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
Previous Episode: https://iamceo.co/iam415-co-founders-and-show-hosts-specializing-in-turn-key-investments/
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Transcription:
Jeff Schechter 00:00
Within the world of real estate, especially in terms of rehabs and property management and things like that, there is lots of opportunities to cut corners. So what we've just said is like, we're just going to 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 a 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 case. But what's happened as a result is we have a pretty loyal client base and, you know, reputation is everything.
Gresham Harkless 01:02
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I Am CEO Podcast and I have a very special, 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 01:12
Yeah.
Jack Gibson 01:13
Excited. Gresh. Thanks for having us.
Gresham Harkless 01:14
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 million multi million nutrition company and distribution company. And Jeff a private consulting practice. Helping a 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 ready to speak to the I Am CEO community?
Jack Gibson 01:57
Let's do it. Ready to rock.
Gresham Harkless 01:59
Let's make it happen. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO stories and what led you guys to start your business.
Jack Gibson 02:07
Where do we begin? Shecky?
Jeff Schechter 02:09
I'll let you start Jack
Jack Gibson 02:10
You know, we, you know Sheck, he's actually the CEO of our company. I guess I'M my president or I don't even know what my, my physician is. I just, I get stuff done, right. So. But I actually started buying up, you know, rental properties in the Indianapolis market about, I think it was four years ago, according to my Facebook time hop. Right. That was when I went on my first investor tour there. And I just love the. The price to rent ratios were incredible comparative to my, you know, home market here in Michigan and other markets that I looked at. So realize 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, 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 plays there. So started buying a property and getting awesome returns. And this was with our original provider. That's about the time that I had Sheck. He was 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, you know, 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 to so that we could really scale the company. So that's when a few days later, I'm like, man, like, I need him as a partner and he can, you know, help, you know, help him, you know, scale up this company with me. So 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, you know, piece of the overall pie and create systems that can be automated to help our company grow, you know, that's. It's 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 are. So not me and my wife not saying that, although she'll never listen to this podcast, so. But so we're safe. You know, I should have. But anyways, yeah, you know, that's when Shecky came in and he helped really implement systems, processes, procedures. 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 is. Means that 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, you know, they, we had our challenges, let's just put it that way. So, Chucky, you know, that's where you come in.
Jeff Schechter 04:51
Yeah. Well, thank you for all the nice things. I'll pay you later.
Jack Gibson 04:55
Just give me some extra equity in the company. Yeah. Okay.
Jeff Schechter 04:58
So, yeah, I don't know really what more to add to it, but I, I, I do agree that I think probably the key to us and our success is what Jack had alluded to is just being able to communicate clearly through things and work through disagreements and, you know, always really put the, 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, it's, 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 Moving into version 4.0, I'm grateful for where we're at. The lessons have been expensive, 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 05:50
Exactly. And I could definitely speak to that as well. And I think a lot of times it's funny that you guys say you're on 4.0, because anytime I say anytime you're launching something and it doesn't go according plan, just tell everybody it's 1.0 and there's different iteration coming outside of that. So it's great to hear. You guys are always iterating, growing and doing a lot better things.
Jack Gibson 06:06:
Yeah.
Jeff Schechter 06:06
And it's hard. I mean, the, the only thing that's really been constant about our business 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 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 06:42
Yeah, absolutely. And it kind of speaks to the whole idea of, you know, the industries and technology and all those things are 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 in whatever you're doing.
Jeff Schechter 06:56
Yeah, you bring up an interesting point. And 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 on us on that kind of stuff. And that created some difficulties. And even Jack is admittedly probably not the most technical guy in the world. I've dragged him through that and said, hey dude, it's not that hard. You're going to learn this stuff. And it's been good. 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 absolutely be your best friend. When it's not working, it can make you the most miserable person in the world. So, you know, it's, it's kind of a double edged sword, right?
Gresham Harkless 07:36
Yeah, the gift, incursive 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 podcast and tell me a little bit more about what you guys do for your clients.
Jack Gibson 07:46
Yeah, we, I can take this one. Shaky.
Jeff Schechter 07:48
Sure.
Jack Gibson 07:49
So there's different versions of what people call turnkey real estate. Right. So, you know, it's, it's very subjective or objective, whatever the case. But turnkey real estate is basically where you're delivering a, you know, 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, a checklist, it's under, you know, great management and you know, they, it takes away a lot of the normal barriers to entry for a lot of busy professionals. So we get a lot of investors that, you know, they're, 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, you know, learn property management and screening tenants and all the, you know, 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 that know what they're doing focus on what they do best and just buy a performing asset. So you know, look, at the end of the day, we provide that product. Now as Sheck, he's alluded to, you know, it's changed and it's gone through different kind of versions. We, we started off with a partner who did all, 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, 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 a third party management and then we went to in house property management. And now, you know, we're settled on, you know, a company that does, that has, you know, 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, you know, develop. So that, 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 and a property to high quality standards. So yeah, we're, you know, if you sort it all down, you know, it's basically an investor is 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 properties. 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, you know, tax savings and all of that stuff. So they have a whole integrated approach.
Gresham Harkless 10:33
That makes perfect sense. And I, I think that I love the fact, because a lot of times we have our zones of geniuses, so to speak, where we, we have our lane of things we do best. Whether like you mentioned, we're an entrepreneur, you know, a doctor, dentist, whatever that might be. And you know, you see hgtv, you see everything from, you know, breaking down everything and building it back up. And you're like, there's no way I want to do that. But I'm glad you guys kind of, you touched on that because a lot of times we don't understand that there's different ways you can be and 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 creative to grave. It sounds like.
Jack Gibson 11:09
Yeah, yeah.
Gresham Harkless 11:12
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 11:22
I think for us, really, we see a lot of in our industry, man, and 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 and things like that, there is lots of opportunities to cut corners. So what we've just said is like, we're just going to 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 a 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 case. But what's happened as a result is we have a pretty loyal client base and, you know, reputation is everything that makes sense.
Gresham Harkless 12:05
And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you guys for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an Apple book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you guys more effective and efficient.
Jack Gibson 12:14
Well, I think, you know, personal, personally, you know, working out most mornings is a huge, you know, part of having, you know, just a clear mind and also like just having energy to attack your day. From a business perspective, I think team meetings are, you know, very important. That's every single Wednesday, you know, we have our team meeting and we all come together and on a zoom call, just like this. Sometimes they're two hours, you know, longer sometimes.
Gresham Harkless 12:43
Exactly. So now I wanted 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 can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?
Jeff Schechter 12:53
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 and 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 two, three, four, five, six 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 especially within in that world of, you know, especially now with everything online, the make money online world or, you know, whatever. It's like, you know, 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 going to 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 13:53
Absolutely, that makes perfect sense. 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 means, you guys?
Jeff Schechter 14:03
Well, I guess I'm taking that one since apparently I'm the CEO. So what it means is to me, what it means to me is being a good, 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 to 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.
Gresham Harkless 14:43
So, so, right. Let's just say it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to create a very successful company.
Jeff Schechter 14:46
It means you're going to be running a company correctly from that paradigm.
Gresham Harkless 14:52
Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, I definitely appreciate that perspective and I appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do is pass you guys the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can get a hold of you, subscribe to your podcast and hear about all the awesome things you guys are doing.
Jack Gibson 15:06
I think, you know, the biggest piece of advice I can give your listeners is that, you know, it's so important in today's day and age where we have a company like Blockbuster, for example, that was a multi billion dollar company and within four years of that ceased to exist.
Gresham Harkless 15:23
Right.
Jack Gibson 15:23
Like, how is that even possible? That you could, that could even be fathomable.
Jeff Schechter 15:28
Right.
Jack Gibson 15:29
And never before in history was that ever possible that that could happen that quickly. You know, usually it takes a period of a hundred years for a company like that to, you know, be disrupted and go out of business. And even then they have opportunities to pivot and change and grow. So. 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.
Jeff Schechter 16:02
Will always need a place to live.
Jack Gibson 16:03
Roof over their heads. That's never going to change. So by investing into real estate, the way Shecky and I looked at it is, look, 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 very going to be very difficult to disrupt. So I encourage everybody to look at, whether it's with us or whoever that may be, that preferred trusted provider.
Jeff Schechter 16:26
Our company is called High Return Real Estate. It's 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's contact forms on the website and we're very easy to find.
Gresham Harkless 16:42
Perfect. So we'll also have the link and 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.