Yoni Rios: From Immigrant To Ex-Felon To Earning 7 Figures
LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE ON:
Your past doesn't not determine what happens in your future and Yoni Rios wants to inspire others to build great habits and focus on personal development. At the age of 20, Yoni found himself in deep debt as a result of a felony hit-and-run, and being a new dad. He didn't let his circumstance dictate his future and took responsibility for his actions. He successfully started a trucking business which grew to $7-12M/yr in revenue and used that to launch his real estate career. He now owns 20+ properties, 10+ short-term rentals, and has flipped and wholesaled hundreds of properties in the Los Angeles area. He wants to inspire others to know that they can achieve anything with the right mindset, discipline, and dreaming big. Be inspired by Yoni's amazing story to help you craft your own story to build your future in real estate.
In this episode, hosted by Mike Swenson, we discussed:
- How Yoni went from being an ex-felon to building his own business
- How he learned he needed to change what he was doing, and fix the mistakes he had made in the past, to build a different future for his life
- How Yoni was introduced to investing in real estate and how his financial future has changed as a result of it
- Investing your time in reading, listening, and networking helps to open our eyes to the doors of success waiting for you
- The impact sports, particularly soccer, made in Yoni's life in developing strategic and analytical thinking, goal setting, and risk-taking
- Living intentionally and purposefully to hit your future goals
- How Yoni made $20,000 in wholesaling on a single property without doing a single thing on the property
- How Yoni is using short-term rentals in the Los Angeles market to build his cashflow
- What can you do to make money even while the market is down
Timestamps
0:00 - Yoni's Career Overview
5:07 - How Can A One-Second Decision Change Your Life Forever
7:42 - His First Business In 2013
11:04 - The Real Estate Opportunities Yoni Saw
16:56 - How Yoni's Competitiveness In Sports Led To His Advancement In Real Estate
25:26 - Generating Active Income Through Flipping and Wholesaling
30:29 - Doing Airbnb Instead Of Holding In A Property
35:56 - Yoni's Strategy For His Future
37:43 - How To Find Yoni
FOLLOW YONI 👇🏼
https://www.instagram.com/yonirios07/
https://www.facebook.com/yonirios7
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoni-rios...
SUBSCRIBE IF YOU'RE LOOKING TO BUILD WEALTH THROUGH OPPORTUNITIES IN THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY
✅ http://relfreedom.tv
GET STARTED INVESTING TODAY AND ACCESS OUR DEAL LIST!
📈 http://investwithelite.com
PARTNER WITH US ON BIG DEALS!
💵 https://eliteadvantagepropertieshq.com
BUILD YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENT CAREER WORKING WITH INVESTORS
👨👩👧👦 http://eliteadvantageagent.com
LEARN ABOUT REL FREEDOM & HEAR MORE REAL LIFE STORIES
🎙️ http://www.relfreedom.com
FREEBIES: DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE FREEDOM FOUNDATION BLUEPRINT
💵 https://www.relfreedom.com/blueprint
LOOKING FOR A REAL ESTATE AGENT ANYWHERE IN THE US? FIND A TOP AGENT IN YOUR COMMUNITY
🏠 http://www.eliteagentreferral.com
JOIN OUR FACEBOOK COMMUNITY
👨👩👧👦 https://www.facebook.com/groups/relfreedom
SUBSCRIBE TO THE REL FREEDOM PODCAST
🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rel-freedom-podcast/id1535281574
🎧 Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xNDA3NjIyLnJzcw==
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nXA5hLHbDzRwxypc2wLur
LET'S CONNECT
👉 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mswenson13
👉 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getrelfreedom/
👉 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@relfreedom
🏠 Minnesota Real Estate: https://www.eliteadvantageteam.com
Full transcript here:
Mike Swenson
Welcome to The REL Freedom Podcast where we inspire you to pursue your passion to gain time and financial freedom through opportunities in real estate. I'm your host, Mike Swenson. Let's get some real freedom together.
Mike Swenson
All right, welcome everybody to another episode of The REL Freedom Podcast where we talk about building wealth, gaining time and financial freedom through opportunities in real estate. And a lot of times when people think about somebody Successful in Real Estate, they might think that they've had things served to them on a silver platter. And a lot of times people have this misnomer with millionaires that, hey, I just, you know, I inherited that I just was given this. And so today, we've got somebody that is a very inspiring story, and is going to talk about all the obstacles that he's had to overcome to get where he's at today. And so today's guest is Yoni Rios. And Yoni is actually an immigrant that came to the United States had had some challenges in his life and his upbringing, and started a trucking company at a young age and has been able to use that to build wealth, having a company that's grossing, you know, seven to $12 million a year, being able to pound that money and turn it into investing in real estate, and primarily wholesaling and flipping, and we're going to talk about that as well. But a big part of is just talking about overcoming adversity, not giving up being able to push through challenges that come your way, very much an inspiring story. And so you're gonna He's gonna get a chance to share his story with you guys today. And then we'll talk about real estate too. So welcome to the show. We're so excited to have you. On
Yoni Rios
Thank you, thank you. That was, that was such a good a good intro there. Appreciate that. Thank you really good speaking. So I hope I can meet the standard there, you talk really small, so for sure, I was really looking forward to this because I know you guys are from Minnesota, and I haven't really tapped into that market. And the whole idea now it's through face that a lot of adversities, you've built a lot of confidence through confidence, you a you build some some success in some areas that where you're trying to get better, whether it's the financial health mindset everyday, but you know, that's really is the true definition of success, which is living through purpose, right. And I understood what my purpose is, not long ago, maybe like, four or five years ago, and through the years, I'm 33 right now, by the way, so as I get, you know, as I get a little bit older, my purpose just becomes more defined is still the same one, two, right now my my my purpose into it is to impact more people through the wisdom that I gained through this 33 years of age.
Yoni Rios
And you build wisdom through adversity, because that's where the pressure is, you know, diamonds are created under pressure. And that is exactly what you build. So my mission right now in my missions, you know, my mission statement of my, the way that the things that I do for live, it's just to pay it forward now. So that's the reason I know, I haven't done any I've done several podcasts, but this is the first one in Minnesota. So it is to now inspired some people in Minnesota and hopefully we can have one guests that will get here get some value and run with the information and and that's really the way to pay it forward. As I'm going to tap a little bit but since I'm going right here with this, I hired coaches every year, right, whether it's a business coach, mindset, coach, health coach, anything, just to get better, always get better. So and one of my recent coaches, he told me that we cannot be in order to to float the abundance, we have to share this information. Because he pretty much he told me how selfish Are you that you don't want to share this information?
Yoni Rios
So now I'm on a mission to share as much information with as many people like yourself, like, give it a you know, kudos to you because it put in podcast together. It's not easy. I know. It's not between, you know, doing everything that you do. So kudos to you. So that's my way to give it back. So just a little bit of who I am. I'm from LA, you know, just outside of LA maybe like 15 miles from La 50 Miles becomes two hours in LA so don't get the right. Yeah. So I'm from LA. My parents brought me here at a very young age, I was probably two and a half years old. Just the way you and I were talking in the off camera is that you weren't you didn't make the choice to be born in Minnesota. Right. But you know, you cheer for the things for your teams out there. So I wasn't I didn't make the choice to be born Mexican, which I am grateful for being Mexican. But I was brought here at a very young age and through the you know, just like you are very inspired by sports.
Yoni Rios
I did a lot of sports through my life. And that's really what helped me build a lot of the resilience and the relentless mindset. Because, you know, recreational sports is fun. And that's when you fall in love with the sports but as you build a competitiveness through going through competitive sports once you did the travelling team and everything. So I did, I did quite a few I did pretty well for myself. You know, I was invited to play for the one universities but I decided to pursue my my my dream to become a professional soccer player. I went to Mexico, I came back, you know, I was I got into a little bit of trouble with the law of, you know, I got a car. And I got a, I had a car accident, which I didn't have a driver's licence. And due to being scared for not having a driver's licence, I fleet the scene and I got process for attempted murder, and I hit a run, which became a felony, I had to serve some time, as well as community service, restitution, fees, everything like that.
Yoni Rios
So what I you know, the lesson I got from that is a life in, you know, these are one second decisions that can really change the trajectory of your life, one second decisions and what I get trained, that's why I still go on runs, you know, pretty long runs, I still do a lot of things that forced me to push more, because it's those one second decisions that are going to change your life forever, you know, whether you're with the boys and picking up at it, that that that extra beer that you shouldn't pick up, it's that one second decision. So it's that one second decision that I flipped to see that it really changed forever. Fast forward, you know, I kind of did everything through the data, except the restitution fee, but I was still paying, it was just, it was $58,000, I don't know, it was just a lot of money at the time. So and it still is 50 it is not, you know, so that's what I had to pay. Because, you know, the damages that I caused a little bit after, through my five years of formal probation that I had to, you know, check in with the law every month, I was only able to pay $20,000 down. But anyway, I build something really cool, which I took responsibility of my actions.
Yoni Rios
And that the subconsciously, you get that, you know, you just finish what you started and, and I just build a really good muscle. So you know, you fast forward, I became a father at 20 years old. So now we have a felon and death. And then the father, you know, so we had some adversities, and everything's a choice. Right, I made that choice. So, you know, I meant up to my duties, right. So now, I'm 33, my son's 13, which is, you know, he kind of he was one of the reasons why I straighten up and other that things that I was doing about activities and relationships, because now I had someone who was looking after me. And I learned really, at a really young age, like a 2021 that everything we do, they do. So they start emulating you. Right, they start with you. So pretty much the way I talk to he's like that, the trip out two weeks ago, he ran a half a marathon where he's, you know, he's 13 It's not so common. So, obviously, they do a lot of things that you do. So I started just building better and better habits. 2013 We built our own first business with one of my close friends and cousins and and we just take it from there. We you know, we did pretty we did okay for ourselves, you're talking about some people with no college degree.
Yoni Rios
And now you're tapping into the six figure income. Now you're like, Well, what is this, right? So just like, just like any of maybe a your audience that if you never had some type of financial success, and now you have a little bit, it could get over your head, it really can, you know, you can, you can lose ground that you could, you know, grew lose ground really easily. So, it took about three years for me to reach that plateau, that I'm like, I need to do something different. And the cool thing is that I was always doing personal development, which was like, audio books, books, seminars, I was always just kind of like reading and just like, This is what your audience are doing, you know, they're gonna find in, you know, they're probably gonna get one debt, that one nugget that it's going to help them in their career. So it just hit me when I heard this guy say, you know, Insanity is doing the same thing over and over is the definition of insanity. Right? So he was doing the same thing overclocking it the same thing. So we didn't change anything. So we just changed, maybe two or three things within our company. And game over, it kind of changed. It was like we were making more money. And then in next year, so instead of waiting two, three years to reach that plateau, I was changing things. Whether it's quarterly, whether it was yearly, whether it was six months, whether it was through a period of time we were changing, whether it was compliance, whether it's a we changed certain things. And it was in about 267 years ago, where I made the drastic change.
Yoni Rios
I spent two years with you know, I went to I am not telling for people to do this, but I went on a pescatarian diet. I went on a you know, I think I committed to the gym 365 days through the whole year, I committed to like just things different. And by default, it affected your business in a positive way, right? And we just kind of grew and from there, it just kind of snowballed. We're third year as of 2012 that we hit our seven figure mark, grossing seven to 12 million. So what I come to see is just like you just got to make small changes for overtime. But the cool thing is that what I did from 2013 Now, I I said I like a bare minimum. So that bare minimum and I go based on a lot of books that I read, and one of the books was the richest man of Babylon, which, which talks about a bare minimum that you have to save right, which at the time was 10%? And slowly I incremented to a 1525. Now, 25%, right, so everything that we've learned, we save 25%. But regardless of how good or how bad the month, there's a bare minimum that I did, like, I cannot go below that 10% Right. So started building your game, start, you know, generating some money. So now what that did, we got some point?
Yoni Rios
Well, you know, if you once at once you make a little bit of money you become then now it's a different type of problems. Now, now you don't have problems of going to bars. And so now you have like, Oh, I got a big tax bill, I got $100,000 bill to pay, right. So then you are CPA, which I'm not a tax advisor, so everyone should seek their own advice. But we are, I'm pretty good at understanding all the other tax laws because I dialogue a lot with my CPAs. And now I understood that, you know, whether, as of last year that we're still alive, that any car was fully depreciated over 6000 pounds, that's a good one, you can set your house for a primary, sort of like a vacation business, write up for your business, which is I think, $13,000 a year. So you start learning on these niches and I learned that I could do pre I could buy a house and I could do a cost segregation or an accelerator security depreciation. So I just learned all these things. And I was like, Well, now it's like buying, if I buy a house, I have the opportunity to depreciate this house for 27 and a half years. So I started learning all these things. So that's how I got into real estate. You know, it was about five, six years ago, we purchased our first two, four plexes. And then a duplex sold at four years, after a combined between selling novels, we made a little bit over half a million dollars.
Yoni Rios
So that was that was really what changed it for me, I was like, There's no way as hard as I work, continuing what I'm continuing, we could save this amount of money. So that's what I got really inspired to. And then I used to always go to networking events, and not like mixers, more like real estate meetups that are they're very intentional with with with learning to at the time was the Burbidge for me understanding what was the terminology, you know, I paid, you know, just three days seminars, I paid all these things. And more than anything, you invested your time. So I learned to Burbidge I learned a lot of these things. And that's why in now I do these meetups we have the biggest one we have we had about 600 people on a weekend that it was just like a four hour gig in the wood. So the main reason why I'm inspired to I'm inspired to help those who have never purchased the house will never come from a family that helped us purchase a house and just kind of let him Let him know that it's possible and at the same time pay it a little bit forward for them to understand the Burbage to understand that there's people that just look like I'm in my, in my case, brown, you know, in my case come from I come from a Mexican kinda like, or Hispanic community here in LA.
Yoni Rios
And you know, it's like some people are making it out of there. But it's just take a lot of discipline, a lot more than anything, a lot of discipline, discipline in all areas of your life, not just in the health, not just in the circle of influence. Now, it just took a lot of discipline, but letting them know that there is a belief that someone out there is doing it is already in his content, did it and is continuing to do it to strive for more because now I'm associating myself, I just had a conversation with this guy yesterday who owns I mean, it's not easy to own 500 doors in LA. It's really not easy. And he's just like me, he's a Hispanic guy, a Mexican guy. And so it just kind of, you know, expands our level of belief, right? I'll do it. If he did it, I can do it. And just the way you were talking to we were talking off camera that when I met Kobe, the biggest thing that I was like, Dude, he's just like me. I mean, he's a little bit taller. He's a little he's slightly a little bit taller. I should add
Mike Swenson
Kobe, Kobe Bryant for people that may not know just who Kobe is if you're not a basketball fan, I had asked him Do you have a profile picture with Kobe Bryant? So I had asked how that happens. So yeah, go ahead.
Yoni Rios
Yeah, so all these people they're just like because the only thing is their choices have been on point because life it really not only because by habit it becomes about choices and then you go into your surroundings your circle of influence and etc etc. But and then you know that's really how I got started and that's really how I got to today today you know I flipped between Philippines and wholesaling a little bit over 100 houses we hold on you know own about 20 properties in total. And that's kind of where I'm at I'm tailoring a lot into Airbnb s we do a lot of Airbnb and as well as value add opportunities. So that's where I post where I'm at that's what I'm you know, we're still regardless of where you hear in the in the in the news and in the news EDL and everything, we're still I'm still actively buying because I can see past the six months, 12 months, 18 months, whatever it is, because we have a long term vision. And we still have that bare minimum that we have to meet. So we're still constantly saving doesn't matter if your income went from a seven figures to half a million this year. You know, honestly, you really have to blow like live a super luxurious lifestyle lifestyle. If you blow half a million dollars a year like I can, like I just can't I live in LA and I can't. Right. So that's kind of that's a little bit about me.
Mike Swenson
Hey, Mike, here, are you a busy professional looking to put your money to work in real estate without having to take all the time yourself to learn everything and anything there is to know. No worries, this is exactly what passive Real Estate Investing is for. You get to leverage your time. By partnering with great people you can trust, you can passively invest on larger deals that we find, analyse and put together and present to you go to elite advantage properties hq.com and click invest with us to set up a chat, learn more about you and your goals so that we can help find the right deals and send them your way. Once again, elite advantage properties hq.com and click invest with us. We look forward to connecting. So talk a little bit about what changed internally in you as you started to build that momentum. You know, having your trucking business and getting into real estate. I know you'd mentioned kind of the tax piece was what started to open your eyes. But as you had these adversities happen in your life, these challenges where a lot of people would be like, Hey, I'm just going to always be stuck at this level for the future, you know, being a product of your circumstances. What was it that kind of drove you to continue to progress forward? And to do that self development and to do that hard work to really change the trajectory to the upward trajectory that you have?
Yoni Rios
Yes. So the cool thing is that I always wanted more, and I wanted, I always wanted to learn more. So I will always seek better, you know, whether it was just on Facebook, YouTube, or etc, I will always find more people who gave me more information. One thing I did know is that I definitely wanted to get in real estate. I didn't know how, because whether you call Warren Buffet Mark Cuban, although they own a lot real estate. So I understood for sure I needed to tap into here. And then when I started to learn more on all these, you know, tax advantages, and I was like, Dude, I'm blown away. But I really, really strongly believed that it was through my competitiveness in sports. Because I don't know if I told you, you probably heard a ceremony right in my bio, that I was legally blind. I have have a condition in my eyes. But I never took that as a defeat. I was just more of like, well, maybe that doesn't work for you. But it can't What says it can't work for me. You know, so I always like you, I can't I don't want to project your limiting beliefs and to me, so I always, you know, obviously you always get told X amount of advices.
Yoni Rios
And, you know, one of the best advices I ever heard was from David Meltzer, which is just because they love you doesn't mean they give you good advice. So one of my close relatives when we first launched a company, they didn't want me to because I had a decent salary I was probably making, you know, I was, I was being I mean, at the time, I'm talking about, I don't know, 1413 years ago, it's probably maybe like, 80,000 for a non college student. I was like, good, right. So. But the reason is not the data wanted something better for me, it's because they knew how hard it is for older people to inhale, easy for them to fail. They didn't want you to fail and get hurt. So just because they love you doesn't mean they give you good advice. I can, I can't, you can't come to me and give me asked me for advice about like surgery and stuff like that, because that's not the but I still love you but doesn't mean I give you the best advice. So I think I think that's what that is it was just my competitiveness and me that I never take no for an answer. And it was all built through sports.
Yoni Rios
That's why I'm very inspired. And a lot of the content that I put online, it's that you not that you have to but it's a great idea to put your kids in sports because they develop adversity at a very young age and they have to figure it out. And it's a big lesson for us who are parents that we need to let them go figure it out. We cannot be they cannot have mommy and daddy over there. Oh, you don't have your homework. Well, let me do it for you. Absolutely not. There's consequences to not having your homework and you might be left out of the field trip, etc, etc. Right? And now it's becoming a lot more like involved with politics, which I don't like. Which I don't agree but They comes from home to help them build a little bit of adversity and it doesn't have to be like torture them or anything like that. But that's good. They're in coaches hands and they have to figure it out there.
Yoni Rios
In the case of my centre, they pay 11 Kids in the field and at the other kids are 11, they have to figure it out. And if they don't, and if they if they end up losing, well, then they had to go back to the drawing board and you know, practice and hit the lab again, high power, or this is the area where you guys, and that's exactly what I translate to the business. Okay, maybe this didn't go for me Well, this time. But let me go back to the drawing board and and see what didn't work. And now what can work and now how we can go back better. So that's exactly what helped me the competitiveness through sports.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, yeah. Because I've got, you know, as an example, I've got one son, who has, has played sports, he plays soccer, honestly, could kind of care less whether he wins or loses. And yet the value for him is hanging out with his friends, learning how to still work together as a team. And really, you know, overcome adversity. He's been on some teams that haven't been great. And yet, at the same time, he still loves to play soccer, because he loves to do it with his friends. And so they can learn to work together and to improve, it doesn't mean they're going to win. And then I have another son, who, you know, is his first year playing baseball, they kind of got to the championship game, and they lost and it was just a flood of tears, because he hates losing, right?
Mike Swenson
And so we have to talk with him about even pushing through, if you're gonna if you're, you know, if you think you're gonna lose, you still gotta push through, and what lessons can you learn through losing, you know, obviously, we all love to win, but he's the one where we got to work with Okay, when you lose, how can we? How can we teach you some lessons and even like, you know, playing video games, I'll play Madden with him and, and if it gets to the fourth quarter, and he's down by two touchdowns, he wants to just quit and it's like, no, how do you get a stop this this round? And then go get a touchdown. You know, don't just throw it in when you quit. So there is a lot of value in playing sports. And yeah, it's the social piece. It's the overcoming adversity, it's pushing through pain pushing through challenges. So there's a lot to be gained there.
Yoni Rios
Yeah. 100% So I believe that sports antrum instruments, you know, anything that it becomes a letter that there's adversity, that's really good, like, I don't know, a cheer, any adversity, specially if you add a little bit of physical work, because that's healthy. You know, I played sports through my whole life. I'm 33 years old, I gotta get at least three to five workouts a week, because that's really part of my routine. So that's really I mean, it's all when when, you know, you're a little bit off the electronics off the couch off the, you know, just off everything Plus, you're building some a good mindset, just like David Goggin says a callus in your mind. You know, it's just it's just a win win. And and that's where I built that into to come through competitiveness. And, and I knew that sometimes you will go to a game being the underdog. And there was a point, you know, it happens a lot. The underdog underdog wins. So you go into into business, what what is a Mexican guy who's never own real estate work? Man, I got it. I did it in my old days, you know, so you just build that belief.
Yoni Rios
So that's how I translate everything into the business. And now it's like, to me it's and now it's like, okay, now how can I do better? So I have a morning routine, which I call my Miracle Morning, which it came from the book How Harold. And that's really where everything started about eight years ago, where I got very intentional about what time I wake up the way you know, my gratitude journal, my prayers, my meditations, I got very intentional. And not that eight years ago was as good as it is today. Because right now it's really good. But eight years ago, it was some days I'll slack off some days, you know, I'll choose and then every day is just gotten a little bit better. Like as of today, I'm 14 year months sober from any type of alcohol, which I did already two years before, and I was like, Well, this year, you know, what started it was like, Dude, I did last year, I did very good, but I still had a couple of drinks per week, what will happen if I go a full year with no drinking, and the results that I got from it,
Yoni Rios
not only the financial, the financial, to me is secondary is how I felt the number of people that were impacted. So that's really where success really means that you know, and I just go back to living through purpose what is our purpose and if you're intoxicating with food, with with bad relationships with excessive alcohol, well, all these things, there's no way that you can reach a higher levels of consciousness and define your purpose. You think you want something but it really isn't that clear, because you you can have that clear vision. If and if you're, you know, this is just kind of my belief, right? Everyone's belief is right, regardless of whatever you believe so that's what I believe. So you know if right now I'm, you know, I'm super inspired by my Miracle Morning by my readings very into it. stoic philosophy right now in IB in about three years. But now I just kind of everyday if you follow me on social media, which I will share right now, I share the daily, the daily stoic page, which is just ancient philosophy just translated to modern modern psychology, and how it's all the same thing from 1000s of years ago to today. And it's just, we can just all implement this into a better life. So let's
Mike Swenson
let's dig into the real estate side then for kind of the remaining time here. So flipping and wholesaling, Los Angeles market, you talked about the Atlanta market, how did you get started in terms of, for so many investors that's making that leap, being able to do the first property or do the first thing yourself, and then and then scaling, but we'd love to hear just kind of strategy, that piece in terms of how that side of your business has grown.
Yoni Rios
Okay, so wholesaling. It was super simple. I, you know, that the bad thing that I did is that I, you know, when you build that competitiveness, you kind of think you could do it yourself, but I could have just paid someone 510 $1,000 And they would have shown me off, you know, that's really there's right now, there's so many coaches right now, and, and it's so easy to learn, but I, you know, it's either you have the money or you have the time, right and I had a little bit of time, and I was willing to pay it and I paid my dues. And I went like a whole year YouTubing reading seminars and everything boom, took me a year I bought my first deal. And I wholesale that I've made $20,000 And I did not do a single thing for the property for those who don't know what wholesaling is, is, you know, for identifying the property, put it under contract, find a buyer who comes by this contract, and you make the gap. So super simple. I made 10 made a good amount of money.
Yoni Rios
And my it was like my fifth deal that I wholesale the property here in LA, we made 84,000, which just, it was game over game over because we didn't do absolutely nothing to the property. We just wholesale it. So that's really what it changed. It kind of changed for me. And then I was like, well, if we're wholesaling this, what if we flip it, you know, and we flip properties where we made six figures, six figures easy, you know, when ad 20,000 And, and they just kind of went from it. But it was just, you know, it was the main thing that how I got started. I was curious. So when I bought my, my the first two for practice and duplex that I talked about one of them I bought a wholesaler, and he made 10 $20,000 off me and I was like, Dude, if he made that I can make that. So I was just curious, right. And I was like, let me find out what this whole selling is.
Yoni Rios
And that's how I started and got into wholesaling, I always knew wanted, I wanted to own real estate, I just didn't know how. So that created some capital, you know, and so we bought, you know what, this was his money, I already had a decent income, which is my trucking company, my daily game. So I was just pouring these properties into buying more into buying more interior as of as of today, we own a little bit over 20 doors, we have myself I have 10 Airbnbs with the partner combined, we have about 40 tweets, it's really it. That's how we got started. But you know, the main thing that I want to, I love to inspire people that you can own real estate. But in wholesaling and flipping, that's a cool way to generate active income. But that's not passive income. So the whole secret is like how can I make some active income to pour it into some assets to, to then reposition or make some passive income? That's really where where the sweet spot is.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, and for, for a lot of people. They don't believe that it's possible for them. You know, like, there's a million reasons why I can't do this. It's it's my upbringing. It's the income that I have. It's this reason, it's that reason. And so really like for you, it's getting started, right, I think that's half the battle is getting started and taking action, and then belief believing it in your mind first, right? Like, I can do this. And if that person can do it, I can too. And then it's figuring it out, right? Like, yeah, you're gonna have to learn something new. You knew how to run a trucking company, you didn't know how to do real estate. But you can apply that work ethic you can apply that thirst for knowledge into figuring out how to solve that problem, to go do that in the real estate space. And I think that's where people get tripped up. Is that Yeah, I can give you 100 reasons why I can't do it. So I'm just going to stay here on the sidelines.
Yoni Rios
Yeah, no, that's very common. A lot of people get that analysis paralysis. And Einstein says a pretty good quote you know, there are those who people who think those who people who read a lot get in that habit of thinking you know, and then when you think a lot you just don't do nothing. So I didn't really give myself a chance to think I just went it took action that's really you know, I I take action what I always say is like, he did it, why can't I do it? You know, so my one of my coaches through soccer, he used to say like, He breeds like you he eats like you. He goes to the restaurant. He has all the motions in feelings you have. So why can't you do it? And that was really triggered me. I was like, Dude, this guy's right. Yes guys, right. So I always I always put, I always put that in perspective, like if they did it, I could do it I actually did something a little bit harder, which was x and x and x, you know. So that's why I was like, Oh, I actually, you know, expunge the felony to a misdemeanour. I actually did. So I get I always got my my lessons that I hadn't live in LA, I did this. So I could do that. Right. So it was just a lot of self talk.
Mike Swenson
Talking about the Airbnb piece, I'm curious to know, you know, as you're doing flipping and wholesaling? How did that turn into? Okay, let's go ahead and do some Airbnbs. And then are those in Los Angeles or those in other areas of the US?
Yoni Rios
Everything is 90%, I will say 95%, as which within like, 30 mile radius from LA, and one or two, or maybe outside that radius, but still within like, 100 mile radius of of LA. So everything so the California what? So that
Mike Swenson
is a strategy of hey, instead of, you know, flipping this and selling it or flipping it and holding it, we could rent it out for a higher rate, doing the Airbnb strategy, is that kind of how that came to be?
Yoni Rios
Yes, that's exactly how it came to be. Well, my buddy, who I flipped with, he own two houses, and he was killing it in Airbnb. And how it came about is like, well, the we can sell this one because the market kind of ticked down. So let's put on Airbnb. And that's how he ended that one, and then another one, that no one then you know, just kind of started compounding and that you, you, you attract what you think about what you are, right. So that's the conversations we were having, and also the type of clients and houses we were attracting. And now it's, you know, you still underwrite a deal as a rental. But you always want to push it into Airbnb, because there's definitely I would say, a double amount of income as a traditional rent as far as on on Airbnb.
Mike Swenson
And what type of occupancy do you need to have to have double the double the rent,
Yoni Rios
we see we have about 90 Some months 92 Some months around there, but you can, I can assure you our product, which we anyone that's within our market, we're definitely going to be as far as like the finished product, we're, you know, this is actually one of them. That's one of them. They're really, like, nice, so whoever's going to quote unquote, compete, but you know, they're we're definitely going to be up there. So
Mike Swenson
where are these travellers you know, kind of tourists needing to be to come in LA are mainly aimed for a couple of days for a week or a
Yoni Rios
couple of days that weekend. Especially la it's a Metro City, right? Just like St. Paul Minneapolis, those are metro cities and people are always going to travel into just always I have a buddy who has him in Atlanta right outside the Georgia University of Georgia. You know, our people are always travelling to University of Georgia people you just got to find that sweet spot maybe near hospitals near universities that's where I find the most success we have some that it's a walking distance from for universities and those occupancies are crazy and those the rate that they pay per night are outrageous but it's because the demand is there for for private universities walking distance it's not so you just gotta you know location is there for me and obviously once you you rehab and furnish it, they gotta be pretty good.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, yeah. And you guys have warm wet weather year round. That's where you know, we do have short term rentals here. You know, people are a little less excited to come to Minnesota in the winter, they do still come here. They're just a little less excited to come here in the winter. So we've got a little bit more vacancy we've got a team in southwest Florida that that handles Airbnb ease and short term rentals. And so I haven't I have an agent on my team down there. We're vacancies much higher there as well. You know, it's kind of the same thing whether it's winter or summer, people are going to come there sometimes a little less than the summer because it might be a little too hot but at least you you don't have quite the ups and downs of the weather as you would in a northern state.
Yoni Rios
Yeah, no, it's it's you know, everything has its attractions and there's a product for everyone. Some people I don't know if Minnesota but I know Utah's definitely known for there's snowboarding and skiing. So I don't know if St. Paul is might be known for that. But there's definitely a product for everything and especially if you if you go a little bit over beyond and add the extra amenities that other people have maybe like you guys have basements out there. Maybe you finish the basement and you made it into a game you roll a pool table and you just go a little bit overboard, but in the long term, you will hold less vacancies because you're you're gonna be up there with the other two, three, and you have those amenities and you're only charging 50 or $100. A night more. It's a no brainer.
Yoni Rios
I have one pump springs, which are the ones nearby, they're kind of similar, but mine is just over the top. So they're like, Dude, what are you gonna do with this guy? So that's, that's, that's kind of a, you know, the whole strategy there is just, uh, you just gotta go over the top. And but still try to try to stay within budget, right. But you know, it's kind of like a hard play. But the cool thing is that I have other avenues of income. So I don't solely rely on this, because I paid my dues for the last 10 years. And that's just really what it brings, you know, you pay your dues, and then you make some income. And then now you don't solely rely on this. But I am so competitive, that I need to put these properties to perform soon as possible.
Mike Swenson
So what what is the future hold for you in terms of strategy? Where do you see this going? Is it it's more markets, more properties? You know, helping others along the way? What do you what do you want to see happen here in the future,
Yoni Rios
so for this year, my goal is to buy 15 properties this year, combine the two it's $15, I will save it to single family since and, and small multi families. That's where I'm at right now. So I want to get to a certain amount of passive first, before I take my, you know, kind of like this, they're off the off the truck, you know, a little bit, wherever but I'm doing this in the tracking and the I'm doing everything a little bit more automated. So everything systemize as of now, I've never, I'm sure you know what vas, I don't know, if your audience don't virtual assistants. So we have that in our real estate company. We don't have it in the trucking, but I fully started we as of as of this week, we have our second VA. So we're doing everything overseas to you know, bring costs down and increase profits. So that's where I have they're then strategizing to get into more passive income and impact more people with the truck. And so those are the three areas that are very, very focused and I'm working on every day on
Mike Swenson
awesome. That's great. Yeah, thank you so much for for sharing your story. I wish there's you know, there's I wish we could have an hour episode. We tried to keep it a little bit shorter and that just so folks can consume it at a workout consume it in a commute to work but at the same time yeah, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story definitely inspiring overcoming challenges adversity not giving up pushing through things and then learning a separate industry right like you you had a business in the trucking industry and you said hey, I want to do something more than that. And and branch out to real estate and now you've got got some good businesses that you're running. So for people that want to learn more about you or you know, kind of follow your journey How can I do that?
Yoni Rios
Okay, and thank you for that it is all it's all believed right? We can all do it we all have the same 24 hours we all breathe the same air we all drink water. So you know it's hard to believe but Yeah, Mom I'm very active on Instagram I post almost every single day my morning, my miracle morning whether it's workouts journals and everything so I'm very active there on Instagram which is Yoni Y-O-N-I Last Name Rios R-I-O-S 07. So Yoni Rios also on Facebook, Yoni Rios, LinkedIn, Yoni Rios, and my email is riosyoni last name first name @gmail.com
Mike Swenson
Awesome. Well, thank you so much God for coming on and sharing and best of luck to you in the future. And all that you're doing and yeah, I know you're gonna inspire a lot more people and continue to grow. So thank you so much. I appreciate you sharing with us.
Yoni Rios
No, thank you so much. I appreciate you making the you know the slot for me and I hope some people got some value and, and thank you again, thank you for making this possible as as as this is the I'm sure you're serving your purpose through these through these podcasts. And, you know, there's a lot of people who would thank you for that. I thank you for that.
