Hi Everyone,
Here is that special report I've been working on for the past week and a half. It lays out the five keys to raising money to fund large commercial real estate deals. These are the same five keys that are necessary for ANY size real estate deal.
I hope you enjoy the report. I want to say a special thanks to the Maui Mastermind graduates who helped by actually DOING the big deal I use as a case study.
At the end of the report I have included information about Maui 2006 for few of you who it would even be appropraite for. If you hope that is you, make sure you read the entire special report, if not, just read up to the end and stop there.
I'm working on another special report on forming partnerships for businesses and investing. I will do my best to finish it in the next week or two at the latest. When I'm done I promise to post it here for you.
Thank you everyone for the great feedback and compliments on the blog. This is still very new to me and I'm having a blast in my "retirement"!
How a Group of Maui Grads Raised
$5 Million in 15 Days to Buy a
$15 Million Property for
50 cents on the Dollar!
Dear Friend,
Earlier this morning I got off the phone from a small conference call with five Maui Mastermind graduates who had put together a deal on a 950 acre office and industrial complex outside of Denver Colorado.
In a moment I’ll share with you the five most important keys they used to raise the $5 million. In fact, they spent about half of the conference call talking through how to fairly turn the excess investors away because they had several hundred thousand dollars too much being offered to them!
How would you like to have a “problem” like that! (Just keep reading and I’ll share with you how to model their success.)
But first, I want ask you a question: What do you think has been the single greatest roadblock for you to get past in your wealth building? What’s been the biggest obstacle to you becoming financially free?
From my work with the Maui Mastermind graduates over the past several years, here are the three biggest obstacles that I’ve seen them face. See which of these three most matches up to you and your personal situation. (Maybe you’re facing more than one of them!)
The Three Biggest Obstacles to Your Becoming Financially Free
Obstacle One: Isolation
First, was the obstacle of building wealth all on their own. Without question one of the biggest things I consistently hear from all the Maui grads is that before they went to Maui they were isolated in their wealth building.
They didn’t have a core mastermind group with whom they could openly share their challenges, brainstorm ideas, leverage contacts and skills, or celebrate their successes with.
As you can imagine this really made it difficult for them to enjoy the level of success, connection, and financial freedom that they really knew in their heart of hearts they could attain, if, and this was a big if for them before Maui, if only they could find a group of ambitious, positive, like-minded, supportive doers to help each other succeed.
I know that for me this has been a very big challenge for me to face. After selling my half of Mentor Financial Group to Peter I thought I was going to retire. But I missed the spark of creating and building a business. And I also realized that I missed working with a mastermind team. That’s why over the past two months I’ve put together a new mastermind team for myself so that I could tap into the energy, feedback, and contacts of a powerful group of proven achievers.
But most people don’t have access to a rolodex with 5 to 7 big players who are committed to stepping up and playing full out together. And it’s essential that you build a mastermind alliance with at least this many people, if not more. If you aren’t able to do this, you’ll always struggle and won’t ever be able to reach the highest level of wealth and happiness that you are capable of.
Over the years I’ve made this point in dozens of different ways. And I’ve seen how it’s been the single greatest determiner between massive success and total failure.
Alone you are vulnerable and will never reach your fullest potential. But when you connect with the right mastermind group, the chemistry will literally propel you to heights you never dreamed possible.
In fact, the biggest reason why people attend Maui to begin with is to get plugged into the Maui community and have an instant peer group of movers and shakers. Can you imagine how must faster you’d reach your goals and how much more fun you would have along the way if you were a part of a community of elite wealth builders who could support you every step of the way? It’s not rocket science to see the powerful advantage and edge this would give you on your journey to financial freedom.
Obstacle Two: Fear
The second obstacle to people building all the wealth they can is fear. This fear can be in many forms, but at it’s most basic level all Maui grads have learned that in order for them to live the life of their dreams they have to learn to take action in the presence of their fears.
Take the example of Kelly, a three time Maui grad. When Kelly and her husband first came to Maui they had over $75,000 in credit card debt. Going to Maui wasn’t just a stretch for her, it was a gigantic leap of faith.
How did it all turn out for her? Well, over the past two and a half years since attending that first year’s Maui, Kelly has done several large commercial deals including buying a 216 unit apartment complex and being a partner in a condo conversion project. Right now she has a 156 unit apartment complex in escrow and is part of the team that put together that $15 million project I will be telling you more about in just a moment.
In fact, over the past two and a half years Kelly has become a Maui Millionaire™.
How did Kelly go from $77,000 in debt to a million dollar net worth? By repeatedly getting herself to step up and do the things that scared her.
For example, at Maui that first year Diane, myself and a panel of our Maui Stars suggested that Kelly quit her job as a police officer to create the time to focus on her passion—building wealth by investing in real estate.
Can you imagine how scary that must have been fro her? We asked her to let go of the “security” of her job (if you can really call being a police officer in Los Angeles “safe”) and instead focus on the financial freedom she really wanted. As a result of this critical shift she got both!
So what’s the fear that’s stopping you?
Maybe you’re like Stephen, a three time Maui grad. Before Stephen came to Maui that first year his biggest fear was that he wouldn’t be able to raise the money to fund his real estate deals. He was afraid that no one would find him credible enough to lend him the money, or partner with him on deals.
Well, after Maui, Stephen’s bought several million dollars of real estate with other people’s money. In fact, on just one deal he did Stephen raised over $2 million to fund the deal by negotiating a zero down, 100 percent owner financed purchase of a package of investment properties! He’s learned to just step up and accept the challenge of raising money for his deals even if it still scares him a bit.
What are you going to do when you are confronted with something standing in the way of your dreams? Are you going to hang your head low and slink away? Or are you going to acknowledge your fear, and then step up and take action anyway?
What would you do if you were not afraid? What one dream would you dare to dream and go after if you knew you could not fail?
What are you waiting for? You will get no better chance at life than this moment!
Obstacle Three: Confusion
The third major obstacle I’ve observed our Maui grads had to overcome was confusion of just how to get started. They had heard so much conflicting financial advice over the years that they quite simply didn’t know which direction to move in.
Can you relate to this feeling of overwhelm? In my opinion, one of the most important parts to Maui for our graduates was that it simplified the complex world of wealth building so that they had a crystal clear, specifically defined, plan of action to pursue their personal wealth building, with a powerful process to tweak that plan along the way.
So there you have the three biggest obstacles that I’ve watched our Maui graduates overcome. Are any of the three a factor in your own personal wealth building?
Now it’s time to shift gears and focus on…
The Nine Steps to Every Big Deal
There are nine steps to every large real estate deal. These nine steps must happen no matter if you’re buying a 156 unit apartment building like three time Maui grads Steve and Kelly are, or you’re buying a self storage complex like two Maui grads Rob and Roger did over a year ago.
Here are those nine steps:
- Find the deal
- Analyze it and run the numbers
- Structure the deal
- Negotiate it and put the property under contract
- Investigate it and do your thorough due diligence
- Fund it
- Close on it
- Take over the management after you buy it
- Sell it or own it over time
In this special report I’m going to focus on step six—“Fund it”. In fact, I’m going to share with you the five keys to raising money to fund your deals.
But first, I have another question for you: What is your comfort level with massive wealth? I’m not talking about a hypothetical scenario here, I’m candidly asking you how you feel about earning the big dollars. How do your really feel about large chunks of money showing in your bank account, or a steady stream of passive, residual cash flow that gives your total financial freedom? Down deep many people find it both exciting and scary. It’s as if they are driving with the gas floored and the brake pulled tight!
After working with over 100,000 wealth builders over the past decade I’ve observed that every single one of them has a set program and comfort zone with wealth that completely determines the amount of money they allow in their lives.
I call this money program your Wealth Operating System™, or W.O.S. for short. Your W.O.S. is the sum total of your emotional associations and belief system about money, wealth, and your ability and worthiness to allow money to flow into your life.
In fact, upgrading your Wealth Operating System™ is the single most powerful way for you to instantly increase your ability to earn, enjoy, and grow your wealth easily and automatically.
When you are talking about earning what the big boys earn, it’s not about effort, it’s about their total confidence that they are able and deserving of earning that kind of money.
Take the example of one of our Maui grads Stephanie. She and her husband Jack came to Maui with a significant track record of success. They had built up a hugely successful high tech manufacturing business.
You might wonder why would she and Jack come to Maui not just once, but three times! The answer is simple: every single year at Maui Stephanie and Jack upgrade their W.O.S. and their wealth tools which has resulted in millions of dollars to the net worth.
Plus, they also get to spend a full week with a select group of some of the nicest, kindest, most focused, ambitious doers in one of the most inspiring locations you could even imagine.
So, understanding that a critical part to having wealth flow into your bank account and your life is your W.O.S., it’s time to turm our attention to the “how to” skills to raising money to fund your deals.
The Five Keys to Raising Money To Fund Your Big Deals
One: Have a great deal
Maybe it should go without saying, but in my experience it needs to be repeated. The first key to raising money for your deal is to make sure you have a great deal under contract.
Take the case study of the Quincy project that I’ve alluded to earlier. A two-time Maui grad, Jeff, found a lead on a motivated seller who owned a large commercial complex outside of Denver Colorado. For many years the owner had made auto air bags from that facility. Then about two years ago after that company had merged with a larger auto parts manufacturer, the plant had been closed so that the work could be consolidated with a plant in Utah.
That left a 950 acre empty property worth millions. The owner had tried to sell the property as a whole for over a year when Jeff first found out about it.
Quickly Jeff realized that this was going to be a much larger project than he could handle on his own. That’s when he brought in Roger, another Maui grad to help him figure out how to structure a winning deal with this motivated seller. (Personally, I think one of the best things about Maui is that it helps connect talented, quality people with each other so that they can collectively help each other be many times more successful than they ever could on their own. This is the mastermind principle at its best.)
To make a long story short, Jeff and Roger eventually brought in several other Maui graduates and negotiated a purchase price with the seller of $7.6 million. While that’s not pocket change by any means, it was still a price that was conservatively 50% below the real value of the property!
Now, starting with this fact, do you think you could raise $5 million to buy a $15 million property for 50 cents on the dollar? Well that’s exactly what Roger, Jeff, and the other Maui grads did. Let’s keep exploring how they did it so that you can take the lessons and apply them in your own personal wealth building.
Two: Effectively spread the word
Once you have a great deal it’s time to effectively spread the word. The first step is to have each member of your team generate a comprehensive list of everyone you know that you should tell about the deal.
When I say everyone, I do mean everyone! Don’t prejudge who to tell, instead tactfully ask all of them if they are interested in learning more about the opportunity.
That’s exactly what the Quincy team did. Each member of the team put together a list of 75 to 100 people they knew, from friends and family to business acquaintances that they asked if they would be interested in learning more about the project and how they could get a healthy rate of return on a solid investment.
Two advanced secrets to doing this effectively are first, to let other people than you do the real explaining to your friends and family. Remember the story about a prophet in his own land? Well, the same thing often holds true when raising money for a deal. Your friends and family will usually be best served if you let another person on your project team do the talking and explaining to them after you introduce this teammate to your contact.
Secret two is has to do with a hidden source of TRILLIONS of dollars! Yes, you heard me right, trillions, not billions.
What exactly is this source? It’s people’s pension and IRA money. The Quincy project raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from individuals who shifted their retirement accounts to a self directed custodian like Equity Trust Company or Pensco and then used that money to invest in the deal.
You can do the exact same thing whether you are borrowing money to buy a house to fix up and resell, or raising a few million dollars to fund a commercial real estate deal.
Three: Communicate the deal in a powerful and believable way
Once you find people who are interested in learning about your opportunity it’s time to “pitch” your deal. This means communicating the merits and potential pitfalls of the deal in a concise, attractive, compelling, and honest way.
One of the key lessons the Quincy team learned was that they needed a simple, one page summary of the deal to use with people initially. At the start the team was using a 17 page “executive summary” which caused most people’s eyes to glaze over.
No matter what the deal you have is, if you can’t explain it clearly on one single page, then you will have a tough time getting people to invest.
A second technique you can use, which I watched the Quincy team use incredibly effectively, is to host several group conference calls onto which you invite prospective investors to listen to you explain the project and opportunity, and to ask questions in an informal, group format.
The Quincy team hosted four conference calls over two weeks which raised a large part of the money for the deal.
This brings use to the fourth key…
Four: Understand the “11th Hour Principal™”
Whenever you raise money you need to understand that bulk of the money you raise will come in at the white knuckle, stomach churning, hair raising, last moment. Urgency is quite literally the yeast that causes your fundraising tally to raise.
And it was no different for the Quincy team. They had spent about two months getting ready for a three week, all out, no holds barred, investment raising blitz, that ended 15 days later with over $5 million being raised!
Five: Race THROUGH the finish line
It’s critical that if you have a great deal that you don’t just go after raising the money you need, but instead you set your fund raising sites higher than you think you’ll need.
The analogy is like that of a sprinter. All world class sprinters don’t sprint to the finish line, they race THROUGH the finish line so that they get the best result possible. You need to do the same thing.
Now maybe you won’t find a $15 million property to buy as your next real estate project like the Quincy team did, but you can use these same five principles to help you on your next deal.
And, who knows, you may just come across a lead on a highly motivated seller with a larger commercial property. If you did, what would you do?
Do you have a network to turn to to make a deal like this happen? To do the analysis, the negotiating, the structuring, the funding, and even to help you manage the deal on the other side?
Or maybe you already have access to a lot of money but instead you need help accessing investors who can bring you a steady flow of quality deals for you to evaluate to passively invest in for solid rates of return of 15%, 20%, 40% or more?
This is why I am such a huge believer in the mastermind principle.
Real wealth is not built with dollars in your bank account, but rather by quality contacts in your rolodex!
A Mastermind Group Is a Great Place to Start
If you’ve followed along with the other special reports I’ve written on the major lessons from Maui you’ll already have learned many key insights into how to channel the awesome power of a mastermind group to build your investing business.
It didn’t surprise me at all how the participants that returned from past years Mauis were dramatically different, not just in the information that they learned, but they were transformed in their way of being in the world. And that my friend is a 100 times more powerful force for building your dreams than textbook information alone.
For example, John, an investor from San Diego who is a two time Maui grad. John had created a great deal of success buying single family houses and condos. But he dreamed of creating something even more—he wanted to buy apartment buildings.
Like many people John’s dreams of picking up multi-unit properties remained just that—a dream. For over two years he wanted to break into multi unit investing but he wasn’t able to pick up a single building.
But something switched inside his brain when he was in Maui that first year. Whether it was letting go of a limiting belief or expanding into a vision of himself that was brighter and bolder than he ever imagined, he can back from Maui different.
Within 45 days of getting home he bought his first multi-unit building. Within 60 days of that he bought his second multi-unit building. (Not to mention the single family house business that he kept working at the same time.)
Why was it for two years he wasn’t able to purchase a single multi-unit building and then within 90 days of Maui he purchased two buildings? Was it simply knowledge? No!
John had rewired his belief systems around what was possible for him financially. And the results speak for themselves.
And John’s experience is consistent with other feedback I’ve gotten from participants of Maui. Something was different for them when they returned. Something that was so subtle yet substantial that while many of them couldn’t put their finger tips on it, they could clearly see and, more importantly, they could feel.
Keeping Real Wealth In Mind
We all know that money is only one layer of real wealth, and certainly not the most important.
One of the most gratifying moments I’ve had in the past year was a recent trip I took to Juarez, Mexico. Heather and I went down there with a dozen Maui grads to spend the weekend helping several area orphanages. The highlight of the trip for me was the full day party we threw for 100 children from 4 orphanages. I can’t describe how moving it was for me to listen to the laughter and cries of joy as these kids who had had their childhood stripped away from them were able to regress and just play.
Looking around at the orphanage called, Casa de la Nueva Vida, I felt chills. You see, three years ago Sergio, who runs the place, was getting evicted. With no money and no visible means of raising the funds to keep the orphage going, Sergio was faced with closing the place down and turning the children back onto the streets.
That’s when Rob, a Maui attendee, convinced a group of Maui Masterminders to help. From that single seed and the $10,000 that Maui donated to the cause, Sergio was able to actually buy a piece of property and build a facility of his own for the kids.
Three years later and Maui grads support four orphanages in Juarez and have raised over $100,000 for that one cause. Plus Maui grads have raised money and time for other causes like safe drinking water in third world countries, victims of the gulf coast hurricanes, St Jude Hospital, World Vision, and many other deserving charities.
If you ask me, this is the real wealth that is coming out of Maui— these seeds of goodness that have gone on to touch thousands of lives.
Diane and I are totally committed to making Maui 2006 create a wave of light that touches the world in healing and powerful ways.
By the time all is said and done we estimate that Maui 2006 will raise over $1.5 million for charity!
In addition to the hefty price tag of the event itself (of which a HUGE chunk of the net profit is going to charity) each of our Maui participants has agreed up front to share 10 percent of the first $300,000 cash profits they earn as a result of their participation in Maui with the charity of their choice. All we ask is that it go to a real charity (i.e. a 501c non-profit) AND that they search their hearts for ways to make this money really help other people.
This brings me to my final part of this special report—sharing the opportunity with you.
Right now we have a few more spaces available for this exclusive event. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll be exactly who we’re looking for.
But first I want to be totally clear that this event is NOT for most people who are reading it. In fact, what I have left to share won’t even apply to 99 out of a 100 people reading this special report. What I have left to say is something they simply aren’t ready for at this point in their investing. And that is perfectly okay.
If you think you might be the type of person who would not only benefit by being there with us for a whole week in Maui, but more importantly are totally committed to taking your investing five levels higher as fast as possible, then by all means, please keep reading.
One of the reasons I am most excited about Maui is because this is going to be a chance for our very best clients to mix and mingle not only with each other, but also with people like Diane, myself, and the other Maui Stars, who are the very best in their respective fields.
Forgetting the actual teaching time we’ll spend, can you imagine what you could learn hanging out for the afternoon with someone like Diane and getting her one to one input on your wealth building efforts?
Last years Maui sold out and we had a waiting list of people who had paid for this years Maui over a full year in advance!
We have a few remaining spaces for this soon-to-be sold-out event. And I can promise you that they won’t last long!
Here are the three bottom line facts about Maui 2006:
First, Maui 2006 is an exclusive week-long event that is only available to a select handful of our collective BEST CLIENTS and their partners. That’s it. And once these few remaining spaces are gone—and that will be very soon—then your window of opportunity will be gone.
Second, the week isn’t cheap. In fact, it’s the most expensive, five-star event we’ve ever done, and we want it to stay that way. It’s the single best way we know that ALL of the people at the event are 100% committed to playing at the highest levels. No wannabes allowed!
Third, it’s only for the real doers out there who are committed to building something special out of their investing. This isn’t going to be a “seminar”. It will be an intensive networking and masterminding event where we will actually be focusing on BIG DEALS. Deals on apartment buildings, commercial shopping centers, office buildings, condo conversions, development projects, and more.
You might ask why are we limiting it to so few people, especially considering the fact that over HALF of the Maui 2005 participants paid to come back again which took so many of the scarce spots.
We’re being so careful to keep the event small because we understand, just like you do, that an event like this will be a huge success and produce incredible results for the people we invite ONLY by us bringing together a SMALL and highly select group of high achievers.
In fact, while there will be advanced workshop sessions each day, I personally think the biggest benefit that you’ll get will come from the mastermind sessions with the other participants. That’s what the past Maui participants told me.
Remember this event isn’t just about learning more “how to” investing techniques. To be frank, that’s not what it really takes to get you to the highest levels of success.
Rather, the real purpose of this event is to saturate your mind with wealth producing thoughts and associations so that you literally attract more wealth into your life.
And ultimately this is why Diane, and I will only be inviting a few more people out of our combined 100,000+ clients past and present. We are only able to spend this time with the best of the best.
It’s not going to be cheap, but you wouldn’t want to be around people who couldn’t afford the $30,000 investment. The price tag ensures that every single person in the room will be serious about creating lasting wealth. This way you’ll only be with the real “doers” who make things happen.
We’ve arranged to have this be a FIRST CLASS affair. In fact, if you are one of the special few people selected, we’ll include your hotel accommodations and all your meals for you and the guest of your choice.
Let Uncle Sam Pay His Half!
Knowing Diane like I do, I’m sure she is going to be telling her clients that it’s fully tax deductible for most of them.
Think about it, by having your corporation or business pay for the event you’ll literally save close to half of the cost of the event.
It’s like you get a tax deductible vacation along with getting some of the most powerful business networking and consulting available!
This is actually one of several reasons why a part of me thinks the price should have been much, much higher.
Actually the biggest reason it should have a price tag of $50,000 or $100,000 or more is because I KNOW the real outcome of the five, concentrated days will be to help our Maui 2006 participants make an extra $250,000 or more in the next 12 months—EASY!
How can I be so sure of myself?
My confidence is based on working with thousands of investors over the years. I know that the only thing that holds people back from making $250,000, or $500,000, or $1 million or more each year is the lack of a consistent peer group of even wealthier and more successful role models to spend time with. That will be the real gift Diane, myself, the Maui Stars, and the connection with the other participants will give you.
Just like last year, Diane or I will personally interview every attendee for Maui 2006 to make sure we carefully select the best blend for the event. We’ll be the ones making the final selection with all acceptances provisional on this final interview.
To be fair, we’ll do the interview on a first come, first serve basis. Once the remaining spaces are gone, that’s it. (Please understand our need to make this so cut and dry in order that no one gets their feelings hurt when we run out of room for the event.)
I know it may seem like we’re going overboard on this but you need to understand that the only way this event will be as powerful as we are committed to making it is by being VERY careful who we let attend. Character and financial status are contagious. By only hanging around other successful investors we know that each of the participants will reap huge returns from being at the event.
Who Are We Really Looking For?
Most of all we are looking for people who are willing to face their fears and commit to taking their investing and business to the highest levels.
Do you want more from life? More wealth, deeper relationships, greater health, powerful and fulfilling spiritual life—more of all the biggies that make life such a gift?
We are also looking for someone who will be a positive presence to the group and is committed to making an impact on the world, whether this be by getting a friend to smile or funding a literacy program or volunteering at their local women’s shelter. We are looking to turn Maui 2006 into a step in making a dramatic improvement in the world both by sharing the abundance we are collectively creating AND by being a model for creating wealth.
If my sense is accurate right now and your gut is screaming at you to make sure you get one of the remaining spots I urge to call Amy at 1-866-829-2368 as soon as possible!
Amy will do the initial interview and if appropriate set up a selection interview with Diane or myself.
Please call right now because these few remaining spaces will be taken so fast.
Now is the time for you to step up and seize the opportunity.
If you’re ready to commit to playing at this level, to spending a full week with a select handful of other doers in an environment that will challenge and push you to even higher levels of achievement and success, then please call Amy at 1-866-829-2368 right now to get on the interview list.
My best to you,
David Finkel
P.S. There is so much wealth waiting for you to create in your life. I urge you to get on the interview list as early as possible so that you’ll have a better chance of being selected. Don’t wait. Call Amy at 1-866-829-2368. Do it right now!
