Financial Freedom Fast
How to Buy Hotels w/ Matt Aitchinson
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Download my FREE E-Book on Scaling Through Partnerships NOW
CLICK HERE
Apply for mentorship with Matt and the FAST FI Coaching Community:
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Follow Matt online:
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And so I started keeping some rentals that ultimately led me into the commercial arena, which was buying my first strip center and buying medical plazas, getting more into syndications and private equity, and about six years ago I found my way into my very first hotel, led to my second, led to my third hotel purchase and I recently had an exit on all three of those hotels.
Speaker 2:I would like to buy a small hotel, 10, 20 unit hotel. What are the steps?
Speaker 3:Welcome to the Financial Freedom Fast Podcast, the show that teaches you how to buy back your time and live life on your terms. Learn how to confidently leave your nine to five from guests who've done it themselves. Whether you wanna lay on a beach, travel the world or focus on your passions, this show will give you the tools to do what you want when you want. Now here's your host, matt Emile.
Speaker 2:What is up? Financial Freedom Fast Fan Matt Aitson's been coming on today. He literally bought three hotels, sold out three hotels within the last three years. Guy is a killer. He is doing his thing $500,000 a year in passive income complete beef. He shows you in this episode, tells you should I say actually how he would go about buying a boutique hotel if he was in your shoes and he was just starting out. What are the tools and tips and tricks that he would bring to the table and he would use to go and buy a boutique hotel, which he has done again three times.
Speaker 2:He's a killer real estate investor. He's creating distilleries and building a whole new investment company that can invest in alcohol. He has done a little bit of everything, so excited for you to dive in there. Guys, if you want to meet people like this, what you should do is reach out to them after I have them on the podcast. Just reach out, say hi, say hey. What you're doing is awesome. Would love to have a conversation with you or get to know you sometime and maybe you could get some time booked with these guys. It's truly life-changing and, guys, if you wanna talk with me, I have a mentorship program, so be sure to click the link that is in the show notes if you want to try and schedule a conversation with me and see if you might be a fit for what I'm doing over here.
Speaker 2:So, without further ado, let's jump into the pod, matt Acheson. Welcome to the Financial Freedom Fast Podcast, brother. What is going on man? What it do, how we doing Dude. So excited I'm doing great man, really excited to dive in today with you because you're doing some really big, creative and awesome stuff for our listeners. You know what, instead of me diving through everything, because it would take me probably about 30 minutes for me to introduce who you are with all of your accolades why don't you give the listeners a brief summary of who you are and what you do today?
Speaker 1:I am, like probably most people who live and breathe your content, which is somebody that's always looking to level up and challenge myself, unlock more freedom or impact and have a lot of fun while I'm doing it. But obviously everybody's journey isn't always the snapshot of what most people see on the success summit. Right, it's a lot of failing forward moments. I had some sort of a turbulent start. I got expelled from high school. I got arrested in college and had a what was my oh shit moment of what do I wanna do with my life and ultimately, course correcting. Always knew I wanted to be somebody that was successful. I was wanting to have that kind of sexy lifestyle, have no ceiling on what I could achieve, what I could do when I could do it. But a lot of my audio and what I told myself and what I told other people was not aligned with my video and the actions and how I was living my life and that ultimately, that misalignment led me to getting in trouble and I was living as a fraud to myself and other people and it really wasn't. Until I got real and honest with myself, I humbled myself, I checked my ego at the door and really realigned with my core values and who I was, what I said I was and what I really wanted to be. And that's when the real work begin and that led me to finding my very first entrepreneurial mentor.
Speaker 1:When I was in college. I was going to school at UCC in Barbara and after that moment, where I was facing some real prison time, I got a second chance, a pre golden chance and opportunity, not only to not face criminal charges, but to have an entrepreneur coach and mentor and really expose me to the opportunities that entrepreneurship unlocks for so many people. And when I graduated college after working for him for three years, I knew that I didn't want to work for him. He wanted me to take over his business and I ended up moving back to Sacramento, which is where I'm from, northern California and I had stumbled across this was back in 2010, a Craigslist ad that said real estate mentor seeks real estate mentee. Long story short, I ended up working for a guy for about a year for free and he was flipping a lot of houses back then and I saw all the work that I was doing and I saw the 50, 60, 70, sometimes $100,000 checks that this dude was cashing and ultimately, I was the one doing all the work and I was like man, I think I could probably figure this thing out, but at that time I was living at home, I was broke, I didn't have any money right. That same starter success story that many people can probably relate to in some context or capacity to their own situation and that led me to finding my very first flip, which was the acclaimed cat lady house in the neighborhood that I found this opportunity in, and it had over a hundred straight cats in it. I found two dead raccoons underneath trash and all the hoarding that she had. It was literally the cat lady house, but I made $100,000, $106,000 net on that first one and I really never looked back.
Speaker 1:I started flipping houses. Then I started going okay, I need to start finding ways to not only create income checks for trading time for money, but what about getting that mailbox money? And so I started keeping some rentals and then I started moving up into duplexes and fourplexes. That ultimately led me into the commercial arena, which was buying my first strip center and buying medical plazas, getting more into syndications and private equity, and about six years ago I found my way into my very first hotel, led to my second, led to my third hotel purchase and I recently had an exit on all three of those hotels after thinking I was gonna go bankrupt in 2020.
Speaker 1:When COVID hit, I by the grace of God and ultimately write some luck. Just being in the game saw my hotel business go bananas and values doubled and tripled and cash flow went crazy. And so I got lucky by being in that space and I was able to exit and have invested in some different businesses, different opportunities along the way, which is ultimately where you see me now playing in the hospitality space, which is really my passion. If you would have told me when I first got into real estate that I'd be owning hotels and playing in this hospitality world, I would have told you you were crazy. But that's the beauty of right pursuing your goals and your dreams and ultimately just being open to the opportunities and the path that may get uncovered along the way through entrepreneurship, and that's why I love entrepreneurship in general.
Speaker 1:It is not for the faint of heart, it is extremely hard, it's very challenging, but it's, hands down, been the greatest self-discovery journey in really adventure that has created so much fulfillment. Yes, financial abundance. Yes, freedom. Obviously a lot of other things right Stress, challenges, growing pains, but I'm very grateful for where I'm at. I'm very excited and optimistic for where I'm going.
Speaker 1:And one thing that I would just tell people when they ask what is your secret to success? I wish I had a better answer for that. I've never been the fastest, smartest or strongest. There's just one thing that I believe in, and I truly unwaveringly believe in this mantra, which is my mantra of I'm just dumb enough to believe in myself every day when I wake up and I'm smart enough to take action every day until I go to sleep, and those are the ideologies and daily practices that have ultimately made me what I believe to be somewhat of a lucky person. But, at the same time, you never know what kind of opportunities are gonna get unlocked by just showing up and working your butt off every day. That's something that I think any single one of us that wants to achieve success can subscribe to it.
Speaker 2:Dude, I am jacked up. Man Bro, that was. It's almost like you've told this summary of what you've done with yourself before. Man, that is pretty fantastic. There is so much to unpack there, and I heard the word luck pop up a lot throughout what you were saying there. But it's almost because, crazily, you were putting yourself, taking actions that put you in the place to take advantage of opportunities that you could see. And it's almost like the harder you work, the more opportunities and places and actions you took and places you put yourself in, the more opportunities came and the luckier that you got. And now a lot of this didn't seem to start happening and opening up to you until you mentioned at the beginning of your story you left your ego at the door. So I wanna unpack that a little bit. What does that mean to you and to our listeners? To leave your ego at the door and like, what is the ego? How can we notice it within ourselves and leave it back? Leave it behind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think there's.
Speaker 1:We all most successful people that I know have some level of ego, and oftentimes I think there is a healthy dose of ego, which oftentimes can show up in the form of confidence versus cockiness and just your ability to achieve what it is that you believe you are capable of achieving. But then there's also right, that unhealthy line that gets crossed right when ego ultimately restricts our ability to play nice with others, be a good leader, right To be open-minded, to knowin' that you don't know it all, and for me, I think what really the number one thing was I think we all know when we're out of alignment with ourselves, with our integrity, with our values, and when we are aligned, because oftentimes the former is a lot of friction and a lot of inner dialogue that is very restrictive and challenging for a lot of people to overcome, whereas when you're in flow and you're aligned, things are very easy and organic and effortless. And so for me, I knew that in order, for I just got humbled. I'll just start with that. I got humbled so many times because my biggest hardships early on in my life were due to my ego, and when you get humbled hard enough and maybe frequently enough, I'm a hard-headed person, I'm a tourist, I'm a bull.
Speaker 1:That being said, when you get your ass kicked a few times and you're not getting the outcomes that you desire, you often have to really check your ego at the door and be honest with yourself and humble yourself and say do I wanna be right or do I wanna win? And my answer is I wanna win. I don't need to be right anymore, and that's really what opened the door for a lot of personal development, personal growth. A lot of mentors came into my world, and there's something that I have subscribed to in creating what I call the likability formula, and I think this is something that every single person on planet Earth can leverage. You don't need to be special for this. Everybody can become more likable, and by becoming more likable, you can create more relationships, more opportunities, more impactful conversations, more personal development and growth for yourself. And it's a very simple formula.
Speaker 1:I've asked enough questions and bit around enough people that have said hey, you're a really likable person. I'm like what does that mean? And so, as I started to ask that question more and take some of the feedback, what I really boiled it down to was three simple things. Number one is humility. You show up in a humble way that makes you very approachable and makes people just appreciate that you're not showing up in a way that comes off as cocky, right, but at the same time, if you're not gonna be cocky, you still need to show up with a level of confidence, because people they are attracted to confidence. They wanna follow people who are confident in themselves, in their abilities.
Speaker 1:And so by being humble enough to not read your own press clippings or think that you're the shit just because you had a $100,000 flip when you're 21 years old, it was one of those things where I said if I can be humble enough to show up as if I don't know it all, but confident enough that I can figure things out, and through the last piece hard work, you pair all of those things together, you become a much more likable person. And the one asterisk that I would add to that is if you can be all of those things and add this last piece into it, which is consistently finding ways to selfishly bring value to other people in any capacity that you can. If you're humble, you're confident, you work your ass off and you consistently look for ways to bring value to other people, even beyond, when it has nothing to do with just serving you, you will become a very likable person and that's ultimately how I started getting invited into conversations, into rooms, into opportunities and the things that I probably had no business being involved in at that time. But people just said I just like being around you, I think you bring value or I think you're a good add to having at this event or whatever it may be. And so, as I thought about that more and more, I thought about one was leaving ego and checking my ego at the door and really pairing it with this ideology of being a more likable person Doesn't mean you need to be agreeable and be soft right. Like bringing value, bringing hard work, bringing this confidence can be in a way where you're challenging people and you're inspiring people.
Speaker 1:It doesn't happen to me what many people might think a likable or a nice guy right as often associated with, and that for me, was something that really, when I look back on my timeline of having some wins and some good stepping stones to success, it was oftentimes with relationships and opportunities that came from people saying I just liked being around you and therefore you just got into the conversation or opportunity as a result of that, and so that was something that really started to change the way I thought about myself and how I wanted to show up and who I wanted to become and who I wanted to be seen as. And also, as I did step into that identity, I felt more aligned with who I was, more of an organic version of who that really was. And therefore, when I really stepped into that the relationships, the opportunity, the conversations, the experiences really all just organic reflections of me being aligned with who I really was, and I think we can all relate to those kind of people. You're probably you get that a lot yourself, right? Matt's a really likable guy.
Speaker 1:I just like being around that guy and I think we can all probably point to a couple people or conversations or spaces that you were in and you're just like man. I really enjoyed being around that person. I want to be in their conversation or in their world or in their opportunities more, and it was only because of a feeling they gave you, because you like them, and this is something that I think every single person, by being just a little bit more aware and a little bit more intentional, can enhance in their life, which will ultimately enhance their life as a result.
Speaker 2:And I love that you used the word that you're remembering how that person made you feel. They made me feel great. I really want to be around them, and people will remember things that you say, but more so they will remember the way that you made them feel when you're with them. So if you can make them feel safe and comfortable and happy and having fun and excited for life and whatever that is that you just want to bring that energy to the room. People are going to love to be around you. So when did you realize this in your career and actually start to leverage this? Obviously, it likely came natural to you, but when did you actually did the switch flip there and you saw that is one of my superpowers. So I just need to use this humility, the confidence, the hard work that I have, show it to people, but then start adding value to these other people. Do you have any specific examples of some rooms that you put yourself in where you were adding some of that value and it got you into a great opportunity?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think one that's very easy to equate at a massively transforming kind of point in my timeline of entrepreneurship and really just my life and development as a whole was. I was fortunate enough to you and I are a part of a mastermind called Gobundance and I was very fortunate enough to be around and mentored by the founders of a Gobundance at a very early age I was 25. I wasn't quite at that millionaire mark yet but because they liked me, because they thought I brought value, that I was a hard worker and I was humble, I got invited to David Osborn's house before Gobundance had really launched. Gobundance and the membership of Gobundance and that one experience being in that conversation, being around those guys that led to so many amazing friendships and opportunities for personal growth, for business, for financial growth.
Speaker 1:I've had many of those guys invest in deals with me.
Speaker 1:I've had so much mentorship as a husband, as a father. I've had obviously many financial opportunities that have been unlocked by being a part of that type of community. I've had the ability my podcast, millionaire Mindcast was started out of that one very first event because I wanted to interview more people like the guys in that room. So that one right approach and mindset completely set my path on a completely different trajectory than I would have been on had I not been invited into that room just because they liked me and they saw something in me that they felt aligned with that they thought would unlock more value collectively for everybody and them serving me just by liking me. So that's just one example that I can point to that ultimately has unlocked so many different conversations and relationships and rooms and financial opportunities that would have never resulted because on paper I didn't check all the boxes to be a part of that room, to be in that membership, to be around those guys, but because they liked me I was able to get inside and work some magic.
Speaker 2:I love it and so leverage to our listeners out there. Leverage this likability formula and work, work on these things. Work on being a little bit more humble with yourself, work on your confidence. One way that you can work on your confidence is to really sit back, do some meditation, do some self work, learn who you really are as a person, because once you can look at yourself, love yourself and know yourself and you're confident with who you are as a person, you can show up confidently to other people. It also keeps you back and humble and not too caught up in the ego of wanting to be this super cool out there guy and then realistically, just work hard, show up and put yourself in the place to talk to people like this.
Speaker 2:Matt, listening to your story and the things that you've done, the accomplishments, the assets you've purchased, the sales you've gone through, it can seem a bit overwhelming, like it's all so much and it seems like it's condensed into a small period of time right, but it's realistically, your entire lifetime. How can we break down so? Like myself, I'm only invested in real estate right now and I would love some of these cool, creative assets into the future, but it just seems, man, I feel like I'm going to be doing real estate like just like long term rentals for X amount of years, and then it's like a transition. How can we keep our head clear and like open to opportunities like these, like you've got the distillery, you've got the hotel? A lot of guys out there say, niche down, focus on one thing. How can you keep yourself open to all the opportunities that are out there and recognize one when one comes along?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll disclaim first that this is just my belief. But in my 20s I bounced around a lot. I tried a lot of different opportunities. My court tree trunk always was real estate investing. But I launched my planner, I launched a flipping course. I launched investing in a couple other businesses. I did a couple pre-IPOs. Some of them were successful. Some of them are complete losses.
Speaker 1:So if I would have just stayed focused on my court tree trunk of real estate investing, would I have made more money and probably been further along in my wealth building journey? I think the argument can be made for that. But at the same time, would I be as well rounded of an individual? Would I have learned the skills that I learned that ultimately have leveraged in my 30s, that have unlocked more opportunity and success for me along the way? I think an argument can be made for that too. So I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to this, but I'll just tell you what my prescription is. My prescription is I believe that, well, there's two paths and talking points here. One is, I believe and this is my own personal belief, and this is tied to my values and it's tied to my definition of success, and so I think, based on your own values and your own definition of success, your answer may be different, but here's my. Mine is and I'll give you my definition of success first. My definition of success is that when I get to my deathbed and let's say, theoretically, I could hit a button and my life would pop up on the screen and I could rewind and watch my entire life play back to me. What I would measure my life as a success or not success against would not be based on how many commas and zeros I have in my bank account or what my balance sheet says. It wouldn't be how many trophies or how many plaques I have up on my wall. It wouldn't be all of the news articles and the write ups and the PR and the TV coverages that I've had. It would be for me to watch that video and say, holy shit, that was a hell of a fucking wrap and I could have zero dollars in my bank account. But if I can say that, then to me that is what equals success.
Speaker 1:So to rewind a little bit and answer your question directly is to focus or not to focus? Now I will say when I went all in on my hotel business and solely focused on operating and scaling my hotel company. I, on paper, financially made much more of a gain and success by doing that. That being said, prior to that and I still do believe this I'm a big believer that I never stay anywhere longer than I want to be there, and that's just my personal subscription, and the reason is because I've earned the right now to not have to do that. So I think there's an asterisk. Next to that is is what does it take to earn the right to stop doing what you're doing to go do something else? Or what does it take to earn the right to keep doing what you're doing but to try something else, without sacrificing or cannibalizing what it is that's already working for you? So I think there's some caveats to that answer and that question.
Speaker 1:But that means, said I'm a big believer in, I want my definition of success to say, damn, that was a hell of a ride. So not damn, I did something for 50 years because on paper it was the right thing to do and I made the most money and was quote unquote the most successful by doing that. I want to say, dan, that was a hell of a fucking ride. So therefore, I don't stay anywhere longer than I want to be there or think I need to be there, but everything comes back. My decision matrix is based on my values and it is also based on my vision of where I want to be and when I want to be there by and so I am consistently revising and editing and elevating what my vision is for my life, which obviously entails my business, because I'm an entrepreneur. I have created a life by design, but, that being said, I know that, based on the seasons people are in and where they're at in life, there are different decision matrices that people need to go through. So I would tell people to be more aware and get clear on what that means to you. But, that being said, I know that for me personally, I want to ensure that I can say damn, that was a hell of a fucking ride. And then two, based on the season I'm at or the chapter that I'm writing my book in right now, metaphorically of my life, that I want to be able to, based on where I want to be at and when I want to be there, I can work backwards in a plan for how I can execute on the ground. So the dirt versus the clouds type of mentality and therefore that's what I look at. I look at in those time blocks and those increments.
Speaker 1:And so, for example, going back to my real estate investing wealth plan is I said when I was 30 that I want to, by the time I'm 40, have $500,000 a year passive income coming in from my real estate, and I want to do that over the next 10 years. And if I were to only buy one real estate asset per year, how would I achieve that goal? If you take 500K divided by 10, I just need to buy one real estate asset per year. That nets me $50,000. While I was investing in single family and fourplexes and some stuff here and there, but it wasn't net me $50,000 a year just from one of those assets. So then it made me go what kind of assets do I need to buy, at what price point and what market that actually net $50,000 a year? And that's what ultimately led me to focusing on trip centers and medical plazas, and therefore I've been buying one or two of those commercial assets every year that net me $50,000 a year.
Speaker 1:35, I'm halfway to that goal and it's as simple as that. Right, I just got clear on what did I want to achieve as my end outcome? When did I want to be there by? And then looking at what vehicles can actually help me achieve that goal. If I were to just do one of those every year and then it just became a game of execution Again. I'm not just an artist, fastest or strongest guy, but I am good in getting clarity on things and when I'm clear on what it is that I need to work hard on, that's when I do really well, that's when I'm very dangerous and that's as simple as I can boil it down. For somebody that is not the sharpest tool in the shed like myself, and I think anybody can use that type of framework to create more awareness around end goal. When you want to be there by, what vehicles actually get you there and what action plan do you need to set in place to then get in the trenches and just start executing on?
Speaker 2:Dude, I love that. And if you can find that goal, that thing that you want to hit, it's likely that someone else has probably hit that path and gotten to that goal before. And if they haven't, then you're shooting for a pretty awesome, pretty out there goal. But there is a path to get to that goal likely that you could map out. It might not be the exact path that you're going to need to follow, but you could logically break each goal that you have down into steps and then just start to take those steps, like you're doing, and building up to your goal. And that hit me so hard when you said never stay. You never stay anywhere longer than you want to stay there. But there was a little caveat the little asterisks that you mentioned in there is that when do you have the right to do that? When do you have the option to do that, to decide that I don't want to be doing this anymore, I'm going to switch paths. When does that come out and when can you make that decision?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I call it the swan effect sleep well at night. When you have enough reserves or safety nets in place to sleep well at night, things didn't go according to plan or everything went to hell on a hand basket, you're giving yourself enough cushion and enough runway to take the leap of faith. Now I will say this there were many points on that journey that I didn't have my swan effect in place and I was a little bit more reckless and had a much higher risk tolerance, obviously because of where I was at in my life. I wasn't married then. I did have two daughters. I didn't have some of the responsibilities and weight that I have now. But, that being said, I think for a lot of people it's give yourself clarity around a worst case scenario happening and what you need to have in place if that were to happen, to be able to take care of your family or your responsibilities or your employees or your business or whatever it may be. And once you have that in place, then you can get a lot clearer on okay, what does it take on the right for you to go and travel a month in Europe and not have anything to do with my business? I need to have an assistant in place and I need to have $50,000 in reserves here and I need to have X, y and Z. You can go through that and create a plan, a swan effect for every scenario for every person, obviously being different for every person. But, that being said, that's where I think you can get clarity around worst case scenario happening right, building in some reserves, building in some safety nets, building in some things that ultimately give you confidence to then say, hey, I don't feel like I should be here anymore and I have taken the time to get clarity around what it means to one protect my downside and also earn the upside of taking this leap of faith, and by doing so, you feel like you have put in the necessary time and energy.
Speaker 1:And this is the thing that I think is most important for people. Is people think, just because they wanna bet on themselves, or that they're willing to take the risk or to have that leap of faith, that it means that they're going to be successful, or just because you're willing to work your ass off that you're going to be successful? I've got a lot of housekeepers that work in my hotels that are some of the hardest working women I know, and they will never be rich just because they work hard every day right. Some people will never go out and have success just because they're willing to quit their job and go and take that leap of faith. You have to put in the time, the energy, the effort, the work to know that you can say even if I do fail, I know that I left it all out on the floor and I will either win or I'm gonna learn from this opportunity, and that's ultimately what I've done many times over and over.
Speaker 1:I've had many of those failing forward moments where I get my teeth kicked in, and I've also had many moments that have led to great successes, but without doing that work, getting that clarity, leaving it all metaphorically out on the floor every single day, I can say you know what, wherever the chips may fall, I know that, even though I'm not always in control of the outcome, I am in control of my effort and the work that I put in on a daily basis and if I feel good and confident about the effort that I'm leaving out on the floor every single day again that's tied into my big vision of success I can say, hey, whatever the scoreboard says, at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:I know I left it all out on the floor. Every single day. I made decisions based on my values, who I am, who I wanna become, what I wanna unlock, what I wanna lead in this world for my kids, my family, my employees, other people that I believe and wanna support, and to me, that's what allows me to show up, take some of those risks, but also know that, hey, I put in the work here, I've sharpened my axe, I've sharpened my pencil, I put in the time and I can feel good with whatever the scoreboard says, knowing that my effort was 110%.
Speaker 2:And that all ties back to what you were saying about lying on your death bed and looking back on your life. If you're lying on your death bed looking back on your life and you got I put every ounce of effort in that I could and I pushed as hard as I could you're not going to have any regrets based on your life. Do you want the pain of regret or do you want the pain of discipline and action in your life? There's two different pains you can choose from, so pick those two. I love that swan acronym that you have. Sleep well at night.
Speaker 2:That's exactly what happened to me when I was quitting. When I quit my job in, I think, october of last year, coming up on almost a year of being out of my job Now, was that $7,000 a pass of income I needed to 25 years old. I don't need a crazy amount of money. I was living up four grand then and now my expenses are still pretty low. They're still like five grand, but got it to seven grand and but that wasn't it for me. It was like I needed a hundred grand in the bank at that time and I got it to 115 and then it was like boom, I hit that I can feel good and even if my expenses go like two K over every single month, I still have right around 50 months to figure out how to create more passive income and get this thing rolling or active income and get rolling there. Man, so I love that acronym, I love what you've got rolling on.
Speaker 2:Speaking of what you've got going on and moving into kind of what you're doing now and what you're going to be digging into in the future, hospitality is kind of your new move here. It's this new love that you found. It's this new. Why that's driving you. Can you talk a little bit about these first three hotels that you dove into? Maybe a quick summary of the first deal, like how'd you find it, how'd you get into it, how'd you get the balls to say yeah, let's do this thing, and what did the numbers look like on that? And then why are you now shifting fully maybe not fully, but a good amount into the hospitality realm?
Speaker 1:Yeah, the first deal was actually brought to me through one of my Instagram followers, which is crazy. This was a church that uned this little kind of roadside motel lodge up in Lake Tahoe which is about an hour and a half from my house, and that was going into foreclosure, and he basically came to me and said, hey, the church is trying to get rid of this asset, it's going into foreclosure. They don't know what they're doing. It's running down. I think you can get it in good discount and so that that lead an opportunity which actually a lot of my leads and opportunities are either brought to me through my podcast or through my social platforms or through my network and just relationships and so it was an off-market opportunity and I ended up buying it. It was probably worth about 1.5 when I bought it at the time and again, it was only a little 15 door lodge, so nothing too crazy. But again, it's hospitality assets are not. It wasn't a 15 unit multi-family property we intended in there and maybe taking a couple phone calls a month and collecting a check once a month. Hotels and this was probably one of the biggest learning curse for me was it's a living, breathing organism, it's an active, operating business 367 or 365 24 7. You have people coming and going in and out of your asset Expecting a service and a product. So it was a very big learning curve from that perspective because I was going oh yeah, I can flip this thing, I'm gonna put a couple hundred thousand into this thing and we're gonna make a bunch of money off of this. And it was a massive wake-up call. It was extremely challenging and it was also what I learned very quickly Hard to run a profitable business model at that scale. Hence why I went for the second and the third, because then I started getting economies of scale with the systems and the team and the Things that we were building up. But, that being said, I bought the property for about a million bucks, I put about a quarter million into it and about four years later I sold it for three million and obviously it generated some great cash flow along the way. So that was a great one. The other two did the exact same thing and my model is Contactless, automated.
Speaker 1:In hospitality you can get as luxurious and as crazy as you want to, but at the root of hospitality and I think most people who travel can relate to this, if you give me a comfortable bed with Good sheets, with a clean room that has TV and good Wi-Fi, with hot and cold water. That, at the foundational level, is what you need to be at a baseline success in Hospitality. Now you go and start offering amenities and different customer service aspects and you can get really creative and fun with hospitality. But that's what we executed on was a contactless tech driven model. It performed extremely well during COVID. We don't have lobbies where people have to check into. Obviously, we have common areas and spaces and things like that, but it was one of those things where the model was validated and it's not enhanced during COVID and it worked really well and so it really.
Speaker 1:What I learned in this timeline, in this process, and why I really did fall in love with hospitality, is one you still get all the benefits of real estate, you get all the cash flow. It is an active, operating business and, at the same time, the one thing that really was spotlighted and became most important to me Was, yeah, the money and the benefits and all the other things were great, but I can't take my daughters to go and, you know, tour and have fun in the liquor store in one of my strict centers, but I can take them to my hotels. I can teach them customer service when they see how I'm interacting with customers. I can teach them leadership when I'm interacting with my team and my employees. I can go and create memories and have fun and experiences which I have countless now Of my family and I up in Lake Tahoe Enjoying these physical assets in the locations that these assets are in. But that was like the trinity of real estate for me was getting the benefits of it, getting the cash flow from it and then obviously getting the experiences and memories from it, and really the last piece of it was not only selfishly Do I get to create those memories and experiences for myself, but then I started seeing the impact that it was having on other Families and other travelers and the memories and the experiences and the impact I was able to have in their lives and the little tiny ripple effect that will carry on going forward by what was Just an initial investment to make cash flow and a return on it became something that went far beyond the commas and zeros that were coming into the bank account and to me that's ultimately what I looked at for now in wealth building opportunities is.
Speaker 1:To me, wealth building goes Way beyond my ballot sheet and my bank account. Now Don't get me wrong, I'm still a capitalist and I want to do investment opportunities that make sense and hit my return Metrics and fat thresholds that I aim for. But I also weigh in an experiential aspect that does have a value to me, and when I can find opportunities that check all those other boxes but also check the boxes of travel and bucket lists and experiences and memory making and impact making for myself and other people, that's when it gets really fun. And so that's where I've really decided to plant my flag a little bit harder and a little bit deeper into the world of Hospitality, which has led into the investment into the distillery world and bringing in.
Speaker 1:I love good spirits, I love good wine, I love good experiences, and so when we can use physical spaces and hospitality assets in great locations and Provide those types of verticals within one experience, having those different business opportunities on my tool belt Gives me the ability to create something really unique and also to exercise my creative side. That I never only considered when I was just a Normal real estate investor. Like flipping houses and doing the same spec packages got boring to me after a while. Doing wholesaling was boring after a while. Doing syndications was boring after a while, but this is really a canvas of creativity that I really love and, with technology in the world that we live in now and the landscape in which it can be applied to physical properties and assets, it can get pretty fun and it can also be very lucrative.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've got so many different ways really to add value to these assets. You could do physical value add, where you're making them look nice or you're making the Adding amenities to it, but then you've also got the value add on the touchless checklist, check in, bringing in new technology and being able to do things that way, and I think it's such a cool and exciting way to Invest your capital other people's money to bring that in and do that and, creative like you, are adding value, you're growing yourself, you're giving other people experiences, you're giving yourself and your family experiences. That's one thing that really excited me about today's conversation because this is something that I see myself doing in the future is getting into these assets where I can create experiences and have Places to bring my family and friends and go have these valuable Experiences with all those people and be able to create an awesome space for other people to build these experiences. Because, yeah, I think, when we're sitting on our deathbeds as well, one thing that we look back on again is, like you said, it's not going to be the commas on the bank account, it's going to be the experiences.
Speaker 2:Was I going all out? Was I having fun? Did I have fun with my family. Did I allow other people and create other people experiences and opportunities to have fun? I think it's so amazing that you're doing that. What are you doing right now with the distillery? What is, what's that project look like?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So we're right now we're scaling our distribution nationwide, so that's the big focus there. We're rebranding and retooling kind of the aesthetics of the brand and optimizing that. And One of the things that we're most excited about is our kind of barrel club and our barrel program. So people have the ability to invest in high mark distillery as an alternative asset. That provides a return and is something that Not many distilleries, breweries, really anybody out there are doing. There's a couple in the international market that are doing it, where they're buying essentially moonshine that is aging into bourbon or whiskey but and obviously it appreciates and has a pretty good return and stable return that we are excited to be doing here in the first of its kind in the US.
Speaker 1:So we have a pretty cool barrel program. You can check it out at highmarkbarrelclubcom. We'll learn more about it there. It's an sec regulated investment for accredited investors but it's a really cool alternative investment class and also is another arm that allows me to create not just an investment vehicle but an experiential vehicle that pairs into the world of hospitality through spirits. That also we can now layer into different opportunities of the hotel assets and that's what I'm working in right now is in contract on another hotel out in las vegas that's four or five times bigger than anything I've taken a swung at and pairing in some of the distillery and spirits experiences to creating something that's One of its kind in the hotel world, instead of it just being heads and bends. We're looking to create some programming and experiences that go beyond Just checking into a room and sleeping there, but actually bringing something that pulls people to come into our hotel and if they decide to stay, great. And if they don't, they still have other ways to spend money with us and having a good time.
Speaker 2:Four to five times bigger, this new asset, that this new hotel that you're going into. I love that. I think it's such a great message to the listeners, no matter where you're at in your life, whether you're you've got the investments and you just hit financial freedom, or now You've already killed your goal and you got that $500,000 per year of of passive income coming in and you just we're just searching for growth. We are growth minded beings and like you are even you just Sold three hotels. Now You're like and let's go bigger, let's challenge myself, let's go do something new. I think it's crazy, I think it's awesome and it's so inspiring and exciting what I'm going to do.
Speaker 2:I am going to ask my final two questions before I do that, though. If someone's out there and they're thinking, man, I would like to buy a small hotel 10, 20 unit hotel what are the steps there? Like, obviously they need to find it and see if an area is good. Is that some analysis that you're doing on air DNA and finding out rates? Or how do you go about analyzing your small hotel business?
Speaker 1:Yeah, air DNA is, I think, Okay, but it's a little bit more geared towards the STR market that's focused on single family houses, right. A lot of that data is going to be more around the average daily rate of full properties or homes and you can obviously get a little bit more granular in your data of having to be maybe a specific room or something that might be similar to a hotel room. But really most of the analysis in the hospitality world is going to be somewhat different than analyzing an Airbnb. So what I generally do is we look at STR as a large hotel data aggregator for each market and they'll tell you all of the ADR, the RevPAR, the occupancy numbers. Well, also, most cities that are obviously charging occupancy tax to their hospitality providers in that market. You can go and pull data from the city as well and practically, like in Lake Tahoe, you can just go to the city and you could ask their revenue department for the TOT report for any hotel. So I can go and look up any hotel in Lake Tahoe and see how many rooms they sold that month, how much revenue they generated, what their average daily rate was, what their RevPAR was, what their occupancy was. Tot report what is that TOT? It's either a transient occupancy tax or tourism occupancy tax. They're all labeled differently but you can get pretty good data.
Speaker 1:But I would say that's the mistake most Airbnb hosts make when they try and oh, I'm going to buy a boutique hotel or I'm going to buy a motel. It's not apples to apples, it really is Different game. And you're operating at scale. You really you have to understand that the operations of a hotel asset are very different and much more cumbersome than just one or two short-term rentals on a house. So that's something that we run proformas. We look at all the data we say based on what we're going to do to the asset and the condition we're going to get it in and the programming and the tech stack we're going to lay in, looking at all of our costs, modeling out what are our projections, what are our budgets? Obviously, what does that leave over for our net operating income at the end of the day? And hotels are traded on a cap rate, which obviously a lot of single family properties are not. So you can't really look at the valuation the same as a short-term rental versus a hotel asset and then just reverse engineering. Where do I need to be in terms of my numbers and does this make sense?
Speaker 1:And hotels, because they are a lot more moving pieces to them.
Speaker 1:You want to, you really want to find ways to have a good leadership team in place and understand that you are going to have a very hands-on management approach.
Speaker 1:And if you're looking to have a third-party management company in place, like you would for a short-term rental, it's very different and most institutional players that play in the hotel world don't operate hotels that are usually 50 doors or 50 keys and under in the boutique space because they're not a lot of money. So if you're going, if you're not going big, then you have to understand that you're going to be the operator and essentially you're starting up an operating company and management company to operate your asset on a daily basis. And again, there ain't no days off in hospitality, right, and people are traveling 365 holidays, Thanksgiving. They don't care if you're having a baby or if you're getting married or if it's a federal holiday. So, just understanding that it's a lifestyle asset that you're buying into and while there's pros that come along with it, they're also cons that you got to be aware of, and I'm sure each person's individual style for running their own boutique hotel is different, but I'm sure that can be good and bad and work in both ways.
Speaker 2:If you can create an amazing experience for someone, you could maximize revenue out a bit there. Create an experience and have it be your own branded experience yourself, which I think is so exciting and creative and cool and it gives you an opportunity to jump into that creative side of your blood. I'm going to jump into our final two questions here, matt. First question is what is one thing that our listeners should do today to start on their path towards financial freedom?
Speaker 1:My easy suggestion on that is just align with one key mentor and eliminate everyone else and get so obsessed with bringing that person value and staying in proximity to them and, obviously, making sure that person has the right reputation, that has the results that you want, that has the value, the skills, the network that you want to tap into and that can be the greatest success hack. For most people it can really expedite you getting to levels of success or hitting key milestones in your journey so much faster, with so much less stress, headache and failure, and I think that is probably the easiest route to hacking your way to success relatively quickly Love it.
Speaker 2:Find the person that is doing the things that you want to be doing, maybe even light years ahead of where you want to be. Find them. If they've got passion for it too, that's even better. Get in there. Follow them and try and add value for them. Use that likeability formula, guys. Use the likeability formula. Make friends and add some value where you can. Final question I've got for you today, matt, is what is one question that you wish I would ask or one topic that you wish I would have covered, and how would you have answered that question or how would you have expanded on that topic?
Speaker 1:I think you did a great job asking key questions that hopefully unlocked a little bit of value right, based on where people are at the breadcrumbs of my journey, might help you on your path and follow the next right decision that you feel is aligned with where you want to get to when you want to get there by. So I want to commend you, brother, for a great show, great interview. You are a good question, asker, and I think that I'm always a big believer of. We grow into the conversations and the environments that we put ourselves in, and when you ask quality questions, you usually find quality answers, and I thought you did a phenomenal job.
Speaker 2:So that means so much coming from you, man, such a killer podcast investor. I really do appreciate that. I take that to heart. So, man, that makes me feel good. Really appreciate you, matt, and for my listeners and watchers that want to find you online, where's the best place for them to find you?
Speaker 1:They can obviously listen to the podcast Monday, wednesday, friday, millionaire Mindcast on all the podcasting platforms. Seven plus years run strong on the podcast Top 100 investing in entrepreneurship podcasts, and usually between 100 and 200 depending on the week. Or you can just check out matthsoncom, MillionaireMindcastcom or follow me on any kind of social platform, it's all the same. Handle official Mattie A M-A-T-Y-A and I always love connected with anybody that hears me on a show.
Speaker 2:Heck, yeah, we will link to those in this show notes official Mattie A and the podcast there. Matt, so much value today. Really appreciate you having you on From the Financial Freedom Fast Podcast. I'm your host, Matt Amobile. Today we had on Matt Hinson and we are signing off. Thanks, Matt.
Speaker 3:Let's retire together.