[00:00:00] Speaker A: This is where smart business conversations meet real world experience, where strategies are shared, lessons are learned, and ideas come to life. I'm Emily Galindo and you're watching Biz Talk, your destination for real insight from the mind shaping tomorrow's business world only on NOW Media Television.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Biz Talk. I'm your host, Emily Galindo, and we are here talking about all things business, interviewing and talking with multiple business owners across the country so that you can take advantage of their experience and expertise.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: So you can also be successful.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: And tonight, today's guest is Nilo Quiros, who is a franchise owner of not one, not two, but three franchises here in Houston. And he's here to talk to us about all that experience and how to successfully run a franchise. Welcome, Nilo.
[00:00:49] Speaker C: Hey. Thank you very much for having me.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: You are welcome.
Are you crazy or do you just enjoy the stress of owning business?
[00:00:56] Speaker C: I don't know. I think I'm crazy, to be honest with you. It's just too much. But, yeah, that's it.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: Okay. And is there a reason. So you went with the franchise model of owning businesses. Is there a reason that you chose that avenue over just starting from scratch, a startup?
[00:01:11] Speaker C: I like franchises because basically they give you a very good procedure. They tell you what, like how, like the how to, and then it's on you to execute it. So I always think, I've been, I'm a good execution person.
And execution is just the key on franchise. If you want to do business on your own, you have to do the whole thing. Right, like from figuring out all the way to executing. So if you take out the figure out part and they tell you like, this is the way to do it, then it works. That's the key. If you buy a franchise, they tell you what to do and you don't do it. Don't get a franchise. Do it on your own.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: Right.
[00:01:46] Speaker C: And you'll probably fail. No, I'm just joking.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Well, it's likely, statistically that's true. Have you ever done a startup before?
[00:01:52] Speaker C: Yes, I did.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:01:53] Speaker C: Yeah. Like I told you in Singapore on my own. And I failed. Well, didn't fail, but it was not, not great outcome. So, yeah, it's very hard to do it from scratch. Yes, it is.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: Okay. And so on the franchise, talk to me about, so the franchise that you own, do they. Are they compatible or are they different? What do you. So we've got a catering company.
[00:02:11] Speaker C: Yeah, I got a catering company. I got a restoration franchise and I also have a plumbing Franchise very different. Each one of them, culture and the way they work, they're very different. But you learn in every single one different things. And you learn also that each business is different.
You have to look at different parameters.
[00:02:32] Speaker D: So.
[00:02:32] Speaker C: Yeah, but compatible in the way that you can actually see them all. Yeah, but in the other side, like internals, let's say, very different.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: So the positive side is that you've got a business in a box, right. If you just execute it and do what we tell you to do that's already been proven to be successful, you will also be successful. What's the downside?
[00:02:54] Speaker C: The downside is that there's limits. Like, if you come up with a crazy idea that you think is amazing and it's gonna, you know, revolutionize the way they do things or something, you have to convince a lot of people. So they allow you to do that, you know, because you're presenting their brand right. So they have their own values and their way of doing things, and they know how to do it. So when you. When there's something specific to market or something that actually revolutionize the way they do things, they think about it, review it, and they have a team until you execute it happens. I have been grateful enough that all our three franchises that I have, they allow you to do things. You know, they are like, hey, look, let me think about it. And then they come back and either improve it or let you do it. And if it works, they. They replicate it everywhere. And if it doesn't work, you know, they say, well, it was a good idea. Thanks for trying. But they never said no.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: I. I have had that. A similar experience working with franchises. It's kind of like if you want to test it on your own market, and if it works, then we'll roll it out to the rest of the organization.
[00:03:55] Speaker C: But they're a rigid franchise, and I think probably the big voice, that you can't change things, right?
[00:04:00] Speaker B: Like McDonald's, chick fil a or something.
[00:04:01] Speaker C: That's it.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: It is. We are doing it this way.
[00:04:04] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: So some would say. I've heard, as I've consulted with business owners over the years, that the franchise side, one of the negative things is you got to pay royalties.
[00:04:13] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: It's not all your money.
[00:04:14] Speaker C: You have to pay royalties. Yeah, but that's why. But you pay because you're. You're buying a product, right? Like, you're not just buying anything. You're owning how to do things. So that's why you pay royalties. I have never been, you know, negative about it you've been mad about paying your royalties? No, because I see, again, just the franchise I have. I'm grateful. I, I see where the money is going, so I see the changes, I see the improvements. I see the amount of people they hire and all these things. So that's why I never have a problem with it. As long as they constantly review with you. And why. What, what they. You. I mean, how they utilize that money or that, those funds, where do they go to?
Totally fine with it.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: So, Neela, you have an mba. You're a true businessman. And so how do you, what process do you go through when you're analyzing franchise opportunities? I mean, you've looked at, I'm assuming, multiples over the years and landed these three.
What are some of the things that you look for if some of our viewers are potentially looking at?
[00:05:10] Speaker C: Buying a franchise business plan is really the key, and you have to analyze the market. There's one thing that I cannot stress more. Analyze your market. Like, you need to make sure that that market is ready for the one. The thing that you are. Like, the need is there. If you really do not find a need, there's probably not that need. So you really need to analyze the market before you go into the market. Because a franchise of canned soda can be, you know, like the greatest idea ever, but maybe you are in a market that everybody's healthy and they don't eat soda.
[00:05:46] Speaker D: Right.
[00:05:46] Speaker C: Don't go, or you're going to fail. Right.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:05:49] Speaker C: However, if the market's telling you the other thing, it can be the biggest success ever and just brought the one thing that was missing.
[00:05:55] Speaker B: So how do you, how would you recommend that people go about doing that? This is a huge market. We're in Houston. How did you.
[00:06:00] Speaker C: I'm going to tell you a story.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:06:02] Speaker C: When I went to Singapore, a lot of people told me, you're going to fail. I don't know anybody. I've never been in that country. I don't live. I don't have family or anything. Right. How do I analyze that market?
I got Skype credit and I start calling. I make calls to my potential future customer and ask them, do you need this? I ask them, like five or six questions, and I reward them with a gift card of coffee or something. And they tell me, you know, the answers. And with those answers, that's how you analyze the market.
You need to know who's your end user or try to figure out your end user or how you're gonna start. Because for me, business is all about Sales. You can have a great, amazing business like an amazing product, but you need to know who's gonna buy it, and you need to make those people buy it. If they're not gonna buy it. If there's not anybody to buy, you can have a saver, laser saver. And it's cool and everything, but nobody can buy it. Nobody want to buy it. Nobody needs it. Really. It's gonna be there. You know, so great products have been invented and they have not been in the mass market because nobody wants them.
So you have to. That's how you analyze the market. Talking actually to real people, don't believe in polls, don't believe in market research, things like that. I do believe in doing it. Your own research, and really convince yourself there is a market for it.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Do you feel like that has a better. Like, in terms of your sales abilities, you have a better ability to sell because you know firsthand I did this research. I know that people are interested in this product versus reading polls or research or anything like that.
[00:07:34] Speaker C: I believe so. I mean, it's the way I did it after my first business. The first business, I didn't know anything about the game, to be honest. But now second and third, I did that, and they turned out very successful very quick. So that's. That's the only difference, you know, you know, experience and all this. But the difference is that we never go into it until we're certain about it.
Second thing, I will take anybody that want to hover into. I mean, get into a business and get into, you know, buying a franchise or any other business.
Capital.
Your second most important thing is money. Cash is the king. So you need to have a first, second or third layer of how you're gonna make sure that capital cash flow keeps. Keeps going. Because when you. You can have a great success, but the cash flow is not rolling, you're gonna die also.
So those are the other things I've learned.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: Okay. And talk to me just a little bit about one Tom plumber and bureau clean. And about how while it is within the franchise model, how are you making it a little bit different? How are you.
How are you being so successful? You guys were rookie of the year in your franchise and have had mass amounts of success. Why is that?
[00:08:45] Speaker C: I think the only thing where we're making difference is we're doing different stuff, right? We're doing things that maybe other people are afraid to do. You know, it's just the thing that probably mainly we're doing. For example, if people say, okay, so knocking on Doors is gone. It doesn't work. Well, I tried it, and guess what? That's how I got my first customers in the plumbing business. I know people tell you don't do it or whatever, but that's how you get started. You know, you need to get started with something.
A people of lot. A lot of people tell you, well, how you're gonna go into a networking group and sell plumbing. You know, like, have you ever met a plumber in a networking group? It's very. Yeah, but it's rare, right?
[00:09:25] Speaker B: It is rare.
[00:09:26] Speaker C: Okay, that's it. So when people tell me, what am I doing different? I'm doing what everybody doesn't do. Don't do it. Keep it like that. We're good.
But I go to networking books at plumber, and people are like, okay, that's nuts. Like, never met a plumber before. So that's probably the key component is just doing something. Something that is different, you know, how do you know?
[00:09:44] Speaker B: Maybe you are crazy, because how do you know what the line is from people aren't doing it because it doesn't work versus like, people aren't doing it because everybody else is just saying, it's not. It doesn't work. You know, I'm saying you just are willing to try it all and see questions.
[00:09:59] Speaker C: No questions. Like, just like I asked you, have you ever met a plumber? I probably did a hundred question like that before I got into the plumbing, and 80% people told me I never met a plumber before in a. In a networking event or never met a plumber talking about business, like, you know, I'm there, and say, okay, there's a. There's a gap there. There's a space. There's my way in. You know, things like that. And again, I can not think about anything else at this moment. But something like that, you find something that you think people are not doing and they should, and then you go in.
[00:10:30] Speaker B: I love that. And so if people wanted to reach out to you to talk to you more about franchises or even talk to you about plumbing, because they've never met a plumber. And like, so if you want to. If you want to meet a plumber, you can get a hold of Nilo. How can they get ahold of you?
[00:10:42] Speaker C: So they can, you know, reach me
[email protected], shoot me an email, tell me, hey, we want to meet and talk about it, and then I'll be there.
[00:10:51] Speaker B: And you'd like to take coffee. You're a networker.
[00:10:53] Speaker C: I love coffee. And I love Irish coffee, if you know what I mean.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: I didn't know that, but I will definitely take you up on that next time.
[00:11:01] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:11:02] Speaker B: Well, Nilo, thank you so much for talking with us about the franchises and about both Puroclean and Wonton Plumber.
It's important to have an educated person running a business and so thank you very much for being an example of a business person who runs a good business.
[00:11:18] Speaker C: Thank you very much for the interview and thank you for this time.
[00:11:20] Speaker B: You bet. All right, guys, stick around. We'll be right back with our next guest.
[00:11:27] Speaker A: We are just getting started. Stick around and we'll be right back with more lessons, insights and behind the scenes stories from the people driving real business forward. You're watching Biz Talk only on NOW Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Emily Galindo and this is Biz Talk on NOW Media Television. Let's dive back into the conversations that move business forward.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Loving what you're watching. Don't miss a moment of Biz Talk or any of your favorite NOW Media TV shows live or on demand, anytime, anywhere. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and enjoy instant access to our full lineup of bilingual programming in both English and sponsored Spanish. Prefer to listen on the go catch the podcast version of the show right on the Now Media TV website at www.nowmedia tv. From business and breaking news to lifestyle, culture and everything in between, now media TV is streaming 247 ready whenever you are.
Welcome back to Biz Talk. If you are just now joining us, I'm your host Emily Galindo where we are exploring all things business to help you be the most successful you can be. And today you are in severe luck because we have Lonnie Jackson with Lonnie Jackson coaching and she is the master in helping you capitalize on getting more time and more profits in your business. So welcome Lonnie.
[00:12:45] Speaker D: Thank you so much for having me.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: You are welcome. We are excited to have you because our viewers come here to learn and grow and be more successful. And so to have you here is a is a real treat.
Talk to us about what are you seeing in business right now that is facing like the biggest challenge that business owners are facing right now. I mean we've got AI coming on board. You've got lots of challenge, lots of disruptors happening in business. So what are you seeing as have impact making the biggest impact on them?
[00:13:14] Speaker D: I think what I'm hearing a lot of people say is that they're having a Hard time standing out. They're even more than ever because content is so easy to create now with AI coming in and then we just can just push out content nonstop. So so how do you compete with competitors who are doing that? And it feels like the market is really saturated and people are also exhausted by ads and feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by the pushiness and salesy tactics that used to be so easy. You used to be able to just post on your Facebook page and the whole world will see it. Right.
And now that's not the case. So I hear a lot of people like the algorithms hate me.
Which platform? All the platforms are dying. There's so many things that are coming up that I hear across all platforms in all industries whether it's a brick and mortar or a service based online business.
I hear that non stop not being.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: Able to stand out to your and so what is what would be you do like a customizable type approach, right. You come into the business and really analyze everything to help the business owner align with with their vision and mission and all of that. So I know that you can't give us a true one. What do we do about it? But what do we do about it?
[00:14:28] Speaker D: So that is it. That's the million dollar question, right? So one of the things that we start with is just one is saying like where do you want to be the most impactful? Because there are so many ways to show up and so many places to show up. It's really hard to do it all by yourself. So especially if you're new in your business, maybe you're scaling to your first multi six figures. First six figures or maybe you're going into half a million dollars this year and you're starting to like okay now I want to strategically bring people in to help me amplify my but until this point sometimes we are have to choose where to show up and show up all there because if you try to show up everywhere you're really not building community and relationships. Which is what I'm going to come back to is that that is the thing that is making you stand out is the relationships that you build and the ability that you can leverage to make people feel like they're connected to you. That's why influencers are so big still all these years later.
It's an industry that is not going away and brands are even leverag them because there's they have this uncanny ability to behind a screen make you feel like we're best friends. Right. So how do you do that with your Business and what you do and bring to the table. How do they relate to you and feel connected to your brand, to you as the company head or face?
What are you doing to attract your people to interact with you? And I always suggest, like, go in and perfect that organically in one platform before explaining to more.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: Okay. I love that approach. And I've been talking. I mean, what you're talking about is that authenticity, that connection so much. And we are seeing in marketing a huge shift back into like, especially with AI perfecting everything that we want to see some misspelled words and emails and we want to see like you fumble and have the outtakes and stuff of you being a real person and creating this real authentic brand that I'm just a real human being trying to do a good business thing.
[00:16:24] Speaker D: Exactly. I was so excited to hear one of my clients even say this. That authenticity is the new frequency.
I love that. I think that's so true because we're. We've always been told, like, you have to build the know, like and trust factor. Well, that's been taken away by all this inauthentic, very sensationalized content and people are over it. Like, we're, we know you're getting edited. We know you have a filter and we just don't relate to that anymore. Right. So how can you show up as like this human aspect of relatability and connectedness and you're going to attract your people and actually I think it's a really power move for most businesses to show up that way because you're going to repel people who don't want the authenticity.
Authenticity that you bring.
[00:17:10] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:17:11] Speaker D: And I don't want to attract somebody who doesn't want me to show up as me.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Right. And I love that because of that one thing that you are going to only attract the people that you want that want to work with you and will be great customers.
And that really is about speaking to your one audience. There's a great alignment book called Infinite Impact that is about that where your marketing should only really speak to one person.
[00:17:36] Speaker D: Exactly. And it's not just building an avatar. Like that was how we all started. Right. You've heard that you have to have your avatar, you have to know your ideal client, but it's combining what that person is that you're trying to target plus with what are they saying? What is their need? What is their problem? Because we're speaking at a college level from our businesses. We're usually, we're the experts. We have this college education. We're the professor speaking to a second grader.
So that's why your messaging is disconnected, because you are even talking about the same problem in their minds.
So making sure that you know who you want to talk to, where are they hanging out? What are they saying is their bleeding problem? And then the next thing is bringing in your unique points.
How are you different than every other person in your industry? So if you're a roofer, why are you different than every other roofer? What makes you set apart? That's going to bring in your personality, your process, your systems, your frameworks. How can you leverage those to be unique and stand out? And I've been having a lot of fun the last few years with this for myself because I saw this as a necessary thing. I can't just come in and say, well, I'm a business strategist. I'll help you create customized strategies to grow your profits.
Everybody says that if you say I serve busy, overwhelmed moms, everybody serves busy, overwhelmed moms. And so we scroll past those words now because they're overused.
So how do you come in with your uniqueness and what sets you apart in your process or what can you disrupt about the way everybody else in your industry does it and how you're different and then brand it like you invented the thing. Yeah, yeah. With some confidence. Exactly. Yeah, yeah.
[00:19:16] Speaker B: Like, yes, I love that. Brand it like you and Vincent.
[00:19:19] Speaker D: Exactly.
Because you, you are. Your unique spin. Yes.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: You.
[00:19:24] Speaker D: It's not anything necessarily brand new from the get go. Like I didn't invent Facebook. But what my spin is, is I can teach you a 10 minute marketing strategy to drive new leads to your business every single day. If you're committed to it and you want to show up, it only has to take 10 minutes. Now, can you scale that? Absolutely. But, but a minimum of 10 minutes will bring you leads every day. It's how I grew a community to 8,500 on Facebook groups. 10 minutes a day.
[00:19:49] Speaker B: I already again, every time I talk to you, I'm like, I need to work with you and call you. Like, that's incredible. So you had talked a little bit about on the front end of bringing the right. But you say that that also feeds into how you determine processes and systems within the organization. Like, what are some of those challenges when we like getting maybe some of our viewers getting business isn't the problem. Like it might be getting the right kind of business and the paying customers and all of that, but they've got the business, but it's the systems and the fulfillment side that challenge.
[00:20:19] Speaker D: Yes. I love the clients that come to me and they're like literally being fire hosed by client leads. I had a client come to me this fall and she literally.
I told her she started to stop posting for a minute because we had so many people who were excited about her offer. She did what we talked about how she's like showed up uniquely. She was so relatable. She was on one main platform. She had, no joke, 14,000 DMs.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: Holy cow.
[00:20:46] Speaker D: And I was just like, okay, this is way too overwhelming. She's a solopreneur. Hey, maybe had a couple contractors. So we immediately had to build in some systems like how are we filtering out who is a good fit for the program, who's not, what qualifies them? We put in an application process, then we put in Manychat for DMs, then we put in a tracking system for leads. Then we. All of those pieces we had to build out so that she could actually close the business. Instead of feeling like make close business.
Instead of feeling like I'm just what do I do with all these people?
[00:21:18] Speaker B: Right, yeah, you just switch to the top and work your way down.
[00:21:20] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:21:21] Speaker B: That's what I would do without you.
[00:21:23] Speaker D: Exactly. But now she has things in place because she's still getting leads every single day.
Now we know we can filter them quickly. We can downsell the ones that are not a good fit. We can put people who are a great fit into top of the line.
There's so many things that we can do, but if it's just all coming at you at once, the systems will break faster than you do. So I like to ask people like, if we doubled your business tomorrow, what would break?
And most of the time it's like me, I will break.
[00:21:51] Speaker B: I would break. I would break.
[00:21:52] Speaker D: Yeah. So if we can set up now, what would it look like if we doubled your business, the systems in place to be able to support that, that impact of bringing in all the new business, then we can also execute the strategy because a lot of times we're even subconsciously blocking the growth because we're overwhelmed with what we're taking on in a day to day basis.
[00:22:12] Speaker B: And again, every time I talk to you, I just am like, you are the, you are the solutions person. You're like, it can all be solved. And you see it with a very calm approach of just, no, we've got this, it's going to be fine.
[00:22:24] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:22:24] Speaker B: And so if you are feeling this way about Lonnie, how Can people get a hold of you to maybe talk more about these things, systems and help?
[00:22:30] Speaker D: Yes. So I have a free business alignment call that I offer to any business owner. If you book Lonnie Jackson.com LetsTalk you can go to my website. I also have a Facebook community for women in business called the Society where you can come and talk about your business and you're not gonna get kicked out of the room, which is always really nice.
And also you can reach out to me via email. I love deep chatting in the DMs. Those are my favorite ways to chat and have love to connect with you. And then I also have a podcast as well and ACT is capitalized because we want to talk about what is the actual things you actually took action on to grow your business and how did you get there. And so we kind of pull that back, back that curtain and talk about the crazy that's going on, whether it be the kids having a water fight upstairs while I was trying to have a business call to like, how do we reset our mindset to what systems are actually making an impact in our business right now versus what you need to like.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: All incredible opportunities which are all, I believe we're all free things.
[00:23:34] Speaker D: That they can do engage with you.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: To be able to just elevate their business to the next level.
[00:23:38] Speaker D: Yeah, I love that.
[00:23:39] Speaker B: I love that and I love you. So thank you so much for being here.
Thank you all. We'll be right back after, after this commercial break. See you soon.
[00:23:49] Speaker A: We are just getting started. Stick around and we'll be right back with more lessons, insights and behind the scenes stories from the people driving real business forward. You're watching Biz Talk only on NOW Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Emily Galindo and this is Biz Talk on NOW Media Television. Let's dive back into the conversations that move business forward.
[00:24:12] Speaker B: Welcome back to Biz talk. I'm your host, Emily Galindo. On this show, we bring you bold ideas, real world insights and strategies you can actually use to level up your business and financial future.
Today's guest knows what it takes to build real wealth because he's done it himself. Dennis Burke is a lifelong entrepreneur who immigrated to the US From a small island off the southern coast of Ireland back in 1986. And since then he's owned multiple businesses, with real estate becoming a primary focus since 1992. He holds an MBA and a doctorate in business and is now based in Sarasota, Florida. Dennis is deeply passionate about helping others learn, grow and succeed. Dennis, welcome to the show.
[00:24:55] Speaker E: Thank you for having me, Emily.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: Absolutely. I mean, you are such an expert and provide us all kinds of value every time you're here. So we're excited to have you back.
We want to focus this time with your focus your time on our show today. About the problems facing many in our audience is that they want to build long term wealth and usually that's why they become entrepreneurs and all of that. And that's the, that's the goal is this legacy. But it often feels like it becomes a job and that it's not enough.
So why do you feel like real estate is one of the most powerful paths to long term wealth?
[00:25:34] Speaker E: Well, unlike a job, you don't have to babysit the real estate. Generally speaking, you know, it's a physical structure.
Hopefully you found a piece to buy in a prime location, major street traffic light intersection, somewhere that's highly desirable with good demographics. And once you renovate it, improve it, if that's what you need to do. And put tenants in there generally takes care of itself, I would say 80, 85% of the time. However, you know, you still have to go check on it, keep an eye. Because like any other investment, you can't just leave it to chance.
You'll hopefully get your rents every month through automatic payment and you pay your bills every month, your mortgage payment, your utility bills, whatever other expenses you might have with the property. But for the most part, real estate, especially commercial real estate, doesn't require a lot of engagement from the owner. And for that reason, it is a tremendous opportunity to grow financial independence.
[00:26:37] Speaker B: Okay. And would you say it's a better path forward than some of the other popular options right now, like dropshipping or crypto or anything like that?
Do you feel like this is a better option than those?
[00:26:51] Speaker E: I think so because it's more relatable for most people on a broad scale. And real estate has been around for hundreds of years, whereas some of the other wealth building mechanisms that you spoke about, they are relatively new, maybe in the last five or 20 years.
So for that reason, they're not as well, they're not as well known. And not everybody wants to take the risk on something that's not as relatable as real estate.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: Aha. Yes, it can be risky. Would you think that real estate can also be risky or just less risk?
[00:27:30] Speaker E: I think real estate has risk factor that's manageable, but like everything else, you have to know a bit about, about it and you have to make, you know, you have to make Good decisions. And those decisions include, by the way, do you know that I can't hear a word I'm saying to you?
[00:27:51] Speaker B: I did not know that.
[00:27:55] Speaker E: I don't know that. It's recording.
[00:27:56] Speaker B: It is. I can hear you.
[00:27:58] Speaker E: It is.
So can we cut this piece anyway?
[00:28:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:02] Speaker E: Anyway, the answer to your question is that real estate for most people is more, more relatable. Everybody knows what a house, an apartment building is, what an office building is, what a warehouse is, what a shopping center is, and what the functional use of those aspects of real estate are. And so for different groups and different levels of risk tolerance, people invest accordingly. Sometimes it also has to do with people's preferences. Like for instance, we like commercial real estate, we like neighborhood retail, we like various forms of industrial, and we are not in the apartment business and not in any other form of residential real estate. We feel like that that's more.
More requires more of one's engagement. You have to be involved more on a consistent basis or you have to hire a management company to run the daily nuances with residential, whereas with commercial it's a fairly passive and minimal engagement, especially if you have corporate tenants.
[00:29:08] Speaker B: Absolutely. And so that seems like if you were going that route, that it could be done as maybe a side hustle, potentially. So if some of our viewers are working a full time job but had some income or had some, you know, savings lying around, that they wanted to start to make this generational wealth, long term wealth for themselves, what kind of real estate investment works best for those beginners who are still working a full time job that can't do, you know, collecting payments from apartment complexes and things like that?
[00:29:41] Speaker E: I think it's a stepping stone process for many people. People start out buying a house or two and they improve it and they rent it and then they find out, well, there's a lot more to it that I could accomplish. And so they buy small apartment units, maybe a duplex, triplex or quadruple, and eventually scale up to 10 or 20 units. And after a while they figure out there's a whole dimension of real estate beyond all of this. And maybe they get to 50 units and then they may come to impasse in their life or in their business and decide that they need to be more in commercial.
A lot of the time people learn the nuances in residential and multi family and then they shift over into commercial. But, but technically there are two different types of business. Commercial real estate and residential. Real estate is very, very different.
And there's a learning curve in commercial real estate. As well. But the fact is, is that people have to start somewhere. And unless you inherited the largest fortune, it's not easy to get into commercial real estate because it's very capital intensive.
You have to have money to be able to get going. And you have to sustain yourself sometimes for a longer period of time because you wouldn't necessarily get a tenant overnight. It can sometimes take months and months and months to secure a long term lease with a commercial tenant, whereas with residential, you pretty much can rent an apartment every month or every couple of months. Serve the turnover time in the apartment industry is a lot shorter than in the commercial space.
There are pros and cons on both sides, okay?
[00:31:21] Speaker B: And so if they, if somebody chose the real estate investment path, whether apartment or commercial, how can someone use rental income to support their financial future?
[00:31:33] Speaker E: So of course, the first thing you have to do is pay the mortgage on the building, pay the utilities and the expense, the general upkeep. You make a provision for property taxes and insurance.
And then any surplus left over is your positive cash flow. That's the money that you can use to live off of, or maybe you put it in reserve for to purchase another building.
And so lots of time, that's how people manage to grow their portfolios.
They use the extra money and put it in savings. Or they might go back and refinance the building that they've improved with new tenants paying higher rents and be able to pull out what they call as a cash out refi. They pull out some cash, couple of 300, $500,000, depending on what the value of the building is and what the current debt rate is. And from that they go off and they like a stock split in a stock, they get their second opportunity going while holding onto the original one that they have.
[00:32:35] Speaker B: That seems like a very good plan to start building that wealth that we were talking about. So before we let you go, I would like to know what's one myth about real estate investing that you would like to bust today? For our audience.
[00:32:48] Speaker E: I think the biggest myth is that it's, that it's a lot of risk.
Whereas risk is something that's managed and, you know, planned for.
And there's risk in everything. There's risk in going out and driving a car, getting on an airplane.
But bearing in mind that real estate is a tangible asset. You can see it, touch it, you can walk around it, walk through it.
It's just different from any other kind of investment.
And again, I presume that it's based on my experience that I've been doing this for so long that I'm just not scared of real estate. And I don't see it as a risky endeavor.
I just know that if you manage it correctly, you keep at least you keep the grounds maintained and the property maintained. It'll continue to pay out dividends for years and years and years.
You just have to like the seed. You just have to give it sunlight and water and keep it updated and it continues to do the right thing for you.
That's basically what I feel like is a good motto toward real estate.
And it's just not as risky as some of the other things that you mentioned, like maybe cryptocurrency or maybe drop shipping, because there's a lot of variables in those industries that don't apply in real estate.
[00:34:08] Speaker B: Thank you, Dennis. That does make me feel a little bit more comfortable given the experience that you have and also the years of industry, like that it's existed. Right. So you've given us a lot to think about. For those who want to learn more or connect with you directly, where can our viewers find you?
[00:34:25] Speaker E: We're based in Florida in a city called Bradenton, Florida. And the best way to get a hold of us would be to either go on the website propertywiseguys.com or you can call us at 941-444-0454 and be happy to answer any questions you might have.
[00:34:47] Speaker B: Wonderful. Well, thank you very much for being with us today, Dennis. And if you hang and for our viewers, we'll be right back with talking more with Dennis about more real estate. And so hang in there. We'll be right back.
[00:35:00] Speaker E: Thank you.
[00:35:00] Speaker A: We are just getting started. Stick around and we'll be right back with more lessons, insights and behind the scenes stories from the people driving Real business forward. You're watching Biz Talk only on NOW Media television.
And we're back. I'm Emily Galindo and this is Biz Talk on NOW Media Television. Let's dive back into the conversations that move business forward.
[00:35:21] Speaker B: Loving what you're watching? Don't miss a moment of Biz Talk or any of your favorite NOW Media TV shows live or on demand, anytime anywhere. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and enjoy instant access to our full lineup of bilingual programming in both English and Spanish. Prefer to listen on the go catch the podcast version of the Show Right on Now MediaTV website www.nowmedia.tv from business and breaking news to lifestyle, culture and everything in between, now media TV is streaming 24. 7 ready whenever you are.
Welcome back to the show, everyone.
And I'm your host, Emily Galindo with Biz Talk. We're excited to have our guest, Dennis Burke with us. And now we're diving into what really means to create freedom not just through hard work, but through smart passive income. Dennis has been with us previously. We're talking about investments and commercial real estate and a pathway to long term wealth. So the problem, I think, Dennis, you've shed a little bit of light on some of these factors. We've dispelled the myth of it being a risky investment. Right. And that it really can be manageable, the risk levels. And so the problem that I think our audience wants to address though, is that they work hard, but they feel stuck. And it often feels like there's no way out of this paycheck to paycheck cycle. And so what do you have to say to, you know, under helping us understand the difference between earned income and passive income?
[00:36:59] Speaker E: I think part of the issue is that from a younger age we're taught to get into a system where we grew up, we go to school, high school, we go to college. And the system teaches us that you need a university degree in order to become prosperous and successful.
And so the fact of the matter is we follow a path in life that takes us through college. And at the other end, we end up going to work for a corporation and we get ingrained in the culture of that corporation and we start to believe that that's the life direction for us. And it's not really true in a lot of cases, because if you instead didn't go to college entirely, or maybe you did go to college, but you start a company after you graduated from university, you would have a different exposure entirely in a whole different outcome. Because if you work for yourself, you make a lot more money than you do working for a salary for other people with benefits and the whole thing. And most people don't realize that you can buy the benefits. There's major insurance companies that provide health care and health insurance for self employed. Of course you have to buy these services.
That's natural.
However, you maintain your freedom as a person and as a business owner.
And for us, that's been the greatest experience of all throughout our life. I don't believe I've had a job in like 35 years or more. So that for me has been amazing. So I recommend that same outcome for other people.
Many of the friends and people I associate with to own their own businesses. And the life is very different between morning and Evening working for yourself versus going, working in a job every day.
I think your original question, your question was how do you migrate from one to the other?
I believe that you have to want to begin with, you have to recognize that there's an entirely different way to make a living and put food on the table.
And of course that's always the entrepreneurial road. It's not, it's not simple, you know, it's not always paved with riches. But you can create your own direction and your own outcome. A lot is up to you.
Whereas if you stay working for a corporation, they kind of define your destiny for you and you just fit in and follow through with whatever they need you to do.
Obviously I wasn't geared up for that. I needed to have my own way to think and do and for that reason ended up in a different place.
[00:39:38] Speaker B: And so what would you say to somebody? I mean, what kind of mindset shift does someone need to go through to go from an employee mindset to the investor mindset?
[00:39:53] Speaker E: You have to have faith and belief in yourself as a person. First of all, because a lot of what we are, we become in our life has to do with how we were taught in the home and what it is that the parents that we had got us to believe in. And for, for some people is to go get a secure and good paying job and get a pension when you get older. And for other families, the, the parents, the father had his own business, the mother had her own business, and then the children tend to also migrate in that direction.
You did ask a good question about mindset because truly a lot of our outcomes are mindset based. And so it's well known that what you think about on a consistent basis becomes your reality.
Therefore, if you're thinking about freedom, self employment and achieving financial independence, working for yourself, having your own company, the high, high likelihood is that you will end up going in a path like that and end up maybe owning multiple businesses throughout your life. Whereas if your thought process is more about security and getting in with a corporation, you're, you're probably going to go on a different career path. And because of that, you're, you're going to end up in a, in a rough, maybe inside a corporation, not sure if you want to, you know, whether you want to stay there or not for the long run.
So that's been my experience and that would be the recommendations I would make to individuals.
[00:41:33] Speaker B: Absolutely. And so you have already spoken to us a little bit about, you know, the passive income side of real estate investment and how that can create a steady stream of income as well as build, you know, long lasting wealth. What kind of timeline you think it requires for building enough passive income to ultimately change your life to be able to step out of this nine to five, if they've made the mindset shift, this is the thing I'm going to do. What do you, what kind of timeline would you say is appropriate?
[00:42:02] Speaker E: I think it's possible in seven to 10 years to achieve a certain level of independence in real estate.
A lot is going to depend on where you start.
Meaning did you start in residential multifamily investments or did you start in commercial investments? And which aspect of commercial real estate did you start in?
Of course, either side is a good place to start.
But I think what dictates where you get started is the amount of capital that you have available.
I would say that commercial real estate is far more capital intensive, meaning you need much larger amounts of money to get started and to grow a bigger scale. Whereas residential, you can start with a smaller amount of money and grow more gradually into a bigger scale.
Many people that I know, they started in residential and small multifamily, but as the years evolved, they ended up switching over into commercial real estate. And in commercial real estate, for the most part, you have corporate small business tenants, which is a whole different profile of tenant from families, and vacation rentals and other forms of residential investment.
And for that reason, I feel like that starting as a residential and switching to commercial can get you into the place where you could have a million dollars net worth in seven to 10 years.
There are many variables in economy shift, interest rates increase and decrease.
But I would just generally say that it's possible to become a millionaire in real estate in seven to 10 years.
[00:43:50] Speaker B: Okay, so we've got it. There's a timeline for us. And so if we're working the 9 to 5 or our viewers are working a 9 to 5 and they want to start maybe down this journey to be a millionaire by seven to 10 years. How can people start creating income streams even if they're short on time? Right. I work a full 40 hours. How much time is this also going to take me outside of that?
[00:44:14] Speaker E: Well, you have something like 144 hours in a week, if I'm not mistaken. And so you sleep probably eight hours. Eight times seven, you sleep 56 hours. That's still an awful lot of time that you could devote to doing real estate. And eventually the real estate will become the full time gig and the job will become an encumbrance. To your existence and to your life. And so you'll eventually find you'll need to get rid of the job and focus 100% on your real estate investing and the opportunities that it provides you to grow financially.
[00:44:51] Speaker B: And if you, let's say you, the commercial side is up, you mentioned multiple times as the more lucrative opportunity and with less kind of management side of it.
[00:45:02] Speaker A: Right.
[00:45:03] Speaker B: In terms of the tenants and such. But it does require a little bit more money on the front end. And so if people are working a 9 to 5 and don't have that kind of capital, what would be your first step into real estate investing that could be more accessible?
[00:45:19] Speaker E: I believe people that are working in regular jobs and that want to get into real estate probably start buying homes. Maybe they buy one rental house and as time evolves, the value and the rental house improves, they can go in, they can refinance the house, assuming that the value has risen from where they originally purchased it. And with the cash out refinance from the, from that home, they can go out and buy a second home or a bigger property, maybe a multifamily property.
Real estate is very scalable.
So you can grow from being in a small position to a much larger position to a much, much, much larger position. But ultimately, I believe that commercial real estate, like for instance, you own neighborhood shopping centers, they're worth millions of dollars and it could take a half a million to get into one. But we, many people didn't start with a half a million. They made money in residential real estate first and then they, they flipped the switch into commercial. And once you get into commercial, I don't know that people would go back. You know, when you find out that you can have national brands and franchise companies as your tenant base, it's a whole other decision to go back and deal with the life experience of people in residential real estate. Because it can be a lot of work to do, you know.
[00:46:41] Speaker B: Absolutely. The way you're describing that makes commercial investing sound much more appealing.
Amazing and inspiring insights. And so for viewers who are ready to escape the paycheck to paycheck cycle and want to start creating passive income, where can they connect with you online so that they can maybe ask some more questions for you and start looking at some of those properties, we have.
[00:47:02] Speaker E: A website, ww.propertywiseguys.com the company phone number is 941-444-0454.
And if you reach out to me, I do have a process and a system that can help you go from where you are to where you want to be. We set a real game plan and we set goals so you can achieve that over a period of years.
But I take you step by step through a process and this is the way I can help you the most. I also since I'm a licensed broker in multiple states, I'm able to facilitate the entire process from beginning to end. And as separate business, we do alternative capital, so we provide the funding that you need to buy the real estate as well.
[00:47:52] Speaker B: Wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us and for always being available to share that with all of our viewers.
[00:48:01] Speaker E: I appreciate it. Thank you very much for having me.
[00:48:04] Speaker B: Thanks Dennis.
What an eye opening conversation. Dennis Burke reminded us that real estate isn't just for the wealthy or the full time investor. It's one of the most accessible and effective ways to start building long term wealth and passive income if you're working a regular job. Whether you're tired of watching your money disappear every month or dreaming of a future where your income works for you, this episode was packed with real strategies to make those dreams a reality. The shift from paycheck dependency to financial freedom isn't a fantasy. It starts with a decision, some learning, and willingness to act. A big thank you to Dennis Burke for showing us that financial success is possible when you commit to the process and stay consistent. I'm Emily Glendo and this has been Biz Talk on NOW Media tv. Until next time, keep asking smart questions, keep pushing forward, and never forget, your next breakthrough might just be the one.
One bold move away.
Have a great time guys. We'll see you next.
