0113: Building a Legacy of Wealth with Author, Speaker, Trainer, Host of the Legacy Wealth Show & CEO of Legacy Wealth Holdings Tim Bratz

Intro [0:00]

EA Interviews Episode 113. Inspiration, transformation, success stories, and the Imperfect Action Round seven days a week. Join Mario Fachini for today’s Expert Authority Effect Interview. 

Mario Fachini [0:13]

So you want to grow your business, you want to do more sales, you want to do more revenue, you want to know all the success secrets. But how would you like to know them from someone that was at a multimillion dollar level in groom over 133% in just a few short years? How would you like to have generational wealth? You’ve worked hard to get to the point where you’re at but what do you do to continue that? How do you start a show? How do you start a podcast? How do you publish a book? I am excited to have Tim Bratz here from Legacy Wealth Holdings. And he’s going to be sharing it with us after we thank our sponsor. We’re going to go into detail in not only what he did but how he did it. I’m excited to bring up Tim Bratz. 

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Mario Fachini [1:16]

Here he is ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Tim Bratz. Tim, how are you doing today? 

Tim Bratz [1:20]

I’m doing awesome. Mario, thanks for having me, buddy. I appreciate it. 

Mario Fachini [1:23]

I am so excited to know – to learn what you know because it’s not only impressive, but it’s so needed. There’s a lot of successful people out there such as yourself, but not many of them have your background where they can be teaching how to be doing this for down the road in generations. I mean, it’s great to build a successful company. But what do you do for your children’s children and your family? And I’m excited to dive in what true wealth really is and how to keep it for generations? So what inspired you to start all this? 

Tim Bratz [1:57]

I was going through school and I think sometimes your motivations change over time, right? And I think when I was going through college, which was early 2000, ’03 to ’07, I was the money motivated guy. I wanted to make a bunch of money and have an awesome lifestyle. And I got involved in real estate. Everybody was making money in real estate at that time. And so I decided, “Hey, I’ll get involved real estate.” I’m from Cleveland, Ohio. I ended up moving out to New York City, which is where my brother was living at the time. And I got a real estate license and started brokering real estate for commercial landlords. And so if they had, let’s say, ground floor retail space in Manhattan for rent, I would help market that space or I would represent some sort of business owner that was looking to open up a location or a second location or tenth location. And, man, I just remember being in that world just learning a lot about investments and building real long term wealth. Specifically, the first deal I ever did – the first transaction I ever closed in New York was a 400 square foot retail space in Greenwich Village. And we signed a lease at $10,000 per month for a 12 year lease term with, I think, there were 4% escalations every single year increasing that rate. I remember just doing the math thinking, “This landlord is making almost $2 million over the next 12 years for something that they did at one point in time.” And that didn’t include the other seven retail storefronts or the 15 stories of apartments above it. And I thought, “Man, I’m on the wrong side of the coin. I’d be owning real estate instead of broker and real estate.” And that whole idea of residual income and passive income and doing something once and getting paid on it over and over and over again, and owning assets, things that other people would pay for that you own and long term creates that generational wealth. So I was sold on real estate and just went down this path of learning everything I possibly could about building wealth instead of just getting rich. Does that make sense? 

Mario Fachini [4:11]

It absolutely does. And you have so many Expert Authority insights in there. I just want to expand on some of those because you’re talking about ongoing income, passive income residual income, doing something one time. And there’s a lot of people who I hope that they realize what it is because it’s that, from a banking term, compounding interest. Like you’re saying, 4% over 10 years and 400 square – I don’t know about you. I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, where EA Studios is at. But 400 square feet is not the largest thing on the face of earth and you’re saying 10,000 a month? 

Tim Bratz [4:47]

Yep. Yep. It’s about the size of a normal bedroom from growing up. It’s probably about 120 or 150 square feet. So you’re probably talking about three bedrooms is the size of what this retail space was. And it was leased for $10,000 a month. And so, for anybody who’s listening, many of us a lot of times people get paid when you go to school and you’re told to get good grades and get a good job. You are being taught how to go and earn transactional income. Transactional income is trading your time for money. You go and do something once you get paid on it once. In order to get paid on it again, you have to go do it again, do it again, keep on showing up. And again, you’re trading time for money. Residual income is doing something at one point in time and then getting paid on it over and over and over and over again, regardless of you having to do the work for it. You don’t have to do the work for it. You did at one point in time and you get paid on it over and over again. Passive income is income that you generate without having to do anything. Is there true passive income? I don’t know. You hear guys like Gary Vaynerchuk saying there’s no such thing. There’s very real ways to earn passive income if you’re layering it with a business that runs itself, that you have the right people, and processes and things in place, and systems in place to operate that. And then you layer it with residual passive income producing assets, which is kind of what I’ve done. So it’s allowed me to work as much as I want to work or as little as I want to work because I have the right teams and assets that are built up. 

Mario Fachini [6:31]

And that’s the way to do it. So how did you make the transition from all you cared about was the money and you were just out of college and everything like you were saying to you saw – was there a point where you saw something bigger and you go, “Wow. I can really do this and help so many more people than just myself?”  

Tim Bratz [6:51]

Absolutely. And I think it comes to a point where I’m a broke college kid. All I want to do is just make money and try to take care of myself first. I remember I’ve read a lot of books on happiness and personal development, all those kinds of things. And I remember a statistic I heard was like, once your basic needs are being met, you have food on your table, you got clothes on your back, you got a roof over your head, your family and people you care about are safe and protected, and healthy. There’s no difference in the level of happiness whether you make, let’s say, $50,000 a year or $50 million a year. That once your basic needs are met and you’re at that $50,000 or maybe $75,000 a year range. Then everything’s just about fulfillment. It’s about making an impact. Making a difference is really what the variable was. And people who are either happy or unhappy above that income level. So once you know that you got food on the table and a roof over your head, then it’s all about making an impact. Ad that’s kind of I didn’t realize that. I think your goals change as your achievements change and as life changes.  And you have – I didn’t have kids. I didn’t have a wife back then. Now, I do. And so my reasons for doing what I do are a little bit different because I’m taking care of financially now. But now, I truly believe that it’s like sunshine. There’s plenty of sunshine out there. You, Mario, getting sunshine doesn’t take any sunshine away from me. And I think wealth is the exact same way. I can educate people on how to go out, build wealth. Wealth can be created. It doesn’t just transfer. You can just generate wealth. If you have a good idea and you implement it or you buy assets and you build a property next door to another property. Guess what? The property you build has value. The property next door now has more value. And now, all of a sudden, you’re creating wealth out of nowhere. And so I truly believe there’s an infinite amount of wealth just like there’s an infinite amount of sunshine. And for me, you know, I started building the business. I come from the residential real estate realm. I was flipping houses, wholesaling houses. I started buying a couple single family rentals. I built up a little bit of a business with some business partners. We had about 150 units. That partnership ended up dissolving. We decided to liquidate everything. And I just have been doing my own thing for the past four years now. So since essentially, August of 2015, I’ve just been focused on building up my assets. And even in real estate, I was doing a lot of transactional stuff. Because I think a lot of people get into real estate because they want to build that wealth. But then they say, “Hey, I need to go and stockpile a bunch of my own cash in order to be able to acquire some of those properties.” And the reality is, you don’t really need to do that. There’s plenty of money on the sidelines where people would passively invest in your project. And if you’re a really good operator, you can marry it up without having to bring any of your own money to the table. And help provide a ton of value for them. It helps you get into deals and start really building some wealth that way. And that’s what I’ve done. So I said, “Hey, I’m doing a lot of transactional flips and I’m making money and I’m able to keep food on the table. But at the end of the day, I’m not building wealth.” And about two years ago, I had a few hundred apartment units built back up and was still flipping about 80 houses a year. And realized that 90% of my wealth came from owning and holding real estate versus flipping it. And so I came into the office on Monday, I said, “Hey, guys. We’re not doing any more flips. We’re only buying and holding apartment buildings,” which is what we do. And you fast forward. It’s amazing when you make a declaration to the universe, how the universe kind of turns around a response to you. Because all we saw then was apartment buildings that popped up. We didn’t even see single family houses anymore

[00:10:46]- really does expand. 

Mario Fachini [10:49]

So are you focused on commercial real estate exclusively now? 

Tim Bratz [10:53]

Yes. Yes. So a lot of people say, “Hey, I focus on real estate.” Real Estate’s not a focus. Real estate is an industry. People who say they focus on real estate, that’s way too broad of a focus. So I just focus on commercial real estate. And then I focus on apartment buildings, which is a smaller asset class. And then I focus on A and B class areas of apartment buildings that are in good school districts, good areas. Not luxury but not C or D class kind of areas. And then I only focus on value add, which means I don’t buy things that are already totally good to go and existing management. I buy stuff that’s very distressed. Things that need a lot of work physically and they need better management as well. I’ve taken this industry and I’ve narrowed it down to a very, very precise niche. And what I found in business is the more niche, the more rich. The more wealth you can create, the more focused you are. I mean, you liken it to doctors or physicians. You go to a general physician who can do a little bit of everything but they’re not an expert at anything. They make good money, whatever it is, 150 grand a year. But if you go to the best heart surgeon in the entire world or the best neurosurgeon in the entire world, they can demand whatever price that they want. You’re paying them multiple seven figures for their services because they’re the best and they’re that much more niche. And a lot of people think, “Hey, but then I’m passing up on all this other money out there and all these other opportunities.” No. You make more money, the more focused you are. 

Mario Fachini [12:24]

Because other people can also refer you. And that’s why I love teaching everyone about the Expert Authority Effect because like you, you’ve specified it to a degree where people now know what you’re known for and know to refer you too. And even in your own business – I love when you said that, real estate is an industry. And that’s true. Because one of the things I take my clients through or audiences if I’m speaking is through the marketing message. They go, “I can help people do X, Y, Z, blah, blah, blah.” And it’s so general. It’s not specific enough and it’s like any business saying, “Yeah, I’m a roofer. I can help you fix your roof. I’m an auto body shop, I can do collision work.” It’s like, “Well, I’d hope so.” The doctor who does everything under the sun, no. If you want to stand out and be the expert authority in your industry, you need to be known for that one thing and that’s what people are referring you to. So when you were saying that I was smiling because from a marketing standpoint think about how much easier that is just for your messaging to tell people. You’re always clear on it, aren’t you? 

Tim Bratz [13:28]

Yeah. I’m not the biggest landlord or property owner in Cleveland, Ohio. I live in Cleveland again now. But I’m definitely the best known for buying apartments. Because everybody, my message all the time is, I buy apartments. Tim buys apartments. And for the past four or five years, I’ve been telling people, “I’m buying apartments. I’m buying apartments. I’m buying apartments. I’m buying apartments.” So there’s people with bigger portfolios but I’m better known. And so over time, all these deals start coming to me because I am the expert authority. I am the person who everybody knows as the apartment buyer in town. And it’s becoming more of a national brand as well. There’s people across the country that are sending me deals on a daily basis that sometimes I’ll bring money to or I’ll joint venture with them on a project or they say, “Hey, I have money. I want to go invest in one of your projects.” And it’s a way that people can get involved in deals and I can get involved in deals that maybe I couldn’t have before. Because I’m the expert authority, speaking engagements, and all sorts of things because I’ve been that narrowed down to a specific niche and that focus on one thing. 

Mario Fachini [14:36]

And like you were saying earlier, you were essentially talking about abundance mentality and scarcity mindset. And the sunshine example, I’ve never heard anyone say that but that’s awesome. I might borrow it. But you’re absolutely right. There’s so much for everyone to go around. You specifying and owning this industry doesn’t take away from anyone else even playing in the industry. Because like you said, they might have a bigger port but you’re more well-known. Or maybe someone wants to specialize in residential real estate or commercial or whatever. But maybe the commercial is restaurants, not apartment buildings. 

Tim Bratz [15:09]

Exactly. And that’s what I was – I mean, we’re talking about apartment buildings here. That’s what I do. So me, I have 3,200 apartments. If I stopped buying today, I would have – and I just waited for the next 30 years to pay off all my property, my percentage of equity in those properties would put my net worth into multiple hundreds of millions of dollars. I have a nine figure net worth if I stopped buying today and let my properties pay for themselves. That’s cool. I only have 40 apartment buildings. There’s over 690,000 apartment buildings in the country. So I have 40 and I have a lifestyle. And many other my joint venture partners never have to work again if we don’t ever want to. We do because we enjoy it. And I do, because I can help other people get involved in properties and projects that they couldn’t have gotten into before. So my point is, that’s just apartment buildings. And that doesn’t mention retail, you know, the restaurants and the storefront type of real estate. That doesn’t mention office buildings. It doesn’t mention medical buildings. It doesn’t mention warehouse, self-storage. I mean, you name it. There’s a thousand other types of different asset classes out there. Marinas, there’s people who just especially marinas and garage, all those kinds of things. There’s so many different ways to make money in real estate that I could work every single day and educate people. And that’s just in the United States alone. Not to mention the rest of the world. So there’s so much opportunity out there that it’ll never run out. It’ll never run out. The biggest landlord in the entire country has 480,000 apartment units. He has a 30 – probably $35 or 40 billion portfolio and only has – what it is? – about 400 buildings, I want to say, something around there or maybe it’s 4,000. I don’t know. Maybe 4,000 buildings. Still there’s 700,000 buildings. The biggest person in the entire world – the biggest landlord in the entire world. So there’s plenty of opportunity out there. And to think that just because there’s a few people out there doing a lot of deals, you don’t need many buildings. I can show you how just a small, you know, 40 or 50 unit apartment building can change your financial future forever. You’re worth many millions of dollars. And it can kick you off residual income six figures on an annual basis just doing one deal. Now imagine doing 50 of those. Imagine doing five of those. Imagine doing two. And the kind of legacy that you can build because you have an asset that kicks off cash flow. Somebody else’s paying down the principal on it. And you’re able to then pass that asset down to your heirs or sell it, give away the money, donate it to charity, whatever your heart desires. 

Mario Fachini [18:09]

That is some great wisdom right there. Because you’re talking down the road. And like you started off with, you’re not trading time for – well, depending who you ask. You’re always trading time for money. But it’s better to be trading $100,000 an hour for that hour versus $10 an hour or whatever. 

Tim Bratz [18:29]

And that’ll continue to pay you $100,000 a year forever even though you don’t have to go spend that time again. So I do agree with your statement. You’re always kind of trying to trading time for money. But if you can do it in a passive or residual way [inaudible] [00:18:43] – 

Mario Fachini [18:42]

Just make sure it’s a whole lot of money for that hour. So as far as the apartments, are you saying that those are the best investment you can be making? Or have you found it just works best for you and what you want to accomplish? 

Tim Bratz [18:57]

It works best for me. I mean, I know

[00:19:00] the ones who make the most money are very focused on whatever that asset class is. When I say asset class, I know people who just do Airbnb rentals and that’s all that they do. I know people who just do resorts and hotels. I know people who just do gas stations. I know people who – 

Mario Fachini [19:26]

But they’re the best at what they do. 

Tim Bratz [19:27]

They’re the expert authority in their field. And so those are the opportunities that come across them. And when you become the expert, it’s very hard for people to pull the wool over your eyes. So for me to say that apartments is the best investment class, somebody else might think that hotels are more insulated and less risk than apartments are because they know it better than they know apartments. I know apartments better than I know any other asset class. So it’s very difficult for somebody to pull the wool over my eyes when buying an apartment building. So it’s very low risk for me because that’s the industry and the asset class that I’m very comfortable with and that I’ve dedicated a decade of my life to studying. 

Mario Fachini [20:13]

So let’s talk about who you help and how you’re helping them. Are you working a lot with – would you say you help more the people looking for the apartments to buy? Or is it are you working more towards the investors that you want to partner with? 

Tim Bratz [20:29]

Yeah. So great question. So I’m kind of, like, bigger than a lot of the small investors. But I’m not some institutional hedge fund or real estate truck. So about 18 months ago, I was approached by education – I’ve been approached by a lot of different education companies to go do some stuff. But I didn’t like the sleazy run to the back of the room with your sales with your credit card sales techniques. So one company came very highly recommended from some mentors of mine in business, and our values were aligned in making an impact and making a difference and helping people out. And I mean, compared to what I’m make in real estate, what I make in the education side is infinitesimal. It’s less than 10% of what I make in real estate. But what I’ve been able to do is I was building a business – building a big business and I became an adult babysitter, eventually. Like, as you build a business, you have all these employees, all of a sudden you’re dealing with some sort of drama in between. “Well, this person said that. And that person did this. And they didn’t do that.”  And I was like, “How do I continue to build a business without taking on this overhead and taking on this headache?” I like doing deals. I like sharing opportunities. I like sharing mindset. I like doing stuff like this that we’re talking about right now. What I don’t like doing is being a grown up babysitter. And so I decided that the education realm could parlay into me partnering up with Joint Venture Partners, who are great operators and only compensated based on the performance of how the property does. And so they’re incentivized to make sure the property performs. I can come in and help mentor and coach and get them involved in other deals. So what’s happened is, there’s two types of people for the most part that come out to my events now, and one is the active operator. This is the person who’s flipping ten single family houses, 100 single family houses, 200 single family houses a year, and they’re tired of the transactional rat race. And they want to get into owning long term assets and building real wealth. So they understand how to find deals. They understand how to oversee the project management. But they don’t know how to get the money or how to structure the deal or how to get the financing on that. And so I can come in, I can invest in those projects. I can invest in those operators and then coach and mentor them through that process. They get involved in deals that they couldn’t have gotten into before. I get involved in deals that I couldn’t have gotten into before. And now one plus one equals three. Were able to do more together. And then on the other side of the coin, there’s people who say, “Hey, man. I love what you’re doing. I just don’t want to do all that work. But I have money or I have access to money. Can I passively invest with you?” And so they’re able to now invest in different projects that they don’t have to babysit it. They don’t have to understand it. They don’t have to learn a new industry. They can passively invest, have a good return on their investment, plus some equity in the deal forever. And all of a sudden, it’s a great deal for them. It’s a great deal for me. One plus one equals three again. And so what I found in just the past 12 months, 18 months is, there is a little bit of an educational curve on students bringing me deals. My students have picked up a lot of deals. And I’m talking thousands of units in just a pretty short period of time, 12 or 18 months. Many people picked up 500 units in that ballpark in a short period of time, which is very feasible. That’s one or two apartment buildings. And at the same time, that takes a little bit more time. You have to do some marketing for it. You have to plant a lot of seeds. All of a sudden, you go through the due diligence process. You’re talking about minimum 90 to 180 days in order to find a deal of that size. Whereas, the passive investors, they can go home and they can stroke a check on the following week for a deal if they wanted to. So I’ve had a lot of people get involved from a private money standpoint. And we’re planting a lot of seeds and having a lot of success on the on the active operator standpoint, too. 

Mario Fachini [24:32]

And it sounds like you’re building what’s essentially a nationwide or even global sales force because the more people you help. It’s one of the reasons I love speaking, training, and doing what I do also because, I mean – shoot – you said it a decade of experience, 15, 20 years. The only way you’re going to jump that ten years is if you get a coach or a mentor. And it’s just fun to watch the transformations happen. I had a call today with one of the clients who we’re helping publish a book. And even in the last ten days alone, he’s like, it’s been game changing for him because you’re at that critical mass point. And it’s like you can talk to 100 people or 1,000 people and the side benefit for you is also they’re bringing you deals. It’s a win-win. Like you said, one plus one equals three. 

Tim Bratz [25:27]

Yep. And I think – listen, I think some people try to say they try to be so

[00:25:34] like, “I’m just trying to help.” Everything that everybody does is for some sort of self-satisfaction. Like, I want my wife to be happy because it makes me happy. So I’m treating her well, because the happier she is, the happier I am. In a spin around way, I’m trying to be giving but at the same time it benefits me. So I don’t think it’s fair to look at somebody who’s going on educating and sharing stuff with people, like you or me, to say, “Hey, you know, it’s all about giving.” It is about giving because that’s the kind of stuff that feeds my soul. But it also benefits me. And I don’t think that’s unreasonable for – 

Mario Fachini [26:16]

There’s nothing wrong with it at all. The whole – 

Tim Bratz [26:19]

You’re making enough impact. You’re bringing enough value to the community, the society that you should be compensated.

Mario Fachini [26:25]

That’s the whole capitalistic system. And when you were talking about it earlier saying, “I like finding the distressed properties.” Everyone loves the shiny thing that looks pretty and all of that. But you know what? There’s nothing more fun than taking something that most people right off is broken and you go, “Watch what I can do.” And then you make it something – you know, take something and build it out of nothing. It’s the creator in all of us. That’s why people take wood, that’s why they take paint, glass etchings, clay. How did they build cars? Someone had an idea and said, “Well, let’s see. We’ll figure it out.” That’s entrepreneurial spirit at its best. And I love it. 

Tim Bratz [27:04]

Yeah. I love it. And the other value is that, think about the ripple effect, man. You’re going around and talking to hundreds of people or thousands of people, if each of them made an impact on five other people from something that you share, think about the ripple effect that that creates. And each of those people make an impact on two or three other people because of something that you shared with somebody who shared with them. And then they can make it like, all of a sudden – I mean, you read about like the book, The Richest Man in Babylon. Babylon was the wealthiest city in the history of the world. Why? Because everybody knew the basic principles of building wealth. And because everybody knew the basic principles of building wealth. They had all the riches and treasures and great food and community and everybody was safe because nobody was stealing. Because everybody understood that there was a ubiquitous amount of wealth in the world. And so I think you look at it from an abundance mindset, as you were talking about before. And you realize that I don’t, I don’t try to – I’m not competing with the people that I’m educating. I’m collaborating with the people that I’m educating. They’re bringing more deals to me. They’re bringing money to me. I’m able to help them get the deals that they couldn’t have gotten into. I’m able to then get into deals that I couldn’t get into. And here’s the best part, we can all stay in our lane and focus on our unique ability, whatever drives us. Instead of a lot of solopreneurs. I remember getting started, man, I was doing everything. I’m doing the bookkeeping. Was I really doing bookkeeping? I was putting receipts in an envelope and adding them up for two weeks before taxes were due. But I wasn’t good at it because I didn’t like doing it. And I didn’t like doing it because I wasn’t good at it. So when I can joint venture and partner with people, I can stay in my lane and do what I’m really good at. And then they can stay in their lane and do what they’re really good at. Now. They don’t have to do some sort of activity that drains them. I can do that. Because that’s a driver for me. And the things that drain me are usually a driver for my joint venture partners. So guess what? When you’re able to focus on that and you’re able to stay in your lane and do the things that’s really your core competency, things that you’re good at, guess what? You’re doing more deals. Because you’re that much more efficient because you’re staying in Atlantis. It’s the whole Henry Ford Model, right? Instead of one person putting an entire car together and trying to understand the entire car, they could just focus on the wheels. And because they just focus on the wheels, they’re able to drive out and turn out that many more cars because everybody was so specialized. And that’s how I’ve kind of built my real estate practice is everybody specialized in a way that they stay in their lane. I stay in my lane. And because of that, it’s not one plus one equals three. It’s one plus one equals ten. Because we do that anymore deals. 

Mario Fachini [29:50]

You’re kicking off all kinds of Expert Authority insights there. One of them was The Richest Man in Babylon, a great book. And also you reminded me of The Science of Getting Rich. And they talk about the collaboration, not the competition. And I have full transparency for everyone listening to this. When I started the show, I have this spreadsheet and one of the categories I added to it was synergy. Because one out of five people that came on the show wanted to become a client somehow. And one out of three after we got off the air, they were like, “Okay. So tell me more about this. What about this? I had an idea here.” And it’s like that collaboration. You alluded to it. And when you’re saying I know the people that are the best at the hotels, the marinas, the gas stations, you could make ten calls just like I could and we could affect change on 10,000 people without a doubt in my mind. And because you have the key people and the influencers doing that, and a lot of people it’s –  I joke about it but ultimately I pray for them because I see a lot of people after 10, 20, 30 years doing the same stuff. And it’s like, “You’re not going to talk to 10,000 people one-on-one in a year. But you could talk to the 10 people that would lead you to the 10,000.” I love it because you’re sharing this and you understand that and you’re doing it. I mean, it’s no chance. You grew over that 133%. You said you – what? – got started in 2015? 

Tim Bratz [31:28]

With my current portfolio, yep. 

Mario Fachini [31:30]

Let me ask you this, I always ask what’s the biggest transformation you’ve seen with you or your clients? And I have a feeling this might be with you because I knows – you’re welcome to share your stats with where they’re at now. But I know you grew super quick in 24 to 48 months like to the tune of multiple millions. 

Tim Bratz [31:48]

Yeah. I mean, now here’s the thing, I planted a lot of seeds. I’ve been in real estate since 2005. I had a construction company and then got to working for a big home builder. And so I didn’t start buying until 2009 when the market shifted. Because I knew something was crazy going on and then when I saw a tank, I was like, “I need to go buy some stuff.” 

Mario Fachini [32:07]

Which is a tip inside of itself because most people go, “I got to hold on.” And again, that victim mentality. Let’s cut back advertising. Let’s cut back and hold on. 

Tim Bratz [32:16]

Yeah. You don’t do that. I mean advertising marketing is always an investment. There’s always a return on that. The two things that are always a return are people, well-trained and well-qualified people, and quality marketing as well. You’ll always see a return on investment on those things. If you spend $100,000, you should yield $400,000 or 500,000 of output from that marketing campaign or from that employee that you hired. But going back to your original question, so I laid a foundation of buying real estate for seven years and going through a lot of the getting kicked in the crotch kind of stuff. And all those learning curves that we all go through and spent the 10,000 or 15,000 or 20,000 hours doing all that stuff. And then when my partnership with those guys liquidated and dissolve, I already knew how to make money. If you took all of Donald Trump’s money away right now, he knows how to go out and make money. He’d have his $10 billion back within a couple of years because he knows how to do it already. So I had a little bit of a foundation. I still went through some learning curves  a couple years ago. But I had enough of the foundation where I could build some confidence. I think the biggest change for me was early on. And what in a lot of other people who want to get involved in apartments is, a lack of confidence and a lack of self-worthiness thinking that they’re worthy. They think they have to pay their dues. They think that they have to suffer and go through all this stuff. And I went through that. One of those business partners that I had early on, when we first struck the deal to partner up and I was out of this house, we went and grabbed a steak dinner, and we’re sitting across the table from each other. He goes, “You know what, Tim? I can’t wait to one day look across the table and see you as an equal.” And he was the money guy. And so I understand what he meant, like a financial equal. I’m a broke kid seven, eight years ago. And we come up with this investment company. And he’s the money guy. And he’s got a successful business. And he’s like, “Eventually, I want to see you as a financial equal.” But the way it was said was, “You’re not good enough. You’re not qualified to be in the same room as me. You’re only here because I’m letting you be here. You have your dues to pay. And you have all this.” So it didn’t register with me at the time. Really, until about a year ago when I was reflecting and realizing the question that you asked, I kind of asked myself. I was like, “What was the catalyst?” And eventually, by having success in business and having success in doing real estate and some things fell apart and I started doing some other stuff in that partnership. While the partnership was dissolving, I was having some success in the side business that I was running. And I realized that it wasn’t an external factor saying that Tim is worthy. It only comes from inside. You have to just come to a point where you’re like, “I’m worthy

[00:35:23]. I know my time is worth this much. I know the value that I provide to the marketplace. And I’m going to actually charge for that.” And when you have that sort of confidence, you understand your worth and your value. All of a sudden, that’s very attractive to people. They want to do business with you because you’re more confident. Because you can convey that you can get things done. And it’s kind of a chicken or egg scenario is, do you have confidence and then you have success? Or do you have success and then that breeds confidence? I don’t know what the answer is. I think you kind of got to work on both at the same time. And then eventually, you get to a point where you’re like, “You know what? I am worthy. I am worthy of making millions of dollars. I am worthy of building a $250 million real estate portfolio. And a billion dollar portfolio in the next months as my goal.” And when I got to that point and that’s what really was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I got into a little bit of a clash with those business partners back then. And I realized what my value was. And they were still trying to kind of push me down and keep me at a certain level. And that’s what blew the lid off the whole thing. And it seemed like a setback at the time. But really a massive, massive opportunity and really set up for what was to come. And it just kind of let me spread my wings and do my thing. It all came from that confidence. So some of it was internal. And then just getting plugged around groups of successful entrepreneurs, plugging into masterminds, having a mentor saying, “Dude, you’re worth more than what you think you are.” And letting somebody else breathe a little bit of that confidence and inspiration into you can really help out your level of confidence as well. 

Mario Fachini [37:11]

Let me ask you about this, people that have known you for years versus people you just met, because you kind of touched on something where you’re going, you knew you were growing, you’re more confident, you’re having more success, you’re helping more people. But they were trying to keep you at the level they saw you at or whatever they met you at. Would you say – I know that they say it’s ten times easier to upsell an existing client from a sales standpoint. But have you ever tried to convince someone you’ve known for 10 or 20 years, like you’re at this new level or something, or maybe you don’t say anything, but you know what, but they’re not seeing it? Or would you say, maybe you just go into a different realm altogether, you’ve never been in, and just start at that level that you’re already seeing yourself at, and then everyone just recognizes you from there? 

Tim Bratz [37:58]

Yeah. Well, what’s the saying? Jesus couldn’t be a prophet in his own hometown. Because everybody saw him as the carpenter’s kid. It’s easier for me to go and have credibility with people who didn’t know me from binge drinking in college or from getting in trouble and getting arrested for toilet paper in people’s houses in high school. Those people see me with a different lens than the people who’ve seen me with real estate success today. I can tell you this, very dear friends of mine, friends I’ve known for 20 years, I went to high school, middle school,  elementary school together, most of them seeing my success. Some of them are coming out of the woodwork a little bit. But most of them still haven’t even asked me about real estate. “Hey, Tim. How do I do that? Hey, Tim. How do I get involved? Hey, Tim. Can I plug into one of your events? Hey, Tim. Give me some insight.” A couple of guys have but most of my friends have not. I mean, including my brother. My brother hasn’t even. I offered, “Come on out to event. Come out to an event.” And sometimes you want it more for them than they want it for themselves. And a mentor of mine, Jim Rohn, once said, “You can carry maybe one person or maybe two people on your back, but as soon as they put a third person on your back, man, you can’t walk anymore.” So they got to want it for themselves. And all I can do is offer. All I can do is put it out there and let them know I’m here. 

Mario Fachini [39:29]

Just continue being the example for them. 

Tim Bratz [39:31]

Say that again. 

Mario Fachini [39:34]

Just continue being the example for them. 

Tim Bratz [39:34]

Yeah. And hopefully, when the time’s right, they’ll know that they can approach me. Now, that being said, going back to where I thought you were going to take this question was, something called crab mentality. Are you familiar crab mentality at all? Have you ever heard that? Crab mentality is the way that the catch crabs is they’ll take a cage and they’ll drop it to the bottom of the sea or the ocean or whatever they’re in, and they’ll put a little bit of bait in the middle of the cage. There’s no top to the cage. So when they put it there, all the crabs then climb up into the cage and then in and they start eating the bait. And when the other crabs around them see that crabs are crawling in the cage, they’re, “Oh. Something must be going on.” More crabs climb into the cage, and then more crabs, more crabs, more crabs. It’s just a crowd kind of mentality. And here’s what the crazy part, what happens when all the bait is eaten is all the crabs just stay in the cage. And if one of the crabs realizes that there’s no more bait in the cage and they start climbing up the wall, the other crabs feel so uncomfortable with the status quo that they start pulling that crap back down into the cage. To the point where they’ll rip its limbs off and even kill it because of how uncomfortable that they feel. Now, isn’t that reflective of what happens to a lot of us as we have more and more success in business and in life? There’s people who are out there that it’s not about you and the success that you’re having. But it’s about taking that mirror and turning it on themselves and looking at themselves and reflecting saying, “I’m not where I want to be.” Or it’s making them feel uncomfortable because you are pursuing your dreams, your goals, your aspirations, and it makes them uncomfortable about not pursuing theirs. And so what they do is they try to pull you down. They try to rip your limbs off. They try to kill you, if it comes to it. And for me, if there were ever people in my life that fell into that category, they were completely disassociated with. So there’s no room for that. You cannot have negative people. You cannot have people in your life that try to drag you down. You can do all these positive things in life to try to progress. Stop watching the news and reality TV and start reading books and doing all these other thing that are going to progress you. But if you don’t eliminate the negative things, you’re going to stay at the same status quo. As much as you’re pushing here, this is pulling you down, you’re going to stay level. You got to eliminate the negativity and increase the positivity and the progressive type things in order to really advance. And I see a lot of people who want to advance but they can’t because they got to keep these negative people in their life. And they’re not willing to just cut ties. And for me, man, I mean, if you’re not with me, you’re against me kind of a thing. And I promise you that you will be taken care of if you support my dreams and you support my goals. But if you’re not and you’re negative, you’re draining, and you try to tear me down and rip me apart and insult me for no reason just because you’re uncomfortable but you’re not accomplishing, there’s no room for that in my life. So everybody falls into one of three categories, increased association, decreased association, disassociation. So increased association, guys like you, Mario. People who are on the same path, have a common future. Not just a common past. Decreased association, those are typically people who they’re around, they’re not fully supportive, but they’re not pulling you down either. They usually have the same last name as you. You can’t totally cut ties. That’s decreased association. And then disassociation is all those negative people. All the crab mentality that’s out there. There’s no room for it. In social media, people are negative, I block them immediately. Now, that’s not to say that if it’s a constructive criticism or if it’s supportive thought provoking question or something that could be a valuable debate, I love that. I love that. I love people who are actually thinking and conscious about those kinds of things. But if it was negative, you’re just trying to tear somebody down, defriend, block immediately. 

Mario Fachini [43:56]

So two things about that. I agree 100%. As far as Facebook, I actually have something that’s called the News Feed eradicator. And I loaded it with inspirational quotes instead of just random stuff. And absolutely, unfollow the people so it’s not popping up in yours constantly. The other thing I think what you’re saying is, because I’m getting a sense for you. And if it’s like me, you don’t want the negative around but you’re not – correct me if I’m wrong – but you’re also not saying just get rid of people that are negative one or two times. You’re talking about the people who are consistently doing it. Not someone has a bad week or they’re looking for help.You’re talking just the the vampire toxic people who that’s like their MO. 

Tim Bratz [44:36]

A hundred percent. Yep. I mean, there’s some people who have a bad day, who have bad week, who have a bad year, and that’s not to say they’re bad people. Like, I was very broke seven years ago. But I tried to stay positive. I would never rip other people down because of the shortcomings that I was having personally. And I don’t think where you are right now defines you as who you are as a person. It’s just where your temporary state is for the time being. 

Mario Fachini [45:05]

Yeah I heard a long time ago where you are today is who you were, not who you are. 

Tim Bratz [45:13]

Interesting. I like that. 

Mario Fachini [45:14]

Who you are today is who you were, not who you are. And I’m going, “Who do I want to be three months from now?” Who do I have to be not just what do I have to do? Someone smarter than me said that. I’m not sure who. Maybe we can look it up. I’ll get it in the show notes on the website. But one last question before we go – 

Tim Bratz [45:33]

Yeah. Quoted by Mario Fachini. I think it’s yours now, man. 

Mario Fachini [45:37]

I’m not going to do that. I’ve read hundreds of books and all kinds of stuff. I have a couple. One I did come up with, it must be official. It’s in my first book. It’s, “Instead of trying to get everyone’s attention, why not be so captivating, they can’t look away.” And that was for a video marketing for business owners. And that one I did come up with. I was eating ice cream on the couch when I wrote it. 

Tim Bratz [46:03]

I like that. 

Mario Fachini [46:06]

So one more question before we go to the sponsor. Who would you love to have lunch or dinner with that you would you haven’t met yet? They still have to be alive. I’ll add that caveat on this one. But who is someone you just love to learn from that you haven’t had access yet? 

Tim Bratz [46:29]

Probably – that speak English or no? 

Mario Fachini [46:34]

I don’t care. I have no discrimination against someone. If you like them, you like them. 

Tim Bratz [46:37]

I would say somebody who’s – I’m trying to think of like a massive influencer. Somebody at the top of their game, doesn’t have to be in business. Could be in business. Could be in politics. Could be – I’d like to meet Trump. I’d also like to meet Clinton. I’ve heard they’re very captivating personalities from everybody who’s met either of them. And I know several people have met both of them. And so they’re very interesting personalities. And so just out of a curiosity standpoint. Otherwise, I’d probably like to meet – I don’t know – somebody who’s – LeBron James. LeBron James is from Cleveland, right? Arguably the best basketball player playing now and potentially ever. And still have very good family life, balanced financially, health, and spirit mindset, all those kinds of different things. Pretty well-balanced. So that’s a really good question. I’d have to really dive into that. But probably a major influencer or somebody – 

you know who would it be? It would be Richard Branson. 

Mario Fachini [47:51]

How come? 

Tim Bratz [47:53]

Because I feel like he’s of everybody. He’s really got it figured out. I think Elon Musk would be really interesting too. But he’s a little bit weird. I don’t think I would connect with him. I think I’d really connect well with Richard Branson. He’s a phenomenal father. He has a lifestyle and just appetite for excitement and doing stuff like that. That really appeals to me going into outer space and all sorts of things. Buying an island, I think is cool. Hanging out with his family. Being in masterminds and helping other entrepreneurs and helping set them up. I think he’d be the number one person I’d like to meet. 

Mario Fachini [48:32]

Okay. Excellent. I’d love to meet him also. And what I’m hearing is a lot of the stuff that I’ve been calling FEMMESPR for over the years and teaching people. And I talked about it in Episode 18. FEMMESPR, financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, and relational. And because ultimately, you might have a lot of money but you’re a moron. Or you are have a great family life but you’re broke. Or you have no spiritual foundation but you know every word in the dictionary. I like that you’re going for the balance there. 

Tim Bratz [49:06]

Yeah. And I think balance is tough. I think harmony is very true. I don’t know if you can lead in all aspects at the same time. I think you’re always going to be, maybe, focusing a little bit more on the family side or the financial side, maybe your health a little bit. But it’s not six pack abs but you’re still healthy. You’re still fit. You’re not overweight. Right now, business is going really well for me. I have a lot of momentum in business. And that’s probably leading the charts right now. And my wife is cool. She’s on board. Because she’s like, “Tim, you’re not always in the momentum that you have right now.” This is something that’s a season of our life that I understand. I’m willing to spend a little bit more time taking care of the kids or doing whatever while you’re traveling. But I’m very conscious when I am back in Cleveland, when I’m not traveling at speaking engagements or mastermind events or things like that. I’m very conscious about spending time and dedicating time to my family. So I’ve actually been really good with family and business. What’s lacking is really my health. I hired a nutritionist this year. And I’m doing some intermittent fasting. And I’m eating healthy and going keto, and working out four times a week because I can’t get it to six times a week. And it’s just hard to do. So I’m paying more attention to the food side of things. And I think there’s little things that you can do where it’s not where I want it to be but I’m not totally neglecting at the same time. Does that make sense? Different levels that all are working together to help you advance and grow as a person. I think that’s more probably in my mindset anyways. 

Mario Fachini [50:49]

And what’s inspiring about what you said is you’re not trying to get it perfect, but you’re always striving for that better. Maybe next year, you can do five days a week instead of four. But at the same point, I love the fact that it’s 80% food. But at the same point, it’s like maybe I do want to work out, maybe I don’t want to eat all this stuff. But you’re just looking for that little extra leverage that’s going to get you there. And as far as the balance and the harmony, that’s a great point also. Because I actually asked Kevin O’Leary from Shark Tank when I was talking to him in person and I asked him that question. And two things stood out one, he goes, “That’s a great question.” I was like, “Awesome.” Because if you have the opportunity, you don’t want to waste it. And he had to think about it too. And he told me, he goes, “It’s like a pendulum. Nothing is ever perfectly balanced. It’s always swinging left and right. The trick is, you don’t want it swinging so much it’s all over the place all the time. You want to keep it as close to the center as you can but you’re always going to be one way or the other.” Well, we’re going to go to the sponsor and come back for the Imperfect Action Round. 

SPONSOR Business Book Checklist [51:59]

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Mario Fachini [52:14]

All right. We’re back with the Imperfect Action Round. Tim, are you ready to take imperfect action? 

Tim Bratz [52:18]

Let’s rock and roll. 

Mario Fachini [52:20]

First question, what’s the fastest path to the cash? 

Tim Bratz [52:23]

The fastest path to the cash, in real estate, it’s probably wholesaling. So that’s contracting a good deal and then selling the contract to somebody else who’s actually going to buy it. There’s no risk. None of your own money. None of your own credit. And you can actually assign the contract and sell the contract to buy the property at a certain price point and make a really good chunk of change inside 30 days. So if I was broke right now and I had to make money in 30 days, five figures or more, I’d be wholesaling. 

Mario Fachini [52:54]

Is it possible to do six? 

Tim Bratz [52:56]

Yeah. Very possible. 

Mario Fachini [52:57]

It ust depends on the deal. 

Tim Bratz [52:59]

I have a deal right now that I’m working on that’s a seven figure, multiple seven figure

[00:53:06]. 

Mario Fachini [53:07]

And it’s not you buying the building or anything. It’s just you’re negotiating a wholesale deal. And you’re going to sell it? 

Tim Bratz [53:13]

I contracted some land and got the zoning changed and approvals in place and all this stuff. And we’re going to go and build 300 apartments. And somebody came to us and offered us $4 million more than what we’re into the property for – that what we’re in the land for. And so when that comes, $4 million is a lot of money, especially at the peak of a market. And sometimes you just take the money instead of waiting two years to build the asset. And so we’re taking the money. It’s going to give me additional liquidity. And I have enough deal flow where I can go and find other deals. 

Mario Fachini [53:44]

Yeah. You can always get another apartment building or do it down the road. 

Tim Bratz [53:49]

Yeah. It’s very easy to wholesale apartment buildings for six figures. You’re talking single family. You’re talking 10, 15, 20 grand. And I know some people are making way more than that. And I’m talking just from a single deal. So if you can get ten of them going a month, I got a buddy who does 40 a month and averages about $12,000 per deal. And so he’s making about $500,000 a month just in wholesale fees. 

Mario Fachini [54:15]

Not bad for starting off. 

Tim Bratz [54:17]

Not bad.

Mario Fachini [54:18]

All right. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and the fastest way they can fix it? 

Tim Bratz [54:28]

I would say trying to do 100% of the work themselves, trying to keep 100% of the equity in a deal, and thinking from a scarcity mindset. I’m telling you, you can do way more deals, you can get involved in way more projects, have much better quality of life, and be much happier if you take a quarter of a watermelon versus 100% of a grape. There’s a lot more juice in the squeeze in a quarter of a watermelon. And that’s what happens when you focus on your unique ability and just stick to what your core competency is. And then you partner up with eight players that can balance the things that maybe you’re not as good at. And there’s things that you can lead in that partnership with that they’re not very good at. So it’s creating those strategic partnerships and realizing you can do more as a collective group than you could the sum of the parts or the individual parts, whatever that quote is. 

Mario Fachini [55:18]

I totally get what you’re saying. And that’s a great tip because I like that. Too many people go on small deals and they get get good at it, therefore, they get stuck at it. And I’ve told people for years, don’t get stuck in startup mode. For sure, be willing to do whatever it takes. But it doesn’t mean you have to be doing it ten years later. 

Tim Bratz [55:39]

Yep. 

Mario Fachini [55:40]

Number three, what is the best way to maximize customer lifetime value? 

Tim Bratz [55:46]

Customer lifetime value? I think having a long term mentality. I think a lot of people just short sighted and they’re worried about what is my income? What am I going to make this month? And the difference that I’ve learned in being poor and being wealthy and studying poor people and studying wealthy people is that, poor people focus on what is my income? How much money am I making actually this year or this finite amount of time? Whereas, wealthy people focus on net worth. And I think it’s essentially boiled down to that short term versus long term mentality. And if you focus on long term, like every decision that I make, essentially, sets me up for a long term success. So I will not make a decision based on short term shortfalls where I am today if it’s not the best decision I can make from a long term perspective. So I’m always trying to make decisions in everything, you know, team, buildings that were buying, deals that I’m doing, spending time with my family, spending time on my health, doing all those kinds of things based on a long term vision just instead of short term. 

Mario Fachini [56:54]

I love that. What is a book you’d recommend that has really helped you? 

Tim Bratz [57:00]

Yeah. I would say – there’s all the classic personal development books, like Think and Grow Rich, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Magic of Thinking Big, Richest Man in Babylon. I think one that not a lot of people have read that it played a massive part in my life. It’s super impactful is a book called 12 Pillars by Jim Rohn. It’s a very short book. It’s about 100 pages. You can knock it out in a day or two. And it’s packed with profound principles on how to just build and develop a better life. It’s amazing. 

Mario Fachini [57:35]

Excellent. I’ll make sure that’s on the show notes on EAInterviews.com for your specific page. And where would you like people to learn more about you at? 

Tim Bratz [57:44]

I’m pretty active on social media. Come and connect with me on Facebook. And I’m pretty active on Instagram now. And I just got that account rolling. And I’m pretty active on LinkedIn as well. So I put out a lot of free content on social media. I have a podcast, LegacyWealthShow.com. It’s all about making money, keeping money, and then getting your money to make more money for you. So that’s cool. I do some coaching. If anybody wants to learn a little bit more about that, they can go to CommercialEmpire.com as well. But social media is usually the best place to connect with me. 

Mario Fachini [58:17]

Excellent. Well, Tim, it’s been an absolute pleasure and I appreciate you for sharing. You’ve definitely given a lot of expert authority insights. 

Tim Bratz [58:24]

I appreciate it, Mario Thank you for all the value you provide man over and over again. So I really value you. And you’re causing that ripple effect, buddy, like we talked about earlier. So keep doing what you’re doing. You’re making a big impact on the world. So thank you. 

Mario Fachini [58:40]

Well, I do appreciate that. Thank you so much. All right. Expert Authority World, we got another great episode here today. I will see you on tomorrow’s. Have a great day. And God bless. 

SPONSOR Business Book Checklist [58:49]

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www.EAInterviews.com [59:03]

Hey, thanks for listening to today’s episode. I hope you got a lot out of it. I know I sure did. If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to subscribe to the show. And also be sure to check out EAInterviews.com for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I’ll see you tomorrow.