Billy Keels  00:00

Today's conversation is sponsored by first generation Capital Partners. If you're an accredited investor and you want to know about how we're helping other accredited investors keep more of their income, go to firstgencp.com forward slash going long.

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00:12

So my coach challenged me to sell all of our snowplough equipment, so I couldn't just run out the door and go do it. And he challenged me to buy a property out of state so I could learn how to rely on other people to do some of the tasks that I was doing. And that alone changed the trajectory of everything that we're doing right now.

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00:31

You're listening to the going long podcast with Billy keels, the number one podcast for long distance real asset investing.

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Billy Keels  00:41

Welcome to the goldmine podcast, we're back once again to continue to help to educate you so you feel much more comfortable as well as confident investing beyond your backyard. And yes, I'm your host, Billy keels, and I am really, really excited to welcome you back to another conversation. Because today's is like super, super awesome. So get your pen and paper out. And also to just right up front, I want to thank each and every one of you for continuing to share the podcast episodes across social media tagging us, we really, really love that. Thank you for the continued honest written reviews as well as ratings. And if you want to do that, and you still haven't figured that out yet, we've got this nice little video, you just click it, and they'll show you exactly how you can do that. Also, too, if you want to check out any of the previous episodes, go to first gen cp.com forward slash podcast. Once again, it's first gen cpe.com forward slash podcast. And you can find every single episode that transcripts, the videos, the audios, everything that you need to get the education that you want for free. So listen, if you have ever been or want to tap into the mindset of a high performing athlete, someone who is also skilled in leadership, someone who has overcome their own individual fears, to be able to now go out in across the entire Midwest help other high paid professionals get closer to their goals and their dreams. And this is absolutely the conversation that you are going to want to listen to, because we have our guest, who is partner at the legacy Investment Group, Mr. Ben Cole, and we're going to get to that conversation just after this. Are you a busy high paid professional, someone that in the previous two years has earned $200,000 and is expected to earn $200,000 this year. Or maybe if you file jointly, previously, you've earned $300,000 The previous two years and you're also expected to do that this year. Or maybe if not, either individually or jointly, you have a million dollars in net worth not including your primary residence. If you meet any of these criteria, then you're someone that the IRS considers to be an accredited investor. That probably means you're someone like an enterprise software sales executive, you may be an executive in a major corporation, you may be a doctor, you may be a lawyer, maybe a high paid consultant, you may be worked for a major sports franchise, the thing I know you have in common is that you continue to do the hard work like you're doing 100% of the work. And you're only bringing home 50% of the reward because you continue to get crushed by your income taxes. If you are tired of this situation and you're looking for a new solution, then go to first gen cp.com forward slash going long. When you get there, that's going to help you to start the journey so that you can begin to take back control of your taxes take control of your time. And then also that means you're going to be able to spend more of the time that you want with the people that you love the most. And that is the way that you're going to get the personal freedom that you're looking for. So if you're looking to take back control, go ahead and go to first gen cpe.com forward slash going long and see how we can help you today. So you know what if you've ever wanted to understand how cultivating relationships, being part of high performing team sports, and having a legacy mindset can turbocharge your long distance investing success? And guess what today's conversation you're gonna want to listen to until the very last and I really mean this very last word. You know why? Because today's guest not only started this was going to go back to college here with a degree in kinesiology also has a minor in leadership that really rings a bell to me, I want to hear more about that. Listen to this. He also walked on to a division one football team and I don't know which one that is, but I'm sure if you're watching the video, you may get a hint or if you're not then go watch the video. Also, after football, he earned his master's and then he went back to even assist in coaching as part of the coaching staff. Today, he is a commercial as well as residential investor, as well as the partner at Legacy investment group. It gives me great pleasure to welcome to today's conversation, Mr. Ben Cole. Ben, welcome to show man.

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04:30

Thank you so much, Billy, and thanks for the background and update for all the listeners. It's a it's a lot of fun for me to be on a show like this today that has such a global reach and impact on so many people and hearing you know just a little bit about what you told them my background. It's it's really interesting after I sit here and you give that introduction and think about my path where I am today and what we're doing sitting here and doing the show,

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Billy Keels  04:51

and well listen, I'm really really interested for the entire going long family. There's one person in particular who else in the shout out to I'm sure Bucha Probably will send a shout out to at some point in time, but we'll hold on just for a second, for making the connection, and also want us to hear more about your story. So listen, Ben, here's the thing, you know, I'm going to ask you five questions you're going to get to in the beginning, you're gonna get through in the end, and in the middle, you're gonna get a lot of other questions. I just don't know what those are yet. So I want to go on long family to get to know you help us understand then where is it that you call home in the US.

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05:24

So I was born and raised in Rochester, Minnesota, and after going to college at Kansas State University, you know, I was a player, I turned into a coach, and then got married. And after about six months of being married, I had one dinner at my house with my wife. And I realised that was not at all the lifestyle that, you know, we kind of envisioned as we got married. So basically, I walked in the door at 1130 at night, to have dinner with my wife after she set the alarm to get up and have dinner with me. And we basically that night made a decision that this was not the career path or lifestyle that we wanted. And I actually decided to move back to Rochester, Minnesota to get my real estate licence to essentially hold me over until I could find another job within the world of sports that I was just used to for my entire life. And just moved back to Rochester, Minnesota, got my real estate licence. And I'm a guy that when I jumped in, I jumped in headfirst and ended up realising that I had an enormous passion for real estate. And then I had a lot of entrepreneur in me. And so I never looked back. And about seven years later, here we are today, and I'm still living in my hometown of Rochester, Minnesota.

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Billy Keels  06:32

All right, man, fantastic, we're definitely gonna jump into more of that story. But Rochester, Minnesota is where you call home today. Also, I love starting out with positivity man, because that is the thing that just gets our energy up, keeps the heart happy, share with us, what is the most positive thing that's happened to or for you, in the last 24 hours,

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06:50

I would say that were predicted to get over 1618 inches of snow and the next 48 hours. And the interesting thing moving to Minnesota, is when we did it, I strategically moved here in April after winter, because my wife was not used to snow. And after being here for a few years, my wife absolutely loves winters. And so we're going up to our cabin in northern Wisconsin for a big cross country ski race that my wife's participating in. And so I hear snow. And I think, you know, snow removal expenses for all of our properties, and all these things. And my wife's just jumping for joy. And it makes me just feel so good that we've kind of built that lifestyle, and she's really bought into the winter and cold.

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Billy Keels  07:36

And it's absolutely fantastic. I love hearing about that. And when you can have I know it sounds cliche, but the happy wife happy life, and being able to really be on the same page with that kind of stuff is fantastic. So thanks for thanks for sharing that positivity with us. And also well, you know, I'm sure that by the time this is released, you will have already enjoyed that time in the winter cabin up in Wisconsin in the snow will have been removed or doubled in there in Minnesota. So So listen, here's the thing, Ben, and I know our mutual friend who introduced us who I'm still not gonna say his name yet, because he's gonna have to keep listening. Probably just let you know a little bit of something about me within that is I am a recovering perfectionist. So sometimes I tried to do things that are like really absurd, almost impossible, like try to tell your entire backstory in two and a half seconds. Or maybe I think I tried to do it even faster today. But forgive me for doing that. But also, I'm going to ask you for your help right away, Ben, I would love for you to share. And you've already started to share a little bit of your backstory. But if you would you please share your backstory with me and the going long family. And also if you can talk to us about some of the more important decisions. And you've already started to share some today that you've actually made to get to this point in your journey. And then you and I can talk and see where we take the conversation from there.

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08:51

I think we could probably talk for a couple hours about that. But you know, I mentioned at the very beginning that sports have played an enormous impact just on me as an individual and grown into now a husband and eventually a father. We don't have kids yet. And you know, after getting married, we talked a lot about like our lifestyle and our vision for what we want in a lot of that surrounded sports. And then you know, just that one particular night we came home and realise it wasn't for us. We pivoted and we essentially our entire life in a 12 foot U haul. We cashed out our bank account with about $6,500 and drove to Minnesota and lived in our parents basement until we were able to buy our first house. And so that was just a enormous change that we did. But as I got into real estate and became an agent as I alluded to earlier, I found a big passion for it and met a couple people that became mentors for me and kept asking me why I'm not an investor yet. And then I you know the typical Rich Dad Poor Dad My wife bought me the book I read Rich Dad Poor Dad Millionaire Next Door and start with why. And those were the three very very impactful books To me, that changed my mindset on everything. And then I, along the way, I didn't have the confidence to become an investor myself. So instead, I sold investment properties to some of my clients, and then also started a property management company. Because again, I didn't have the courage to become an investor myself to take the to what I thought at the time was risk. So I became a really good operator and property manager for a lot of people. And again, I had that one night that changed things for me where I was to in the morning, I'm lifting a snowblower out of my pickup truck with 30 mile an hour gusting winds to go plough somebody snow, and I just got mad at myself. And I said, Why am I making other people money opposed to doing this myself. So basically, I finished up for that night and decided I wanted to become an investor, and found the opportunity to basically jump in and learn how to do it. And again, never looked back. And now we've built and scaled a company over the last seven years, that's done very, very well.

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Billy Keels  11:00

All right, fantastic. You have done everything from the importance of sport, to helping us understand that being on the same page with your spouse, having the humility, to be able to move back home, live in the basement rig, realise the things that you really are working for, and on a day to day basis, you know, continue to move forward. So I appreciate you sharing both your backstory as well as some of the difficult decisions that you made to get to this point in your journey. You know, the thing that it's really interesting, because as I listened to you, you talked about the lack of confidence, you talked about the lack of courage to become an investor. You chose to build expertise in areas as an operator and things like that. But I guess at the bottom of the kind of at the at the core of it is what help us understand what you thought an investor was, number one. And also what was the fear of becoming that investor, when you talk about the lack of confidence and lack of, of courage.

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12:03

I think a lot of it just stems back to I mean, you kind of, you know, said my path and going through college and sports. And if you really stop and think about it today, as you go through high school and college, you don't take classes on money, and investing and saving, and all of those different things. So it really comes down to knowledge. And if you're, if you're knowledgeable about something, it leads to confidence about something which gives you the ability to go do it. And then so moving back, I just didn't have a network and surrounding myself with people that were like minded thinking about it, to help give me the confidence and knowledge to go do it. So I think the big thing that's changed over the last couple of years, you know, shows like yours, that helped give education to a lot of people that are listening that want to jump into the game of investing. And so I think that, you know, now the biggest thing is, if you're listening to a multitude of podcasts, there's different strategies, different asset types, investing in your own market, investing in other markets, investing in real estate, investing in oil, and then that starts to you know, you start to get lots of confidence that you want to do it, then you start to analyse and then you don't do it, because you're not sure where you want to go. So I think a really big thing to kind of get started that helped me is I realised exactly what I wanted to do. And I stayed focused on that. And that's what gave me confidence to invest in a different asset class, and then also doing long distance investing as well.

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Billy Keels  13:29

So appreciate you breaking that down for us, right? It's the knowledge, the confidence to action in that is really helpful, because that's what you perceived an investor to do. That's where you felt like you didn't have and so what you began to do is actually get closer to that you build your knowledge, you build your confidence, and you start to take action. You also talked about something that is happening to many, many people. Nowadays, it is you want to be the master, you want to be the jack of all trades and master of none, which leads to analysis paralysis. And we know that a confused mind does absolutely nothing. So because of the background that you have, in team sport, and leadership, maybe you could talk to a little bit about how being able to combine those two things team ship, as well as leadership also helped you to overcome some of that challenge that you may have been feeling about not yet being an investor.

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14:25

I think one of the big things that's really that I take from basically almost my entire lifetime of being in sports and also playing at a very high level is that as a competitive athlete, and there's a lot of other careers too, if you're a physician, if you're working on Wall Street, if you're doing other things at a very high level, typically you're very goal oriented. So one of the things that I've taken from when I was an athlete to now as an investor that has pretty audacious goals is I remember in middle school I would print out basically a list of the top five things I wanted to achieve in sports Everything from high school to college to the next level. And I taped it on my mirror. So I could look at it every day to get myself a reminder of the things that I wanted to go do to stay focused. And now I do the exact same thing in my office, I have exactly what my goals are for the quarter, the year, the next three years, and then the next five years. So it's just a constant reminder to stay focused. And that's what I took from, you know, being an athlete to a lot of the leadership training that I had with my minor that I got, and then also to now as an investor that's leading, you know, a private equity firm,

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Billy Keels  15:31

absolutely fantastic. So it's basically you have, you have a goal, you have a process, you continue to follow, rinse, repeat. And that continues to add more confidence takes away from some of the the lack of courage that you mentioned to before. And these are things that you were doing even back in your early days, as you were as you were getting your experience.

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15:51

So it's like muscle memory, you know, it's something that at times can get, you know, someone say boring and repetitive, but it leads to success. And I think you just need to stay focused on it.

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Billy Keels  16:05

Definitely focus is one of the things that's really, really important. I wanted to dig into one other thing too. And specifically, it's teamwork, right? Because as we get into investing many times we think it's about me, and me, and me and what I can do, and this is now put my hand up, right, because I'm a recovering professional perfectionist, I always used to think about if I can do this, if I can do that, you are uniquely positioned because of the experience that you have in performing at a high level in terms of collegiate sport, also managing and helped to managing both the mental as well as physical from from a leadership perspective of also managing high performing athletes and teams. Talk to us specifically about how hours How is the the team work, and it's one of the things I talk about all the time, teamwork makes the dream work, I always say, the importance of teamwork in terms of being able to achieve success or move towards success, as it relates to what you're doing today and helping others from an investing perspective.

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17:10

So the, when I started as just an agent, I was an independent agent. When I started investing, it was by myself. And then when I knew I wanted to go bigger than my very first partner, I managed his multifamily portfolio. And when we came across our very first storage opportunity, it was an absolute no brainer, because I was already managing his multifamily portfolio, he was a former college athlete, I was a former college athlete. And the big thing that we had is that I was the day to day operator, I was the one answering the phones, he was the one behind the scenes focused on the really finite details, adding all of our security and some of those, you know, I would say smaller things, but they're huge things. And so we had skillsets that complemented each other. And as we built that storage portfolio, it went really, really well because our skill sets complemented each other. Now, as I've grown a private equity company, my partner in that company, the exact same thing, our skill sets complement each other. So we work really, really well together. And so again, I'm focused on kind of the acquisition side, I'm focused on the operating the tenant relations, and my partner on the private equity comes from a background in high level finance. And he focuses on the underwriting and legal side. So I think when you build a partnership and a relationship with someone, you need to find complementary skill sets to work together to take you further.

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Billy Keels  18:37

Yeah, absolutely love the thought process there and just recognising, you have things in common, right collegiate sports, but then at the same time, you recognise that you also have very different areas of focus and where you like to where you feel that you excel the most. And so being able to find those team members that are complementary to your skill set, also have areas that are in common, right, because that also helps to bring you together. And then you can form together that common vision that you want to, that you want to that you want to build and that you move towards. Trusting that you enjoyed today's conversation. And you know, if you're tired of getting crushed by taxes, and you're looking for greater freedom, to be able to choose what you want to do when you want to do it, make sure that you go to first ncp.com Ford slash going long and see how we can help you today. Let's get back to the conversation. So you've already kind of let the cat out of the bag a little bit in terms of the specific asset areas that you focus on. So maybe talk to us a little bit more about that. Because even earlier when you said that you mentioned that you didn't have the courage at the time to become an investor. But you started doing what some people would consider are actually more challenging part tracks, because actually putting it together and keeping it holding it together. The operational side of things is where that's really either where you make it or break it, I think at the end of the day, right? So maybe you could tell Talk to us a little bit about the asset that you choose to focus on specialise in and kind of why you you've made that choice. And then we can talk a little bit more about what what you're doing as well as legacy Investment Group. Sure.

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20:11

So my very first asset that my my actual my first investment outside of my personal house was a self storage facility. And so basically, I just, you know, kind of skipped the single family, the duplex, the four Plex and went straight into commercial and self storage. And this is back in 2018, when I bought my first ever investment property. And, essentially, we did really well, we did everything that we set out to do, we basically set a five year path of what we wanted to accomplish. And we were able to do it all in about a year. And so it gave us an immense amount of confidence. And then we stayed focused on self storage and bought a few more facilities. And then along that way, because I was an operator in property manager, we also purchase multifamily. And then over the last couple of years with the COVID interest rates kind of the world changing those particular asset classes, the demand for those was really high. So it became significantly harder to find deals in self storage and multifamily. So we basically pivoted and started buying triple net real estate across the Midwest. And I was at a point personally where I kind of plateaued with the workload that I had. And so I hired a coach about a year and a half ago that really challenged me to start investing out of state, because I was the guy that built up my own portfolio because I was the DIY, I was the one that I alluded to where I was doing snow, I was shampooing carpets, I was sneaking toilets, I was doing all of that myself, and I just didn't have the time anymore. So my coach challenged me to sell all of our snowplough equipment, so I couldn't just run out the door and go do it. And he challenged me to buy a property out of state so I could learn how to rely on other people to do some of the tasks that I was doing. And that alone changed the trajectory of everything that we're doing right now.

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Billy Keels  22:08

Love the fact that it's changed its trajectory, can you help us understand? Give us one example of how it's helped to change the trajectory, then then I have a comment that I want to make, because I think that's phenomenal that your coach challenged you in that way.

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22:20

Yeah, the biggest thing is your time, you know, as you continue to grow and put more on your plate, if you want to do it at a very high level, you have to stay focused and to do it well takes time. And so I just realised that I started to break down what my time is worth. And I realised that if there's certain things that just aren't worth my dollar per hour average, based off my income, I need to learn how to delegate and hire other people to do some of those things. So I realised that shampooing carpets was no longer worth my time, I will realise that ploughing snow is no longer worth my time. And so I've learned how to delegate and do some of those other things. But I've also because I've done it, I've learned how to find other people that I can delegate to that will do it to the standard that I'm used to that when I was doing it myself. It doesn't, you know, I guess my biggest fear when I started this is that if I start to hire other people, our performance and our income will go down because no one can do it as good as me. But because I was actually the operator doing it, I've learned the trades that's needed for someone else to do it. So instead of my income coming down, because I'm hiring it out, my income will go up, because now we're doing this and I can stay focused on the things that bring me the most joy, and it also to grow our business,

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Billy Keels  23:35

to be able to grow your business to things that give you joy. And one of the things that I believe I heard you say is to do it to your standard. And I and this is one of the things that is so frequently underlooked. Right Is it is to be able to do it at to your standard. And also one of the things and I'll just share this with you right is is you realise that someone else is not going to do it exactly the same way that you would do it. But if they could do it to the standard to which you buy what you hold, and they are able to do it 95%, but you're able to focus things on other your focus on other areas, then guess what, the ship is going to continue to move forward and more than likely it's going to move much faster because everyone's doing what they do best. And that is one of the keys that I think is phenomenal. Go ahead, feel

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24:19

free. The only the only thing that I was going to say is that when it comes to you know owning real estate, if it's self storage, multifamily or triple net, the biggest thing that you have to do to be a good operator is just answer the phone and work with your tenants. Like if you can do that and learn how to troubleshoot and manage particular projects, you're going to do really well because the people that I've seen where I've purchased their properties and stabilise them really quickly is just by answering the phone and working through problems to keep your tenants happy. Like if you answer the phone and you're a good person, you'll do really well investing in real estate.

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Billy Keels  24:55

If I could drop the mic that I have in front of me I would drop it been but I can't because you and I have to keep talking Okay, so we're just gonna say that was a mic drop moment, boom, I absolutely love that. So, so tell us a little bit more about how did you feel by the way, when when you're sorry. When your coach actually challenged you to go to sell your property, because I'm just imagining, like, sell your properties or sell your cell your snow removal equipment and go out of state, like, what was your first reaction when he said that like, like, just emotionally?

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25:35

I mean, in that split second, it was hell no, this is what I've been doing. And I've been growing really quickly. So absolutely not, I'll just drink more coffee. And I'll continue to do it and add more to my plate. But then you kind of have that where you hang up the phone with your coach and sit back and really reflect on it. And before I started this, I didn't know how to open Microsoft Excel. And now I'm pretty Excel geek. And I build all sorts of models on trajectories of where I can take my personal life where we can take all of our investment investments. And I basically just sat down and stayed in my office for a couple hours and just kind of built this model and said, Well, if I stopped doing this, and we add this many more properties, and have this much more income, how much quicker can I get to my three and five year goals? And it was just this eye opening moment that it was a no brainer. Yeah. Okay. So

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Billy Keels  26:27

I love that initial shock. But then you started putting things into perspective, it's almost like the five year goal that you accomplished and 20% of the time, because you did it in a year. So you start thinking to yourself, well hang on a second, how can we? How can we really do this? How can we make the goals even bigger? And how can we get to them even faster. But you know, one of the things that I also recognise then when, like living in Europe and investing exclusively back in the US, like I know myself as a as a recovering perfectionist, had I purchased my first property right down the street, I would have probably been there everyday all day, fixing the property, doing all this stuff that I'm sure you were doing for quite a while. But then one of the things and I'm just curious, if you also find this to be the cases, I had to stop focusing, I never had the opportunity, excuse me, I never had the opportunity to focus on the property. Because I always had to focus on the process, because I could never do any of the work, not the real work like the day to day work, because I was literally 10,000 kilometres away, or 1000, whatever. So I'm just curious if you also found that you've kind of said a little bit about that. But just that whole concept of focusing on process versus actually on the property.

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27:37

It's really important. And it really depends on what I think you're investing in and the asset type, you know, because there's different things that we look at if it's self storage, multifamily, or retail. And so I think a lot of it is when you're buying commercial property or essentially buying the leases. So you need to spend a lot of time during due diligence, which is the process of reviewing the leases, spending time with your legal team, with your lenders, to really understand that. But then you also need to look into some of the risk mitigation, which again, is just another checklist on your process of acquiring a property. And if a tenant happens to leave, are we going to be able to fill that space for that particular unit at the current rent or potentially higher. And so there's just a huge laundry list of things that we look at when we're looking at properties that essentially is just overall process. And the more that we continue to do it, just the it becomes a normal process and checklists that we go through in order to acquire property, and it makes it easier and we can scale faster, you know,

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Billy Keels  28:39

scale faster and making it easier. through repetition and efficiencies. That seems like a pretty good thing to me then. So. So I like that. Well listen, man before we get into the going on final three, because it's kind of like we've got to get there. And talk to us a little bit about who were who are some of the people that you're helping today at Legacy Investment Group, just so we also get a feel. I mean, you've talked about some of the different assets. You've talked to us about the approach that you take. You talked about the the leadership, the education, but you know, specifically what, how are you helping people legacy investment group today?

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29:06

That's a great question. And again, I can't comment enough on what the power of a coach can do for you. You know, as an athlete, our coach always said, Get 1% better every single day at something. And I took that into the world that I'm in now. And as I continued to invest, and as I alluded to, at the beginning of the show, there aren't many people who talk about this in your daily Happy Hour circle. So I think again, what my coach did is he challenged me to kind of start to get on social media a little bit more. He challenged me to get on podcast because there's a lot of people who want what I've been able to build and what you've been able to build and some of these other people have been able to do. And so after being on the show it's and other podcasts and social media, it's been really eye opening to how many people that I've been able to help kind of get over that hurdle to take the step into doing something that they've wanted to Do for years. And one example of it is my uncle. He listened to one of my podcasts a couple of months ago. And he's literally under contract right now to do a self storage development. And he's never invested in anything. And so doing this now to help one particular person from this episode, it just changes everything. And it's kind of like that, why of why I'm doing things now?

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Billy Keels  30:21

Yeah. Which is, I guess that's one of one of your favourite books was start with why and being able to focus on that kind of stuff. So I really appreciate you sharing that with us and sharing so much with the so, so much today, Ben. But the thing is, we kind of got to get to the going long, final three. But I'm never gonna go to the going long final three, unless you tell us because you're a special guest that you're ready for me to ask you to go along. Final three. Are you ready? I'm ready. I'm actually not surprised at all by that answer. Actually, that you're gonna be like, Yeah, I'm good. So now here we go. Here we go. So we started with you. Being able to move back to your hometown in Minnesota awaiting the snow. I'd like to bring things back to this side of the pond. Even though I'm originally from Columbus, Ohio, I've called Europe home for the last 22 years. I can't even believe that. Scott flying time flies so fast. But I would love for you to share with us. Me in the go along family Ben, what is your favourite European city that you have either already visited or still on your bucket list to visit?

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31:22

We took a two week trip to Italy a few years ago, and I really enjoyed it Rome and Montepulciano

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Billy Keels  31:31

room and when people say Okay, love it. Italy is love Italy as well. So we're gonna include in the show notes, it's all good. Question number two. And this really has a lot to do with the things that I have recognised from people who are extremely successful, right? You've come across a lot of really extremely successful people, I consider you to be someone who's extremely successful, because as you mentioned, helping one person getting out there sharing your story globally, is really helping people and what you're doing at Legacy investment group is also making a positive impact. And so one of the things that I've noticed from people that are really successful, and I'm sure you've noticed the exact same thing is been very successful people, they do something that's very different than most people like, every single time they have a plan, they put the plan together, and they execute the plan flawlessly meaning nope, no mistakes ever. And so they do that over and over, which allows I did it again, aren't it? You're kind of smiling. I think, you know, I think you know, of course, successful people don't get things right perfectly every single time. But because it's my show, I like to have some fun, but I like to have a little bit of fun. Of course, they don't get it right. Usually successful people may make so many more mistakes than most people. It's kind of like what you were talking about. In the beginning. There's that fear because you don't feel like you have the courage but eventually to get started. And then you want to get started, you're gonna make mistakes, and really successful people, they make mistakes a lot more than most people or learning opportunities or whatever you want to call it right the outcome that you were looking for didn't happen. Really successful people make 20 to 50 times more mistakes than most people and I'm sure you've been in that boat as well. I know I should have I made a lot of mistakes. So Ben, I don't want you to think about the mistakes. But what I would love for you to do today is share what is the one lesson that you learned as a result of taking action that didn't work so that when that happened, you actually stopped and you recognised hey listen, I need to put different strategies, tactics and actions in place. So the minimise the probability of this exact same thing happening again, please share that one lesson with us.

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33:41

I think the phrase just do it you know if you want to start small to build the confidence to do something bigger you just need to do it because once you master your craft it gives you the confidence to go a little bit further or a little bit bigger. So if you want to invest in hotels or self storage, but don't want to jump into it because of the financial risk, go buy a house build confidence learn what a p&l balance sheet Cash Flow Statement how to get a loan and then just take that and just go do it bigger. And so I think that the biggest thing is getting started

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Billy Keels  34:16

Fantastic job like you said just doing so it's not surprising that that comes from someone who has been performing an extremely high level and also coaching others in extremely high athletic levels. So I appreciate you sharing that lesson with this and then the one last thing and I know you've already shared a couple books with us earlier but I was loved in the show on you know helping to fill our minds with with more knowledge. So what is the one book that you would recommend to the go along family today?

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34:43

The three that I referenced at the beginning I think everybody should read which is Rich Dad Poor Dad, start with why and Millionaire Next Door. I think that'll set a really good base. If you want to become an entrepreneur or investor in real estate, those are great ones and take a lot of notes So the book that I read recently is I Sam Zell's book. I think Am I too subtle? Yeah, that's a really good book that put a lot of things into perspective for me and how to look at particular markets, how to grow a big company and think like, essentially like your Blackstone, and start thinking like that today. So you can grow your entire company to that level, and you don't make poor decisions at the very beginning that will slow you down.

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Billy Keels  35:31

So Sam Zales new book? Am I too subtle? And you know what, don't worry everyone, if it's something different, we're going to just have the link, all you need to do is click so don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Actually, you know what, Ben's been really good. He's given you like he's over delivered. So which is not a big surprise here. So you know, it's been when I think about it, men, just from the fact that you're sharing about your journey from education, being involved in sport, the importance of then taking that knowledge to the next level, being able to minor in, in leadership. And more importantly, as you and your wife come together, you recognise that there are some things in your life that you like, Hey, listen, we want to make sure we're on the same page. And so when things are not aligning, well, you get on the same page together, you're able to figure out, hey, listen, you know what, we're not liking what we're doing here. So you actually even pivoted your life to move to where you currently are today, in Minnesota, you were humble, you were able to recognise that there were things that you wanted to be able to do in your life, there were things that you and your wife wanted to be able to achieve. So you realise that, hey, listen, even though that there's some trepidation, there's some fear, there's some lack of courage, you needed to actually do something, you need to make sure that you got the knowledge, you wanted to make sure you got the confidence, and most importantly, that you started to take action. So you took that action, you made your vest, you overcame that fear, you made your first investment, you made your second investment, you made your third investment, you got asset, you got involvement in multiple assets, then you decided it was time to get a coach that kind of broke all the things that you've been doing into little pieces, but you recognise now since you've continued to gain more confidence that you continue to help and impact more lives in further distance, that this is one of the things that you continue to do with legacy Investment Group and the entire go along family saying yeah, Billy, but just asking the question. So I get a little bit riled up some time. So here's the question everybody wants to know, Ben, what is the best way for the going long family to find out more about you and also what you're doing at Legacy Investment Group.

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37:32

The easiest way to get a hold of me is probably through Instagram, Ben underscore Cole, ke LL, I truly actually mean this. If you reach out to me and want to connect one on one, I would absolutely love to connect with anyone who reaches out to me. 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, whatever it takes, I would love to connect with people and talk about, you know, questions that you might have on how to get started, something I talked about on the show today. Or, you know, or my company, the legacy investment group and what we're focused on this calendar year and in the future.

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Billy Keels  38:07

All right, absolutely. Fantastic. So Ben underscore call, check him out on Instagram. I've got other ways as well, we'll include them in the show notes. And by the way, you know what, I don't normally do this. But I want to send a huge shout out to my man, Trey, our man, Trey, thank you for making the connection. If you're listening to this, which I'm pretty sure you are. Really appreciate the making the connection. So aside from that, then many so many things that you have done. And most importantly, I really want to say thank you very much from the bottom of my heart for deciding to invest your time with me. And the entire going long family today, man, thank you so very much, really appreciate it. Yeah,

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38:46

I really appreciate this as well. Thanks, Billy. All right, awesome. If you

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Billy Keels  38:49

give me like 1015 seconds, we'll wrap things up. Just really quickly. Go along family. Look, Ben left it all here for you. Take today's episode. Listen to it. Again. Most importantly, like you said, take action, share it with a family member, share with a friend. Heck reach out to Ben and tell him what you loved about today's conversation. It's going to help the two of you continue to build the relationship can talk to you more about how you can get closer to your goals, overcome your fears, overcome your challenges. While you're doing that. I'm going to be here preparing for the very next conversation. So until then, go out and make it a great day. And thank you very much. Trust that you enjoy today's conversation. And once again, today's conversation was sponsored by first generation Capital Partners. If you're an accredited investor want to find out more about how we're helping accredited investors to gain their personal freedom even faster. Go to firstgencp.com forward slash going long.

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