Chris & John
- Nov 12, 2020
- 2 min read

Ep 102: Becoming a Full-Time Investor with Mike Simmons

There’s no set path in making the leap from your 9-5 to becoming a full-time real estate investor. Today we share an incredibly open conversation with entrepreneur Mike Simmons about his transition into full-time investing. After chatting about how he developed a passion for real estate, we dive into specifics about what Mike did to set himself up for a career as a full-time investor, including what he did to decrease his risk exposure. While reflecting on his early mistakes, Mike unpacks key lessons that, once implemented, caused his business to skyrocket. We then explore the roles within his team before talking about what Mike does to onboard new hires and increase staff flexibility. While on this topic, Mike emphasizes how hiring people can both increase your opportunities to land deals and unlock more time that you can spend outside of work. We touch on what Mike’s payroll looks like, how he handles stress, and what qualities are common to successful investors. A discussion filled with insights, tune in to hear what Mike has done to create a successful company, and transition into full-time investing.

Key Points From This Episode:

Mike shares details about his background and journey into real estate.
How Mike created a runway to transition into full-time investing.
The value of reinvesting your profits to build your business profile.
Hear the top 3 lessons that Mike learned from his mistakes.
Why coaching and speaking with other professionals always trumps Google.
Advice on onboarding new hires according to their roles.
Mike discusses how different members of his team serve his company.
Cross-training and building redundancy to increase staff flexibility.
Why hiring people increases your opportunity to land deals.
Paying for your freedom; why Mike’s biggest expense is in salaries.
Compartmentalizing your stress so that it doesn’t affect your life.
What makes for a successful real estate investor.
Creating a culture of accountability and ownership over projects.
The importance of landing your first deal in building momentum.

Tweetables:

“Before I left the company that I was working for, I was running a fully-fledged house-flipping business.” — @MikeSSimons [0:06:34]

“The opportunity cost of missing out on a deal always costs more than hiring someone. Think long-term and make some hires. It pays for itself, many times over.” — @MikeSSimons [0:26:25]

“The two biggest expenses that my company will always have are people and marketing. But if you want to be big, then you need to hire for that.” — @MikeSSimons [0:27:49]

“The most successful people that I see aren’t always intelligent. Instead, they execute on their plans and they don’t make excuses.” — @MikeSSimons [0:36:09]

“Just getting started is half of the battle. Getting your ass off the couch is one of the hardest things that you can do but it’s the most important.” — @MikeSSimons [0:43:12]