Billy Keels  00:00

Today's conversation is sponsored by first generation Capital Partners. If you're an accredited investor, and you want to know about how we're helping other accredited investors keep more of their income, go to firstgencp.com forward slash going long.

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00:12

I mean, it's one thing to buy a couple deals, you have to buy a deal here, buy a deal there. But then you have to kind of eventually you run around with your head cut off. Because you don't realise like, Okay, well, I need to pull myself out of the weeds and start working on the business and that like you're really in the business, right?

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00:29

You're listening to the going long podcast with Billy keels, the number one podcast for long distance real asset investing.

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Billy Keels  00:38

Welcome to the gold long podcast, we're back once again to continue to help to educate you so that you feel much more comfortable as well as confident investing beyond your backyard. And yes, I am your host, Billy keels, super excited to welcome back to another guest episode today, which is awesome. So listen, also, just want to thank you very quickly, for those of you who continue to post, continue to screenshot and tag us across social media, we really appreciate that, especially on the LinkedIn platform. It's so awesome. And Instagram, you guys are awesome. Thank you so much for doing that. Really appreciate you being a part of the going long family. And it's absolutely fantastic. So and also for those of you who want to leave your honest written review, as well as writing continue to do that, because especially on the solo episodes, I'm going to read your name to all the people across 40 plus different countries at this point in time and 10s of 1000s of downloads, we really, really appreciate you. So so go ahead and do that and rejuvenate. Also, too. If you've ever wanted to find any of the previous episodes over 260 At this point would have first ncp.com forward slash podcasts. And you'll be able to find every single episode, audio and video transcripts. It's awesome. First ncp.com forward slash podcasts. And so for those of you who want to understand more about what it's like to be, go from military, get your education and continue with the military and also look for efficiencies and multifamily value add real estate. And guess what this is going to be really one of the conversation you want to get your pen and paper out. Yes, I did say pen and paper or iPad and iPad, whatever. Because this is going to be awesome for you, we're gonna get to the conversation with Eli VO. And we're going to get to that just after this. Are you a busy high paid professional, someone that in the previous two years has earned $200,000 and is expected to earn $200,000 this year. Or maybe if you file jointly. Previously, you've earned $300,000 In previous two years, and you're also expected to do that this year. Or maybe if not, either individually or jointly, you have a million dollars in net worth not including your primary residence. If you meet any of these criteria, then you're someone that the IRS considers to be an accredited investor. That probably means you're someone like an enterprise software sales executive, you may be an executive in a major corporation, you may be a doctor, you may be a lawyer may be a high paid consultant, you may be worked for a major sports franchise, the thing I know you have in common is that you continue to do the hard work like you're doing 100% of the work. And you're only bringing home 50% of the reward because you continue to get crushed by your income taxes. If you are tired of this situation and you're looking for a new solution, then go to first gen cp.com forward slash going long. When you get there, that's going to help you to start the journey so that you can begin to take back control of your taxes take control of your time. And then also that means you're going to be able to spend more of the time that you want with the people that you love the most. And that is the way that you're going to get the personal freedom that you're looking for. So if you're looking to take back control, go ahead and go to first ncp.com forward slash going long and see how we can help you today. So if you've ever wanted to know what it was like to go from military paratrooper to multifamily specialist, and how that can improve your long distance investing journey, and guess what today's conversation you're going to listen to until the very last word, like literally the very last word. You know why? Because today's guest not only is a highly decorated veteran that served 21 years in both the army as well as the Air Force also served as an IC specialist and project manager. And you know what, while he was working in the military or why he was in the military, he also founded a real estate investment company gives me great pleasure to welcome one of the cofounders of Atlas multifamily group, Mr. Eli, VO you are welcome the show, man.

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04:13

Man, thank you very much. I'm very excited to be here. Oh, man,

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Billy Keels  04:17

that makes two of us because I'm really excited that you are here you got fantastic love the pre conversation and I'm absolutely positive you're gonna add so much value to the going on family, man love your energy. And I want to jump right in. And because as you know, Eli, can I ask you two questions in the beginning? I'm gonna ask you three at the end. Just you know what, I think I'm gonna ask you a lot of questions in the middle to I just don't know what those are yet. So here's the thing. So help us understand help us get started. Where is it that you call home in the US? Fort Worth Texas? Fort Worth? I think that's in a very small state somewhere near not kidding. Yeah. State of Texas. I used to live I used to. I used to live in Texas. I used to live in Texas. Okay a long time ago. Long time, we'll talk about that afterwards. So So yes, of course. So Dallas Fort Worth is, is home for you. Help us understand question number two is really, what's the most positive thing that's happened to you in the last 24 hours.

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05:12

So, I'll say we just recently had a closing on one of our deals, so we sold a deal. And we're kind of like, in the middle of, we're in the final moments of a corner deal. And so like, just to the day, you know, we're kind of had like this strange kind of quiet pause in the business. And so well, real the day my wife and I kind of took some time off and like, on a date, as you know, um, so it was this kind of reminder of like, no, like, you know, when you're, when you're working through, you know, all the stress and the strain, and you're, you're building so much, and you're kind of going through your day days is kind of small things that, you know, kind of pull you back and remind you like why you started the first place. So I think that's probably one of the more positive you know, unless point four hours at least.

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Billy Keels  05:58

So, listen to me. So first of all, you'd like thank you so much for sharing that. And everybody, if you're not watching the video version, you should jump over watch the video version, because as Eli is telling the story, like he and I are both like, literally irritate you with a smile like this, you made me my wife and I, we wouldn't had a, we wouldn't had a massage on a Monday at noon. Right. And sometimes we think we are in the throes of it so much. And so like so many things going on. But it's those special moments, that really that when we can cling on to them, and we recognise how not everybody is doing this or is able to do this. And the fact that you're able to do it number one, and two that you recognise that I have this thing is amazing, right? And so that's what is about these massive smiles that you see on both Eli nine. So like I said, if you're not on that, if you're not watching the video version, check it out, check it out in the first couple of seconds, it will be good. So anyway, listen, Eli, I get all that, like I love just being able to have these types of conversations right now. It's great. Thanks. We also recognise like, there's so many things we every week, we tend to think that everything is around money. And it's not yes, it's about how are we able to invest our time with the people that we love the most, when we wanted to do it, and in the ways in which we want to do it. So it's just, it makes my heart super happy. Go Go expand, expand, please.

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07:12

Yeah, I think I think people feel like people that I talked to at least know, like, they they start out with the idea of some kind of freedom, right like time freedom or freedom to go on more vacations, or they want to do whatever, like have more time for hobbies or, or something, right, they don't want to build themselves, but then, you know, like, it's so it's so easy to get caught up. And like you said, like the the growth or the money, or, you know, like, once you kind of crack the nut and kind of figure out how things work, how things are structured, and you're building and you're scaling. So it just to keep working and getting bigger and bigger. And then people kind of forget, like, oh, no, really, it's the small moments, you know, times where you can sit on a Monday get a massage, or, you know, Tuesday afternoon and drink wine with your wife or whatever. So it's like those, it's like the small moments that are really like the really special ones. Yeah, yeah,

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Billy Keels  08:03

absolutely. Absolutely. So, listen, I'm gonna tell you a little bit more about because I want you to tell your backstory. But here's the thing. I would also like to say thank you very much for your service, greatly appreciate it. So thank you. And that That stated, most of the going along family, if not all of the going along, family knows that I have this kind of character flaw. I am a recovering perfectionist Eli. And so what that means is sometimes I do things that are somewhat say a little bit over the top. What I mean by that is like I tried to tell your entire back story in like, two and a half seconds is never gonna happen, right? You've done way too much. I can impact in way too many lives. But it's this character fall anyway. So hopefully, you'll forgive me. Also, hopefully you will help me because I would love for you to tell your backstory in your own words. And you can take a lot more than two and a half seconds because you're the guest today. So you can take as much time as you need to tell your backstory. I am going to ask you one favour, though, that while you're telling your backstory that you please help me in the going long family understand some of the major decisions that you've made to get to this point in your journey. Then we'll see where you and I take the conversation from there.

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09:14

Sure. Yeah. So my name is Eli, I'm foreign militaries. But 21 years, seven years in the army, I was a paratrooper and then I got out for about two years, went to college. And then I joined the Air Force. When I finished my degree, it was in business. About 15 years of my career, my wife and I kind of sat back and we said, Okay, well, you know, we got about five years left until I retire we should have some income coming in to a place like this income right? And so it's always been kind of my dream, or you know, like yeah, my idea to get into like real estate and business so about that time frame, start getting into small family rental houses, right. So we buy, you know, small houses to a small We have an m&m out. We've got to a couple of those, we're doing pretty good. But once again, the cast that makes it okay, we're doing okay. But at this pace, you know, we're gonna hit our goal, right, which I think back then it was I don't know, like, you know, 3040 houses or whatever it was to hit our income level. So I said, Okay, well, we need to scale, you know, and when you scale a little more efficiently more quickly, so we started at that point, can I transitioning in a multifamily? Cuz I'm driving around town one day, and I saw a big apartment complex. And I was like, man, who owns those things, like, that'd be way more efficient to Oh, something like that, that have, you know, houses for across town, like 30 houses across town. So I started networking, and meeting people, I joined leadership group, and about 2017 2018. And networking there. And so looking for deals and about maybe five or six months later, found our first deal. It was an IT WAS Milena, Georgia. And if we close that one bathroom, US Letter got under contract to another deal. It was about two and 12 units in Atlanta, Georgia again. And from there, it just kind of took off. Right. And so after that I'm gonna my my two partners, but 2019, Chris and Nathan. And then we formed Atlas. And we've been kind of buying up property since then, you know, now we have about 115 units across Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas. And we're under contract now on one in Texas that we're going to close here in about the next next few weeks. And then that's kind of where we are. Oh, so I'm sorry. Don't Arkansas for the ones that we closed on. But we could go so I'm not sure off our portfolio now. So well, it's like 600. It's like 600? No, no, it's 400. I'm sorry about that. 400 units across those states.

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Billy Keels  11:58

Okay, fantastic. Well, that's. So that's so that's really interesting. So you've, you've finished with the thing that I actually would like for us to pick up the most on right, because you've talked about a number of different things. But you you mentioned that today, you're in different states, Arkansas, just exited the portfolio. But you were in Arkansas, you live in Texas, right? Yeah. But it's not in your backyard. Oklahoma. It's close. It's not in your backyard. Kansas, it's close. But it's not in your backyard either. So one of the things that you probably can see behind me here somewhere, there's like, Rich Dad, Poor Dad book somewhere and some other kind of stuff. That's, that's, that's there behind us. And I, you know, I recognise that one of the things you know, early on was, hey, it seemed like I was reading all these books, and either directly or indirectly, it was saying things like, hey, you need to be able to invest within an hour or right in your backyard and all this kind of stuff. As you know, Eli, I live in Europe. I've invested exclusively back in the United States for over a decade. I also recognise that that's very contrarian, you I'm sure recognise that that's very contrarian in goes against everything that we're taught. So I'm always interested in when I hear these types of stories, like help us understand what is it that really gave you the mental fortitude to say, You know what, I'm going to go against what all the books are telling me. And I'm going to invest in someplace that I can't get to in 15 minutes, I'm going to invest way beyond my backyard, different states, maybe like me, very extreme, different continents. But I always feel that there's something that connects us all. And I'd love for you to share what has given you that confidence.

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13:42

If you know anything about multifamily in general like this is kind of like one of the Mecca is like DFW is like the mecca of like multifamily. And so it wouldn't it wouldn't make sense on paper probably to like just focus here and I know a lot of guys who do but for us it was it's a so like because this is like the Mecca is this like so overpriced and so competitive. So when you if you can find a deal, you know, you're bidding on you know, you're on unprofitable probably has like, you know, 10 to 15 other people bidding on it too. And then if you get it like the terms that you have to wind up with are just you know, outrageous. I guess like this year though, it's begin to kind of shift from a seller's market to a buyers market. So it's getting more more reasonable now. But for the last like, you know, decade or whatever, it's been like that crazy, crazy repetitive and crazy pricey here. So for us, we're like okay, let's go let's go outside of our market of like his primary market to secondary markets and tertiary markets that are within a driving range at least like three to five hours away. So we can at least drive or get a quick flight and and get there but they're in smaller markets that are stable. You know, have population growth, to have good, good business investment growth, you know, low crime, you know, things like that, that kind of still had our metrics. But we're able to find, like, True Value Add deals. So it just seemed like to us a lot of the deals here. You know, they've been bought and traded, you know, 345 times. And so, I mean, they would tell us like, oh, yeah, just just go back slash on it, and raise with like, but 200 bucks, more like, like, Well, okay, well, I'll probably go to another market, where we can buy from a mom and pop shop that has, you know, mismanaged, or just kind of just what at home for, you know, 1020 years, and they just want to sell it right. So it's like, they really haven't, like renovated or rehabbed it at all. So we can kind of come in, make it more efficient, put some money into it, do a true value add, and, you know, bump rents, and make it, you know, come a shining star like in its in its market, at least. Yeah, and

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Billy Keels  16:02

so so really what it comes down for. So it's really interesting, because you're what I want to take away from what you're saying is that you were really looking for the location opportunity, right? Because you happen to be in one of the hottest markets, or has been the hottest market over the last decade, especially as it relates to residential, multifamily, right, commercial, residential, multifamily type of, of, of opportunities. But it sounds to me, like you're really looking for the opportunity in a different location. Whereas many people would say, Well, I don't have the systems in place. I don't know this, I don't know that and you've got to be able to do it. Well, you're not really even talking to those things, right? Now. It's more, where's the opportunity? How can we actually go out and add more value? See where there are more true value add opportunities, so that you can really drive more value versus saying, hang on second, we're just gonna put some lipstick over here and figure out if this works, does that seem accurate?

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16:59

Yeah, I mean, we, once we kind of identify those markets, you know, like, we, it took us some time, you know, to go drive them and go out there spend time to put to put the people in places and processes in place for us to operate them, you know, because we couldn't just go out there, because we really know anyone out there, you know, so it took us, you know, several months to kind of go and meet brokers and property managers and go drive comps and really understand Sorb, you know, the market and sub market to really to understand, like, what, what we're getting into, but yeah, initially, it was like, Okay, guys, let's, let's get out of our little comfort zone here, and go there, right, and go find a value add.

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Billy Keels  17:39

So if you just mentioned something, so it's because it's not just you, right? It's you and your partner. So talk to us about the dynamic of what happens because sometimes when we're making decisions on our own, it's really pretty simple. Like, I want to do this based on XYZ, and boom. Talk to us about the dynamic of Could you talk to you, you mentioned to us about a two year period when you all kind of knew one another. And you eventually decided, hey, listen, we're gonna go do this thing. But the dynamic of making decisions by committee or in a group, maybe talk to us about that, because I'm sure that came into play whether or not you just stay in your backyard or which is DFW is not like Dallas, Fort Worth, excuse me. Just like any other market, I mean, or location, it's a pretty important one, I have to say about this.

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18:23

So critical, like your partners are probably like the number one choice that you'll make. And especially if you're in like commercial multifamily. So you're gonna partner with somebody, eventually, right? Like, and so for. So for us, it was important that we had. So there's three of us is me, Chris and Nathan. And it's, it's, it was important for us to have a shared vision. But like, we couldn't be in an echo chamber. So we have to think very differently from each other. And that means that we're not, we're not gonna always agree. So, like, so for us, we have to have a shared a shared dream and shared vision, but then, like, the way we approach things are a very definitely so for us, it's very important that we're open. And we're honest, right? And not not like, you know, brash, and we're athletes to each other, but you know, but, but if we're, if we're not pulling our weight, or if something bothers us, or if some, you know, or if we needed to have a different perspective, we can freely say it or say, Hey, man, like, something's going on. Are you okay? Like, I noticed, like, you know, like, you're coming across, like this way. And it's not really juggling to group, right. So, for us, it was it was really important that we have different skill sets, different kind of mindsets, you know, but we can still work together. And I think the day still agree, right?

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Billy Keels  19:54

No, I think that's, I think that's important and it's one of those dynamics whenever you are coming together. It's how do you how do you balance that honesty and openness, to be able to still drive to create a result, because at the end of the day, you've come together to be able to drive an outcome or more consistent outcomes or more consistent results. Trusting that you enjoyed today's conversation. And you know, if you're tired of getting crushed by taxes, and you're looking for greater freedom, to be able to choose what you want to do, when you want to do it, make sure that you go to first ncp.com, forward slash going long, and see how we can help you today. Let's get back to the conversation. One of the things I do, you talked a little bit about this, even you use, the language that you use, those are about efficiencies and scale early on. So hopefully, you you know, the Golang family was listening to that. But But beyond that, right, because you notice that you're driving all over town, and you have these, you know, kind of smaller multifamily or one one single family residences, you're like, well hang on a second, somebody owns these really big buildings, and that's very efficient. How much of you have that? Would you say that you saw the efficiencies, I spent a lot of time in it, specifically on the software side of things. And I know you have a lot of IT project and project management and things like that. How much of that played into your desire to drive more efficiencies by going bigger, because sometimes people don't want to go very big, because they're afraid of it. They're afraid of the numbers, they're afraid of that exact thing that scale?

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21:26

Oh, yeah, it's super important. And that's why I first run a mentorship group. I mean, if I had probably, if I had had more time, you know, like, maybe, like, if I had been younger, right, I had, like, you know, 1015 years, then I would have to start small and then grown, as I got, you know, a tonne along, right. So I would have done like, no, like, the house rentals, and then like, you know, duplexes, triplexes, and this model, different election, and we have five or 10 unit, and then a 20 unit or some like that, right? But because I was put in a constraint, I had, like, five years until I retired. And then after our first couple houses, I was like, hey, you know, we're down to, when a couple of years here hired me to, you know, grow. So I was kind of forced to, to scale multifamily. So like, the big ones, which was scary to you know, so I joined a mentorship group. And then as I, as I kind of realised, like, so you have a network and a team there, but then the way these big deals are structured, you're not really buying properties, you're buying businesses, right, so So

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Billy Keels  22:34

can you have Can you can you please say that again, because I think that's really important that people hear it a second time, you're not really buying properties, you're buying

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22:44

a business, you know, you're buying a business, right? So in that way, is very efficient, right. So you have teams of people to support the property, right. And, and so that kind of that kind of helped reinforce, okay, so it's not just me, managing my house, you know, it's me overseeing this large ship of people. So if I can manage, if I can manage, you know, this ship, then, you know, I can I can do this, I can, I can grow, I can grow faster, and volume, right, as opposed to, you know, growing. You know, what, just myself, but houses, right? So that's the that's the, that's broken, I meant by growing more efficiently and

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Billy Keels  23:28

scaling more efficiently. Yeah. Okay. And that makes a lot of sense. And I appreciate you touching on that point. And also just bringing, the fact of the matter is, in depending on the desire for an individual, you start to recognise and also your skill set, right, because I think about the IT project management stuff. You know, I manage to $100 million business across Europe, Middle East, and Africa. So I enjoy being able to manage complex type of, of businesses or being a part of them. It's not for everybody, right, I get that. Yeah. But for those of us who enjoy managing, you know, at scale, you recognise that there are some efficiencies as long as you can drive those efficiencies. Then on the other side, there should be, you know, days where you can go hang out with your wife and a nice glass of wine on a Tuesday or something. But you have to get through, you know, you have to get through the startup and stuff like that. So I appreciate you sharing and giving us that perspective on things he likes. I think it's one of the things that many times gets lost. So we've talked about a lot of good things, right. I'm also interested in talk to us about some of the challenges you've seen early on, or even, you know, just in terms of being able to manage these businesses at scale and in sometimes across different geographic locations.

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24:42

Oh, gosh, challenges. So I'd say one of the biggest ones was us, like this year in general. So we kind of hit a point at the beginning of the year, where we had to kind of shift our focus from going from buying properties. to growing a real estate investing company, right? And so, so, I mean, it's one thing to buy a couple of deals, you have to buy a deal here, buy a deal there. But then you have to kind of like, eventually, you run around with your head cut off. Because you don't realise like, Okay, well, I need to pull myself out of the weeds and start working on the business and that, like, you're really in the business, right? So I think people don't really talk about a lot, but it's, it's like, okay, well, how do you? How do you grow a company? Like, how do you, you know, what kind of software do you use? What kind of processes and? And and how and who do you hire? You know, is it marketing? Is it property? Asset Management? Do you build a construction company to help you help? You know, how do you vertically integrate? Right? So So you really have to? In all the chaos, you know, you really have to pull yourself out. Okay? If we're, if we're going crazy, right now. And we're at like, 500 units, how are we going to act when it's like 2000 units, or 10,000? You know, or we have, like, 5000 units plus we have, you know, other other assets? You know, like, we scale into self storage, or ATMs or, or whatever, right. And now we have all our stuff. How do you how do you, you know, not, not around the hair on fire? Right. So I think, I think one of the challenges that you have to kind of understand, okay, the idea isn't to always, you know, be in the weeds, eventually, you got to pull yourself out and start working on the business right.

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Billy Keels  26:41

Now, and that's, and so when you look at these challenges, right? They're, they're positive challenges, right? There is, you know, how are you confronting? Or how are you going to confront growth? And how are you going to do that in a way that once again, to your point, it's talking about the different processes and the different standard operating procedures, talking to those efficiencies, and things like that, which is also one of the reasons that it's really important to have different backgrounds, when you bring groups of people together to bound companies point of the

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27:10

take, we're gonna take revenue, or take revenue that you've made, and pour it back to the company, right? And, and hire people. And that's very scary, too. Because, you know, now you're like, Okay, well made, you know, we made X amount of money, but now I need to pour a portion or majority of it, and to hiring somebody, right? So I mean, it might be a flop, you might not be able to, you might not hire like the right marketing person, or hire the right person. The right job first, right. So which job do you hire? First, you know, these are all decisions that in we struggled with, this year, as you kind of grown, got a company at least. Okay,

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Billy Keels  27:49

fantastic. So you talk to us about some of the challenges, but what are also some of the tips that you would provide someone who's, you know, also maybe, you know, they're they're getting started, they have the goal is to get to 600 units, 500 units, or it's that person who's like, Hey, listen, I'm in a really busy job. I really, you know, I'm tired of being in the stock market. This whole thing sounds interesting to me, I'm just here, because, you know, I'm listening to Eli and Billy talk, and I'm getting some more education. But I'm a really busy professional, I don't really want to be out there picking up or managing teams or buying a business, but it wouldn't be bad if I could actually invest in people that I actually understood. So maybe talk to those, those two people and provide them some of the tips of some of the positive things that are also happening.

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28:36

Gotcha. So when I started out was mostly military, you know, I, I worked on like, two full time, jobs, etc. So I was in the military and I did a bit of business, that's pretty chaotic. So if you don't want to do that, you can always invest passively. So we have passive investors, you know, people who kind of buy into us, you know, as a team, and they like our properties, like they have money that they want to invest into real estate, but they don't want to take the time to go out and put the deals down on the ride home. Go Toro purchase them and imagine after we're trying to sell like they, they, they they invest their their money into our properties. And so for those passive investors, I would tell them that, you know, to look at three things, first is the team. Right. So you could look at the team unexperienced, are they transparent? You know, do they? Do they respond to you? You know, do they open their books up and kind of explain things to you. So that's very important. Isn't the team's experience next to the market? Right? So maybe if it's not a market that, that you completely buy into, you know, what's the market and why are they in it? Right? So, what markets are they in and why they pick them? You know? They have a good, like consistent cash flow markets are the markets where, you know, there's boom and bust cycle appreciation, is it a lot of business growth is a lot of population growth? You know, and the economics there, right? So it's the team, the market. And really, like those, those two things are kind of met is the deal. The deal kind of comes last. And was kind of odd to say it was true. Right? So once you kind of vet those two, those first two factors, the last one was kind of like the the deal, and does the deal meet your criteria? You know, is it is it just other returns? There? The depreciation? You know, is it your kind of vintage kind of asset and things like that, so,

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Billy Keels  30:44

perfect. I appreciate you sharing that, and giving us that perspective. And really, it is one of the things that I learned as well, like, I, I always just think I'm gonna go out and buy this specific deal, or I like to call them opportunities, right? You got you didn't you invest in this opportunity, realise that I didn't have a team in place, it was a disaster. And I didn't realise I was in the location, because I didn't, I didn't do the studying. And so you know, talking to the points that you talk about is exactly that it's really looking at, you know, who is the team, do they understand the location or the market that you're investing in, and then if they do, then you're minimising or mitigating the risk of your capital, your time, your energy, because these things are aligned with one another. So I love hearing your perspective on that, because it aligns very, very much. So one of the things that I did want to kind of get into before we get to the, to the going long, final three is talk to us about just also to and you kind of already started with some of the ways that you communicate with your prospective investors or your new investor community.

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31:51

Well, so for so for us, a lot of it is probably the first two ways are going out to different events, and like meetups, so a lot of local events, a lot of events like a nationwide, so you know, we'll fly out to different different real estate conferences different like, like financial or conferences that that deal with, like, you know, economics or money or just anything like that, right? So we're always out, always out talking to people, and meeting people. Number two, like a big push for us, like this year has been social media. So, you know, we're, you know, we're kind of, we can shift our focus on Okay, guys, we have just like just three dudes out there buying properties, you know, we have to go out and actually get out like, you know, Instagram, tik, Tok, Facebook, you know, on YouTube, so we so we build a podcast, and then we're also having constant, you know, constant videos and lessons like on our, on our, on our social media sites. So those are like the, the two top ways that we can communicate with our investors, it winds up in newsletter, too. So every month, we send out a newsletter and explain to them, what we're up to what we've done, you know, our wins or challenges and things like that. So the idea is to, you know, always, always keep in touch with them. And then give them give them an avenue to always to be up to like, communicate back to us. So they can email they can call. Some of them if they're like, in town, they can, they can meet me for coffee. Yeah, so that buyer will have drinks or coffee or lunch with them or something like that, too.

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Billy Keels  33:36

Fantastic. Well, that sounds sounds phenomenal. I appreciate that, Eli. And you know what, it's time for us to get into going long. Final three. The thing is, because you're our special guest, we'll get him he's already ready. He's like, Cisco. So here's the thing. I never asked you to go along final three, unless you tell me that you're ready. So my question for you is, are you ready?

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33:52

Yes, let's do it.

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Billy Keels  33:54

You were born ready? I mean, was that even a question? So here we go. So we started with you over in DFW, I want to bring him back to this side of the pond. Because now as you know, I live over here in Europe. So I would love to know what is your favourite European city that you've either visited or still on your bucket list to visit?

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34:10

I would say one of two places I've always want to see is Athens or Sparta. Those two, those two places I've always wanted to go.

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Billy Keels  34:20

So if I have to, if I have to pin you down, which one are you going to go with for your one place? Probably

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34:27

Sparta. I'm a big Spartan history guy. And so I've always been kind of really intrigued, you know, with like that, like their, their ancient culture and you know, like go and kind of experience you know, like, what was like and you know, to kind of see the actual ruins and very interesting,

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Billy Keels  34:48

beautiful so that will go with it will add it's gonna be in the show notes. And now we're gonna get to question number two. Question number two is, you know, this is really has a lot to do with it. I guess there's a lot of experiences that I've had with people that are very successful, right people like yourself, like people that have had the opportunity to experience a lot of things, I've seen a lot of things and most importantly, made a lot of really positive impact on the world. And so, you know, I guess, when I watch really successful people, I noticed that they do one thing very differently. It's that, you know, typically, as they're going out, and I guess one of the things that makes them successful is that they go out, and they put together a plan, and then they execute this plan flawlessly the very first time, which allows them to go much faster. Are you laughing? He's kind of laughing. And I think that's funny. You know, I'm joking, right? You do not? Okay. I was like, Wait a second. He's laughing at me. He's. So yes, of course, man. It's a joke. Like, I like to have fun here. Like really successful people. It's, I mean, it could happen, but it's probably not very likely that they're gonna get things right the first time normally, actually, what I've seen is that really successful people tend to get things wrong 20 to 50 times more than most people, right. And this kind of a first part was a joke, as you left, this is not a joke. The thing that I've noticed about people that are very successful is every single time that they make a relevant mistake, Eli is that they stop, they learn from that mistake. And then what they do after that is absolutely amazing. They go out, and they put different strategies, tactics and actions in place to minimise the probability of that exact same thing happening again. So I don't want you to think about the mistake or the learning opportunity, or however you want to call it. What I'm really interested in you sharing with us is what were the lessons that you learned in the lesson that you know, at least one lesson that you know, that you want to share today, because it's going to help to affect someone's life today positively, so that that person doesn't go out and make the exact same mistake that you did? With that one? What would that one lesson be?

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36:58

So I resent partners already. So that was, that was probably number one. And that's important. But as I said already, so I'll go on to time management. Right. So there was a time when I was working on bass in the military. And then I also was kind of building up our, our, our company, too, right? So I was working like two full time jobs. And so I struggled a lot, because I had, I had a W two, a business, and then I came home, and I had my family. Right, and I had my hobbies and, and everything else. Right. So or lack of hobbies. So I really had a really struggle and understand that, out that there really is a balance, like I think everyone tries to balance. But I don't I don't think I mean, like when you give when you give attention to one area, one more gifts, right? So if you're going to focus on the family, well, then, you know, probably your health is going to health or the business or somebody's going to go back and forth. Right. So I think for me, the way I was able to overcome that at least was was doing a morning routine. And so that became critical, and it took it took, you know, several years of of kind of trial and error, to say, Okay, what's the best morning routine? That works for me, right? And how do I, how do I use that to control my schedule and my day, because if you can win your morning, you can win your day, right? And it took me, I heard it over and over again through books and podcasts. But it wasn't until I was really stressed out and just really struggling, frustrated. And then over time, I think, ah, the morning routine is what helps you helps you capture that. And then within that, right, so I would say you know, like, whatever it is for you, you know, whatever series of activities, that helps you kind of grasp and get a hold of like, you know, your your calendar and your schedule, is, you know, do that and be disciplined and stick with it. It's it's critical, because if you don't, you'll get burned out. And just, you know, frustrated beyond belief. I

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Billy Keels  39:13

love that man. So being able to win your morning, have your morning routine, and be able to effectively manage your day, manage your time. So I appreciate you sharing that and it is something that makes a huge impact. And this goes to question number three, which is really about helping us to feed our brains and I would love for you to share what is the one book that you would recommend to the going long family today?

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39:34

I would say Robert Greene's laws of human nature. That's That's an awesome awesome book to help you understand like, why you think and act in certain ways. And then why what why others think and act in certain ways and then how you can kind of work together to negotiate and and get through, you know, life in general with with partners with your, with your kids, with your wife, with your friends, anything, right? So it's pretty deep book

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Billy Keels  40:08

files of human nature. So we'll include that in the show notes, everybody. So don't worry, if you're running on the treadmill, all you have to do is click a link, it'll take you straight to the book. So don't worry about don't worry about it. If you're driving and all that kind of stuff, stay safe, and just click the link whenever you get to a place that is safe for you to do that. So Eli, listen, I cannot believe these conversations fly by so fast. We're talking about your you know, you're talking about your military career and the four year seven years in the Army, and then the the two years to go get your education and you finish in the Air Force. And you talk about 15 years in your career. And as you're in that career, you also recognise like, Hey, hang on a second, you want to get to a point where you're generating more income, not just for income sake, but to be able to have and be able to manage more of of your life, you get the small multifamily or single family and you start recognising something you're like, hang on a second. Somebody actually owns these really big multifamily is and I got to figure out who is the person that's doing that, because that seems a lot more efficient to me. And so as you started asking different questions, you started searching for different answers, you search for different answers, you find yourself also to in 2017, you start forming membership groups and in getting membership, and then also being able to find other partners that were aligned to the similar mission, vision and values that you had. And after a courting period of a couple of years, you decide, hey, listen, we're gonna go out and we're going to come together, we're going to work as a team, because as you mentioned, every you know, eventually, you will team with people on different aspects. And so as you've come together, you've not allowed geography to, to hold you back quite the opposite. You've said, Hey, listen, I'm already in the mecca of what's happening in the commercial residential multifamily space. Right now, let's go beyond our backyard, let's go to a place where we can actually not just put backsplash on the walls and charge rent for 200 bucks, because that's probably not going to fly anyway, we're gonna go somewhere where we can add real value. And as the value that we're driving, that also is going to help us to attract the clients that you want to be able to serve. And so as you've done that, you focus not only on being able to add more value through the multifamily value add but also being able to serve and communicate with your passive investors. So I know that so many people in the go on family to think and believe yet, just ask them the question, man, just get over it. ask them the question. So I'm going to ask because everybody wants to know, Eli, what is the best way for the going long family to find out more about what it is that you're doing? And also, what you and the team at Atlas multifamily group borrow are doing?

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42:28

Probably the easiest way is to email me at Eli at invest with amg.com. And I'll respond back as fast as I can. And we can set a call coffee launcher, whatever, if you're if you're an area I'm around.

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Billy Keels  42:42

Alright, perfect. It's Eli at invest with AMG, AMG amg.com. Awesome, man. So we will in, we will include that as well in the show notes. So once again, please just be safe. Just be safe for everybody. All you have to do is click the link. So listen, I want to thank you very much on behalf of the entire going long family really appreciate you deciding to invest your time with us and share a bit more of your experience with us today. So thank you so much.

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43:06

Great. Thanks for having me.

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Billy Keels  43:08

I asked me if you give me just a couple seconds. I'm gonna wrap things up with the Gaumont family, and then we'll get you out of here. So going well, sure. Listen, Eli shared so much. He kept it real, He gives you the good, the bad, the ugly. And also he talked about the opportunity and why this is a great space and how he and his team are continuing to add value. So take today's conversation, listen to it a couple times, hey, you know, share the episode with family members, friends, talk about it go from theory to action. And you know, while you're doing that, and by the way, if you want to reach out to Eli, he's even giving you his his giving you his contact details. So reach out to him. While you're doing that. I'm gonna be here preparing the next conversation. So until then go and make it a great day. Thank you very much. Trust that you enjoy today's conversation. And once again, today's conversation was sponsored by first generation Capital Partners. If you're an accredited investor want to find out more about how we're helping accredited investors to gain their personal freedom even faster. Go to firstgencp.com forward slash going long.

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