Special Guest Expert - Jonathan Cohen: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

Special Guest Expert - Jonathan Cohen: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Announcer:
Welcome to The MIND BODY BUSINESS Show. The three keys to your success is just moments away. Here's your host, Brian Kelly.

Brian Kelly:
Hello, everyone, and welcome, welcome, welcome to The MIND BODY BUSINESS Show. We have a phenomenal show lined up for you tonight. I can't wait to bring on this amazing, amazing guest. John Cohen is in the house. He's coming on very, very soon. If you ever wanted to learn up about a really interesting technique for real estate investing, then you've come to the right place. And it's also a show about entrepreneurship and success. And so I'm going to dig deep, ask some really hard hitting questions of John and he is going to answer them with incredible ease and sharing immense value with you to share with you how he became so successful so that you can simply model him and do the same. The MIND BODY BUSINESS Show. What is that all about? Well, in now my fifty-five years on this planet, around the last ten of those or so I began studying successful people and just successful people. And what I found during that last decade or so is that pattern started emerging with these successful people and it came into three primary areas. And you might now know what that what those are. That's mind and that was mindset. They had a very flexible, powerful mindset and was just talking I was talking to Jon off the air right before the show. And we both agree that, you know, it's about controlling your attitude, your attitude, controlling your circumstances, not the other way around. And so, having that empowered mindset can get you past the troubled times. And then body that is literally about taking care of your body, about nutrition, about what you put into your body. And it's also about exercising on a regular basis. And successful people that I study had those two traits to start off with. And I call those the foundation, the foundation of success are your mind and your body. And I like to talk about that as a team. The mind and body are a team. And more importantly, they are your team. And as with any team, if one player of that team is not pulling their weight and is not operating at a peak level of performance, then the team as a whole is suffering. And so, you want to concentrate on your mind and your body and get those set, get that foundation laid, get it solid, and then you can concentrate on all the aspects of the third pillar of success and that is business. And business is multi, multi multifaceted. There are so many skill sets in business. There's sales, marketing, team building, scaling, systematizing. The list goes on and on. Leadership and really because of that last one leadership, that's the good news. Because for one person to master every skill set, there are many more than I just mentioned, could take more than a lifetime for one person to do that. If you master the skill set of leadership, well, then you could delegate a lot of those other skill sets off to people that have them on your team and there achieve incredible success. So, The MIND BODY BUSINESS Show, it was a show by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs to help you to succeed by showing you and bringing with you, or to you, amazing guests like John Cohen is coming on in just a moment, I promise. And another fantastic attribute of very successful people is that to a person, they're very avid readers. And I want to hit on that for just a moment. And with that, we're going to Segway into a little segment I affectionately call bookmarks.

Announcer:
Bookmarks, born to read, bookmarks. Ready steady read, bookmarks brought to you by reachyourpeaklibrary.com.

Brian Kelly:
Yes, bookmarks. There we are. Reachyourpeaklibrary.com. And just a real quick note for those of you watching right now or listening is to basically stay in the room. And what does that mean? You're going to be given a lot of phenomenal resources over this the course of this evening, this show. One of them being reachyourpeaklibrary.com and rather than give in to that temptation to go and look at it on another tab on your browser. If you're watching right now, live instead, stay with us. And rather, I would recommend you pull up this very old- fashioned thing called paper and maybe this other instrument you may remember, it's called a pen or a pencil and take notes and just write down the resources as we go. And then after the show's over you go visit those resources. That way you won't miss a thing. If your attention is diverted, I would really, really hate to see you miss a golden nugget that Jon is going to give you here in a moment. So, stay with us till the end and really stay with us. Take notes. I think I run the show on the host and I take notes throughout it. So, I'm not asking you or telling you to do anything that I wouldn't do or do do. All right. Reachyourpeaklibrary.com. What is that? That is a Web site I literally put together with you in mind. I'm not kidding with you. The entrepreneur or the business person who's looking to achieve a greater level of success than they have currently already achieved. And what I did was I began reading voraciously for the last decade or so. I did not read it all. I mean, nothing until just about a decade ago. And finally, I was given great advice by a mentor of mine, and my thick skull was finally opened up to where I said, okay, I'm going to start reading. And this is literally a list of my personal reads. These are what books I've read that have had profound effect and impact on me, both in business and personal life. And so, I put this here for you so that you could at least have a list of vetted books from at least one other successful entrepreneur so that you're not guessing and looking for, well, what's the greatest book and putting it out there looking on Google. Now, you can just know and rest assured that at least one person says these are really good reads and they can have profound effect on you and your life. And so, that is what that is there for. And speaking of having a profound effect on you and your life that is where we bring on our special guest, because this young man is going to blow your socks off. I can't wait to bring him on. Here we go. Let's bring him on.

Announcer:
Right now, it's time for the guest expert spotlight. Savvy, skillful, professional, adept, trained, big-league, qualified.

Brian Kelly:
And there he is, ladies and gentlemen, though, one they only. Mr. John Cohen. Yes. How are you doing, John?

John Cohen:
I'm doing good. I appreciate you having me on Brian.

Brian Kelly:
Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much for taking the time. John comes to us by way of Long Island, New York. So, he's you know, it's late there right now. Well, later than here. It's 8:37 where he's coming from. I'm on the opposite side of the United States in California at 5:37. So, I appreciate you coming on, John and spending this time, devoting your time, investing your time. I know you have a nice young family that you are taking your time away from. And that's phenomenal. I appreciate your investment with us.

John Cohen:
My pleasure.

Brian Kelly:
Now, before I introduce you formally and let people know a little bit more about you, I want to mention to everyone that stays on with us live to the very end. You will get a chance to win a five nice day at a five-star luxury resort and it's a resort of your choosing. Mexico. There are several resorts out there. And just so you know, this is a legitimate vacation giveaway. And yes, while we are restricted on our travel right now, not to worry, you'll be the one that has that vacation giveaway that the moment the doors are open and the planes are flying, you can be one of the first to say, I've got a vacation, I'm out here. And so, we give one of those away, every single show. And so, stick with us live to the very end and you will learn how you can enter that phenomenal, phenomenal giveaway. Let's bring on the man himself. John co-founded Toro Real Estate Partners in 2015. His focus is the strategic direction of the company formulation of investment strategy, investor development and acquisition and dispositions. He has been investing in real estate since 2010. John's understanding of deep value investing in the real estate space started by buying tax deeds and tax liens. Since starting in real estate, he has been involved in over three hundred and fifty million dollars in various real estate transactions and his own personal developments. That is phenomenal. And he's also an avid baseball fan. We're going to talk about what's behind him in a moment. But before we do that, that's a phenomenal backdrop. And we're going to get deeper into what you do, John, and how you help people and how other people can get involved with you. What I wanted to do is kind of peel away the onion real quick. And so, that was kind of on the surface. What you're accomplish accomplishments and achievements have been thus far. What I like to do, I'm very curious. I want to dig deeper and find out what is going on in a nice, big, beautiful brain of yours that helps you to get where you are, because like I said, the beginning of the show, mind and body, there is a foundation for success both in business and personal. So, when you get up, John, and the day is about to start, you get out of bed, you might be a little groggy. You start to come to you realize, OK, another day is ahead of me and I don't know about you, but I get excited each and every day I get up because of what's ahead of me. I was curious for you. You know, being an entrepreneur is not simple. It's not easy. It takes a lot of oh, I'll let you explain that. But it takes, It's not easy. What is it for you that keeps you motivated? Each and every day when you get up in the days in front of you and sometimes it's not always the greatest thing that you need to accomplish when you first get up. What motivates you to keep powering through each and every day?

John Cohen:
Yes. So, it started, I grew up I had the best parents. The family life I have is fantastic, you know, probably one of the best that would rival if I came back, I want to come back as myself. So, the early motivation for me when I started my first company was I wanted to be able to provide for my mother and father and my brother and my brother younger than me but I wanted to be able to provide for them the same way they provided for me growing up. So when they got older, when they retired, I mean, I heard that, you know, one of you, one of the guys that I follow and I've read a lot of books, you know, he gave a piece of paper to his mommy and said write down whatever you want to make a year and you can come work for me. And I heard that, you know, it was something that stuck in my head and something that I wanted to make sure I'd be be able to do for my family. Anyone went further, it was just not me. It was, you know, if my cousin needed something, you know, an uncle, aunt would ever know if any of them ever wanted anything I wanted to be able to make sure that they can come to me. No questions asked. Don't you, here you go, I don't know, I don't want to back, I don't care. I just want to do whatever I can to help my family out. About a year ago, a little over that, it changed. And actually, I was about my wife prior to having my daughter, who's just over a year old. It was a whole new motivation. It was the reason why I get out of bed every morning, not just to take care of her in the morning because I did the morning shift. It's it's also to provide for them. It goes one step further now. So, it's not just my mother, my father, my brother, my family, now it's my wife, my daughter. I want to be able to, you know, for them to have whatever they want, when they want it and I'm willing to make any sacrifices I have to make to do that. Put them first. That's why I do what I do. Early on in real estate, I had another mentor who told me, or an advisor, basically said, you know, there's no reason why you can't spend time with your family. I know a lot of entrepreneurs get tied down with a lot of work. They told me early on, you know, make sure you have time block in your calendar every day for your family and just put on your calendar. You know, this time is for them. You know, if something else comes up, I already have a pretty you I already had a meeting. So, I make sure it's my goal every day to my schedule planned out. Make sure I have time for my family. It's almost very rarely. I don't eat dinner together as a family every night. Myself, my wife, my daughter, we give a bath to my daughter every night together. She my wife puts her to bed and then I come back down to the home office and I do whatever I gotta do for the rest of the night. And then I do it again. So I would say the biggest defining, motivating factor for me, my mom, my dad, my brother, my wife, my daughter and the immediate family.

Brian Kelly:
That's fantastic. And that's one thing that I've taught from stage is you know, it's most it's very important for you if you're going to be an entrepreneur and go through this that we put ourselves through is to have a very, very powerful why w-h-y. And it's obvious what yours is, John. It's family, you're a deep-rooted family man. And that's great advice that you were given and that you are following. I made the mistake many years ago of not following that and got ridiculous. I mean, completely just just did whatever I needed to do what I thought I need to do and ignored my family. And thankfully, my wife was very good about, you know, confronting me about it. And we had a talk and it's like, wow, you're right. And it was a wakeup call. So please. He. John's advice and literally prioritize it and schedule it. Sounds like you've scheduled it. Put it in your calendar that is blocked out. I have no appointments going to occur in this time, this is my family time. I think that's phenomenal advice.

John Cohen:
And it's tough it's like the hardest part about that is that, you know, my my whole life, any time I had a job, any job I ever worked, you know, I would go into the office, you know, and, you know, you look around, you want you know, you're doing you don't care what you know, who's this guy who's this guy. I'd always, you know, try and find the guy to make the most amount of money in the office and not, you know, the only reason of what is he doing or what is she doing? You know, if they got in at 5:00, I was in at 4:30 and they stay till 10:00, I stay till 10:30. If they made two hundred calls, I need six hundred calls. It was just I always wanted to be doing what they were doing more than them, because I always assume that if it's working for them, it should work for me. And even when I started the business that I'm in now, I remember my mentor when when I sat down with him, I actually said, you know, whatever you do, I'm gonna do it better. And it's not that I'm not bragging. It's just that, you know, I might not be as good as you, but I'm going to go to a brick wall trying to trying to be the best that I can be. But when my daughter was born, I called my partner as a full-time commitment. I said I would be out of this office at 5:00 between 5:00 and 6:00 every single night I could be home with my wife and daughter, put her to bed and I would say nine and a half out of ten days. That's the case. Sometimes a conference call goes a little bit longer and now I'm switching my head through to my phone and run on my car. But now everybody in the office knows when it gets close to 5:30 and I'm not out there like, go, go, go, get out of here. But yeah, I made it a absolute commitment. And I think everybody should, you know. Commit to anything, you know, whether it's working out, being home. If you're single. More power to you, you can do more. But yeah. And I think it's super important and you got to take advantage of it.

Brian Kelly:
Yeah. That's fantastic. And you even have the support of your the people that work in the office with you. That's phenomenal. They know your schedule then they can even help you. That's what I mean these are like it, these are embedded tips that everyone should be listening to and taking notes on if you're not already doing it. If you have a team, then make it known what your schedule is to them. That's I mean, right, John. I mean that now they can support you and say, hey, I love that they were kicking you out of the office saying it's time for you to go to be with their family.

John Cohen:
You know, keeping everybody accountable and and, you know, whether, you know, whoever it may be, anyone that you can bounce that idea out and make sure you stick to what you said you're going to do is super important and it's hard because I've always been the first thing often the last thing office is now because I wake up my daughter and I went, I let my wife sleep until she wakes up. Now, the last than the often the first to go, I'm like, oh my what's going on? It's totally different. But, you know, you adapt to it. You know, my daughter, there's videos on our podcast she's sitting on my lap. And, you know, I'm working and she's sitting and she's, you know, grabs a pad or she's banging on the computer and they're like, this is great. And yet you got to do what you gotta do. But it's been fun.

Brian Kelly:
Fantastic. I was gonna ask you, you have some cool things behind you on the wall. Do you mind letting everybody know what those are?

John Cohen:
Absolutely. I'm a huge baseball fan. I played baseball for as long as I can remember. Played baseball in college. I play down in the Dominican Republic. And I got injured and I couldn't play anymore. But I, it's my passion. I'm a huge Yankee fan. I've been to you know, we had season tickets when I was younger, I absolutely loved the Yankees. As I got older, I realized that I actually like watching the game more on TV and not going to the game. Unless it's the playoff and then I have to be there. But what's behind me here are copies of the patents of the baseball. Over here oops over there. The bases, I have a catcher's mask, a catcher's mitt, a glove and behind my head is a bat. So, it's the original patents when those things were created in a copy form. I wish I actually had a real patent but I don't. But those are just, you know, pretty cool. You know, something different. I saw them online at your anthem. And actually, right next to me, a very good friend of mine actually watched me like a little side table where it's Yankee Stadium cut out into cardboard and it's got lights around it. So, it's pretty cool. So huge baseball fan. It's a big part of what I do.

Brian Kelly:
Yeah I love that. And so, you you're are well versed in what it means to be physically fit and a lot of your work.

John Cohen:
I might have been well versed, I've actually just kicked off a much larger commitment to fitness and health, partially because of my daughter and my wife. I made a conscious decision. I remember getting out of college. Being in better shape. I mean, I was even looking at pictures the other day and my wife's like you're so thin. And I'm like, yeah, I know things have gotten in the way. I made every excuse in the world not to continue working out. But April 1st, actually, right before that, I said, you know, enough of this shit. It's time to get back, get your act back together for one obviously, there's a pandemic going on. Everybody knows that. I actually do have asthma. So, I was like, OK, you know, I'm not going to let this thing get me. And it was a big start and said, I just gotta get healthier. I got to get in better shape. And when I played baseball, I did that. I was in significantly better shape and stronger and I lost touch with that. I put some other priorities forward, but I made a conscious decision to get back on fitness. My diet I have to change it that's the next, that's the largest hurdle next. But its part of taking baby steps. We're going to you know, we're going to, you know, can't eat an elephant in one day. So we're gonna take small steps. Right now, it's working out seven days a week every day nonstop making training, at least starting forty five minutes, cardio in. And then we'll slowly build, you know, we'll slowly build up to more physically fit individual.

Brian Kelly:
I love it. I love it. And so, here's the thing. You know, it's you're no different. And I'm telling this to the audience that John is no different than literally anyone else who has gone on the wagon of working out and then off the wagon of or exercise on a regular basis. It happens to every one of us. Yours truly included. When I got into college, it started actually waning some because I wasn't in sports then it ended in high school and I started doing other things. I got a girlfriend that we've spent a lot of time with. And then, then life happened. Got married, got the job, got kids. And wow, I had no time to work out anymore. And so, it's not an uncommon story. The cool thing with you, John, and this is the key for everyone out there is that you are aware first you are aware that, hey, man, I don't feel the same way. I don't look the same way. I want to right the ship. And now that you have a little one, doesn't it become even more important?

John Cohen:
Oh, one hundred percent. I mean, literally, you know, my mom my mom's on top of me and everyone's you know, you got to you've got to be healthy for your daughter. And I'm I guess I feel good. I feel great. I mean, I really do. But little things happen. You you get older and you're like, you know, my back hurts a little bit. I really didn't do anything or it's like, you know, I got a package delivered today and I brought it back of the house on like that's that's really not exactly like you, you shouldn't be out of breath by carrying two boxes to the back of the house. And its funny cause today it was around 2:30 and I said, I'm not working out today. I just you know, I found a really good kick on a nice, you know, a nice little run. And I said absolutely not. I got on a bike. I rode and I rode for 30, 35 minutes or whatever it was. And I was eating dinner at my wife house. Like, if I did not work out today, I would have been extremely disappointed with myself, which is an amazing feeling, because that means you're back in that groove, whereas you don't do it if there's a consequence. And and when I said that out loud, I was like, OK, we're you know, the strides have started because I remember when I was younger and even prior to stop working out now you feel like you feel really bad when you didn't do it. So, I was very happy that I felt that way. But I worked out and hopefully I could can you know I continue this pattern of this pattern. I said I set out to be, you know, forty-five days straight, preferably into the early summer. But, you know, we'll see how it goes.

Brian Kelly:
And, you know, fantastic. And one of the things that has been key, I used to be in the fitness industry. And one of the key things is getting an accountability partner, someone who either works out the same time you do or at least that you check in with each other. And, you know, just knowing that you you have to tell them that you didn't workout is enough to drive you to workout every single time that you say you're going to. It's a very simple technique, but too many people don't do it and fall off the wagon. It's just it's that important. And, you know, I I worked out right before this show, right before you and I got on camera. It just gets me amped. It gives me energy. So, I time it so that I workout right before the show and I'm ready to go. The tension is gone. I feel great. And that's just me. Other people will do it the moment they wake up. I like when I wake up for a while before I can go crazy and the physical stuff can start huffing and puffing. But yeah, know do whatever works for you, but stick with it. Like John is doing now seven days a week. I don't know if you need, I'm talking about people in general, start start short start small like John was saying with what he does in his workouts. But you can do it three or four times, maybe four or five times a week would be a good start. And don't don't overdo it because if you overdo it, you'll get all sore and you'll never want to do it again.

John Cohen:
You definitely want to start a little slower for sure because you wake up and you feel horrible and you will work out for five days, then you're right now, you're right back where you started. So, I agree one hundred percent.

Brian Kelly:
And being an infielder as well. Nothing more exciting than turning to, is there?

John Cohen:
That was the best it was funny when I played second base early into college. I would play, you know, I played everywhere when I was younger but I played second base and I remember getting to college and double plays. I was I had a very good arm and the coach was the first double play now in fall ball practice. And he's like, wait, wait, wait go to third and you're gonna play right field. And I actually played the least amount of innings at second base compared to any other position on the field. So, I played more first base, third base, shortstop center field, right field than I played very little to no second base in college. But I do miss that. That was, you know, I can recall back in the back when I was younger. You know, you know, gettin the ball and different arm angles to do, you know, and turn to and and just practicing that. And that's probably the biggest thing I miss cause I it was there's nothing better than a nice double play. I mean, you're the second baseman determine it. It feels really good. S,o I do miss that a lot.

Brian Kelly:
And I love baseball. I think it's one of the pure sports out there. And by that, I mean it doesn't necessarily require a massive physique or any incredible physical gifts. As far as jumping or running supe- fast, they help in all cases. But it's kind of the equalizer when it comes to sports. As long as you have the fundamentals down and you have to have some talent. You have to. But it takes less, in my opinion, physical prowess like a basketball player. It helps if you're really tall for sure. Football if you're really big, unless you're a wide receiver, but then you have to be really fast. With baseball, you can be a combination of several things as long as you're very good. And the important thing that's always driven home is fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. And that's the same thing holds true with business. You know, you're if you're out there and you're you're starting to grow your business, you know, you're getting bigger and you're starting to get overwhelmed because you're a solopreneur well the next step for you is to reach out and get help. Get a VA, get an apprentice. And that's, you know, going through the fundamentals of business. And there are stages in business. And so, it's very similar to sports in how you get and grow up through the ranks of a baseball team. So, it's very similar, in my opinion. So, goodness, that was quite a tangent, wasn't it? So, I love I love sports and baseball. And when you said you played infield, that that's like a kinship right there. When it comes to skill sets, though, being an entrepreneur and a business person, John, if you could think of just three, just three skill sets right now, today, where you're at today that are for you, the most important to have to be successful as a business person. What would you say those three are?

John Cohen:
The first one, I think, is willingness to fail, but not when you do, you know, get right back up. It's not you. If you pick one idea and you're super successful at it, more power to you. I will be the first to admit I'm not the smartest. You know, I'm not the small, I'm not the smartest. I'm short, fat and bald. I joke around with people, but it doesn't mean that you can't try. Hard work is free. You don't need anything other than the willpower and the want to do it. So, don't be scared to fail. I think that the next one would most likely be I'm extremely stubborn, good, bad or indifferent. I think that being stubborn is not a bad thing as long as you're willing to accept, you know, the hard work that goes into the decisions you make. And then the third one is, you know, I'll quote my uncle and I don't I don't know if you know, I don't think this was his original quote but "you have two ears and one mouth to listen more than you talk." There's there's a ton of meetings that go on that I don't say anything, but I leave there either smarter or more educated than when I sat down. So, I think that just, you know, the hard work. Stubborn willingness to fail and and being able to adapt to it and get back up and then just, you know, listen more than you speak, because just by listening, you're going to pick up so many things around you. So, you know. Although I am stubborn and I do think it's a that's a quality that's been very important to me because a lot of people told me, no a lot of on a lot of things. I remember I was in second grade, I said, I want to play for the Yankees and my friend's mother actually said I had no shot at doing that, and I remember then I was like, what can you tell a second grader that he can't play for the Yankees? I mean, that's like every young kids dream. Maybe not the Yankees, but that was mine. But I remember and I'm not playing for the Yankees, so I failed. But I remember that thing sticks with me every single time when someone tells me no, I instantaneously try and make it happen. And then, like I said, the last one is just, you know, listen more than you speak. I think it's something that's invaluable. I think a lot of people are quick to talk. But I think that if you listen more and you just take it in before you say something is super important.

Brian Kelly:
A little bit take on stubbornness. You know, it's like a dare to dream. You know, it's don't don't just settle for what people are telling you. I was curious about what you meant by that. And then you cleared it up at the end. I was like, oh, I gotcha. You know, don't just accept what people tell you. If they say no, then and it's something you want, then turn up the flame, go harder, go faster. And, you know, I wouldn't call it a failure. You just gave it everything you got. You didn't give up and you learned a lot along the way. And you used you got to use everything you learned toward growing in the rest of your life. And so, I don't look at anything as a failure ever. It's a learning opportunity. But that that drive and that determination, the discipline and everything that took you that took for you to get where you got. I mean, you played college, brother. There aren't many people that can say that. But it's like an accomplishment. And I don't care at what level. I don't care what level because, you know, each level, it gets harder. The competition is harder. In high school, we had a really good team and it was a lot of competition just to get out on the field and play rather than sit the bench. So, I get that. And so, you are highly successful as a baseball player in my eyes. And I know you didn't reach that pinnacle that you were looking for but man that's a success in many in many people's eyes. And, you know, God bless you for going that far. And because you now have those traits and you get to pass those on your daughter, it's phenomenal. What you what you learned and what you experienced is going to be and has been transferred into your success today.

John Cohen:
I appreciate that. It's funny because there's I was recently talking to somebody and my daughter has she definitely has that trait. You know, there's times where she's not that tall right? She's one years old and she's standing on our tippy toes, reaching up, trying to grab something off the table. I'm like, you're never going to get. And it doesn't matter. She'll stand there. She'll stand on her tippy toes. She'll reach and she'll look. And I'm like, I hope to God that you never lose that drive.

Brian Kelly:
Yeah.

John Cohen:
Because you're you're one hundred percent right. I mean, it's it's super important. And whether you have it or you don't have it, it doesn't mean you can't find it or get it. It's just persistency and not giving up. And that's that's the key to any business, because there are days that you wake up and and it's just not going your way. And it's very easy to wave the white flag. And I just I just can't do that.

Brian Kelly:
I love that. Perfect. So, everyone that was that was a major golden nugget. Don't ever, ever, ever give up. Ever. I mean, ever. I mean, up guff. I'm fifty-five and still you still hit these speed bumps, these roadblocks, and you just get more flexible and you figure out ways to solve every solute, every situation that comes in from you. And you don't do it by freaking out. If you've done this for a while, you just say, OK, let's get busy, let's figure this out. And you just take care of business and you don't get overwhelmed and start thinking about it. Oh, but what if and what if that happened? No, you just say go for it. We're going to succeed no matter what it all costs with integrity, with character when I say at all costs. And that's what you have is a trait, John. And obviously your daughter. That's a great story. And I haven't heard the word tippy toes for quite some time. That was it. I love that. Yeah, it's been a long time since I've had little ones in the house. And it's fun to kind of relive them through your eyes that you talk about. It's pretty neat. I want to talk about your business specifically. You have a company again. We've seen on-set Toro Real Estate Partners. And I want to find out what is it exactly that you guys do there? And you know, you told me a little bit about your model before we went on the air. I found it very intriguing. And I'd love for everyone to understand what it is you do. And then, are there opportunities for our viewers to get involved with you? And if so, how do they do that?

John Cohen:
Excellent. So you so my company's Toro Real Estate Partners. We are a real estate investment company. That what we do is we source real estate deals. We co-invest with all of our investors. We have about four hundred investors currently. We own about forty-five hundred apartments throughout the Southeast and the Midwest. We are the operators, the general partner, the sponsor of the deal. So, we'll put together the entire package. We secure the financing. We raise the capital. We contribute our own money. And we asset manage and manage the deals for the life of the deal. Some deals are twelve to thirty-six month deals. I do think in a market where now most deals will be thirty-six months, you know, three years to seven, ten year deals. But we offer an opportunity for all investors to invest passively so they can focus on what they do best and have their money go to work in another asset class. You know, a lot of people invest in stock market, bonds, you know, gold, whatever it may be. And there's nothing wrong with all those investments. I think everyone should be diversified. What we do is we allow people to take advantage of real estate opportunities that they may or may not have access to. We are multifamily focused. We do also have a mobile home side and a vacant land side. But our core business is multi-family acquisitions throughout the Southeast in the Midwest. But we offer those opportunities up to all our investors. The typical process for us is go to our website. You can give us a call. You can come to our office, an open door if you're in New York. We have a podcast. We have a meetup. We have an Instagram page. Whole nine yards. We have an investor questionnaire. We can't if you call me tomorrow, if you want to give me some money, we don't do that. We vet our investors, just like we expect our investors to vet us. So, there's an investor questionnaire on our website. Typically, fill that out. You get an e-mail or you'll get a follow up call for myself, our asset manager or my partner, Don. And what we typically do is we'd just like to have, you know, a quick fifteen to thirty-minute call just to understand what your goals are, what you're trying to accomplish and why you want to do this. And then we'll typically follow up with a strategy session where we can work with you on what your goals are, to see if what we do fits after that. You know, we're typically buying anywhere between three and five deals a year. Once we go through that process, we trying to you know, we try to do a FaceTime or a video call. One of those opportunities we just want to understand, we want to get to know all of our investors and we want to make sure it's the right investment for them, just like we're the right partner for them to invest with and then, you know, we have typically between, like you said, three to five deals a year. You'll be a you'll be on our investor list. We typically open up our meals at least fifteen to twenty percent of our equity if the new investor money. So, we always allow new investors to participate. If the deal makes sense, it checks off all your boxes. You invest in the deal and then you get your quarterly checks, your monthly or monthly checks, quarterly checks, semiannual checks, just depending on the risk of the deal, the level of deal, what we're doing. We look to keep, you know, provide passive income for any and all of our investors and obviously provide them an opportunity that they may or may not have.

Brian Kelly:
It's a phenomenal concept. I'm not a real estate guy, so maybe this is something that's somewhat normal. But that co-investing approach is really brilliant, I think, because when you and your firm have money in the game and it's your co-investing with the other people or per person that's investing with you. I love that, because now I know you have skin in the game. And if it doesn't perform, then you're not getting anything. And if it does perform, you're getting something. So, I know that your incentive as a company is very, very high to make that investment a wise one. And that's what I love about it. And we were talking before we got to get on the show about, you know, if it were me, I'd like yeah. The more percent you own, the happier I am. Because that means you're gonna be more and more. You'll have more at stake. You know, you have more reason for this investment to really take off, and it was interesting how you're talking about others were saying, no, I want to have I don't want you to have any. Wow, that's crazy. Just get multiple investments in and stack up. But phenomenal. I love that because there's other financial institutions that I work with one right know that he only makes money if my portfolio performs, period. Otherwise, he makes no money. There's no commission on trades or anything. It's phenomenal. And this sounds very similar to that. That's what I love about it. So fantastic. So how do people get involved with you? And, you know, what are the things you're looking for for people when they come and reach out to you?

John Cohen:
Yes. The biggest thing that we're looking for is obviously to provide another asset for them. You know, we own, you know, the smallest property owner is eighty-two units. The largest property we own right now is three hundred and forty two units. I'm sorry, three hundred sixty units. So, you know, when you're driving around, you see a building like, oh, my God, I'd love to own that. And some people don't ever conceptualize that that's possible for them. We look for investors that, you know, typically we like accredited investors, which have network requirements, liquidity requirements, whole nine yards. Some of the deals we do do not require credit investors. But if any deal is generally solicited, you have to be accredited investor that's the unfortunate side. The positive side is that we do do deals that we don't generally solicit. You have to be an investor of ours. You have to have gone through a conversation with us. You have to have a video clause. So, we have to understand and know who you are as an investor. It's it's a relatively invasive process from our side. We do like to know, you know, it's not you have to provide them with your bank statements or anything like that. But we ask you some serious questions. You know, hey, this money is a real estate investment. It's not like when you can't get it back tomorrow. So, what you know, what is your liquidity look like? And I don't need you to tell me down to the penny. But if you have one hundred grand and you want to give me one hundred grand or you have one hundred million a given one hundred million, I'll say no. I typically say, hey, if that's your last check. Keep it for yourself. I don't want to touch it because I know what happens when you need it back. It doesn't go well. So, the biggest thing that we look for is the goals that you set out as an investor. So, what are you looking to accomplish? Looking to accomplish cash flow? You're looking to accomplish upside. We look for those things that we ask those questions to get a response back to understand, you know, this deal is not for somebody. If someone's looking for cash flow on a quarterly basis and they buy a deal that is one hundred percent vacant that we're renovating or a construction deal. There's no cash flow. So, we would never send that person that deal doesn't check off their box. If someone says no, I you know, this is the riskiest side of my investment I'm looking for a really big upside that would work. So we just want to understand our investors. From a personal level, what their goals are, why are they investing? What are they looking to accomplish with the investment? And then, you know, we assess that and then we have a conversation with them saying, listen, maybe this is for you, maybe it's not. And if it is great. If it's not, we understand that maybe it's for you and a couple of years. But the biggest thing is that we want to take the pressure off you. You never have to deal with a tenant and never have to deal with a manager. You never have to deal with an eviction. We do and handled the entire process. So, from the start of the investment to the end and the investment we do quarterly, when we do quarterly updates, semiannual webinars we have a year-end report. And we typically, you know, as I said, it's an open line of communication. You ever question one on what's going on? Pick up the phone. You give me a call, you text me. You know, my cell phone is there for any of our investors and anything anything we can do to help. Maybe, maybe if it's not one of our projects, but we know someone that has a project that fits it, no problem passing along to someone that potentially check off check off the box for you.

Brian Kelly:
Love it. Love it all. And there's so many lessons there. The biggest one that stood out to me is how you're vetting your clients. And that's something I see all too often that businesses don't do or spend any time vetting someone, because when you get someone that isn't a fit, that client, even though they're paying you, they can end up costing you more money than in time than you ever dreamed possible. And it could actually be a negative on on when it's all said and done. And so, it's very important, as John is pointing out, to really screen your clients before you bring them on. And I think this is true in nearly any vocation, unless you're selling physical goods and, you know, just drop shipped and go into a shopping cart. But if it's a service-based type of orientation where you're involved, then it's very important that you know who you're working with before you sign on the dotted line and accept their money. It's more just as important to turn people away than it is to accept them. And I'm just extremely impressed and just excited that you have this, John, that I get to talk to someone else who has put in so much time and effort and thought into this and done it, in my opinion, in the right way. And so, I think that's a huge lesson for everyone who's got a business is find a way to put together a system to vet your people. I do this for I have apprentices that work with me and they have to go through quite an onboarding process. And I put together videos and questions before they even get to talk to me. I don't waste any time. I just pop the question or the answers to the questions I know that they're asking from past apprentices that came through and doing it for several years now. And it's it it really is a time saver to know that when you get that person and they're working with you, whether they're a client or somebody working with you, that they're of highest quality that you could possibly imagine going through the process of screening them. So appreciate that now.

John Cohen:
Thank you. I appreciate that as well.

Brian Kelly:
Yeah, I mean, it's just super intelligent. So, you know, I can tell that you're a you're not one of those people that goes in for the quick kill.

John Cohen:
No, no. It's a long game.

Brian Kelly:
And and I think you're that way as a person, though, with integrity and the character you're not looking for, you know, how do I get a quick buck and how do I get out.

John Cohen:
Yeah.

Brian Kelly:
You're looking for building relationships along the way. We had to talk before the show, and I could tell that you're a very loyal person. You really and you put a lot of value in relationship with people, which is also a phenomenal trait because that goes a long way. So, think about when I think about real estate, I think about, you know, in my mind it's it's people that really don't care about people and they just want to go make a buck. And that does not define you. And I'm not saying that that's all real estate people. And again, I'm green in this area, so I could be completely off. But that's what I think is like how are they helping people or just making money by turning over properties? But what you're doing is providing a service to help people make money because you're in it with them and you care about people. That's what's different about you that I see. And so, what is the best way? So, people a lot of people are out there wanting to be successful first and get to that, whatever that echelon is for them. But then once they get there, how do they sustain it, how they maintain it? And for you, what has been the best way for you to just not just achieve it, but to continue to keep going? Long term success.

John Cohen:
So, I think that the long term success answer for me is that I I always strive to be the best I can. And I think every day we're learning like right now we're in a situation that I've never been a part of, you know, we're in a middle of a pandemic with leasing has come to a slow down and tenants are not moving. So, we're always trying to be better at what we do. So, you know, I instantaneously pick up the phone and I start calling some landlords that I know and some owners that I know that have owned properties for thirty, forty, fifty years. So long term success for me, you know, I don't you know, I don't care if you want a trillion-dollar company or, you know, a hundred thousand dollar company. I think success is defined by the quality of the life that you want and whatever that looks like. For me, it's just been every day trying to be better than the day before. Sometimes I make my wife angry and some people because every day I wake up, I it's I'm in a better attitude than I was the day before. Every day is a new day. And I'm happy and I'm excited to start that day. And every day I want to do whatever I could do to maximize the efforts and the education to myself, whether that's, you know, calling ten tenants and understanding why they're delinquent or whether that's, you know, reading a book or listening to an audio book or whether that's, you know, educating myself by speaking to other people in the business. I always want to be learning and I always want to understand why people are making the decisions they're making and if they're working or not. So, I think that, you know, the easiest thing for me to, you know, to to have that success is to build that success. And sustain that success is never almost never satisfied because I think it comes off the wrong way. But I always feel like I could be better and maybe that's good. Maybe that's bad. And some people say not it makes sense. But I always feel like there's more to learn. There's another opportunity and you can be better at it. And I always want to be the best at what I do. So, it's just not ever feeling, you know, I know it's you know, it sounds worse, but just not, you know, not ever. It just I just need more. I want more. And for that, you know, I'm I'm hoping to deliver the right product to everyone, everybody around me, not just on the business side, just hoping to be better at everything I do.

Brian Kelly:
And that really shines through. I can tell that's the absolute truth and I was taking notes my, I'm getting writer's cramp still so yes like I told everyone before we started. I also take notes. There's proof. I hope you're all doing the same whether you're watching this live or recorded or listening to it on a podcast afterward. I highly recommend you take notes. These are. Some really good golden nuggets. He's always striving to be best to continue to be better, and that's that's one of the big aspects or attributes of a successful entrepreneur or business person is never satisfied. And I didn't take it that that that was a bad thing. It's like, OK, I've achieved the next level. Fantastic. Now what's next? We're looking up to the next one. It's an ongoing fun challenge. And it's very I can see how it worked so wonderfully, beautifully for you and for me being of competitive nature, growing up, playing sports, that that's part of it. You're always trying to improve. Always. All you never, ever stop in the best of the best. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant. They never stopped, ever, even when they were the best in the world. They continued to try to strive to be better. And I think that's that's a trait of a champion like yourself, John, in in life. Not just sports. It's in life. And I love that. And I love how you also talked about you're always learning, always striving to learn more. There is always something to learn. My goodness. You know, any day that if if there were never anything else to learn or never another level to go to. What would life be like?

John Cohen:
Exactly. It would for me, it would just be empty. I mean, if they're you know, it's just it's not there. And like you said, it's that you always strive to be better and always wanting more, never satisfied is, you know, that's that's what that's what gets me up and excited about the day. It's like if I've reached the top, what's you know, what am I going to do the next day? Like, I have I have a ton of friends that are retired, retiring, you know, some older guys, some younger guys. And I have a cousin that retired at forty-five years old and I what you know, what are you now what do you want to do? And if I'm if I have the ability to do that, you know, it would be OK, you know, how can I get back? How can I do more? What can I do every day? Cause I could never just wake up and do nothing. And the running joke around, almost everybody I know and a ton of my friends is, you know, we're super family oriented, as you can tell from early on. But, you know, I would love to, you know, I joke around I'd love to retire to, you know, Montana and have two hundred acres and not see any neighbors, be by myself and just my family and be more like laid back and like, that's just not possible. It's just there's no way you can't retire. You're not that's not your your attitude, your personality. You're always going to be in the ring fighting for whatever is next, whether it's you build this business and you sell it. I've actually gone on the record numerous times if something doesn't go my way, I actually say all the time I'll leave what I'm doing right now and I'll just go build the exact same company better tomorrow with nobody because I have no problem and I absolutely have all the confidence in the world, whatever I'm doing right now. If I picked up if I sold my company, gave it to my partner, gave him all the interest in the deals that I had. You know, starting with nothing tomorrow, I'm going to build a twice as larger company just because it's it's just by nature to go out and do things. And even my mom said it was maybe about a year or two years ago. You know, when you get to when you go and do something else or, you know, are you really you really enjoy this? I said no I do, this I can make bigger, I suppose some other things I've done or it's like you've reached the ceiling and there's no more, you know, where are you going to go? But I just love the thrill of of of continuing to push forward.

Brian Kelly:
Yeah, it's pretty obvious from sitting over here next to you all the way in California. And I love it. And it's it's like it's I can't think of the right word, but it's infectious. That's it. That's a good word. And retirement my goodness, I don't even know what the definition of that is. I'm with you on that one. To me, it's like I would not be happy if I retired if I stopped it. Retirement is a for me, it would be a maybe as a change from one vocation to another but it's not stoppin.

John Cohen:
Yeah.

Brian Kelly:
You know, yeah, it's important to take time off and, you know, get away for a little bit. The interesting thing is, you know, I'm not I can't sit by a pool and read a book. I mean, I'd go out and sit by a pool and I'd sit there and I'd go, okay, I'm getting hot. I turnover. I get hot again. I was like, you know what? I'll jump in the pool and I'm out of here. I'm done. I can't do that all day. Do nothing. Even if it's reading a book, I'm like, it's hot and it's glaring. And it's like I could I could do so much more if I was back in front of a computer and I would be happier. And that's just the way some people are wired, right? No, but it's wired this way. We get that.

John Cohen:
Oh, one hundred percent.

Brian Kelly:
But, you know, for me, relaxation is is doing more and talking and doing the show. This is what I love. You know, talking with amazing people like you, I would do this all day long. There are times literally where my wife and I are twice twice recently have been on vacation. We went to one cruise that was, I think, a ten-day cruise to to Tahiti. And the one before that we did one on the east, on the east coast. We were near you, were jumping around from the different towns and cities there started out at Manhattan and moved around Boston and that was fun. But it was after four or five days, I was ready to go home. I had enough fun. Stir crazy. Let's get back. I want to get back and get busy. I love what I do. So, it's amazing, isn't it?

John Cohen:
Best fun in the world.

Brian Kelly:
And it's some people ask, what's your hobbies like? I don't have one. I mean, I don't call it a hobby, but if I were to pick one, this is it. What I do every day, my job, my my business right? Working with people, helping them automate, doing the live shows. All of this. This is what I love to do.

John Cohen:
And that's it. So that's that's that's the thing that I love what I do every day, which is why I'm so passionate about it, because my wife is also here and I have to hear you listen to another podcast or an audiobook or talk about real estate. She's like, what's wrong with you? I'm like, I just go in. It is what it is. But I mean, there is nothing better than loving what you do every single day because, you know, that's that's my vacation. That's my hobby. And don't get me wrong, I like to move away and I like to be, you know. But, you know, by myself and, you know, we have a house up on the lake and that stuff's great. It's awesome. There's nothing wrong with it. But there is the thrill of the business and the everyday grind. That's just that's. It's it's it's awesome.

Brian Kelly:
It's I mean, I hadn't really thought about it much till you came on the show. But there are so many similarities between this and competitive sports. You know, it's so look at all of the people who have all the champions. How many times has Michael Jordan won at all? How many times is Kobe Bryant wanted to win it all? So, then they're happy in their content. They come back next season and they don't care right? No. They want to win again and again and again. It's just inherent. It's a drive. It's a I think most people have it, but some just have it at a higher degree. And, you know, we want to continue. We want to improve. We want to perfect; we want to just what is next? And that's what makes. I mean, some people would say we're obsessed. OK. They can put whatever label they want on it as long as I'm happy. I don't care what they call it.

John Cohen:
That's how I feel like I got to answer to myself every morning, every night. So, you know, if someone's talking about me over here, that's fine, you know? You know, call me obsessed, call me crazy. But that is what it is.

Brian Kelly:
Exactly. Well, hey, I know it's hard to believe we're getting close to the end. As always, they fly by. But there is this one question I love to ask every guest that's been on this show and everyone has been asked the same question. I hope you didn't peek and see one of those from before. Most don't. And it's it's a really interesting question. It's a powerful question and a bit personal. It's got everything rolled up into one. And before we do that, though, I did promise everyone who's watching live that they could have a chance at winning a five nights day at a five-star resort in Mexico or a place of your choosing. And now both John and I give you permission if you're not watching on your phone to take out your phone and bring out your texting app. And here's how you enter to win. When you get your texting app open, when you want to send a text to somebody, put that number you see on the screen in the field of where you would put in a name of an individual and that number is 6 6 1-5 3 5-1 6 2 4. And once you put that number in in a little message area where you type in your message type the word peak P-E-A-K. Again, that number is 6 6 1-5 3 5-1 6 2 4 type the word peak P E A K. And again, this is sponsored by our wonderful friends at powertexting.com. And go ahead and do that now and then come right back because we're going to ask that deep hitting final incredible, amazing question of Mr. John Cohen. All right. I hope everyone is back. I saw John was entering as I was talking, that's phenomenal. I love it. I hope you did. Everyone is eligible. Everyone, including guest experts, it's a random draw. All right. So, Mr. Cohen, you've had some time to think about this. You have no idea what's coming.

John Cohen:
Haven't been.

Brian Kelly:
And I can see on your face is like, I don't care. Bring it.

John Cohen:
Let's do it.

Brian Kelly:
He was a former aspiring professional baseball player is like so I don't care what you got. Yeah. All right, here we go. Here's the thing. It's a really cool question. There's a couple of things about it. One thing is there is no such thing, John, as a wrong answer. It's impossible to answer incorrectly. You can't, so if there was any trepidation that you weren't showing, then that should be gone. In fact, the exact opposite is true. The only correct answer is yours, because again, it is somewhat personal. We're not going to dig deep into your personal life. It's a really quick, easy, fast question to ask. It may not be so easy and fast to answer for you it depends on how long it takes. It doesn't matter if it's instant. Great if it takes you five minutes to come up. The answer? I don't care. That's fine. Either way is fine. So, with all that relaxation now going through your body. Are you ready for the big question?

John Cohen:
I am.

Brian Kelly:
All right. Here we go. John Cohen, how do you define success?

John Cohen:
Define success. See, that's. I love that question and it's not the first time it's been asked. And my answer has changed numerous times but I think that the success to me is when you go to bed at night and you wake up in the morning, you've done everything that you set out to do that you wanted to do and that you can go to bed with knowing that you accomplished what you want to accomplish. It has nothing to do with money. It has nothing to do with health. It has nothing to do with, you know, where you live, what your address is. You know, if you have a billion dollars in the bank or a dollar in the bank, I think success is going to bed at night knowing that you accomplished and you did everything in your power that you could control you accomplished that.

Brian Kelly:
Woo, powerful. I like that last word, control, definitely powerful. It's very important to that. You understand that as long as you do everything that is under your control and you've done it all, then that is John's definition of success. The other thing I love that you said right there, John, was it's different now than it used to be and it changes. And that is so true. You know, success for someone just starting out who's more of a scarcity mentality because they're just starting out. Well, money might be the focus at that moment. There's nothing wrong with that. It has to be the focus at some point. It has to be the focus so you can get going. And then once momentum is building and you then change your mindset to how I can serve more people, how can I help more people than just more money will start coming in. But the focus has changed to serving people. And now, you know, that's the thing when you go through the different stages of business and life. Everyone's definition of success changes as we go through life and experience different things. That was phenomenal. And here's a cool other thing. No two people have answered that identically, ever. And I've done we're approaching one hundred shows and no person ever said their answer was never about money. You basically said the opposite. It's not about money. And that I've had on the show. And that just shows that we have a very accomplished and successful entrepreneurs on the show because they're out of that scarcity stage and they're into the abundant stage and really crushing it and looking for ways to crush it even greater and help more people, which I know is important to you, John, is to help more people. And that's why I love having people like you on the show. I cannot, I guess I'm so grateful for you to come on and spend all this time there. It's 9:30 at night. Your little ones probably asleep already and didn't get daddy's kiss. We got to, you know, figure that out. But I appreciate you for coming on my brotha. It's been a wonderful, wonderful time.

John Cohen:
It's my pleasure. I appreciate you having me. It was a blast. Had a great time and hope all the listeners, get got some you got some good nuggets on and it was a great time.

Brian Kelly:
Absolutely. And what is the best way, real quick before we sign off? What is the best way for folks to get in touch with you?

John Cohen:
Best way to get in touch with me my email address I'm in front of the computer a large part of the day so my e-mail address is John J O H N at toro T O R O R E P.com. That's probably the best. You know, if you take me, send me an email typically, within twenty four to forty eight hours, someone or myself, most likely myself, will get back to you with a you know, if you want to jump on a call, you have any questions, real estate related, anything we spoke about. I personally know one thing I absolutely believe in is that I think that in life people need help and there's no one that's too busy with predefined time that can't give anybody thirty minutes of advice, a shoulder or listen to someone to hear. And I had a lot of help getting to where I am. So, I know a mission of mine is to make sure that I can give back to anybody that takes me up on it. I'm only thirty-two so I may not be able to answer the questions, but any questions you have and you want to just know another idea or someone to talk to. Don't ever hesitate to reach out. I truly mean that.

Brian Kelly:
And I can tell. This is amazing. So again, so that e-mail address is on the screen. Now, for those of you watching, it's John J O H N @ ToroRep T O R O R E P.com. Reach out and just say hi and see hey, John, I'm curious, what do you have going on and what are your requirements? Let's have that talk. Let's do a video talk. Do whatever your system calls for, John, and let's just have that conversation. Get the ball rolling. So, I think it's a phenomenal concept. I love it. Appreciate it. Fantastic.

John Cohen:
I appreciate it.

Brian Kelly:
Well, it's been an amazing, amazing, fun time. I get to have all the fun. I'm not the last person on the planet to be able to do this kind of show. I love what I get to do. And I love having people like you, John, on the show with incredible character, integrity and caring for other people and wildly successful and sharing how you got to where you have gotten. So again, once again, I appreciate you. I thank you for coming on the show. And for all of you watching and listening, I appreciate you for coming on. Your time is valuable as well. And that's it. That's a wrap. We are going to come back again next time on The MIND BODY BUSINESS Show. Until then, this is your host, Brian Kelly saying so long for now. Be blessed, everyone.

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Thank you for watching and listening. This has been The MIND BODY BUSINESS Show the show was Brian Kelly.

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