Relational Capital Over Cold Leads: Real Estate Investments with Martine Richardson

Host1 00:00

When I first started, I knew no one's successful in real estate. I only knew you have the market, right?

Host 00:06

What's your process for discovering how you can add value to people?

Host1 00:10

I have all this relational capital because I have really good relationships.

Host 00:14

Just not the most scalable way to do it.

Host1 00:17

I just know a lot of people have a lot of limiting beliefs.

Host 00:19

You know, because relationship development is not a super scalable thing.

Host1 00:22

I'm all the way about relationships, 100%.

Host 00:25

What's up, everybody? Grant Wise here. Welcome back to the Partner Profit Podcast. Excited for my conversation today with Martine Richardson. We're gonna show you how to turn your relationships into revenue. Hey Martine, how are you today?

Host1 00:37

I am doing great. I am happy to talk to your people. You know, I'm very high energy, so I'm excited. Let's get to it.

Host 00:44

Let's get to it. Before we dive in, for all the people listening that maybe don't know much about you, why don't you give us a little bit of your backstory? How do you get to where you are today?

Host1 00:51

I am a real estate investor and I also coach people on how to buy their first rental property using little to none of their own money. And I've gotten to that point because I've closed on over a hundred plus deals using little to none of my own money. But when I started, I started, it was like an unfortunate circumstance that turned out really, really well. I worked at a job. I know a lot of people listen to you work at a job, and I had gotten my degree, I had done everything right. I thought that this was gonna be like my American dream. You know, I get this job, I'm gonna love it, but something was missing. Like, I don't know if people have felt like this before, but you just feel unfulfilled, you're not passionate about the work. So that showed in me working the job and I ended up getting fired. But while I was there, I laugh at it because it's like it's it was the biggest blessing for me. I don't think I ever would have got in real estate. I just would have let I just would have had an unfulfilled life, like I would have stayed. I don't think I would have taken the jump. So I was working at this job, I had read about how to get in real estate at like in wholesaling, and it's I knew what to do, but I just wasn't doing it because I was comfortable. And then that job I had, I had gotten a car when I was working there. That car ended up getting repossessed, and when that car got repossessed, I took real estate seriously the next day because I like to like follow different people, and one person I really, really like is a young levanzant, and she talked about there's nowhere to fall when you're on the floor. Like I was on I was on the floor, so like I'm like, well, what do I have to lose? And then like I jumped into it, but even when I jumped into it, I wasn't good at it, I was bad. Like, I was just feeling my way forward, I just didn't quit. It took me two years to get a deal. Two years. Now I've been doing this for 12 years now, but I had to go through some bumps and bruises to get to where I am today. So that's why I'm coaching folks, so they don't they can learn from my mistakes. So you don't have to go through as many bumps and bruises as I did, so that you can build your rental portfolio.

Host 03:03

That is an awesome story. I'm I'm sure it maybe is not a fun one, you know, to live through, but I only know that because I have a similar story. Uh you know, it's not with jobs, it was always with businesses for me. Had a couple of businesses that went down, cars repossess, all of the stuff. And so I've definitely lived it. I know it's not fun in the moment, but you dirt you certainly grow an appreciation for that. I think um I had a coach one time and he taught me what the duality was, right? And it was when I first started working with him, he was like, Okay, I want you to go, and I want you to make a list of every bad thing that's ever happened to you in your life. And I came back with like a like a book. He was like, Okay, I got all I got all my bad. And uh he was like, Okay, you know what bad thing happened? Now I want you to write what good came from it. And that was an exercise. And you grow to realize that uh at least I did, is that all of the best things that have ever happened in your life came from all of the worst things that you thought ever came from your life. So it's it's a it's a fascinating way to look at it.

Host1 04:07

And um you you bring up a good point because like I'm a landlord now, but before when I first started being a landlord, I was really bad at it. Like if your money was green, you could move into my place. Terrible philosophy, always an eviction court, but it taught me what I needed to do so I could avoid it, or if I had to go to eviction court, I know how to get the people out because I was there so much.

Host 04:32

So that's amazing. When I say, Martine, how do I turn my relationships into revenue? What comes to mind for you?

Host1 04:39

Oh, I love this. Like, I built this whole business on relationships. I don't market, I don't like do cold touches to get business. Everything that I do is from relationships, so like I get deals because people know me and they believe in my ability to do what I say I'm gonna do, and I've proven that over and over. They know that if they sell it to Martine, I'm gonna close, I'm not gonna leave them high and dry. So I get referred business because they know that their people are gonna be taken care of. Now, on the flip side, because I use private money to buy my properties, I have all this relational capital because I have really good relationships. These people wouldn't lend me money if they didn't know like and trust me. So my whole business is on relationships. The only reason I've been in here for so long is because of relationships, and to even make it even sweeter. When I first started, I knew no one successful in real estate, not a soul. I didn't know anybody that had large chunks of money that could they could lend it to me so I could go buy a property, and that all came because I built really, really good relationships. My whole business, my whole longevity of being in this is because I built relationships. I focused on it. It was something that was at the top of my list because I knew if I had the right relationships, I could grow to where I wanted to be.

Host 06:07

That is amazing, and I would imagine unbelievably challenging. You know, you're new in the business and you're trying to get started, and you've got no contacts, and you're trying to get people to give you money. Walk us through that. How did you get your first deal? Yeah.

Host1 06:21

So I'd say for the first one, I kept because when I first started, I was wholesaling, so I didn't have to worry about the money piece. I thought, you know, if I didn't have a ton of capital, I had to sell it to somebody else. And ooh, you know, you have your regrets, right? Like the the what I bought these deals for, man, they would be worth so much right now. But anyway, you you learn along the way. I'm trying to make people avoid that for themselves. You can keep it. But um, it all started from going to like different meetings, so I had to really start networking heavy, and just getting face to face with people, getting face to face with people, and a lot of people think, well, you know, we all went to this educational seminar. So since we all went, we have a great relationship. No, that's not how great relationships are made. Great relationships are made because you really get to know someone, you really get to understand what they value, what they care about, how can you help them, and then you find the win-win. So I was finding people that had money that they didn't necessarily want to do the work, but they wanted their money to work for them, and they had already seen my ability, but what I was able to accomplish, so they trusted that I would do what I say what I was gonna do. And then on top of that, I knew that my reputation was everything, so I wasn't gonna tarnish it, I was gonna do everything I told this person I was gonna do so that they could tell their friend, so they could tell someone else, so then I could get more relational, relational capital. So that's kind of how it started, and then you know, you kind of get a name for yourself once you they're like, wow, you want to make some great returns? Go, blah, blah, blah, right? So you start getting referrals and stuff, but it all started with really getting to know people, really seeing how you can help, finding those win-win scenarios.

Host 08:11

Has that philosophy been the same? I know because the coaching venture is newer, right? Like you maybe I don't know when when did you start your coaching business?

Host1 08:20

I started it two years ago.

Host 08:22

Two years ago. So is that philosophy of you know, finding people that you can partner with or build relationships with that can refer you, developing those relationships, establishing trust? Has that really been the philosophy for the coaching company as well? Did you kind of take the same process and apply it to that?

Host1 08:38

Yes, because when I first started, I only knew you have to market, right? You have to send out all of this cold marketing all those people, all these people, and that works. But I found that I enjoy it so much more when I'm doing business with my friend. I have a relationship with you, you're my friend, right? So I know I enjoy business doing business that way so much more. So, like, for the people that I coach, they think, oh well, you know, Martine can get that because she's been doing this for so long. No, you can get this from the beginning. You just have to position yourself in a way that you can add some value to someone. Nobody wants you to come to them and you're like begging, please help me. If you don't, you know, fund this deal, I'm not gonna get it. No, you need to position yourself so that you are gonna get this deal, whether you want to do it or not. I only need one yes. Like, I don't mean so, and then people will see that you're about your business, right? So when they see that you're about your business, they're like, oh well, the train is going and I don't want to get left. Like, I want to get in on this. That that's kind of like how everything stemmed. But yeah, I just realized doing it the relationship way was so much better. Like, I didn't have any competition anymore. It was I came from a trusted source.

Host 09:58

Yeah, that's what a lot of people don't realize is relationship development to build a business is really a hack because anybody can go run Facebook ads, anybody can go do Google ads, anybody can go buy leads, but to actually develop a real human connection with somebody else that ultimately leads to uh a business partnership or or whatever that might look like, it's it's a hack. Like it's a moat, like it gives you a competitive advantage. You know, I I recently kind of went off the grid, you know, a couple of years back, and I was encouraged to like go really focus on building the business that I have now, and I decided to do that. I stopped creating content, I stopped everything. I stopped courses, I stopped this thing, I stopped that thing, I stopped 100% of it. And I just focused on one thing. And when I came back and it was time to like really go out there and build relationships, which is recent, like the last two to three months, I was like, well, I've gonna I'm gonna do podcasting because it's my number one relationship development tool. But I had built a Rolodex of contacts for years doing what you just said, adding value, doing what I said I was gonna do, etc. etc. And then I think I told you before I got on, I think you're my 33rd conversation in six weeks. People are like, damn, that's a lot of podcasts.

unknown 11:14

Right.

Host 11:15

Yes, it has been a lot of podcasts, but it was like cool to be able to like I just called 60 of my friends, and it's like, hey, can we get on a call? I've got a lot more conversations booked, and um it like I never would have been able to do that in the beginning. Like the when I first got started in all this stuff almost 15 years ago, it's like I would have never been able to just call 60 people and get them to jump on and talk to me for 30 minutes. It is a true hack. So I'm curious how do you because I because I get the framework, add value to people and do what you say what you're gonna do. That's a very simple philosophy. But I'm curious, how do you identify who you want to partner with?

Host1 11:57

I think the easiest way to do that is to go to people, go to meetings where people have common interests. So you're gonna go to a meeting, let's say a real estate investor meetup, for instance. Everybody in here is in interested in real estate. Like, why would they have come? So, what I like to tell my students when they're trying to really develop these relationships is make sure you get at least three cards while you're at this meeting, or if they don't have a card, get their telephone number. And then what people don't do is they don't follow up, they don't call the person until they need something. So we're calling people and we're setting up meetings. Let's let me take you to lunch, let me take you to coffee, breakfast, or something, and let me see how I can add value to your business. And then, like when you are talking to people, right, you start hearing what they really want. And if you're doing a lot of networking, you can connect people, so you can say, Oh, well, I really just need a you know a loan officer. Oh, I know I got, and I'll send them your link that you gave me, right? And they'll go on there and they'll get their loan officer or whatever, but you truly just try to add value, and then eventually you just run into the people that they do have capital, and then sometimes people don't know that they could lend, like you have to teach them. So, like, I have one student, for instance, that she already had a really powerful network, but she had never invested in real estate before. So she reached out to all the people that she knew that they were had some interest in real estate, but maybe they were too busy, maybe you know, they were doing some melts, maybe they just didn't know how to do it. They already trusted her. So they hopped on a Zoom with her and she taught them how they could lend to her. She taught them the different ways that you can lend. Like, if you have this, if you have that, if you have this, you could get in on my deals, and this is what it looks like. And then, like, the icing on the cake for her, because this she already had this network, so she was just working the network she already had, but they had never lent her money before. She sent a follow-up survey to see, like, well, when are you ready to get started? How much money you got? Like, how much do you want to do? And then people would they already know, like, and trust her. The whole the thing is you have to get people that one want to do it, and they have to know like and trust you. If they don't know, like and trust you, they're not gonna lend you money. Nobody's just gonna say, Hey, I got an extra, you know, half a million. I don't know you, but do you want to do this deal? No, you gotta you gotta put in the work, you gotta really get to know people, really try to get to help them.

Host 14:37

Yeah, that's it's so fascinating, really, all when you think about all of the different ways that you can add value to somebody. Because like, I wouldn't think that like if I was gonna go borrow money to flip a house or buy a property or whatever, I wouldn't think that I could teach the person that was gonna lend me money how to do it. And so, like, that's interesting. How how do you go like what's your process for discovering how you can add value to people?

Host1 15:02

Yeah, I think it's really just it comes down to listening to what people want. You know, people always start, well, what do you do? Like, I'll give you an example. Today I went to the nail salon, so my nails aren't busted anymore. But I went to the nail salon and I'm just talking to the guy, right? And we're just shooting the breeze. And I said, Hey, do you do you like investing? Like, are you do you invest in anything? And he was like, No. And I'm like, You own the nail salon, like I know you like investing, you own a business. Like, come on. So um, I he was like, No, I'm not really into investing. I was like, really? I was like, because you know, I invest in um rental properties, like I'm a real estate investor, and when I told him that, he was like, Oh, so like he started asking me questions. I've noticed when you bring up real estate, most people are interested. Not everybody, but like 80% of them are interested, and they want to ask you questions and find out more. So he started asking questions to the point where I invited him to join my free group so he could learn how to do it, because I could tell he was very interested. And then once you get people in your circle, like for instance, something that would be good to do. I don't know if I'm gonna do it or not, but something that would be good to do if I was looking for a lender or looking to find out how I could help people, is to reach out to that guy and take him to lunch. We all gotta eat. Take him to lunch, find out more about what he wants to do. Like, how did how did you start owning this business? Is this all that you want to do? Do you have any hopes and dreams? What are your goals? Like, really just try to see what type of lifestyle lifestyle people want, and then just offer solutions. You can connect people, but just offer solutions. If you know that you can make people double-digit returns on their money, they might be a little interested if they're only making 0.1 at the bank.

Host 16:53

Yeah, 100%. 100%. I what would you say to the people that are like, yeah, Martin, but that's just not the most scalable way to do it. Like, I wanna I wanna build a relationship with or I want to build like a following, and I want people to just give me money because I'm I'm I'm great or something like that. Like, you know, because relationship development is not a super scalable thing, but I find that when business owners do are really good at doing the unscalable work, they tend to be more successful than those that don't. So what would you say to that?

Host1 17:24

Well, one, I don't count anybody's pockets first. So I can make one relationship with someone and they may have millions of dollars to lend me. I don't know. Like, I have to do one deal with them, and then they'll see how I work, and then that's when the floodgates open. They're like, Man, that was great. I made so much money. I wanna do another one, I wanna do another one. So for people that are like, oh, they don't want to do that, that's fine, but maybe you should go the hard money route, maybe you should go the institutional route. The only other thing that I can think of is I mean, you can develop content and create a following and do all of that, and like that's cool, but I'm doing that now. Like before, I was just focused on the relationships because that was bringing in the money because that that's it's it's way more important for longevity. You need to have good, valuable relationships with people. If there are people that came before me, they've been doing this way longer than me, and they help me in so many ways. And one thing that they preach is let's say you're going through a tough spot, a deal didn't go the way you thought it was gonna go. You need those relationships because maybe one of your friends can help you out, maybe they can give you a good idea, not even just the money aspect, they can give you some sort of concept that can help you change things and change the way that they are going so they can go back up. So I just think it's the most important thing in business. Like having a hard loud problem is okay, but no, relationships is number one.

Host 18:56

Yeah. Well, I mean, at the end of the day, business still happens on the phone or it happens in person. So even if you have a large following, you gotta talk to people, like you gotta go deep with people, you gotta develop a relationship, especially if you're asking for their money so that you can do projects. You you know, people are not going to buy from people they don't know, like, and trust, and are certainly not going to invest in people they don't know, like and trust. And um, I think that's very fascinating. This has been an amazing conversation. I want to respect your time. So I always like to ask this last question before we sign off how can we, as listeners of the Partner Profit Podcast, how can we partner with you? What's important to you right now? How can we support your growth?

Host1 19:31

So, for me, right now, that's a great question. People don't really ask me that. But um, for me, I am really like heavily focused on helping everyone that is ready to buy their first rental property, to start their wealth journey, despite what circumstances they're in. As you know, I started, my car was repossessed. I own rental properties. You can fix those, you can fix your credit to get it to where it needs to be so that you can own rental property. So I just know a lot of people have a lot of limiting beliefs, like, oh well, I I can't do it because I need to have $50,000 in the bank, or I can't do it because my credit isn't where it needs to be. Oh, I can't do it, I don't have time. For anybody that is serious and you're ready, you want to change, I want to invite you all to my free Facebook group. It's called the Freedom Inc., and I just share a lot of resources and tips, and I really invite everybody to join that group is because I want to start developing a relationship with you. I'm all the way about relationships, 100%. So when Grant said he wanted to talk about relationships, I say, You're speaking my language, you are speaking my language. So yeah, I think for me, the fulfillment that I get now is more so in helping more people achieve that goal. I've just, you know, a lot of people that I'm working with now, they've wanted to do this for quite some time. And to see their reactions, how they feel when they close on their first deal, it really warms my heart. And yeah, I still invest too, but that's not as exciting as seeing someone that get their first deal, just to be honest. Like, that's way more exciting.

Host 21:15

I love it. We'll make sure that we link up all the ways that people can connect with you and join your Facebook group. And if you're listening to this, I highly encourage you to do it. Uh, Martine is very passionate about what she does and uh has a proven track record too. So, Martine, thank you so much for spending some time with me today.

Host1 21:29

Thank you for having me.

Host 21:31

Of course, of course. And thank you all for continuing to listen to the Partner Profit Podcast. This has been another amazing conversation. I'll see you on the next one. Peace.