all right welcome back to our special

new podcast series The 20-minute

investor where my business partner

Nathan and I bring you actionable

nuggets and insights from our real

estate investing Journeys in bite-sized

20 minute episodes I’m Arin am me my

wife and I built a portfolio of eight

cash flowing rentals across three states

while working full-time and raising a

young family and I’m Nathan MTH I’m a

husband a father a tech executive who

built a portfolio of cash flowing

rentals across two states over 2,000

miles away together we co-founded the

remote real estate Academy where we

coach investors on how to build their

own portfolios of cash flowing rentals

from anywhere in the world all right

this week we are going to pull back the

curtain a little bit on the academy

itself since we’ve recently made a few

updates so as we’re recording this we’re

middle towards the beginning inching

towards the middle of February and we

are happy to have rolled out a couple

new features for all of our members so

previously I’ll kind of I guess te this

up and then get your thoughts on it too

but previously we had a couple different

tiers of membership and the add-on

coaching feature was a separate package

but what we decided is that the coaching

and the direct access and that quick

feedback that people get is really at

the core of the value of what we’re able

to offer inside of the academy so we

rolled in all of our kind of one-on-one

coaching features into the basic

membership and then we also raised the

price a little bit to reflect that kind

of tactically what that means is is uh

when members join they get a usually get

a one-on-one call with us where we’ll

work and understand their individual

situation and try and give them really

actionable steps to start taking right

away and then we’ve built out a success

path where you know we it’s step by step

everything you need to do to buy your

next rental well I think part of the

problem and when most people take

courses is they get really amped up and

really excited at the beginning they see

what they need to do and then life

happens and our entire program is built

around the idea that life happens

and so it’s that extra accountability

and the quick ability to book time and

lean in on the coaching that keeps

people moving forward and when they hit

those friction points it keeps them from

giving up which is what is most

important to us so in a nutshell those

are the big changes that’s the biggest

change we made and the other one is we

added small Mastermind groups into the

mix so before I keep babbling Nathan

what do you think about these changes I

know we are excited about them but how

do you feel it’s going so far yeah it’s

awesome it’s a simple way to put it but

I think you said it yourself I think the

two key words that I caught in your

intro here describing what we changed in

the academy the first one is feedback

right you talked about students like to

get feedback on where they are what

they’re doing how they’re progressing

but uh just like the students like to

get feedback we also like to receive

feedback ourselves and a lot of what we

have heard from the folks in the academy

now is that the the most value that they

get really is from direct access to

other folks including yourself and

myself and we heard that feedback loud

and clear and we’ve always tried to do a

very you know high quality White Glove

type treatment and Academy for our

students so we listened and then we

changed it based on feedback that we

received so I think generally speaking

since the roll out our existing students

uh have been saying nothing but great

things I think around the feedback and

the other word that you said I think is

critical in students achieve their goals

and prog PR towards their goal is really

that accountability piece right when

you’re whether you’re in a smaller

accountability group or when you have

direct access to urri it just holds

people way more accountable which is one

of the best ways to truly make progress

towards your goal yeah I think the

access and just the ability to ask

questions and know that you’re going to

get a quick answer from not only one but

two at least the two of us and then

potentially and probably at least one or

two of the other community members that

that’s you know to me valuable as

somebody who not too long ago went

through coaching programs and as

somebody who’s part of several other

communities like those are the things

that I value so I like to put myself in

the mind of if I was a consumer of my

own product this is what I would want

and uh and then of course we also PLL

and and keep a really close pulse on the

member experience for our existing

members and so we often times ask them

what is it that you need more of where

are the points you’re getting stuck and

I think that’s the other thing we

realized is there’s a few really common

points in the journey

with for out ofate investing where

people get Stu picking a market is

usually the first one and that’s pretty

pretty early in the journey right so

yeah yeah in the spirit of getting

people not to give up being there and

being available to help people when they

get when they hit that wall it’s like

hey I’m staring at a blank map and

there’s 20 places that could work and I

just don’t know how to get past I don’t

know how to filter down uh like helping

them past that first point just even as

an example it could be the difference

between them actually taking and ending

up buying a rental property or giving up

and there’s two or three more like that

along the path and so I think this

change makes it easier and it removes

the friction for when they hit those

points so that we’re really trying to

create a culture where nobody ever

suffers in silence and they have a a

pretty almost immediate Outlet to work

past their bottlenecks yeah 100% And I

mean it’s happened how many times in the

last few weeks either to close a deal or

to select a market I mean that’s the

those are some of the classic cases and

we were just answering a couple of these

I think it was last week maybe the week

before but yeah it definitely helps for

sure yeah and a couple other things were

rolling out so I mentioned the small

Mastermind groups it’s a fun story

Nathan and I used to be in a different

program together and that’s actually how

we met is that we were in a four-person

small Mastermind style group within that

community and we met every single week

and the format was pretty simple right

it was basically what are you working on

how’s everything progressing based on

your goals but also like where are you

getting stuck and we’d find these common

points as maybe that and what help do

you need as well right it’s where are

you stuck kind of what help do you need

if anything and there’s always something

helpful that your Mastermind peers can

say or do in my experience at least yeah

for sure and so like we would you know

the the thread would be different every

week it wasn’t the same it wasn’t just a

status report it was here’s the status

but also like you said where the

bottlenecks and we would coach each

other right there was no master

facilitator it was a peer group and that

made it really fun because I am always

of the Mind especially obviously we’re

both in coaching we like helping other

people and that gave us some experience

helping each other um in as we were

scaling out our initial portfolios but I

bring that up because you know that

structure obviously resonated with us

and it’s even how we met and how this

partnership and Academy came to be so

it’s really cool to see Full Circle now

we’re installing that same structure

within our community and it’s student Le

right so um we have U one of our more

active members Kyle who is leaning in to

kind of help coordinate and facilitate

but it’s going to be that peer

experience where people can really help

each other and it also is going to

provide one extra touch point for people

Nathan and I only have so much time that

we can stretch and we have other events

that we’re planning and that we put on

and we only have so many hours in the

day we can commit so this is a nice way

for people to get additional value from

the community without it having to take

up yet another kind of cycle for us so

that we can focus on going out and

building the relationships bringing

additional content workshops Etc so I’m

really ex yeah 100% And there’s also

just simply they we’re putting this in

place and we speak so highly of

masterminds in you know peer groups like

this because they work right they work

they’ve always worked was it Think and

Grow Rich Napoleon Hill the author Think

and Grow Rich 1937 I think the book that

that was all about working through those

problems in Mastermind groups so almost

100 years old we’re already talk about

these Mastermind groups so it’s funny

just one small like funny tangent is I’m

in several masterminds now you and I

have been masterminded together we’re

now encouraging this format in our

community and um I was explaining to my

mom the last time she visited about some

of these groups and I kept using the

term Mastermind and she never stopped to

correct me that she didn’t know what it

was but finally I had said it so many

times that she was like Aaron what is a

mastermind like what are you talking

about and like oh crap like I’m

definitely in an echo chamber where I

just everyone’s in a mastermind and

everyone’s buying real estate sometimes

I have to remind myself to pop that

bubble a little bit so what do you say

that’s a good point maybe segue to that

staying on this tangent but what do you

say because I’ve heard this before I’m

curious to hear your answer what do you

say when people tell you or talk to you

or like answer you when you’re talking

about Mastermind that uh especially if

it’s not led by a more seasoned you know

coach or subject matter expert whatever

that may be would they would do you

answer when people tell you yeah but

that’s the blind leading the blind right

yeah that risk is 100% there right if

you just put let’s say four people who

are all in the early stages of their

investing journey in a room together and

you don’t give them any format or

structure or set them up with guard

rails then what you will probably end up

with is one or maybe two of them

dominating the conversation getting

stuck on one topic for a really long

time that may not benefit the whole full

group like you might accompl things but

you probably will not accomplish the

intended purpose without some of those

guard rails and so I think that’s

totally a risk and I I would readily

acknowledge that and so just as an

example like what we set Kyle up with so

Kyle’s part of other communities he’s

seen different types of accountability

groups and he’s familiar with the

concept but I worked with him and gave

him a structure similar to what you and

I used to use in the other community we

were in and I said hey here’s the guard

rails right and like be on the lookout

for this right um if somebody’s talking

monologue for too long like you got to

cap it like try and keep some form of

time don’t be too rigid but don’t be too

loose and you know I’m not going to

micromanage him through that but I think

just by giving him the guard rail it at

least sets him up better for success and

prevents what you’re talking about

whereas this like blind leading the

blind and I also think you need at least

one person who is comfortable jumping in

right if somebody’s kind of going off

track and stuff yeah and just for the

sake so I I agree 100% with that so

maybe those are are signals for people

to watch to decide or notice whether or

not it’s time to jump out of a

mastermind if it’s not working because

of the reasons you’re discussing but

just for the sake of this conversation

taking the other side of the argument

here there’s also I found that there’s

always value

in having others respond to what you are

saying in your position because it just

gives you different perspectives

different opinions different Vantage

points for your particular problem and

if you if you listen carefully right and

you pay attention there’s always nuggets

of of information and help right just

hearing from others because we all get

stuck in our own heads I think for the

most part and you have to believe that

right if you’re there and you only want

to hear the sound of your own voice and

you only care about sharing your

perspective without taking other

people’s in then that’s not going to be

a good long-term culture fit for that

it’s called a solo mind no not a

mastermind exactly so I think it’s

really good question and these groups

like we’re going to keep a pulse and

make that everyone’s getting value out

of it but I think the way I think about

is layers of support right you and I

talked about when people join they get

their call with us right that is to set

the baselines come up with an action

plan get them some quick wins and making

progress and building momentum but then

the journey from there let’s say the

initial path is 12 to 13 weeks that’s a

lot of time to lose steam or lose

excitement like you said we said earlier

you hit those friction points there’s a

lot of opportunities to give up and the

more layers of supports you have around

you the less likely you are to do that

so if you have one of these peer groups

where everyone’s working through stuff

together and you have access to book the

hot seats with us if you let’s say the

peer group might not have a certain

expertise well they can then escalate

right they can escalate to us or Kyle or

any of the members can say hey this

topic came up in The Mastermind group

but we don’t quite know how to do it

they can say that in the community or

they can book a call and we can help

them through that and then even further

right if it’s not Something That We’re

equipped for we probably know somebody

who can help and then we can then use

our time and resources to go find the

right person to help solve that problem

for the community and so it’s that

layered support that allows our members

to get the best leverage out of us and

out of each other and I say leverage not

as a transactional thing I just mean

literally when we all have limited time

and energy if you set the structure up

the right way then they’re going to get

the best bang for their dollar and their

time

yeah they’re building relationships

they’re building friendships you know

they’re networking and if you didn’t

listen to the previous episode of this

conversation here go check it out

because we talk about how that could pay

dividends in the future so um it’s a

great thing to be part of yeah for sure

and then let’s see we got about five

minutes left to to stick to our 20

minute timer but um the other kind of

decision we made which is going off of

some stuff that we started last year is

that we’ll do one market Spotlight per

month uh those have been popular so

basically you know a lot of people can

teach the fundamentals of out ofate

investing but what we’re doing is

reaching into our networks and finding

people in all these different markets

who are actively either maybe their

agents or property managers or investors

themselves where if our students or the

people that attend these workshops are

interested in investing there they have

you know the first they know who to call

first right like we’re making that first

connection for them so that versus them

having to just pull up Google or go in

Bigger Pockets or go in Facebook groups

and those Market spotlights are great

because you might learn about a market

that was never on your radar and people

are kind of making for the case for why

they think that those are compelling

markets so just as an example we already

had what have we done we’ve done

Chattanooga we’ve done Ohio and and

several cities within Ohio we had

Detroit coming up and then we have St

Louis and Atlanta in the wing waiting

did I miss any trying to remember I’d

have to pull it up I mean those are the

main ones that I can remember I don’t

remember all them off top of my head

yeah but yeah it’s a solid list and from

the feedback we got from folks in the

Academy I think that’s one of the mo the

preferred kind of like sessions that

that we do on a monthly basis that’s

primarily because like we were talking

about I can’t was it this this session

or last one I can’t remember like people

get stuck in their um picking a market

picking the market sorry yeah so this

really helps them take the elevator and

instead of the stairs right

yeah and I think too that you know

that’s this is another story for when we

have more time but like I made some

pretty avoidable mistakes when I did my

first truly out of state side unseen

Market in Iowa is uh I didn’t know how

to build a team as well as I do now and

I made a lot of mistakes with the way I

went about building my team and so these

warm connections and having other

investors I mean that’s now a um a

non-negotiable right it’s in our

curriculum in our process is like you

never only take one Viewpoint and you

always want like a common point of

connection and so you know it’s tough

for us because we

also if we’re bringing people in that

we’ve never personally done a deal with

it is inherently a little bit of a risk

right like we don’t want to endorse

people outright if we’ve never done

business with them however like we are

usually having several conversations

with these people before we decide to

bring them in and usually they’ll have a

mutual connection or there will be some

kind of check and balance within our own

person networks that if they did

something um it would have a consequence

Beyond just offending us it would you

know compromise their reputation too so

it’s something we don’t take lightly

when we bring our own network into the

community like we we do it with the full

understanding of the responsibility that

people are trusting us um in a sense to

to bring good actors in and so I I I

want to say that because I do understand

that the inherent risk that that comes

with that absolutely our Brand’s behind

it our names are behind this so we we’re

EXT extremely cautious and careful and

do our diligence so but it’s totally a

fair

point indeed and then the last little

nugget maybe this will be a teaser for a

different time right is that um we’ve

been talking to a couple property

managers and then I had a couple

conversations this week with lenders who

um have access to like some different

types of loan products that are slightly

outside of the box that can work for

self-employed people um or even

different ways to kind of Leverage uh

the equity in people primary homes and

so we’re looking at potential workshops

on that like some alternative financing

strategies that they could be fun

interesting good teaser that’s a good

topic it’s always where do I find the

deals and where do I find the money once

you’ve identified your market right but

yeah exactly so well um we are coming

right up on the 20 minute Mark speaking

of 20 minutes our most popular Workshop

that Nathan and I built is based on our

core philosophy in the academy which is

that you can build and operate your own

portfolio in 20 minutes a day instead of

that just being fluffy words we decided

to break all those workflows down and

give them away in one Workshop uh which

includes Sops and videos on exactly how

we do all these tasks so you can find

that workshop at 20 minute investor.com

uh it’s perfectly free and we will send

it to you um if you go there you can

sign up and get it right away so thank

you Nathan this is always this is a fun

little TR we’re starting looking forward

to the next one yeah same here thank you

thank you for making it to the end of

today’s episode as you may know podcasts

are very difficult to grow organically

if you’re getting value from today’s

episode I’d deeply appreciate if you can

take 30 seconds to leave my show

five-star rating and review this will go

a long way to helping me reach more

listeners just like you thank you so

much in advance