I was young, early twenties, but he was the first one to show that sometimes respect is really calling a spade, a spade and, and calling someone out. So he really challenged me to kind of pointing out ways where I could improve ways I needed to kind of step up and be more of a value, add both to that team and, and further, but then at the same time with that kind of hard. Hard truth. Welcome back to the art of connecting podcast. This is your host here, Haydynn Fike. Back with another episode for you guys. And today I am honored and happy to have Andrew Austin on the show with me. Is someone who I've known for almost two years now, which is crazy, maybe even more than two years now, which is crazy. We'll get into how we met and the fun story behind how we got connected. But Andrew, how's it going? It's going well. Hey, thanks for having me on. I'm excited to see that. See behind the curtain here. There's no curtains, unfortunately, but we do have a very dark wall and it feels very podcasting. It feels like a very cool podcast room. It's just, if you're listening to this, which you're, we have no videos. Of course you listen to audio only just imagine like a really cool dark room with some nice couches and a podcast. So where we're at. Yeah. I was expecting the Joe Rogan, where he has like the constellations and everything on this sky shooting around. Give me a year. Yeah. Give me your, and we'll have all that set up. Yeah, season two. So Andrew, why don't you go ahead and just kind of introduce yourself to the audience and let people know who is Andrew Austin. Yeah, that's a tough question. Grew up here in Chattanooga I guess for brief highlights over the last decade or so graduated wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Volunteered at kind of a church program in Athens, Georgia go dogs and decided I'm speaking with one of the. The kids in the youth group, his father was starting a billboard company, and I had no idea what I wanted to do, but he, it was kind of pitched like, well, you'll just be talking to people, traveling Georgia, and you can stay in Athens a little bit longer. So that was my first job out of college. Turned out I was in the very rural Georgia areas that he just wanted a young kid to go and try to turn a business and I would go around and talk to people about anything but billboards, because I'd be meeting a hardware store owner and he had no use for a billboard. Everyone kind of knew who he was already. But it was right in the middle of the 2016 presidential election. So we ended up. Talking politics, listening to talk radio. I'd come back to Athens and be full of ideas and frustration and then my friends were sick of hearing of it. So got volunteered on a couple of campaigns, got pulled into that world through just random connections and reaching out to people for advice. And that's really the, kind of the through thread. From campaign and Atlanta to Nashville, up to DC, and then went back to Nashville after looking around in DC and the guy run by a head of may was. About 10 years, my senior, and just starting to think about wanting to have a family and kids and settled down. And I was like, I could do this for a decade, or just go back to Tennessee now. So went back, worked for a nonprofit to help them start their development side of things to raise money, kind of tell the story of the men and women they served and then eventually got pulled into the family business. When we opened a small little Nashville satellite office. So I've been working for family real estate business for about four years. Now, met my wife when I moved back to Nashville and we've got a little 10 month old boy. So just chasing him around. So hopefully that covers most of the highlights over the last little while as perfect. Can you tell me a little bit about the family real estate business? Like what is, what is Austin real estate? Sure. Yeah, that's a good question. So the family used to have a big farm out in the Hickson area. There's photos of my grandfather and great-grandfather pushing cattle in their Sunday best across Hixson pike when it was a dirt road to go to the other field and then run to church and come back and move them back to the other field. So, and then when 1 53 was spelt through there, the farm was then split up. And so just through an act of God that kind of got pulled into the real estate. That way. My great grandfather always had kind of an entrepreneurial bug, had a feed and seed store and a couple other a sod farm and different things he tried, but really when 1 53 was built through, they ended up building some multifamily and commercial alongside the land that they owned and sold some off. And that was kind of the entry into real estate. So that part of the family does a lot of the rental side. And then my dad, brother, and I do the development and investment side on our own, trying to stumble a turn serves. Stones over in stumble across something interesting. That's very cool. And you guys work in Nashville and in Chattanooga, right? We do. Yeah. So burn up a lot of 24 podcast time. So. I'll be listening to Haydynn. Fike a lot on the way up to Nashville. Probably. That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. I leverage my trips from, I I'm. Usually at least four times a month going to Nashville and Knoxville or Atlanta, like. Between one of the other I'd take out four so it's like I get two hours there and two hours back, every time they can get, get a nice like Brandon Turner podcast show in or to go to podcast. Honestly, I have two. So my favorite right now is better life. The better life podcast by Brandon Turner. And then I listened to the one he just started recently or. Yeah, you started it in the last year or so. And then I also listen to the action academy. So I'm actually in the mastermind group with action academy. Not podcasts kind of changed my life. Yeah. So those are my two. I don't listen to my own podcasts because I get to hear myself talk just more than enough. When you first started it, hearing your voice back and you're like, I sound like that. You know, I, so when I first started my podcast, I wanted it to be good from the very beginning. It's a lot of what people do is they try to like cheap out on microphones or like you're bootstrapping. Right. And. I knew from the very beginning I wanted to have great audio quality. And so like I recorded in the studio at common house. And so it had like some of the, like the microphones that artists use ECE. Like holding the Shure microphones. That's what they have. And so it actually sounded like I was listening to myself talk, which, you know, it's not bad. They've done studies like, so why you hate hearing yourself talk is because of the microphones. Aren't in a good quality. So the vibrations are different than what you hear when you're actually like listening to yourself, speak through your ears. That's interesting. That's. Why psychologically you hate it because it sounds, it doesn't sound like you. Right? So with a really high quality that kind of aversion to your own voice lessons. That's interesting when you hear your own voice and good quality. You're like, oh yeah. It's like me talking. Yeah. Right. So that's, that's kind of the, yeah, I actually didn't hate it, but I'm also weirdo. And so some other people I'll play it back for them. Like, oh, I hate that. Like, I hear my own voice. I guess you just kind of get used to it after a little bit. That's cool. Yeah. So let's talk about, so you've had quite a wild career ride. It sounds like. And I, I can resonate with that as well, because if you go through my, my lineage of different jobs and careers, I had, you'd be like, how the hell did you. And I'm like where you are right now. But so let's talk about, I really want. What really interested me in that story was like, Going from billboards to campaigning. Yeah. And like, I, you know, you listened to a few episodes of the podcast and this is all about like how the connections that you create really can change the trajectory of your life, which it sounds like there was one that did. What did that look like? Who did you meet? And like, how did you decide? Like, okay, I'm going to go from selling billboards to political campaigns. Yeah. Well, I think you just, one of those kind of leapfrog changes did have a relationship or connection that kind of hinged that, that season. So for example, from billboard, it was a friend I knew in church starting this billboard company, he ended up. Packaging up and selling it to Reagan outdoor. And so that was that first connection going from billboard sales, which was really just a lot of podcasts driving around time, trying to sell the awards to politics was. Reached out to someone here who worked for Senator Corker asking how do you get involved with politics? I'm driving my friends, crazy talking about it. When I actually put this enthusiasm towards something and she connected me with a couple of people. One of whom was working on the special election. After someone was appointed by president Trump and the greater Atlanta area. So she's like, I'll go over there. Drive over, just be a warm body. Campaigns always need. People just to put up signs to volunteer, go introduce yourself and see what happened. So I did when, and kind of cold email to the campaign director at the time. And we met, talked, and then. Into the conversation it's like, well, great. When can you start? And I was under the assumption. It was a volunteer. Volunteer conversation. It's like, well, we really need kind of a grassroots coordinator type role, really just a gopher to do everything that the campaign manager didn't want to do. And so I was like, well, I can be here Monday if and this was a Friday afternoon. And so I went back to Athens and told this friend of mine that I basically quit. He understood and realized that I kind of was, was not thriving there. And then just couch surfed in Atlanta for the next six months. We, we lost that campaign. It was a jungle primary, 17 candidates, but I really got close with. Through the relationship. I think he could see the earnestness that I didn't have a was not a policy wonk, but was excited, was interested. I'd probably watched a little too much west wing and romanticized politics. And so he connected me after he lost with the gentleman. I ended up working for who was planning on replanning to run for governor ended up running for Congress and the Nashville area. So. Another connection so each one of those leapfrogs, and then I followed him up to DC. Metro, we won. Was very close with he and his family lived with our chief of staff. So a really tight knit group, another team that I was hesitant to leave, but to come back into the nonprofit world. One of the board members of that nonprofit was involved in the campaign and reached out. And said, Hey, we're looking for selling state funding's changing. We need to raise more money. To be able to continue to provide all the services for the minimum we serve and also kind of want to grow and provide better quality of life for them. So came back with a year commitment through him, and then at that point was kind of the edge of the cliff could have stayed on with them, but felt kind of the reason I was hired had been fulfilled. And my dad was opening this kind of satellite office cause he was going back and forth from Nashville a lot anyway. So I knew that the family business was always kind of out there. Even though it's, it's really just kind of it's there's not much of a role. It's kind of a eat what you kill, but I never want to do real estate. Cause I didn't know what else to do. I kind of wanted to choose it, not to be a fallback. So at that point, my wife and I were starting to date was realizing after eight years of making minimum wage, maybe I should try and make a little bit of money. And yeah, so that's kind of how I ended up getting real estate. So to answer your initial question, each one of those, it was relationships, a conversation, and someone just taking a chance. Wow. I, I I've had the pleasure of meeting Senator Corker several, several times. And actually I have a really fun story about Bob. So when I was a boy, I was a boy scout. Many moons ago. And when I was a scout, we had a DC trip planned and it just so happened I think it was in probably 2014. I can't remember exactly when it was Obama was still president. And The government was shut down the week that we decided to go. And so we were going to be doing all of this free stuff. We were going to go to the Smithsonian. We were going to go to the, the museum's toward the white house. All this kind of stuff. Every single bit of it got shut down. They even had gates around the parks because they didn't have people to like maintain the parks. And so like we had nothing to do. So we had to go and pay a bunch of more money to go to like the crime museum and different stuff, spy museum, and everything. Yeah. And but w there was one thing that was still going on, and that was coffee with your Senator. And so we got to go into the Senate building. And one of the it's funny because I was watching the video the other day of some senators bickering about something. I was like, I'm pretty sure I've been that room. Because it was one of the Senate cabinet rooms and We spelled Bob, they had donuts and coffee and he was like, man, I hate to hear that. You're a trip kind of got ruined. We're only class eight uniforms are our scout uniforms. And he goes, why don't I do something for you guys? Why don't you take a ride with me down on the Senate subway. And we can go over. We can go and take a ride over to Congress and, and go, they've got a session going on in the, in the, in the Senate and the Congress. And so we got to go and, and cinder court Senator Corker just walked down with us. We got on the private Senate, subway there's security all over the place. We rode the train underneath DC and so cool. Got to go in and, you know, they, they like had all these security and he's like, they're with us as fine. And like, we just like got to walk through and see the rotunda and all that kind of stuff. And that's definitely like a core memory for me. And I told Bob about this when I saw him at a fundraiser for UTC. Because he lives here, right? Yeah. And This is really, really great guy. I mean, to, to, to take the time to help us on our trip that went bad to, to make it a little better. I'll always remember that. And we have a picture with him and so cool. Oh, hang up on a mantle. So it's feeling. He is just a wealth of. Experience and a great guy to a treasure to have in Chattanooga to just to have that kind of. That person sonar is kind of impact and, and stature to be in China. Again, still invested in still. Still pushing for the community. I love, yeah, those one of my favorite parts of being in DC, I lived in Navy yard and I could walk from our apartment. Shared a one bedroom apartment with a couple other guys had a twin bed basically out in the, the main area. So not much privacy, but loved it kind of felt like a. A year plus study abroad, but was when people from the campaign that I knew well would come up and I'd give them a tour of the Capitol and everything. And a lot of people kind of because I don't have those relationships with people coming up that are requesting tours or kind of roll their eyes. And most of the time is the intern side of doing the tours, but I loved it because you get to go through and kind of show, see kind of the, I mean, it's a beautiful city, very clean city and yeah. See the Capitol rotunda. Talk about the one painting where they painted benjamin Franklin foot on John Adams has kind of a little dig to him cause they figured, and I would always love telling this story that they, they both died on July 4th. And I believe I can now I'm rusty six years, but I believe it was like Sam Adams said, well, at least I outlived Franklin or, or vice versa. And so it's just all those little, and then watching the little E pluribus Unum. Video to, yeah, I love just the weight of it makes me even, even someone that's very cynical about politics. You feel a little idealistic walking around the Capitol mall and seeing the rotunda and everything. But yeah, it was, it was an amazing experience. And I'm probably, I've got to do a lot of fundraising this year. And I met a guy that has a cigar brand and is friends with the guy named Rocky Patel, who is a big cigar brand owner. And so he was like, whenever you're in DC, come to the lounge. So we go in the private lounge, all the senders, hang out and stuff like that. So, I need to go and take him up on that soon. And. And do some networking in DC and Get some of the, get some of the politicians investing into my fund. Yeah, absolutely. Get them in trouble. Oh, It's just been real estate stuff. Yeah, so very, very cool. So. Aye. I wanted to ask you this because you've, you've had, you know, it seems like you were, you were really passionate about politics and stuff like that. Are you passionate about real estate too? Or like, did you have to build a passion for real estate or was it kinda like, you feel like you're just kind of, oh, well, I guess I'll go do this now. Like what, how did you get pulled into real estate? Was it like something you felt a passion for? Yeah. Really good question. I think it was again, I always had that mentality. It's like my dad and grandfather, uncle has some cousins all in Austin rentals or Austin real estate. And I didn't want to just have that be a fallback because I didn't know. I wanted to kind of join it with enthusiasm and with intentionality. But I'd say that politics, the nonprofit world kind of what really excited me about that was both kind of building a team at a very clear kind of. At least usually clear goal target on the wall. And then also hopefully the PA the ability to, just to impact people's lives. I think from Paula. Going from politics to nonprofit, it was, it felt very much more kind of boots on the ground. You, you know, the men and women you're serving, you know, exactly the impact that your, your day has with real estate. I'd say I like real estate a lot. I don't know if because as we've talked about doing more business brokering and other things, I, if, if for whatever reason a door opened and took me away from real estate, I don't think it would be too bittersweet. I think what I love about real estate is the people you meet. And the flexibility that it gives you both, hopefully financially and with your time to pursue other doors that open and just the ability to build teams and impact lives. So I'd say I like the nuts and bolts of real estate, but I love the freedom it offers. That's really what, what drew me to a particularly when I was getting married to a girl way out of my league. So it's like, I need to need to give her more reasons to stick around. But. That's funny. So I want to tell a story about how we met and this was, I don't even know what the day was. It's probably been two years now, probably. Yeah, right around. This is way before your son was born. It's probably been two years now, which is pretty crazy if not close to it. Yeah. I so. I thought, yeah, it's almost two. So I bought my house in March. In March will be two years. Okay. And so it probably would have been maybe a year and a half ago that we met because it was, I had just moved in with my roommate, Marty. We bought a house together. Yeah. And y'all were definitely living together. Yeah, we had, but we'd just moved in to the house. And he was like, Hey, there's this group on, on Tuesday or Friday or whatever. If you want to come. And I was like, he's such an early bird that he always wants to go. Yeah, he's not an early bird at all. Yeah, he's not listening to this cause I don't think he listened to my podcast so we can make fun of him. Yeah. But. He was like, Hey, you want to come and sing? It's like 7:00 AM. I was like, yeah. All right, I'll go to any networking event. And like, so I get there and there's this like, Big bearded guy there. Casey, Brian, and then, and then you were there and we got to chatting about like your commercial endeavors and it was so fascinating because at that point, I mean, I didn't know anything about commercial. I didn't have my storage facility. I didn't like. I didn't know anything about commercial. So I got to like, kind of pick your brain. Yeah. And I just remember how nice it was to have a local group of guys. When we were talking about like what books we're reading and you know, kind of a mini mastermind of sorts where, you know, It's not like a paid group, but we just come together and share with each other what struggles we're having. And you know, that group has just been so cool to get, to, to continue to be a part of and we're not as regularly meeting us, we used to, but it's still kind of together and we all do business with each other. And so it's really cool to see like, You don't have to pay 10,000 north to be in a big mastermind, some rooms you can just create your own. You know, a few people that are doing some, some cool stuff in real estate. Just start doing coffee once a month or every two or three months and see how you can help each other. It's pretty incredible. Yeah. I think in those type of conversations you can see with how podcasts have just blown up, how they're there. Now it's becoming the primary, medium people share information that people love having those kinds of long form conversations. And I think. Having those in person and getting to watch the other people you're talking with learning from like, like you develop this podcast and everything else you've done with your networking groups and everything else that it's cool to seeing the nuts and bolts of that. With like founders, one of the podcasts we were talking about earlier. I almost have a love, hate relationship with some of those. Cause it's, it's almost like my social media. It's very motivating and I'll hear these stories. But then at the same time, I'll hear about what Rockefeller is doing at 29. And I'm like, man, I was excited about the project I have going on, but like I was doing this and I was doing this. And so kind of your expectation of success. It is so twisted by your human hearing, the outlier stories. And so it's, it's fun having groups like that, that scratch kind of that itch for storytelling and sharing, but also it's it's real life. And you hear kind of some of the frustrations and struggles and then see the breakthroughs. Yeah, what you've had. So that's, I remember the first or second meetup we had meeting, we had Casey was talking about his office. Yeah. And then it was like, it became this meme. Cause every time, like, you know, you're obviously at Casey, you don't and finally like I guess a few months ago, we got to go over to Casey's office and see it done. And so to me, it was like literally a year of him talking about this thing. The year long, two weeks stretch. Every two weeks. Two more weeks. We're going to be done. Two more weeks yet. We're almost done. Yeah, so. So the term. Question on you. I'm curious. So you asked me kind of what I love about real estate. If it is what I, or what I loved about politics is echoed and in real estate. And what about you, which you can say yourself. Now just a connector, a podcaster a real estate investor, all the above. Wider. Yeah. What would you say is what you love about that? So what I love specifically about real estate is that anyone. I mean, anyone can be successful in this industry. It doesn't matter what you look like. It doesn't matter what you sound like. It doesn't matter. Your education. I was, I was just with Yamu and I'm going to have you on there on the podcast, you know, I'm so excited. She has 156 units. Oh. And she came from west Africa in a village where she used to be. I've let her tell her story when she was beat as child. She would go and blue like water on the head. Like her head would be balled cause she gets so much water and like, She came to the United States. By luck and by skill. And she was able to create a portfolio that cashflows for$80,000 a month. Yeah. And. Sure. She's super smart. Like she's a, she's a data scientist at the CDC and she got the opportunity to have Africa, but like she came here knowing almost no English. I was able to do that. And so. Eh, I just really love that this business creates an opportunity for everyone. That's willing to put the work in. And that's not so much the case. And I think a lot of other industries where no matter how much work you put in. If you're not in the club. Yeah. You're not, you're not in, right. Like it's. There's some, some sales positions, maybe we're like, if you got, you know, if you've got the family that wasn't this, you just go into your sales position, you make half a million dollars a year, and that's what you do. But it's an outsider. You'd have to literally like bust through walls to create that. Whereas with real estate I don't, I mean, obviously you, you can have a family manage. Like, I mean, I would argue that like, maybe you have a family advantage where there's some relationships that you may have the other people don't. But you're one phone call away from those relationships. Like it's not like an exclusive club. Yeah. So that's why I'm passionate about real estate because I've seen it myself. I mean, I grew up. W we, if we went to Wendy's, I could get two things off the dollar menu. So I'd get two food items. I wanted a soda, but we couldn't afford a soda. Yeah. So I got, you know plain vacant cheeseburger and four chicken nuggets. And that was like our, our treat for the week. That's what I grew up with and we grew up in the. You know, my parents worked so hard and like, to create an opportunity for us, but we grew up in 2008. That was, that was my childhood was the great recession. And You know, just seeing the opportunity that there is as someone who's 24 now. Through partnerships, I've been able to acquire$2 million of assets. That's awesome. It's insane. Like it. It doesn't really make sense. Yeah. You know and I don't own all those to Gleaners and assets, right? Like it's, I own pieces and bits and. You know, the bank. I owe the bank a lot of money, you know, sellers, a lot of money, but like, I have control of that real estate. And it's, it's, it's really insane. That's nuts. Yeah. That's part of the American dream. I'm going. Honestly, quality of opportunity, which obviously this is never. Fully equal, but I do think in, in real estate to your point, That opportunity is there for, for the taking for there's a lot of hustle and sweat equity in real estate that is, is out there that isn't in all industries. I agree. That definitely is something I, I love about real estate as well, particularly when you're. Yeah, you can, you can out hustle a lot of people if if you can't out, if you can't out think them. Yes, you can out hustle them. I need to have Asher black on he's been in my mind for the last last week. All of a sudden thinking about Asher, he cold calls for three hours every morning. Well, and during the week, Yeah, three hours every single day. And there's a reason why he's the number one Keller Williams. Yeah. Single a solo solo agent and the whole entire kind of like company. So it's like, I think cold calls people. Yeah. That's what he does. He's a certain, does it work? And everyone's like, oh, I wish I could make as much as Asher. It's like, Make as many calls as Asher and you will. That's the amazing part of just real estate and life generally too. It's like, it's not a secret, like, you know, that. And so many people like Asher have been so successful in real estate from those, x's and O's and the fundamentals and the tackling and blocking, but it's, it's hard to do hard to, to make yourself certainly make three hours of cold calls a day. Yeah. Yeah, you kicked in the teeth enough times though, and you just get used to it. It's kind of real estate it's a little bit like golf, which I'm. Not a good golfer, but a lot of my friends are. But where you have that one deal, that one shot that actually looks like a golf shot. Lands where you are generally aiming and, and has he coming back for more? I feel like that particularly first year or two as a. In real estate investor agent it's like office, like just. Do a couple of deals hit a couple of good shots that make you want to come back where you can do another season, because the more you're in it, the more reps you get you'll hit more and more of those and less just slice off the tee box or something like that. Another thing that I absolutely love to about real estate is it's a connections business. Yeah. That's why I started the podcast. That's why I started the meetup is. I started going to. Real estate meetups and other cities. And I was like, holy crap. Like I'm meeting the owners, these big companies. And many of them are my partners now. And, you know, I'm like, whoa, I'm getting me people that make like millions of dollars a year. Like, like they're talking about their portfolio and what they do. Like, yeah. I flipped 20 houses a year. We average is$70,000 flip profit. And it's like, You can do that math. You can do the math in your head and you know how much these people are making. And they're not saying it to brag either. They're just saying it to say like, Hey, I'm here to be a mentor. I'm here to be a resource. And they're not saying like, oh, look at me. I make a million dollars a year. And you know, that's another thing with this. Industry. I've seen very rarely. And of course, you've got your outliers. You've got your showboats where they're like, you know, All bark and no bite. They talk about how they've got their multi-million dollar portfolio, but then, you know, they own 1% of it. Right. And they're out there coaching people. But you know, they're also for, for one of those, there's usually like a hundred people that actually have the portfolio. And they're like, they don't really even want to tell you what they have. They kind of pull it out of them and then they tell you, and you're like, Can I learn from you like you've done what I want to do. Like that's amazing. Yeah. It's kind of like the Margaret Thatcher quote. If you have to say you are, you aren't. A little bit. Yeah. The people I've met that. Aren't really broadcasting themselves as. Big time, real estate investors, or anything, butter or more kind of driving a pickup truck around. You never know how much they do, but to your point, if you connect with them and are authentic and genuine and ask them to coffee or lunch, it's amazing how many people will. Share that. I mean, kind of that abundance mentality that. If I share the secrets or what I've done to be successful, it's not, it's not less for me. It's just more for everyone. Hard to hard to stay with, especially from a realtor standpoint, when there's a million realtors out there, I feel like that's really the, the key to success I've had when I'm in, when I'm doing better is really just kind of that abundance mentality. It's like, there's more something my grandfather, or great-grandfather always tried to say in this little line of maxims that he printed out and that we have in our office, just that there's always, always going to be more opportunity than there are people looking for the opportunity, which particularly now with BiggerPockets world, it feels like everyone and their brother wants to buy a duplex, but most people want to buy a cashless duplex. They don't want to make three hours of cold calls. They don't want to go knock on doors. They don't want to do the, the rest that you. Yeah. Exactly. But then that someone else has got to get paid. Yeah. Right. There's only so much juice in a deal. And yeah, man, that's so such a good point, but I think it's all about the connections, man. Like if you can. If you know the right people, like I just posted an action academy. And I was reflecting on this as I listened to Brandon's podcast. It's funny. This is all kind of like circling together. I was listening to Brandon Turner's podcast. And then there was Podcasts titled from barista to billionaire. I was a barista in college at the Weston. And I I was sitting there thinking I was like, Man, it's crazy. Like I used to be a barista in the Weston. I have a similar story to this guy. And then. The owner of the whole entire hotel chain. That used to work for texts me. And so this hate texts me tomorrow. And tell me about this hotel deal. You're thinking about buying. Yeah. And I was like, This is just so crazy. The guy that used to walk in, I would be like, shaking my boots. I'm like this guy owns like a thousand doors. Like he has, he has the west end. He has a Marriott. He has the indigo. He's got, oh, Topo, he's got the embassy. He has all these hotels. And now we're we text each other. Yeah. I used to work for him and he didn't even know who I was. Yeah. It's a craziest thing, bro. It's so wild. And like, I look at it, I'm like, how is this possible? Like, but it's all about. One coffee. One connection. I got connected to him because I went to coffee with a guy that my old, my old landlord connected me to, and he was like, Hey Haydynn, this is a young guy. I know that you're out there hustling too. And you guys should go your coffee. We sat down and he loves in the same patio where we first met. And it's so wild. Like how old, these things just compound out and turn into these connections to where it's like now the guy who, when he used to walk in, I would be like, oh my gosh, Like Ken's walking in. And now it's like, I get to just ask him questions and he's, he's there to willing to help me to learn. And it's just so amazing to realize that like, You can make these connections. People are just people. Yeah. I think it demystifies success too, a little bit too. When you meet people like that. To your point, people are people and certainly everyone has different talents and skills. And. But if you meet someone like that, who's very successful and you see that. Yeah, he worked hard and it's not, not rocket science. He might've, everyone has kind of lucky breaks and opportunity and people that helped them. We're not on an island, but I think that's one of the best parts of particularly networking with people that are older or further along in their careers. It's just that while that is it's achievable. It's yeah. It's just that demystifying of, of success. Ken took us in and we went to the Marriott and we were up in the 28th floor looking over downtown. And the first question he asks is it's like a group of college kids that he mentors that go to Southern Adventis. And the first question. Yes. At first, I thought he said cheat, but I thought he said, shoot. Yeah. Cause he got has a Southern accent. He goes. Can your, can your partner cheat you and still withhold a contract. That was the first thing, the first question he posed to us. Yeah. It's like, can your partner cheat you but still honor the contract you signed. And the reason why I asked that was like, You can get a partner in business. And they can follow the contract to the T, but they can still screw you over. Yeah. He was like, choose the people that you work with right. Do you do business with people that you trust. Do business with people that you've seen. To the best of your knowledge, then they're not going to be the person who would be willing to cheat you. So make a few extra dollars because your partner can cheat you, but still follow a contract. And that was really fascinating. I'd never really followed that. That was the first thing he posts to us. And it was just a really fascinating thought to sit there and think about that. Yeah. So from your perspective, what are the, some of those red flags or indicators that someone's either trustworthy or not? Or does it just take time? I think for me, I lean on intuition. I also lean on honesty. Yeah. You know, like I had a conversation with the lady yesterday. She lives in California and she's investing in Chattanooga and we were talking, we end up being on the phone for like an hour. And she was completely straightforward and honest with me about her previous career in the Kara cannabis marijuana industry. And I was like, how did you not go to jail? Because like she was doing it when. When it was not legal. Excuse me. I, should I be saying this? She was like, I'm out of it now, you know? It's the statute of limitations is over, but like, she was highly about it. And I was like, how did y'all go to prison? And she told me her whole entire story. And I, you know, she texted me later. I was like, Hey, would you want to partner up on stuff? And I was like, yeah, no, I, I felt good about it. And you know, I also, I think doing your due diligence and talking to other people that had done business with that person, Not to offend the person to say like, oh, I don't trust you. But to say, Hey, why don't you call a few of my friends? And I call a few of your friends and just get a objective opinion on each other. Because when you're going into business with somebody, like if we do business together, if we signed a contract operating agreements together, it's like a marriage man. Like yeah. Like I I'm in a partnership right now with three partners and we're starting a fund. And like, we constantly have to sit down and talk about like, Hey, you know, this is what we're, what, what, let's put it all out there. Like, let's be honest with each other where we're not happy with, with something that we've said that we didn't do or anything like that. Or. And we were able to get through those conversations because we have that underlying, like trust and relationship with each other. Yeah. But I think. Man, your intuition. I ignored my intuition. On, on a flip that I did and I ended up losing$30,000 because of it. Because I ignore my tuition. Because of your partner where we could set up an issue with your partner. I had, no, it was a, an issue with the contractor. But my partner and I, this contractor came to my real estate meetup and He had some bad Google reviews and I didn't feel great about it. And I was like asking about these Google reviews and heat. He said, oh, well, I had gotten a divorce and you know, it's really tarred and I dropped the ball on some stuff. Yeah, but it's all good now. I was like, ah, I don't know. Let's just, I mean, he gave us the best bid. Let's go with that. There was a little thing in my head that was like, There's multiple reviews on his. And it says that he would do a good job at first and then walk away. Yeah. That's exactly what happened. Did a great job in the beginning. Until it's time for the final draw. And then it became. Super duper slow and I had to end up firing him, man. And You know, you got to listen to that voice in your head. Yeah. And, and the voice in her head, I think it's like, at least in mine, I'm like, it's a little connector voice. Like, like I have this, I think we all, as humans can, can get a feeling about somebody from the first conversation, like where they talk about. Yeah. I tell him about himself the whole time. Are they talking about helping other people the whole time and like, are they talking about how successful they are and how much money they make, or are they talking about like some of their mistakes that they made. And I'd be happy to help anyone. I mean, I feel like if someone had a question about like, Hey, I think I do as partnership. Do you think is a good idea? I love those conversations because it's like, it's not my job to convince you one way or another. I just look at things objectively and I'm like, it sounds like you guys have some great synergies here, but this may be an issue. You should talk about that. And yeah, it's just so much fun. Yeah, that's awesome. Tangent on that one. No, that's it. Yeah, I think. Benefit of being in Chattanooga to both the size and sense of Chattanooga. It is such an entrepreneurial town that. It's hard to get more than two degrees of separation away from someone and yeah. To your point on partners or contractors, another benefit of networking is that you, you have someone else's experience to, because sometimes you do just have to hire a contractor or a painter or someone in having, having them have experience with some that you trust is another way to kind of. Yeah. Hopefully Dodge, some of those 30,000 losses for sure. I think that being a good person generates good partners. Yeah. I mean, obviously that sounds like duh, you. You know, be a good person. But like the, the least selfish you can be. And, and to the extent that you can treat people right. It's going to, people are going to want to work with you rather than you having to go to people and ask them to work for you. You know? I I'm so blessed to have people that come to me now and say, Hey, you know, I want to partner up on stuff. Yeah. And these are people that two years ago would have been like. Like sitting groveling at the feet to try to work with them. Right. It's really incredible, but if you just. If you treat people right for long enough, you will get recognized. Yeah. No, I think I agree. I think one of the best, one of the indicators I look for and partners and just friends and people I'm going to spend time with too is just kindness. I feel like kindness, particularly if you're out to eat to talk about business or grabbing coffee, how they talk to the barista or treat a waiter or someone that isn't impactful. Cause there's a lot of brilliant people that can run systems and formulas and analyze real estate and deal is far better than I can. And but really if someone's going to be kind to someone when it costs them nothing. I feel like those are the kinds of people that they have that generosity of spirit. That, if, to your point, you can, we use a lot of a contract to contracts and Everest as Bulletproof as you think. But when something hard conversations have to be had, having someone that's kind of kind, and that's more there. Their default is certainly makes life a whole lot easier if you're partnering with, with those types of people. Absolutely. And then on the flip side of that though, sometimes you need like, Like, I think one of my partners and like he is, he is generally kind, but he's also a negotiator. Yeah. Like, like he may, you know, you may think he's being butthole, like whenever he's like the server he'll. But then like, You know, he's like, I know he's a great guy, cause we've had many, many hours of conversation. But like, He just doesn't come off as the happy-go-lucky guy. Right. Yeah, but he does have a heart for people, but he's also a great negotiator because. It's interesting because in business, sometimes you have to find that fine line. Like for me, I would say that I'm not a wonderful negotiator because a lot of times I'll leave money on the table. And people get onto me all the time for. You're leaving money on the table and like, I don't love leaving money on the table, but I also don't hate it. Like it's, it's kind of Goodwill. But I think that like, sometimes it's great to have that ying and yang or the good cop, bad cop. But you just gotta be careful because. I think it's a good balance. You got to make sure that the people you're doing business with like. If you had to be locked in a room with them for like six months. Would you be okay? Right. Right. Exactly. You both come out of that room. That's a good litmus test. Yeah. I think that is the challenge. It's how to be both assertive, but respectful as well, because yeah, there's some, some people that can beat you over the head or I have clients that I'm working with, or if I'm investing in a deal where either a partner I'm with, or if I'm negotiating against it's, you know, every, every step of the road, there's going to be a renegotiation and it just wears you down. So maybe the deal happens and they get a better deal than they would have otherwise. But particularly like you and I, I mean, how old are you now? Hang on 24. Yes for sure. Particularly at 24. And I'm a little ahead of you at 30. It's like, hopefully we'll be doing this in Chattanooga for, for quite a while. And so I do think there is value to. Maybe not leaving money on the table, but having both people feel happy at the end of the deal and not one party just beaten up as like, huh? I did this deal, but grudgingly and yes, maybe you got a better deal, but I think. People being happy that they ran into you. That's the feeling that you respected them and maybe, hopefully that is a part of it that you were assertive and you argued your point. Well, but at the same time, that's all life, man. I had to do that, but I'm glad I ran into Haydynn. I got to work with them. Yeah. And that's a wrap. Reputation. I want to build with, especially like a lot of real estate agents. Cause like I want everyone's populace. It's like, I have the capability to be able to do flips and, you know, to be able to invest in real estate. And so like, I want realtors to trust me to say like, you know, I'm probably about to have to renegotiate on that video monitor contracts on right now because we just discovered mold and additional leaks in the roof that we didn't expect. So. And I would say. Yeah. Renegotiating, like that's not unkind. Yeah, I think. Yeah, maybe respectful more than kindness has even more to it because I mean to it's. It's a sign of respect to negotiate transparently. And I maybe, maybe that's more the trick to it as we externally process, or I do is to negotiate with, with clarity and not a hidden agenda. It's like, okay, if I can say yes to that. We'll be a little more on the hook and a little more on the hook. And sometimes too, like sometimes you got to do a deal. That's not a home run. Yeah. Two two. To have a lineup for a future home run. I I've been in many people I've talked to, I've heard that where it's like, I do the deal. Sometimes I'll lose a thousand dollars on a deal. And this is more when you're at scale, from what I've seen, but like they'll do deals with realtors where they lose a grant or they lose two grand on it and they know they're going to lose money, but they're like that realtor gives me multiple hundred thousand dollar profit deals per year. So, you know, if I've got to take, get them out of a bind. And lose a few grand they've made me hundreds of thousands. So yeah, I'll do it all day long. Yeah. And That's the type of person that I look forward to getting to be as where like the people that take care of me. Yeah, I get to reciprocate. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's going back to your question earlier. What if I love real estate? I think one of the things I love about real estate is the, the idea that you could be, be blessed to be a blessing that hopefully if, if you're successful that you can, you have a wake of blessings and people you're able to connect and help out in situations like that down the road. So we're coming up on our time here already. It's crazy. Because when you're podcasting time, just flies by. It's already been 45 minutes. But I'll ask you are. Our final question or my final question, I always ask. And that is what is a connection to a person or maybe a group of people that change the trajectory of your life for business. That's a good question. I knew it was coming on there. So obviously so many I could pick. I'd say. Yeah one and hopefully he never listened to this cause it's too much of a compliment for a friend to get, but there's an old boss. Roommate and never a good friend of mine who was the campaign manager that second. Second. Campaign I worked on in Nashville and then was, was my boss in DC. After that, but I think he is, is really the person that, that taught me. That beforehand. I think a lot of people have been nice to me. I was young, early twenties, but he was the first one to show that sometimes respect is really calling a spade, a spade and, and calling someone out. So he really challenged me to kind of pointing out ways where I could improve ways I needed to kind of step up and be more of a value, add both to that team and, and further, but then at the same time with that kind of hard. Hard truth. And kind of that, that salt was also very generous and introduced me to people and this was quick to hand out praise and connect to me. It gave me opportunity as well. So I think through him, of course, Was connected with the gentleman who eventually gave me the job at the nonprofit, where we worked with men and women with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And that was just such a rich time of feeling. Like, okay. Yes. This is shoulder, shoulder or the stone, something where I'm impacting people's lives and kind of. Just opened my eyes. More, both how I wanted to be in my friendships. And also kind of led me down a path back to Nashville where I met wine wife. And of course everything's a domino effect, but he's the one guy that would jump out because he, I think was a, both a friend, a Boston mentor that. Cared enough to, to give me, give me the hard truth. And I think that was the first time that I, I learned to really appreciate those, those hard truths. That's amazing. So if people want to get a hold of you or they heard something in your story that they found interesting. What's the best way to do that. W where can people fall along with you on your journey? Yeah, that's a great question. I'm horrible. At social media. Let's say LinkedIn, something I'm trying to spend a little more. Little more time on, so I'll definitely, definitely be checking that with a little more regularity. Otherwise I'm email happy to share my cell number with obviously you've got it. So I'd say one of those three would love to connect. Love, love Chattanooga, anyone. What's a good, what's a good email for you. If someone has a commercial real estate deal or a question share, it's just Andrew at Austin CO's.Com. So that email or my LinkedIn, and can share anything else, but would love to connect with anyone here in Chattanooga love sharing ideas. And I think that, yeah. Obviously like, like you. The connections can be such a blessing and surprising way it's down the road. So we'd love to connect with anyone. Amazing. Thanks so much for coming on today. If you're still here, if you're still listening to the podcast, thank you so much for being a listener of the show. It means so much to me. And it's so exciting to get, to, to get, to do this and to hear when someone says, I listened to your show, it kind of is like, really? I didn't think anyone actually listened to this. People do. And if you did get value from this show, it would mean the world to me. If you leave a five-star review, if you're on Spotify, it's up at the top. And to the left, if you're on apple podcasts, you can scroll down to the bottom of the show. You'll see the five stars. And then also, if you can just share with a friend, if you share, even with one friend, that's how podcasts grow. It's really the only way that they grow. So I look forward to the next shows that we have coming up. We've got some amazing guests coming. And keep on listening guys. We'll keep connecting and go ahead and give me a follow at Haydynn H. D Y N N connects on Instagram. And we'll catch you guys on the next episode.