0166: NFL To CEO: How a Breakdown Can Lead To Your Breakthrough with Logan Freeman

Intro [0:00]

EA Interviews Episode 166. 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 [0:14]

Expert Authority World, I am beyond excited to have Logan Freeman here today. Former NFL star. He started Live Free Investments. He started a nonprofit. And he has a brand new podcast. And he’s going to be sharing with us. And I want to hear just as much as you do how he went from breakdown to breakthrough. I’m going to bring him up right after we thank our sponsor. 

SPONSOR Acorns [0:38]

How would you like to grow your wealth easier than you think with the change you probably don’t notice anyhow automatically? That’s why I started the compounding interest snowball investing with Acorns and advise you do too. Get started simply and easily today at EAInterviews.com/Acorns. 

Mario Fachini [0:55]

Here he is ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Logan Freeman. Logan, how are you doing today? 

Logan Freeman [1:01]

Man, I’m doing – I’m just doing well. Just so well-energized, thriving, and focused. Just really excited to be here today. 

Mario Fachini [1:08]

It is good to see you, my friend. You are just inspiring on so many different levels. And I can’t wait to hear you have overcome so much in so many different areas. Where do you find the motivation for it? 

Logan Freeman [1:24]

I would say that it starts with my why. And it starts with my core values. And the most important thing for me in my life is my faith, my family, and my fitness. And filtering all decisions through that is an easy way to stay internally motivated and inspired. I like that word inspired. It means in spirit. And I would say that focusing on those core values is what brings me to be the level of person that I am or, at least, strive to be on a regular basis. 

Mario Fachini [2:00]

Have you always been like this? Where were you – were – wow. Were you conditioned as a young kid to be like this? Or is this something you made a conscious effort in elementary, middle, high school, college, at some point? And how do you continue to keep going with it? 

Logan Freeman [2:20]

I think that as a young child, you know, I was labeled as one of those kids that had too much energy. And I kind of had that, I think, they called it ADD for a long time. And I probably did have some of that disorder. But with that being said, once that energy was transferred into the right direction, I’ve really been able to accomplish some incredible things. So as a young man, as a young boy, I definitely had a lot of energy that probably drove my mom and my dad crazy. And what I saw, growing up was just a really strong work ethic from my mom. And so that was instilled in me as a young boy. And at the age of 13-and-a-half, 14 years old, I started working. My mom really instilled in me that you need to work for everything that you get. And nobody is going to give you anything. And so I take that same mentality today. So I think that it’s a little bit of nature, but it’s also a lot of nurture in my respect. 

Mario Fachini [3:25]

Well, I’m glad you shared that because it reminds me of when I was, I’d say, 14, 15-ish, maybe early – I was 14 or 15-ish because I got it when I was 16. I asked mom and dad I go, “Can I have a wave runner?” I’ve always loved the water. I grew up on the water. And I I’ll never forget because I started my first company at 12. And they said, you can have anything in the world you want as long as you pay for it. And that may have been a clever way to be like, “Hey, it’s on you.” But I was like, “I can have anything I want?” 

Logan Freeman [4:03]

The floodgates were opened. 

Mario Fachini [4:04]

Absolutely. And I have never lost that. And it sounds like you had a lot of that same mentality of, you know, where do I want to channel this? So what did you do with 13 to channel it into something? 

Logan Freeman [4:16]

You know, I’m a Missouri boy. So I grew up in the heartland of Missouri. And what we did is farm and throw hay a lot of times. It’s kind of one of those jobs that nobody really wants to do. It’s hot. It’s dirty. It’s hard. And so being under 16 years old, I couldn’t necessarily go get a real job. But I convinced my mom and dad to let me go out in the fields and throw hay as a young guy. And then there was a catering business right down the road from my house. And I went up to them and I said, “Hey, guys. I’ll wash your dishes. I’ll sweep your floors. Mop, your floors. Whatever you need. I got a strong back and two good arms. And I’m young and ready to make some money.” And so I got a job at a catering business when I was 14 years old. And threw hay on the weekends. 

Mario Fachini [5:06]

Wow, how long did you do both of those for? 

Logan Freeman [5:08]

The hay business was actually good money because it was cash. And so you get paid at the end of the day, which was awesome. But it was also dictated on the weather. If it rained, you couldn’t go work. I actually got a good mentor at that catering business when I was 14. And I actually stayed there for close to ten years off and on. When I would come home for college and I’d work there in the summer. I did Hotel and Restaurant Management in my undergrad. And so I did my internship there. And so I spent a lot of time with them. It’s called Donita’s Cakes and Catering. And they instilled very good work ethic in me. And taught me how to fix problems for yourself and not just go to somebody for an answer all the time. So I go there from [3:30] after school until [8:30] and they were gone. You know, they were with their families. And I was the one that was there to – then I brought some friends in and started having my own crew there at the catering business. So I did it for quite some time. 

Mario Fachini [6:10]

Wow., That’s impressive. You’re bringing me back. Because I also got the cash. And when you’re 12, 13, 14, 15, again, I started my first business with lawn care maintenance, power washing, painting. Anything you could do that was a value add that was legal, moral, and ethical. Then, yeah, 20, 30, 40 bucks an hour cash in high school wasn’t horrible. 

Logan Freeman [6:32]

Yeah. It was great. Yeah. I started my first Roth IRA when I was 15. 

Mario Fachini [6:38]

I remember getting some money for stocks before I had a car. 

Logan Freeman [6:41]

That’s right. Yeah. 

Mario Fachini [6:42]

It was just like, you know, who does this? But it gave me that ability and it gave you the ability to just go, “We can do whatever for willing to work for it and add value.” And I’m also hearing – I wanted to ask you parlaying high school into college and the NFL. What was that journey like? It sounds like the hate might be part of it. 

Logan Freeman [7:05]

Well – 

Mario Fachini [7:06]

If you can throw those around. 

Logan Freeman [7:08]

That’s right. So, you know, I didn’t play football until I was a sophomore in high school. And I was a basketball player. I wanted to be in the NBA and play basketball. And I stopped growing at about six-feet-three-inches and realized that to be in the NBA, you need at least three or four more inches or need to be able to jump out of the roof. And so I couldn’t do that. And so the football guys and the coaches really got ahold of me and said, “Hey, hit the weight room. And we want you to come out for football next year”. And so I spent my whole freshman year playing basketball and lifting weights. And turned my amateur body into something that could parlay onto the football field. And added about 30 pounds worth of muscle and went and played football. And it was off to the races there. And I had a great career in high school. We got picked up by Division 2 school called the University of Central Missouri, who has a great football program. And that’s when the work ethic really started. I had some athletic talent, obviously. But where I outworked everybody else, it’s when they would leave to go back to the cafeteria or head back during the summer, I would stay out run, and I would lift , and I would study, and I would talk with the coaches, and I would run the drills and run the drills. And so that just really parlayed into becoming a team captain for a couple years, which was awesome. And then one day the the NFL scouts started coming. And I was going in early to watch my film, like I usually did. And my coach came over and said, “Hey, Logan. There’s some guys here to see you.” I said, “Yeah. I saw some scouts from this team and that team out there. Who are they here to see?” And they said, “They’re here to see you.” And I thought that was really cool. I had no idea. And they started coming and we started to talk. And I was able to get picked up as an undrafted free agent at the end of my senior year. And I went out for a couple months out to the Oakland Raiders. 

Mario Fachini [9:11]

Wow. That’s fantastic. Now, would you say that training made it easier once you got out of high school? Or was it the same because you were already at an accelerated level? Or did you just have to kick it up even another notch? 

Logan Freeman [9:26]

Yeah. I just kicked it up even another notch. For example, I was an offensive lineman. And so being an offensive lineman, you’re not supposed to be able to keep up with the linebackers and the tight ends. But I didn’t run with the offensive lineman. I ran with the linebackers in the tight ends and hit their time. So it was it was just straight hard work from that point forward. It was just conditioning my brain and my body to be able to take it up a next level when other folks would kind of clock out That’s whenever I saw blood in the water and I would just continue to ratchet it up. And that’s just was from training my mind and my body and putting it through a lot of stress. 

Mario Fachini [10:04]

Now, I’m hearing a lot of parallels for from an entrepreneurial standpoint. And I’m just going to tell you it’s a loaded question. Would you say that all helped you in business to be able to play at a high level entrepreneurially? 

Logan Freeman [10:17]

It absolutely did. And more emotionally than anything. When I got started running my own business, the personal and professional development I had learned by playing football but also reading all these books behind me and applying them set the foundational work for whatever that business was actually started. I read most of these books whenever I was working for a W2 job. And my wife would always ask, “Why are you reading all these books?” I say, “I’m preparing. I don’t know when the time is going to come. It doesn’t feel right yet. But when it does, I’m going to be ready.” And so I had all of this knowledge in this head, most of it on the emotional side of things, you know, emotional intelligence, focusing on what Tony Robbins teaches, and the other folks like that. But I mean, whenever I started my business it’s a peak and it’s a valley, it’s a peak and it’s a valley. And as a football player and an offensive lineman, you have to show up every single play. A wide receiver can take a playoff. A running back probably doesn’t have to be at their best at every single play. If you don’t block every single play, your quarterback gets smashed. And so they taught us to stay at a very straight level all of the time as an offensive lineman. I think as an entrepreneur, you can’t get caught up in the big wins. And you can’t get caught up in the big losses. And so making sure that I stay consistent showing up on a regular basis is extremely important. And it definitely set the foundation for being an entrepreneur for me. 

Mario Fachini [11:47]

I’m going to tell you that’s going to be one of the secrets to your new show, too, with the podcast. 

Logan Freeman [11:52]

Awesome. Yeah. 

Mario Fachini [11:54]

It’s not just with business, but I’ve noticed that the last hundred plus episodes. And it’s going to be a huge advantage for you. I can tell you that. 

Logan Freeman [12:03]

Absolutely.

Mario Fachini [12:06]

Tell me about what you’re doing in business now with Live Free Investments. Why did you want to get into the financial side of stuff? 

Logan Freeman [12:15]

So when I thought about launching this business, it actually was a consulting business first before it was a commercial real estate business. And I was fired from my W2 job. And when I was fired, I then called my wife. She knew I was getting fired. I knew I was getting fired. Nobody calls you at 6:00 a.m. in the morning and says, “Hey, we need to have a meeting.” So I took my my box with me and grabbed my books. That was the only thing they let me take with my books. And so I took my books with me and and head out. And I got home. And my wife said, “Check your inbox on your email.”  And so I did. And she had already started Live Freeman LLC, which is now my investment company. So I had support from my wife. And at that time, I didn’t really know what to do. I knew I could communicate. I knew I could sell. And I knew that selling and training salespeople was something that a lot of folks need help with. And so I picked up the Inc. 5000’s fastest growing companies. I called the first 500 of them. And thankfully, I didn’t have to call anymore. But that only took me about a week to call those people and research them. And I landed three full time sales clients that I was training their salespeople. I was flying to their conferences, pitching their products at their booths. I was setting up CRM systems. You name it, I was doing it. On the side, so to speak, I was also the head of acquisitions for a $50 million fund here in Kansas City. And I was completing over 10 to 12 transactions a month. And as any realtor would tell you, they’d be really happy to be doing that type of volume. And so when my wife took me on a walk that July she said, “Logan, it’s been incredible to watch what you’ve been able to do. You’re working a lot of hours, which is fine. I’m okay with that. But what you need to do is focus.” One of my wife’s top five strengths is being strategic. That’s not one of mine. And so she said, “You need to focus on one.” And I said, “Look, I really appreciate that. But I’m doing really well.” And she goes, “But you can do better.” And I was like, “Whoa. Okay.” And so that’s at the time, I remember I dissolved my sales consulting firm and took the real estate. And said, “Okay. How do you actually build a business around commercial real estate investing?” And that’s when I went full time into the investing side. I saw a specific niche that we can talk about if you want to that needed to be filled. But that’s kind of how the journey started. 

Mario Fachini [14:41]

What is that specific niche? 

Logan Freeman [14:44]

So I’ve always been on the buy side of transactions. And typically as a commercial real estate broker, which I am, you always want to have listings. And you want to be selling the apartment complex. You want to be selling that retail shopping center. And that’s all fine and dandy. But when I looked at the commercial real estate world, I knew that most folks buying real estate in Kansas City we’re not living in Kansas City. And if you know the transaction process, most of the time, these folks buy it from Phoenix, or California, New York, Miami, wherever they’re buying the real estate from their living. They don’t have a team. They don’t have relationships. And they’re not represented in these transactions. And so I saw a huge niche to step in as a consultant and say, “Let me be your representation. And I will open my own team up of commercial property managers, agents, lenders, financers, whatever you need.” And let me help solve those problems before you even know you have those problems. And so I’ve been representing buyers for the last four years here in the marketplace. And that’s been the big niche that I’ve fulfilled is helping out of state clients buy commercial real estate in Kansas City.

Mario Fachini [15:58]

That’s a huge value, add form because they don’t – I’ve heard of people flying in just to do a once over and sign the deal and everything. But that’s a huge value add when they don’t even need to do that. And they can have you as a trusted adviser. 

Logan Freeman [16:11]

Yes. And typically these folks are on what’s called a 1031 exchange, which means that there is a deadline. And there’s hard timelines that they’re on. And they, most of the time, are doctors, they’re software engineers, they’re folks that have full time jobs. So finding, underwriting, financing, doing the due diligence, that is all time that they have to take away from their W2 jobs that they might not be able to. So I’ve created a program, a five step process that I kind of work folks through that want to buy commercial real estate. And it largely starts with education. 

Mario Fachini [16:45]

That is huge. What would you say is the biggest transformation you’ve been able to give to one of them? 

Logan Freeman [16:51]

Well, one of the biggest transformations I’ve had for my clients is educating them about the tax benefits of real estate. And a lot of these guys and gals are super successful. And one of them might work and their spouse might stay at home. Well, I’m not a CPA. But I do have great CPA friends, who will back this statement up. There’s ways that you can get what’s called a qualified real estate professional status from the IRS. And that allows you to take passive losses on the income that you are creating, not only from your real estate investments, but from your W2 income. But you have to be materially participating 750 plus hours into the management of the that real estate portfolio. So I’ve been coaching my clients to figure out ways to become qualified real estate professional. For example, there was two physicians I was working with, and one of the physicians decided to actually take a step back from their practice and go part time in that practice. Because they did the calculations, if they just kept more of the income that they were already making, it was going to make them more money than them having to go work more and bring more income in from a tax bracket standpoint. So that’s been one of the biggest transformations that I’ve had. I’ve literally changed people’s lives, giving them time back to spend with their family. But additionally, just figuring out how to keep more of the income that they’re already making through commercial real estate. 

Mario Fachini [18:17]

Now that 750 hours, is that yearly? Or what’s the time period for it? 

Logan Freeman [18:22]

Yeah. It’s annually. And there’s a few different steps that you have to go through. And it’s outlined on the IRS website the different actions that you would have to take to actually do that. And so, again, not – 

Mario Fachini [18:39]

So about 15 hours a week, they need to be participating in it or more? 

Logan Freeman [18:43]

Yeah. Yeah. 

Mario Fachini [18:45]

That’s pretty cool. 

Logan Freeman [18:45]

Yeah. Yeah, it is. 

Mario Fachini [18:47]

It is doable. It’s not like an hour or two. But I mean, if you’re going to be making an extra quarter mil because of it. 

Logan Freeman [18:54]

Uh-huh.  And getting back a lot of time. Because actively managing your real estate, if it’s set up the right way, means having video calls, talking to property managers, approving tenants, you name it. Not stuff that materially makes you come visit the property on a weekly basis. 

Mario Fachini [19:14]

Yeah. I’m glad you’re sharing that with them. And it’s another form of leverage. And I’ve told people for close to a decade, there’s so much you can do with video cameras, microphones, the phone, the internet. I mean, you can conduct your business from a laptop anywhere in the world. 

Logan Freeman [19:29]

That’s right. That’s right. 

Mario Fachini [19:31]

And it’s been that way for, let’s just say, some time. I want to ask you what is the biggest success story from someone you’ve helped? 

Logan Freeman [19:42]

I would say my biggest success story is taking folks that want to get started into commercial real estate. And I take Stephen Covey’s approach with starting with the end in mind. Commercial real estate gives you five benefits. You can create income, depreciation, equity build up, appreciation, and leverage. And I walked them through those five kind of steps and benefits of commercial real estate. And then I asked them a simple question, “Out of those five, what’s most important to you?” And so taking somebody that would, maybe, want to go buy 25 single family homes per se. And I say, “Okay. Well, why do you want to buy those 25 homes?” And they say, “Well, the income, you know, this, this, and this. And I say, “Well, what if you had one roof and you were able to buy one building?” So my biggest success story is taking somebody from where they’re at, crushing those limiting beliefs, and then allowing them to see the bigger picture, and actually scale up faster. Because they’re able to put the right team in place. And one gentleman in particular told me that they really wanted to replace his W2 income. And I said, “Okay. Well, let’s break that down. We walk through the process of what that would actually entail.” How many doors he was going to need to be involved in. And instead of actively going out and buying commercial real estate, he was able to create a structure where he brought some friends and family. They put some money together and they were able to go do a larger transaction that got to that number faster by just breaking that limiting belief for him. And so that was a big success story for me. 

Logan Freeman [21:14]

Wow. That’s huge.  So it sounds like you see yourself doing this for the foreseeable future. You’re helping a ton of people. 

Logan Freeman [21:22]

What I love is to see that light bulb moment for somebody to say, “Oh, my gosh. This could change my life.” And I think the time that we’re in right now, more than ever, people are spending – their work life are commingled. And this is the best time in history to be thinking about ways that you don’t have to go back and put 60 hours into an office. And so I’ve really had a big passion, not only for about commercial real estate investing, because I invest in any other things other than real estate. I’m not just a real estate guy. It’s not the last thing that I I’m always talking about. But something that allows you to step away from your time. And you don’t have to trade time for dollars. And that mindset shift, when I see that happen with people, it is just like a lightbulb moment for them that gives me so much joy because then they’re texting, they’re calling, they’re emailing. And I’ve already been through the process, right? So I can help them along the way. But it’s just so fun to watch people set themselves up for success in that nature and give them more time to do what they truly are meant to do in life. And it’s not to go trade time for dollars, 80 hours a week at an office and travel every single week to miss out with time with their beautiful children and their husband or wife. So it’s just something that I’m very passionate about. 

Mario Fachini [22:46]

I love that. There’s so many people I’ve been telling people that for 20 plus years. And it’s like, the whole reason I started my company, you know, I just wanted to be able to control my calendar. That was it. It’s like you can make money doing 1,000,001 different things. And yeah, you have your passion, you have your hobbies, you have your this, you have your that. It’s like you can make – it probably stems back from what I heard when I was 14 or 15. It’s like you can have whatever you want as long as you pay for it. It’s like, “Well, what do you want then? “No one ever thinks that far. I don’t want to say that majority of people don’t think that far because they don’t think it’s possible. But like you said, the second you do, it’s like, “Where am I going to take this? And how much time do I got?” The rest of your life. 

Logan Freeman [23:30]

Yeah. Exactly. I mean, most people just need to feel like they can do it. And getting them from point A to point B, there’s a process there. But there’s one that I have followed and I can help folks get along faster. And just the vehicle I’m in is commercial real estate. It can be whatever vehicle you want. But that’s the one subject matter expert that I’m an expert in. So I’ve chosen to hang my horse with that vehicle. You can hang your horse with any other vehicle. But you need to make sure you can get from one point to the next. And that it’s been done before. Well, people have been doing real estate for a long time. 

Mario Fachini [24:09]

Yeah. It’s not going anywhere. And I have no doubt no matter what you do because of your work ethic and mindset, you’re going to be successful with it. But it sounds like commercial real estate is a good fit for now. And I appreciate for everything you’re sharing, tons of Expert Authority insights and it’s inspiring. 

Logan Freeman [24:29]

Well, thank you. Yeah. Hopefully, you can see that it’s changed my life. And the passion that I have for it, it bleeds through from my conversations. And it’s because I’m actually doing it. It’s not because I’m just reading a book and talking about it. That’s what I do on a regular basis. And commercial real estate is a place for people to live. It’s a place for their businesses. You’re helping the community, which is another big why for me, is to have a positive impact on the community and improve the community that I live in, that my children are going to grow up in. And so it’s creating this legacy alongside of financial freedom and education for people. And when all those things come together, it’s a motivating factor. 

Mario Fachini [25:16]

Well, it’s a good life to lead too. I mean, you’re knocking it off in all the boxes for – you know, you’re benefiting from it, your clients are benefiting, your family, and the generations to come. 

Logan Freeman [25:27]

Absolutely. 

Mario Fachini [25:29]

Well, I have one fun thing we’re going to do now. And I’m kind of thrilled about it. And I call it the Wheel of Whatever. We’re going to pretend there’s a bunch of questions on here. We’re in progress in perfect action. And it’s ending – and I just realized I need some way to have a little thing to see where it actually lands. I didn’t really get that far. But it’s yellow and black now and I think it looks cool. But I came up with the question already. 

Logan Freeman [25:59]

All right. Cool. 

Mario Fachini [26:00]

Oh, it’s stopping on that one. If you could talk to any entrepreneur in the world and have dinner with them, who would it be and why? And what would you ask them? 

Logan Freeman [26:17]

Wow. Any entrepreneur in the world? I would have to say it would be Tony Robbins. Tony and I have an interestingly, paralleled kind of upbringing. I lost my father to drugs and alcohol and addiction four or five years ago. He went through a similar scenario with his mother, I believe. And so I just love the fact that in recent events taking that out, I don’t have any comment on recent events around Tony Robbins. But the work, the inspiration, and the impact that he has had its uncomparable in my books. And so he went from being a guy that came from nothing. Just scraping dollars or pennies to go buy food to having some of the biggest impact in the world. The question that I would ask him is, “Tony, what would you do differently now knowing everything that you know 30 years ago?” And I’d love to hear what he would say. Because I think the answer to that question – and maybe he’s answered that question – I’m not really sure. But I think that the answer to that question would have so much golden nuggets involved in it that it would just be so insightful. So that’s who I would sit down with. And that’s probably the question that I would start with. 

Mario Fachini [27:46]

That’s a great question. And I will tell you, I would set a goal to have him on your show. 

Logan Freeman [27:55]

That is what Darren Hardy would call a big hairy audacious goal right there. 

Mario Fachini [28:00]

It’s totally realistic. I know people that know him personally. And I literally am thinking, what can I do to make that happen? Or you can actually ask him? I can’t promise anything. But you there’s nothing stopping you from having him on your show. 

Logan Freeman [28:16]

You’re absolutely right. You’re absolutely right. 

Mario Fachini [28:20]

That was a great question. You got me thinking. Wow. That’s my own doing. I’m like, “Yeah. This is going to be fun.” And now I’m like, “I want to dive deeper on here.” Okay. We’ll expand a little bit. Is there a second person? Or is there a second question you’d ask him? 

Logan Freeman [28:37]

Well, I can answer both of those. The second person that I would want to meet would have been Kobe Bryant. I admire Kobe’s work ethic. His mentality was second to none. Tim Grover wrote a book called – I’m hoping I could see it over here – maybe it was called Unstoppable. I don’t know what Tim Grover’s book was, but Tim was was Kobe’s physical and mental coach. And he talks about his cleaner mentality, which you have a cooler who’s kind of like your average Joe. You got a closer who’s a little bit better and will close the deal. Then you have a cleaner, who stops at nothing. And you see Michael Jordan coming through, he’s a cleaner. Dwyane Wade was a cleaner. LeBron is not a cleaner. Kobe was a cleaner. And so I would love to sit down with Kobe Bryant. I was in California, in Los Angeles, in the mountains when his helicopter went down. So that was near and dear to my heart. And I don’t know the question I would ask Kobe. I would ask Kobe maybe just something around the tenants of how has that mindset shifted? And how did you create that mind shift? And what process did you go through? And I think that that’s probably what I’d love to start with with Kobe. If I had to ask Tony a second question, I would say, “Tony, where do you think the big opportunity is in the next 20 years? Somebody who is physically and mentally coached so many people, like Bill Clinton Andre Agassi, all of these high level folks. When he was young, he was my age coaching presidents, which is incredible. But I would say, “Hey, where do you think the industry – the world is going? And I would ask him, “What’s the biggest problem you foresee having or America or United States or the world having in the next 20 years?” And I probably go try to build a business around solving that problem. 

Mario Fachini [30:49]

Wow. We could expand on this a whole lot more. 

Logan Freeman [30:52]

Well, these are the type of questions that I never get. And then I absolutely love going into. 

Mario Fachini [30:59]

All right. Well, you’re definitely not going out of the park. We’re going to thank our sponsor and we’re going to come back for some more fun with the Imperfect Action Round. 

SPONSOR Acorns [31:07]

Invest automatically, save for later, and spend today. That’s why I love Acorns. I used to think spare change didn’t make a difference. And saving and investing was an old fashioned manual process. It’s not. And it’s a game changer. If you’re not leveraging compounding interest in your business in life, automatically, you’re missing out. Acorns not only makes saving and investing easy and automatic. It makes it even more valuable by investing with diversified portfolios, spare change, extra cash, and rounding up everyday transactions. You can even set recurring monthly investments in the amount you desire. To make good great, there’s also a debit card option that will continue to help you save and invest even further when you spend. Plus, no minimum balance and overdraft fees. Now, for the cherry on top. They have partnered with 250 plus companies and brands, and growing, with their Found Money program to invest back a percentage into your account with the everyday purchases when you shop. Two of which, you’re probably listening to this right now through an Amazon or Apple device. Get Started profiting from your everyday life and business simply and easily today at EAInterviews.com/Acorns.  Once again, that’s EAInterviews.com/Acorns. 

Mario Fachini [32:20]

Intro [0:00]

EA Interviews Episode 166. 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 [0:14]

Expert Authority World, I am beyond excited to have Logan Freeman here today. Former NFL star. He started Live Free Investments. He started a nonprofit. And he has a brand new podcast. And he’s going to be sharing with us. And I want to hear just as much as you do how he went from breakdown to breakthrough. I’m going to bring him up right after we thank our sponsor. 

SPONSOR Acorns [0:38]

How would you like to grow your wealth easier than you think with the change you probably don’t notice anyhow automatically? That’s why I started the compounding interest snowball investing with Acorns and advise you do too. Get started simply and easily today at EAInterviews.com/Acorns. 

Mario Fachini [0:55]

Here he is ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Logan Freeman. Logan, how are you doing today? 

Logan Freeman [1:01]

Man, I’m doing – I’m just doing well. Just so well-energized, thriving, and focused. Just really excited to be here today. 

Mario Fachini [1:08]

It is good to see you, my friend. You are just inspiring on so many different levels. And I can’t wait to hear you have overcome so much in so many different areas. Where do you find the motivation for it? 

Logan Freeman [1:24]

I would say that it starts with my why. And it starts with my core values. And the most important thing for me in my life is my faith, my family, and my fitness. And filtering all decisions through that is an easy way to stay internally motivated and inspired. I like that word inspired. It means in spirit. And I would say that focusing on those core values is what brings me to be the level of person that I am or, at least, strive to be on a regular basis. 

Mario Fachini [2:00]

Have you always been like this? Where were you – were – wow. Were you conditioned as a young kid to be like this? Or is this something you made a conscious effort in elementary, middle, high school, college, at some point? And how do you continue to keep going with it? 

Logan Freeman [2:20]

I think that as a young child, you know, I was labeled as one of those kids that had too much energy. And I kind of had that, I think, they called it ADD for a long time. And I probably did have some of that disorder. But with that being said, once that energy was transferred into the right direction, I’ve really been able to accomplish some incredible things. So as a young man, as a young boy, I definitely had a lot of energy that probably drove my mom and my dad crazy. And what I saw, growing up was just a really strong work ethic from my mom. And so that was instilled in me as a young boy. And at the age of 13-and-a-half, 14 years old, I started working. My mom really instilled in me that you need to work for everything that you get. And nobody is going to give you anything. And so I take that same mentality today. So I think that it’s a little bit of nature, but it’s also a lot of nurture in my respect. 

Mario Fachini [3:25]

Well, I’m glad you shared that because it reminds me of when I was, I’d say, 14, 15-ish, maybe early – I was 14 or 15-ish because I got it when I was 16. I asked mom and dad I go, “Can I have a wave runner?” I’ve always loved the water. I grew up on the water. And I I’ll never forget because I started my first company at 12. And they said, you can have anything in the world you want as long as you pay for it. And that may have been a clever way to be like, “Hey, it’s on you.” But I was like, “I can have anything I want?” 

Logan Freeman [4:03]

The floodgates were opened. 

Mario Fachini [4:04]

Absolutely. And I have never lost that. And it sounds like you had a lot of that same mentality of, you know, where do I want to channel this? So what did you do with 13 to channel it into something? 

Logan Freeman [4:16]

You know, I’m a Missouri boy. So I grew up in the heartland of Missouri. And what we did is farm and throw hay a lot of times. It’s kind of one of those jobs that nobody really wants to do. It’s hot. It’s dirty. It’s hard. And so being under 16 years old, I couldn’t necessarily go get a real job. But I convinced my mom and dad to let me go out in the fields and throw hay as a young guy. And then there was a catering business right down the road from my house. And I went up to them and I said, “Hey, guys. I’ll wash your dishes. I’ll sweep your floors. Mop, your floors. Whatever you need. I got a strong back and two good arms. And I’m young and ready to make some money.” And so I got a job at a catering business when I was 14 years old. And threw hay on the weekends. 

Mario Fachini [5:06]

Wow, how long did you do both of those for? 

Logan Freeman [5:08]

The hay business was actually good money because it was cash. And so you get paid at the end of the day, which was awesome. But it was also dictated on the weather. If it rained, you couldn’t go work. I actually got a good mentor at that catering business when I was 14. And I actually stayed there for close to ten years off and on. When I would come home for college and I’d work there in the summer. I did Hotel and Restaurant Management in my undergrad. And so I did my internship there. And so I spent a lot of time with them. It’s called Donita’s Cakes and Catering. And they instilled very good work ethic in me. And taught me how to fix problems for yourself and not just go to somebody for an answer all the time. So I go there from [3:30] after school until [8:30] and they were gone. You know, they were with their families. And I was the one that was there to – then I brought some friends in and started having my own crew there at the catering business. So I did it for quite some time. 

Mario Fachini [6:10]

Wow., That’s impressive. You’re bringing me back. Because I also got the cash. And when you’re 12, 13, 14, 15, again, I started my first business with lawn care maintenance, power washing, painting. Anything you could do that was a value add that was legal, moral, and ethical. Then, yeah, 20, 30, 40 bucks an hour cash in high school wasn’t horrible. 

Logan Freeman [6:32]

Yeah. It was great. Yeah. I started my first Roth IRA when I was 15. 

Mario Fachini [6:38]

I remember getting some money for stocks before I had a car. 

Logan Freeman [6:41]

That’s right. Yeah. 

Mario Fachini [6:42]

It was just like, you know, who does this? But it gave me that ability and it gave you the ability to just go, “We can do whatever for willing to work for it and add value.” And I’m also hearing – I wanted to ask you parlaying high school into college and the NFL. What was that journey like? It sounds like the hate might be part of it. 

Logan Freeman [7:05]

Well – 

Mario Fachini [7:06]

If you can throw those around. 

Logan Freeman [7:08]

That’s right. So, you know, I didn’t play football until I was a sophomore in high school. And I was a basketball player. I wanted to be in the NBA and play basketball. And I stopped growing at about six-feet-three-inches and realized that to be in the NBA, you need at least three or four more inches or need to be able to jump out of the roof. And so I couldn’t do that. And so the football guys and the coaches really got ahold of me and said, “Hey, hit the weight room. And we want you to come out for football next year”. And so I spent my whole freshman year playing basketball and lifting weights. And turned my amateur body into something that could parlay onto the football field. And added about 30 pounds worth of muscle and went and played football. And it was off to the races there. And I had a great career in high school. We got picked up by Division 2 school called the University of Central Missouri, who has a great football program. And that’s when the work ethic really started. I had some athletic talent, obviously. But where I outworked everybody else, it’s when they would leave to go back to the cafeteria or head back during the summer, I would stay out run, and I would lift , and I would study, and I would talk with the coaches, and I would run the drills and run the drills. And so that just really parlayed into becoming a team captain for a couple years, which was awesome. And then one day the the NFL scouts started coming. And I was going in early to watch my film, like I usually did. And my coach came over and said, “Hey, Logan. There’s some guys here to see you.” I said, “Yeah. I saw some scouts from this team and that team out there. Who are they here to see?” And they said, “They’re here to see you.” And I thought that was really cool. I had no idea. And they started coming and we started to talk. And I was able to get picked up as an undrafted free agent at the end of my senior year. And I went out for a couple months out to the Oakland Raiders. 

Mario Fachini [9:11]

Wow. That’s fantastic. Now, would you say that training made it easier once you got out of high school? Or was it the same because you were already at an accelerated level? Or did you just have to kick it up even another notch? 

Logan Freeman [9:26]

Yeah. I just kicked it up even another notch. For example, I was an offensive lineman. And so being an offensive lineman, you’re not supposed to be able to keep up with the linebackers and the tight ends. But I didn’t run with the offensive lineman. I ran with the linebackers in the tight ends and hit their time. So it was it was just straight hard work from that point forward. It was just conditioning my brain and my body to be able to take it up a next level when other folks would kind of clock out That’s whenever I saw blood in the water and I would just continue to ratchet it up. And that’s just was from training my mind and my body and putting it through a lot of stress. 

Mario Fachini [10:04]

Now, I’m hearing a lot of parallels for from an entrepreneurial standpoint. And I’m just going to tell you it’s a loaded question. Would you say that all helped you in business to be able to play at a high level entrepreneurially? 

Logan Freeman [10:17]

It absolutely did. And more emotionally than anything. When I got started running my own business, the personal and professional development I had learned by playing football but also reading all these books behind me and applying them set the foundational work for whatever that business was actually started. I read most of these books whenever I was working for a W2 job. And my wife would always ask, “Why are you reading all these books?” I say, “I’m preparing. I don’t know when the time is going to come. It doesn’t feel right yet. But when it does, I’m going to be ready.” And so I had all of this knowledge in this head, most of it on the emotional side of things, you know, emotional intelligence, focusing on what Tony Robbins teaches, and the other folks like that. But I mean, whenever I started my business it’s a peak and it’s a valley, it’s a peak and it’s a valley. And as a football player and an offensive lineman, you have to show up every single play. A wide receiver can take a playoff. A running back probably doesn’t have to be at their best at every single play. If you don’t block every single play, your quarterback gets smashed. And so they taught us to stay at a very straight level all of the time as an offensive lineman. I think as an entrepreneur, you can’t get caught up in the big wins. And you can’t get caught up in the big losses. And so making sure that I stay consistent showing up on a regular basis is extremely important. And it definitely set the foundation for being an entrepreneur for me. 

Mario Fachini [11:47]

I’m going to tell you that’s going to be one of the secrets to your new show, too, with the podcast. 

Logan Freeman [11:52]

Awesome. Yeah. 

Mario Fachini [11:54]

It’s not just with business, but I’ve noticed that the last hundred plus episodes. And it’s going to be a huge advantage for you. I can tell you that. 

Logan Freeman [12:03]

Absolutely.

Mario Fachini [12:06]

Tell me about what you’re doing in business now with Live Free Investments. Why did you want to get into the financial side of stuff? 

Logan Freeman [12:15]

So when I thought about launching this business, it actually was a consulting business first before it was a commercial real estate business. And I was fired from my W2 job. And when I was fired, I then called my wife. She knew I was getting fired. I knew I was getting fired. Nobody calls you at 6:00 a.m. in the morning and says, “Hey, we need to have a meeting.” So I took my my box with me and grabbed my books. That was the only thing they let me take with my books. And so I took my books with me and and head out. And I got home. And my wife said, “Check your inbox on your email.”  And so I did. And she had already started Live Freeman LLC, which is now my investment company. So I had support from my wife. And at that time, I didn’t really know what to do. I knew I could communicate. I knew I could sell. And I knew that selling and training salespeople was something that a lot of folks need help with. And so I picked up the Inc. 5000’s fastest growing companies. I called the first 500 of them. And thankfully, I didn’t have to call anymore. But that only took me about a week to call those people and research them. And I landed three full time sales clients that I was training their salespeople. I was flying to their conferences, pitching their products at their booths. I was setting up CRM systems. You name it, I was doing it. On the side, so to speak, I was also the head of acquisitions for a $50 million fund here in Kansas City. And I was completing over 10 to 12 transactions a month. And as any realtor would tell you, they’d be really happy to be doing that type of volume. And so when my wife took me on a walk that July she said, “Logan, it’s been incredible to watch what you’ve been able to do. You’re working a lot of hours, which is fine. I’m okay with that. But what you need to do is focus.” One of my wife’s top five strengths is being strategic. That’s not one of mine. And so she said, “You need to focus on one.” And I said, “Look, I really appreciate that. But I’m doing really well.” And she goes, “But you can do better.” And I was like, “Whoa. Okay.” And so that’s at the time, I remember I dissolved my sales consulting firm and took the real estate. And said, “Okay. How do you actually build a business around commercial real estate investing?” And that’s when I went full time into the investing side. I saw a specific niche that we can talk about if you want to that needed to be filled. But that’s kind of how the journey started. 

Mario Fachini [14:41]

What is that specific niche? 

Logan Freeman [14:44]

So I’ve always been on the buy side of transactions. And typically as a commercial real estate broker, which I am, you always want to have listings. And you want to be selling the apartment complex. You want to be selling that retail shopping center. And that’s all fine and dandy. But when I looked at the commercial real estate world, I knew that most folks buying real estate in Kansas City we’re not living in Kansas City. And if you know the transaction process, most of the time, these folks buy it from Phoenix, or California, New York, Miami, wherever they’re buying the real estate from their living. They don’t have a team. They don’t have relationships. And they’re not represented in these transactions. And so I saw a huge niche to step in as a consultant and say, “Let me be your representation. And I will open my own team up of commercial property managers, agents, lenders, financers, whatever you need.” And let me help solve those problems before you even know you have those problems. And so I’ve been representing buyers for the last four years here in the marketplace. And that’s been the big niche that I’ve fulfilled is helping out of state clients buy commercial real estate in Kansas City.

Mario Fachini [15:58]

That’s a huge value, add form because they don’t – I’ve heard of people flying in just to do a once over and sign the deal and everything. But that’s a huge value add when they don’t even need to do that. And they can have you as a trusted adviser. 

Logan Freeman [16:11]

Yes. And typically these folks are on what’s called a 1031 exchange, which means that there is a deadline. And there’s hard timelines that they’re on. And they, most of the time, are doctors, they’re software engineers, they’re folks that have full time jobs. So finding, underwriting, financing, doing the due diligence, that is all time that they have to take away from their W2 jobs that they might not be able to. So I’ve created a program, a five step process that I kind of work folks through that want to buy commercial real estate. And it largely starts with education. 

Mario Fachini [16:45]

That is huge. What would you say is the biggest transformation you’ve been able to give to one of them? 

Logan Freeman [16:51]

Well, one of the biggest transformations I’ve had for my clients is educating them about the tax benefits of real estate. And a lot of these guys and gals are super successful. And one of them might work and their spouse might stay at home. Well, I’m not a CPA. But I do have great CPA friends, who will back this statement up. There’s ways that you can get what’s called a qualified real estate professional status from the IRS. And that allows you to take passive losses on the income that you are creating, not only from your real estate investments, but from your W2 income. But you have to be materially participating 750 plus hours into the management of the that real estate portfolio. So I’ve been coaching my clients to figure out ways to become qualified real estate professional. For example, there was two physicians I was working with, and one of the physicians decided to actually take a step back from their practice and go part time in that practice. Because they did the calculations, if they just kept more of the income that they were already making, it was going to make them more money than them having to go work more and bring more income in from a tax bracket standpoint. So that’s been one of the biggest transformations that I’ve had. I’ve literally changed people’s lives, giving them time back to spend with their family. But additionally, just figuring out how to keep more of the income that they’re already making through commercial real estate. 

Mario Fachini [18:17]

Now that 750 hours, is that yearly? Or what’s the time period for it? 

Logan Freeman [18:22]

Yeah. It’s annually. And there’s a few different steps that you have to go through. And it’s outlined on the IRS website the different actions that you would have to take to actually do that. And so, again, not – 

Mario Fachini [18:39]

So about 15 hours a week, they need to be participating in it or more? 

Logan Freeman [18:43]

Yeah. Yeah. 

Mario Fachini [18:45]

That’s pretty cool. 

Logan Freeman [18:45]

Yeah. Yeah, it is. 

Mario Fachini [18:47]

It is doable. It’s not like an hour or two. But I mean, if you’re going to be making an extra quarter mil because of it. 

Logan Freeman [18:54]

Uh-huh.  And getting back a lot of time. Because actively managing your real estate, if it’s set up the right way, means having video calls, talking to property managers, approving tenants, you name it. Not stuff that materially makes you come visit the property on a weekly basis. 

Mario Fachini [19:14]

Yeah. I’m glad you’re sharing that with them. And it’s another form of leverage. And I’ve told people for close to a decade, there’s so much you can do with video cameras, microphones, the phone, the internet. I mean, you can conduct your business from a laptop anywhere in the world. 

Logan Freeman [19:29]

That’s right. That’s right. 

Mario Fachini [19:31]

And it’s been that way for, let’s just say, some time. I want to ask you what is the biggest success story from someone you’ve helped? 

Logan Freeman [19:42]

I would say my biggest success story is taking folks that want to get started into commercial real estate. And I take Stephen Covey’s approach with starting with the end in mind. Commercial real estate gives you five benefits. You can create income, depreciation, equity build up, appreciation, and leverage. And I walked them through those five kind of steps and benefits of commercial real estate. And then I asked them a simple question, “Out of those five, what’s most important to you?” And so taking somebody that would, maybe, want to go buy 25 single family homes per se. And I say, “Okay. Well, why do you want to buy those 25 homes?” And they say, “Well, the income, you know, this, this, and this. And I say, “Well, what if you had one roof and you were able to buy one building?” So my biggest success story is taking somebody from where they’re at, crushing those limiting beliefs, and then allowing them to see the bigger picture, and actually scale up faster. Because they’re able to put the right team in place. And one gentleman in particular told me that they really wanted to replace his W2 income. And I said, “Okay. Well, let’s break that down. We walk through the process of what that would actually entail.” How many doors he was going to need to be involved in. And instead of actively going out and buying commercial real estate, he was able to create a structure where he brought some friends and family. They put some money together and they were able to go do a larger transaction that got to that number faster by just breaking that limiting belief for him. And so that was a big success story for me. 

Logan Freeman [21:14]

Wow. That’s huge.  So it sounds like you see yourself doing this for the foreseeable future. You’re helping a ton of people. 

Logan Freeman [21:22]

What I love is to see that light bulb moment for somebody to say, “Oh, my gosh. This could change my life.” And I think the time that we’re in right now, more than ever, people are spending – their work life are commingled. And this is the best time in history to be thinking about ways that you don’t have to go back and put 60 hours into an office. And so I’ve really had a big passion, not only for about commercial real estate investing, because I invest in any other things other than real estate. I’m not just a real estate guy. It’s not the last thing that I I’m always talking about. But something that allows you to step away from your time. And you don’t have to trade time for dollars. And that mindset shift, when I see that happen with people, it is just like a lightbulb moment for them that gives me so much joy because then they’re texting, they’re calling, they’re emailing. And I’ve already been through the process, right? So I can help them along the way. But it’s just so fun to watch people set themselves up for success in that nature and give them more time to do what they truly are meant to do in life. And it’s not to go trade time for dollars, 80 hours a week at an office and travel every single week to miss out with time with their beautiful children and their husband or wife. So it’s just something that I’m very passionate about. 

Mario Fachini [22:46]

I love that. There’s so many people I’ve been telling people that for 20 plus years. And it’s like, the whole reason I started my company, you know, I just wanted to be able to control my calendar. That was it. It’s like you can make money doing 1,000,001 different things. And yeah, you have your passion, you have your hobbies, you have your this, you have your that. It’s like you can make – it probably stems back from what I heard when I was 14 or 15. It’s like you can have whatever you want as long as you pay for it. It’s like, “Well, what do you want then? “No one ever thinks that far. I don’t want to say that majority of people don’t think that far because they don’t think it’s possible. But like you said, the second you do, it’s like, “Where am I going to take this? And how much time do I got?” The rest of your life. 

Logan Freeman [23:30]

Yeah. Exactly. I mean, most people just need to feel like they can do it. And getting them from point A to point B, there’s a process there. But there’s one that I have followed and I can help folks get along faster. And just the vehicle I’m in is commercial real estate. It can be whatever vehicle you want. But that’s the one subject matter expert that I’m an expert in. So I’ve chosen to hang my horse with that vehicle. You can hang your horse with any other vehicle. But you need to make sure you can get from one point to the next. And that it’s been done before. Well, people have been doing real estate for a long time. 

Mario Fachini [24:09]

Yeah. It’s not going anywhere. And I have no doubt no matter what you do because of your work ethic and mindset, you’re going to be successful with it. But it sounds like commercial real estate is a good fit for now. And I appreciate for everything you’re sharing, tons of Expert Authority insights and it’s inspiring. 

Logan Freeman [24:29]

Well, thank you. Yeah. Hopefully, you can see that it’s changed my life. And the passion that I have for it, it bleeds through from my conversations. And it’s because I’m actually doing it. It’s not because I’m just reading a book and talking about it. That’s what I do on a regular basis. And commercial real estate is a place for people to live. It’s a place for their businesses. You’re helping the community, which is another big why for me, is to have a positive impact on the community and improve the community that I live in, that my children are going to grow up in. And so it’s creating this legacy alongside of financial freedom and education for people. And when all those things come together, it’s a motivating factor. 

Mario Fachini [25:16]

Well, it’s a good life to lead too. I mean, you’re knocking it off in all the boxes for – you know, you’re benefiting from it, your clients are benefiting, your family, and the generations to come. 

Logan Freeman [25:27]

Absolutely. 

Mario Fachini [25:29]

Well, I have one fun thing we’re going to do now. And I’m kind of thrilled about it. And I call it the Wheel of Whatever. We’re going to pretend there’s a bunch of questions on here. We’re in progress in perfect action. And it’s ending – and I just realized I need some way to have a little thing to see where it actually lands. I didn’t really get that far. But it’s yellow and black now and I think it looks cool. But I came up with the question already. 

Logan Freeman [25:59]

All right. Cool. 

Mario Fachini [26:00]

Oh, it’s stopping on that one. If you could talk to any entrepreneur in the world and have dinner with them, who would it be and why? And what would you ask them? 

Logan Freeman [26:17]

Wow. Any entrepreneur in the world? I would have to say it would be Tony Robbins. Tony and I have an interestingly, paralleled kind of upbringing. I lost my father to drugs and alcohol and addiction four or five years ago. He went through a similar scenario with his mother, I believe. And so I just love the fact that in recent events taking that out, I don’t have any comment on recent events around Tony Robbins. But the work, the inspiration, and the impact that he has had its uncomparable in my books. And so he went from being a guy that came from nothing. Just scraping dollars or pennies to go buy food to having some of the biggest impact in the world. The question that I would ask him is, “Tony, what would you do differently now knowing everything that you know 30 years ago?” And I’d love to hear what he would say. Because I think the answer to that question – and maybe he’s answered that question – I’m not really sure. But I think that the answer to that question would have so much golden nuggets involved in it that it would just be so insightful. So that’s who I would sit down with. And that’s probably the question that I would start with. 

Mario Fachini [27:46]

That’s a great question. And I will tell you, I would set a goal to have him on your show. 

Logan Freeman [27:55]

That is what Darren Hardy would call a big hairy audacious goal right there. 

Mario Fachini [28:00]

It’s totally realistic. I know people that know him personally. And I literally am thinking, what can I do to make that happen? Or you can actually ask him? I can’t promise anything. But you there’s nothing stopping you from having him on your show. 

Logan Freeman [28:16]

You’re absolutely right. You’re absolutely right. 

Mario Fachini [28:20]

That was a great question. You got me thinking. Wow. That’s my own doing. I’m like, “Yeah. This is going to be fun.” And now I’m like, “I want to dive deeper on here.” Okay. We’ll expand a little bit. Is there a second person? Or is there a second question you’d ask him? 

Logan Freeman [28:37]

Well, I can answer both of those. The second person that I would want to meet would have been Kobe Bryant. I admire Kobe’s work ethic. His mentality was second to none. Tim Grover wrote a book called – I’m hoping I could see it over here – maybe it was called Unstoppable. I don’t know what Tim Grover’s book was, but Tim was was Kobe’s physical and mental coach. And he talks about his cleaner mentality, which you have a cooler who’s kind of like your average Joe. You got a closer who’s a little bit better and will close the deal. Then you have a cleaner, who stops at nothing. And you see Michael Jordan coming through, he’s a cleaner. Dwyane Wade was a cleaner. LeBron is not a cleaner. Kobe was a cleaner. And so I would love to sit down with Kobe Bryant. I was in California, in Los Angeles, in the mountains when his helicopter went down. So that was near and dear to my heart. And I don’t know the question I would ask Kobe. I would ask Kobe maybe just something around the tenants of how has that mindset shifted? And how did you create that mind shift? And what process did you go through? And I think that that’s probably what I’d love to start with with Kobe. If I had to ask Tony a second question, I would say, “Tony, where do you think the big opportunity is in the next 20 years? Somebody who is physically and mentally coached so many people, like Bill Clinton Andre Agassi, all of these high level folks. When he was young, he was my age coaching presidents, which is incredible. But I would say, “Hey, where do you think the industry – the world is going? And I would ask him, “What’s the biggest problem you foresee having or America or United States or the world having in the next 20 years?” And I probably go try to build a business around solving that problem. 

Mario Fachini [30:49]

Wow. We could expand on this a whole lot more. 

Logan Freeman [30:52]

Well, these are the type of questions that I never get. And then I absolutely love going into. 

Mario Fachini [30:59]

All right. Well, you’re definitely not going out of the park. We’re going to thank our sponsor and we’re going to come back for some more fun with the Imperfect Action Round. 

SPONSOR Acorns [31:07]

Invest automatically, save for later, and spend today. That’s why I love Acorns. I used to think spare change didn’t make a difference. And saving and investing was an old fashioned manual process. It’s not. And it’s a game changer. If you’re not leveraging compounding interest in your business in life, automatically, you’re missing out. Acorns not only makes saving and investing easy and automatic. It makes it even more valuable by investing with diversified portfolios, spare change, extra cash, and rounding up everyday transactions. You can even set recurring monthly investments in the amount you desire. To make good great, there’s also a debit card option that will continue to help you save and invest even further when you spend. Plus, no minimum balance and overdraft fees. Now, for the cherry on top. They have partnered with 250 plus companies and brands, and growing, with their Found Money program to invest back a percentage into your account with the everyday purchases when you shop. Two of which, you’re probably listening to this right now through an Amazon or Apple device. Get Started profiting from your everyday life and business simply and easily today at EAInterviews.com/Acorns.  Once again, that’s EAInterviews.com/Acorns. 

Mario Fachini [32:20]

Intro [0:00]

EA Interviews Episode 166. 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 [0:14]

Expert Authority World, I am beyond excited to have Logan Freeman here today. Former NFL star. He started Live Free Investments. He started a nonprofit. And he has a brand new podcast. And he’s going to be sharing with us. And I want to hear just as much as you do how he went from breakdown to breakthrough. I’m going to bring him up right after we thank our sponsor. 

SPONSOR Acorns [0:38]

How would you like to grow your wealth easier than you think with the change you probably don’t notice anyhow automatically? That’s why I started the compounding interest snowball investing with Acorns and advise you do too. Get started simply and easily today at EAInterviews.com/Acorns. 

Mario Fachini [0:55]

Here he is ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Logan Freeman. Logan, how are you doing today? 

Logan Freeman [1:01]

Man, I’m doing – I’m just doing well. Just so well-energized, thriving, and focused. Just really excited to be here today. 

Mario Fachini [1:08]

It is good to see you, my friend. You are just inspiring on so many different levels. And I can’t wait to hear you have overcome so much in so many different areas. Where do you find the motivation for it? 

Logan Freeman [1:24]

I would say that it starts with my why. And it starts with my core values. And the most important thing for me in my life is my faith, my family, and my fitness. And filtering all decisions through that is an easy way to stay internally motivated and inspired. I like that word inspired. It means in spirit. And I would say that focusing on those core values is what brings me to be the level of person that I am or, at least, strive to be on a regular basis. 

Mario Fachini [2:00]

Have you always been like this? Where were you – were – wow. Were you conditioned as a young kid to be like this? Or is this something you made a conscious effort in elementary, middle, high school, college, at some point? And how do you continue to keep going with it? 

Logan Freeman [2:20]

I think that as a young child, you know, I was labeled as one of those kids that had too much energy. And I kind of had that, I think, they called it ADD for a long time. And I probably did have some of that disorder. But with that being said, once that energy was transferred into the right direction, I’ve really been able to accomplish some incredible things. So as a young man, as a young boy, I definitely had a lot of energy that probably drove my mom and my dad crazy. And what I saw, growing up was just a really strong work ethic from my mom. And so that was instilled in me as a young boy. And at the age of 13-and-a-half, 14 years old, I started working. My mom really instilled in me that you need to work for everything that you get. And nobody is going to give you anything. And so I take that same mentality today. So I think that it’s a little bit of nature, but it’s also a lot of nurture in my respect. 

Mario Fachini [3:25]

Well, I’m glad you shared that because it reminds me of when I was, I’d say, 14, 15-ish, maybe early – I was 14 or 15-ish because I got it when I was 16. I asked mom and dad I go, “Can I have a wave runner?” I’ve always loved the water. I grew up on the water. And I I’ll never forget because I started my first company at 12. And they said, you can have anything in the world you want as long as you pay for it. And that may have been a clever way to be like, “Hey, it’s on you.” But I was like, “I can have anything I want?” 

Logan Freeman [4:03]

The floodgates were opened. 

Mario Fachini [4:04]

Absolutely. And I have never lost that. And it sounds like you had a lot of that same mentality of, you know, where do I want to channel this? So what did you do with 13 to channel it into something? 

Logan Freeman [4:16]

You know, I’m a Missouri boy. So I grew up in the heartland of Missouri. And what we did is farm and throw hay a lot of times. It’s kind of one of those jobs that nobody really wants to do. It’s hot. It’s dirty. It’s hard. And so being under 16 years old, I couldn’t necessarily go get a real job. But I convinced my mom and dad to let me go out in the fields and throw hay as a young guy. And then there was a catering business right down the road from my house. And I went up to them and I said, “Hey, guys. I’ll wash your dishes. I’ll sweep your floors. Mop, your floors. Whatever you need. I got a strong back and two good arms. And I’m young and ready to make some money.” And so I got a job at a catering business when I was 14 years old. And threw hay on the weekends. 

Mario Fachini [5:06]

Wow, how long did you do both of those for? 

Logan Freeman [5:08]

The hay business was actually good money because it was cash. And so you get paid at the end of the day, which was awesome. But it was also dictated on the weather. If it rained, you couldn’t go work. I actually got a good mentor at that catering business when I was 14. And I actually stayed there for close to ten years off and on. When I would come home for college and I’d work there in the summer. I did Hotel and Restaurant Management in my undergrad. And so I did my internship there. And so I spent a lot of time with them. It’s called Donita’s Cakes and Catering. And they instilled very good work ethic in me. And taught me how to fix problems for yourself and not just go to somebody for an answer all the time. So I go there from [3:30] after school until [8:30] and they were gone. You know, they were with their families. And I was the one that was there to – then I brought some friends in and started having my own crew there at the catering business. So I did it for quite some time. 

Mario Fachini [6:10]

Wow., That’s impressive. You’re bringing me back. Because I also got the cash. And when you’re 12, 13, 14, 15, again, I started my first business with lawn care maintenance, power washing, painting. Anything you could do that was a value add that was legal, moral, and ethical. Then, yeah, 20, 30, 40 bucks an hour cash in high school wasn’t horrible. 

Logan Freeman [6:32]

Yeah. It was great. Yeah. I started my first Roth IRA when I was 15. 

Mario Fachini [6:38]

I remember getting some money for stocks before I had a car. 

Logan Freeman [6:41]

That’s right. Yeah. 

Mario Fachini [6:42]

It was just like, you know, who does this? But it gave me that ability and it gave you the ability to just go, “We can do whatever for willing to work for it and add value.” And I’m also hearing – I wanted to ask you parlaying high school into college and the NFL. What was that journey like? It sounds like the hate might be part of it. 

Logan Freeman [7:05]

Well – 

Mario Fachini [7:06]

If you can throw those around. 

Logan Freeman [7:08]

That’s right. So, you know, I didn’t play football until I was a sophomore in high school. And I was a basketball player. I wanted to be in the NBA and play basketball. And I stopped growing at about six-feet-three-inches and realized that to be in the NBA, you need at least three or four more inches or need to be able to jump out of the roof. And so I couldn’t do that. And so the football guys and the coaches really got ahold of me and said, “Hey, hit the weight room. And we want you to come out for football next year”. And so I spent my whole freshman year playing basketball and lifting weights. And turned my amateur body into something that could parlay onto the football field. And added about 30 pounds worth of muscle and went and played football. And it was off to the races there. And I had a great career in high school. We got picked up by Division 2 school called the University of Central Missouri, who has a great football program. And that’s when the work ethic really started. I had some athletic talent, obviously. But where I outworked everybody else, it’s when they would leave to go back to the cafeteria or head back during the summer, I would stay out run, and I would lift , and I would study, and I would talk with the coaches, and I would run the drills and run the drills. And so that just really parlayed into becoming a team captain for a couple years, which was awesome. And then one day the the NFL scouts started coming. And I was going in early to watch my film, like I usually did. And my coach came over and said, “Hey, Logan. There’s some guys here to see you.” I said, “Yeah. I saw some scouts from this team and that team out there. Who are they here to see?” And they said, “They’re here to see you.” And I thought that was really cool. I had no idea. And they started coming and we started to talk. And I was able to get picked up as an undrafted free agent at the end of my senior year. And I went out for a couple months out to the Oakland Raiders. 

Mario Fachini [9:11]

Wow. That’s fantastic. Now, would you say that training made it easier once you got out of high school? Or was it the same because you were already at an accelerated level? Or did you just have to kick it up even another notch? 

Logan Freeman [9:26]

Yeah. I just kicked it up even another notch. For example, I was an offensive lineman. And so being an offensive lineman, you’re not supposed to be able to keep up with the linebackers and the tight ends. But I didn’t run with the offensive lineman. I ran with the linebackers in the tight ends and hit their time. So it was it was just straight hard work from that point forward. It was just conditioning my brain and my body to be able to take it up a next level when other folks would kind of clock out That’s whenever I saw blood in the water and I would just continue to ratchet it up. And that’s just was from training my mind and my body and putting it through a lot of stress. 

Mario Fachini [10:04]

Now, I’m hearing a lot of parallels for from an entrepreneurial standpoint. And I’m just going to tell you it’s a loaded question. Would you say that all helped you in business to be able to play at a high level entrepreneurially? 

Logan Freeman [10:17]

It absolutely did. And more emotionally than anything. When I got started running my own business, the personal and professional development I had learned by playing football but also reading all these books behind me and applying them set the foundational work for whatever that business was actually started. I read most of these books whenever I was working for a W2 job. And my wife would always ask, “Why are you reading all these books?” I say, “I’m preparing. I don’t know when the time is going to come. It doesn’t feel right yet. But when it does, I’m going to be ready.” And so I had all of this knowledge in this head, most of it on the emotional side of things, you know, emotional intelligence, focusing on what Tony Robbins teaches, and the other folks like that. But I mean, whenever I started my business it’s a peak and it’s a valley, it’s a peak and it’s a valley. And as a football player and an offensive lineman, you have to show up every single play. A wide receiver can take a playoff. A running back probably doesn’t have to be at their best at every single play. If you don’t block every single play, your quarterback gets smashed. And so they taught us to stay at a very straight level all of the time as an offensive lineman. I think as an entrepreneur, you can’t get caught up in the big wins. And you can’t get caught up in the big losses. And so making sure that I stay consistent showing up on a regular basis is extremely important. And it definitely set the foundation for being an entrepreneur for me. 

Mario Fachini [11:47]

I’m going to tell you that’s going to be one of the secrets to your new show, too, with the podcast. 

Logan Freeman [11:52]

Awesome. Yeah. 

Mario Fachini [11:54]

It’s not just with business, but I’ve noticed that the last hundred plus episodes. And it’s going to be a huge advantage for you. I can tell you that. 

Logan Freeman [12:03]

Absolutely.

Mario Fachini [12:06]

Tell me about what you’re doing in business now with Live Free Investments. Why did you want to get into the financial side of stuff? 

Logan Freeman [12:15]

So when I thought about launching this business, it actually was a consulting business first before it was a commercial real estate business. And I was fired from my W2 job. And when I was fired, I then called my wife. She knew I was getting fired. I knew I was getting fired. Nobody calls you at 6:00 a.m. in the morning and says, “Hey, we need to have a meeting.” So I took my my box with me and grabbed my books. That was the only thing they let me take with my books. And so I took my books with me and and head out. And I got home. And my wife said, “Check your inbox on your email.”  And so I did. And she had already started Live Freeman LLC, which is now my investment company. So I had support from my wife. And at that time, I didn’t really know what to do. I knew I could communicate. I knew I could sell. And I knew that selling and training salespeople was something that a lot of folks need help with. And so I picked up the Inc. 5000’s fastest growing companies. I called the first 500 of them. And thankfully, I didn’t have to call anymore. But that only took me about a week to call those people and research them. And I landed three full time sales clients that I was training their salespeople. I was flying to their conferences, pitching their products at their booths. I was setting up CRM systems. You name it, I was doing it. On the side, so to speak, I was also the head of acquisitions for a $50 million fund here in Kansas City. And I was completing over 10 to 12 transactions a month. And as any realtor would tell you, they’d be really happy to be doing that type of volume. And so when my wife took me on a walk that July she said, “Logan, it’s been incredible to watch what you’ve been able to do. You’re working a lot of hours, which is fine. I’m okay with that. But what you need to do is focus.” One of my wife’s top five strengths is being strategic. That’s not one of mine. And so she said, “You need to focus on one.” And I said, “Look, I really appreciate that. But I’m doing really well.” And she goes, “But you can do better.” And I was like, “Whoa. Okay.” And so that’s at the time, I remember I dissolved my sales consulting firm and took the real estate. And said, “Okay. How do you actually build a business around commercial real estate investing?” And that’s when I went full time into the investing side. I saw a specific niche that we can talk about if you want to that needed to be filled. But that’s kind of how the journey started. 

Mario Fachini [14:41]

What is that specific niche? 

Logan Freeman [14:44]

So I’ve always been on the buy side of transactions. And typically as a commercial real estate broker, which I am, you always want to have listings. And you want to be selling the apartment complex. You want to be selling that retail shopping center. And that’s all fine and dandy. But when I looked at the commercial real estate world, I knew that most folks buying real estate in Kansas City we’re not living in Kansas City. And if you know the transaction process, most of the time, these folks buy it from Phoenix, or California, New York, Miami, wherever they’re buying the real estate from their living. They don’t have a team. They don’t have relationships. And they’re not represented in these transactions. And so I saw a huge niche to step in as a consultant and say, “Let me be your representation. And I will open my own team up of commercial property managers, agents, lenders, financers, whatever you need.” And let me help solve those problems before you even know you have those problems. And so I’ve been representing buyers for the last four years here in the marketplace. And that’s been the big niche that I’ve fulfilled is helping out of state clients buy commercial real estate in Kansas City.

Mario Fachini [15:58]

That’s a huge value, add form because they don’t – I’ve heard of people flying in just to do a once over and sign the deal and everything. But that’s a huge value add when they don’t even need to do that. And they can have you as a trusted adviser. 

Logan Freeman [16:11]

Yes. And typically these folks are on what’s called a 1031 exchange, which means that there is a deadline. And there’s hard timelines that they’re on. And they, most of the time, are doctors, they’re software engineers, they’re folks that have full time jobs. So finding, underwriting, financing, doing the due diligence, that is all time that they have to take away from their W2 jobs that they might not be able to. So I’ve created a program, a five step process that I kind of work folks through that want to buy commercial real estate. And it largely starts with education. 

Mario Fachini [16:45]

That is huge. What would you say is the biggest transformation you’ve been able to give to one of them? 

Logan Freeman [16:51]

Well, one of the biggest transformations I’ve had for my clients is educating them about the tax benefits of real estate. And a lot of these guys and gals are super successful. And one of them might work and their spouse might stay at home. Well, I’m not a CPA. But I do have great CPA friends, who will back this statement up. There’s ways that you can get what’s called a qualified real estate professional status from the IRS. And that allows you to take passive losses on the income that you are creating, not only from your real estate investments, but from your W2 income. But you have to be materially participating 750 plus hours into the management of the that real estate portfolio. So I’ve been coaching my clients to figure out ways to become qualified real estate professional. For example, there was two physicians I was working with, and one of the physicians decided to actually take a step back from their practice and go part time in that practice. Because they did the calculations, if they just kept more of the income that they were already making, it was going to make them more money than them having to go work more and bring more income in from a tax bracket standpoint. So that’s been one of the biggest transformations that I’ve had. I’ve literally changed people’s lives, giving them time back to spend with their family. But additionally, just figuring out how to keep more of the income that they’re already making through commercial real estate. 

Mario Fachini [18:17]

Now that 750 hours, is that yearly? Or what’s the time period for it? 

Logan Freeman [18:22]

Yeah. It’s annually. And there’s a few different steps that you have to go through. And it’s outlined on the IRS website the different actions that you would have to take to actually do that. And so, again, not – 

Mario Fachini [18:39]

So about 15 hours a week, they need to be participating in it or more? 

Logan Freeman [18:43]

Yeah. Yeah. 

Mario Fachini [18:45]

That’s pretty cool. 

Logan Freeman [18:45]

Yeah. Yeah, it is. 

Mario Fachini [18:47]

It is doable. It’s not like an hour or two. But I mean, if you’re going to be making an extra quarter mil because of it. 

Logan Freeman [18:54]

Uh-huh.  And getting back a lot of time. Because actively managing your real estate, if it’s set up the right way, means having video calls, talking to property managers, approving tenants, you name it. Not stuff that materially makes you come visit the property on a weekly basis. 

Mario Fachini [19:14]

Yeah. I’m glad you’re sharing that with them. And it’s another form of leverage. And I’ve told people for close to a decade, there’s so much you can do with video cameras, microphones, the phone, the internet. I mean, you can conduct your business from a laptop anywhere in the world. 

Logan Freeman [19:29]

That’s right. That’s right. 

Mario Fachini [19:31]

And it’s been that way for, let’s just say, some time. I want to ask you what is the biggest success story from someone you’ve helped? 

Logan Freeman [19:42]

I would say my biggest success story is taking folks that want to get started into commercial real estate. And I take Stephen Covey’s approach with starting with the end in mind. Commercial real estate gives you five benefits. You can create income, depreciation, equity build up, appreciation, and leverage. And I walked them through those five kind of steps and benefits of commercial real estate. And then I asked them a simple question, “Out of those five, what’s most important to you?” And so taking somebody that would, maybe, want to go buy 25 single family homes per se. And I say, “Okay. Well, why do you want to buy those 25 homes?” And they say, “Well, the income, you know, this, this, and this. And I say, “Well, what if you had one roof and you were able to buy one building?” So my biggest success story is taking somebody from where they’re at, crushing those limiting beliefs, and then allowing them to see the bigger picture, and actually scale up faster. Because they’re able to put the right team in place. And one gentleman in particular told me that they really wanted to replace his W2 income. And I said, “Okay. Well, let’s break that down. We walk through the process of what that would actually entail.” How many doors he was going to need to be involved in. And instead of actively going out and buying commercial real estate, he was able to create a structure where he brought some friends and family. They put some money together and they were able to go do a larger transaction that got to that number faster by just breaking that limiting belief for him. And so that was a big success story for me. 

Logan Freeman [21:14]

Wow. That’s huge.  So it sounds like you see yourself doing this for the foreseeable future. You’re helping a ton of people. 

Logan Freeman [21:22]

What I love is to see that light bulb moment for somebody to say, “Oh, my gosh. This could change my life.” And I think the time that we’re in right now, more than ever, people are spending – their work life are commingled. And this is the best time in history to be thinking about ways that you don’t have to go back and put 60 hours into an office. And so I’ve really had a big passion, not only for about commercial real estate investing, because I invest in any other things other than real estate. I’m not just a real estate guy. It’s not the last thing that I I’m always talking about. But something that allows you to step away from your time. And you don’t have to trade time for dollars. And that mindset shift, when I see that happen with people, it is just like a lightbulb moment for them that gives me so much joy because then they’re texting, they’re calling, they’re emailing. And I’ve already been through the process, right? So I can help them along the way. But it’s just so fun to watch people set themselves up for success in that nature and give them more time to do what they truly are meant to do in life. And it’s not to go trade time for dollars, 80 hours a week at an office and travel every single week to miss out with time with their beautiful children and their husband or wife. So it’s just something that I’m very passionate about. 

Mario Fachini [22:46]

I love that. There’s so many people I’ve been telling people that for 20 plus years. And it’s like, the whole reason I started my company, you know, I just wanted to be able to control my calendar. That was it. It’s like you can make money doing 1,000,001 different things. And yeah, you have your passion, you have your hobbies, you have your this, you have your that. It’s like you can make – it probably stems back from what I heard when I was 14 or 15. It’s like you can have whatever you want as long as you pay for it. It’s like, “Well, what do you want then? “No one ever thinks that far. I don’t want to say that majority of people don’t think that far because they don’t think it’s possible. But like you said, the second you do, it’s like, “Where am I going to take this? And how much time do I got?” The rest of your life. 

Logan Freeman [23:30]

Yeah. Exactly. I mean, most people just need to feel like they can do it. And getting them from point A to point B, there’s a process there. But there’s one that I have followed and I can help folks get along faster. And just the vehicle I’m in is commercial real estate. It can be whatever vehicle you want. But that’s the one subject matter expert that I’m an expert in. So I’ve chosen to hang my horse with that vehicle. You can hang your horse with any other vehicle. But you need to make sure you can get from one point to the next. And that it’s been done before. Well, people have been doing real estate for a long time. 

Mario Fachini [24:09]

Yeah. It’s not going anywhere. And I have no doubt no matter what you do because of your work ethic and mindset, you’re going to be successful with it. But it sounds like commercial real estate is a good fit for now. And I appreciate for everything you’re sharing, tons of Expert Authority insights and it’s inspiring. 

Logan Freeman [24:29]

Well, thank you. Yeah. Hopefully, you can see that it’s changed my life. And the passion that I have for it, it bleeds through from my conversations. And it’s because I’m actually doing it. It’s not because I’m just reading a book and talking about it. That’s what I do on a regular basis. And commercial real estate is a place for people to live. It’s a place for their businesses. You’re helping the community, which is another big why for me, is to have a positive impact on the community and improve the community that I live in, that my children are going to grow up in. And so it’s creating this legacy alongside of financial freedom and education for people. And when all those things come together, it’s a motivating factor. 

Mario Fachini [25:16]

Well, it’s a good life to lead too. I mean, you’re knocking it off in all the boxes for – you know, you’re benefiting from it, your clients are benefiting, your family, and the generations to come. 

Logan Freeman [25:27]

Absolutely. 

Mario Fachini [25:29]

Well, I have one fun thing we’re going to do now. And I’m kind of thrilled about it. And I call it the Wheel of Whatever. We’re going to pretend there’s a bunch of questions on here. We’re in progress in perfect action. And it’s ending – and I just realized I need some way to have a little thing to see where it actually lands. I didn’t really get that far. But it’s yellow and black now and I think it looks cool. But I came up with the question already. 

Logan Freeman [25:59]

All right. Cool. 

Mario Fachini [26:00]

Oh, it’s stopping on that one. If you could talk to any entrepreneur in the world and have dinner with them, who would it be and why? And what would you ask them? 

Logan Freeman [26:17]

Wow. Any entrepreneur in the world? I would have to say it would be Tony Robbins. Tony and I have an interestingly, paralleled kind of upbringing. I lost my father to drugs and alcohol and addiction four or five years ago. He went through a similar scenario with his mother, I believe. And so I just love the fact that in recent events taking that out, I don’t have any comment on recent events around Tony Robbins. But the work, the inspiration, and the impact that he has had its uncomparable in my books. And so he went from being a guy that came from nothing. Just scraping dollars or pennies to go buy food to having some of the biggest impact in the world. The question that I would ask him is, “Tony, what would you do differently now knowing everything that you know 30 years ago?” And I’d love to hear what he would say. Because I think the answer to that question – and maybe he’s answered that question – I’m not really sure. But I think that the answer to that question would have so much golden nuggets involved in it that it would just be so insightful. So that’s who I would sit down with. And that’s probably the question that I would start with. 

Mario Fachini [27:46]

That’s a great question. And I will tell you, I would set a goal to have him on your show. 

Logan Freeman [27:55]

That is what Darren Hardy would call a big hairy audacious goal right there. 

Mario Fachini [28:00]

It’s totally realistic. I know people that know him personally. And I literally am thinking, what can I do to make that happen? Or you can actually ask him? I can’t promise anything. But you there’s nothing stopping you from having him on your show. 

Logan Freeman [28:16]

You’re absolutely right. You’re absolutely right. 

Mario Fachini [28:20]

That was a great question. You got me thinking. Wow. That’s my own doing. I’m like, “Yeah. This is going to be fun.” And now I’m like, “I want to dive deeper on here.” Okay. We’ll expand a little bit. Is there a second person? Or is there a second question you’d ask him? 

Logan Freeman [28:37]

Well, I can answer both of those. The second person that I would want to meet would have been Kobe Bryant. I admire Kobe’s work ethic. His mentality was second to none. Tim Grover wrote a book called – I’m hoping I could see it over here – maybe it was called Unstoppable. I don’t know what Tim Grover’s book was, but Tim was was Kobe’s physical and mental coach. And he talks about his cleaner mentality, which you have a cooler who’s kind of like your average Joe. You got a closer who’s a little bit better and will close the deal. Then you have a cleaner, who stops at nothing. And you see Michael Jordan coming through, he’s a cleaner. Dwyane Wade was a cleaner. LeBron is not a cleaner. Kobe was a cleaner. And so I would love to sit down with Kobe Bryant. I was in California, in Los Angeles, in the mountains when his helicopter went down. So that was near and dear to my heart. And I don’t know the question I would ask Kobe. I would ask Kobe maybe just something around the tenants of how has that mindset shifted? And how did you create that mind shift? And what process did you go through? And I think that that’s probably what I’d love to start with with Kobe. If I had to ask Tony a second question, I would say, “Tony, where do you think the big opportunity is in the next 20 years? Somebody who is physically and mentally coached so many people, like Bill Clinton Andre Agassi, all of these high level folks. When he was young, he was my age coaching presidents, which is incredible. But I would say, “Hey, where do you think the industry – the world is going? And I would ask him, “What’s the biggest problem you foresee having or America or United States or the world having in the next 20 years?” And I probably go try to build a business around solving that problem. 

Mario Fachini [30:49]

Wow. We could expand on this a whole lot more. 

Logan Freeman [30:52]

Well, these are the type of questions that I never get. And then I absolutely love going into. 

Mario Fachini [30:59]

All right. Well, you’re definitely not going out of the park. We’re going to thank our sponsor and we’re going to come back for some more fun with the Imperfect Action Round. 

SPONSOR Acorns [31:07]

Invest automatically, save for later, and spend today. That’s why I love Acorns. I used to think spare change didn’t make a difference. And saving and investing was an old fashioned manual process. It’s not. And it’s a game changer. If you’re not leveraging compounding interest in your business in life, automatically, you’re missing out. Acorns not only makes saving and investing easy and automatic. It makes it even more valuable by investing with diversified portfolios, spare change, extra cash, and rounding up everyday transactions. You can even set recurring monthly investments in the amount you desire. To make good great, there’s also a debit card option that will continue to help you save and invest even further when you spend. Plus, no minimum balance and overdraft fees. Now, for the cherry on top. They have partnered with 250 plus companies and brands, and growing, with their Found Money program to invest back a percentage into your account with the everyday purchases when you shop. Two of which, you’re probably listening to this right now through an Amazon or Apple device. Get Started profiting from your everyday life and business simply and easily today at EAInterviews.com/Acorns.  Once again, that’s EAInterviews.com/Acorns. 

Mario Fachini [32:20]

Intro [0:00]

EA Interviews Episode 166. 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 [0:14]

Expert Authority World, I am beyond excited to have Logan Freeman here today. Former NFL star. He started Live Free Investments. He started a nonprofit. And he has a brand new podcast. And he’s going to be sharing with us. And I want to hear just as much as you do how he went from breakdown to breakthrough. I’m going to bring him up right after we thank our sponsor. 

SPONSOR Acorns [0:38]

How would you like to grow your wealth easier than you think with the change you probably don’t notice anyhow automatically? That’s why I started the compounding interest snowball investing with Acorns and advise you do too. Get started simply and easily today at EAInterviews.com/Acorns. 

Mario Fachini [0:55]

Here he is ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Logan Freeman. Logan, how are you doing today? 

Logan Freeman [1:01]

Man, I’m doing – I’m just doing well. Just so well-energized, thriving, and focused. Just really excited to be here today. 

Mario Fachini [1:08]

It is good to see you, my friend. You are just inspiring on so many different levels. And I can’t wait to hear you have overcome so much in so many different areas. Where do you find the motivation for it? 

Logan Freeman [1:24]

I would say that it starts with my why. And it starts with my core values. And the most important thing for me in my life is my faith, my family, and my fitness. And filtering all decisions through that is an easy way to stay internally motivated and inspired. I like that word inspired. It means in spirit. And I would say that focusing on those core values is what brings me to be the level of person that I am or, at least, strive to be on a regular basis. 

Mario Fachini [2:00]

Have you always been like this? Where were you – were – wow. Were you conditioned as a young kid to be like this? Or is this something you made a conscious effort in elementary, middle, high school, college, at some point? And how do you continue to keep going with it? 

Logan Freeman [2:20]

I think that as a young child, you know, I was labeled as one of those kids that had too much energy. And I kind of had that, I think, they called it ADD for a long time. And I probably did have some of that disorder. But with that being said, once that energy was transferred into the right direction, I’ve really been able to accomplish some incredible things. So as a young man, as a young boy, I definitely had a lot of energy that probably drove my mom and my dad crazy. And what I saw, growing up was just a really strong work ethic from my mom. And so that was instilled in me as a young boy. And at the age of 13-and-a-half, 14 years old, I started working. My mom really instilled in me that you need to work for everything that you get. And nobody is going to give you anything. And so I take that same mentality today. So I think that it’s a little bit of nature, but it’s also a lot of nurture in my respect. 

Mario Fachini [3:25]

Well, I’m glad you shared that because it reminds me of when I was, I’d say, 14, 15-ish, maybe early – I was 14 or 15-ish because I got it when I was 16. I asked mom and dad I go, “Can I have a wave runner?” I’ve always loved the water. I grew up on the water. And I I’ll never forget because I started my first company at 12. And they said, you can have anything in the world you want as long as you pay for it. And that may have been a clever way to be like, “Hey, it’s on you.” But I was like, “I can have anything I want?” 

Logan Freeman [4:03]

The floodgates were opened. 

Mario Fachini [4:04]

Absolutely. And I have never lost that. And it sounds like you had a lot of that same mentality of, you know, where do I want to channel this? So what did you do with 13 to channel it into something? 

Logan Freeman [4:16]

You know, I’m a Missouri boy. So I grew up in the heartland of Missouri. And what we did is farm and throw hay a lot of times. It’s kind of one of those jobs that nobody really wants to do. It’s hot. It’s dirty. It’s hard. And so being under 16 years old, I couldn’t necessarily go get a real job. But I convinced my mom and dad to let me go out in the fields and throw hay as a young guy. And then there was a catering business right down the road from my house. And I went up to them and I said, “Hey, guys. I’ll wash your dishes. I’ll sweep your floors. Mop, your floors. Whatever you need. I got a strong back and two good arms. And I’m young and ready to make some money.” And so I got a job at a catering business when I was 14 years old. And threw hay on the weekends. 

Mario Fachini [5:06]

Wow, how long did you do both of those for? 

Logan Freeman [5:08]

The hay business was actually good money because it was cash. And so you get paid at the end of the day, which was awesome. But it was also dictated on the weather. If it rained, you couldn’t go work. I actually got a good mentor at that catering business when I was 14. And I actually stayed there for close to ten years off and on. When I would come home for college and I’d work there in the summer. I did Hotel and Restaurant Management in my undergrad. And so I did my internship there. And so I spent a lot of time with them. It’s called Donita’s Cakes and Catering. And they instilled very good work ethic in me. And taught me how to fix problems for yourself and not just go to somebody for an answer all the time. So I go there from [3:30] after school until [8:30] and they were gone. You know, they were with their families. And I was the one that was there to – then I brought some friends in and started having my own crew there at the catering business. So I did it for quite some time. 

Mario Fachini [6:10]

Wow., That’s impressive. You’re bringing me back. Because I also got the cash. And when you’re 12, 13, 14, 15, again, I started my first business with lawn care maintenance, power washing, painting. Anything you could do that was a value add that was legal, moral, and ethical. Then, yeah, 20, 30, 40 bucks an hour cash in high school wasn’t horrible. 

Logan Freeman [6:32]

Yeah. It was great. Yeah. I started my first Roth IRA when I was 15. 

Mario Fachini [6:38]

I remember getting some money for stocks before I had a car. 

Logan Freeman [6:41]

That’s right. Yeah. 

Mario Fachini [6:42]

It was just like, you know, who does this? But it gave me that ability and it gave you the ability to just go, “We can do whatever for willing to work for it and add value.” And I’m also hearing – I wanted to ask you parlaying high school into college and the NFL. What was that journey like? It sounds like the hate might be part of it. 

Logan Freeman [7:05]

Well – 

Mario Fachini [7:06]

If you can throw those around. 

Logan Freeman [7:08]

That’s right. So, you know, I didn’t play football until I was a sophomore in high school. And I was a basketball player. I wanted to be in the NBA and play basketball. And I stopped growing at about six-feet-three-inches and realized that to be in the NBA, you need at least three or four more inches or need to be able to jump out of the roof. And so I couldn’t do that. And so the football guys and the coaches really got ahold of me and said, “Hey, hit the weight room. And we want you to come out for football next year”. And so I spent my whole freshman year playing basketball and lifting weights. And turned my amateur body into something that could parlay onto the football field. And added about 30 pounds worth of muscle and went and played football. And it was off to the races there. And I had a great career in high school. We got picked up by Division 2 school called the University of Central Missouri, who has a great football program. And that’s when the work ethic really started. I had some athletic talent, obviously. But where I outworked everybody else, it’s when they would leave to go back to the cafeteria or head back during the summer, I would stay out run, and I would lift , and I would study, and I would talk with the coaches, and I would run the drills and run the drills. And so that just really parlayed into becoming a team captain for a couple years, which was awesome. And then one day the the NFL scouts started coming. And I was going in early to watch my film, like I usually did. And my coach came over and said, “Hey, Logan. There’s some guys here to see you.” I said, “Yeah. I saw some scouts from this team and that team out there. Who are they here to see?” And they said, “They’re here to see you.” And I thought that was really cool. I had no idea. And they started coming and we started to talk. And I was able to get picked up as an undrafted free agent at the end of my senior year. And I went out for a couple months out to the Oakland Raiders. 

Mario Fachini [9:11]

Wow. That’s fantastic. Now, would you say that training made it easier once you got out of high school? Or was it the same because you were already at an accelerated level? Or did you just have to kick it up even another notch? 

Logan Freeman [9:26]

Yeah. I just kicked it up even another notch. For example, I was an offensive lineman. And so being an offensive lineman, you’re not supposed to be able to keep up with the linebackers and the tight ends. But I didn’t run with the offensive lineman. I ran with the linebackers in the tight ends and hit their time. So it was it was just straight hard work from that point forward. It was just conditioning my brain and my body to be able to take it up a next level when other folks would kind of clock out That’s whenever I saw blood in the water and I would just continue to ratchet it up. And that’s just was from training my mind and my body and putting it through a lot of stress. 

Mario Fachini [10:04]

Now, I’m hearing a lot of parallels for from an entrepreneurial standpoint. And I’m just going to tell you it’s a loaded question. Would you say that all helped you in business to be able to play at a high level entrepreneurially? 

Logan Freeman [10:17]

It absolutely did. And more emotionally than anything. When I got started running my own business, the personal and professional development I had learned by playing football but also reading all these books behind me and applying them set the foundational work for whatever that business was actually started. I read most of these books whenever I was working for a W2 job. And my wife would always ask, “Why are you reading all these books?” I say, “I’m preparing. I don’t know when the time is going to come. It doesn’t feel right yet. But when it does, I’m going to be ready.” And so I had all of this knowledge in this head, most of it on the emotional side of things, you know, emotional intelligence, focusing on what Tony Robbins teaches, and the other folks like that. But I mean, whenever I started my business it’s a peak and it’s a valley, it’s a peak and it’s a valley. And as a football player and an offensive lineman, you have to show up every single play. A wide receiver can take a playoff. A running back probably doesn’t have to be at their best at every single play. If you don’t block every single play, your quarterback gets smashed. And so they taught us to stay at a very straight level all of the time as an offensive lineman. I think as an entrepreneur, you can’t get caught up in the big wins. And you can’t get caught up in the big losses. And so making sure that I stay consistent showing up on a regular basis is extremely important. And it definitely set the foundation for being an entrepreneur for me. 

Mario Fachini [11:47]

I’m going to tell you that’s going to be one of the secrets to your new show, too, with the podcast. 

Logan Freeman [11:52]

Awesome. Yeah. 

Mario Fachini [11:54]

It’s not just with business, but I’ve noticed that the last hundred plus episodes. And it’s going to be a huge advantage for you. I can tell you that. 

Logan Freeman [12:03]

Absolutely.

Mario Fachini [12:06]

Tell me about what you’re doing in business now with Live Free Investments. Why did you want to get into the financial side of stuff? 

Logan Freeman [12:15]

So when I thought about launching this business, it actually was a consulting business first before it was a commercial real estate business. And I was fired from my W2 job. And when I was fired, I then called my wife. She knew I was getting fired. I knew I was getting fired. Nobody calls you at 6:00 a.m. in the morning and says, “Hey, we need to have a meeting.” So I took my my box with me and grabbed my books. That was the only thing they let me take with my books. And so I took my books with me and and head out. And I got home. And my wife said, “Check your inbox on your email.”  And so I did. And she had already started Live Freeman LLC, which is now my investment company. So I had support from my wife. And at that time, I didn’t really know what to do. I knew I could communicate. I knew I could sell. And I knew that selling and training salespeople was something that a lot of folks need help with. And so I picked up the Inc. 5000’s fastest growing companies. I called the first 500 of them. And thankfully, I didn’t have to call anymore. But that only took me about a week to call those people and research them. And I landed three full time sales clients that I was training their salespeople. I was flying to their conferences, pitching their products at their booths. I was setting up CRM systems. You name it, I was doing it. On the side, so to speak, I was also the head of acquisitions for a $50 million fund here in Kansas City. And I was completing over 10 to 12 transactions a month. And as any realtor would tell you, they’d be really happy to be doing that type of volume. And so when my wife took me on a walk that July she said, “Logan, it’s been incredible to watch what you’ve been able to do. You’re working a lot of hours, which is fine. I’m okay with that. But what you need to do is focus.” One of my wife’s top five strengths is being strategic. That’s not one of mine. And so she said, “You need to focus on one.” And I said, “Look, I really appreciate that. But I’m doing really well.” And she goes, “But you can do better.” And I was like, “Whoa. Okay.” And so that’s at the time, I remember I dissolved my sales consulting firm and took the real estate. And said, “Okay. How do you actually build a business around commercial real estate investing?” And that’s when I went full time into the investing side. I saw a specific niche that we can talk about if you want to that needed to be filled. But that’s kind of how the journey started. 

Mario Fachini [14:41]

What is that specific niche? 

Logan Freeman [14:44]

So I’ve always been on the buy side of transactions. And typically as a commercial real estate broker, which I am, you always want to have listings. And you want to be selling the apartment complex. You want to be selling that retail shopping center. And that’s all fine and dandy. But when I looked at the commercial real estate world, I knew that most folks buying real estate in Kansas City we’re not living in Kansas City. And if you know the transaction process, most of the time, these folks buy it from Phoenix, or California, New York, Miami, wherever they’re buying the real estate from their living. They don’t have a team. They don’t have relationships. And they’re not represented in these transactions. And so I saw a huge niche to step in as a consultant and say, “Let me be your representation. And I will open my own team up of commercial property managers, agents, lenders, financers, whatever you need.” And let me help solve those problems before you even know you have those problems. And so I’ve been representing buyers for the last four years here in the marketplace. And that’s been the big niche that I’ve fulfilled is helping out of state clients buy commercial real estate in Kansas City.

Mario Fachini [15:58]

That’s a huge value, add form because they don’t – I’ve heard of people flying in just to do a once over and sign the deal and everything. But that’s a huge value add when they don’t even need to do that. And they can have you as a trusted adviser. 

Logan Freeman [16:11]

Yes. And typically these folks are on what’s called a 1031 exchange, which means that there is a deadline. And there’s hard timelines that they’re on. And they, most of the time, are doctors, they’re software engineers, they’re folks that have full time jobs. So finding, underwriting, financing, doing the due diligence, that is all time that they have to take away from their W2 jobs that they might not be able to. So I’ve created a program, a five step process that I kind of work folks through that want to buy commercial real estate. And it largely starts with education. 

Mario Fachini [16:45]

That is huge. What would you say is the biggest transformation you’ve been able to give to one of them? 

Logan Freeman [16:51]

Well, one of the biggest transformations I’ve had for my clients is educating them about the tax benefits of real estate. And a lot of these guys and gals are super successful. And one of them might work and their spouse might stay at home. Well, I’m not a CPA. But I do have great CPA friends, who will back this statement up. There’s ways that you can get what’s called a qualified real estate professional status from the IRS. And that allows you to take passive losses on the income that you are creating, not only from your real estate investments, but from your W2 income. But you have to be materially participating 750 plus hours into the management of the that real estate portfolio. So I’ve been coaching my clients to figure out ways to become qualified real estate professional. For example, there was two physicians I was working with, and one of the physicians decided to actually take a step back from their practice and go part time in that practice. Because they did the calculations, if they just kept more of the income that they were already making, it was going to make them more money than them having to go work more and bring more income in from a tax bracket standpoint. So that’s been one of the biggest transformations that I’ve had. I’ve literally changed people’s lives, giving them time back to spend with their family. But additionally, just figuring out how to keep more of the income that they’re already making through commercial real estate. 

Mario Fachini [18:17]

Now that 750 hours, is that yearly? Or what’s the time period for it? 

Logan Freeman [18:22]

Yeah. It’s annually. And there’s a few different steps that you have to go through. And it’s outlined on the IRS website the different actions that you would have to take to actually do that. And so, again, not – 

Mario Fachini [18:39]

So about 15 hours a week, they need to be participating in it or more? 

Logan Freeman [18:43]

Yeah. Yeah. 

Mario Fachini [18:45]

That’s pretty cool. 

Logan Freeman [18:45]

Yeah. Yeah, it is. 

Mario Fachini [18:47]

It is doable. It’s not like an hour or two. But I mean, if you’re going to be making an extra quarter mil because of it. 

Logan Freeman [18:54]

Uh-huh.  And getting back a lot of time. Because actively managing your real estate, if it’s set up the right way, means having video calls, talking to property managers, approving tenants, you name it. Not stuff that materially makes you come visit the property on a weekly basis. 

Mario Fachini [19:14]

Yeah. I’m glad you’re sharing that with them. And it’s another form of leverage. And I’ve told people for close to a decade, there’s so much you can do with video cameras, microphones, the phone, the internet. I mean, you can conduct your business from a laptop anywhere in the world. 

Logan Freeman [19:29]

That’s right. That’s right. 

Mario Fachini [19:31]

And it’s been that way for, let’s just say, some time. I want to ask you what is the biggest success story from someone you’ve helped? 

Logan Freeman [19:42]

I would say my biggest success story is taking folks that want to get started into commercial real estate. And I take Stephen Covey’s approach with starting with the end in mind. Commercial real estate gives you five benefits. You can create income, depreciation, equity build up, appreciation, and leverage. And I walked them through those five kind of steps and benefits of commercial real estate. And then I asked them a simple question, “Out of those five, what’s most important to you?” And so taking somebody that would, maybe, want to go buy 25 single family homes per se. And I say, “Okay. Well, why do you want to buy those 25 homes?” And they say, “Well, the income, you know, this, this, and this. And I say, “Well, what if you had one roof and you were able to buy one building?” So my biggest success story is taking somebody from where they’re at, crushing those limiting beliefs, and then allowing them to see the bigger picture, and actually scale up faster. Because they’re able to put the right team in place. And one gentleman in particular told me that they really wanted to replace his W2 income. And I said, “Okay. Well, let’s break that down. We walk through the process of what that would actually entail.” How many doors he was going to need to be involved in. And instead of actively going out and buying commercial real estate, he was able to create a structure where he brought some friends and family. They put some money together and they were able to go do a larger transaction that got to that number faster by just breaking that limiting belief for him. And so that was a big success story for me. 

Logan Freeman [21:14]

Wow. That’s huge.  So it sounds like you see yourself doing this for the foreseeable future. You’re helping a ton of people. 

Logan Freeman [21:22]

What I love is to see that light bulb moment for somebody to say, “Oh, my gosh. This could change my life.” And I think the time that we’re in right now, more than ever, people are spending – their work life are commingled. And this is the best time in history to be thinking about ways that you don’t have to go back and put 60 hours into an office. And so I’ve really had a big passion, not only for about commercial real estate investing, because I invest in any other things other than real estate. I’m not just a real estate guy. It’s not the last thing that I I’m always talking about. But something that allows you to step away from your time. And you don’t have to trade time for dollars. And that mindset shift, when I see that happen with people, it is just like a lightbulb moment for them that gives me so much joy because then they’re texting, they’re calling, they’re emailing. And I’ve already been through the process, right? So I can help them along the way. But it’s just so fun to watch people set themselves up for success in that nature and give them more time to do what they truly are meant to do in life. And it’s not to go trade time for dollars, 80 hours a week at an office and travel every single week to miss out with time with their beautiful children and their husband or wife. So it’s just something that I’m very passionate about. 

Mario Fachini [22:46]

I love that. There’s so many people I’ve been telling people that for 20 plus years. And it’s like, the whole reason I started my company, you know, I just wanted to be able to control my calendar. That was it. It’s like you can make money doing 1,000,001 different things. And yeah, you have your passion, you have your hobbies, you have your this, you have your that. It’s like you can make – it probably stems back from what I heard when I was 14 or 15. It’s like you can have whatever you want as long as you pay for it. It’s like, “Well, what do you want then? “No one ever thinks that far. I don’t want to say that majority of people don’t think that far because they don’t think it’s possible. But like you said, the second you do, it’s like, “Where am I going to take this? And how much time do I got?” The rest of your life. 

Logan Freeman [23:30]

Yeah. Exactly. I mean, most people just need to feel like they can do it. And getting them from point A to point B, there’s a process there. But there’s one that I have followed and I can help folks get along faster. And just the vehicle I’m in is commercial real estate. It can be whatever vehicle you want. But that’s the one subject matter expert that I’m an expert in. So I’ve chosen to hang my horse with that vehicle. You can hang your horse with any other vehicle. But you need to make sure you can get from one point to the next. And that it’s been done before. Well, people have been doing real estate for a long time. 

Mario Fachini [24:09]

Yeah. It’s not going anywhere. And I have no doubt no matter what you do because of your work ethic and mindset, you’re going to be successful with it. But it sounds like commercial real estate is a good fit for now. And I appreciate for everything you’re sharing, tons of Expert Authority insights and it’s inspiring. 

Logan Freeman [24:29]

Well, thank you. Yeah. Hopefully, you can see that it’s changed my life. And the passion that I have for it, it bleeds through from my conversations. And it’s because I’m actually doing it. It’s not because I’m just reading a book and talking about it. That’s what I do on a regular basis. And commercial real estate is a place for people to live. It’s a place for their businesses. You’re helping the community, which is another big why for me, is to have a positive impact on the community and improve the community that I live in, that my children are going to grow up in. And so it’s creating this legacy alongside of financial freedom and education for people. And when all those things come together, it’s a motivating factor. 

Mario Fachini [25:16]

Well, it’s a good life to lead too. I mean, you’re knocking it off in all the boxes for – you know, you’re benefiting from it, your clients are benefiting, your family, and the generations to come. 

Logan Freeman [25:27]

Absolutely. 

Mario Fachini [25:29]

Well, I have one fun thing we’re going to do now. And I’m kind of thrilled about it. And I call it the Wheel of Whatever. We’re going to pretend there’s a bunch of questions on here. We’re in progress in perfect action. And it’s ending – and I just realized I need some way to have a little thing to see where it actually lands. I didn’t really get that far. But it’s yellow and black now and I think it looks cool. But I came up with the question already. 

Logan Freeman [25:59]

All right. Cool. 

Mario Fachini [26:00]

Oh, it’s stopping on that one. If you could talk to any entrepreneur in the world and have dinner with them, who would it be and why? And what would you ask them? 

Logan Freeman [26:17]

Wow. Any entrepreneur in the world? I would have to say it would be Tony Robbins. Tony and I have an interestingly, paralleled kind of upbringing. I lost my father to drugs and alcohol and addiction four or five years ago. He went through a similar scenario with his mother, I believe. And so I just love the fact that in recent events taking that out, I don’t have any comment on recent events around Tony Robbins. But the work, the inspiration, and the impact that he has had its uncomparable in my books. And so he went from being a guy that came from nothing. Just scraping dollars or pennies to go buy food to having some of the biggest impact in the world. The question that I would ask him is, “Tony, what would you do differently now knowing everything that you know 30 years ago?” And I’d love to hear what he would say. Because I think the answer to that question – and maybe he’s answered that question – I’m not really sure. But I think that the answer to that question would have so much golden nuggets involved in it that it would just be so insightful. So that’s who I would sit down with. And that’s probably the question that I would start with. 

Mario Fachini [27:46]

That’s a great question. And I will tell you, I would set a goal to have him on your show. 

Logan Freeman [27:55]

That is what Darren Hardy would call a big hairy audacious goal right there. 

Mario Fachini [28:00]

It’s totally realistic. I know people that know him personally. And I literally am thinking, what can I do to make that happen? Or you can actually ask him? I can’t promise anything. But you there’s nothing stopping you from having him on your show. 

Logan Freeman [28:16]

You’re absolutely right. You’re absolutely right. 

Mario Fachini [28:20]

That was a great question. You got me thinking. Wow. That’s my own doing. I’m like, “Yeah. This is going to be fun.” And now I’m like, “I want to dive deeper on here.” Okay. We’ll expand a little bit. Is there a second person? Or is there a second question you’d ask him? 

Logan Freeman [28:37]

Well, I can answer both of those. The second person that I would want to meet would have been Kobe Bryant. I admire Kobe’s work ethic. His mentality was second to none. Tim Grover wrote a book called – I’m hoping I could see it over here – maybe it was called Unstoppable. I don’t know what Tim Grover’s book was, but Tim was was Kobe’s physical and mental coach. And he talks about his cleaner mentality, which you have a cooler who’s kind of like your average Joe. You got a closer who’s a little bit better and will close the deal. Then you have a cleaner, who stops at nothing. And you see Michael Jordan coming through, he’s a cleaner. Dwyane Wade was a cleaner. LeBron is not a cleaner. Kobe was a cleaner. And so I would love to sit down with Kobe Bryant. I was in California, in Los Angeles, in the mountains when his helicopter went down. So that was near and dear to my heart. And I don’t know the question I would ask Kobe. I would ask Kobe maybe just something around the tenants of how has that mindset shifted? And how did you create that mind shift? And what process did you go through? And I think that that’s probably what I’d love to start with with Kobe. If I had to ask Tony a second question, I would say, “Tony, where do you think the big opportunity is in the next 20 years? Somebody who is physically and mentally coached so many people, like Bill Clinton Andre Agassi, all of these high level folks. When he was young, he was my age coaching presidents, which is incredible. But I would say, “Hey, where do you think the industry – the world is going? And I would ask him, “What’s the biggest problem you foresee having or America or United States or the world having in the next 20 years?” And I probably go try to build a business around solving that problem. 

Mario Fachini [30:49]

Wow. We could expand on this a whole lot more. 

Logan Freeman [30:52]

Well, these are the type of questions that I never get. And then I absolutely love going into. 

Mario Fachini [30:59]

All right. Well, you’re definitely not going out of the park. We’re going to thank our sponsor and we’re going to come back for some more fun with the Imperfect Action Round. 

SPONSOR Acorns [31:07]

Invest automatically, save for later, and spend today. That’s why I love Acorns. I used to think spare change didn’t make a difference. And saving and investing was an old fashioned manual process. It’s not. And it’s a game changer. If you’re not leveraging compounding interest in your business in life, automatically, you’re missing out. Acorns not only makes saving and investing easy and automatic. It makes it even more valuable by investing with diversified portfolios, spare change, extra cash, and rounding up everyday transactions. You can even set recurring monthly investments in the amount you desire. To make good great, there’s also a debit card option that will continue to help you save and invest even further when you spend. Plus, no minimum balance and overdraft fees. Now, for the cherry on top. They have partnered with 250 plus companies and brands, and growing, with their Found Money program to invest back a percentage into your account with the everyday purchases when you shop. Two of which, you’re probably listening to this right now through an Amazon or Apple device. Get Started profiting from your everyday life and business simply and easily today at EAInterviews.com/Acorns.  Once again, that’s EAInterviews.com/Acorns. 

Mario Fachini [32:20]

And we are back with