A quick ad before we jump in:
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Twitter has been an insane tool for me.
At first I was hesitant to join because I thought it was a place people go to get mad about politics and waste time arguing with each other. And that is true.
But there is an entire section of Twitter that is full of dealmakers and a niche business and real estate community.
In late 2019 we were out of capital. We had raised $500k to build our first building and we had used our own capital to buy 4 more small buildings between 2017 and 2019.
But our investors were tapped. We didn’t know anyone else with money. I had been to every single kitchen table in my network and tried to raise cash and been told no.
And real estate is a capital intensive business. You need a TON of it to buy buildings (especially in a responsible, low leverage way).
I got on and started tweeting in January of 2020.
I would tweet about my storage deals and share information about how I bought them, operated them and made money by making them more valuable.
Here is an example tweet from early 2021, back when I had about 20,000 followers.
What I did differently on Twitter:
I was radically open about what I did inside my business and real estate company.
I shared profit and loss statements. I shared the ins and outs of how we found deals.
At one point my partner called me one evening freaking out.
“Nick, why would you share so much? You’re going to bring on competition and we have nothing to gain here!”
Still, I had a feeling it would open doors. Sure it COULD bring on competition, and some would say it brought on a little. I disagree to this day.
In reality it did open doors. Major dealmakers came out of the woodwork on Twitter. They sent me DMs and we had zoom meetings getting to know each other.
And I started raising massive amounts of money. We bought a property with 7 investors in September of 2020. Another one in December. Then in 2021 we went on a buying spree.
We bought 38 properties for over $50 million and raised $25 million from outside investors (99% of which I met on Twitter).
And my life changed forever.
(P.S. Real estate is slow but the market is changing. If you’re an accredited investor and would like to see our deals as they come, please fill out this form.)
Fast forward to today and I’ve launched 8 companies on the back of my Twitter following. They all work together and each company is a customer of the other companies and I use the synergies to fuel them all.
RE Cost Seg is a real estate engineering firm I founded with partners in June of 2022. We’ve done almost 1,000 cost segs already and have a team of 26. It’s a $10m+ company already.
Shepherd is a filipino and LATAM recruiting company who helps clients hire international employees. I’m a minority partner in that business but it is VERY LARGE now with a team of 150+ and over $5 million in annual revenue.
WebRun is my web development firm (and the company that built the investor landing page on my site). Bold SEO is my SEO agency. I started a property and casualty insurance company called Titan Risk. A local recruiting company in RecruitJet. A performance marketing firm called AdRhino. A business brokerage, pest control company and a tax consulting agency.
Many of these companies are brand new but they’re all getting business on the back of this newsletter and my Twitter account.
People think I grew a Twitter account with 30 million impressions each month by tweeting about small business and self storage.
That isn’t the case. Twitter is a funnel for me.
I cast a wide net with general life advice or jokes. That tweet got 6.3 million impressions. This one about HOAs got over 30 million combined impressions. This one about hiring employees overseas over 1.5 million.
A LOT of people see those tweets. They then look on my profile and see tweets like this, which are much better and add more value.
Here is the thing about the Twitter algorithm:
When you get a tweet with millions of impressions… The next 4-5 tweets you send will get 3-4x normal engagement because all the folks who clicked on your last tweet to read comments will be shown your next tweets.
The algo is trying to give the people what they want (more of what they click on).
So if your next several tweets ad value and prove to people you’re a serious business man, they’ll follow you and begin to get to know you.
People think I got big on here by being “the storage guy.”
That is not true. You cast a wide net to a wide audience and then the people who are interested in what you’re doing will latch on.
So my next few tweets will be links to my newsletter, business advice, real estate stuff, etc.
My goal is to make smart people think deeply about something. Add some value to their life by giving them a new perspective or method.
My target is people who are interested in making money. Real estate and small business owners. If they want to learn about making money, they likely already have some of it.
The rage bait tweets are top of funnel. Millions of people see that but they aren’t my target. It’s all a numbers game. I know just a few of those millions are interested in making money.
They’re who I’m after. My entrepreneurship stuff is below that. Hundreds of thousands of people a week see those tweets.
This newsletter newsletter is down the funnel a little more, with 90,000 people getting it weekly. Getting to know how I think about things.
Then my podcast. 5,000 people a week listen to that. They get to know me even better. My voice and my ideas come across loud and clear. They know and trust me intimately.
Then it’s the customers of my 8 companies I’m fueling off the back of this account. 50+ people a week are buying from me and my companies. This is the bottom of the funnel and how I feed my family.
This is the hard part.
Most people aren’t willing to do the work to actually sell something to their followers.
They waste time with all the engagement but don’t own any assets they can make more valuable.
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We’ll finish with a few thoughts:
Thought #1:
Some big news in the real estate tax world. Bonus Depreciation is in the new tax bill and the language as it stands would make it permanent.
I don’t think this one will pass as is, but I do think there is a good chance it happens over the next few years.
This would be a massive win for real estate investors because bonus depreciation allows for massive tax write-offs when you buy a property.
Here is more on how it works.
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Thought #2:
If you build deep relationships with insecure people, they’ll manipulate and try to control you.
You must keep your end of the bargain (be dependable, respectful, morally sound) to build trust and give them reason to feel secure, but some people have too much past trauma to actually feel accepted.
Cut them out before they bring you down with them.
The hard part:
You have to be a very secure person yourself to have the courage to do this.
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Thought #3:
Delegation is a muscle.
You can’t become a better delegator by studying, reading, planning.
You become a better delegator by going to the gym and picking up the weight!
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Thought #4:
There is nothing less fun than real estate the last 6 months.
Virtually no deals penciling. Transaction volume off a cliff. No cash out Refis. No big sales. Revenue stagnant.
And that’s why I think it’s about to get good.
So many people dropping out of the game right now.
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Thought #5:
In life you’ll run into a lot of arm-chair quarterbacks.
People who love giving advice and speak with confidence but have never gotten out and made anything happen.
It takes a whole new level of courage to start that business or buy that building.
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Onward and upward,
Nick
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If you want to structure your website correctly to get found in search and build domain authority through high-quality backlinks, this service is for you.
They’ll get on a call with you and basically give you a free 30 minutes of consulting and a game plan for your website during the sales call. I recommend setting up a call with Bold SEO and getting the process started.