Own the Outcome with Tyler Deveraux
Building Wealth from the Ground Up with Zasha Smith | Ep. 23
Join me for an amazing discussion I had in Maui, with the incredible, Zasha Smith. Zasha is a Maui-born real estate investor, who transformed her challenging upbringing into a story of perseverance and success. On this throwback episode, you have the opportunity to hear Zasha's story and how it truly exemplifies the power of support, determination, and the courage to aim high.
Join us to be motivated by her journey of combining financial success with meaningful community contributions.
Follow Zasha on Instagram
Learn with Zasha
Thank you for listening to today's episode. If this podcast has brought a smile to your face or sparked some new ideas, I'd love to hear from you! Leaving a review would mean the world to me. Appreciate you!
Connect with Tyler on Instagram: @tyler_deveraux
Interested in multifamily investing? Attend one of our events!
Join me for an amazing discussion I had in Maui, with the incredible, Zasha Smith. Zasha is a Maui-born real estate investor, who transformed her challenging upbringing into a story of perseverance and success. On this throwback episode, you have the opportunity to hear Zasha's story and how it truly exemplifies the power of support, determination, and the courage to aim high.
Join us to be motivated by her journey of combining financial success with meaningful community contributions.
Follow Zasha on Instagram
Learn with Zasha
Thank you for listening to today's episode. If this podcast has brought a smile to your face or sparked some new ideas, I'd love to hear from you! Leaving a review would mean the world to me. Appreciate you!
Connect with Tyler on Instagram: @tyler_deveraux
Interested in multifamily investing? Attend one of our events!
All right, aloha and welcome. My name is Tyler Deveraux and I have a special guest with me here today that I am freaking pumped to introduce you to. I'm pumped man. We have an awesome guest here, Zasha, here from the islets. You born and raised here in Maui, which makes me so pumped because it's so rare that I get somebody in office. So, Zasha, welcome.
Zasha Smith:Aloha everybody, and thank you guys for having me.
Tyler Deveraux:Pleasure to have you, so excited to have you. I know this those of y'all who are listening you take notes, man, pull over if you're driving, take notes. I'm a hundred percent confident that today's guest will inspire you, will educate you and help you for sure. So she's a mom of two, 36 years old, and a full-time real estate investor and real estate mastermind, which and you, host a real estate mastermind too, right.
Zasha Smith:Yeah, so we have monthly Maui meetups here.
Tyler Deveraux:Sweet. Well, I've never got the invite, Zosia.
Zasha Smith:Now you got to come. Yes, I'm ready.
Tyler Deveraux:Okay, a little bit of background. We can, in fact. Bios are great, but if I'll be honest with you, I kind of hate just reading the bio. Do you mind if we just talk about your background?
Zasha Smith:Of course.
Tyler Deveraux:Because I love your story by the way, I seriously love your story. So where you know background, where you grew up, how you we didn't know where you grew up, but how you grew up and then just how you transitioned into where you're at today.
Zasha Smith:Well being from an island. It is very expensive to live here, especially if you are starting off, you know, without any formal educational background. And so, for me, I was raised by a single mom, she, I have a brother and a sister, and so we ended up, you know, moving around a lot when I was younger, being here on the island, being raised here, and she struggled, we lived. Probably I moved twice or maybe even three times a year, so I probably lived in every city on this island, but she was definitely a go-getter and did whatever it took to make sure that we got by, and so just seeing her persevere through that really inspired me to always, you know, be aware of my financial Sorry, I'm trying to think my financial. It brings back a lot of memories and it's a little bit tough for me to talk about it, but I feel like it's going to be very inspirational for other people.
Zasha Smith:And so there were times where we had, you know, had to have car washes and garage sales Growing up. When we're in elementary school, we used to sell candy while we were going to school as well, just to help my mom raise money, make spam musubis for her to take to work and sell to other people. So it was a very tough growing up, but I feel like that definitely helped me now as an adult. So when I was going to high school, we're actually living in low income housing and that taught me very well where I didn't want to be, and it was hard being around other people who are also struggling, and so mindset had a really big play when I was younger to think, OK, I got to get off this rock, I got to change, make a difference and really I want to take care of my family. I got to find a way how to do that, and so I think people think of Maui as living in paradise, but there's also the other side of it, where people are struggling just to make ends meet here.
Tyler Deveraux:Totally agree. It's crazy when because I mean, you know I moved here because I thought, like dude Maui is going to be.
Zasha Smith:Maui is paradise.
Tyler Deveraux:But with anywhere there is challenges and you recognize those challenges and you obviously experienced so many challenges living and growing up here and we actually have similar backgrounds, by the way. I mean similar backgrounds, meaning struggled through childhood and how that motivated it, motivated me to really just change the situation for my family. Like I felt this, um, just massive responsibility, like it was my job to do that and I know you did. I can tell from the way you talk. You talk about your story and you tell your story like you, you took it. So where do you cause? You said you have how many brothers and sisters? Two, and are you, where do you fit in there, oldest?
Zasha Smith:Yeah, okay, interesting.
Tyler Deveraux:It's kind of funny how that works right. Where you just that naturally just kind of take that charge there. So growing up moving all around the island, when did you feel like this responsibility, Like when did that click in for you? Is there a moment that happened?
Zasha Smith:I feel like it was one of my teachers. So I went to Maui High School. So I legit like, grew up here, raised here, graduated from Maui High School. But one of my teachers while I was going to high school was like, hey, are you going to college or what are you going to do after high school? And I was like I don't know. I'm working at the mall right now at Spencer's Gifts selling little trinkets and maybe, you know, I can get a be a supervisor there one day. And he was like no, you need to explore the world, get off this island and see what else is out there. You're meant for more. And so that you know his belief in me and I believe throughout my life there's been a lot of people that have been around who have encouraged me to do more.
Zasha Smith:He him and my college counselor put together $50 each to go and apply to a college, and I didn't know that you know, not dating myself but they didn't have real college fairs here and things like that. We didn't really know about scholarships. It wasn't widely known as it is now, and so they taught me how to apply for FAFSA, apply for scholarships, and gave me that money in order to apply somewhere. And so funny story about this is that when I was looking for colleges, I was like, ok, I probably want to go to California. It's similar weather. And looking at all the schools, I was like, okay, cal State, there's one in San Diego, one in Long Beach. I was like, oh, snoop Dogg goes to Long Beach.
Zasha Smith:He lives in Long Beach, so I think I want to go there. So there was like no premise of why I picked the college that I went to. But my two teachers gave me the money to go apply and so I did, got in and they helped me apply for scholarships that paved the way for me to go to college basically for free. I didn't have any debt coming out of college, which a lot of people it's the opposite route. But because I was in such financial need, I got my housing paid for by the Gates Millennium Scholarship and I was a really smart student.
Zasha Smith:I just didn't have that belief or confidence in myself growing up, and so that was where my life kind of took a turn and my mom didn't know you know how to. She never graduated from college, so she didn't know what that was like. She never graduated from college, so she didn't know what that was like and she could only teach me as much as she knew. And so having those people in your life like be aware of those who are around you that want you to see you succeed, yeah, I love that those two are heroes, man.
Tyler Deveraux:Like I literally believe that I believe people like that are heroes. And now I'm not dating myself either Now being in the position we're, in the age that we're in. It's like it makes us very it makes me and I know just from learning a little bit about you, but very cognizant of how we're pouring into others and that we have a every. Everybody has this ability to impact people Like do you think that those two, do you think they have have any any idea of the impact that they've made on your life?
Zasha Smith:oh no. So another funny story is that I ran into that same teacher mr gima from my high school is still a teacher there and he was like hey, how are you doing? I was like oh, you know, I graduated from college, I'm an engineer. And he was like oh cool, I thought you'd be on drugs, but glad to see you made it.
Zasha Smith:You know so very like. You know humorous personality. But you know they don't. I don't think a lot of teachers get enough credit for the impact that they make on students, even when they don't realize it or take it seriously.
Tyler Deveraux:But that's why they do their job, because they don't get paid that much either totally, then that is why they do their job like that is what it's just this great reminder of those individuals who have had an impact in your life, like reach out and you tell them yes and then also make a cognizant effort to make sure that you're making the impact which you are like, I want to I want to bullet point a couple things, because you went to college same place, snoop dog, same area, snoop. Did you ever meet snoop? No, sadly no, because well, if you did, you'd probably be into drugs, sasha.
Zasha Smith:Glad I didn't Glad I didn't right. No, I love Snoop.
Tyler Deveraux:Me and my wife's first date was a Ziggy Marley Snoop Dogg concert. It was the best first day I know it was awesome.
Tyler Deveraux:So I want to run through this a little bit, because you started your. So you were a civil engineer, yeah, and you designed underground utilities for hotels, shopping centers, subdivisions, all across Hawaii. You're making 70,000 a year, 60 hour work weeks, but you're just tired. And what you said? You said that your family was getting the rundown tired version of you. And that is and please correct me if I'm wrong, but that is what, like, made this shift, this switch for you to change. Is that true?
Zasha Smith:Yes. And so it was actually my husband that brought it up, because he had owned his own company and he was like, hey, you know, I don't mind that you love your career or you're taking it really serious, but you're spending a lot of hours away from us, and typically in any sort of relationship it's the other way around, right. And so we were trying to figure out, ok, what else can we do or what else can I get into that will kind of buy back my time? And I feel like a lot of people are in that situation, to where they might like their jobs and it's okay, but then they're being overworked or putting, you know, all this time and effort into something that might not pay you in return what it's worth, what your time is worth. And so I started looking up, you know, googling silly things like, okay, how to get rich, or you know how to quit my job and still, you know, make it. And that's when I found real estate investing and I seen a lot of people had invested in real estate and me, being from hawaii, it was hard enough just to get our first home I mean, I was an engineer, my husband owned his own plumbing company and just for us to qualify for our first home was hard.
Zasha Smith:And so once I found out, ok, I can try to get into buy some real estate on my own, use some conventional loans, talk to some officers, and at that time I had no idea about leveraging other people's money or loans bank loans other than conventional loans to buy your home. So when I went to the bank I was like, oh man, we, you know, we just put all this money into our home. And one of the ladies the teller is was like, hey, did you ever think about getting a HELOC or refinancing to get that money back out? I was like, what is that? Like I have no idea what that meant. And so, after learning about those other lines of credit and cash out refinance, where you could basically leverage the equity in your home, get this money back and then invest it in other things, that was like that blew my mind, and so that's kind of how we started. We bought a few rental properties and then I hit my max DTI, so debt to income ratio, where you can't qualify for those loans anymore. So I was like, ok, how else do people do it? Then I started going to meet up, seeing what other investors were doing and surprisingly I mean on Maui there are quite a few. I mean, even you live here now, right? So if you intentionally put yourself around people who are doing these higher level projects, then you feel more comfortable, get that confidence and say, okay, they've done it this way.
Zasha Smith:So my third deal was actually fully funded by a private lender who lives here, who didn't want to kind of be in charge of projects anymore. They didn't want to deal with contractors finding the deal, running the deals. It's just it is a lot of work in the interim, especially if you're flipping. And so that's kind of where I learned okay, this is, this is the area that I'm good at. And now that I had a track record of buying a few properties, now I even for myself felt comfortable raising private money, because I was never comfortable, you know. I was like, okay, what if the deal goes south? Or you know, then I don't want to hurt that relationship with someone else. So I think a lot of people don't realize like they want to raise private money from the start, which is fine, but you also it's good to have some experience so that you know the challenges that comes with it and the setbacks, so partnering with somebody experienced definitely helps to offset that as well.
Tyler Deveraux:What is up y'all Listen. If this podcast has brought joy or value at some point as you're listening to it, we would love it if you would be so kind as to leave us a review down below. That is how we keep this thing moving and finding individuals just like you to pour value into. Now let's get back to the show. Dude, there's so much to unpack.
Tyler Deveraux:I just want to take this, take a second, because you literally just unpacked a ton that I just want to drill this home to anybody listening. Because you are where you are really, because you made a decision to search out a better life and you started to recognize these little things like do I believe that you would have recognized the potential of a HELOC or that there's these other groups and these meetups and these opportunities to learn, if you really weren't searching for something like that? No, you recognized them because you made a decision that you wanted to change somehow. That decision is massive. Like you start to recognize opportunities everywhere, right?
Zasha Smith:Well and I think that's important for people to always realize is that you have to have that curiosity in you to want to figure it out, because if you hit a wall and you're like, okay, it's done, then of course it's done Like you can't move any further, but you're like, okay, could I get a ladder, could I go around it?
Zasha Smith:You know, you're just curious about other ways and asking people like put it out there, whatever you're doing, put it out to the universe, talk to everybody about, even if you're a newbie and this is what I told Tyler is like I'm a newbie in the multifamily space, but I still put myself out there and tell people hey, I'm just learning, but how can I help you or how, how do I do this? And they give me answers and if I take action right away, then it gets done Totally.
Tyler Deveraux:Which is a huge separator. It's like that's what makes you dude. You're a rockstar man, because you just are like just how you laid that out too, and how you just overcome challenges, and I obviously you.
Zasha Smith:You know you learned some of that from your mom and you talk about how she would.
Tyler Deveraux:just she was just a hustler to get stuff done and she worked so hard, you know, and it motivates you to. For me personally, my mom was the same way. My mom we did not grow up wealthy at all, but my mom was a single mom, raised four kids and she was an absolute rockstar, like did anything that she needed to do or could do to provide for the family and for me personally. I looked at that and I was like it is. I want to make my mom proud, like I want to let her know that the work that she did helped me become who I am, you know, and so I better become something, or else I'm gonna let her down. Like that motivated me for a long time and it continues to motivate me, but our motivations change, you know. So, to see your journey and to and I just paint this, just paint this picture Three years ago, she started real estate investing 2019. She's done 17 flips. She has nine long-term rentals, one short-term rental. That one spits off like 10K a month in passive income right, which?
Zasha Smith:is amazing.
Tyler Deveraux:And then she did her first multifamily deals this year. 110 units in Texas. What part of Texas? Austin? Austin, texas, great market 253 units in Florida, and what part of Florida?
Zasha Smith:Asala, asala, yeah, yeah.
Tyler Deveraux:Asala, or Ocala, ocala, I don't know.
Zasha Smith:See, I always say it wrong yeah, O-C-E-S. Maybe I'm saying it wrong. Shit, I don't know yeah.
Tyler Deveraux:So that progress over three years, zosia, is amazing, but it's not a surprise to me. Like now chatting with you, learning from you it's the solutions you know. So, along this journey. Okay, what's your? Let's talk about your first flip.
Zasha Smith:Okay.
Tyler Deveraux:Let's talk about your first flip.
Zasha Smith:Well, so that one was a condo in Kihei. So when, okay, so stepping back, when I talked to my husband about investing, right, he was very he was a little hesitant because we got our house, you know, we just spent all our money. Then we pulled out a HELOC. He's like what is this? We're, you know, pulling out all this debt. And I said, well, if we use this debt to make more money, then it becomes a vehicle, you know, to more investments and possibly bigger deals. I will cash flow where you trade. You don't have to trade your money for time and things like that.
Zasha Smith:So I try to explain it to him. Obviously I'm not the best at articulating a lot of things, but I just keep putting myself out there, and so that's what I've found success in. And so, even with this flip, I said you know what, let's start with a condo, because it's small, we don't have to worry about the exterior. I seen one that was you know, I'm the typical person, went on Zillow, I'm not a licensed realtor or anything. I was like, OK, there's one for sale for 300. It's in this condo complex. Another one sold for 475. I said, ok, can't be that much to to fix up a condo, because our house costs like 80 grand, so maybe like 40 or 50, and I probably make some money. And so we we use the conventional loan, which you're not supposed to do that, by the way to flip a home.
Zasha Smith:We initially were going into it and I thought, ok, an investment property I didn't know meant like rental if you're using conventional loan. We ended up fixing it up in 30 days. We spent about $32,000 on a renovation and then sold it to a cash buyer who wanted to retire here, for I think that was for 480. And so we had netted over like I think 103,000 was our net profit on that and took 45 days, dude 45 days 100K more than you used to make in a year. Yes.
Tyler Deveraux:So what's going through your mind at this point?
Zasha Smith:So I was so hesitant to quit my job, okay.
Tyler Deveraux:Because that's safety, yes, that's safety net.
Zasha Smith:Yeah, and I think a lot of people can relate to that. Right, it's like I put myself through college, you know, growing up, struggling, that was like the main thing in our family and I think a lot of people are like, okay, you got to get your college degree, like that's the automatic next step, and so my family I was the first to graduate from college in my family, in my entire family, and so everybody was super proud, and so that's, I worked for 10 years as a souvenir. Even that was something major to accomplish and so to kind of leave while having a child in college. And so I think all of those things that I went through I didn't want to, you know, just push it to the side because of this one thing. And what if I just got lucky for this one deal?
Tyler Deveraux:Or what if I you know?
Zasha Smith:just stumbled upon it, and so that's when I knew I kind of needed guidance and needed a mentor, because my husband was telling me for a long time like just quit already, and then you can do this full time.
Tyler Deveraux:And it wasn't, so he switched quick. Yes, I love that. Okay, yeah.
Zasha Smith:So now he knew like proof of concept right With anything once you're successful, then you have the confidence to keep going.
Zasha Smith:And for him, too, it wasn't even just about the money. It was like, oh my gosh, look at, you could buy all this time back. Like you, just 45 days made what you made and you know more than you made in 365 days. So you get more time with us, was his perspective of it. So that even that in itself was just enough to kind of let me know that this was the direction that I needed to head in. And so then I knew okay, now I got to get a mentor or somebody to guide me, because I know I have the wit and can get through a deal and make all this money. But how can I do it consistently? And so that's when I joined Ryan Pineda's coaching program. He had just started out and there was probably only eight of us at that time, so even his first mastermind was in his living room, and so now I mean, he's huge. There's like thousands of students in his mentorship and probably just like you.
Zasha Smith:So I'm glad that I got in it in the beginning, because I did get a lot of one-on-one time with him. But he said the same thing. He was like dude, why don't you just quit? Like you just made a hundred grand, like you just got to do one deal a year and you're good. And so I think it was just somebody who was experienced telling me that. Then it made me realize, ok, well, what about my health care? Like my health insurance? How much is that a month? I was like, oh, eighteen hundred, because we do pay for a higher plan because I also have my son. My youngest son is autistic, and so just him saying that, I was like, oh yeah, I mean, that's not that much in the scheme of things. Right, I just made a hundred grand. I can pay for $1,800 a month.
Tyler Deveraux:So this is the beauty of having people around you within your circle. That can just point things out.
Zasha Smith:Yes.
Tyler Deveraux:And I'll give you an example. But but think about this Like we have these things in our mind, we make these things too big and our, you know, this decision, that is a decision that we know we want to make, that we, you know, can make. But we need, we just sometimes, we just need some guidance of like, no like. Let's put this into perspective. Right, that's so powerful that in and of itself, that happens by being in circles. Yesterday, I'm on a call with a mentor of mine and I'm struggling through this situation of scaling and I'm like you know, this is the problem, this is what I'm saying. And he's like and he just walks me through and he's like takes this big problem right and shows me ladders and ways around it, you know, and breaks it down. He's like no, this is what we need to do and this is how you do it. I was like holy shit.
Zasha Smith:You know, like, like, literally 30 minute, great. And if you're on Maui Woody's plumbing services you don't call him up. If you ever have plumbing issues, I love it.
Tyler Deveraux:Shout out to Ryan and his coaching program and shout out to Woody's plumbing services I love it, we'll have to hit him up, man, okay. So then you did your first flip, joined the mentorship program, and then one of the things you said is that you wouldn't do it again, or you wouldn't flip that again, or something. And you, as we were chatting, what did you mean by that?
Zasha Smith:so I think I would. Okay, I forget where I was going with that, I don't know. If you don't know, like so you were tell me.
Tyler Deveraux:Maybe a better question is this why did you decide to start transitioning? Because this year is the year you started to transition into multi-family, yes. And why did you decide to start transitioning? Because this year is the year you started to transition into multifamily, yes. And why did you decide to transition into multifamily?
Zasha Smith:Okay now I remember Sorry guys.
Zasha Smith:So when you're flipping anything, you put in a lot of time and effort that you would to something that you would keep long-term as well, but then it's gone, and then now you're left with paying these short term capital gains tax, and for me, every project that I get into I put in so much work and time that, to see it just kind of go, it was, you can even get that money back if you pull out the money through a HELOC or a cash out refinance, so you can still get that money back in a different way.
Zasha Smith:So I think that's the mindset or mindset shift that I had was like, oh, I don't have to sell it to make this money, right, and so now going into these larger multifamilies, it takes less time to be in these projects, and then you get more equity, long term depreciation, just other aspects of it that I want my life to look like. I want to be more of a passive investor instead of so active in projects, and so that's why I think partnerships are so ideal, and for me, if I'm near a project, I'm going to go to it.
Zasha Smith:So, now, most of my majority of my projects are out of state, because I don't want to be able to go there, because then I want to, you know, have a handle on it.
Tyler Deveraux:Yeah, yeah, you like to control it? Yes, yeah, very much the same way. The move to Maui to me was, uh, it was deeper than I ever realized. Moving here, like the impact it had to be able to remove myself. Still like work on the business, just not in the business, right. Not going to the properties all the stinking time because we live out here on a rock, right.
Zasha Smith:Well, and then, so that first project, so that first condo even though it was tiny, it was definitely one that I put a lot more effort into than I needed. I was driving like trucks to the dump. I was like there, running to Lowe's on my lunch break and delivering materials. I thought, oh my gosh, this is going to, like you know, make them move faster because I'm going to be around and like in it with them. But, yeah, no, I didn't.
Tyler Deveraux:But you know what. So many times we gain this confidence that we have, we well, not just some of the time. I believe the true way to gain confidence is through experiences. And now I want to avoid as many challenges as possible, right and scale and expedite the process. But I look at those, those challenges at that point for you like those sacrifices, like dude during your lunch break going to get these things done. And yes, is it great to delegate and bring in other team members and partners? Absolutely. But there are still things that you have to sacrifice and I know you know that. But how many people aren't willing to sacrifice that because they're not for sure that there's going to be a return from that Right?
Tyler Deveraux:It's crazy to me, which is why I love that you do that. But I also want to hone in on one thing, because the multifamily side and the investing side, and the long-term versus short-term. So many investors like then you talk about your HELOC, right, cash out of HELOC, you put that money to work, okay? Well, when you cash out of HELOC, you put that money to work and on a short-term flip, then you give that money back to your investors plus their returns. How do they feel about that?
Zasha Smith:Well, they definitely so if it's somebody else taking out a HELOC and then they get that money back, they just don't know sometimes what to do with it.
Zasha Smith:So, they ended up spending it. Or I've had, you know, private lenders where I'm like, hey, we have this other project coming up if you want to lend. They're like, oh shoot, I just spent 50 grand on this and this. I was like how did you do that in like less than a month, you know. So I think people's financial education or financial background too, has a play in how they are reinvesting their money. Because it's good to invest one time, right, you get a taste of it, you see what the return is. But then to do that consistently and think of it more like a savings, that's like accruing and almost like your retirement Right, it's there and set on the side, it's not when you get this money back, you're making a lot of money. It's money that you've probably never seen before because you're leveraging equity in your home, so you never had that before. But still yet, knowing how to manage it, I think, is key for a lot. It's literally one of the things that I'm most grateful for.
Tyler Deveraux:I'll tell you how I was able to scale so quickly is I didn't. I did not take. I live a very simple life Like I would for a very long time. Like any money that I would make from it, I would reinvest it back in. So you know, somebody would exit a deal, one of my multifamily deals that I passively invested in, or one of my deals that I passively invested in exit, get a good chunk.
Tyler Deveraux:I I never do just took that and went and bought a home or a car or like all back in, dumped everything back in, dumped everything back in, and I still dump the far majority back in, especially my equity gains, like I live off cashflow and I take all the equity gains and put them back in any acquisition fee. I put it back in why? Because it's like you said, it's literally how I view it this savings account, this retirement growing, these equity pieces, growing that if something happens in my life I need to cash out to grab that. I look at these like these checks hanging up here, right that I can cash that out to pay for medical care or pay for something if it comes up, right. But really I don't ever plan on tapping into those things. I want that to continue to grow and to grow and to grow and then, you know, continue to just spin off cashflow.
Zasha Smith:When I think we're the same in that aspect as well, is that it's. You know, I still live the same kind of way that I did before. People are like, oh my gosh, you're a millionaire now. I'm like, yeah, but nothing has really changed. I didn't even realize it. So I you know, I like to tell this funny story is um, one of my friends, hey, are you a millionaire? Yet? I was like I have no, what does? I don't have a million dollars in the bank. And he was like, hello, nobody does. Like you got your assets and your liabilities and I just keep so. For me, I just think of progression, is like okay, what's the next step, what's the next step? And I don't even take time to really celebrate my win. So I just started doing that. This year is really taking. I have a bookkeeper, I have a CPA. They do their thing, I trust them.
Zasha Smith:So when I took a look at my assets and liabilities, I was like, oh my gosh like, I am a millionaire you know, Right, but I don't feel differently and I don't feel like it really affects your morals or integrity, or it doesn't have to change who you are Right and you don't all of a sudden have to start driving a Tesla to prove anything to yourself. I still shop at Ross to start driving a Tesla, to prove anything to yourself.
Tyler Deveraux:I still shop at Ross. Like I love Ross, so does my wife Right.
Zasha Smith:So I think a lot of people have this misperception of like millionaire and you have all this money. But if you're constantly investing or you have the right background on finances and how it works and how investments work, then you know that you should be. When I was first starting to invest, or saving money to invest, even for our first home, I would set aside 50% of my income which is extreme for some people and then set that aside as savings in order to buy our first home. So it's already used to that mindset of okay, let's just live on half of what we could do and then use the rest to invest and so that's. I think, is like how you said.
Zasha Smith:Not a lot of people are willing to give up things, and we were always. You know, we shop at Costco, we go to Ross, we I drove my vehicle until the transmission went out, right, and then I got a new one. But it's just little things like that that will help you in the end, make most use of your money and then, knowing now investments, you can grow your money without it doing anything. You leave it in your savings. It's basically losing money to inflation.
Zasha Smith:But, if you invest it, at least you can try to keep up or make a little bit more in return.
Tyler Deveraux:That's exactly it.
Tyler Deveraux:I mean, and everyone out there listening obviously we are both active investors on multifamily projects but we are also both passive investors on these projects and everyone out there listening, I know this man. We have a bunch of people out here who are, who maybe they're not active investors, but they hear us talk about multifamily. They hear us talk about passive investing. They hear, but they don't make the steps to passively invest. That is the game changer. Like that's a game changer. It's in your account. Your number one goal, first off, is to just beat inflation and I promise you right now if it's in a bank account, it ain't beating inflation. Like you need to pull those things out, especially in the markets that we're in right now, and invest into hard assets like multifamily and tax benefits, depreciation, like you mentioned, cashflow, equity, all that kind of stuff.
Zasha Smith:Well, and for me. I left my job in 2020 and I had a 401k there and it was $107,000. I remember it Cause I was like, okay, what do I do with it? I wasn't really sure. I just left it there. I was like, okay, it'll be like a savings account, it'll just stay there and whenever I'm ready to decide what I'm going to do with it, I can. I just checked it a couple of weeks ago it's down to $81,000.
Zasha Smith:I was like I like by leaving it there, I lost over $10,000 a year and I know I can make it work way better for me. So I am going to, you know, roll it over into a self-directed IRA and then, you know, invest it from there. But I know I know how to do more with my money than a bank could. Or you know the stock market, and so that's what I tell people, too is like I not only am an active investor, like I have flips, I do my own rentals on my own, I do multifamily, but I also lend out on other people's projects and invest in other syndications, just because I want to diversify. So not having all your eggs in one bucket, I think, is something else to think about as well.
Tyler Deveraux:Definitely agree. You know we talk about this. This trend that I see in your life is that you're just continually looking and you even just said it this progression, what's next, what's next? Is there so many people that would get to this point where you're at, or even before you start to transition, or look at different things you know and just be comfortable? People who make a hundred grand on a flip and they're like I'm rich At that point, they go buy a car, they go buy a new home, they go buy whatever the hell they buy. Or you just stay progression strategic towards the goals that you have, but you have to have those goals and what you're looking to achieve, right.
Zasha Smith:And have supportive people around you. So my mom definitely supports what I do and my husband, so I think with their support, I am able to get into these bigger projects and really, you know, make the max use of my money. If you're not around those supportive people and even in mentorships, right, they encourage me. Okay, this is normal, because if you talk to any, you know I talked to some of my friends and other people and they're like it's so risky and it's like not really, but you have to keep surrounding yourself by supportive people and the right people that are either doing what you're doing or even at a higher level than you, so that you can stay motivated.
Tyler Deveraux:Always, always, surround yourself with people that are higher level, so that they can continue to pull you up and teach you different things right.
Tyler Deveraux:I totally agree with that. I had an IRA when I started this, this business like the, the multifamily space, and I actually cashed out my IRA to. That's how I paid for my first mentorship program is. I cashed it out and do you have a shit? I got for that. You're going to pay a penalty. You're going to pay a fee. There's taxes. I promise you right now what that has resulted to. Obviously, there's no chance in hell that my IRA would ever get me to where I'm at now like zero chance.
Tyler Deveraux:So what's more risky staying stuck in a spot or actually investing in yourself? Investing in yourself is the best investment you can make, period. So I want to talk about this transition, too, because you start to transition, you start to grow, um, not just your real estate portfolio, but your influence. Like you have amassed a massive, awesome social media following, and you said that's over the past year. So I was talking to um, well, tell me about how you've done that first. Tell me how you've done that. How did you, what made you decide to scale your, your social platform, and how did you go about doing that?
Zasha Smith:So Ryan Pena has always been all about leveraging, however you, however you can, anything that you can in life, and so once he found out, okay, he was being reached out to people that had money or deals through social media. So once he found out about that, we had this big meeting. He was like, look, everybody, grow your social media. Deals and money will come to you and that's exactly what's come to me and more opportunities as far as even working with other companies for referral fees or affiliate fees, and just being mindful that you always want to diversify even your sources of income streams, and so that definitely was the motivation behind growing that. And so the end of last year, you know, I started putting out more videos and it was like dancing ones and you know going with the trends.
Zasha Smith:I mean like, oh my gosh, what am I doing?
Zasha Smith:But honestly, it was just a real life connection.
Zasha Smith:So I was constantly commenting or messaging, like people like Brandon Turner, who were people I wanted to be around, brittany Anderson, investor Girl Brit, and a bunch of other higher level investors that I wanted to see how I could add value to, and reposting their things. And so, as that grew and then I became more open to sharing, because a lot of people you know they're scared like, oh, I don't want them to know this much about my life, but, in all honesty, like they're going to find out, and so the more you put yourself out there, yes, it leaves you open to more criticism, but there's more good that has come from it than bad, and so you just kind of ignore, just like anything else in life, when people aren't doing the same things or in the same realm as you as far as what they're looking to achieve, then you don't really pay attention to them. Right, they might have their concerns or say things, but you just pay attention to the good things that come out of it. Connections, right? I was just on the BiggerPockets podcast show 668.
Zasha Smith:You haven't listened yet, but it was through the connection that I made with Brandon, even though we both live on Maui, it was like we were. He was one time looking for rock, lava rocks or something for his wall, and so I was like, hey, here's my uncle's contact, contact him and just trying to add value to people who I wanted to be around that way, and so that grew my social influence, sharing my story, of course, from you know zero to now a millionaire, and just really just inspiring people, educating them and showing them that they could do it too. And even though it's it's only been three years, it's feel like it's been way longer than that. But I keep telling people it's like you can get stuck in that analysis part, but once you break out of that like, this is the possibilities nowhere near where, um, I could be, but always leveling up, and it might seem slow for some people or some people it might not happen that fast, but don't be discouraged by that.
Zasha Smith:You know I'm a very avid, you know, once I get something in my mind and I make calculated risks. So this is the thing is people are like, oh, that's so risky as it. It's a calculated risk, though, of course, with any kind of even syndications or bigger projects, there is a risk to it not going the way that you think it's going to go. However, if you have that money set aside, you're not even going to use it really for your you're not even considering it as your income, right, like you said, you just set it aside and this is for investing. You're comfortable with that and then from there you just progress. But it's that belief and confidence in yourself and where you want to go, what you want to do with it, that really drives you to that next level.
Tyler Deveraux:That's exactly it. There's so much to just unpack from what you just said there. I absolutely love that. It's just putting yourself out there and understanding that there is a bigger picture that you're looking towards. I have lost more money than most people have probably even made in their lifetime, and that sounds like that's not a very good flex. But here's the thing Right, I swear my life it's this blip because of we're continually taking steps. And then what do you do when you lose? You fill it. You feel a loss way more and learn from a loss way more than you learn from gains. Right, so you lose something and you're like I'm never making that mistake again.
Tyler Deveraux:And so these years of trials and these years of challenges, these years of mistakes, you know, all of a sudden put you in this position. You're like man I, I can. When you do something that you don't, that you at one point didn't think was possible, it opens up to like literally well, anything's possible.
Zasha Smith:Like literally, anything is possible, yes, and that mindset is powerful, yeah well, and then that's what I tell people too is like, the more you put it out there like now I have over a hundred thousand followers the more that I tell people hey, this is what I'm looking to get into, these are my goals and people are like oh my gosh, I have a deal right now, or I investment if you want it, so more things will come to you. If people know about it, right, if they don't even know that you're an investor, you have, you know nothing to put out there to people, then how can they help you? Right?
Tyler Deveraux:You know what? I just learned something from you right there, because you talked about. You just said the goal you're putting your goals out there. And if you put your goals out there, some people and I don't I've just never thought of doing it like that but, you put your goals out there, what you're looking to achieve, what you're looking to do, what you're working on, people will come out of the woodworks to show you ways or help you do that. I love that.
Zasha Smith:Well, and so I had posted a tweet on my Instagram as well. But it said like, my goal for this fourth quarter was to get an RV park under contract or a 20 unit building with one other partner, because I wanted a little bit more equity. And this lady had reached out to me and she's like hey, I have so many Airbnbs in this area. I was driving past this RV park and it's a really good deal, but I never thought about it. And then I see in your post and wanted to reach out and see if we can partner and make it work. And I was like yes, let's do it. That's how you did your RV park. Yes, that's literally how I did it. That's so awesome.
Tyler Deveraux:That is an actionable for every single person that's listening to this. I love that, putting yourself out there and just watch it happen. But, why are people nervous to do that? Well, cause, then they're accountable to it. Right, they tell people what they're. But literally they're nervous to tell people what they're working on. Cause what if it doesn't happen? But by telling people what you're working on, it will make it happen, right? Yes, so it was from. It was funny cause I was talking to Alex Abara. He's here on Island too.
Tyler Deveraux:Yes, yeah, because he was telling me he's like man, it's crazy man. I was going to these you know different flips and these you know meetups with Zosia, and she had you know a couple, a couple thousand followers, whatever. And then I, the next thing, I know, I open up her, you know IG, and she has a hundred thousand followers. I'm like what? Like she's freaking, crushing you know, which is awesome. Yeah, I love that. So my question that we just kind of want to wrap this up and end on this is just the mindset that you've had to have throughout the life to get you to where you're at. Like, is there? How does mind? How is mindset? I'm just kind of an open ended, like very broad question, but like, how has mindset impacted your journey?
Zasha Smith:Definitely unlocked a lot of things that I never knew was possible. So for me it was always like, okay, graduate from high school, then get a degree, move home and then like you're done right, then you start saving and then you retire. So I never really thought of doing anything more than that, but it wasn't until, you know, I hit a wall as far as wanting something different for my life so working 60 to 70, wanting something different for my life, so working 60 to 70 hours and then seeing my boss even working more than me, I was like that's gonna be my life, like I don't want that to be my life. And so I think you figuring out, okay, what do I want to do next or why, why do I want to change? Because a lot of people feel that pulling them, like I want something different but I just don't know what. And so just asking those questions, looking that up and then surrounding yourself by people that are doing what you want to do, and so that I didn't know about, like, the value of mentorships and about joining masterminds and going to events.
Zasha Smith:I was a civil engineer for 10 years. I sat behind my desk, you know. We had VAs and everything was on the computer, even with our contractors, right, we'd send out emails because we needed to document everything, but at the same time, it just didn't. I didn't put myself out there until I needed a change. So figure out what one is. Figure out what you want to change. Two, put yourself around those other people that are doing it and then, three, figure out what else you need to finally take that leap. So for me, it was joining a mentorship, being around other high level investors and then figuring out OK, I don't necessarily right now have a particular asset class that I want to jump all into. Of course, multifamily is great, but I like the flexibility, so I want to be a capital raiser moving forward. I want to start a fund. That way, I can still be in different sorts of projects. So now we're in apartment buildings, I'm getting into RV parks, I want to get into a hotel, like for me, that's exciting to me.
Zasha Smith:Yeah, you can do, you know, focus on one asset class and go very far as well, but figure out what strategy or what excites you and then definitely put yourself around those people, because I think, um, during 2020, when the world shut down, I just quit my job, so I was like, oh great, well, this is how we start. And, um, I remember at mid 2020, steve rosenberg had start started a mentorship called the think tank mastermind, and so I connected with him. He set forth like all these challenges and things for us to do and just going through that process and having like at that time it was free, now you have to pay for it. But I was like, okay, this is why people pay for mentorships is because they have that person behind them that is pushing them. And then, of course, ryan Pineda is like you can do it, I'm doing it, like I'm literally showing you the way. All you got to do is take action and do these steps. So I think that was the biggest thing is just confidence and belief in yourself.
Tyler Deveraux:Huge, absolutely huge, and that confidence and belief in yourself continues to grow as you just take the action steps, as you just. That's, that's literally what gets you those experiences, get you that confidence.
Zasha Smith:Right. And if you don't have it for yourself, go and partner with somebody, partner with an experienced investor to get that. And that's what I do a lot of now is not necessarily partnering with newbies who are like fresh out the gate, but they might have bought some rentals and now want to get into flipping or now want to get into multifamily. They just don't know how. Or, like my latest partnership is, they have all these Airbnbs but don't know about RV parks and it's, you know, a million dollar raise for a three and a half million dollar project which is kind of smaller than you know you would syndicate for. But essentially me just partnering with her gives her the boost to OK, now we can do this. Right, we have somebody, and I like to partner because you split roles and responsibilities, as well as the risk and overall for the project, you have somebody else to go over things with, because sometimes it does get a lot for one person.
Tyler Deveraux:Totally does. One of the actionables that I think everyone should take is you looked at your boss, right, and you looked at your boss and you said man, he, she, whoever that was, was working more hours than you were working. That's not the life I want. That in and of itself, is this actionable that you take. You look at where you're progressing, to the track you're on. Is that really what you want? And if not, then what do you want?
Tyler Deveraux:Like when I went to my very first multifamily class and I looked at the gentleman teaching the class and I looked at the quality of life, the time and the partnerships is partnerships. I'd been doing a couple of flips at some single family rentals, some wholesales, but I was doing all of it and it's like to carry that whole burden, was taxing, you know. So I looked at this. I'm like hold on, man, Now there's enough profit on these deals to actually justify multiple partners. And I started seeing how this is structured and see and I was like this is what I want is literally what I want. Like I wanted cashflow. For me, Time with family is massive. That's driven me for as long as I can even begin to tell you because of my, my background and how I grew up. But when I saw, I saw, I saw. I saw him, I saw his quality of life.
Tyler Deveraux:I was like yep, that's it, that's what I want. And that has continued to escalate, as, as you've grown, you continue to scale and you see different people at different stages. That's why it's so important to look to the future of like okay, identify somebody that's in the position that you would like to be, that you can semi relate to, and then do what they're doing. It's literally that simple do what they're doing and actually have the belief that you can do those things, yeah, and like I said, not everybody starts like that.
Zasha Smith:So even you know the place that me and tyler are at. We didn't get here by okay. We just did these steps, we took this action. It also it's a mental game right because you, if there's daily struggles and daily things that we go through, whether it it's family, business, you know outside life and you just got to maintain that goal. It's like why am I doing this? You know, keep that why in mind and that will get you through the hard times.
Tyler Deveraux:A hundred percent. My question is do you share that stuff on social, the things that are challenging and hard? Do you share that?
Zasha Smith:Yes, so mostly on my stories, and I'm still trying to figure out a way to share it and not, you know, um, steer away people from investing, cause that is something else too, right. It's like oh see, this is why I'm not investing, because I don't want to go through this stuff, but there are, uh, I like to share both sides of it because it's just the reality of what it is, and so, even for me, I have my individual rentals that I self-manage and it doesn't take that much time, but it's still the toilets, tenants and whatever they say. It's like I'm still dealing with the tenants directly. However, I like that part of it because it keeps me grounded when I get to see what they go through, and a lot of my rentals are people with Section 8 or on rental assistance, and so it reminds me okay, be humble, keep your feet on the ground, but also progress, because these are the people. I can't help anybody unless I first help myself and bring myself up to where I want to be.
Tyler Deveraux:I can't help anybody unless I first help myself.
Zasha Smith:I love that man.
Tyler Deveraux:So our investment company, mf Capital Partners, our tagline, our motto, what we want to do is invest with it. We call it invest with loha you. You call it impact investing, or making an impact, investing with an impact section eight tenants impact on your investors, impact on these, all these people that you're helping throughout. And you cannot do that unless you grow yourself Right.
Tyler Deveraux:So it's so important to share both sides and I'll be honest with you. I say that, but we're so similar, by the way, because I love how your mind goes to, because this is absolutely where my mind goes to, I'm nervous to share this Cause. I don't want, I don't want it to impact anybody in a negative light, like I, we, I know and I know you know just from what you just said that, like I know the, I know you know just from what you just said that I know the impact we can have good or bad and I know that if I send the message the right way, it's game over for that person, the best way, their belief will be enhanced. But if I do something that impacts their belief in a negative light, well, that would break my fucking heart.
Tyler Deveraux:Because, that's literally the whole reason that I do all of this is to enhance belief. Enhance belief so that we can invest in LOHA and actually make an impact.
Zasha Smith:And so we're very similar that way, you know, but I need to share more of it. Yeah, and I think people don't realize the good that can be done with investing is. A lot of times we are especially when you're still growing, and on the smaller scale as far as flips, right. A lot of people locally even for me growing up, had a hard time affording living here. But I tell people okay, when I do you know my flips or renovate a home that maybe nobody could even wasn't even livable, then now I'm creating this new place for somebody to live.
Zasha Smith:I don't always pick the highest offer. I most of the time go with a local family or somebody who's going to be there offer. I most of the time go with a local family or somebody who's going to be there. I take into consideration the you know community itself and the neighbors. Oftentimes, oh, can you put somebody in that's going to be here longer term? That adds value to the community. I think about those things as well, and so that's one way that you can give back. It doesn't always work out, but when it does work out, where you can choose somebody that you maybe it is a first-time home buyer or is really trying to make it happen with their family, and isn't the highest price you now? You have the choice, you have ownership. You own this project, so you can choose who you want to sell it to I love that.
Tyler Deveraux:I love that that is something that you take into consideration. Like so many people will just be on the sidelines and be like man. This is the problem, this is the you know you're going to raise rents here, you're going to charge more for this here, but they don't control anything. You actually control your ability to make an impact by putting yourself in that position. I love that your mind goes that way, like tells me a ton about your heart. Like you have a great heart. I love that and I believe that's an indirect return. Right, we have direct returns selling it for top dollar and then we have these indirect returns, and those indirect returns will get you farther than any direct returns ever will get you. I believe that, to my core, that's an abundant mindset to know that this is actually going to impact me in another way. It's another way that maybe we don't even recognize down the road right, right it me in another way.
Zasha Smith:It's another way that maybe we don't even recognize down the road.
Zasha Smith:Right, right, it's powerful when all the all the contacts you make along the way the escrow officers, the agents you know, even the buyers they will then spread that news about you or be able to, you know, shed a different light about the type of investor you are and that'll open up to more opportunities from there. And that's how I get a lot of my business from relationships from other people referring me. Hey, I have this person, you know, family member, in need, and this is what you know, what they're going through. And so I'm like okay, well, I have all these connections in the real estate community. Or have they, you know, thought about refinancing their home? Have they tried to take out a personal loan? Talk to other family members, can be there to help, you know, guide that conversation, and then I'll be kind of the last one to work with. But, especially living in a small community, you want to make sure that they've explored all their other avenues. And you're actually doing it for the right reasons, not oh.
Zasha Smith:I have this cash offer that you know you could take. It's like, hey, we can help you do all these other things. And then, if it's like, hey, we can help you do all this other things, and then if it's the right fit, then you know we can work with you too.
Tyler Deveraux:Yes, that's awesome. That like that's, that's so great and that's what excites you. You know everybody needs one. That's one of the things you mentioned is that you look for something that excites you and that's it like that. If different people are motivated by different things, like but find out what that is and put yourself in a position to actually control that situation.
Tyler Deveraux:You're awesome, thank you so much for taking the time to come in office. By the way, my chair is so squeaky it is driving me nuts, and those of you who watch it on YouTube, you know that I usually sit there, but for some reason today I decided to sit here. I'm not.
Zasha Smith:I'm not a fan of this. It's different. My knees are hitting. Putting'm putting you in an uncomfortable position. Jeez man, get comfortable being uncomfortable, that's it.
Tyler Deveraux:Okay, I want to end with. So, first off, before I even get into this, you know the Hawaiian value is all y'all need to go share this episode. Yeah, where can people follow you or find you, by the way?
Zasha Smith:So on Instagram, invest at investwithzasha and then also my website, zashasmithcom. Um. On my instagram, even though I have a lot of followers, I still check majority of the messages that come through that you know have a legit question or if you are on maui and wanting to know more, you know and be around an experienced investor. I'm always willing to help people in that. And then we also have a meetup coming up. We do have monthly meetups, but if you watch this before november 21st monday, that's when we're having a meetup at my brain company five to seven if you'll be on maui I love it, dude.
Tyler Deveraux:I love that. Okay, we'll put all those links in that in the show notes for sure. Perfect, I wanted to end with a hawaii. We always end with the hawaiian value. Okay, and the hawaiian value I end. I wanted to end i I had no idea what direction this episode was going to go. I didn't, but I'm so glad I chose this one, which is Imiola. Do you know what that means? No, it means seek the best. So Imi means to search or to hunt, and then Ola means life, health, well-being. And Zasha, that's literally what you've done. Imiola is all about searching and creating our best life and just hearing your journey and what you've done, that's literally what you've done at every single stage, like, you've used your skills and you've learned. You know the skills that you had, and then you've searched out new skills right. Then you took advantage of opportunities and when you come against challenges, you search out solutions to those challenges, and I believe that's how we seek the best life is to really seek out solutions to overcome challenges and grow ourselves, but because by doing that we put our cameras camera, camera down.
Tyler Deveraux:We used to have a camera go south on us. By doing that, we put ourselves in a position to bless our lives, certainly, but also the lives of others, and you're an inspiration man, you're amazing. So, emiola, seek the best life.
Zasha Smith:Thank you.
Tyler Deveraux:Any last things that you would like to say before we wrap this one up?
Zasha Smith:I mean my overall mission and my overall message that I always like to leave people with is that you can build wealth while making an impact. However much money you make doesn't need to change who you are. It only, um, it only like amplifies. Yeah, Only amplifies how much more you can give back and how much more you can put into things that you already believe in. And so that's yeah, you can be a small local Island girl from Maui and still make it.
Tyler Deveraux:Oh man, Absolutely Rockstar. I'm so glad we were able to connect. Thank you for taking the time to come in. All y'all out there who are listening to this share the episode, follow Zasha, connect with her and live always with loha Peace.