have a flock of 17 Turkeys – although they are large is size and can seem intimidating, they are only looking for seeds left behind from my bird feeders that are for the Cardinals, and the turkeys will scatter as quickly as they arrived. In the evening when we are mostly all sleeping, there is one cute red fox, a 6pt buck and his doe.  We do have 2 tame cats onsite however, they are never left outside at night to roam, they are comfortably sleeping in their beds inside the barn.  However, we do have feral cats or untamed cats that roam the entire neighborhood at their leisure.  Good news is, we do not have Gators or Wild Hogs and all nocturnal creatures at night will not harm you, your children or chase you – they are all afraid of you and will run away.  We do leave the front door porch lights on until 10pm each night for late arrivals.  This can be changed to suit your needs.  As with any Short-Term Rental stay, each host is allowed to write their own house rules.  Some of the main house rules are posted inside the App prior to booking online and once you book you will be a soft copy of the House Rules inside the app and given a hard copy of the House Rules inside the home for your review.  It is an advantage to you that you do read the rules, it contains helpful information such where to get more batteries for the remotes, WIFI setup information, Additional guest policy and what to do with your linens when you checkout.  Because hosts and guests alike, rely on reviews, this eliminates the need to communicate through an app to resolve a situation in a timely manner, that you may be able to resolve on your own.  We do have camera's onsite that are clearly defined in the house rules and not in personal designated areas.  In the event a situation occurs, the security team is instructed to review the content to validate a guest's concern or owner's concern.  To date, we have had no guest safety or personal property issues reported. We also realize that plans can change, perhaps more guests are expected to come, perhaps you need to stay longer or even leave early.  The best thing you can do is reach out to us and we will help you to mitigate your circumstances.  If you're bringing more guests, awesome!  We will stock the home appropriately to accommodate that need.  If you need more time, well this one is a bit tricky.  Checkout daily is at 10am, our cleaners arrive at 11am.  Because of the COVID situation, it's more difficult these days to find great cleaners that want to work.  We are fortunate to have a team that is dedicated to us, but because they are in high demand, their time can only be scheduled in advance.  If by chance, there is availability behind your scheduled checkout date you are welcome to extend your stay. As we state in our House Rules, if we are around during your stay, we will gladly (in season) build a bonfire for you at our new outdoor wood firepit.  Stay tuned for our future update! We will soon be opening a 4th bedroom! As for the degrading attempt to “bring me down” where he stated, I hope you appreciate how rigid you are and if you were running a real business, this mindless following of capricious rules would ultimately result in failure.   The House Rules were well thought out and not capricious and they have been tested for 2 years now without fail.  As for the feeble attempt to state that I ultimately will fail, I encourage everyone to read the Chapter Failure Is an Option from my book entitled “Why My J.O.B. Quit Me, jump-start your firing. The takeaway here is that it's very important to read the House Rules Reading the House Rules would have prevented this whole negative interaction.  However, as for me, this experience did the opposite of what my guest expected from me.  I was professional and factual in my delivery without emotion. This interaction has inspired me and taught me that you can't always make everyone happy, all you can do is be the best host you possibly can, and I accept his negative review. Some may say, Was it worth the $20.00 for a bad review?  It was to me, because I'm confident if I didn't stand up for myself or my business, I would have given an inch and he would have taken a mile. I'll recover from the bad review! Have a great weekend everyone and I'll see you back here next Thursday on the Fearless Innovator podcast.  

 It's very ironic that last week's episode we talked about the power of the pivot, well due to overwhelming and compelling feedback I've received from my community, it's time to pivot, so pardon my mess. Several of my listeners have given me very candid feedback about my podcast. The main point I've been hearing, is that you don't know who I am or what I'm doing. Well, quite frankly, I don't. As every growing podcaster before me, they too have pivoted, it's just my turn! When I first started my Podcast, I was encouraged to just jump in, and do it because my peers felt I was a good storyteller. I was also encouraged to read Chris Krimitsos' book called Start Ugly. Basically, the book explains to just start Ugly no matter how ugly it is! Chris is the originator of PodFest. PodFest is a conference where all styles and flavors of Podcasters go to share knowledge and experience. I'll leave his link here in my show notes.  This year I was fortunate enough to attend my first PodFest that was hosted here in Tampa. All I can say, is WOW! There's a lot to learn and I walked away blown away by the content, the connections, the knowledge, and the opportunities within the Podcasting family. To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. After attending I knew I had to make a change, but I wasn't quite sure what to do. Then I discovered that I could attend a local Podcasting meeting, so being the shy person that I am – I went. I didn't know a soul and found myself surrounded with well-seasoned Podcasters. I didn't care. When it came time to share my story, I put it out there. It went something like this, look, I'm 28 episodes in and I don't know who I am, I don't have a focus and doubt is setting in and I'm not sure I'm fit to be a podcaster. Here's the good news, I have everything I need already setup. I've written a book, I have a website, I have a podcast – I just don't know how to connect them all.  Clearly, I didn't feel the love, but I enjoyed sharing my story of how I went from the farm to corporate and how I quit my JOB to be an entrepreneur.  My turn was over, and it was on to the next person. I felt a little disappointed and then I engaged with others to hear about their journeys. After the meeting, it was networking time! I met amazing people doing amazing things and I loved hearing others success stories. I was getting ready to leave when I was approached by one of the speakers from PodFest. I learned the most from Bruce's presentation. I learned top 20 ways to promote your podcast for free! His advice instantly gave me new energy and new focus and now he's standing in front of me. I thought to myself, why on Earth would he want to be talking to me. I listened intently and with his soft-spoken voice, he said he really liked my story, and he was encouraging me to stick with it.  We talked a bit more and then he told me that he does coaching on the side. Mind you, Bruce Wawrzyniak already hosts 2 Podcasts – Now Hear This with over 400 episodes and Catholic Sports Radio over 150 episodes. I'll leave the links to his shows in my show notes.  He told me that he'd be willing to coach me, and I asked, why me? He said, because I believe that you are a doer and there are several in this space that have great ideas, but they never act on them. I believe you follow up on action items and get things done! Spoken like a true Project Manager, I thought, and I said, oh yes, I'm a great student. I further explained. I have all the pieces I just need guidance on how to connect them all and make this a fine tune oiled machine. I accepted and we had our first in person meeting. Bruce was very diligent with his time, and we resolved a lot of my issues in my first 1-hour meeting. I was a good student and implemented all his changes – you all may not have noticed yet, but you will! In my next meeting, I think he felt a little more comfortable with me and really drilled down and provided me with great feedback.  Today, I'm in the middle of making those changes and the most significant change will be a new tagline – a new thumbnail is coming soon and checkout my new website changes at fearlessinnovator.com My new tagline will define who I am and what I do. So, pardon my mess as I work through my thoughts and fine tune what that will look like.  Have a great weekend everyone and I'll see you back here next week on the Fearless Innovator podcast. Chris Krimitsos  - Start Ugly - Start Ugly Bruce Wawrzyniak - Now Hear This Entertainment www.NHTE.net Bruce Wawrzyniak – Catholic Sports Radio Catholic Sports Radio

This week's topic is there is Power in the pivot. What do I mean by that? I first learned about pivoting when I played basketball in high school. I would pivot on my left foot allowing my right foot and my right dribbling hand to go in any direction I wanted. It's much the same concept in business or anything you apply it to in your life. Everyday life is nothing but a bunch of pivots! Another way to think about it is “change” but NO one wants to hear that word. That word instills fear. Perhaps, you decided right out of high school you wanted to go to college to become an Engineer but after a few semesters you felt getting your Computer Science degree was more favorable. You changed your focus and went down another path – that's a pivot! If you recall Andrea's story in Episode 28 where she pivoted from being a 2nd Grade School teacher to now owning her own Staging business or Nicci in Episode 30 where she had to shut down her own business and became a real estate investor. These are 2 great examples of pivoting. I did the same thing when I quit my J.O.B. in 2017 to be a full-time real estate investor.  I worked for a technical company for 10 years and in those 10 years, I remember at least 3 pivots. First, we were a networking company, then they pivoted, and we became a consulting firm then we pivoted again and became a nationwide consulting firm and absorbed another company. Why do we pivot? We pivot because we can see the new opportunity that's in front of us. Or quite simply put, listen to your customers their feedback you receive is priceless. They will tell you what they expect from you. This will more than likely change your vision. When your vision is impacted for the better, of course, you will automatically pivot to meet the new expectation. Typically, we get to choose whether we pivot or not, let's talk about 2020. That was the year we didn't get to choose our pivot and if you didn't like change, boy you were in for a rude awakening. In Florida, we were on lock down for about 45 days. Well, I used to go to the gym every week and now I couldn't. What did I do? The same thing a lot of other did, I hopped on my bicycle – yeah, the one without the throttle and I took to the trails. I was forced to learn a new language! I didn't know how to wave at other bicyclists. I know that sounds weird, but they didn't understand my “biker” wave, so I took to FB to figure out how to wave.  Many of you bought RV's, ATV's and spent a lot more time outside with your families.  What do most people fear in a pivot? The change itself! Well, in 2020 we had no choice and guess what? I believe it was a great change. It brought us all closer to each other and we started doing more things outside! I know some of you lost your J.O.B,'s – well it's likely you didn't even like that J.O.B. and now you can basically have any J.O.B. you want – so you should be much happier! The point is, be open to all possibilities. Never shut a door before it's even been open…investigate your options and choose wisely. The most effective teams or business owners adapt to change. I know a ton of people that hate change – well you'd better learn to accept it because it happens every day! This just happened the other day, I got a phone call from one of my short-term rental guests. She gave me 2 pieces of advice. First off, I was thankful she took the time to call me one on one to share her concerns. 2 – I heeded her advice because it could have had a negative impact on my future guests.  Another thing to consider is when evaluating a new pivot – make sure it doesn't require radical changes or makes you scrap work that you've already done, you should be moving forward not backwards.  Just this am I was listening to Darren Hardy – on his Darren Daily episode and he talked about the #1 Enemy to Your Success. It wasn't difficult for me to figure out that he was referring to YOU. You are your number one enemy to success. You are where you are because you're not doing anything to move forward. I had another friend, just yesterday send me this saying: “If you want 2022 to be YOUR year:  Don't sit on the count and wait for it. Go out. Make a change. Smile more. Be excited. Do new things. Throw away what you've been cluttering. Unfollow negative people on social media. Go to bed early. Wake up early. Be fierce. Don't gossip. Show more gratitude. Do things that challenge you. Be brave. How many of those do you align with? What are your fears? Fear of being successful? Here's something you may or may not know. Did you know that YouTube was originally created to be a video-Dating website 15 years ago? They were even paying women to submit their videos only women got smart and didn't submit videos. YouTube ultimately pivoted due to the overwhelming feedback they received from their viewers and YouTube today is an online video sharing and social media platform. Wonder what would have happened if they didn't pivot? My guess is someone else would have eventually come up with the same idea. YouTube gained the market share because of the pivot.  They pivoted because they hit a roadblock. That roadblock led to another opportunity. That opportunity presented room for growth. That's the secret recipe. Not all pivots are caused by roadblocks. Some pivots are created out of shear drive and vision. My next adventure in real estate is a path, quite honestly, I've never been down. But remember, when I started in real estate, I had no idea what I was doing, and my list of accomplishments are more than most.  My next adventure is going to marry my experiences of growing up on farm, with my Project Management day's and with Real Estate. I'm planning on developing an RV park. I've wanted to do it for years. I've been researching this now for a couple of years. I've looked at several parks in Florida and outside Florida. I've narrowed down the type of park and how I want it to operate, etc. I know that when the timing is right, it will happen. I won't be disappointed if a deal falls through, that just means that I've learned more for the next time. I also know that I will have the most talented people working with me and the Business Plan will be well thought out for Angle Investors in the deal. I like to think about things this way -if someone before you has already done what you want to do, you can do it too!   Even if it's not, still do it! I've pivoted from being a landlord, to owning commercial property to Short Term Rentals and now developing an RV park. What's the reason for my pivots? First, I love every aspect of real estate but most importantly I learn something new every day! I love learning! Which is why my sister thinks I'm smart – I'm only smart because I love learning – it didn't come naturally, but don't tell her that! So, ask yourself, are you ready to make a pivot in your life?? I would encourage you to do so! I'm also interested in learning anything I can about developing an RV park – if you know someone that has done this and they can share their journey with me, I'd like to talk with him and perhaps interview them for one of my next episodes.  If you're interested reach out to me at info@fearlessinnovator.com.    

I hope everyone indulged themselves over the Thanksgiving holiday because now it's back to work! Today, I'm going to focus on Lifestyle creep. Some of you may even be wondering what the heck I'm talking about. I looked it up and here's the definition. Lifestyle creep, also known as lifestyle inflation, is a phenomenon that occurs when as more resources are spent towards standard of living, former luxuries become perceived necessities. An individual's discretionary income could increase because of increased income or decreased cost, such as paying off a mortgage. As discretionary income increases, individuals are able spend money on things that were previously unaffordable. Lifestyle creep occurs when spending increases at the same rate as income. It can be reflected in purchases, such as expensive vehicles or a second home. Spending money on things with ongoing maintenance costs, such as club memberships, also are demonstrated in lifestyle creep. If we break this down into layman's terms it means this. The more money you make at your J.O.B. the more money you spend on frivolous things or doo dads as Rich Dad Poor Dad explains in his series of books. What does this look like? It looks like this – let's say you earn $5000 per month. Mortgage is $2000 Household expenses $1500 Car Payment $350 Credit card debt $300 Leaving you with $850 left over a month. What do you do with the extra money? Well, what you should do vs what you do with the money are too different things.  The neighbor comes over one day and is sharing this amazing story about the boat he just bought and the deal the dealership just made him.  He tells you that he just bought a brand-new boat and he's only paying $350.00 a month. You go look at his boat and think wow, I wonder if I could get a brand-new boat for around the same amount each month – I have $850 a month not doing anything. This could be doable! Your buddy takes you to the dealership and low and behold you find the boat of your dreams. You know the dream you never had until you suffered from FOMO. (Fear of Missing Out). Not only do you buy the boat, but you also put it on your credit card because your credit score is outstanding, and you have a high available balance because of your score and maybe because you pay your bills on time.  But you think to yourself – I use my credit card because I'll get points to use towards a free airline flight or gift card to Home Depot.  Never mind the 24% interest rate you'll pay – but your payment only increased by $400.  Yes, your boat is a bit larger than your buddy's. We also must “one up”, you know! Now, you have $450 left each month. However, when you bought the boat, you didn't calculate the Insurance costs, storage fees, maintenance, and fuel. Fuel for a boat is off the chart, let alone during an inflation crisis. But in the back of your mind, you are counting on raise that's expected in 3 months. Your last raise was 3% so even if it's 3% that's another $150.00 a month. You now believe that with the $600.00 left over it will be enough to store the boat at your buddy's house, pay for insurance and fuel. We all know this example is an extreme case but I'm confident you understand how we all get caught up in Lifestyle Creep.  We want to “look” the part for everyone on the outside – after all nobody knows what you pay for things or what your monthly expenses are. It's easy to hide but it's also easy to look at the doodads a person has and easily determine they are in debt up to their ears. Then you know what happens? You sell the boat because it's too expensive to keep. Just this morning, I was leaving for the gym. What do I see? I see a brand-new jacked up and lifted F250 pulling a brand-new boat. I didn't think anything of it, until I noticed the truck and boat were painted to match. You could say I was profiling but all I could think of is - WOW, that dude is in serious debt. I wish he had given me his money to invest that way he could afford his doodads. Here's deal – I'm guilty of this too! For the 25 years I spent in corporate America – I was also living paycheck to paycheck and buying things that I technically did NOT need. Why did I do this? Because I could!  I would buy brand new trucks every 3-4 years. I've always heard the minute you take a brand-new vehicle off the showroom lot you've lost 10% of what you paid. My $50k vehicle is now only worth $45k. Which means if I tried to sell it the next day, you'd only get $45k for it. I never tried to sell a vehicle after I bought it, so I didn't care. Then I had leftover money, so I went and bought Harley, with the Harley I needed a trailer, and the plot thickens and continued. It continued until I was ready to quit playing the game! Think about it, you're in a ferocious circle. Work, get paid, pay bills, buy something new (because it's a false sense of FUN and living life!), work more hours, get paid, pay bills, no vacation because I've got to work. Once this cycle has repeated enough or you've become older let's say your now in your 40's you begin to think…is this what life really means to me? Work, get paid, pay bills, rinse, and repeat.  If any of the examples above sound like you, you're in the Rat Race.  This is a term that Robert Kiyosaki came up with and even created a board game called the CashFlow Game to help teach you to get out of the rat race. This rinse and repeat became so mundane to me that I noticed I truly wasn't happy and with employers putting so much pressure on you, that's when I decided to find a way out. My career in corporate began in 1997 and it lasted until 2009 but I stayed in my industry for 25 years. I knew in 2000 that corporate America wasn't for me and that's when I bought my first rental property and began changing my identity. I also began to realize that I needed to change but I didn't want to give up my “lifestyle”.  How did I do that? I changed my mindset.  What did I do first? Cut up the credit cards! I cut my “lifestyle of the rich and famous” to shreds! I no longer use credit cards. Now, I do have one credit card that I have available for emergency use only. I don't even carry it with me. I don't care about those lousy points anymore. I recently reevaluated the card I had and reduced this card to a no annual fee card!  They tempted me with a free airline ticket and companion ticket – phooey on you, if I want to go somewhere, I'll find a flight when I need it. I reviewed everything that I was paying extra for. I used to have a vanity license plate that cost an extra $35 a year – not anymore. I had several subscriptions that were automatically deducted each month. I don't need special apps on my phone to conduct the business that I do. They are all gone. I've scrutinized every bill, insurance policies, Internet, phone etc. When I first did this, I saved myself thousands of dollars! None of these changed my lifestyle it enhanced it and put more money back into my pocket! I took the money I saved and started investing more into my real estate and my portfolio grew, creating cashflow. Today, everything I own, I own outright. My truck is now 14 years young. I only have good debt. Good debt as described by Robert Kiyosaki is used to buy assets puts money into your pockets and makes you rich (like rental properties or short-term rentals). Bad debt is used for consumption, takes money out of your pocket, and makes you poor – like a boat/car or your primary residence. Which would you prefer? It really pays to take Lifestyle Creep and throw it like shot put! I don't miss it because now, I'm enjoying life the way I want to enjoy it! I can travel when I want to and there's no J.O.B telling me when I can and cannot go and for how long! I get to decide! If you want pointers on how you can begin your transition, send me an email to Info@fearlessinnovator.com. I am looking to interview others that may have a compelling story to share about your journey into real estate investing. If you're interested reach out to me at www.fearlessinnovator.com.    

Three years ago, I received a phone call from my mom. She was living in her winter home of Mesa; AZ and she was ready to go home back to Iowa. The urgency in her voice was fierce and determined. I told her no problem mom, let me get some things taken care of at my house in Tampa and I'd be on the next flight. Just as a side note, I had only been home a week since my last 2 week visit with my mom in Mesa, AZ but that didn't matter to me. What mattered to me the most was making my mom happy and because of her recent mental decline, I dropped everything and made it happen. I called my sister Melissa in Arkansas, and she was all in! Within one week, we were both on planes headed to Mesa, AZ. When we arrived, we rented a large vehicle for the 3 of us as it was also our plan to convince my mom that she should take her personal belongings back home with her. Luckily, she agreed, and we packed the vehicle for the long journey home back to Iowa. It was our plan to take our time, stay in short term rentals and make this a documented journey for my mom. Our first overnight stop was a small, a very small town in NM. It was so small the streets were made of dirt, but the house advertised seemed to be quaint with a lot of character when I booked it. However, upon arrival my mom noticed these weird devilish figurines throughout the house. She said they gave her the heebee jeebees. I told her, let's leave a light on and if you hear anything at night, holler at me, because I've got my gun. I must admit they were a bit scary, but we managed to settle in, and mom stayed with Melissa, and I went to a back room.  The next day we ventured off for Roswell, NM. Several years prior mom and dad had visited Roswell and they were both intrigued by the aliens. After several hours, we were off to Amarillo, TX for our next stay. This guest house was in the backyard of the host. It was a beautiful 2 story house decorated with old cars. Our stay was uneventful, but we did enjoy the food in TX! When we were planning our trip, mom had spoken up and said that she'd like to go see the Tin Man. We had no idea what she was talking about, so we googled it and yes, she was right! The Wizard of Oz Museum was in Liberal, KS, along with Dorothy's house and statues of all the characters from the movie. Mom said she had driven by the exit so many times but wasn't able to stop, so we said YES, we will go see the Tin Man. We stayed for a couple of hours and captured our pictures and back on the road we went, destined for Hastings, KS where we found a hunt camp. This short-term rental was in town but mainly hunters came here. We made friends with our hosts, and they told us of the restaurants in the area and then we went to bed early so we could good sleep for our next adventure. As much as mom would get the heebee jeebees about weird places, she was still intrigued by them, so we had planned to go to the Villisca Axe Murders house in Villisca IA, but discovered it was closed for the season. We said no biggie, we will now go to Council Bluffs gambling. Mom loved to gamble - BUT let me set the story straight, she would only spend $100.00 and then it was game over! But I swear I've never seen two people (my mom and dad) that were ever so lucky! She or dad would always win. This day didn't yield anything but laughter and fun! After about 2 hours we were on the road to home. We only had 1.5 hours to go, and we safely got mom back home to where she wanted to be. She was thankful to be home. You're probably thinking to yourself, what does this story have to do with real estate or being Fearless? Right? – well technically nothing but in the spirit of Thanksgiving I wanted to share with you a story of living life without regrets, enjoying the journey and helping others. There's one more piece to this story - It was on our way to Liberal, KS from Amarillo, TX that we pulled off for gas. At this gas station we discovered these little rocks. The rocks all had a saying on them. We decided we'd each pick one and then share a little story about that rock meant to us.  Mom chose “Joy” – She said it made her happy that we both could come and get her and take her home. Reluctantly, Melissa chose “Forgiveness”. I say reluctantly because deep down Melissa knew there was someone in her life she needed to forgive, and she did. Mom and I both knew who she was talking about, but we didn't say anything. I chose Grateful. I was grateful that God had given us the opportunity to take the time to spend with our mom on this journey.  If there is one thing, I'm guilty of, it's making sure I spent time with my mom and dad and other family members. I will never regret not doing something with them because I make sure it happens.  If this time of year is difficult for you, I've always found that helping others no matter how big or small is the best thing to boost you right back up! It could be as simple as just talking with someone who needed someone to listen to them or helping at a food pantry. We only die once, and this is our time to be un-self-absorbed (if that's a word) be kind and help others. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am looking to interview others that may have a compelling story to share about your journey into real estate investing. If you're interested reach out to me at www.fearlessinnovator.com.    

Today, you will meet Nicci Perone. Nicci is another Fearless Innovator she will share her journey from owning a business for 20 years, being a single mom and how that morphed into becoming a real estate investor. She clearly didn't take the easy way out. After 20 years in her own business, she became injured and had to shut down her business and her life just to heal. It's what she did afterwards that makes this story even more compelling. She didn't give up; she dug in and changed the trajectory of her life. Learn what she's doing today after the collapse of her business in this episode. I am looking to interview others that may have a compelling story to share about your journey into real estate investing. If you're interested reach out to me at www.fearlessinnovator.com.    

4 reasons newbie real estate investors like yourself can be successful. Why didn't I label this the 4 reasons newbie investors fail? Well, it's because I'm going to share with you the mistakes, I made so that you won't make them! This last weekend, I went and looked at a house built in 1970, it's 1200 sq ft. a 3/1 bath on .35 acres overlooking this beautiful bass fishing lake in a prime location here in Florida. It had a dilapidated front porch, the kitchen had been updated, the house was spacious, nice sized yard, and the dock getting to the gazebo on the water was a little treacherous. Septic and well included. The house itself was made of wood, the back room had been added on and the subflooring was not level with the main house. Roof and siding needs replaced. The asking price is $399,000. We won't discuss the smell because all rehab houses whether you know this or not smell the same! I haven't quite figured out how that happens, so just trust me on this one! The first question I always ask myself, what am I going to do with this house? I already know the type of investor that I am. I like rehab projects but I'm not a flipper. I love buy-n-holds but I'm not a long-term landlord. I love Short Term Rentals. As I'm walking through this house, I imagine this house as a vacation rental. I can see how my guests would love this little cottage on the lake where they could scoot around the lake on a kayak. Now that I've defined how I intend to use this house, the hard part begins! 1– Define and evaluate the risks – Just with my brief description of the property, I'm confident that you defined several risks yourself. To name a few, the price first off is way off basis – I realize this is in a prime location with an awesome view – but let's get real. The only person who would buy this property would be someone that would want to live and fix it up as they went, or an investor like me. Also keep in mind, what you pay for a property makes or breaks the deal. If you don't purchase at the right price this could become the Flip that Flopped like in Episode 7. The structure of this house was unstable and made of wood – that could mean termites! Adding a new front porch, new roof and new dock are no big deal. There were definite issues with the subflooring and who knows the status on the well and septic. What's the best way to mitigate risks? Bring your contractor to walk thru the property to help you define the risks and then you pay for an inspection. That inspection albeit may not be perfect, but you may discover issues you didn't know you had – like electric, water or AC. 2 – Underestimate repairs – This is a common mistake that even well-seasoned investors make. I have created a Property Inspection Summary Sheet that defines all areas that you'll need to look at. As far as determining the costs for repairs your contractor should be able to give you cost breakdowns, however, keep in mind that pricing on everything these days has skyrocketed, and costs are forever changing. Be sure to lock in pricing for repairs.  3 – Time Management - Here's another helpful hint and another mistake a lot of people make, time IS money – you've heard that before. Don't do the work yourself – get out of your own way and make sure you hit your timeline. Hire the professionals to get it done within your timeline. Typically, on a rehab it shouldn't take more than 3 months to complete your project! If you're worried about the costs – then negotiate! Getting this property online where it's making you money is worth more than patting yourself on the back for self-satisfaction! Ask yourself do you want a J.O.B. or do you want your money working for you? 4 – Where do I get the money? Now, unless you are independently wealthy, which most people are not. You'll need to get creative on where the money comes from. Most people who start to invest have a 9 to 5 J.O.B., so that means you have money coming in each month and you quite possibly have a nice little nest egg with let's say $100K or less that's either in savings, an IRA, or a 401k. You have several options, and I can't hit on every scenario here so we will just discuss a couple of options.  Let's say this deal was negotiated as a purchase price of $150,000 but you need another $100,000 in repairs. You'll need $250,000. If you have the $250,000, put it under contract and let the work begin.  If you don't have all the money, perhaps take ½ of your $100K and use it for the down payment and then borrow the rest with a traditional mortgage. Take the remaining $50K and use it on another property for the deposit. Now you control 2 properties instead of using all your cash on one house. Now, you just need to qualify for a mortgage.  Remember this is not your primary residence, this is now a rental property where you'll be earning passive income. Mortgage company's or lenders treat this type of mortgage differently. I'm not saying it can't happen, they just have other stipulations for qualifying for this type of mortgage. Another stipulation is after you have 3 – 4 traditional mortgages under your belt the banks will cut you off and you will no longer be able to qualify for a loan. Validate what the exact number of loans are with your lender when you start your real estate investing adventure. What if your goal is to have 10 rental properties – now what do you do, when you know, the banks are going to cut you off at 3-4? 1 – you can negotiate directly with the seller. If the seller owns the property out right, they can become our bank!  2 – Look for OPM. What's OPM? Other People's Money. That's right, other people you know with money sitting around can become your bank. It works just like getting a loan from a bank – it's all done legally through a real estate attorney, it's less paperwork, less hassle and you've just created a win-win solution for yourself and your investor. You get the house, and the investor earns interest or whatever deal you negotiated with them. One day when you become a full-time investor, using OPM is one of the best ways to become financially independent or if you're in the other camp where this real estate investing seems like too much work, I just might know a girl that's done her homework and is always looking for OPM.  There's a lot more to learn here and if you have any questions or would like a copy of my Property Inspection Summary Sheet you can reach out to me at my email address:  Mechiel@fearlessinnovator.com – it's in the show notes! As far as this 3/1 opportunity on the lake, I'm evaluating the rehab costs, vs. just tearing it down and placing a tiny home on the property. You'll have to wait for a future episode to see how it turns out! I'm looking for guests for my show. If you or someone you know has a compelling story about how they quit their J.O.B to become a real estate investor, I'd be interested in interviewing them for my show.  The Fearless Innovator Podcast is now on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and YouTube!  

In my first in person interview, you will meet Andrea Bryant.  Andrea will take you on her fearless journey from a 2nd Grade teacher to real estate investor. She will go into detail about her failures and her successes.  She will also share that sometimes you really have to dig in and endure some of the painful losses in investing.  Overall, because of her persistence and perseverance and optimistic outlook on life and the fact that she surrounds herself with those that support her, she will share where she is today and what path she has chosen. Is Andrea's future looking bright?  She thinks so and has now hired a coach to help her make the necessary moves to get her to her next level. I hope this interview inspires you to know that you too, can change direction in life and create a new identity for yourself. I am looking to interview others that may have a compelling story to share about your journey into real estate investing.  If you're interested reach out to me at www.fearlessinnovator.com.   My 3-month adventure has ended, and the real estate market is starting to turn.  I've found some cash flowing opportunities, when I seal the deal, I'll be looking for partners to share in the rewards. If you want to know more, reach out to me at www.fearlessinnovator.com or you can now listen to me on the Fearless Innovator Podcast.  I can be found on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube!  

How many of you say, “oh, I'm going to do that someday” and you never do it and you're bucket list just keeps growing and how many of you actually do it?  What's stopping you?  I know what's stopping you, it's you and your attitude! You only live once, you know (YOLO) is the old saying well, what if you thought about it like this – you only die once! Let's call it YoDo!  Don't you think that would inspire you to live more of your life?   Just the mere thought that if I die tomorrow inspires me enough to go out and do the things I want to do with my life. 5 months before my dad died, he told me that he had done everything in his life he wanted to do, that he was happy, and he had no regrets.  He was 64 years old!   As luck would have it, dad died of the widow maker.  I was grateful it was an instant death, and he didn't suffer BUT he was 64 years young, and you know the worst part?  What he died from his hereditary, so guess what?  I got scanned!  YES, my carotid artery is blocked 65% with the same silent killer!  Now I'm 57 years young and encroaching on that ever so fearful age of 64.   What did my dad do before that fateful day on July 5, 2007? At the age of 55, my dad started living life and scaling back his “work” life. I like to think that dad somehow knew he was going to die young, so he prepared early to start enjoying his life.  He made countless trips to Alaska, AR and FL.  Mom didn't much care for Alaska so he'd go there by himself, but he and mom would go to AR to see Melissa and Florida to see me.  He restored several 1961 Impala's and one BelAir and did numerous other things. I also spent a lot of time with my dad in Alaska.  I've been to the Iditarod 4 times and volunteered at the start in Anchorage and the finish in Nome.  Dad and I went on a 7 day/night adventure down the Grand Canyon white water rafting. We've driven our motorcycles on the Pig Trail in AR where we met a guy that gave us each a penny that he had carved out a cross in it.  We hung them on our bike key chains.  We've ridden our motorcycles in Daytona and we've been to several Daytona 500's!  Our next adventure was to drive a professional Nascar but that would never happen.  To say the least my dad was an adventurist and never turned down an opportunity to do something fun.  My dad had figured out how to retire without retiring, he just kind of slid out of working and right into enjoying life.   The point is this, You Only Die Once – so get out there and LIVE like it's your last day! I believe we can all slide right into enjoying life before we have to call it “retirement” at age 67.  After all, I'm NOT counting on the money being in my retirement account when and if I turn 67 – I'm going to enjoy my life NOW! Two years ago, I had planned on driving dad's Freightliner and my RV to Iowa and stay for about a month to go see my mom, who's in a nursing home now and then go to AR to see my sister, Melissa.  Well, that damn VIRUS shut me down.  So fast forward to 2021, I put the plan in place to make it happen this year.  I put my real estate on autopilot – which means I was earning income while I took off for my home state of Iowa.  In other words, my real estate was working – BUT I wasn't! To say I didn't work while I was in Iowa would be false – I absolutely did work while I was in Iowa.  I can do real estate anywhere, so I set up my office in the back of my toy hauler and setoff to learn everything I could about the real estate market in Des Moines and Ames.  I attended local real estate and financial independence meetings and I even have one deal in the works today. I've met amazing people in the area and have setup a network of people that when needed I can count on to either help put deals together or help other investors find what they are looking for.  But what I want to share with you are the amazing people and adventures I had while in Iowa for 3 months.  Keep in mind, I've been away from Iowa for almost 40 years, but I would frequently come home yearly to see my mom and dad. First and foremost, I got to spend as much time as I wanted to see my mom.  Unfortunately, my mom has dementia and is in a nursing home.  The blessing here is that she is healthy, she knows who I am, and we laughed a lot!  I was extremely fortunate that during my 3-month stay the nursing home was not shut down with the virus. My heart goes out to all the nursing staff and administration for all their hard work and time they put in!  I know the nursing staff is tired but for that, I'm very thankful for everything they do! Let's start with the amazing Timberline Campground in Waukee Iowa!  Only that fasted growing city in our nation!  You all know that I want to own an RV park, right?  Well, Marta was a blessing, and I don't even think she knows it.  She and her staff were so attentive, friendly, and helpful.  I can't tell you how many questions I pelted at Marta about owning an RV park but boy was she knowledgeable and always pointed me in the right direction.  The WIFI rocked at her place! I vote her place as the Best Place to Workplace!  She truly felt like family at the end, and I was very sad to leave her place.  Marta, I will be back, is all can say!  By the way, I loved all the gun fire next door! While in Iowa we made the best of our time.  Yes, I said we.  I'm no longer an I.   While I was in Iowa, I was joined with my boyfriend Kurt.   Here are several things we did in the amazing state of Iowa!  The websites to all places can be found in my notes.  Did you know that Iowa has a Whiskey Distillery? Templeton Distillery - Templeton Rye & Templeton Distillery - Whiskey for the Strong Spirited We did a tour of the Templeton Distillery and learned how they crafted Templeton Rye during prohibition and now you can find it in stores across the US. Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad – History of the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad – Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad & James H. Andrew Railroad Museum (bsvrr.com) Kurt and I took an evening dinner train ride and learned about the history of the train and took a scenic ride and talked with the conductor and ate dinner in our private quarters. The Freedom Rocks - Artist: Ray "Bubba" Sorensen II - The Freedom Rock® I bet you haven't heard of this one!  There was a huge bolder sitting along highway 25 near my home in Iowa that sat on private property but in the 70's, 80's and 90's succumbed to graffiti, in 1999 Bubba Sorensen painted a “Thank you” to veterans on the boulder and each year right before Memorial Day he would paint a new scene.  It is now an annual tourist attraction to honor our service men and women. However, there are now 99 Freedom Rocks in Iowa – one in each county.  While I was in Iowa and with the help of my boyfriend Kurt, my cousins Steve and Kelly and a friend Bryan we have now visited 61 of the 99 rocks!  We rode over 3000 miles on our bikes to see these rocks!  750 miles and 15 rocks in one weekend!  I have pictures of every rock on my personal FB page, but I'll be sure to post some on my public page.  At this point, I no longer have a favorite rock – they were all amazing in their own way.  We even met a veteran who lived in Nebraska and was on his 60th wedding anniversary and had seen 50 rocks! Largest Popcorn Ball  World's Largest Popcorn Ball – Sac Economic & Tourism Development (saccountyiowa.com) Who knew that the largest popcorn ball was in Iowa – it tips the scale at 9,370 pounds and is a Guinness World Record! American Legion Steak Fry in Dexter– Off the chart Steak fry and who knew I'd run into family members I never knew.  They invited me to the Kopaska family reunion.  I didn't know a soul, but I'm thankful I went!  I now know Colleen, Carolyn, Jacque, Cherie and several others! Rusty Duck in Dexter- who knew such a small town would have a killer black salmon recipe. Iowa State Fair – we attended the Styx Concert and OH the food! Car shows – Good Guys car show and Stuarts's Scoop the Loop. Kurt won a trophy! Field of Dreams – now, I can say I've been there and stood in the corn field! Kayaking with Kurt's sister Julia and husband Travis. Iowa Cubs game with Kurt's sister Colleen and her husband Dave – That knows every restaurant inside and outside of Iowa – I swear!  Call Dave if you're looking for fantastic food! Melissa came up from AR for a week and we got to spend more quality time together and visiting with our mom. Kurt's extended family - wow, he's got a big family and was blessed to meet a lot of them! What will I miss most? The sweet corn – nothing like sweet corn right out of the field! The Waukee Ice Cream Shop – we went every night because we knew they would soon close for the season! Not the portion sizes – I think I've gained 10 pounds!  OMG the food was amazing! I've saved the best two for last and not in any order. Dad I'm sorry, I didn't get the chance to do this with you, but I can now say that I've driven Greg Biffle's number 16 car at the Iowa Speedway at the Rusty Wallace Driving Experience.  It was everything I had hoped it would be and I even said a prayer for you on one of my laps and dedicated it to you.  I hope you heard that, and I hope you're proud that I completed the run without wrecking and I went as fast as I could without fear! Finally – Kurt and I attended a 38 Special Concert in Omaha.  This concert was beyond special.  To make a very long story short, it was during the Caught Up in You, song (My favorite song of all time) – where they sing, “you've got me down on my knees” that Kurt got down on his knee and proposed to me and of course, I accepted his proposal.  So now, I'm engaged!  God works in mysterious ways and this story is much longer and deserves its own podcast episode. I'm thankful for the Kopaska get-togethers and reuniting with all the Kopaska's.  It was refreshing to renew the sense of community. I think I miss that!  Not much of that in the land of Florida. I'm thankful to all the friends I got to see, even if it was brief!   I'm thankful to my uncle Steve for fixing my dad's carburetor for the 61 BelAir – car shows here I come! I'm thankful for my cousin Stevie who fixed one of the 3 AC's units on my RV and to all those RV Repair facilities that said it couldn't be done – you're just a rip off! I ask myself, if this is retirement, why would I want to stop?  I think my dad was on to something when he quit working around 55.  I've now done it and I think you can too! You Only Die Once – YoDo! My 3-month adventure has ended, and the real estate market is starting to turn.  I've found some cash flowing opportunities, when I seal the deal, I'll be looking for partners to share in the rewards. If you want to know more, reach out to me at www.fearlessinnovator.com or you can now listen to me on the Fearless Innovator Podcast.  I can be found on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube!  

Today's episode – Contractors are NOT created equally! At the time I went to build my second home, I had never worked directly with a contractor nor had I any experience on the steps from the initial dirt work to the final inspection.  My first house was a cookie cutter, and I was not involved with the contractor only the Project Manager.  Essentially, the project manager just reviewed the progress with me and made sure my color selections were met. What I did have was common sense and logic. The contractor I selected was based on a referral from a friend.  I met with him, and he could do all the work from the Design to Build to the Final inspection.  I met with one other contractor but wasn't impressed with his work.  I chose the first guy, and I validated his license and he had pictures of his prior builds that I could review.  He did nice work! During the Design phase – the only thing I told my Contractor on the design were these four things 1) 4 bedrooms with 3 baths. 2). the office needed to point towards the driveway – that way I could see who was coming down my driveway as I spend most of my day in my office, 3) I wanted a fireplace 4). I wanted a pool, but I wanted to manage the pool construction.  After all, I can use my project management skills anywhere!  I was not going to be picky about walls, closet sizes or where or how many electrical outlets there needed to be because I was going to build this house and flip it and cash in! Build phase - My first onsite meeting with the contractor was to review the placement of the house.  We discovered that I wanted my house to face the west, but he informed me that I would have to file a variance because all houses in this area had to face towards the street or due north.  This would cause a minor delay, but he thought it would be approved.  The second thing I let him know that there was an existing septic tank in the front yard and to please be sure to rope that area off so that I knew no one would drive over it and break it.  Within a few weeks, I came home from work and noticed that the dirt work had begun, and something didn't feel right, so I walked over to the project with my flashlight in hand and noticed a big gaping hole in the front yard.  Yup! Day 1 – the front-end loader fell in the shitter! I called my contractor and asked him if anyone from the project site called with any issues today and he said “no”.  I said that's funny because the front-end loader fell through the shitter.  He said, no, that did not happen.  I said Well, I can clearly see the front-end loader tire tracks and it matches the tread on the front-end loader sitting on my property and if you'd like for me to grab some of this poo and put it in a Ziplock baggie and deliver it to you, I'll gladly do that!  Then he said, ok, I believe you.  Then I said and perhaps now you understand the value in marking the shitter off, like I requested?  This project lasted 2 years and he did not replace that shitter lid until the end of the project – keep in mind it was an active tank!  But wait there's more! I happened to walk by the fireplace after it was installed and I saw the product number on it, so I took that number and compared it to the number I had personally selected in the store.  Yup, you guessed it!  This was NOT the fireplace I picked out?  Again, went back to the contractor and stated my findings, he had nothing to say!  Why did he do it?  He did it because the one he purchased for the job was cheaper than the one I had picked out.  But here's the catch – he gave me a budget and I stayed within my budget when I selected it.  It was too late to uninstall the fireplace although I could have made him rip it out instead, I had him place the leftover money back into my budget. Then the electrician pulled me aside one day and said, he your “super” isn't doing you any favors.  I said, how so?  He took me into the master bath and showed me that the jetted tub I had picked out needed a 220 wire, but the super had only supplied a 110 wire.  He then said the 220 wire is, so the heater works but the jets still worked.  So, I said the contractor is banking on the fact that I “won't figure it out, right?”  He said yes, but don't get me in trouble.  I said, Oh I won't get you in trouble.  So, the next time the contractor was onsite I asked him if he could show me how the jetted tub works.  He said sure and proceeded to show me.  Then he said, so if the water gets too cool, you just turn the hot water back on.   I said, OH, OK!  Now he's lying to me. Now if you've ever owned a jetted tub with a heater there's no button for the heater, just the button for the jets so you really don't even know there's a heater on there. The heater just works automatically.  I clearly played dumb! There were numerous issues on this project including him hiding another $5k inside the budget.  Towards the end, I'd had enough, and I fired him!  He never finished the mantel over the fireplace and odds and ends around the kitchen.  It was nothing I couldn't handle. This next story is one for the record books and I pray you never fall victim to this type of cowardice thief. I had a short-term rental in the Gatlinburg, TN area in 2016.  On Nov 28th that year there was a huge fire killing 14 people, injuring 190 more and burned 2460 structures including cabins and burned 17,136 acres. I was one of the fortunate ones and my cabin escaped the fire.  However, my friend Darleen and her husband were not so fortunate.  Her husband barely made it out of their cabin before it succumbed to the fire.  Everything was gone!  The heat was so hot it melted the Skyline metal braces used to hold up the Skyline ride in Gatlinburg.  Just the mere impact of losing their vacation home was enough to devastate anyone but they were thankful they were not hurt.  After considering the tax ramifications of not rebuilding versus rebuilding, they decided to rebuild.  Much research was done into log cabin companies and a log cabin company was selected.  They also spent the time and effort to custom design and tweak the cabin package to be exactly what they wanted for overnight rental purposes as well as a retirement home.  When it came time to select a builder, they used the very high recommendation of the log cabin manufacturer who assured them their recommended contractor was reputable and decided to enter into a contract with that builder.  Because the log cabin company assured them, they the contractor had been vetted, my friends did little research of their own. During the time they were meeting with the contractor and doing various other tasks associated with the destruction of their original cabin, they needed a place to stay so I offered my cabin to them several times as they lived 5 hours away.  I was thankful they stayed there it was a win-win for both of us.  I was in fear that if no one was going to be vacationing in the area that my cabin could be vandalized but if someone was in the cabin then it wouldn't look as appealing to a looter.   Everything seemed to be ok in the beginning and the log cabin package was purchased and initial checks were issued to the contractor.  They even met with the contractors' granite supplier to select counter tops, tile flooring, etc.  The idea was to build rapidly and get the cabin on the market before others so that rentals would build up nicely.  (In Gatlinburg, people tend to rent the same cabins over and over if they like them so getting back to market early seemed the smart thing to do.) Unfortunately, it wasn't long before things began to go south.  Very little was being accomplished and they began to feel they were getting the run-around, so they started doing a lot of research of their own.   What they found was the heart-breaking truth that this contractor was a complete sham and con man.  Once they began to reach out to others, they found he regularly took money from people and either never did the work or hired someone so bad and cheap the work was very shoddy and had to be ripped out and done over.  On jobs that were priced at materials +, he would often use the same invoices on more than one job.  He moved from state to state to stay ahead of those he stole from and concocted the most elaborate lies to cover it all. In their case, he had paid a sub-contractor to clear the property of the debris and had the septic system inspected but completed absolutely nothing else and yet had collected into six figures.   In the end it was discovered, he didn't get permits for the work that was done and even the lot clearing had to be done again as it wasn't done correctly. Further the TN contractor's license he presented didn't even belong to him.  It was another individual with the same name in the company name.  He altered the license to appear it was just his name.  This was discovered when they double-checked what he had presented to them. In the long rung after $20+k in attorney bills, a court judgement was obtained.  Since the transaction was clearly of a fraudulent nature, the damages were tripled, and they obtain a judgement for three times the amount of money he stole from them.  However, since he IS a con man, he has perfected ways of hiding any assets he has and as of today they have been unable to collect anything. One thing they learned, and they now apply to EVERYTHING…. Never trust the recommendation of someone you trust… DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH! Thank you for listening, I hope you were inspired, entertained or you learned something new! My 3-month adventure in my RV is coming to close and I'll be headed back to Florida soon and it sounds like the real estate marketing is starting to turn.  I've found some cash flowing opportunities, when I seal the deal, I'll be looking for partners to share in the rewards. If you want to know more about, reach out to me at www.fearlessinnovator.com or you can now listen to me on the Fearless Innovator Podcast.  I can be found on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube!  

Today's I'm going to review several ways you can invest in real estate but first.  I want you to know that investing in real estate is NOT a get rich quick scheme.  It takes loads of time and financial education and constant learning to stay on top of all the changes and all the pivoting going on in the market. I will cover Note Buying, Private Lending, Rentals, Flipping, Short Term Rentals  Here are a couple of other things to consider. What's your age?  I've had several retirement aged people ask me this very question.  Hey, I'm getting ready to retire and I want to invest in real estate.  What should I do?  Of course, I'd have to dig into their specific situation but on the surface, starting to invest in real estate at retirement, right after you've quit your job or closed down your business and you intend on living off of social security – this would be a disaster situation.  However, I'm sure there may be some who have built up nest eggs, in that case it may be plausible for someone to invest in real estate especially if they do not intend on living off of their nest egg while it works for you.  If you fall into this category, then perhaps you invest in something like Note buying or private lending if with a return on your money and you can sit back and watch it grow.  If you have money sitting in an old IRA that's not doing well, you may consider moving it into a self-directed IRA and putting it to work by buying real estate or partnering with an investor that would offer you a decent return on your money? There are qualified note buyers in the market – just do your homework before partnering or your homework if you seek to do this on your own. Private Lending is also a viable option.  This is where you can lend your money to another investor to partner on a short term (less than 1 year) or a long-term deal that may have higher yields.  You can do this inside a Self-Directed IRA or money that you have in a underperforming savings account at less than 1%.  The interest rates will vary based on the real estate transaction.  There are always people looking to find individuals that have money sitting around doing nothing but gaining 1% on their money.  *Another warning – there are risks involved in both of these so be sure to use a seasoned real estate attorney to secure your position.  That leads me to Risk Tolerance! What's your risk tolerance?  If you have a high-risk tolerance and you want to be involved in the process, in other words you want a J.O.B, perhaps flipping is a good mechanism for you?    Why is flipping high risk?  Several reasons –  1) The purchase of the home is where you make your money.  If you buy this home too high you've already lost the game.  How you purchase a home at the right price is another episode, but typically a great deal can be made when negotiating with the seller directly.   2). Budget – determine what your budget for the rehab is before you purchase the home.  It's best to bring your contractor to the home prior to purchase to determine all costs – there is such a thing as scope creep – a Project Management term which means you budgeted for the 6ft panel door but decided you liked the look of the new sliding barn doors because you think the house will sell for much more.  Not so much! 3). Timeline – If you just borrowed hard money with 4 points at 10% interest you are now paying a lot of money on a monthly basis to borrow this money.  The name of this game is get in, get it done and get out in the least amount of time as possible!  Why?  You're now paying a high monthly mortgage payment; you're paying Insurance costs and property taxes all considered as holding costs.  People forget about these costs!   OH, and let's not forget how fluid the real estate market can be.  Let's say you entered into this flip the market was moving along great, but then 4 months later the market starts to soften and now you thought you were going to sell at $185,000 just became $165,000 – there goes your profit! Passive Income Do you want to earn passive income while you're still working? Passive income is income that requires minimal labor to earn and maintain, this can equate to rental properties.  There are other options but this one most can relate to. Why do you want passive income?  1).  Your renter pays off the good debt(mortgage) for you.  2) You're taxed at a lower rate on income taxes.  3) Depending on your lifestyle, you could determine how many rentals it would take to get you out of the rat race – which means you could quit your J.O.B. Another passive income idea is Short Term Rentals – The income you receive monthly is considered passive.  Perhaps, you have an extra room to rent.  Great – there is a little work required to get the room furnished and then setup on your choice of Short-Term Rental platforms and if you use a service, there's little to no work on your part, but collecting a paycheck.  You can even have a Short-Term Rental out of state.  I did this in Gatlinburg, TN from Florida. I did have a few hiccups in the beginning but then I got them all ironed out. How much money would you be willing to invest?    *Warning – do not use your nest egg to begin investing. I had a small amount of money sitting in my Self-Directed IRA and I thought for sure, I'd have a hard time finding anyone that was willing to take such a small amount. I was wrong, I found a guy in my network that's using the money towards expenses on a flip and he's giving me a great return on my money, even better he's going to continue to use my money for 5 more years.  When it's due he puts my initial investment plus the interest back into my retirement account.  I'm 57 now, so in 5 years I'm closer to retirement, and maybe then I'll take it out and use it but for now it's baking! I've just covered the surface on ways to invest in real estate.  It's clearly up to you how much work you want to put into it, how much you have to invest and what your risk tolerances are.  In the end, you weigh your options and then dive in! While I'm on my 3-month adventure in my RV, I'm out riding around my home state of Iowa looking at Freedom Rocks, but my real estate business is on auto pilot and I'm producing income If you want to know how, reach me at www.fearlessinnovator.com or you can now listen to me on the Fearless Innovator Podcast.  I can be found on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube!  

While I was out traveling around in my RV this summer, I stopped off at local Financial Independence Retire Early Meetup group in Des Moines IA. I went because I love learning new ideas and I thought perhaps I could learn something new outside of Florida and what others are doing. I quickly learned that I could add value to the content for their meeting and I asked the leader if he wouldn't mind me speaking at his next event. I felt I had relevant content considering I had just written a book on Why my J.O.B. Quit Me, jumpstart your Firing.  I decided to share with you the content for my speaking engagement.  Let's define Financial Independence – This does not mean that you have millions of dollars in the bank.  This is a mindset change.  It also means that MONEY is not your focus.  Financial independence to me means I have the time to do what I want when I want.  And you are sitting here looking at me and calling me crazy…. why?  Because you're focused on the money… and I'm not.... let that sink in. Here are the real facts: 2000 – Started investing in real estate 2017 - Quit my J.O.B 2020 – hit financial freedom *It took me 17 years to get out of the rat race and another 3 years to get out of the rat race. My goal is to inspire you to get out of the rat race much quicker than I did! Robert Kiyosaki defines J.O.B as Just Over Broke! - Did you know 97% of Americans are stuck in the Rat Race?  To understand more about the Rat Race – Please read Robert Kiyosaki's book Rich Dad Poor dad.   I read this book in 2000 and it completely started to change my mindset. Let's say you're an employee making  Gross Salary $100,000 Net Salary $ 50,000 – left for mortgage, car payment and all expenses. (Student loan debt, credit card debt, childcare, etc.) Did you know that you work from January to May just to pay for the $50k in taxes and you take home the rest from June to December? Roughly $4,000 a month – That $4000 just became your targeted get out of jail free card - is your Goal is to replace the $4000 a month. How do I make $4000 a month without a J.O.B? Buy 4 single family homes where the rent is at least $1,000 a month. 1). Your rental income becomes Passive Income – which is taxed at a lower rate and only on the income earned that year.  You're taxed on 12,000 income minus all your expenses.   2). This opens you up for Tax write-offs and deductions you do not get as an employee, lowering your taxable income.  This trip to Iowa for me is a write-off. Why?  Because I am conducting business and looking for real estate to buy. 3). Your tax liability becomes less, and the tax rate is much lower than what you pay as an employee. 4).  Your rental house is now an asset not a liability because this debt is considered good debt because you have a tenant paying for house as it appreciates in value and the debit is getting paid down.  Tax Rates:   Investors earn income through Passive Income and Capital Gains– Passive income requires minimal labor to earn and maintain. Capital Gains are earned when you sell a property.  There are 2 types:  short and long term Capital Gains currently is 15% to 20% on assets held 1 year or more. Single Employee making $100,000 ordinary income is 24% - Taken from the IRS website. Married filing jointly $100,000 is 22%   How many of you FEAR quitting or losing your J.O.B.?   I'm sure you think about this in the back of your mind every day. I know, because I used to do it, but then I realized why am I fearing losing my JOB when I have skills that I can take anywhere? I also realized that my JOB was the one imposing the fear upon me, I just accepted it!   You know the review process you go through and the potential you have at “getting a raise” – that's your JOB dangling a carrot over your head.  OH, bad review = no raise.  Once I figured that out, it was clear in my mind that I wanted out! How many fear losing your identity?  Here are 2 examples – You go to school to become an airline pilot – When you take off your pilot hat – you're just like everyone else.  If you can't pilot a plane, who are you? I was a Project Manager in IT – that's all I knew.  Who was I when I took off that hat? I couldn't write code or develop a mobile app – I was just a girl.  What do you do?  You change your identity!   What strategy did I use to get out of the rat race?   1).  Over time I built up my real estate inventory to 8 units.  7 rental homes and 1 short term rental in Gatlinburg. 2).  I started working part time so I could focus on my real estate business. I was changing my identity 3).  When I quit my J.O.B. – I immediately sat down for weeks and cut all my expenses in half  4). I quit buying Doo Dads, sold things I didn't need and paid off everything I owned except mortgage debt which Robert calls GOOD debt and the debt on my primary residence – which is a Liability not an asset like your bank will tell you. 5). I took a Robert Kiyosaki class for 6 months and worked directly with a mentor.  Once the class was over, I went on the hunt to buy more properties with the knowledge I had just learned.  I applied that knowledge and bought my first flip and an 8-unit apartment complex. In summary: I determined the amount of money I needed to live on Purchased passive income producing real estate to match the amount of money I needed to live on Started to gradually change my identity from Project Manager to Real Estate Investor Reduced my hours from full time to part time Quit buying doodads – no more bad debt. Sold things I didn't need Quit my JOB Took an online course Surrounded myself with mentors and people way smarter than I am. Today, I continue to buy real estate Robert Kiyosaki quote – It's not how much money you make, but how much money you keep and how hard it works for you & how many generations you keep it. While I'm on my 3-month adventure in my RV my real estate business is on auto pilot and I'm producing income If you want to know how, reach me at www.fearlessinnovator.com or you can now listen to me on the Fearless Innovator Podcast.  I can be found on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube!  

Today's episode – No, is my favorite word! I know you've been told no before!  It all starts when we were kids.  As a form of protection your parents and mine have all said – NO! Don't touch that hot stove! You'll burn yourself!  NO! Don't run out into the street – you'll get hit by a car. No! you can't have another cookie; it will spoil your dinner. Do you realize how many Nos we heard before we could actually start making our own decisions?  Do you know it only takes repeating something 21 times to become a habit?  By the age of 5, all we know is NO. Decision making in my household started very young.  We had to be up early to do cow chores, trapping in the winter and then off to school.  After school, more chores, dinner, homework and go to bed – rinse and repeat.  This rinse and repeat process created discipline. I remember the first time I was told no by someone other than my parents. I was a junior in high school when DeVry Institute of Technology came to my school and did a presentation.  The presentation just drew me in, it was something about technology that just got me to thinking I wanted to learn more about this school and what I could learn.  I went home and gave my mom and dad the spiel about this school along with the literature they gave me, and I told them, that I was really interested in this school. Here's the cool thing about my mom and dad – they never discouraged or encouraged any of us to do anything.  They allowed us to pick our own paths in life.  There's only time, I remember calling home in Junior High and asking my mom if I could be a cheerleader and she told me no.  She was right – I wasn't cut out to be a cheerleader, I became a very physical basketball player in high school.  I was thankful years later for her decision. The next steps were to go talk with our school guidance counselor. I made the appointment and met with Gary.  Now, I was a Junior in high school and meeting anyone of the teachers or admin was always intimidating, this meeting was no different. I explained to Gary that I would like to know more about DeVry Institute of Technology as I really enjoyed the presentation.  I remember the meeting going something like this.  “Mechiel, I don't think you're cut out for a school like that.”  Now, I have to assume that because this was a technical school – The bachelor's program was a Bachelor of Science degree or in layman's terms – I would become a developer or write code - he didn't feel that the classes I had already taken would lead me down this path.  It was a 2 year and 8-month Bachelor program carrying 21 credits a trimester and no summer's off.  I didn't have to take the non-essential business classes that the 4-year colleges made you take. In my mind, I was like so?  It just meant to me I'd graduate much earlier than the 4-year colleges and I'd be in the workforce much earlier.  I was an A student with some B's mixed in.  I didn't understand why he wouldn't support it.  I walked out of his office very disappointed.  I went home and told mom and dad that Gary wouldn't support me going to DeVry but that's where I wanted to go! Several days went by when mom and dad told me that a guy from DeVry was coming by the house and that I needed to be ready for him.  I didn't know what that meant, but we sat at the kitchen table with this guy for 3 hours as he explained in more detail about the school and how it worked.  He then made me read 3 paragraphs to him out loud.  Then he started asking me questions about the 3 paragraphs, like he never heard a word I said. I became frustrated and I said to him, “Did you not hear anything I just read to you?”  He started laughing out loud.  Well, I wasn't laughing, and I rolled my eyes!  He then explained that I had passed his test.  He said, he stays 3 hours on purpose to test my patience and then he tested my comprehension by asking questions about the story I read to him.  He told me, it's on purpose because over ¾ of the kids that sign up for this school will quit and they had tied it back to comprehension, so they try to weed them out before they even start school. So evidently, mom or dad – not sure which had done a little damage control with Gary and scheduled this appointment with DeVry.  Now Gary was making more sense to me, but I was still determined that I wanted to go to DeVry.  Back then it wasn't as glamorous as going to the University of Iowa – but I wanted to go to school to learn not party! In the fall of 1982 – dad hauled me to Kansas City in a horse trailer and 2.8 years later I graduated with a bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems.  I would tell you that it was NOT fun, it was a lot of hard work and at the 2.4-year mark I was ready to call it quits at the Associates degree – I even called home crying and mom and dad both said NO, you're not quitting and you're not coming home!  The guy from DeVry was right we started with over 1000 kids and only 250 or so graduated. I went back to Gary' desk years later and slapped him with my degree and of course, back then it was posted in the local paper for EVERYONE to see.   This degree ultimately led me into the world of IT where I was a Project Manager for 25 years.  Just think, if I'd let Gary tell me no and I just curled up in a corner?  Where would I be today? I had a boss several years out of college tell me that I was a computer whiz, but I didn't know math.  I went and took a college algebra class and slapped an A on Bud's desk. I learned quickly that there are big differences between the No's your parents tell you (that's for safety usually) and the No's peers, bosses and even friends will tell you.  Those No's mean to me, that they are protecting only themselves and potentially holding you back.  What are they hiding?  Why do they want the ability to control my actions? Do you realize if you listen to all the no's, someone else is controlling your destiny?  It always leads back to fear.  They are trying to instill fear into you, so you don't do it.  I say, pay close attention to the No's you are hearing and react accordingly.  I can almost guarantee you; you'll end up with a positive result – if you can just find the initiative to tackle it! Thank you for listening, I hope you were inspired, entertained or you learned something new! Hey! I'm on the road to the Laconia Bikefest!  Look for The Insane Wanderers and ask for Mechiel! While I'm gone to Laconia my real estate business is on auto pilot and   I'm producing income while I'm out riding around the countryside!  If you want to know how, reach me at www.fearlessinnovator.com!    

Today's episode. Are you facing foreclosure?         If there is one thing, I'm great at its vision.  I have the tendency to envision how something may look in the end.  I don't want you to mistake this for creative ability because I clearly can't even draw stick people.  I'm confident this skill was developed because of the brains I hung around as a kid, which were my dad and my grandpa.  Both of them were visionaries.  I also believe that because I'm this way, I have the ability to weigh risk differently or even overlook risks that others may consider to be too risky.  It's kind of like jumping into the future and seeing the finished product without looking at the steps it takes to get there and just reacting and making it happen.  There is of course, a downside to this way of thinking, things can come crashing down which creates new issues that perhaps you don't think about. This very thing happened to me but it's how we react to the change or difficult time that matters. After the closing on what I would now call my primary residence, if you recall I lived with the sellers for 6 months, so my plan to move forward with my vision was on hold.  When we finally settled and they moved on, I was free to make my plan happen. I had purchased 1.65 acres that had a double-wide trailer and a 2-story stick-built house.  The upstairs of the 2 story was a 1200 sq ft house and downstairs was a 6-car garage.  I lived in the upstairs unit.  My goal was to sell off the double-wide and build a custom 4-bedroom home with a pool on a construction loan and then flip the property and sell it off and make huge profits! Then move on to another property and do the same thing!  I was just living up to the nickname Nomad that my parents had always called me because I loved moving!  I know I'm not your typical kind of person – I do love to move because I like getting rid of stuff Shortly after the completion of the custom home – which took 2 years and 30 pounds later to build, the market crashed, and the real estate market tanked!  I was able to refinance the home out of the construction loan but clearly, I wasn't moving anywhere!  My house was already worth way less than I had even paid for it, but I had steady employment and I was able to maintain my household. Then the unexpected happened – My J.O.B. decided to Quit Me – hence the name of my book, Why my J.O.B Quit Me…jumpstart your Firing got its name.  Not only did my J.O.B quit me, I learned that I was in menopause, and I was still suffering with the passing of my father and one day after My J.O.B Quit Me, my best friend died of colon cancer and the relationship I was in would soon end.   I took the next two weeks off to go be with my best friends' family and to gather my thoughts.  I knew that while I was gone, I would not focus on the issues that were mounting back home.  When I returned home, I knew I needed to begin to seek new employment opportunities because I knew I would not be able to make my mortgage payment.  And then I made it even tougher on myself and decided to start my own consulting business – which also meant that I did not have a steady stream of income coming in like that of an employee. I decided to reach out to the mortgage holder and explain my situation well in advance of the doomsday that would occur in about 3 months. I reached out to them, and they had me send a written letter to the foreclosure dept. I did as they told me to do and in 4 weeks, I received a written response back and it basically said – no, we won't help you and you'll be in default, and we will begin the foreclosure process.  I had attempted to do the right thing by telling them in advance, but I quickly learned that banks or lending institutions really don't care about you, they just want your money, so they can lend it to someone else.  No personal touch you're just a number to them. Well, this scared me to death because I didn't want my house going into foreclosure and I knew my credit score would take a hit!   I started reaching out to people that were way smarter than me.  I talked with my CPA, my real estate mentor Jim and my lawyer and do you know what they all told me?  I was completely floored!  They all told me to quit paying my mortgage – because the only way you could get the banks attention was to quit paying them!  To me, this was the riskiest thing I had ever done!!!  I've always paid my bills on time and my credit score was always in the mid 700's.  I didn't want to ruin my credit, are you kidding me??? I continued to seek out anyone else that would offer different advice, I found nothing! I gave in and the very next month, I preserved what money I had and quit paying my mortgage.  Within 1 month, I got the nasty graham which was the threat to foreclose on me.   They were right, now I had their attention, so I called the foreclosure department to figure out what the next steps were – they offered again no advice – didn't give a shit about me.  Their updates mainly consisted of the steps they were taking and the timeline in which it would happen. No help at all. It was during this time that my mentor Jim suggested that I call the Modification team.  He mentioned that in rare cases he had seen only a select few people ever get a modification even using a lawyer, but it would be worth it for me to give it a shot as a last resort.  A modification is basically restructuring the loan to make it more affordable and, in this case, would enable me to keep my house.  I had never heard of this; it was the blind leading the blind.  I called the Modification team and started the application process.  About 3-4 months, later I finally heard from them, and they accepted my application!  I was thrilled, but I still had no idea what this meant. I was then assigned to a modification processor, and she became my point of contact for the next 6 months.  This process was daunting, exhausting, redundant and seemed like they had me chasing my tail and it felt like I was just checking off boxes and there was no end in sight.  I was constantly delivering documentation and on phone conferences.  At the same, time I would get updates from the foreclosure team.  They too were getting super close to foreclosing on me, and it was then that I realized the Modification team and the Foreclosure teams were not on the same page about my current status.  Turns out these 2 teams don't even talk to each other….  Now, I had to mitigate and negotiate between their own two teams!  I attempted to hurry the modification team so they would finish before the Foreclosure team.  Finally, I had a final checklist of items that I needed to complete, once I completed it, all I needed one was internal signature and it would be done. The final step was for me to go and take a “budgeting class” to teach me how to budget.  I made the appointment with Fred, and I proactively sent him my monthly budget that I've used for years, thinking he would review it and offer me new advice. I arrived at his office, he called me back to his desk and started to explain that the budgeting class would start in about 15 minutes but then said I received your budget Ms. Mechiel and I'm not sure I even understand why you are here.  I said, me either, but you already know how to budget, I said yes, sir.  I said sir, I just need you sign off on this line right here and I'll be on my way!  He signed my paper, and the modification was complete shortly after that!  I had saved my house! The moral of the story – there are always solutions to issues, you just have to be willing to seek out the answers! These same principles more than likely aren't' available today but the fact remains that banks really don't want to help you, if you're facing foreclosure, reach out to me at fearlessinnovator.com there is more than one way to skin a cat! Hey! I'm on the road to the Laconia Bikefest!  Look for The Insane Wanderers and ask for Mechiel! While I'm gone to Laconia my real estate business is on auto pilot and   I'm producing income while I'm out riding around the countryside!  If you want to know how, reach me at www.fearlessinnovator.com!  

Today's episode is entitled… I have you by the balls… Ladies, you may want to listen to this story because you're going to learn how sometimes as women we get taken advantage of but more importantly, I'll give you some tips on what I did to make sure this won't happen to you! I was very fortunate to have grown up with a dad that taught me things that most girls didn't get to learn.  By that I mean, I was treated like I was a boy.  It makes sense today, but it didn't back when I was growing up.    You already know that by the age of 9 I was riding a motorcycle, by 14 I was in a grain truck and hauling corn to the elevator.  Somewhere sprinkled throughout those years, dad taught me how to jack up a car, change tires, change the oil in my car and I know all the parts under the hood.  I never tore apart an engine or anything like that, but I knew the mechanics of how things worked.  Shoot, I even remember my car breaking down when I was in college, and I called dad and we did phone support before that was even a mainstream word – he walked me through rigging the gear linkage until I could get home and he could fix it! I remember dad saying to me one day, “Shell, I want you to be able to stand on your own two feet and not need the support of man in your life”.  Well, I must have listened because he accomplished his goal! So fast forward to the day, I decided to buy my first truck.  I was buying a truck because I was tired of seeing little cars and dead people as I trekked over the Howard Franklin bridge every day for work.  And then one day it happened to me!  I was in my Nissan 240 SX and the guy in front of me rubber necked, and I slammed into the back of his car.  That was it!  The next day, I went on the hunt for my first truck.  In 1997 when women in trucks were not cool, I landed at the Dodge Ram dealership. Richard and I looked at several trucks that day.  I wasn't looking for anything fancy, just something where when I'm driving, I could see over all those little cars – it was my own sense of false security. As Richard and I searched for my perfect vehicle, I told him cloth seats were good.  He asked if I needed a towing package, I told him no.  I have nothing to tow and don't foresee me towing anything.  He went back inside to check his inventory and then came out with 3 sets of keys.  One by one we looked through each of the vehicles.  I was partial to the black one and spent more time looking over this truck.  Richard did point out that all trucks on the lot did come with the towing package and I said, that's ok.  No problem. He said how about this, let me go get a license plate and we'll go for test ride?   I said, Ok and while he was gone, I continued pressing buttons and looking around the inside of truck.  He returned and off we went.  We probably drove like 3 miles; it was a nice ride, for a truck. I liked it and began asking more questions.  Can I add a different stereo, add tinting and a bug deflector?  He said of course he would just need a couple of days.  I said, well I'm going to be gone for 2 weeks to Alaska so when I get back, I'd like to pick it up then.  Is that, ok?  He said, Absolutely, we will have everything done for you. I said Perfect.  We then went inside for the daunting 4-hour haggle struggle with the ever so important “sales manager”. I said to myself, I really hate this process, they really need to make it much more pleasant for their customers! Anyway, I survived and left with my paperwork and went to Alaska with my dad for 2 weeks. As soon as I got back, I went right to the dealership to pick up my truck.  Richard had everything lined up, he reviewed all the upgrades with me and out the door I went.  I was a new proud owner of a Dodge Ram. Weeks later back at the office, my friend Eric wanted to see my truck because I had told everyone that I was buying a new truck. We go out into the parking lot and he's walking around my truck admiring it and asking me questions.  He then stopped and said, Mechiel didn't you tell me that this truck had the towing package even though you didn't want it?  I said, yeah, why?  Eric said, well I don't see the towing package.  I said what?  I went to the back of the truck, and he was right no ball, no hitch and no sleeve.  I said, well let me look in the glove box, there's supposed to be a lighting package in there.  I got to the box, no lighting package. My heart went from 0 to 100 in 2 seconds, and I immediately felt defeated. But then I remembered something!!!  I remembered that when Richard went to get the license plate, I had written down the VIN number!  Now I'm frantically searching through my purse, and it seemed like forever, but there it was on a crumbled-up piece of paper.  Eric and I quickly compared my VIN number to MY truck.  Guess what?  NOT MY TRUCK!  Now, I was pissed but I was locked and loaded with the information I needed! I called up Richard, I said, Richard, you have an issue.  What issue is that Mechiel?  I said Richard, this isn't MY truck.  He said, well sure it is!  Richard what you don't know is that I wrote down the VIN number that day and this is NOT my Truck.  Dead silence on the other end of phone.  Richard, I have you by the balls!  And I want my truck.   More silence and finally he said, Mechiel I'll call you back in a few minutes. A few minutes later he called me back and explained that MY truck was no longer there and wanted to know what they could do to make this right. I said lucky for you I'm not a sue happy person because my best friend Cindy's – dad is a lawyer, and he is chomping at the bit to sue you! I'm bringing this truck back to you and you all are going to add an aftermarket towing package to my truck.  I took the truck back and they added the towing and lighting package – after all I had paid for it the first time! Now months go by and it's time to change the oil and rotate the tires.  Since I had never owned a truck before I called home and asked dad to explain how the tires should be rotated.  He told me to get out the truck operators manual and look it up to see what Dodge recommended.  I found it and I understood that the front left wheel would go to the back right, the right front wheel would go the back left and the two rear wheels would just move forward. When I went to Firestone that day, I explained that my wheels needed to be rotated a specific way according to the operator's manual.  She had me draw a picture of exactly how I wanted it done.  She said, ok, I'll call you when it's finished. Several hours later, I came by to pick up my truck.  I paid and then went to get in my truck – first thing I did was inspect the wheels and tires.  Hmm, oh, they did not!  They were not rotated as I had asked them to do so I carried my happy ass back into the store and told her that my wheels were not rotated the way I asked you to do.  She hollered at the guy that did the work and he was trying every trick in the book to get me to believe it was done correctly.  I said, get your manager and come with me.  So now the dude is walking through the parking lot, smoking a cigarette and his manager is in tow. They get to my truck, and I said, I want to show you something.  You see these numbers on my wheels and my tires?  (I had numbered each tire and wheel with the numbers 1 thru 4, starting at the left front 1, right front 2, left back 3, right back 4.     This #1 should be in the right back and that #4 should be in the right front, clearly you did NOT rotate my wheels correctly.  You should have seen their faces when they realized what had just happened!  Priceless! OH, and let me show you this…. I opened up my front door and there was a cigarette burn on the inside of my door.  I don't smoke and then I glanced over at the dude smoking…. The manager was less than happy and told the guy to go rotate the tires the right way and then he walked me back inside and he apologized to me and gave me my money back.  Nothing could be done with a cigarette burn – but hopefully he wasn't allowed to smoke in another person's vehicle! Now, I'm not sure if this truck just had some bad ju ju or what but things like this happen all the time!  My dad taught me growing up that people will take advantage of you; you just need to be one step in front of them.  Hey! My bike has been serviced and it's ready for Laconia – now, I just need to pack!  If you happen to go to Laconia look for our T-shirts, we call ourselves The Insane Wanderers! While I'm gone to Laconia my real estate business is on auto pilot and   I'm producing income while I'm out riding around the countryside!  If you want to know how, reach me at www.fearlessinnovator.com!    

Today's episode is entitled What does a Buccaneer's ticket and a townhouse have in common? I tend to attract and coach a lot of first-time real estate investors or people that just want to start investing but they don't know how.  One thing I'd tell you right out of the gate is to go read Robert Kiyosaki's book called Rich Dad Poor Dad.  This book will change your mind set about real estate investing.  Once you've read that, then go read The Cash Flow Quadrant – this book was an eye-opener for me!  The next thing I will share with you that investing in real estate IS NOT A GET RICH QUICK Scheme, that doesn't mean you can't make the right moves and get out of the rat race quicker than someone else.  If you want to learn what the rat race is (you're probably in it right now and don't even know it) you can join me online every 1st Tuesday from 7pm to 9pm Eastern – we will use the CashFlow Game online as a tool to educate you about how to invest in real estate.  Sign up at www.fearlessinnovator.com/roundtable to receive the online instructions. That's www.fearlessinnovator.com/roundtable. There are SOOO many ways to invest in real estate, but it really depends on your circumstances.  I'm going to assume that most of you were like me when I got started.  I was working full time in IT, and I just wanted to start to dabble in real estate and I didn't know how either!   All I ever really heard about were people working full time and they owned rental properties.  There wasn't a lot of education out there like there is today (boy that just made me sound old).  Today, you can be a Wholesaler Note Buyer Multifamily investor REIT – Real Estate Investment Trust Commercial investor Short Term Rental – Vacation Rental Flipper – Rehabber Hard Money Lender Private Lender Single Family Home Vacant Land Each of the above come with their own set of risks and rewards.  It's safe to say that if you're working full-time that becoming a Flipper/Rehabber wouldn't allow you the time necessary to devote to both your J.O.B. and the rehab project.  While flipping can produce a big chunk of money at the end of the project you'll also need to understand the tax implications on the ordinary income.  Another option the younger crowd may select is Wholesaling.  Wholesaling is a lot of hustle finding deals and finding buyers with its own set of tax implications, this is a full time J.O.B. Most investors are after the passive income/cashflow – you'll hear those words used together a lot.  In the book Rich Dad Poor Dad, you'll learn that passive income refers to making money while you sleep, and it's taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income and this is a step in the right direction if you're wanting to move from the J.O.B. Employee status to the status of Investor.  I bet you didn't know that working as an employee at a J.O.B. you are taxed at the highest rate and true investors are taxed at a much lower rate and are able to take advantage of some tax laws.  Robert Kiyosaki discusses in his book The Cashflow Quadrant. Maybe you have a big chunk of money sitting around, who knows? maybe you inherited it – did you know there are people out here like myself that use OPM – (Other People's Money) on an investment opportunities?  It's handled legally through an attorney, and it's backed with a Note and Mortgage.  This allows the Full Time Employee to remain in their working status, but their money is passively working for them at a fair rate of return. I think you can see now why you need to figure out what type of investor you want to be and understand all the risks and rewards. Another tidbit be sure to connect with a mentor.  This can be someone that is willing to teach you along the way or signup for a mentoring program. I was very fortunate that I had such a mentor.  My mentor did the same thing I mentioned above, only Jim bought me the Rich Dad Poor Dad book and encouraged me to read it.  And because I'm on the global stage, I'm sorry but you'll have to make the effort to buy your own book! After reading the book, I became hungry to get started and like you I did NOT know how to get started.  But I did know this about me and that is I can make things happen. Several months had passed and I was visiting with my girlfriend Patsy.  She had increasingly become more discouraged as her daughter Michelle had moved to Charlotte and started rambling about wanting to be closer to her as she missed her very much.  The two had been inseparable until Michelle moved.  Each time I visited it was becoming more evident that she was going to move.  She had tried to find someone to buy her townhouse and had failed, she was a bit reluctant to use a realtor because she didn't have much equity and she wanted to retain as much as she could for the move. One day she says – “Mechiel you should buy my house”.  I was like I have no idea how to do that.  She said it's easy, I'll just call my Title company and they will handle all the steps.  We just need to agree to a price.  I said, “ok?”  I got on the phone with Jim – he helped me walk through the steps on my side, Patsy and I agreed to 50K.  We both signed the sales contract.  I believe I skipped the whole appraisal and inspection phase - which I would advise everyone not to skip today.  I went and got a mortgage approved and we closed in 30 days.  I helped Patsy pack her things and off to Charlotte she went. Now here I am – with a vacant townhouse and no idea how to get renters, how to manage them, no maintenance people, no idea how to track income and expenses and I'm working full time. I ended up putting a For Rent sign in the front yard and I put an ad in the newspaper. (Yeah, this was a while back!)  Soon, I had people calling me and I'd setup appointments so I could “interview” them and they could come look at the place. Back then I told them, “If you have bad credit, just tell me now so I don't have to run your credit”.  I would also advise against this today, but it seemed to work back then.    For the next 2 years, I learned everything by a firehose.  I had no maintenance crew and my dad even helped with a major leak under the kitchen floor that ultimately the runoff from the water ended up out in the street, but dad saved the day!  At the end of the 2 years, my running tag line was – I have a guy for everything!   Then because I thought I had become so proficient that I bought another one in the same development.   This of course, added a whole new layer of complexity and issues but I was hooked! In summary, here's what I did: I negotiated directly with the seller I bought a single-family townhouse – without knowing anything at all about real estate and I was working full time and traveling. I placed the tenants without knowing how to screen or manage them. I held onto to the property for years and bought another one – because I now understood cashflow. I sold the 2 properties when there was enough equity to buy my next larger property. Moral of this story – The best way to start in Real Estate is to just jump in wherever you're uncomfortable!  What are you afraid of?   Oh, and if you're wondering about the Buccaneers seasons tickets – I scored them in with the purchase of the townhouse!  B U C C A N E E R S – GO Bucs! The common denominator was my friend Patsy.  Patsy got me started in Real Estate!  I miss her dearly – she passed a few years ago – so I dedicate this episode to my dear friend Patsy Rogers! Laconia Bike fest is around the corner, and I can't wait for the wind therapy and my adventure with Insane Wanderers which is a diverse group of Latino's and a couple of white people.  I may not understand everything they say, but I can point! While I'm gone to Laconia my real estate business is thriving!   I'm producing income while I'm out riding around the countryside!  If you want to know how, reach me at www.fearlessinnovator.com!    

Ok, I'm going to switch gears this week, literally and talk about the Unspoken Rules of the Road. If you all have been listening to my Podcast you should have learned that I've been riding a motorcycle since I was 9 years old.  Most of the early years was dirt bike riding, but when I got my license at age 16, my dad let me drive my mom's Honda 500 with a stationery fairing.  After teaching me a few rules of his road - like wear a Lid (which is a helmet) wear the proper gear, never ride after dark, always make sure you're flat footed, always be alert and make sure when you're crossing through an intersection with a car at a stop sign – be sure to watch the wheels of the car and not the person in the car, dad allowed me to go downtown and pick up Sheila and we'd scoop the loop for hours downtown.  Sheila was my first bitch ever!  Bitch today – mean's passenger and it's usually a female although I have seen male bitches!  I'd always have to be home before dusk – because riding at dusk or after dark was an absolute NO because the DEER in Iowa are huge and will definitely kill you.  Even today, I have to stop and think twice about riding after dusk. Needless to say, that over the years I've put a lot of miles under this ass, and I believe I'm very qualified to help those less experienced bikers with the unspoken rules of the road. For the sake of this podcast, let's assume that before you just went and took the motorcycle course that you actually have riding experience. I think I gave you a great example in an earlier podcast that just because you want to “ride” a bike – doesn't mean you know how to ride. Taking the taking the motorcycle course wasn't designed to teach you how to ride – it's to prove you have the knowledge and skill on a bike to get your license. So, please for the sake of yourself and others – go ride a dirt bike, ride out in the country away from traffic and gain the riding experience first!  I've always told people there are 3 components when you're first learning to ride. Gain experience – I know a lot of people that practice in parking lots.  The biggest fear everyone has are going around curves!  Practice sharp turns! Practice, practice, practice.  I know a female that had just got her license and because she was “trying to stay up with the rest of the group after just getting her license” – she hit a car in a sharp turn and ended up in the swamp!  She lived and her brand-new bike had serious water damage! Know how to handle your bike without thinking about it.  Don't get the clutch and front brake mixed up or you'll end up going over the top of your bike.  I saw a guy do this at 20mph and he was pretty beat up at just 20 mph.  Luckily, he had on leather! Once you've mastered those above – now insert cagers (traffic – cars, trucks and other vehicles) by getting out on the road.  This takes riding to a whole new level!  Your skill needs to be such that you do not have to look at your bike to operate it. You are now focused on everything around you.  You are constantly scanning and watching out for yourself.  You do NOT want to be figuring out what to do with your bike when the guy in front of you just slammed on his brakes. Your eyes should be focused away from your bike.  You need the ability to react without thinking about your hands need to do!   Now that you've got the experience and your license, here are the basics I've learned from my dad and from riding throughout the years.   1).  First and foremost, bikers are family – being a biker, you belong to a group of people that not many understand or take the time to understand.  Bikers get a bad name because we look tough decked out in leather and we seem non-approachable.  Did you know bikers come in all shapes, sizes and different professions?  I was in IT for 25 years.  I have friends that are Doctors, nurses, truck drivers, Correctional Officers, Lawyers, Police Officers, self-employed business owners, farmers, musicians, Developers and the list goes on. There's also a difference between motorcyclists, Squids and Bikers. Motorcyclists – just a buy a bike, may ride with a Hawaiian shirt with flip flops Squid – (Stupidly Quick, Underdressed, Imminently Dead) Overconfident rider underestimating their riding skills. Biker – Is a way of life 2).  What to wear and what not to wear!  This was a big one for my dad. ALWAYS wear a helmet, riding jeans and boots.  Helmet's today are not required in all states and its typically your choice if you want to wear one.  Riders always carry gear with them for the environment you're riding in.  Heat, cold, rain, snow – you'll need gear for all three if you ever head to Sturgis, Colorado or Laconia. Jeans/Chaps pants - Wearing anything less than something that does not cover your whole leg will cause you pain!  I don't care how hot it is out, jeans/chaps are a must!  Just getting hit with a bug on your leg wearing jeans causes enough pain for you to react, when you react you could cause an accident.  Have you ever seen road rash? If you go down, guess what part of your body takes the brunt besides your head? Your legs?  If you're wearing shorts you have absolutely no protection! Boots – And I don't mean stilettos for your ladies – I'm talking flat footed rubber soled or leather soled boots.  Boots are used for two things – protecting your feet and your footing.  Ladies if you're wearing stilettos and your foot falls off the peddle and gets caught on the peddle, now your whole body moves forward, and you lose your grip on the handlebars.  This causes you to take your eyes off the road or the biker in front you and now you've just caused an accident due to not wearing the proper gear.  I've seen this happen! Same goes for you flip flop wearers.  When your flip flop falls off or gets stuck on the foot peg – you to take your eyes off the road and create an accident.   When I see this – I know you're a RUB – Rich Urban Biker – or an inexperienced rider and you've just rented a bike just so you can SAY you went to Sturgis.  Bikers unlike motorcyclists dress the part because we want to be safe.  I watched a guy in flip flops attempt to back his bike up into a spot – First, he must have never parallel parked a car – because he didn't know how to back up a biker either – his flip flop got caught on his foot-peg and over he went.  Good thing he didn't make it into the parking spot because he would have caused the domino effect with the other bikes that were lined up.  Which leads me to another rule. 3).  Never touch another biker's bike – You can bet the owner is nearby and his eye is on his bike.  Bikers are respectful until they've been disrespected.  And when one biker has been disrespected the whole group will follow. Bikers respect all people and in general will not cause problems. 4).  Never leave a biker behind – This one is very personal to me.  Let's be clear on this definition.   1). If you see a biker on the side of the road and he appears to be having issues with his bike or maybe he's not feeling well whether you are on your bike or not (you're still a biker) – you always stop to offer him assistance.  Maybe he needs to phone a friend and he doesn't have a phone.  Maybe he needs towed somewhere and you have a trailer and offer to help him. It doesn't matter what it is, and it doesn't matter what he's riding either.  Shoot I'd stop for a moped!  He's on two wheels!  Bikers are family!  2).  If you're riding with a group of 10 and you all have pulled over to do some sightseeing and you agree to be back at the bikes by 4pm and then leave.  That means that at 4pm all 10 bikers need to be back at the bikes.  If one or two are missing – you call them, look for them – do everything possible to locate them and never leave them until you know they are ok and that they choose to stay back.  Leaving them behind is a break in the respect you have for one another.   Real story – I was leading a group of 10 in Deadwood, SD we agreed to be back at the bikes at 4pm.  At 3pm, I witnessed my group of 8 following the Ex-Marine in our group outta town.  They got the ass end of me.  They had left us because they said they couldn't reach us.  They never even waited until the designated 4pm time!  My response – Marines don't even leave their dead behind, and we were alive and kicking mad!  Never rode with them again! Communication while riding.  If you ride solo this still pertains to you but especially when riding in a group – how you communicate with traffic and the other bikers in the group is critical!  The hand signals on a motorcycle are very similar to those on a bicycle.  I use hand signals and the turn signals on my bike whether I'm solo or riding in a group.  If I'm solo, I want to be sure that guy behind me in the 3-quarter ton truck knows I'm turning left.  He can see my left arm extend out and it's confirmed with my turn signal.  Let's face it some of those turn signals are so small not all drivers can see them!  Be consistent in your hand signals – if you don't know what they are…. learn them!  Just google Motorcycle Riding Hand Signals – you'll find all sorts of charts out there.  Learn them and use them consistently.  If I'm riding behind, you and you use your right hand/arm to make a right turn gesture– I'll think you're pointing at something, and I'd hit you! The proper right-hand turn is using your left harm at a 90-degree angle – just like on a bicycle. When I'm leading and turning right, I'm looking for the guy behind me to turn on his right turn signal – indicating to me, he got my message.  Now I'll know he's slowing down with me.  Safety is always first!   Two Finger Wave -When bikers meet other bikers on the road you will see them make a peace sign down low under the handlebars.  This means we are saying to keep two tires on the ground or the rubber down. It also means we're telling the riders to be safe.  Trikes will stick out three fingers. 6).  Bikers are givers and we love helping others!  Hard to believe right?  When you see a large bad ass looking group riding together it could be one of two kinds of groups.  It could be the affiliated MC's (Motorcycle Clubs) or Independents (bikers with no club affiliation) riding for a charity event.  Yes, even the MC's ride for charitable causes.  Everyone, unless you live under a rock have heard of or seen the very large Toy Runs during Christmas.  We will ride and contribute for St. Jude, cancer events, abused women and children and not only give money but time.  I tend to collect for specific people that I know are in need.  One year at my Mystery Ride we collected for a grandpa and grandma that had recently adopted their 3 grandchildren and they were strapped with living in an RV and needed money and food over Christmas.  We made that Christmas a blessing for them. Bikers will usually ride on charity events on Saturdays and Sundays and usually on holidays.  One day a FB friend went online to bitch about the bikers he heard while attending church over Labor Day– said he couldn't hear the preacher.  I engaged and attempted to explain that the group was on a charity run for St. Joseph's Children's Hospital.  All that did was opened me up for more crap from his other FB friends.  We have a long road ahead of us to explain to non-biking people who we are and what we do for the community. In the meantime – keep doing it!  Ride on! Here are a couple of disclaimers! **Riding a motorcycle is mentally exhausting because you're constantly on the defense looking for exit strategies.      **Do not attempt group riding until you've mastered solo riding.  *Bikers often refer to their women as Ole Lady's – ah, yeah never call me that! Thank you for listening, I hope you were inspired, entertained or you learned something new! In a couple of weeks, I'm off to the Bikefest in Laconia, NH to scratch off another bucket list item!  I hear the riding is fantastic and I can't wait to go! While I'm gone to Laconia my real estate, business is doing really well.  My personal residence is producing income while I'm out riding around looking at the countryside!  If you want to know how, reach me at www.fearlessinnovator.com!  

This week's topic:  Sale of my Multifamily Property From my last episode on Owning a Multifamily, I told you that after 9 months into ownership, I had completed the upgrades, increased the rents as much as I could.  And was in a holding pattern on the seawall repairs when I decided that since my 10% HIGH Interest only Loan was coming due, I would just sell it!  I'm always a fan of Plan B's! You learned that: Other landlords were offering free water and sewer Rents were capped at $825 per month Filling vacancies would take 3 to 4 months to fill. My expenses had increased significantly I reached out to my residential real estate agent – because keep in mind I didn't know I should have used a commercial real estate guy.  We had it pocket listed for a short stint, and I went around to many of the REIA meetings trying to find someone interested in buying this but found no takers. One day, I had been seeing where a bunch of people would get together to go play the Cashflow game.  I had always wanted to play because I had the game, but I had yet to master how to play it, so I decided to travel the hour clear over to Largo to go the play the boardgame.  Funny thing happened; I actually ran into a guy I knew from one of the REIA's.  I chatted with Mike for a few minutes, and he told me he wasn't there to play the game, but he was going to meet some guy named Tyler. Mike sat next to me, we ate our pizza, drank our water and chatted for a while.  Right about when the game was about to start, Mike got up and said, well, I got to go, I'll see you later Mechiel.  Mike went outside the building and started talking to a guy in a blue shirt.  After chatting with Mike for a few, that blue shirt walked in the room and then he sat down in the back of the room.  The two moderators came forward and said to everyone, let's go around the room, stand up, introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you and what you're doing in real estate.  When it got to me, I said my name is Mechiel Kopaska and I'm here to learn how to play the cashflow game so that I can play it in my area, and I have an 8-unit apartment complex for sale.  The guy in the blue shirt held up his hand and said, talk to me after the game about your 8-unit apartment complex. I went on to learn how to play the game and had enough knowledge to hold a meeting in my area.  After the game was over, that blue shirt now moved to the front of the room, and he had several people around him.  I said to myself, what makes this guy so special?  Who is he?  Why are people flocking to him? Well, I started to get aggravated because it seemed like I had been waiting an hour just to get to talk to him.  When it was finally my turn, I said Hi, I'm Mechiel and you wanted to talk to me about my 8-unit apartment complex?  He said, Hi I'm Tyler. I said to myself, this is the second time I'm hearing that name.  Who is this guy?    He said, oh yeah, where is it located?  I said it's in Hudson on the water thinking that being on the water would have all this sex appeal, right?  Nope, he said, well I don't want it.  I said, how do you know you don't want it, I haven't told you anything about it?  He said, well do you pay flood insurance?  I said, yes.  He said, well I don't want it.   It was then, that even though I was getting shot down, I realized this blue shirt Tyler had criteria and I needed to know more.  I wasn't going to let him shoot me down and me curl up in a corner without understanding more of his criteria. Now I started asking more questions to the point where he finally says, how about this, why don't you go to Cashflowguys.com/AskTyler, get on my calendar for a free consultation?  I said, Ok.  I'll do that. I went right home and booked my appointment.  After doing so, I started reading about this dude and I started asking my friends if they knew him.  Turns out he's the Cashflow Guy – as in one of the top 5 Podcasters on Real Estate just under Bigger Pockets, yeah that guy!  He's a seasoned residential and commercial agent on steroids.  He's sought after because of all the knowledge and creative deal structuring he's done, and he loves Multifamily.  This explained why my friend Mike was interested in him.  I know Mike was about to invest in multi-family so I'm sure he was seeking Tyler's advice.  Who knew this guy was in my back yard! I showed up prepared with all documentation in my sight and within a click to finding anything I may need for this call.  Initially, Tyler asked me a series of questions and I followed up with answers and then I just started spewing out everything I knew about this property, what I done to it, what my plan was and how I tackled my plan and how now I ultimately wanted to sell it.  After several minutes, he says, my wife and I will be in that area on Friday, do you have time to meet with us at the property?  I thought to myself, I guess, I must have done a good job selling this if he now wants to meet me onsite.  YAY!  Yes, I'll meet you on Friday.  He said we'll take a short tour of the property and then we'll go to a local restaurant and talk more in detail.  Sound good?  I said, yes, that works for me! The date and time were set! We did just as Tyler suggested, toured the building and a looked at a couple of the units and then we went to a restaurant where we sat for the next three hours discussing this property! He told me that he and his wife did invest in multi-family and were fairly sure they didn't want to invest in this one simply because they bought property that required little or no repairs and then there was the cost of the flood insurance.  I was a bit disappointed but then he said, I'm confident I can sell it for you where you would make a significant profit and I'll also tell you right up front that I charge more than most when I take on listings.  Why?  Because I'm great at what I do and what I offer far exceeds what other agents will do or can do for you. What set him apart from other agents was his marketing strategy.  I don't think I'm at liberty to tell you what his strategy is, but I'll just say it clearly intrigued me. I knew the day I met the guy in the blue shirt he was a very confident guy and after learning more about his background, I believed him!  He was also a man of ethics and morals.  We struct the deal with a handshake and the next day he said I'll be in touch with next steps, but the first step was for me to fill out a complete and full disclosure of everything I knew about the property and NOT to leave anything out! He made me get another Structural engineering drawing so that could be delivered to any potential buyer.  He had his photographer come and take still pictures as well as drone pictures and within days the property went on the market for the value, he quoted me. The only time I ever heard from Tyler was when he had a question that he could not answer.  I know for a fact that there were A LOT of moving parts going on behind the scenes, from qualifying buyers, validating buyers, multiple offers – none of which I was previa too.    He made his job seem seamless to me and then less than 1 month – we had a full price offer!  Yes, I said full price offer with a qualified buyer! 1 month later this property sold for top dollar, and I had made a HUGE profit. That's the short story – but behind each of these steps, I bet his team encountered over 20 points of failure that at any point this thing could have fallen apart, right up to the closing table. Why didn't it?  Because I hired a well-tuned, fine oiled machine that kept their eye on the finish line and delivered the expected results. I never once knew any of the negative stuff behind the scenes and I know it was there, but it was not necessary for me to be impacted by something I had hired a team to do. I heard an occasional rumbling – but it was always solutioned before it hit my ears. As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for!  I paid for excellence, and I got it! If anyone has a multifamily property for sale, I come with experience and a great team!  I'm looking for my next challenge!   If that sounds like you and you need help, reach out to me at fearlessinnovator.com/contact. Thank you for listening, I hope you were inspired, entertained or you learned something new! You can get a free copy of my book Why my J.O.B. Quit Me, jumpstart Your Firing, go to fearlessinnovator.com/freebook..    

This week's topic:  Owning a Multifamily Property Ownership If you recall from my last episode, I had just purchased my first multifamily property with tons of issues!  The seawall was in desperate need of repair, the walls and floors on the first and second floors had gaping holes in them, the floors were not level and I had 7- 28-year AC units that any day could break down. Day 1 after the purchase I went on the hunt for a great property manager.  Well, the hunt didn't take long, I met with the existing property manager and due to her experience with this particular area and this building, I decided to hire her and her team. I met with her on day 2 to understand in detail the leasing agreements and to discuss vacancy rates and any concerning issues I wasn't already aware of.  I learned: The tenant pool was somewhat limited in this area. It was limited because there were not a lot of jobs in this area.  Generally speaking, my tenants all worked in the local restaurants or bars.    One of the 1-bedroom units was vacant and the larger 3- bedroom unit would become vacant soon.   My tenants had nowhere to do their laundry and they were traveling 5 miles just to do their laundry   My plan was To rehab each unit after a vacancy, the 1-bedroom unit had shelves with no doors for cabinets and very limited counter space. I called on my rehab team and the plan was in place to get new cabinets and a countertop. Clearly this would be more appealing towards future tenants, and I could raise the rents a bit. The 3-bedroom unit needed a new toilet, new dishwasher, and new paint. I added a coin operated washer and dryer for the tenants. I now had to visit the property weekly to collect the coins and check on my investment. As the vacancies occurred, I was in wash, rinse and repeat mode, rehabbing, cleaning and repairing each unit. Each time a tenant would move out, I upgraded the units and increased the rents to market rates. However, I quickly learned 4 NEW things.    1).  Other landlords in the neighborhood – we're offering free water and sewer – which would equate to about a $600.00 loss on my books per month. This meant tenants were not renting from me, they were renting from my competition. 2). The local job market would also limit the amount of rent one could pay because of the type or work offered which were restaurants and bars.  The rents were capped at $825 per month. 3). I'll also point out that because these 8 units were in proximity of each other, the tenants all became friends – what do friends do?  They talk about how much they are paying vs. the other tenant. The fight for equality began.   The banter between tenants was becoming bothersome for me and it was challenging to keep steering this business in the right direction. 4).  The property manager would then report difficulty in filling the vacancies, after all the tenants already knew upon renewal what their new rate was going to be so they would leave.  Replacing tenants would often taking 3-4 months – at the same time I'm losing income. 5). Another disappointing fact was I learned the sellers hadn't been forthcoming on their monthly expenses for electric, sewer and water, I lost close to $1,000 a month total.  I had researched placing remote water devices so the water could be measured by unit, but the cost far outweighed the benefit and other landlords offered this free to their tenants.   I'm not sure how they made money on their investment, but I knew I couldn't fight this battle. More importantly and the most concerning fact that I learned was that the 2 quotes for the seawall repair were simply a band-aid to a much larger issue.  I learned through an engineering inspection that the wall was not going to collapse even though it really looked like it would and to fix it the right way was more like $40K and there were some other concerns as far as the approach to fixing it.  One approach, everyone on the bottom floor would have to move out for a week, another approach didn't require that. After 9 months into ownership, I had completed the upgrades, increased the rents as much as I could.  And was in a holding pattern on the seawall repairs when I decided that since my HIGH Interest Loan was coming due, I would just sell it!    

This week's topic:  My first multifamily purchase! Purchase After taking a 6-month class from Robert Kiyosaki in 2017, I had learned what I thought was enough information to evaluate properties and make good decisions on buying investing properties. I had started working with a new real estate agent and we had already completed one single family home transaction, when he said to me.  “Mechiel what are your real goals?”  I told him I wanted to buy commercial property simply because it had been on my goals list for several years.  Clearly not the right motivation to buy my first commercial property!  I couldn't wait to place a check mark next to Commercial Property.  He asked me if I would consider buying an off-market 8-unit apartment complex. I said, “sure” and we scheduled a meeting with the broker and the husband/wife sellers.  When I first arrived, I met with the sellers.  Nice couple from Greece.  The sellers took me on a tour of the property. I was granted access to enter each apartment.  We went out back and walked along the seawall.  The property was located on a canal that led to the Gulf of Mexico – it was beautiful.  On the tour, the owner had explained all the updates that he had completed.  The 4 upstairs patios had been upgraded and made a nice deck to watch boats or sunbathe.  Then we toured a 9th room that we'll call the maintenance/supply room.  When you first walked in you could visibly see that the owner was attempting to create a 9th unit as the framing with the 2 x 4's were up. He had explained that he was either going to make it into another unit or it could be converted to a laundry room with storage.  As we went to the back of this unit, you could clearly see that the walls had gaping cracks in it, and the floor was no longer level.  The owner explained that there had been a seawall issue and water had intruded under this floor and washed away the soil from behind the seawall but indicated that he had received 2 quotes to fix it and later he would pass that information along to me. I sat down with the sellers in their Unit D, and I was able to ask them all the qualifying questions that I had learned from my training.  They had a sheet prepared for me by unit that described the upgrades they had done, the rental amounts they collect per unit.  Basically, any questions I had they answered.  I knew the asking price and I had the rental income and a good idea of the monthly expenses that included some electric, including the whole water bill with sewage and trash and a high Flood insurance policy along with Liability.  He had explained that they had no way to measure the individual water bills per unit but that would be something for me to investigate doing so I could pass that expense on to the renters. After 2 hours, I felt I had enough information to take back to my desk to perform a complete evaluation. I thanked them for their time and told the broker I would be in touch. Upon completion of my analysis, I had determined that the asking price didn't line up or make sense. The income vs. expenses weren't lining up, so I called the broker and declined to make an offer. I didn't think any more about this deal until a month later, I got a call from the agent, and he called with great news, the price had dropped $100,000. I thought $100,000 was a significant difference, so I evaluated the numbers again, it still didn't work, and I declined to make an offer a second time. Then within a few days, the agent called to let me know they had dropped the price another $10k.  Again, I declined but this time, they said please just make an offer.  The sellers were motivated because they needed to leave the country for a family emergency.  I looked at the numbers again and made an offer where I knew I could get the formula to work.  To my surprise, in Aug of 2018, the offer was accepted! Now, keep in mind I had never purchased commercial property before, so this process was entirely new on the learning curve.  However, my residential agent completely helped me throughout the process. First challenge was, per the contract, I had 5 hours to find a lender – not just any lender a commercial lender that would believe in me enough to write an approval letter.  I had no idea what I was doing or who I would contact, so with the help of my agent, he gave me a couple of names to call and after that I hit the internet, I was talking to anyone that would listen to me, my story and my vision for the 8-unit apartment complex. Luck was on my side, I found a lender that did just that, she believed in me and 3 hours later, I had an approval letter in hand. I called my agent, and he was in complete shock that I delivered the letter to him in record time. I'm starting to add things up in my head, this process has been really super easy.  Why is this commercial deal going so smoothly, I kept saying to myself…?  I had always heard that commercial is a different animal but this one was clearly not.  Hmmm? The letter was delivered, and the next step was to complete a 4-point inspection.  The inspection was complete within the next couple of days, and I learned and confirmed 2 things. 1).  The settlement issue along the sea wall was real!  SO real you could see the deep cracks in the walls, and you could see where the main floor had dropped inches away from the foundation and you could even tell inside the upstairs units that the floors were not level.  2).  All 8 AC units were 28 years old and would need replaced any day! 3). The roof was good. I had learned from the seller prior that he had gotten 2 quotes to fix the settlement issue along the seawall and I had determined to replace the AC units it would be $3k per unit or $24K. So, I went back to the negotiating table and stated that because of these issues I wanted an addendum to the contract to reduce the purchase price by another $50k. Clearly, they wouldn't accept it. The addendum was accepted the next day.  Now, a little fear set in as I contemplated all these issues, but I quickly said to myself, every issue has a solution.  I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I now had 30 days to seal the deal with my new commercial lender. For the next few days, I worked with my lender that had approved me and due to new internal criteria, I learned that they would not be able to provide me the lending and declined to work with me. Good news was, I now had 30 days to get the lending – so I wasn't concerned.  Back to the internet, I went! After several days of hunting, talking and submitting documentation, I had a conventional lender and a hard money lender on the hook. The choice was mine! However, let's dissect the differences between the two options. Conventional lending – was just that get an appraisal, inspection and put 20% down and get a lower interest rate – at the time it was 5% - all qualified with tons of paperwork. Hard Money Lender – Validate with an appraisal, they would use the 4-point inspection I already had, 20% down, 10% interest only loan with 4 points. Sell or refinance within one year – short term loan. Now, let's talk about my strategy. My strategy was to keep the property (buy & hold) but first I wanted to fix the settlement issue, upgrade the units as the tenants moved out, raise the rents to market value and hire a great property manager. Which option did I select?  I'm confident most would say Option 1 – Nope, my brain doesn't go with the flow – I go against the grain. I selected Option 2 – the Hard Money guy! Why?  That was simple, I wanted a relationship with the hard money guy, because I figured we could quite possibly do other deals together in the future.  So, I was after the relationship! Before I agreed to go with the hard money guy, I called the Hard Money lender's mortgage broker and said, “look I'll go with you, but I need you to confirm that I'll get to meet the guy behind the curtain'.    He was reluctant at first and told me that wasn't customary, but he did agree to call him to see if the arrangements could be made.  He was able to confirm with the hard money guy and the meeting date and time were set. I met with him prior to closing, because it was important for me to know him and for him to get to know me and what I was all about. After all, it held me accountable for this large transaction that I was about to embark on! Then 3 days before closing, I learned that 1 AC unit had broken down and the sellers had to replace it prior to closing. I knew then it was just a matter of time, before the other 7 started to breakdown. The meeting with the man behind the curtain went as expected and we moved forward with the purchase, and I made my payments on time without fail. At the end of the day, I had just purchased my first multifamily property with tons of issues!   I mean, who would buy a building that could one day at any time just fall into the water? If you've read my book yet, you'll learn that I love making mistakes, because I learn!  But if someone were to ask me at this point in time what my stress level was – I would have told you it was low, because remember my day-to-day JOB was much more stressful and I didn't worry about those AC units or that the building could just collapse, because I had a plan! In my next episode I'll continue with talk about the ownership of the 8 Unit Apartment Complex. Thank you for listening, I hope you were inspired, entertained or you learned something new! You can get a free copy of my book Why my J.O.B. Quit Me, jumpstart Your Firing, go to fearlessinnovator.com/freebook.. Hey, I'm looking for homeowners that may have a second home, but you're not sure you want to keep it or let it go?  I may have a solution for you.  Hit me up on Fearlessinnovator.com.    

This week's topic Embrace Losing Your J.O.B. I quit my J.O.B., not once but TWICE! The moment I realized I was not longer a “great” employee, I quit being an employee! Did my J.O.B.. serve its purpose?  Yes!  I excelled in project management.  I ran very large, complex deals with difficult people!  I loved my work!  I made a lot of contacts in and outside the U.S. Did I earn a good living at my J.O.B.?  Yes, I made over 6 figures! I had colleagues for years, telling me that I needed to start my own business.  What would I sell?  Why would I do that?  How would I do that?  I just blew them off and continued traveling and working upwards of 12-15-hour days on multiple projects and watching my expenses build up but I was getting no where! Then one day, something clicked. I realized that all I ever wanted out of my employer was recognition for a job done well. After all, I ran complex deals, travelled, worked with multiple vendors and worked hard!  I wasn't getting recognized, nor was I getting ahead in life being an employee, but they would dangle the money carrot in front of me that went something like this.  If you do XYZ, then I'll give you more $.  That sounded like more of a bribe than someone that valued my work. Now, they wanted me to work more hours and travel more?  I was even offered a directors role, but I turned it down.  Are you kidding me?  I know what my boss does, and I was NOT interested!  My employer quite frankly didn't know what to do with someone that didn't want more money or a promotion. During a very low time in my life, my father had passed away, I was in menopause at an early age and didn't know it and I was maxed out in the stress department running two large engagements and I was in a failing relationship. One day it finally happened!  My J.O.B. and I decided we were no longer a good fit, and I was out of there!  There's more to this story in another episode! Do you know what the worst part was?  My best friend died the next day from cancer! Do you know what the best part was? My stress was gone, and I could breathe again.  I didn't have to wake up and figure out who's problem I had to solve today.   My time just became MY TIME.  I took off the next two weeks with no worries in the world and went to be with my best friend's family.  I decided to just let go of something I could not change and embrace my new freedom.  I told myself I would not worry about anything happening back home, until I got back home. It was during this quiet time – here's that bucket time again, that I was able to let everything sink in.  Boom!  It hit me! I was not going to let a J.O.B. get the best of Me.  Why?  Because I had skills and talent and I get to take that skill with me wherever I decide to go.  I see and hear people all the time in fear of losing their J.O.B.  I know and you do too, that if you lose or decide to quit on your own, there is always something better on the other side.  I also know that employers like to instill fear in you, why else do they write bad reviews?  It's to make you feel less than what you really are.  You know who you are, so start living that way! I got back home and I immediately, tapped into my network across the US and before you knew it within a couple of months, Project Strategixx was born and I was on plane traveling the US from FL to Hollywood to Kansas City and New York City, gainfully employed and living my dream.  Was I scared? Absolutely, I was scared!  But I've also learned that when I'm scared of something that's where I win, so I tend to be scared A LOT!  However, there was a new storm brewing behind the scenes, now that I didn't have a J.O.B., how was I going to pay my mortgage?   I'll share that story in another episode soon! Wait for it….and then I got a call from a prior local consulting gig.  They called and needed my help on a part-time basis for 3 months.  Which meant I'd be back in the employee status again.  By the way, going off on a tangent here, do you all know that as employee you are taxed higher tax rates than that of a self-employed person?  Here's an example:  In 2020, let's say you are an employed single person making between $40k to $80k your tax rate is 22 percent. If you're married, you can make up $171,000 at the same 22%. For a self-employed person making up to $137,000 your tax rate was 15.3%.  Yeah, don't get me started on that topic… Here's the punch line…… I took the J.O.B.!  You didn't see that coming, did you??? Why did I take it?  It was temporary pain….  You know kind of like when you give blood, that first prick in your arm is a doosie but it quickly goes away? This part-time gig would allow me the time I needed to focus on my real estate portfolio. I had been investing in real estate since 2000 and this would free me up so I could build up my portfolio and my real estate network! At the time, I had 8 rental properties that I managed myself! Bad news is this gig lasted 3 years – not 3 months.  the great news is when they fired my boss, I knew it was only a matter of time before they dissected the whole IT team. I had been in and out of companies across the US and I had firsthand knowledge of the inner workings of businesses and how they operated.  One day we had a meeting.  In that meeting, we were told, we were going to get One on One's to determine what type of player we were, A, B, C, or D. I raised my hand right in front of everyone and asked what type of player am I? You should have seen their faces!  It was priceless and my new boss said, “Let's do your one on one today!”  I said, “Great, I'll meet you at 3pm”.  By 4pm, I had been given my 30-day notice.  Sweet!!! That door never hit me in the ass, and I was gone! I was free!!!!  Free, to do whatever I wanted.  Well, I already knew my plan.  My plan was to dive in, heads down into educating myself more about real estate.  I took a 6-month Robert Kiyosaki online real estate course, joined several networking groups, attended weekly REIA meetings and other specialty courses taught by people in my area.  I even found MY own tribe!  Today, I have a huge network of people just like Me, doing what they love in real estate. Through this education, I now know how to evaluate a property to make the deals, how to buy it at the right price, how to sell a property, learned how to use Seller financing to my advantage, how to invest in Notes and how I can use my own or a friends/family IRA money and convert it to a self-directed IRA and buy more real estate! I even write my own Land Trusts, Quick Claim Deeds, etc.  I have firsthand knowledge in flipping houses and I've even bought my first commercial property!  Months later, I researched developing an RV park in GA.  Hey, when I write my goals down, I MAKE them happen! Evolving into an entrepreneur is NOT EASY!  There are several days where you doubt yourself, but I've found that if I get around MY tribe, they typically can restart my energy. Is a J.O.B. (Just Over Broke) holding you back from being happy?  Are you fulfilling your life goals?  Do you need a kick in the butt?  Are you trying to invest in real estate while working your J.O.B.? If any of those sound like you and you need help, reach out to me at fearlessinnovator.com/contact. Thank you for listening, I hope you were inspired, entertained or you learned something new! You can get a free copy of my book Why my J.O.B. Quit Me, jumpstart Your Firing, go to fearlessinnovator.com/freebook. Hey, I'm looking for homeowners that may have a second home, but you're not sure you want to keep it or let it go?  I may have a solution for you.  Hit me up on Fearlessinnovator.com.  

Welcome to the Fearless Innovator Podcast, my name is Mechiel Kopaska, and I am your host. Today I am stepping wayyyyy outside my comfort zone and doing something that is completely fearless.  I promise this episode will be super short, but I need your help at the end!  I'm putting myself way out there so much it makes my heartbeat really, fast!! You already know that biking is a big passion of mine.  You know I've been riding since I was 9 years old, my dad bought me my first bike so I could chase the cows, I lead a group of bikers on what I call the Mystery Ride, I've been to Sturgis 4 times and Laconia, and I've ridden Route 66 and most recently visited 7 of the 97 Iowa Freedom Rocks – so there's no doubt you know I ride. I'm sure you've all heard about the Orange County Choppers or the OCC show on TV, right?  Where they build custom bikes and the dad Paul Teutul, and his son Paul Jr are always disagreeing on how to build a bike?  Well, they've recently just built a new facility in St. Petersburg called the O.C.C. Roadhouse & Museum – basically is a bikers dream location for meeting up with friends to enjoy food, concerts and the museum. I just got word that the OCC is hosting their 2nd Annual Dream Chopper contest!  I did a little research and discovered that last year's winner was Joe Rasulo a US Army Veteran, and he built a bike to commemorate his time in the service.  How cool is that??? He got to appear on one of their episodes with the OCC crew and was featured on the cover of the Cycle Source Magazine. This got me to thinking…  Hey, I can do this!  So, I've entered myself into the competition and currently I'm in 6th place in my group.   I have no idea how many groups there are, but my eye is on the number 1 spot above all groups.  I intend to be the 1st Female to win this Custom Chopper!  I already know what it's going to look like…it will have loads of bling and crosses!   I also intend on inviting all my friends over to the OCC in St Petersburg, where I will host another Mystery Ride!   Go to Fearlessinnovator.com/mychopper to vote for me! There are 2 ways to vote – vote daily for the free votes or use the Rescue votes to donate to the Hudson Valley SPCA – a foundation Paul Teutul SR is fond of every dollar donated is one vote – however, keep checking back because sometimes they offer a 2 for 1 deal – When you Pay $500 towards the Hudson Valley SPCA and it counts as 1000 votes I will see you at the OCC when I win my custom chopper! #makingdreamsreality Thank you for listening, I hope you were inspired, entertained or you learned something new! Side note – I have found an RV park and I'm diving in!  Stay tuned! Catch me later…

This week this story should really help you to understand why I call myself the Fearless Innovator.  And women if you're listening…. this is a story of what NOT TO DO and for the record I'm NOT for hire! Full Disclosure!  Whatever you do, do NOT try this at home!  This story was good for the time in which it happened but not today considering there are over 400,000 registered gun owners in Florida, and that doesn't account for the non-registered owners. To protect the innocent here, I'm not going to use real names except for my own and clearly, when I look back on this story, I can't believe I did this, but it is, what it is.  I was not the mastermind behind this plan, but I did put the plan together to make it work.  Now you already know I am from Iowa, my dad was fearless, I'm fearless and I had several years of IT Project Management years behind me at the time of this event. SOOO here we go! A friend of mine, whom we will call Carol, was traveling home from work one day, her car had broken down and a knight in shining armor tow truck driver rescued her! He picked up the car and towed her and her car to the nearest repair shop.  It was during this ride, these 2 struck up a conversation, exchanged phone numbers and before she knew it, she was on her first date with him.  Then a second and then a third and then a fourth.  I had met him several times, he seemed very attentive, funny and charming and he treated her well.  As far as I knew, things were going along smoothly and all was well…….Several months later, Carol didn't seem to be herself and when I asked about life in general, I just got a basic – everything is alright.  I shrugged it off and thought maybe her workload was really heavy at work. Several days later Carol came to me and only this time she was crying……  Crying…. I'm thinking to myself, what on Earth could be so bad? She proceeds to tell me that the boyfriend had cheated.  I did my best to comfort her and told her not to worry about it, there were plenty of other men worthy of her attention.  I dropped it at that. Couple of days go by, she again comes to me crying – only this time there was more desperation and nervousness in her voice. She proceeded to tell me that she had bought the boyfriend a brand-new Toyota Tundra and everything was great, and he was making the payments until he started cheating and now, he was missing in action.  BUT she says I know where he's staying.  And I said, and you want my help how?”  She said, well, I think we can steal the truck.  I'm the owner, I have the registration and I got an extra set of keys made.  Did I hear you say, we?  Yes, she said. My eyes musta popped out of my head but not for the reason you all think! You see Carol, is the opposite of me.  I have a backbone, she has no backbone, she likes status quo, I like to make things happen.  She's quiet and reserved and quite frankly I'm not.  So, Oh I get it, she knows my strengths and just developed a plan to use my strengths to work her plan.   Oh, I see! I told Carol, I need to think about this for a while and I'll let you know. Now, Carol is a great friend of mine and of course I really wanted to help her get that truck back from that scumbag.  But I needed more time to think about it and plan our strategy. I've realized over the years that defense is my best weapon! I played guard in high school basketball, and I was determined that that ball was mine so I like it when people make the first move – all their cards on the table and you can't guess what my next move might be…Sorry, I digress…. The first thing I wanted to know was more about the Toyota Tundra.  I called up my dad.  Dad, I'm going to ask you some questions, but I don't want you asking me why I'm asking you.  He said, “hmm” I said, you're just going to have to trust me. Dad, when you put a key into mom's Toyota Tundra which way do you have to turn the key?  He said to the left. I said, Ok. Once you're inside the truck where is the door lock?  He said, it's on the door. Where is the gear shift, he said on the console?  I said, “Ok, thank you!” and I hung up! I went back to Carol and said, didn't you tell me you know where he lives?  She said, yes, with his new girlfriend.  I didn't ask how she found out where he lived that would be another story.  I said, do you know about what time he gets home from work?  She said, yes around 6pm. Ok, one night after work, let's take my black truck, park in the shadows and wait till he gets home because I want to see how and where he parks. Off we went to stalk a guy in black Toyota Tundra.   As luck, would have it and just like clockwork he showed up at his apartment and he backed into his spot and the walked across the parking lot and up a flight of stairs and inside the door he went. All the way home we discussed how this might go down and after many sleepless nights I kept pondering what we should do. A couple of days later, I approached Carol and said, “I think I've got it.” But I said here's the deal, I'm not the registered owner so if you think I'm going to steal your truck, your dead wrong YOU have to do it! I've already called the cops and they said they won't help us because this is a personal repo!   She was scared to death!!  I said, girl you're going to have to buckle down and stay focused, here's the plan! We're going to drive over there just like we did the other night.  We'll park in the shadows down the street and when he hits the apartment door, you're going To take a deep breath, open my truck door, shut the door quietly, run down along the sidewalk so he can't see you, dart over to your truck, put the key into the door, turn the key to the left, open the door, jump in, hit the lock button on the door, put the key into the ignition, start it up, put it in gear and about that time, I'll pass in front you of you and then you just follow me.  Got it? You should have seen the fear in this girl's eyes.  I said, listen, you got this, just follow me! The next night, we went over as planned, we waited and waited and watched several cars come and go and THEN it was game time.  He was pulling into the parking lot, backed in, got out, checked his doors, walked across the street and as soon as he hit the apartment door, Carol jumped into action.  She took a deep breath, opened my truck door, shut the door quietly, RAN down along the sidewalk so he didn't see her, she darted over to HER truck, put the key into the door, and turned the key to the left, and when she did the ALARM went off in the truck!  I thought OMG, she's going to buckle on the plan, NOPE!  She jumped into the truck, hit the lock button on the door, put the key into the ignition, and started it up, she put it into gear and about that time, I passed in front her, but as I'm passing in front of her, he's running down the flight of stairs!  Carol continues to follow me.  I called her on her cell phone, and she says, Mechiel he jumped into his girlfriend's car and now he's chasing us… I said keep coming, he can't hurt you.  She said but Mechiel, this truck is running like a piece of shit, I said I don't care…. keep moving!!!!  We got to a main road and by this time Carol was dragging back a bit and he was nowhere in sight, but we knew he was back there.  She said, Mechiel we have to pull over, I said that's not a good idea!  Well, we pulled into a Target, checked things over quickly and got back on the road.  Carol called me and said, Mechiel he's following us, I said keep moving!!!!   I said we need to find a police station.  At this point, I was struggling to come up with a police station, my adrenaline was running high, and you know it's not every day that I need to know where a police station is!   All of sudden, Carol says, Mechiel there's a substation just ahead down the road, take a left.  It took me a while to realize what she was talking about, and she was right, there was one.  OMG, I thought, Carol just saved the day!  I said, ok, I'll call them to let them know we're coming in HOTTTTT!  Just keep following me!!!  She said, OK!  I said, I'll call Ya back.  I called the substation explained that we had just done a personal repo and we were getting chased and we wanted to swing in to prevent this guy from hurting us.  They were less than willing to help us with anything but agreed to have an officer outside waiting for us.   We both pulled in like we were pitting in the Daytona 500!  I immediately got out and went to check on Carol, she was a mess, well we were both a hot mess!  She got out of that truck yelling and screaming that he had ruined this brand-new truck, this truck is a piece of shit and then she screams out and now he went and put a frickin security system on it.   Right then she saw him pass by the substation in his girlfriend's car.  We were both relieved because now we knew he wouldn't come into the substation.  The officer just stood there with is arms crossed, laughing at us! It was right about then I realized there was smoke coming from the back of the truck and it smelled like hot brakes.  I jumped in the truck and realized she had been driving with the emergency brake on! I released the brake and went back and told her this truck isn't a piece of shit, he had put on the emergency brake!  So, Carol you were driving with the brake on! I told Carol, girl I'm really proud of you!  When that alarm went off, I thought for sure you'd run back to my truck, but you didn't YOU STUCK TO THE PLAN!  You even pushed through with the emergency brake on, and you came up with a split-second decision to go to the substation! We left the substation that night and hid the truck in a safe spot until she could decide what to do with it. Just goes to show not all plans are perfect but putting in the effort to do the plan does yield a result.  In this case, we got the desired result, it was just a bit clunky getting there! For the record, this is the one and only time I've ever stolen a truck, so I don't want any calls wanting me to devise a new plan.  I won't do it!  Well, I might consider a small car, next time…. Thank you for listening, I hope you were inspired, entertained or you learned something new! Hey, if you're looking to invest in Florida real estate and you don't quite know what you'd like to do or how to do it, please go to fearlessinnovator.com and fill in the contact page.  I'd love to help you! Please join my FEARLESS - Real Estate Innovator Group on FB. If you'd like to attend my Innovation Roundtable where we talk about everything Real Estate, go to fearlessinnovator.com/roundtable to sign up! Tonight, I'm hosting what I call the Innovation Roundtable.  If you'd like to attend my Innovation Roundtable where we talk about everything Real Estate, go to fearlessinnovator.com/roundtable to sign up! Catch me later! Fearlessinnovator.com/contact Fearlessinnovator.com/mybook If you'd like a free copy of my book Why my J.O.B. Quit Me, jumpstart Your Firing, go to fearlessinnovator.com/freebook.

This week's topic is Just Move it! If you recall, from last week's episode, I had purchased 1.65 acres that had a double wide mobile home and a 2-story stick-built house with a 6-car garage. My goal with this property was to build a custom home and flip it and move on to another property.  I was clearly living up to the Nomad life, a name given to me by my parents. I loved to move around!  But That's NOT what happened!  I worked with a local commercial lender and was able to sell him on my idea to build this custom home.  The construction loan had a limited timeframe and at the end, I would need to seek conventional lending.  After the purchase, I sold the double wide and had it hauled off and in its place my home was built which took almost 2 years, by the way – but that's another story for another day.  Then something else unexpectedly happened and it ruined, and I mean ruined my goal for flipping the home.  Sadly, I got into a relationship.  That relationship changed the trajectory of my vision.  Now, it made sense to keep the home, but it just didn't make sense to me to have 2 dwellings on one property. Had I known now what I know today, I had a perfect multi-family property which in today's market is clearly sought after but at the time I did not know what I had. Now, I was hunting for a solution.  Everyone, I encountered I would ask, “what would you do?”.  I got no viable solutions. Mom and dad came down for their annual visit in February.  It was during this visit with dad where we were actually standing inside the 6 car garage when I got a call that said, I needed to move from the 2 story building into my new home (20 ft away) that day and I had to take pictures that day and send them that day back to the mortgage company so they could validate that I actually lived on premise so I could pass the final inspection allowing me to take possession of the new home.  Immediately, mom and dad and I went to work and began moving in the essentials. After we completed our work, dad and I were back in the garage talking, only this time the attitude was a little different.  We were now discussing his death and everything he wanted me to know about his life and how he wanted things to go after his death.  He told me three things, He did everything in life in wanted to do, He lived life with no regrets and that he was happy.  I wasn't extremely happy talking about his death, but I did listen intently.   I decided to change the topic to something more enlightening. I said, dad, “now that I've moved into the house what on Earth am I going to do with this 2-story building?  He said, didn't you tell me that the 1.65 acres over there with the single wide is for sale?”  I said, “yes”.  He said, “go buy that 1.65 acres and move this house over there in place of the single wide and when you do, rebuild this barn to the size you want BUT make sure you put in a very large door in the middle because one day, Mechiel, you're going to want an RV. My dad was brilliant, and I was his perfect little get er done, kind of girl.  I made a deal with the neighbor next door and purchased the 1.65 acres.  The single wide wasn't worth 2 pennies, but I found a group of guys that came to get it for free and they made it a hunt camp up north somewhere.  I don't know where. I didn't care, it was gone! I started hunting for house movers. Now, In Iowa this happens a lot where people move houses, but not so much in Florida.  My friends thought I was nuts!  I didn't care!  the least I could do was research it and see what I could find out.  I had heard during this time about a house they moved on water, so I was confident I could find someone.  I planted seeds everywhere trying to find a house mover.  Finally, I found a guy in Dade City, just 40 minutes from my house.  I still have his business card!  He shows up on time with his buddy – two good ole country boys chewing tobacco.  He asked me what the goal was, we walked and talked as I explained it to him, and he looked over it really good and said, yep, we can do that.  This is how it works: I'm going to place big jacks under the home, raise it up, cut off the bottom floor, place it on a flat-bed semi-truck, lower the jacks so the home is now on the truck, and very slowly inch by inch, move the house from Point A to Point B.  This process will take a week to complete.  I had to cut down a fence, with nasty bushes in it, take a lean too off the building, and pull a permit and hire a contractor to put down the new elevated foundation that ultimately became the crawl space.  Once permitting was approved work could begin. Within 2 months we were ready for the “move”.  Unfortunately, I couldn't witness the move because I had to go to my J.O.B. and wasn't allowed time off to be there, but my great friend Kathy went and took pictures, and video and gave me the play by play.  It went off without a hitch!  Next steps were to secure the home to the new foundation, took off the baby blue vinyl and put-up concrete walls and paint and then wait for the inspection!  A couple of days later, I cleared the inspection and began my search for a renter. Total cost of the project was $40k and at that time, you couldn't have built a home for that price.   Over the next several years, I've had tenants come and go and most still remain in contact except the tenants that decided doing meth was smart!  I didn't have to call the cops because his brother (which I knew he was afraid of) did the trick and they were gone in 15 days! Today, this home is a short-term rental and yes, I rebuilt the garage to meet dad's standards and yes, you already know I have an RV (but I guarantee you at the time I built the barn, no I did not have an RV, nor did I think I would want one.)  I sure miss my dad's wisdom; he passed the same year we had a discussion about is death – just months later. Thank you for listening, I hope you were inspired, entertained or you learned something new! If you'd like to attend my Innovation Roundtable where we talk about everything Real Estate, go to fearlessinnovator.com/roundtable to sign up! Tonight, I'm hosting what I call the Innovation Roundtable.  If you'd like to attend my Innovation Roundtable where we talk about everything Real Estate, go to fearlessinnovator.com/roundtable to sign up! Fearlessinnovator.com/contact Fearlessinnovator.com/mybook If you'd like a free copy of my book Why my J.O.B. Quit Me, jumpstart Your Firing, go to fearlessinnovator.com/freebook.  

This week's topic is Houston, I Have a Problem! A real estate problem that is! My goal in 2005 was to sell the house I currently lived, take the profit and buy another house.  One night after arriving home on my motorcycle from attending a Wednesday night bike night, I decided to start my search for my next house, because quite frankly I didn't fit into my current neighborhood.  I drove a truck and I was the only motorcycle (at the time) that was embedded between beamers and Mercedes, as my neighbors.  They clearly didn't take kindly to my loud pipes.  I couldn't even exit the property on my bike, because it wasn't heavy enough to trip the security gate. Luckily, another biker arrived in the neighborhood, and he had the same problem, we had to go in front of the HOA to request they change that.  They did, but it took some time.  I digress…. My hunt began on Realtor.com simply because I wanted the ability to search for a home without a realtor involved.  It wasn't that I didn't want to work with a realtor, I just didn't need anyone driving me around to look at the area or the exterior of a home. I first wanted to find the right location. I found 5 listings that intrigued me.  On Saturday, (because I had a regular J.O.B. back then) I started my search.  I drove aimlessly for hours driving through neighborhoods about 10 miles north of my current house.  I ran scenarios through my head about the distance it was from work, did I want to live on a gravel road?  Was the grocery store close by?   Where was my bank in proximity? How far was this from my friends? Did I mind that one property was on a main road?  Was I looking for privacy?   I narrowed my search down to 2 properties.  Over the next several weeks, I continued my random drive-bys at different times during the day and night. This whole time, one property kept me coming back.  It had a long driveway and was quite intimidating to drive down because you couldn't see the house from the main road. I wasn't even sure if I was in the right place, but there was a realtor sign out front.   It was very secluded, dusty driveway and at night you would have thought this is where kids would say that's where the wicked witch lives.  Yeah, that kind of place! However, at the end of the abyss it opened up into this beautiful, secluded 1.65 acres surrounded by trees. There was a double wide on the left and on the right was a 2-story building that was baby blue vinyl.   On top was a 1200 sq ft apartment like and 6 car garage below.  It wasn't a mansion by any means but this place, to me, had great potential. I never approached the buildings; I would just sit in my truck away from the vacant house and daydream of what the possibilities could be. On Mother's Day this year, I went and picked up my little Sister, Elizabeth.  She was my “little sister” from Big Brothers Big Sisters.  I never had children so during this time in my life I was single and thought it would be cool to share part of my life volunteering with the less unfortunate.  This is another story, but we were together for 5 years. I was ready to tell Elizabeth that I may be moving soon, and I'd like to have her go with me to see what I may be buying. Nothing was different this day, I drove down the driveway and parked in my usual spot, positioned my truck so we could look at the house and daydream except this day, the front door to the 2 story flew open and there was a big guy in the doorway with what I thought for sure was a shot gun!  He waved that shot gun as if he was motioning us to come close.  I wasn't sure and held off, now he was approaching us and then I realized that shot gun was a cane!  I was never so relieved, after all I had my little sister with me and couldn't imagine putting her into a bad situation. Once we approached, I realized he was the nicest guy ever.  He said to me, I've seen you sitting down there several times, would you like to come inside and take a look?  We said yes, and then we met his wife, Laurie.  Once inside the 2 story, I quickly realized that I loved this place!  Charles told me that he and his son had designed and built it themselves and they had the double wide there for other family members.  He told me they had lived there for roughly 15 years and his brother had owned the adjacent 1.65 acres and they lived in a single wide on that property.  He told me when they moved there years ago a bunch of bikers lived there and they were still finding beer cans laying everywhere.   We walked the property and he told me everything he could about the property.  Charles said that he and Laurie were now retired, and they wanted to sell so that they could buy a new truck and RV because they wanted to travel.  He asked if I was interested in purchasing and my gut replied, yes, I do think I'd like to live here.  After all, I was thinking this place kind of reminded me of Iowa. He said OK, but there are 3 things I want you to know.  1) Let's wait until my contract expires with my realtor – which was just days away 2). They had had some financial issues but were hoping to get them resolved quickly 3) If you buy the house, would you please take a care of our momma kitty? I told him; I had no issue waiting on the contract to expire.  You tell me when you're ready and we will close on your terms and of course, I'd take care of that sassy orange momma kitty!  She had already swiped me! Charles gave me the go ahead to place my property for sale.  Back in 2005 properties were flying off the shelves.  I kept Charles and Laurie in the loop with my progress and they kept me updated.  However, as luck would have it, my place sold within 30 days! I called Charles up and I said, Houston, I have a problem!  He said, what's that?  My house sold and now I have nowhere to go!  He said, yes, you do!  I said, what do you mean?  He said, Mechiel after your closing, you bring all your stuff out here.  Laurie and I will move into the double wide and you can live upstairs.  Now, listen, he said, we don't want rent either. He said you're doing us a favor and you won't have to pay rent. The day of closing, I moved in with my sellers for about the next 6 months.  Now, I couldn't pay rent but I damn sure paid for anything that broke! and I bought them groceries and even had a Ford connection that when they were able to close, enabled them to buy a FORD dually for under invoice!  We shared evening meals and me and momma kitty became the best of buds. The FORD was delivered sight unseen, they picked up their RV and off to Virginia they went on their next chapter in life. I'm very grateful for my friends Charles and Laurie and today we remain friends and now I even know their kids!  I run into them often at concerts! This is the way real estate deals should be handled! Stay tuned for next week's continuation saga entitled Just Move It! Thank you for listening, I hope you were inspired, entertained or you learned something new! If you'd like a free copy of my book Why my J.O.B. Quit Me, jumpstart Your Firing, go to fearlessinnovator.com/freebook. If you'd like to attend my Innovation Roundtable where we talk about everything Real Estate, go to fearlessinnovator.com/roundtable to sign up! Fearlessinnovator.com/contact Fearlessinnovator.com/mybook  

I've been a landlord since 2000 and I'm not quite sure how many tenants I've had over the years, but I can tell you being a landlord evolves each year, and last year I learned more valuable lessons. Bought a single-family home out of state. Strategy was to buy and hold Hired a local agent her name is Tina to help with the screening for good tenant – keep in mind that our search was at the beginning of COVID where people were staying at home, there was the potential for anyone to lose their jobs – so the hunt for good tenants was a bit challenging. Tina processed several people but one couple in particular sounded solid.  She collected all the necessary supporting documents, application, prior rental history, work history, bank records, etc. Tina had done a thorough job of collecting all the information we needed.  We reviewed it together and I agreed on the 3 adults and 1 child.  She collected the first, last and security deposits.  All money was validated and in a local bank – it wasn't cash.   Why was that important to me?  I needed to know they had money in the bank to sustain their obligation on a 1-year lease.  April 18th, 2020, my tenants moved in. Communication lines between me and the tenants were good.  I had offered them the SimpliSafe security system since it was already in place, but they declined. Over the next month, they had a couple of minor maintenance issues and all were resolved quickly. May 18th – one month to the day they moved in.  I received a phone call.  The neighbor was calling to report that the FBI and DEA had the house surrounded and guns were drawn. I told the neighbor that when things calmed down to go talk to the arresting officer.  She did and we found out this was a drug deal gone bad. I called Tina up just to validate the software she used or the process she used didn't have some kind of flaw.  She re-ran him again with the same result. I by no means ever accused her of misleading me but rather was on the hunt to figure out what had gone wrong, so that I wouldn't do it again! Later that evening I went online to the local arrest records to look up my tenant – there he was!  3 felony charges for drugs and weapons. The next morning – I looked up my tenant again and I noticed something that caught my eye.   The picture that was on his arrest record the night before was different than the one I was looking at today.  That told me he had a prior arrest record and NOW I wanted to know why this didn't come up when Tina did her thorough search.  NOW, I wanted to talk to the arresting officer! I called the office that I thought had arrested him but she said no and transferred my call to another office that had arrested him. When a guy picked up the phone, I started to tell him that I was the owner of house out in a particular area and he finished my sentence by telling me my exact address. And then he laughed.  I said are you the e arresting officer?  He said, yes.  I said, yes, sir that house is mine and I'm the homeowner and I'm a lot confused with what's just happened. I told him, I live in Florida but sir, I hired a local real estate agent in your area to help me with the screening process and as far as I was concerned I believed she had done a very thorough job in the screening process.  His reply, well she must not has been as thorough as you thought. I said, but wait a minute, now I'm concerned because I KNOW he has an arrest record and I want to know why it didn't show up.  He said, how do you know he has an arrest record?  I said, because his picture last night and this morning are different – I know that means he has been arrested before.  He laughed at me and said that I was funny and I was very intuitive to have figured that out.  He said Yes, he had been arrested before.  Then I asked why didn't it show up?  He said, its not public knowledge and it won't show up because it was hidden from the public view.  He had a special name for why it was taken off his record, but I don't recall what he called it.  He wasn't at liberty to tell my why he had been arrested, just that law enforcement were the only people who could see it. I asked him if he could tell me what all went down.  He said the male was selling and distributing drugs, he confirmed it was marijuana and not pills or another form of a drug. Apparently, they have caught up to Florida standards is what I was thinking.   He said, they had been watching him for about a week.  I said yes, about a week ago a neighbor had reported suspicious activity  and suspicious vehicles late in the night.  But it wasn't enough to alert me as they technically weren't doing anything wrong. He then went on to ask me several more questions and if I had his bank records.  I jokingly said, yes, I have his bank records, but are you who you say you are?  He said, ma'am you called me.  I said I know, I was just checking… I said yes and I have an application and all the documentation we gathered.  He asked that I send it all to him.    About 30 minutes passed and he called me back to let me know that we had done everything right – those were his exact words.  This guy just had never been caught. I then contacted my lawyer, my lawyer sent them a letter basically stated that getting arrested for a felony was good enough to evict someone at any time, but especially during CoVID. At the end of all of this, they found $140k in cash inside the home, cameras pointing on every door and window, guns inside the home and in his possession, a minor child was involved.  He went to prison for felony drug charges. They were out of my home by the end of May and forfeited their security, first and last month's rent. The moral of this story is always have your ducks in a row and surround yourself with good people doing great work!  Tina saved my ass in the end. Ask yourself, do you have what it takes to be a great landlord?  This is one of many stories I can share about being a landlord.  It takes patience, due diligence, a hard work. If you think you want to be landlord but are hesitant to start, reach out to me at Fearlessinnovator.com. Fearlessinnovator.com/freebook

The story of the BEST real estate deal ever! 

A story on getting her motorcycle license back!