Member Bei Zhang Shares House Academy Success Stories (HA 032)
Member Bei Zhang Shares House Academy Success Stories (HA 032)
Transcript:
Steven Butala: Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit: Hi.
Steven Butala: Welcome to The Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit: And I’m Jill DeWit, broadcasting from sunny southern California.
Steven Butala: Today, Jill and I talk with member Bei Zhang, who shares her Land Academy success stories and maybe some potential failures. Well, let’s see what we talks about.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: Bei, am I pronouncing your last name correctly?
Jill DeWit: Bei Zhang.
Bei Zhang: Yeah, Zhang. Exactly right. It sounds like Jong.
Steven Butala: All right. Awesome. Tell us a little bit … In the pre-show, Bei, you were talking about how you just got back from China. That’s super interesting. Tell us what happened.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. Well, this is a special trip and me, my mother-in-law and [inaudible 00:00:42], my nine-year-old daughter, and then also our nephew, we all come together to Beijing to meet my parents’ side. So spent two weeks there and visited the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, those parks … It’s fabulous. Yeah. It’s fun.
Jill DeWit: Wow. I’m jealous.
Steven Butala: So it was all just a social fun trip. No work?
Bei Zhang: Yeah. I tried to cut off my workflow. I try to forget there has work, just fully enjoy my trip. So customer who leave the voicemail to me, I feel bad. I never really returned a call. Yeah.
Jill DeWit: You have to do that sometimes. That’s okay.
Bei Zhang: Yeah, sometimes.
Jill DeWit: That’s not your norm. I know it. You have to really … We have a trip coming up actually soon. By the time this airs, we’ll be back from the trip, but …
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Actually, we’ll be on the trip. I don’t even know.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Anyway, we’re going to go to Santa Barbara, and I’m really trying to orchestrate it so I don’t have to do that much. There’s always something I’ve got to check on, a few little things, but if I could do an hour a day, then it’s perfect. I’m okay with that.
Bei Zhang: Yes.
Steven Butala: How does real estate work in China these days?
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Bei Zhang: I think it is highly regulated by the government. So the government, they’re really involved in the lot of those policies, so I think you have to have a very deep relationship with someone in that industry, in the government, to help you. It’s not like everyone has an equal opportunity. That’s how I feel.
Steven Butala: Okay.
Jill DeWit: Wow.
Bei Zhang: Yeah.
Steven Butala: I just read that Chinese individuals buying residential real estate in this country dropped off this year by like 30%, and everybody wants Florida because it’s inexpensive.
Jill DeWit: Really?
Steven Butala: But for some reason … I don’t know if it’s the local economy there. Do you have any insights on that?
Bei Zhang: I think it just like the price are very high in those cities. [inaudible 00:02:43] ridiculously high. You think about how much you earn versus your salary and then housing price, the ratio is really high. Not like in the U.S. Your salary, you add together in the middle class, probably, I don’t know, six years. Assume you don’t spend anything, you can pay off the whole house in a middle class type of house. But in China, it just like … Well, 30 years it’s just like a mission impossible. I feel the ratio is too high versus how much you earn, how much the house price is. It’s ridiculously high. Yeah.
Steven Butala: Oh. So you think it’s rooted in not an earning to spending ratio, which I guess all residential [inaudible 00:03:24] is?
Bei Zhang: Yes. I think when people, they traveled to the U.S. They see the price. They’re like, “What? That is ridiculously low. I have the cash.” The thing is they have a lot of cash. They’re trying to looking for the investing opportunities. Then they just feel like, “Hey, let’s just buy five houses one time.” A lot of people do like that.
Steven Butala: I see.
Bei Zhang: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Yep. I swear it was a big deal when I was in New York like two years ago. Everybody know who bought the Waldorf. All they kept saying was, “It was the Chinese.” Some investors, like you’re saying, maybe had a lot of cash and they just bought that whole thing.
Steven Butala: Yeah. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and over the years we’ve sold tons of real estate land to people who are out of this country and shocked and amazed at how cheap it is.
Jill DeWit: True. And how easy it is to transfer it, you know?
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Bei Zhang: Yeah, exactly. Even this time when I meet my friends, and I think they immigrate to Canada, and then they’re thinking about how much I paid from my own house, and they’re like, “What? We pay at least 10 times more than what you paid.” They just cannot understand why the price here is so good here. Yeah.
Jill DeWit: That’s interesting.
Steven Butala: You’re in Indiana, right?
Bei Zhang: Yes. I’m in Indiana. Indianapolis, yes.
Steven Butala: Did you fly to Chicago? How did you get to China?
Bei Zhang: Fly to Newark, New Jersey, that airport. Then, yeah, fly from there. I think it’s like 14 or 13 hours of flight, so it’s a long trip. Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. That’s super great.
Steven Butala: Right into Beijing?
Bei Zhang: Yeah. Right to Beijing, the Capital Airport. Yes.
Steven Butala: Excellent.
Jill DeWit: Awesome.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. You should go visit someday.
Jill DeWit: I want to. Maybe next time you’re on your way, I would love to go with you, Bei. We’d have a good time.
Bei Zhang: Yeah.
Steven Butala: Yeah. You guys should-
Bei Zhang: Yeah. I can be your tour guide to stop someone rip your off. Yeah.
Jill DeWit: That would be so fun. You should tell how we met.
Bei Zhang: Yes. Yeah, I think that’s a good … Yeah, we talk about this. So basically again, China, I grown up. Then I think I just in my corporate world, towards the end of 2016, I just don’t really feel happy. Then I connected with one of the investors in the Land Academy. Then so he introduced me to meet us in person, and I feel so bad that day. I was like … I didn’t really know. “They sounds like really cool, Jill and then Steve, but I haven’t really know anything about them or their program,” I kind of think. But after I talk with you guys, I feel like it’s so positive.
Bei Zhang: Then when I go back to work on Monday, I start searching your podcast. I started doing a lot of research and try out listening. I’m like, “Oh, this is so you. I cannot wait to take actions.” Then your podcast, for me, is almost like a treat when I drive to the corporate world, drive to the office, and back to the office. I just feel like, “Why they’re so happy, and they make everything sounds so easy? Why I have to feel like sad every day?” I was looking for a new journey and life experience. So I just want to be like you, as well. Be happy. That’s the first thing I want to be. So when mind feel calmed down, I feel like, “Hey, I can focus on what versus how.” You know corporate world always focuses on how.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Steven Butala: That’s a nice compliment. People ask us a lot like, “Are you guys really that happy, or is it a big act?” And here’s my answer, “Jill wakes up happy every single day. Me, not so much.”
Bei Zhang: Oh, no. I don’t believe you.
Jill DeWit: That’s good. I love our story. It’s so funny. Yeah, the you had the first time Bei met us, we’re buying her beer, and she’s like, “Who are you guys?”
Steven Butala: Yep.
Jill DeWit: Then here you are now how many years later?
Steven Butala: I think you were in Scottsdale for like another different event.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. Yeah. Another program. Then I just feel like I like to know the how part, exact how, to do it.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Bei Zhang: Then I think the data is the key thing is my bottleneck. I just cannot figure out, “How can I scrap the data? How can I get the data?” So the other investor, his name is Steven, he said, “Yeah, I know you’ll like Land Academy. They really have the data program.” So I’m like, “Hey, that’s what I really need.” Then I really liked your style. I feel like every day you’re just so real. Then you always … Seriously. When I drive to my corporate world, I was like, “Oh my God, I got six meetings back to back for eight hours. How can I go through that?” Then when I listened to the podcast, I’m like, “Hey, that make me feel so positive.”
Bei Zhang: Then I start doing the deals. I think it … Because we meet at, I think April, 2016, so I start … My first deal actually is July, 2016. So that year I probably did 12 or some deals. [inaudible 00:08:30] pretty big. I have no idea why I get those good experience. Then 2017, I just feel like, “Hey, I’m ready to [inaudible 00:08:30] my corporate world.” So I just doing it full-time, so it very good experience.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. How many deals did you do in ’17, do you think?
Bei Zhang: I think ’17, I probably did somewhere close to like … I think it’s 48 that [crosstalk 00:09:00]
Steven Butala: 48 deals?
Bei Zhang: Uh-huh (affirmative).
Steven Butala: [crosstalk 00:09:04] that’s great.
Bei Zhang: Last year, I think 2018 was 58, I’m thinking. Yeah. Not a huge [crosstalk 00:09:13]
Steven Butala: That’s fantastic.
Bei Zhang: And this year I did some research for this show I’ve just reviewed just now. I think so far as of today I did 56, something like that. Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Oh.
Steven Butala: I got the wrong impression on our webinars, because we talk about that one deal that was giving you trouble.
Bei Zhang: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jill DeWit: Oh, she’s doing a lot.
Steven Butala: We didn’t talk about all the great deals you’re doing.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. And you’re usually doing the bigger dollar amounts, aren’t you, Bei? You went right at it.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. The very interesting … The first deal I brought it. It’s so funny. It’s a title company right of away [inaudible 00:00:09:49]. So I start with the title company with the first two or three deals is all title company. They teach me a lot, and then I start doing a little bit smaller deals. And I feel like it click a little bit better with the larger dollar amount of deal versus the very tiny one. I don’t know why it … I don’t know why. Maybe there has [inaudible 00:10:14] power. This is a harder question. I don’t know.
Jill DeWit: Love it. I think it’s the bigger return on the bigger deals, for me.
Steven Butala: I mean, you’ve obviously made this work for you.
Jill DeWit: Yep.
Steven Butala: So what can you attribute that to?
Bei Zhang: What is the question? I don’t quite understand.
Steven Butala: You’ve obviously made our program and land investment itself really work to your advantage.
Bei Zhang: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Steven Butala: And honestly, you’re … I’m telling the truth here, because I guess it’s the spirit of telling the truth, you’re a very unlikely corporate success candidate for Land Academy. So I’m wondering if you can share with us what it is about land and what it is about you that’s making this work.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for explain that. Elaborate. Yes. I think is probably the personality. I think the personality decided your life a lot of the times. I’m more like a person looking for experience versus the security. Because 15 years ago I come to the US. It’s a huge journey for me for go to business school. Then I work as a marketer for years, working with agency side and working for the client side, and all kinds of the industry, like a customer products, medical device, health care, pharmaceutical. I think probably just like I keep jumping here and there. I just trying to feel what I like, because I don’t want to waste my time. I think that life is short. Why are we have to worried about the retirement money? We’re [inaudible 00:11:50] to trade your golden years, or just the later year when you’re 70. So that’s how I keep looking.
Bei Zhang: Then I like to control my life. In the corporate world, I think it’s fancy, because my last role is as a brand manager for a top 10 pharmaceutical company in the world. So to manage one of their cancer drug for lung cancer, I think at first you would thinking about it’s fun as glamorous, that kind of feeling. But I just feel in the corporate world that you probably hard to control your schedule, your life. You’re kind of like flat, go with the flow. Then, again, people … They really focused on doing the how part versus the what part, where you’re using one meeting to prepare another meeting and just do the how [inaudible 00:12:40]. But nobody really worried about what’s the project lead us to? And I feel like that’s waste my time.
Bei Zhang: So what I’m looking for is I don’t like politics too much, because I think that’s a waste of my time. I just want to find a area I can control who I want to work with, what I want to work with, and when I want to work. So that’s the three part I like to find.
Bei Zhang: Then to [inaudible 00:13:05] I got a book … I think as Rich Dad Poor Dad, the famous writer Robert Kiyosaki … really make me think about if you want the working bee hard toward the investor that hard, and how the money flows. That just opened my mind. So there always have something in my back of my head like where I should find this opportunity.
Bei Zhang: So I’m so glad I connected with Land Academy. You guys teaching me tons, of tons, of tons of things. Then the last two years I feel like I learned from Land Academy, from my peers, from you, Steven and Jill. And then from my customers, from those sellers, from those county persons, all those lawyers, and that kind of thing. I feel like I’m just like learning. I’m so happy about I’m not wasting my time, and I could be very flexible. So I guess it’s just entrepreneur experience, you know?
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Bei Zhang: My spirit kind of lead me to here.
Jill DeWit: That’s so great.
Steven Butala: You have such a good attitude.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: It’s amazing, actually.
Jill DeWit: It’s huge. I think at our first live event, you were the very first one. [inaudible 00:14:18] I remember I loved it. And I’m pretty sure, I think I saw you on the list for this October, right?
Bei Zhang: Yes. Uh-huh (affirmative). Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Okay, good.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. I just feel like connecting with people in our community just … You feel lonely every day sometimes. You want to have some feedback, right? And then my family, they could give me some level of feedback, but their feedback is so … The mindset is different.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Bei Zhang: So I appreciate that, but I want to see the feedback from you and from the other peers. I want to see how other people doing.
Jill DeWit: Exactly. I love it. It’s going to be fun to fast forward a year. We should talk about that, actually, at this event. It’d be fun to talk with everybody, maybe at the end. Talk about where we’ve all grown from last year to this year, because from what I’ve been hearing, it’s astronomical.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: I’m excited.
Steven Butala: I know you’re in our advanced group. What do you think of that and those webinars that we hold on every Thursday?
Bei Zhang: I think we’re talk about more specific questions. Maybe they’re more specific, especially focus on acquisition part versus the general full call. Probably, you get all kinds of questions. This advanced group is more, I think, for people who’ve had some experience, and then they are looking for some other niche aside. Then some of the thought process is interesting. I like to listen. Yeah.
Jill DeWit: I do, too.
Bei Zhang: Yeah.
Steven Butala: You two women are role models for young girls all over.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Bei Zhang: Oh.
Steven Butala: Absolutely. Taking life and careers and just made it work for you guys.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. I was stuck in that corporate role too, you know? I remember thinking, “Why am I working so hard for somebody else? I’d rather work this hard for me.”
Bei Zhang: Exactly. Exactly. I just feel corporate … If you want to push in one things, it’s so hard. Too many cooks in the kitchen, I would say. Then, right now, as an entrepreneur, I know like Steven, Jill, you guys have different little mini corporations, different project. That, to me, so fun is you get to figure out what you want to do and where you want to go. So really, that’s your baby. You get to decide how the baby grow.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Steven Butala: Of all the ways to describe those little other corporate projects that we have going on, fun is not how I describe it at all.
Jill DeWit: That’s where we differ. That’s one of the many ways that we differ. Bei knows.
Bei Zhang: I think just after you … Because every day I think just a little tiny things, it will influence my mood. Sometimes even the hate call where some people, they have some ridiculous request, or county say, “You violate this.” It just is a little thing where make your feel kind of like, “Eh,” down. But once you just get up, and like Jill, you always say you reset yourself. I take that notes. I think that’s good advice. So I reset myself and I just feel like when you have a different mood, you treat the same thing differently. So when you [inaudible 00:17:37] feel like, “Hey, that’s nothing. I made it, so it was fun in the way.”
Jill DeWit: It is. I do. I still look at these challenges. We’re working on bringing back TitleMind, and we have a new partner in our office, and we’re doing stuff with him. He’s going through all the steps, and he hasn’t done it at this level, I think, before.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: And he’s had other companies, but not like this and has not seen this many hoops and this much vagueness, too. It’s really kind of funny. And I talked to him about it the other day. I said, “You know what, Ken? This is one of those things that every time I get into it and I see this many issues and this many problems and this many things we’ve got to get past, I cheer because I’m like, ‘How many people just dropped out because of that?’ There’s going to be … That’s where we’re going to do it and other people can’t.”
Steven Butala: Yep.
Bei Zhang: Yes. [crosstalk 00:18:30] I think our business model is very simple, but simple doesn’t mean easy.
Jill DeWit: Correct.
Bei Zhang: I always feel almost like if you only have one child and get pregnant, that’s easy. But if you have 10 children there and you’re pregnant with twins, it’s just so hard to take care of each of those little project. That’s how I feel. It’s simple, but it’s not easy.
Jill DeWit: Isn’t that true? You present it pretty funny, but I’m sure you’ve had this too, Bei. Even like you’re traveling or talking to relatives, and you explain what you do, and they think, “Oh, it’s just so easy. I could do that.” And you’re like, “Hold on a moment. It’s not that … There’s a lot of moving parts, and you can’t be afraid of a lot of things like data.”
Steven Butala: So Bei, what do you mean simple, but … You said it’s easy. No, simple but time-consuming.
Bei Zhang: Not easy.
Steven Butala: Is that how we describe it?
Bei Zhang: Yeah. I think because just like when Jill talk about there has a lot of moving parts, the concept is really easy. You find the deals, and you just flip the deals, right? How easy is that? But there has a lot of … the process. How do you make the process when you operate that? I think the operational excellence, that’s the challenge.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Bei Zhang: How do you save your time? How do you manage your team? How do you using other people’s strengths to help you? Then how do you think about the process? I think it’s about the process. How do you [inaudible 00:19:57] work? How do you create a system? I think these are the things that not easy. You have to make certain deals to fully understand how do you talk to the customers and that kind of thing.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Steven Butala: That’s our biggest single challenge, what you just described. Getting the right people in the right place, systematizing everything, and then really kind of ramping it up.
Jill DeWit: Yep.
Steven Butala: So we conquered it with land a long time ago, but when it comes to companies like ParcelFact or TitleMind.com, like Jill mentioned, that we haven’t released yet, it’s like starting all over again.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. Maybe after you make some mistakes, a couple of a hundred deals like you did for land, your other little company, you understand what’s the flow should be, so that-
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. You’re going to make some mistakes there to learn.
Steven Butala: People-
Jill DeWit: [crosstalk 00:20:50] I have a question.
Steven Butala: Go ahead. Go ahead.
Jill DeWit: Do you outsource any of this? And if so, what do you outsource and where?
Bei Zhang: Yeah. I used to outsource quite a few like marketing. I think marketing is the [inaudible 00:21:0 I’m a marketer. I know it. I just don’t want to do the repeat work. So I go to … You know Upwork.com, right? So you can find those freelancers. Then I outsource these. There has a woman. She worked with me probably for over two years just help me with my customer services or the basic emails and then with some hosting.
Steven Butala: That’s great.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. Other data input. Then I used to want to hire some like assistants, but I think it’s really hard to find a assistant, because you have to buy the time. Then, basically, probably I’m in the learning process, also. I’m still learning how to manage the freelancer, and then like win-win situation, because sometimes they just don’t want to do those work or, I don’t know, the relationship is hard, especially for remotes.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Steven Butala: That’s such another challenge for us, too. When you hire somebody, even if it’s outsourced, how much time is it going to take to get that … your time to … Because now you can’t do that job anymore. You’re hired this person. So there’s always this ramp-up period where stuff’s not getting done that you hired the person for. So I’m famous for like waiting too long to hire the person, and then it’s not the right person, so you got to hire them again. And it’s a big challenge.
Bei Zhang: I had thoughts, Steve. You talk in one of your podcasts … You mentioned about, “Well, just let that person get the things done, even though that’s not you.” I think you made really good comments. I’m like, “Okay, I’ll let [inaudible 00:22:42], even though it’s not my way to do it, but to get things done.” So, yeah.
Jill DeWit: Exactly. Exactly.
Steven Butala: All right. I’ll take my own advice.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. You have to go back, think about your good advice. Yeah. So Jill and you both give me really good advice.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. What are your goals for this year? Is it a deal goal? Is it a money goal? Whatever you want to share would be awesome.
Bei Zhang: I think my goal, probably just overall, I want to do somewhere close to 100 deals, more like the number of the deals. Then the size, I want to make those deals a little bit higher dollar amounts, a little bit higher. But lower is fine, also, as long as they earn money. I just go with the flow but focusing on a little bit higher. I think the key thing is you got to buy more property, that way you can keep selling more.
Bei Zhang: So at first, I’m very happy whenever I sold a property in year one and year two. Then once I sold out all of them like, “Oh, what shall I do?” Then, Steve, you mentioned when you get excited is the time when you purchase a property in the right price, so now I get that.
Steven Butala: Good.
Bei Zhang: I am happy when I make a good acquisition, because I know lot of times when I sell property, I really don’t really lower the price or I really don’t push or chase these people. I think it just price, the value of sale. So I just market there and the people just bought right away, so I know if I do my research right about a good price, and then I win. Yes.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Steven Butala: Good.
Jill DeWit: That’s good. All right, so over a hundred deals. You’re coming to the event. And is this it for you now? I mean, you’re in it, man. This is your career and just going to grow this business forever? [crosstalk 00:24:46] property tax.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. Basically, I think … Yeah. I joined the House Academy early.
Steven Butala: Oh, good.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. I think it’s probably last two months were … But I haven’t really get a chance to learn yet before my China trip, but I’m going to look. I think it just opened up more window. Definitely, I think real estate is very fun. There has different sub-category of real estate, so land, house, even mobile home. I’m kind of open to learn. But I think real estate will be where I like to go. I feel happy. When I feel happy, you heart is a harmony level and when you do things, you enjoy your life. So that’s what I’m looking for. Yeah.
Jill DeWit: That’s so [inaudible 00:25:30]
Steven Butala: She’s really taking a spiritual approach to this. A feeling approach. I think that’s great.
Jill DeWit: It is. it makes a difference.
Steven Butala: It’s really refreshing for me, because I’m all numbers and angry, you know?
Bei Zhang: No. You’re funny. I don’t think so.
Jill DeWit: I think, maybe too for women, we might talk … You guys may not even know that you feel that way, I don’t think, because you guys don’t talk like that. We will be open and share it. But I think you know … When I say you, I mean men. You have a sense of accomplishment. You may not go back and reflect on it like we do.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: So you get it.
Steven Butala: Right. I mean, it’s good. It’s good to … I didn’t know I could have feelings.
Bei Zhang: Don’t get womens wrong. We like numbers, also. We like to [inaudible 00:26:18].
Jill DeWit: That’s true. That’s true. That’s true.
Bei Zhang: [inaudible 00:26:23] checking all my numbers, and I’m like, “Oh, good. [inaudible 00:26:24]
Jill DeWit: Good point. Yeah, Bei’s [crosstalk 00:26:26] her way through every deal.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. It’s so funny. Like this time we traveled in China, and then people try to rip you off in certain markets, so we try to negotiate the price. Every time whole family from the U.S. side, they asked me to negotiate the price, and then they’re, “Oh, you’re such a harsh negotiator.” So when I buy property or when I sell, I do put the negotiator role there. So, yeah, that’s important. So I do look at the number, make sure that they’re right, and then spiritual.
Jill DeWit: Because you know what’s funny about that, Bei? You just said something that Steven has said about me. He will go back and look at some of the deals that we’re doing and ones that I have approved and not approved. He’s like, “You’re a little tougher than I am on these guys.” Like he would have said, “I would accepted that. It’s fine. It’ll work out.” I’m like, “Nope.”
Steven Butala: She’s tough.
Jill DeWit: “I need to buy it at this, and then I can [inaudible 00:27:20],” you know?
Bei Zhang: Yes.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. So we’re a little [crosstalk 00:27:21]
Steven Butala: And it happens. It ends up actually the deal happens, you know?
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. That’s how I feel. Jill, you are tougher than Steven for that part. I can read you pretty well. That’s how I feel.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. Thank you.
Steven Butala: She picked up on it.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. Bei and I connect. We’re good. And look at us. We’re happy and laughing and smiling all the way through it.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. Yeah. You’re inspiring me. I just feel like whenever I feel lonely, I just listen to more of the podcast.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. I’m glad.
Steven Butala: Oh, good.
Bei Zhang: Yeah.
Steven Butala: Bei, are you the translator everywhere you go?
Bei Zhang: To talk in China?
Steven Butala: Yeah, just constant translation?
Bei Zhang: Yeah, mostly I’ll do that. And my husband, he know a little bit, very tiny bit, and my … I have a nine-year-old daughter, and she can say pretty well, but she’s not fully competent for that if people speak fast. Yeah. It was fun.
Steven Butala: Great.
Jill DeWit: That’s great. That’s cool.
Steven Butala: I’m sure that plays all into this. She’s like the role model/leader, you know?
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Bei Zhang: Oh.
Jill DeWit: What a good example. You, too. Bei, I mean, he’s right. I mean, look at what you’re teaching your daughter about what’s possible. And the changes that you’ve made in your life and leaving the corporate world, and a very, very good paying job, by the way, to do this for yourself, and then just kill it.
Bei Zhang: Well, what I happy about when I go back to China, I connected with some of my like 20-years-old friends. We used to work together, whatever. And I just feel they’re still in the same area. I mean, good for them, because they feel stable. But I feel like, “Hey, within those 15 years, I learned so many things,” you know? Even someday when I’m turning 90-something, when I look back what I did, I feel happy. I didn’t waste my time. That’s all I’m looking for. Yeah. The biggest thing, I cannot bear is wasting my time to do something repeatedly again, again. Yeah.
Steven Butala: People ask Jill and I what we’re going to do in retirement, and I say, “We’re going to go back and buy and sell real estate,” because it’s about 10% of what we do right now, and I long for the days when … Remember when we started out?
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: We’re in that back bedroom-
Jill DeWit: Just deal flow.
Steven Butala: … and just like I was buying, and she was selling it. We were just counting the money.
Jill DeWit: That was it.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. I don’t really perceive you retire or anything. I think you’re just probably make the flow slower a little bit and make the products more focused. That’s all. And then it’s just like do not need a lot of operational help, just flow come in and the money come in right away.
Jill DeWit: That’s a good plan. I like that.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Do you have any questions for us?
Bei Zhang: A question. At this point, I don’t have any question. I just feel like I’m so glad to connected with you and to see you in person. Almost feel like that I look forward, we can see each other probably another two months-ish.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Bei Zhang: And I cannot wait to meet other peers, as well, and then to exchange ideas and connect within that group. Yeah. Very positive.
Jill DeWit: Me, too. Us, too.
Steven Butala: Great.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: Hey, we know your time’s valuable. Thanks for spending some of it with us today, anyway. Join us next time for another interesting episode.
Jill DeWit: And we answer your questions posted on our online community at LandInvestors.com. It is free.
Steven Butala: You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Steven Butala: Bei, I can’t thank you enough.
Jill DeWit: That was fun.
Steven Butala: It was really funny of you.
Bei Zhang: Yes.
Jill DeWit: It’s nice. I feel like we just got to have a nice little quick girly chat on the phone and connect, but we just happened to share it with everybody.
Bei Zhang: Yeah. This is a casual talk almost, but it was fun. For me, it’s a good experience. Thank you for your time interview me for this one hour. This is my treat. Yeah.
Steven Butala: Yep.
Jill DeWit: Thank you very much.
Steven Butala: We’ll see you soon. Thank you.
Bei Zhang: See you. Take care. Bye-bye.
Steven Butala: Bye.
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