Real Estate Success Story: Guest Randall Townsel Shares His Story on the Be Helpful Podcast

Randall was drawn to entrepreneurship from a young age, attracted to the idea of making his own schedule. At university, Randall pursued a professional football career, but had to pivot after experiencing a near death experience where he was caught in a drive-by shooting. After that Randall’s mindset shifted and he became more in love with life than ever before. His motivation comes from that mindset shift and the desire to not waste any of the time he has been given.

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FULL VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

INTERVIEW WITH RANDALL TOWNSEL

0:01

all right so today I've got Randall Town cell uh he's a vet of the construction

0:09

and real estate development business completing over 750 projects a

0:14

multi-million dollar projects in not only residential but also commercial um glad to also be a fellow chicagoan on

0:22

the podcast uh Randall how's it going man it's going great how about yourself how

0:27

you doing I'm good man this is good it's the the little man ran ran all over me

0:32

just now so I had to change sweatshirts and know me here had a term for that he said it's your

0:40

turn like he went through it so when I said that stuff he was like yeah it's your turn now

0:47

oh man I love it man um so I you know I'm excited to have you

0:52

on the podcast I think to get things started uh first let's kick off with

0:57

what did you want to be when you were growing up great question well first of all I'm excited to beat you I appreciate

1:04

you having me when I was growing up first of all I grew up in um on the south side of Chicago

1:11

um just from a location standpoint a 95th Street the end of the line referencing

1:17

the L station um and so um my my father and mother divorced when

1:25

I was five so just kind of I was in a single parent household with an older

1:30

brother who was seven years older than me so he kind of was gone to college as

1:36

I was growing up and and becoming a teenager I say all that to say that um

1:43

when I when I I did not know what I wanted to do um I knew that I I was a football player

1:49

I was a really good football player I was a Collegiate football player and I had aspirations of of doing all of

1:57

that which I accomplished and I say not as a as a youngster I wanted to be a professional football player and then as

2:03

I started to grow and and get around and go to high school

2:09

and then finally college and then you realize that you know there's more to it

2:16

than that sport um the one thing I remember it of defining

2:23

what I wanted to be and more than what I wanted to be is what I wanted to do I

2:28

wanted to have freedom and I remember when I was 18 and I had to write a paper

2:35

um for English class and the question was you know how did you see yourself and I kind of wanted to have this

2:43

lifestyle where I was in control and you know I control my schedule

2:50

um and that it was almost as if I could have a

2:57

a retirement lifestyle at a younger age meaning I I didn't this was my

3:03

perception at the time right I didn't know how much work was involved yeah I could go and get workouts and you know I

3:09

can travel and you know just hang out and it'd be really cool and and make money and so I

3:16

remember writing that paper I didn't know exactly what it meant so I didn't really have a specific like you know

3:24

thing that I wanted to be I didn't know if I wanted to be a business person there weren't many business people in my

3:30

neighborhood to you know look look and see oh he's a business guy right and you

3:36

know there weren't you know there there were people that I knew who were perhaps was a plumber or you know worked for CTA

3:43

a school teacher right um oh nothing wrong with all those those

3:48

are great careers but I I did I can't put my hand on one entrepreneur

3:55

um that I knew growing up and so there was not a definitive router plan but but

4:02

once I got to college I just knew the type of lifestyle that I wanted

4:08

and um kind of went from there so roundabout answer to say that I didn't

4:13

really know yeah no but but I think that that's I think it's

4:19

for for me growing up I always wanted to be a basketball player

4:24

um until I retired at the ripe age of 17. um I I always knew that I would be a

4:30

businessman I I my parents were in business so I always knew that business was in my future but I always my thing

4:38

was basketball and so um I at times kind of looked back and

4:44

and wonder what if I had kind of explored interests

4:49

rather than being so kind of single singly focused on I'm gonna go into business I I'm just going to be a

4:56

businessman and having this image of what kind of businessmen do um so no I think it's cool I think that

5:02

that's I think that that's the better way to do it to be honest with you

5:07

um to kind of explore your interests I will share something with you and I'm not trying to Sidetrack the show but

5:14

this is something I'm not sure if you know or not so um I played football at Northern

5:20

Illinois University I was a standout player I did very well I was one of my

5:26

team's top professional prospects as a senior I did Pro days for teams

5:34

um I was not drafted um that year and

5:40

um are you familiar with the CFL Canadian Football League yeah so I I my rights

5:46

were picked up by a CFL team I did have an agent going through all of this so I

5:53

was pretty close to what that childhood dream was and then um

5:58

during that time I was caught in a drive-by shooting and I was shot and it hit me here in my

6:06

face and lodged against my main artery and eardrum and to this day I have nine Staples there and you know this scar I

6:13

don't know if you can see it there oh man yeah 36 Stitch marks and another eight right here

6:19

and so that kind of ended everything at 22 years old and um and any aspiration

6:25

to go play in Canada and come back you know and get an NFL shot or whatever so

6:33

um so I I guess in in essence I did come close to what my goals were

6:40

um my high school was full of very highly competitive football players

6:46

um Percy Julian High School in the 80s where in third 12 years our coach sent probably 70 to 75 kids division one and

6:55

we had eight NFL guys oh wow so um so it wasn't a far stretch yeah Green

7:01

you know um so but after that and we could talk about it later I can go into it now that

7:08

I started in Corporate America but with I went to do my interview with stitches literally still in me from the from the

7:16

um gunshot one so um wow so yeah so that's my quick quick story side note of

7:23

uh of that situation no I I appreciate you sharing that and I I'm I'm amazed

7:30

um I did not know that but I think what's what I'm curious about is

7:36

how did you pivot right like you you had you were all in you were so close like

7:42

you were at the Finish you were at the one yard line pun intended and this terrible thing happens and now

7:50

you've got to make a pivot like how how did you first what did you pivot into and then

7:55

two how did you kind of manage that emotionally I'm very curious

8:01

so great questions so my coach uh Infamous Jerry Petty bone who was

8:07

formerly at Texas A M in Oklahoma he came and took over Northern Illinois and after that went to Oregon State

8:15

um he gave me an opportunity as a in between Junior and Senior year myself

8:20

and our quarterback Marshall Taylor he asked if we were interested in interning at IBM

8:26

um great best thing I I did you know at that time and had a great summer

8:33

interning with them got exposed to the corporate world um to what it's like to work daily there

8:40

and worked for marketing Division and Oprah um for a gentleman who who got I got to

8:48

meet named Bob Blackwell and so

8:54

that was my exposure prior to the incident so as soon as that incident occurred and

9:03

I was not able to play professionally anymore

9:08

um the next thing for me was to call Mr Blackwell and say

9:15

hey you guys have any openings got any jobs and

9:22

um and he said sure come in and we'll interview you and and put you through the process excuse me and so um so I did

9:29

that and um and literally sat in there I'm not joking like a week week and a

9:35

half after my surgery so and which my face was still swollen

9:42

um which kind of that was pretty good for a 22 year old um I I would say that

9:48

I was pretty confident and um and resilient

9:53

um and uh coming from you know where I come from as well as playing football and and just all of that what comes with

10:02

you know a lot of things look appear to be bad as you're going through them but coming from a household a you know

10:09

divorce household and kind of growing up thinking I'm The Man in the house at early age and and all of this happening

10:17

kind of prepares you for that uh so that you can continue to move forward so I pivoted by immediately just jumping

10:25

right back in the race and getting involved in that um opportunity to to work for IBM

10:32

um and actually did very well and their their process and and got the job and um

10:40

so that's how I pivoted that's awesome man so so

10:46

um my mind's going with so many other questions but I I still kind of want to

10:51

hit some of the the topics that I had prepared or the questions I had prepared um but entering the corporate world

11:00

at what point did you kind of remember or go back to that feeling as a kid that

11:07

you were like I want a little bit of freedom I want a little bit more control of my time like how deep into the

11:14

corporate world did did you get before those feelings started kind of rumbling in your stomach

11:20

so a couple of things were going on um as I started with IBM like literally

11:27

two days after I graduated so I you know I actually went extra semester so so I

11:34

got shot that summer and then I had one more semester I had one class to take so I graduated in December

11:40

graduation was on a Saturday and I started work on Monday and

11:45

um and so I went into that I had a cousin I have a

11:54

cousin and she was extremely instrumental to me she she did two things for me one was she gave me a book

12:02

the one side was how to buy real estate and the other side was how to sell real

12:08

estate okay it may have been how to buy a house and how to sell a house yeah and

12:14

it was and I remember reading I I read that book maybe in a day I was just

12:19

infatuated right yeah and then she said hey you know I have an opportunity for

12:25

you I'm on the board of directors for a community organization and we now know

12:31

it as Bronzeville at the time it was not called Brian's Bill the different

12:37

neighborhoods you know it's Grand Boulevard um and and so that's sort of what it was

12:43

referred to and um that was with Akhenaten Akhenaten

12:49

um was a subsidiary of Sinners for New Horizons which is a not-for-profit in the area Akhenaten was the development

12:56

arm um after the the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten who who was I'm sorry

13:02

architect he was an architect not sure if he was a pharaoh he definitely was an architect um I could

13:07

not and so I I she got me on the board so I was part of this Community Development I

13:13

was on the board at the board level and I got a chance to interact with the executive director and and kind of see

13:21

what they were working on what projects Etc and at the same time and I said she said she did two things for me is actually

13:28

three and probably a lot more than that third thing was she said yeah you buy a house and you do that now so I bought my

13:34

first place at 23 years old so I'm at IBM I'm on the board of directors of a

13:40

community development company I bought a condo across from Jacksonville from

13:46

South Shore Country Club golf course and and and then I read this book

13:52

and so I had that background while I was at IBM in addition to that looking back

14:00

I haven't gone back over these memories it's like I'm doing I love it I love it but going back

14:07

now I look at it I also I had a friend with a car dealership license so while I

14:14

was at IBM I would literally take people to the auction

14:20

get them a good deal in a car and you know I learned how to you know Mark up I made a business out of it so

14:26

you know I'm getting you a good deal this you know my first car was a 300 ZX

14:32

gray T-top I think I got it for eight thousand dollars out there was like

14:38

really affordable and then um I you know I got my my wife's car she had a BMW you

14:45

know I remember candy apple red 325 IX and so we were getting these cars but so

14:52

I would put a markup on it and then I even put it behind my condo there was a parking um lot so I I paid guys to watch

15:00

the cars back there some of my clients could come pick them up after I bring it from the auction I can call you know I

15:06

had financing options I'm doing this while I was at IBM you know and so I

15:13

guess that was kind of the start of my entrepreneurial deal well that's not

15:18

true that's the start of the post College going back so I guess this has been in

15:23

me going back to college I took my scholarship check they hopefully they

15:28

can't do anything to me saying this now which you're supposed to pay your entire

15:34

um semester of tuition do you live off campus so if you're in a dorm they just pay it for you when we are off campus

15:41

they give you a check I pay one month's rent took the remainder of the check

15:47

and bought water purifiers from NSA and I say it was a company so water

15:52

purifiers and I sold water purifiers after practice in between classes I made like five thousand dollars in one month

16:00

when I was in school and so so fast forward back that's what I was

16:06

doing while I was at IBM I then got to a point in IBM I you know

16:12

I love to excel I'm extremely competitive when it's I went through training the first year and then they gave me an

16:18

account that account was Blue Cross Blue Shield and I had every Blue Cross Blue Shield plan that's what they call them

16:25

the different locations were called plans in the country I think there were 72 and they had a headquarter which

16:31

really wasn't a headquarters coffee Association but the association had influence over all of the other plans

16:39

not could tell them what to do but they were significant influence and I had a 10 million dollar let's say

16:46

quota I sold personal computers okay and so I had a customer tell me I'm sorry if

16:53

I'm getting long win to tell you be quiet go for it I see it now this is how I this is really how I started to my own

16:59

I had a customer at Blue Cross Blue Shield Chicago and he said random

17:04

it was a a startup company called Dale that was coming up you may be familiar with and they were just coming out

17:10

and and then it was compact and they were giving us just hell because they

17:16

were cheaper and we were like we were better quality he said it doesn't matter if you better quality I could buy three

17:21

of those right and I'm still out at your price so price was important to him so I

17:28

I did a lot I I put this guy on a private jet that I secured

17:35

um IBM jet flew him the Boca Raton Florida where we made and designed our personal computers at the time and and

17:43

got them all fired up and he said I get it but it's still too much money so I

17:49

called a dealer the dealer Channel buys wholesale for my IBM and so I

17:56

thought I was like how much did you I had a dealer that we we had in our work with our office and I said Scott and how

18:03

much you get them for he's like oh man we get like 50 off or whatever like really

18:09

it hit me I made Blue Cross Blue Shield a dealer

18:14

this is a 20-some-year-old kid I made Blue Cross Blue Shield a dealer so then

18:21

I I got through the pricing I sold 20 million dollars worth of computers yeah

18:27

I made Golden Circle you know with all the sales thing Hotel Fountain Blue

18:32

Hotel so we get time for bonuses and they announced me on stage and they said

18:38

Randall Town said great job told the story everything I did you know what my bonus check was

18:45

go ahead fifteen hundred dollars [Laughter]

18:53

quickly learn that's wild I quickly learned that yeah even though I made

19:01

tens of millions of dollars for the company that

19:06

that was pretty much what that value was to me right right Within

19:14

I stayed at IBM four years so within another year and a half

19:19

I was out and I left to go learn real estate development at the not-for-profit

19:26

in which I was on the board of directors I from um four I resigned from the board and went to work for them full time

19:34

um to learn it yeah and that's sort of how I got my start I I love I love the story

19:42

for a number of reasons I I love the fact that

19:48

there was just this hustler in you you know I mean like you like you saw opportunities and more importantly you

19:54

saw ways to fix problems and you were like all right cool this is how I'm gonna fix this problem and this is how I

20:00

can kind of get get a piece of it um you know for me and I think that that's that's the nature of

20:07

entrepreneurs it's it's trying to align all the incentives how do you help someone here help someone there and then

20:13

also help yourself at the same time so I I love that and I love the realization of

20:19

I brought in how much money for the company and I only got fifteen hundred dollars like like fifteen hundred

20:26

dollars and and and the crazy thing about it is you know and not the bash

20:31

Corporate America because I you know lived it and thrived in it sure the

20:37

reality is they're owning all the risk

20:42

because if you had a terrible Year you still got your full salary I guess so I

20:48

get it like I like like I absolutely understand the game that they have to play

20:54

um but if you're a standout performer like like I 100 understand that moment

21:00

where you're just like I'm not getting all of the upside right like I'm not getting all the upside of

21:06

my hard work and my problem solving like what can I do on my own um so yeah so so one of the questions

21:13

like one of the the questions I asked every guest um and I think you've kind of answered it a little bit

21:19

um when you said that you went and got the job but while you're working you're kind of

21:25

getting some experience kind of learning real estate development and kind of learning that world what would you say

21:32

was the first step you took for your business so the first thing that we did so I told

21:41

you I owned the condo at 23. so then Within

21:47

two years at that point I was engaged

21:54

and my wife and I bought our first house

21:59

which needed a total gut renovation um in Bronzeville on 48th and

22:06

Forestville um with the basement of 5200 square foot

22:11

red brick home um that needed renovation

22:17

so that was going on and at the same time I started

22:25

my first construction company with with my cousin RC remodeling R Randall C

22:32

Quarry very very creative and um so yeah we we wanted to bring

22:39

professionalism to construction um but it also allowed me to

22:45

that along with my job at the time at Akhenaten started figuring out real fast how to

22:53

coordinate these phases of construction you know what's important what's the

22:58

critical task what comes first what doesn't and then the costs and and the budget

23:03

and I think it was crazy I think we bought this house

23:08

get this 35 000 lady was asking 65 35

23:14

000. I told her I I told her 30 and she told

23:20

me to go to hell older lady sweet lady stick go to hell and hung up on me and

23:26

my wife said we get the house I was like no no but I'm on my way to hell right now so

23:32

that's exactly what she told me to do and so um

23:37

so anyway she called back a week later and she said thirty thousand I said ma'am you got me right I mean I mean I

23:44

mean she said 35 I said I offered 30 35 000. you got me right let's do it and I

23:52

think our budget from the bank was 65 000 to renovate which obviously that's

23:57

not gonna do it so but but it got me it got me going on this first rehab which

24:03

ended up being beautiful um beautiful house I mean we had a parlor a living room a dining room a

24:09

library okay full gym my office was in the house when I said Jim I mean with mirrors on

24:16

the wall the same the same steel plates you have in East Bay right but I had

24:21

that the bench incline everything and we just went all out and it was a

24:28

great a great place but that sparked my admiration which would soon become

24:36

passionate and a very you know intense love for for construction

24:42

yeah no I I love that I love the fact that it's um

24:48

I love that it's super personal right like I love the fact that you had

24:54

this experience for yourself and you're just like yeah this is pretty cool I can do this some more because I feel like

25:01

um I want to ask you about this I feel like a lot of times especially nowadays you know the idea of finding a side

25:07

hustle starting a business is such a Hot Topic right and really what's motivating

25:13

everybody is Cash everybody wants money which obviously has its benefits but I I think

25:22

a lot of times when it lacks that passion um it kind of becomes a little bit

25:27

meaningless and you can't sustain and work through the chaotic kind of crap

25:34

you got to deal with to actually run a successful business and so kind of before I get into some of the kind of

25:40

tactical things about running your business I'm I'm curious because real estate is the Hot Topic it is the topic

25:48

of like you know you know you got to learn how to invest in real estate in order to build wealth

25:56

um what's one of the things that I that I I noted here was like how you know one

26:01

of the top videos on YouTube right now is how to invest in real estate with no money right so

26:07

I would love your perspective on kind of

26:13

how to enter the real estate world and also

26:19

how do you what's your view on the noise in the real estate world with a lot of

26:25

kind of like non-passionate potential amateurs entering into the space like what's your

26:31

philosophy on it as as you know you love it you love this kind of industry and

26:37

I'll go so far to say the art of it so great question

26:43

um I have to start when I when I started buying homes and selling them which

26:48

people quickly recall flipping you couldn't say the word flip flipping would would not allow you to

26:55

get a loan right that was a bad word um I went through a lot in in Bronzeville

27:02

in different areas just I was part of that group that appraisals just weren't

27:09

there we were literally if you're buying a place in Bronzeville which for example

27:14

on my block alone I purchased to

27:20

three four five six six houses

27:26

and uh 18 unit on the corner of the next

27:31

one on my block alone and

27:37

to get the cops I would have to send people to Hyde Park which is an adjacent

27:42

area which you yeah you know the cops weren't there everything was selling for so cheap so I

27:48

I quickly learned just how to get stuff done like it yeah

27:53

like I could have said oh you know the banks were saying well they're no comps so I really can't help you

28:00

well I said well no I mean they're cops I need to you know which you can't do

28:05

too much now I need the Appraiser's number I'll show him comes he's got to go over to you know Cornell you know

28:11

he's got to go to Hyde Park you can't get cops here because everything's being developed so you're buying it cheap but

28:17

it needs Renovations so we need you know after rehab arv you know we need after

28:23

renovation values after we have bags you get those in Hyde Park that's what you

28:28

do I talked them into it they started listening and they would go and allow me to get comps in certain situations

28:35

outside of that neighborhood to start allowing us to reap the benefits of an

28:42

adjacent areas values um so I did that I actually won the Good

28:48

Neighbor award which was a Chicago Association of Realtors award for a four

28:54

unit development that I did on the same block that I took the building which was

28:59

in Shabbos and renovated it and ran the rats out and made it very nice and

29:07

um so so we did we were awarded that and I was also awarded that quadrants called

29:12

the quadrant 10 um within the war and I won the quadrant 10 developer award and this was years

29:20

ago I sound like one of those movies where the oh the oh the OG is talking

29:25

right but I say that to say that I was literally trying to improve an

29:33

area right and so my objective surely

29:38

was money right I made I made money you know we were fortunate

29:43

um and so I was able to do that but I wanted to improve the passion was to

29:49

improve the area yeah now I did start investing in other areas also so I think

29:54

your question is how did you do it with no money so

30:00

we purchased um you know our house and then what I would

30:05

do is at the time they had a loan called the 203 there's a 203K steel it's an FHA

30:12

acquisition renovation loan it allows you to acquire the property and renovate the property yeah for

30:19

owners only for someone who's going to occupy it right yeah um and for at least

30:27

a year I think it is um and so they had a 203K investors

30:35

loan back then in the 90s so you could use it and it wasn't so the

30:42

commercial um you know if you went to a commercial lender and got a loan it was 20 down

30:49

that's what it is right or more right but this would allow you to do like 10 I think it was

30:56

and so when you're packaging these deals 10 it's kind of easy to come up with you

31:04

know if it was a hundred thousand dollar deal it was ten thousand dollars it was still that's some people don't have that

31:09

yeah but well part of this whole entrepreneurial thing is that doesn't

31:14

matter what you have you figure it out right it's easy to figure out 10 than it

31:21

is 20 right it's easy to figure out 20 than it is 40. it's easier to figure out

31:26

100 than it is 200. so so that's how we got started by using these different programs that were existing at the time

31:33

and their programs now and you just have to be creative if a person hasn't purchased their first home a good way to

31:40

start out would be to use that FHA loan which is three and a half percent down

31:46

payment you can also have the seller gift you I'm sorry you have relatives

31:52

give to you that down payment so it's three and a half percent let's just say a hundred thousand dollar project right

31:59

thirty five hundred dollars oh I can get a gift from my mom or dad or from you

32:06

know my aunt Doris right and that's legal that's what the program could do

32:12

and so I technically don't have to even come to the table with that with those funds I could also have the seller

32:20

um for you know pay the closing costs so at the end of the day

32:25

for a hundred thousand dollar property you're coming out with a few thousand dollars right now the closing costs and

32:31

everything you know it goes up a little bit but we're still talking about a few thousand dollars even if we doubled that

32:38

to a two hundred thousand dollar property you're still only talking about maybe four or five thousand dollars and

32:45

again some people say well I don't even have that well you get on the phone

32:50

and you call every Aunt cousin uncle and

32:55

friend and you don't worry about the nose right you just say I'm gonna call 100 people I'm called 50 people

33:00

somebody's gonna believe in me and give it and you and you create a situation where they buy into it but nevertheless

33:07

now you have your first home and your property and since you got it as an owner occupied place you got you were

33:14

able to get in at that lower down payment or cash infused right and if you do it right you can get it

33:22

renovated also I mentioned now they have the 203k which is an FHA loan with the

33:27

renovation side so now all you have to do is stay in this place for a year

33:33

and you can sell you can't flip it you can't sell it in less than a year right but you can then sell it so people say

33:40

well I don't want to hold it for a year well yeah get it too flat right get something where someone else is playing

33:46

your portion you know of the mortgage pretty much and then in two years you already got it

33:52

one tenant right you can sell it to a owner occupied person person wants to um

33:59

occupy it themselves or to an investor and that's a quick way without you

34:05

knowing you're going to ask me that you can get into the real estate game um and and then also if if your season

34:13

and how you get seasoned without buying it you can work with other people right you can you can you can work with people

34:21

as a group and you get a group of friends together and I actually know a group like this they it's four of them

34:28

and they put their money together so so so perhaps they can't do the owner

34:34

occupy situation but now they're splitting that because you can you can still get a conventional now and getting

34:41

a 10 versus 20 right when I was coming up it was 20 that's just what it was but

34:47

you can get 10 but now that's two and a half percent per person so it's breaking

34:54

up and yeah you're splitting everything but it's the real estate's a Long play so that's just your first acquisition

35:00

you get that up and running um and and then you have to figure out if what what are you gonna what game are

35:08

you gonna play do you want to play The Flip Game or do you want to play the long term hold the asset rental income game

35:17

right that you grow over time and I think there's spaces for both but I

35:23

really like the second one especially as a wiser um person right now yeah so so I'm

35:31

curious in before because we've had many conversations about the day-to-day life of an entrepreneur and I really want us

35:38

to to dive into that because I think we both have very impassioned by what it actually

35:44

takes yes but you are I but but I'm I'm I'm curious

35:52

for you being in the game for you know over two decades now and you kind of see

36:00

the influx you said do you think there's a lot of there's enough space for everyone what does that saturation look like to

36:08

you right like how are you dealing with kind of uh lost opportunities because

36:14

new they're just new people in the industry are you just having to look for more you know expensive

36:22

um opportunities or deals like what is that how does that impact you because I know a lot of people that are getting

36:28

into real estate that they they have no experience whatsoever

36:33

I'll be honest with you man I really never looking

36:39

competition like that if I want something I'm gonna do the dangum thing and it doesn't matter who I'm lining up

36:46

against it doesn't matter you know what the situation is and and if I pour my all

36:54

into a offer and I don't get it that one just wasn't for me it's a it's a number

37:00

of it's a lot more I think one of the first things is you have to be okay with

37:06

no people are not okay with being told no

37:11

no doesn't mean you're bad you're not qualified no means that one individual

37:20

of this world of how many billions trillions of people I'm not sure

37:26

we'll use that 10 sounds we're rounded up of 10 billion people right that one

37:33

person said no don't let that energy affect what you're doing there are thousands and thousands

37:40

of deals out there yeah right yeah and so if you really want something if

37:47

you're a salesperson if you are a school teacher trying to quiet down a class

37:53

whatever you are don't accept no don't worry about no that's nothing I know it's nothing and

38:01

no means you're on the right track you're getting closer so I don't worry about no I don't worry

38:08

about what this person wants but I'm gonna look at a deal and I'm gonna analyze that deal for what

38:14

it means to me right and if it's for me and I put an offer on where I want to go

38:21

with the deal and it doesn't happen I'm On To The Next Period there's a lot more out there and I just

38:28

keep you keep throwing at the wall Something's Gonna stick yeah right and so that that's it I mean

38:34

you can't get caught up with you know oh wow that that I really

38:40

wanted that my cousin the same cousin where now I think I'm with five things I

38:46

think I started off by saying two things she taught me I think I'm on five now she said Never Fall in Love

38:53

include peace pride your house rental anything

39:00

I don't love those houses you gotta work you got worried for a second you gotta worry no okay for a

39:08

second I was like I was like oh I was like I'm gonna use that clip I I don't love these houses that is that is I

39:15

don't love these houses that's cool Marvel I'll tell you that I don't love these houses

39:21

I heard this quote I can't remember who it's by but

39:27

um I want to build the tallest building in the city and I'm going to do it by Building the

39:33

tallest building I'm not going to start tearing other buildings now I'm not looking at other people's buildings I'm

39:39

just going to build it and so that mentality of not being worried about

39:46

other incumbents or other players in the space like why that doesn't bother me that

39:52

doesn't affect me I'm just gonna keep doing what I know to do to execute and if it works it works if it doesn't

39:59

I learned a bunch of stuff that's going to help me with the next one so I I like that mentality of dealing with no

40:07

especially growing up in a household where

40:12

like we like I I tell you this my family we don't do well with rejection like we don't like rejection I mean like

40:19

that's just kind of how we we all are and it's just kind of the the it's the it's the mentality that I have I don't

40:27

want to hear no but I also have this part of me that like when I hear no I'm gonna analyze

40:33

why I didn't hear why I gotta know cause the next one's not going to be a no right like I'm right it's that kind

40:40

of mentality that you have to have even if you don't like it you got to find a way to work through it and and I think

40:47

that that is kind of a perfect segue into what I would describe as our day-to-day

40:54

conversations as what did you have to figure the out

40:59

today wow that's right and you mean literally today oh man like like every every day we like

41:09

when we see each other this is like how's it going things are going good just figuring things out like every day

41:14

I I would probably say the definition of an entrepreneur is just figuring it out

41:20

no matter what business it is what industry it is what are you figuring out so I'm I'm

41:28

I'm not gonna ask what you had to figure out today but um I am going to ask is

41:33

how do you find the energy every day to figure something new out

41:40

great question tell a quick story yeah I had um

41:47

there's a gentleman named William Farley I love Bill Farley he was a former CEO

41:55

of fruit and Loom the underwear company um a a gentleman once thought of as

42:03

presidential material has an estate in Maine next to the bush

42:08

estate I met him at principal for a day

42:14

principal for a day in Chicago I don't know if they still have that is when they take local businessmen and and just

42:22

entrepreneurs I'm sorry um people who you know were professionals and you can go and be

42:29

principal of a school for a day and they do that so that Chicago public school students can can see success right

42:35

awesome and so I had my principal for a day the same day as Bill Farley and we

42:42

we met talked and became friends within several months

42:49

he wrote a check for a million dollars to my company

42:54

to invest in several projects that we were doing in a couple of months

43:01

and he taught me something so we we would talk and we were we were

43:07

you know he sent me take me to the Bulls game and one of the lessons is you know

43:14

he had courtside seats and he said you know how'd you like the game I said it's great he said you've

43:20

been the Bulls game before I said yeah he said have you ever been you know Courtside I mean Courtside like not not

43:26

a row up I mean like right on the court right like dude just his sweat got on me right yeah

43:32

and so he said have you ever been to a game before I said yeah he said well what's the

43:38

closest you've been I said you know I probably you know I don't know the second tier or something maybe the top

43:44

of the first whatever I don't know I was you know close to approaching 30 years old at the

43:50

time 30 32 something I can't remember he said it's the same game but it's

43:57

different views he said it's the same game like it's the

44:04

only it's only one game right but it's different views

44:09

he said I wanted to expose you to this View

44:16

he said also I know you he said you sometimes on

44:21

payroll it gets tough right yeah man you know at the time I said man yeah I gotta

44:27

figure out a you know twenty thousand dollar payroll he said I get like that

44:32

too and mine's a half million you know or mine's two million whatever

44:38

it was right yeah and he's saying it it it doesn't change it's the same game

44:45

it's just different views right so in in answering your question right

44:55

those innately affected me and in my mindset

45:02

right because that was firsthand I'm I'm looking at right and not to mention his house he

45:09

invited me to on purpose with the elevator goes to his floor and opens up only his floor and

45:16

this is the only block that goes east and west on Lake

45:21

Shore Drive Randall and you can see the lake and he was wonderful yeah and what

45:26

that guy was just saying is that man it's a game is how you view it it's going to make a

45:33

difference so how do I get the energy

45:38

man I am so fired up about life first of all because of my experience that I

45:44

shared with you that happened to me when being shot I love I love life I love oxygen yeah I

45:52

was asked you know my wife asked me what do you think about what motivates

45:59

you to wake up and she got upset with me because my answer was hair

46:05

fantastic yeah well no I mean what gold oxygen

46:11

yeah I love oxygen because if you have never almost died before then you wouldn't

46:18

understand what I'm saying make but for me I love oxygen now that I'm up

46:24

everything else is fair game I have a ton of energy

46:29

yeah because I'm a competitor like you said I'm gonna build my tallest building

46:35

yeah I'm not worried about whatever everybody else is doing I gotta build my tallest building I have a finite amount

46:43

of time and by the way I don't know when that time's up so when I lay in bed

46:50

and it's time to get up and it's 4 15 or 4 30 in the morning and I'm like man

46:57

maybe I could just doze back off I used to do that but for now man I'm running a two-minute offense I gotta get up I

47:04

gotta get out and get something to you are you too young to know what that came no I'm not they know that I'm so proud

47:11

of your hip-hop knowledge and history but that's how I feel and well yeah I

47:18

mean it's it's a passion I love getting up getting my thoughts together getting

47:25

my affirmations done getting my mind set on the day and this is when it's

47:30

storming outside and I don't literally mean storming like literally raining in Chicago this is when everything can be

47:39

perceived to not be going good that day you didn't pick up a a payment didn't

47:44

pay out a customer didn't pay you know you got payroll coming name it I've been

47:50

through I don't care we're gonna put this energy here and I guarantee you I'm gonna figure it out

47:57

and that's the energy and mentality you said how do I have that

48:04

that's just what I want that's just who I am yeah yeah and I think what helps with that is learning that your mindset

48:12

is everything is everything the the most confident person in the

48:18

world if they lose their confidence they're a different person you watch football the Miami Dolphins

48:26

quarterback two did you hear about what happened and he was wasn't playing like a double like

48:33

two concussions like back to back earlier this year he sure did but prior

48:38

to this year everyone was counting him out he was a first round draft pick get rid of um new coach comes in the new

48:46

coach put together a 700 clip highlight film for him

48:52

and showed it to him and it was all of the things that he did

48:57

good and he said I believe in I need you to believe in yourself

49:06

Tua was telling people in the off season prior to that maybe I don't maybe I I don't deserve to

49:13

be in the NFL yeah maybe it's it's just better than I thought and I can't compete

49:19

yeah and this man comes in and now he's an MVP candidate this is the same motor

49:25

skills and mechanics yeah but his confidence his mindset changed

49:32

right yeah and so that's what it is every day for me I love it I love it so much so so one of

49:40

the one of the things that originally got us talking especially about our our our respective

49:47

kind of businesses was being an entrepreneur and being a dad

49:54

and you know you know my situation I got a 10 month old and I'm the crazy guy

50:00

that quit his job right after having a kid and uh you you said you'll be fine I

50:07

did too you'll be fine you'll figure it out and um you're right it's it's grueling it's

50:14

brutal it's painful but you figure it out and I think like like you said it is it really is about mindset like I know

50:22

for me personally in the first couple months I was just like how do I try to be a good dad how do I

50:28

try to be a good husband how do I try to get this business off the ground like I don't have enough energy

50:35

but somehow I'm putting one foot in front of the other

50:40

um and am I am I going as fast as I want to go no but I'm still making progress

50:47

and so I'm curious about your perspective on

50:53

the concept of time and patience and because My Generation we want to go fast right

51:02

we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're we're living that uh Ricky Bobby Talladega night's life I just want

51:07

to go fast nothing wrong with fast but but I'm but I'm curious about your perspective given

51:16

given your experience how did you kind of

51:22

deal with time because I also have a feeling that you have that impatience like I want to go I want to get it I

51:29

want to get it like how kind of as as as as an OG for me tell me a little bit of

51:35

how like my mindset should be thinking about time so first of all I have a

51:43

276 month old and a 240 month old

51:49

so that that would be 23 and 20 right and and um

51:56

when they were younger I didn't miss anything

52:02

practices teacher conferences drop-offs pickups

52:09

AAU tournaments volleyball tournaments you know

52:15

piano you name it science projects yeah we yes

52:21

I I was I did the science projects

52:26

no that's my wife's gonna do the science projects I don't I'm not I'll do the math

52:32

that's right but so here's the deal

52:41

I had a lovely time with the kids and I'm glad I wouldn't change anything

52:47

because I think I put

52:53

the most time into my kids and family

52:58

um doesn't mean I didn't spend a lot of time on business I did right

53:05

um I think it it can have the potential

53:11

to you know to to kind of change your mind and and make you think a little more and

53:19

plan and it'd be a little more cautious right because outside if it's just you

53:25

yeah but here's the deal there's a way around that and the way around is like this you live

53:31

one time right and there's 24 hours in a day

53:39

and so what I would do if I were doing this right now today

53:47

is I recognize that I get up before everybody so I can have my time

53:53

I get my workouts done or whatever it is you like to do that person think whatever to to walk to eat to

54:02

to just you know have affirmation time to meditate whatever their thing is

54:08

right and now you've had your time because what happens is you get frustrated

54:16

of dealing with the kids yeah the spouse and that's either way right if you're a

54:22

male or female and and then and then the business and you're like man I didn't

54:28

accomplish anything I wasn't productive you know set your goals set your annual

54:33

goals turn those to monthly goals turn those to weekly goals turn those to

54:38

daily goals and that would be business personal development you know personal you know

54:46

family and said it like that and stay on it and just do you know if you get one

54:52

percent better a day at the end of the year 365 percent better yeah

54:58

shoot if you get a half a percent right quick math what's that 182 and a half

55:04

something think that I think I think I got it I think you did 182. so so if if if you just try to stay on task

55:14

and when you come off and get off of the track just get back on again the same thing we talked about

55:22

people not liking to hear no it's the same mentality you have to have when something doesn't go as you plan

55:28

right and some of us don't like that we want to talk about the spilled milk I like the next play mentality yeah I was

55:36

a cornerback I can't worry about getting beat I can't worry about making a good play because another play is

55:42

coming at me if I'm if I'm Steph Curry I can't worry about the three I just hit

55:48

from 30 feet because my team needs me to hit 10 more right and so that's the next play

55:55

mentality so get back on track stay focused set your goals and stick to them

56:01

and you and it takes Focus to be an entrepreneur and your focus is your

56:07

family your business and it has to be yourself you have to take care of

56:13

yourself without a strong mom or dad whoever you are and your role in the

56:18

family you have to be able to feel great you have to in order to

56:25

spread that good energy you have to feel good about yourself so don't say man

56:30

it's just not enough hours in a day yes it is get up early yeah get your butt up get up now you now

56:38

you got hours by yourself your phone's not ringing right stay up a little later

56:44

it's only for a short period of time before you know it these guys are teenagers and getting old it goes quick

56:51

so so get a good set of goals measure those goals bring your annual

56:58

down to monthly down the weekly down The Daily stay on task if you get off task

57:03

get back on it and within those goals is spouse time is baby time it's your time

57:11

and if you need to make adjustments make adjustments call the 20 second timeout

57:17

make the adjustment and start the next day with something

57:23

new but don't cry don't whine about what's wrong nobody cares nobody's gonna

57:29

help you the armed guards not gonna come out for you nobody gives a damn you fix

57:36

it that's my advice I I love the advice and and it's very

57:43

much in line with what I'm trying to do um yeah like I've someone a wise person

57:50

once said we um we overestimate what we can accomplish

57:56

in one year but we underestimate what we can accomplish in 10 years

58:01

and I've tried to take that mentality of okay I know I want to go fast this is

58:08

the version of if I spend a hundred percent of my time doing this let's reel

58:13

this back I've gotta accomplish this I've got to do this you know I have these commitments

58:20

um I want to play this role in my family I want to play this role um with in my friend Circle whatever it

58:26

may be and you know start peeling back that onion

58:31

from uh okay this is what I want to accomplish in 10 years yeah I used to always say what does Tuesday 10 years

58:38

look like for me that was kind of how I managed my career and work my way background backwards and so I'm trying

58:44

to do that myself now with the business okay whether I want 10 years to look like peel it back what do I want a year look

58:51

like what do I want January to look like and just kind of work Way backwards but

58:56

like you said you got to give yourself that Grace that if you if you miss a day it's okay just get back up make make

59:04

some adjustments um so yeah no that makes me feel good that I'm I'm on the right path you are definitely

59:10

on the right path man you I see you in there working and you know

59:16

you always added and you have the right perspective so it's it's gonna happen it's appreciate

59:25

it it's it's happening you're right it is happening matter of fact I'm gonna go and say it happened

59:32

amen I love that um so so before I get to to kind of some

59:38

of the kind of quick hitters or concluding questions um I'm curious because you you made some

59:45

analogies to sports and you know again I love basketball I

59:50

listen to basketball podcasts all the time and one of the reasons is because I

59:56

see the Sim that Sports and like business are the same to me like they're very very similar and you can always

1:00:03

find an analogy in sports that can be compared or likened to something you're

1:00:10

dealing with in business so I'm curious what role does your experience in sports

1:00:17

pursuing your goal of of being professional football player just kind of the learnings of sports how did that

1:00:25

translate into you being an entrepreneur I'm curious about your your perspective on that

1:00:31

is everything um I I love Athletics I love what it

1:00:37

teaches us and I don't care what level I'm not into the levels um I think if you play pop

1:00:43

warner or or Youth Soccer it still teaches these things like the discipline

1:00:50

the time management the sacrifice the selflessness

1:00:56

um you know the the listening to Authority

1:01:01

um the understanding the rules um but more than anything man just the

1:01:07

confidence that it just exudes right and and just

1:01:12

it just reeks and to be successful in sports and so I I love everything that

1:01:20

stands for and and yeah we you know you get smacked in the mouth right and

1:01:25

that's the part of football or basketball or hit by a ball in baseball

1:01:32

right every sport has that I remember Mike Tyson said everybody has

1:01:38

a game plan until they get hit in the mouth right and so

1:01:44

no I still got the same game plan man like I could take a punch you know and

1:01:50

it's I'm not out the only time you fail

1:01:56

is when you quit and I know people here that say man that's cliche no it's not cliche like

1:02:03

I'm not even smile it's not cliche because if the game's not over and you

1:02:08

down 30. right and you quit then you lose

1:02:14

but if that buzzer hadn't gone off and you can hit 31 more points than you know they hit or

1:02:22

whatever one more Point than they hit old you know to make that one a one point win over that next time those

1:02:30

minutes or whatever then you win right and in life

1:02:37

you can't freaking lose like they say I can't stand to hear these infomercials

1:02:44

and stories about 80 of businesses failed no they don't eighty percent of

1:02:50

the people I'm not gonna curse quit they quit

1:02:57

quit and they quit because they run out of money or they quit because it's too much

1:03:02

time or they quit because it's too hard or they quit because everybody says no but they quit

1:03:09

you say well how you gonna do business with no money you can get money

1:03:14

right you can figure it out if you got an idea and everything you can figure it

1:03:20

out but don't quit don't quit and so that's what sports

1:03:27

has taught me and I actually coached um I had the pleasure of coaching

1:03:33

AAU basketball but I had the pleasure of coaching High School football

1:03:38

um for years in Chicago I could see that I could see it it's starting starting

1:03:45

um a youth football team with one of my dear friends um who played 12 years in the NFL

1:03:50

and we started a youth football program where hundreds of kids went through there and

1:03:57

and I I coached at a small Catholic school and a number of kids you know went to to college to play I still keep

1:04:04

in touch with these guys my my assistant manager in my company is of actually my

1:04:11

former team manager hmm right so this is a lifelong commitment

1:04:19

for me it's not about the sport it's about the same things that we talked

1:04:24

about I used to always say every day you have two a choice to have a good attitude and get good effort nobody can

1:04:31

take that away you choose if you're unhappy that's on you you just want to be on that

1:04:38

because life's gonna bring adversity you need that good attitude and you need that effort adversity is going to come

1:04:45

how you going to deal with it right yeah and and you know you got to prove Mike

1:04:50

Tyson wrong that you could take a punch keep on going so yeah I love it man all

1:04:57

right well I wanna I wanna wrap with a couple kind of quick hitters if you want to elaborate and we can we can go but I

1:05:04

want to be respectful of your time um what are what are some books that you

1:05:09

recommend to other entrepreneurs hey I have

1:05:14

right but one of them I was late reading myself is the magic of thinking big

1:05:22

the magic of thinking big go get that book

1:05:27

but it's just about how to think we all think about starting small we want to do

1:05:34

this and you can't even fathom what it means to to do something larger it's the same

1:05:41

effort hmm it's the same effort

1:05:46

it is yeah and so that book is that's that's

1:05:52

my number one suggestion and I just I I try to do I've been doing for the last

1:05:58

two months like a book a week I do audible books though so yeah thank you

1:06:04

so I yeah I um I can't sit and read a book I gotta I gotta listen to it yeah

1:06:10

and then how successful people lead that's another one don't know I'm not

1:06:15

you know I haven't worked in the memory of all the authors but how successful we

1:06:21

can Google it and then I think the secret that was pretty good for me the

1:06:27

secret and the secret is about the law of attraction yeah and and I could tell you some I'll

1:06:34

tell you offline some stories I I I am so

1:06:39

like it's not even being sold that's just what it is there's energy this whole world is filled with energy

1:06:47

yeah and you attract where your energy is right and so

1:06:53

um so the secret so in summary magic is thinking big how successful

1:06:58

people lead in The Secret and then I'll throw in a bonus one up you can always can't go wrong with Rich Man Rich Dad

1:07:05

Poor Dad but I know a lot of people have heard of that probably heard the secret or maybe some of the others also but

1:07:10

those are my my quick four for the honest now notice I didn't even say like

1:07:17

the market analysis or how to buy real estate right because if your mindset's

1:07:23

not right if your understanding of what you want to accomplish is not right

1:07:30

then it's not going to happen yeah yeah I love it

1:07:36

um what questions should I ask the next guest

1:07:42

may I ask who do you know the next do you know what type of person or who the next guest is

1:07:49

um I do but philosophically I'm curious about kind of what you think would be a

1:07:55

a relevant question I'm also going to ask this question right back to you okay so

1:08:01

I got it I have a question okay all right and the the question that you

1:08:07

should ask the next guest is this you're comfortable now

1:08:14

everything's going well if you woke up in the morning

1:08:20

with nothing hmm you lost everything

1:08:28

nobody believes in you

1:08:33

what do you do

1:08:41

so what's your answer I gotta get up get out and get something

1:08:47

I love it I love it man I love it get up get out and get something I'm Gonna Make

1:08:54

It Happen drop me anywhere on the planet I'm gonna be good anywhere on the planet

1:09:01

anywhere on the planet yeah you know you know it's funny so when you

1:09:07

you ask a question my immediate thought was do I have my relationships yes or no

1:09:15

and then my second my second thought was I'm fine either way I just want to know

1:09:20

what resources I have because the number one resource I have are relationships that's right the relationships

1:09:27

put you know accelerate that's that's the accelerate if I have to start from scratch all right cool we rebuild

1:09:34

whatever it takes right whatever it takes if you were in the man you say one

1:09:39

question this is this is a quick question sure if you're in the middle of those

1:09:45

and the is in the ship you have a shipwreck and other passengers have have been either drowned or

1:09:52

eaten by sharks and you're the only person there it's

1:09:58

cold it's dark I mean you got two options

1:10:04

you can just let yourself go under and drown hey

1:10:11

nobody knows man you tap out you know go ahead right nobody everybody's gone all

1:10:18

right or you can start going into a direction kicking those

1:10:25

feet with a flow taste and something or without you and somebody's Direction

1:10:32

because you want to live which one is it I mean I'm gonna start swimming but I'm

1:10:38

also gonna be honest about the like I'm not Will Smith and I am Legend right like if if we're in the ocula you know

1:10:44

apocalyptic future and everything's gone uh I mean God it's been a good run

1:10:51

right [Laughter] but but if I'm if I if I'm stuck stuck at C and you know it's still 2023 and I

1:10:59

can get back to someone I'm gonna give it all I got to to get somewhere

1:11:04

um or die trying right I love I love it um

1:11:10

okay so so my last question um

1:11:16

what type of entrepreneur would you be most interested in hearing on the podcast

1:11:27

I would like to hear from someone who and don't get me wrong success is not

1:11:34

measured in in money solely right it could be measured in

1:11:40

um how many people you affected or or helped or assisted or if you're whatever

1:11:48

it is whatever your goal or your mission is right if if you're meeting that if you're exceeding it whatever that may be

1:11:57

a highly successful entrepreneur

1:12:04

um and after reading that book we're listening to the book The Magic of thinking be

1:12:11

it has me very interested in listening to highly successful

1:12:19

people right yeah um I have some you know

1:12:26

very close friends that I I consider highly successful then they're people

1:12:32

who consider me highly successful right so I get it it's levels to everything

1:12:37

right in our own minds that we make up but someone who could just

1:12:42

even enhance and peek and tweak my thinking no matter how long I'm around this Earth

1:12:49

I can't get tired of hearing success stories because you know what I

1:12:55

think we all know how they go they lose they lose they lose and they

1:13:03

lose but they never stop and then they get through or like her

1:13:09

Rick Ross say man it only takes one time what is it it's just one hit yeah to

1:13:18

change your yeah so I just like I it never gets old to me

1:13:24

and whether that be you know a coach uh a teacher

1:13:31

you know someone that wasn't supposed to make it and they made it

1:13:37

or or CEO of you know Elon Musk I'd like to hear

1:13:44

someone just Enlighten us all on

1:13:51

what helps them be who they are all right

1:13:57

I'm building a list man I'm building the list Randall this is incredible thank you so

1:14:03

much it's pouring rain out here in Chicago and I know I I didn't took you

1:14:08

took some time out of your evening so thank you so much um for listeners that want to reach out

1:14:14

to you how can folks find you well I have a couple of different options

1:14:19

um I'm not sure if we do we give out phone I do have an office number um but but so

1:14:27

my social media skills are not great but I do know we have square T LLC I think

1:14:34

my son started that interning for me on Instagram

1:14:39

um I'm on Facebook Randall Town cell and then um what's what's another one that's

1:14:45

um that should be on that are probably not but but tell you what if if they reach out to you

1:14:53

and you know that's probably the only question I wasn't as prepared for is

1:14:59

that I could give my number but I don't think that's you know that's not what I'm trying to do that um so but but I I

1:15:07

definitely be open to to talking to um listening to Opportunities or just there

1:15:15

to continue to assist someone with their thinking and their ability of themselves and their business so I'm

1:15:23

open for all of that so they can reach out to you or they can find me as I mentioned on Instagram or Facebook and

1:15:29

or LinkedIn also I'm on LinkedIn too so that's a good way

1:15:35

perfect well thank you man I appreciate it always all these sessions are uh these are all mentoring sessions so I

1:15:42

appreciate it I appreciate you a lot man and so I appreciate you having taking

1:15:48

the time and having me on sure awesome all right