Brian Briscoe 00:00
I'm Brian Briscoe, host of the diary of an apartment investor podcast. And this podcast is different than everything else out there. I bring together a new and an experienced investor on each episode. And I let the aspiring investor ask the questions that they need answered. So if you're an aspiring investor yourself, you probably will have the exact same questions. And before we get to this episode, make sure you hit the subscribe button below in that little bell to make sure you get notified every time we post a new episode. And now, enjoy the show. We got Andrew on the line, what do you want to ask him?

Julio Garcia 00:32
So currently, I mean, oil and gas industry. My main concern is, you know, the schedule that comes with, you know, with the job or biggest challenges is is kind of balancing the W two, you know, we're starting the syndication business. At what point do you think it makes sense to step away from your day job in order to get your business going?

Andrew Schutsky 00:50
And the answer is, it's going to depend on your individual situation, right? Like, if you have a spouse that works significant other that works, it makes it a lot more palatable to say, You know what, hey, I know people that have never done a deal and they're like, You know what, I'm jumping all in

Brian Briscoe 01:12
Welcome to the diary of an apartment investor podcast, I'm your host, Brian Brisco. And I'm very excited for today's show. It's one of our Ask the Expert episodes. And we got two great people on the line with us today. We got Andrew Shecky and Julio Garcia. So Andrew, Julio, welcome to the show.

Andrew Schutsky 01:29
Thanks so much for having me, man. It's a pleasure. I'm looking forward to it.

Brian Briscoe 01:32
All right. No problem. Hey, and Andrew as as is tradition on the podcast, you are going to be up first. So let's talk about you for a minute. Tell us Do us a favor. Now you're saying

Andrew Schutsky 01:41
I hate doing this part. Now. Just kidding. All right. No, I mean, I've always, you know, the real estate focused show, right? So we're all kind of geared around that. But I'm, uh, I spent 20 years building a W two career, you know, I consider myself to be successful, I enjoy what I do. I like the people I work with, you know, make good money, all that? Well, kind of what left me wanting more was, you know, do I want to do this forever, number one. And number two is just the legacy I want to leave my kids I know we'll talk about my wife and all that this plays a huge part of that. I've always been had a passion for real estate and investing in the single family short term rental space for the better part of 15 years now. You know, about two and a half years ago, I came to realization that building this empire, quote unquote, brick by brick, leaving a legacy may not ever happen, you know, closing those properties, significant amount of effort, significant amount of capital, or resource intensive, all all the aspects above. So it's led me ultimately to bigger pockets. Like many other people were out there and a number of podcasts. I found a 60 page thread which I read through on a vacation. My wife, she was thrilled about that. Due to knots, all 60 pages in one sitting, she was freaking out. She said, What are you doing? We're on vacation. What do you do? I couldn't stop reading it. Right. So it's actually Oh, honey, this

Brian Briscoe 02:54
is absolute gold, man.

Andrew Schutsky 02:56
Yeah, I'm like, it's cool. I gotta, I gotta, I gotta plan. We're gonna we're gonna make this all work. You know, a little I know, it's a lot more work than it seemed beginning. But I was shocked. I mean, I read that thread, two or three times over on that vacation. Again, my wife has passed, she sees why now but, you know, join it right. You know, following that took big action join a mastermind group, you know, read probably 3035 books back to back, you know, started my own podcast question cashflow, just to learn more, and just to interview, like some really, really intelligent people. And then from there took off, you know, my third lucky enough to be part of my third general partnership now invested in about 1100 doors over the past, say, you know, really 18 months, including the LP stuff I did in the beginning. So again, kind of living you know, playing both roles, right, I'm bidding the building the business still in that very much in the WTO and enjoying that space, but wanted flexibility want to leave behind a legacy for my kids. So that's my story and about a two minute nutshell.

Brian Briscoe 03:50
Nice. Nice. So so a couple a couple of questions. I want I want to dive into Sure. Now, you mentioned us you started the podcast Did you say you started the podcast to learn more? Was that your your focus on that

Andrew Schutsky 04:03
one? Yeah, I guess there was a couple a couple points which it kind of evolved into something a bit bigger number one was it's a great place I found to meet you know, like minded professionals and to get you know, 2030 minute conversation going and then share that conversation other people. But it's also really just a powerful point of networking. And you know, I wanted to put my son there's a ton of as you know, ton of multifamily shows ton of real estate shows ton of financial, you know, base shows out there, but what I've learned is there's nothing like you're doing your own right, you're gonna ask different questions, you put it you kind of put your thumbprint and your your own retinal, you know, serial number on that. So it's really cool. Really cool. So something

Brian Briscoe 04:41
I've noticed and you know, anybody who's looking to start a podcast, you know, I do encourage it, but, you know, you call somebody up and I don't know how many times you've gotten this question is like, Hey, can I pick your brain? You know, a lot of people are just like, You know what, yep, my brain hurts. You know, too many people have called me to pick it, but you call Will the same person up and say, Hey, you want to come on my podcast? Have a 40 minute conversation and we'll record it and put it out to the masses. Boom.

Andrew Schutsky 05:08
Yes, you answered Yeah, it's a win win, right? It gives them a little bit, you know, the more airtime the better if you're, if you're an entrepreneur, right, you want to get your name out there, you want to get you want to make more connections, and it's a win win for the host. You get to learn as you go. Right. And that's, that's the, I wouldn't call it a hidden secret. But like, it's a natural connection point that it's like you said, it's, Hey, can you spare 15 minutes versus a podcast? Sounds a lot more meaningful for both parties. Right?

Brian Briscoe 05:31
Yeah, absolutely. And that's, that's one of the that's one of the things that I underestimated when starting this podcast, is how much I would learn. Yes, the business, you know, and this is going to be episode I think, 260 201. Don't don't. But yeah, lots of conversations. So. So that said, let's, let's talk a little bit about you said, you, you enjoy your W two, what field you work in.

Andrew Schutsky 05:57
I work in technology. So I'm a CIO, or what, you know, for the people that have known that the acronyms head of it for medical device company, and I spent, you know, like I said, last 20 years, building different roles between supply chain logistics, technology, I always had a knack and passion for technology. And yeah, I've invested a lot of time and effort, I enjoy what I do. But you know, ultimately, you're not you're not completely in control on these types of jobs. Right. So

Brian Briscoe 06:21
yeah, absolutely. You know, it's something that I, I realized, you know, I had a pretty safe and stable government job for a long time. But, you know, as secure as you think you are, you know, a new president, in my job a new president comes in, and also job changes, you know, it's like, oh, we're cutting the military by, you know, 15%. And Pink's need to do. So I watched a lot of buddies leave and whatnot. And I was fortunate. But yeah, I don't think any w two is really super secure.

Andrew Schutsky 06:50
But that's what like the one of the biggest questions I get from friends and family will go to like, you know, I was at a birthday party the other day, and you know, they'll always ask like, Hey, you're doing absolutely, you're doing so well on your job? Like, why do you stress yourself out by you know, building a business on the side? I'm like, look it to me, it's all about have number two, two things. Number one, it's all about having options, right? Like, maybe you continue on the journey to another thing forever, right? And for 2030, we'll have depending on how old you are forever. Maybe you maybe you don't have that option. But why not build things, but why not build yourself some options, some levers to pull 234 or five years down the line that, hey, this is going really well, I'm passionate about and it's exciting, something you enjoy doing and meeting people. Why not? Why not build yourself options? Right? When what how can that hurt? Yeah, it's it's more work. It's more effort. But don't even look at it that way. Yeah, it is effort. And it does take time away from other things, but you're building things, and it's cool to really build something yourself. It's cool to leave a legacy behind. That's my number

Brian Briscoe 07:44
two. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of goodness, there. A lot of goodness there. I mean, I spent, you might my last three years of active duty building, building a business to get to where it's at right now. But yeah, it was, for me, it was it was my exit plan. I think a lot of people, you know, eventually want to exit their W two. But, you know, it gives you so many options, you know, it, it's like, I mean, me looking back at my life, I mean, if I were to rewind, you know, two to three years ago, if I didn't have multifamily as an option, I would still be active duty, you know, who knows? Who knows where I'd be right now, you know, it's kind of how that would work. You know, every every two to three years, they pick your family up and move them. And I don't even know where I'd be living right now or what I'd be doing. So yeah, there's a lot of options. And let's see, lets you be in control of, you know, your life,

Andrew Schutsky 08:38
essentially. So you can guarantee if you do nothing, you know, to build that empire to build your next steps. There'll be very limited options for you. Yeah,

Brian Briscoe 08:47
it's like one option clean to that w two. So So another question. You mentioned, you're you're very deep into technology. What do you do much with technology in your properties? are you integrating technology into what you do as well in the multifamily space?

Andrew Schutsky 09:04
Yeah, naturally, what I'm finding is I didn't believe this to be a unique one of my unique skill sets, because I figured, hey, everybody knows how to run a portal. Everybody knows how to set up CRM and Active Campaign. Everybody knows how to build, you know, a lead magnet on a website. And I find that you know, between that and having some structure and project management background like you bring a very unique skill set that's much needed to most partnerships. In fact, I took that for granted. Yeah, and now I'm that I find that to be a differentiator for myself. So maybe those listening out there have another unique skill that you're probably overlooking your take, you're assuming that oh, this is common. It's a diamond doesn't but it's probably not.

Brian Briscoe 09:39
I know how to pay somebody to set up my Active Campaign. I know how to pay somebody to do a website for me, you know, but yeah, those are skills that I did not come to the table with that we've paid. Yeah, pretty hefty price to get those those things set up with third party so yeah, I mean, there's a lot of skill sets. Unfortunately, yours translate directly to a certain aspect acts of the business which is which is awesome. Yeah, you know, I like to joke around you know, one of my last jobs in the in the Marine Corps was shooting airplanes down, you know, there's no direct translation you know, in

Andrew Schutsky 10:14
for the Hey, man, maybe a property is not going well you just need to put it out of its misery. Well, cool. So

Brian Briscoe 10:18
let's we skirted we kind of talked a little bit about your reasons, you know, and yeah, what I'd like you to do is distill those down if you can, and into what I like to call the big burning why.

Andrew Schutsky 10:31
So, number one, first and foremost, is just leave behind a legacy. I always like to quote, you know, live the life you want your kids to become, right? So, you know, you're setting a great example, for instance, you know, my kids see me reading every morning, they see me doing this type of stuff like that, your your, your, your jobs over your day is over, like, why are you still on camera? Why are you still in meetings, and I'll explain it to him, like, hey, like all these cool things you'd like to do. And these trips you'd like to take and you want daddy to have flexibility, you know, five years down the line, you wanted me to join more of your activities and stuff. This is my this is my purpose. Like I want to leave behind set a great example. And leave behind a legacy that can hopefully live for multiple generations and doing that with just a W two even at an executive level like I'm doing now. It's possible, but I don't want to live like in a, you know, in a tent and leave so frugally. I can't enjoy life either. Right? So that's that's primarily my reason. It's pretty simple. Man. It's I love to leave behind a legacy want to do something different than just live a corporate nine to five everyday even though again, could be perfectly happy doing that. I wanted something different. I wanted to leave behind an example. I wanted to live the life that I want them to live, right. And I want them to see that for multiple generations. Ideally. Very simple.

Brian Briscoe 11:39
Yeah, yeah, super simple. You know, live the life you want your kids to live. I mean, that's a lot of wisdom in that, you know, I think. Yeah, there's a lot of wisdom in that when I was just thinking, thinking back on, you know, how my parents lived and how I adopted a lot of what my parents did, just because that's what I saw every day. So yeah, sure, that's what they wanted. But that's what ended up happening. Good points. I, I'm gonna be thinking about that for a while now. Thanks for sharing that. Yeah, no problem. But here's why. While I'm still, you know, crunching down on that, can you let's talk about some of the deals you've done. So pick your first or your favorite or your most recent, yeah, walk us through one of the departments that you guys have have purchased and tell us Yeah, we've got one under contract now. And I won't talk too many details, right, because it's still under wraps. And of course, it's like, you know, maybe

Andrew Schutsky 12:27
it's a, I don't know, fallacy, whatever, like bad luck or something and talk about something before you close. But so it's a 228 unit property. So by far the largest one, I've been a part of even being a small part of that I'm really excited. And it was really, you build a reputation as you as you start this business, right? One, you pretty, I started my first one, I started off, hey, I'll do anything like I've got, here's my corporate background, here's a stool they bring to the table, I've got great connections, like I'll do anything. And I started out doing many different roles, asset management, helping to find deals, helping to structure that construction behind the things and I'm burning myself out, right. So I realized what I what I really like doing is connecting with people, you know, podcasts a big part of that. I love networking with like minded, you know, technology and engineering professionals who want a better way of life. So I've kind of become the investor relations guy. And the way I found this, this third deal that turned 28 unit was by reputation, right? Like, hey, I manage these properties, I got my name out there, where it starts to spread referrals come out there. And then you know, one of one, one person from my mastermind group was like, Hey, I'd love to have you on the team. I love what you bring, I love the energy you bring to the table, even though I know you can't raise $10 million, or you don't have to, it's okay. You don't have to be the master of everything. But, you know, my my goal is to Hey, focus on one thing, especially when you're doing two jobs, focus on one thing for me, it's the investor relations maybe helped with a little bit of the capital planning and the and the I enjoy, like DIY projects anyway. So I enjoy doing that at scale, right? So pick one or two things you're really good at, you can always expand on the line, but don't try to make the mistake. I did my first property which was be all hands and be everything to everybody. You're not going to please anybody doing that. And it's including yourself. Yeah.

Brian Briscoe 14:05
And I think you mentioned earlier, I mean, you burn out where you try to do everything to yes, definitely a team sport, and you got to learn to pass the ball. Yep. Basically, it comes down to so cool. Hey, thanks. Thanks for sharing that. Hope all goes well with it. And thank you. Nice sizable little deal there. But it is it is yeah, for me, it doesn't I mean, I'm

Andrew Schutsky 14:25
grateful for any opportunity. But when something of scale comes along, you're off course all yours. Right.

Brian Briscoe 14:31
Yeah, you know, and it's it's a it's a lot of fun. And a lot of people like multifamily for the scalability of it. It doesn't. You know, for example, our largest property is 167 units, our smallest is 16. You know, we are not spending 10 times as much time on the 100 and 60s we're spending on the 16th. Right, but, you know, the profits scale, and the work doesn't quite scale. We're probably, you know, five to eight times more, but we're not spending too 10 times more. So, yeah, great point scale scalability there. But anyway, that's what's what's next for you.

Andrew Schutsky 15:08
So I mean, I've got, you know, I think it's always important. Everybody has goals in mind and where they want to take their business, regardless of whatever you can control. I mean, or can't control. But I like to focus on things I can control, right. So I continue to build partnerships can continue to build by investor network. And, you know, I've got kind of goals set for, you know, how many deals I'd like to do per year, and I'm not looking to do quality over quantity guy, especially while working two jobs. But even without that I'd still, you know, two or three deals a year, in increasing size, maybe complexity over time will get me where I need to be in 10 years. And that's the ultimate goal.

Brian Briscoe 15:40
Yeah, absolutely. I like that two to three a year and just look for quality over quantity. I think that's, that's huge. A lot of people are in a race to get a certain amount of units or a certain amount of deals closed. And I think you need to have a quality over quantity, mindset, especially in today's market. So

Andrew Schutsky 15:58
and my I'm glad you brought that up. Because my my metric was never, you know, number of doors. Oh, of course, it's going to translate into that, right. But my primary thing is, I love to help 1000 investors invest over the next 10 years. So maybe 100 A year or adding 100 A year or whatever the numbers works out to be. I like to think of them first, right? Because I am an investor. First and foremost, I invest in all the deals. And I want to help as many of them you know, busy professionals who are interested in diversifying or learning about real estate, I want to help as many as I can. And that number for me right now I had 10,000 I'm like, let me back down to 1000. For now, it's our man. I'm not doing I'm not doing crowdfunding, right. Let me get to 1000. And then it's extrapolate so

Brian Briscoe 16:35
Right, right, yeah. And you know, that's a nice even number to pick, you know, a couple of zeros on the end. And that's actually my my number, you know, we have our educational program is I want to help 1000 people find their first deals are actually I have a word that is how I help people find 1000 Find and close on 1000 properties. So that's awesome. So I like that number. Good. Good, nice, nice, hairy goal for us to both Chase. So definitely. Alright. Well, that said, we're gonna shift gears and bring hooyo on. So Julio, welcome.

Julio Garcia 17:09
Hey, Brian, thanks for having me. Yeah, happy to be here.

Brian Briscoe 17:12
Good to have you on. And so do us a favor, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Julio Garcia 17:18
So I've been in the oil and gas industry for about 10 years now. Doing single family rentals kind of part time. The last five years or so we've we've acquired about three to four single family homes. And, but But yeah, you know, we're moving along, trying to try to start to get syndication for time, I'm trying to step away from from the oil and gas industry. Mostly because of the time you know what I mean? It takes you know, at the day job and everything, I'm looking for a little bit more freedom. So,

Brian Briscoe 17:48
yeah, yeah, absolutely. Now, is that why you started buying your single family portfolio is for the same reason, or is it something new? That's come later?

Julio Garcia 17:58
No, it's actually why I started, we started with the single family. We were that was kind of the plan to acquire, you know, enough single families to kind of take over the monthly expenses, you know, which is what a lot of investors, you know, their, their plan is at the start of it. But yeah, we noticed that it's a little bit a little bit harder to scale that, you know, single family homes, it might take a little bit longer than we're anticipating. So we definitely wanted to make the jump to something a little bit faster.

Brian Briscoe 18:27
Yeah, I remember I remember many years ago, and this was this is probably you know, six years ago, I had a handful of single family homes. And I actually pulled out a spreadsheet and I said okay, the last single family home this was the purchase price, this was the down payment, this is how much is cash flowing. And I projected that out and like if I can buy two per year if I can buy three per year Yep, it's gonna take me to get my goal and the answer was way too long. I had to figure out my command same here man so you know I think with with the sample home that I started with, it wasn't in a high cash flow area I was going to need 60 single family homes to reach reach my monthly cash flow goals but yeah, I think a lot of people who get into single family eventually make the same realization that we made is that we got to figure out a way to scale faster because this is what happened so so looking to get into multifamily now so here's here's a question that I love to ask everybody you know, what is your motivation for getting into to multifamily what's your big burning why

Julio Garcia 19:35
my motivation so I'm a big family guy. Get a little deep here one of my worst fears was you know, I have two daughters so waking up one day and my daughter has been all grown up and not having any memories to show for it you know, and when you know when Oh, and gas it takes up a lot of your time. So you know, I just like the have the strong desire for the freedom that you know investing in multifamily offers you Another thing is my parents are kind of getting, you know, they're getting, they're getting aged. And so they're kind of going into retirement, and they never really had any, any retirement plan while they while they work. So kind of want to help them out as well. And I just like genuinely, like helping people, you know, I like working with kids, I grew up playing sports. So I really want to, you know, help out any way I can. I like, you know, coaching kids, and either that is football, baseball, softball, whatever it is. So I kind of just want to be there, you know, especially for my girls, when they start growing up. Be at the at the softball games and at the volleyball games, things like that, you know what I mean? So it all comes with the freedom.

Brian Briscoe 20:37
I absolutely, I coached two basketball teams right now, you know, one 110, and under and one six and under. So I got a 10 year old and a six year old, nine year old and a six year old. But you know what one thing you said just just kind of hit home with me. I mean, I'm, I was active duty for 20 years. And there was a couple of years span where it was, you know, deployment deployment deployment. And one of my daughters was really young. And not too not too long ago, my wife said, Hey, do you remember when she used to do this? And I started to really, really thinking, and I have very few memories of her as a really little girl, you know, and, and that's part of that was part of my why as well as I didn't want to, you know, I realized that I did have big gaps in my memory. They called deployments of my kids growing up, but yeah, really, really hit home with me on that one. So hopefully, we can help you. If we can do a little bit to help you today. I think that's that's my goal. So for sure, sir. We got Andrew on the line. What do you want to ask him?

Julio Garcia 21:46
All right. So yeah. Appreciate you, first of all, for taking the time. So currently, I'm in the oil and gas industry. My main concern is, you know, the schedule that comes with, you know, with the job, it doesn't allow for, for a set routine since I'm on a swing schedule. Currently, I'm switching from, you know, days to nights weekly. One of my biggest challenges is is kind of balancing the W two, you know, we're starting the syndication business. At what point do you think it makes sense to step away from your day job in order to get your business going?

Andrew Schutsky 22:20
I mean, that's a great question. That's something I've asked, you know, when I was exploring this a couple years ago, I've asked that too many people that have asked me that? And the answer is, it's going to depend on your individual situation, right? Like, if you have a spouse that works significant other that works, it makes it a lot more palatable to say, you know, what, hey, I know people that have never done a deal and are like, you know, what, I'm jumping all in, like I'm going in from day one. I know, other people have been doing this for five years in parallel, they're making great money on both ends. And they're still like, yeah, you know, still not quite comfortable. And it depends on how flexible your situation is, like, I'm lucky and fortunate enough to work from home every day, I have a pretty fluid schedule, like I work a lot with the Europe. So my mornings are pretty busy afternoons, not not as bad. So I can work around that. But if I had to do you know, second or third shift somewhere, I probably looking to accelerate things but remain flexible. everybody's situation is different. Like for you, it sounds like hey, it's not as predictable, I can't really set up calls with investors and talk to brokers. With that type of schedule, you've got a couple of options. One is I look for a different who in the meantime, to keep the lights on. Or two is I say, Screw it and go all in jump in and hey, maybe I've got a spouse that can support me for now. Or I can I can downsize my standard of living that could accelerate. So I have a couple of levers you can pull. But it's up to you know, everybody's comfort level as to like how fast is too fast? And how much do I need to have built like how much like, I wouldn't recommend jumping in on your first month or anything like that. But like, once you've got systems established, you've got some leads and follow ups, maybe you've done a deal or two, I would say please do a deal or two to make sure you like it. Because I tell you, I think there's a misconception that like hey, this creates all this freedom and it does. But it's still a significant amount of work. I can't tell you how many nights of sleep I've lost thinking about, Oh, crap, what if the roof leaks in his property? I mean, it is tense in terms of your mental, you know, processing power required, and how there is a significant time commitment, but it does buy you flexibility as to when you get the work done. I think that's the biggest difference.

Brian Briscoe 24:19
Yeah, I think I think for me, there was a clear point, you know, and it was it was very obvious that now I enjoyed what I did for a long time and I wouldn't have stayed in the Marine Corps for 20 years by didn't right but I started multifamily as my my exit strategy. But there came a point to where I started looking at my w two as impeding me from doing what I wanted. Now, if if I had the ability and the flexibility to leave at that point, that's what I would have done. But you know, for me, it was there was an obvious, you know, obvious time where it was like I is starting to get a lot of traction, we were closing deals we were, you know, and my w two was impeding me. And in that case, that's where I probably should have jumped. In my case, you know, in order to get a retirement pension for the rest of my life, I had to stay in for another year or so. But I think for a lot of people, the answer becomes obvious once you start working on both ends, you know, once once you start working the multifamily. And I agree with what Andrew said, make sure you get one or two under contract and, and you know, it's what you want to do. Yeah. And then the answer should be obvious as to when.

Julio Garcia 25:36
Appreciate that. For for new syndicators starting out, what advice do you have when looking for CO GPS? Do you have like a laid out system? Or it's more of like verbal connection and getting to know that person?

Andrew Schutsky 25:53
Yeah, you know, I've kind of started with the trial and error approach, probably like many other people, right? And I'd say the first thing you want to do, and this is a lesson learned, for me, and I kind of alluded to this a little bit earlier, is number one, no, no, the one thing you want to start working at and get really good at whether you're the investor relations guy, or you want to work with brokers, you want to be him a great project manager, I've got the background and construction, I know how to run a property, know the one thing you bring to the table. And then as you start as you start networking, which I think that it takes work and time, but it's not hard, right? It just takes effort to connect with different people. And I look at it like speed dating, right? You're coming in clear with like what I bring to the table, you're listening for things that maybe you're not good at. Because again, I talked about, hey, trying to be the asset manager trying to be the deal funder. If I were clear on that, then things could have went a lot quicker, right? If I say, hey, I want to be the IR guy, I can help with this and that, but that's from sticking to like later on, expand, you're getting a lot, you're gonna you're gonna weed out a lot of partners right away, but you're also gonna attract you, Oh, this guy really knows what he wants to do. Like, I love that. And maybe I'm looking for that's, that's skills that you bring to the table. So you can you can cut these 45 minutes speed dating sessions down to maybe 10 or 15 minutes, because it's all about like, it's like the flipping cards analogy, right? Whether investors are finding co GPS and partners, you're gonna flip some twos and threes and fours before you hit the Jacks, Queens kings and aces. Right? Yeah, so it's a numbers game. I mean, I still look for my ideal status to find one or two groups, I want to work with long term like 10 plus years, and not be just doing one deal all the time. But I think you got to if you can just put yourself out there and know what you want at what the one value property bring the table start out with be really crisp about that.

Brian Briscoe 27:31
Yeah, I agree. I mean, networking is absolutely key, get in front of more and more people and know what you want. You know, I've told people many times, you know, my strategy, before the call, we were talking about the best ever conference, but my strategy at conferences like that, or any networking session, is I know what I want going in. All right. And if I'm at a networking session, a physical networking session, if I start talking to somebody, I'm talking with him for three to five minutes. And I realize this is not who I'm looking for, I will very politely find a way to excuse myself and go look for the person that I'm looking for. You know, so that's, that's my networking mentality is, you know, you have to, as Andrew said, you have to know what you're looking for first, and then be very deliberate about finding it. And then once once, once you find somebody you know, if there was a way to test, drive a relationship, do everything you can to test drive a relationship, because you don't know what you don't know what's gonna be like working with these guys until you actually work with them. So

Andrew Schutsky 28:34
they don't go they'll go enter an LLC with somebody you've never done a deal with. I know people have done that, and typically doesn't work out well. Wow.

Brian Briscoe 28:43
Yeah, it's so sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't, you know, I mean,

Andrew Schutsky 28:47
yeah. But yeah, why not? Why not de risk? Any any situation you can buy? Yeah, like, like Brian said, Get the reps in, do a deal or two. And that was great advice I was given earlier on. And I'm glad I had that.

Julio Garcia 28:59
For sure. All right. Switching gears a little bit. How soon How soon should a new syndicator do you think have their you know, investor portal or website up and running?

Andrew Schutsky 29:11
So two different questions. So the website I'd say immediately so once you've gone through the process of knowing you know, who is your investor avatar, if you're gonna build a brand once you've got clear on what you're who you're going after who you're targeting, who you're marketing to, there's no reason to hold back on the website. The portal I'd say you know, you don't really that's money down the drain. To me, I'm frugal as much as I can be. That's my down the drain. You don't need to be investing even on your first deal, especially if it's a smaller deal. I did it the manual way for two and now that we have it on the third, it's awesome to have, but it's by no means unless you're doing 50 investors right away, which probably will, you don't need that that's not a necessity. In fact, if you join a more experienced code GP, if you something like syndication Pro, they can invite you as a co sponsor. You can use that tool for free anyway. So that's what I've learned, like I was thinking the same thing, oh, I should go buy all the stuff of a buy CRM, you need a website, email address. You know, ideally you have some type of CRM, I'd say would be a priority, like an active campaign or something like that. So you can keep track and organize your contacts, have a follow up process, have your drip campaign, educate your investors, I can't emphasize that enough. Have that in place the portal and stuff can come later. You don't need all that stuff. Who wants my advice? But Brian, do you agree with that or anything?

Brian Briscoe 30:30
Oh, heartedly agree. And I will say I delayed way too long getting that website up. You know, I was probably a couple of months into trying to raise capital for the first deal. Before we had any semblance of a website. It was my partner that did that. But one of the things that helps legitimize you and a lot of people's mind is a website. I mean, it's crazy. I kind of had the attitude that, you know, I'm not going to wait until the websites up to start doing things, but I delayed way too often. And I got the question many, many times, hey, well, do you have a website? Can I get information from your website? Or hey, something something just just to keep in mind is your website's going to be open? 24/7? You know, so people at two o'clock in the morning can say, Yeah, I talked to that Brian guy, he told me about his website and to, you know, tap it in. So I always say, Don't delay any more than possible getting the website up. 100% agree. And then same thing with the investor portal. You know, I would say delay until you get your first deal. And if you can piggyback or code up with somebody else who's paying that expense? Because it is a big expense. It is for sure. But I'd say right around the time you get your first deal, if it's if it's a sizable deal, get the investor portal, if it's a small deal with friends and family, you can probably do without for your first maybe. Yep, agree. All right.

Julio Garcia 31:50
All right. And lastly, are you Andrew, are you currently acting as a sponsor, or equity partners for any future deals with other syndicators?

Andrew Schutsky 32:01
Yeah, in fact, like I mentioned, I've kind of dialed in investor relations, I've chosen not to keep continuing with brokers right now. And maybe I'll explore that later on. But no, my primary primarily objective primary objective right now is to help other syndicators get deals closed to help market them to bring to bring my investors to the table. And to help with planning, right, you got to know again, what you're bringing what value equation you want to bring, but I, I don't enjoy as much the back and forth, you know, looking at 200 deals, I'd rather invest my time finding partners who do a really good job of that and have the time and energy to devote to it. So that's kind of that's where I landed. And that's why

Brian Briscoe 32:36
we do and there's nothing wrong with being the person that looks at the 200 deals to find one. But it's got to be something good at like doing. And then the

Andrew Schutsky 32:47
problem. The problem for me is I feel like I do like doing and I am pretty good at it. It just you can't do everything. So you got to pick one.

Brian Briscoe 32:55
No, I'm glad you said that. I'm, I've got two degrees in math. Can I underwrite? Yeah, keen on? You know, do I know how to work spreadsheets and manipulate numbers? 100%. You know, but when it comes down to it, I'm also good at raising capital. I'm also good at, you know, relations. But for me, it comes down to I'm good at this part. I'm good at that part. What do I want to focus on? And that's, that's how I answer the question is like, what do I enjoy more? And I'll find people to fill in the gaps everywhere else. Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. So I guess, your question for you, what are you good at? And what do you enjoy doing?

Julio Garcia 33:39
So currently, right now, um, I mean, I like I like numbers, you know, don't throw any algebra or anything at me. But, you know, I, I kind of get a kick out of underwriting deals I like, you know, touring properties, I have kind of a, I mean, I've, like I said, I've ever had I rehabbed a couple of my single family homes, you know, that I have my portfolios that I enjoy doing kind of overlooking, you know, construction and all that good stuff. So, you know, right now I'm looking to kind of get away from from the oil and gas. So, you know, hopefully here in the future, I have a bit more time to, to be kind of boots on the ground, you know, yeah, that's, that's what I'm working towards.

Andrew Schutsky 34:13
I was gonna say, Oh, you happen to be you're lucky enough to live in a hotspot for multifamily anywhere in Texas, but especially he's a couple of buddies. That's an advantage in itself. Right.

Brian Briscoe 34:22
That's exactly what I was going to stay say. Yeah, me too. Houston is a great place to be boots on the ground, because there's a lot of people who are trying to, you know, trying to get into that market and a lot of people who are investing from out of state into any Texas City right now. Yeah. For sure.

Andrew Schutsky 34:39
I will sleep on that one.

Brian Briscoe 34:40
Yeah. All right. Julio, you mentioned with your last question that it was your last question you had you have anything else you want to put put to the test on?

Julio Garcia 34:51
No. All right, you know, as you know, I'm starting off I'm sure there's a there's a there's a bunch of people you know that want to Start syndicating what's, as a, you know, a starting syndicator? What's one thing that you guys would recommend that you know, what accelerate the the first the first deal?

Brian Briscoe 35:11
Good. Andrew take out,

Andrew Schutsky 35:14
I'll hit that one, I'd say, pretty straightforward. Not easy to do. But just get your name out there. But keep doing podcasts like this, go to meetups, meet up events locally and nationally. You know, attend webinars, if you can network with like minded professionals, you know, join a tribe of your choice or a mastermind group. You know, just getting your name out there, guys, whether you're going after investor relations. Yeah, I see a free free shameless plug for Brian. Group. I mean, you know, groups like that agree? I mean, I know he's getting a lot of members, a lot of choices out there. But doing something I mean, don't Don't overanalyze it, like I've done the past and run crunch numbers and spreadsheets for two years, take action, go out there, get your name out there, have fun. And then you can refine your process as you go, but just take the first step, go go connect with people.

Brian Briscoe 36:00
Yeah, I would double down on that and say, if you want to accelerate, the fastest way to accelerate is to find a partner that can help you, you know, you mentioned you have, you have time issues, you know, so find, find something that you can do, and you can perform, and find a partner who needs that that aspect, right. So, you know, when, when my and we talked about this, you know, a week ago, but when my schedule flipped similar to yours, where I was like days, one week, nights, the next week, that's when I started, you're really focusing on, you know, things like the social media presence for the company, the podcasts and things like that, because, you know, I knew I couldn't record anything these four days, but I knew I had openings on these four days when I had my days open. So you know, just a matter of really figuring out what you can do with your constraints, and finding a partner that can help you out with everything else. And that's, in my mind, the fastest way to accelerate is to find somebody who can multiply your efforts. Will you agree? Thank you for that, guys. Appreciate it. No problem. All right. Well, anything else? from you today? Julio?

Julio Garcia 37:12
For me, no, I appreciate the time. You know, you know, it's been it's been a pleasure to be here.

Brian Briscoe 37:18
Awesome. Well, I very much thank you for coming on. And we'll wrap things up with one final question for each of you, Andrew, you get to go first, how can our listeners learn more about you.

Andrew Schutsky 37:30
So really simple. I don't like to give away seven different points of contact and fuse, everybody go to our website, everything kind of funneled through there, it's invest with red line.com. Our company's name is Red Line equity, we've got tons of education, we've got blogs coming out every week, we've got a free eight part Learning Series, whether you're a first time investor or a you know, 10th time or 20th time investor, you probably learned one thing at least that's my goal was is to you know, come away with one big learning. So website invest with redline.com. Check us out there you can find our podcasts are there you can find the blogs through there, you can find our learning service through there. Everything goes through there.

Brian Briscoe 38:02
All right. So stop shop invest with red line.com. And we'll have that in the show notes for anybody who's interested. Oh, yo, same question for you. how can listeners learn more about you?

Julio Garcia 38:12
So I'm on LinkedIn, I don't have a website but I am I

38:16
will soon. Yeah,

Brian Briscoe 38:18
well, absolutely. So yeah. All right. And we'll put a link to your LinkedIn profile in the show notes and since you're probably not the only Julio Garcia in the world you know if you're interested in connecting with him, definitely those show notes up and grab the right Julio Garcia so

Andrew Schutsky 38:38
appreciate that. You may or may not be many hooligans series in oil and gas in Houston. So that might Yeah.

Brian Briscoe 38:48
Probably at least a dozen No. So yeah, I'm sure sounds good. Well, hey, thanks, guys for coming on the show today. I had a great time learned a little and hope you guys did too.

Andrew Schutsky 38:58
That was a blast. Thanks for having us, Brian. All right. Thank you man.

Brian Briscoe 39:02
Hey, if you liked that episode, make sure you hit that subscribe button. But more importantly if you haven't joined our multifamily educational community, the tribe a Titans yet you are missing out. So get yourself three days free by clicking the link below in the description or go to the tribe of Titans dot info and we'll see you there.