hey welcome to the high podcast I'm your
host Daniel Martinez today we have
returning guest Joel Friedland if you
have not checked out the other podcast
please go check it out we talk about
industrial and Industrial uh nuances and
raising capital and Chicago food a
everything uh but Joel you're back again
um today we covered deal breakdown
recover cool interesting stories do you
have a cool interesting story or a
couple that you would like to share with
us today sure um my favorite story is
about a meeting that I had with an
investor who was a billionaire wow so I
knew a guy who I had played golf with
and I didn't know him real well but IID
played golf with him a few times and I
knew that he was in a business that was
a supplier to uh a lot of restaurants
and I had a feeling he was incredibly
wealthy and i' asked people they said oh
he's a billionaire this was
2007 and I said to him I'd like to have
you maybe invest in one of my deals he
said well every Wednesday my family and
I get together around our kitchen table
and we bring people in who have
Investments and we listen to them so in
2007 I was kind of uh cocky because 2008
hadn't happened yet and I hadn't lost
very much money on many things although
I did have some losses yeah but really
never were anyone lost anything
substantial so I'm sitting at the
kitchen table with this guy and his wife
Harriet in the three kids and the kids
are adults they're all in their at the
time in their 40s or 50s and he said to
me so tell me about your worst deal I
said I haven't had a worst deal I said
we've lost a little bit on a couple
things but other than that we haven't
had any losses he said meeting's over I
said what he said meeting's over he said
we are not investing with you I said I
don't understand I told you we've never
had any major losses he said well that's
a problem because if you've done all the
deals you said you've done and you
haven't had any losses it means either
you're lying to yourself and you still
own deals that are in trouble and you
just aren't selling them because you you
don't want to take the end and tell
people yeah that you lost money so
you're holding on to them and you're
hiding that from your people or if you
really haven't lost money and you've got
some technique that nobody else in the
world has which I don't believe he says
you don't know what it's like when
there's a downturn and bad things go
against you you and I don't want to be
on an airplane with a pilot who's never
had a situation where he had to do
something and not panic and save the day
so the plane wouldn't crash you know if
you got thousands of hours as a pilot
you've had problems things happen
engines don't work they they you know
there smokes in the cabin you got to
know how to handle problems and if
you've never had a problem you are gonna
freak out when something bad happens so
he didn't go in guess what he was right
Dealing with depression and vulnerability.
because when 2008 happened I ended up
with 10 bad deals out of the 50 that we
owned and I had seven Banks chasing me
for personal guarantees and coming after
my partners my my close Partners who
also guaranteed loans with us and I went
into a deep depression because I thought
I had lost everybody's money and that
guy was right it's a story that's uh
about being vulnerable and real and
having good self-awareness and at that
point I think I was missing those three
things wow um I'm really glad you
mention this um this side topic I'm
doing a a call today with our one my
students and we're covering like
distress and how to deal with distress
because a lot of people they fall into
when that happens they fall into a deep
depression and they feel like they can't
see the exit so my question to you is
how did you transition through that hard
period because a lot of people and I
don't I was in 2008 I was 16 so I didn't
really see or know anything that
happened but I know a lot of people went
through a lot of trying times during
that period and there was self harm or
self self-infliction that happened
during that time but um how did you deal
with that coming out of that well I was
on that couch behind me and I couldn't
get off and my parents were both living
at the time and my wife and my kids were
watching me because I was so depressed
that they were worried that I could do
some self harm and believe me I thought
about it because I felt like I felt such
shame that things didn't work out the
way that I had told people that I
thought they would you know shames a
killer and I wasn't vulnerable enough at
that time to be able to handle it
there's a woman who I listen to on
podcast her name is brne brown BR R NE
bernee Brown and she's a researcher who
talks about vulnerability and shame and
she says they're not weaknesses they're
strengths and people who can look at
what they're vulnerable in and really
deal with it are going to come out
better and be really better people and
have better relationships than people
who are lying Hot Shots because if
you're a hot shot chances are you're a
liar so I just work really really really
hard I ready this is vulnerable
vulnerable of me to say on a recording I
got a really good psychiatrist and I
tried many medications and most didn't
work there's a song by Bruce Hornsby
called life in the psychotropics and
it's about all the medications that it
seems that he took when he had a
depression and mental health is a very
big deal so I I found that my
psychiatrist wasn't helping me it took
years to feel better like three years
and I switched psychiatrists because the
first guy medications w weren't working
Overcoming depression and mental health in business.
and the second guy came up with the
combination of uh mood stabilizers and
anti-depressants and simultaneously I
went in for counseling by the way to
another guy named Joel call him the
other Joel and I was going once or twice
a week to talk it through and I also
found a meditation teacher and I found
that meditation was a really good way to
find gaps in between that feeling of
misery where everything looks helpless
and hopeless yeah so the meditation
medication and counseling and then just
working you can't come out of something
by wishing that you can come out you got
to actually work so I had to work you
know and I had to push myself to go to
the office and I was so depressed I was
literally sometimes at the office I'd
close my door and I'd lock it and I I
had a pillow there that I kept in the
corner and I would get on the floor and
I would lie down on the floor because I
couldn't even sit up without being
nauseous I was so so down and and I
literally would take a nap on the floor
in my office to feel better so getting
out of that took a lot of work but I
it after a certain point to my investors
and my clients and my family I said I've
really difficult disastrous time in my
life and I'm coming out of it and I'm so
grateful to be coming out of it but
people who don't understand
vulnerability in business are gonna get
hurt and it can be life and death I've
seen life and death there are people who
get into that helpless hopeless feeling
and they end it because they they can't
see that the sun's Gonna Shine again one
yeah yeah so that that was a situation
where um I learned so much and today I
do my deals primarily all cash no debt
because when I look back at what caused
the problems for the bad deals the 10
bad deals out of 50 across the board it
was having debt where I didn't have the
staying power to get through it it still
would have been difficult but when you
don't have the the staying power that's
where it's devastating because you lose
the property or you have to do something
when it goes into the workout to
department at the bank so that was
really tough and today I tell people
that story to open when when I get out
there I don't say we haven't lost
remember the billionaire we haven't lost
any money nobody wants to talk to that
guy that guy's right the real
guy is the one who says let me tell you
and it goes there's so much more to this
but uh I don't want to go on and on so I
I appreciate you being vulnerable on
this I I didn't expect it to go this
direction at all um but um I understand
ramifications of all of that on both
sides um and I know it wasn't easy easy
to even say that I really appreciate you
sharing that with the audience even
sharing with me in general I don't know
K who listens to this later but I
appreciate you sharing that with me
because um I always look to people that
are older because they've not that
you're old but you've you've experienced
Addiction, gambling, and business partnerships.
a lot more things than I have and I take
that with a as a stepping stepping stool
yeah and I don't ever wantan to I I've
I've I had my first business that went
under um and I've dealt with some things
but not to the extent that you did so
I've had my own trials and tribulations
in my own way but um it was a learning
curve um and I had family and friends
reach out to me like are you okay okay
I'm like hey if people were in the same
position they would be in a lot better
state of mind but I know I'm good yeah
and it gives me a tremendous amount of
empathy for people who are struggling
because before you had that experience
there's there's not the same level of
sensitivity yeah about people and and by
the way I haven't found anybody who
doesn't have some sort of problem in
their family right so when I when I tell
people this they go oh yeah you know my
brother had that or oh my son's
struggling with that right now and
there's many other sides to mental
health that I've discovered including
I've really discovered a lot about
addiction and almost everybody I know
has someone in their life or more than
one person who are struggling with
addiction and because I was going
through some programs where I met a lot
of people who had super bad issues I've
become very close with people who are in
it occurred to me besides AA and
Narcotics Anonymous na um and they're
people who are sexually addicted they
they can't stop having sex with people
that they just meet and so forth and
they do things that get them in trouble
um and food addictions people who just
don't know how to stop eating and weigh
500 pounds I know I know those people
and many of them are friends of mine and
many of them have relatives that have
but one thing that I think for business
that I'd like to mention is that the
gambling addiction I have discovered
with a lot of people and even looking
back at my own story is business can
turn a person into somewhat of a problem
because people don't only gamble in the
casino they also gamble in the stock
market with doing day trading and stuff
like that and most of the people who do
eventually they crap out and they fall
into a desperate situation
emotionally and they don't see it coming
and then they start borrowing money from
people to try to chase their losses and
they do dishonest things and one of the
things i' I've learned about addicts is
they're generally uh trying to cover it
up because they're ashamed of stuff and
lying and I've watched that and I have
to watch out for people when I do
business with them to make sure that
they're not falling into those traps I
don't want to go into business and do
deals with Partners who I can't trust
I've had I've watched certain people do
things that like promisory note funds
can turn into a Ponzi scheme in about
five minutes because if you miss the
first payment you have to explain to
your investors hey our deal isn't
working the way we thought it would so
the the next payment the next quarter
they might make a payment not based on
what's coming in but based Bas on what
the promise is and the promisory note
and once they do that once they have now
done something that they know is wrong
and months could go by and they could do
it again and they could do it again and
they could do it again and before you
know it you've distributed money that's
coming in from new people and giving it
to the old people and I've got this guy
I know in Utah who had the most
brilliant idea he was building event
centers 10,000 foot event centers all
around the country where people could
have weddings and it would be a lot less
cost than a hotel or any fancy um Event
Center and they were brilliant but it
wasn't working and he started promising
people a certain return and he started
taking money from new investors to pay
the old ones because he didn't want to
admit the loss yeah so that can happen
if you got a gambling mentality and by
the way if someone says I'm a deal
Junkie I'm not going to be their partner
because I don't want to be partners with
an anything junkie I want to be I want
to be partners with people who are in
recovery who are vulnerable and learned
downside of making stupid business
decisions that are based on being
impulsive wow that's a lot to take in um
Real estate investing with a focus on cash deals and risk management.
that's a lot I think that's your wisdom
and uh experience speaking but I hope
everybody I hope you got to listen to
that again if you need to go back and
listen to it again I think there's a lot
of nuance in there that's good
Joel thank you Joel um where can people
find you online uh please go check out
his other episode this has been an
amazing episode the other episode is
amazing episode um it is definitely
worth the time um to go back and listen
to both episodes if you're here and need
to listen to this one again please do it
I think there's a lot of um experience
and knowledge speaking today as a whole
um where can you find you online Joel uh
Brit properties.com bit T properties.com
we manage 20 industrial buildings our
portfolio the average building the value
of our average building is about three
and a half million dollars and we raise
money in in chunks of 2550 100,000 250
in some cases or more and um one of the
things that is on our website is an
article called why you should not invest
with us and it talks about the 10
questions that if you don't ask them you
somebody I'm have to look into that
that's a that's a good one yeah it's a
good one I like I like I like your
approach to a lot of things and I think
people need to understand the risk that
they're they're jumping into uh before
they jump into it I think um you only
have it's a lot it's a lot harder to
gain a loss than it is to to get
so understand what you're doing and even
though credit investors are professional
investors sometimes make the right
decisions so I think you understand
everything you're really getting into
and um I think you investing all
cash it's important it's important to
stability of of your asset and you know
you know what exit's going to be every
time well yeah the key to an all casat
deal is wealth people aren't looking to
get rich they're already rich they're
looking not to lose their wealth and
this all cash thing it's not for
everybody a lot of people think I'm a
because they say hey real estate's
a leverage business if you don't use
leverage you're not doing real estate
right but I have seem to have found a
group of people who agree that a safer
deal and sleeping well at night with
staying power is preferable to taking a
big risk you see how many people are
losing their buildings today because of
not being able to refinance and losing
um it's it's rough out there and we're
really comfortable in our little niche
with the no debt that yeah we're not
going to make a fortune by leveraging
but we're going to be in a position
where we have a strong balance sheet and
staying power to not get uh trounced
there you go go to Brit properties.com
with one t uh for everybody here
listening thanks for tuning in we'll see
in the next episode uh thanks Joel for
coming in and uh sharing some
information with us today and as always
we'll see you next time guys thanks for
tuning in if you would like to receive
hot leads WR to yourself when in a text
message check out Hive leads. and you
can receive the same leads we've been
receiving in our campaign for three and
a half years that's made us successful
Apple Podcasts
YouTube Channel
Spotify
Amazon Music
iHeartRadio
