Epic Real Estate Investing - Lessons from a $2,778,000 Plunge: The Art of Bouncing Back | 1277

Episode Date: September 7, 2023

In this pulse-pounding episode of the Epic Real Estate Investing Podcast, our fearless host takes you on a wild ride through the highs and lows of the real estate battlefield. Get ready to uncover the truth behind every whispered lie, as we unveil the "5 Signs a Seller Is Lying to You Over the Phone." Your real estate spidey-senses will be tingling as we reveal the secret signals that cunning sellers use to deceive even the savviest investors. But wait, there's more! Brace yourself for an unfiltered tale of monumental failure and astonishing redemption. Buckle up as our host recounts the jaw-dropping story in "I Flushed $2,778,000 Down the Drain | Here’s What I Gained (EPIC FAIL)." It's a rollercoaster journey from the depths of a financial abyss to the triumphant heights of turning disaster into gold. The future of your financial destiny awaits in this electrifying episode of the Epic Real Estate Investing Podcast! 🎙️🏠🔥 P.S. Whenever you're ready to go deeper and further with your real estate investing, looking into my partner program to help you get your first deal might be the move... take the first step here for free 👉 https://epicearnwhileyoulearn.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Terio Media. Ladies and gentlemen, get ready to have your mind blown and your real estate game elevated to legendary status. It's time to unleash the next heavyweight episode of the epic real estate investing podcast. In segment one, five signs a seller is lying to you over the phone. Oh, you thought you've heard all the tricks in the book? Think again.

Prepare to unveil the secrets that seasoned investors wield like truth-seeking missiles, and that's just the warm-up where diet. headfirst into the realm of epic fails and million dollar lessons with segment two. What I learned by flushing, $2,778,000 down the drain. Buckle up because it's time for a roller coaster ride through the ups and downs of the investing universe. Our fearless host holds nothing back as he regales us with a tale of the almighty fail that cost him a small fortune. But hey, in the world of epic real estate, failure isn't the end.

stepping stone to mind-blowing success. Get ready to laugh, gasp, and be blown away by the audacious journey from financial flub to enlightening triumph. So grab your headphones, a notepad, and maybe a seatbelt. You'll need it. Your financial destiny starts right here, right now. Hey, strap in! It's time for the epic real estate investing show. We'll be your guides as we navigate the housing market, the landscape of creative financing strategies and everything you need to swap that office chair for a beach chair. If you're looking for some one-on-one help, meet us at rei-aise.com. Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.

Let's go. Are you lying to me? If you can't tell when a seller is lying to you over the phone, it opens you up to wasted time, frustration, and it costs you opportunities and money. And we don't want that. So today, I'm going to show you five ways a seller can trick you over the phone. And then I'm going to give you three of my own tricks on how I confirm if they're lying or not.

I've had two $500,000 robbers to do that and I don't want to go that route. Got it. Just not too interested in it. Just want to finalize everything, you know, and kind of do my own thing and not have to worry about anything, you know? This was from a follow-up call that I made for a new student partner last week. So is the seller lying or telling the truth? What do you think?

It's pretty easy to tell whether they're lying or not with just one simple trick. But if you have all three of my tricks to work with, you'll never be deceived by a seller again. If you're dealing with a seller face-to-face, it's much easier to detect lies because you can see things, like a break in eye contact during key details. You can see them fidgeting or shrinking body language

or hiding their hands, and then there's dooper's delight. You heard of this? Yeah, it's a thrill that some people get when they successfully cheat or deceive someone, and they usually give themselves away with a little smirk at an inappropriate moment. Here, watch this short clip from an interview

of Diane Downs, recalling the night that she drove her children to the hospital. When I close my eyes, I can see Christy reaching her hand out to me while I'm driving, and the blood just keep coming out of her mouth. And that, maybe it'll fade too with time, but I don't think so. That haunts me the most. Did she do it? That smirk. That's a textbook example of Dooper's Delight.

And yes, she did do it, by the way. Sentence to Life, plus 50. Now, none of these on their own guarantee someone is lying. But when you're witnessing several of them simultaneously, they can be very reliable indicators. But these tells here are irrelevant initially because our first contact is almost always on the phone with a seller. You can't see them. So you have to rely exclusively on audible cues. And this is important because, you know, you've probably heard the expression that buyers are liars.

And this may surprise you, but sellers are scared. And that's why they lied too. And here's why. You see, 93% of all sellers will use an agent to sell their home. But that 7% that sell their homes to investors like us do so because a traditional sale through an agent isn't the best solution for them. It takes too long. It's too inconvenient, whatever it may be. They got bigger fish to fry in their lives that typically revolve around some sort of financial distress, personal distress, or the property itself is in distress. When we talk to them, they're typically not on a winning streak at the moment.

Life will kick us all in the teeth every now and then. No one is immune to that. And all they're doing when they're talking to us is just trying to determine if that little postcard that they receive, even the mail is legit or not. So as a defense mechanism, sellers aren't always truthful. And over the phone, these are five red flags that I commonly hear that suggest that a seller might be lying to me. Number one, the use of vague exaggerated language. Like if the seller said, the houses around here are selling like hotcakes.

That's pretty vague. At the same time, also over the top. I mean, when you say like hotcakes, what does that really mean specifically? Or two, the use of qualifying statements. You know, Matt, to be honest with you, I don't know when that leak started. Matt, to tell you the truth, we fixed the electrical panel just last week. Or Matt, in total transparency, I've never been in the attic.

When I hear a sentence beginning with, to be honest, I'm on guard for what I hear next to be not honest. Or ironically, and most people don't believe this, but another audible cue is number three, an overly positive attitude. With an unwillingness to schedule a next step, that can be a warning. Most people want to avoid confrontation at all costs. They don't like it. So their defense mechanism is to just be nice and just kind of go with the flow. Just smiling way, boys. They'll stroke your ego, they'll be receptive to your suggestions,

in many cases even seem to befriend you. Yet it will be impossible for you to get a commitment for the next step. And as soon as they get a chance, they ghost you. And then there's number four, soft objections. Like, I want to think about it. I have to ask my spouse. Let me check with my lawyer or I'm going to pray on it. Sometimes they are delay tactics, and sometimes they're just another way of saying no.

Number five, filler words, noises and hesitations like, well, uh, or repeatedly clearing their throat, or they're just really slow to answer. You see, liars, they need time to think about their lies. And they'll do a number of things to buy a few more seconds before they speak. So the next time you talk to a seller over the phone, if you sense any of that is going on, I've got three tricks for you to flush out the lies and separate them from the truth. The first one is a transition agreement. The second one is open-ended impact questions.

Number three is negative reversing. So the first one, the transition agreement. You know, I had texted the seller prior to me calling, and he replied right away that he had 15 minutes to talk. So here, take a listen. Hey, it is. It is. I know you don't have much time, and I really don't either,

but I want to get back to you. I got a little note here with some scribble on it from, she talked to her about selling your house. Oh, yeah, yeah. We've been so busy. I haven't had a chance to chat back. with her. But yeah, go ahead. Yeah, I'm the one who I got the boring job over here who gets to write the checks. We get deals across our desk and so we just kind of have to decide which

ones we're going to buy this week. And she thought this would be a good one. I can't really read her writing. Can you kind of bring me up to speed of where you guys left off? Do you remember? I borrowed this version of a transition agreement from Pace Morby. I really like it. And I'm going to give him credit for it two more times. And then it's mine. I think that's the rule. As you can hear, it breaks down barriers really quickly. And as you will hear, it gets them to open up because one, it positions me as an authority, the guy with the checkbook. And two, it positions me as somewhat of a bean counter and not a salesman. That's why Pace's approach works so well. It's disarming. Number three, it positions me as the reluctant buyer. Because,

you know, I've got a bunch of leads here on my desk and I can't buy them all. So this is just a quick call, Mr. Seller, to see if yours is a good fit if I can buy yours this week. Three ingredients that make for a good transition agreement. One, tell the seller what's next. Two, give them the possible outcomes and give them at least two. And three, let them know whichever outcome that they choose. It's 100% okay with me. You see, the mindset here is not to convince the seller to sell, but rather get the seller to convince me to buy. And the transition agreement, it lays the groundwork for this positioning. And because it does, when I ask, can you bring me up to speed? They do. And typically truthfully.

I kind of told her about the house. It's a, it's on a half acre. It's a three bedroom. The only thing left to do on it is we pulled the carpet out of the basement. We repainted everything and we left the carpet out because we felt, well, the new owners will probably want to do either wood or carpet. We didn't know. So we just left it out. And the third bedroom is down in the basement and it just needs to be framed and sheetrock. So I'm taking notes of the repairs that'll be needed. And note that these are coming from the seller.

This is really important because it's this information that I'm going to use to put the offer together. If I tell the seller what needs to be repaired, they doubt it. If I can get the seller to tell me, they believe it. Now, you'll hear me continue by asking open-ended questions, where a yes or no, just it won't do. Open-ended questions, they encourage the seller to share their situation in detail. So they'll have to talk more, and the more that they talk, the more you'll learn about what they need and the greater the rapport that you'll build, the more objections that will be uncovered,

and the more opportunity that they're given to mix up their facts. A definite sign of deception. As a attached garage to it, has a large shop out back. It's not a pool barn. It's a custom-built metal-framed shop, two doors plumbed with air heat, and air throughout.

alpha shop as well as 110, 220. And there's another out building. It's another steel building. Could be used for another car to be parked in it. It's large enough for that or all the lot of equipment or whatever. I had my, well, also the roof's been replaced. I replaced it and I did a brand new HVAC in it, the entire house. fairly modern, everything's painting it, it's ready to go,

with deception and double deception. All right, still listening. And this is key to building rapport, asking questions and then actually listening to the answers. You got to listen to the answers. Listen till it hurts. This is what Mercedes and I do, because for most people, nobody does listen to them.

And people like people that do listen to them. You see, people sell to people they know like and trust. And I find that if you're likable, the knowing and the trusting, fall in line automatically. So I'm listening. And I'm taking notes. He's telling me now everything that he thinks makes the property more valuable. But what he's sharing doesn't make it that much more valuable. Because we know when it comes to a property's value, the majority of it is in its location. And that's fixed. Nobody has any control over that. It is where it is. You can't just pick up the

house and go put it on the beach in Malibu. And the second biggest impact of a property's value is the size. And that's fixed too. Neither the seller nor the buyer have any control over that. either unless the size is going to change before you close. So everything he's telling me about the amenities and the condition has the least impact on the property's value. But it's the only thing the seller does have control over. So that's what they talk about. It's actually been rented.

I rented it to one couple for about a year. Not quite a year, I guess. 2,900 a month is what it was bringing. And we're helping another couple out right now, but they're on a month that month. because we told them we're going to sell it. And they pay $2,500 a month. And it's going to sprinkling system. That's about it with it.

It's just kind of a turn G to rent it or return and sell it or whatever, you know. I now know it's a rental with a tenant in place. And I know what they're paying. I know the rent. And this is really important because this is one of four numbers that I need to put an offer together. The other three are ARV after repair value. The rehab cost it's going to take to get the ARV on the open market. And the last number I need is the seller's asking price.

I am my real estate agent because we were considering just throwing it on the market. Ding, ding, ding. He has an agent and has considered listing. Now, this isn't a deal breaker, but it does say a lot to their motivation, meaning he wants to sell, but it's not sounding like he needs to sell. And this is important because the foundation of every deal, it lies within the seller's motivation to sell. The deal is not in the property. The deal is in the seller's motivation.

And I had her pull comps on it to see where we were going to land with it. She wants to start at 475. And I told her, well, if I don't do it and the young couple there that potentially want to buy it, she said, I wasn't selling any less than 450. And she would just ride it over to them. So that's where I met as far as price goes. So we've got the agent's opinion of value. 475 and we've got his lowest asking price, the seller's asking price, for 50, and we know what it

will rent for. Now I only need a rehab estimate. And I like to ask the seller's opinion of value if all the repairs were completed. And then I'll ask the seller's opinion of what it would cost to fix everything to get to that value, to that ARV. You were to go ahead and, you know, kind of fix these things that you haven't gotten to like the, what is that in the basement, right? and then the flooring and stuff. Do you have an idea of what it would, it's what properties like that are selling for now after it would have been all done?

Well, I would guess probably, well, when I originally bought it, my real estate agent said don't sell for less than $500,000, once it's all taken care of. And of course, we weren't on that path at that time. I wasn't looking for a flip. He wasn't looking for a flip. That pretty much tells me he's also an investor,

which can be a good, thing because they tend to be less attached emotionally to a property. Or it could be a bad thing, where they're jaded and closed-minded. And that can be because either they're financially stable and they're just competitive with other investors or they're financially unstable and they're just pissed off and they don't want to see another investor benefit from their misfortune. But at this point, I'm not detecting any distress or motivation, but I'm still going to dig a little bit to try and discover that motivation. Now, if I were to ask the seller, why are you selling, that typically will not get you the answer that you're looking for,

or even a truthful one. So when it's time for me to speak here, listen to how I asked. I had a couple that potentially was going to buy my business and move into there and run the business, and we were going to sell it to them and just give them a really good deal on it. And that's why I put a new roof on it. You know, the HVAC. And of course, the market has softened a little bit.

And I think that's why she's going, well, maybe we better get $4.75. And that was just recent. We pulled the cops, not more than a month ago. So. Okay. And I mean, most of the investors are coming in without a real estate agent. Right. Number of them, well, I shouldn't say a number of them. A couple of the ones guys that are interested, they're looking for rental property.

They want to just turn and rent it. which I get. I mean, it's a good place to rent. And so, yeah, we've had a couple offers. Got it. Well, it sounds like a good property. Sounds like something that we would be interested in. And it sounds like you got other interests as well.

Why would you consider selling it? So I softened the question by complimenting the property, acknowledging other investor interest, and then asked why he'd consider selling, selling such a nice property. You see, it's embedded in that phrasing sequence that he gives me me the reason he's selling. Nobody would sell a nice property just for the hell of it. Well, I am up in age. My wife retired a year ago. I've actually got my business up for sale

right now. And we're retired. We're just, I got to get rid of that property. I got another one. I'm going to, my primary residence, I'm going to be selling it. And I'm going to be selling my building up in Tremont. I've been wrapped out for a number of years to a guy. And so I'm just kind of liquidating. and moving out of Utah is what my plan is. So he's not distressed in any way. Actually, sounds like he's doing pretty good for himself. He's in a very stable position and it has just a really simple goal to liquidate. And typically, I'd explore a little deeper to confirm that he knows his options when it comes to selling

and the benefits of an installment sale. But he's a successful businessman and has a number of real estate investment properties and he just wants to move on and enjoy the rest of his life. So I'm just going to pull back a little bit and I'm just going to kind of come in from another direction at another angle. Got it. Well, congratulations. You don't sound that old. Yeah, I guess I don't know what old is. So I hope I get out and I'm done, you know, so. Okay. So if it sounds like something that might work for us.

There's a couple different ways that we could go in and purchase it in it. But if we did, would there be any mortgage or taxes or liens or anything like that we'd have to pay? No, I own it outright. Outright. Outright. Think that. Okay. Okay. And the renters that are there would be happy to probably stay and sign a lease or two-year lease and their potential buyers as well. They're actually trying to get qualified to make the purchase, but I don't believe they've got enough time on their job to get a dot. They're kind of in their late 20s with a couple of kids. And they already said they've only been there a few months. So we're just trying to give them a break and help them out. a little bit. So I potentially could just continue renting. Yeah, so we usually we're talking to people that are a little bit more in,

in worse shape than you are. It sounds like you're doing just fine, you know. And there's really one of two ways that we purchase properties. We're either going to buy it at a deep discount. And it doesn't sound like you would be down for that. You don't need to do that. But the other way that we'd purchase would be structuring some sort of payment with the seller so we can at least create an income stream.

So we have to have an equity position or an income stream. Would you be open to anything like that? No, I've had two $500,000 offers to do that, and I don't want to go that route. Got it. I just not too interested in it. Okay. I just want to finalize everything, you know, and kind of do my own thing and not have to worry about anything, you know. So there it is.

He understands how terms work, and he's already turned down two above market terms offers. I mean, it sounds like he's got his mind made up, but I just want to confirm that he's telling the truth and not just a guy with a good poker face or a poker voice. The best way to flush out whether the seller is sincere with me is to embrace the reluctant buyer role, push away. If there is a possibility there, they'll pull you back in. If not, hey, they won't. There's a name for this, too. It's called negative reversing. It's a reverse psychology selling technique that helps to direct the conversation and test a seller's

resolve. And it's done by asking questions and making statements contrary to the goal of closing the deal. Like this. Yeah, I would call your real estate agent and put that on the market then. Okay. If I were in your shoes, I'm not going to be the buyer for you. Okay. All right. Worship me? Yeah, I appreciate you calling, but good luck. Absolutely. Uh-huh. Bye. Bye. Me telling him to call his real estate agent and that I'm not the buyer for him are the negative reverses, statements by me that are contrary to the goal. Now, I might have missed an opportunity there by not following up my negative reverse statement with another question like I would normally do. I mean, that's sales 101. You've got to always be asking. I typically do follow up that statement

with, but let me ask you, what are you going to do if your agent doesn't sell it? But I didn't detect any motivation or deception, not even a little bit. So I just skipped it and I'm just going to move on to the next lead. But I did send him my rejection letter follow up sequence, which does convert five percent of my nose into eventual yeses. I don't know, we'll see. I'll keep you posted. We'll be back with more right after this. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes.

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investor package. It's time to secure your slice of prime Indianapolis real estate and your financial future. Don't just dream it, invest it. Hope is not a financial strategy. Let's get back to work. Dateline, May 22nd, 2003, FTC suit leads to $16.7 million judgment against principals and celebrity endorsers of real estate investment training program. Court order agreed to by principals permanently bans them from selling wealth creation programs. That just happened, and it's related to why I'm going out of business. Despite a team of epic rock stars, the best of intentions, and investing $2,770,000 to grow my business.

My execution of a brilliant idea got totally torpedoed, and I'm going to let you in on the groupups we made and our scramble to save the remades. All of this so you can learn from my experience, so you don't have to rake the same mistakes. Stuff no book's going to teach you. In fact, there's a very popular book at the center of this catastrophic failure. I'm revealing all. You ready?

Let's go. 2019, retirement was on my mind because Mercedes and I, we were no wiser in our education business than first-time fix-and-flippers who get starry-eyed about profits and end up in a rehab rabbit hole. It's like this. Imagine that you found the perfect fixer-upper. You pour your love, sweat, and cash into it, only to realize that you've overcooked the rehab, and now the profits are as thin as the wallpaper. Well, in 2011, Mercedes and I, we were those naive fixer uppers, but our project was a new business,

teaching people how to do what we do, invest in real estate. We heaped on training and tools and support and resource. I mean, everything that we could think of, only to find the profits sinking faster than a souffle. Our marketing was as effective as a chocolate teapot, and the sales were as vibrant as a flat soda. It was a problem. Epic, though, it was our passion. But it was like trying to light a fire with wet wood. I mean, it sputtered, sparked, but never roared to life.

It was a non-profit adventure with a few glimmers of gold, but really tethered to life support. It would have died a long, long time ago if it weren't for our flips and our cash flow covering up for the losses. But there's wisdom and folly. Lesson number one, earn more than you spend. Duh. Lesson number two, no matter how great your product or service is, it ain't shi without marketing and sales. Back to the retirement dilemma. I just finished reading this book.

Who, Not How, by Dan Sullivan. You read it? Really good book. It's about shifting your mind from how do I do it to who can do it for me, but it should come with a warning label. And I'll get to that. Now, a day after I put the book back on the shelf, this happened. The STC had just whacked the two 800-pound gorillas in the real estate seminar space for their questionable promotions and suspect claims. I mean, all your favorite real estate reality stars and their sales teams were out of business. That led to the brilliant idea. A business struggling to sell education meets an industry failing to educate. It was as if the universe just laid the through for my how problem right at my feet.

So the epic team took to the phones and started assembling an A team of newly unemployed rock star marketers, presenters, and salespeople. I mean, imagine the impact that we could make. An opportunity to just change the face of an entire industry. So we sent out on the road, our first sales team on a six city tour of live events. at about $125,000 per city. Yeah, it's expensive. Then Mercedes and I, we upgraded our education platform and we prepped the office for all the new students

that were certainly on their way. That was expensive too. A rocky start for the first two cities. The next two cities, they showed some promise, but the next two, game on. The sales team was making promises. Mercedes and I were keeping them. Match made in heaven until three months later,

global pandemic. Lesson number three, don't deal poker in a 24. tornado. This isn't really one of my lessons, but damn, I picked the worst time in history to push in my chips for something like this. Not only was I forced to shut down the live workshops, our phones that were ringing off the hook, but not in a good way. You see, cancellations and refund requests were just pouring in. COVID, it freaked everyone out the first couple of weeks. Remember that? But this was just the beginning of the end. As bad as the pandemic was for a live event business, it wasn't the worst part. Two weeks to flatten the curve turned into four, and it was becoming

that we were going to be sheltered in place for a bit. So we did what every other business was doing. We took our offline events and brought them online. The novelty of virtual seminars, it gave us a few months of oxygen, but it didn't last. The Zoom events, they got smaller and smaller to the point we had to take a break. But we kept paying our new staff of 15, like a gambler, doubling down on a losing hand. No revenue in, just payroll out. Lesson number four, beware the bottomless bucket, throwing endless money into it only because you are afraid of letting people down is like feeding a bottomless pit with gourmet meals. The hunger, it never ends, and the food it keeps on vanishing. Invest in a business because it makes sense and dollars,

not because it makes you feel like a hero. I mean, it was a constant refinancing of my portfolio to keep this thing alive. And when that dried up, we sold what we could. And then we moved to credit cards. And when then those maxed out, the pandemic was now over, just in time to run out of money. And no one cared. You pay me. And that's less than the number. Number five, put your oxygen mask on first. Ever been on a plane and heard those instructions? I mean, that's life in a nutshell, really. I mean, if you're the big provider, be it for cash or comfort,

you've got to be in shape yourself to save the day. To be selfless, you've got to be selfish. I mean, if you can't swim, does it make sense to jump in and save your drowning team? The A team that I put together answered no. They were competent in their sales, but they were also selfish, as they should have been. They're providers to somebody, too. Also, though, bankrupt in their character and morals. And I don't mean Chapter 11, I mean complete moral insolvency.

Sure, they could sell ice to Eskimos and light to the sun, but they were offending customers on and offstage like it was an Olympic sport. They were abusing expense accounts like rock stars in a hotel room. It felt like a never-ending reel of slapstick comedy, a punch in the gut one day, a poke in the eyes the next, and a kick to the shit in the day after that. Only the laugh track was miscell. And the only thing breaking was my bank.

Lesson number six. Let the tail wag the dog. Ever been to a circus where the lion tamer was afraid of the lion? Well, the leader of our A team used fear to manipulate the operation by reminding us that we needed to cowtow to the presenters and the salespeople for fear that they would jump ship and land with a competitor. It's kind of like being the captain of a ship, but just letting the crew steer. And speaking of being the captain, lesson number seven, watch your instruments.

You got to know your key performance indicators, your KPIs, and you have to track them daily. Imagine racing your car with your eyes closed, hoping the feel of the road will guide you to victory. Do that, and you're destined to end up in the ditch of despair. So much pain could have been avoided by making data-driven decisions instead of emotional ones. And you know what they say. When emotions rise, intelligence falls. Lesson number eight, trust your instincts. Hiring the who might sound like a golden ticket, but it's no Willy Wonka guarantee.

Just because you delegate to a team of experts, it doesn't mean you abdicate and abandoning. in your own intuition. Be the architect of your own success, or you might find yourself living in a house of cards and watching it all tumble down. Oh, and then wait, there's a masterclass in customer service here, too. Lesson number nine, the customer is not always right. They can lie. Did you know that? Here's three tales that'll have you second guess scaling a business. First, chargebacks. You heard of those? 10 plus years doing this, and I had never had. You see, a chargeback is when someone buys something, has second thoughts, and instead of asking for their money back, they cry fraud to their credit card company. It's like ordering a burger and then complaining that the restaurant purposely gave you a hot dog

after he ate it. And they just told the waiter they made a mistake when they were served with a hot dog. They would have brought them a burger. Second tale. Think of joining a gym and never going, not even lifting a finger except to dial the gym a year later to ask for your money back because you're still flabby. I mean, you can try asking for your money back, but don't be surprised when the gym doesn't roll out the refund red carpet. The gym membership is not a magic wand. You got to lift the weights. Third Dale, imagine a business going above and beyond their duties to help you make back your investment. And when they actually do, you still ask for a refund because the business made more money by helping you get all of yours back. It's like being taught

how to fish than getting upset that the teacher caught a bigger fish. You could have caught that big fish yourself had you just put your lion in the water. Education is about using what you learn, not blaming the teacher for your unused fishing rod. Now, I'm not sure if those are lessons for business owners or customers, but they were new to me either way. Lesson 10, spell it out in detail. You ever heard the saying, the devil's in the details? Well, in business, that devil can be a handshake deal, where you bend the rules a bit to please a customer. Think you're clear with just a no refunds line? No, think again. It's like agreeing to share your candy, then find out that the other person wants all of it. Spell out every detail, even when it seems obvious. We might

just find yourself out of candy, scratching your head, wondering what happened. The overarching theme here is that success doesn't necessarily mean expansion. It's about sustainability and integrity and knowing the ends and outs of your business better than anyone else. So how did it end? Well, it's kind of obvious up front, right? We shut it down. We let everyone go and wipe the slate clean. Mercedes and I are back to investing in real estate full time. But if you still want to learn how to do what we do and what we've taught thousands to do over the years, hit the subscribe button because I give it all away here for free. And to prove it, if you'd like one of our secrets to getting more offer signed and faster,

text me at 725-505904, and I'll just hand over my collaboration code cheat sheet. It's one of my most valued possessions. And that wraps up the epic show. If you found this episode valuable, who else do you know that might too? There's a really good chance you know someone else who would. And when their name comes to mind, please share it with them and ask them to click the subscribe button when they get here and I'll take great. of them. God loves you and so do I. Health, peace, blessings, and success to you. I'm Matt Terrio.

Living the dream. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. You didn't know home for us. We got the cash flow. This podcast is a part of the C-suite Radio Network. For more top business podcasts, visit c-sweetradio.com.