Chapter X: "Regaining His Hustle and Enjoying the Ride" with Brent Bowers

Transcript

Are you ready to transform your financial future through mortgage note investing? Hi. I'm Jamie Bateman, host of the From Adversity to Abundance podcast. As a passionate entrepreneur myself and real estate investor myself, I've dedicated my career to empowering investors like you. Join my mentorship program tailored to meet your unique business objectives with a very small financial commitment to get started. Gain access to my personal experience, trusted consultants and vendors, and receive customized mentoring services. You'll get hands on guidance on everything from determining your buy box and reviewing your bidding processes to managing notes with third party servicers, handling collateral, and much more. Don't wait. Visit labrador lending dot com to start your journey to abundance today. Let's unlock your full potential together.

Speaker 1

This episode is a republishing of an earlier episode, which was entitled from divorced debtor to influential investor and leader with army veteran Brent Bowers. Brent is a friend of mine. He's a real estate investor and, a former army officer just like I am. And so we have a lot in common. He got a lot he got into land investing specifically, and he's also a business owner and a coach. He, deployed to Afghanistan, and we thank him for his service. And he's also one of the podcast guests we elected to feature in my book, From Adversity to Abundance. Inspiring stories of mental, physical, and financial transformation. Brent Bowers is is a fantastic interview. He he went through a painful divorce when he was young, and we talk about how he shifted his mindset. Mindset's critical in this one, and how he has a bias toward action. He's definitely a go getter, an action taker, and also the incredible importance of teamwork in success. Love this episode, and I know you're gonna love it as well.

Speaker 2

Welcome to From Adversity to Abundance, the go to podcast for real estate entrepreneurs seeking not just to thrive, but to conquer with resilience and mental sharpness. Each week, join us as we dive into the compelling world of real estate through the lens of mental fitness, where challenges transform into opportunities. Get ready to transform your mindset and expand your understanding of what it takes to succeed in real estate. Let's explore these stories of triumph and resilience together.

Speaker 1

Welcome everybody to another episode of from adversity to abundance podcast. I am your host, Jamie Bateman, and I am thrilled today that we have fellow podcaster and fellow real estate investor, Brent Bowers. Brent, how are you doing today?

Speaker 3

And just that that intro, that the fellow podcaster I mean, just thinking about that, a year and a half ago, I had never been on a podcast, and now I'm being called a podcaster. So I love it. I feel elevated already. Yeah. Just pretty much made my weakness now.

Speaker 1

Well and we also have we were both army captains. We have that in common, so we can talk about

Speaker 3

I was not a captain.

Speaker 1

Oh, you were an army officer.

Speaker 3

First lieutenant. I got the heck out before they made me captain because that's a lot of responsibility, man.

Speaker 1

Yeah. Well, I I I wasn't too far behind you in getting out, though. But, anyway, I'm excited to have you. I asked Brent for the listeners out there, I asked Brent before we hit record, you know, which which business do you want me to associate with you with? And the you know, because Brent, you've got, what, five or six businesses that that people know about at least?

Speaker 3

Yeah. That's right. The ones I tell people there's some that I don't even tell my wife about. Not that they're weird or anything, but she would just be like, are you serious? So I I just stopped talking to her about it. Yeah.

Speaker 1

No. That's pretty yeah. That's I've gotten to that point too where it's like, yeah. I just created a business yesterday. Yeah. So but, you know, Brent Bauer's the land man. You said what might be a good one or the land land shark dot com, I know, is one of your your sites. Right?

Speaker 3

Yeah. We got the land sharks dot com. That's the one I'm I'm, one of the ones that that it's more ex one of my more exciting businesses, I should say.

Speaker 1

Gotcha. Well, before we dive into your background, why don't you touch on exactly kind of what you have going on today? I know it's twenty seven trillion things, but kind of at a high level, who are you? What do you do?

Speaker 3

Yeah. Who I am? I'm a real estate investor. I'm a business owner. I have a team, like and let me put some emphasis on my team. I literally just hung up with my executive assistant. She lives in Florida as well, but she's pretty much in the middle of the state. And I told her, I was like, I couldn't do it without you ladies. Like, you guys pretty much run the show. Most of the time, they're telling me what's going on. I'm the guy that's like, hey. We should do this. And they're the ones who's like, well, have you thought about this, this, and that? Like, the the first the the second and third order effects of it. Right. So it didn't always it wasn't always like that, though. Two thousand seven, I just got my real estate license. I always wanted to be a real estate rock star, and I had to take that freaking test, like, three times. I have a lot of excuses why, but here we go. It just took me three times to pass a Florida real estate license. And then I'm one of those guys. I just take action. I bought my first rental in two thousand seven, right after I got that license. And then two thousand eight happened, and, like, it's like someone ripped the rug right out from underneath me, and I quit. I pretty much quit on real estate.

Speaker 1

Okay. Now I we're we're gonna get into that. I, and for those who are unaware, Brent was on you were on our good deeds, note investing podcast with Chris and me, and we, I had some feedback from somebody afterwards. It was, like, actually recently. He's like, oh, I remember that guy. That guy is that dude's a hustler, man. That guy is a baller. So I think he said he Wait

Speaker 3

a minute. He must have listened to somebody else's podcast.

Speaker 1

Yeah. He probably he meant the host. I'm sure. Okay.

Speaker 3

But, that's

Speaker 1

that's what he meant. But no. I mean, from your story, I do recommend the listeners go back and listen to that because, you know, there's we're not gonna cover all of that detail here as far as your investing story, but you are definitely an action taker, for sure. So so two thousand eight well, I guess quitting can be an action. Right?

Speaker 3

Yes. Absolutely. We all quit. You know? Yep. I remember my my, freshman year in high actually, no. It was my sophomore year in high school football. I was gonna quit, and my dad talked me out of it because I was doing two a day practices in the summer while running my lawn service, and I was just smoked. And I was like, I shouldn't be doing this as a kid. Like, I got in my head again. I'm like, why why am I doing all this? Mhmm. And my dad just talked to me about your team. Like, you're gonna let them all down if you quit. Mhmm. And, like, I'll never forget that advice. And then it's just like, here we are talking about adversity to abundance. That's my adversity. Like, I quit in two thousand eight when I shouldn't have, but it all worked out really well.

Speaker 1

So we'll we'll go back into your backstory. But so so right now, what do you have going on? Kind of you've got the land flipping business, and and what else do you have going on?

Speaker 3

Yeah. I quit until about two thousand thirteen. It started back up, but this today, currently, you know, I have a team, very small team. There's about ten of us, and we just hired an in house accountant to kinda keep our Oh, wow. Books straight. We outran our, fractional CFO and, bookkeeping service and all that. We're playing catch up. But, we we flip houses. We we flip land. And my favorite, my the holy grail of passive income is we create notes, and that's how you and I met, Jamie. Yep. We create notes by selling land on seller financing, and it's, like, literally the best kept secret ever. I mean, I buy a piece of land at thirty, forty cents on the dollar and sell it for a hundred cents on the dollar plus interest for the longest term possible. And sometimes ten ten to fifteen x our money on land, but actually, I shouldn't even say it's actually more than ten to fifteen x if we borrow the money to buy it Yeah. And then turn around and arbitrage it. It's actually a infinite return.

Speaker 1

Yeah. Because you don't have any money left in the deal. Exactly. That's awesome. So and that's kinda your what would you say is your primary focus right now from a business standpoint?

Speaker 3

You know, it it varies. I kinda step back into my land business because the last year and a half, I've really been focusing on on growing the LandSharks. I teamed up with Wholesaling Inc, as my kind of publishing agency to start teaching people how to buy and sell land and create businesses around it. And we really had a strong emphasis. I was teaching a lot of veterans and active duty military because I speak that language. That's I literally was running from that because I was always deployed and always gone and always away and always training. So I needed to get out because I wanted to see my children more often. So I talk very well to people that are kinda going through that same thing, but that's been my focus for the last year and a half. I've now stepped back into my land investing business because I wanna keep building that, and I'm not where I wanna be. I I'm seeing what's possible with all my students. Several of my students have built businesses that make mine look like a little dwarf. So now my means you're doing a good job. Right?

Speaker 1

You're a good

Speaker 3

I guess. For a while, I was just jealous. And then I was like, okay. I'm a good coach. But now I'm inspired because I'm like, holy crap. If if they can do it Yeah. I'm the guy teaching it. I'm gonna blow this thing up now.

Speaker 1

That's awesome. No. That's the abundance mindset that we're gonna get to. So as we back up here, let's get back into your backstory. And, obviously, the show is is about overcoming adversity. You're getting through adversity. We all face challenges in life. You and I are still gonna have adversity going forward. So we're never done with that. And, you know, it's not a light bulb kind of switch from adversity to abundance, but I know I know that you've been through some challenges in life, so you can pick it up wherever you want as far as childhood, adolescence, you know, military, whatever you wanna start with, but let's, hone in on a couple of, maybe one thing that stands out from an adversity standpoint, that you faced.

Speaker 3

Yeah. I mean, we can go back to two thousand eight. I bought that. I had just got married as well in two thousand seven. We bought that house rental property, and I just started pulling the trigger. And I left my lawn and landscape business that I had built since, like, sixth grade.

Speaker 1

Mhmm.

Speaker 3

My dad ended up taking it over. Me and my, wife moved to the coast of West Palm Beach. I started selling real estate. And very soon after that, I ended up having to tell my landlord that, hey. Here's your thirty day notice. I'm not gonna be able to afford next month's, rent. Wow. And there ended up being a huge buyout for me to get out of that lease, ended up wrecking my credit that I literally found out my credit was trashed about two years later while I was on a deployment to Afghanistan because I was actually trying to purchase a new lawnmower for the lawn business that my dad took over. And they're like, you've got a about a five hundred and ninety credit score because of this, that, and the other. And I'm like, holy cow. That's from that lease that I broke. But, you know, it's amazing how you can do one thing, and two years later, you you just pay the, pay the the price of it. Sure. So I ended up moving in with my in laws into a nine hundred square foot house. Here we are, four adults now living in one house plus a, a small child, which was my wife's, younger sister. And let me tell you, I went from a business owner to a real estate licensed agent, which I still have my license, to a rental property owner, to moving in with my in laws. And that's quite humbling, when I you go from making great money to no money, and you're paying credit card bills with or credit cards with credit cards.

Speaker 1

Wow. And how how old were you at this point? Just

Speaker 3

you know, I was I was about to turn twenty four, and my my wife at the time, I really, really respected her grandpa. And I respected her mom too. Her mom was actually my real estate broker.

Speaker 1

Okay.

Speaker 3

And her grandpa said her grandpa let me back up a little bit. Her grandpa actually introduced me to Jim Rohn, not personally, but through cassette tapes. And I think I talked about this

Speaker 1

some of

Speaker 3

the podcast. Well, I converted all those things from cassette to CD and would listen to these things driving down the road, and that was that's where I was introduced to personal development and started realizing that life's not happening to me. It's happening for me. Mhmm. And another thing my, wife's grandpa said to me was join the military. Go back to school. You can do this over. Like, it's not you can you can kinda do a reset. So once again, action taker. I'm at the recruiter station at the air force. They wouldn't take me. Air force would not take me. I jumped through all their hoops, a lot of their hoops, but, unfortunately, not high enough. And luckily, the air force recruiter said, hey. Go next door to the millet or to the army. They'll pretty much take anybody. So I'm coachable. I went next door and joined the army, and I'm in basic training, like, two months later.

Speaker 1

Got it. Okay. So, I mean, with everything you just breeze through, I mean, that's that's a lot of that's a big like you said, it was humbling. But touch on kinda your mindset at that point in time that when you were struggling, as far as yeah. Go ahead.

Speaker 3

You know, just praying for opportunity every night and, like, dear lord, like, I'll I'll I'll be a better tither, like, all these things, but here I am sleeping in till, like, ten AM in the morning, but I was also working late. Right? That was my excuse. Oh, I'm working late. But I still could have gotten up early. You know, some of the things that were ingrained in me in the military. Like, now it's like, I pretty much just wake up automatically at four AM. And Mhmm. Either I lay there in bed feeling guilty, or most of the days of the week, I just get up and and get some stuff done or, you know, do a bible study or read a book or or whatever. Start, you know, taking action. But yeah. I mean, you know, I look back at the at the person I was back then

Speaker 1

Mhmm.

Speaker 3

And that's who needed the change. It wasn't the economy. It wasn't the dang real estate market. Everyone wants to blame two thousand eight. Like, I bet you people I know people that absolutely freaking crushed it in two thousand eight.

Speaker 1

Right.

Speaker 3

And Sure. One of those guys I'll I'll just do a shout out right now. His name is Michael Jake. His biggest problem is all of his friends have regular jobs, and he doesn't have to work. You know?

Speaker 1

Yeah. So he he can't relate to them on some level. But yeah. Gotcha. So okay. So join the military, and then what?

Speaker 3

So join the military, and the hustler came back out. That

Speaker 1

gave me. Nice.

Speaker 3

I I joined as a e one, and I'm let me tell you, my it still was not covering my bills, my e one salary. So I just had this hustle and basic training. I was pulling FireGuard for guys at night. I was, like, making the bunk beds in the morning. You were an entrepreneur

Speaker 1

already. I mean, you were already an entrepreneur before that, but you were using your hustle hustler skills hustling skills in basic training.

Speaker 3

Whenever graduation came, we got that one day to kinda go and celebrate with family. I had, like, a pocket full of cash, and I was like, okay. I'm gonna spend some of this now.

Speaker 1

Did you, did you get well, you probably didn't have they probably switched over the boots by then because we had people doing, boot shining for people. Yeah.

Speaker 3

There was no shining boots in my thank god, man. Yeah. It was

Speaker 1

like five bucks to get your boots shined or something like that. But there were guys that were, like, all night long shining boots, you know, making making a lot of money.

Speaker 3

Wow. Yeah. I'll tell you. And then AIT came, and then we would have dress blue inspection. Actually, it was dress it was our our AC our greens back then, and I would iron those for these guys Mhmm. On Fridays, because they would have to do an inspection to get their weekend pass, and I wasn't going out on weekend passes. I didn't like, my wife lived, you know, in the next state over. Like, we weren't seeing each other very often. So I would rack up money doing that. And then Mhmm. It's time to move again. And, you know, just, off to Germany And, basically, I was stationed there for three years and then was on back to back deployment schedule and, you know, made money in on deployments. I would literally buy cartons of cigarettes. I I never really I've never told this story on a

Speaker 1

podcast before. Here we go, people. This is it. But I

Speaker 3

would drive off Bob Shank in a government Humvee onto the Afghan compound and buy cartons of cigarettes for twenty bucks, literally risk my stupid life, and then drive back onto our our fob, and sell the packs of cigarettes to my buddies for, like, ten dollars a pack. And then one day, I started feeling bad about that and it stopped. However, it's a probably a good thing. But little things like that. Always making money. Yeah. And then fast forward to two thousand thirteen, this is another, you know, adverse, like, adversity for me is, my first wife was like, I'm done. I'm out of here. Like, you're never you never hear, I'm out. So that kinda crushed me hard because recently, right after that, I was pulled out of Afghanistan. The army sends me to active duty green to gold. They paid me to go to school, my e five salary. I went from e one to e five in four year or, like, two years. By the fourth year, they're pulling me out, send me to school. Finally getting the money under control.

Speaker 1

Yeah. And,

Speaker 3

I'm back in real estate.

Speaker 1

For those unfamiliar, e one is a private the the lowest ranking, member of the military. Right? Yeah. And then e five is a sergeant, but the lowest sergeant. Right? Yeah. And then but but you're moving up the ranks, and then green to gold. So then you're on track to become an officer. Right?

Speaker 3

Right. Exactly. Two thousand thirteen, I I get you know, I I I take my rank off, but I keep my e five status. I'm paid I'm literally still active duty, getting paid to go to school, which was amazing. You know, I had to build these huge packets, and it took me two years in a row, to to get accepted. But I literally had the opportunity of a lifetime in in in in the military now. I'm getting paid to go to college. I buy a rental house right next to the college. It literally touches the the land of Florida Tech, and I start doing something called house hacking. I didn't know what it was called back then, but I had roommates, basically, and I'm making money to live there. And this is my start back up in the real estate, and that's really what catapulted me.

Speaker 1

Yeah. That's awesome. And I think that's I've never really done house hacking, but, and I know Brandon Turner likes to take credit for that that term. But, it was going on. He doesn't take credit for the the strategy, I don't think. But

Speaker 3

They coined it. I mean Yeah.

Speaker 1

They did. But, I mean, it's one of the best ways if if that fits your your, you know, family circumstances at that time. If if you can make that work, I think it's one of the most powerful ways to get to really, put rocket fuel on your your real real estate and wealth building, you know, career path. So that's awesome. So you you're kinda like sounds like you're rebounding or, so you're you're you're rebounding from from your divorce at that point. Is that what's going on? Okay.

Speaker 3

Absolutely.

Speaker 1

Alright. Yep. So what's what's your mindset at that point? You

Speaker 3

know, it was tough. Like, I'm I'm now, like, twenty four when I joined. Five, six, seven. I'm actually about twenty seven or about to turn twenty eight. I'm the old guy in college.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Speaker 3

I'm surrounded by, like, eighteen, nineteen, twenty one year olds, and thank God I didn't have any gray hairs at that time. But, you know, I just put my head down and did my I'm I'm literally taking, like, eight or nine classes classes because I have twenty one months to get a four year degree, and a lot of my none of my, I I won't name the colleges for for the sake of your podcast, but none of my credits transferred from this, university of blah blah blah online

Speaker 1

school that

Speaker 3

I've been taking for the last four years. Oh. So taking, like, nine classes and fixed this house up, house hacked it, and literally did what's called a, VA streamline loan. And the bank actually refinanced me within, like, two months of living there, lowered my interest rate, and then gave me fifty five or fifty five thousand cash. And I purchased the house down the street, And then I put sweat equity in that. Me and my neighbor who owned a a construction company every night would work on that, then rented that one out and then started wholesaling houses, you know, because I went to a private school. I had to pay for some of these classes after my after my cap hit. But, you know, that game introduced me to wholesaling houses. And then, and that during that time, I met, my my wife, Emily, the love of my life, and we decided that she's gonna come with me to the next duty station. We got married, and, now we have three children together.

Speaker 1

Nice. I I and, again, this this show is not about me, but so we were both army officers. I also ran a a lawn and landscaping company back in the

Speaker 3

day kidding.

Speaker 1

Which is still in existence today. It's not I don't own it. But, and then my wife's name is Emily as well. So That

Speaker 3

is wild. So I knew everything except for the Emily. I

Speaker 1

didn't know your

Speaker 3

wife's name is Emily.

Speaker 1

Yep. I so yeah. We better check.

Speaker 3

We might live in the same neighborhood.

Speaker 1

What's your name again? No. There's actually it's funny funny thing. I, just resigned permanently from my my position with Department of Defense. I was working part time for about eight years, seven years, I guess. But there was another, James Bateman there, and turns out, the crazy part is so out of this huge organization, there were only two James Batemans, and then he comes into my organization. We're in the same organization, like, small, you know, group. And, then one day, I'm walking by him, and I and we realized that he somebody says, like, oh, how was your birthday yesterday to him? And it was it had been my birthday. So, yeah, same birthday, same name, kinda crazy. There's some stories about that one. But yeah. So, hopefully, I don't even wanna ask you what your birthday is because that would be too weird.

Speaker 3

I'll tell you after you stop the recording. Alright.

Speaker 1

So okay. So now what year did did we end off? Where where are we in your story?

Speaker 3

Yeah. We're, we'll just fast forward to jumping out to two thousand fifteen, when it's time to move to Fort Carson. Got married. Very soon after, we found out we're having a baby, and we bought our first house at Fort Carson, Colorado. And I used the equity from that, a third rental property, took out a home equity line of credit, and bought a triplex right in the city of Colorado Springs. So I've hit the ground running. I'm wholesaling houses, while working, like, a thirteen hour army day. And I was doing it all by just getting up early. I had to be on base by six to to do PT or physical training. And from four to six was my power hour, and I really had a huge why. And a lot of lot of times, people are trying to figure out their why, and I didn't know what mine was until I finally got out of the military while I was working so hard. But my why was I was not gonna let damn history repeat itself again on me. Like, I was not gonna have another wife, like, you know, take off because I'm always gone, always training, always deployed, always away. And, you know, and I loved being in the military, but it was hard it's hard on the family. And now I've got children, and it really hit me when that first baby, my my first, son came out. And I was like, okay. I've got about two and a half years. I put it in my packet even though everyone was saying don't do it. They're not gonna approve it. They're not letting army officers out right now. I didn't care. I didn't listen to the naysayers because there's always someone who's gonna try and tell you to not do something. Mhmm. And, literally, a girl with the same year group as me got denied and, you know, by the grace of God, they approved mine. Or maybe I just sucked as an army officer. I don't

Speaker 1

know.

Speaker 3

But, and that was my timeline. I had about two years to make it work, and I was searching for answers, kinda like the the adversity to abundance podcast. And I heard about a guy flipping land, buying and selling land overnight. And I'm already kinda haphazardly wholesaling houses, but it's hard. Like, you gotta go and create rapport with these sellers. Like, you can't just be in and out and get a contract. Mhmm. I heard about land, and I'm like, why am I not nailing land? And that's what did it for me. In my second, land sale, I created a note, and it paid me every month, and that was where my paradigm shifted. And I said, I only have to do this about eleven more times to completely be financially free.

Speaker 1

That's awesome. So prior to land, who were you learning from or, you know, how were you doing your your real estate?

Speaker 3

Wholesaling Inc. Tom Kroll, the original founder of Wholesaling Inc, which I've got the honor to be a coach for now.

Speaker 1

Nice. Okay. And then got into land, and now you do your own coaching of land as well. Right? Is that true?

Speaker 3

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I Alright. Teach with Wholesaling Inc. People how to build land business just like I've got.

Speaker 1

That's awesome. So can you give us kinda, like you don't have to give us numbers, but what does your business look like from kind of a portfolio or maybe even an income standpoint? Yeah. We've done

Speaker 3

a little over, three hundred and eighty five ish land deals, and we've got currently a little over a hundred notes every single month paying us, for the land that we sold. And the first, the first note I ever did was four hundred dollars a month. So, you know, we we can count on that. Some of those are five year loans. Some of them are thirty year loans, which I really prefer because if you look at the way the bank set these amortization schedules up, the first five to seven years is, like, interest interest.

Speaker 1

Yep.

Speaker 3

So it's a no brainer. I mean, it's I wouldn't shouldn't say a no brainer. Albert Einstein said, you know, those that understand compound interest earn it, and those that don't pay it. So I'm doing my best to prettiest buildings in every city and every state of this country. Yeah.

Speaker 1

And they've got something

Speaker 3

figured out.

Speaker 1

So did you ever think you would be where you are now?

Speaker 3

No. Absolutely not. Well, let me that that's totally incorrect what

Speaker 1

I just

Speaker 3

said. I knew I will be somebody one day and and doing things, that I think I would have these successful all these successful businesses. No. I couldn't quite see it. I knew I was gonna do something one day and be very successful. But, yeah, it's amazing what what you can accomplish in just a few short years.

Speaker 1

Yeah. Awesome. So is there anything else you wanna add as far I'm gonna fire off some questions. But, any other kind of takeaways from the adversity that you went through that you wanna touch on?

Speaker 3

Yeah. I mean, it just taken straight from the Bible, this too shall pass. You know? There's peaks and there's valleys. And if it wasn't for the valleys, there wouldn't be peaks. If it wasn't for the peaks, there wouldn't be valleys. So we have to go through that time, and, you know, it's hard to say or it's hard to, like, really appreciate your situation when you're going through it, but you just gotta enjoy the ride. And sometimes it's gonna be raining on you, and sometimes it's gonna be, you know, sunny roses. And, I'll tell you, it's just like, you just gotta just keep pushing forward and, just just take the action, really. I mean, we got the we got libraries that we can go into for free and learn this stuff. We've got YouTube. My I I teach this stuff every day on my YouTube channel. It's free. But here's the the one, like, recommendation is you just just gotta stop and take the action. Get out of learn mode and start taking the action with everything you learn.

Speaker 1

Yeah. It's really good. That's that's all really good. Yeah. I mean, it that's really one of the key points of this this show is that you're not the the goal shouldn't be to avoid adversity or challenges or trials. Right? I mean, it's of course, nobody seeks them out on purpose. Right? I I'm not looking for more trouble, but that shouldn't be the ultimate goal because it's gonna happen. So what do you what do you do with it when it does? Alright. I'm gonna fire off some questions, and we'll see where it goes. What do people misunderstand about you?

Speaker 3

I don't know. If they don't understand, I should have known that. You know, I guess why my butt's always burning. Like, why, like, you know and and I I love the what Art Williams said, you know, since I don't know why my butt's always burning. Like, Art, I'm like, Art, you gotta do something. You gotta go for it. You gotta try something. I mean, if if you haven't heard Art Williams' just do it speech, like, I love that that speech.

Speaker 1

Okay.

Speaker 3

So maybe that's it. Like, people don't understand why my butt's always burning.

Speaker 1

Alright. I like it. What would you say was one of your biggest failures, and what what did you learn from that?

Speaker 3

I would say my biggest failure was just probably quitting, and doing what I because I was on to something. It was just gonna take longer than what I planned with with the, with the real estate in the beginning Mhmm. In two thousand seven.

Speaker 1

Okay. Got it. And you were doing you that's when you got your license and you that was in West Palm Beach?

Speaker 3

Yeah. Yeah. So I was already kinda start I mean, I bought that first rental in two thousand seven. I should've just kept buying them.

Speaker 1

Kept going.

Speaker 3

Kept buying. Kept buying.

Speaker 1

I was just in West Palm Beach about a month ago, but and I imagine they got hit really hard in two thousand eight, I would guess. But if you were given ten million dollars tomorrow, what would you do with it?

Speaker 3

Well,

Speaker 1

I'm not saying you don't have ten million dollars. I'm just saying if somebody wrote you a check for ten million dollars, what would you do with it?

Speaker 3

I mean, I've got a land deal right now. We're looking actually, two of them. I could probably buy both of them, actually.

Speaker 1

Mhmm.

Speaker 3

So I'm actually raising money for it. So I wouldn't have to raise the money. I would just have the money.

Speaker 1

Okay. Nice. Yeah. You mentioned, a little bit about that before we hit record. If you had to eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Speaker 3

Oh, man. Definitely spaghetti. Duh.

Speaker 1

Stupid question. Alright. How about what is the challenge you're facing in your business right now? You mentioned raising capital is something you're focused on.

Speaker 3

Just getting, you know, a challenge right now is I I'd mentioned we had outrun our bookkeepers and the the, fractional CFO we had. I've How

Speaker 1

do you recently What is that? I'm sorry to cut you off. I'm just what is what is a fractional CFO?

Speaker 3

Basically, it's a CFO that works for other companies, not just yours. Yeah. And the bookkeeping team that was managing all all the books for my, companies, the land and the houses and the and the coaching. We just got too far ahead of them that they couldn't keep up with our transactions. So we just hired a in house bookkeeper that she's in our culture. She's in our family. So that's my number one challenge. And, you know, I I'm already seeing the light, you know, at the end of the tunnel. So

Speaker 1

Well, it is, May third right now. And so, I can I think a lot of people can probably feel your pain right now as far as small business owners, and, you know, we just kinda got through I don't know if there even is a tax season? I feel like tax season is year round now. But

Speaker 3

It is. It is. It's Yeah.

Speaker 1

I I struggle with with that as well with my businesses. It's definitely a pain point. Yeah. I just hired

Speaker 3

a accountant with the MBA, so I've got high, high, high hopes.

Speaker 1

Awesome. No pressure. New new team member.

Speaker 3

I hope she's listening. She actually used to meet my neighbor, by the way. I didn't know it until I

Speaker 1

hired her. Nice. What is one piece of advice you'd give to someone starting out in in real estate, we'll say?

Speaker 3

Yes. You know, you've listened to enough podcast. You've read enough books. Just start taking action and, go out and make some mistakes. And, oh, make mistakes. Like, they're gonna happen. You already said it, Jamie.

Speaker 1

Just go

Speaker 3

out there and start pulling the trigger. Our mistakes will sometimes turn into our, you know, our best, you know Yeah. Abundance. Big wins. Yep. A huge win.

Speaker 1

Absolutely. Alright. What's a book you would recommend?

Speaker 3

The wealthy gardener. I love the book.

Speaker 1

That's a that's a great one. That's really good. Yeah. That's a I've recommended that as well on podcast. It's, it's like a fiction slash nonfiction Yeah. Book. And that guy, man, he just set his mind to it, and he just crushed it.

Speaker 3

Yeah. Such a great I really prefer that that one on Audible Okay. Because it's such a story in the in the way he tells it. I think I even mentioned it on the good deeds podcast. I just I just really like that book.

Speaker 1

Yeah. It's a good one. Speaking of podcasts, what other podcasts you have your own podcast. Right?

Speaker 3

The Wholesomeing podcast. Yep.

Speaker 1

And then what other podcast do you listen to? Any others?

Speaker 3

I don't real I don't listen to podcasts anymore. I used to literally consume them when I was searching for answers, how how to build a business that would get me out of the military.

Speaker 1

Yep. Got it. How do you like to serve others?

Speaker 3

You know, one, just, well, let me back up. I was walking out of the gym yesterday, and I wanna do a start, doing a fundraiser for feed the children for my county. That's something I I just it just popped into my head. I think a lot of these things, you know, are God inspired, like, when we get to these just random ideas.

Speaker 1

Number two, I teach people how to,

Speaker 3

you know, build businesses that serve them. And then three, you know, filling, just pouring into my team and my organization. I mean, one of our team members that I hired in April two thousand seventeen, she literally just paid off all of her debt. So, those are a couple of different ways.

Speaker 1

Yeah. No. I'm glad I asked that one. Those are those are some good ones. And you said walking out of the gym just as as we start to wrap up here. I I just think that's, you know, creating that space mentally. I mean, you went to the gym, I would guess, for a physical workout. Right? But I know for me, a lot of times, I have really what I think are good ideas. Yeah. When I'm not in the weeds and I'm I'm going for a walk or I'm doing a workout or some you know, we're creating I've created that space, the mental space to have those those good ideas. So that's that's really good. And and, knowing you, I think you're gonna actually do that.

Speaker 3

Well, now that I said it, I mean, I kinda have to.

Speaker 1

Right.

Speaker 3

So and but the the first thing and I'll tell you, within that same seed that came to my mind, guess what came right after that was fear? Fear of failure and fear of rejection. Well, what if it doesn't go well? Like, what are people gonna think of me? What if no one shows up to the events? So we we all get stopped by fear of failure and fear of rejection. And I'll I know exactly why we have these stimulating thoughts and these ideas and that while we're usually getting some type of physical activity or, you know what? I'm just gonna make that call, Like, whatever. I'm I don't know why I've been shredding it. It's because when we when we get up, when we build up something called endorphins, it is literally the the antidote to cortisol. Cortisol is fear. It's the pause button. It's what kept us alive, you you know, when we were running from the saber tooth tigers. But the the the or the antidote, I should say, is the endorphins. So that's why people need to get out and take those walks or take those jogs or or just do push ups and air squats and some jumping jacks right before they go into that tough meeting, or they gotta make that phone call that they're afraid to do because we're that we're afraid that that person on the other line is gonna reject this.

Speaker 1

Yeah. That's awesome. But I thought you'd reached abundance, and then you don't now you don't have any more fear.

Speaker 3

It's a daily it's like like Jim Rohn says, you gotta take a shower at least once a day. So, I mean, I'm in Florida right now. I pretty much have to take twice a day. But it the the motivation wears off. It's a daily battle. It's it's it's just constant.

Speaker 1

Yeah. I love it. I think our listeners are really gonna be able to you're you're very relatable, so I think this will be really good. Two more questions. What's with the rhino behind you?

Speaker 3

I'm so glad you asked. So the rhino tribe wholesaling inc, you know, I got it from a great book called, rhinoceros success by Scott Alexander. That's my number two book. Okay. That should be the number one, but you always have to be charging. You know, rhinoceros have three inch thick skin, and they're taking torpedoes on daily. We're always charging. You don't wanna be like the fat cow just sitting there chewing the grass. You wanna be charging. So what does that mean? Have your running shoes right next to your bed. As soon as you get up, hit the ground running.

Speaker 1

Love it. My, my one nephew is a big fan of rhinos, so he's gonna have to listen to this one. Alright. Last but not least, where can our listeners find you online if they wanna reach out to you?

Speaker 3

Yeah. Thanks for asking. I mentioned the YouTube channel. I just started YouTube channel, very recently, and I put a video out five days a week. I just asked people go and smash that red button. Subscribe to that channel. Even if you don't like the content, just still hit that red button.

Speaker 1

Yeah. But when I was I I did pause my YouTube videos because it is you know, it's a lot of work. But, It is. My one nephew that's that was a couple years ago kept saying smash that like button. So yeah. But no. It's it it means a lot to the it's I mean, like you said, like we both said, it's a it is a lot of work putting out content, especially if you're doing it five times a week. Of course, there's hopefully something in it for you monetarily. But, One day. One day. But, it does go a long way if if people if the listeners will go out and, you know, like your videos, Brent's videos, and as well as, your podcast. And, and same with this show, it really does go a long way if we can get some keep on building on the momentum we've created here with, shares and likes and reviews. It's not just not just me saying that. It really does help. So, Brett, I really wanna thank you, for coming on. Do you have any parting words for us?

Speaker 3

Yeah. I mean, I'm gonna just ride the train you just built there. You know? Guys, if you have not subscribed from from adversity to abundance podcast, do so and do a five star review and share this podcast with someone that needs to get their butt in gear, and they need to cancel Netflix. So show show some love to Jamie. Like, this is a lot of work. So thanks for doing all this, Jamie.

Speaker 1

That's awesome, Brent. I really appreciate it, and thanks a lot for coming on. And to our listeners out there, thanks for spending your most valuable resource with us, your time. Take care.

Speaker 2

Thank you for joining us on From Adversity to Abundance. We hope today's episode has equipped you with valuable insights and practical advice to elevate your real estate journey. For more inspiring stories and resources, visit us at w w w dot adversity to abundance dot com. If this episode has inspired you, please share it with a friend who could also benefit from our conversation. Together, let's turn adversity into abundance. Until next time, keep building your mental fitness and your real estate empire.

Speaker 1

Hey, everyone. This is Jamie Bateman. Real quickly, I wanted to share with you something, that's been pivotal in the growth and success of my businesses, and that is my partnership with Haven Financial Services. I've been working with Haven for over a year now. Christine Valdez was on episode seventy of this podcast. So go check that out if you wanna hear her story. It was a fantastic personal story for sure. But Haven has been awesome. They provide me with monthly reports that are super clear and discernible, and it that provides me with clarity and focus so that I can do what I do best, which is running my businesses, not preparing financial reports. Again, if you're in the market for top notch financial service company, or if you just wanna check one out, go to w w w dot jamie bateman slash haven and check out Haven Financial Services. Again, that's jamie bateman slash haven. Can't recommend them enough. Christine and her team have been fantastic. So I definitely recommend you check out Haven Financial Services at w w w dot jamie bateman forward slash haven. Let's get back to the show.

Chapter X: "Regaining His Hustle and Enjoying the Ride" with Brent Bowers

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