Pop’s Back From Japan! The Best Advice He Ever Got & The Art of the Pivot

Welcome And Why Coachability Matters

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Papa Doo, welcome in to the Castle Canyon Podcast, the number one podcast in the Torah world, as voted on by me and my mother and my wife for Jewish wealth and entrepreneur building and mindset. And this is a very special episode because this episode has been what two, three, four weeks in the making, Pop. How long has it been since we last met?

SPEAKER_00 0:29

I really don't know, but it's been a bit. I mean, we've been it's been more than four weeks since we were away for a few of them. And then we came to see your your your lovely self, and here we are.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Here we are. And and and I'm we're happy that you're back. And a lot has been going on. And I need this podcast because this podcast helps me get my mind right before the day. So I'm coming in today and I'm thinking I'm doing the same thing that I've been doing every day. And sometimes I get the results I want, and sometimes I don't get the results that I want. So I want to talk to you about today, about the concept of learning to be better, about feedback, about coachability, about when I was engaged to your daughter, you talked to me about learning to be coachable and learning to from the elders and taking feedback and applying it. And I want you to come on. And you said to me something like this, and you can I'm gonna paraphrase it, and then I'll give you the microphone so you can explain what you actually meant. You said something like Michael, Mike, Michel, uh Young Sud. You had two out of four, right? Uh you you gotta learn how to be coachable. You gotta learn how to be coachable, Pop. What does that mean to be learned how to be coachable? Is that the question? That is the question.

Listening Filters Shape What You Hear

SPEAKER_01 1:50

What does it mean?

SPEAKER_00 1:50

What do you mean when you told me I gotta be more coachable? Well, that that that's a choice, you know. Uh you you you can uh people give you their opinion, but they're not living your life. You are. So you you you take what it is that somebody tells you and you put it into the hole chalent, and then it comes out mahul. It's not, you know, I always I always uh like to repeat what I learned one time about about listening. Uh we have a what is called an individual listening filter. Everybody hears, you you you talk to somebody, or somebody's talking to you and one other person, the filters are different. They're as unique, by the way, as a fingerprint where you what happens is when somebody says something to you, the way you hear it or listen to it, what you get out of it is gonna be something probably different, most likely different than the person who's next to you listening. So, so so where does coachability come in? First of all, you gotta want the coach, and you're gonna want the coaching. Uh it's kind of like wanting the mussa, you know. I I want it, you know, I need it. It's the same thing as coaching, because coaching in a lot of ways is musa. And and how that coaching empowers you to play better is is where your coach comes in and your coachability. So some people are better coached by somebody who's a hard, hard driver when that somebody talked to you that disempowered you. And I I remember a specific time where you know I'm working on a property for someone, I'm doing all the work. And he's sitting behind his desk and he's in a bad mood for something that wasn't me. And he said, Did you take care of blank? Did you see it? I went, I'm sure it's there. He goes, and you haven't done anything about it? And I stood up and I said to the guy who was a who was somebody I did a lot of business with at the time, I went, you know, uh he goes, Are you upset? I go, No, I'm insulted. This guy's making plenty of money off the property and the condition of where it was would be handled. But there was uh there were reasons. And to talk down to somebody, uh, talk to me was was a bummer. One where I was stood up, put my hand out to walk out of the room with somebody that I had uh a lot of a lot of relationship with in business. And he backed down immediately. You know, some people negotiate with a bayonet at your throat. They put the bayonet, you know what a bayonet is? It's uh it's a it's a rifle with uh sort of like a dagger at the end of it. And they put the bayonet at your throat and and you go, ouch, and they go, Oh, I didn't mean it, you know. So so you know, how do you how do you deal with that? But some people are coached better that way. They they're motivated for possibly out of fear to make sure that they get it done.

What Kind Of Coach Works

SPEAKER_00 4:55

I I'm I'm more of somebody who deals better with acknowledgement. Here's what you did right. I've talked to you about this. The golf coach who said, let's hit a few balls. And the first thing he said after I yanked five of them and hit one of them, good, he goes, he goes, Okay, here's what I like. I like the way you're standing. I like your setup, I like your grip. You're taking the club away from the ground instead of taking away from the ball, you're lifting it. And it's gonna do that every time you lift it. So he gives me two points of positive before he starts talking about adjustment. So it that's the kind of coach that makes me play better when I'm out there. Because with your with your game, the green's your friend. You know, if you're trying to hit the exact distance of the shot, you don't have that game. But make the green your friend. And so when the hit the green, even though it goes, you know, 35 feet to the other side. Well, no, but 35 feet the other way, I uh, you know, it's a possible three putt, except for you, Michael, because you know, I know that right in. You roll it right in, no problem. I've seen it. So so in terms of coaching, you got to want it. And the coach himself, what he says makes you play better. So when it goes into the chalent of McCall or any of us, it it stays with you. You're Rebey and do that. You know, you know each part of your divining, each part of your day, each mitzvah that you do, the midas that you have. So many of them came directly from a coach that you remember who it was, when you said it, when you did it. So so you've got to want the coaching. And then you've got to be coachable, you've got to be able to make those adjustments that uh that that will make you play better.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

And that's a whole and that's a whole topic in itself, but but it's it's feedback's a gift. People recoil when they get feedback, but I can't tell you how many times. Like if I'm about to go out at some event and and and I have some some big stain of Reese's peanut butter cup on my shirt, and it looks gross, and no one tells me, I'm gonna be like. Well, hopefully, but if she does tell me, that's a feedback. Feedback's a gift. Tell me, tell me when I'm not doing my listing meetings wrong, not doing them right. Tell me why I'm losing my deals. Tell me why things are crashing. Tell me why sellers and buyers aren't getting the deal closed. Tell me, I need that feedback.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

But see, that's the business cycle, Michael. Right now, you're you're training and the the the set you you've closed deals during a time that nobody's closing. Not nobody, you know, the huge deal that you see in the newspaper that, you know, somebody bought this beast of land for uh for a data center for 22 million and

Feedback Is A Practical Gift

SPEAKER_00 7:55

the guy was about to go broke because his farm wasn't working. You know, you don't know when you're gonna run into that. And those things do drop in your lap from time to time, but rarely, very rarely. And you're dealing in a time where you know everybody's talking, but putting pen to paper, signing the check, moving the money. That's that's a trick. And uh, and and in a business cycle, you you know, one of my one of my coaches told me one time, he goes, When it's not good, you don't know when it's turning good. And when it's good, you don't know when it's turning bad. So you just gotta play the day. I mean, that that's the best you can do. And it's it's frustrating because at the end of the day, you went out and you did you did five things on your Seder and you don't feel like you're anywhere closer. But we talked about this in the last couple of days, you know. Zig Ziggler, one of the great, great motivational speakers of his time, used to talk about uh a guy who used to sell pans, pots and pans. And he said for every fellow knows, he got a yes. So if it was $100 that a yes got him, then every no is really worth $25. And that was and that was that was the uplift of the things that he used to keep his, you know, keep his his mind strong. You know, they also they also say, he also used to say that business is not bad out there. It's bad between your own two ears. So, you know, uh a lot of things we have to we have to look at uh at the blessings that we have, that we got the ability to go out and put it together. And and uh, you know, times are gonna change, everything's gonna change. It just is, you know, we're in that period right now where where um you know there are more sellers than buyers. There just are, you know, people want to buy, but they don't want to pay for it. So, you know, you you look at a bill, I looked at a building yesterday, I think it's in a good spot. Road around it, see what's gonna, I can tell right off the top of my head that what the rent roll. I don't even need to see the rent roll to know what that rent roll looks like. And I don't need to, I I can ride around it and look at the parking lot, look at the siding, and and see that there's some uh there's some deferred maintenance to some extent. So to put it in position, if I don't wanna, if I don't want to keep it in its current condition, there's an investment, and I'm pretty sure I know what the number's gonna be when I ask the guy what it is, and it's like, no.

Business Cycles And Daily Frustration

SPEAKER_00 10:25

I'm not gonna pay for the upside. I'm gonna buy it and then get into the upside. And so the chasm between the buyer and seller remains pretty uh pretty distant. Yeah. Yeah. Again, you gotta look, you gotta look for the people who don't want it. And then that way you have what to work with if you're talking about a seller.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

I like I like I like people, sellers that have maturing loans. I like that. Because that means they may have a higher payment, and that means their numbers may not may start to look not so good.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

So they may Well that's happening all over. That's happening. That's happening. There were the there was a period in time, you know, in the last five, six years, where interest rates were really low, which allowed for a higher purchase price, and people were buying them and then and then you know getting three and a half percent interest rates, 3.7, right? And the numbers worked really good. Now the loan rates are just use the number of something aggressive like six and a half. You might be able to get a six and a half percent rate at uh at a you know, depending on the terms of you know what else is out there. The the the rates are higher for for for you know the the uh the the quick money lenders, but uh you know, institutional maybe at six and a half percent. I'm using that as a number. And if you had to go and refinance a property that you're cash flowing at three and a half, but you're just making it at six and a half, or even not making it at all, especially since you have to pay all those upfront fees to get it refinanced. You got a lot of money going out, you don't have much coming in, you can't count on rents going up, you know, then vacancies start to show up and you're in a negative position. These are some of the things that are happening right now all over the country.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

What do you do, Pop, if you get a piece of advice from someone that you trust, but you don't agree with the advice?

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Well, it's in the child. But do you if you get the advice, are you supposed to tell them I I disagree? Is that what you're asking me? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

I mean, I wouldn't know what are you talking about? Unless he was someone that I respected or knew better.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Well, I think the question is, is that's that that's sound advice. I'll think I'll I'll gotta think about that. You know, let me let me think about it. In fact, that's one of the great negotiating tools that one of our old friends uh who you know is a couple generations ahead of me. And uh and I remember him sell, you know, buying a piece of a property with some old motors on it near the near the uh shipyard decades and decades ago. And he bought them for like $1,000. And uh and

Interest Rates And Maturing Loans

SPEAKER_00 13:05

this guy rides by and sees him, calls him up and says, uh, I'd like to buy those motors. Are they for sale? He goes, Well, I hadn't thought about it, not thought about it. So he goes, Okay, well, uh, I'll have to think about it and get back to you. He goes, Well, I'll pay you $38,000 for it. Now, back then, $38,000 was like a mint, right? You know, in the 40s or 50s or something like that. And you know, he had paid a thousand dollars for it. And the guy goes, I'll have to think about it. Call me tomorrow. The guy's dancing, right? But he can't, he but he's gonna negotiate it because he doesn't want the guy think he's that hot for it. So, you know, you you uh, you know, so the reason I gave you that story is it leaped to mind. But any time that you have a position that uh that that really uh comes from someone you respect especially, uh, you know, making that change might be to your benefit, but you you can't can't expect something to happen immediately. It's like you meet us and the things that you learn in in yeshiva and in Torah learning is that uh you know, you learn something, or you say you're gonna take on one additional thing, especially in Baut Shuva world, that one thing is a big step. Maybe you're not ready to take that step today. You know. So so I think the the answer to the advice is that's that's sound advice. I really appreciate that you gave it to me. I have to give it some thought. That's a that's a good answer, and it doesn't it doesn't say no.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Sometimes I hear their someone's advice and I disregard it because I'm a stubborn mule, and then I'll do it my way, and I'll fail, and then I'll see what that person was saying, and then I'll be like, oh, you know what? They kind of did know what they were talking about. Sounds like your parent.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

As you will see as your children get older. I I uh I'm your god willing.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

I can tell you at my age now, my father was a lot smarter than he was back then. And tell me this, what is the single greatest business advice that you ever received in your life? You've gotten a lot of advice, Michael. Could only pick one. Eye on the ball. Be the ball, right? Be the ball.

How To Handle Advice You Reject

SPEAKER_00 15:37

You know, I think I think that it the best mushel is this. And it it it comes from the same guy that aggravated me. So, you know, he wasn't all bad, just you know mostly No, but it he was about he was about himself and how he was gonna win. You know, I always told you from the book that we talk about uh winning through intimidation that the only people who want you to make money are the ones who are gonna make money when you make money. So, so and and everybody else wants wants your chips, and I don't need to tell you about that. But um he he told the story, I may have told it to you before in this podcast, but it doesn't get old. There's a little boy and his father, and they go out one day because they're gonna go up flying, they're gonna take their little two-seater plane up and and they and they've been looking forward to it all week, and they go out and the clouds are dark. And the father said to the son, Son, those clouds are dark, and I'm afraid we just can't go. And he goes, Oh, Dad. He goes, Yeah, you know, we can't take that risk because it's cloudy up there, and if we if we get stuck in something, it really could be bad for us. We're just gonna have to do it another day. And he goes, All right. So they go inside, and at noon, the clouds have disappeared. There's not a cloud in the sky, the wind is not there. And and the kid goes to his father and said, See, Dad, we could have been up there and we're having a great time because the weather turned. And his father said, I'd rather be down here wishing I were up there than being

Patience And The Airplane Lesson

SPEAKER_00 17:10

up there wishing I were down here. So, so I think that the the the the the uh segue is into you know, don't rush into anything that you haven't studied. You know, it's not like like, oh, there's a deal, let's do it. And then you overpay, you tenants move, all the different things. You find out that there's a bad foundation and it shouldn't have been, you know, you find out all these things later once you've turned once you've signed the contract, once your money goes hard, once you've bought it and your your name is on the deed and you're paying interest every month, that's not when you want to find out that the deal didn't work. So uh, you know, it's better to be to to study what you're into, give it thought, don't uh don't, you know, don't uh don't rush into anything. I think that's the uh the best lesson is is to be patient with what you have.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

I love it. I think we'll do it. That will do it. But that with that we will march forward into this fix and flip Wednesday and into cold call Tuesday of next week and all the other fun days that are coming up. And pop every day that I get to talk to you is a great day.