Even in times of chaos, the right passive income strategies can help you build wealth and grow your business. In this episode of Onward Nation, encore guest Mitch Stephen walks us through the important lessons he learned during the 2008 real estate market crash that have helped him continue to thrive during the global pandemic. Mitch explains why his business model is built to be durable, adaptable, and is focused on helping others. He also shares why he keeps a laser focus on his local market rather than attempting to expand beyond the San Antonio, Texas market.
Mitch Stephen has spent decades developing his skills as a real estate investor, and over that career he has learned valuable lessons about earning more by doing less. During the episode, Mitch discussed why he shifted his focus from “fix-and-flip” real estate to simply buying and reselling without doing any repairs or upgrades, and he explains how his passive income strategies have evolved through testing, experimentation, and a willingness to learn from his mistakes. As Mitch explained, the 2008 real estate market crash showed him that investing the time and resources into property repairs wasn’t necessary; at the time, he had so many properties going into foreclosure that he couldn’t fix them all, but he was surprised to realize that even without expensive and time-consuming repairs, his properties were moving quickly. This important lesson shows that it is important to periodically question assumptions about our business models and identify opportunities to streamline the business.
The 2008 market crash taught Mitch key skills and the value of being ready to pivot to take advantage of opportunities. These lessons are even more applicable today, during the global pandemic. Mitch began coaching other new investors on the passive income strategies, lessons and skills he developed through trial and error, with the important goal of helping others succeed. Today, his real estate coaching has grown to become a key pillar of Mitch’s business empire, and one of the most important lessons he teaches his students is how to identify opportunities during the tough times. As Mitch explained, challenges such as the global pandemic create unique opportunities for business owners to solve problems for their customers, allowing truly creative businesses to better position themselves within their niches. Being adaptable, nimble and ready to deliver creative solutions can help businesses not just survive but thrive during chaotic and challenging times. That’s exactly why it is important to double down rather than retreat during difficult periods.
Mitch Stephen has been a self-employed real estate investor for 25+ years. His real estate investing career started at the age of 23 when he read “Nothing Down” by Robert Allen.
Mitch Stephen has purchased well over 2,000 houses in and around his hometown of San Antonio, TX. Mitch is a high school graduate who never stopped learning. Books, CDs, seminars, and webinars were his classroom.
Today he specializes in owner financing properties to individuals left behind by traditional lending institutions and giving new life to properties that scar their neighborhoods.
He has perfected a method of achieving cash-flow without having to be a landlord and without having to rehab properties. He’s mastered the art of raising private money and the classic “Nothing Down” deal.
He has pioneered the idea that you don’t have to give discounts to sell your notes.
A passionate speaker who delivers the message of integrity first and profits second; an expert at keeping it simple and explaining, in plain English, the theories that made him financially independent. He is always an inspiration to those around him.
Building and growing a business truly is a trial by fire. Learning the necessary business owner skills comes slowly over time, and mistakes will be made. But drawing lessons from those mistakes can be transformative. Master real estate investor and mentor Ron LeGrand joins Onward Nation to share how he developed the business owner skills needed to grow and scale his organization into the thriving empire it is today, and he shares some of the key lessons he learned along the way over the course of his decades-long career in real estate, mentoring and publishing.
Ron knew early on that the path he was on wasn’t going to provide the life he wanted for his family, and so at age 35 he borrowed $450 from friends and used the money to attend his first real estate seminar. As Ron explained in his interview, he learned “just enough to go out and make a mess”. But the early successes were enough to show Ron that he was on the right track, and so he continued to iterate on and refine his business model. One of the business owner skills that became the backbone of his success was learning to delegate responsibility, from putting the right people into the right roles in his company to hiring his most successful students to become coaches. Today, Ron isn’t just a successful entrepreneur and real estate investor, he also runs a thriving publishing business and has a team of mentors ready to teach others the real estate investing strategies Ron learned through trial and error.
The onset of the global pandemic and its unforeseen challenges have impacted many businesses in dramatic ways, but knowing how to successfully pivot has proven to be one of Ron’s most effective business owner skills. He and his team quickly shifted their mentoring business to a virtual environment and adapted to the realities of social distancing, and in doing so they actually increased Ron’s reach and the profitability of the business. As Ron explained in the interview, being ready to pivot and adjust his strategies to the market has always been a crucial part of his success. By staying nimble and thinking creatively, Ron has been able to adapt to every challenge he has encountered and helped his business not just survive these obstacles but thrive through them.
Building and growing a business truly is a trial by fire. Learning the necessary business owner skills comes slowly over time, and mistakes will be made. But drawing lessons from those mistakes can be transformative. Master real estate investor and mentor Ron LeGrand joins Onward Nation to share how he developed the business owner skills needed to grow and scale his organization into the thriving empire it is today, and he shares some of the key lessons he learned along the way over the course of his decades-long career in real estate, mentoring and publishing.
Ron knew early on that the path he was on wasn’t going to provide the life he wanted for his family, and so at age 35 he borrowed $450 from friends and used the money to attend his first real estate seminar. As Ron explained in his interview, he learned “just enough to go out and make a mess”. But the early successes were enough to show Ron that he was on the right track, and so he continued to iterate on and refine his business model. One of the business owner skills that became the backbone of his success was learning to delegate responsibility, from putting the right people into the right roles in his company to hiring his most successful students to become coaches. Today, Ron isn’t just a successful entrepreneur and real estate investor, he also runs a thriving publishing business and has a team of mentors ready to teach others the real estate investing strategies Ron learned through trial and error.
The onset of the global pandemic and its unforeseen challenges have impacted many businesses in dramatic ways, but knowing how to successfully pivot has proven to be one of Ron’s most effective business owner skills. He and his team quickly shifted their mentoring business to a virtual environment and adapted to the realities of social distancing, and in doing so they actually increased Ron’s reach and the profitability of the business. As Ron explained in the interview, being ready to pivot and adjust his strategies to the market has always been a crucial part of his success. By staying nimble and thinking creatively, Ron has been able to adapt to every challenge he has encountered and helped his business not just survive these obstacles but thrive through them.
Can you turn your passion project into your only career focus? And if you do — will content monetization negatively impact your love for what you create, or can you keep loving what you do even when it becomes your primary job? Four-time returning guest David Mammano joins Onward Nation to discuss how he found his love for podcasting, and how he was able to chart a new career path with podcasting as his main focus — in spite of naysayers who tried to warn him away from it. And — he shares how going through difficult times can be a powerful teacher, if you look for the lessons and silver linings.
David Mammano is no stranger to challenge, having once built a successful business before losing nearly everything. As the host of “The Gonzo Experience” podcast, David has spoken with many other business leaders who have shared their own stories of overcoming challenges and coming out the other side stronger and better positioned for success. These stories became the backbone of his book “Crash and Learn”, where David shows readers that we aren’t defined by our failures but by what lessons we learned from them. David collected the shared wisdom of his podcast guests to demonstrate that retaining optimism through difficult times is a crucial business skill, and that even the most difficult of experiences holds lessons we can draw from them that can only benefit us in the future.
Speaking of David’s podcast “The Gonzo Experience”, during his interview David shared how he first discovered his passion for podcasting, and why he decided to make the difficult — and scary — decision to double down and make his podcast be his primary business focus. By focusing on helping others and adding value, David was able to attract an appreciative audience. The size of David’s growing audience opened up the opportunity to pursue content monetization through sponsorships to fund his work. Even though David had a number of people telling him that going all-in on podcasting was a mistake, he recognized that their words of caution stemmed not from concern for David but from their own fears. When he shut out the voices that were telling him he couldn’t do it — his own internal voice included — he was able to prove those voices wrong.
David Mammano is most recently known for being the host of The Gonzo Experience Entrepreneur Podcast. He is the author of business and college planning books, a TEDx speaker, a three-time Inc. Magazine 5000 Growth Company winner, and a professor at the University of Rochester.
He is a graduate of the University at Buffalo (SUNY) and also a graduate of the MIT Entrepreneurial Master’s Program (an executive education program offered through the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO)), a board member for the Western NY Make-A-Wish Foundation, and a local board member for Junior Achievement.
David’s most recent book Crash and Learn: Lessons in Business quickly rose to the top of the Amazon bestseller lists. His other books are Make Love in the Workplace, and 101 Things You Can Do to Become an Outstanding Young Adult.
During the last 25 years, David Mammano has been a serial entrepreneur – starting seven businesses from scratch. He now uses those experiences to interview the world’s most interesting entrepreneurs. Each interview is aimed at helping entrepreneurs be their best in all areas of their life.
As a prolific speaker, David is an internationally requested speaker at entrepreneurial, business, sales, and higher education events.
David is most proud of his family in Victor, NY, including three children, Gianluca, Melania, and Alessio.
William S. Burroughs famously said, “When you stop growing, you start dying.” We all want our businesses to keep growing, but sometimes we hit obstacles and roadblocks during the scaling process — and the solutions we used to get us where we are often don’t work to get us where we want to be. In this episode of Onward Nation, FreshBooks CEO and co-founder Mike McDerment shares how his business, which started out with six team members in his parents’ basement, has grown to millions of users in over 160 different countries. And — he shares key lessons on scaling a business he learned during that remarkable growth journey — lessons that can help you fuel the growth of your own business.
Mike created the software that would become FreshBooks after growing frustrated when he accidentally saved over a past billing invoice. That’s when he decided to create a better tool for small business accounting. The tool proved successful — and Mike’s focus shifted to this new business opportunity. One of the important decisions Mike made early in the life of FreshBooks was to walk away from venture capital funding. At the time, Mike was concerned that the need to offer a return on investment could stunt progress in scaling a business — and so for years, FreshBooks was self-funded. Ultimately, this put the company into a great position now that it is in the pre-IPO stage because it allowed FreshBooks to remain more nimble without being beholden to outside investors during its critical growth period. While Mike believes venture capital isn’t always a bad idea, it wasn’t the right choice for FreshBooks.
During FreshBooks’ remarkable period of growth, the company reached several key milestones and breakpoints. Each time, Mike and the team had to adapt to change and learn new, critical skills directly tied to scaling a business. For example, early on everyone reported directly to Mike — but eventually, the team grew enough that managers needed to be added. As Mike said during his interview, it was important to identify when these breakpoints happened and to adapt the business to continue scaling through them. And it is an ongoing process — as the business grows, the things needed to keep it moving change. Ensuring that everyone is aligned with your mission and values is critical, and if a team member isn’t in alignment with their role, it is important to address the situation honestly and clearly. As Mike said, every business problem is a people problem at its heart. Getting the right people in the right seats can help you overcome any obstacle.
Mike McDerment is the co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks, the world’s #1 cloud accounting software for self-employed professionals. Built in 2003 after he accidentally saved over an invoice, Mike spent 3.5 years growing FreshBooks from his parents’ basement. Since then, over 10 million people have used FreshBooks to save time billing and collecting billions of dollars. A lover of the outdoors, Mike has been bitten so many times it’s rumored he’s the first human to have developed immunity to mosquitoes.