The Real Estate UNLOCKED Podcast
REALEST Real Estate Podcast on the Planet!
The Real Estate UNLOCKED Podcast
The Essential Guide To Building A Real Estate Network | Episode 07
Ever wondered how someone can go from struggling to buy a home to becoming a real estate mogul? Brenda Jones, a seasoned tech recruiter and dynamic real estate investor, joins us to unravel her inspiring journey. She talks about her initial challenges in the housing market of 2022 and how her strategic pivot to raising capital for multifamily assets led her to partner on 532 units and launch a successful fund in North Carolina. Brenda’s story is a testament to the power of networking and strategic connections in achieving real estate success.
Learning through experience and mistakes is the real cornerstone of real estate investing, as Brenda emphasizes. She shares her role as a 'connector,' linking people and opportunities within the industry, and offers crucial advice for beginners on building their networks. Brenda also speaks about the Avatar series by Pace Morby, which helps individuals identify their roles in real estate, and the unmatched value of mentorship programs like Sub2. Surrounding oneself with successful individuals and learning from their experiences is a recurring theme that underscores the essence of community and connections.
Brenda also delves into her strategies for boosting professional visibility through social media and personal interactions at industry events. She gives us an inside look at the Orange County Joint Venture (OCJV) group's growth and her ambitious goal of raising $4 million from accredited investors in 2024. From cutting the ribbon with Pace Morby to her involvement in charity events, Brenda's journey is marked by passion, commitment, and a relentless drive to build a legacy. Tune in to hear how you can leverage networking to carve your niche in real estate and leave a lasting impact.
✅ Follow on Social Media for more real estate insights:
YouTube
What up everyone and welcome back to the Real Estate Unlocked podcast. I am your Jo, and today we're going to be covering one of the most important topics in real estate, absolutely mandatory to scale your business, the key to opening doors. Today we're going to be covering the power of networking. Networking is a crucial aspect to any business, and real estate investing is no exception. In fact, it could be argued that networking and building connections is even more critical in real estate, as it often relies on building connections and relationships to find the best deals and opportunities. These opportunities come in various forms, such as off-market properties, partnership deals, raising private capital or investment opportunities that aren't widely advertised. Now you know how we do it on the Real Estate Unlocked podcast. If we're going to do it, we got to do it right. We can't just bring on anyone to speak about networking, we got to bring on the queen of networking.
Joseph Marohn:Today, our special guest on the podcast is Brenda Jones. Brenda has been a tech recruiter for 17 years and, alongside this, has also discovered a passion for real estate. With a strong economics background from UC San Diego, brenda effectively merges technology insights with smart real estate investment strategies. Her specialty is raising capital funding for large multifamily assets. Multifamily assets she's a partner of 532 units with notable figures like Pace Morby and Vin Jetty, and runs a local investor group based out of Orange County, california, that now has over 600 plus members. So, without further ado, I've been talking long enough Everyone. If you will, please allow me to formally introduce to you Brenda Jones. Brenda, long time, no see. How are you doing today?
Brenda Jones:I'm great, Joseph. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Joseph Marohn:Oh, I'm excited as well. How's everything going? Everything good your way?
Brenda Jones:Yeah, busy, busy trying to get that money.
Joseph Marohn:Not trying. You are getting that money.
Brenda Jones:I am, you're right, that's right.
Joseph Marohn:Cool, cool. So this interview especially because it's almost as if we've come full circle For those that don't know Brenda and I, we pretty much started our journey roughly around the same time. She started just a few months before me and was actually one of the first people I met and connected with. I think we both knew right away we were kind of destined for great things. Slightly different past, but just to see what we've both been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time is crazy. And now for us to sit down and have the opportunity to share your story and your successes on my podcast is so awesome to me. So thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule and educating us on the importance of networking and what being a connector in the community has done for you and can do for others.
Brenda Jones:Absolutely. I'm excited, let's do it.
Joseph Marohn:Absolutely so, Brenda. Why don't you start off by telling us your story? You already make a great living as a high W-2 earner. What exactly is your why factor and what specifically made you choose real estate?
Brenda Jones:is your why factor and what specifically made you choose real estate? Sure, so yeah, my journey into real estate investing started with me and my husband trying to buy a house in 2022. And that was during the time when the interest rates went crazy. So that was from like February to August and we were looking at houses every weekend making offers and, honestly, we were getting priced out like $200,000, $300,000. And as it got further and further along in the year, we went from trying to buy a five-bedroom house to a three-bedroom condo with HOAs for the same price, and so it just didn't make sense. I didn't want to be house poor, so we just tabled our search for a minute. You know, definitely frustrated and you know I love telling the story because Pace Morby magically appeared on my Instagram. So I started going down a hole, right YouTube hole, watching his videos, like everyone else, I'm sure, and I was also following some other you know real estate guys and gals on there.
Brenda Jones:And after six months, in March of 2023, I decided to join Sub2, which is Pace Morby's mentorship, and, you know, took a few months to realize exactly what my lane was. You know, have zero real estate experience, so there was a lot of learning I needed to do. I thought I wanted to do midterm rentals, and so I was networking with as many wholesalers within the group but unfortunately, you know, none of the deals really made sense for me. So I was one of the first lucky people who got to go to community camp, which you know qualified for that was, you know, high activity within the Facebook group which, again, as a natural networker, was easy for me and that's where it was brought to my attention that I was really good at networking and, you know, building rapport and interjecting myself in groups and just, you know, social butterfly right, and at the end of the night, you know, I was not exhausted, I didn't need to go hide and like recharge, like I can do this all day, every day, and I'm pretty sure being a Jetty told me like you should just raise capital because that's exactly the skillset that's needed for that.
Brenda Jones:So ever since then, which was, you know, I think, last August or July, I decided to focus on raising capital and focusing on multifamily, because you know people are saying that it's almost the same amount of work from single family to multifamily, so you might as well get a higher yield with multifamily. So that brings us to present day, where I was able to find really great partners. We're going to be launching our multifamily fund by the end of this month, our multifamily fund by the end of this month, and we are targeting multifamily units 50 to 150 units in North Carolina, b minus class, c plus class garden style, and then 1990 or younger. So that's what we're doing.
Joseph Marohn:I love that story because it's very similar to why I got into real estate. Me and my wife we're both from Southern California, so we both know that the prices here are outrageous with these interest rates. So me and my wife, we we started looking in the beginning of the year to purchase our first primary residence. Now we both make pretty decent money. Um, so we were qualified, you know. But the thing is, when we started looking at what the loans were being offered and how much we were going to pay on a monthly basis, we were right around 4,400 to all the way up to 5,000 for our price range, right. So now we could afford that. But we were going to be house broke. And who wants to live like that? Right, nobody wants to live house broke, it's not. It's not sustainable long-term. So I knew I had to, had to bring more revenue in, and that's how I got And're out there at events all the time.
Joseph Marohn:You're constantly making new connections. For someone who's completely new to real estate. What are the first steps that they should take to start building their network? Where should they go and who should they be trying to meet?
Brenda Jones:Yeah, I'll probably take it one step a little bit earlier than that. Pace Morby has an avatar series on YouTube and he goes over I think 20 or 30 avatars were essentially are like job descriptions that you can do in real estate investing. I would do that because, again, you want to focus on things you like to do, things you're good at. You don't want to be doing things that are going to be a chore or like feeling like a job, right. So, again, for me, networking it's like breathing, so I wake up in the morning excited to do it. You know, I don't wake up like, oh God, I got to talk to people, right, which there's a lot of people who don't like to do that.
Brenda Jones:And then there's another thing that they should do is take the Clifton Strengths Test, which that identifies 34 strengths and again, use those two to identify your strengths and what lane you should be in, and then that's the direction you should go. But in regards to you know, where do you start to build a network? Honestly, it's, it's a local community and for us, right in Orange County, we didn't have one, so we made one and again it sounds I'm trying to make it sound easy, but it's not. You know, I had four to five, six other people who had the same goal, so together we built it. I didn't do it alone and we were consistent. We've been doing it every two weeks since May, which was right after Pace's book signing in LA.
Brenda Jones:And you know I was in charge, or I am in charge, of the social media for that group, so I just try to blast it everywhere as much as I can. I try to. You know I was in charge, or I am in charge, of the social media for that group, so I just try to blast it everywhere as much as I can. I try to, you know, provide value to people as to why they should come to the group and meet people. But the easiest free way is go on Facebook or Google or meetupcom or Evite, find a local group and try to start developing close relationships Because you know, zoom is, it's very impersonal, you know like you can only get to know someone so much, but like sitting next to someone shaking their hand, feeling the vibe like that's how you develop a real relationship.
Joseph Marohn:Right, and I'm glad you brought that up because I know you, you know you just mentioned that you and a few others you know you created a local investor group in Orange County called OCJV and we'll get into that story in a little bit here. But why do you feel community building and local meetups are so important?
Brenda Jones:Because my own personal story. I have zero real estate experience and it's funny that when people talk to me now they think I've been doing it for years and it's been. I think it's nine months, 10 months now, since March. The only way to learn is from people, right, like I know people. There's people out there who like to read books and watch a bunch of videos, but that's all still like theoretical right. You got to learn on the job, on the go. And what's the best ways to learn from someone? Partner up with someone, do the damn thing, make a mistake, learn from your mistake. It's got to be tangible and that's the only way you can do it. Like, real estate is not a solo sport, right? It's a team sport, so you need a team around you.
Joseph Marohn:Absolutely, and that's the same thing with me. You know, my W2 is I'm a building engineer, right, so I was going to school for that, but I was also working at the same time. And the reason I bring that up is because, you know, when I was going to school, yeah, sure, I was learning, but I didn't really really learn until I was actually making mistakes on the job and learning, you know, breaking things. You know and and figuring out how to go and fix these problems. And it's the same. It's the same concept that applies to real estate. You know, everybody thinks that they just have to have it all figured out right Day one. I got to have this whole thing figured out and then I'll be ready, but no, it's like you just got to get out there. You know, keep learning and fail forward, right? You know, make mistakes, create problems and learn from those. So glad you brought that up.
Joseph Marohn:Another thing you brought up is the Avatar series, which I'm glad you did. So the Avatar series I've talked about that on my channel before and for those that don't know what the Avatar series is, I highly suggest you go watch the entire series that Pace Mori put together on his YouTube channel. It's very beneficial and the purpose behind it is to give you identity or clarity for what you're supposed to be in real estate. It helps you give a direction on different paths you can take, and the reason I bring that up is because one of the avatars is connector, in which Brenda identified as and which correlates with networking, in which Brenda would soon realize it's her superpower. Brenda, do you mind explaining what exactly being a connector in real estate involves?
Brenda Jones:Yeah, connector is someone who, at least for me, can kind of put the puzzle pieces together. So, again, for me, I don't have any real estate experience, but I know how to make friends. So I was making friends with a bunch of wholesalers. So if I saw a wholesaler post a deal in the group for Florida and I had networked with someone that's buying in Florida, right, if I'm not buying in Florida, I can introduce that wholesaler to that buyer and make the connection and hopefully they can do a deal together. Right, and in the, in that process, I'm also learning about the deal, what they like, what they don't like. So you know, it's, yeah, it's putting the puzzle pieces together, being able to kind of see things holistically, like, take a step back, see the big picture and and bring people together that normally couldn't find each other.
Joseph Marohn:Right Any advice you would give to beginners who might be looking to establish themselves as a connector as well.
Brenda Jones:You have to get yourself out there. Maybe set some goals of I want to make 10 friends a week, right, two people a day, that type of thing. If you are part of a mentorship, then you know. Reach out to people on whatever platform that they're on, and set up a calendar and try to like connect these people for 15 to 20 minutes. Again, go meet people at any type of group, honestly real estate group, tech group, talk to your barista, talk to the bagger at the grocery store. The more people you can connect with, the easier it is.
Joseph Marohn:So oftentimes in the business world we hear great quotes from books or other successful entrepreneurs. Some stick, some don't. What are your thoughts on the saying your network is your net worth. Do you believe in that?
Brenda Jones:100%, yeah. So again, it's a, it's a. It's a recurring theme with me, right? Zero, zero experience in real estate. Recurring theme with me, right? Zero experience in real estate.
Brenda Jones:So how can I excel in something that I don't have people around me who are excelling in? Right? Like, why are you going to get real estate experience from someone who doesn't invest? I mean, majority of my friends own their primary home, but that's the extent of it, right. But you want to surround yourself around multimillionaires, billionaires, because they've done it, they've made the mistakes and in these mentorships, you know, they're willing to share their knowledge for free and they want to see you succeed, right. So we all collectively help each other to, you know, reach these goals. But you know, for me, like I've been recruiting for a long time, again, a lot of my best friends, my mentor, high net worth, you know W2 people, but you know I that's I hit the peak, right. So now I'm trying to get to the next one and that's real estate. So that's the only way is to surround yourself with people smarter than you. You want to be the dumbest person in the room, right?
Joseph Marohn:Another cliche saying. You know it's funny because when I first joined Sub2, you know I, you know it's obviously it's a paid mentorship and when I bought into it I thought initially I was buying into the program like I was paying for the videos and the education. Then I quickly realized, you know, once they give you access to the private you know Facebook, group and community, that's when I saw the real value. You know, having access to all these people around you, that's the key to it and that was the real value of buying into the membership. Now, when we first joined the Sub2 community, one of the first action steps that Pace pushed so heavily is to go out and make 50 friends. Right, why do you think that that was one of the first action steps that Pace gave to us, and what type of value am I going to gain by just reaching out to 50 random strangers online?
Brenda Jones:Again, it doesn't require real estate knowledge, right, it doesn't require money. It requires you to do something, which, again, there's a lot of people who are stuck in analysis, paralysis. But you can only learn if you talk to someone. So if you're just sitting behind your computer all day watching a video which is great again, these videos are very high level, right, like you can't learn how to do something in detail unless you're doing it in real life. And again, another advantage of meeting 50 random people is perspective. You know, my experience as a connector is different than John's, jim's, sarah's, right. Your experience with wholesaling is different for me. So you want to take all that knowledge and see how you can, you know, apply it to yourself and then again connecting. Maybe you met people and you can connect them together and then they can partner up.
Joseph Marohn:Do you think you can find success without it, without networking?
Brenda Jones:No, honestly. I mean not in real estate and obviously not in recruiting. Maybe if you are selling digital products behind your computer all day, maybe, but any type of job that involves people, you need to learn how to network and connect and talk to them.
Joseph Marohn:Absolutely. To learn how to network and connect and talk to them? Absolutely. Can you share a personal experience where your networking played a key role in a successful deal or project?
Brenda Jones:Yeah, I mean. So OCJV, right. So we were 10, 11 people that came together to build this group and you know how I found my current business partners. So that first initial group.
Brenda Jones:He doesn't come around often anymore because he's got a very busy day job, but he had recommended my partner his name is Andreas to come to one of our meetups up in Garden Grove when Kevin Cho was visiting, and we met each other very briefly and the one thing he took away from it was I was only one focusing on multifamily capital raising. And here's the thing like if we didn't start OCJV, if I didn't make friends with Morgan, which is the original guy, like I would have not found Andreas and his wife to be partners. I would have just been sitting here watching videos and then a year later accomplished nothing. And because I have networked with people within sub two I was able to partner with Pace and Vena on you know these units in Arizona and that was all through other students, you know. But these opportunities are not going to fall on your lap if you're just hiding in the corner silent.
Joseph Marohn:Yeah, exactly, and I remember being at that event. That was a great event, by the way, and I remember meeting Andres. Andres is a great guy, so that's a great partnership that you have there, and you're partnered up with his wife as well, if I'm not mistaken correct.
Brenda Jones:Correct. Yes, yeah, it will be the three of us.
Joseph Marohn:Okay Awesome, so you and a few partners obviously the three of us Okay awesome, so you and a few partners obviously you guys started raising capital for multifamily units. It's a very smart move on your part, by the way. Talk to us a little bit about how establishing connections and networking can aid in the process of acquiring funds.
Brenda Jones:Yeah. So for me, like my strategies right now, one of them is social media, of course. Um, like my strategies right now, one of them is social media, of course, Right. So I hired a social media strategist and we are pumping out a bunch of content.
Brenda Jones:One story that just happened recently was a gentleman is not part of sub two, not part of Venus multiply, but he follows pace, so he's watching a video pace. He came across a video of me and Pace cutting the ribbon in Tucson for that 160 unit property that just was purchased, and then he found my Instagram page and then he reached out to me and we set up a meeting and he's an accredited investor and he's interested in investing with us because he's in single family but he wants to get into multifamily. So that's why I wanted to invest in funds originally, because that's the easiest way to get into. It is if you have capital and, again, not everyone does. I'm lucky that I do. That was my easiest way to start learning and networking with people in multifamily way to start learning and networking with people in multifamily, right, right.
Joseph Marohn:So, without a doubt, real estate can be a challenging industry.
Brenda Jones:Any obstacles you faced on your journey so far and, if so, how did you overcome them? I mean, in the beginning, right, zero experience I definitely was feeling frustrated, worried that I had joined something that was a scam. Right, I had friends saying is this multi-level marketing? You know, but I stuck through it. Right, I get, like you mentioned, subtude, there is a, you know there is a cost and you know, I wanted to make sure that I just didn't throw money away. Right, like, why am I going to give up after two months?
Brenda Jones:And one thing that I like to like shed light on is joining the mentorship is like going back to school. Like, if you have no real estate experience, like you got to learn from somewhere. Right, it was an investment in me to learn a brand new trade, you know, and you're not going to be an expert in anything in a few months. And you know, in the Facebook group, I know, when you see a bunch of people posting their wins, you know you feel like you're behind. But you really need to take a step back and think, like, I didn't become a superstar recruiter after three months. Right, it took a long time. And you know, 17 years later, like I've got a great resume. I've worked with really well-known companies. You know we don't need to share that, but it took time and it took effort and hard work.
Joseph Marohn:No, you're right, and you know I didn't have the time to. You know, read books all the time. You know I love reading, but obviously when you have a busy schedule you can only read so much. You can only watch so many podcasts and watch videos, and that's why I found benefit from the mentorship as well and that's why I joined. So you know that's a very good point on that. But I got to say you know you've got a full-time job. You're actively seeking multifamily unit deals partners with a capital raising fund company. You run a local investor group, constantly networking on social media and making new connections, and if that wasn't enough, a mother at that. Brenda, do you sleep? How are you managing all this?
Brenda Jones:Honestly A I am a woman, right, we can multitask, but the biggest thing is I'm passionate about it. Right, recruiting is sales, sales, real estate is sales. I know there's parts of real estate that are like transaction coordinating and whatnot, but the the, the forward facing part of real estate is sales. Right, and that's my passion. And it's easy, like I said, find something you're passionate about and it doesn't feel like a job, so I'm not exhausted. I mean about and it doesn't feel like a job, so I'm not exhausted. I mean I am exhausted, right, Like just life in general, but I wake up every morning excited to move this business forward and I'm excited to see what I'm going to accomplish in the next day, week, month, year, you know.
Joseph Marohn:I think you hit it on the head. You know, you really do got to have a passion for this, right, because it just takes so much of your day and there's a lot of commitment involved, and if you don't absolutely love this, you know in a few months you'll be switching over to something else, right? So it does take a lot of time and takes a lot, you know, and it takes away from family time as well, right? And my wife's always telling me like, come on, you know, like let's go do this. I'm like I got to take care of this. We'll get to that in a little bit, but she understands and she's supportive of my journey. So, yeah, you definitely have to have a passion for this. So, brenda, any new goals you set for the new year, what's 2024 look like for?
Brenda Jones:Brenda, yeah, for me. I'm personally going to try to raise $4 million by the end of the year $4 million $4 million, yes, yep.
Brenda Jones:So if you want to break that down, you know, since I'm looking to raise from accredited investors, our minimum investment is 100k. So you know that's not too many people. But you know, my biggest thing is I need to get in front of as many people as possible and that's social media. And you know, my biggest network right now is actually LinkedIn. Linkedin is one of the main tools that I use use as a recruiter and, again, I've been doing it for 17 years. So I actually almost have 17,000 people in LinkedIn and I've been recruiting for engineers this whole time and if you know anything about engineering, these guys are high W2 earners as well. So that's my goal and just try to be visible.
Joseph Marohn:So I know you guys have a website that you know leapfrog funds you guys created, and you mentioned LinkedIn. Where else are you reaching out to people? Because I mean, a hundred K to invest is a very small niche list, right. So where exactly are you marketing to or how are you reaching out to these people? Are they like investor events? Or Talk to us a little bit about that?
Brenda Jones:interest, so they reach out to me. I'm going to network with, maybe, like investment bankers, financial planners, and see if we can partner together, right, because those both are those type of people are dealing with high net worth people. Again, social media, right, people are finding me, especially since I'm associated with Pace and Vena, you know, hopefully my content is getting attached to their content and getting suggested right on Instagram, youtube, facebook, so. But I also have, like this year, I'm going to Raise Fest, which is a raising capital conference in Arizona. I'm going to fund launch another capital raising fund conference in Orlando.
Brenda Jones:So I'm going to conferences, meeting people conference in Orlando. So I'm going to conferences, meeting people. And, funny enough, I was speaking to another syndicator and he was asking me what value do I get going to these conferences when everyone else is trying to raise money and, in all honesty, people want to try to do something, but what's the percentage of them that's actually going to take action? Right? 1%. So the ninety nine percent are potential investors and if I can make relationships and gain their trust and and and bring them value, I can see that we can, you know, develop a partnership.
Joseph Marohn:So I think you're very great at it. You're very approachable, you know, and you know just having conversations with you. You just know how to draw a crowd and get people to talk to you. You know it's like me and my wife are talking about that. She's like Brenda's really great at that. You know you're doing a good job and you're crushing it out here.
Joseph Marohn:So I want to get back to OCJV, you know, tell us the story on how OCJV was born and why you guys decided to start that group and take on that role.
Brenda Jones:Yeah, so I started Sub2 late March and Pace Morby was coming to Los Angeles, I think the beginning of May, and so JJ Azizian he's one of the leaders in sub two got a bunch of us that volunteered to pretty much spearhead that event and we ended up having gosh I think 400 people there. It was a lot of people. It was at Griffith park.
Joseph Marohn:Was that the book signing, or was that the Book signing? Yeah, okay, got it.
Brenda Jones:Yeah, pace's book Wealth Without Cash. And you know, while I was standing around and it was kind of like winding down and I was tired I've been up since gosh, probably six o'clock because I drove there, I was and, I'm gonna be honest, I was bitching about the commute. I was like, oh my God, it took me like two hours to get here. Why don't we have something in Orange County? And someone behind me was like I'm from Orange County. And then it was like a domino effect I'm from Orange County, I'm from Orange County.
Brenda Jones:And then we're like, why don't we have our own in Orange County? Like, yeah, let's do it. And so we got each other's phone numbers, we started a text thread and we honestly all met each other. Two weeks later we met each other at Fashion Island, at the food court. Like I said, there was 11 of us and it was amazing because we had no idea what we were going to expect.
Brenda Jones:Everyone was so different in their experience, careers, even just personally, and we all recognized that we all had individual strengths to help each other and we decided like, hey, you know, let's, let's start doing this. You know, like we want to help each other and let's see how we can help others. And so our you know our group, ocjv, is open to everyone. So sub two, gator TC real estate agents, title people like anybody. And you know, grant let us use his office up in Huntington Beach Harbor.
Brenda Jones:And we've been doing it ever since, every two weeks, and the structure of our meetup is very different than the other ones. We don't have a special speaker with a PowerPoint going over all this stuff. You know, we just we explain it like we're a bunch of best friends sitting on the couch just shooting the shit, like, if I have something I learned, I want to share it with you. If you have something you learn, share with me. How can we collaborate? How can we just learn from each other? Cause, you know, honestly, most of us were all beginners. You know, there were definitely some, some experienced people, but again, like creative finance, even though you've been in real estate for the last 30 years, apparently is not a very popular thing. So we just built a environment where it was. How can we help you? How can we bring value to you?
Joseph Marohn:I love that, you know, because you're right, every time I've been to, I've been maybe like three or four of you guys' events, and every time I've shown up it's been, uh, maybe like three or four of you guys' events, and every time I've shown up it's always been like a family feel, you know, and it's like I just met you guys and it was just like welcome to the family, you know, and it's nothing but good vibes. Everybody I've met has been great people. So, yeah, that that's pretty cool that you guys did that and that you guys were. You know, you made this two hour drive and you're complaining about it, but look what came of it.
Joseph Marohn:You know, imagine you didn't make that two hour drive, you know, would OCJV even be alive today, you know? And maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't, but yeah that you guys have an awesome group. And I also love that you guys started doing a monthly family get together for your local meetups, because sometimes it's hard to break away from the family, which I'm sure prevents some individuals from always showing up. So it kind of eliminates that excuse of not being able to go. Right, you guys do that once a month, or is that? How did?
Brenda Jones:you do once a month, yeah, and we try to alternate like a beach event and a park event, so we have one coming up soon. And yeah, like you said, not everyone can break away on a Tuesday night and you know we want to show that again, it's we're a family group. You said not everyone can break away on a Tuesday night and you know we want to show that again it's we're a family group. You know, bring your children, bring your grandma, bring your sister, bring anybody. It's always a potluck, so people bring food and bring drinks. We always have, you know, an abundance of food leftover, so whoever needs to bring it back, you know, like our first one we had at the beach and one of our members his name is Vin, you know he's a general contractor and he has a crew that he needs to feed and I said take all the food, please, feed them like they deserve it. And he was so grateful and you know, like that's awesome, right, so it's very special.
Joseph Marohn:Great vibes, great vibes. Now you did bring up the the 160 unit multifamily property. I saw you in that video cutting that ribbon. That's awesome. Can you talk about your experience with the Sub2 Fund and becoming a partner with Pace Morby and Vina Jetty?
Brenda Jones:Yeah. So being a limited partner in a fund is you bring money to the deal. You do not have vote to what happens to the deal, right? Those are the general partners. Those are the people who are actually running the asset. So you know, I'm bringing money to the table but in exchange and again, what makes Sub2Vina's group different is that they teach you how the deal's broken down, how they acquired the asset, how they're going to rehab and value add the asset.
Brenda Jones:If you were to just join any random fund outside, like BlackRock, they just take your money and then you get checks and you get like emails once a month, right? So again, what's unique about these mentorships is that these mentors really want to teach you and bring you up, because there's enough for all of us to be successful, there's enough for all of us to learn and buy, and that's the one thing that they always like to promote is that abundance mindset, right? So if I didn't put money into Pace's Fund and Veena's Fund, honestly I don't think it would have taken me, you know, like I don't think I would be able to make my own fund. I wouldn't have found the right people, found my niche, I would have just been still watching videos and probably trying to do a midterm rental, and then nothing, right. So I? I jumped off the ledge into the deep end and took a risk. I didn't know what was going to happen and I'm happy that positive things came up, came of it.
Joseph Marohn:And being the queen of networking, you somehow find a way to the front of the line and get to cut the ribbon. How did that come about? How did you get to cut the ribbon with Pace? Were you just the highest investor there or what's?
Brenda Jones:going on. No, I am the outgoing social butterfly, and when Pace said, hey, come over here, I ran as fast as I could.
Joseph Marohn:Hey, you're tackling people out there. Get out the way.
Brenda Jones:Yeah, I heisman a couple of people and you know, jumped over, no, but yeah, I mean, pace was standing there by himself and he's like hey, like this is all ours, like let's, let's do it. But yeah, I did hustle my ass to stand next to him, Not going to lie.
Joseph Marohn:Great hustle my ass to stand next to him, not going to lie, great, great. So the last thing I want to touch on is this Willy Wonka golden ticket I keep hearing so much about. You know, pace Morby extends a free ticket to his community camp to the most active people in the community and also the leaders that continue to provide value, which what I love, by the way, because it gives everyone an incentive and a reward for being active in helping others, right. So this is the second year in a row that you've been awarded the golden ticket. Talk to us about that and what earning that ticket means to you.
Brenda Jones:You know what it means that I'm being recognized for my efforts, right, being recognized as a leader in Orange County bringing value to people that normally wouldn't have an avenue, right? Um, it's amazing, right. It just shows that doing a little thing every day doesn't have to be huge, right, just make a post, show up, jump on a zoom, make a connection, you know, go to aup, like these things do add up and I, if you asked me this last March, I would be doing this like a whole fortune teller type of thing. I wouldn't believe you.
Brenda Jones:I'd be like are you serious? Like my whole goal to get into real estate investing was to buy a couple rentals, get some cashflow and get some tax appreciation, that's it. And now I'm like raising $4 million and I have a fund and I'm an influencer. I say it like that because it's kind of weird, right, it's still kind of cringy, but I'm trying to get used to it, but I have got huge goals. Now I want to speak on stage. I want to speak next to Pace and Veena, so sky's the limit I'm. I'm going full force.
Joseph Marohn:I can definitely see you speaking on stage and having that presence, you know. So this golden ticket is this. So there's 50 total. Is that what it is, or did he raise it up higher this year?
Brenda Jones:Oh, I don't. I honestly I don't know the details Um.
Joseph Marohn:I know.
Brenda Jones:I got the golden ticket this time because, um, as an OCJV leader right, we were involved with the Family Promise charity event, so that's my understanding why I got that ticket.
Joseph Marohn:Right, and do you want to talk about that for a little bit, about the Family Promise, because I thought that was dope that you guys got involved with that and it was something great that Pace put together. So when you say you got involved, you know what exactly were you guys doing, what was your part in the role.
Brenda Jones:We took in donations for Orange County and we helped, you know, provide that to the local Family Promise, I think. Location and then just spreading the awareness, right, I mean, the more people that we could educate on this charity the better. It's pretty exciting, it was cool, but yeah, and then we got to do an event up in LA which brought all the local communities together, so it was really nice.
Joseph Marohn:Yeah, I thought that was awesome. So, brenda, one of the things that I like to do is give the community a voice as well in these podcasts. So, brenda, one of the things that I like to do is give the community a voice as well in these podcasts. So, typically, I'll explain the topic that I'm currently covering and I'll ask if anyone has any questions that they would like addressed. And the question I chose today is by our very own Sammy Nicole. Shout out to Sammy. Her question was how do you clarify your connector fee up front? She says, in building a relationship, I want to just share any resources I know of to help someone out. So I just end up giving it out the info, which she's been okay with. But it's a great question how do you clarify your connector fee up front?
Brenda Jones:So I'm going to be honest. I have not been collecting fees, but my understanding is and this is just like a general rule in life just be upfront and honest. Right Like there's no reason to beat around the bush. If you know you have value, then show it right. So I don't know exactly how much that would cost, right Like I don't know if it's like 1% of the deal or whatnot, but if I'm going to make a business out of this, then I'm going to make it clear that if I'm going to make these connections, there's going to be a fee and, in all honesty, you should probably sign an upfront agreement before you start making those introductions you're spending time doing so right and you want to do it out of goodwill.
Joseph Marohn:but sometimes you're like, hey, someone might be looking for a funding partner and you're like, hey, I can plug you in. All of a sudden that person becomes a millionaire. I think you should get a percentage. So I thought it was a great question by Sammy. So good question, sammy. I think we got the point across on the importance of networking and building strong connections in the community. Is there anything that you can think of that we didn't cover here today and should absolutely be talked about?
Brenda Jones:I mean, the biggest thing is, you got to take action, you got to get up off your ass. You know it's a team sport, you know, just do it Get active, get active, be out there, right, Brenda?
Joseph Marohn:where can people get ahold of you?
Brenda Jones:Yes, so on the screen right there is Brenda Rose invests on Instagram. Uh, that's the same on Facebook, that's the same on YouTube. And then my LinkedIn says Brenda Rose Jones.
Joseph Marohn:Awesome and we'll make sure that we plug all these in on the screen here. So awesome. Well, brenda, you've been a rock star, making yourself very well known and seen in the community. You're doing the right things, making the right moves and you have a very bright future ahead of you. I know your family's proud of you and you're building a legacy for your son. It's amazing what I've been able to witness you accomplish so far. Hopefully, someone that's listening to this can learn something from your experience, follow your blueprint and find success as well. So thank you for that.
Joseph Marohn:Now, if you guys found value from this interview, don't forget to show your boys some love. It only takes a few seconds to hit that subscribe button. Don't forget to like this and drop a comment down below what you enjoyed most about Brenda's story. I appreciate all the continued support and guys stay tuned because we're going to be pumping these episodes out every two weeks. We're going to be covering some great topics and I don't want you guys to miss out. Best, believe I'm going to keep bringing you guys that fire. Thank you.