IAM608- Founder Adds Value to Distressed Mobile Home Parks

Todd Sulzinger is the founder of Blue Elm Investments, a mobile home park operator specializing in adding value to and transforming distressed mobile home parks across the country. Whereas many investors have overlooked mobile home parks as a profitable real estate niche.

Blue Elm Investments has built the expertise to turn neglected mobile home parks into vibrant communities, increasing the availability of safe, clean, and affordable housing across the country, while offering investors above-market returns. Prior to Blue Elm Investments, Todd spent over 25 years as a finance executive for several Silicon Valley technology companies.

• CEO Hack: Five-minutes journal
• CEO Nugget: Allow yourself 18 months to get your business started, trust the process
• CEO Defined: Having the challenge of learning new roles, control of what you want to do

Website: http://blueelminvestments.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddsulzinger/

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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 0:29

Hello, hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today at Todd Sulzinger of Blue Elm Investments.

Todd, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Todd Sulzinger 0:40

Thanks a lot for having me, Gresh. I appreciate it. I'm looking forward to our call today.

Gresham Harkless 0:43

Yeah, definitely looking forward to it too. Before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Todd so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Todd is the founder of Blue Elm Investments, a mobile home park operator specializing in adding value to and transforming distressed mobile home parks across the country.

Whereas many investors have overlooked mobile home parks as a profitable real estate niche bloom out, blue Elm Investments has built the expertise to turn neglected mobile home parks into vibrant communities, increasing the availability of safe clean, and affordable housing across the country while offering investors above-market returns. Prior to Blue Elm Investments, Todd spent over 25 years as a finance executive for several Silicon Valley technology companies.

Todd, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Todd Sulzinger 1:30

Absolutely. Let's go.

Gresham Harkless 1:32

Let's do it. So they kick everything off. I wanted to I guess start from the beginning here a little bit more about one that you get started. What's your CEO story and when did you start your business?

Todd Sulzinger 1:40

Sure, like you mentioned, I'd worked for about 25 years for a variety of companies, Silicon Valley companies, some here locally, where I live also, I spent a couple of years living in Europe and kind of started a traditional path got my degree from San Jose State started working in corporate finance, and did that for a long time.

During that time, I had always had an interest in real estate and was starting to meet a lot of people creating real estate investment businesses. And I decided I wanted to do that. I didn't necessarily think when I started that I wanted to find a company and become a CEO. But that comes with part of creating the business that I wanted to create.

Gresham Harkless 2:20

Yeah, absolutely. It's funny, because a lot of times, we don't necessarily always have the vision for where we end up. But sometimes we end up there just because that's where we should be in the very beginning.

Todd Sulzinger 2:29

Yeah, I remember there's a person I know named Beth Clifford, who has as a developer at a big resort in Belize and went to an event that she spoke at one time and she said, Okay, everybody, stand up, look to the person next to you and say I am a CEO, I am an entrepreneur. You know, for a lot of people when they're starting, they're not really thinking, you know, they have an image but a CEO is it's a person who has tons of experience doing that running a big organization. But when you're starting a company, whether it's just yourself or you've got one or two people, you know, you are the person running the ship, and you're the CEO.

Gresham Harkless 3:02

Yeah, absolutely. And you kind of have to have that mindset. It's so funny that she actually has to say that because I think so many times, you have to what you say will manifest itself, and what you don't say will manifest itself. So making sure that you, you say it, you own it, and you take those steps forward, allow you to also start to think about it start to act like that, and start to become that.

Todd Sulzinger 3:23

Absolutely. I totally agree with that.

Gresham Harkless 3:25

Awesome. So I know I touched on a little bit about you know what exactly you do for your clients, could you take us through a lot more about exactly what you're doing with Blue Elm Investments and how you work with your clients?

Todd Sulzinger 3:36

Yeah, so essentially, we're a real estate investment company. So we acquire mobile home parks, and we source the parks deal with the financing, and do the due diligence to get them under contract to acquire them, we bring in passive investors to acquire, those mobile home parks. And what that allows our investors to do is get passive income from real estate. So they could take advantage of all the benefits of owning real estate. But without all the hassle of dealing with tenants or toilets or property management or any of those issues.

So before I saw it before I started, I had been talking to a lot of people who knew I was investing in real estate kind of on the side and it's a thing that people know is a good thing to do, but don't know how to get started and how to get involved. So I wanted to create this vehicle for them to be able to invest in real estate but do it in a more passive way.

Gresham Harkless 4:26

Okay, and that's what you mean by passive investor, somebody who's not like, I guess walking around with a hammer and toolbox and actually hammering things, but actually more of you are the, I guess, the face and the person that's managing the investment and they're kind of just investing ascertain.

Todd Sulzinger 4:43

Exactly right, right? So they're just, you know, they probably, you know, as most people do, they might have invested in mutual funds, stocks, bonds, whatever kind of typical Wall Street assets, so I can come to them with the mobile home park projects I'm putting together and say, Hey, if you want to take some have that money pulled out of Wall Street, diversify your investments somewhat.

And when I think have kind of safer cash flow from those investments, then I can put those projects together. So yeah, it's a way for people to diversify. And again, you know, be passive about it, they just have to decide to make the investment after that happens, then they just received their quarter the distributions and ventral profits when we ended up selling the parks. And yeah, so that's, that's kind of how they act as passive investors versus somebody more active in a project.

Gresham Harkless 5:30

Right, then that makes so much sense. So I definitely appreciate you for breaking that down. And it was there, I guess, or a reason that you ended up going. I know, I didn't realize as many different niches there were with real estate investing. So was there a reason that you chose that? Or did it kind of find you? Could you take us through that too?

Todd Sulzinger 5:47

Well, you know, I think one of the probably hard things for a lot of CEOs and a lot of different businesses, but in real estate's the same thing, when I decided when to start this business, you start thinking about what markets you know, I had invested personally in Dallas, I, you know, so you can look at what market you want to invest in. And then what product type could be mobile, home parks, apartments, self-storage, residential, assisted living facilities, all kinds of things. I had always been interested in mobile home parks for some of the good benefits about them, like their recession resistance, and kind of a need for affordable housing across the US.

And I. So anyway, it's just kind of after a couple of years of researching different product types and how I would put into put the, put those deals together, I decided to focus on mobile home parks. And one of the nice things about it too, is it is still a bit more of a niche market. There are a lot of people that invest in apartment buildings or large portfolios of single-family homes, but mobile home parks are still some people aware of them, but they're still sort of a niche market. So it was a way that I could differentiate myself from other people putting together real estate syndications.

Gresham Harkless 6:53

Yeah, it makes so much sense. And I think, you know, as the benefits that you mentioned, I think so many times you have to you should try to figure out where that niche is. And you said, it's funny how you said you had an interest in him at some point, too. So a lot of times, when we're looking for ways to kind of niche down or figure out what to do sometimes it's in things that we're interested in are we're already researching. And then when we start to dig in, to read more, we see more opportunities.

Todd Sulzinger 7:17

Yes, for sure.

Gresham Harkless 7:18

Yeah. And so would you consider that to be like what I like to call your secret sauce, the thing that kind of sets you apart? Is it the fact that your niche is down in that industry?

Todd Sulzinger 7:28

That is it's it's having something that's, you know, real estate, investing outside of Wall Street is something that not everybody is used to or invest in. So that itself is a little bit of a niche, but then to dig down further. That's something that does separate me as I'm going out and talking to people at meetups or conferences, and it's something that intrigues them.

And also kind of the differences people still are oftentimes like to invest with somebody face to face, I meet with a lot of investors here locally that say, oh, you know, I've seen people online, or I've met him at continental conferences, or I get emails from them, but to actually be able to sit down with somebody face to face, have a conversation and make them feel comfortable when they're investing their money with you that they feel like they know like and trust me.

Gresham Harkless 8:13

That makes so much sense. I appreciate you for breaking that down.

I wanted to switch gears a little bit, I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Todd Sulzinger 8:26

Got a couple of things. One is something I started a couple of years ago, I started writing a book called The Five Minute Journal, by a company called Intelligent Journal and I had done some journaling in the past, I hear a lot of people talk about how important it is to them. But I always struggled with how to do it. What format? How much time do I spend? So this five-minute journal was a great daily book, where are the ideas, you take five minutes, in the morning and in the evening, and just kind of gives you kind of a simple format to go through.

Gresham Harkless 8:55

I love those hacks. I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So that could be like a word of wisdom or piece of advice, or maybe even something you might tell a younger business self?

Todd Sulzinger 9:05

Yeah. Yeah, one thing that really stands out to me is a good friend of mine, Kyle Wilson, who I belong to a mastermind that he's involved in, he was Jim Roans, an 18-year business partner. He told me something when I first started, he said he's I really think about allowing yourself 18 months to get a business started. And he kind of has this 18 MONTH RULE. And he's said he's seen this time and time again, where, you know, it takes about 18 months from the time that you say, Hey, I'm going to start this business, I'm going to do this and create this product to actually having it kind of coalesce and take hold. And so I kind of always had that in the back of my mind as I was starting my real estate business and it really did happen for the time that I decided, am I really going to double down and transfer away from my corporate role?

So from that time to the time that I closed on my first deal and raised money for investors was around 18 months so that held true for me and I think it's a good thing to think back. So I think entrepreneurs, when they get started, it's easy to get discouraged. After six months, nine months, things aren't happening, I should, I should give up. So I think my advice would be just to trust the process, keep doing the things that you think are right that you want to do to move your business forward and think that when you start it could take up to a year and a half, potentially even longer to really feel like okay, things are starting to move forward. And again, your business starts to coalesce and take hold and grow into something.

Gresham Harkless 10:29

Yeah, absolutely. No, I appreciate you for breaking that down. And that 18-month idea, I think there's kind of a ramp it, I guess, I don't want to call it a fable, but maybe a fable, the overnight success, and especially on social media, you see somebody and you post something, you get an instant reaction.

But a lot of times with business, especially if you're doing or have a really ambitious goal or a massive undertaking, it takes a lot longer than you think it will take for you to kind of see that. And if you are able to train yourself in the beginning to say, Hey, this is going to take 18 months, then you have that expectation. So you can continue to kind of chop at the tree and do those daily things that help you to reach that goal and maybe even exceed that.

Todd Sulzinger 11:08

Yes, right. Right. And as you're going through that process, knowing Okay, that was one of the times where I was going to get discouraged. This is where other people have given up. And if you're the one that keeps going, then you're the one that can be successful with taking your business.

Gresham Harkless 11:21

Yeah, absolutely. I think that's also sometimes one of the things that we don't realize is that we know we don't have those expectations, or we don't understand that that is what happens to just about every business. Yes. When we understand we're not by ourselves, we're not making mistakes. It's just part of the process.

Todd Sulzinger 11:36

Yes, right. Right.

Gresham Harkless 11:37

Awesome. Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different, quote and quote, CEOs on the show. So Todd, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Todd Sulzinger 11:47

You know, being a CEO, I think, to me, means having control over what I want to do kind of like with my life, and how I want to spend my time and energy. And you know, I compare this to working in corporate jobs for a long time, where you're just, you know, part of a team and, you know, you're not responsible for marketing or strategy, or, you know, my cancer in my case, I was responsible for the finance piece to the business.

So, to me, it's kind of having the, you know, the challenge of learning new roles and wearing different hats and also I guess, the kind of the excitement that comes with that it feels like you're doing something, building something for yourself, building something for your family, you know, really being somebody who can offer something to help be able to get into this case, my investors is, to me just much more satisfying than, you know, just going to a corporate job working at a desk. Just a small subset of a company.

Gresham Harkless 12:46

Yeah, absolutely. No, I appreciate you for kind of painting that picture. And definitely, you know, using the word, especially challenging as well, too, because it is a challenge to not necessarily always do all of the things, but be aware and be somehow overlooking all of the things and that kind of balance being that we have to be on.

But I appreciate you as well, too, for talking about how not only what we do, you know, has an impact on our lives, but also has an impact on many of the other people that we're kind of interacting with, on our teams, investors, and even sometimes people that are inspired by the things and actions taken as well.

Todd Sulzinger 13:22

Right, right, right. Absolutely. I find that a lot as I'm talking to people who, you know, when I was at a place a couple of years ago, before I started my business, I'd see other people that were a few steps ahead of me. So now it's nice to be kind of that in that role of being a few steps ahead of other people. So to be able to kind of offer that encouragement and mentoring, as people are starting their businesses is super satisfying as well.

Gresham Harkless 13:44

Yeah, absolutely. No, it makes so much sense. I think that that progression that we always shoot for and always want to see when we start to see that and be able to help people progress as well, too, is definitely an extremely satisfying thing. So Todd, truly appreciate that and appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do was to pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know. And then of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out all the awesome things we're working on.

Todd Sulzinger 14:10

Yeah, great. Thanks. I really enjoyed our time at a crash. That was awesome. Yeah, I would just kind of encourage anybody who is starting to think about starting their own business or creating a new product to really, you know, believe in yourself and know that there's a community of people out there that really need you.

They need your passion and product or service. So just believe in yourself and keep pushing forward. So yeah, I think that'd be my advice to anyone who needs to get started. And if anybody wants to get a hold of me my company is Blue Elm Investments, so that's my website, www.blueelminvestments.com.

I can be reached at Todd@blueelminvestments.com

Gresham Harkless 14:50

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Again, Todd. We will definitely have the links and information in the show notes and I appreciate that reminder as well to stay true to the goal that we have and the mission that we have, and what we're kind of charged with no matter the ups and downs and whatever might happen, we still can kind of shoot to be a few steps ahead. So definitely appreciate that. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Outro 15:15

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.

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Thank you for listening.

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