all right welcome back to our new

podcast series The 20-minute investor

where my partner Nathan and I bring you

actionable nuggets and insights from our

real estate investing Journeys in

bite-sized 20-minute episodes I’m Aon

Amin 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 a

husband father and Tech executive who

built a portfolio of cash flowing

properties across two states more than

2,000 miles away together we co-founded

the remote real estate Academy where we

coach investors on how to build their

own portfolio of cash flowing rentals

from anywhere in the world all right so

this week’s topic is also coming from

our community and a lot of times people

are encouraged to share content what

we’re doing right now but they’re

wondering like how can I have feel like

I have the credibility maybe they don’t

feel like they have something to share

that could be valuable to others also

known as impostor syndrome right so

topic of the week is going to be how we

have battled that in our own Journeys

and why investors should feel good about

what they have to share and and how it

might affect others so you want to get

started what’s been your journey with

imposter

syndrome I’m in the middle of it all the

time for all the things I think that’s

my journey it’s a lifelong journey but

actually yeah no joking aside I think

that’s very true at least for me I’ll

speak for myself but yeah very true

where in many aspects of my life whether

it be being a good husband being a good

father being the the tech executive like

I you know mentioned in the intro right

but and real estate right but there

always times in my Reg regular day

regular week where I question myself am

I doing the right thing do I know what

I’m talking about should I be doing this

why am I doing this and it happens all

the time and I think it’s it’s a normal

thing in my opinion but also the way I

try to look at it to turn that impostor

syndrome into a positive versus a

negative is to keep reminding myself

that if and when I feel that and if and

when I feel those feelings it’s probably

because I’m pushing myself to grow

pushing myself to be in a space that I

am not an expert in so I’m pushing

myself where I’m yeah I’m growing

because you can’t you can’t both

grow and be the expert right I think by

definition if you’re growing and

learning and trying and doing something

new it’s obviously by definition new so

there’s going to be aspects of that

where you’re like why why am I doing

this am I really skilled to do this and

you have those questions that come up

but it’s I think it’s part of the

journey like I said and it’s not

something that I would say I’m

comfortable with when I have those

feelings I have to check myself and get

back into the positive mode to be like

know but this is growth this is good you

should be okay with this but when it

happens still happens right and you have

to be ready to deal with it how about

you what’s your story you’re all good

right syr ever yeah that’s what I

thought no I think the way you led with

that too right that we’re always in the

middle of it it’s so true and I am con

even though I’m on I’m now recording and

releasing and writing content more than

I ever have in my life I still feel like

I’m doing it from a place of sharing not

from enforcing or trying to speak down

in any way or try and portray some yeah

authoritative right I I feel like it’s

more about sharing perspective in the

hopes that it might resonate with people

who are going through similar challenges

and to your point too it’s it’s usually

indicative of growth if you’re perfectly

comfortable with what you’re doing you

might not have imposter syndrome as much

because you’re comfortable exactly so I

view it as a sign of growth and I think

the the scariest part for people is when

they’re sharing something I actually had

this conversation with my wife the other

day we’re building this memory care

Mansion it’s this big project that’s way

bigger than anything we’ve ever done

before and there’s you know thousand

things that could go wrong and she was

talking about well well we’re sharing

this stuff and like the whole thing

could fall apart still and wouldn’t that

be embarrassing and for sure it it might

be I don’t know about embarrassing but

it would it would be challenging to

share building all this positive

momentum and things are going great and

then if something falls apart it feels

like a failure and one that you might

not be inclined to share with people but

I have found time and time again that

the more that I share the actual

challenges the better of a connection I

have anyway it’s when you try and start

saying this is how you should do it or

saying things like yeah with that

authoritative stance without tying it

back to your own experience that’s when

I think it’s more of a okay maybe then

it is a who do you think you are type

thing but that’s why the storytelling

Vibe I think always that’s how I have

have thought about sharing and I do have

one other thing that really helped me

with imposter syndrome I’ve been open

about this but I’m coming up on six

years sober and in the early days of

that I did a a short stand in impatient

rehab I I went to meetings all the time

and in those early days in something

like recovery where you’re making this

big abrupt life change that’s very

serious and it typically has

implications far beyond whatever that

day might hold there’s the weight of the

world Weighing on you and what I learned

in those rooms though is that the person

with two days sobriety can help the

person with one and the it really is

sometimes better for the person that is

just coming into the room to talk to

somebody that has 30 days or less that’s

going through that same process with

them than it is to talk to somebody with

30 years where they can’t necessarily

relate to so I think totally different

context but that taught me a thing or

two about respecting the value of

sharing things even if you’re only maybe

one or two steps ahead of somebody in

the journey so that helped me a lot I

don’t if you have any thoughts on that

yeah I mean I think you said it spot on

first of all thanks for sharing that

because that’s obviously very personal

and um sensitive or whatever but yeah I

think there’s what I’ve come to realize

is everybody all will always in my

opinion and I’m probably wrong but

everybody will always have something to

share with someone else somewhere right

we we were two there’s no two

individuals who are the same on this

planet no two individuals who have the

exact same story and there’s always

going to be something of Interest or

something that one can learn from

somebody else right and even though I

think that the Imposter syndrome thing

is like you it’s what you said earlier

is well who am I what do I have to share

well sure you could look at it that way

but it’s probably you just tell your

story like he said and not coming to

preach or teach or anything like that

I’m just sharing my story somebody else

will relate right or find something

interesting um and it’s interesting

because before you talked about the

mansion and failure embarrassment and

all that it’s all about perspective

right because you can look at a failure

let’s say that project of yours and your

wife’s doesn’t pan out right and it to

just doesn’t work it sure you’ll lose

money probably you I don’t know what

else embarrassed you said I don’t know

one way to look at it is failures like

that could are also or could be or

should be in my opinion learning

opportunities and as long as you’re not

doing the same mistake again right if

you can learn from something when quote

air quote here fails then it’s not

really a failure it’s a learning

opportunity right and even one step

further to that right if you learned a

lesson from that can then prevent you

from making future mistakes what a

blessing it is to share that with other

people who might be coming up on that

same decision ision point and they don’t

have the perspective that you have

because you just went through something

that taught you that lesson and so if

you can share your story and maybe

prevent somebody else or many other

people for making that mistake I mean

that’s one of the reasons I think you

and I like having the academy so much is

because there’s a lot of stuff that

worked well for us and yes we do talk

about that but we also talk about the

stuff that didn’t work because our you

know primary objective is to prevent

other people from having to make those

mistakes that can shorten the timeline

and it can shorten the amount of time

and energy they have to put into it

because hey there’s a little blind spot

that I wouldn’t have known about if I

didn’t hear about it and so I think when

you yeah it’s like Shifting the the

frame from feeling like you’re preaching

to people versus hey I learned something

useful and I’m sharing that in the hopes

that you get some value out of it and

it’s okay if you don’t because no I’m

also not forcing you to watch my

content no you can’t I mean it’s a good

point forcing you to watch the content

but it’s also I think related to that

it’s also you can’t force somebody to

listen right to anything even if you’re

sharing your story whether they watch it

or not you don’t know how they’re going

to hear that story and how they’re going

to interpret it and what they’re going

to do with it right so it it is all

about mindset at the end of the day yeah

and POS syndrome

fun well I think one area too where

people can become more confident and

maybe also be a little bit less out

front which sometimes is scary if you go

post on Facebook or you go post on

LinkedIn or you post on YouTube that’s

quote unquote public but you know

communities such as ours such as Michael

zuers I know we’re both a part of

there’s other communities of Real Estate

Investors and in those instances the

people that are paying to be part of

those programs are going through stuff

in the trenches so to speak together and

that’s a great place to add value that’s

a great place to go in and if you see

somebody tell a story if you see

somebody ask a question and you happen

to know something that might be useful

just go in and answer right like I I

it’s that go-giver philosophy like I

don’t necessarily get some amazing

immediate transactional benefit from

taking time out of my day to do that but

I feel good because I once faced similar

situations and by the way I will

probably still face those things again

and if I don’t continually to remind

myself of the lessons that I learned the

last time I’ll probably forget and make

the damn mistake again so true so I mean

there’s you get a lot by giving a lot

away and that’s how I have come to think

of sharing things especially publicly

yeah one thing that I find very

interesting because we’re we all of us

are with other people all the time in

all aspects of Life Family work Hobbies

real estate whatever it is we’re

obviously talking about real estate here

even though impostor syndrome can apply

to you know many aspects of one’s life

but and I’m curious what your thoughts

are but I found like specifically like

the real estate investing people

communities whatever I’ve still every

day am amazed at how much of a giving

like Community people it is it’s insane

like when I started I was like why would

another successful real estate investor

talk to me about the markets that I’m in

now because I might be stealing air

quotes again here their next property

and all that stuff and I had all these

weird feelings and sentiments and I’ve

come to realize it’s like it’s people

give so much it’s insane so if anything

like the there’s so many ways to do real

estate so many markets so many

properties so many unique situations

that if anything I feel this space that

we’re talking about is maybe a prime

space for imposter syndrome to not be a

thing because people are such go-givers

it’s

crazy yeah no I agree and I think you

find a lot of that interaction in

communities and I just started inperson

Meetup and I started going to more

inperson meetups here in Houston and

that’s not a space that I really

participate in a lot the last few years

I had three kids in 3 years moved across

the country a couple times it just

wasn’t the Tim wasn’t right for me to be

spending evenings going out to those but

I’m also impressed and encouraged when I

go to places like that and I’m not there

being like let me tell you about

everything I did and this is how you

should do it it’s no I listen to what

people are going through and if there’s

something that they’re faced with that I

happen to know something that might be

useful then I will try and share that

from the sense of hey this might be

useful to you and I do think that some

of it is also just getting some reps in

right if you want to participate in the

conversation then you have to practice

doing that in different settings whether

it’s in person or on a free Facebook

group for the market that you invest in

or in one of these communities if you’re

a part of them just like the first few

times you say something or tell your

story you’re going to ask yourself that

question who the hell am I to do this

and that doesn’t go away like Nathan

said he still feels that way I still

feel that way but at a minimum you start

to see maybe some of the throughput to

somebody like somebody might send you a

me nice message I got a really nice

message um yesterday from something that

I published two months ago and the

person was telling me how oh they heard

my story on my podcast because they were

just happened across the episode and it

helped them make a decision right and

that’s not me trying to feed my ego

that’s like genuinely I really feel

grateful that they got something out of

that that hopefully helps them maybe

avoid a bad situation or whatever it may

be right and I think the more you put

yourself out there the more

opportunities have for that little bit

of validation that hey what you’re doing

is helping other people it’s not hurting

them yeah 100% couldn’t agree

more so I know the other I don’t know

maybe angle I want to get your your

perspective on the other so the Imposter

syndrome the mindset is one thing but

there’s also the practicality of the

time it takes and how natural it feels

to be on stuff like social media so like

you and I have had a a you know thousand

behind the door conversations and shared

a lot of information you’re one of the

more you’re a better example of someone

who is really active in giving value in

communities like that but I know that

social media isn’t like the the most

comfortable space right so maybe you’re

better equipped to share like for those

who are not inclined towards social

media like how do you think about other

ways that you can contribute yeah that’s

it’s a great question to your point I

I’m not a big social media guy but I try

often times I I try to flip that script

or that mindset to to think about social

media as a way to connect and interact

with other people ultimately meeting new

people right and that’s not an easy

thing to do because

I there’s maybe this is my perception

it’s wrong probably very likely but you

know there’s aspects of social media

where it’s all about people just showing

off blasting selling pushing marketing

whatever you want that yes social media

can be used for that and is used for

that there’s also the other aspect where

I’m working from home most days we a lot

of us are today we’re not in cities in

trains and buses and offices and

anything like that anymore so you don’t

necessarily meet people as easily as

before maybe so I try to look at it that

way where yeah social media is just a

way of connecting with other people and

you know what it makes it easier to

connect with other people who have

shared or similar interests because you

can go find a for for this a for for

that uh Channel group chat whatever for

this pick your favorite topic right so

maybe imposter syndrome I don’t know I

still don’t feel comfortable on social

media just because I’m not a put myself

out there kind of guy but I try to flip

that script again and be like well

actually I want to network we’ve talked

about this multiple times in the past

real estate and I argue a lot of things

in life are a people business and

Endeavors and you’re only as successful

as the group around you is

so yeah I don’t know if that really

answered your question but it does and I

also think it’s like the overarching

theme is like deep relationships not

necessarily going wide trying to reach

the entire internet you can still Nathan

and I met in a small Mastermind group

was in a community that we met every

week for almost two years right talk

about like we build deep relationships

not only with each other but the other

two gentlemen that were in the group and

like I got more value out of having

those conversations and the recurring

touch points and we were all doing

different things in different markets

facing different bottlenecks and even if

I wasn’t going through the same thing

Nathan was going through that particular

week whatever he told me in January was

going to come up for me in June and like

there were stuffs that come back around

from conversations I had prior that that

influenced in a good way my experience

and so it’s not always practical to meet

some you know group every week you can’t

do that with a hundred people or a

thousand people but you can definitely

build relationships with 10 to 20

investors that you’re going to keep in

regular touch with and and support each

other and then as you want to maybe one

of your personal kpis is you’re going to

meet one new investor in your Market

every month every two weeks whatever it

is you can set those little goals but

they don’t actually depend on social

media they don’t depend on social media

other than maybe fishing through

Facebook groups and seeing who’s active

and stuff like that does not require you

actually posting on behalf of yourself

unless that’s something you really want

to develop so I think some people are

looking for permission like not to post

and you have that for me not that my

permission means anything but I think

the the default assumption should not be

that you you need to go create an

Instagram and start posting talking head

videos every day there are other ways to

get to the 100% the same death so yeah

100% I couldn’t agree more on the

commenting piece and not necessarily

posting I mean especially like in well

in life in general but definitely in

kind of the real estate space some of my

closest let say real estate investing

friends Partners whatever I met through

social media and not because I’m posting

content that attract them but because I

just interacted with I saw something or

they commented on another post

themselves and they’re not necessarily

big producers of content was like oh I

liked the way you answered this and then

a conversation starts and all I did was

comment on somebody else’s comments

right and then relationship start

without needing to do that in my opinion

perceived social

media full-time job of posting creating

content I need to provide value I need

to seem like this I need to act like

that and you don’t do any of that and

you still get a lot of value yep so

hopefully impostor syndrome social media

like what is the value of the activities

you’re doing questioning the default

assumptions there’s a way to have the

appropriate level of confidence to where

you’re neither arrogant nor

self-defeating but a lot of it is about

just finding the sweet spot for you and

what resonates with you and then leaning

into the to those channels once you find

them so hopefully people got value out

of this we’re we’re coming right up on

the 20-minute Mark so thanks again

everyone and we’ll catch you next week

all right take care man thank you for

making it to the end of today’s episode

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deeply appreciate if you can take 30

seconds to lead my show 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