Blaze Your Own Trail - A 34 Year Educator Turned Real Estate Trailblazer with Bill Caton

Starting point is 00:00:00 Today we've got a very special guest. We are joined by Bill Caten. And I'm going to have Bill just take about a minute and introduce himself if you can just share who you are and what you do today. Thank you very much. And thanks for having me on their show today. I'm Bill Caden. I'm the founder of Caden Commercial, a real estate group here in Naperville, Illinois. And prior to coming on board here and starting this company, I was an educator. for about 34 years. In a local high school, the science department chairman taught biology, chemistry, physics, all those fun science things. My career in real estate started out because of my background growing up. I grew up in western Pennsylvania, the oldest of five children, and the oldest grandchild of 14 of my father's siblings.

Starting point is 00:00:59 And with that, my dad being a coal miner, things got a little tight. I left home when I was 11 and I went to work for a Pennsylvania farmer. And that was a change in my life. I saw a whole different lifestyle and led me to go to a different school than my other siblings. And also they encouraged me and helped me get into college. So going into college, that led me to my degree in education and then teaching for 34 years. That's awesome. Yes. Being on a farm, you know, especially at dairy farm, you work 365 days a year, you know, seven days a week, you know, and teaching. I had too much excess energy.

Starting point is 00:01:50 So I found, you know, a way to channel that industry into an industry, which was really, real estate and started developing my company along with my teaching career at the same time. That's great. Yeah. So today we have 25 commercial brokers here in our company. And I just recently made another life shift in that I turned over the company to my daughter, Christina. Both of my children work in our industry.

Starting point is 00:02:25 but Christina is going to be the CEO, which of my previous title, and the managing broker. My son, Steve's new passion is development, and he's developing multifamily in Nashville and single standalone medical offices in about 14 states. So he's busy in his endeavors, and Christina now is taking over. So that allows me to do things, okay, such as go to MIPP and MIPA. in France where I met Jordan. It was a great time that we had together there exploring the world. And my goals for going there were to find investors looking to invest in the United States. Because now that I've delegated off, you know, my administrative corporate duties, I can go back

Starting point is 00:03:17 to doing the things that I love to do, which is dealmaking. And just like a farmer, I don't ever see myself retiring because this is an industry where as long as you can have your health and God willing, and I can keep that moving forward, you can use your relationships in the years and doing business, okay, to connect people. And that's basically my job right now is connect people in the industry, okay, moving forward. Love it. I love that. Well, there's definitely a lot to unpack there. I appreciate all the context. And one of the things that I think everyone will be able to resonate with that listens back or that watches this is you're a hard worker. You don't just get sent to a farm at 11 and don't know how to work hard. So one thing I'd love for you to unpacked and this may be kind of bringing it back down to memory lane for you. But let's rewind back to 12. Right. So now by this, point you've been on the farm for one year. What are some lessons that you gained in that very first year of farming that you can share with the audience that actually truly have added value to your life even to this day? I think you hit the nail in the head and that was it helped me develop a work ethic and you developed the work ethic because of consistency. Anything that you do is consistency

Starting point is 00:04:48 okay, doing the same thing over and over and improving it, all right, and failing forward, right, because I think failures is another institution of higher learning because you see your mistakes and you self-correct those along the way. But having that consistency of getting up every morning at 4.30 in the morning, all right, and milking the cows and then going to school or in the summertime going into the fields and then the same thing, you know, 4.30 in the afternoon, back into milking, you know, and, you know, hitting bed at the same time, you know, 9 or 9.30, because you're getting up at 4.30 in the morning, being the hired hand, I had, my duty was to go out and get the cows.

Starting point is 00:05:35 So I was up a half an hour before everybody else was in the area. So consistency, all right. And I always said that I may not be the smartest person in the world. You can always find somebody smarter. You can always find somebody stronger. But you're going to have a hard time finding anybody more persistent than myself. And that's served me very well through the years, okay, is that persistency. And keep coming back and learning.

Starting point is 00:06:05 Lifelong learner. You know, even you mentioned 12, 13, 14, as I'm growing up. taking on more responsibility at the farm, learning the machinery, learning to operate the machinery, learning to maintain the machinery, learn how to problem solve. All those were great lessons that, you know, I utilized throughout my entire career, okay, in terms of, you know, coming back to it and having a positive attitude, okay, about what you were doing. It's a sense of accomplishment, okay, whenever you do something like that. Love it. Love it. And so I'm going to have to assume that you didn't learn all the stuff by yourself.

Starting point is 00:06:48 There had to have been a mentor, a trainer, a coach, somebody that fed into you, somebody that taught you even on the days when you weren't picking it up. Somebody that believed in you, even when you didn't believe in yourself. So I'd love for you just to share in the course of your career who are maybe the top one or two mentors in your life that you can give credit to you. whether they're here or maybe even they've passed on. I'd love for you to just share some context. Yes, that's a very interesting question. I can say that, you know, on my farm days, okay, between 11 and 18 when I went to college, there it was the farmer and the farmer's son, who was about 10 years older than I was at the time. They were mentors.

Starting point is 00:07:37 and having their lifestyle, okay, for example, the farmer's wife's brother was an attorney, an assistant attorney at the county level, okay, understanding the politics that went on and understanding the responsibility of that. That served me well throughout time. Moving forward into my teaching career, many people along the way. High school teachers also involved in that arena. One of them was my high school gym coach. He was instrumental in knowing my background and helping me along. I went to a very small high school in Pennsylvania.

Starting point is 00:08:22 I was number nine in my class out of 35. Okay. All right. And the assistant principal there knew my background. And she's the one that helped me get a scholarship to go to college, okay, understanding what it was. So major, major step in my life is making that move. Getting into the industry of real estate during my teaching career, I think one of the motivators for me was in the system that I was in. There was a company that was consistently the top company in the area all the time.

Starting point is 00:09:01 And so I set an appointment with him and I went in to talk with him. And he was very supportive along the way. And finally, I asked the question, you know, how can I continue to do my teaching and educating career and develop real estate and do what I want to do in real estate? And he paused for some period of time. And he said, Bill, it can't be done. You can't do that. you're going to have to quit teaching.

Starting point is 00:09:32 You're going to have to focus full time on your real estate career. Well, being a little bit of a stubborn, you know, and persistent person, that was a very intense motivator for me because I was going to prove him wrong. And I did. I finished up my teaching career with 34 years and retired in 2003. And I started my real estate in two, in two, in. actually 1984. So during that time, you know, there was a lot of hard work, okay, and a lot of hours. I mean, I average 70 hours plus a week, but I was young. I was right at my prime. I had the energy,

Starting point is 00:10:17 and it was self-fulfilling, okay, in terms of my success. I built that company, okay, with people that I trusted that were loyal and expanded that. into eight offices, six residential to commercial, and then focused on after, you know, the 2007-K kind of recession in the United States, I decided to sell off the residential companies and focus only on commercial real estate because my two children were working with me and they only wanted to do commercial. So I'd left my wife start her own residential company, which she still has, and my two children and I went off in 2010 with Caten Commercial as a commercial company and focused. So the thing that I learned in that is focus. Awesome.

Starting point is 00:11:13 Awesome. That's great. And mentors are so important. I know there's been so many people in my world that, you know, whether they wanted to or not, you know, fed into me, whether they thought I could ultimately get there or not, you know, they still did it. And so I think it's always important to remember and also to reflect on it. And also for those of you watching or listening, who in your life do you need to reach out to and say, hey, thanks. You know, thank you for that time that you put up with me, that you fed into me, that you mentored me. I think it's important that we show that gratitude.

Starting point is 00:11:47 So let's shift into education. So education is one of those things that over the last decade, we've really seen a big shift. There's a lot of folks that have been getting their education from literally the internet, whether that's YouTube or researching data. So I would love to hear it directly from the mouth of somebody that was an educator for 30 plus years. So first off, kudos to you. Congratulations. I mean, that's an incredible career. But what are your thoughts on the way that education is being delivered in 2024?

Starting point is 00:12:22 before. And if you could do it all over again, and this was you starting, you know, and deciding if you want to go the traditional college route or maybe e-learning or certifications, what would you do? So I'd love, it's kind of a two-part question, but I'm really curious to get your thoughts on it. Yes, I've had a lot of formal education, as you can tell by my background, you know, a master's degree plus about 40 hours because I've always been a lifelong learner. However, learning today is quite different. If I had to go back and pick gay changes in my life in terms of learning with business, K versus education, it's whenever I actually hired mentors, K, coaches. I, you know, in the residential, I hired one of the top coaches in residential real estate in the United States. I worked with them for quite a few years. And that learning was also a group type of learning because we had meetings.

Starting point is 00:13:20 together of all the top brokers. So there was a collaboration and developing relationships. One of the things I wish I'd have done earlier was to expand my sphere of influence. I, in many years, because I was teaching and running a business, I didn't have a lot of extra time for going to MIPM or joining the NAR in the local boards and so forth. But once I divested myself of the education, I started doing that. And a lot of flourishing relationships led to not only extra business, but also community support in our business, hiring different people into our company. And I think early on, whenever my son and daughter and I started our company, we hired a business coach. So we, you know, in fact, that business coach is still with us today.

Starting point is 00:14:19 He still coaches me today. All right. I think if you look at any of the very successful, you know, basketball players, we were talking about the March Madness and things are going on right now. Michael Jordan, okay, at the peak of his career, had a coach, all right? Besides his coach on the team, he had a separate coach, okay, that coach. him. So I think learning through other people, okay, by attending events such as going to MIPP them, besides having appointments, meeting great people like you, Jordan, you know, they have educational events, okay, that are there. And I find those to be very helpful in also

Starting point is 00:15:02 developing your sphere of influence. For example, I always pride myself of getting to an event early, getting to sit up front so that you can, first of all, it helps me focus. I, you know, up in the back of the room with a lot of distractions, but you can focus on that. And it helps me to get to the speakers if I want to interact more with one of the speakers. And I always look for a question that will forward the action of what's going on in that event. all right because that allows me to say who i am where i'm from in a larger group and then ask a very intelligent pertinent question which forwards the action of the speaker or the event and then that helps develop relationships okay sometimes with the speaker sometimes with somebody that's

Starting point is 00:15:57 participating in the audience okay uh that helps quite a bit so those are those are some of Yep. Those are definitely some great tips. You know, I think obviously anytime you go to a networking event, there's some type of investment. Some of it's time-based. Some of it is a monetary investment. Some of it is your mental capacity, right? There's a lot of things that we're investing. And I love the fact that you have a strategy of what you want to accomplish when you're there. Because that that's going to make sure that you get an ROI, right, in a return on your investment that you spent there. So I love the fact that you shared that. And, and, you know, what's crazy is, you know, you would think that an event like we met at, you know, you got 20,000 people roaming around for four or five days that you wouldn't see the same person twice. But we ran into each other, I think, like three or four times, which was pretty, which is pretty incredible. So one of the things that I would like for you to share is you've accomplished a ton, you know, whether that's the residential side, you know, deciding just to switch

Starting point is 00:17:02 into the commercial side, you know, joining advisory boards. You know, you've built a business that now you're able to really pass down and, you know, you've created legacy essentially for your kids who are now running different parts of your business. So, and you did kind of allude to some of the things that you're doing with this newfound bandwidth that you have, but what are some other things on the horizon for Bill? What are some kind of fun stuff outside of, you know, building these businesses that you enjoy doing, whether that could be spending time with the grandkids, it could be hunting.

Starting point is 00:17:35 I'd love just to get into the lifestyle of Bill. What are some things that you enjoy doing when you're not doing the real estate game? Well, my wife and I have what we call a condo on wheels, which is a very large 42-foot motor home. And we like traveling throughout the United States. I use it to visit not only friends and relatives, but also to visit clients, okay? I've gone to Florida and visited some clients. I've gone to Texas and visited clients.

Starting point is 00:18:07 I visited some of our investment properties in California. A little bit of a side benefit is my accountant lets me subtract some of my fuel for doing that and from traveling there. I'm not much of a golfer, but growing up in western Pennsylvania to mountains, I love hunting and fishing. So I'm going to do more of that. A number of years ago, I bought a little bass boat. didn't see water last year. So this year it will see water and we'll be doing some things like that. I now have two motorcycles that I like to ride. I've got a touring bike and I've got one of those that you better hold on or you're going to get thrown off. Some people call them crotch rockets. So I love

Starting point is 00:18:50 cars. I built a very large building on my property that I can store those in. And I have an office there. So my time formally in the office where I'm at right now is going to become more disciplined, okay, in terms of I will be scheduled times here, but I will also work a lot from home and give me the opportunity to do that. So traveling, hunting, fishing, visiting relatives, attending conferences like we did. Okay, I have several of those on the area. And then giving back to the community. It's been a part of our business for many, many years. I think if you live, work, play in a community, you need to give back. It's actually passed through both of my children.

Starting point is 00:19:41 Okay, do that in their communities. And my wife is instrumental in giving back to the community through organizations and church and so forth. So I've been past president of the Rotary two times, president of the Northern Illinois Commercial Association of Realtors on the NA board for commercial realtors, okay, for nationwide. And so those are opportunities that, in a sense, you're giving back to your career. Love it, love it. Yeah, thank you so much for giving that context. You know, you got to live life, right? We have to enjoy time.

Starting point is 00:20:19 Of course, there's time for hard work. and you've been doing that since you're 11, right? So now it's time to enjoy the fruit of your labor. I love the fact that you said give back. You know, we're big believers in serving. We do that in our community, whether that's at homeless shelters or local parks or county rec centers. Like we enjoy doing that as a family. We do that through our church as well.

Starting point is 00:20:42 And, you know, when you can give to people without any expectation in return, there's just some type of magic that happens, you know, And especially when you can do it, you know, in your local community, it's so much more meaningful. So I appreciate you sharing that as well. So, and the other thing, too, is we definitely down the road may have to do a round two from the home office. I think that would be a lot of fun. Come check out the property and give people some more good content. I think that we need to pencil that in. When it gets a little warmer, though, in where you are.

Starting point is 00:21:16 I love to do that. Yeah. That's supposed to that in July. or August sometimes. Yes, that sounds like a good time. So what is on Bill's bookshelf? I know there's a couple book that you would probably recommend to the audience, and I'd love for you just to share a couple titles that have made a big impact on you.

Starting point is 00:21:36 Yes. So, you know, the rich, grow your wealth. That book is, you know, a staple, I should say. Recently, I was, I'm finished a book called The Courage to Be Disliked. All right. And the title doesn't really do it justice. It really talks about how to be your own person and stay in your lane and let people be in their lane. So there's a lot of good life situations that are, you know, exposed in the book that, you know,

Starting point is 00:22:16 you can relate to that book very well. Another one, my wife and I are reading together. We like to she likes to read loud and I like to sit and listen when I'm really tired is the barrier is the way. Okay. So whatever the barrier is, the way through that barrier is through the barrier itself. Okay. And you can find these almost anywhere that you look at materials out there. So. Okay. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate you sharing those with, And, you know, I want to give some value to the audience. They're definitely going to get value from your journey, from your stories, from some of the tips you share, the networking aspects. But now I want to kind of shift into a segment where we're just going to share three top tips for someone out there, whether they want to get into residential real estate or they want to get into commercial real estate.

Starting point is 00:23:09 You have extremely excelled in both of those areas. So I'd love for you to share, what would your top three tips be? for someone that wants to enter either of those fields? First, I would say that you need to find a company that will support you in the beginning of your business. This is a very tough business. It's not hard to do once you learn the business, okay, in terms of it's not brain science or surgeon, okay? But it's very tough to break into the business. So find that company that's going to give you the education you need and the support you need for that first two to three years in your business, right?

Starting point is 00:23:55 That would be the first thing. The second thing I would say is that while you're in that business, okay, find out what your passion is. What really, you know, gets your juices going, right? And in commercial real estate, there's a lot of asset classes you can focus in. The most successful people I see have a focus. They become an expert in that, you know, asset class, whether it's industrial, residential, land, you name it. They may have some secondary areas that they work in, but this is their primary focus. and they focus on an area and expand that area out.

Starting point is 00:24:41 The third tip I would say is never stop learning. If this is a business that changes, okay, you've got to be comfortable with change and know that if you're changing, you're moving forward. If you're not changing, you're moving back. The market has changed tremendously since COVID. The world has changed. commas since then. So it's a whole different world. Adapt all of our species in the world that are successful in here today. Their reason that they're here is because they've adapted to change.

Starting point is 00:25:17 So you need to be able to adapt to that change. Love it, love it. Love those tips. Definitely going to be helpful for our listeners and our viewers. And, you know, as we close out here, Bill A, I want to just say thank you so much for taking the time out of your schedule to be with us on the show. You've added a ton of value. And B, where is it that you want folks to go to be able to find you or connect with you? There's going to be people that listen that might be looking for a mentor, right? And you may have some time where you can offer mentorship.

Starting point is 00:25:49 Maybe they're looking for a business partner or maybe they want to invest in some of the stuff that you're up to. So is it an email address, a website floor is yours, my friend. Okay. So connecting with me would be easiest through my website, which is just catencom.com. And my email address is simple. My first name, Bill at catencom. Catencom.

Starting point is 00:26:15 C-A-T-O-N, C-A-T-O-N, Commercial.com. All right. We're right here in the suburbs of Chicago, and the world is at our foot. So I love to hear from you. If you have any questions or comments or concerns that I might be able to address. Love it.

Starting point is 00:26:35 And we're going to make it super easy for all the listeners and the viewers. We're going to put all of his info down in the show notes. So we'll get his LinkedIn down there. We'll get his website. We'll get all the different ways his email address. We're going to make it easy for you guys to connect. So I just want to say thank you so much, Bill, for coming on the shows. And before we depart here, is there a quote that comes to mind?

Starting point is 00:26:58 I'll even give you a few minutes if you want to think of one. Just share a quote with the audience. that has served you well or has impacted you during your career? There's many of those. I have a list of affirmations, Sakey, that from time to time, we all need to go back and recharge our batteries. But one that I've written in front of my book that I found just recently is, I am who I need to be at this moment.

Starting point is 00:27:26 So if you are frustrated about something that happened or concerned about the future. All right. You've got to live in the moment. Today is the moment that you live in. And Jordan, I want to thank you for this opportunity. It's been great chatting with you. I look forward to connecting with you again in the future. And you have a create. I like to say, you know, don't have a good day. Create a great day. Love it. Love it. Appreciate that. Thank you so much for that quote. Thank you for your time. I know this episode is going to add value to so many all around the world, and I hope you have an amazing day. You too.

Blaze Your Own Trail - A 34 Year Educator Turned Real Estate Trailblazer with Bill Caton

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