Caffeine and Dreams Podcast

In this exciting episode of the YouTube Podcast Caffeine and Dreams Podcast, I get the chance to sit down with Erica Parker to talk about the story behind our Real Estate Investing Concierge Service!

Erica Parker:

Hey y'all, it's Erica Parker, your Queen of Real Estate, and I am so excited to bring this new podcast to you. It's called Caffeine in Dreams. It's all about people finding their niche in real estate and other adjacent industries in real estate. I'm super excited about it. And today we actually have Mojo Michael on, and we're gonna talk to him about his business and how he got started and really how he can help you guys out. So I am super excited to bring him to you. So I'm gonna bring him on and if y'all have any questions, drop it in in the comments below. We'll make sure that those get answered down the road. Alright guys, so this is Michael Jes, known as Mojo Michael. He has been in the industry seven years. Say, hi, Michael.

Mojo Michael:

Hey, everyone.

Erica Parker:

All right guys. So first off, Michael, I know we are called caffeine and drinks for a reason. I literally live on caffeine. I've got my 44 ounce diet Dr. Pepper. What is your caffeine of choice right now?

Mojo Michael:

So I actually double fist right now. It is an iced coffee, but I also start the morning with a sonic diet cook. So I'm ready to go all day.

Erica Parker:

Yes, I like it. I like it a lot. Yes, I, I have to live on caffeine sometimes because it is just, it's, it keeps me awake and running. So I, I would

Mojo Michael:

Say my wife wishes I didn't, but I do

Erica Parker:

<Laugh>. Well, so Michael, why don't you tell us first how you got a little bit about your background, how you got into real estate and real estate investing specifically?

Mojo Michael:

Yeah, so I've got 25 years of sales and marketing experience. My wife is a 20 year certified appraiser, and it was really her idea to say, you know what? We need to start using our expertise for ourselves. So it was really to her credit, her idea seven years ago to, to get into this. And at the time, I'm gonna say I was comfortably miserable in the corporate world. It was kind of all I knew I was used to it. And, and we ended up having a round of layoffs and I said, okay, well this is a sign from God. This means I need to do this full time. And I have since dived into it. And, and I gotta tell you, Erica, there is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for this because I love this. This is awesome.

Erica Parker:

Oh, I love, I love that story because that is like totally, that's so many other people's stories that's close to my story. I got into real estate investing and then got laid off and went full-time in the real estate. And so I love that story. I, I think so many people try and see how real estate investing can help them out and that sort of thing. So so y'all got into it full-time. And so why don't you tell me a little bit about what, what motivates you? What, what motivated you to stick with real estate investing? Because I know it can be hard for a lot of people.

Mojo Michael:

It can, and and I gotta tell you, I I, I wanna be transparent. I don't think you ever reach a level in real estate investing where it's easy and everything you touch is success. There are gonna be times where you feel you can do nothing. Right? There are gonna be times where you can feel you can do nothing wrong. So guys, stick with it. Don't ever, you know, look at people that you think are successful and say, well, what am I doing wrong? It's easy for them. It's, it's always a challenge. And, and that's a good thing because if it were that easy, everybody would be doing it. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So stick with it. For me, what motivates is, is really two things. I love being my own boss and my quality of life. I, I mean, I remember towards the end of my corporate life career, I actually got in trouble because I had saved the company.

I came in almost a million dollars under budget, and they were mad at me because that somehow threw off their accounting. And I thought to myself, I I must be looking at this world the wrong way mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, because I think that's a good thing. And I was like, there's gotta be more to life than this. So that being your own boss, your own lifestyle combined with, I'll tell you when you really see the smile, and I know this is cheesy, but we're helping a, an 83 year old lady right now who's, who's husband died she's in foreclosure. We're able to put $45,000 in her pocket. Wow. And she is so thankful. And, you know, we deal with a lot of people that are great and less than great, but when you deal with those people that you really help out it, it does make it all worth it.

Erica Parker:

Oh God, I love that. Yes. I, I completely, I can, I can just see the little old lady just being so happy. Yes. I, I love it. So why don't you tell me a little bit about this venture that you've started called Mojo Michael concierge service, kind of end-to-end real estate investing. What does that look like and and why? Did you feel like there was that niche there of what people needed?

Mojo Michael:

Yeah, so it started with, over the years, I've actually been teaching real estate investment classes. I've been doing for free. I've been doing blogs, and they got more and more well attended effect. It's not uncommon to have between 80 and a hundred people at my classes. And people would always come up and ask me for help. And one of the things I realized is that one of the greatest things I had done was one of the things I hated the most. I have personally knocked on over 2000 doors. I have heard every objection there is, I have had doors shut in my face, I've had people yell at me, I, you name it, I've been called it mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, but that was the best training in the world mm-hmm. <Affirmative> for, for knowing how to deal with people and help people. And so as people would come up to me and ask for help, I realized they didn't have that experience mm-hmm.

<Affirmative>. And that combined with, when I saw what else was out there in terms of frankly, people charging an arm and a leg for less than great experiences or less than great knowledge. And I felt like there was an opportunity to come in at a really entry level price point and help people understand how do you overcome objections. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, how do you say thing? How do we have lead callers that have been trained on the mojo way to overcome objections so you can come home and have warm appointments mm-hmm. <Affirmative> ready for you. So I felt like there was a real opportunity to offer value services at a value price that I wish I had available to me seven years ago that didn't exist back then.

Erica Parker:

Sure. So we have a lot of, we have actually a lot of watchers that are new to the industry, and some have no money and a lot of time, and some have a, have the money, but no time. And, and so what, how does, how do your services help each of those? And like, is that kind of each one kind of an ideal client, or is there one that is more of an ideal client than the other for your particular business?

Mojo Michael:

Here's the ideal client. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> somebody who actually wants to be successful, somebody who is motivated to have the change in their life and to make this successful. That does not require money. It does not require real estate experience. It doesn't require anything other than something in your heart. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> from there for those who we actually have numerous clients who work full-time jobs mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, and they love this because they come home to literally warm appointments ready for them. Mm-Hmm. And they can go ahead and then either engage the leads on their own more times than not, they'll call me up and they'll say, Hey Michael, here's the warm lead. How do I analyze it? How do I look at it? What should I say? Will you get on the call with me and so I can learn how you do it? And, and that's a real handholding approach that we love to do.

Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> for those people who have more time than money, I get it. I've been there. You, you need to somehow drum up the leads mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, and you do that by either door knocking or cold calling or, or some other way of drumming that up. I would caution though that you wanna be careful that I, I think if, if there's a way to stretch it and have warm leads presented to you mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, you're gonna be more successful because it's really easy to get dis disincentivized and unmotivated when you have people hanging up on you in the beginning mm-hmm. <Affirmative> and things like that. And, and I don't want you to be deterred. So if there's a way to get people to help you get those warm leads for you mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, it's gonna be better for you.

Erica Parker:

Sure. And and so whenever they ask you to join them on a call and stuff, is that something that you charge a fee for, or do you partner with them? How does that work?

Mojo Michael:

Yeah, so all the members of our concierge service, and the reason why we call it concierge is because it's everything from providing people that I have personally hired and trained. And to, and to give you a little background, I go through about 200 applications for every one person I hire Wow. To, to, on my behalf. So it, it's, it's pretty stringent. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> everything from the calls to the analysis to, we have a turnkey power team of people that I personally work with mm-hmm. <Affirmative> that are ready to help you in the process. So it's that whole from end to end process, money, lenders, you name it, we, we have it ready to help you. Awesome. And so from there, there is not a fee if you're a concierge member to engage me for help. The only time is if you want to maybe wholesale to my buyer's list where I have 45,000 buyers on my buyer's list, well then we would JV on it. But in terms of my help or using my turnkey, that's all part of the concierge service.

Erica Parker:

Oh, well that's, that's great to hear. And I know a lot of people that are out there and, and what I like something that you said earlier about, you know, seeing that there are some people that are out there. I've gotten so many people that have reached out asking for help. Yeah. And because they have given their money to someone that didn't, that didn't help 'em, that took their money and walked away and just really didn't help them. So it's really nice and refreshing to see that, that you are offering this and at an entry level price and everything. And, and that everyone, if you are interested in the prices, we'll have a link below to where you can go and see them. But I, I really love that you're offering this to, to people that are, that, you know, are getting into the industry that need that help, that need that guidance.

I mean, there are so many exit strategies. I know you and I have both talked about this mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, and that there are so many exit strategies that aren't taught, that aren't taught in depth in real estate YouTube videos. Like, I mean, yes, we, I've talked about wholesaling, that's a big one, but there's not a whole lot of people talking about wraps and about helping out reverse mortgages and, and seller financing and, and fix and flips on a, on a different level. And so, and whole tailing and all of those things that are different ways that you can do those exit strategies and you specifically know all of these exit strategies. Correct. That.

Mojo Michael:

Yeah. And, and you know, you brought up a good point with, with wholesaling as, as an example there were three deals last year alone where I helped new investors. We made over a hundred thousand dollars assignment fee on each one of those three deals. Wow. Guys, if anybody tells you wholesaling is easy, or if anybody tells you, oh, it's just easy, you can just daisy chain off of somebody else's mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, they are misleading you. Yeah. Now, I'm not saying that we're trying to split the atom here and that this is the equivalent of rocket science mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, but there's a lot of moving pieces. There's contractual issues, there's legal issues, there's how you market it, wording issues that if you don't use correctly, you can get in trouble. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So all I'm saying is there are a lot of moving pieces that you need to make sure you do. Right. Both by yourself, but also the seller guys. This is not H G T V, this is not, this is not fun and games. Yeah. It's a great career, but there are legal consequences for what we do.

Erica Parker:

Yep. And so, one thing that I can't provide as a realtor that maybe you can provide in your services is I've had a lot of people ask me about a contract for assigning the, the contract, if that makes sense. So the actual assignment contract, do y'all provide some of those type of forms?

Mojo Michael:

Yeah. Guys, I am not a C P A, I'm not a lawyer. I'm not, I'm not any of that. Having said that, I'm happy to share with you what I've witnessed or what I've seen or what I've experienced. Hmm. And that's a really good point, Erica. But yeah, we, we do, so for instance, we use the standard Trek contracts. We use part of our power team, the, the title office we use is attorney owned. They make sure we use the right legal forms, we utilize them to make sure that everything is done legally and correct for all parties involved. And, and that's really key, guys. Please don't be one of those people that, that writes up your own contract or gets it off of Google. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. Whether you're a realtor or not, obviously a realtor can't do that. Yeah. But protect yourself, follow the laws, whether you be in Texas or elsewhere mm-hmm. <Affirmative> and do it. Right.

Erica Parker:

Yeah. So do you help anyone outside of Texas? Or do y'all, do y'all mainly work in the Texas state?

Mojo Michael:

Yeah, we've done deals from New York to California.

Erica Parker:

That's, that's good to hear. The one question I have and, and something that I've forgotten a lot of questions from, have you ever done anything in Chicago or in Illinois itself?

Mojo Michael:

We did. We've been very cautious lately. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> there have been some significant changes in Illinois and in other, in other states as well. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So it's easy to get to if you're, it's easy to get brought into the sexiness of doing stuff in other states, but guys, not, not all the states aren't all the same. Yeah. So just know what you're doing if you're operating in another state and if you're operating in your own state. To, to your point Erica, you really need to know what the laws are.

Erica Parker:

Absolutely. And yeah. That if, if y'all have not seen it, I do, I do have a, is wholesaling legal in Texas, I do have a video about that. I talk about the laws and what you actually have to say in marketing your, your property. So that's that is something that y'all can check out in my videos below as well. So tell me a little bit about you starting this particular business and how it has grown and, and if there's anything, any specials that y'all have got going in the near future. Anything along those lines, any introductory.

Mojo Michael:

Yeah, so it, I, I mean, it, it grew over the, over the years I was offering what was called the white Glove 360 mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, where people could come to us, they could partner with us. We never charged upfront anything. We would, we would only partner on the deal. So if you made money, we made money. And what ended up happening is that people were asking in a good way for more and more support mm-hmm. <Affirmative> more and more services that were ultimately gonna cost me money out of pocket. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So that kind of lended itself into the, I also got the reputation of being able to close deals that others couldn't. So people started nicknaming me mojo, oh, he is gonna work the Mojo. So I was like, okay, I'll, I'll, I'll take that. So that led itself into Mojo, Michael.

Now here's the thing I do want to share though, is guys, there's different ways to measure success. I see a lot of investors promote themselves as, oh, I've been doing this for a year. I've been doing it for two years. I can get anything under contract. And Oh, look at all these contracts I got. I, I know people off the top of my head that have been doing it for one and two years, that they get a lot of contracts, but they're overpriced by a hundred thousand. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, they never perform on them. They leave the seller high and dry. Or if they do, they've overpaid for it. That is not a path to success. My, my five-year-old nephew can get contracts. Yeah. One of the things that Erica, I'm sure you would back this up is mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, make sure you get under contract at the right price, the right way that you can perform on it.

So even if you don't partner with, with us mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, make sure you're looking at people that have a path record of 4, 5, 6, 7 plus years of success that have been in it a long time. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And that's how we came with the Mojo, Michael, because we're saying, look, you know, when I take my executive team here, we've got over 70 years combined of r e I experience. Yeah. I don't even know how many thousands of deals we've touched. We have that track record of success. It can help you with everything you need. And, and here's what we really like, is that it's a month to month. There's no onboarding fees, there's no signup fees, there's no early termination fees. It is a simple month to month. And I've priced it at the point where like my lead callers, for instance mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, I pay them triple the going rate mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. And the reason being is because it's in my best interest to have the, the best, most successful lead callers mm-hmm. <Affirmative> that I can train to make you guys more successful.

Erica Parker:

Absolutely.

Mojo Michael:

So that, that's, that's how it came about. It, it, I never woke up one morning and said, I wanna offer Mojo Michael concierge services. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I just kept saying, I wish there was something we could offer newbies. Like when I started that I needed, that didn't exist.

Erica Parker:

Yeah. And this may sound a little bit preachy to those out there, but I completely agree with Michael in that there are people out there that can get things under contract, but if they can't, if they can't move forward with those, if they can't make any money on 'em and they're leaving the seller high and dry, their reputation is gonna go in the toilet very quickly. Yep. And that is one of the biggest things that you need as a real estate investor, is a, is a pristine reputation in what you're doing. And a and a good reputation of working with realtors and sellers and buyers and, and pro and not taking, especially if you're wholesaler not taking all the meat off the bone for the buyer, the, the person that might be doing fix and flip or the buy and hold or anything like that. So just having that reputation and making sure you're not making mistakes by offering too much and that sort of thing. I think that your company can really help with those people trying to make sure that what they're doing is the right thing. I also <crosstalk>,

Mojo Michael:

Oh, lemme just add, I think you, you hit on something that's really important about not trying to wholesale at too high a number. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, most of my wholesale clients are repeat buyers. And the reason being is because, you know, like you and I said, you get it under contract at the right price, which means you can assign it at the right price, so you leave that meat on the bone. So if, if you wanna just go into wholesaling or something like that, make sure you're not one of those people that just gets it under bad contract and then wholesales at a bad price because mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, like you said, Erica, the reputation's gonna follow you and you're not gonna have many customers.

Erica Parker:

Exactly. And I, I think so many investors are, especially those that start with wholesaling, are very much in that feast or famine mode. And like, they get a contract and they may get $10,000 paid on it, but then maybe that buyer doesn't ever come back to 'em again because it was a bad contract technically. Yep. And then they try, they're trying, trying, trying to get that next contract. And, and the problem with that is that if you don't have someone coming back to you for good deals, then then you're, you just have contracts that you can't sell. So I think that, and I also think that partnering is also very helpful in that knowing that, you know, there's an abundance out there. It's not a, it's not a industry that doesn't have enough, enough contracts to go around. There's an abundance and an abundance of education and abundance of helpfulness out there that could, just because you might partner with it doesn't mean that it's not gonna give you value in that partnership as well. So I think that that's also something that a lot of people can be somewhat closed-minded when they first get in and they're like, oh, I need to keep the full 10,000 to myself because I've been doing this for three months and this is finally my first deal.

Mojo Michael:

I, I, I think you're, I have partnered on 100% of my deals mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, in fact, I started, I got a couple of deals under contract, then I got greedy, I admit it. And I said, I don't need to partner. We got zero deals done. And ever since then, for the, now the last six and a half years, I've partnered on 100% of my deals. 'cause I make more money doing more deals, and I'm more successful by partnering on more deals than trying to be greedy and doing less, less. And you know, like you said about the reputation, I've got a black list of people I won't work with. I'm sure you do too, Erica. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I do. This is a small industry. People talk, your reputation will precede you. So remember that integrity and reputation is everything.

Erica Parker:

Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree. So maybe are there any, I love the idea that you're month to month, is there anything else that you want the, the viewers to know about your specific company and, and how they can maybe get in contact with that company as well? And I'll drop, like I said, I'll drop a link in the, in the description below, but do you wanna provide any information on how they can get in touch with you?

Mojo Michael:

Yeah. Guys, check out it's real easy. Mojo michael.com. You can contact us through that. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> I would say this, that there are other services that I've seen where they were started by, you know, real estate investors who tried to offer something similar that had never had done a successful real estate deal in their life before they launched these services. And I, I always say to myself, then, then, how are you helping people? Yeah. At the end of the day, there are a lot of good people out there. There are some less than good people out there. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I have built this off of the over 2000 doors I've knocked on the seven years of my mistakes that I've made, that I'm here so that you don't repeat those same mistakes. Yeah. I've learned the hard way, guys, supercharge your success, get up and running fast, and, and let me help you not make the same mistakes that I've made. And you know what, at the end of the day, you gotta spend a little bit of money to make money. Mm-Hmm.

Erica Parker:

<Affirmative>, I totally agree. And I think, I think the idea is that you're investing in that money to then grow bigger and, and, and so I I totally agree. Now, why don't you tell us a little bit now, now that we've talked a little bit about your business, I'd love to, you know, as entrepreneurs, we need motivation and a lot of times we're reading books, we're listening to podcasts and everything. So why don't you tell me one of like the last book that you read that you really liked, or a podcast that you're listening to that you think either helps motivate you as a real estate investor or motivate you just as a person, as an entrepreneur? What is something that my, that the listeners out there should listen to

Mojo Michael:

Or read? So, I, I have a d h d, which means I read like four or five books at one time. I, I keep just my head. So, so I'm jumping, I'm a total history buff. So along with learning a a lot about history, I actually just, this is gonna be totally random. I just finished my 11th book on Stalin which I just find that a hist fascinating history in, in time period in history, Uhhuh, but also I read a book by, it was a, about Dick winters. He was the captain or the commander, rather major of you, probably the H B O series band of brothers. Okay. And what I found fascinating about what, what he talks about is how humble he was as a person and how he worked with people and motivated people and motivated himself in, in the most stressful situations that I know I could never imagine. Mm-Hmm. And I, and I always find that really fascinating how other people engage people, motivate people and, and help them lead and do things that most of us couldn't imagine doing. And, and I, I found that book very interesting.

Erica Parker:

That's a, i I love that you gave that answer. It's not so cookie cutter of like, here's the motivational speaker you need to listen to. I like the idea of like learning from other people in history that have, that have led the way and, and then have, have shown certain leadership skills that can help motivate others. I, I love that answer. That's, that's

Mojo Michael:

Awesome. Yeah. And I think one of the things I like about him the most is, and, and this is something that I I, I don't, I don't get up on my soapbox, but, but I, I will on this one is guys, you gotta stay humble. And he's one of the most humble people in the world. Even with all his success, there is always gonna be somebody smarter, richer, better, or whatever than you. And the day you think you're the best at something, or that you can stop learning the day, I think I know everything about real estate investing, or I don't need to learn about how I can close deals better. I, I would say is, is, is is a day that's probably not gonna be a good day. So mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, no matter how successful you are, always stay humble and truthful.

Erica Parker:

I love that. And, and I, you know, I know a lot of people say this and, and guys, this is why this mojo Michael concierge service can be so helpful is that your net worth is your network. Yeah. And, and with Mojo Michael, you've got your concierge service, that network of that power team that can help you out. And, and they're gonna be there to motivate you. They're gonna be there to help hold your hand and lead you through that. And I, I completely agree with everything you said.

Mojo Michael:

Thank you. Yeah. I, it's, it's it's something that's, that's really important to me. I, you know, you see people that as they become more successful, they change and mm-hmm. <Affirmative> look, I, I, I've got, I've got rich toys. I want, I'd love to be that way someday. You know, I'm sure I'm, I'd love to buy my wife a a really nice car and this and that, but at the end of the day, and I say, I have a slide on this in my class, be true to you. Even when you're working with sellers guys, I, I have never ever, I take that back only once have I ever been the highest bidder. I have never been the highest bidder other than that, on any of the deals I get under contract. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, it's about being truthful, honest, people can pick up on that and you're gonna be much more successful for it.

Erica Parker:

I agree. I agree. And just, and being, finding out what they're really needing, it's not always about money. And and I, I think that you definitely have those skills to, to help those other real estate investors along in trying to figure out what is their true motivation for selling and what do they really need. And so I love that. Is there anything about this industry that surprised you when you got into it?

Mojo Michael:

I, I think that yeah, I think, honestly I think everything surprised me. 'cause I didn't know what jig expect from it. <Laugh>. I, I, I, I really, I really think that there's no one answer as to what to expect or what not to expect. Uhhuh <affirmative>, having said that, what I love about it is that, you know, like right now I'm working 14, 15 hour days, but, but I'm loving it because here's why. If all of a sudden I get a cheap fare and I can go visit my niece and nephew, bam, I'm on the plane. I bring my laptop, I'm working from there, I'm seeing them. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> my mental therapy is actually mowing my lawn. I, I mow my lawn at a quarter inch. I'm out there at the leveler in the, in the magnifying glass <laugh>, you know, that's my thing. And I have actually literally closed deals on the phone while on headphones, while planting a palm tree. I don't know how many people can say that. So guys, it's what you make of it. You can have so much fun doing this.

Erica Parker:

Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I love it. Well, again guys, this is Mojo. Michael, if you want to reach him, it is mojo michael.com and check him out. And again, I'll drop the link in the video below. We wanna thank you, Michael, so much for being on today. And just wanna encourage everyone to, you know, go after your dreams, go after the real estate investing that you're looking for, and find your niche and really utilize the tools that are out there to help you out. And I wanna thank y'all for coming. Talk to y'all soon. Bye.