The Art of Passive Income

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One Plan Plus One Big Why Equals Raving Success Feb 20, 2020

Show notes

A Land Geek Student Success Story—In this week’s show, we are putting the student spotlight on Jim L. who we are going to keep anonymous because of his day job.

Jim’s entrepreneurial spirit awakened in 2017 when he started his first business in Bitcoin, but knew it wasn’t sustainable so he set out to find something that was, one that would be a good fit for him.

He started listening to the Side Hustle Nation podcast with Nick Loper when he ran across an episode that featured another Land Geek Alum, Roberto Chavez, and it piqued his interest.

Because of its simplicity and not having to deal with termites, tenants, or toilets, he thought that land investing could be the perfect fit for him but he first wanted to make sure it was legit. That research led him to Scott Bossman and soon after, in March 2018, he signed up for Flight School.

Listen in now as Jim gives us an inside look into Flight School and what it was like working side by side with Scott and the mini bat. Plus, he talks about his coaching experience with Tate and how valuable it was to have that one-on-one interaction to get all of his questions answered.

Also, find out the details behind:

How many VA’s he has and his most important one
Favorite deals
His not so favorite part of the business

“My favorite deals are not the most glamorous ones, they’re the ones that quietly keep the bank account stocked.”

Then, Mark digs in to get to the bottom of Jim’s raving video testimonials and why customers love him so much!

Find out what Jim’s secret is and what sets him apart that has Mark saying that, "he’s a purple cow in a field of brown cows".

Plus, Jim gives advice to those just starting out in the business. All of this and more on this episode of The Art of Passive Income!

TIP OF THE WEEK

Mark: Go buy some land from Jim at LandsForYou.com. Also, check out the book, American Dirt.

Scott: Check out the app, DoubleTake, for the new iPhone 11. It's a video recording app that allows you to record on all of your cameras at the same time and create an incredible video with different lenses or views.

Jim: If you're interested in land investing, there are a lot of programs out there but Land Geek is just fantastic. I've talked to every single coach and they've given me wonderful advice, time, attention, and respect. They're very open about sharing what works for them and this is not about trade secrets, it's about execution.

Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

Bootcamp Uncensored—There’s A Reason They Keep Coming Back Feb 18, 2020

Show notes

Setting the record straight on a mischaracterization that leaves some people afraid to attend a Land Geek Bootcamp.

In this Round Table discussion, join Mark and the team:

Erik Peterson
Mimi Schmidt
Tate Litchfield
Scott Todd

... as they clear up the misconception that Bootcamp is going to be one big pitch fest. In fact, just the opposite is true and the reviews alone should speak for themselves. Here are just a few taken from the last event in January...

“Land Geek Boot Camp In San Antonio Texas! This is like drinking out of a firehose, more knowledge/implementation techniques laid out in a step-by-step process to follow. This has been a great weekend. I’ll come back again and again.”

“Phenomenal experience at Boot Camp. I didn't know what to expect going into it but the journey exceeded my expectations. I'd love to be a repeat attendee and be a good resource for this excellent community.”

“I just got home from attending The Land Geek Boot Camp in San Antonio. The experience of attending live and seeing firsthand how so many are making this land business work with the help of Mark and his team pushed me over the top. I already thought flipping land was a good idea, but now I know it’s a GREAT IDEA. Kudos to The Land Geek for hosting such a great event with Live inter-actives that made the training fun and realistic at the same time. Totally making the Boot Camp a regular event that I attend.”

Listen in now as the team talks about their own first Bootcamp experience—their expectations going in and what the reality was. Find out why they kept coming back and why they see many other repeat attendees… it can be summed up in two words: community & value.

Also, find out the details behind Mimi’s deal that took place at a Florida Bootcamp, where someone may, or may not have been dragged into the backroom and shook down. The team is neither confirming nor denying it.

Bootcamp is about you getting the knowledge, the confidence, the skills that you might be missing. The focus is not to sell, it's about education and community.

And finally, Scott reveals the magic cure to sync “let freedom ring”… don’t look at Mark’s face!

TIP OF THE WEEK

Mimi: For new county research, check out Zillow’s Database.

Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

How To Defer Capital Gains Tax With The Deferred Sales Trust Feb 13, 2020

Show notes

Our guest today has a deferment strategy when it comes to capital gains tax. He quips hundreds of business professionals with the Deferred Sales Trust tool to help his high net worth clients solve capital gains tax deferral limitations.

Brett Swarts—CEO of Capital Gains Tax Solutions, is here to tell us how the Deferred Sales Trust works. His experience includes numerous deferred sales trusts, Delaware’s statutory trusts, 1031 exchanges and $85 million in closed commercial real estate brokerage transactions.

“We insert this trust right before the close of escrow, which gives so many more benefits than traditional installment sale and solves so many more challenges that people are faced with when they're looking at 1031 exchange.”

Join us as we discuss in detail:

The benefits of a Deferred Sales Trust
Buying real estate through the trust versus a 1031 exchange
Who this is for and who it is not for

And, how do we know if it’s legal?

Listen in now as Brett dives deep into the legalities and so much more in this week’s episode of The Art Of Passive Income!

TIP OF THE WEEK

Mark: Learn more about Brett at CapitalGainsTaxSolutions.com and start looking at this very creative, very sophisticated strategy to defer your capital gains and really transfer wealth.

Scott: Check out Deprocrastination.co— a Chrome plugin to block distracting websites.

Brett: Check out the book, Crucial Conversations:Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. It talks about how to make a conversation safe and use contrasting to slowly state your story in a way that is going to open up dialogue versus closing people down.

Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

Land Geek Flight School Student Q & A Feb 11, 2020

Show notes

Join us for a special edition of Round Table as the team grills Flight School student, Joey Chiarello!

Joining Mark for this in depth Q & A session are:

Erik Peterson
Mike Zaino
Tate Litchfield
Scott Todd

Joey stumbled across Mark & Scott on another podcast back in 2017 and was intrigued by the model, so he jumped straight into Flight School a month later.

Fast forward three years, Joey is still working a full-time job by choice, but also crushing it in his land business!

Listen in as Joey sits down with the guys and answers these questions:

What are his biggest challenges and the turning point for him
What is his passive now and how long it took to achieve it
His average acquisition cost and monthly notes
How he picked the first county and how many he works in
His experience in Flight School
Working with his spouse in the business and outsourcing
How many hours per day in the land business
Best deal to date
What should a newbie’s best attribute be
How much capital to start
What aspects of the business he doesn’t like
What he would have done different in Flight School and how long it took to pay for it
Monthly expenses-mailings
Biggest mistake to date

Also, find out Joey’s overall sense of accomplishment and his answer to the pressing question, recline or no recline, in this week’s episode of The Land Geek Round Table!

TIP OF THE WEEK

Scott Todd: Find the perfect city for your perfect climate at NomadList.com/Climate-Finder.

Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

5 Steps You Need To Take To Find Money For The Deal Feb 06, 2020

Show notes

Our guest today, Dave Dubeau—marketer and real estate entrepreneur, has a 5-step solution to attract investors and raise capital so you can get the deal done!

In 2010, Dave seller-financed rent-to-owns but hit a wall when he ran out of cash and credit with the perfect tenant/buyer ready to go. He found the adage, “find a good deal and the money will find you” was not true in the case for him. After several failed attempts to raise the capital, he ultimately lost out on the deal and told himself he was not going to let that happen again.

Join us today, as Dave hands us an umbrella and shows us how to prepare before you actually need the money by warming up your sphere of influence with these five steps:

Build a target list of prospective investors from your contact list
Reconnect with people on a personal level before talking business
The transition message from personal to business
Constant, consistent, communication
Be seen as an authority

Dave dives deep into each process and how to prepare so you can go into every deal with the money already lined up. Then, find of which of those steps Scott challenged him on and so much more on this episode of The Art of Passive Income!

*It’s important that you understand your local state security and federal security regulations.

TIP OF THE WEEK

Mark: Learn more about Dave at DaveDubeau.com.

Scott: Check out NetflixHangouts.com—a chrome extension that allows you to watch Netflix while looking like you’re on a conference call.

Dave: Go to InvestorAttractionBook.com to get the free e-book of Money Partner Formula.

Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

How Much Money Do You Need To Get Started In Land Investing? Feb 04, 2020

Show notes

In today’s show, Team Land Geek is going to answer a question that gets asked often and that is, how much money do I need to get started in this business?

The entire gang joins Mark today to give you a wide range of answers.

Scott Bossman
Mike Zaino
Mimi Schmidt
Erik Peterson
Tate Litchfield
Scott Todd

So, how much money do you need to get started and there’s a second part of the question, when should you start raising capital?

With answers ranging between 500-5,000, the team dives into their own beginnings and how much capital they started with and when it was time to raise more money.

All agree that you can start with too much capital but with all the options and creative ways available to purchase property today, you can start with little to no money to buy property and the only money you really need up front is for the mailings.

Listen in to find out that hard number Mark pressed the team for in order to get started, along with:

How many weeks for mailing you should have enough money for
Different options for buying land at little to no cost
How too much capital can hurt you in the long run
Should you factor in education

“Knowing what you’re doing will not only give you that confidence to keep buying land, but it will teach you what to look for and what makes a good county.” -Tate

Then, with all the talk about the many purchasing opportunities available for land investors today, thanks to the original land OG himself… who had to walk up the land investing hill... both ways, it had Mark feeling a little pained so he looked to the group for a little compassion.

Did he find it? Probably not, but it was all in good fun!

Finally, did you think the debate over reclining airplane seats was over? Think again! The battle rages on this week and leads to another debate over shoes or no shoes, in your home and in others. When do you enforce it in your own home and should it be an act of courtesy in others, or do you insist even when the house rules are no outside shoes inside.

TIP OF THE WEEK

Scott Todd: Check out TOSDR.org—It addresses one of the biggest lies on the internet, “I have read and agree to the terms.” This website gives you a summary of those terms that you are agreeing to.

Isn't it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

How To Fix The Hole In The Funding Boat Jan 30, 2020

Show notes

Are you a real estate investor who is coming up short on funds needed to close the deal on that great opportunity knocking at your door?

Our guest today, Bruce Mack, is a professional real estate investor who has done over 102 million in transactions and has been a licensed financial advisor for over two decades.

Bruce discovered that there is a big hole in the funding boat when he saw real estate people coming up short on their funding and were losing out on deals. So he founded Platinum Financing Group to plug that hole.

Platinum Financing offers a variety of unique finance solutions and he’s going to talk about some of those solutions today.

Bruce, who says there are few asset classes they won’t work with, starts us off by going over two critical pain points—getting funded when you’re first starting out and then protecting your funds.

Listen in as we go over:

The various programs offered
Why corporate credit is not a workable solution for real estate investors
How not to be classified as a dealer

Then, find out what Bruce uncovered on his search for the holy grail of trusts as he does a deep dive into trusts and the program, Asset Protection Tax Mitigation Trust.

“Specifically with asset protection, it’s bulletproof in as much no lien or judgment could ever be executed against an individual or against the trust.”

Are LLCs a viable source of protection?

The answer and so much more on today’s valuable and informative episode of The Art of Passive Income!

TIP OF THE WEEK

Mark: My tip of the week is to go to PlatinumFinancingGroup.com.

Bruce: Check out the book, The One-Minute Manager by Kenneth H. Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. It’s an hour read to learn how to be a good one-minute manager.

Also, if you are interested in learning about the financing component, go to PlatinumFinancingGroup.com. There is an active calendar and you can block out 15-minutes to discuss what you want on initial consult.

And, for those who are looking for complementary trust consultation go to PlatinumTrustGroup.com.

Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

Creating A Bulletproof Land Investing Machine Jan 28, 2020

Show notes

Scaling your business is a vital part of the process to create passive income through the niche of raw land investing.

And in order to scale, you will need to create a bulletproof system that will allow you the freedom to work on the business, not in the business.

So, how do you create a bulletproof system with your VA team?

Joining Mark to answer that question are:

Erik Peterson
Scott Bossman
Mimi Schmidt
Mike Zaino
Tate Litchfield
Scott Todd

Listen in as Team Geek goes over their own processes and how they put together a good team of VA’s and built their bulletproof systems. They offer sage advice, share tech tools along with:

Running a litmus test before it goes to the VA
Creating systems that can hold up if a VA quits
Recognizing a good VA and more!

To sum up it up…

Know how to do the processes yourself before passing them off to someone else. Then map them out, hire well, cross train, and keep an open line of communication! Make sure your VAs see the big picture and what their role is in it. It also helps to break up the work into smaller micro-tasks.

Then, Mike gets his spirit animal! Find out what it is and why it’s a perfect fit for him!

Plus, the team takes a vote on reclining your seat on a plane, is it your right or just plain rude? It’s almost a unanimous verdict!

TIP OF THE WEEK

Mimi: If you’re just getting started with Zapier, you can learn some good tips from the Facebook groups, Zapier User Community and Zapier Automation Community. There’s also Mentorship Program where you can either be the mentor or the mentee.

Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

How To Create Extra Revenue On Your Rental Properties Jan 23, 2020

Show notes

With maintenance costs eating up his rental profits, our guest started looking for new ways to generate enough side income to cover the monthly mortgage on his apartment buildings... and he found them!

Al Williamson—LeadingLandlord.com, is a former civil engineer and the author of Building Wealth With Inner City Rentals: Success the Catalytic Landlord Way. And today, he joins us to talk about the ancillary cash flow opportunities in property rentals.

Al spent years doing the research, packaged all his ideas up and put them into a book called 40 Ways To Increase The Net Income of Your Rental Property.

On today’s show, Al explains how the short/long term rental business works and shows us some creative ways to earn extra money on your rentals every month.

With years of testing, Al has concluded that furnished rentals set the stage for all these other income streams, earning about 30% above market. Listen in as Al delves into the details of this strategy and how it compares with corporate extended-stays. Plus, we dive into:

Other ways to bring in extra money
Rental arbitrage & the risks
Worst advice Al has seen given
Airbnbs and more!

Also, find out the details behind the incentives he offers to his long-term tenants… it’s a win win situation for all.

Al proves that he is not your traditional landlord, he has taken an old strategy and put a unique spin on it by constructing the perfect formula of cash flow options, which covers the mortgage on his units without using the rent!

Al has generously offered to give one of the Art of Passive Income listeners his book, 40 Ways to Increase the Net Income of your Rental Property. Check out The Motivation & Wealth Creation Group for details!

TIP OF THE WEEK

Mark: Learn more about Al Williamson and his incredibly creative ways to increase the net income of any rental property by visiting LeadingLandlord.com.

Scott: Check out Elephant.Rocks for text reminders. What’s cool about it is that you can text elephant and use real normal language like, “Hey, remind me to call mom tomorrow at 10:00 AM”, and then it will schedule it and remind you at 10:00 AM to call your mom.

Al: My tip of the week is to practice preventative maintenance, use Green Gobbler for your drains before clogs appear. It’s a biologically friendly product that is proven to prevent clogs and prevents any unnecessary plumbing bills.

Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

The Land Geek Teams Superpowers To Success Jan 21, 2020

Show notes

We have a fun and interesting topic for you on this week’s Round Table discussion. The team is going to give an evaluation of each others superpowers that they think propelled them to success.

Joining Mark for this fun exercise are:

Scott Bossman
Mimi Scmidt
Erik Peterson
Mike Zaino
Scott Todd

But first, the team shares their favorite Bootcamp moments...

Scott Bossman—Meeting the people he’s been talking to on the phone

Erik—Seeing everyone in person and the St. Anthony hotel

Mimi—Meeting everyone

Mike—Seeing the success

Scott Todd—Meeting flight students face to face and hearing their success

Mark—Seeing the success around the room and how many lives he’s he impacted. Mark also gets complete gratification when all questions have been answered!

What rituals or superpowers do we think helped propel our colleagues into success?

Scott Todd on Mimi—She slowly and methodically built her business. Went to every Bootcamp and used the opportunity during the open sessions to work on her business to get out of working in her business.

Mimi on Erik—Erik developed a niche within technology to create processes.

Erik on Mark—Mark saw the opportunity in land and ran with it. Eventually he decided to share it with the rest of the world, taking it from opportunity to community!

Mike on Scott Bossman—The master of getting things done. He believed in the model and carved the time to make it happen.

Mark on Scott Todd—There are two components that are Scott Todd’s superpowers:

infrastructure building—He is very good at building a good laser focused team to avoid bottlenecks
He is the master of execution—He doesn’t put off what needs to be done and gets it done quickly and efficiently

Scott Bossman on Mike—He is the king of rituals. The first year his goal was to erase debt so his repetition was to mail and market. He stayed the course and he got it done!

Did everyone agree these were fair and accurate evaluations? Listen in for more details and to find out everyone ‘s thoughts on how they are perceived by their colleagues.

Also, Mike gives everyone a spirit animal and why it symbolizes them.

Scott Bossman—Buffalo. Endurance to overcome, great emotional courage and provider to all.

Mimi—Armadillo. Slow, sure of yourself, in no hurry, keeper of the house

Erik—Elk. Teaches that pacing yourself will increase your stamina

Tate—Butterfly. Outer transformation, and the ability to know and change the mind

Scott Todd—Eagle. Creator, teacher, loyalty, integrity, and a spiritual connection to the great divine

Mark—Mtn lion. The power of leadership and ability to lead without insisting others follow

TIP OF THE WEEK

Mimi: 2 tips this week. The first is the chrome app—Message Saver for Facebook.

The second is a blog post from Hubspot to improve your sales—The Ultimate Guide to Objection Handling: 40 Common Sales Objections & How to Respond.

Bonus tip—don’t volunteer to do the tip of the week!

Isn’t it time to create passive income so you can work where you want, when you want and with whomever you want?

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