Buy Back the Block

back the block. Buy back the block. Last week I talked about I think we're in the recession and I think all the indicators point in that direction. Well, in our community, we need to buy back the block, and we can do that. We gotta come together, though, we gotta pull money together, and we gotta buy one block

at a time. So I'm gonna be interviewing um people whom invest in property, flip property, and I'm also gonna be talking about books that are good reads to help you invest in property, flip property, and understand money as well. So this episode is dedicated towards my audience understanding what you can do now in order to bring financial freedom in a recession. To bring financial freedom in this current time means that you don't have to take a few risks.

You're gonna have to read some books. You're gonna have to learn why you make some mistakes. Experience is the best teacher. Hey, all businesses are able to grow and thrive and be success usful because they learn while they're growing, and they make mistakes and they learn from them. There's no different but be getting good with your money and make sound investments at home is typically the biggest investment and the beginning of generation of wealth in most people cases.

Most people passed on their investments where their properties. That's how they became financially independent and wealthy over the period of time is because they brought They brought property, and they leverage that property to get more property and land, and then they're able to int make investments and pass on to the next generation their wealth. I truly believe that the American dream and all those people who come to America that are seeking that American dream is economic

and financial freedom. And I think that that's the answer too of the problems the plague Black America. And I think more emphasis has to be on business investments, management, economic and financial independence. I think too much time, energy, money is spent on us focusing on the wrong things. I think that we should spend the majority of our time focusing on economic development and financial literacy. It appears that most Black people are galvanized every four years to

focus on elections and political campaigns. This is not going to lead to financial liberation and freedom economically, it's just not We've been focusing on since nineteen sixties the right to vote, and we have that vote today. We have that right to vote today. But have we developed as

Black America the financial and independence that we desire. Yet We've spent over fifty sixty seventy years focusing on the right to vote and have more politicians than any other group ethnicity group in America other than white, and still don't have the economic development and wealth in the Black community. This is because we spend too much time focusing on politics.

Politics is not gonna change teenage pregnancy. It's not gonna change all the fast food that on every corner in the Black community, just leading to hypertension and diabetes and high cholesterol is the politics is not going to change their illiteracy. Break Politics is not going to change their joblessness. It's not going to change the reality that we are seeking in the Black America. We need to focus on

economic change. We need to spend more emphasis on financial literacy, teaching our young and our children about the value of money and how to invest money. We need to focus on buying instead of renting. We need to focus on owning a home to the owner of a car or should I say, you know, renting a car, because some of us like the least that's just the height, you know, a fancy word to say. I'm written, Yeah, you get right off, Yeah, you get tax benefits. At the end

of the day, you're just written. They just call it the least. Um. We need we need to pull this money together financially, intellectually. We need to focus on change that's gonna lead to everlasting change. Politics is not gonna do it. We go out here for and I'm not saying it don't have no power. I'm not saying it don't have no marriage. I'm not knocking it. What I'm knocking is that we don't spend enough time focusing on

economic development and financial literacy. What I'm knocking is that we don't focus on the things that's gonna bring about real change, not change every two years, four years, eight years, no last can change, all right, It's because you build a foundation. There are institutions in America have been around for hunters and hunters year why because they build a foundation, they passed on generational wealth. We have to think different than we have been thinking, and we need to start

with focusing on economic development and change. So this episode is devoted and dedicated just just some tips for the audience. Things you can do, books, you can read, people that out here to devote their whole life to elevate the people through financial literacy and economic development. So enjoy this episode. It's just my tips that try to make a difference and to change in our community. This is unusual. I think you the first the first podcast hosts that I've interviewed,

and I've interviewed. I'm on my thirty fourth episode and I have a friend, a childhood friend, high school friend, came out to California. I said, I got to interview him. His name is Al Blocker, and he's sitting beside me right now. We're gonna interview him on the leaf bookshelf. He has a podcast called Rip and Flip and he's on I guess about maybe ten episodes and he talks about investment, buying real estate, investing in real estate, rehabing

real estate, and he's an expert. And one more thing about our blocker is that he works in the corporate jog in the tech world, and he took a leap of faith to part time to get involved in fiction and flipping properties and now he's an expert and that's

what he talks about on his podcast. But for all of you out there, who was who fears starting a new adventure in a new career and he still works, he still got his ninety five corporate job, but he's working as an investor, real estate investor on the side. So I got the pleasure now to interview the podcast host out Blocker and his podcast is called Rip and Flip.

How are you doing today? I'm doing great, Malak, and I really do appreciate you have me on your podcast here and it's uh, it's always great to be able to reconnect with you and fellowship out here in lovely Los Angeles, California. So again, thanks for having me on the show. Absolutely, you gotta tell us, man, what motivated you to create your podcast and what motivated you to get into the industry of real estate investing. That's a

great question. So a couple of things motivated me, and I'll start with UH, as you and I had a conversations, uh, probably a couple of weeks ago. You know, years ago. I was looking for a means to generate additional income bill wealth, like so many people want to do. And I read a number of different publications, books, articles on investing in real estate. So it's interesting to just and I talked about this on my podcast. I got into uh flipping homes as a result of watching h G TV,

believe it or not. So I started watching h g TV and thought to myself, you know, this is something I want to try myself. So with my wife's approval, I went at it right, and I was, as you mentioned, I was working a full time job. So uh, for the record, you know, I am double dipping. I've been been doing the hit, right, I've been doing the corporate thing for a while, and I work for big companies like Microsoft, Oracle and IBM. But I really wanted to

you know, I talked about this in my podcast. You know, I never wanted to be defined by my job. I needed another outlet, right, my I've always said that my job is only one third of who I am. I've got so much to offer myself and to others around me from a coaching and mentoring. So anyway, all that to say, I took that quantum leap dip. My first flip was very very successful with that, and uh, I'll share that I was able to walk away with the profit.

I did it within three months. Yeah, thank you. Within three months, I was on time, on budget, made sixty seven thousand, and guess what I did. I said, Okay, that was a success, so why don't I do it again? So it became a repeatable solution for me, and I talked about all this on my podcast. You know, I've done a multitude of flips in fact, in fact, just bought another property here recently. So that's really how I

got into it. And I encourage anyone that is that that are entertaining the thought, given serious thought to you know, trying something outside of what you do on a regular basis that's your corporate job. Take that quantum leap. I mean you gotta start somewhere. Well, you know, real estate is the biggest investment that most people make. They the biggest investment. Did um, you know, buying a home and I personally it was a mortgage consulator straight out of college.

I personally have for spent about ten years helping people realize their dream and I placed hundreds and hundreds of people in homes in California. So I have a real estate breakground. So I know some of the lingo that you talked. I also did some real estate investing and fixing and flipping and myself over the years now in

full time. You know, book activist from Meleak Books, and I used my podcast Meleek's Bookshelf bringing the World together with Books, culture and Community to bring people like you on my podcast to get this type of information because books, culture and community. Now, you said earlier to me that you've read a lot of books on real estate and before you got into the real estate. So can you share some of those book Yeah? So, uh it's but too many to really share. But I think what's but

what's important is this, I would encourage as I always do. Uh, I encourage people if you're going to whatever your pursuit, your passion, the journey you're gonna take as an entrepreneur outside of what you do, uh that being your full time job, you need to become a student of that industry. And what I mean by that is you need to listen to podcast you need to read journals, you need to read books, you need to know what the trends

are within that industry. So again, I've read a host of different U books and so you'll get a chuck a lot of this. So I remember reading the book that Donald Trump had published. Believe it or not, I'm not. I'm not endorseding Donald Trump in any way, shape or for him, but I think that for any art of the deal, it was the ut of the Deal number one. Yeah,

So the art of the Deal. So I think that there's something that you can learn from anybody, particularly those that have proven themselves to make money in that industry. And at the and at the end of the day, you know whether you or your pursuit is flipping homes whole sealing homes. At the end, the commonality that we

all share is that people are looking to turn a profit. So, yeah, I did read Donald Trump's book, The Art of the Deal, and I was able to actually pick up a few things that I was able to apply in my repertoire. One of our most popular books we sell at the Malik books. Is rich Dad, poor Dad read that? And um, that's that's you know, they've sold millions and millions and

millions upon millions of those, Rich Dad, poor Dad. And uh but yeah, I think that you know, information and knowledge is useful no matter where you get it from. You know, take what is valuable and useful and lead the rest alone. Um, but I definitely think bring books bring opportunities and in I think that, um, you know, knowledge is part. I believe books keep on giving. You know, you can read them over and over and as you expand your mind and your knowledge and you'll understand, the

book evolves along with you. And how many properties? How have you flipped? Right? That's a great question. So, uh, you know, I generally gauged that on an annual basis. So this year alone, I'm up to eight. Collectively, I've done over fifty properties, and that number I anticipate to continue to grow. But I want to go back to something that you just mentioned, you know, you talked about

reading books again. I think that everyone needs to develop some type of you know, my journey started with a vision, right and again, having read many books, many journals, many articles, many downloads from the internet about real estate. I really did want to become a subject matter expert. And the other thing that I would I would encourage people, you know, while you're doing your reading, while you're doing your assessments,

your evaluations, all that kind of stuff. I think it's important that you align yourself with a mentor or a coach, and that is to avoid some of the common pitfalls that people make by trying to do things. We call it in the industry. You don't want to be a d I Y and a d I Y is a do with yourself for so again, there are books out there that you can read, there are people that you can align yourself with. Just just just be be cognizant

of that you touched on something very important. Man having a sponsor of mentor someone you can go to to assist you. We each one teach one. This is the one of the most important. Don't try to do this all the time on your own. In people that already didn't done it may mostates and you'll need to learn from people like that. They open themselves up to assist paying it forward. Absolutely, it's important to find subject matter experts, someone that has failed and got back up and did

it again and then became successful. You know, sometimes people didn't you know, he did under home running business sccess right off the back. But that ain't reality for most people, you know, that ain't reality. We learned as we're going out, how much how much money have you lost in investing in properties? And only to get deep into the rehab to find out so much other things need to be done. Yes, So so that that that that's a great that's a great question and a very relevant question too. Um So

I'm a businessman, you're a businessman. Any person, uh, you know, with the aspiration of becoming a business person. You know or you shouldn't understand that. Uh, you know, success is not built on success. Success is built on shortcomings, failures, losses. Right. So to answer your question more specifically, I took a huge loss earlier this year. Right, So when you encounter these losses, it's you know, you have to have it in your DNA. You have to build you know, the

fabric has to be within you to respond. Right. We all are going to experience setbacks, right, shortcomings, But it's how you choose to deal with those that determine your way ahead. So I'll take them I've taken my share of losses, but it's it's it's been nothing so significant where it's made me want to quit. It's made me want to stop. In fact, for many of us, it gives us fuel to you learn from those mistakes to

make your journey better thereafter. And again, you know, as as Malik sort of preface this conversation, I've got my own podcast for those that that want to listen and get more insights, more guidance, you can find me. Uh it's it's an Apple download podcast is Ripped and Flipped without blocker or the RiPP and Flip podcast, and you can find that on Apple each one to each one. Now, my brother i't told you how he can be reached and um, he's he's based out of with washing DC,

Maryland d m V area. Shout out to and where else can they find you at? That's a great question. So the primary platform is um is my podcast for those that want to get educated on the process associated with flipping homes. So that's the number one. Secondarily, you can find me on Instagram that's Ripping Flip podcast. And then I've got an email. People oftentimes reach out to me after they hear my podcast with questions, uh, insights, or just needed me to confirm things for him. The

email is ripped and flip. That's and A and d rip and flip without blocker at gmail dot com. And I am always you know, thrilled, excited and honor to help people out in any way that I can. And those are the platforms that you can reach me on. I appreciate this interview. Thank you. I'm sure my audience is going to love because real estate is the biggest investment that we can make in our lifetime and you have offered a wealth of information and so thank you.

You're quite welcome. Lee. So one thing I do want to mention is this and closing, I know you and I've had a number of conversations and I really appreciate your friendship, your coaching with me on you know, the people often ask me what's the next big venture project, and I'm gonna take on and thanks to you, you've encouraged, You've been encouraging enough to I'm really giving serious thought to writing that book. So so I'll let I'll let

your list. There's no when the when that book drops, and I'll look to uh potentially do a book signing at your store. Thank you, Thank you. I appreciate that. I hope my orders enjoyed. I know I did, and I know they will too. Now, I hope you enjoyed that conversation I had with all Blocker. But what I

wanna do is suggest some books. Now, you know I graduated from USC You know I personally was a Morgin assultant, and I help people realize the greatest gift and the greatest investment that they're gonna make is buying a home. Now I need to recommend some book. A series of books that I think is just a great overview of real estate investing, flipping property, holding property, investing in property is the series put out by Gary Keller. Who is he?

He's only a self made millionaire. He's also one of the co founders of Keller William Realty, which is seen all over this country. Has thirty years of industry and investment experience. He's involved in thousands of transactions. Well, hey, I think his books are an excellent series of books that can help teach you about the realist, the millionaire real estate agent, the million near real estate investor, holding property and flipping property. Some of the subject matters can

be found in these books. Is like development mindset of a millionaire investor by companion myths about money and investment that holds people back. Identifying great real estate investment opportunities based on sound criteria, zero in on key terms of a transaction, and achieved the best possible deals. Develop a dream team that will help you build your millionaire investment business.

Also leverage proven models and strategies me and there's used to track their own network, understanding their finances, build their network, lead, generate and acquire properties. These are subject matters that are in these books that will help enrich you. Now these books have been sold in the millions, so this these are well read, well sought out books. You can find the member leagues. But here's the thing. You can read all you want, but you got to jump off the cliff.

You got to be in the game to be part of the game. So don't be afraid to fall, to fail, but guess what, get back up, staying the game and become a million There these books can help you. The information in these books is viable, useful, relevant, and on time. So that's my book suggestion. Hope you enjoyed it. You've heard this saying called the food and his money was

soon part. Well, this happens all across this country. I personally know people, you know, I know Spring Chicken, So I've been around for a while, and I know people who have come into wealth and yet lost it. You know, I meet me personally. I remember my twenties that I started. I made some investments in properties, and you know yet I wasn't even thirty. I was in my mid twenties, and I personally, um made some bad decision where you know, it's just another same call uh robing Peter to pay Paul,

and the lessons that you have to learn. You know, I was a risk taker, so I wanted to take money out of my properties, invested in some my ideas. But if the ideas don't paying, oun't guess what you end up losing not only the idea and the businesses you're trying to launch, but also the property investing the money from when you can't when you don't have the money to pay the mortgage. And you know, I was

a risk taker. You know, I always say nowadays, you know, find a way two underwrite whatever business did you want to invest in, or whatever goal did you trying to achieve financially. If it's your home, think twice before you take out a mortgage to take money against your property, because if your idea don't paying out, then you might find yourself with a short cash flow and end up jeopantizing your property. So I learned this firsthand. But what I was trying to say, a fool and his money

was soon part and this is true. And one of the things that I think that's very important besides just trying to get out here and make money, is know how to keep your money. And and one of the persons that I think is a leader in this industry as a person that also lost their money in the twenties, and his name is Dave Ramsey and his book The Complete Guy two Money. It's about how to keep your money, how to grow your money without losing your money. If you want to make your money work for you, you

have to know how money works. And that's what this book is all about. It's about teaching you the principles of money, understanding your debts, understanding you know the your finances and when you have less money coming in and you have more debt, it's crashing. Burn is Rob Peter to pay Paul. So Dave Ramsey and I met a person who had a relationship and they were engaged, and the young lady wanted to focus on the Dave Ramsey program because he offers these programs and he he you know,

if you stick to it, you reach financial freedom. So what happened is he didn't want to go along with it, and therefore they had a crossroads in their relationships and it led to them breaking up all over finances. And let me tell you something, Finances the number one reason more divorces are taking place. It's over money. It's over finances. So this book Dave Ramsey put out, The Complete Guide

to Money, is an excellent book. It's a great book to teach you how to maintain, how to understand money. You know, nearly six million people have changed their lives through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. Now I'm not suggesting you sign up for his university, but I am suggesting you go out here and pick up his book, Dave Ramsey Complete God to Money. I'm suggesting that you go do that. I think there's a lot of things in there.

And if you feel like you need the university, that ain't by all means, but I think that you know understanding money and how to keep your money. It's very important to learn how to budget, and that's what this

book kind of teaches you. And it teaches you how to be disciplined and how to see you know your reality for reality and not a perception, and not to gamble with credit cards and not to overextend yourself and pay off your debt because the reality is that he's gonna talk to you is that debt is is a

form of slavery in these high interest credit cards. So if you want to free yourself and you really want financial freedom, then you gotta understand your money and you gotta understand and how to make the money work for you insteady against you, and how to save your money and how not to go on the debt. And that's what this book is kind of focusing on, is to create a discipline person who understands their money and how to keep it and multiplied. And that's a good book

to pick up. Dave Ramsey, The Complete God to Money. If you know maliekue Books got it. Thanks for listening to Malik's Bookshelf Where topics on the Shelf our books, culture, and community. Be sure to subscribe and leave me a review. Check out my Instagram at meliek Books. See you next time,