I like to learn. So if I am the one to initiate the conversation or even if I'm not, I steer that conversation towards their business because people like talking about themselves. Let's just, just be honest. And so if they can talk about how great they're doing in business and I can learn from them, that conversation goes much longer. It's more memorable. Welcome back to the Art of Connecting podcast. This is your host here, Haydynn, back with another episode for you guys. And today I am excited to have Brandon Richards here on the show with me today. We met just two weekends ago at the conference called Raze Fest. Had a great time out there. I met so many amazing people at that event that I'm excited to have on the show in the future. And when me and Brandon got to talking, we just started talking about how connections have played such a role in his business and how he built it. So Brandon, I'm super excited to have you on today. Welcome to the show. Yeah, I appreciate it, man. Thanks for inviting me on. Yeah, my pleasure. So why don't we go ahead and get rolling with a quick intro. Tell the wonderful people out there who Brandon Richards is sure Brandon Richards, I live in Flagstaff, Arizona And as you know, I told you we'll be moving to Alaska here in May. We're doing that to just Really itch our adventure bug. We do quite a bit of traveling but and we live in a beautiful area Flagstaff is the most beautiful part o just not enough. So we're to really go explore full you do is we own an inves kind of multi pronged. I meaning I buy recreational land with private money and then I sell it on terms to and buyers or retail buyers. I've never sold to an investor per se, at least intentionally. I like to provide land to retail buyers. We do a little bit wholesaling, wholesale everything from land houses, apartments. Mobile home parks, motels, a restaurant. Like if it's there and I could find a way to wholesale it or, or, you know, have somebody else take that off my hands, then I'll do it. And we have a brokerage. Podcast nonprofit, and we just bought a software company last year. Real estate investors, CRM, where we help investors close more deals. Amazing. It's a, sounds like you're a little busy, a little bit, just a little bit. That's awesome, man. Yeah, it was we didn't really get to talk that much when we first met like at race fest and then. I found this new tool, by the way, guys, if you're listening to the show, you can go into your shortcuts app on your iPhone and you can go and like, take a look back at the most recently added contacts in your iPhone. And so that's what I did. I added like 30 people's contacts into my phone while I was at the conference. And. Quite admittedly, even me as the connector, I struggle with followup. Like I don't actually go and follow up with people. I'm like, Oh yeah, let me grab your contact and just never do anything with it. And I actually texted every single person that I met and it's led to so many cool conversations and not podcast guests. So we mainly talked about the software company. And so I want to dive into that like right away because what you're doing is really interesting and fascinating to me as I just recently bought a software for my fund that I've started as well. And I feel like the space is going to become a really great resource for investors and whatever you're doing. And then also for people like you who are building the softwares, it's a really fascinating and interesting business to me. So would you dive into a little bit of kind of what exactly you guys are going to be building? Sure. Well, like I said, I bought it from another guy who was essentially a real estate coach. He would help newbies who knew. Very little or nothing in about the real estate world, bring them in. And then the software was a by product of that. And so it's got a lot of cool features where you can send deals or have joint ventures within the CRM. You can set up your bird dogs. That's a huge strategy in wholesaling. But moving forward, I am making it more of a a system that can be used widely upon. Any real estate investor, whether that's a, a solopreneur who's doing or wearing all the hats in a wholesale business or a real estate investment firm that has. multiple employees working for them. So to make it short and sweet we have created a site builder in there. So now you can create your own real estate investor website. We are working on automations for those followups because for me, a lot of my biggest and most profitable deals have been from me following up, not just two weeks, not just two months. Sometimes these deals have taken me three years. And those ones have almost always been the most profitable and it's a good way to fill up the pipeline. And so we're creating those automations. So you don't have to remember, or you don't have to rely on your calendar or whatever system you use to remind you to follow up with certain people. So. Pretty soon we're going to have basically a click to engage button that sends those emails or text automatically on your behalf without you even thinking about it, you can build your motivated seller list. You can skip trace. We have a direct mail partner. We are working on another partnership where you can get proof of funds directly from the CRM. And if you need funds beyond proof of funds. We have that same lender providing those that that lending aspect for us. We've also in partnered with a company called investor boots. So once like, if you're doing virtual wholesaling, like I do, we do some stuff in Utah, Alaska, in Oklahoma. If you need to put a lock box, you need pictures. We partnered with them to provide a discount to our users so that they can learn the virtual wholesale business as well. What else we got in the pipeline that is coming up? We've got a a digital East sign product coming. That'll be built in anyway. It's just super cool. But my biggest goal with that is not only to help you. Investors close more deals, not to have a system that's so what's the word? Cumbersome. So with so many tools that it's too hard to use, so we're making it as simple as possible with having everything just intuitive within the system. Wow. That's incredible. It's, and it's not an easy task. I used to work at a startup where. They were building, you know, software every day. It is, it is you're building, you really are like, it's, it's not like throwing bricks on, but you're, you're having to do the work every single day and make progress. So it's awesome. Yeah. When I, when I bought it, I thought it would be quick because before I bought this, I didn't know anything about software. I didn't know anything about digital marketing, SEO, like all that was just like. Over my head. I just, I was an investor and knew how to send mail and cold call. So I was completely ignorant to the fact that coding takes time. And so I'm having to learn to be patient with my developers. And but I love for me, I'm a visionary. So if I think of a new idea, I put it into our Jira dashboard and they know, Hey. Brandon's got a new plan. So let's work on getting that moving forward. And I love having my visions come out of my head and then they implement it and build it for me. Yeah, it's so amazing. So something you said I want to talk about because it really pertains great to the subject of the podcast. And that is, we talked about how sometimes it took you years of following up with people to end up having to do, you know, ending up with the big deals that really made your career difference. So how do you, what systems do you have to keep yourself on that track following up? Because so many people come into whatever industry it is, selling life insurance, You know, real estate, whatever it is, you know, you put in the product of selling and they expect to just start making money right away. And then they realized the cold hard fact that it takes cultivating relationships. And you know, you need to touch somebody at least like 12 times to get them to actually work with you typically. Right. So how do you a keep track of your followups and B, how do you keep yourself motivated to continue doing that? Well, in any industry you need some sort of, I mean, you could use your calendar. I mean, let's just be real. You can have an Excel sheet, you can have a calendar invite, but at the end of the day, that calendar is going to be so full of followups that. It is encompassing and, and taking over your day to day. So it's really not a good strategy. So no matter the industry, a good CRM is, is the ideal move there. But to, to kind of bring this around is my, my favorite story is this lady I followed up with for three years. About her mobile home park. And finally we got down to the end and there was another competing offer that was$250,000 higher than mine. But because I'd been, not only, not only did I build the rapport, but I had been the one to continuously follow up for three years. that she finally signed the contract with me. We sat down with her attorneys. I was local. I did everything right in that rapport building process. And I was able to get that contract and assign it and make a six figure assignment fee off of that. Wow. Wow. That's incredible. So that's something else. I'm glad you, you just went into that. So it works perfectly. Another question I wrote down you talked about in your intro, how you wholesale basically any asset class that's out there. It sounds like not, no, obviously. Everything, but a lot of different ones. And the question I would have is, and this is something that I struggle with. Cause I get all these random deals as a connector to like, people just bring stuff to you and you're like, maybe, maybe that's a deal, I think. And so a question that I would have is how do you, go about finding the buyers for those and how do you gain the knowledge to underwrite or learn about the different asset classes as they come to you? Because I mean, there's, you can't have it all in your head. You know, you can't be the master of all, you know, Jack of all trades basically. So for me the buyers are through. networking and just sphere of influence. I'm kind of like you. I think I told you when I met you is when I first started this back in Texas, I was coined to the connector as well. I really enjoy going to networking events and I mean, certainly to meet people, but to learn. I love learning new strategies. So for the buyers, I would recommend real estate networking events, Facebook groups, bigger pockets, all these areas where you can really reach a wide span of other investors. And then understanding the, the evaluation process of that is a little bit more difficult. There's obviously plenty of YouTube videos but I joined masterminds where I, where I learned a lot of that. But really at the end of the day, If you can take, and I'll just, I'll do a super quick synopsis of how to evaluate one and every market's different because every market has a different cap rate. Every market has different ways of viewing different asset classes. Let's just say you've got an apartment complex. You take gross income, back out the expenses, get your net income, that net net income. Now, if you know your market's cap rate, which is hard to know, you got to do a little bit of research. You got to talk to some brokers, but let's say the cap rate for that asset class in your area is 6%. Now you know how to evaluate the building in order to get a purchase price between you and the seller. And what you can potentially connect buyer or what you could have your buyer pay for that property. And that's probably ultra confusing to a lot of people, but that's essentially it. You just got to see what the asset's making in order to know if you want to have a good deal and then what your buyer's going to pay for it. So what I heard in that is you need to figure out what the asset is making and then go actually pick up your phone and call brokers and ask what the things are trading for in your market if you don't already have that. Got it. Got it. And do you use those brokers to connect you to buyers too? Not me, not personally. I was in a multifamily syndication mastermind called investor fuel cashflow. It was a little offshoot of an, of the mastermind investor fuel. I've been in enough mastermind communities now to know that that is one of the bigger strategies people do use. Typically that model, Is recommended when you're looking for larger assets like 40 units and above, because typically not always those sellers are. quote unquote, more sophisticated. And they know that their best option for a higher purchase price sale price is going to be communicating that via a broker to find other buyers. I personally have not gone that route. Not in any measurable. form at all. I prefer to build those personal connections. When I was doing high volume wholesaling, I had three buyers. If I knew exactly what they wanted, where they want it, what they would pay. And when I would go to, or even back to my marketing, I would make sure that I was finding exactly what they wanted. And I already had my buyer lined up and that's how I operate my business to the, to this day. I know what they want. I go find it. And almost always it's an easy wholesale. Wow. So it's a core group of people that take the vast majority of your deals. Yeah. And for me, it's, it's beyond just that relationship when, cause I have a good buddy that I wholesale almost everything to I won't say exact numbers cause he's in the middle of some stuff, but let's just for rough numbers sake, I so sell him a mobile home park for shy of 2 million. He puts another million into it. So he's all in 3 million basis. This particular property is likely going to appraise at nine million. So when I see those appraisal numbers come in, I know I got paid nicely up front. But he's going to have a huge exit and that makes me super happy. So I can, when I build those relationships and I see those massive wins, I'm like, hell yeah, I did what I was supposed to do. That's awesome. So you're, you're not just thinking of yourself or you're thinking about the, the actual. Yeah, I'm not worried about my 5, 000, wholesale fee. I mean, of course I am, but it's got to be a win win, otherwise he's not coming back to me for the next deal, right? So I feel like we saw a lot of that in real, at least I saw it a lot in my real estate market here where wholesalers cashed in, you know, when, when the, when the things were turning, I mean, they were putting in whatever fee they could make him 50, 70 grand on a house even. Now those guys aren't eating, you know, they don't have anything to do anymore because all the people that they screwed over are no longer buying, you know? And that's like, what happens is if you put the screws to the person who's buying your properties, they, you're gonna, if you're taking too much off the table on the front end. They're not even going to be in business in two years. Cause you're screwing up. I mean, and to be clear, I mean, they need to be doing their own due due diligence as well, but you know, it's all about that relationship. There's so many stories of wholesalers being like, well, shoot, I have this other buyer over here that's willing to pay me a thousand dollars more. But is that buyer going to stick with you for the next five years? That's really what it comes down to. Absolutely. And so I want to talk about, too, the land aspect of things, because it's really interesting for a lot of people right now. I know it's kind of become a little bit of a hot topic of, you know, flipping land and things like that. Are you still actively doing that business? Yeah, that's my main strategy. I flipped tons of houses somewhere around, I don't know, 70, 75. And that seems like a ton to some people, but you know, a little drop in the bucket to, to a lot of investors. But after flipping so many houses, it's good money, but man, like one wrong, one wrong evaluation of rehab or ARV or timeframe market conditions that deal goes from, from a 50, 000 profit to Well, no profit or negative profit and in land for me, there's no, there's still market conditions to consider. And of course, if you don't evaluate the, the ARB properly, you can get into a pickle there. But for the most part, there's no surprises. You're not going to open up a wall because you accidentally broke the drywall when pulling out a vanity and seeing, oh crap. They, you know, there's been a water leak here for 12 years. Look at all that mold. There's no, oh shit. I didn't go up in the attic and I didn't realize. There's 350 dead rats up here and now I need to remediate the house. So a lot of those hiccups forced me into, dude, I just pulled, we just went and laid down some tarps on a property just now we pulled out an old single wide and we're going to place a new brand new double wide. We were clearing out the, beneath the house before we laid the tarps down, cause it's about to snow. There's a dead cat there. I'm finding dead cats and dogs in the houses all the time. It's the strangest things. Like, how do you not know? Your cat is laying underneath your dead decaying. It's just the strangest things. So all of those like headaches and unknowns forced us into land. And a lot of the things in the beginning was like, well, can I make as much money as land or inland as I did in, in flipping houses? And I can't say always, but the, the profits are almost always the same. And of course, quicker, I mean, I'm not renovating. I'm not, I don't have this, the same market times. I don't have the same problems with buyers bring an inspector in and saying, Oh, well, you missed this. This GFCI is not a pop in this, that, you know, all this standard inspection issues, those are all the headaches that I wanted to get away from. which forced me into land and I can get some, I like to owner finance. I think that I mentioned that in the beginning, I can get a sizable down payment in the beginning. There's my profit. And now I can run that note and amortize it over two, seven, 15 years and get passive income. That is to me technically more passive than let's say a rental property, because not only am I not servicing them every single month and hoping they Pay so I can make the mortgage, but if they don't make that payment, I can foreclose and take the property back. So I got less headache there, but now I'm not gonna worry about a toilet breaking. I'm not gonna worry about a water heater going out and ruining my cashflow for the entire year. So I get the down payment. I get 250 bucks a month net. Cashflow, and I'm as happy as could be to stay and land until the end of time, really. So, I have a question on this, and that is, so with your land, how do you go about finding your buyers? And also, how do you, I guess, we'll start, how do you find the sellers and how do you find the buyers? How does that work? Sure. Sellers well first let me back up. I almost exclusively take down or buy these properties. I don't wholesale land too much except for infill lots in my area because my buddy who I spoke about is a developer and so I'll wholesale land to him. But primarily my strategy is I've got private money lenders. I'll buy the land directly from the seller and then put it on the MLS or various other sites like landwatchland. com, all those things. Actually my last one I sold on Facebook. So, I mean, your, your buyer base could be really anywhere. So I prefer to buy them as far as picking markets. It's a little bit trickier. So what I like is land that with the market value under say 80 to a hundred thousand, because I know my buyer pool is going to be much larger. So I'll pick a market where that market value is moving quickly. And so I'll get on Realtor. com, Zillow. com, and I'll think of a random market, I'll browse around outside of city limits, county limits, and I'll find areas near typically national parks, recreational lakes, places where people want to go for the weekend and hang out with their family or friends. And then I'll see if that market's moving quick and for what price point, and then I'll start a mail campaign out there. So I'll, I'll email my VAs and I'll say, Hey, this is the next market. Go pull all vacant land in this price point and start calling it immediately. So your cold calling, that's how you're finding your sellers and direct mail. So my direct mail is multi pronged. I'll do the standard letter saying, Hey, we buy land, blah, blah, blah. But if there's a market that I am very interested in and I know exactly what that market value is, I'll send them a contract in the mail saying I'll pay X amount for this property with a. that same letter, we're land buyers in a nine by 13 envelope with, you know, I need three stamps on there to get that thing sent out. So somebody receives that giant envelope, they're opening it. And so it works very well. How many contracts do you get people to, how many people just sent you back the contract? I'm horrible at tracking KPIs to be frank. But I would say every time I mail something out, I, Get at least three to five leads and a mail list of, let's say just 200. Markets are pretty small where I'm at and I'll probably close one deal per mail. Okay. Got it. All right, cool. So I want to ask you how you find your private money lenders. Cause that's someone that it seems to be very popular nowadays as well. The conversation around private money is probably more popular than ever. People like me who own hard money, lending funds, lending out money. And then you also have private people doing it as well. So how did you, how do you find your private lenders? At the end of the day, it's, it's networking. I do where I'm at, there's no networking events. So I do much less of it these days. But when I was in Texas, Literally one to two times a week. I was going to a new real estate networking event. Every single week it was nonstop. And again, that was to learn. That was to meet people, figure out new strategies, find some buyers, find some, some lenders. And so I would find lenders within those groups. Being on podcasts like this have gotten me lenders. Simply posting what I'm doing on Facebook has gotten me lenders. I'll say, Hey, These land leads are coming in hot. I mean, I'm getting a ton of them. I need more lenders to, to take down these properties if you want double digit earnings, blah, blah, blah. And so I've gotten them that way. And then do one of my best ones. Well, I met him at a, at a, at a real estate conference years ago. I helped him buy his, buy his first rental property. He eventually ended up selling and said, Hey, Brandon, where can I put this money? And I was like with me, duh. So I bought my first apartment complex with him the storage and mini flips since then, and then he's actually the one that financed my the software company when I bought it too. So it's just building those relationships over time. And providing value, you know, it's, it wasn't like you just wanted his money. You also said, how can I help you get to where you want to go? Yeah. Yeah. One of my favorite texts from him was, dude, do you know what an accurate NSX is? So like. Of course. You mean, are you talking about the newer and the older ones? Like the old one? He's like, well, thanks to you. I'm on the path to get my dream car now. And I was like, hell yeah. That is awesome. Yeah. It's so satisfying to get to get to hear things like that. And for guys like you and me, you know, we're just doing our thing, right? Like, at least for me, I don't really think about it. And sometimes you get those text messages and it, it reminds you, like what you're doing is valuable. And. What you're doing is actually helping people. Yeah. Well, you're helping them set up their retirement plan for their, for their family. A lot of these guys are lending out of their IRAs, so they can't, it's not a necessarily an income source for them. If they have certain IRAs, like a seasoned inherited IRA, they can pull the income. But if they have a traditional Roth, it goes in the Roth and they pull it out when they age out. So you're building that nest egg or that retirement plan with them. And it's, it's pretty satisfying really. Yeah, that's amazing. So I wanted to ask you some of your best practices for networking events since you've been to so many I've gone over some on shows, but I want to hear your perspective on a, how you create a connection with someone as quickly as possible. So they want to talk to you again and B, how do you keep track of who you've connected with and follow up with them? Oh man, I'm the worst person to ask about that. So I don't know if you notice, but I'm very quiet. I don't necessarily, I'm not the one to. engage people per se. So what I like to do is personally, it's just my style. I like to stand out. So I don't dress like everybody else. You noticed in that race fest, most people were in suits or very nice, fairly nicely dressed. I was just shorts and short sleeves. I was just doing me. I was wearing my hat. I was in my wine shirt. Yeah, I just I just do me and I let people gravitate towards me, honestly. And then when conversations do take place. I, I walked the walk and I, and I, what's the phrase I just, I know what I'm doing and it shows in my conversation. So that certainly helps. But for me, I like again to learn. So if I am the one to initiate the conversation or even if I'm not, I steer that conversation towards their business because people like talking about. themselves. Let's just, just be honest. And so if they can talk about how great they're doing in business and I can learn from them, that conversation goes much longer. It's more memorable. So like when you messaged me or I messaged you, I forget who, after the conversation, it was like, Oh, Hawaiian shirt. Duh. We talked about this. We talked about Alaska. We talked about your group in Tennessee and Chattanooga. Like it all came back super quick because. We both truly wanted to hear each other's stories. And so we just remembered each other versus. I know many people that I'll go into conversation, it's like me, me, me, me, me. And the other guy couldn't get a single word in. And so those are less memorable. And frankly, that person will probably never message you again. But I just, I don't, I don't try to be fake. I just, I mean, if we don't even talk about real estate, freaking cool with me. If we talk about dirt bikes and traveling, hell yeah, let's talk about dirt bikes and traveling. I just want to, I want to be as natural and flowing of the conversation as possible. I feel like it's that seek to serve mentality too and like this is gonna be kind of selfish me talking about it But you told me you're moving to Alaska and I was like, oh cool I know and you told me you're a pilot too. And so I was like, oh cool I know a freaking like bush pilot in Alaska that flies his experiment experimental like into the canyons, right? And then my friend Caitlin, her husband's in the military and she runs action Academy and she's in Alaska. And she always needs new friends that are like actually doing stuff and investing. Cause she thrives on that. Yeah. I immediately just connected you guys together. Cause I was like, you need to know these people when you're going to Alaska. And that to me is satisfying because I know When you and Caitlin and you and Kurt meet, you guys are going to love each other because of just, it's the way we are, right? We're all entrepreneurs, we're all business owners. And then also, I'm going to be thousands of miles away and you guys are going to be getting connected. It's just really amazing to get the opportunity to be able to do that, to use the people that I know to connect some random person that I meet at a conference, right? Yeah, same, same. And like in my market, people reach out. Well, well, her to use for flooring here to use, use for roofing. A lot of people will just hold those contacts close to their chest because they don't want their business to be affected by it. But for me, it's like, whatever. If I have to go find a new foreign guy, cool. But at least. Somebody got what they needed when they asked me, you know, you know what I did is I turned into an income source for my business. So I created a referral partnership with my contractor, flooring supplier, electrician, everyone. And I said, Hey, I'll bring you business, but I want to get 10 percent of the profit on the job in perpetuity for that customer. And so now I'm able to. Go into that and make profit on those introductions, but also help someone work with someone who I literally do business with every single day. And so it's, it's a. I figured out how to monetize that rather than feeling like, Oh, you know, I'm just going to like give my precious little contacts away. I just turned it into a business opportunity. Yeah, that's, that's pretty similar to what I'm doing now with, with deal manager pro is in the beginning, I wanted to create all these tools. I wanted to do, you know, all these amazing things with the software at the end of the day. It's like not only is it time and money, but if I can bring in somebody else as a third party vendor, that's what I'm doing. That's why I've mentioned, you know, Investor Boots and these lenders is, is I don't have to go do those things. I still serve the people that are in my community. And well, I've, I've benefited a little bit with some affiliate. You get a little bit of the, you get a little bit of the pie and like people are happy to give you that. Like, I was showing someone, the capitalists, I signed up for their service at, from RaceFest. And I was showing them last night because they have a 30 million fund that they do rentals with. And I was like showing them. How it all works. He's like, Oh my gosh, we're setting up go high level ourselves right now. And we're having to build all this stuff out for exactly what this already does. And I was like, well, I have referral code. If you guys don't mind, if you sign up and he's like, absolutely. If we sign up with them, I'm using a referral code. Cause you showed me this thing that may save me. Weeks of my life. Yeah, we're happy to do it. Well, I know they spent about a year building that out and that's a group of some really smart dudes. And if it took those dudes a year to build it out, I mean, it would take the average person much longer. And you know, the trial and error of not having to do that is awesome as well. I'm so excited. It's, it's a whole journey, even just to get it set up. It's going to take me probably two weeks just to set everything up. But once it's set up, it's going to be awesome. So I'm super excited for that. So something you said, I want to hit on before we wrap up the episode. And this is a fee, some feedback that I get from people all the time, you know, cause I have an event with a hundred ish people that come out each month and. Some of my friends are introverts, you know, they're, they are quiet and they, they don't really have that drive to go and talk to people. And it sounds like you may have struggled with that in the beginning or maybe even still do. I don't know. Still, yeah. You still, so you don't really love to go. It doesn't get you juiced up, but you know, you need to do it. Am I on the right track? Yeah, it's it's, it's a necessary evil. I do. I mean, I, I enjoy it to the core, but I get very mentally drained talking all day at these events. And I get often, oftentimes I get asked to speak. And so if I speak on stage I'll be good for that hour or whatever it is, but when I'm done, I'm like, dude, to me, that was a lot of mental drain, I guess. I don't know, I guess you can't think of the proper term, but it's, I don't even know what it is. I don't know why, but an all day conference for me is very draining mentally. It was draining for me even, and I love, like, I love it. Yeah. It's draining for me. I can't imagine for someone who's an introvert, you know? Yeah. It's for me, like I said, I just got to step away. If it gets become too much or if I'm getting pulled into too many conversations, I'll go head to my room for a minute, lay down, chill. Reset, head back out and get back into conversations. That's exactly what I did. And it was honestly like the best thing ever. Cause I was like, I was getting burnt out bro. After day two of like just talking for all day. So I went over to the fire pits over in the lobby and just sat down with people who I knew weren't at the conference. So they wouldn't ask me. Yeah. I sat down with this guy's fiance and then some random like 90 year old guy who had been traveling for the first time in his life. Just come to you. grandkids and he came to Arizona and I just had the coolest conversation with them and it was like refreshing for me rather than being draining cause I'm having, I'm not pitching my fund. I'm not having to learn about what they're doing. I can just talk about human stuff. Right. And then I could also just sit there and be quiet for like 20 minutes and just like play on my phone. That was amazing. And then another time I was burnt out. I've been standing up for so long and I wore my uncomfortable shoes that day my boat shoes And so I see this old guy sitting down and I just go sit it was Where the palm trees were at that has like little wall I saw him sitting on that and so I would go walk over and sit by him We just both sit there quiet for like five minutes And I was like, man, I'm getting tired. It was like me too, man. So I'm sitting over here. Well, I get to talking to that guy. He's a 200 million operator and he's building skyscrapers. And he bought one of them. My friend, Ben Moller's hotels and tear it down and three other buildings, a billion skyscrapers. That may be one of my referral partners, the largest deals they've ever done in the company's history, if he finances a project through them. And so getting to meet that guy, because I was burnt out. And wanted to sit down and take a rest may end up being very beneficial for me and my referral partners in the future. So, it's just really cool how, like, if you push yourself a little bit, even when you're burnt out, it can, you know, I saw rewards from being burnt out. It was really, really cool. Yeah. Like I said, necessary evil. Yeah. So, I want to ask, like, for that introvert that's listening to this. And they are yeah, I know, but I'm introverted. I don't want to go like, what are you used to? kind of hype yourself up, get over that. Like, all right, I'm drained. I don't want to talk to people, but I know I need to do this. How do you hype yourself up? I'll bring my wife. She'll she'll be my wingman, my wing woman. She's fairly introverted herself. but it helps us both stay engaged. And personally, I feel more comfortable going up to people if I've got her by my side. So it's a little bit different for me. But in the, in the times that I've gone alone I just internally remind myself how beneficial it is for not only my business to make those types of connections. But I could meet somebody that, you know, needs my help. And they just needed a little bit of a. of a boost or a pointer or an aha moment. And if I can, I can do that. Internally I do, like I said, enjoy that and I'll get random Facebook messages like, Hey glad to, glad to have met you. Or I've been following you on Facebook for years and I finally bought my first rental property. Thanks to you. And those are, that's what really keeps me going and engaging those groups because it's, it's, it's the winds, it's the. It's the connections that that I want, but sometimes I really got to like, you know, hype myself up from the inside, I guess. Yeah, that's awesome, man. I love it. So I always try to hit on those introverts cause I have had, I mean, it's really crazy cause everyone thinks that this is going to be a show for extroverts talking about being a connector, right? When in reality, it's like honestly, 50, 50, like half of my guests will say like, Yeah, I'm actually an introvert. And I'm like, really? Like you were the life of the party when I met you. And you're like, yeah, I went home. I slept for a day after that. Right? Yeah. That's how Bill Allen is. Yeah. Alan will light up a room, bro. And then he's like, I'm done for a day after that. Don't talk to me. Yeah. So yeah, it's, it's awesome, man. Well, I want to ask our final question here. And that is, what is the connection to a person or maybe a group of people that change your trajectory of your life or career? Thank you And you want a specific group or person? I mean, ideally, yeah. If there's like something you think of where there was a person you met or a group you joined that really just like leveled you up. I mean, I've been part of several groups. I really enjoyed being a part of investor fuel, but if there was a single person. Well, one I would, an honorable mention would be Mike Hembright. He's, he's just a super solid dude. He runs investor fuel. But it would be my buddy, Matt. I mean, we are always brainstorming and telling each other when there were being idiots and this is a horrible idea, but it's the, it's the, if I win, he wins mentality between us two, so we're always creating value for each other's businesses. And if one of us is struggling. Where both of us are struggling, we're both working on ways to help the other person beyond that, that struggle. And, and I think, you know, really any man needs that, but especially as an entrepreneur, you need somebody there to, to tell you when, Hey, you're being a bit of an asshole. Or like, Hey, we're going to get through this because it's the slow season. And this happens every freaking year. Let's just man up, you know, and, and fight through it. So that would be probably my number one. I love it, man. Awesome. Well, thanks so much for taking your time and coming on the show today and helping the listeners get over their little fear they have of getting out there and telling us some of the results of it. It's, it's what it's all about. And it's so cool to me to see how, what I do. And sometimes you feel like you're alone, like where you just are going to all the events. You're like, am I the only person doing this? Putting in all this effort and we see someone else that does it and the results that come from it. It's truly incredible. It's so amazing what you can accomplish just by putting yourself out there a little bit. So super excited to have you on today. And if people want to reach out to you, they had a question about something you said, or they're interested in connecting with you, where could they do that at? Just about any social media platform, Facebook, Instagram, you can either search my name, Brandon Richards or a deal manager pro, or you can just shoot me an email at Brandon at deal manager pro. com. And I'm happy to answer any questions. I'll review a contract for you. Have me sign an NDA and I'll help you, you know, whatever it is. I'm not going to try to a lot of people are like, Hey, I'll pay you for reviewing my contract and no, just send it over to you. I'll tell you what I think is wrong with it or if it's good to go. So just. Reach out. Amazing, man. Thanks so much for being a great example of servant leadership. Thanks for coming on the show today, guys. 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