Episode Rerun: From Used Car Salesman to Multi-Millionaire Real Estate Investor with Corey Peterson

Speaker 0

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

Hey, everyone. Before I jump into the recap of today's awesome episode, I wanted to quickly share some feedback we just got about our podcast. This person reached out through our website, labrador lending dot com. They said that they listened to From Adversity to Abundance as well as the Rich Dad podcast, the, Peter Schiff and Trends Journal podcasts. So, apparently, we're in good company. But this person also said, I'm retiring in less than four years. They're looking to find a way to generate additional income. But they said, in any case, I really enjoy your podcast. It keeps my spirits up during these last two years of craziness to hear how others have overcome adversity. So that's very inspiring for for us, for me as the host. And so I just wanna thank Jan for sending in that feedback, and we love hearing from from the listener out there, so feel free to reach out. I'm super thankful that we're able to impact even a handful of people in a positive way. But we love your input and, happy to take, take input on on on the show. In today's episode, I got the chance to chat with Corey Peterson of Kahuna Investments. Corey runs a, a multifamily investing firm as well as now a property management company. He's been on, Fox, CBS, ABC, and NBC affiliates, and he's got, he's working on a third book. He's got a couple of books out already, so he's an author. And it's truly a rags to riches story that is is very relatable, and, you know, it's it's a it's a moving one for sure. So we talk about kind of a couple of different points in in Corey's life where he had some some mental switches, that happened. And, you know, one where he was he grew up poor and, was then exposed to wealth and realized, you know, what's possible. And so then that was a huge mental change for him, and then he started, down the path of creating wealth through real estate. We also focus a good bit on he tells the story of a a real low point, which, unfortunately, a lot of people can relate to, with regard to being being a workaholic and not being the best father. He wasn't around. You you'll hear the you'll hear the story. I I can't do it any justice. But what I love about it is is he did make that switch, and he recognized where he was screwing up. And he and he is very intentional now about his calendar and his time and planning vacations with his family. And, he shows you that it's very possible to create abundance both in the financial, aspect of things as well as the fam in your family life. And so those don't have to be mutually exclusive. And so now he's got boundaries. Some might call it balance, but he's got he re reprioritized things in his life. And, I mean, he is, very successful, you know, on the financial side of things, but you can tell that it's all about relationships. That's another key takeaway from this one is even within his business, he's he's all about relationships and people. So he I I this is a a great episode, and you're gonna take a lot of a lot of positive, impact from this one. Thanks, everyone. 

Speaker 2

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Speaker 3

Welcome to the From Adversity to Abundance podcast. Are you an entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur? Then this show is for you. Each week, we bring you impactful stories of real people who have overcome painful human adversity to create a life of abundance. You are not alone in your struggle. Join us, and you will experience the power of true stories and gain practical knowledge from founders who have turned poverty into prosperity and weakness into wealth. This podcast will encourage you through your health, relationship, and financial challenges so you can become the hero in your quest for freedom. Take ownership of the life you are destined to live. Turn your adversity into abundance. 

Speaker 1

Welcome, everybody, to another episode of the from adversity to abundance podcast. I am your host, Jamie Bateman. And today, I'm thrilled to have with us Corey Peterson of Kahuna Investments. Corey, how are you doing today? 

Speaker 4

Man, I'm doing well. Thank you, Jamie, for having me on. I really appreciate it. 

Speaker 1

Absolutely. We really appreciate you taking the time. I know you've we're gonna talk about time here, I think, on this one, but time is obviously a very valuable resource for all of us. So we appreciate you taking taking your time to impart some wisdom on us. Tell us, you know, who you are today and and what you're up to with your business and, you know, why why we should listen to you. 

Speaker 4

Well, I don't know why you should listen to me, but, I think I I know a couple of things about failing, adversity, and, really getting kicked in the nuts, and but able to survive and persevere. I think the entrepreneur creed is, like, the sooner you learn how to fail, and fail faster, they actually faster you'll succeed. So, today, I am a multifamily operator. I think I own, like, two hundred and thirty million dollars worth of commercial real estate across the United States. We're vertically integrated. I mean, we have our own management company. We self manage our our assets. We have got about, I don't know, forty employees on that side of, the ball. And, but I love real estate. I love what it does. And, but it it wasn't always perfect. Right? So, but, truly, I'm living my best life. I enjoy what I do. I speak. I teach. I coach and run a mastermind. So we kinda do a little bit of all, but, mainly, my proudest thing that I am is it has nothing to do with real estate. Mhmm. And it's more about, my proudest achievement is I feel like I've been a full time dad 

Speaker 1

That's awesome. 

Speaker 4

And a and a good husband to my wife. Most of 

Speaker 1

the time. Hey. I've got kids and and a wife and, it's it can be and I'm an entrepreneur. I'm a real estate investor. And, you know, I know a lot of our listeners can relate to what you're saying. So it can be challenging to do all of the above at least well. So I think we're gonna we're gonna dive into that in a little bit here. So what just before we jump into your backstory, what does kind of a what does a typical week look like for you? 

Speaker 4

I start my day at nine. So I usually wake up at five. Right? So, I wake up at five, go to the gym at six. I get off at four ish. Right? I work Monday through Thursday. I take Fridays off. I calendar all my vacations. I calendar any of my kids' events. You know, basically, I we take three to four really good vacations a year. Sometimes a little bit more if we want to, but we just live I just live by a calendar. Right? I've learned that that's the most successful tool. I love working, unfortunately. Mhmm. I love what I do. I love coming into work. I love my team. I love playing the game, and I'll probably do it till I die. But, surely, at this point, I'm really, in the c suite. I'm the CEO of my company, and my primary job is I I control, people, culture, and, numbers. 

Speaker 1

Okay. 

Speaker 4

I kinda need to know my numbers for my business. Sure. But, but I find that my my favorite thing to do is the culture piece. Right? If I create award winning culture within my company, I retain some of the best and top and brightest talent. 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. 

Speaker 4

They wanna stay for long periods of time, and they do amazing work. That's usually not just one plus one. It's usually one plus five or one plus ten. Right? It's ten x factor. 

Speaker 1

Sure. That's awesome. Yeah. That's I'd love to talk more about, you know, how you're able to how you're able to set up this this, you know, life that you're living, and we're gonna get into that. So let's jump into your backstory. I know before we hit record, you shared a little bit with me as far as some of the the pain that you've been through and and and, you know, maybe some of the mistakes you've made. Let's jump into to your backstory and some of the adversity you've gone through. 

Speaker 4

Well, I would like to say it's really almost it's been almost twenty two years ago. That's when my life changed forever. That's when the walk in the road appeared. But, I was with my girlfriend and now my wife of twenty years, and my mom was married to a man called Bruce. I like to call call him Bruce Wayne. He was a Batman, but Jamie, he was loaded. He had lots of money. Okay. So, we got this offer. My mom's like, hey, hon. Son, do you wanna go to Hawaii? And I was like, well, yeah. But I'm broke because I was a used car salesman. And, and I was we had this girlfriend, and so I was like, are you paying, mom? And she said, yeah. I'll pay. Well Nice. We get to Hawaii, and, and I really never really met Bruce. I I knew she was married to him. But, Bruce had a house right on the beach. And I'm telling you, it was it was in Kauai, the garden island. I'm not sure if you know the islands, but Kauai, in my opinion, is the most beautiful. 

Speaker 1

Speaker 4

And, it was on a cove. And so, if you're not a morning person, you will be when you get to Hawaii. Right? Shelley and I walked this cove, and, we watched the sun come up. And it was like the scales of life fell off my eyes. Like, I'd always wanted to be successful, but here I was a used car salesman just not doing what I planned in life. And, but I wanted it really bad. I remember looking over at Bruce's house, and I was like, dude, this guy is different because it was the first time to me that I saw real wealth. Like, Bruce unequivocally had time and money. Like, his phone wasn't ringing. He didn't have any cares. I was like, dude, I've never seen it like this. So I was like, what do you do? And then he said the magic words. Said he's in real estate. They own apartments. 

Speaker 1

There you go. 

Speaker 4

Now I wish the story got better, but it doesn't. Bruce was a grumpy old man. Okay. My mom was really pretty, so don't judge my mom. She did get me to Hawaii. But, but I left there. I was thinking that Bruce was the big kahoota. Like, she had a lifestyle. So I read that Rich Dad Poor Dad book, and all of a sudden, I was like, dude, that's what it is. I wanna do real estate. So, I fell in love with with real estate at that moment, and that's when I really got to download from the mothership. Like, this was my life's this is what I'm supposed to do. Mhmm. So when you turn that so at that point, then I'm you know, I go crazy. I'm starting to read all the books I can on real estate. I'm I'm just a book nerd. Finally get to the point where I'm I'm ready to start my company. I'm like, what do I name it? And all I could think about is I wanted to be the big kahuna, so I named my company called Kahuna Investments. Right? And so the but that's when the real work started happening. And at the at point, I was a wholesaler. I was, going to these RIA events, real estate investors associations. Mhmm. And I would sit by smart people, the guys that had money. And I would figure out what they're doing and, you know, where they buy, what is their average rehab. And I would go and I'd find deals like that and wholesale them. And, that was working pretty well. I was like, oh, wow. I'm I'm now I'm in real estate. And this happened I really went about full time about two thousand and nine, and that's when the great recession happened. So it was a great time to be in real estate. I'm finding these deals. And so then, the next magic piece was someone gave me their actual money. Right? I raised my first piece of private money. And I equate that moment to, like, going into a telephone booth as Clark Kent, and I spun around that thing, and I was like, Superman. Right? And And so this guy gave me eighty five thousand dollars, to do a fix and flip. And once I got that, I was like, man, this is awesome. I because that you know, it takes money to make money. 

Speaker 1

Sure. 

Speaker 4

But it doesn't always take your money. Absolutely. Right? It could be owed to other people's money. So once I understood that, I am I'm I'm really not that smart, Jamie, but I am a fantastic copier. Like, I can copy, like, nobody's business. Yeah. So I looked around and said there's gotta be some other people that's raising money that you know? And what do they use? What's their tools? What are they saying? What are they not saying? And I became I found a a mentor. And, next thing I know, I go I'm raised I within a year, I have about a three million dollars that I'm working. Now this is gonna lead to my the next the real setup. 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. 

Speaker 4

So here I am being the jack of all trades and to the world's eyes. Right? I am now two years in, like, really I started my company two thousand five, but two thousand nine is when I went full time. By two thousand and ten, I'm jamming, bro. Like, I'm doing seven or eight deals, fix and flips a month. I'm making twenty to thirty thousand dollars a flip. Wow. My life looks I'm looking pretty successful. I'm feeling successful. Right? Sure. But there's some things that are not so good going on, and these are the things that, hopefully, you your audience will will think about. Because at that moment in time, we're and to the world's view, I was great. But, dude, this phone was tied to my my ear. I cannot escape it. I was a slave to it, and I was a slave to working at all times of the day, at all times of the night, Mondays through Sunday. Right? Like, I was I was just a workaholic 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. Got it. 

Speaker 4

To make this almighty dollar. 

Speaker 1

So now let me just jump in. You, now we'll just, figure out how old you are now. So in twenty ten, approximately, how old were you at this at that point? 

Speaker 4

Yeah. Thirty. Okay. Well, yeah, around thirty. 

Speaker 1

Got it. So you'd been a used car salesman then, in your, I guess, mid thirties. Right? You switched you were kinda gravitating and slowly moving into real estate, then you full time, 

Speaker 4

in Two thousand and nine. 

Speaker 1

Two thousand nine. So, twenty nine thirty, you go full time into real estate. And then you start off wholesaling and and flipping, ran out of your own cash in order to scale, which is, you know, common common issue. Right? You need access to capital. Start start seeing the the light bulb moments are happening where you're seeing you can use other people's money to to scale your business, and but but you're a workaholic. And so you from the outside, you look super successful, super busy. This guy's crushing it. This guy's a genius. I want this life of you know? I wanna be Corey Peterson, maybe somebody that was thinking on the outside. But tell us about what was going on in in in the family and and Yeah. 

Speaker 4

Because inside it, the home life, I was a wreck. Right? My wife's like, gosh. Damn. Can you not just get off the phone for a minute? Look at me. What about me? What about your kids? Right? And this was, like, a two year period where you know, you gotta understand when you when you I grew up poor. Right? And I desperately wanted to get out of poor. Sure. And and that was my driving force, and I thought that, you know, I was saying things like, well, I'm doing it for my kids. Sure. I'm doing it for my family. Yeah. That's a lie. Right? I was doing it for me. Right? Mhmm. But there was an expense a price to pay for doing it the way that I was doing it because there was no no balance. I didn't create any things that gave me, time freedom or or really any freedom. It was just work, work, work, go, go, go, go. Right? And my only thought was this will not last. Right? I've I'm I don't care. This will take care of us. But as I started to realize, like so but then something changed. So here's what happened. I I'm I'm I was still active in my kids' life, but, like, let's just say, you know, it's not wasn't perfect dad. Right? 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. 

Speaker 4

And, you know, this is a at a a pivotal time in your kids' life where, like, you know, around seven and eight, they're really wanting and needing you. Right? Sure. 

Speaker 1

Yep. 

Speaker 4

And you wanna be their coaches, and and you you know, that was my dad was my coach. Right? So, you know, but there was a time where my son was playing soccer, and he was like, hey, dad. You're gonna be at my game on Saturday. 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. 

Speaker 4

And I look at him like, yeah. No problem, sir. I'll be there. Right? And I was like, his game was, like, three o'clock. But in my mind, I was like, dude, Saturday. I got I gotta go look at these three properties because I didn't look at these rehabs. They touch base to see where they're at. So I was like, in my mind, I'm like, okay. I'll just wake up early in the morning. I'll go all of these three properties, and I'll get back in time for the game. K? Sure. Jamie, you know, you go to the first property and there's problems. Like, oh gosh. I gotta run the loads. Gotta get stuff. I'm, like, looking at my clock. Oh gosh. I'm feeling a little getting tight. Go to the second property. Now I'm getting, like by the third property, I'm like, oh my god. I'm not I'm gonna miss. I get there. I show up to the, game at Mhmm. At the end of the game. And, dude, my son comes off the field crying. And I'm just telling you, dude, have you ever been broke as a as a as a parent, when you're, this one's tough to tell, but, like, 

Speaker 1

when you go in appreciate it. 

Speaker 4

Yep. Mike, he's like, dad, you promised. You promised. And he just starts and I I remember taking his head and putting it in my chest, and he's like, like, that horrible cry as a as a kid. And I'm just like and I'm just taking him in, and and he's just sobbing because it meant so much, and I wasn't there. 

Speaker 1

Right. And 

Speaker 4

I'm just telling you, Jamie, that moment broke me so true. 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. 

Speaker 4

I knew I I was like, what in the hell am I doing? Sure. Right? Like, what is because Yeah. If it's horrible. Right? 

Speaker 1

Yeah. No. And and I and just I'll just say I appreciate you being vulnerable. And, you know, I mentioned before we hit record, you know, it's unfortunately, a lot of entrepreneurs and a lot of fathers can relate to this this story. Maybe not exactly how it played out in your case, and maybe maybe there were times they should have actually felt what you felt. But, the point is that it's very easy. You know, I own a small business, few small businesses, and it's very easy to just I I love it. Like you said, I love building a team. I love, you know, generating income. I love real estate investing. Doesn't mean I I don't love my family, but it's very easy to get sucked into working all the time. And, and and you do tell yourself you're doing it for them. And maybe, you know, there is some truth to that as well. I mean, but so what did you do? I mean, it it sounds like this really this really broke you. 

Speaker 4

Oh, yeah. So, you know, it's funny. So kids are resilient. It's crazy. 

Speaker 1

Sure. 

Speaker 4

Even though I'm breaking his heart, he's like goes home with me, wants to go in my truck. Right? So the whole way ride home is like he's on this side. And I'm just I'm dying inside, man. I'm like, oh my god. My little boy, I'm breaking his just it hurt him bad. And so I get home, drop him off, and my wife looks at me. She's like, you gotta fix this. You gotta solve it. Like, this is bull crap. Right? 

Speaker 1

This is 

Speaker 4

what you've been doing. Right? And so I I get in my truck, and I just start I I drive by myself, man. And I'm telling you, when I'm in that truck by myself, I am cussing myself out so bad. What the f, you stupid SOB? Like, why would you do this? Why would you think you're gonna need to go look at these properties? Why couldn't you just go to the damn game? Right? Sure. And, I mean, just beating myself up. And finally, I I surrender my heart to God, and I was I asked I asked God to forgive me. Right? And I found solitude, and I find I got into a place of quiet. Right? And then that's what then it changed my life. Mhmm. Because I drove by, the street that I go on was this apartment complex, and I've driven by it a million times, my friend. Mhmm. And I used to say, I wish I could own an apartment complex. And I drive by this apartment complex, and I look at it empty, just broken empty. And I go, how can I own an apartment complex? I framed it differently. You framed it differently. Sure. Yep. My brain starts working. I flash back to Bruce. Yeah. Two thousand and four. Cash flow, time, and money. He set apartments. He didn't say fix and flip. Right. 

Speaker 1

Right? Absolutely. 

Speaker 4

And I was like, oh my god. That's it. That's what I'm supposed to be doing. I flipped around. I did a u-turn. I went to Barnes and Nobles. I bought every book I could on multifamily investing. Nice. I found a mentor, and now I'm living my cash flow life. Right? 

Speaker 1

That's awesome. 

Speaker 4

And, you know, I did go and and, I did some specific things too, really. My takeaways from that was I started to time block. Right? And I can't remember who I learned this from, but, like, you know, the first thing we did me and my wife was like, listen. We I don't wanna be that person. 

Speaker 1

Yeah. 

Speaker 4

So let's figure it out. Right? So the first thing we did is we booked our family vacations. 

Speaker 1

Yeah. 

Speaker 4

Alright. You know, honey, when this the kids do sports now I I I actually said I wanna be their coach. So I get I was like, I wanna start coaching. I wanna I'm gonna get involved. Like, I was I'm like, I'm not gonna be the the dad that did not. I can do it if I will just make time for it. Right? 

Speaker 1

Right. You make it a priority. I mean, when you exactly. Other things are gonna take a back seat. 

Speaker 4

So my daughter is playing you know, like, side coach my foot my son's football. I coach my daughter's soccer. And looking back, probably the best four to five, six year span of my life that I'm the most proud of was being on that soccer field or that football field when the sun's going down, and we have amazing sunsets in Arizona. And being there watching these young kids and seeing your kid and knowing that you're the dad that's there 

Speaker 1

Yeah. 

Speaker 4

One of the best feelings ever. So that's I get to say that I was even though I had a little spot where I screwed up royally 

Speaker 1

Sure. 

Speaker 4

I fixed it, and I and I became a full time dad. Like, truly the dad that I wanted to be to my kids. Right? Sure. Because they don't trade in money, by the by the way. No kid ever worries about how much money dad makes. The only currency they trade in is time. 

Speaker 1

That's a great point. That's a great point. I've not heard it put that way. You know, so yeah. And for for the listener out there who may be may be dabbling in real estate or, you know, under learning about different asset classes and things, I know a lot of a lot of newer real estate investors, in air quotes, get into wholesaling and and fix and flips, because they think they're in you you alluded to it earlier. You said you were in real estate. Right? Yeah. You were in real estate, but you basically had a you just had a job. I mean, it's 

Speaker 4

a fix and flip. You're a trader. 

Speaker 1

Yeah. Exactly. It's right. It it's transactional, and that it's a lot of work. I don't personally think it's the worst way wholesaling or fix and flip. I think it can be a great way to generate income. 

Speaker 4

It's a great way. It's what you do with that income that I've learned now. That's what I teach is that it's it's taking that money and creating passive. And passive income is the true way to have freedom. Right? And so, that that's my mantra is, like, do whatever you're doing in your you know, like, I have a lot of business owners that, they have very successful businesses they run, you know, HVACs, what you name it. And then they take their money that they make from their business, and they invest it in a passive type of either with me or they do their own investments as well to create their their getaway car. Yeah. Right? Absolutely. 

Speaker 1

I'm in a mastermind group. It's called the Passive Income Mastermind, and you can debate all day long about, you know we love to put things in to to make them black and white. It's either passive or it's not. Well, there's really kind of a lot of gray in between in my in my opinion, but I completely agree with you. Generate income based, you know, from your business or your or your your w two if that's you know, if you if you can, and then put that into passive income, a passive income, you know, generating assets. I love it. So, you know, talk us through kind of I I I know from the point where you saw the apartment building and realized how and you changed your perspective. You framed it differently. You said, how can I own that? Talk us from that point up through today. I know that's a ton of growth and a lot of, you know, ups and downs and everything, but walk us through that from an entrepreneurial perspective. 

Speaker 4

From the entrepreneurial side, it was like, okay. So that was my new task. Okay. So I knew that fix and flip wasn't the model for me. Right? Mhmm. And so then I so the again, what I've learned is I'm not that smart, but I'm an excellent excellent copier. So I had to find a mentor for me. So I found, a guy named David Lindahl. I read one of his books. I I resonate with him. So I found him out. He's out of Boston, Massachusetts. Flew out there, gave him some money, became a friend, and he taught me everything that I know. Right? And so I've and then, you know, then he's gotta do the work. So then I'm like, okay. Well, I gotta find a deal. So, you know, underwrote a lot of deals, and a lot of them don't work, but then one did. And that one that did, I was able to take the money that I was already raising for the single family side and transition it and say, hey. Listen. We're just gonna move into this this arena. 

Speaker 1

Sure. 

Speaker 4

And so we raised we bought our first deal for three point two million dollars, and we raised, well, one point four million dollars of, private money. 

Speaker 1

Okay. 

Speaker 4

Right? 

Speaker 1

Yep. 

Speaker 4

So that was my first deal, and and even that one went sideways, Jamie. Right? 

Speaker 1

Okay. 

Speaker 4

A little bit. Right? So I made a couple key mistakes. So I didn't actually find the deal. I had partners that people that I knew, I kinda knew. We'll call I kinda knew. They had a deal, and they didn't have all the money that they needed to do the deal. Mhmm. And I knew that I had money. Even though it wasn't my money, I knew I could command it. Sure. Right? 

Speaker 1

Okay. 

Speaker 4

So we struck a deal where it was supposed to be, you know, seventy five twenty five split. I was gonna own the seventy five. I was gonna bring in my capital. And then, so we bought this deal for three point two million. Right? So but in when we closed, somehow they changed the operating agreement, and I didn't catch it nor my attorney where I did have a seventy five, twenty five percent of the ownership of the income. But on the voting rights, it was thirty three thirty three thirty three. Oh, wow. There was three guys. Right? Me and two other guys. 

Speaker 1

Yep. 

Speaker 4

All of a sudden, I didn't have control. 

Speaker 1

And the other two guys were knew each other very well. Sounds like. Right? 

Speaker 4

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Now so that was I'm like, okay. I just took all these people's money. I told them I had control. Now I don't have control. So what do you do? Well, I'm not proud of this moment. I may have picked up the phone call, and I did a, you know, you know, I'm coming and hell's coming with me kinda call. I'm gonna be on your front doorstep, tomorrow, and we're gonna figure it out. Right? 

Speaker 1

Aaron Chapman drove over in his Jeep and, no. I'm just kidding. Yeah. So, 

Speaker 4

we were gonna go I basically said, listen to this one guy. So your your your PO your POS, what you did was wrong. You know you deceived it. Sure. Right? Sure. And, but I'm coming, and I'm we're going to come to our agreement on price, and I'm buying your shares. 

Speaker 1

Okay. 

Speaker 4

Right? Gotcha. Sure. I didn't have any extra money at this time. So but what I did have is I was resourceful, and I knew I had investors that would give me money. Right? So it's more than what I expected. But so, for at at the end of the day, it was two hundred k. Boom. Buy that guy out. Right? So I I I paid him two hundred k. I had to call the guys, like, hey. Wire me two hundred k. Made the made the move. Got the shares. I thought, okay. Now I'm back into control. Then my next problem happens. They had got us in a loan that was called, that's, it's called a lockbox. It's a full lockbox, meaning all the money goes into the bank that's, account that's controlled by the bank, and the bank only will release the funds for expenses. Got it. Oh, well, I'd already promised my investors I'm paying them along the way. 

Speaker 1

Sure. 

Speaker 4

Uh-oh. We don't have money to pay investors. 

Speaker 1

Yeah. What 

Speaker 4

do I do? Call another guy. Hey. Listen. I need I need another couple hundred thousand dollars for this deal. Right? I put it in, you know, my own bank account and and and parlayed that money, and it was paying from that. Now so each of the steps of the way, I'm like, I'm learning, like, know the operating agreement, know the business partner. Those little words matter. Right? All those things really truly matter. And then, but the one thing that I did right, Jamie, is I really underwrote the heck out of that deal. I understood what that deal needed, and I understood what it could do. 

Speaker 1

Nice. 

Speaker 4

And so we ended up keeping it for five years, and, we sold it for eight point eight million bucks. So we bought it for three point two and sold it for eight point eight million bucks. Right? 

Speaker 1

Wow. How how much did you put in put into it? 

Speaker 4

Do you Zero zero of my money. Right? Just one point four million of someone else's. Right. So I end up making, two million dollars profit. 

Speaker 1

Wow. That's awesome. Now just my first step. As far as how were you you know, and I I have some guesses, but tell the listener out there how you were able to just pick up the phone and and, you know, receive two hundred k, for example. How did you have those connections or 

Speaker 4

how to I planted the seed when I was doing my fix and flip business. Right? Those are a lot of my investors that I had worked with that give me money, time, and, you know, and I give it back to them to give me money. So I built a little bit of a relationship with them. Right? 

Speaker 1

Sure. 

Speaker 4

Now that is my skill set. So the one thing the difference between what I do now and I think what the difference of the separator for the people that are in multifamily 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. 

Speaker 4

Is the one skill set I mastered was how to raise capital. Mhmm. So I instead of learning how to find a deal or how to be a great operator, which I've I we we're both. Like, we we're we have our own management company as well. But the skill set that I hold high above all others Mhmm. And that pays me the most money was learning how to raise capital. Now I didn't say this earlier, but, like, I was a used car salesman, but, I had a good friend that said, hey, man. You need to become a financial adviser. Mhmm. And I was like, well, don't you need to have a degree to do that? He goes, no. You just gotta, kinda, like, be an entrepreneur. I was like, oh, well, I started this real estate company business. Maybe I that was early, like, two thousand four. Right? So I was like, maybe, I can use that. So I I did, trade up from the car salesman Sure. To a financial adviser. It's still slimy either way. 

Speaker 1

Yeah. Well no. But I think it is, 

Speaker 4

the company taught me all about money. Yeah. Right? 

Speaker 1

Absolutely. And I think that and I've I've mentioned this on once or twice previously on other episodes, but I think that's a key piece for the listener out there as far as you may not love the position that you're in right now. I'm not saying don't think about starting a business or don't think about switching careers, but do the best you can at the in the position you're in and learn what you can from that role. Put and and you never know where it's where you're gonna be able to apply it later because that's that's what happened to you right before. 

Speaker 4

I'm doing this right now in my my management company. So we just started this management company, like, two weeks ago. So Nice. But something that I learned almost eighteen years ago when I was a restaurant manager 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. 

Speaker 4

Right, is they had when I was managing a restaurant, they had what's called when I first came on, I was the MIT, a manager in training. And every location paid a little bit of money to the collective, to the home office for the MIT program. Right? And that allowed them to have a training hub or training dollars to keep people in the system. Because as they try to grow and operate or people come and go, you wanna have people that are already knows your system, knows the process, knows that already are bleeding your brand. Mhmm. Right? Sure. And so, I'm doing that with my management company. So we have an MIT program where we are now teaching these property managers. We have them go sit with the maintenance. Then we have to go with the, you know, community ambassador, then to the leasing, to the then to the property manager. We get them all certified. These are young college kids because we have college properties, and they're deployable. So they're like, when I get a new location, they're ready, and then they're bleeding kahuna. They already know our warrior cry. 

Speaker 1

That's awesome. 

Speaker 4

And so I get a bet much better product. So that's a great example of Yeah. I didn't like being a property manager. 

Speaker 1

Right. 

Speaker 4

But I learned some valuable lessons. Right. 

Speaker 1

And and as you said already a couple times, you're a very good copier. Right? You you didn't actually come up with this idea that you're that you're implementing now. You know, I'm not taking anything away from you, but I I love it. It's like, why why reinvent the wheel if you've seen it if you've seen success before, which is really really gets to the kind of the the point of this podcast is we're trying to learn from you. You've been through some hard times, and and you've been you've reached abundance. And we're not saying you don't have any more challenges in your life or anything like that, but why can't the listener learn from you, Corey Peterson, as to learn from what you learned about the, you know, the MIT program or, you you know, and and some keys to success there? So so, you know, I guess, what what is your you already touched on it, but what does your business look like today and maybe one or two kind of broad brush lessons learned as far as scaling a business? What could you, how could you help the listener there? 

Speaker 4

I would tell you, hiring people as the CEO, or even if you're not the CEO, you but, you know, a lot of times we put on a lot of hats. But as you start to hire people, do not pass that off on anybody else. Right? I believe now and I have a hiring process again. They're called the four c's. Right? There's, you if you're watching in the video right now, you're gonna see my four c's hiring process. But I stole that from another book called, A CEO Does Three Things by Trey Taylor. Right? I I really wanna tell you, like, I am not smart buy. I'm excellent copier. And so he has this thing where it's culture, capabilities, compensation, and commitment. And it's just a hiring process, and I follow it religiously. 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. 

Speaker 4

And, like, create your comp you have culture in your company Mhmm. Whether you know it or not. And so it's either you're gonna take, charge of that culture and breathe life into it, or it'll do its own thing. And so for me, the biggest component in any business is your people. So don't, like, take that lightly, embrace it, but breathe life into it. And when you do that, magic always seems to happen, at least it has for me. 

Speaker 1

That's fantastic advice. So you still are heavily involved personally in in all the hiring in inside your companies? 

Speaker 4

We'll always be heavily like, I will always do it. It's my favorite part. 

Speaker 1

Right? 

Speaker 4

It really is because I get to tell about my like, the story that I just told, I tell that on every first hire. Like, we've Nice. The culture piece is telling you you learn you learn to so here's the great thing. So any great company has a story. They're Sure. The foundation story. Develop yours. Right? So I can put mine in very articulate ways of Mhmm. And I tell it like Bruce Wayne. Right? I make some funnies out of it. Right? Mhmm. But it's such a compelling story that it was like people gravitate towards that. Sure. And then you put, some words and meanings behind your culture and what it really means. So for us, like, we have we call it the like, in the Bible, they have the beatitudes. Mhmm. We call ours the the kind attitudes, which is Hawaiian word. Right? And, like, be the kind. You know, give them. Spread aloha. Right? Be ohana. The rock said in Lilo Stitch, your family. No one gets left behind. And then one of our favorite ones, make it Mo'Betta. 

Speaker 1

Nice. I love it. It's awesome. It's really easy for people to to kinda look at these companies, especially the bigger companies, you know, Apple or whatever, Microsoft, and Yeah. And think that's not an that's not you know, there are no people there. It doesn't have a story. It doesn't have a personality. It doesn't have any problems, you know, or challenges. It's just like a innate thing, you know. But that's not true for the the big businesses, and it's certainly not true for the small businesses. And so, yeah, I love it. It's it's there's such a human element to all of this, which, again, gets to kind of the root of this show is just talking about the real challenges in the human element of of overcoming adversity, and getting to abundance. So I I've got a few kind of rapid fire questions here, and then we'll talk then we'll talk a little bit more about your business today. What's one thing that people misunderstand about you? 

Speaker 4

People that don't know me, they think that because they run a company that I'm all about money, and it's the farthest thing from my life. Right? People that really know me understand this, but sometimes people look out because you have to our companies are our business is supposed to make money. That's how we keep score. 

Speaker 1

Sure. 

Speaker 4

And they think sometimes that, that's just the misconception. Now my business entrepreneur people understand this. Right? So but people in the world, people that are working w twos, well, they just don't understand us. Yeah. 

Speaker 1

This is a rich, greedy guy that's all about hoarding hoarding money. Question that's go ahead. 

Speaker 4

Well, I just say I give away more money than I would know. Right? And and I help raise money for Yeah. Projects that are real passion projects. Right? 

Speaker 1

So question that's this isn't on my list, but, you know, because I hear this sometimes because you you were working really hard. You had a you were a workaholic, and your your family was suffering from it. And then you put in, you know, you you put in boundaries, and you were intentional about your your calendar and blocking time for your priorities. You reprioritized. My question really is, wouldn't that be easier let me put it this way. Isn't it easier now for you to set those boundaries and to be a better husband, better father, you know, than it was, you know, back in the day when you didn't have as much income, you didn't have as as much, wealth? Isn't it easier now? And wasn't it therefore required for you to work eighty, ninety hours a week, back then? What would you say to that? 

Speaker 4

No. I don't think like, once I made the change right? So, like, I think it's it's more of a mental change. It has nothing to do with where you're at financially or not financially, in my opinion. Right? You could start this off wherever you're at and just say, okay. I need to be present. Right? So, like, there's some things you can do, like little things. Like, one of the first things I do with my phone is after six o'clock Mhmm. It goes on do not disturb. Unless you're one of my favorites 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. 

Speaker 4

You can't get ahold of me. Right? It will not ring. You have to call twice in a row for it to actually ring on my phone. That's the great thing about technology is that you can utilize it that way. Right? And so, and then, really, the time blocking, once you if you will train yourself to live and die by your calendar Mhmm. What I find is most people are very, horrible at time management. 

Speaker 1

Sure. 

Speaker 4

And things they could like, if you ever looked at someone going on a vacation, it's amazing what they get done in a week. Yeah. Everything magically happens, and they get done. Right? 

Speaker 1

Right. Right. 

Speaker 4

Because they prioritize it, and they're not there there's no waste. Sure. We can do that in our business lives too as you can actually accelerate everything you're doing in a day. If you get really good and eliminate your waste or you're like, oh, let me just check Facebook. Let me 

Speaker 1

Right. Right. 

Speaker 4

Scroll and do a lot of dumb stuff. Yeah. You could be way more efficient. Yeah. Extremely more efficient. 

Speaker 1

That's a great point. Yeah. So 

Speaker 4

You can do those at now no matter where you're at in your business. 

Speaker 1

So you think you would have gotten to where you are today even if you'd started time blocking and being, more intentional 

Speaker 4

for wish I woulda had someone show me that way back then. Right? Because I would have been living even a better lifestyle. Like Sure. I'm all about vision. You put your vision first Yep. And then you build your life to work around it, your work life. And it has to fit in the cracks. Right? So, like, if you put your family and the things you're really believe are important and then you put your business on top, it has to fit in the cracks. 

Speaker 1

That's great. Love that. If you could go back and have, if I'm sorry. If you could have coffee with any historical figure, who would you choose? 

Speaker 4

Oh, gosh. Honestly, this is I I wouldn't even do it with any historical, I would do it with my grandpa. 

Speaker 1

Okay. Tell tell tell us why. 

Speaker 4

Because he was just a great man. He was just I wish I could've he was young when he died. Right? He had Parkinson's, but he was just always there. I would just love to hear his stories a little bit more. He had a lot of wisdom. He he worked hard, but he he he was a farmer. And, farm life there's something about farm life that I think is really, inspiring to way the way he did it. Right? He, you know, he didn't have a huge farm, but he had probably eighty head of cattle and some chickens and some, hogs. And, I don't know. I just I felt like he was my a great picture of a man that had that lived his life with purpose. 

Speaker 1

Love it. That's great. I know you have a a book you've written, at least one book. We'll talk about it in a second. If you had to write another book this year, what would it be about? 

Speaker 4

We'll probably we're actually working on it right now. 

Speaker 1

Okay. 

Speaker 4

But this is this is a book about, it's more of a how to. It's really about the passive investor. So, just writing to our avatars saying, hey. There's, there's an alternative to the stock market. Right? 

Speaker 1

Sure. 

Speaker 4

And, you know, that'll be my third book. Right? But, 

Speaker 1

Well, tell tell us about the first two. 

Speaker 4

The first one is, really, it's called Why the Rich Get Rich was my first one. And there's really a book on apartments, but it wasn't it was it wasn't well written. We'll put it. It was my first book. Right? It's like just pulling out there. The one I'm most proud of, which is my hero's journey, is the book. It's called copy your way to success, standing on the shoulder of giants. And you've heard me say the word copy a lot. I wrote every word of this book. Right? The first one, I was I'd help. I had someone, interviewed me. They took my words. They made it into a story. This one, I wrote over a two year period of time on the plane when I was flying, when I was my spare time, and it goes it's the my hero's journey. Right? It has that story of me of the pain spot. Right? Mhmm. And it really, in detail, fully explains my rags to riches, story. I think that's very inspiring. So that's why I like it the most because it's a very inspiring book of how he turned street smarts into, something that's made me a multimillionaire. 

Speaker 1

It's fantastic. I I gotta get a hold of that. 

Speaker 4

I'll give it to your, I'll give it to your audience. So there's a really easy way for them to get it. If they'll text the word book, b o o k, to four eight zero five hundred one one two seven, they'll just answer the prompts, and we'll, we'll send them one for free. 

Speaker 1

Four eight zero five hundred one one two seven. Did I get that right? 

Speaker 4

The word book. Yep. Text the 

Speaker 1

word book. Awesome. What is one thing that you are one challenge in your business right now that you're struggling with or facing? There's always, you know, many, many challenges. What's one that comes to mind for you and your business right now? 

Speaker 4

People. It's always people. Like, people is the most challenging and most fun. Right? So, I feel like, how can I how can I create a better culture? How can I hire, how can I onboard people faster to get it, right, to sync it? So that's what we've been really working on is, like, how do we you you know, what's the recipe? Do we bring them to the home office? How do we create that environment where we get the mold that we're looking for? Right? Sure. And I think that'll always be a work in progress for us. Yeah. And we get it right really good, but it's still something that's always on my mind is how can I do it a little bit better? How can I improve upon the product? And what do I need to be doing differently? Right? When and and a lot of times, it's asking feedback. Right? Even the ones that say no. Like, if you didn't hire somebody, maybe learning why they didn't want to go through your process, what was it, and then you ask sometimes that's just the way it is. But Sure. There's also some good exit feedback that you can get. Or when people leave you, exit feedback, really trying to pay attention to that and saying, oh, boy. I didn't know that I was broken here. 

Speaker 1

Sure. Right? Well, that's yeah. It's it can be humbling, but very valuable to to, gather that information to I mean and the only reason you're struggling well, one reason you're you're struggling with it and you're focused on it, maybe you're not struggling with it, but you there's always always challenges, is because it's so important, like you said earlier. I mean, if it wasn't if hiring and people weren't the the backbone of your business, I don't think you would have answered that way. 

Speaker 4

No. No. Because I say I mean, it's a challenge. I I I wanna do it. Like, I have this like, in my mind, there's perfection. Right? Yeah. Yeah. And there's a level that we're running, which is good. I mean, I just get better than average. But I I feel like there's a chasm between like, I wanna be award winning. Right? How do I create my, like, how do I create that? And I'm I think, I I feel like we're getting closer, but I really that's my desire Mhmm. Is to have all my people like, dude, work Kahuna. Who are you? Right? And, I'm not I don't feel like I'm there yet. I may not ever get there, but I'm gonna keep trying to improve. 

Speaker 1

If you were given ten million dollars tomorrow, just somebody cut your check for no it's not an investment. It's just a a gift, what would you do with it? 

Speaker 4

Invest in real estate. 

Speaker 1

Love it. 

Speaker 4

Yeah. There's nothing else. I mean, I would just invest in one in in another deal. Right? I'd probably give well, I say that. I'd probably give a lot to charity. Right? So we, I'm in a group called, the Chandler Compadres here in, Chandler, Arizona. We raise a lot of money for, youth for the boys and girls club here to our local chapter. I think last year, we raised one point five million dollars for local charities, and, it's very important to me. And so, I would do that, probably give it to my church, and then I take the rest of that money after I gave maybe twenty percent of it away, and go go do some more real estate. Why not? Right? That's awesome. Yeah. 

Speaker 1

I love it. So, tell us about kind of the the multifamily space, you know, this year and what opportunities you have going on for, for the passive investor and just kinda speak to the the real estate and multifamily investing space, today. 

Speaker 4

Yeah. So, we're we're on a pause. Right? We're not buying anything right now. Probably not buying anything till maybe third quarter. We still think the feds are gonna raise rates a little bit more. I I don't have to buy. I'm not in a spot where I need to buy. So I'm just, like, I'm just being patient. Right? I'd like to see a little bit more of the market get there's a lot of trading still going on. There's a lot of transactions going on. 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. 

Speaker 4

But we're just we're not ready to participate yet. I think we're gonna wait till the third quarter. We've got a development project that we can green light whenever we want to, that's on land that we already own on a you know, just adding some more units to some of one of our existing properties. We'll probably do that at the end of the year for sure and hopefully find maybe one more deal. Like, that would be our our our mantra for two thousand and twenty three. That's I think that's probably what we'll do this year. Mhmm. And really more held that focus on operations as we just took over our management company, making sure we really dial in our SOPs for that company and just getting it, like, machined. 

Speaker 1

So about that acquisition, so that sounds like that was an operational company that you that you took over. Is that right? 

Speaker 4

Well, we just created it. So we Okay. We fired our third party management company Mhmm. Because they suck. And I really probably, I would say all property management that are fee based, they suck because they're fee based. We're not in alignment, on how it works. Right? We're profit and loss, and they didn't care less. They just want their fees. Sure. And so we finally got to a size that it really makes sense to vertically integrate. But the question was, did we really wanna do it? And, we we'd wrestle with that for almost a year, and finally, we just said it's time. Right? And, I'm so glad that we did because I think that is the absolute right, choice, and I know that it is now, I in my heart, our products can be better. And, really, the story of even our company is it all makes sense. Right? And so now we have more people, right, to bring in. That's why it's it's that's part of what's part of my challenge. You said about my challenge. Yeah. I've gotta get these all these new people that we just took over that are at our properties, they were they were employees of my old management company. 

Speaker 1

Uh-huh. 

Speaker 4

So now I've gotta figure out how do I get them onboarded to my culture Yep. And my way as soon as possible. 

Speaker 1

Yeah. That's a that's a lot of So we're 

Speaker 4

flying them out. Like, we just, like, dude, we gotta we gotta get them integrated. We gotta go break bread with them. We got we gotta catch and sell the vision. 

Speaker 1

Nice. So with regard to the more of the investment side back to that, do you have you're not under any pressure for, you know, I don't know, with, like, floating rate debt or bridge loans or anything to any deals that are 

Speaker 4

We still have some of those. Yep. Yep. We have we have those are other issues, but, like, we have two properties that are in bridge debt that are under what's called, soft lockbox control because the interest rates went high. These deals are actually profitable, but, and we have what's called rate rate locks on them. So we're getting paid a delta for the rate lock. Mhmm. But the, but the property is not counting that as income, so we've fallen below our debt coverage ratio. So, we still have two more loans to place to get rid of that. Mhmm. We'll get that done in August, because we had a prepayment penalty. 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. 

Speaker 4

If we paid off early, we're not willing to pay that. So we're patient. Our investors are are really good and savvy. They understand like, we we from the very beginning, when we tell our investors, it's a marathon. It's not 

Speaker 1

a sprint. Sure. That's really good to set set the expectations like that. Yeah. And so, what do you have open opportunities for investors now? 

Speaker 4

We do, but you gotta go through our process. Like, we couldn't offer them to anybody that's, in you know, that's listening. But Mhmm. Gotcha. Regulated by the s c we're under regulated by the SCCs. Yep. You can go to our website, Kahuna Investments Sure. And get through our process. But we really have there's some rules that we've gotta follow. We gotta get to know you. We have to have what's called an accredited investor questionnaire filled out. Once we do that, we can show you future deals. Got it. Understood. Makes a lot of sense. 

Speaker 1

What have I not asked you that you'd like to talk about? 

Speaker 4

Man, you've you've done a really good job. 

Speaker 1

This has 

Speaker 4

been a great little story. I would tell you this. The one thing that I believe for anybody that's listening. Right? I believe the power of your mind is everything. Any great if you really look at study, anybody that's had a very high level of achievement in anything, whether it's business, sports, you name it, Something happened. It's something that these people do, and I wouldn't consider myself one of these people, to do it at a level that's pretty, high level. 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. 

Speaker 4

There's a switch that we have. I don't think we have we don't have buttons. We have switches. Switches are different than dials. Right? Dials, you can turn up and turn down. A switch is on or off. Mhmm. And for me, the ones that I see that that really go is they have a switch. When they once they decide to make up their minds on something, it is all consuming. That's how real estate is for me. It's the switch. I'm that passionate about it today as I was when I first started. I love the game. I love what it does. You know, Tom Brady, that was the switch guy. Right? 

Speaker 1

Mhmm. 

Speaker 4

And and listen. It's the hardest thing for that guy right now to see and watch it turn have to turn it off. He doesn't wanna turn it off. And so what did he do? He's like, I'm gonna become a broadcaster Yeah. Because I still want I love it. I love the game of football. That's him. Right? Yeah. I find people when you find your passion, man, that's a switch. And when you will follow your passion, but it starts with an idea and, listen, I believe if you believe it, you can achieve it. 

Speaker 1

I love it. I mean, you mentioned a couple of examples in your life instances where when you talk about switches, you know, you said when you went to Hawaii and you saw the example of Bruce, you know, maybe you didn't follow it exactly right away how you should have, but but it was a mental, big mental switch. Like, it has to changed forever. What's possible? You're seeing, woah. That's possible. I can create abundance. I can create wealth. And then the second big one was was, you know, the soccer kind of what what we'll refer to as the low point, but it was sounds like you you had a major mental switch there as well. And I just love that you took action and, you know, are are you perfect? No. But, I mean, you've put in place a lot you know, you've been very intentional about calendaring, you know, your life, basically, and protecting your time. And and the reason you're doing that is because you've prioritized, you know, family and relationships, with in in both inside and outside of your business. 

Speaker 4

My business works to serve me. Right? To serve my personal vision. And that's that's it. 

Speaker 1

That's really good. Fantastic. Corey Peterson, this has been very good. I I've really enjoyed this episode, and I know the listener, will as well. Where can our listeners reach out to you online? 

Speaker 4

Yeah. So, if they listen to podcast too, we have a podcast called Multifamily Legacy Podcast, or, go to our website, Kahuna Investments dot com. 

Speaker 1

Perfect. Awesome. Thank you so much, Corey. This has been great. Really appreciate your time. 

Speaker 4

Thanks, brother. 

Speaker 1

And to the listener out there, we also very much appreciate your time, which is your most valuable resource. Thanks for listening, everyone. Take care. 

Speaker 3

Thank you for spending your most valuable resource with us, your time. If you like the show, please share it with your friends and fellow podcast listeners. One entrepreneur at a time, we can change the world. See you next time.