IGNITE (Aired 05-14-2025) Thrive Beyond Limits: Leadership, Wellness and Creative Growth

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign Hi, I'm Vicki Wright Hamilton and welcome to Ignite. Are you ready to spark your passion and fuel your leadership journey? This is where ambition meets action and transformation truly begins. Let's light the fire and keep it burning. Today we have a guest that is going to burn your fire. Kara Batter, who is with Cobalt Stages in, is here to talk to us today about standing out in a competitive market. Welcome, Kara. [00:00:59] Speaker B: Well, thank you, Vicki. That was lovely. You're a doll. Good to be with you here today. [00:01:08] Speaker A: Well, I'm so glad you're here and I know my audience is going to pick up a lot of nuggets and I'm excited about this topic because I think it's something that during this time we truly need to address. And you know, a lot of people are facing challenges and really looking at is the creative market is highly competitive and often feels like staying afloat requires constant reinvention over and over and over again. So my question is what strategies have you employed to keep Cobalt Stages resilient and going to have a competitive industry? [00:01:57] Speaker B: Well, that's a mouthful, but I think I want to focus a little bit on this word competitive. Not that I'm against competition at all, but, but I think there's an opportunity here just to examine that because if, if the business really focuses on, on the conveying in sales and marketing that we're truly in a league beyond, then there becomes no competition. We're in a league of our own. And so that's really what I want to talk about today. And like what we've done to, to, to, to do that at Cobalt, it seems to work. We've moved locations so it's very exciting. We're here in, in Woodstock, so it's like kind of addressing clients all over again. And it's very exciting, but it's, you know, it keeps us on our toes. [00:02:57] Speaker A: But you know, when you start, I like how you started out talking about competition because sounds like we got a little bit of synergy here in terms of how we look at it. Yeah, I always tell people I don't have any competition. [00:03:11] Speaker B: Right. [00:03:11] Speaker A: My competition is just me because I have my own journey, my own experiences, my own thought processes, the things that help me to develop what I'm doing for myself. Nobody walked the steps of my life but me. So let's capitalize off of those steps. Let's capitalize off of our own experience and truly build that opportunity to move forward and not look at is competition. And I think that word competition keeps us from having partnerships which in terms of moving forward as well. I'd love to get your thoughts. [00:03:50] Speaker B: Well, yeah, and I think it's just like, really important to kind of remain open. So when you take that, that, that edge out of it and you're open, even with people that, you know, kind of are technically competition, you never know what people are going to bring to the table. And sometimes, like, you start working together in ways that you had never imagined in, In a partnership, you know. So, you know, if, if that edge is up, you're never going to. You're never going to hear that opportunity, you know. So. [00:04:25] Speaker A: Exactly. Exactly. So what were some of the biggest challenges you faced in the early stages, and how did you overcome them as you were, you know, developing the, the business? [00:04:39] Speaker B: Well, early on, like 10 years ago, I mean, and I can't say that it's over, but I had a lot of growing to do as a leader 10 years ago that was, I was like, jumped right into being the president of the company and didn't take that lightly, you know, and, and I think that sometimes, or I would think this is pretty much true, but our businesses really mirror who we are in so many ways. And if you've got like a little bit of clearing that you need to do here or there in your personality, whatever, I think it's business will bring that to the forefront and you've got to deal with it. So early on, I would say I learned a lot of those really wonderful lessons, like just inside me, and not that they, you know, don't come up now, but I'm just a little bit more seasoned and kind of have moved through most of it, hopefully. [00:05:43] Speaker A: Look, we never know, we never know what time and we never know what that really means and how it's gonna. To move forward. But after you were learning these lessons. So you said I had a lot of things I needed to learn as a leader. I had things that I needed to. To grow and move forward. Talk to us a little bit about that process of reinvention as you did this to make sure that you're relevant, you're growing, you're showing your growth. [00:06:20] Speaker B: Relevant. Growing and showing my growth. Yeah, I mean, I, you know, when you're going through that stuff, it's. I, it's very. Geez, that's a tough one, Vicki. That's a tough one. Next question. [00:06:39] Speaker A: Kara. You know, I guess, you know, where I'm really, where I'm really going is. And I, I would love to get your perspective on this. I think today, with all the things that are happening in our environment, all the things that are going on in our economy and where we are and, you know, the struggle is real. Right. Let's just face it. Even as entrepreneurs, the struggle is real. You know, trying to make sure that everybody is not out of fear, not wanting to spend money that, you know, not concerned and worried so much about the economy that they want to draw back, you know, not doing opportunities and things like that. Okay, so when we think. Go ahead. [00:07:18] Speaker B: Well, really where I felt, I feel like the focus is with this sort of thing is just differentiating yourself and to focus on that. Like, for instance, our company, we're a soundstage. We are a film soundstage. Let's just say bare bones. We're a stage. Right? There are a lot of stages. You can go film at all over the place. But why is Cobalt any different than that? And if I don't pay a concerted effort as to why we're different, then suddenly we're in the soup with everybody else. [00:07:55] Speaker A: And. [00:07:55] Speaker B: And really, it's just a race to the bottom because the clients that are looking for just a stage are going to go for the cheapest solution, really. And so that's why I really feel like people have to pay attention to differentiating themselves. Like, we are a sound stage. We are turnkey. Well, what does that mean? It means it's like really slick. Like, we've got lighting, grip, distro packages that, you know, take the wear and tear producers and I know now media, they've got to be going like, oh, wow, really? Because everyone in production, it's just. It's hard. I can't think. I've been in a lot of different industries and it's this one's, this one is. It can be grueling if. If you don't have the proper support. And we really try to be that safety net for people. We're also an effects campus. So, you know, even if you aren't really going the virtual production or motion control route, I mean, film these days is very. It's very digital. So it's very technical. No matter, any way you slice it. So to just have people around you that know. Know technology, understand things, like on a very high level. So, you know, let's hope that. That Kara can show up on a zoom day. You know what I mean? But that's. I do. I'm making a joke about that because, honestly, it's some of the easier stuff. That's like, what we could do virtual production with three tracked cameras and, you know, zoom's glitching. But. [00:09:36] Speaker A: Exactly. Sometimes it's a small things that go awry versus the big things that you're actually. That you're actually doing in terms of moving forward. So can you tell the audience about, you know, you've been talking about what you've been doing and growing. Discuss a time when resilience led to a significant breakthrough where it actually helped you to break through the opportunity? [00:10:00] Speaker B: Well, the first one that comes to my mind, and probably most people's, is surviving during COVID I don't think any of us have really completely shaken that one off, you know. [00:10:11] Speaker A: Yep. [00:10:13] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, we were fortunate in a way, because a lot of the technologies that we do offer were the technologies that pulled people out of the fire. We were already doing live streaming for, like, 15, 20 years. We were doing remote camera work we had set up. We were the first people to bring virtual production to the east coast in 2015. So as we sit here today, we've been doing it for 10 years. Most people are still just kind of wrapping their heads around it, but it's really great because, you know, we helped educate the market, and finally people are really seeing the benefits. But when we were. When. When we were in the middle of COVID it was like we knew that if we could just withstand the storm, the silence. The silence of nothing dropping into the bank account, that the possibilities were very large for us to explode. And we. And we did. So thank goodness for that. Yeah. [00:11:21] Speaker A: Well, that's awesome. I think, you know that. And you said something that was very, very key. Very key. And that was that we could withstand the. No drops of money in the account. Yeah, no, it's that backup that, you know, to keep things going on things nobody could predict it's gonna be this bad or what it was going to be. [00:11:45] Speaker B: Right. [00:11:46] Speaker A: It's fortunate to get through that. We have so many businesses that have gone out of business because they couldn't withstand, you know, during that. During that time period, as they are, you know, are moving forward. Can you share with the audience a little bit about some of the reinventions that you've done lately in terms of your competitive edge and what are some of the other techniques or campaigns or anything that you've done to really make that difference as you're moving forward? [00:12:19] Speaker B: Sure, sure. I mean, we just got a really great opportunity this fall, and we're up for an Emmy award for it. So that's. That's like kind of another. You know, like, we definitely. And our industry has been kind of poopy for a While our industry specifically has not really come back to where it like, like kind of post Covid, it was. It was pretty strong. And then the strikes happened. So people have really been struggling in our industry. So we were very fortunate to work with NBC this fall on Jimmy Fallon's holiday seasoning Spectacular. Yeah, so we had, you know, Dolly. Pardon, Miss Christmas herself. We had the Jonas Brothers, Jamie. Oh, my goodness, LL Cool J. I mean, the list goes on. It was a huge cast and my partner Alex was the effects supervisor and he was the VP on all of that one. So Cobalt really got a chance to shine there. And we used three tracked cameras and did the whole thing. Virtually the entire show was virtual production. I don't know if any of your people saw it, but. [00:13:36] Speaker A: Yes. Let me ask you a question, just out of curiosity. I'm sure the audience is sitting there going, that's great. That's great. How did you even begin to approach it? How did you get into the mix to even be considered? What are some of the tips that you can tell people that they got to think about outside of the box to make those kinds of things happen? [00:13:59] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's referral. It's. It's referrals and staying in the game as long as you possibly can. We had done the. A job for the World Science foundation with the physicist Brian Green, I think is his name. And this awesome producer. I want to give him. Give him a shout. Tad Spector. Tad Spector gave us a really great recommendation to NBC. And then they approached us and they were like, you know, they, they definitely interviewed a couple companies. But I, I really think that it was upon that recommendation, having done this other project that was kind of like a real technical feat and, and succeeding with that gave them confidence to jump in. Because these, the producers at NBC, they hadn't. They hadn't really experienced virtual. So it was a lot of. They had to be very bold and trust us. So it was a cool opportunity. And what we did hadn't been done before. Like, we hadn't even done it before. We hadn't done the three cameras. I mean, we've done virtual, certainly, but syncing up three tracked cameras was. And that's why we're. We're being considered for best technical achievement. [00:15:24] Speaker A: Well, you know, first of all, I gotta stop and say congratulations. That is phenomenal to even be considered. So congratulations to you and your team. But I think something that I'd like to leave our audience with before we go is to be able to say this, and I love how you put it, you took risk. You had never done it before, but you knew, you knew the skill sets and the capabilities. So you took what I call a calculated risk. [00:15:55] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:15:56] Speaker A: Doing this. [00:15:57] Speaker B: Well, there, there were definitely times when my partner Alex, who is the Alex Fernbach, who's our technical guru over here, he looked at me and he was like, you know, biting lip a little bit. And I was like, oh, yeah, we're doing it. We will. And, and we absolutely did. And, and he pulled it off with a hitch. We had a great team. I mean, you know, flew people in from London and LA and wherever we needed to. We were really fortunate to work with the folks over at NBC. They were, they were very bold and they were also our serious risk takers on this one too. [00:16:36] Speaker A: Well, Kara, thank you so much. I will tell you that this segment, you know, as we're talking about this, is so invigorating because we always have to think about calculated risk. We always have to think about being creative. We're going to take a station break and we'll be right back. Welcome back. Now we're going to continue this segment with Caravetta from Cobalt Stages. And as we've been having lots of conversation about reinventing yourself and continuing to move forward, I want to switch the subject just a little bit. The problem facing many people today is that running a business can be all consuming, as you and I both know. And it often feels like there's no time for any personal well being that self care we look for. And in terms of moving forward, how do you prioritize your personal well being while managing all these very demands that you have of leading Cobalt Stages? [00:17:37] Speaker B: Well, I pretty much demand it. And I really think that that's where people, I think that's where you have to, you have to come from. You have to take it. And there are some times when partners and people are just, they're not going to understand. And if you need to make up a little excuse as to why you're not, you know, there for X, Y and Z, like that's, I think it's okay. I really do. If we don't take time for ourselves, then we're really a shell of a being. And I think to run a successful business, you have to do it by inspiration. And if you don't have any juice left, then what do you have? Right, you're right. [00:18:28] Speaker A: You're right. You know, I couldn't agree with you more that you do have to take it. I know that I do some leadership coaching and a lot of the things that women and I are always talking about is that self care. And so one of the things I did as I was going through this and talking to individuals, it was like I get up in the morning and I feel, you know, I'm just out of it. It's just hard because I'm over, you know, I'm not rejuvenated. So I thought about the first thing we see in the morning is our face. And so I created a skincare line because I feel like if you feel good on the inside, you'll feel good on the outside. In order to leave Lee, to be able to give these women a revitalization, to say, I'm going to take care of me, I'm going to make sure I feel good when I look in the mirror, that I can go in with energy, etc. So I definitely agree that you have to do it. But I think it's physical, emotional and spiritual. Whether it's exercise, whether it's, you like to take walks, whether it's, whatever it happens to be, whether it's Bluetooth blockers. [00:19:32] Speaker B: Because we're in front of the computer all the time, you know, or just like stepping outside and like walking on the grass, grounding a little bit, getting a little sun. You know, these are things that, that like, people in your, on your team are not necessarily going to demand, but I, we have to do it for ourselves. And then honestly, when they see you doing it and that you respect that of them, everybody starts to take it up a notch, really. Or even simple things like just drinking enough water. I mean, people forget in production, they forget to drink water. My partner, Alex, I'm like, alex, did you have your eight cups today? [00:20:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Because we all know about being so busy that we don't even have time to eat, much less drink water or anything else. And before we know it, we haven't had our water intake for that day. I mean, I'm, I drink a lot of water and when I'm in a position where I'm going so much and I don't get my water, I feel right. I'm not, I don't get that rejuvenation and you get dehydrated and all the rest of that. So you're right. It's so important that we even take care of those, you know, little things that we move forward with. [00:20:45] Speaker B: You've actually incorporated all of that in our business. Because I think that, that it's not always about solving the very like, log problems like we, we like to, we are A solutions business, basically. And yes, we're solving the logistical problems of like, time by using virtual production or blah, blah, blah. We talked a little bit about that. But what about the psychological problems or issues that come up? People love that. They love that. We, we have these little aromatherapy things going. I also have a little skin care swag that I give to my, my clients. I would love to check yours out at some point. [00:21:28] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:21:30] Speaker B: Yeah. And then I like, I wear these. Like, I don't know if your people know these, but these are. This is a life wave patch right here. [00:21:37] Speaker A: Yes. [00:21:38] Speaker B: And it's. You know about them. [00:21:39] Speaker A: Yeah, I do. [00:21:41] Speaker B: It's phototherapy. And I mean, I think that that gives me nice energy during the day. Do you wear them? [00:21:47] Speaker A: Yes, I wear them. I don't wear them all the time, every day, but I do wear them. I got introduced to them because I was at a networking event and somebody met me and they were, you know, a, a seller and they were like, look, you need to try this. I fell in love with them. [00:22:03] Speaker B: I know. [00:22:04] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. It gives you a whole new different outlook, you know, and that's what I meant about that. Spiritual, physical, mental, it's just all of that. I think it's wonderful you do aromatherapy. I think it's wonderful you have those things because you're, you're feeding to the spirituality and the comfort of the people that you. That you work with. In terms of. [00:22:25] Speaker B: Even have a meditation room. [00:22:27] Speaker A: You got to be kidding. [00:22:28] Speaker B: We do. We have a meditation room. [00:22:30] Speaker A: That is fantastic. [00:22:33] Speaker B: Well, I mean, as a brand, I really. And that's what I mean about, like, it's not just like, oh, the, the, the personal struggles that are a reflection or, you know, what you move through and who you present or how you present yourself. Filters hopefully removed. But it's also, it really is about the self care and, you know, your, your practices. Like, I do a meditation practice in the morning and like, how can I incorporate that in the business? Like, I mean, I don't think everybody needs to run around and meditate if they don't want to. I'm not pushing that on anybo. It works for me. It works for a lot of people. There are a lot of different things that work for different people. And so we kind of sprinkle them all over the place here at Cobalt just so that our clients have options too. [00:23:24] Speaker A: That's absolutely wonderful. Are there any other suggestions? Okay, so I need aromatherapy. I make sure I have a meditation room. I need to make sure. I'll tell you one that I did a lot is that with my team meetings, we do team walk meetings. So we've been walking while we had a meeting. Right. And I would do one on ones walking. That's it. Come on, we're gonna go take a walk. We do our one on one, have conversation walking, etc. Okay, One more tip in the last. [00:23:53] Speaker B: Ping pong is good. [00:23:54] Speaker A: Ping pong. [00:23:55] Speaker B: Okay. [00:23:56] Speaker A: We gotta add ping pong to it. Okay. So we gotta have that gamification. Actually make it happen. I absolutely. [00:24:04] Speaker B: You know, there is aggression from time to time. I love a spike. I love a good spike, Vicki. [00:24:12] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. Getting that person, you know, you get it out, right. Or that hard day you had, etc. That's right, Kara. This has been absolutely phenomenal. Anybody out there who is watching, who has seen these segments, I can't encourage you enough to go and join Kara Vetter at the Cobalt Stages, see what they're all about. And I just have to say, in my next life, I think I need to come work for you. So I go to the meditation room and go on walks and play ping pong. [00:24:45] Speaker B: That's right. [00:24:46] Speaker A: Thank you all so much for coming. Thank you, Kara. And as we say, keep the fire burning. We'll see you next time. Bye. [00:24:58] Speaker B: Bye. [00:25:02] Speaker A: Welcome back. I am so glad to have Cliff Gardner with us here today. He is from ECP Ventures. Now, you know, as business leaders, a lot of us that have strong faith and believe in what we're doing and want to do the right thing, a lot of times we get ready to sell our businesses, we're trying to figure out, how do I do that with faith and integrity, what does that really mean? We're going to discuss some of that today. And so join me and welcoming my guest, Cliff. Welcome, Cliff. [00:25:42] Speaker C: Thank you, Vicki. It's a pleasure to join you today. [00:25:45] Speaker A: It's a pleasure having you. Now, this is a segment that's near and dear to my heart because I am a strong faith believer. Everything I do is through faith. And I work very hard to try to do things through integrity. But I know when you get ready to sell a business and you're getting ready to move forward and everything that you do, you want to make sure that you're doing it in the right way. [00:26:10] Speaker B: Way. [00:26:10] Speaker A: So my question for you is, how do your Christian values guide the way that ECP Ventures helps business owners sell with a purpose and move forward? [00:26:24] Speaker C: Well, Vicki, we operate from a servant heart perspective. We're purpose driven, not fee driven. There's always going to be ethical challenges involved, anytime there's money involved. Money can bring out the worst in people if you allow it to. But we operate under a very simple principle. There is always an opportunity to do the right thing. It's really that simple. And so we're very careful with the, with the sellers that we select to make sure that they're high integrity sellers. Because we will only accept clients where we have a 90% confidence and probability of a successful sale and that we can represent them with pride, dignity and confidence in the open market. [00:27:05] Speaker A: How do you determine about that 90%? You know, what does it really mean when you're selling with that honesty and heart? Help me understand a little bit more and help our audience understand what that really means. [00:27:16] Speaker C: We do a tremendous amount of what we call sell side due diligence before we list a client. We're very interactive with them. We get a real sense for their character, their value system, how what the culture is like in their business, how they conduct their business, how they would be, how they would participate in a transaction and so forth. And we've got many years of experience. I've got tremendous amount of Fortune 500 experience, my partner's got a lot of private equity experience. So I'd suggest that we're pretty good at evaluating people and we ask them to be very candid and forthright with us so we can get a good sense of whether they will be a good client, whether we can take them to the market successfully. [00:27:56] Speaker A: So let's talk a little bit about the timing. I'm loving this conversation about how much due diligence you do and that you're really thinking about an aspect that a lot of companies don't think about. The culture, the impact, how they are, how do they work, what do they do, their values. How do you do all of this in this fast moving environment today and making things happen. [00:28:23] Speaker C: Well, one of the biggest learning experiences for me when I transitioned from the Fortune 500 setting to the lower middle markets market that I'm now in is I was really caught by surprise at how many of our clients didn't take the highest price. When you're In a Fortune 500 setting, it's godless, it's thankless, and it's about earnings per share, period. Nothing else matters. Now we have now we're blessed to work with high quality business owners. They're focused on the qualitative aspects of their transactions. Well, they want to make sure their employees are really well taken care of, their customers are taken care of, their legacy is being respected and it's very important to them to get a sense for the likelihood of success of the buyer. They don't just want to take a bag of cash and run away. Unless somebody trash all their efforts for the last years or decades. They want to have a good sense of contentment. That buyer is going to be successful. [00:29:17] Speaker A: You know, it's interesting when you start talking about, you know, they want to give the most to their clients, that they want to make sure that they're giving back. People really talking about doing things with warmth, with integrity, with, you know, giving. It's not just about the green dollar. They're not letting the green dollar control them. I think that's an interesting perspective. Through your research, have you found anything as to why that's the case, why the change is happening. [00:29:47] Speaker C: Know that it's ever changed? Honestly, there's always been really good people out there. I mean, you can't go by what you see a lot in the media, but they're the. The small business has always been the foundation of American capitalism. And there are so many well intended people that actually got up every morning and busted it for years and decades. And now they want to transition their business over to someone else who will be equally successful. But it's just the big thing is when you do an offering, you're not selling your offering. And the whole goal is to fully inform the buyers so the buyers can make a fully informed decision on how to value the company. So it's a matching of putting high quality sellers with high quality buyers. When that happens, it's almost magical and you have this favorable outcome for all parties. We consider a successful transaction when the buyer and the seller would do it again three years later, knowing what they know. Three years later. [00:30:45] Speaker A: You know, that's great. That's great. How long have you all been in business? [00:30:50] Speaker C: We actually launched our own firm, 2022. [00:30:53] Speaker A: Wow, that's fantastic. Fantastic. Have you found that even in this ever changing environment that opportunities are picking up a lot? [00:31:03] Speaker C: The market's more robust than anything I've seen in my entire career. The last, last five offerings we put out, we've had between 75 and 150 buyers step up. And, and one thing, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention part of the reason to get a matching between buyers and sellers. Our goal as a firm is to make sure we get every seller at least five qualified offers so that they have choices so they can evaluate the buyer thoroughly and look at their income and culture and their disposition and their approach to transitioning. The company and so forth to make sure they've got a really good fit. Our, our sellers really enjoy having those choices. [00:31:43] Speaker A: Wow. Can I say that? Congratulations to you and your firm with that. I mean, everybody wants choices, no doubt about that. But to find that many of choices in this, in this market just says that you all must be doing some phenomenal in terms of making a difference, doing it differently. So we're truly dealing with not just I made a dollar, but what was that value that I gave along with that dollar? Right? [00:32:13] Speaker C: Absolutely. Absolutely. Our job is to do an effective value conveyance and then let the offers come in. Because it's not what a company's worth. People ask us all the time to do evaluation. It's not what a company's worth, it's what it's worth to a singular, specific buyer. And that range is all over the place. So if we properly inform the buyers, they do an effective valuation, we never issue an offering price ever, ever. We, we train our clients to listen to the market, be astute, and be responsive to the market, to let the market speak. But we have to set the predicate by getting them fully educated on the value of the company. That's our role. [00:32:54] Speaker A: Wow. Wow. So in terms of leaving our audience with how they're, you know, the best way to move forward. How does being open and transparent with buyers really build the trust? As opposed to, I shouldn't let everything out, I should hold things in, so I'm not letting all of my intellectual property or competitive advantage out. How does that really help in terms of getting your. Your company bought? [00:33:24] Speaker C: We guide our clients to take a full open books and records approach, a fully transparent approach, full disclosure. We ask our clients to tell us all the good things about the company, but there's bad things to share that with us so we can help disclose and navigate through those. But if you take a full open books and records, transparent approach, you earn the trust, you earn the confidence of the buyers, and then they're more comfortable making an offer. And then once you transcend into due diligence, there are no surprises. So many times people hide things back and then they come out during due diligence like it's a criminal investigation. It should be a mechanical, methodical process, procedural process of just checking the boxes that everything is as represented. When it is, there's no surprises and then there's nothing that's going to derail the transaction. [00:34:15] Speaker A: Wow. I have to tell you, Cliff, that I'm really finding more hope and I hope my audience is too from the perspective that there are companies out there, that even when we look for selling our companies and buyers buying it, it's not just about how much we make. It's about the differences that we're making. It's about the values that we're bringing. It's about being able to truly help someone else in the process while you're prospering. Right. Because when you buy a business, you get something out of it. You get more clients, more things you can do. And so you're always looking for that next opportunity. I just, I, I can't tell you how much of a joy it is to speak with you, how much it is to feel good about the fact of what ECP Ventures does us in terms of moving forward. So I want to thank you so much for coming on the show. [00:35:21] Speaker C: You're very welcome. It's been a true privilege. [00:35:23] Speaker A: Well, thank you so much. And I know my audience got a lot out of this. We're going to take a station break and we'll be right back in just a moment. Welcome back to Ignite. And if you missed that previous segment, you definitely want to dial back in. And listen, I am so happy to have with me Kirk Jaffe. And we're going to talk about something that we're all dealing with now with the economy, looking at where we are, how we want to move forward and next steps. So we're going to talk about breaking into real investments, real estate investments, and what that looks like. And Kirk, I can't wait for my audience to gain the wisdom and the knowledge that you have around them. This my very first question is what are the biggest myths about real estate investing that hold people back? [00:36:23] Speaker D: Oh, the biggest myths. Real estate can be expensive to manage or you have to have a great credit score to get into real estate, or you have to make 150,000 or $150 million a year to to be able to buy real estate. Those are a lot of the common myths, I think. Which ones have you heard of, Vicki? [00:36:45] Speaker A: Now, you know what? Those are some of the same ones I heard of. But now that I got the expert, I want the solutions. Go with them. [00:36:52] Speaker D: There you go. Yeah, the solutions. [00:36:54] Speaker A: Understand. You know, let's start with the basics. We all know that when we get started, we have to talk about our credit score. Why is it that you don't have to have a high credit score? What's the myth around that in terms of getting into real estate? [00:37:09] Speaker D: Yeah. Well, if you have a low credit score and you're trying to buy A house you want to live in. Right. And there are all these different concepts from buying a house, fixing it up, living in it for a while, renting it out, doing it again, all those kinds of concepts. But there are lots of great programs for low credit scores, down to 500 FICO scores, you can get an FHA loan through the federal government. So VA also the same thing. So if you're a veteran, you serve the country, there's an opportunity for lower credit score opportunities, you know, to get a loan there. If you're buying commercial property or investment property, single family residence for investment purposes, you really don't need a credit score at all. You can use private investor money, you can raise up your own funds. Or there's also hard money lenders that'll lend to people with low credit. Excuse me, to lend to people with low, low credit scores. [00:38:01] Speaker A: Okay, stop, stop right there. You got to help a girlfriend out. And I know my audience is out here going, wait a minute, minute. First of all, how do you find these investors that are willing to loan money when you have a low credit score? How do you find them? [00:38:17] Speaker D: Yeah, finding investors, it's a lot like doing any kind of sales. You have to put yourself out there, get to know people, ask for referrals, go into networking groups that are available for investors, go to conferences. There are all kinds of places to find people that want to invest money in real estate transactions. It's really a relationship. You have to like them, they have to like you. And I was at a Christian based event last week with my wife and they were raising up money through the Christian community. So if you were a Christian, you want to be in that world, there's an opportunity there. If you just want to go to the local. I was on a phone call earlier today with the largest real estate investment association in Missouri. And so if you wanted to get into a real estate investment association, reia, those are great places to meet people too. So at the end of the day, you're also getting a coach. If you scan the QR code there behind me or when you get to it on my page here, scanning QR code. There's a thing about the M3 mastermind where we actually take people and walk them through, step by step, how to invest in real estate based on the amount of money you can input. [00:39:25] Speaker A: Wow. Okay, so is REAI a chapter based around the world or is it only in Missouri? [00:39:34] Speaker D: That one happens to be in Missouri, but they're, they are all over the place. I'm not even sure they're all tied together, although they might be. But if you look up real estate investment group on Google, you'll find you'll type in real estate investment group in your neighborhood. I'm sure you'll find the ones that are available. They're all over the place because there's a lot of people struggling with the same thing. So that's one of the things, Vicki, remember, you're not alone. A lot of people had to break in on day one. A lot of people had to overcome the fear. And you know, having a coach like me or like you, Vicki, really can save that 20, 30 year learning curve that we had to go through when we were figuring out how to get into real estate. And I've done, you know, well over 200,000 transactions of various types in my 25 year career. And every single one of them teaches you something a little bit new. So if you're going to get into real estate, remember, it's an ongoing learning experience and you really want to have people around you that can walk you through it and help you avoid some of those pitfalls. [00:40:27] Speaker A: So in understanding that, Kurt, what's the difference between commercial getting investment money on commercial when you don't have money versus getting or. Yeah, versus getting money where you're really trying to buy a home or you're trying to move forward, et cetera. Are there differences there? And if so, what should our audience be thinking about? [00:40:49] Speaker D: Yeah, on the commercial side, there's going to be a lot more availability for money from private sources. If you're going in on the house that you want to live in, you're pretty much going to be tapped into the, the framework of lending that's available. And there's a lot of loans. They're like 215 different loan products. So if you get with a good broker, you get with a good coach like me or like you, Vicki, that can always help people get through that system. I wrote a book here, you can get it online and if you click on the link up there, this is how to get your home approved at 21 days guarantee. That gives you all the insight, all the pitfalls, how to avoid them, and what a banker really wants to see. If you're buying your own home, if you're buying a commercial property, the rules kind of change. If I was going after a commercial property, you could build syndications, which are just small groups of people that want to invest or put money together. You can also get seller financing. It's just in how you negotiate the terms of the transaction. If I was buying a commercial property. I would go get the property tied up, go get a contract put together and then go find the money. You'll have plenty of time. You know, commercial, there's a lot, there's a long timeline in commercial for doing your due diligence. 60 days so you can tie it up, get a letter of interest put together, get the seller and you as the buyer to basically agree to terms. And that gives you 30, 40 days to go, you know, go hardcore and find that money or call some people that maybe know where to find it. If it's a good opportunity, the money will be there. [00:42:18] Speaker A: Well, I want you to put that book back up again because I think my audience truly needs to see that there are options and opportunities that are out there. And you know, as we start to talking about, we're talking about coaching, whether it's personal, whether it's business. There's so many things financially that we always need to keep in mind. But there's nothing more valuable than assets that appreciate. And you know that better than anybody. And I think as our audience starts to think about assets that appreciate, how do I continue to keep my value up, even to the point, even as business owners? Owning your own property that your office is within and leasing it to others. Right. A source of income coming in to make that happen as well. So you bring up some great points in terms of that. How do successful business owners overcome challenges and setbacks when their business is going great, right. And doing really, really well? Fourth quarter comms not doing so well, Economy changes, first quarter not doing well, Maybe late on a few payments. But second quarter things start to improve. But they need that working capital. They need those things to help them and they're looking at real estate to be that gap filler. Can you help us understand how they can overcome some of those challenges to move forward? [00:43:52] Speaker D: Yeah, you bring up a lot of good, interesting concepts there. Here's a picture of that book. Again, you can get this on Amazon. You can also get it through the QR code there. If you just send me a note. I'm happy to send you a copy of the book. [00:44:03] Speaker C: Book. [00:44:04] Speaker D: To answer your question, Vicki, the Owning real estate is really about becoming an expert in real estate. So what's that mean? You could own one property. You could own a little single family house that you're running your business out, of, which a lot of people do. You could have a big commercial property. But whatever it is, get to know the neighborhood first, really know the other product, what's available in the neighborhood. How much it's selling for and what the problems might be. Get to know your local, your local building inspector. Whether it's residential or commercial, the building codes are always changing. And so if you want to use real estate as that gap, as you were, just as you were describing, make sure it's in great shape. That's the first thing. Right. So and, and sometimes you have to plan and have projects for those things. Sometimes we can. You know, it might cost 100, $150,000 to do a repair on the property, but if you do it, it'll increase the value, the future value and the rental value today. Right. It could be a tenant improvement, it could be a capital improvement. Capital is on the building. Tenant is something that the tenants will pay more because you did that work. So let's be thoughtful about that and build those budgets around how to make the property always be in great shape. As far as knowing when and where. Once you get a great property, the first and when you buy a property, always put an equity line on it at the beginning, not because you want to go on vacation. But it's like you said, Vicki, when you want to bridge that gap for your business, it's easier to get that credit line in place when you buy the property. It's always available after. It's just, you know, more like doing a whole transaction from the get go. [00:45:41] Speaker A: So let's explain to audience what that is because some people may not be familiar with what an equity line is. So can you explain to the audience how we utilize, how do we get it? How do we utilize the equity line so that we can move forward? [00:45:56] Speaker D: Yeah. Equity lines are like credit cards, except they're tied to the value of your house or your building, commercial building. So when you buy a property and you put a mortgage on your property, you borrow money to against the value of the property, that's called a mortgage in most states. Some states they call the trust deed, some states call a little different, but it's a mortgage. And whoever records their mortgage first is the one that's in first position. [00:46:21] Speaker A: Yes. [00:46:21] Speaker D: When the title company is concerned. Now, there's always one that's always in the first position that you never hear from, and that's property taxes. Property taxes are always in the first position, even though you don't necessarily see it. They don't tell you, but it's always in the first position. Right. Then you get your loan. So you get your big loan to buy the property. That's your first position loan. Skip the property taxes for a second that's first position. Your second loan would be an equity line. That would be your second position loan. And then you could get private investors behind that. You could have third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh position, as many as you want. There are other types of loans. If you're doing capital improvements, there are PACE loans, which for commercial and for residential. PACE loans are. Is money that's lent to you and that's attached to your property tax bill. So that actually becomes that first position lien being property taxes, but you pay it through your. Through your monthly or annual property tax bill. So it's a little different. So you make improvements that way. But really when you buy the property, see if you can put that line of credit in place because it's the same paperwork. Even if it's a small amount, 10,000, 20,000, it doesn't matter. It's that backup that you're talking about. Vicki. I also, by the way, when I'm not using real estate, I use insurance policies for the same purpose. I have cash values in all my whole life insurance policies. And that's another stopgap that I can get that money that's even easier. I think it takes a while to build up the cash. But you don't have to ask permission. You just fill out a form, say, send me this much money that's available and they send it to you. You don't have to apply or show them your income or anything like that. So really good to have multiple sources. Some private investors, some whole life insurance cash value and also home equity line or equity lines of credit for businesses are three great ways to bridge those gaps in your business when you need a them. [00:48:10] Speaker A: Well, Kurt, this has truly been inspirational and informative. And one of the things that I think that was most important as you talked about was having options. It's always about a financial portfolio. It's about an investment portfolio. And the fact that there's life insurance and cash value and other ways you can move forward is critical. So if you all. I can't. I am just so happy to have you, Kirk. I can't wait till we can get back together again. Thank you so much for being on the show for Ignite and for those of you that joined us, thanks again. Let's keep that fire burning until next time. [00:48:52] Speaker C: This has been a NOW Media Networks feature presentation. All rights reserved.