The Entrepreneur DNA - Building a Legacy Through Your Impact on People | Jamil Damji | EP15

Episode Date: April 8, 2024

Today we welcome my longtime friend and collaborator, Jamil Damji, a titan in the real estate investment space. Despite potential competitive dynamics, our relationship stands as a testament to the power of friendship, mutual respect, and shared success in the entrepreneurial journey. Jamil, a celebrated real estate investor, business owner, television personality, and best-selling author, shares his philosophies on business, the essence of meaningful relationships, and the transformative journey of personal growth amidst professional success. This episode is a compelling exploration of what it means to succeed in business while staying true to oneself and one's values. Jamil Damji's experiences and insights offer invaluable lessons on the importance of resilience, the power of collaboration, and the profound impact of personal growth on professional success.   Connect with Jamil: Instagram - @jdamji   Thank you Horizon Trust for sponsoring today's episode! Schedule a call with them: https://horizontrust.com/justin/

All right, everybody, welcome back to another incredible podcast of The Entrepreneur DNA. And I have a very close friend for many, many years now, and he's also within the real estate space. And a lot of people would think we are competitors, but it's absolutely not true. This man is a incredible real estate investor, incredible business owner. He is on TV. He has a great show on A&E. He's a best-selling author. This man knows business through and through. Mr. Jamil Damji is in the heezy. What's up, dude? Hey, man. Good to see you, Justin. Congratulations on this podcast, man. We've known each other a long time, and you've always just been one of those inspiring dudes, but this podcast is off

the hook, bro. Like you're killing it. And it's such a, it's such an important thing that you're doing because there's so many people out there right now that are just completely disillusioned in their lives and are looking for help. They're looking for information. They're looking for ways that they can get out of the rat race. And I think it's super important what you're doing. So congratulations. And, you know, thank you on behalf of all the listeners that are that are paying attention and getting value from what you're providing here it's beautiful bro first of all thank you uh none of that is lost on me for you give me that compliment but then secondly for you listeners and watchers did you hear how

he just came into this episode do you already think he's my favorite guest a hundred percent so always always remember it and jamil you, this is part of who you are, but to be able to give thanks and to appreciate where you came from, like that's who you are. But I think a lot of people, especially where you're at in business at this point, they don't act like that.

They wouldn't come on a podcast and be like, hey bro, all right, more about me now, right? And so I just appreciate how you even just did that intro, bro. Well, I didn't get anywhere by myself you know like it's the that's the truth right i yeah i collaborated with people i've been collaborating with you a long time and you and i have done deals for like over a decade right and so you know thinking back to those days right like i was looking in my text messages because i don't

erase anything and i was like looking at the like history of our relationship so that I had, you know, just kind of refreshed myself with like how long we've known each other and all the business we did. And I was just looking back and they were so good, dude. Like we did so much collaborating. We did so many JV deals together. We've made money together. We've broken bread together. We've hung out. You know, I mean, it's just, it's so important, right? That you really develop relationships in a way that is meaningful. Because at the end of the day, you know, we don't get to leave with the money that we make here. And also, no one's going to write on your tombstone your net worth. Ain't that the truth.

They're not, right? They're not going to be like, you know, Jamil Damji, $100 million, right? Like it's like, no, nobody, nobody gives a F about that. But you know what, what people will remember your interactions with them, the way that the way that you guys kicked it and what that was and what kind of dude you were or what kind of woman you were. And so, you know, that's important because that, that, you know, how you, how you are with folks and how you make people feel, that's the memory. That's the, that's the legacy that you you know, how you are with folks and how you make people feel, that's the memory, that's the legacy that you leave in reality. You won't remember any of the addresses, and I don't remember any of the addresses of the deals that we did, but I do remember how I felt doing those deals. I don't remember how much money I made on those deals, but I remembered

that you and I had positive interactions, that we were joking around, laughing around, and that it was fun to do business together. And that's the thing that I took away from it. Right. And so, you know, for anybody listening out there, it's, that's important. Like be, be humble, be a good person. And, and you'll be so surprised at, at just how life opens for you and how many people will be interested in wanting to help you and open doors for you and give you opportunity because of your character. And, you know, that to me is just, I think that's the foundation of success, right? And really looking at it from like the inside out. Bro, what a great way to start this podcast. You're totally right.

You know, people don't remember anything about how you made them feel. That is what will stick with them, right? They won't remember how much money you made or the parties you went to or whatever. They'll remember how you made them feel. And again, how you just even came into this. And we've known each other for over a decade, friends, done business together. But just that entrance, I will remember this episode for forever, right? Knowing the entrepreneur

DNA since in its infancy, and I've had a lot of luck and a lot of work to get it to the top five in the United States. But at the end of the day, this will be great because of that. So kudos to you. Appreciate you. But I think people need to really re-listen to even just this beginning and what he says and how he's saying it and why he's saying it, because it means absolutely everything. And I've been talking a lot about this and I know, you know, this is true, but it's always about the people like Jamil Damji isn't Jamil, the, the successful real estate investor, the TV star, the author without other people in his life to help him get there, whether he asked for it or they just gave it to him as help. There is nothing more important than the

people in your world. Amen. Amen. So this is going to be a good one, right? I think for all of you, you need to go, if you don't know him already, you need to go find this man on Instagram and Facebook. He has an incredible show, triple digit flip on A&E, at least as we record this. He has an incredible bestselling book. He is the largest wholesaler of real estate in the nation. He has franchised a wholesale real estate business model, which everyone, including myself, went to lunch with him. I remember the day that he said, Colby, I think I'm going to do this. We went and had sushi down in Tempe. Yeah. I think I'm going to do this. And I'm like, bro, are you think i'm gonna do this and i'm like bro are you

sure you want to try like this is an uphill you're like bro i think i got this one man oh man i should have like you know it's it's been super rewarding right being able to franchise a business that people said wasn't scalable that you couldn't you you know because at the end of the day people see wholesaling as a hustle right it's like it right? It's so bootstrapped and grassroots just how we do it. And for anybody listening right now, if you're unfamiliar with what wholesaling is, it's arbitraging contracts in real estate, right? You don't need anything but grit and resolve and, you know, consistency to make money. And that's how, you know, I cut my teeth in the game. I didn't have a rich dad. I didn't have access to resources that were going to, you know, put me in position to win. I had to figure it out.

And so, you know, looking at it from that perspective, because wholesale attracts so many newcomers to entrepreneurship and real estate in general, the idea that it's just this real gritty way to make some cash and then do something else, so many people have wholesale in their head as, oh, I'm going to start with wholesale, and then I'm going to build my capital, and then I'm going to get into rentals, and I'm going to get into multifamily, and then I'm going to get into flipping, because that's where the real money is made. And perhaps, right? There's absolutely truth to the fact that you can make money in all those things, but they all have a tremendous amount of risk. When you look at wholesaling, because you are, essentially you're looking for property that needs work, right? That has some opportunity for potential gain. Now, when I say potential gain,

I'm just like, let's take you guys back to your neighborhoods, right? If you're driving down the road and you see a house with overgrown weeds, newspapers piling up, maybe boarded up windows, whatever that is, you would assume that it's a vacant home and that nobody cares for it. And there's at any given point in the United States, 5 million or more of those properties on any given day. Now, those properties are problematic for neighborhoods because they attract the wrong kind of thing, right? They attract drug use, they attract vagrants, they attract crime, and they're not good for the neighborhood, right? We're not talking about

pushing people out of their neighborhoods or anything like that. I'm just talking about cleaning up the stuff that is unloved. That needs to be cleaned up. Of course, right? And there's opportunity there. So what wholesalers do is we go and we contract that property for a good price. And then we find somebody who wants to buy that opportunity from us. So I can put a home under contract and then I find somebody who wants to buy that opportunity from us. So I can put a home under contract and then I can sell that contract to somebody else and make a $10,000 fee on it. And that's what wholesaling is. Now, when you do that and you do that 50, 60, 70 times a month, now you've got a real business, right? You can make six, 700, a million dollars a month and we have million dollar months all the time. So I took that system and then we replicated it and then franchised it and sold it across

the United States. So we've got Kegley's all across the country who operate the way that we do in our corporate stores. They use the brand, you know, so there's a lot of work that I'm having to do in brand development and making sure people are aware of what Kegley is and how we can work together. But it's just been this beautiful ride, right? And you're right. When we sat down and had sushi that day, you were very real with me. And you said, this is going to be probably one of the most difficult things you do, but if you get on the other side of it, it's going to be the most rewarding thing you ever do. But just know that it's, you know, your mountain is high and the, you know, there's lots of opportunity for you to stumble your, you know, stumble on the mountain. You're going to, you're going to stub your toe. You're going to get cut. You're going to have all

these things, but if there's anybody who can do it, it's you. And so, you know, here we are, right? Years later, we succeeded. It happened, but there were so many things that could have gone wrong in the process, right? And I'm sure they did go wrong right yeah like yeah of course you made it like you are here now with like nationwide kegley's but trust me i don't know intimately i'm sure you've had your i mean you know i'll share one of them right like we had one situation where we had one a group that that you know wanted to come in and buy like 14 franchise units, right? And when you're first getting your launching, that's exciting. You're like, okay, yeah.

Or 14 units at $100,000 per unit, that's $1.4 million plus 15% royalty on the sales. So we were really pumped about this and it turns out that the people who uh were trying to do it were actually running a ponzi scheme and so they had they had collected all this money from people um and their their goal what they were really trying to do was to use the wholesale business to make back the money that they had lost in earlier investments. Sure. And so this whole thing comes tumbling down for them, and it created all kinds of tension for us because now we've got the Ohio Attorney General wanting to talk to us, and we're like,

okay, of course, yeah, happy to talk and share everything that you guys need to prosecute this situation. This is terrible. And then those poor victims out there right like they're you know the the folks who who perpetrated the crime um you know it's white collar so it's it's like even even the punishments are they're insulting to the people who who uh you know ended up losing money i i personally have have been taken for a ride on a Ponzi scheme. Just this last year, I invested in a deal on a relationship referral. Somebody really close to me said, hey, this is a really good opportunity. I've been doing really well with it. You should probably take a look. And because I got referred by somebody that I really trusted, I went in all in, right?

And I ended up investing a million bucks. And I just learned within a few months after doing that that it was all a sham. And it was like, it was okay. I mean, I do well. So I made the money, make the money fast, right? But it was just, it hurt, right? It hurt because the course, you know, the person that I thought was my friend that referred me into the situation, I came to learn

that was, he was paid a referral to bring me in. And so, you know, that guy made money and, and, you know, if you're making a 25% referral to bring investors to the table, how the heck is that going to be a real situation? Like you should know that, Hey, if I can, if somebody says to you, Hey, go raise a million bucks and I'll give you 250 grand for it, that there's not a legitimate business there. And I didn't learn any of this until after the fraud got exposed and, you know, there were documents and then people had to come and they were deposed and that all happened last year. Yeah.

23 was a tough year for me, dude. Like my best year professionally, we smashed it, right? And the wholesale business, like, you know, tens of millions of dollars in profits. My coaching, tens of millions of dollars earned. Everything was going really good, right? My YouTube channel is doing well. My social media is doing well. I'm happy and then you know the like you know my dog passes away my dad ends up getting diagnosed with cancer

i um lose a million dollars in the ponzi scheme my wife and i split up after you know 10 years of marriage which was heartbreaking and i get this like terrible spinal injury that lands me in the hospital requiring a C34567 spinal fusion, right? It's just like all of these things just compounded on me and required a lot of resilience to make it through. Did you know that you can unlock retirement account and old 401ks and invest them into whatever you want? Today's episode is brought to you by the Retirement Innovators at Horizon Trust Company. If you're looking to break free from the limitations of traditional retirement plans and dive into a world of endless investment possibilities, Horizon Trust is your key to

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if anyone's going to get there, brother, it's going to be you, right? And you obviously are on the other side of the year. I'm sure there's other personal stuff still lingering, but, you know, one of the things that I see visually, right, and we were just talking about this, is look at the fitness that you have attained. You dropped a lot of weight. Yeah, 80 pounds. You did it healthily. Yeah. You know, you're not out there doing it in appropriate ways, right?

And how much have you lost? 80 pounds. 80 pounds, yeah. Come on, bro. That was a really long liposuction session. So you did it the right way. Listen, you know what, here's something I would give a takeaway. And I think this is the type of person you are. You never know what's going on behind those closed doors. Sure. And never once have I ever seen you

treat someone shitty, disrespectfully, try to get one over on someone, try to do someone dirty, basically say, it's only about me. Fuck you. That has never been your attitude, but you could have had every reason in the book to change your demeanor, your, the way you communicate with people, how you present yourself because of all this personal shit from the Ponzi scheme, million dollars. I mean, I don't give a fuck how much money you have. A million dollars is lot a lot yeah like it's a lot of money hurts um your dad you know you're you're for your own health stuff with your neck and you know your you and your wife i mean you had every reason to be a shitty person and just everything could have triggered you and never once did i see that come out from you and so i applaud you you deserve to be proud of yourself because of that, because you never know what's happening

in between someone's ears or behind their doors. So when someone is shitty to you, I would say if someone could take a takeaway from this, realize it's not you, it's them. And there's probably something going on personally that has absolutely nothing to do with you but they are they're taking it out on you and so listen i think that's a huge takeaway but it is i mean you know what all of it is i even the thing the thing about it right um you know tough tough things to go through right and you know all of it is my creation at the end of the day. And I have to own full responsibility for all of it, right? And, you know, of course, I'm going to be like,

how is your dad having cancer? You're a creation. Okay, well, look, how I react to the cancer is my creation. How I'm allowing it to affect me is my creation. My relationship with him leading to that point is my creation, right? And so if I have guilt, or if I feel like I didn't do enough, or whatever it is, all that's my creation. And how I choose to respond with my father and his illness is also my creation. And so, you know, I looked at everything, and it really gave me an opportunity to evaluate, you know, where things are, and how I got there there and then how I can possibly transmute it into something different and where, how can I make lemon, the most delicious lemonade out of these lemons. Right. And, and, and knowing that, that in life, you're going to

have these peaks and valleys in, in your experience and the peaks are incredible and, and they're, you know, a lot of fun. And it's really easy to be present when it's all going well, right? Because you're like, you soak it in, you know, you're like, man, life is so good. Like, you know, when you had your child, like, you know, the moments you're holding that your child, and you're like, you're looking at them, and you're looking at your wife, and you're like, so in love with them, right? And that you can, I'm sure you can get to that moment like that. You can get to the moment, the first moment you held your baby, you can get there this quickly,

right? Because of the presence that you had in that moment. But what I've learned is that you need to have that same quality in the bad times. And what we do often is we escape, right? We numb, we escape, we distract, we avoid, and it compounds the grief, it compounds that pain, and it doesn't let you get through it. And then what ends up happening is those traumas start to leak into other aspects of your life. And then what you explained, where people are crappy to each other, short fuse, you know, just losing their cool, whatever it is, that's how it manifests itself out into the world with others, right? And so it starts to sabotage your other relationships. It starts to destroy.

It starts to, you know, create distrust and all these other negative impacts. The dominoes will just keep going. But if you can remain present in the pain and really, really, really understand it and see why it's there and what it's teaching you. You learn this incredible discipline of A, self-regulation, but B, the love and compassion that you end up developing for yourself in those moments is just beautiful. And then when you get on the other side of those tough times, you get to take that love and compassion with you and, and it strengthens you and it helps pave a new way and a new path for you to continue to, you know, express in the world. And so I'm just, I'm grateful,

dude. I'm, I'm, i wouldn't i i don't i i honestly can say like i i'm i'm sad a lot of it happened but i wouldn't have uh i i wouldn't trade any of it right like sure you know like the situation with my wife right like dude i adore this woman right like she's my best she's still my best friend right right? And that'll never change. And even though the way that our relationship, like what our relationship is going to evolve. And, but it's like the two of us, you know, actually yesterday was our 10 year wedding anniversary.

And we are not together. And we went out to lunch together and we celebrated that love still exists in 10 years, even after a separation, that her and I can sit there at a table together and look at each other in the face and say, I love you and mean it with every cell in our bodies. Right. And so, yeah, our relationship evolves and that's and, you know, it's parts of that are terribly painful. But sometimes these things have to happen in order for more growth to occur, right? And so it's such a cool thing, man, to be able to swim through that and gain clarity. I'm listening to a new business be born for Jamil Damji here. I'm seeing some self-development business being born here.

I mean, I don't i mean i don't know i don't know if that's a business but for me it's just like this is what i've had to go through right and i and you know maybe that's where businesses evolve from is is is your experiences and then you know they become a thing but like dude i'm just i'm so happy that that i've been able to get out of these things with, you know, my character. But wouldn't, isn't it ironic to say you had one of the best years, if not the best year in business, and probably hands down one of the worst personal years you've ever had?

It's crazy, right? It happens to all of us. The years I've done the best are the same years that I have just just turmoil going through shit, dealing with shit, whatever those things are. And it, it, I've found over and over again, cause you and I are in a lot of the same rooms together and on similar stages. A lot of us have a same people, whether we're speaking on stage or in the masterminds or whatever we're doing, um, they tend to be the most successful, even through the pain, the hurt, the challenges, cause they don't quit. They don't give up on themselves. And I think it's a big takeaway that you're sharing with us without saying that is you didn't give up on yourself in your dream and your desire for greatness and love and excitement in in life right because you could you could just say fuck it i don't give a shit i have money and i don't want to pretend like i didn't have the thought right there like i i absolutely entertained the thought

when a lot of it was going down and i and you know it's like that choose your own adventure you know remember those books when you were growing up like turn to page 56 if you want this to happen right so like great books yeah great books and and like i at any at every at every juncture i had get off you know like hey do i continue on the road or do i take the exit and just fade to black right and i and i and i romanticized that that that taking the exit and i thought about it and and there were many times where I was just like, I had the indicator on, and I was just like, and I could hear the... It's like, okay, am I going to take it? Am I going to take it? Ah, I missed it. Let's keep going. And it's like, okay, well, good, good. I wanted to feel that excitement of almost quitting, right?

Like, oh, but I won't do it. I't i just can't i'm a warrior i gotta go i gotta keep going and and so you're the definition of a victor i mean that what you just shared with me right now i've always known this but for people that don't know jamil that is the definition of a victor because he could have easily been the victim and and again you probably had the option to keep keighley going keep everything you'd make a bunch of money for the rest of your life most likely and you'd fade to black and you'd just be off and everyone would have lost track of Jamil. And life would have been that for you. And you decided, no, I'm going to go continue to win. And I'm going to be a victor, not a victim of all this. And people have those decisions on

such a micro level relative to what you just went through. What I think most aspiring entrepreneurs get hit in the face with is when they get the smallest of challenges, they quit, they give up, they're all this isn't for me. I can't do it. The market, the interest rates, the this, the that. And I'll tell you, it is Jamil's story, my story for those that know it, it named the name. Anyone's story has a story and they make a very clear decision in the mirror saying, I am not going down to staying down. I might go down if I'm going to stay down. Right.

And that is the difference between everybody. So again, dude, impressive that you are doing what you're already doing. Let's talk about taking a business into an area that is literally never been done before. There is another company that has franchised an investing model, but has not been strictly wholesaling. Correct. And I don't know whether they've done well or not. I just am aware of them. I think at one point they had a decent amount.

But you basically took something that I don't believe in. I told you that. I was like, I don't know if this is going to work because there's not, you know, there's not, there wasn't enough. There wasn't like a, yeah, there, there, there was no model to follow. Right. Yeah. And so I was blunt with you and I was like, dude, I wish you all the luck in the world. I'm hopeful for you. I just go get them. Um, but what does it look like to take essentially a vertical or what's the word? I'm blanking on the word, but taking a business that has never been somewhere and going and doing that. What does that look like?

Well, it's cool that it hadn't been done because then we got to trailblaze it, right? We got to create the path for it. And it's difficult. Like franchising a company is not child's play. It requires. That's what I told you. Yeah. You get what you're trying to do right now. And I didn't. I had no idea what we were doing. Right. So it was like, I'm like, yeah, you'll see, you know, but then like you get in it. Great. Yeah. You get into it. You're like, oh, this is what Justin was talking about.

Okay, okay. All right, well, let's roll up our sleeves and get to it. So there's this whole thing called the FDD, right? That's the Franchise Disclosure Document. And it's this, like, incredibly difficult document to create because it's essentially everything that you do in your business, the goods, the bads, the hards, the awesome, all of it. It's all in there so that the people who are getting involved have full disclosure. That's why it's the franchise disclosure document. It's the FDD. It's the meat and potatoes, the nuts and bolts, the economics, the profit margins, the areas of

inefficiency, the areas of efficiencies, all the things are in there so that people can make an informed decision. And so, you know, that needs to be created. And then in addition to that, you have to get approved and register this document in each state. And each state has different thresholds, different requirements, and things that you have to, boxes that you have to check in in order to be legally allowed to sell a franchise in that state and you know gratefully we're approved

in all states and so you know you can have a keegly in um california new york and i mean those are two of the most difficult states to uh to operate in or to to get approved in. We're, you know, named an entrepreneur's, you know, top franchises on their list. And that's been beautiful. But the process of it is so tedious because they go in and they want to look at your financials, right? And they audit that, right? And so like, you know, if anyone's ever been through an audit, it's painful, right? Because it's like, they're like, okay, yeah, because it's not like you're lying. Like it's like, hey, we did, you know, if anyone's ever been through an audit, it's painful, right? Because it's like, they're like, okay. Yeah, because it's not like you're lying. Like, it's like, hey, we did, you know, $1.2 million in this, you know, this one month. Okay, cool.

Great. Here's the bank statement. Here's the wires. That's not enough. What do you mean it's not enough? No, no, no. We need to see all of it. We like all of it.

Because you could have just wired yourself. It's like of it because you could have just wired yourself it's like really i could have just wired myself okay so so it's like you go through all of it you you do every single every single transaction yeah man like all of it yeah and they need to see it and they want to look at the expenses and it's like why and and everything is completely everything's completely itemized. It's like a bean counter's wet dream, right? Because it's just like they're like, oh, details. So it's like, oh my God, okay.

And for entrepreneurs, because typically as visionaries, details are not our strong suit, right? We're like big vision, details. We'll leave that for the integrators, right? Like let's get the nerds in here. Everybody call the nerds. We need details. Right. So, you know, that's when you bring those folks in. And I'm so grateful for my business partners, Josiah and Hunter, because they're the king of nerds. Right. These two dudes are the smartest guys in the room always. And I love them. Right. They changed. I mean, they changed my life because they took this gritty guy, this dude with this, you know, you know, kind of weird personality. And that's me that had this ability to have this vision and this, you know, great, expansive idea to do this across the country. But then they helped me make that real. And I am not here today without Hunter. I'm not here without Josiah. I'm not here without Pace. And I'm not here without you.

All of these relationships, man, every single one of them was a stepping stone, was an opportunity. And as every one of those opportunities became more rich, more full, and those relationships developed, you get to this incredible result. And so that was tough, right? Franchising is hard. But then you've got to do it every year. So they audit the financials every year. Every year they do that? Justin.

It's just like, you know, and that's also really just a pain in the butt, right? It's soul crushing. For people like you and me, that is soul crushing. That crushing that's just like all right you guys go do this like i can't right like josiah and hunter you say go get it i don't know that's where you guys win yeah well there's a couple things i'm going to point out here that you say i've been on a massive mission to help people understand that my success your success grant, Grant Cardone's success, name the name. I don't care. It is more related to the people along the journey. It is about how much money Jamil spent in marketing, how much money he put into this investment or whatever those things are. And you just sat there and gave praise to, obviously, your business partners, Josiah,

I know very well. And my sister, sorry, I didn't, I shouldn't have left her out. I mean, my sister is my like OG rock, right? Like I, she's, her and I are so like the same that it's like, I just automatically assume that, you know, she's just by my side through the whole thing. Right. So, so of course my sister and then Josiah and Hunter, just without them, dude, I'm nothing. But it's people. And literally, so I've been asked to speak, um, and I'm saying a lot lately, because I'm going to do a new speech I've never given. And I'm naming it good to great.

And I'm saying the difference between good and great is people. It is how you treat people, first of all. But then how you create opportunities to be around the people, right? You mentioned Pace, a partner of yours, a friend of both of ours. He's like your brother, right? Like he was in our market for the same amount of time that you and I were doing deals together. But you know, I only met him about five years ago, six years ago, right? You may have met him a little bit earlier than that, but like he comes into your life and you guys then do this

incredible thing, change the shape of real estate investing, change the shape of coaching and mentoring and advising. Your company is the leader in our space. And it's because you and Pace did this together. You talk about Josiah, Hunter, you guys have changed the shape of marketing, salesmanship, and creating a company, a marketing branding company, a publishing company. You did it together. Uh, you referenced me. I thank you. Maybe it was cause you were like, you motherfuckers, Justin, you said, I can't do this. I'm going to go do this. You asshole. Maybe there's my, it's just out of love, bro. Like, cause you're legitimately like, like one of my first collaborators in town where we would JV deals together, you know? And it's just like, and,

and even doing that was um taboo for wholesale because like back in the day wholesale was not collaborative it was not people were not being friendly to each other in the sandbox everybody was just pissing each other's face right and that that's where wholesale started that was the energy that the the came from. And it was disgusting. It was gross. And that's why wholesale had such a bad rap for so long because the people who were at the top, the leaders of the industry at that time, they were jerks.

And they taught people how to be jerks. And because of that, people did jerky stuff out there. And then you get a bad reputation. And that was something that you and I had to clean up. But we cleaned it up by honesty, ethics, transparency, all of the things that was at some point, some like one of the first wholesalers was like, I'm just going to go out there and lie my butt off and and and hopefully make some money. And then when I become successful, I'm going to teach everybody else how to lie. And then that will be the business. And so like, dude, okay. So that's where it started. And then you've got, you know, you, you say, say to people like, Hey, so what do you do in real estate?

Wholesale? They're like, like, Oh really? That's why you feel about it? Really? It's like, yeah, you guys are terrible. Like, what do you mean? Well, first you don't, you never tell the truth. Everybody's lying. You don't have any money. I'm like, hold on a second. I've got lots of money and I always tell the truth. So what are we saying here? And because that's not that's not the that's not what I'm talking about. They're like, well, we're talking about the people who do this. They lie about what they're doing there. They you know, if they can't sell the contract, they cancel the deal. They they're not checking their numbers numbers so they're putting opportunities under contract that don't make sense bro there's wholesale mentors out there whose entire platform and teaching strategy is this go lock up a deal and then on the last day of a close of escrow renegotiate. And when the seller has already left the home, they're in a U-Haul. They're gone. On that day, call them up and say,

I'm not going to close unless you give me $70,000 off the sales price. You and I both know this. That person, whether it's the coach or the person just doing it in general, who cares, their burn is going to be fast they might be hot and they might go make a boatload of money at the right time in the right economy and whatever and they might think i don't give a shit but i promise that it will fizzle out fast right and you know that to be true the only reason that you i think you've done this now 20 years i I've done this 16 years. We've been around and we've had stamina because we do the right things. I'm not going to talk about whether we do the most deals, make the most.

Who cares? We do the right things when the time's happening. And that's why we're able to navigate economies, navigate interest rates going up, interest rates going down, hedge funds coming into Phoenix, hedge funds leaving Phoenix. We can navigate it because we always continue to do the right thing. And again, it goes back to the people. And we, then we treat people with intention to make sure things are fair. I remember the days where almost every day I would get the same text from you, Justin, you got any deals, Justin, you got any deals, Justin. I mean, literally every day, right. And you always made your letter and you and I would be like, Hey dude, I got this deal. There's only three grand in it. You're like, bro, kick me 500 bucks if I get it sold for you.

I don't care. Let's go do another one. I mean, you literally say that. You didn't need 50-50. You'd be like, give me 500 bucks if I can keep it moving. That's it. My guys are hungry. That's it.

That's it. And I'm like, well, fuck. Great. Bring me a buyer, right? I say that because doing the right thing over and over again with people leads to the top of the mountain because people will literally lift you. You don't even have to ask. Yeah.

And they will give you their shoulder to stand on because you treated them right. You gave them the right fair shake. Right. Not just trying to take, take, take. You essentially would give them opportunity, give them opportunity, give them opportunity. And for that, they could win. And it's just about doing the right thing at the right time all the time that's it and and and there's here's the other piece to it right and then somebody's listening to this right now and be like well i'm i'm already off

the table because i've done shitty things well you know um so so to that person that's listening to this right now right um no you're not no you're not because like at the end of the day just because you you've you've made mistakes also it you to every moment is pregnant with the possibility of change and and you have that in you that don't don't ever forget that the spirit of god is in you even if you've done some terrible things, you can redeem yourself. You can be better. You can be at the top of the mountain and have the most glorious redemption story ever. And that needs to be told too. People need to hear the story of the criminal who becomes the king because that also is important and that path exists and those situations are real.

And we, as human beings, we bump our heads against the wall. We make errors and it's our job to evolve and grow from it instead of looking at ourselves and saying, well, I'm disqualified because of my past. You're not your past. And you can always make a decision to do something differently. And, you know, I'm learning that, right? Even as I go in the world of fatherhood and in the world of husbandry and, you know, looking at how things transp things transpired and, and, you know, where I could have done better, where I could have paid more attention. You know, it's funny. I have a, I have a daughter who's growing up in Canada and she said something to me that was really painful

last year that has, has affected my life. Right. Because, you know, her mother, incredible woman, the mother of my kid is just like, she's phenomenal. She's a fantastic girl, woman. And, you know, we've had an incredible co-parenting relationship and she's graciously allowed me to have charisma often throughout the year, right? So I get her, you know, in the holidays and in winter, like right after Christmas, she would come with me for a week and we'd spend new year's together. Uh, she'd come for me, come to me during her spring break, uh, during her birthday, I'd get her for a month and a half during the summer. And then, you know, other times throughout the year, like I'd always have opportunities to see her. And, and so it'd be like four or five times a year that we we would hang out and because

i don't live with her full time a lot of guys or maybe dads who are listening to this will be able to relate but i was like i had to be fun dad right i had to be like oh we're gonna go here we're gonna go here we're gonna go do this i'm gonna buy you that i'm gonna you know it's always just like adventure fun gifts so much goodness right yeah and so you know my the tv show was going and all the things were going and my my daughter is watching me on social media and i was kind of gloating a little bit with her right now i'm like so you know what do you think of your dad do you think your dad's a cool cool guy she's like yeah and i'm like oh okay like what what's what why why you say like that right and she's like well like you know dad i noticed that you travel around you know the country you're in a new city

every other day and like and you know like i always wonder if my dad can visit every city in the united states but he doesn't find himself here once a month. That gave me chills. Yeah, dude. It broke my heart. Yeah. It broke my heart. Yeah.

And I just couldn't, I mean, I couldn't, I'm like tearing up right now just thinking about it, you know, because it hurt. And so I made a decision that day that i was gonna um rent a i'm you know i rent a place where she lives down the road from her mom's house and i go every month for a week and i just take her to school pick her up from

school do homework and do boring dad stuff. Like just real dad stuff. Right. And it's, and it's so rewarding, man. It's like, I'm, I'm, I'm just so blessed that she had the, the, the heart to be honest with me. I'm so, I'm so happy that she had the courage to say that because if she hadn't, then just imagine if she just let it go and, you know, didn't want to make me feel bad and then would have resented me. And then would have, the courage to say that because if she hadn't then just imagine if she just let it go and you know didn't want to make me feel bad and then would have resented me and then would have you know as she got older and then you know yeah right and then you know the relationship is surface level and she's just in her head thinking you know dad just tried to buy my love or dad just

tried to you know do this or that and like he wasn't really there and that that possibility was i was so close because it was the path i was on right it was how i was doing it and you know now it's different right so it's just it's so cool and now i've got like this really like cool thing with her and like we we're we facetime all the time and we just like that's my like best friend you know like i love that love that dude well because it's never over meaning to your point you said something i've never heard this before i don't know if you just made it up on the spot but every moment is pregnant with the possibility of changing and i don't know where you got that but that is yeah it's pure gold it's real i mean, but you have that moment right now with your daughter.

And the fact that the emotion was so raw with you right now, like I felt it. Like I could have for sure started, like I have a little daughter of three years old right now that just woke up from it. I can hear her. Right. And so, dude, I empathize with you and feel your love for your daughter. And I just appreciate the fact that you recognized it. Right. And maybe all of this personal shit that landed on you this last year was for one purpose that for you to wake up, for you to get your shit together with her.

Yeah. Maybe, I don't know if that's right, but you could, you could potentially make an argument. There's that reason. So you can get more connected to her because she's your your child that you know is gonna have the opportunity to change the world in the same way you have dude you know even if she doesn't we're gonna be able to you know hang out and do it together right whatever it is like i mean i i just i'm so happy that that little girl um loves me the way she she does so that she would be honest with me. I wasn't honest with my parents growing up. I lived a double life, essentially. I was one kid at home and then I was another kid out in the world.

And I never wanted to rock the boat. I was always just trying to make my dad and mom proud. And Indian parents, they're tough to please anyways and so like it's just this whole you know this this dance you're in all the time of like you know of achievement and acceptance and you're just like begging for it and that was what i that was the model i had that was the model i was given you know and and so i could have done that i could have decided to have just done what my dad did to me and made my child kind of earn my love, which was like hard, you know, but now I'm like dealing with it in therapy. I don't want I don't want to deal with I don't want her to have to deal with that therapy, you know, so it's just like it's it's it's it's such a beautiful thing man um like shining shining a light on your blind spots is is oh it's well you bring up therapy and i would tell you first of all every human being

in my opinion should start going through therapy in their early adulthoods in their 20s you know maybe after college whatever that like because there's just so much i think all people have a quarter life crisis along with a midlife crisis. Everyone's aware of the midlife crisis. I actually think people have quarter life crisis. I know I went through some, um, or through one pretty heavily. Um, I know a lot of my members that are younger, I watched them kind of go through this thing. I'm sure you could say the same about your members, you yourself probably have, but I think therapy is the only way to rectify all the other things,

whether it's how you were raised to what society puts on us these days to, you know, the, the fakeness of social media versus reality. Um, so dude, I'm always in, I think every marriage, uh, every couple who's married should be going to therapy for sure i think every entrepreneur should be going to therapy and it could be different you might need three different therapists and i'm not even joking yeah like legitimately like different subject matters different things different issues think about all the things that you went through to get to where you're at in business how many times would you wish you could be laying on a couch talking to a therapist about all the different things and how to overcome them? Same thing personally, same thing with your marriage. So good for you on that too. But I think again, to kind of wrap

this whole thing in a bow, like understand doesn't matter who you think about. They could be on the top of the mountain in business in your eyes they got shit going on behind their doors that you don't know yep and so what i would tell you just because i have plenty of my own shit going on like it's not always puppy dogs and rainbows just because you make a whole lot of money money can absolutely fix problems faster and pay for medical bills and all the like absolutely i would rather be rich than poor. 100% no-brainer. But just recognize, people, when you see shit on social media, it doesn't matter. No, and to that point, Justin,

so money just amplifies what you are, right? So if you're kind of a jackass, well, money's just going to bring out more of a jackass, you know, cause it's like, it gives you more time. It gives you more access. It gives you, you know, so many just variables that amplify the, the, the fire that you are. Right. And so, and so like, it's, it's not going to solve anything. And, and I, I, I almost want everybody to have all their dreams come true so they can realize it ain't it. It ain't it. It ain't it.

And so. Dude, you're dead on. It ain't it. You know, and then. Yeah. And then the work begins. That's right. It's almost like you want everyone.

Go make all the money as much as you can. All the dream. I want you to become 100 million. Go do it. Yeah. Because then watch. Then watch what happens. Same thing that happens to the lotto winners.

Same thing that happens to athletes. It's gone. And it's because it's not about the actual money. It's about what's happening internally, what's happening in between your ears. It's all of that. Bro, this has been a hell of an episode. I could not be happier about how this went, brother. I appreciate you.

I love you to death. I'm always here for you. I want you to know that. Thank you. Likewise. Whatever you need. And thank you for joining us on Entrepreneur DNA. Thanks for having me.

Make sure you follow Jamil Damji on all the platforms. TV star, bestselling author, incredible friend, incredible business owner, Jamil Damji. Thank you again, brother. Thank you. Peace.