Real estate is not just about buying properties. It's about building a business. Brian Alfaro and Cody Laughlin of Blue Oak Capital join us to discuss what it takes to be competitive in the real estate market. They talk about the different components of real estate as a business, how we can make an impact with marketing, and what we can do to get brokers on our side. For new investors, Brian and Cody also list the 6-step proven framework that helped them raise their first $1 million. Blue Oak Capital is a Houston-based real estate investing firm that focuses on acquiring cash flow producing commercial real estate. They partner with busy professionals who are seeking to grow their investment portfolio by investing in real assets like real estate. [00:01 - 08:34] Finding the Best Business Partners Why Brian and Cody decided to form a partnership Making the transition from single-family to multifamily Slow growth vs instant success Building relationships and the infrastructure for a sustainable business [08:35 - 16:44] Strategies for Your First Capital Raise Brian and Cody break down the 6-step capital raising framework that worked for them Why these steps should work simultaneously The importance of persistence and consistency in execution Focus on the marketing-side [16:45 - 22:19] Standing Out From the Competition Go bold and be willing to get uncomfortable Find a story behind the opportunities Nurture strong relationships with brokers Visibility is key Get your first transaction done Be the best buyer that you can be [22:20 - 23:56] Closing Segment Reach out to Brian and Cody! Links Below Final Words Tweetable Quotes “You've got having a strong brand, having a website, using a CRM, sending out a newsletter, making sure you're on social media and then trying to become a thought leader in this space.” - Brian Alfaro “Don't focus on taking people out to lunch. Go focus on getting deals done. And that's how you build relationships.” - Cody Laughlin ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Connect with Brian and Cody! Head over to the Blue Oak Capital website and follow them on Facebook and LinkedIn. Email them at brian@blueoakinvests.com and cody@blueoakinvests.com. Connect with me: I love helping others place money outside of traditional investments that both diversify a strategy and provide solid predictable returns. Facebook LinkedIn Like, subscribe, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or whatever platform you listen on. Thank you for tuning in! Email me → sam@brickeninvestmentgroup.com Want to read the full show notes of the episode? Check it out below: [00:00:00] Cody Laughlin: You know, when we talked about real estate investing, we talk about like buying the real estate, right? We talk about the apartment buildings or whatever, but what you really don't understand, especially in this multifamily space, you're operating a small business. And you know, when we talk about putting these pieces in place, what you're doing is you're building the infrastructure of a business. [00:00:17] Cody Laughlin: You know, you're wearing the marketing hat, you're wearing the, the revenue hat you're wearing the acquisitions hat. Like you're wearing all of these different variables that go into owning and operating a small business. [00:00:39] Sam Wilson: Blue Oak Capital is a Houston-based private equity firm focused on the acquisition of cash flow producing multifamily real estate across the US, Brian and Cody. Welcome to the show. [00:00:50] Cody Laughlin: Sam, pleasure to be here, man. I appreciate you having us for having us. [00:00:52] Brian Alfaro: Thanks for having us, Sam. Yeah, we really appreciate it. [00:00:54] Sam Wilson: Hey, man. Pleasure is mine. There's three questions I ask every guest who comes on the show and maybe one of you can take this and just answer this for the firm itself, but the three questions are, where did you guys start? Where are you now? And how did you get there? So I'll leave it to you guys to figure out which one of you wants to tackle that. [00:01:09] Cody Laughlin: Well, kind of high level overview. We all our Houston-based. Brian and I are two of the three managing partners here at our company. We all collectively met through networking channels and, and whatnot, and then formulated our, our company early, late, like late 2019, early 2020. [00:01:27] Cody Laughlin: And you know, the biggest kind of glue that's kind of held us together are our value propositions that are complementary skillsets and really that how the team has meshed and that's been how we've been able to grow, right? And so, but since our inception in late 2019, you know, like you mentioned, we've, you know, acquired and partnered in 847 units as general partners and looking to do some, some really big acquisitions this year, a hundred million dollars plus in acquisitions this year, hopefully. [00:01:56] Cody Laughlin: And really, it just comes down to great partners, great relationships and just a great network of investors and partners around us. So what do you think, Brian? [00:02:04] Brian Alfaro: I think, I think you hit the nail on the head. [00:02:06] Sam Wilson: Yeah. What are some things when you guys, 'cause this is a common you know, I hear this, this discussion a lot on this show, but I want to hear your, your take on what it was like figuring out one that you were onto something and then finding the partners, even if it was within the same network, like there's, there's, there's a lot of back and forth and like, Hey, should we, could we maybe we'll build something. Maybe we won't. How, how did you guys navigate that? [00:02:29] Cody Laughlin: Go ahead, Brian, tell them your side and I'm going to add to that. [00:02:32] Brian Alfaro: Yeah, I, I think I knew I was onto something when I saw a lot of people around me were having success in commercial real estate. So you talked about commercial real estate. Cody and I both come from the single-family residential investment space. We were both doing that, Cody for way longer than I was. I was doing it for about two years. [00:02:46] Brian Alfaro: And I was kind of looking around and watching guys build their portfolio and seeing people, just regular people that were just like you and me doing big things. So why not me? It was the question I really asked myself, why couldn't I do that as well, especially as it was transitioning and getting a little bit older. [00:03:02] Brian Alfaro: I'm 33 right now. So, you know, back in my early thirties as I'll call it, I guess I'm still there. But I was looking around and going just, just regular guys doing this, there's regular guys buying these massive $20, 30, 40 million properties. And I'm like, why not me? So, it all starts with education. So it became a lot about educating myself, joining a mentorship group. [00:03:18] Brian Alfaro: And that's when I also met Cody and John and that's when I knew we had something was because these are two great guys. It all starts with the foundation of good business ethics. Work with people that you want to go grab a beer, right? So I'm gonna grab a cup of coffee with people you want to hang out with on the weekend. [00:03:32] Brian Alfaro: If you don't like your business partners, you're probably not going to get very far. So that's when I knew personally that I found something good because I had two guys that I really enjoyed hanging out with really enjoyed spending time with. So the idea of being on calls at 9, 10, 11, 12, 1 o'clock in the morning, you know, going through underwriting, basically giving up your nights, giving up your weekends, kind of hustling to make it happen. [00:03:53] Brian Alfaro: These are two guys. I had no problem doing that with it. Wasn't an inconvenience, right? So once we got that to together and we started form our team, you really just start to see things flourish. It took a lot of time, a lot of slow growth, as we like to say, it took about year and a half to get that first deal done. But that for us that's that's for me, at least that's how I knew it was on to something. [00:04:11] Cody Laughlin: Yeah. And I will go with Brian's sentiments that, you know, I was exposed to this idea of syndication back in 2011, through a local networking event here at Houston. And at the time I had no idea what I was being exposed to. All I knew it was just this investor on stage partnering, 17 people, everybody got passive income and everybody was happy and I'm like, oh, that sounds awesome. [00:04:32] Cody Laughlin: You know, a lot better than the wholesaling, single-family also like I was doing at the time and, you know, fast forward several years later, you know, after kind of having to go through some refocus and some re development of goals and things like that, you know, really was getting frustrated in the past that I were taking as far as trying to find a fit for me, what was ideal from my investing thesis, what was going to get me to my financial independence, you know, all the things that we've all hear about and are challenged with and, you know, making that transition to multifamily. [00:05:04] Cody Laughlin: You know, you could look back and you see, man, there was so much wealth generated and created over the past decade from multifamily investments. You know, I mean, there was just so much wealth that was being created and the fundamentals projected an even more positive forecast for years to come. And, you know, it was just really, that was kind of very eyeopening. [00:05:24] Cody Laughlin: And so, and then having gone through some hard expensive lessons along my journey to get to this point in multifamily. It was a kind of a no-brainer that once, you know, once I met John, once I met Brian and we saw the synergies and we saw the power that be, you know, with all of us working together, you know, we just put the blinders on, stayed discipline, stayed focus. [00:05:44] Cody Laughlin: And I think that was really where we knew like, Hey, the future has going to be very, very bright here. If we just do. [00:05:49] Sam Wilson: That's something you mentioned there, Brian was that you said slow growth. You know, people want, I think the, they want the quick hit, you know, the, the instant success, which it doesn't sound like you guys had that. [00:06:00] Sam Wilson: I think you mentioned calls at 1:00 AM one and a half years. What's what were some challenges that you guys faced in getting your first deal done? [00:06:09] Cody Laughlin: There's a lot, obviously. I mean, look, everybody has the same challenge when you first started, you have no credibility, you have no experience. And I would argue that most people probably don't have the network. [00:06:19] Cody Laughlin: They need to go out there and buy these multi-million dollar deals, right? So it's really, how do you put that first foot forward and how do you really build the infrastructure for a sustainable business? And I think it all starts with that. So brian can attest to this too, right? I mean, it all starts with number one is relationships who are the people that are doing the deals, who are the people that are really having success in the same strategies that we wanted to model. [00:06:44] Cody Laughlin: And then who are the people that are gonna help us get there, whether that be partners or investors, whatnot. We need to go meet the people first. 'Cause we all know, I mean, this idea of have a good deal and the money will come. That's such a false adage. That's out there, right? I mean, if you don't, you can have the best tool in the world, but if you don't have the money to back you to do it, you're a dead duck in the water. [00:07:03] Cody Laughlin: So I think it really started with building out relationships in that framework first, and then everything else kind of expanded off there. What do you think, Brian? [00:07:10] Brian Alfaro: Yeah. I think when you're new, you don't know how to put the puzzle together is how I like to the analogy I like to use, right? Like buying these properties is just putting a puzzle together. [00:07:19] Brian Alfaro: And when you're new, you don't have all the pieces just like you were buying a puzzle the store and it's missing a bunch of pieces. You're like, oh, that's the bad puzzle. Well, it's not necessarily a bad puzzle. It's just that you don't have the pieces you need. Do you have the KP to go on signing the loan? If you need. [00:07:32] Brian Alfaro: Somebody who has experienced an asset management, especially if you're brand new, because if I'm an investor and you're telling me like, this is your first deal, and you've never done this before, that makes me a little nervous. So having somebody on your team that can give you that credibility, that can sort of be your safety net. [00:07:45] Brian Alfaro: You don't have that when you're first getting started, you don't have the relationships as Cody was saying. And then with the equity, that's super important too. Properties are expensive now. Starting five years ago, you could get a pretty deal. Pretty big deal close raising three, four, $5 million. Now that's like a 50 or 60 unit depending on what market you're in, right? So can you put, yeah, can't you put the team together to go and raise 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or more million dollar. Do you have the relationships with those co-sponsors or with those equity partners to get the deal done? There was just a lot of things. Cody is our head of acquisition. He knows how much legwork it takes. [00:08:20] Brian Alfaro: Not only for those things I mentioned, but insurance quotes, property managers, all the people that are involved in closing process, you just don't have the relationships yet and that's where that first 12 to 18 months of getting started is. It's really building those relationships and understanding, you know, what are you getting into. [00:08:34] Sam Wilson: Tell me real quick, just briefly cover this the six step framework for raising a million bucks. I mean, everybody struggles out of the gate, just like you said, like you said Cody was that, you know, find the deal. The, the money will come nonsense. I think that that myth has been debunked too many times. [00:08:52] Sam Wilson: What's your guys's six step framework if somebody wants to raise a million bucks as fast as they can? [00:08:57] Cody Laughlin: Yeah. It's probably the, one of the most important skillsets you obviously need to have in a business. Probably one of the most difficult too, right? How many stories have you heard of tablet raisers that, oh, I can go raise a million, $2 million and they fall flat on their face. [00:09:09] Cody Laughlin: I being one of those, you know, on your first capital raise, it's, it's very difficult. So, you know, Brian, you want to go ahead and kick it off here with a framework that worked for us? [00:09:16] Brian Alfaro: Absolutely. So our framework, it's very simple. It sounds simple, but the hard part is, is the execution. And I think what makes it even harder is persistence and consistency over a long period of time, because you can build out this, you can follow these steps and write them down and check each box. [00:09:30] Brian Alfaro: But if you're not consistently managing them and moving them forward all at the same time, it's where you can eventually fall flat. So the first one is just having a really strong brand. Now that's something we're really important about, like when people see Blue Oak Capital, do they know, do they have some sort of relationship with it? [00:09:46] Brian Alfaro: Do they know Cody? Do they know Brian? Do they know our third partner, John? Do they know mix of us? What are their thoughts? What are their feelings? What are their emotions? When they think about Blue Oak Capital, do they have positive thoughts about Blue Oak Capital? You got to have that brand. So creating a brand, creating a logo. [00:10:01] Brian Alfaro: That's something that's really, really, really important a lot of people don't think of. Now you can go out there and you can raise capital without one. It is possible. But if you're talking about growth and scale, You definitely want to have a brand. And after that brand, you definitely want to have a website that's, it's 2022. We're recording this podcast. [00:10:17] Brian Alfaro: You got it. It's your business card, right? People are going to go Google it, or they're going to go look you up. They're going to see what you've done. And if you don't have a legit website where people can feel like you're a professional, you're, you know, you're somebody in the industry who's serious, then you can have, you're going to have problems too, because if you're telling me like, Hey, you want to take a hundred thousand dollars from me and you don't even have a website. [00:10:35] Brian Alfaro: You don't even have a logo unless you and I have been friends for 20 years. And I just trust you like that. It's not very likely that I'm going to go and, you know, just be comfortable, raising, you know, giving you money, right? Yeah. Once you have that brand, once you have that website, you want to start laying some infrastructure in your website. [00:10:50] Brian Alfaro: You know, we we're really big on having a CRM. So that's one of the steps and then leveraging that CRM to keep your investors updated, which is another step, which is sending out a newsletter. So once you have that brand, you have that website, you want to make sure things are starting to talk to each other. [00:11:04] Brian Alfaro: So we have a CRM system where we're constantly feeding people, you know, we have a funnel we're constantly feeding people into the CRM, whether it's through our podcasts, it's through our. Let's do our newsletter, which is one of the six steps we want to create that update for your investors that are in your database. [00:11:18] Brian Alfaro: You want to make sure you're building out that investor database of quality investors, people that are pre qualified. And if you're planning on doing five or six Bs, so people you've had a conversation with, if you're doing five or six C's, you obviously want to make sure they're accredited investors. [00:11:30] Brian Alfaro: So that's four of the steps. The last one, I think that's really well, not the last one, but the fifth one that I think is really important is social media. You know, we're really big on just being out there, making sure that people are aware of who you are and you're growing your brand presence. So, you know, we're big on leveraging platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn. [00:11:47] Brian Alfaro: You know, there's other platforms, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok is becoming really popular. We're not on there yet, but I think if you're getting started, we're talking about raising that first million dollars, you want to pick one or two and really stick with it because it can be a full-time job doing social media, whether it's yourself or somebody you're paying to manage all of these accounts. [00:12:05] Brian Alfaro: So, you know, when first got started, we really leaned in heavily on LinkedIn and Facebook. Those were our two preferred choices. And then as we've continued to grow, you know, we're starting to layer on things like Instagram. You know, we'll look at things like Twitter and took doc down the road, but you really want to start and lay a strong foundation on one of those social media platforms. [00:12:22] Brian Alfaro: And then the last one is just having that thought leadership platform. You know, we talk about blogs. I just mentioned that we talked about our podcasts. We talked about our meetup. So just to kind of reemphasize this, we've got having a strong brand, having a website, using a CRM. Sending out a newsletter, making sure you're on social media and then trying to become a thought leader in this space. [00:12:40] Brian Alfaro: You want to create content, whether it's a podcast that meetup blog, maybe you're creating short reels or clips on YouTube, those are the six steps that we really followed for that first opportunity where we were able to raise over a million dollars. [00:12:53] Cody Laughlin: And Sam, look, I think it's, it's really important for people understand like all of these pieces don't work on their own in silos. They all have to work in conjunction with one another, right? If you think about a visualization of a funnel, right? You have the widest part of the funnel, the top of the funnel is the most critical piece because that's where you're getting the most engagement. [00:13:13] Cody Laughlin: That's where you're connecting with as many people as, as many touches. And then you go to the middle of the funnel, which is where you're nurturing those relationships. You're actually curating relationships to where you get to the bottom of the funnel, which is where the solidification of that relationship. [00:13:26] Cody Laughlin: And that trust is cemented to where ultimately they want to invest with you or partner with you and work with you in whatever fashion, but I think the key takeaway is those six steps of Brian highlighted, which you did a great job, as you know, they were all critical to our framework and helping us to get to that first million dollar raise, but they all have to work simultaneously together with one another. [00:13:47] Cody Laughlin: And so I think it's important for people to understand that it's in multiple, you know, layers within the funnel that have to work in conjunction together. [00:13:54] Brian Alfaro: Yeah. Once you have those first few layers, the other ones are about nurturing, right? People are listening to your podcasts or reading your newsletter. [00:13:59] Brian Alfaro: They're looking at your blogs, they're going to your meetup and that's the nurturing process. So you can build relationships with people without calling them every week, so. [00:14:07] Sam Wilson: Right. And I think, I think the one thing that you hit on there, Brian, and all of this is consistency of execution. That's the hardest part I think of it is that discipline side of it where it's like, okay, now you've got people coming in. Now you got your website built, you got your infrastructure, but then is your newsletter going out every week? I mean, it took me until I'm embarrassed to say it June of 2021. Here we go, you know, I'm sharing my weaknesses here to get a weekly newsletter out and I've done it every week since it's like, but it was like, I will get this done. [00:14:39] Sam Wilson: And once you do that, of course, you know, that's been instrumental in building, you know, relationships that I just had never nurtured before. And it's a weekly newsletter. It's a total pain. I get my newsletter out on Friday. I'm like crud, that's gotta get done. Like I gotta, I gotta write the text for that. [00:14:54] Sam Wilson: Of course I got help putting the rest of it together and get it sent out, from my marketing manager, but it's still, you know, I still have to put work into that every week. [00:15:01] Cody Laughlin: Oh, sorry. So, you know, as I'll tell you, man, what, what you're discussing here and what we're talking about is, you know, when we talk about real estate investing, we talk about like buying the real estate, right? [00:15:09] Cody Laughlin: We talk about the apartment buildings, whatever, but what you really don't understand, especially in this multifamily space, you're operating a small business. And you know, when we talk about putting these pieces in place, what you're doing is you're building the infrastructure of a business. You know, you're wearing the marketing hat, you're wearing the revenue hat, you're wearing the acquisitions hat. Like you're wearing all of these different variables that go into owning and operating a small business. And so to your point, I think most people don't realize that when you get in, we always talk about real estate, but you're like, oh crap. Like, oh, I've got to go a bit up my marketing funnel. [00:15:41] Cody Laughlin: I've got to go bit up my brand. I've got to go do all these other things that, you know, you don't think about. So it's not suited for everybody. You know, I hate marketing. I mean, I'll be candid with you. I hate it. You don't want me picking logos and stuff like that 'cause I'm too simple-minded. Thank God that I got Brian and John and have a better eye for that than I do. [00:15:56] Cody Laughlin: But the point is, is, you know, it's a, it is a critical part of the business for sure. [00:16:00] Sam Wilson: It is. Yeah. And I think, I think that's one of the, one of the mindset shifts I had to make you know, in the last two or three years was that I'm in, especially, I mean, there's two things we need in this business. I say this well, gosh, I feel like every show we need deals, we need money. [00:16:13] Sam Wilson: And if you don't have both of those things, then you don't have anything here in a real estate business. And so like 70% of what I feel like I do is marketing, like finding the deals is almost secondary to first building out the marketing side of it, which has kind of a twist, I think, from what most of us think early on like, oh, we're going to go buy real estate. [00:16:30] Sam Wilson: Well, you're not going to buy a $30 million property if you haven't done the marketing first because you don't even have investors to go buy it. So start there. I love that. So, Brian, thanks for taking the time to break that down. No, we're spend a little more time here on this and maybe what we planned on, but I think this is a valuable conversation. [00:16:44] Sam Wilson: I'd like to use this as a segue, though. What are you guys doing? I guess, on the finding deals, the acquiring deals side of this equation. What are you guys doing right now to be competitive? [00:16:55] Cody Laughlin: Great question. And it's a problem that everybody's having, right? I mean, you know, everybody's trying to figure out how to list, stand out from another. [00:17:01] Cody Laughlin: Listen, I think those who are willing to be bold. And get uncomfortable and take a little bit more risk, especially upfront are the guys that are standing out, you know, and I think right now, especially at the time of this recording where we're, we're going into a very aggressive rate hike environment. [00:17:19] Cody Laughlin: Rising interest rate environment. We're already hearing rumblings of investors wanting to sit out or, oh, they're just going to take a pause and things like that. You know, I think the guys that like our school are still gonna remain active, still going to keep our finger on the pulse, still adjust to what the market is going to give us. [00:17:34] Cody Laughlin: And stay tuned. I think those are the guys that are going to succeed. And so what does it take to be competitive? Again, you gotta be willing to get uncomfortable. What does that mean? Well, you gotta find a way, you know, to come up with the price guidance that these brokers are giving you, you know, and now we're seeing a little bit more flexibility because rates and the capital markets, but, you know, you have to find a way to find the story behind these opportunities, right? You have to be willing to put up the risk capital upfront. I mean, right now let's be honest. The guys that are writing the bigger checks, those are the guys that went into deals. I mean, it's that simple. So, you know, guys that are putting up half a million dollars of non-refundable risk capital upfront to get these deals awarded. [00:18:14] Cody Laughlin: Those are how deals are trading right now. And if you're not comfortable with doing that, Hey, I get it. It's a hard pill to swallow, but that's the reality of the market, you know? So you have to find a way to go make that happen and be the ones to kind of play with the big boys, so to speak if you want to win opportunities. [00:18:31] Brian Alfaro: Yeah. And I think to add onto that, because I know Cody does our acquisitions, but I can tell you what I see from afar is one way to be competitive is to have really strong relationships with the brokers. You know, when, when you have a relationship that you've been nurturing for 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, however long it's been when you've closed deals, obviously that helps a lot when you've done business and you've helped them put food on the table. [00:18:52] Brian Alfaro: That definitely helps a lot. But we've learned that the, you know, the more deals you do, the more the brokers want to go fight for you. The lenders want to go fight with you. Everybody on your team starts to come around to see like, Hey, we're gonna, we're gonna do our best to help you, you know, get this deal awarded. [00:19:08] Brian Alfaro: And the relationship and the communication side with the brokers are super important because as Cody mentioned, you know, we'll go toward deal and they're like, oh, this deal is 25 million. And then having Cody's calling daily, constantly staying on top of the broker, like, Hey, what's going on? What's going on? What type of offers are you getting? You ended up finding out that all the offers are coming in at 23 million, right. Then you thought it was gonna be 25 million. But if Cody didn't have that great relationship and the brokers didn't have that trust and given him that type of Intel that can help him be competitive. That's something that a new person would have trouble doing, right? So I think that communication piece, relationship piece is a way to be competitive and not being transactional with the broker. [00:19:42] Cody Laughlin: Yeah. Thank you, Brian. And I want to expand on that, Sam, if we have a few minutes, because I think a lot of people, especially for any new first time investors, they're hearing this and they think that building relationships is taking brokers out to coffee or lunch. [00:19:53] Cody Laughlin: And I'm just going to tell you right now, that's a complete waste of time. And I'll tell you why, because you are one of a thousand people that are calling brokers every single day, sourcing the same opportunities. You taking them to lunch doesn't set you apart, okay? Yeah. So it was a little effort, but it really doesn't distinguish you. [00:20:10] Cody Laughlin: If you want to really build a relationship with the broker, your number one objective should be to get to that first deal. Well, how do you do that? You got to show up for every property tour. You have to analyze all of the, you know, the deals that you think that are true interest, but you have to give feedback as you know, that's so critical. People undervalue that the brokers appreciate feedback, even if you're, you know, 50% off of their price guidance, they still want the feedback, right. They still want, because that's how they're going to learn who you are and what your investing thesis is, what you're looking for. But it also helps them gauge the market too. You know, like Brian said, Hey, if I've got 10 offers and they're all coming 2 million under whisper, that's information they need to take back to their seller and say, Hey look, the market's not here. [00:20:53] Cody Laughlin: We need to, we need to adjust. So they want the feedback. So you gotta be visible. You gotta be in front of the brokers, you got to give feedback. That's absolutely critical. The next thing is you've got to get to that first transaction. And when you get to that first transaction, when you finally get that opportunity, You have to make it a point to be the absolute best buyer you can be, right? And so, listen, you're going to eat some crap for, you know, you're going to have to take a couple, you know, shots on the chin, but you have to be the absolute best buyer that you can be on that first transaction. Because as Brian said, when you do that, when you solidify that transaction and it goes smoothly, I'm not saying go in carelessly. [00:21:31] Cody Laughlin: I'm not saying go, not fight for something that you know is not right. But what I'm saying is, is, you know, don't go going to nickel and dime battle over 25k when you're buying a $15 million deal. Oh, you want to retrade for 25 grand? I mean, come on. That's a great way to lose credibility, you know? I mean, that's, that's pennies when you're talking about these big multimillion-dollar deals, right? But when you close the transaction and it goes smoothly and the brokers see that, Hey, you're very easy to work with. Guess what's going to happen on the next one? They're going to go to bat for you and, and, and the vendors that you've worked with, they're going to go to bat for you, and that's only going to make it easier. And that's a snowball that we talk about. So something that I just want to make sure to reemphasize, don't focus on taking people out to lunch, go focus on getting deals done. And that's how you build relationships. [00:22:19] Sam Wilson: Man. I think that's great. That is absolutely perfect advice, you know, and, and it comes from experience. So I'll like that. Focus on getting the first transaction done because yeah, like you said, Brian, once you start becoming that person that puts food on their table, you could you become a much more important part of, of their life. So that's that's really, really cool. Gentlemen. I thank you for taking the time to come on the show today and share with us your experience, how you guys have grown your company so quickly in such a short period of time, the ways to effectively raise your first million bucks, how you guys are staying competitive and then really what it takes right now to thrive in today's marketplace. [00:22:55] Sam Wilson: So certainly appreciate you guys taking the time to break all of that down. If our listeners want to get in touch with you or learn more about you, what is the best way to do that? [00:23:02] Cody Laughlin: Yes. And thank you for having us on the show, man. It's been fun. Listen, we're not hard to find. You can find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, as Brian mentioned, if you want to check us out you can go to our website, www.blueoakinvests.com. [00:23:14] Cody Laughlin: You can check on all of our various resources and thought leadership platforms that we have available to you there. But if you really want to connect with us directly, you can reach out to us at Brian or Cody @blueoakinvests.com. [00:23:26] Sam Wilson: Cody and Brian. Thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show. I certainly appreciate it. [00:23:30] Brian Alfaro: Thank you, Sam.
