Vlad Kats: 10 Streams Of Income Is Great, Yet Don't Spread Yourself Too Thin
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Prior to starting a career in real estate and short sale services, Vlad was an Economist with a Federal Government Agency, Small Business Consultant, and an Entrepreneur. Vlad Kats started his real estate business with short sales in 2006 by forming the Atlas Home Group. After that he became Team Leader and eventually General Manager of a few real estate franchises. By his third year, he had over 400 agents, 3000 transactions, making over $1M in profit. Later on, he continued his growth by joining one of the top real estate expansion teams in the United States and increased its' profitability by over 400% in one year. Now he spends his time helping other agents achieve their freedom goals. His goal is to make 80k per month passively so that he and his family can travel the world 6 months at a time and live like kings & queens. Vlad is happily married, raising three kids, traveling, and contributing more than 10 hours per week to causes important to him.
In this episode, hosted by Mike Swenson, we discussed:
- How his career got started in real estate short sales, flipping houses, and his background prior to that
- How people are in business to achieve a certain level of freedom and how he's fascinated in seeing what entrepreneurs do
- For Vlad, freedom means you can do anything, anytime, with anyone, without regard for financials
- Freedom for Vlad and his wife is the ability to live anywhere in the world for six months very comfortably
- While he has 10 streams of income coming in, he cautions others to make sure they aren't chasing shiny objects just to have a lot of different income streams
- Invest the assets that you have
- Focusing on growing his current organization and relearning the financial management component of our lives
- He believes that you grow into the conversation people have around you
- Do not underestimate the power of compounding growth
Timestamps: If You Want To Jump Ahead To Your Favorite Part
0:00 - Intro and overview on Vlad’s career
5:43 – What Vlad’s future looks like
11:00 – What is a freedom number?
13:50 - Vlad's streams of income
24:44 – How he gaps where he is today and where he wants to go
32:20 – Advice from Vlad
Links Based On This Episode:
VlaKats.com: https://www.vladkats.com/
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Full transcript here:
Mike Swenson
All right, welcome everybody to real freedom. And we've got another real freedom story to share. Today, we've got Vlad Katz here. And he's going to talk about his journey towards financial freedom and really share with you a lot about how he thinks about how he's spending his time what he's spending his time on and, and what he's doing with his money too. So, Vlad, welcome and if you want to just start by sharing a little bit about your background for those folks that don't know you, so they can understand more about who you are.
Vlad Kats
Yeah, Mike, of course, thank you so much for having me here. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my story with your listeners, like really excited to be here. So thanks, brother. So a little bit about me born and raised in the former Soviet Union, my parents, myself, my sister, immigrated here to the United States in 1991. You know, I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, went to school down in Southern Maryland, a little school called St. Mary's College majoring in economics got, like, the best job that I thought I could have after college, like in college, Mike, I wanted to save the world.
Vlad Kats
I was one of those people. I'm like, dude, I'm really like, make a difference. So I want the job and like the biggest organization possible, that deals with like, international Econ, etc. And of course, I got it. It was the United States government. I did foreign labor relations. I was an economist for the Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, did some really cool stuff, met some really cool people traveled around the world, etc.
Vlad Kats
Then I got really, I don't know about you, or your listeners that I got, like, really bored after about five years. So like, my life sometimes goes in these like five year cycles. And it's, um, I got really bored. And I said, Okay, what am I going to do with my life? Because I like I saw that I was just not making no difference. Does that make any difference? So I enrolled in Business School, University of Maryland, got my MBA came out. A buddy of mine was starting a technology company at that time.
Vlad Kats
Globalization was like, all over the place. And you know, we had some connections back in the former Soviet Union. And so we started a software out software development outsourcing company by the power pack, did that for a little bit, then the real estate boom came in, and I jumped full in into the real estate market after I sold out my interest in the United our tech, and started flipping houses in the west side of Baltimore. You know, it was looking back at it, it was kind of a blast.
Vlad Kats
The market was hot. Yeah, I mean, we created the system. My my partner's, you know, create a system and we were just, you know, we're just buying rehabbing selling by rehabbing selling and of course, market crashed. I got my real estate license right before that, just like I'm sure most real estate agents are many real estate agents to cut out the middleman. Yeah, man, the market turning in 2006 2007 was, was something and it happened right before my eyes, and I didn't even see it coming.
Vlad Kats
And adjusted very quickly got into distress sales, started a short sale processing company built a short sale sales team, or number one short sale, short sale team in the state of Maryland, doing well over 100 short sales, each and every year, then, you know, a little company called Keller Williams came into town. And they, they you know, they started recording me. And I realized that, you know, my leadership needed to go to the next level in order for me to grow, I realized that I wanted to be a part of something bigger, something better.
Vlad Kats
And so I was a part of the core group that launched Keller Williams legacy in pikesville, Maryland, right outside of Baltimore. And then few months after our launch, I already what we would call seventh level, my team at that point. So I was again, kind of bored. And I said, You know what? Team leader is the role. It has the word team, and it has the word leader in it.
Vlad Kats
How can you go wrong with that man? Right. So I stepped into that role and, you know, built a recruiting team recruiting machine, the retaining machine. I mean, we did some really cool stuff. One of the things was we took, we took that market center from about 50 agents to 400. In less than three years, legacy became the fastest growing real estate office in the KW system. It became number one real estate office in the entire state of Maryland. Within three years of opening doors. I mean, we were profitable.
Vlad Kats
We in KW, we took the number one profit share, we got awarded them we're one profit share market center and a growth category. I mean, we were just having a blast, I was surrounded by really great people, then, you know, businesses grow and we opened up another office and then bought a third. And then, you know, became a general manager then stepped into an expansion world became a partner, an expansion company, turn the company into a really profitable one. And then for the last what, like, almost the, since the beginning of 2020, roughly, I've been here at ESP realty doing very similar things and helping people grow.
Mike Swenson
Okay, so Vlad. So then as you think about your future, because I know you're really wired to think about, you know, financial freedom, more, more so than others. So as you think about financial freedom for you and your family, what does that look like for you? What is describe that to me? What kind of that that that future plan looks like for you?
Vlad Kats
Yeah, thanks for that, Mike, when when I think about freedom, it's like, you know, and keep in mind as a as a, as a former team leader, in a previous company, you know, I met with a lot of real estate professionals. And one of the things I didn't say in my quote, unquote, bio, is that one of the first companies I ever started was a small business consulting business, small business consulting company. And so I've always been fascinated with what gets people to do things. And specifically, like when it comes to this conversation of freedom, like, I bet that if you ask any small business owner, or real estate professional, right, which are also small business owners, like why do you do this?
Vlad Kats
Like, why do you work? Why are you real estate? Why are you and fill in the blank? Sooner or later? The reason? And you keep asking, like, why is that important? Why is it important? Why is it important? Sooner or later, they will say, Well, I want freedom. So my assertion, Mike, is that the reason we are in business now on this planet, but the reason we're in business is to achieve a certain level of freedom. Now, the really interesting thing that happens is that most of us collapse freedom with flexibility, okay? So be being able to take a two week vacation, okay? Because you have a, you have a big team, or you can just tell your clients to wait. That's flexibility.
Vlad Kats
When I talk about freedom. For me, freedom means ability to do anything, at any time with anyone without any regard for financials. Okay, like without any regard to that, that's what freedom means to meet when it comes to the business space. So then how do we get to that level of freedom? Well, if you read Robert Kiyosaki his work, specifically the cashflow quadrant, the freedom that I just described, and by the way, I recommend everybody define for themselves what freedom means to you. Okay, just don't take my definition, like, have an argument with yourself, have an argument with your spouse or a conversation with your spouse, and figure out what freedom means to you.
Vlad Kats
Okay, so if you read a Kiyosaki his work, he asserts that the the only true freedom comes from being in the investor quadrant, when it comes to the Cash Flow Quadrant. But then for me, it becomes Okay, how do I get into the investor quadrant? Okay, and then freedom for me, is tied to a number. It's not some Pollyanna thing. Yep. You know, when people talk about freedom, and, and they're like, Well, what does that mean to you? It's like, Oh, this and this, this is, what do you need to get there? I don't know, man, but I'm like, you know, it's gonna be like that. It's gonna be like, amazing. Yeah, but what does that actually look like in reality?
Mike Swenson
Yeah. Well, I think a lot of people don't want to figure it out, because they realize it's probably harder more than what they think, you know. And, you know, I had read recently where they talk about, you know, okay, so let's say you retire for for 20 years. And let's say it's you and a spouse or significant other whatever, for 20 years. If you factor $7 per meal for 20 years, that's over $300,000, just to eat, you know. And so I think a lot of times people have this idea of freedom, or, you know, the future and they don't want to fork, they don't want to flesh out a plan because they're probably a little bit scared of what that actually means.
Mike Swenson
Like they're going to come up really short. And the problem is, you might as well find out now that you're short, then to find out 20 years from now. You're short, and you can't spend $7 on a meal, you got to spend it on ramen. Because you short, so yes, it's actually putting that plan in place so that you know the number that you need to hit. It's probably a little bit humbling and a little bit sobering to think about that. And yet, now you've got a plan. So you know, you're not just going to get to your end of your life and realize, oh, shoot, I came up short.
Vlad Kats
So yeah, it used to be that ignorance was bliss. I think that now generalization is bliss. So people love generalizing stuff, rather than being real specific. So I know that you and me have been involved in a conversation, right? That, you know, the conversation, we have freedom, Fridays, on freedom, Fridays, on Fridays that we call freedom Fridays, is is actually about specific specificity when it comes to freedom. So I encourage everyone to have what I call their freedom number. Okay, it is the number and if that's alright, with you, I'd like to go into what it actually is a freedom number.
Vlad Kats
So oftentimes, it and I can relate to this early on. And I'm sure that, you know, those of you who are listening or watching can relate to this. When we, when we think of freedom, we actually think of like, income, or maybe even passive income, I encourage everyone to think when you when you talk about freedom numbers is actually cash flow. Is because you pay for your life with cash, and it has to flow in order for you to pay for your life. So once you define what does a life of freedom look like, for me and my wife, it's actually really simple. When Kristen and I sat down and did this a couple of years ago, here's what came out. It was like, Mike, it was, it was like it occurred is too simple.
Vlad Kats
Here's what freedom looks like for my wife and I in reality, its ability to live anywhere in the world for six months at a time, like a king and the queen. Okay, so we envision ourselves like living in Sicily, like living not visiting in Sicily for six months, then somebody packs us up and we go to San Diego, then from San Diego, we go to Nova Scotia, from Nova Scotia, Iceland, whatever, like that six months at a time, and being totally finding it like the zero debt. And our girls, we have three girls, three young girls, the oldest is 11. their financial, excuse me, their education being fully taken care of. Okay, like, That's simple. So I actually went in and I crunched some numbers.
Vlad Kats
I calculated for us, oh, and then have the ability to type at least $100,000 at any given time. So we have to have a nice, or a provides a charity at any given time. Okay. And so I calculated that for us, that number is just under $80,000 a month. Like, that's it? Yep. Whatever that's it means. Yeah, just take it. And I just round it up. And I'm saying, you know, it's a million a year, but team out there just below that, that said, you know, we'll just we'll just round it up. So then that number is rooted in some specific specificity, rather than some kind of generalization that typically is, you know, that's dominant in this world. Does that? Does that help? Does that answer?
Mike Swenson
Yeah. So then let's walk back, because that's great to kind of see the endpoint. So you know, looking at where you're at today, talk through some of the streams of income you have, and I know that you have a lot and I know that you want to share too about kind of the logic behind some of those streams of income, but kind of walk us through some of those more significant ones and what that looks like and, and kind of your, your logic behind where it's going and how you plan to grow that in the future.
Vlad Kats
So you know, the way that I sit here right now, Mike, is I have 10 different streams of income that are coming in. Okay. Now, the majority of that is, you know, used to be from a business that that I kind of don't own anymore, but that's a complicated thing. Okay. And, and then some of them are really small. And that's actually what I want to talk about. I think that especially in real estate right now, there is this almost like a pool to have many streams of income. Like how many streams of income Do you got, like even like this conversation I said, like 10, but it seems like a lot.
Vlad Kats
I don't know whether that's actually the right conversation or a productive conversation to be in. When you look at At the most success in the world, and we're talking about financial success, so like, you know, please forgive me, like, I know that I know that our lives are not just about financial success, okay? Like, I totally get the money came by you love, you know, in many cases money cannot buy your health, like, you know or definitely peace of mind, I totally get that but just for this conversation, like, I'm just gonna set all of that aside, okay?
Vlad Kats
Because look, when we're talking about our child going to a private school, Guess how that makes like, yes how that happens, no mound of love in the world is going to get your kid into a private school for free. Okay, so, so we're just talking about the financial component of life. And look, I want I'm here on this planet, I want to enjoy things. Like, I just really enjoy things, you know, while while I'm here on this ball of fire.
Vlad Kats
So I think that when you study them the most, you know, successful, like just most of the success in the world, it's actually about going deep on something rather than going wide on something. And so like, even as I sit here with 10 streams of income, I'm like, Yeah, when I look at my life, three of those 10 have produced have produced the level of cash flow that my family and I need, everything else, sometimes was actually a distraction.
Vlad Kats
Like those streams of income, like, for example, a fractional component of a title company that I owned, like that fractional component had no had very little impact on actual overall picture. So my recommendation, Mike, and everybody is, instead of going wide, is actually to go deep on the one or two that have the ability to provide you with the cash flow to get to your freedom number.
Mike Swenson
Yeah and you're looking at it too is, how much time is it take you to get to that level, because, you know, there's, there's some things where you're just a passive investor and you, you put down X amount of dollars, you don't have any responsibility in the day to day, the decision making, and you maybe just get a check every month or a check every quarter. Well, you can handle that. I mean, if it's a, it's a few $1,000, here and there, fantastic. It's not taking any more your time.
Mike Swenson
But what you're saying is, is obviously the ones that involve you spending time you have to look at what's the reward, because regardless of what you choose to spend your time on, there's $1 per hour associated with that. And so if you're spending your time at something $100 per hour, when you could be spending your time on something else, that's $200 per hour, you're costing yourself money by not putting your time in the best dollar power return.
Vlad Kats
Absolutely, man. Absolutely. And this change or multiple streams of income, just yet people in, you know, being a squirrel, like, just going all over the place rather than sitting down saying what has just like you explained, what has the best return? And then when you think about it, so look, there's, there's there's the conversation about how do I make the most money? And then there's a conversation, how do I make the most money passively, without being tied to men? Because, look, again, you have to uncollapse freedom and flexibility does that don't collapse them? Because one will get in the way of the other from flexibility actually gets in the way of freedom.
Vlad Kats
People get used to us to flexibility. And they just forget about why they're here. And so when you look at one of the ways to make money. One of the ways to make money passively, it comes down to one thing, it comes down to investing the assets that you have. Okay, so when you when somebody is working at a job, okay, like a W two, by the way, there's nothing wrong with that. When somebody is doing that. They are they're not investing, they're selling their assets, which is their time and skills. Okay, let's remove time because legislatures talk about skills. So like, you know, most people notice excuse me skills and knowledge most people that's their number one asset is is their skill and knowledge.
Vlad Kats
We go to school, we learn a bunch of stuff, we become really specialized at something like even in real estate, what do you sell, you sell your knowledge and your skills, and then you get paid, but it's a sales. It's it's a sales component. It's not an investing. Investing is when you put something in and then you stop putting it in, and then you get a return on that over time. So like a simple way to talk about investing is putting your money into the stock market or into Amazon, you write a check once for $1,000, depending on you did your investment now is worth $3,000? Or it's worth, I don't know, 500 bucks, depending on you did, right. And so fluctuate. So money is one of the assets that we as people have knowledge and skill is another type of assets that we have. So then the question becomes is how do we not just sell that?
Vlad Kats
But how do we invest? Other we invest our money? And how do we invest our skills and knowledge. So for me, it comes down to two things on the financial front, there is a, like I said, you can put your money into the stock market, you can also lend your money, and then get a get a return on that. When it comes to skills and knowledge. It typically comes down to some kind of a royalty conversation. So like, you know, Stephen King? What does he do? He writes novels, right? He doesn't, once he hands it over to his publisher. And then what does he do?
Mike Swenson
Close and promotes it as much or as little as he wants, but he's gonna continue to get royalties, as long as those books keep selling.
Vlad Kats
That's it, movies are made, books are being sold, books are being recorded on tape, you name it, so he makes money.
Mike Swenson
You know, depending on what the content is, but yeah, you can, you can put your time Do one thing and get paid multiple times for years and years to come. So then even the book itself would make.
Vlad Kats
That's it. And then, you know, for those of us who are real estate professionals, you know, investing in real estate, is another is another option, I have mixed thoughts on whether real estate is actually a truly passive activity. I think that once you have a property manager, it, it kind of crosses that line towards being passive, if you don't have a property manager, then it may not be passive. So it may not provide you with that freedom component, the way that I just I divided but again, it depends on how it fits into your definition of freedom.
Vlad Kats
So those are the two ways that you either invest your money, or you invest your knowledge and skills. By the way, you can sell your knowledge and skills, which is most of what most of us do, where you can invest, investing it produces, provided that there's something to invest produces can produce income over time. So how do you do that? So you know, we are obviously, you know, in a company where your knowledge and skills you can invest it in another human being through the revenue share program, in Keller, Williams and exit Realty.
Vlad Kats
Also have those types of models where you can use your influence, which is another skill that stems from your knowledge and skills, excuse me, another asset that stems from your knowledge and skills, right, that that you have, which is by the way, most agents undervalue their influence as an asset class? Yep, you can invest it and then get paid over get paid for it over a period of time, the same way that Stephen King gets paid for books. In other ways you can create an online course, and then sell it over time when we were talking about Pat Flynn, right? Like one of your I don't want to say heroes, but one of one, one of the people..
Mike Swenson
at a high level and in a too large audience
Vlad Kats
Yeah. Like his mate, he's clearly made a difference for you. So I think that we as it's just professionals in the business, in any business, we have to think like, Okay, do I go the sales route? Nothing wrong with that? Or do I go the investment route? Or do I have a combination of the two? Because it's a day in Information Age, anybody has the ability to create passive income or cash flow stemming from their knowledge, skills and influence?
Vlad Kats
How do I know that there are YouTubers that are making hundreds of $1,000 a month, there's courses that get sold on stuff that I've never heard of like, potato guns, and people pay good money for that. So it's like the whole world is wide open, given the fact that we're in now living in an information age. All right. Hopefully, that was helpful.
Mike Swenson
Yeah. So that being said, then what are what are ways so Okay, so now we've kind of talked about your mindset around how you're spending your time how you're spending your resources, you've got this number of a million dollars a year or roughly $80,000 a month. So how do you bridge that gap between where you're at today and where are you You want to go?
Vlad Kats
Yeah, great question. So it goes back for me personally, it's actually going to, and it hit me the other day, like last week, that it's like, I am actually not focused. But God gave me like really great ability to simplify some concepts. And I've been fairly successful in doing that for others in the real estate space. Yep. So my focus right now, is is really simple because I see experience for me personally, is an opportunity to create a royalty income that like above and beyond what I even imagined as possible, and then turn that income into financial assets and invest.
Vlad Kats
So there's two things that I'm focusing on is one is growing my ESB organization. Okay, because I see that as an opportunity to make a difference for people who are who are in my organization or who are around me. Yeah. And to I see it as an active activity to create passive income streams. Okay, and look, if somebody has questions about how revenue share works or how profit share works, if it's revenue share, go to Mike if it's profit share, go through to Keller Williams exit also has a system as well, exit Realty. Okay. And then second thing that I'm working on right now saying my second focus is actually in the financial assets.
Vlad Kats
So, I, I studied finance when I was in grad school, okay. And in grad school, they make it way too complicated, okay. And I came out of grad school saying, like, you know, what, I'm gonna let quote unquote, the professionals manage my money. Well, lo and behold, that's not the best idea possible, provided that you understand how the manager on Monday. So what I'm doing right now is actually relearning the financial management component of our lives. So I am researching equities. I am I found the model. I think I shared this with you before this book is next to me all the time.
Mike Swenson
Rule number one, so for those folks that aren't watching the video, rule number one by Phil town.
Vlad Kats
Phil town. Yes, he's a he's, yeah, he's another. He's a man that simplifies investments in equities. And I'm actually in the process of moving all of my assets to TD Ameritrade. So I can take control over my money, because I see that as a catalyst for all of the passive income that I earn, to grow without spending any of my minutes on it. Yeah, yeah. Other than the research, which, you know, I do, like an hour a day right now.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, you're always reading, you're always bringing in new ideas and concepts. And then too, I like what you do is always try to simplify it, right? Because if you can't explain something in a simple way, for others to understand, it's kind of pointless.
Vlad Kats
Dude, it's so glad you brought that up. I'll tell you like, one of the ways that I practice doing that, is I do my best to explain it to my kids. But one of the conversations, I just started with them. And you know, I told you and the crew is no and you actually at that you think you met my middle daughter is like we start talking about how do they earn money passively. So like, every month, I sit them in front of the computer, and I show them how much interest the bank paid them and start a conversation like
Vlad Kats
Look, you made 11 cents, you know, they have a couple of $100 in their bank account, you know, 11 cents, how much work did you have to put in? And they're like, Well, nothing. So this is what passive income passive cash flow actually looks like. And then they're like, well, what is interest? I'm interested in having more interest. conversation, and look if I can explain to an eight year old, yeah, well, she's like scratching your head and like, Oh, yeah, I think I get it. I'm like, I feel I feel like, not only is a proud dad, but also Uh huh. I explained to an eight year old.
Mike Swenson
Yeah. Well, that's great, too. Because if you think about the financial education that they're getting, it's really going to help them in the future. You know, and I think that's the an issue that a lot of folks have had is they maybe didn't have some of those key pieces of financial information. And, you know, the books, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by t harv. eker. He talks about what lessons were you taught as a kid, you know, money doesn't grow on trees, you know, that kind of stuff.
Mike Swenson
It's a scarcity, mindset around money. Just a lot of those simple things that you taught yourself and ingrained. You're thinking about money, where if you think of it more from an abundance mentality versus a scarcity mentality, it just changes the way you think. And so instilling those lessons on your daughters, and I'm working on that with our sons too. It takes time but that's going to really help them in the future versus thinking about how they spend their time and and what they do with money?
Vlad Kats
Absolutely might be, you got to start early with the kids and for most of us, man, it may take months or years to unlearn everything that we think we know about money and freedom, right? Yeah, like, Yeah, when you look at the industrial age. Yeah. And most of all of our probably everybody who is listening, all of our parents grew up in industrial age. And, you know, we're a byproduct of our environment. And we were obviously, you know, we're surrounded by our parents at that early ages.
Vlad Kats
And so we learn a lot from them. But they and they learn from somebody who was really entrenched or at the start of industrial age. So like, think about, you know, how most people think, I think I almost said used to think no, think it's get good or go to school, get good grades, get, you know, go to college, get good grades, get a job, work at a job for 20 or 30 years, do good. You take care of your company, and then the company will take care of you through a pension. Yeah. And by the way, it's no surprise that so many people right now are expecting somebody else to take care of them. Right. But we don't live in that age anymore, dude.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, we've just done a lot of companies, they've, you know, it's it's gone South times have changed, technologies have changed. And, you know, that pension that's there that they thought they were getting, they're not going to get an all sudden you look up and it's like, well, I was taught to do that, so that they gave it back to me in the end. And that's not going to happen. That's it?
Vlad Kats
When you have companies like GM and other huge ones, you know, going under declaring bankruptcy and pensions are getting wiped out. And this is like a really, really old news. really old news, right? And it's right now it's the we as human beings, especially those living in the United States, like we have to rethink, what does what does your life look like? And whose life are you living? Is it yours? Or is it your parents? And is it? And which one do you want? Right? Which one do you want?
Mike Swenson
So as you think back then, you know about your journey, is there any advice that you'd have say, somebody? You know, we've I think we've probably sprinkled in a lot of advice throughout this, this conversation here. But you know, somebody looking to get into real estate, somebody looking to at the opportunity.
Mike Swenson
How many people get into real estate, and it doesn't have to be an agent, it could be, you know, a lender or otherwise a real estate because they think, unlimited income, you know, make tons of money and not have to spend any time on it. What advice would you give for those folks considering a career in the real estate industry?
Vlad Kats
Oh, my God, the probably the biggest thing, Mike, that I would give anybody is put yourself in the biggest conversation possible. Okay, the biggest conversation that appeals to you. So find like minded individuals for after the same thing that you're after. Okay, if you're Look, if you're about the winning awards, and getting trophies and getting medals, there's nothing wrong with that, that's really great. Okay, go find a crew or a brokerage or a team that's all about that. If you are into passive income, if you're into these types of conversations, go find somebody who is into these types of conversations, either locally or nationally.
Vlad Kats
Now, you know, and COVID and, and unmute the zoom world. So put yourself into that type of conversation. If you're brand new into real estate, you may want to join a team that has that conversation that you are like that you are that you have an affinity for it certainly keep surrounding yourself with people who are who have more who think bigger, so that that pulls you, you grow into the conversations people have around you. Yes. And then the second thing is focus.
Vlad Kats
Then the third, it's kind of like to a but I'll just call it a third is Do not underestimate the power of compounding growth. The number one secret in finance is compounding interest. Those are the three things that just came to mind.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, and realize the investment in yourself will pay off in the future. You know, an investment in yourself will to x your income more so than investing in something else. The best thing you can invest in is your mind and your education.
Vlad Kats
Absolutely. Yeah, keep like surround yourself like the way I did it. Like the way I knew that I was that I was ready for the next level of growth as I showed up in the training event. I realized that I was thinking way too small. And it was me investing money to go to a training event them and seeing the conversation that center around me it was like, Okay, let's grow. Yeah.
Mike Swenson
So if folks, if this story resonates or they've got some questions for you, what would be a way for them to get a hold of you? Just go to vladkats.com, that's it. Or find me on do this. A I'm a member of this really, you know, small website, and I'm not sure of many people have heard Facebook. Just messing? Yeah, like or find me on Facebook. Yeah, thanks so much for taking the time and sharing your wisdom with others.
Mike Swenson
For those of you listening, hopefully it something sink in and, you know, take some time and think about how you spend your time and what you're doing and ultimately putting together a plan of what you want to get out of it. But yeah, feel free to reach out to Vlad, if you have any questions. And thanks so much for being on this episode. Yeah, thanks for the opportunity like
