The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex - From Financial Crash to Airbnb Success: How Chi Ta Built a Million-Dollar Empire

Episode Date: September 28, 2024

In this episode of The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex, we sit down with Chi Ta, a pioneering Airbnb expert who bounced back after losing it all. Chi shares his journey from being California's largest reverse mortgage broker to hitting rock bottom, and how a desperate decision to list his rental on Airbnb sparked a multi-million dollar business. If you're looking to dive into Airbnb, learn real strategies for scaling in today’s market, and leverage AI for property deals, this episode is a must-listen!Check Out Chi!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chitabnb/?hl=en“Your Network is your NETWORTH!”Make sure to add me on all SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS:Instagram: https://jo.my/paulalex2024Facebook: https://jo.my/fbpaulalex2024Youtube: https://jo.my/ytpaulalex2024Linkedin: https://jo.my/inpaulalex2024Looking for a secondary source of income or want to become an entrepreneur?Check out one of my companies below to see if we can help you:www.ATMTogether.comwww.Merchantautomation.comFREE Copy of my book “Blue to Digital Gold - The New American Dream”www.officialPaulAlex.com

Welcome to the Level Up Podcast. I'm your host, Paul Alex. I went from being a cop to an eight-figure entrepreneur that helps average people like you and me make money every single day. I created this podcast to help you get motivated and to crush your goals. Let's win together.

Remember, I have your six. Get ready to level up right now. Hey guys, this is Paul Alex with the Level Up Podcast. I have a very special guest here. I've actually known this entrepreneur for quite a few years since I started in digital marketing back in 2020. Now, he is the original Airbnb professional. He is the first one to actually put Airbnb on the map when it comes to the online space,

guys. Before all these people that you see going ahead and trying to promote you on courses, programs, universities with Airbnb, Chi is the number one Airbnb expert in the field of Airbnb. And I have him here today to actually lay a lot of value, a lot of new information. And if you are

looking to invest with Airbnb as a beginner or as an investor, this is the episode you're going to want to listen to, guys. Chi, how you doing, my friend? Amazing, Paul. Good to be here. No, dude. I love the fact that we're able to meet face to face after knowing each other since 2020, man. Me 2020, man. Me too, man. I watch all of your content. I'm like, dude, this guy is on to something. I didn't know that ATMs could be that passive and that productive, you know?

Dude, humble beginnings, man. You know, it was the side hustle that made me financially free. And then I ended up moving to like the different ventures that I'm in now. And no, but it's good, dude. Not going to lie. When I see some of your content and I see you like pulling out wads of cash and it's just rolling through, I'm like, that looks kind of fun. I want to hold a bunch of, like a wad of cash in my hand every day. I always tell people this, man, it was fun in the beginning, but once it gets super repetitive, you're like, do I really want to carry like hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in a backpack and like go drive around 10, 20 locations at the end of the day, it's good money. But, but I, but I did delegate that business eventually.

And then that's when it truly became passive, man. You know, I love it, man. I love it. But yeah, at the end of the day, I love it. Repetition, if you can get rid of it and delegate it, that's cool. No, absolutely, dude. So guys, we are going to be diving into Chi's backstory before he got into Airbnbs. And then he's going to go ahead and actually talk about what he's doing. And then from there, he's going to lay some knowledge for beginners. So you guys can learn exactly how to go ahead and start with your first Airbnb. So Chi, before you got into Airbnb, dude, I know that you're around my age. I'm currently 36. You're a family guy. We were just talking about that. I just got married, dude. And I'm trying to get where you're at, dude, with the

kids and live that family life. It's beautiful, man. The family life, I believe is the best. It's super rewarding and it gives you purpose, like so much driven purpose. Every, everything I do, I think about how it would reflect on my son and this forever in the digital age, everything is recorded. So if you do bad, your kids will see it in the future. So I tried to lay out and be the best role model I can for him. Facts, man. How old is your son? He's turning five October 9th. Nice.

Nice, dude. Congratulations, man. It's beautiful. Yeah. So, Chi, let's go ahead and start from like the very beginning, man. Before you got to Airbnbs, what were you doing? Oh, man. Before Airbnb, I've always been in the financial world.

So before Airbnb, I was in real estate and mortgages, specifically reverse mortgages. A lot of people have no idea what that is, you know, but it's a, it's a federal program where if you're 62 and above and you live in your own home, you can qualify for an FHA loan that pays off your existing mortgage as a senior you know you're very susceptible to inflation and going into debt and then losing your home so the fha will pay off your existing mortgage as long as you live there and you pay your taxes you're guaranteed to own that home for the rest of your life no matter what and the biggest misconception is you lose your home the bank bank takes it. It's not true.

Yeah. The remaining equity goes to your kids. So that's what I was doing before Airbnb. Dude, that's badass. You just dropped like major golden nugget within the first five minutes. I love that, dude. So you were doing that. How long were you doing that for? Yeah, that was my dude. It felt a lot longer than what it really was because it's a sales gig and it was like a lot of cold calling. And it's such a new product that 99% of the people tell you no. So I started that, I would say in 2008 and I ended in 2017. So nine years. Wow.

Okay. So nine years in the industry, you were doing quite well. And then what was the transition from doing that into getting to Airbnbs? Why Airbnbs? Yeah, man. And then what was the transition from doing that into getting to Airbnb's? Why Airbnb's? Yeah, man, I'm glad you asked, Paul, because as an entrepreneur, there's ups and downs. And I started and became California's largest reverse mortgage brokerage in from 2014 to 2017. Nice. And we were beating out a company called, you know, AAG, which is a billion dollar company.

Yeah. And we smoked them in california which is their home turf anyways but at 2017 right around october there was a law that was passed where seniors now have to have a high enough credit to qualify for a reverse mortgage our primary demographic at that time was people who were behind and were going through foreclosures. So if you're going through foreclosures, you don't have good credit. So they got rid of the essential need for the program overnight and my business collapsed. Wow.

And there goes my toys, you know, Lambos, G-Wagons, all that stuff before the internet got big before digital marketing and uh man i i got shot back into like the first level i was renting a little three-bedroom home in san bruno california for 3 900 bucks and like panicking because i can't pay my rent yeah panic and how much was rent back then? $3,900. Dude, that's expensive back then. It was, it's San Francisco. Well, yeah. I mean, I used to live in Walnut Creek, dude, but like back in like 2020, I think that was like my mortgage. So like when you're

comparing San Bruno, San Bruno's one of like the most expensive areas in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yeah, it's pretty expensive. Yeah. But I was definitely really panicking, Paul. I was like, how am am i gonna do this so it was thanksgiving that was coming up and christmas coming up and i looked at my bank account and 3900 was a challenge so i called my dad and i was like dad i miss you and mom

i really want to spend the holiday with you guys so we know, the truth is I couldn't pay my rent and I didn't know what else to do. I was like really panicking. And I remember this thing called Airbnb. I was like, what's the worst that can happen? I'll just try to list it to see if it's even possible. Although I was the renter. So I spent two weeks at my parents' place, you know, in the basement. Yeah. And I listed that house in San Bruno on Airbnb. And in two weeks, I made $2,500. Wow. So my rent was $3,900.

So like a light bulb went off in my head. And I was like, if I did this for a month, I'd make five grand. There's a thousand dollar profit. Right. Not thinking about utilities and cleanings and all that. But that was the start of the idea. So you got put into a weird situation where you were a high performing entrepreneur. You had the toys, you had the Lambos, you got basically set back. You had your back against the wall, dude.

Did you have kids during this time? The only kid I had was Chappy. He was my dog for five years and you know he's pretty he's pretty chill just give him a walk and cut of meat and he's happy dude chappy counts man i got i got my old man dog his name's cookie dude he just he's on his uh 14th chemo treatment today oh he has two more chemo treatments and he is done. He's officially, he will be officially have fought off cancer, dude. That's amazing. That's amazing. But that's why I'm such a big driver with entrepreneurship and taking control of your life. Because if I was still in law

enforcement, dude, I was capped. I was working 80 to a hundred hour work weeks in Oakland, California, as you know, Oakland. A fun place. It's a super fun place. And I wouldn't be able to save my dog, dude, you know, when I found out last couple months that he had cancer. But to go back into it, man, like, so your back's against the wall. What's your mindset during that? Is it more like fight or flight? Or were you like, dude, I'm done. I'm going i'm gonna have to like ask my parents prior for some cash because i thought to be honest that that's exactly

what you were gonna do you're gonna be like hey can you guys help me out for the month yeah you know um man that's that's a really tough question when you ask me it's it hits an emotional pain point yeah just because i haven't asked them for money since I was like 14. Right. You know, so I considered it. And I even considered getting a job, dude. No way. The three-letter taboo word, J-O-B.

Like, I remember going on to Indeed and Craigslist. I was like, all right, what's the best pay that I can find in the Bay Area at this time? And it was Tesla. Right. Right. Like some middle management position that pays, you know, 90k a year. And I was like, is that going to be my life? Yeah. You know, so, um, but my thought process was, let's just keep it simple. It's not worth it

because I was already beaten up. Like if you, if you've come down from a crash, you know, you're making like eight figures down to zero overnight and selling everything off because you wrecked the marketing at the end. It's a hard recovery, man. It's not a soft, you know, launching pad. It's like, bam. But when I found out about that Airbnb thing,

oh dude, every bit of the fire that was snuffed out was lit back on. You know, I was burning at that time. I was like. And during that time, Chi, like how long was Airbnb out around this time? They, you know, they've been out for a very long time. I don't really know their exact launch date, but they've been out a very long time. So during that time, they were out for quite a bit already.

And then you were like, dude, you know what? Let me try it. Did you have any experience with Airbnb before or was this the very first time? That was my very first time Airbnb-ing anything. Okay. If I showed you the property, you would not book it. It's worse than a college dorm because it's bad. I mean, just to piggyback on what you said, dude, San Francisco Bay Area, man, people are getting like $2 million, $3 million for a shack in Oakland.

That's exactly it. So, I mean, like when they come to the Bay, they're willing to that, dude, how did you figure out that you could go ahead and list what you were renting on Airbnb? Like, did you get permission from like the renter? How did you go about that, dude? Yeah. So I really listed it out of desperation at the time because I was thinking, what would this landlord rather have? A late payment or a non-payment? Or me asking for forgiveness later on? Facts.

Facts. So if I can take care of his house and make all the payments on time, what would he rather have? That was going through my brain. I was like, probably he would want to get paid. Yeah. Right? So at that time, I didn't know you need permission, any of that. I just thought, hey, man, I just want to make paid. Yeah. Right. So I didn't, I, at that time I didn't know you need permission, any of that. I just thought, Hey man, I just want to make my rent payment. So I listed it

and it went well and I just continued. Wow. So you went in there in perfect action as a true entrepreneur. You were just like, Hey dude, I'll just ask for forgiveness later. I'm not breaking any rules. I'm pretty sure it wasn't in the contract. So I'm just going to go ahead and do it. Now, let's say you're back in 2024, dude, and knock on wood, you get into a bad rut. Would you have done the exact same thing? In 2024, I would still do Airbnb. Yeah.

Just because I know how profitable and how secure it is. Okay. But I would do it differently than I did, obviously, back in late 2017, early 2018. Wow. And how would you have done that now? Man, if I were to completely start over. Yeah. The amount of resources that you have at your disposal to finding profitable Airbnb is unreal.

And these tools paul like for example air dna.co okay i'm not affiliated with them but they're a good tool right you can find people operating on airbnb right now and get if you know if you know how to go through their stats the stats like 95 accurate if you know what you're looking at and how to decipher, you know, real and embellished, right? So if you get that 95% accurate, imagine this, you find a property, let's say it's four bedrooms, right? Or we're in Miami, let's talk Brickell. Yeah.

Okay, let's say you find an apartment on Brickell that allows Airbnb where the HOA is not banning it. You rent it a two bedroom for four grand. Yeah. And if you find out that they're doing, you know, 110,000 a year, there's quite a bit of profit in there, right? So that's rent is 4,800 utilities for a two bedroom is another five grand a year. So that's 5,300. If make a hundred thousand there's 47 yeah there's 47,000 dollars in profit you essentially make a hundred percent return on all the cash that you put in wow off of one unit and to furnish the two bedrooms like a grand tops right right and where are you getting the furniture oh dude so that's a great question man well dude i'm a beginner i don't know none of this yeah so you know so when i first started i tried to furnish myself without you know any real interior design

experience which is i did what i i did what i could with what i knew right and it was terrible now looking back right but today in 2024, I'd hire a designer with parameters. I tell them you can only shop on Amazon and your philosophy and model when you shop for me is beer budget, champagne taste. Okay. I need it to look like a million bucks, but pay pennies for it. Right. That's the challenge. That's why I'm hiring you, the professional.

Right. Right. So that's what we would do. And you can literally deck out an apartment, make it look completely amazing, a two-bedroom for like eight grand or less, a four-bedroom for like 15 grand. That's amazing, dude. I love that. So Amazon is Wayfair is where I would shop.

Amazon and Wayfair. Okay. How would you find the designer? Yeah, there's, there's a million places in the world where you can find a good designer. You know, Instagram's a really good place, right? Because you get to see who's done what. Yeah. And the thing is, if somebody's marketing on Instagram, they're probably getting a lot less increase than, say, they marketed on Google or on Yelp, where people are directly searching for these types of services. When you find somebody through Instagram, firstly, they know that you're connecting with them through their art and their passion. So there's already that element of connection. And secondly, when you talk terms or services, the prices are automatically lower because they understand that they don't get that many clients

off of this platform as a designer. So that's where you can find really good ones because if someone's passionate enough to have an Instagram account, they're really good. I think you hit at a great point, brother. And the point that the key takeaway from what she just said with hiring a designer from Instagram is the fact that most designers, okay, will not get clients from their Instagram. So the fact that they have an Instagram, that means that they care.

Yep. They care about their brand. And this is why I always push personal brand. Personal brand is everything, dude. Like, I think that's what made you successful on the online space. And we're going to get into that in just a bit, guys. But I think that's what made you successful in the online space because, you know, you show your space because you know you show your lifestyle dude you show your family you show who you are and i think you know when i came onto social media myself dude i didn't know shit i didn't like i wasn't on social media for eight years since myspace and i jumped back on and all i knew was just how to tell my story because i lived it right and um story, by the way. No, I appreciate that, bro.

I mean, the fact that we're both from the Bay Area is awesome. I love that. I love that because you got to think about it, dude. Like I started knowing about you in 2020. And then I think like around mid 2021, when we had an affiliate, you know know a vendor we were working with um we went ahead and we connected and uh now dude end of 2024 we're here yeah it's crazy yeah the universe works in mysterious ways dude and like you know to get into the online space the online space is actually pretty small when you think about it yep you. You know, it's actually very, very small, very small. So let's, let's dive into that, man. So you already had major success with Airbnb. You had

your own business. You got everything rocking for you. Why go ahead and actually venture out into the online space and build a university? It's a really good question, Paul. And I'm going to be honest with you. I was holding all that secret deep within my heart and not sharing it with the soul. Because my limited belief was like, if I teach people, I would create more competition. And I would one day put myself out of business. Yeah. But that that looking looking back now that's such a like a like a low level thought you know low frequency thought because facts um i was losing friends because they were asking me how i was getting so wealthy so quickly after my crash because i couldn't tell them i was losing friends like i was distancing myself from everyone that i loved and trust and grew up with because they wanted to know.

And because I came down from this crash, I didn't want to give it all away because I figured it out again. And then I just thought, man, I can't live like this. I'm like exiling everyone from my life because of this. So how do we make this a win-win situation for everyone? So there and then, the B&&b university that idea was birthed and little did i know that by teaching people i learned so much more about airbnb than i would ever learn if i just kept it all to myself because now i'm helping all my students research their areas, regulations, I'm learning their markets. So literally, for the past six years, I've done nothing but researched and learned every single

major market in the world. So you can pretty much name any market that's big in this world. And I can tell you the regulations, what properties make money, what size property, what type of property you need, what condition can you go, you know, can you go in the hood and do this? Is it more profitable or do you need to go upscale? Right. I'll give you an example in Miami right here. Most people think you need to be, you know, downtown or brickle. It's not true, man. In 2019, I bought a bunch of properties in North Miami. Wow. Right. And at that time it's not true, man. In 2019, I bought a bunch of properties in North Miami. Wow. Right. And at that time it's, I was paying like 300 grand, 400 grand for a four bedroom with a,

with a pool before the COVID boom. That's insane, dude. Yeah. And you know, we'd put like 125 grand into remodeling. And today these things are worth 1.2, 1.5. So. Dude, you, yeah. It's crazy. You literally like 10 extra money by doing 1.2 1.5 so dude you yeah it's crazy you literally like 10 extra money yeah it's by doing that so beautiful do you still have the property till this day a lot of them nice dude you made out like a bandit then uh it's it's the right timing and because and it's i only

figure that out because i was teaching people i had a student in miami i was doing all the research so that I had experience and knowledge to share with my student because I didn't know their market. Wow. So I would just dive deep into the trenches and I would do it for them. So that's amazing, dude. Like you're the way I see your business concept and the way that you're thinking about it, it's actually, it's very good. And the reason why, when I talk to entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs are like, dude, I'm just, I want to provide the information. I want to help a lot of people, but also they don't have a, like a plan to really maximize the value of what they're doing. And with me, I'm a very methodical thinker, dude.

I guess it's just the law enforcement side of me. I always think of everything, you know, path of least resistance, but that process you just said, dude, not only were you helping people, but also you would see the best markets because you were basically forced to go ahead and research other markets that weren't in California for your students because you want to provide value to them. But then also you're able to go ahead and be like, wow, I can make a lot of money here too. Exactly. That's amazing, dude.

I love that. Exactly. I love that mindset. So B&B University, how long has it been around now? Yeah. So we launched late 2018, early 2019. So now it's almost six years. Wow.

I would say, yeah, almost six years. I've had so many incredible success stories, fully documented from the beginning to the end of each student's journey. Yeah. And right now I have more than two handfuls of true people making over seven figures a year in the Airbnb space. Millionaires. over seven figures a year in the Airbnb space and fully documented. And it's pretty amazing to see that these people's, their lives were changed in such a positive way. Wow. If you could pick any of your students right now, cause I'm pretty sure they don't watch this dude. They're going to be like, yeah. So, so, so you got to shout them out, but who would you say is the most memorable student that you have and what's their story yeah so

one of my most memorable student his name is gary childs gary's phenomenal guy he's from utah at the time when i met him he was in salt lake he's he's older uh i would say gary's like in his mid-50s okay older and he's he's done medical sales his entire life. Oh, wow. Okay. Like in, but check this, not even in the U S he flies to South America to do medical sales. That's badass. It's pretty badass. So he doesn't spend time with his family. Right.

So Gary, he's married. His wife's name is Candy and she's Puerto Rican. And, uh, when he married her, he made her a promise. He was like, Candy, baby baby one day i'm gonna buy you a puerto rican beach house one day so gary contacted me this is like uh late 2019 late 2019 he joined and then we got his first property right just right around kovat time like like I would say like February ish 2020 mmm okay launched his first property it's Salt Lake and after he was done furnishing I flew out there I spent tonight in his property to work out all

the kinks yeah and they give him the guest experience we fixed everything and the next morning he came over we sat down on his living room sofa, blue velvet sofa, super nice beer budget, champagne taste, 800 bucks, but it looks 3000 bucks. And his phone, you know, being older guy and in medical sales, he doesn't turn it on silent. My phone's always on silent. So I hear a notification, the Airbnb ringtone. I knew what it was. Yeah. Because it was a reservation. Right.

But he didn't know what it was. I was like, Gary, I know we're having this deep conversation, but you need to check your phone right now. Right. This guy pulled out his phone, sees his first booking. I was right there. I witnessed it right in front of me. We had that on footage, by the way. And he looked at it.

He's like, oh, my God. This this four night booking just paid for my rent his rent was like 2200 bucks this four night booking was 2400 and then he was in disbelief this guy calls his son right away and his son the first reaction on the phone because his son helps him manage all the online stuff. He's like, dad, you can't believe this. We just paid our rent. Yeah. Like with four nights. And it was Gary's and my most memorable student. Fast forward a year and a half later.

With the success that he's had, he's scaled to multiple properties. And he actually bought the Puerto Rican beach house for candy that he promised her when he married her. I love that, dude. I love that. Dude, I'm considering Puerto Rico, man. I mean, that was the primary reason why, you know, because I was born and raised, dude, in San Francisco. Like my dad's side of the family, they're all still there.

My mom, she immigrated. She's an immigrant from Peru and she landed in San Francisco, worked at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown San Francisco while I was a kid. And then eventually became a plebotomist in UC San Francisco. So I have my roots deep down in San Francisco, dude. I love the Bay Area. But I just don't like the politics and also the taxes that they go ahead and charge. And people are like, it's such an American thing to buy taxes. No, it's actually an American thing to leverage the tax law codes that they give you as an entrepreneur.

OK, because you're providing hundreds of jobs for employees, dude. You're providing something of value back to society. So, like, I'm trying to save as much as possible, possible dude because i'm trying to build more businesses So I can provide more jobs and then contribute back to the world, right? And i'm pretty sure you have the same type of mindset dude It's like providing value having employees running businesses and just growing dude With me. I always say this i'm never gonna retire dude. I talked to my wife She's like, you know, it's gonna be nice when we're older and we're gonna retire. I was like, babe

What are you talking about? I'm not retiring Do you ever joke though and say all right i'm gonna quit i'm gonna retire tomorrow some days some days dude because you know entrepreneurship's like this yeah dude entrepreneurship is like up and down it's up and down like i had one of the deepest interviews like a couple weeks ago with like a brand new podcaster he's actually here out of miami and i was like dude this is like the best podcast i've ever done but it's because that day i felt like the world was on my shoulders dude like you know you you have to pour into your employees you have to pour into your your c executives you have to pour into your family you know one one thing that um

i love to say is that whenever somebody asks me like, Hey dude, like how much do you work? Right. And I always go, I work 24 seven. The thing is I'm not working on my business 24 seven. Yes. I'm working on my business portion of the day, but when I go home and I have to take care of my old man dog, or I have to go ahead and work on my relationship with my wife right or i have to go ahead and make dinner or i have to go ahead and talk to my family or fly to my family right at the end of the day we're always working in life it doesn't matter that's why i really don't like the limiting beliefs that some people have when they're like well you know i don't want to work that much dude you're working 24 7 when you go to the gym, you got to work on your health, right? Cause what's the point of like making all this

money if like you're sick. Right. So, um, from that perspective, dude, let's talk about your actual, um, success with, in the online space. And what would you tell somebody if they're watching right now or listening to this and they're like, dude, this sounds pretty awesome. I like Chi. What would you recommend what they should look out for before investing into a mentor online? Because you're like the original OG online, dude. You're the first one to do it. You have a lot of success, a lot of social proof. You still work on the business. So what would you recommend your top three tips and due diligence basically so they don't get scammed? Yep. Simple, Paul. When you're looking for a mentor online, one, the very first

thing I would ask is, is that mentor actually available? Because a lot of times when you get them, they're not available. They're not available. It's someone else or it's pre-recorded or response time is like a week later and it's a message. So it could be anybody responding to you, really. So are they available? The second thing is,

do they have a proven track record, right? Because a lot of people will try to sell you and they claim X numbers. You can make X numbers, but they've never done it themselves. And that's huge right now in the Airbnb space. So many of these guys are claiming you can do, you know, 20 grand in the next 90 days. And then you look into their background. Have they done it? They've never done it.

So that's that. Get social proof and get proof. And the third thing is, are they still currently active in the business? Because there's one thing about somebody who is teaching, but if they're not active in the business, what they taught might have worked back then when they were active,

but in any business, things shift. Rules shift, laws shift shift the business environment shifts so if they're not active they can't get you up to speed because whatever they're teaching might be outdated so i would say those three things are very important and uh lastly be a smart consumer this is a bonus tip are there any guarantees written in the contract? Because a very, very confident, successful mentor should be able to give you some form of guarantee written in plain language that you understand, not legal mumble jumble. Can you do this in X date or you get a full refund? That's what I was asked

for. I love that, dude. I love that. And thank you for that. I think a lot of people need to do their due diligence. They need to do their market research. They need to do their homework. You know, even we get in nowadays, I have about three different programs on the online space. And anytime that somebody goes, how do I know this is not a scam and that's just like average lingo that a consumer goes in or a prospect and they ask like one of my guys and they're like hey boss like i don't know why they ask that it's weird and it's just the fact that in digital marketing nowadays especially in 2024 you get a lot of people here just trying to put out a course do a quick cash grab they're not really here for the longevity, dude. Exactly. Like I'm here for the longterm. I want to build a client or a mentee

that is going to follow me through absolutely everything in their journey. And I have dude, like right now I have a client who is one of my one-on-one mentees. And he's been spending the past three days here. Like he's been coming here and that's what the high level of support that I provide with my team, right? If you're a one-on-one mentee of mine, dude, you can come to my office. You could go into the offices that we have in Los Angeles, dude. Like I even invite some of my mentees to my house so we can go ahead and work and mastermind there. Right. But at the end of the day, you really got to see who is willing to pour into you because it's about the connection, man. That's why I always say like, if I was to do it all over again, and if I was like, let's say younger, 18, 21 in my mid twenties, and I was looking for a mentor, I would definitely do my

due diligence. Make sure you fact check, make sure you talk to like people that get results. And then at the end of the day, it has to be realistic expectations because we always get people. And I know you do too. You get people coming in there and thinking like, well, well, gee, I want to make like $40,000 my first month, right? No, no, it's facts. No, it's facts. There's a lot of those. Dude. And I used to get that like that all the time when I used to take calls with my first company, ATM, together. And now with the second company, Merchant Automation, people come sometimes with unrealistic expectations. And they expect because they're paying you that you're going to guarantee that they get those expectations. But little do they know, it's just like, hey, we're up front.

We tell you how it is. Like, you're going to make this work if you work. Exactly. We are here to support you, to assist you, to help you make it easier to get to that level. Right. But, dude, I love that. Man, to piggyback off what you just said, we will make this work if you work. Yeah.

There's so many people that once they pay you they just think that automatically this money is going to appear without without actually doing the work so yeah that's that's the last thing i would say if you're looking to hire a mentor make sure you are ready to execute everything that they show you yeah because at the end of the day it's up to you it's up to you you know like my my story dude I don't know if I ever told you, but essentially sounds cliche. I was still in law enforcement the last two years of my career, and I ended up buying a book with a couple books, Dan Henry, Digital Millionaire, Russell Brunson, you know, his

trilogy of ClickFunnel books. And I read them, dude, and I'm just in awe. I'm just like, dude, like, how is this possible? These guys are making like literally tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars a month off of selling their expertise online to people that need the help. And I'm like, I think I could do this. I think I have more than enough the skill set and the proof and all that. And during that time, I was financially free with ATMs. I was still working my nine to five because, you know, limiting belief.

At the end of the day, I went to family and they were like, hey, you know, limiting belief at the end of the day, I went to family and they were like, Hey, you know, um, you still need benefits. And that's all I think about, dude. I would always think about like benefits, benefits, like, you know, obviously like my mother, she's an immigrant from Peru. She works hard her entire life. My dad, he's an immigrant from Mexico and he's worked hard his entire life, but they haven't really like led me to the path of financial literacy, right? Of like, Hey, um, maybe you should invest your money to this. Like I had to figure that out myself. Right. Which it's a good thing, dude, because once you know it, just like we were saying, once you know it, you don't lose it. Uh, you know what? I have so much

respect for first generation immigrants that come here with absolutely nothing, especially before the digital age. Yeah. Because right now it's people take it for granted, but everything is so accessible. You have language translation right away. Facts. These people had to learn a whole new culture, a whole new language to get anything done. Imagine like right now, if I put you in Russia and there was no translation app, how would you survive? You're screwed. Exactly.

That's basically what your parents did. Yeah. That's what my parents did. Right. And I think, you know, I don't blame them that they remind you how good your benefits were. Yeah.

It's the best that they knew. Of course. Right. But again, that's what separates us, you know, entrepreneurs. We respect what they have to share, but we also dabble and we go out there and see what's available and we test the waters. No, absolutely, man. And now they're big believers.

They're like, wow, like. I think they believe you now. Yeah, no, for sure, man, for sure. But also like they also support me now when I have conversations and when I have new ideas. Because before, when I was still in law enforcement, when I was still in corporate America, it was a lot of living in beliefs, dude. Especially being a young Hispanic kid. I told him, I was like, Mom, I'm going to make $250,000 by my mid-20s. And she was like, okay, sure.

Almost like, I'm going to make $250,000 by my mid twenties. Right. And she was like, okay, all right, sure. Right. Like almost like I'm going to, I'm going to support you, but in my back of my mind, I'm going to have doubt. Right. And that's okay. That's fine. I love my mom. Um, and I was able to do it.

Broke her limiting beliefs. She's like, wow, amazing. Good for you. Keep going. Stick with the career, go up the chain. And then when I got to that stage of the game, that was, that was a milestone milestone the next stage of the game for me was just like dude i want to be a millionaire and i want to do it by starting a business and um when i became a millionaire but not with starting business first i actually became a millionaire by actually owning real estate and my real estate

game it wasn't airbnb it was just literally investing into real estate and just holding onto the properties. That's it, dude. I'm not the smartest guy in the world. You know, I leverage. It's whatever works. Dude, I leveraged FHA at the age of 21. And at that time, no one told me what that was. You told me you were 36, right?

Yeah. This is 15 years ago. So that's what, 20, that's 2009. Dude, long time ago. Yeah. It was like right after the crash. Yeah. So it's, it's crazy that, oh, do you bought at the bottom? I bought at the bottom. You bought at the bottom with an FHA loan. Yeah. That's it's, see, that's how being in mortgage, that tells me a lot about who you are, because if you're able to qualify for an FHA loan yeah means that you're a

steady wage earner at that time yeah i was because that's the hardest loan to qualify for yeah no i was dude i was in uh corporate america i was doing a commission 100 commission sales position as a glorified dish machine repairman slash sales guy and i worked for this company called eco lab and it was one of my first real career jobs. But at the end of the day, steady paycheck. I was hustling. I was trying to learn. And I think with a lot of youngsters nowadays,

they need to learn soft skills. They need to learn sales, right? If you were to go ahead and actually pour into somebody right now, listening to this or watching this, what would you tell them is the top three skills they should have in order to go ahead and start an entrepreneurship? I love that you asked that question. Because it's funny because I am pouring into three 18-year-olds right now.

And their personalities, I'll give you a quick overview. First, we have uh we have john who's like very stoic he's 18 dropped out of high school and he's very he's very smart he's uh a problem solver and self initiator okay and then second we have jaden who's also 18. they're all all three of them are friends this guy is more creative but very sensitive uh but also a problem solver but he needs a little bit more hand holding john's more independent and we have lastly pierre pierre is also their friend and he's uh i like the the way that i see it the dynamic is that he's more of the the guy that keeps the group together but he doesn't really have neither the skills right as

the other two and he's not that motivated so the the top three advice i would give to them and the first thing that i'm having them all do is build grit and build tenacity so the first thing i did with them i threw them into the trenches and said do cold call you're going to do cold calling from nine in the morning in the east coast if you're if you are a go-getter i need need you to wake up by 5 a.m. Wake up, get your coffee, do whatever you need to do, and start calling by 6 a.m., which is 9 a.m. in the East Coast. Call these people first and work your way west as the day goes on.

I need you to call, and you're going to call for a minimum of five hours a day because it's unrealistic to do eight. By the last three hours, you're just not getting anything done. You're burnt. Yeah, you're totally burnt. And, you know, as I predicted, first guy to tap out, Pierre, he's done. Right? So I know that this is not a person I want to pour energy into.

He's off the list. So now we're down to two. Both these guys are still going at it. It's been two months. And i have them reps in rep out they're consistent uh john is very very consistent so now i'm taking him to the next level i have him managing a ground up construction that i have uh not far away from here and you know any given month we're buying many plots and building up. But I'm specifically mentoring him and having him take this project, manage this from the beginning to the end. So number one is build grit.

Number two is stay healthy in your mind. Right. And have still have that thing that you enjoy that you can turn off work mode and go back into just enjoying yourself. And then number three is don't be afraid to try things. Don't be afraid to lose because if you're afraid to lose whatever money you have or try things, no risk, no reward. It's all I can say. Yeah, no, absolutely, man. And it goes like that in entrepreneurship. You know, one thing I always tell newcomers, no matter what industry, no matter what niche you're in, don't get stuck on analysis paralysis. Exactly. Perfectionists are not the people that are the needle movers. They're not the ones that are making decisions like the founders, the CEOs, the startup guys, perfectionists will not get you

anywhere. And I always tell that to my people, don't overthink shit. Business is actually very simple. I feel like us as humans, we make it fucking difficult, man. And at the end of the day, imperfect action, right? You have to take imperfect action. If you never would have taken that uh calculator risk with going ahead and putting a rented um unit that you did when your back was against the wall and airbnb dude you wouldn't have been able to build what you have now right it would have been impossible if i sat around and thought about it i'd probably just be late on my rent exactly you know right and then and then you would have possibly been working on tesla would have been like shit unhappy and all that stuff there is an alternate universe where i'm there right now

right yeah right and that's the way it goes dude it's just like pick your heart man do you want to go ahead and suffer and work 40 50 sometimes 60 years at a job you guys really dislike or do you want to go ahead and take the unbeaten path which is going into entrepreneurship starting a business going through the ups and downs because it's an emotional ride bro it's super emotional it's super emotional there's days out where i want to quit there's days where i'm just like man this is not worth it another five ten million dollars is not going to make a difference in my life it's just it is what it is i'm ready to go and for some people they're like dude you're crazy that's a lot of money i'm like no no like once once you make the money

and you've bought what you always wanted in life there comes a point and i know it sounds cliche of we always hear certain people go well money's not everything only a person that's experienced either true wealth or they've been able to buy whatever they want and now they can officially say it like money truly doesn't make you happy cool i respect that i don't respect the people that are broke and say that. Because that's typically mainly who you hear from is people that are broke. Money is not everything. That's an excuse.

That's an excuse. Go ahead and follow your guys' dreams, but make sure it's calculated risk. I always get this one question, and I want to hear your perspective on this, Yoshe. What would you tell somebody here's a let me paint the scenario let's say you get a kid 18 years old just got out of high school they're like dude I want to go to college I really I've been following you for the past like two years um I have a steady nine to five right now but it's not enough to actually invest. So what advice would you give me as that 18 year old who's ended up nine to five right now, and they're trying to think of ways to generate

additional income to go ahead and start investing into Airbnb? What would you tell them? Yeah. So in, in the Airbnb space, it's actually so easy to get into. So if you're 18 and if you haven't ruined your credit yet, there's always credit, right? You don't need that much money. I'll give you an example. In most of the country, you can rent a one bedroom for like two grand. And that's a nice one bedroom, right? And the security deposit for a one bedroom, a lot of these places are like 300 bucks so to get into your first and a lot of these places will give you the first two months free so for you to get

into a unit if you have phenomenal credit and you have somebody that will guarantee the income earnings you can get in for like 300 bucks wow okay go, now apply for an Amazon credit card. They'll give you two grand, right? So if you're 18, you have a steady 95, you probably have two grand saved up. Right.

So with four grand, you're going to get into the unit. You're able to furnish it. And this one bedroom, the first two months free, you're able to get all your furniture money back within the first two months. So now you can do your second unit. Right.

And that's how you, that's how you would start. It doesn't take anything, but it does. You do need to have good credit in this instance, right? So if you haven't messed that up yet, get your parents to add you as an authorized user, get them to co-sign for you, get into an apartment and start that way. A one bedroom, if you do it right, will cash flow about $750 per month to $1,000 per month. Wow. And, you know, that's more than what landlords make a lot of times when they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars buying a house and putting a renter in there. Facts. So for you to be able to do that with four grand, get all your money back and start a second property is pretty incredible, I'd say. Dude, man, you're changing my life right now, dude. I'm like, dude, I rent out quite a few units right now in Arizona.

Man, I need to turn them into some Airbnbs. Where in Arizona? Bullhead City. Okay, I know exactly where Bullhead City is. Dude, it's an hour away from Vegas. I think, well, I'm not giving it away all the game, but Oh, well, um, dude, it's the perfect area to invest in right now. It is. Yeah. If you, if you're, if you're on the water. Yeah. Yeah. You're in the water. I'm legit probably 10 minutes away from the water, dude. So I have a few

units in Bullhead city. Yeah. So, uh, if you, if you're on the water some of those units if it's a larger place to say like a five bedroom yeah easily 150k revenue yeah and what's the purchase price these days for that like what like 800k a mil so i bought a it was a quadplex okay and the quadplex got has two bedrooms uh two baths two story on each of uh the actual units okay and um i bought at the time dude like two years ago for like 630 that's a pretty smoking deal bro and the property is it was up to keep it was just uh like old retired couple that were just like hey we're done like we're gonna go ahead and sell and then like travel the world and then um i ended up getting a management company to manage it for me like they handle all the repairs they handle like the money the everything dude what's what's your

cash flow on that bro like a little bit over 5G a month. That's not bad. That's pretty good. For 4Flex? Dude, that's what I'm saying. It's cool, right? It's steady income. But at the end of the day, I did it more just to invest into assets, right?

What's the value today? Probably like, I haven't checked, but I would say probably anywhere between 7 to 8. 7 to 8? Okay. So you can literally refi, get all your money back right now? No, for sure. Probably like, I haven't checked, but I would say probably anywhere between seven to eight. Seven to eight. Okay. So you can literally refi, get all your money back right now. No, for sure. Dude, like I said, guys, this conversation right here, this last two minutes, you can just tell I'm a simple guy.

Like, I'm a startup guy. I'm a startup founder. Real estate is not my cup of tea, but I go ahead and I invest my money into different assets, right? Maybe that is something that I'm going to look into because we can refi and get the money back. But as of right now, dude, like my businesses are cash flowing. I just wanted to use it primarily for like a cash or for a tax write-off. And it's working for me.

But, dude, I'm going to consider Airbnb now because you're talking about the cash flow. 100%. So check this. So arbitrage is really just a beginner's way of getting into Airbnb, right? So if you want to get a little bit more sophisticated, the real play is ground up construction. Because I'll give you an example. A plot of land here in Miami, like a good plot of land, I'm talking like 10,000 square feet, right? Where you can build a nice substantial house, modern build, new construction.

It's like 300 grand for that plot. The project is 500 grand to 600 grand. So you're into the deal, you know, 850 to 900K, all in, permits, everything. That's all in. And the build time in Florida, if you have a good crew, six to nine months. They're fast with permitting. That's fast. Yeah, and fast with inspections. So when it's done with the right plan in the right area, your completed value is $1.3 million. Wow.

Right? So you find the right lender that will give you 85% of the money for land and construction. So if it's a million bucks, you're into the deal 150. So by the time you're done, it's worth 1.3. You refi for a million,

you get all your money back, every single penny. Nice. You make $300,000 in equity and your payment on that deal, right now, even with today's rates, it's like eight grand a month, nine grand a month. But you cash flow on the Airbnb side, like five grand to 10 grand with that same unit that you may instantly make $300,000 in equity. You make five to 10 grand cash flow and you can do infinity infinities.

Yeah. That's the play. Dude, that's awesome. So that's, that's everywhere. dude that's awesome so that's that's everywhere yeah it everywhere in florida yeah no that's that's amazing man and this is right now we're we're in september 2024 dude like people are complaining about rent they're taking about the cost of of you know property dude they're bro they're they're complaining about everything and and i mean dude

i'm seeing it like it's transforming almost to like california down here dude it's it's insane right you have a bunch of people from california and new york coming in which is like skyrocketing the prices but dude that's that's an awesome play i i love that i love that where in florida exactly are you looking more like north south yeah so it's it's it's all over you can literally find profitable areas all over florida the the key the key is getting into an area that's airbnb cash flow right and getting the equity at the same time so uh you have a lot here on the east coast of florida you also you also have a lot of places in the west coast of Florida. So like on the east coast, I would say Fort Lauderdale and down.

On the west coast, Tampa and further out. Okay, that's good information. So guys, if you're looking there to actually buy your land, do new construction, there you go. I mean, Chi just gave you guys a bunch of gems on that, okay? So Chi, let's talk about the future, bro. Sure. I always like talking about vision, where you see yourself in the next couple of years, all that jazz. Any exciting projects you're working on right now?

Yeah, I'm working on a lot of exciting projects. So right now in the Airbnb space, after teaching thousands of people how to be successful in this industry, I get the same complaint over and over again. And the same hurdle that each person is facing, that's how do we find a profitable property? Yeah, right. Even when I break it down to them in a step by step format, it still takes a tremendous amount of effort and manual labor to verify each deal. So with the latest breakthroughs in AI, I personally trained a bot to find you all those deals with one click. So you can literally find properties that will give you $3,000 plus a month in cashflow with a click. And the next project is training an AI to make cold calls to close those deals that's generated from this list. So we have an AI that finds you all the most profitable property.

Then an AI will make all the calls and negotiate with the landlord that gets you that deal. And then once you have the lease in front of you, we have a third AI that will look through the lease, find all the challenging areas that are unfavorable to the tenant, help you suggest favorable terms, help you renegotiate the lease and suggest things like perhaps offer the landlord a longer term to reduce rent prices or cover pool maintenance on this. So that will improve your projected profitability by 20% if you're able to do this. So it'll calculate all that for you, make these suggestions, make it in really simple terms, and you can just email the landlord back.

Oh, dude. Dude, so this is everything in the works, and we're done with most of these projects. They're all in alpha testing and internal testing right now. That's awesome, man. That's going to make like your mentees, but then also anybody who's looking to start into Airbnb just in general, dude, it's going to make their life a lot easier, way easier. And that's great because you're the original Airbnb guy in the online space. You have a ton of social proof. You're still working on the business actively. How many years in total have you been doing Airbnb now? Uh, so I started personally in 2017 around November,

but professionally I made it a strong pivot January. Wow. 2018. So now it's six plus years, almost seven years. Yeah. I love it, dude. Almost seven years. Almost seven years.

You were really highly successful before that, dude. You're still actively going ahead and pouring into your mentees and dude like if somebody wanted to work one-on-one with you is that possible uh so i i it's it's actually not so i really yeah it's not i don't i don't take one-on-one students yeah i've been offered insane amount of money just to do it. It's because I, like for me, I found that a one-on-one environment is not conducive for their success. They have no peers to gauge their own marker and there's no internal competition.

So, and I found that the average person is really easily demotivated. Yeah, facts. You know, so when you pair them up inside a small cohorts and small groups, if they see someone else being successful, there's always going to be that one go getter. And that go getter sets the standard and fires everybody else up. Because then they're going to make them think, what am I not doing? Why is this person doing and I'm not, then they actually get going, right? They see someone else successful that started the same time they did not your past students, but the same time. And that's why I don't

take one-on-ones. That makes sense, dude. I mean, I've gotten off for one-on-ones and I found out those clients, I mean, they want to get to the success faster. And sometimes they think that paying a lot of money is going to get them there faster, but ultimately it comes down to you, dude. I've spent literally over a million dollars in the past five years in just self-education. We're talking about courses, mentorships, masterminds, dude, you know how it is, right? And, um, what I got out of it is I take a piece of every single conference, every single mentor, every single program, every single book. And I'm making my own man. And that's how you just have to be proactive, not reactive. Right? So cheat to end this brother. What is one motivational scene that you take to your heart, dude, that you want to give out to the audience today? So they know they can go ahead and level up just like you, dude, because you had it all.

You lost it and you built it up again, dude. So for the person right now that is struggling just to start, dude, what do you have to say? Don't think. Just do it. Honestly. Honestly. honestly like most of the time if you have an inkling or if you really believe in something and you think that it's going to work it's most likely going to work right because there's something there that's already convinced you that this is plausible it's going to work

and then you out you you think too much and you think yourself out of it. But if you don't think and you just applied yourself and just focus your energy on what will make this work, and that's your thought process and you go on with it, it's going to work. Have tenacity. Just make it happen. Will it into existence. Make it happen, guys. I love it. I love it.

And where can everybody find you? Your Instagram, YouTube? What you got, brother? Yeah, so I'm pretty easily found on the net. You can find me on Forbes. You can find me on Instagram at Chi Ta B&B. And the same thing on YouTube at Chi Ta B&B. I love that, guys.

There you guys have it. Chi, the number one Airbnb expert in the online world, guys. He was the first one to do it. He was able to lose it all, bring it back. Guys, this was an amazing story. Now, guys, if you guys want to go ahead and listen more about Chi Airbnb, how you guys can get started, make sure to follow him on all his socials. Guys, this is Paul Alex with the Level Up Podcast. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, share with a friend, share with a family, share with somebody who is trying to level up, guys. This is for you. And make sure to check us out on Apple Podcasts and Spotify wherever possible. I'll catch you guys next time. Remember, I always have your six. Make sure to share this episode with your family,

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