IAM2453 – CEO and Founder Builds an Investment Firm Specializing in Mortgage Note Investing

Chris Seveney

00:00 - 00:19

We buy mortgage notes, and most people didn't even know this business exists, but most people don't realize their mortgage gets sold all the time. And we focus a lot of times on the non-performing loans, ones where borrowers aren't paying. We do typically buy those at a discount, but by doing so, it allows us to try and rework payment plans with the borrowers.

Intro

00:21 - 00:45

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Grush values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the

Gresham Harkless

00:46 - 01:07

I Am CEO Podcast. Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO Podcast, and I have an awesome guest on the show today. I have Chris Seveni. Chris, excited to have you on the show. Thanks for having me and excited to be here. Yes, I'm excited as well too. And Chris is doing so many awesome things, so I'm super pumped up to jump right in. But of course, before we do that, I wanted to read a little bit more about Chris so you can hear about some of those awesome things he's been working on.

Gresham Harkless

01:08 - 01:41

And Chris is CEO and founder of 7E Investments, has over 25 years of real estate experience, managing nearly $1 billion in development before leaving the W2 world to build his own company. He now oversees a $30 million portfolio of 600 plus mortgage notes. He's a frequent contributor to Forbes and BiggerPockets, and he's passionate about empowering others with financial freedom and wealth building strategies. And one of the things I absolutely love, as I was telling Chris before we hopped onto this, a shout out fellow podcaster. So he also is the co-host of the Creating Simplified Wealth Podcast.

Gresham Harkless

01:41 - 02:09

I'm sure we'll touch on some of the awesome things he's talking about there. Like he and I said, he's a seasoned real estate investor and fund manager, and he's also a member of the Forbes Finance Council. And I also read that he is a diehard Boston sports fan as well, too. So I have to make sure to throw that in as well. So Chris, excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the IMCO community? Yes, I am. Awesome. Well, let's get it started then. So to kind of kick everything off, let's rewind the clock, hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

Chris Seveney

02:09 - 02:47

Yeah. So my story really started a little bit more than 10 years ago. And so I'm a Gen Xer and we were always taught the way to get success. And this is because what a lot of parents did was you go to school, you get a job, you work the W2 and basically, you know, do that for 50 years and you retire. And, you know, you don't want to have to deal with, you know, having your own company, this, you know, whatever the case may be. And I followed that to a T for the first 15 plus years.

Chris Seveney

02:48 - 03:19

I was basically a number at companies and just did my thing. I was very good at what I did, or at least I think I was, and did very well and was making very good money. But two things happened. One was an individual I was working for at the time, asked me, and again, I've always been in real estate and I'm working, I was running a multifamily division for a real estate company. And my boss, who was a VP at the time, said, what do you have for your own personal real estate in your portfolio?

Chris Seveney

03:19 - 04:02

I'm like, oh, you know, I'd been divorced, we got remarried, just my wife and I just finished building our primary residence. That's all we got. And then he's like, so you're going to be follow the 40, 40, 40 club. And I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, you're going to work 40 hours a week for 40 years. to get 40% of your income and not be able to ever retire. And I was like, wow. And when you put it like that, and he owned, he had bought a bunch of real estate in California and elsewhere, and he was probably, I'm guessing today he's probably mid-60s, late 60s and retired, but he could have retired when I spoke to him back, or when he made this comment.

Chris Seveney

04:03 - 04:41

So that was kind of the first thing of, okay, you need to do something more than W-2. Then the second pivotal thing that happened literally within a year was I had a health scare. And a health scare where I thought I potentially might have not be able to walk again. And then I'm sitting there thinking, okay, I'm in construction management and stuff. Like, what the heck would I do? And then I look, and then I'm sitting in the hospital and I'm reading like, you know, your benefits cover like 50% of your income. And I'm like, that ain't gonna do much for me.

Chris Seveney

04:41 - 05:24

So it's like, okay, kind of the, oh, you know what moment. So both of them really spurred me to really want to have multiple exit strategies and multiple options. So I started at that point in time, building my own personal portfolio. And that led me to continue to grow and I was doing very well at it over five plus years to the point I was making more money with that than my full-time job, which I was still making really good money in my full-time job. And then COVID basically was really what spun it for me, because I was like, at my job, I just wasn't feeling satisfied.

Chris Seveney

05:24 - 05:41

You know, I loved what I did, but just wasn't doing it for me. And I'm like, you know, I went to my wife and was like, Hey, look, I want to go out and start my own company. And I had her support, which was important, and well required. And let's be honest, and went and launched my own business.

Gresham Harkless

05:42 - 05:53

Yeah, absolutely. Well, the saying of happy wife, happy life is a very true thing. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more here, a little bit more on how you're working with and serving clients. Could you take us through a little bit more about what you're doing and how you're making that impact?

Chris Seveney

05:53 - 06:14

So we really have, I'll say, two sets of clients. So we raise money from investors. So we have over 800 investors within our company and how we serve them, I think, is white glove service. As an investment company, and it's funny, I actually had to call a company today that You call and it's like, can I just speak to a human,

Intro

06:14 - 06:15

like give me a human.

Chris Seveney

06:16 - 06:44

And then you get a human and it's actually just a call center. Um, for us, like we have literally one person, that's all they do. It's like, okay, our investor relations person, somebody has a question. It's a human you can speak to get the question answered because it's usually something that when people call us, it's, they need an immediate answer. Now they're not looking for the, you know, the press one for this press 467 for that type of response. So our investor relations team, they know our company, they know what we do in their hands on.

Chris Seveney

06:45 - 07:17

Well, that's one side of the business, but we take that money from investors. And what we do is, is we buy mortgage notes. And most people didn't even know this business exists, but most people don't realize their mortgage gets sold all the time. And we focus a lot of times on the non-performing loans, ones where borrowers aren't paying. We do typically buy those at a discount, but by doing so, it allows us to try and rework payment plans with the borrowers. We can't do it in every situation, but for the most part, we try and work things out with them.

Chris Seveney

07:18 - 07:51

And it's an instance where... You know, typically when people think real estate, it's a net sum zero game where if you sell me something I'm trying to get for the best deal and I'm going to win and you're going to lose type situation with us. Um, no, it can be a win-win because if we can get them on a repaying a plan, Hey, they get to keep their property. But typically in those instances, it actually is probably most beneficial for us from a profitability standpoint. So if we can a, know, be profitable. We're a corporation.

Chris Seveney

07:51 - 08:09

I'm not, you know, saying we're nonprofit or, you know, we do this to make money. But we also try and work it out with a borrower on structured payment plans that allow us to let both parties win. And that's kind of part of the secret sauce is it's unique in regards to there's not many businesses that are like that.

Gresham Harkless

08:10 - 08:20

Yeah, absolutely. And especially with that secret sauce kind of speaks to that abundant mentality. I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this

Chris Seveney

08:20 - 08:20

could be

Gresham Harkless

08:20 - 08:25

like an app, a book, or even a habit that you have. What's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Chris Seveney

08:25 - 09:01

That's probably my hack is I'm an inbox zero, and I'm very organized and can process lots of data very quickly. The other kind of task I'll mention is when people mention book, traction by Geno Workman and following the EOS system is really important. There's other systems out there that are very similar. Scaling up, I think, is another one that I've worked for companies that have done it and companies that haven't done it. And the companies that have both done it are both, I'd say, like at the top of their game in their market and industry.

Chris Seveney

09:01 - 09:16

And the company that didn't, the company just had no culture, appeal, it just kind of was there. So definitely having some type of system like that, I'd recommend for any entrepreneur or CEO.

Gresham Harkless

09:17 - 09:30

Yeah, I love that. What would you consider to be a little bit more of what I would like to call a CEO nugget? So this could be more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. It might be something you would tell an investor. It might be something you mentioned on your podcast or something you might tell yourself if you hopped into a time machine.

Chris Seveney

09:31 - 10:06

Be patient. Something I tell myself, uh, but for any, anybody out there, you know, being a CEO, being, having your company, it's hard. You're going to have days, you're going to wake up and basically like, why am I doing this? I have a girl I went to high school with, uh, who just started, she's on her second or third company. He'd one successful, she sold it and he'd taken some years off, raise kids and stuff and figure out what her next move. And she just launched a new company. And it's, you know, she's out there marketing and promoting it and now on social media and doing all this stuff.

Chris Seveney

10:06 - 10:29

And I'm following her, enjoying it and stuff. And we always message each other back and forth and like, how are you doing today? She's like, today's, you know, we won today. Or, but she's like, someday she's like, why do I do this? You know, it's, why do we do this? And I would tell my younger self that, you know, whatever somebody tells you, it's going to take, it's going to take three times the effort. It's going to take three times as long and it's going to cost you three times as much.

Gresham Harkless

10:30 - 10:42

Yeah, absolutely. So now I want to ask you one of my absolute favorite questions, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO and our goals to have different quote unquote CEOs on this show. So Chris, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Chris Seveney

10:42 - 11:31

The definition of a CEO, what it should be is that you control everything in your life, meaning that If you want to go play around a golf, you want to go see your kid's sports, you created an entrepreneurship to give yourself time and flexibility. You know, it's not always about, you know, financial independence. I believe it's more about time independence, you know, is what, and time is one thing nobody can make more of, you know, we can all make more money. We can't make more time. So I should be your most valuable asset. Now, unfortunately, when most of us start out as CEOs, we're wearing every single hat and we're working twice as many hours as we were when we were at a W2.

Chris Seveney

11:32 - 12:03

But I had a business coach basically proverbially slap me around and say, this is where you got to delegate and give more to your people. And if you can't, you bring hire somebody to make sure that you focus on the company, the big picture, not always diving into the weeds on things. And if there's something they want to dive into, because that's what you enjoy to do, do it, but it shouldn't be out of necessity. And that was eye-opening to realize, you know, because I was killing myself and I'm like, it goes back to why do I do this?

Chris Seveney

12:03 - 12:22

Like, you know, why don't I just go back? And then when you realize that you put a great team of people around you, it doesn't have to be employees, it can be consultants, vendors, but just build a team that can allow you that flexibility to then manage your time. It will change your life.

Gresham Harkless

12:22 - 12:59

Yeah, absolutely. And I love that time and that flexibility perspective, because I think so many times when you're thinking of going to 9 to 5 or your job or whatever it is that you're doing, you don't realize that you're trading your time for that. And you have to understand that's time that we don't get back. So when you do decide that, hey, I'm going to hang out my shingle or do whatever it is, you are trying to get back some of that time or at least have more flexibility around that time. But I think it only happens, as you said so well, if you are able to to create that team, because, you know, in steps along the process, as we talked about in that journey, like sometimes in the very beginning, you might be literally doing all the things.

Gresham Harkless

12:59 - 13:22

But as you start to realize that, hey, I want to create even more time and create more of that space, you start to understand how you can delegate people, hire the right people, partner with people, whatever that might be. So you can at the end of the day be as impactful as you ultimately want it to be when you start it. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, truly appreciate that definition. Of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I want to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just

Chris Seveney

13:22 - 13:22

to see

Gresham Harkless

13:22 - 13:29

if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people can get out of you, your team, your podcast, all the awesome things that you all are working on.

Chris Seveney

13:30 - 14:00

For everybody out there who, you know, if you are a CEO thinking about becoming a CEO or any type of entrepreneur, it's worth it. It truly is worth it. It's, you know, it's like anything you've ever done in your life. If you've played sports, I played sports, you know, I've suffered the agony of defeat. I've had to, you know, spend time in the gym. I've had knee surgeries that I had to recover from, you know, bad stuff is going to happen. It's just reality. But you know, it's the, you know, you know, the Mike Tyson, you know, you know, quote about getting punched in the face.

Chris Seveney

14:00 - 14:24

But then I think I don't know if it was Rocky, I think it was Rocky quote about, you know, it's not how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times you get back up, type of thing. And that's what's going to happen. It's, you know, it's just a matter of, you're the decision maker at the end of the day, and it's a different responsibility. But, you know, it's a great responsibility if you want to, you know, put that title next to you.

Gresham Harkless

14:24 - 14:34

Yeah, absolutely. And there's so much that you can do and that responsibility is definitely huge. But I love how you said that decision maker, because we don't realize that sometimes you have more autonomy, you

Chris Seveney

14:34 - 14:34

know,

Gresham Harkless

14:34 - 14:40

in terms of the decisions that you can make and more control of those things. And that will determine like your business, your organization, and frankly, your life at that.

Chris Seveney

14:41 - 15:14

And it's sometimes it's hard sometimes like making hard decisions. Like, you know, I have, you know, if you had a great worker, but you just kind of not a fit for the company, it's like, oh, you know, you feel guilty, you know, or whatnot, like, you know, having the, you know, let someone go or someone leaves or whatever the case may be. You know, if you're dealing with people as well, it's hard and, you know, it's challenging and it's something that, It's never easy to do, you know, so. Yeah,

Gresham Harkless

15:15 - 15:47

absolutely. And I think, again, there needs to be a lot of conversation around that, you know, around how challenging it can be. Because when you do understand that, you understand that sometimes there's a not clear decision that you can make and you're not sure what exactly it should be. Like you said, sometimes you have talented people on a team that maybe they're just not a right fit there. And you have to make those difficult decisions for the better of the company in alignment with that why. Absolutely, and for people that wanna get ahold of you and reach out, what's the best way for them to do that and subscribe to the podcast?

Chris Seveney

15:47 - 16:03

Email me, chris at 7einvestments.com, and I'm sure you'll put this in the show notes, or you can just go to our website, which is 7einvestments.com. It's the number seven, letter E, and then investments.com. So we got the podcast, everything on our site. Perfect,

Gresham Harkless

16:03 - 16:13

perfect, perfect. And of course, to make it even easier, like Chris said, we'll have the links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up with you. Subscribe to the podcast, find out about all the awesome things that you're working on. Hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Chris Seveney

16:13 - 16:20

Thanks. And as Bresh mentioned, make sure to leave a like, review to your favorite listening station for this episode and his podcast.

Intro

16:20 - 16:54

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 imceo.co. I Am CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Want to level up your business even more? Read blogs, listen to podcasts, and watch videos at CBNation.co. Also, check out our I Am CEO Facebook group. This has been the I Am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.