Secrets to Real Estate Mastery (w/ Zach Oehlman)

Zach has built a robust community around the life cycle of entrepreneurship , from launching to scaling businesses and then reinvesting in real estate to foster sustainable wealth . I want to talk about that .

As an expert in human behavior and personal development , zach interlaces these insights with practical business strategies , making him a sought after speaker for empowering and educating future leaders . Zach sir , welcome my brother . Appreciate you coming on here .

The challenge was I didn't have any of my own money and so I went to college with that traditional route , went to corporate America and then got into real estate because I didn't have a whole lot of money . And then you know , once you get into real estate , you realize it is a business . Right , you could call it whatever you want .

At the end of the day it's a business . You're either fix and flipping , wholesaling , or even , as you move over to the cash flow component of it , it's still a business . And so we transitioned I learned a lot from that and then transitioned to actually buying businesses and starting them Beautiful .

I've lived in 24 countries . I'm coming live from Colombia right now .

Financial freedom is probably more on the balance sheet and income statement , down to the numbers , right . What do the numbers say ? And can you live that life that you want ? Right . And so today I get to live the life that I want . I get to go on my motorcycle rides , I get to go traveling , I get to go do all of that stuff .

And so I would say I'm financially free , right , I got money coming in , I my bills are paid and I get to , for the most part , do what I want , when I want , how I want .

I own a bunch of doors . Um , like you said , it's a business , it's a great business , but it's not what the social media , internet world wants to tell you . It is right , like literally , I own , you know , I own 150 doors . Today I'm doing redeveloping .

I'm redeveloping a big project right now we're wrapping it up and every week I'm in a meeting with my property manager , literally weekly , for an hour . Every week I'm getting an update what's happening , who's paid , who's not , what's happening with my portfolio , and it's a business . I'm managing my business right . I got to manage a property manager .

There's a lot of aligned . You see people that , oh no , it's passive bullshit . It's not passive . It's not completely passive . There's some managing and there's some work that you have to be watching and you have to do . And you know that . If you're an operator , why real estate ? Why did you choose real estate to create your financial freedom .

I published author in the world of finance , very , very knowledgeable in that , but I didn't know how to quote , unquote make money outside of you know , in the business world , and I didn't know how to raise money . I didn't know what starting a business or any of that meant . Right , I was good with the numbers and it was good in my consulting gig .

And so I got into real estate because of the general consensus that you can get into it with none of your own money , none of your own credit .

And I just started putting one foot in front of the other and what I've learned is it's a great way to store wealth and generate wealth , which is much different than being financially independent in my perspective , because I know a lot of people that have big balance sheets , right , they own a lot of properties , but they don't have the cash flow or the income

to generate the lifestyle they want , and I think that's a big misconception that I've seen , because I have a community , over a thousand people . I have a daily call .

I've been doing that for eight plus years with my team , and so I get to see a lot of perspectives , and one of the perspectives is that , oh , I'm going to buy rental real estate and my life's going to change , and it's not the world of it . You have to become worth more so that you can earn more , so that you can buy more , so that you can buy more .

And I see these people come in and they don't understand that first part of it of becoming worth more and they try to go buy all these rentals with 100% leverage and they just get decimated because they don't have cash management strategies , they don't have a rainy day fund , they don't have a budget and they're just getting owned by their property and going

backwards . And so I think it's an important . You know , it's just like a recipe for anything . If you follow the recipe , you're , you're going to get the result . But I think I'm I'm a big advocate . I love .

What you're doing here is like you're just being straight with people , right , and and I think real estate is one of I can't find anything that can outperform it on a risk adjusted basis , but it's not .

You know , you gotta , you gotta go get the money to do it , and I think that's the message that I love sharing with people is it is the best strategy to build long-term wealth and in the short term , you got to get your income up .

But we moved , so I moved to Florida recently , and so the market is different there . Right , it's a hot market . Obviously it's all the way softening right now with what's happening with interest rates . Right , it's a hot market , obviously it's , although it's softening right now with what's happening with interest rates .

So I'm talking to the guys and I'm like hey guys , most of the guys this is you probably are familiar with that with a group it's a group of , it's a tribe of millionaires and everyone to be part of the group you have to have a certain network .

So I'm talking to the guys and I'm like hey guys , I don't know what is going on in the marketplace right now . And I'm like , hey guys , I don't know what is going on in the marketplace right now , did I miss something ?

Because I'm getting a lot of deals , and the deals that are coming through they just don't cash flow , but they're still selling and I'm like how , what am I missing ? Did I miss something ? Is there a new strategy or some shit ? Because I don't buy nothing .

Cash flowing is not a viable strategy in my opinion . And so I was asking my peers that and they were like no dude , they don't know what they're doing , right , like everyone at the call was like whoever's doing that doesn't know what the hell they're doing .

You don't buy for freaking , just to buy like , unless you just you're gonna redevelop and you've got a bigger plan in the mix . Yeah , force it , yeah , you're going to force , appreciate it , but still , this is not what's happening .

We're talking about single family stuff , smaller stuff , right , this is not multi , you know , multifamily , larger stuff that you can really force appreciate , and it's like no , but I'm seeing a lot of that .

I'm seeing some of that in certain markets and I'm like , yeah , seeing some of that in certain markets and I'm like , yeah , I'm not buying here unless I got the right deal . It's just , it's what it is . It's just . It just is . It's just a math , got a math .

But you said something that's really really more , really important , which you said worth more , so you can earn more and you can create your cash flow . You said it not not in those same words , but around around

those lines . I was on a call with one of my students , because I also coach two days ago . She goes hey , I'm working with this kid , he's 20 years old and he's got $3,000 or $4,000 more and I had to advise him to give his money to you so that he can invest in one of my deals . I said absolutely not , I won't take his money .

Number one and number two 20-year-old kid . What he needs to be doing with his money is investing in himself so he can get some skills , and he can , he could level up and he could work on his mindset . I was like that's the best investment a 20 year old kid can do .

If he's got money , just go , show up to seminars , listen to podcasts , read your book , go to you know , I mean be around guys like us . But that's what you should be doing not spending his money because he's not getting better by doing that . But tell me , zach , when you say work worth more please unpack that with me , everything I'm sharing .

And I remember I went into one of the partners and they said , zach , you don't have enough to sit across somebody with some experience . And I just started reading and reading .

I've spent over a million dollars on myself between trial and error , coaching , mentorship , development , and you know , when you're in it , you don't realize the value that you're creating until you sort of on the other side of it . And you know , today I get paid a lot of money for very little of time .

But I've spent 20 years sharpening my ax in the world of finance , business , sales and marketing and I get people literally giving me half of their business for equity to bring my team in and my wisdom and all of that .

And and so I had this revelation one day I love going on motorcycle rides , I love going out on hikes and you know I go spend time with tribes and just sort of see the perspective of life through different eyes . And and one day it hit me it was like the only way I'm going to make more is I have to learn how to do it .

I have to go learn sales and marketing because I was a socially awkward young man that was afraid of the world . So I had to . I had to actually learn how to be social . I had to learn how to increase my emotional intelligence , my EQ . There's this great quote . It says 85 to 90% of your success is dependent on your EQ .

Iq opens the door right , but EQ gets you the type of money most of us are looking for . And so it's just like well , if I don't know that , I can learn it . And , like you said , it's about you know the , the . There's so many phrases we hear you know your product of the five people you hang around Like . You hear that .

I heard that a long time ago , but today I understand it at a completely different level . And and and the other thing I've really learned is I can give $1,000 an hour advice , but if the receiver can only receive $25 an hour advice , then that's all that's worse to them .

And I see that because I used to sell a very high end it was 23 plus thousand bucks just to join our masterminds . And I have a call every day and I'm supporting everyone . I was like , why are people not winning ? And so I was like , okay , I would take it into my hands . I was like , well , how can I help them ? How can I help them ?

How can I help them ? And the reality is they're at where they're at and I can't force uh , I'm just going to use some numbers here . I can't force a five to 10 year process in six months , like it's trying . It's like trying to cook a pizza in 20 seconds in a flash of a 1500 degrees . It's not . You have to cook it for 30 minutes at 325 degrees .

You have to create the right environment for it to grow . And that's why today I give away all of my masterclasses for free , because I realized the importance of people having a place to go to grow , and everyone's at a different level . Some people might be in the proverbial second grade .

Some people might be in the proverbial middle school , high school , college it sounds like the people you hang out with , or I use college as an example like PhD student level , and the challenges is , I see a lot of these people getting sold a PhD level caliber coaching program when they're in second grade , and that's why they fail is because they're just not

ready for that deep end of the pool . And so I think one of the best ways to learn is to become an understudy of somebody . That's what I did . If I look back at what I did , I went and I paid somebody some money . I said tell me what to do .

He's like read this book , show up to this , watch this class , make an offer and when you get something that fits these parameters , bring it to me and then we'll take it to second base . And I learned like that , and it took years . I mean , I'm still doing the same thing at just a much higher level .

And so if you treat life like a lesson , everything is a lesson . That's how I view life , if you choose . Now it takes a lot of mental horsepower to become present , to see the lessons and everything , and not blame the world for what it gives you . And so that's . I know there's a lot there , but there's a ton .

Those my , my , my mantra for the last 20 plus years . I had no idea how to do it and I just started traveling the world , uh , four years ago . So it took me 16 years from the moment it was a thought until I actually did it 16 years .

It's like , dude , I got 26 years on . You , right , I got what I got 26 years . You kid , there's just no way . It's just time . Right , I got 26 years . But what I will tell you is the future is bright .

You're on the right track if you keep , if you keep doing what you're doing , you keep reading the books and you keep showing up right yeah so so you know , I I heard a saying that overnight success happens over 20 years .

When you wake up after 20 years grinding and putting in the work and getting better and learning and taking your lessons , boop like you 16 years , right , or 18 years , you said right , boom . Now you finally hey , I'm traveling the world now . I made it 18 years in the making baby . You know what I mean .

It wasn't overnight , it wasn't microwave success , but yet people expect that in today's day and age . I believe a lot of that is because of social media . Like you said , you got enamored with real estate because of social media . A lot of it is because of social media is that it takes time . Financial freedom takes time .

Financial freedom , if you're going to build a house , you got to build the foundation first and you got to make sure those foundation blocks are strong so that you can put up a nice big building and it can sustain itself . I was having a conversation with my son , again , zach , and I was like you know ?

He's like , oh , but you see these kids 22 years old , right . He's like , oh , but you see these kids 22 years old , right , ferraris , you see them on social media , right . And I'm like yeah , I see them . Here's the challenge man Today . I'm 45 years older than he is , but I will tell you also , keeping your money is another skill .

That's what I was trained in in corporate , and so I've created my own software for budgeting and everything I use with my clients and I meet with people that could retire Literally , they could retire today , but they don't know it because they don't have their finances in order .

And then I talked to other people like I'm , like you're spending , you make great money , but you spend it all . And if you would , just , I believe anybody can live . And I use this word retirement , even though I don't . I don't believe it exists , because what are you going to do with your life ?

Right , it's like you're going to stop doing one thing to do something else . But you could I'm going to use it , use that word retirement in five years or less , If you were intentional , took personal responsibility and got your finances in order today . And I use the example of if you spent the next year learning a skillset , didn't charge anything for it .

You spent the next year learning a skillset , you spent the second year learning how to sell that skillset , and then the third year , Second year learning how to sell that skill set , and then the third year you sold three monthly subscriptions for 97 bucks . By the end of that fifth year you'd have 10 grand a month coming in , with zero income .

And that's a very , very simplistic math .

You're going in the right direction , son Right , and you know he's becoming worth more and understanding what it means to make money . And then at the end of five years , you could , you'd be making 10 , 20 grand . There's not one listener , not one listener on here that got their butt in gear and created a plan and a budget that couldn't do that .

They know how to delay gratification . They don't have to delay gratification for later . They're constantly thinking about what can I do today to make the better tomorrow better ? And it wasn't until I came to grips with that , zach , like hey , I was also in the financial services business .

I used to be , I used to sell life insurance for 15 years and I woke up . I was sharing this with my son . I woke up one day and I was like , holy shit , if I keep doing this , I was making good money six figures but if I keep doing this , I'm not getting rich . I'm going to get the same results .

I'm going to turn , wake up when they'd be 60 , 65 , 70 years old and I'm going to be broke . And this is not the way . I have to start learning a new skill so that I can create wealth , so that I can have assets , so that I can and I started doing that . And I started exactly that . I was like , if I do the same thing , I'm going to sacrifice .

Now , I don't care if I'm going to stay up later and study , I'm going to pay for coaching , I'm going to pay for mentoring , I'm going to start going to events . I start . It was hard , it wasn't easy . It wasn't easy . Raising a uh , uh , bringing up a family on one income . Commission . You know that's the commission job , right ?

so commission job . I did that for 15 years , supported my family and I had to . I had to , had to . It was like , hey , I gotta create , I gotta , I gotta get out of this . Is this is not from , this is not where I want to be . I wasn't happy anyway . Right and um , it was a grind , right it was .

It was a grind in the sense that I would stay up later learning , going to events and , at the same time , selling insurance , all while I was building and getting into a financial firm , your promotion , your marketing , your operations , you're the whole fullness of it . Yeah , you're actually living in the city .

So I told my wife the other day I was like , honey , we have this beautiful home in Florida . I was like maybe we sell this in a year or two or three years , I don't know . I was like , you know , maybe we sell this in a year or two or three or four , I don't know .

I was like maybe we sell this and we come to this house , we're in our , in our , in our mountain house , and instead of as a smaller house , our second home , and instead of what we could do is we could go live in different countries , experience . I'm big on culture , right , I'm really big in culture . I love what you're doing , brother .

I really love it , man , I really really love what you're doing . I was like I love culture , I love people , I love learning from people in different cultures , and I was like , babe , we could just pick up , we could do it if we wanted to now , but that's part of my vision , right , part of my vision is to .

I have a number in my head , though , as well . You know where .

We , we loved it there . And so I'm sitting there in dominican republic . You know , this is a couple years ago . We've been traveling and living everything I wanted traveling the world , helping people and making money . And I get on the call with my coach . She goes what's wrong ? And there was just like this experience of life , like now what ?

And you know , what we got to was like , oh , zach , you quit asking what's next ? Yeah , and you know . And so I , I achieved top of you know , graduated top of my class in college , got a job working for one of the best companies in the world . You know , accolade , accolade , accolade goal achieved .

And then it's like you know , you really learn the expression . It's the joy of the journey , not the destination . Yes , so what I've done is I've just created a big enough why in my life that will never be satisfied and that's my life's purpose . And my purpose is to empower people to live an amazing life in all aspects of their life .

And it starts with me first , because if I'm not a living testament of what I'm preaching , teaching , and so it really holds me accountable , and so I I have a coaching call twice a week .

I mean I just got off it right before this podcast and I want to make sure I'm empowered , I want to make sure I'm living a fulfilled life , I want to make sure that I'm stretching myself and growing and doing all of that . And so I know you were sort of leading to a question and so the the help me understand what's the question for the people listening .

You were saying it .

Um and again , I am a big believer in that . Like I , I teach , but I also have a coach . Right , I also have , right , someone that holds me accountable and helping me get to the next level and calls me on my bullshit .

Yeah , yes , I can , yes , I can right , and so that's I think .

I told one of my employees , my editor actually he's going to edit this podcast , so you remember this conversation when you're editing this podcast , that , hey , man , where's my creator , where's my creative guy that I hired ? Where is he ? He's gone . What's going on ? Oh , of course , yeah , where is he . You know , and we had a real tough conversation .

I was real straight with him and I said , and at the end I told him and I still love you , man , and I still love you and I'm still grateful for everything you do , and I want that guy back . Kick your ass . They show you up , right , it's tough with love , right , but I love them and he knows I love them and I care about them .

One thing they tell me all my team is like man , we love that about you , that you're just direct , we know where we stand every time .

That would be responsible as a coach . Yes , sir , I'd be manipulative . And so it's like where do you want to be ? And then let me help you get there

no-transcript that I have someone else .

Thank you for doing what you're doing and keep on doing what you're doing . Man , we want to have you back here . We want you to share some more of those cool stories you shared with us .