Unfiltered Insights with Kent Clothier

Speaker 2 This is Wake Up to Wealth, a podcast dedicated to helping you change the way you think about wealth. And now, here's your host, Brandon Brittingham.

Speaker 1 Hey, what's up, everybody? We are back in the Wake Up to Wealth podcast studio. Actually, we're in Texas today because we're traveling.

Speaker 1 And one of the cool things about today is, you know, I got some pretty cool friends. And Kent happens to be a good friend, but also a guy that I coach with, somebody that has mentored me,

Speaker 1 absolute like monster in the space. Bro, thank you for taking the time.
It's been a long time coming. Yeah, man.
Happy to do, brother. Glad we made it happy by it, right?

Speaker 1 So if someone's living under a rock in the real estate investment space and they don't know who you are, tell tell everybody who you are.

Speaker 1 Dude, I'm just

Speaker 1 at this point. I'm just a guy that

Speaker 1 has been in the the space.

Speaker 1 Affectionately, the OG of the space, which I hate that term. That's why I didn't use it, by the way.
But I'll take it.

Speaker 1 Been in the real estate space now for about 20 years.

Speaker 1 Active real estate investor. Family runs a very successful real estate investment company called REI Nation.
Flips about anywhere from 800 to 1,000 turnkey properties a year. Manages another.

Speaker 1 close to 8,000 single-family homes, 11 different markets. We've, in my education company, has helped about 50,000 investors over the last 15 years.

Speaker 1 I have a lot of different funds that we run that invest in commercial, multifamily, hospitality, industrial, RV parks, self-storage.

Speaker 1 You know, kind of got our hands on a lot of different stuff, lending, et cetera.

Speaker 1 And then I've been lucky enough for the last 11 years to run the premier real estate mastermind in the entire industry called the Boardroom. And

Speaker 1 Boardroom Mastermind has been, you know, kind of the

Speaker 1 humbly putting it, been kind of the pinnacle of all of it.

Speaker 1 And then obviously having the opportunity to privately work with super high level people in the space, badass CEOs in the space like yourself out there and help them kind of get to the next level.

Speaker 1 So been a journey, man. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 you've done all this shit and you've seen so many different things.

Speaker 1 I know it's like, it's a lot of things, right? You can't tie it to one thing, but like, what are two things you would say that like you think got you to where you are today?

Speaker 1 Like two things you could tie to? I know it's a lot. That's a great question.
No, I would say that,

Speaker 1 look, I was, I was raised

Speaker 1 by an entrepreneur. So first and foremost, you know, a lot of people don't come into entrepreneurship and owning a business or anything

Speaker 1 naturally. I think they come from some other place.
I was born and raised to be an entrepreneur. I'm 150% unemployable.
So I think that foundation of just never

Speaker 1 even considering going to work for somebody else and always never seeing it that you always got the target on your back.

Speaker 1 I never saw it that way, but as I've gotten older, I kind of realized that that's what it really is.

Speaker 1 You know, just being super comfortable in that space from the very, very beginning, I think has been very, very pivotal.

Speaker 1 I'm one of those guys that I'm really comfortable being uncomfortable.

Speaker 1 But equally, I would tell you, you know, kind of what got me to

Speaker 1 where I am is not, you know, shockingly enough, it's not the success, man. It's the, it's the hits.
And,

Speaker 1 you know, a lot to be said for being 30 years old, 30 to 32, and losing millions of dollars and effectively going bankrupt and divorced and, you know, in every possible way, life just going to shit.

Speaker 1 That was real humbling for me. And I've had several of those types of experiences over the years that

Speaker 1 basically galvanized galvanize the resolve inside of me to where I completely trust myself.

Speaker 1 Like I'm more than willing to battle myself and take the hits and fall down and absolutely, you know, get beat up because I know I'm capable.

Speaker 1 And along with a lot of people around me, we're more than capable of fighting through anything we need to fight through to go make dreams happen.

Speaker 1 I mean, so I think that when you get that mentality, kind of that savage mentality,

Speaker 1 and however you get there, but I would argue the only way to get there is to get in the ring and get beat up a little bit. When you get that inside of you, it's really hard to beat that person.

Speaker 1 Like, I don't care what you're doing, personally or professionally. And so I think those are probably the,

Speaker 1 you know, you take that kind of foundational stuff and then you really start layering over the top of it.

Speaker 1 how to build a business, how to scale a business, how to analyze and measure and manage people and put leverage in place. You start putting the actual systems on top of that kind of foundation.

Speaker 1 That's the recipe for greatness right there, man. Yeah.

Speaker 1 You know, another thing, I mean, I think that's great.

Speaker 1 A lot of people just, you know, they see someone like you or me, and we do cool shit and they see the side of it that's cool, but they don't see the side of it where we got fucking uppercutted a hundred times.

Speaker 1 Right. And, you know, that's part of it.

Speaker 1 And that separates the men from the boys, so to speak, pretty quick, you know, and I think that's why I always vibe with you from the very beginning another thing i think that's really cool is so i was speaking on stage before i you know i knew who you were but i hadn't met you and the first time i saw you speak on stage you spoke about time

Speaker 1 you said it differently but you said it in in the same terms of how i speak about time on stage i'd love for you to share your view on time because mine is very similar yeah i think that you know kind of adding to what i just said a second ago i think that when you

Speaker 1 you know look in the history of the world, nobody's ever gotten out of life. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And I think it is probably the single greatest asset you could possibly have when you actually understand that you're going to die.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 that, you know, when you understand that you are for sure going to die and you are

Speaker 1 the time you have on this planet is very, very precious.

Speaker 1 And you actually take responsibility and accountability for that time. And, you know, I go as far as I take people through an exercise to calculate how many days you have left on this planet.

Speaker 1 Like, if you're a man. So powerful.
If you're a man, start with the number, you know, 78. If you're a woman, start with the number 82.

Speaker 1 Subtract your current age, multiply that times 365. And theoretically or statistically, I should say, you've just calculated based on when the average man dies or the average American female dies.

Speaker 1 You've calculated how many days you have left on this planet.

Speaker 1 When you see that number in black and white and then you you know you have the the mentality of go take that number and go put it right in front of you every single day and every morning when you wake up count that number down when you can see your life ticking away to the right people you'll start to take accountability for it and you realize that you actually nobody's a victim here right if you're you're listening to this podcast in all likelihood you're listening to it or watching this, you know, on some device like a $1,000 phone or a $2,000 laptop or whatever the hell hell it might be if you're listening or watching this you're not a victim yeah there are plenty of victims in this world i mean there's three billion people that do not have access to clean water or sanitation there are uh almost four billion people that live that today survive on less than two dollars a day in the in the world um there are 600 000 people on any given day that are in a hospital bed in the united states um when you think about it you know you get real separate fact from fiction you realize that how blessed we are to be sitting in a studio in Dallas, Texas, right?

Speaker 1 And living the life that we live. And it doesn't matter what you're doing, even if you have a $50,000 or $30,000 year job.
If you woke up this morning, number one, be grateful. You got a gift.

Speaker 1 If you are walking around and you're healthy,

Speaker 1 be grateful.

Speaker 1 Because if you're in the United States right now.

Speaker 1 and you are walking around and you're listening to this podcast, then you are at a complete, I mean, you're at such an inflection point to where anything you dream can be, you can make it happen.

Speaker 1 I mean, we, this time right now, from a technology perspective, there are 18-year-old kids, 16-year-old kids making millions of dollars online.

Speaker 1 Don't tell me that you are somehow confined to your circumstances. That's just not true.

Speaker 1 You may not have, you may not be ambitious enough. You may not have, you know, have the belief system yet.
You may not have all the tools yet, but

Speaker 1 Those are just excuses. Those are just obstacles.
The opportunity still exists. And so when you realize that the opportunity exists for all of us and

Speaker 1 the time the clock is ticking the time is now you need to start taking action and again in the right hands that's a that's a pretty lethal combination because you'll realize that you know there's no reason to be fearful um you just got to go like your dreams matter the things you want to accomplish matter and time is not on your side and to act like somehow like today or tomorrow or next week or next month or next quarter all the bullshit we tell ourselves act like those days are you know somehow promised to you is irresponsible.

Speaker 1 It's reckless because it's just not true. You know, you could die in a second.

Speaker 1 You definitely don't want to die. You know, you don't want to be on your deathbed or in those last moments saying, you don't want your dreams to die with you.

Speaker 1 And so, again, when you have this healthy appreciation for time and you realize that all the things that you believe that you're scared of, and you really think about, you know this as well as I do.

Speaker 1 The reason people don't go and fight for their dreams is because they have a fear.

Speaker 1 And the fear usually, you know, know, it's always friends. It's usually not real.
Yeah, it's like, well, I have a fear of failure. Who gives a shit?

Speaker 1 Do you want? I mean, or I have a fear of judgment. Right, in real life.

Speaker 1 I got news for your ass. You're getting judged either way.
Guess what? If you guys ever see me dress, you know, I don't give a shit about being judged. Right.

Speaker 1 I mean, the point of it is, yeah, like you're dressing like the way you dress. Yeah, you go for it.
Am I the like, you're going to get judged either way. Of course.
Right.

Speaker 1 Either you're going to get judged as, man, look at this guy. He's fun boring as hell.
Or you're going to get judged as,

Speaker 1 you know, the guy's not playing out full. What do you want to be judged for? Right.

Speaker 1 And everybody's judging everybody. So who gives a shit? Everybody else's opinions do not matter.
It's your life.

Speaker 1 And so I think when you, when people understand the value of this moment, like this one right now, like I don't wear a fancy watch.

Speaker 1 I got a wristband that says the time is now. It's tattooed on me that says the time is now.

Speaker 1 Funny thing is, you know, this little bracelet says the time is out, the best damn watch I've ever had in my life. That bitch is always right.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 And when you really get dialed in on time and really get dialed in on what success looks like in your life, that's, you know, again, now you'll start figuring out the way to get around the right people and get the right information that you can act on.

Speaker 1 But until you understand that tomorrow's not promised, it's all bitch bullshit. So I'm going to ask you two more questions.

Speaker 1 The first one is,

Speaker 1 I think, and this isn't blowing smoke. And if you know me, I don't blow smoke.
I'm pretty blunt and honest. I think you have almost a superhuman capability.

Speaker 1 Um, because I've been in, you know, a ton of rooms with you where I've watched you do this. I've actually watched you do it for me too.

Speaker 1 You can sit down and take a very complex problem that someone else is having and you can see right through it and actually guide them through it in like a split second, which is fucking superhuman talent.

Speaker 1 And I mean, I've seen you do it on the fly a hundred times. Like, how the fuck did you develop that? Like, where do you think that comes from? Man, I wish I could answer that.

Speaker 1 You know, I completely acknowledged, you know, at this point. I mean, that's like one of your superpower.
That is, that is my superpower. Yeah, like at 53 years old, I think it just comes down to

Speaker 1 a lot of the stuff we've talked about.

Speaker 1 But also, you know,

Speaker 1 I've been in business for 35 years. There's not a lot of 53-year-old guys that can say that they've been in business for 35 years.

Speaker 1 I got a question that I wanted to ask that I forgot. Do you think it's the losses over the wins has given me that capability? I think it's both.
Yeah. I think it's understanding what works, right?

Speaker 1 understanding what to ignore right so because so anytime somebody has a problem right or a challenge in business

Speaker 1 99 of the time they're just too close to it right they're they're emotionally connected to it whatever the case may be they get they're just they're they're thinking about um

Speaker 1 you know a great example this would be like um

Speaker 1 i was working with a guy not a super high level guy and and

Speaker 1 you know, he was coming at me with his organization. And,

Speaker 1 well, I can't let go of this, this girl.

Speaker 1 She's she's been with me for 15 years and yeah she's a pain in the ass and and everybody hates her and we have to deal with this we have to deal with that but and she's causing all kinds of issues in the problem but she's been with me for 15 years and so my point being and that very rudimentary example is that he knows the solution right it is but he's so emotionally attached to it that he can't bring himself so he a lot of times what it is is I see

Speaker 1 what absolutely needs to be done because I'm not emotionally attached to anything. All I'm looking for is you're trying to go from point A to point B.
Here are the obstacles.

Speaker 1 My job is to give you the turn-by-turn directions and I'm trying to get you there as fast as I can.

Speaker 1 And now, whether you want to hear it or not is a whole nother, but you're paying a hell of a lot of money for me to sit down for you to not listen to me.

Speaker 1 Right. And so I'm just, I believe in ultimate candor.
I believe in transparency. It all goes back to the time thing.
I don't believe in wasting one minute of anybody's day, including mine.

Speaker 1 And so I'm not going to bullshit you. I just don't fucking care.

Speaker 1 I'm just going to tell you exactly what you should do and i'm going to hold you accountable to get it done and i'm going to push you further than you think is possible but i can tell you you know having done it a long time that more times than not the answers are fairly obvious uh at least they are to me um

Speaker 1 it just comes down to people don't always they're just so close to it they don't always want to see it yeah and they found themselves ignoring it yeah that makes sense uh last question and i ask everybody this so we call the the show Wake Up to Wealth, and it really, I mean, money, obviously, but I think we've all been taught wrong about money,

Speaker 1 what we think is wealth in general, you know, how we're educated, all those kinds of things.

Speaker 1 So, one of the things that the point of the show is I bring people on here like you, because I want people to educate it, educated from a standpoint of every day they wake up to wealth, and wealth is their own definition.

Speaker 1 So, what to you every day is waking up to wealth?

Speaker 1 I mean, it's the life I live right now, right? So, to to me, wealth is

Speaker 1 you clearly define what you want out of life, right? And, you know, I defined,

Speaker 1 this was about a little over 10 years ago, I made a very, you know, pivotal decision in my life that I was not living the life I wanted to live.

Speaker 1 Lots of success, lots of money, but I wasn't living the life I wanted to live. And so I

Speaker 1 uprooted my family, moved to San Diego, moved to a little, you know, beach town called La Jolla

Speaker 1 and into a neighborhood uh called bird rock where i could walk to my office every day right could wake up to the ocean every day uh i could i could walk my little girls to school that that quality of life really mattered to me and could work out be outside be in a place that that so for me wealth is when you are

Speaker 1 you get the opportunity to control time

Speaker 1 and you get the opportunity to live life on your terms and you have to put things in place that allow income to come to to you and money to flow to you, whether you show up or not, not trading dollars for rappers.

Speaker 1 And so then from a financial perspective, you put yourself in a situation to where I get to do things. I don't have to do shit.

Speaker 1 Right. Like, I love working.
I love the businesses I own. I love, you know, it really lights me up and I'm good at it.

Speaker 1 But I don't have to do any of it. Right.
I get to do this stuff, right? It's a choice. And I put myself in that situation.
Equally, I could live anywhere in the world I wanted to live.

Speaker 1 I live exactly where I want to live. I get to do this.
I get to wake up, walk my little girl to school. I get to go to the gym.
I get to take the time that I want to take with my family, my wife.

Speaker 1 I get to do, life is on my terms. To me, that's wealth.

Speaker 1 I am as healthy as I've ever been. I'm as happy as I've ever been.
I'm as fulfilled as I've ever been.

Speaker 1 I think I'm better. at in every area of my life than I've ever been.
To me, that's wealth. Yeah.

Speaker 1 I mean, we can stop it on that because i think that's a great answer um man i appreciate your mentorship i appreciate your friendship and i appreciate the fact as busy as you are of getting on here with me today thank you oh man you know i'd do anything for you brother all right brother see you

Speaker 2 Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of Wake Up to Wealth.

Speaker 1 We sure do appreciate it.

Speaker 2 If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. This way, we'll get updates as new episodes become available.

Speaker 2 And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review on Apple Podcast and tell your friends about the show. It is how new people find us.
Until next time.