IAM415 – Co-founders and Show Hosts Specializing in Turn-key Investments

Jack and Jeff co-founded a company called High Return Real Estate- specializing in turn-key investments and are the hosts of The High Return Real Estate Show. They personally have a large property portfolio producing outstanding monthly cash flow returns. In addition to real estate investing both Jack and Jeff have thriving multi-million dollar businesses. Jack operates a 10mm nutrition consulting and distribution company and Jeff a private consulting practice helping people realize their full potential in all aspects of life. Between them, they have incredible experience and entrepreneurial stories.

• CEO Hack: Working out most mornings
• CEO Nugget: Be tougher than you think
• CEO Defined: Making decisions that are best for everyone, not just you

Website: https://highreturnrealestate.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jackrgibson
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackhighreturn
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JackrGibson
Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/HighReturnRealEstate/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyOZtGiQaM8dRLj5HPl0zwQ

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/reallyshecky
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReallyShecky
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ReallyShecky
Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/HighReturnRealEstate/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyOZtGiQaM8dRLj5HPl0zwQ

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:30

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have two very special guests on the show today. I have Jeff and Jack of High Return Real Estate. Jeff and Jack, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Jeff Schechter 0:39

Great to be here.

Jack Gibson 0:40

Yeah excited Gresh, thanks for having us.

Gresham Harkless 0:42

No problem super excited to have you guys on. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Jeff and Jack so you can hear about all the awesome things that they're doing. And Jack and Jeff co-founded a company called High Return Real Estate. Specializing in turnkey investments and are the hosts of The High Return Real Estate Show. They personally have a large property portfolio producing outstanding monthly cash flow returns. In addition to real estate investing, both Jack and Jeff have thriving multimillion-dollar businesses.

Jack operates a 10 multi-million nutrition company and distribution company and Jeff is a private consulting practice helping people realize their full potential in all aspects of life. Between them, they have an incredible experience and loads of entrepreneurial stories, Jeff and Jack, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Jack Gibson 1:25

Let's do it.

Jeff Schechter 1:26

Ready to rock.

Gresham Harkless 1:27

Let's make it happen. So they kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO stories when you guys start your business.

Jack Gibson 1:35

Where do we begin Shecky?

Jeff Schechter 1:36

I like to start Jack, you know, Jack is actually the CEO of our company, I guess I'm my president or I don't even know what my position is. I just get stuff done right. But actually started buying up you know, rental properties in the Indianapolis market about I think it was four years ago, according to my Facebook Timehop, right?

Because when I went on my first investor to her there, and I just love the price to rent ratios were incredible compared to my you know, the home market here in Michigan and other markets that I looked at. So realized quickly that, you know, it makes more sense to live where you want to live, but invest where it makes sense financially.

So a lot of times that isn't your backyard, and especially for those on the coastal markets, very difficult to get any type of cash flow returns, it's more of, you know, appreciation and speculation and high-risk type play there. So started buying up property and getting awesome returns. And this was with our original provider, that's about the time that I had Shecky as my digital marketing coach, actually, for my nutrition company. And so I had hired him to do a consultation call for this new real estate endeavor.

And so we're going through everything and, you know, he gave me, tons of awesome ideas, and I realized I didn't really have the skill set organizational ability, or really the time to put them into play so that we can really scale the company. So that's when a few days later, I'm like, man, I need him as a partner, and he can, you know, help scale up this company with me. So I offered him a 50% equity position.

And that was the best investment I ever made. I tell people all the time, like, you know, being able to give up 50% of your company your profits, but to be able to carve out a much bigger piece of the overall pie and create systems that can be automated to help our company grow. It just totally made sense. It's been an awesome partnership, we're able to, you know, uniquely work through disagreements, probably better than most married couples. Not me and my wife, I'd say, although she'll never listen to this podcast, but just so we're safe.

Yeah, you know, and that's when Shecky came in. He helped really implement systems, processes, and procedures, and it's been an incredible learning journey for us, as we continue to try to dial in our company, we're on high return real estate 4.0 Right now, which means that 1.0 2.0 3.0 You know, they, we had our challenges, let's just put it that way. So, Shecky, you know, that's where you come in?

Jack Gibson 4:18

No, thank you for all the nice things, I'll pay you later.

Jeff Schechter 4:21

Just give me some extra equity in the company.

Jeff Schechter 4:24

Okay, so yeah, I don't know, really, what more to add to it. But I do agree that I think probably the key to us and our success is what Jack had alluded to as just being able to communicate clearly through things and work through disagreements and you know, always really put the health of the company and our employees and our customers ahead of our own self-interests. And then as a result our self-interests get taken care of and yeah, it's been a wild ride and I you know, we always joke around like had we known what we were getting into, we probably would have never even started the company.

But yet now that we're you know, moving into version 4.0. You know, I'm grateful for where we're at that the lessons have been expensive, and bloody, but in the end really worth it. It's not always easy being an entrepreneur, as you can well imagine I know, you know that crash, but here we are. Right. So it's all good.

Gresham Harkless 5:17

Exactly. And I can definitely speak to that as well. And I think a lot of times, it's funny that you guys say your own 4.0. Because anytime, as I say, anytime you're launching something, and it doesn't go according to plan to tell everybody is 1.0. And there's a different iteration coming outside of that. So it's great to hear you guys are always integrating growing and doing a lot better things.

Jeff Schechter 5:34

Yeah, and it's hard. I mean, the only thing that's really been constant about our businesses is change. And it's been, it seems like, I mean, we're right at about, we're over three years now, actually. And every 90 days, our business looks different. Like it's the change that is happening that fast. And I never would have imagined that when I first said yes to Jack, you know, back in the middle of 2016. Like, I just never would have even had any clue of what kind of ride we were going on or how many versions we would have. But you know, like I said, I'm happy for where we're at right now. And I'm really excited about the future.

Gresham Harkless 6:09

Yeah, absolutely. And it kind of speaks to the whole idea of, you know, the industries and technology and all those things, they're always changing. So you kind of have to evolve, whether you want to or not, it's kind of really hard to just stay and do the exact same thing over and over again, and end up being quote-unquote, successful. And whatever you're doing.

Jeff Schechter 6:23

Yeah, you bring up an interesting point. And, you know, I'm a firm believer that tech drives business. And some of the people that we had worked with in the past didn't necessarily see eye to eye with us on that kind of stuff. And that created some difficulties. And, even Jack is, you know, admittedly probably not the most technical guy in the world.

And I've, I've dragged him through that and said, okay, dude, it's not that hard, you're gonna learn this stuff. And, and it's been good, you know, I mean, he starts understanding that, technology can really help with automation and profitability, and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, when it's leveraged correctly, it can, it can absolutely be your best friend, when it's not working, it can make you the most miserable person in the world. So it's kind of a double-edged sword.

Gresham Harkless 7:03

Yeah. But Shifting Gears of Technology. So I know, you guys kind of touched on a little bit, can you tell me a little bit more about you know, of course, your podcasts and tell me a little bit more about what you guys do for your clients?

Jack Gibson 7:15

I can take this one Shecky.

Jeff Schechter 7:16

Sure.

Jack Gibson 7:16

So there are different versions of what people call turnkey real estate, right? So you know, it's very subjective or objective, whatever the case, but turnkey real estate is basically where you're delivering, a fully rehabbed product to an end investor, where they don't have to do all the heavy lifting, everything's already been figured out for them, they have got a property that's gone through an extensive rehab checklist, it's under, great management. And, you know, that it takes away a lot of the normal barriers to entry for a lot of busy professionals.

So we had a lot of investors that, you know, they're doctors, lawyers, business owners, entrepreneurs, and that's their lane that they should be in, like, they shouldn't try to learn how to rehab and acquire a property and, learn property management and screening tenants and all the moving parts that go into producing a cash flow property, they'd be much better served, to focus on what they do best, increase their earning power, and their skill set in their line of work.

And let other people who know what they're doing, focus on what they do best. And just by performing assets, so, you know, look, at the end of the day, we provide that product now. It's a check, he's alluded to, you know, it's changed, it's gone through different kinds of versions, we started off with a partner who did everything, all we did was sell, they did all the rehabs and the acquisitions and the property management, and they let us down completely, they let us or our investor base down to a very high degree.

So then we found ourselves taking all of that on the acquisitions, the rehabs, you know, and then we got to third-party management, and then we went to in-house property management. And now, you know, we're settled on, a company that does, that has 10,000-20,000 doors around the country that has systems and technology, that the smaller property management companies just don't have the resources to be able to develop so that way Shecky and I, we can focus on what we do best marketing, sales.

And now, our new area of expertise is how to, you know, rehab a property to high-quality standards. So, yeah, we're, you know, if you sort it all down, it's basically, an investor's buying a stream of income from us. And what they don't often understand is that there's so much more to it, that they're that they're able to buy, in terms of tax advantages of buying, you know, rental property. So we're evolving into that level to where now we're educating them on all the different facets of entity protection and, you know, tax savings and all that stuff. So they have a whole integrated approach.

Gresham Harkless 10:00

That makes perfect sense. And I think that I love the fact because a lot of times we have our zones of geniuses, so to speak, where we have our lane of things we do best whether like you mentioned, we're an entrepreneur, you know, a doctor or a dentist, whatever that might be. And, you know, you see HGTV you see everything from breaking down everything and building it back up here. Like, there's no way I want to do that.

But I'm glad you guys kind of touched on that. Because a lot of times, we don't understand that there are different ways you can invest in real estate, it sounds like definitely those turnkey solutions allow you to stay in your zone of genius, but at the same time still be able to be a real estate investing without having to like rehab, something from, you know, cradle to grave.

It sounds like Yeah. And I know, you might have already touched on this, too. But I wanted to ask you guys for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for you personally or your business. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Jeff Schechter 10:49

I think for us, really, we see a lot of it in our industry, Man, I don't want to put a black eye on the industry, because there are some good players. But within the world of real estate, especially in terms of rehabs and property management, things like, there are lots of opportunities to cut corners.

So what we've just said is like, we're just gonna always put the investor first, you know, no matter what the situation, if we screwed up, we're going to own up to it. You know, if we've got to put more money into property milk, we've just done that we've always done what's best for our investors. And, you know, it's created situations on many deals that are not profitable, or even losers in some cases. But what's happened as a result is that we have a pretty loyal client base. And, you know, reputation is everything.

Gresham Harkless 11:31

That makes sense. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I wanted to ask you guys for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app or book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you guys more effective and efficient.

Jack Gibson 11:41

Well, I think, you know, personal loans, working out most mornings is a huge part of having, just a clear mind, and also having the energy to attack your day. From a business perspective, I think team meetings are, you know, very important that so, every single Wednesday, we have our team meeting, and we all come together and on a Zoom call just like this. And sometimes they're two hours, longer sometimes.

Gresham Harkless 12:10

Exactly. So now I want to ask you guys for what I call a CEO, nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you could happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Jeff Schechter 12:20

I think what I would tell myself is you're going to have to be tougher than you think. I think that there are a lot of entrepreneurs, I mean, look, I've started other companies. Believe it or not, I was young once too. And I've had many situations where it's like, you know, shit, this is too hard. Like, I don't want to do this business, I had this fantastic idea. And I got started and I did something for 2-6 months, like, this is just way harder than I want to do. So I'm just going to scrap the project.

And I think there's, there's a lot of that that goes on within, in that world of you know, especially now with everything online and make money online world or whatever it's like, you can be a gazillionaire, too, and there's so much marketing that pushes that sort of stuff. But the sad part about it is not much of it talks about really the dark underbelly is that you're gonna have to have a lot of mental fortitude. And it's, you know, the old saying about, it's going to take twice as long and cost twice as much. What if it took 10 times as long and cost 10 times as much? Because that's the position we're in right now.

Gresham Harkless 13:21

Absolutely, that makes perfect sense. And I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So what does being a CEO mean to you guys?

Jeff Schechter 13:31

Well, I guess I'm taking that one since apparently, I'm the CEO. So what it means to me is being like Jack said, a good communicator, it also means showing kindness and compassion. But again, always making decisions that are that are the best for everybody other than yourself, and say, Okay, what's what's best for our company? What's best for our employees? What's best for our customers?

I think when you operate from that standpoint, you can no matter what niche you're in, you can create a very, very successful, right, let's just say, and it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to create a very successful company, it means you're going to be running a company correctly from that paradigm.

Gresham Harkless 14:22

Absolutely. Well, I definitely appreciate that perspective and appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do was pass you guys a mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything Additionally, you can let our readers and listeners know. And then of course, how best they can get ahold of you subscribe to your podcasts and hear about all the awesome things you guys are doing.

Jack Gibson 14:36

I think, you know, the biggest piece of advice I can give your listeners is that it's so important in today's day and age. We are we have a company like Blockbuster, for example, that was a multi-billion dollar company, and within four years of that ceased to exist, right? Like how is that even possible that could even be fashionable, right?

And now before in history, was that ever possible that could happen that quickly? You know, usually it takes a period of 100 years for a company like that, to be disrupted and go out of business. And even then they have opportunities to pivot and change and grow. So, right now, it's so important to have multiple streams of income, because you could have something that's going really, really well. And within a year, it's disrupted, and you're out of business, and with technology and advances.

So with real estate, it's something where rental properties, they're going to be here, 50 years from now, 100 years from now, people will always need a place to live a roof over their heads, that's never going to change. So by investing in real estate, the way Shecky and I looked at it is, we're entrepreneurs, we have ups and downs and swings in our income, we need something to diversify, create another stream of income, that it's going to be very difficult to disrupt. So I encourage everybody to look at whether it's with us or, or whoever that may be. That's your perverted, trusted provider.

Jeff Schechter 15:00

Our company is called High Return Real Estate spelled just like it sounds. So our website's highreturnrealestate.com. And our podcast is called the High Return Real Estate Show. And if you want to find us or communicate with us, there are contact forms on the website. And we're very easy to find.

Gresham Harkless 16:12

Perfect. We will also have the link to that information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up. But I appreciate both of you for all the awesome things you're doing. And of course, your time and everything you're doing and I hope you guys have a great rest of the day.

Outro 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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