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Getting Started In Real Estate Investing With Stephanie Holleman – Real Estate Women

 

Want to start investing in real estate but don’t know where to begin? Then this show is for you. In this episode, Moneeka Sawyer talks to Stephanie Holleman, an IO psych business management, interior design sales, and real estate investing specialist. Stephanie imparts her experience and knowledge on how she shifted and started a career in real estate. She also provides helpful tips on improving your skills, choosing your business circle, and how to work efficiently. Discover these and more, get started on that journey, and begin to see results!

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Getting Started In Real Estate Investing With Stephanie Holleman – Real Estate Women

Real Estate Investing For Women

I am excited to welcome you to the show, Stephanie Holleman. This is what Stephanie says about herself, “As a single mom with a creative mind and four cool kids, I’m constantly seeking ways to improve myself, my work skills, and pass on my zest for life. It’s difficult for me to sit still, and I find the most joy in spending time with my little people who aren’t so little anymore outdoors, playing in the water and using my noodle to solve problems. I have a background in IO Psych, Business Management, Interior Design Sales, and Real Estate Investing. I nerd out over personal development and business development books, and I love people. It has been a fun ride so far, and I love using the skills I have gained along the way to aid in changing lives.” I love that bio. Stephanie, welcome to the show.

Thank you.

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you too.

I know you worked for Zack Boothe, who we have had twice on this show. The first time I met him, he reached out to me from the blue. I didn’t know him. We chatted, and while I was impressed with his heart, capacity, and the business that he’s built, I was excited about the fact that he talked about wholesaling, which is something that my ladies have asked about a lot. I have to make a confession. I believe that wholesaling is buying another job. It’s not investing. It’s getting another job. It’s not something that I’m passionate about or even ever wanted to try but that doesn’t mean that my ladies don’t have a right to take a look at it.

It’s an amazing way to get started, and I have seen what Zack’s done with his business, where he doesn’t have to work. It’s taken some time to get there like any business. I have been impressed with what he’s done with his own life and business, how kind he is, and how committed he is to his students, so I brought him back on the show.

It was funny because I have been looking for another wholesaling mentor that’s a woman. I have had a couple of women stand me up on the show, literally three times no shows, not calling me back, being disrespectful in ways that I would rather they not be disrespectful to me. How we do anything is how we do everything.

If you are disrespectful to me, you are going to be disrespectful to my ladies. I loved how on target he is. He responds to everything I ask. He gives me everything I needed and was great on the show. I thought, “This is the guy I would like to introduce to my ladies.” I brought him back, and then he was like, “You need to meet some of my lady students there, and my right-hand person is a woman too. You need to meet her.”

I’m delighted to be speaking to you, who is his righthand lady. I love it. Other than his wife. He’s crazy about his wife and stuff but it’s sweet. Thank you so much for coming to the show and helping my audience to understand a little bit more about how Zack’s systems work and how it might benefit my ladies.

Thank you for having me. This is exciting.

Tell me a little bit about your background because this one is all about you.

I feel like I was in the right place at the right time when I landed this gig with Zack. As a single mom, I went back to school several years ago to get a degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, which is what IO Psych is. I then switched to Interior Design. Long story short, which I absolutely loved but my goal was to use my interior design skills to start flipping houses.

I knew that real estate investing was more lucrative and would get me to retirement more quickly but then, when I started learning about real estate investing, I learned it didn’t have much to do with interior design at all. The more I learned about it, the more I loved it and wanted to switch over to the industry full-time. I was looking into learning from Zack and found him on social media. I watched his $40,000 in 40-day Challenge.

 

I’m glad you mentioned that because it is inspiring. It’s BlissfulInvestor.com/40days. Ladies, write that down. Go check it out. It’s awesome.

It’s good. It’s inspiring, and it gives you a lot of good golden nuggets about wholesaling and getting into the industry. I was following Zack on social media, and he posted a video about recruiting someone to help manage and structure sales for him. I reached out to him, and the rest is history.

Instead of taking his course, you decided to work for him. That’s how much he impressed you. Is that true?

Yes. You see him on his videos and talk to him but he’s even better in person. That sounds cheesy but it’s so true.

Tell me a little bit about what it’s like working for him. What happened next?

Working with Zack enriches my life. They say that you become the five people with whom you surround yourself. Even before I knew him and what he was like, I wanted to surround myself with people like him. When I started working with him every day and his team, they were all rock stars. We know him and what he’s like if you have seen his videos. He’s hardworking but very supportive and positive.

He’s a big goofball. He’s so fun, positive, uplifting, inspiring, and successful. He knows how to get there. What we don’t see in his videos that I get to experience and his students every day is that he’s very good at teaching those things. He’s good at teaching core values, hard work, and all the things that he does. He teaches it well.

You said something key that I want to highlight for my ladies, which is you become like the five people that you spend the most time with. This is important. It’s important in our personal lives and in our business, too. If in your personal life, everybody around you says, “You can’t do real estate. That’s scary. That’s risky,” or whatever it is, as much as you may believe in it, you are going to start believing it. You can’t help it.

The people that are around us influence us. They influence how much we smile, cry, and believe in ourselves or the businesses that we are going into. We can’t always choose family. A lot of us spend a lot of time with family that doesn’t get it. What’s important is to then when you get to make choices, you choose people that are going to support your dreams and the capacity to achieve those dreams.

We talk a lot on this show about getting a mentor. Stephanie is talking about she has this mentor that supports her life, core values, the way she wants to do business, and feels positive. Those are all things that are good to have in our businesses or work. I feel fortunate. My husband is the ultimate example of bliss. He lives his life in constant joy. He will not compromise on that, to the chagrin of many people. I love that that’s his highest priority. For me, that’s something that supports my goals in life.

Every single mentor that I brought into my business has also supported that focus on bliss. They don’t tell me things like, “Moneeka, do you want it enough?” That is not going to work for me. It’s, “Moneeka, this will support your bliss, and this is how.” A mentor needs to understand what my highest values are. This is what I’m learning from you about Zack and what I love. It’s a beautiful example for my ladies of, “If your core values are such as such, make sure that you are finding a mentor that supports that.” Wouldn’t you agree?

Yes, 100%.

This next question that you sent that I love makes me cringe. You said, “Do you love talking to people on the phone, and why?” I hate talking to people on the phone. Talk to me a little bit about that. I don’t hate it. I love talking to my ladies, please don’t get me wrong but it’s not my favorite thing to do just being on the phone.

Not every conversation is hearts and rainbows. There are some people that are very difficult to talk to.

It can be scary. When I first was offered the position by Zack, I was asked by my closest family and friends, “Are you going to like this? Are you going to be happy talking to people on the phone all day?” Before this, I was an interior designer and called myself the Utah Pinball. I was all over Utah all day, every day, and I loved it. As I said, in my bio, “I can’t sit still.” When you talk on the phone, you have to sit in. I have to sit in my office and talk on the phone all day long. That was a question that I had as well. However, everyone is so different. I talked to people from all walks of life of all different experiences and levels, and it’s like being a phone pinball.

I talk to people all over the country and even outside of the country who want to get started on their investing careers, which is also very inspiring. I’m becoming the people with whom I surround myself, and it’s not only five people. Honestly, I talk to people all day long who inspire me, who are entrepreneurs, who want that time and financial freedom. I get to tell them how to do that.

How Zack can do that for them? It’s extremely rewarding, and it’s a lot of fun getting to know people, talking to them, and hearing about their lives and goals. It’s breathtaking every single day. Not every conversation is hearts and rainbows. There are some people that are very difficult to talk to but for the most part, it’s very inspiring and fun.

There are a couple of things I want to highlight. First of all, ladies, this is one of the key points that I have the biggest challenge with is calling people. I wanted to talk to Stephanie a little bit more about that, how she gets herself psyched up, what she does to prep for her calls, and those things. We are going to be talking about that in EXTRA. We are going to do a deep dive on cold calling in EXTRA. She will give you a lot of details around that.

The other thing that I wanted to highlight is that she mentioned that it’s not by people, it’s that she surrounding herself with people that inspire her. We have talked a lot on this show about networking or going to groups. We have had Deborah Razo on here, who’s built a community, Women’s Real Estate Network. She’s built a community of women that are inspiring and there to support one another.

We have had several conversations about where can you go to surround yourself with people that uplift and inspire you around real estate. Who is it that you can have engaging, uplifting conversations that say you are on fire about real estate? Start looking for those on Meetup, REIAs, and WREN. You can check out BlissfulInvestor.com/wren. Take a look at where you can spend time. It’s not the five people that you are dependent on. You have an entire community of people that help to uplift you and help you succeed.

Thank you for mentioning that because it’s so important on these levels of what our relationships. We’ve got our top five that we spend the most time with, then we’ve got our community, the places where we spend most of our time with, and the people that we have most of our conversations with. There are a lot of different people. When you get a phone call from one of my ladies, what is your goal in talking to them?

My goal is to give them all the information they need to make an educated decision as to whether or not Zack is the right fit for them as a coach. Attempting real estate investing on my own in the past, I learned very quickly that we can’t do anything alone. We need that community that we were talking about. Zack is a good coach. He’s there for people. He has a tried-and-true system and he gives to you everything. My main goal is to give all of his potential students or candidates, all the information they need so that they can decide if that’s right for them or if they need to move on to a different type of coach.

Different coach or strategy. No strategy is right for everybody. I’m a buy-and-hold person. Wholesaling may not be right for me but buy and hold may not be right for you to anybody who’s reading. Maybe wholesaling is a place to either get started or invest all of your energy into. I always say there are a million ways to make a million dollars in real estate. Not all of those million ways are going to be good for you. If Zack is the right guy or wholesaling is the right strategy, those are some things that you want to look at.

You also want to look at the core values. Make sure your core values and personalities match up. The lead generation and exit strategies, and the goals that you have for your business in your business model, that’s huge when choosing a coach.

How much detail about their experience do you need to know? What is it that they are going to be bringing to the table for you?

All of it. I need all the experience. I want you to hear all about their backgrounds, stories, and goals. As I said, I talked to everyone from all walks of life in all experience levels. I would be talking to a young lady who’s 18 or 19 and on fire about life and wants to be successful right out of the gate but only knows that the concept’s barely in real estate investing. I want to hear all about that and why and what they know about the concepts.

Sometimes I will talk to someone who has been wholesaling for 30 years, and they are very successful and want to add another lead generation strategy. They see Zack and what he does, what he can do, and want to duplicate that. I talk and ask them. We dive deep into their experience. I talked to everyone in between those as well. I want to hear about all of it. That’s part of what I love.

 

Do people need to have a lot of experience in real estate or any experience to do this? Tell me a little bit more about that. Honestly, what do they need to come to you with?

They don’t have to have any experience whatsoever. They don’t even need to know about the concepts. People book a call with me because they understand that real estate investing can give them time and financial freedom, and anything beyond that, Zack will teach them. They don’t have to have any experience whatsoever.

What ignited my curiosity is that he was talking about wholesaling and was like, “I might buy ten properties and then keep two as long-term rentals,” which I’m like, “I could get my long-term rentals for cheap,” because that’s my strategy for this long-term renting. You can also marry this strategy with other strategies that you might be interested in. You’ve got to start somewhere. A lot of people are like, “I don’t even know where to start. I’m embarrassed to make that phone call because I don’t know anything.”

Zack teaches you how to cherry-pick the best and wholesale the rest. You will hear him say that.

You are comfortable talking with real beginners who don’t know anything.

Yes, all levels.

I love the example of the person that has been wholesaling for 30 years, too. It is nice that you have spoken to that huge range. You have an understanding of what those conversations feel like and what they need. How long does it take a student to get started, and what are their first steps?

It only takes a couple of minutes. I create an account for them right then and there. As soon as that account is submitted, they immediately get the course in their inbox and instructions on how to connect with Zack. When you get onboarded, you get Zack’s personal cell phone number, which is crazy. He hasn’t missed a call from his students the entire time that he’s been coaching. He’s always there for people.

You get all of that within minutes. The next step is to go to your email inbox and click to get into the course and onto the Facebook group that’s for his students only. What I do is I ask the new students a photos of themselves so that I can send their photos and introduce them to our team. If anyone needs anything, we are all here for them. We can put a face with a name, and we all know who we are talking about.

I will send their phone number to Zack, and he will give them a call within 24 hours to introduce himself and get to know them, their goals, their business model, and everything. In that way, they have his cell phone number. They can save it on their phone and call or text him whenever they have an urgent question, deal on a line or anything. It’s very simple and quick. Quite frankly, a lot of fun.

Once they do all that stuff, what do you feel is typically the time that a person might need in their schedule to follow the course work and take the steps, and how quickly can people start to see results?

Zack’s course is designed for people who might be facing from their full 9:00 to 5:00 job into their own wholesaling business. You can spend as little as fifteen hours per week on it. That’s everything from education to taking action to closing those deals. If they are doing it full-time, they can spend more time, and Zack will tell them exactly where and how to spend that time to make it most efficient.

Is it the stuff you can do on a weekend or do you have to do it during business hours?

When you start investing in real estate, don’t try to do it alone because you’re going to make many expensive mistakes and spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make it work.

No, you can do it any time of day or night, evenings, weekends, or whatever time works best for people.

How can people get in touch with you to learn more?

They can book a call with me. They go to BlissfulInvestor.com/stephanie. We are hiring a new onboarding specialist because we are busy. I can’t handle all of it myself. We are bringing someone on board. We offered them the position, which is exciting. They will be talking to me or the other person. We will then dive into everything so that you can make a good determination whether or not we are a good fit.

That is BlissfulInvestor.com/stephanie. Go check that out and give Stephanie a call or sign up with her. That would be amazing. For EXTRA, we are going to be talking about how to make these phone calls fun so that we love them as much as Stephanie does. Stay tuned for that because that’s going to be an amazing, awesome conversation that I personally need. I’m excited about it. Stephanie, are you ready for three rapid-fire questions?

Yes, I am.

Tell us one super tip on getting started investing in real estate.

Get a coach or mentor, whether it’s Zack or someone else, don’t try to do it alone because you are going to make a lot of expensive mistakes and a lot of time trying to figure out how to make it work.

What is one strategy for being successful as a real estate investor?

Pick one lead generation strategy and one exit strategy, and be consistent.

What is one daily practice that you do that you would say contributes to your personal success?

A lot of positive self-talk. This world is filled with a lot of negativities. We have bad days and even some bad times during our good days. Sometimes it takes a lot of positive self-talk to work ourselves and power through those crazy times and be positive.

I absolutely agree on that one. Ladies, thank you so much for joining Stephanie and me for this portion of the show, we do have more in EXTRA. We are going to be talking about getting on the phones and making that fun. If you are subscribed to EXTRA, stay tuned, if you are not, go to BlissfulInvestor.com is my website.

If you want to sign up for EXTRA, go to RealEstateInvestingForWomenEXTRA.com. You get the first seven days for free. Check it out. Thank you so much for joining Stephanie and I for this portion of the show. If you are leaving us now, I look forward to seeing you next time, and until then, remember, goals without action are just dreams. Get up there, take action, and create the life your heart deeply desires.

 

Important Links

• Stephanie Holleman – LinkedIn
• BlissfulInvestor.com/40days
• Deborah Razo – Previous episode
• BlissfulInvestor.com/wren
• BlissfulInvestor.com/stephanie
• RealEstateInvestingForWomenEXTRA.com

 

About Stephanie Holleman

As a single mom with a creative mind and four really cool kids, I’m constantly seeking ways to improve myself and my work skills, and pass on my zest for life.  It’s difficult for me to sit still and find the most joy in spending time with my little people (who aren’t so little anymore) outdoors, playing in the water, and using my noodle to solve problems.  I have a background in I.O. Psych/Business Management, Interior Design, Sales and Real Estate Investing.  I nerd out over personal development and business development books, and I LOVE people!! It’s been a really fun ride so far, and I love using the skills I’ve gained along the way to aid in changing lives!

 

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To listen to the EXTRA portion of this show go to RealEstateInvestingForWomenExtra.com

To see this program in video:

Search on Roku for Real Estate Investing 4 Women or go to this link: https://blissfulinvestor.com/biroku

On YouTube go to Real Estate Investing for Women