IAM1937 – Founder Helps People Build Legacy Wealth through Real Estate Investing

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Jay Helms Teaser 00:00

And I want to make sure we get the right people that we can help and that want to help others, right? So we got very specific or I got very specific on who and how for the growth of the community.

I felt like I was the only person that can allow anybody in.

Intro 00:14

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 00:41

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year. We're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories, topics, or as I like to call them, the business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, business owners, and what I like to call CB nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month, we are focusing on finishing it out, fighting the good fight and closing out the job. I think just as important as it is to start something, it's even more important in how you conclude it or finish it out. So if you think of the different things that you can finish out, it could be everything from a project, it could be from a day, it could also be from a business in and of itself and it could also of course be for the year.

So when you think of finishing out, I want you to really think of these episodes because what we're gonna really focus on is the last question that we really ask, which is defining what it means to be a CEO. All the creative, innovative and I think truly insightful questions that we received from this question is really what we want to highlight during the show. But of course, we want you to enjoy the entire episode to think about how you're going to finish things out and how you're going to finish things out strongly.

So sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I AM CEO podcasts. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on my show today. I have Jay Helms of W2capitalist.com.

Jay, super excited to have you on the show.

Jay Helms 02:14

Gresham thank you for having me. Actually I should call you Gresh right? That's what you go by. So Gresh, thank you, sir.

Gresham Harkless 02:21

Yes, absolutely. I appreciate that sir. Yes. All my friends and podcast guests always call me Gresh. So you're definitely in this circle. So super excited to introduce you to Jay. I want to read a little bit more about Jay.

Jay is the founder of w2capitalist.com and an Amazon number one bestseller of Make an Offer. He's escaped the rat race after six years of side hustling and real estate investing. Jay has a goal to help one million people create multiple streams of income, achieve financial freedom, or build legacy wealth through real estate investing.

Jay met his wife Cassie, when they were contestants on a reality TV show when their family of five are are not traveling the country in their RV, Jay and Cassie reside in Gulf Breeze, Florida with their three kids, Roland, Stella, and Ella. Knowing that closing on the first deal is the biggest hurdle and roadblock for new investors.

He wrote a book to help them get over those mental hurdles. Every investor faces paralysis analysis, but it is time to break through, make an offer and earn, invest and repeat. Great to have you on the show again, Jay. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Jay Helms 03:25

Let's do it. Gresh.

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Gresham Harkless 03:27

Let's make it happen then. So to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

Jay Helms 03:33

Yeah. So, back in 2014 is when we really started this whole journey of real estate investing. And as we got our feet under, I was working a full W2 job, salary, professional sales, professional, technical, professional, flip flop and back between those two spots in the organization or whatnot. We got to a point where we were having some early on success and then the real estate investing community, they call these real estate investing associations where there's physical meetups. You go in person, quite frequently. I absolutely hated going to those events because personality type, I am an introvert.

Now I'm growing out of that being a CEO, and it still feels weird to say that kind of forces you to grow a little bit. And for me growing out of that personality type has been one of the biggest challenges that I've faced, but I started the W2 capitalist number one, because the RIA, the closest real estate investing association for my house was 45 minutes one way. My wife was six months pregnant, right? And she was having some complications and it just made me nervous being gone for any amount of time. So I had been working from home probably since about 2010 and I was zooming before zooming was cool kind of thing and just got very familiar and comfortable behind a microphone and a keyboard and whatnot.

I was like, you know what? What these guys do in person I can do in my own style that plays to my personality type. I had joined a mastermind that I had learned from, and they were very similar set up. I was like, I think I've got something here. I really want to help other people. That was one of the things my grandmother really installed in me. It was, you help everybody you can. She probably did it to her detriment, but I learned a lot from that. So, that's where we got started. I was still working on W2 side hustling with real estate investing, side hustling with building the W2 capitalist brand.

Then 2020 happened with COVID and I was a product of the whole layoffs. I was one of those millions of people that were laid off. I think it was millions. It's probably not that big of a number. I forget now, but and  I moped around the house for a couple of days and then, I got my head out of my butt and I was like, you know what? We've been building this brand for years now. Don't even worry about going back to the W2. Our real estate investing has created a lifestyle for us that now I can just focus on doing what I set out to do with, to build this brand and to help other people learn how to invest in real estate.

Since then, man, it has truly, truly, truly blossomed to what it is today. So, that's the origin up until today. And where it was just me and a microphone and we had one mastermind call a month, I've got 8 people working for me. We do over 20 virtual calls a month. We had our 1st in person event last year. We had 5 people last year be able to reach their financial freedom number through real estate investing and be able to exit the W2 because that was their goal right now.

It's not everybody's goal who comes in real estate investing, but the point of telling you that is we help people achieve their goals. There are 3 people who have already punched that clock today year to date, I should say. And there's another 2, maybe 3 that are on their way to do it by the end of the year. So, it's just incredible. It's incredible to see.

Gresham Harkless 07:04

I absolutely love that. I especially appreciate you talking about getting laid off. As somebody who has been laid off, frustrated with yourself, hate the wind, you're frustrated about the milk, exactly. It's just like you're angry about everything. But I think a lot of times I started a lot of this podcast, the blog and everything as a result of getting laid off and things like that happen.

It sounds like you had a great experience where had those things not happened, you may not have been able to get the success and that opportunity and be able to go all in on the things that you've been working on. So I love it.

Jay Helms 07:34

Absolutely. Yeah, it is one of those and it is a mindset shift, right? You could have mold around and just been hated. I love that phrase hate the wind. Like you're probably outside having arguments with why are you blowing now? It is one of those things where it's all mindset.

When I got laid off, up until that point, we had been buying and selling and our focus was buying, holding and cashflow in real estate investing side.

Gresham Harkless 07:57

Awesome. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more. I know you touched on W2 Capitalists, what you're doing there. Can you take us through a little bit more of the community and everything you're building and growing there?

Jay Helms 08:06

The mastermind is our biggest product service that we offer and it is basically a community. There's still some uncertainty on what actually is a mastermind because there is no silver bullet or hard, fast rule of what a mastermind should look like. So, for some people, it's a weekend retreat in the Bahamas. For some folks, it's four meetings a year where you had to travel to different places or whatnot. And so, for us, we hold 20 different virtual calls a month where some of them are very niche specific for types of real estate.

You have a multifamily call. You have a single family buying whole call fix and flip. So it's very specific niche. And that was part of our growth. The phrase I'm looking for growth strategy as well is instead of having just all general session, Hey, if you want to come talk about real estate, come talk about it. Now people know that when they come into the multifamily call, they know exactly what's being talked about.

But the mastermind is something that's really grown. And one of the things that the CEO is one thing, but I feel like I've worn the hat of solopreneur for quite a long time and being the only guy, I have control issues. I don't want to hand things off. That sort of thing. So, I see you smiling real big. I don't know if that hits home with you or not.

Gresham Harkless 09:20

That's telling my life story over there.

Jay Helms 09:23

But I wanted to really focus on the people that come into the community. I want to make sure we get the right people that we can help and that want to help others, right? So we got very specific, or I got very specific on who and how for the growth of community.

I felt like I was the only person that could allow anybody in.

Gresham Harkless 09:39

So I like to ask for the secret sauce, which could be for yourself individually, the business or a combination of both. But is it that I think it sounds like you have a community that you've been able to build and grow that is around, a topic, but also niche opportunities within that topic.

Do you feel like that kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Jay Helms 09:59

I've been asked that question before and I don't know how to answer it. And I'll tell you what one of the mastermind members have told me and his name's Ed and Ed is very transparent. I love that about Ed and people like Ed. And he goes, Jay, I don't know what it is about you. He's been in the mastermind for a little over a year. He goes, I don't know what it is about you. But you really just motivate people and encourage people. I can't really figure it out yet, but you've done that to me and I don't know why.  And, so he goes, this is a compliment. It's not coming off that way, but I really do mean it as a compliment.

He goes, but you just motivate and encourage people to do what they don't believe they can do. It was one of those things okay, how do I replicate that? Like, how do I build leaders from inside the organization to replicate that? And the other four people that I mentioned, those are the folks who are doing that and fulfilling that role. I think the other part of the secret sauce that I hear from some of the other members is that I don't pretend to know everything when it comes to real estate investing.

When, I host and lead three calls a week, I learn something every time when I'm on those calls and I'm not getting up and preaching. Hey, you gotta do this. You gotta do that. This is what you should be focused on. It's nothing like that. To each their own. Let me tell you how I have some experience in that if I don't have experience then I don't speak of it. That's one rule in our mastermind is if you don't have experience and whatever questions asked, then you don't get to answer it.

Gresham Harkless 11:30

I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and 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.

Jay Helms 11:40

But what I've found that works the best for me is notepad on my iPhone. It is my to do list. It is my live and die to do list. So I tell people that, and they're like, what? It's not more complicated than that. I was like, man, that system works for me. So the nugget, I guess you could say is, don't be afraid to try a new product. But when you find something that works for you stick to it.

There's no right or wrong answer for anything. I now, granted, I have 99 notes or notepads in my app and there's a handful that stick to the very top as the most important to-dos. But that's how I know what I'm doing from day to day. And so, you can complicate systems as much as you want to, but find, and when you find a system that works for you, just stick to it.

Forget about what everybody else is doing.

Gresham Harkless 12:28

Absolutely. You can definitely get caught in the flavor of the week, in the flavor of the month and try to do X, Y and Z, but find something that works and just execute on that. I absolutely love that.

I want to ask you now for what I call CEO nugget. So, it's a little bit more of a word of wisdom piece of advice. I usually like to say it might be something you would tell your favorite client, or if you have to do a time machine, you might tell your business self.

Jay Helms 12:50

The first nugget is don't sweat the small stuff, focus on it, but don't stress about it. So I am still guilty of that. That is one of the things that I have been working on myself for a long time. The other thing is pay attention to your health, right? I'm not in the best shape. You rewind the clock to when I was in my twenties, that's probably the best shape, but I'm probably healthier now than I ever have been because I watch what I eat. The biggest thing and I've got to give credit to my wife because she put me on this journey a long time ago was making sure that I drink one gallon of water a day.

For most people who have never done that or never tried that, you think, man, that's absolutely nuts. I'm not drinking a Coke right now. Hashtag not sponsored. I wish I was, but yeah, maybe we can work out a two for one, but, even then I tried to just like before there's water and Coke, but no, it was just straight, just tap water from the bottle or whatnot. It is easy to do.

Gresham Harkless 13:49

Yeah. So I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition, what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote and quote CEOs on this show.

So, Jay, what does a CEO mean to you?

Jay Helms 13:59

I think this is the first time that I've actually thought of myself as a CEO. Is talking to you and the name of the podcast, even though I'm here sitting on the CEO, I've never really thought what that really means, but I guess if, one of the things that I say I struggle with, I'm trying to prove on is how to be a better leader, right?

I realize that I am sitting at the top and, cause we'll get on a call sometimes with me and the guys that work for me and gals and just they look like, all right, boss, what do you want to talk about? And I'm like, oh, yeah, so there are times where I know I've got to be a better leader. But to me, a CEO means knowing when to lead and what to lead on.

Those are some of the things that I've got to I need some improvement on for sure.

Gresham Harkless 14:47

Jay, truly appreciate that definition. Of course, I appreciate your time even more. What I want to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people can get ahold of you, get a copy of your book, find about all the awesome things that you're working on.

Jay Helms 15:02

That's a good thing about the way that a lot of masterminds are structured is that they appeal to certain people and you find your tribe, right? But find it based on what you're looking to do and what you're looking to grow in with your business.

So other than that, man, I'm on Instagram, LinkedIn as at W2 Capitalist, also on YouTube as at W2 Capitalist and the book Make An Offer is that you can find it on Amazon. It's in paperback and Kendall. So if you're a member of Kindle unlimited, you can get it for free. And the audio version. I am set to record that in just a few weeks. So it's going to be out on audible. I don't know how long after that, but we're going to get it recorded in just a few weeks so.

Gresham Harkless 15:44

Yeah, absolutely. And magic happens after that, so we will definitely have the links and information in the show notes as well to so that everybody can follow up with you find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

Truly appreciate your time and all the awesome things that you're doing. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Jay Helms 16:00

Gresh, thank you. Thank you for having me.

Outro 16:01

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast, powered by CB Nation and 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 Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google podcast, and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Subscribe and leave us a five star rating. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

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