Wake Up to Wealth - Keys to Wealth with Brandon Rooks

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

In episode 10 of Wake Up to Wealth, Brandon Brittingham welcomes guests Brandon Rooks, also known as "Rockstar", and his son, Dylan Rooks. They discuss the importance of mindset in achieving success and share their experiences in the real estate industry. Brandon is highly respected in the money-raising game, raising over 70 million and he's bringing invaluable gems your way.Tune in to gain insights on investing and inspiration from this real estate industry OG.SOCIAL MEDIA LINKSBrandon BrittinghamInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mailboxmoneyb/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandon.brittingham.1/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittingham/Brandon Rooks/RockstarInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/rockstarcapitalgroup/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandonrooks1/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-rooks-67239211/Dylan RooksInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/kezzofficial/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dylan.rooks1/WEBSITEBrandon Brittingham: https://www.brandonsbrain.org/Rockstar Capital Development Group: https://www.rockstarcapitalfund.com/

This is Wake Up To Wealth, a podcast dedicated to helping you change the way you think about wealth. And now, here's your host, Brandon Brittingham. All right, what's up, everybody? We're back. Wake Up To Wealth, another episode. Super excited because I got another Brandon on the show and his son. And the other thing, too, Dylan, by the way, and Brandon goes by Rockstar.

The other thing that's really cool is that I don't recommend a lot of people like people that I trust to invest their money. He's one of the only people that I that I will say, yes, it's safe to invest money with. So I'm excited to have their money. He's one of the only people that I will say, yes, it's safe to invest money with. So I'm excited to have him today. He's done a lot of fucking cool shit, a ton of knowledge in the real estate industry and a guy that I respect, OG in the money raising game. What's up, man? Happy to be here. Excited to be on your podcast. So i was told dylan and like this is the goat of real estate on the east coast and you may be impressed with us we're equally impressed with you and everything you've accomplished i appreciate that let me um like so you've you've done a lot of stuff and it's really cool but like give us a glimpse into like what you do now because I think it's super unique and not a lot of people do

it. Yeah it's we kind of fell into it so it's me and two other strategic partners that I've been working with since 2014 and when I met them they were just building turnkey new construction and I was pre-selling everything for them good time to be selling and they were out in the east coast and Memphis and Columbia South Carolina and Florida And we ended up buying a piece of ground that they were going to take and build 99 townhomes on. And it was out in Charlotte, North Carolina, right at the end of where the light rail was going to be. It was a legacy lot, picked it up from the bank, stole it, right? And come to find out when we picked it up, Ryan Holmes had their eyes on it and we're just about to make the deal and they didn't. So we buy this piece of ground

and intended to build it. Our build costs were running around a hundred dollars a foot because we're smaller, right? And it wasn't probably a month after that, Tim Samuels, which worked for Ryan Holmes, came to Lindsey Jarvis and said, tracked us down and found us, man, we were about to buy that ground. He goes, well, so sorry, you know, share, get off the pot, man, you snooze, you lose. And he goes, we want to make an offer. And he's like, no, we're not interested, not selling, you know, we're going to build it out. But he kept following up with us and we were doing other projects. And it was about six seven months later he came at us look we really want to buy this piece of ground we want to make you an offer

lindsey's like fine go ahead and make us an offer i'm not promising you anything but in 24 hours had an offer on this piece of dirt and in lindsey's head he's looking at he's like something's not right here. And quick math, he's like, if we built it, took it all the way through to completion. So it makes the amount of profit, right? $20,000 a door. Right. Getting a piece of an offer for $30,000 a door profit for just flipping the land.

Yeah. It was like a light bulb moment. Yeah. It was like a light bulb moment. Yeah. Like, you can make a lot more just getting ground fully entitled and permitted and shovel ready and selling it off to the nationals. And the reason was, we were building at 100 foot, $100 foot. They were building at $67 a foot. I know, which is nuts. Yeah. Yeah.

You can't compete. Yeah. So, but what they don't have is they don't have really land divisions anymore. Right. After the last collapse. Yeah. A lot of the big builders like, look, we're not holding ground on our balance sheets anymore. They don't want to do it. No. Yeah. But they'll buy permitted shovel ready ground all day long and they'll pay a premium. Yeah. It's a business of relationships. It's a business of knowledge and experience. We've went out and hired some of the top land asset managers in the Southeast that have been taking raw ground, off-market ground to builders for years.

We bring them onto us. We facilitate all of the transactions. We make sure the contracts are tight and we triple their income. We're like, you do the same thing you've always done. Now you do it for us. Instead of making 250, 300 a year for a thousand lots, we'll give you a thousand dollars for every permit a lot, you know, that you're able to produce. So we were tripling their income. And this was this was a brilliant move. It's something that was just a niche that nobody ever really went after. And it's not something that just anybody can do.

Right. So, but that's how we fell into it. So now we raise capital and all into our reg A tier two offering. And we lend it to our strategic partners, but we only lend on the dirt, the land, the lots. That's it. We're the note and mortgage holder. And what's really interesting is the land division just recently hit another milestone. They hired a division president of the Southeast for Meritage Builders, the number five builder in the country to come as acting CEO, which he's like in the real

estate world, he's like Barbara Corcoran. Everybody knows this guy in the building industry and which is huge. So we're just about to have $1 billion of retail ground in our pipeline. It's almost 40,000 lots we own or control in the Southeast. And every one of those lots will end up in the national builder's hands and they'll be building workforce housing homes that'll be in the 250 to 500 000 price point right right huge yeah so a lot of times when when i have people on this show um you know that's that's where you are right And you got there. And a lot of times people like they listen to shit like this and like, oh, fuck, is that even possible? Right. And we were we were talking earlier on another podcast. And the one thing that you talked about was, you know, you had this insatiable desire i think everything that you do in life if you're successful is based on your mindset um and i and we're big on mindset here like take us inside of that and then obviously you your son's got some of it because you're passing it down and you decided to be in business

with them which i think is so cool like i'd love for you guys both to unpack that for me. Yeah. He will let Dylan talk about growing up in this family, you know, but, uh, real quick, I'll pass it off in just a second. You know, I, like I said earlier, I grew up poor and, um, I just got tired of wearing no name tennis shoes and my mom making my clothes and my friends having something I didn't. And I learned early on, if I wanted anything, I had to work for it. And so I was fortunate enough to born with it. But I just saw what was going on around me. And I'm like, I'm not going to let this be my future. I'm not letting this be my reality. So I went to work. I started shoveling driveways, mowing lawns, picking up sticks. I went, we went around and picked up wild berries and whatever. That's how we had jam and had pie,

you know, because my mom couldn't afford to buy them. And then whatever we had left over, we'd take to our neighbors and sell it. I sold stuff out of a catalog so I could have a tent or a bike or a baseball bat, you know, and my parents were hardworking blue collar workers, dad in construction, mama waitress. I don't think they ever took from the government, but there were times when times were lean. And I told this story earlier. I mean, I remember distinctly being told we were allowed to use four squares of toilet paper to wipe our ass. Do you know how hard it is to wipe your ass with four squares of toilet paper? I take a lot of shit today. So absolutely. Because I ate a lot of protein.

But it is mindset. I did the exact opposite of what everybody was telling me around me. Yeah. That was not going to be my reality. I changed my stars. I'm like, I can achieve more. I saw people that had more. I'm like, there's a way for me to get that and i just learned to work hard really early and i also took that mentality of if someone told me i couldn't do it i'm gonna do it and i've i've set some records i've got records on that's why they call you rockstar it's it's been an i got that nickname it wasn't one i assigned to myself which by the way it is now my legal name. It's now Brandon Rockstar Rooks. I had it changed.

I love it. But it's mindset. Can we get him a chain that says Rockstar? Oh, you need it. But it's got to have the mindset. I believe I can achieve whatever I set my mind to. I don't think any goal is too large. There's a way to reach every goal. And there's been so much proof of that with so many people that come from

humble beginnings. And I'll, my son, extremely proud of my son. Some people know, some people don't. And I'll let him talk a little bit about growing up and what he's done. I mean, he actually now can talk about a a level of success and he's got a plaque to talk about it yeah uh yeah i'll tell you this it was interesting growing up in this family uh i was taught on a lot of tough love right but i also just learned his values and lessons by watching right this man truly outworks anybody I've ever seen. That was the key factor. I mean, he just didn't play around, no bullshit, set goals and work towards them and knocked them all down. I remember times that, you know, he would set a goal for himself and be

working towards it so much so that he would never leave the damn desk in the house all day. My mom would cook lunch or dinner and bring it to his desk. He'd just eat quick and keep working. So just by watching, it taught me a lot, which is interesting because this might tailor off into something else real quick. Do you have kids? Two of them are sitting in here. No shit. Damn.

Is him right here no i mean i'm not not i i have a bunch of people that work for me that are my family but i don't have okay well that i know of for kids i got i've probably got a few floating around out there well i want to say it's interesting because you know i got a brother that necessarily didn't pick up the same drive or determination that i did right yeah i picked it up in a different way i didn't pick up the same drive or determination that I did. I picked it up in a different way. I didn't necessarily go into business like he did. I did do some sales.

And it's always harder on the second generation. Yeah. I mean, it is. I mean, that's a reality of what it is. His generation, your generation, my generation, work ethic's all different. So, I mean, that's commendable. Yeah. But, yeah, it's, i don't know man it was it was cool just seeing him always be able to

tackle through any hurdle and make something from nothing you know and that's what i wanted to do and that plays into what he's talking about yeah i did earn a plaque so i was in the music industry yeah for about 10 years i've kind of been tailoring away from it because I'm now in business with him and making a hell of a lot more money. It's still just as fun. But yeah, music was a lot of fun. I went by the stage name of Kezz, K-E-Z-Z. And man, I released a ton of music over the last 10 years.

Got to song write for a bunch of artists. The one he's talking about, I worked with Tech N9ne and T-Pain and got to work behind the scenes on one of his albums. That's really cool, man. Helped me earn a plaque recently. Gold record. Yeah, gold record, charting on Billboard. Don't be humble about that shit.

It's a lot of fun. Pull that shit out. Yeah. Yeah. It's cool as hell because he was a big child idol to me. I got an older brother 10 years older than me so he put me on to tech nine when we were living in kansas city and uh yeah it's just a hell of a lot of fun to be working with those people as my peers now

instead of just my idols but yeah i don't know i got a long story to unpack we'd be here for fucking 10 years but no but i mean the so the what's cool is the what has translated from your dad is that same mindset of like hey i i i did a record with a childhood hero you know what i mean like that's yeah i mean how many people in this world get to do that that's that's that's that's a mindset thing yeah do you know what i mean that's that's where it comes from and it's cool now you're now you're in our fucking world yeah and i think i overheard you talking i was fired up you were fired up giving a sales training and you said it's just it's the factor of never quitting right yeah for me i mean that happened

in year eight or nine of me doing music finally getting in the room with the people i was always dreaming of doing it with it took you took these fucking seven years of failure exactly your success if i would have quit in year seven i would have never done that never had that life experience so many people don't understand it it's the fucking grit yeah it's the the getting punched in the face it's the growing up poor and and the and being defined by the struggle because you know the that's the shit that breaks most people. And the people that it doesn't break are always the ones that are staying at the top of the mountain. It's true. Everybody wants it easy.

Well, they want the result. Yeah. And they want it fast. They don't want the work. And to be honest, I mean, who's the drivers? Most people just don't believe they can achieve these types of goals. And our peers, I mean, I have a very small circle of friends. Yeah.

But then I have a large circle of rock star investors, which are truly our friends. Sure. But I mean, our actual friends, that list is small, but that's what happens when you grow up from humble beginnings. I mean, most people go the other way and we just all want instant gratification and we want it to happen quick.

And it's a me, me, me world. And nobody just really dives in and figures out, I got to do this step, this step, this step to achieve it. They, like I said, they give up at step three instead of making it step five. They're not willing to put in the reps. People just don't understand over time. The reps are just going to get you better. You know, your first year on stage is nowhere near your eighth year on stage, just putting in the reps. But most people are not willing to put in the reps. And that's just what it is. You know what I mean? Yeah mean yeah i'm gonna ask you guys something we always say this in closing you guys

have given us so many fucking gems already so we call the show wake up to wealth wealth to me is not just money right there's a lot of things because there's a time in my life where you know i wanted a certain amount of money and when i got it i wasn't happy because it wasn't wealthy in my life where you know i wanted a certain amount of money and when i got it i wasn't happy because it wasn't wealthy in my mind right so wealth what is waking up to wealth to you guys and it can be anything there's no wrong answer i just want to know what it is for both of you for me it's uh it's the legacy of knowing that i'm creating something that will stand the test of time and that will be there to take care of not only my family, but friends and investors. That's the money part of it, but it's the business part. I'm building a business

that has never really been built in the U.S. that hasn't been scaled and duplicated. And I've set goals to outperform Berkshire Hathaway with Rockstar Capital. I mean, look, Warren Buffett is a great man, but he's getting up there and he's not gonna live forever. And we need a new Oracle and I'd be the Oracle of Bentonville, right? And so we're working towards driving this business

to outperform the performance of Berkshire Hathaway since 1965. And if I set a goal, it'll happen. Now, what that means is our investors win. So it's not just me looking for a way for us to have money. And by the way, if I can say this text message you sent me the other day, am I allowed to say that? Yeah, go. Whatever you want.

You showed me a seven figure almost distribution this quarter. It was. Yeah. Yeah. 1.6 million distributed. We like to share receipts. Yeah. Yeah. And that was preferred and profit sharing to our investors, which we did in Q2, we did in Q3.

We're gonna actually probably double the profit sharing in Q4, but we've never missed a distribution since the opening of the first rockstar capital fund in 2018 which there's not a lot of fucking people who can say that there's a lot of people struggling and not and they're holding back they're not allowing redemptions they're not giving them trust me i know you're not one of them which is great and uh which is another reason the brand get with the brand and name that takes care of you right there i mean it's just something about being a brandon that's right or a rock star right but uh you know i don't i don't live extravagant yeah um i can afford half a million

dollar car i don't want one personally i like to slide over into my vehicle or crawl up into it i don't like to crawl down in and i'm 55 but uh, and I don't have an extravagant $10 million home. We bought a home in Northwest Arkansas for 500,000 on six acres, 5,000 square foot swimming pool. And we've been there since 2017. It's worth a lot more now. And this is wealth to you. This is wealth. It's, I don't have to worry about income. I can buy what I want, but I can also buy for my family. And my wife gets on me all the time it's stuff coming in boxes all the time well who's that for well for a family for your sister for your brother for the kids and she's like okay she's just gotten used to it yeah you know and

i want to i want to spoil my family and do things for my investors while i'm here to see them enjoy it sure i don't want to die with all this money that I leave to my family and friends. I want to see them get to enjoy it and make their lives a little bit more easier. Yeah. But I also make sense. I'll say it for you. I'll say it for you. What he's trying to get at is that wealth to him is being able to provide for a lot

of people. Sure. And that's why he loves running this fund. And I got to say offering legally now, right? Yeah. But. Oh, yeah. We've got the say offering legally now. Right. Yeah. But. Oh, yeah. We forget the SEC shit.

Yeah. Yeah. Disclaimer. It's an offer. Disclaimer. Yeah. We had a bunch of funds and we keep. And past performance doesn't determine present performance or future performance.

Exactly. All investments are risk. Yeah. You know. Yeah. Do your own due diligence. The SEC is listening. We know.

We know our shit. That's the thing. He lives and breathes to perform for other people, not just for himself. Right. So it's cool to see. What's wealth to you? Waking up wealth to you. Yeah.

Man, I'm a little easier. Truly just waking up every day with my arms and legs, you know, being able to walk around. I've seen so many people that have it much harder. I just truly, and I tell myself this every day that I'm incredibly grateful. I say it all the time. I'm beyond blessed to have grown up in the family I did. It wasn't always easy, right? We had tons of ups and downs. I think by the time I was 16, I'd lived in five States and 15 different cities. And most people, when they asked me about that, like, man, that must have been hard.

That must have really sucked. I'm like, you know what? Yeah, at the time, it was kind of hard. There was a lot of challenges. Had to be the new kid over and over and over again, right? But my mindset was, okay, I'm getting an experience that hardly anybody ever does. Most of these kids, they grow up in that town.

They live there their whole life. They don't understand how to deal with change and deal with different environments and culture. And- see the world from a 30,000 foot view yeah so I'm just incredibly blessed for the story that I've been living out right I mean yeah it's just uh it's a lot of fun this game of life's a lot of fun and if you get to wake up every day and do it that's pretty damn cool guys I appreciate it um how can people find you because and i'm serious i don't get a fucking dollar for promoting him we don't have some affiliate shit under the table yeah he's seriously i sent him a text the other day

where someone was asking me should they invest with him and i said yes this is the other thing you have to understand is at the top, we don't compete. We collaborate. It's a difference, right? I could have easily said, give me your money. I said, no, I trust him. Give him your money. He's a safe bet.

How can people find you if they want to invest with you? Easiest way to find us is just go to rockstarcapitalfund.com. Yes, it's fun, even though it's an offering, but I'm not changing the website. So 10K minimum, accredited, non-accredited. We do third-party CPA audits. And that's one of the reasons we've merged everything into this is to make it accessible for everyone. You can invest your personal funds under an LLC, a trust. You can do self-directed IRA and invest with us. I wanted to provide a vehicle that afforded people an opportunity to invest in something, even if they had to start small, like I did. And that was important to me. And that's what we've been building towards. And

you know, it's a, we have a track record and that's one of the reasons I've gone reg a offering is. So now there's third party CPA audits, which means I got to send all my numbers up to state and SEC. And if you don't know what this means. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of Wake Up to Wealth. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcast. This way we'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review on Apple Podcast and

tell your friends about the show. It is how new people find us. Until next time.