Welcome back to The Art of Connecting Podcast. This is your host here, Haydynn Fike, back with another episode for you all, and today we have my friend, all the way from India Gore Duta joining us. What part of India are you in, brother? So Haydynn, how's it going? Good. It's so far away, but we're making this happen. Thanks That for technology's right. So I am in a city called Lano. It is in the north northern region of India. It's a tier two city and I come from there. That's my hometown. I love it. Awesome. Well, I'm so glad that we were able to make this work. It's been like a month in the making for us to be able to be on the show together, and so it's such a blessing to be able to have you here. Thanks for coming today. Same. Thank you so much for the opportunity as well. Yeah. So why don't you just start real fast with introducing yourself and telling the audience who you are. Yeah. Oh man. I don't, I have a long story, it feels and whenever I say like, Hey, tell me something about yourself. I was like are we talking about just like what, where I'm, or where I started throughout the journey of, but I tried to like, keep it a little short and then we can expand on whatever you, so something myself, I come from a lower middle class family. Low middle class family. Doesn't even actually cut it, but it's just like at the edge of poverty. So come from there, from was raised in a small home where three generation existed together. My father was the sole earner and, at that time when I almost like graduated, he was earning close to 50 to 70 a month and was sustaining like three generations. So six people under one roof. I come from there. The neighborhood isn't exactly the typical neighborhood you would imagine. And the roof was leaking. It smelled of sewer. We like grew up like near next to an open sewer. So very humble beginnings. I found out that okay, education was the route. To kind of pursue, to get my family out of it. So at the age of 13, I started hustling. I started just with my own bicycle, which I had. I would go around the neighborhood even further away to teach like younger children about whatever I was getting educated. So maybe like two or three grades below me, I would go out teach them just to get some money. To, and that money kind of helped me in buying utensils, kitchen utensils, or just basic amenities for the house to help my, like my mom and my grandmother in basic chores. Started doing that, started educating myself. Learned English, learned basic map. Doing a lot of those of. I'm gonna get educated. That was like the key thing. And then after that got a scholarship, got admitted into a university. I was doing like schooling from here in Lano. And then I got into university in the US and that was another whole story about how. This was in 2014 where my dad had just retired. So I was waiting for him to get his pension, so his retirement like fund. He retired. He essentially gave up all his life saving whatever he had. And he also mortgaged his house, like the house which we were living in. He mortgaged the whole house as an education. In contrast to the us how you get an education loan in India is very different Is mm-hmm. You get you have to get an education loan against a collateral. So my more like you have, the education loan was collateralized by the house which you were living in. So he collateralized, cross glass, dried the house, and then also he gave away his whole life saving. That's how I reached. The United States. I came on to do electrical engineering. Did that. And then from there I started working. I got into Tesla. I started working as an r and d engineer for Tesla and graduated with honors. And from there I got into real estate in 2020. But that's a whole nother story, but that's like key component of why, where you can talk about that later. But then got into real estate. Started buying passive income. Started like learning about financial freedom. Started hustling a lot. And then kind of built up my portfolio in the next three to four years around 55 units doing all different kind of strategies got financially free. And then five months ago I decided to come back to India and then kind of start living life here. But those were like other decisions as well, which I took. So that's a. Yeah. So one thing I absolutely love about your story is it's just similar, similar to Yamu story, I think I told you a little bit about my friend from, from west Africa who came to the US and now has 133 units. So if anyone's listening and you haven't listened to the episode with Yamu yet, I can't recommend that enough. It's truly like it'll change your life, but such a, such a similar story to where. You came to the US with almost nothing, right? I mean, your, your family literally mortgaged their house for your education and you were able to come here and be successful. So it's just so incredible for me to be able to have people like you on the show to talk about. The adversity that you've come through for success and to talk about the connections that kind of lead you to that success.'cause it, you know, it's never done alone. So I'm super excited to get to dig into that today and thanks for introducing yourself. Yes, thank you so much. Yeah. It's been a while ride and this, I see all of these small pieces to the puzzle, but it's, I think it's more of perseverance of. And meant for something much bigger. And this is not gonna accept like, my current situation and just keep pushing at it. So I love it. Alright, so I wanna talk about, I. The process of getting to the US'cause I know you're actually working on building out a system to help others be able to do the same, especially in your home country of India. So. Mm-hmm. Can you talk to me a little bit and I want to keep this in a light of connections, like, like the people that help you get things done.'cause what I've found in the whole purpose behind the show is. You know, it's oftentimes finding a resource or finding a connection that leads you to be able to achieve what you wanna achieve. So as you were working on coming to the United States, what were some connections that you, you worked through to be able to come to the us? And how did that process work? Yeah. I think this goes back kind of when I was studying in my high school. And what happened was that I used to watch a lot of like you know, like Hollywood movies back, back, back here. The school is playing something. And it was very fascinating because America was this like dream that, oh my God, kind in the real world. That's when I just had this idea of what if kind of a thing of like, Hey, what if my life was there? What if I was supposed to what could happen if I moved there? Even though on one hand, like looking at my situation, it was really like, just impossible. But I feel like. I truly believe in manifestation. And then eventually people like the stronger your manifestation is, people come in and pour you. You could just find the right people, like one step after the other. So how it started was that my parents did not have a clue about like education loans or like how. Like SAT application or college applications. So I went out and I, like Google was my kind of like my savior. So I would go to a cyber cafe where we had like computers and like internet installed. So you can go there and like pay like hourly and then you can like type in and like figure out and do your research. I started doing that and I started kind of figuring out what each step was. Okay. How to do this, how to do that, how to do this. One of the biggest problem was obviously money of, Hey, even if I get into a university abroad, how would we even fund it? Correct. I went out kind of looking for a lot of different banks of majority of them, kind of denied of that, and that was like kind of a turning point of, oh my God, that's such a disappointment. So. I, when I graduated from like, what's, what's 12th like high school for high school in the us So like 12th grade after I graduated, I actually gave my SATs and I got into universities, but I. The problem was that I did not get any funding at that time because at that time it was a like a lot of money and I had gotten scholarship, but it was like close to 70% scholarship I got, but the remaining 30% was also a lot of money at that time. So. What I did was, okay, I accepted that. Okay, I cannot be funded. So I pivoted and I chose a university. I founded a university where they had a winning program, which is two years. You study here in India, like your engineering degree, and then the remaining two years you go abroad, like, and then you transfer credits and then you kind of find out a way over there. So I started. I was obviously disappointed, but then I moved to a university. I had a lot of fun, like educating myself or hanging out. Made a lot of friends in that space. It's in South India. Went there, got myself educated for two years, and then right after two years finishes, that's when I am left with that same problem of what do I. So what I did was I started like telling everyone, Hey, I need help with this. I need help with this. I told everyone in my family that, Hey, I'm in this problem. I need to get this solved. What? What is the solution? And luckily enough at that time still. I got like a 70, 80% scholarship, but still the 20% was very expensive. Because by that time, I think when I initially applied, it was a 2008 crisis. So everything crashed at that time. So dollar was I think like one is to 40, but when I applied two years, it went on 1 65. In two years, the price also rose for dollar, and my cost of education also rose. So that happened. So that ratio of 70 to 30% still remained the same. So now what my dad had to do was, Hey, I, I'm gonna give up my house, I'm gonna give up all the savings. So his life savings were, was close to, I think,$12,000, which he had to give up. He did that. And then he mortgaged the house. He was ready to mortgage the house, but none of the banks would kind of do it for it because in India there is a maximum threshold of this is the amount of maximum amount of money which you can borrow against your house. And I was just going door to door, door to door finding, trying to find people, and then somehow. Like I'm saying like if you kind of like manifestation, like a far distant relative came, came in and we were just having a conversation that, oh, we are trying to go abroad and like this is happening. And then he tells us, Hey, I'm the regional manager of this bank of North India who gives out education loan and you don't need to worry. Like, I'll give that. It was just amazing, like how it felt like he was like a God to us of like, oh my God, this was the person who I was looking for. And it just felt that he was there at the right exact time, who I needed help from. And then he gave us the education loan. He gave us the, like, the 80, like the remaining 30% of the amount which was required. Got that. And once we received that then I went out of actually pursuing my education. The only problem was now that all of the money was spent on education, so I did not have a lot of money to take to the us. And I only had$50 in my pocket. So that is the only amount of money I took to America when I landed. So that, that was the first person I feel in my journey, which who had a significant impact on how I reached the United States. There's a saying that I love, which is luck is preparation, meeting opportunity. So it's kind of, you know, the, the concept is, and I'm, I'm gonna switch to my other camera here'cause it looks like my fancy camera has gone out. So apologize for this. We're not gonna have video on this podcast, I guess. But I, I really love that saying, you know, of, of luck is preparation meeting opportunity, right? Like you were, you were not gonna take no for an answer. You were gonna do what it took to figure out what it was gonna take to make it happen. Yes, yes. Absolutely. Then no other way. I'm like, okay, I've given it all. I have to do this. I always feel that that opportunity which I take is always like a do or die situation for me. I'm like, oh, it has to be done. There is no other way. Like, we have to figure this out. There is no plan B. Yeah, man. And so you were doing something that I preach all the time on the show, and that is when you decided you wanted to do something and you set a goal to do it. You told every single person that you knew that you were trying to do it, like you just talked about it nonstop. I imagine it probably was just like living on your mind rent free, like I'm gonna get to the US no matter what it takes. Yes, correct. Yeah, I, I literally told everyone, like all my friends knew, majority of, like, my family did not even believe me. So a lot of, like, we had, like, my parents actually heard a lot from like close relatives and my friends because we were in that situation of like, Hey, who is. Who are you guys even to like, think about this dream? Right? And at that time I was just so determined that no, I'm, you wait and watch. I'm gonna make sure I'm gonna show you guys. It, it came from, at that point, it came from like I think from ego. I think that, Hey, I'm going to figure this out and I'm gonna show you guys. But then eventually I felt it helped me in a way of, Hey, I'll figure out, regardless of what happens. I love that. Yeah. It's, so that's a, that's a beautiful thing that I. Love about immigrants, and I don't want to generalize and stereotype here, but like it's just so true. So many times that I see in in some of my friends who have immigrated to the United States is like the determination that it takes. To get here and to get started is absolutely insane. So when you do finally get to the US, then it's like you're kind of on easy mode. And you can correct me if I'm wrong, but like once you get here you're like, oh, like, you know, this system is basically built for me once you get here. Like, like I can be successful no matter what I look like where I come from. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I've seen from my, from my immigrant friends that have come to the United States. Yeah. I, I think that is what I have realized later on a, a little late, later on in my life as I progressed. Because since I. I reached the us. The one thing which I really liked about the US was that if you are willing to go that extra mile and it doesn't even take that much, you will be rewarded because of that. And that's what I love, that you just have to outwork. What your capability is and you will have all the opportunities in the world. Like that's something that I love about the us. So yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. So I. We have such a, a limited amount of time. So I kind of wanna dive into real estate. We're gonna skip through a lot of context here. So I'll try to give some context'cause I'm kind of familiar with your story. So you know, you came to the US you started working in an engineering job with the H one three Visa, right? I'm correct. So I actually. When I landed, I actually started as a janitor. That's because that was the first job when I graduated. Yeah. That, that was because that, so I, I, I flew in with$50 and, you know, wow. At that point, like that amount of money was so huge for me because I had never seen that amount of money in my hands, and I thought I was so rich and I landed at the US and I'm like, oh my God, this is because I was it into rupees. I, oh my God, this is so much of money and like, and. And I go and go to Chipotle and I buy a seven meal like that bowl, like that chicken bowl. I buy that and I'm like devastated. I'm like, oh my God, if this keeps happening, I have another seven days to exist. Wow. So I. And that at that point what has happened that majority of the jobs were already taken because of like people who apply in summers, they kind of continue. So the only thing which was remaining was maintenance and like like janitor work, janitorial work, and I'm like, I don't care. I'll take it up like as long as it pays my bill because. I don't have any other money because all of my family's money has gone to my education and an education as well. So there is literally no way I can money except for this opportunity. So it was hard at first because. It was the same building which I was residing in like the dorms, which I was residing in. So I would see my classmates like, you know, I was polishing. I was like cleaning the toilets. And they would come and they would piss and they would, so it was, it took a hit to the ego, but I kept going. I'm like, this is going to change. This is gonna change. It's okay. So I did that. And then I started supporting my family back home because now my, like my dad had retired. And I started sending a little bit of money back home as well at what, and whatever I was earning, I started like sustaining myself as well by eating like, or like those kind of stuff. So that was wild. So that was my first job. But yes, I graduated. I, after I graduated and in the, in the meantime, I did like other jobs as well within the university did that got educated. And then once I graduated, I actually applied for a job. So now, now things become very tricky. Is, and a lot of people I feel, do not get context to that, of how hard it is to actually stay in the United States legally. Is that once I, so this is a rule, like as soon as I graduate, I have 60 days to find a job. If I do not find a job, I get kicked out of the country like, Hey, I have to pack my bag. And so imagine someone brings in such a huge amount of loan and then you get educated. And if you don't find a job, you are out of the country. And majority companies do not even want to sponsor people on visas because. They have to pay the government of fees and they're not, and that comes out of their pocket. So they are, they try to avoid hiring a lot of people who are on visas because first of all, it's either temporary because you only can work for a few years. It's not like a permanent thing. So that's why they try to avoid like hiring people on student visa. That's the F1 visa once you graduate. So luckily I got a job I again, like as soon as I did that, I started like applying for jobs, landed one job, did that. And if I land a job, I have one year to kind of get an extension. I have one year, which is called the. If your company likes you, that is when they are going to file for your H one B, which is and this is one big thing, it's a complete random lottery system, so close to half a million people or 700,000 people will apply for that ticket. Doesn't depend on what company you are applying from, what position you're applying from your name will be put into that lottery and then if your name gets picked, you can then work for another six years in the country. And that's called the H one B Visa. So my thing was completely like on luck at that time, and majority of my friends did not get into. The lottery. So 80 to 90% of the people actually had to return back home. So me and like two other friend of mine actually stayed in the country wow. Doing what I was doing. So it was, it was wild. So once I had the job. I felt secure that, okay, now I have this I can start, I can keep like, at least I can stay here for another six years. The wild thing, if you get laid off from a job that's 60 days cycle again starts. So that's a huge problem of, and my first company, which I joined in 2018 I. Got laid off in 2018, on the 7th of December, which is the worst time where you can get laid off because now everyone's going into Christmas or like holiday season and nobody's looking at your resume. So that was like one of the worst period of, that's when I realized, oh my God, I, what am I doing? And then from the 7th of December to 20th of December, I applied to close. I. And one was from G and one was from Tesla, and that's how like I applied for Tesla. I cracked the interview and then I joined them. But then I realized, oh my God, I need to get into passive incomes because I cannot rely on one job. I cannot rely on just this. So. I need to have some side incomes or side passive incomes, which keeps generating money. That's how I got into financial literacy, financial freedom investing into real estate. I started listening to a lot of podcasts, started listening to anything out there which will help me financially or make me generate more money. 2020 comes around and I'm listening to BiggerPockets. I think like everyone is like anyone who's listened to like the real estate podcast show is like a heavy, like fan of that podcast. And this was 2020. I started listening, listening, listening. And I was working a Tesla at that time. And what I did was. The host, one of the host for the BiggerPockets Rookie Podcast, used to always, I used to listen to him and he would always say, Hey, I'm gonna buy a Tesla with my cashflow. With my cashflow. I want to buy a Tesla with my cashflow. I don't have, I don't know anything about these cars and stuff like that. And I'm like, boom, that's my ticket. So I reached out to him on Instagram. I just dmd him, never thinking he's gonna respond. And I'm like, Hey. I'm from Tesla. I'll help you pick a car. I'll even bring you over to the factory because I had access. I'm gonna bring you over show you around like the factory, see how the car is built, get you discounts, explain you everything, however like works. And I did not ask anything in return. I'm like, I'll just do this for you. And he's like, cool. And he told me once I helped him out after that, he's like, you know what I, what is, what do you want? Or like, what are you looking for? I'm like, I'm not looking for anything but I want to buy. Maybe like get into this real estate. I've been listening and reading books and doing all of those stuff in the background, but I want to buy my first house or like a rental property in the next six months. And then he comes in, he is like, no, we are gonna do it in the next 45 days. And I'm like, oh my God. Okay. Okay. Then this is happening. And then he coached me through a lot of like more books through more like mindset changes. And then he helped me buy my first house in Reno, Nevada. Wow. Where I started house hacking, and that's where my journey for real estate started. Was this Josh or Brandon? Who is the host? Oh, this, this was from Rookie. This is rookie, yeah. Rookie podcast. Yes. Who. Okay. Got it, got it. I've heard of him. So that is such an amazing story. Really you're, you're leveraging something that I try to tell, like try to coach people on and as I'm making content, I'm always trying to like, think about ways to like teach people to connect to others and provide value even if they feel they don't have value to provide. Like you were listening. I'm, I'm sure, and I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but I'm sure you're sitting there like, what can I provide to this guy that seems like he has it all right? Like, he's the host of this podcast, he has a bunch of doors. What does he need from me? And then you're just, you're listening though. I. You're not, you're not trying to like think through, you're just actually listening to what he's saying and then you're like, oh wait, that's something where I can add value. Let me go and offer it and see if I can go and add value to his life in that way. And so even if you don't think you have value to add, if you listen to what people are saying, a lot of times you can find a way to add value that. You may not even realize until you're actually start listening to what they're saying. Correct. Yes. And that is something that was like one of the biggest hacks or cheat code, which I have felt like even throughout my journey, like beginning from that and also later on on how I have attracted a lot of mentors or coaches or just. People around me is leading with value first and not expecting anything in return, to be honest, but. If you do maybe like five years down the line, if you need help, they, you understand that you can bounce off some kind of idea with them, Hey, I'm stuck here. And it's not like going to them, Hey, I need help with this. It's like, Hey, I have done this, this, this, this, this. Now I cannot Google more enough. Like I'm stuck here. What should, what do you think? If you were in my position, what would you do? It kind of like, isn't that. Yeah, man, what an incredible story. So I wanna, I wanna learn how you got in real estate. Like, I wanna hear about that first deal and I wanna keep it super high level'cause we only have a few more minutes and my laptop's gonna die. But I want to hear the high level, like how did you get into that first deal within 45 days? That. So I think the more interesting one is the second deal. The first one was more, okay, let's roll into the second a little bit. Like I just got down, got it in like the first one, the house hack was 3.5% down and I just did a down payment and I saved up for it. That was like 10 grand or something, and I got into it and I just started house hacking. But then I joined the community of mastermind people and my goal. But I surrounded myself with so many, like heavy hitters of people who were in that group who were like, I, I bought 10 units. I'm like, we bought five units. We are 15. And I'm like, oh my God, how are these people buying it? And that's when I came down to learning about the strategy called the bull strategy. And that's when I kind of learned about it and I remotely executed like this was, I was in Nevada. My first deal was a five unit. It was a duplex and a triplex deal. I found it through a broker and it was in Missouri, and I built the team. I built everything like completely remote and up. And this is funny, like up to 30 units. I never even visited that city, so it was, everything was literally virtual, but. I took a hard money loan, a 90% hard money loan on that property to found distress property through the broker. Got 90% and then the remaining 90% of rehab from the hard money lender. The remaining 10% I raised. Capital from within the group of someone who wanted to lend me money, I raised 10% from that the remaining 10%. I used 0% credit cards because I didn't have money at all at that time. And I'm like, I'm gonna figure this out of how can I do this with no money of my own? And then I used 0% credit cards to, I. I, once I got that, I essentially, it took me three months and the amount of equity, which I got, I think it was like close to 70, 70 grand or something, Tesla was paying me way less than that for the whole year. And I was working for them as a full-time engineer, like working 10 hours a day 10 hours a day. And that's when it clicked and I'm like, oh my God, I need to deep dive into this and either keep doing more or find more creative financing, ways of how to scale. And then combination of all of those things. I started doing more deals, started creating financing, started. Structuring, doing all of that, like in between and started scaling. But what eventually started as a cashflow game became an equity game because later down the line I was like, I want to be a full-time entrepreneur, and now I want to buy into my green card. And there are only three ways where I can become a green card holder or a. Citizen is the first one is you either like work for that same company for another 30, 40 years. The second one is you marry a citizen, which I was morally against. And then the third one was paying the government million dollars, investing in the economy and creating 10 jobs. That's what it turned into. So that's, that was my story, I would say. Wow. So it's a, your story is a. A story of pure willpower. And it also is a story of some of the benefits of hard money and like some of the systems that are set up here, which it's, this is like actually kind of perfect'cause it's, I started a hard money lending fund, you know, it's what I do. So it's kind of a perfect opportunity for me to roll into the sponsor of the show. Oh, hey there. It's me again. I know you expected Morgan Freeman to come on and talk about the biggest company in the world. Well, I'm sorry, but you get the next best thing. This show is sponsored by the company that I co founded, Acadia Capital, and acadia is a hard money lending fund originating loans in Southeast Tennessee and Northern Georgia on residential one to four unit renovation properties. We are regulation D five Oh six C fund and are actively seeking accredited investors. We provide fantastic first position real estate back returns. If you're ready to get your tired and lazy capital to work with a minimum 8 percent return, go to Acadia loans. com backslash invest. Not only do we accept standard investments, but we can also accept self directed IRAs and other self directed retirement accounts to take advantage of tax advantage investing. Thank you so much for listening to Art of Connecting now back to the show. Alright, so now that we're back and we've talked a little bit about Hard Money, Acadia Capital. I, that's just so cool to hear that like you've used the products that we've created here and I, I got into my first two flips with hard money, with no money of my own in the deal either, except for all my credit cards. Mm-hmm. I'm not gonna say it's a wise decision and that someone should do flipping with no money. It's incredibly nerve wracking. And yes, kind of terrifying, but it goes to say if there's a will, there's a way. Right, like no matter what your cash position is, no matter where you're at, if you have a will to do something and you're gonna do whatever it takes to get it done, you will complete it. Like, it'll happen. It's just a matter of time. Yes. And, and I haven't seen any other country out there. And I have gone to a lot of like different places. Like I have like people, like friends of like, Hey, is the access to capital is so hard? Like even in India, like right now I'm in India and I realize that. It is so hard because you cannot just go out and take a bloc or a HELOC or just apply for a credit card and get like 10,$20,000 or go for a hard money loan or it's so easy. It is so easy to get capital. Yes. You have to be very proactive of what you are doing and I felt I was more secure with taking those decisions because I knew I was surrounding myself with more people like the community, like kind of like the same community we are. Like around people who've done this before of like, Hey, what are the challenges? Hey, what should I be looking out for? I'm stuck here, what do I do? So having tho that kind of like backing from people as well, kind of helped me make those decisions and like made me more confident in what I was doing that, hey, I'm not like just doing anything outta the blue. So, yeah. Wow. Yeah, it's a, it's a, you know, capital mixed with education. Create deals, right? Like you can, yes, if you have those. I, I did the deal triangle on my Instagram. You know, I talked about if you have time, knowledge, and capital, those are your three. And this coming comes from Brandon Turner. But you have those three things and you can, if you have two of them. The other one will likely partner with you and come so it's so cool to hear about that. I wanna, I wanna actually hear, so you, you had no money at the time, right? But you were investing into these mastermind groups, so. How did you justify, like, like how did you walk yourself through like, alright, I'm only making a like whatever, 40, 50 grand a year as an engineer. Mm-hmm. But I'm gonna go and spend 5,000 or$10,000 on this mastermind. How did you come to that decision? Because I know that's can be very difficult for people that are like trying to think about, oh, I'm out. I don't have much money. What if I get into this group and it doesn't work? So I'll tell you what happened in 20. So remember I was telling you from 2014 I took up the responsibility of taking care of my family. And then in 2018 my mom had a stroke. So half of. A lot of extra people, like a physiotherapist, a nurse, a cook, a maid so there were like five people on payroll. So once I landed the job, it felt like right after that 95% of my money, which I was making, came back home. So I was literally living paycheck to not even paycheck because even if like one. I think like the tire of my car, like had had a, like a post or like when I had a flat, I wouldn't be able to pay for that with cash. I had to use my credit card. So I was, and that's what pushed me to take that action of, I'm gonna like, make myself get out of this ru. Getting into my house hack really helped me because I was started saving a little bit, like three,$400 a month in my rent. Rent because now I was living in my own home and it was, the mortgage was being paid by my renters. I just took that money and I'm like, I believe in this concept, and I'm like, I have to do this anyway. So I just started putting that like$300 into a mastermind. I just like put that towards my education, towards, hey, this is the thing which I'm gonna be doing. That's, that's all. And I feel like. That$3,000 in the year, which I kind of like put towards the Mastermind in that first year, I was able to acquire like 10 units and then I was able to make more than a hundred thousand dollars. So the ROI on that small amount of capital. And it's not like I'm just. Putting it anywhere. It's just investing in my own self. And that's how I kind of justified it, is that, hey, I'm not just throwing it out on like a lavish car or a lavish dinner or like a fancy anything, but it's, it's just me investing in myself. So I bought a lot of books, a lot of like mastermind, a lot of like deals, calculator, whatever was there. To just invest in myself. I justified it to as a investor in myself, I think like Alex Zi says that like s and me instead of s and p. So I just started doing that, like SN me, I started investing in myself. Once I saw the result in my first year, it was a no brainer. Starting from the second year, I started putting like more, more and more capital towards mindset coaching towards more expensive, masterminds. So I, I also started I joined like GoBundance, that's also another community, which is a way more expensive, but I did it in a heartbeat at that point. Like initially, if you, if you would've. Or Hey, you have to invest this much. I would be like, hell no, I'm not gonna do that. But I, regardless, still put that, because at that time I had like other issues going on, but I just used my credit card to pay for it, just to get into those rooms because I knew with the right connections, with the right education, I can excel and make 10 times the amount, which I initially, which I eventually did. And that's, that's how I justify it. Wow. Yeah, I mean, there's such value in getting into the right room. Like until you've experienced it, you don't understand that like. Sometimes you need to pay a few thousand dollars to get into the room, right? And it's like, but what? I could buy whatever with that few thousand dollars. But then you don't realize that like your few thousand dollars investment into getting into the right room can make you hundreds of thousands of dollars just by changing the way you think about things. And I've experienced that many times in my life, and I'm sure you have as well. It's one of the most crazy feelings when you start getting around people that think bigger than you. You're like, I thought like me buying a 74 unit storage facility was big. And then it's like, no, that's like, that's a, that's a Tuesday, right? Changes everything. Getting around the right people. Correct. Yeah. And, and that's the same thing, which when I have like, because I had such a limiting belief coming from where I was, because I only thought that buying real estate was a, like a rich person's game of like, I could never afford a house. But now when I got into those rooms, like you were just like buying houses like candy, and I'm like, how are they doing it? So. Think about it traditionally because majority of the people, when I talk to them, they're like, I don't have the 20% or 25% down for a rental property. I'm like, you don't need it. Like, why? Why have you thought about this? And they don't even know about it. So you're not exposed to what you don't know. You don't know. That's like such a huge saying, and that's why, that's why I'm, I'm such a, Hey, what? Is that one thing, which I do not know of how they're doing things and how can I get my ed, like myself educated on that piece to know that so I can also execute at a higher level. Yeah, there was a saying that I saw on the, on the internet the other day, and it said, I think Brian Lubin said it. If it, it, I think it was the one where he was shirtless, but it's basically like he basically said if other people have it, then why can't you? Is the gist of, of what the, the post said that I saw. It may have not been Brian, I can't remember, but how true is that If someone else has figured out how to do something, then why can't you? There's nothing different between. You and I, right? Mm-hmm. Except for we have a different skin tone and a different accent. There's like in a different environment around us, but the only difference really is what's in our head and what we think we can complete and what we think we can do. There's, if you, if you put your mind to something and you're such an amazing proof of this, if you put your mind to something, you can accomplish it. Like the world will work together for you to accomplish it if you just relentlessly pursue what your passion is. Yes, absolutely. I 100% agree. And I think that's also such a big limiting belief where a lot of people, and I, I'll be honest, like I think like being raised in that environment, I also, to a certain degree, had that. But I always lead with curiosity of like, why is that thought coming to me? People always look at people who are much more successful as jealousy and they try to bring them down. But I switch that to kind of more of an inspiration of like, Hey, that is possible as well. If he has it, like kind of you are saying, if he has it, I can have it too. We live in the same like world, like we still have, like I have a brain. I have like, I'm like perfectly able. Why can't I do it? I just have to figure it out. Sure. The cards dealt are different, but you have to play what, like whatever cards are dealt with to you. Like you cannot be like, Hey, I just give up because that's not possible. It's like, how can I make best use of these cards, which are available to me and then kind of play it right so that I can reach that position. Yeah, we all start at a different table, but we're all in the same casino. Yes, exactly. We all have the same tips, right? You can, you can take, you know, a, a professional gambler can go with their mindset and they can go and turn$10 into thousands, right? So, yes, it's, I I love that, man. Well, time has flown by so quickly. We're already at like the end of our episode. I wish we could talk longer. But I wanna ask you our final question, and that is, what is a connection to a person or a group of people that really changed the trajectory of your life or business? Are you talking about who is that person or like what kind of person, like what kind of traits does that person have? It could be, I, I always like to say like, who is that person to kind of shout out the people that change our lives. But you can say a type of person too, if you don't wanna say their name either way. Sure. I think one of the key, and I have like a, I've had a lot of people to be honest in my, I have some people who are right now in my state who are. Helping me reach that next level as well. There has been a person who's been, who'd helped me start, like Felipe but there's also another person who helped me kind of also being there, like a older brother to me of like showing, it's not like, Hey, do this, but it's like, Hey, to show me what is possible, and his name is Diego. I, man, I love that guy. So he's a darker recipient and he's an immigrant as well. And he has overcome so many challenges in his life of starting from maybe like where he came in, like. And then he had speech abilities to him going out and doing TEDx talks, and then he now runs a huge brokerage, like he's a part of a huge brokerage and has this amazing community and he's done. He's massively successful now, but he also start, he also started from a very humble beginning. Kept back and forth with him all the time and always kept him as an inspiration of like, Hey, he's, he's also doing it. Why can't I? And I also bounced around ideas with him and he's also been a key person in terms of like having that. Inspirational person around me who I can also talk to whenever I need it. That's fantastic. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. This has been, it's, your story inspires me so much and I absolutely loved, I've had someone that actually lives in Africa on the show. I've had someone that. Came from West Africa and, and now I've had a guest in India. So it's such an honor to get, to be able to do this and hear your story and I know it will inspire some listeners. So with that being said, if it did inspire you and you want to share the show, please do that. It's the best way for a podcast to grow. So share this podcast with a few friends and then also if you can leave a five star rating and review. That helps the podcast grow so much. So Groff, if people want to follow you and see what you're building, what you're doing, where is the best place to do that? Okay. First of all, thank you so much for having me on the show. And the place where people can find me is the best way to reach me is Instagram and my handle is your investor mate. So YOUR investor and then mate as an MATE. So that's the best place where people can find me. All right. Awesome. Well, thanks so much for coming on the show. We'll definitely have to do a follow up'cause we have a lot more to talk about. So I'm so glad we could do this today. And I, I hope I get to see you in person sometimes soon. Yes. So 100%, that's probably definitely going to happen very soon. All right. Awesome. Well, guys, thanks so much for listening to the Art of Connecting Podcast. This has been your host, Haydynn Fike, and I will catch you guys on the next episode.