Join the conversation with Mike Morawski as he shares the lessons he has learned from more than thirty years of real estate investing. Michael “Mike” Morawski is the founder & CEO of My Core Intentions and a 30+ year real estate investment veteran. He has controlled over $285,000,000 in real estate transactions. Mike is also an entrepreneur, author, real estate trainer, public speaker, and personal coach with strong personal resilience and a deep desire to help others live extraordinary lives. He has coached hundreds of real estate investors to fulfill their dreams.
During this episode, you will learn about
*****Thank you so much for listening to the Making Money in Multifamily Real Estate Show! This show covers everything to do with Multifamily Real Estate Investing to help you, the listener, become an expert in your real estate ventures. The host, Dave Morgia, brings on guests who are already experts in their respective fields to discuss what principles and practices they follow that have helped them achieve their success so far.
Join the conversation with Mike Morawski as he shares the lessons he has learned from more than thirty years of real estate investing. Michael “Mike” Morawski is the founder & CEO of My Core Intentions and a 30+ year real estate investment veteran. He has controlled over $285,000,000 in real estate transactions. Mike is also an entrepreneur, author, real estate trainer, public speaker, and personal coach with strong personal resilience and a deep desire to help others live extraordinary lives. He has coached hundreds of real estate investors to fulfill their dreams.
During this episode, you will learn about
*****Thank you so much for listening to the Making Money in Multifamily Real Estate Show! This show covers everything to do with Multifamily Real Estate Investing to help you, the listener, become an expert in your real estate ventures. The host, Dave Morgia, brings on guests who are already experts in their respective fields to discuss what principles and practices they follow that have helped them achieve their success so far.
Welcome to the Making Money in Multifamily Show,where we discuss everything to do with multifamily real estate investing.We believe it's the best way to gain financial freedom and build lasting wealth.This is where you'll find it the best information and practices to help you succeed in your real estate business,whether you're already experienced or just starting out.Here's your host,Dave Morgia.
Dave Morgia:Hello,listener and welcome to the show.I am your host,Dave Morgia.And with me today is Mike Morawski.Mike is the founder and CEO of my core intentions.He has over30years in the real estate business covering over285million in transactions through brokerage and through his investment properties.He is originally based outta Chicago,where he started a general contracting business,did a lot of volume there over5million a year that moved into brokerage did20million a year there.Since then has moved into private equity and multifamily acquisitions.They have over4,000units in five markets.And last but not least,Mike is the author of exit plan and the host of the insider secrets podcast.Mike,welcome to the show.
Mike Morawski:Hey,thanks Dave.For having me.
Dave Morgia:Yeah,I covered a lot there,Mike.I think you got obviously a little more of extensive of a history than I,so maybe we can just rewind to the beginning,uh,kind of give me the highlights.Good listener.The highlights of how,how you got to where you are.
Mike Morawski:Yeah,absolutely.Um,been in real estate30years,I started out,uh,on the residential side as a sales agent.And,um,I,I actually got there by way of being in the general contracting business.I had a pretty successful general contracting business.We did a lot of residential room editions and.Kitchen and bath remodeling for years.And,um,you know,like any entrepreneur,you,you do everything right?So you do the marketing and the sales and the contracts and the ordering and the scheduling and,uh,the bookkeeping and everything else that,that comes up along the way.But I was still banging nails in the,in the field.And I woke up one morning and I told my wife at the time,I said,I can't do this anymore.I'm I'm done.And fortunately,we had somebody knocking at the door trying to buy the company and was able to sell the company.And I took a year off.During that year,uh,we house hacked a couple of houses and,and I'll say this,that,that was long before it was sexy dates.You know,now it seems like everybody does it
Dave Morgia:right before it was even called house hacking.Probably.I think that's a bigger pocket term.So
Mike Morawski:I don't even know if it was called anything back then,except my wife's screaming at me cuz she was stepping on nails on the floor,you know,and.So during that time though,and,and I've always been an advocate for,uh,motivational speakers and thought leaders.And,and I used to follow Jim Roone,and I remember Jim Roan saying success leaves clues,whether they're they're good,uh,successes,or there's been challenges.And I met a real estate agent along the way,who was extremely successful.And I went to him and said,I think I'd like to go in the real estate business.And he said,I think you'd be great at it.He encouraged me to do.I went in the real estate business and asked him if I could come and shadow his team.And he said,no,I'll do better than that.I'm gonna make you a cassette tape.Now I'm dating myself because I don't think you could find anything today to make a cassette tape on it.Some of the listeners even know what a cassette tape is.So,um,but he made me this cassette tape and I listened to it over and over and over again.I equate it to your,like your podcast today,right.That people could go back.They can listen to it and.But he taught some really basic fundamentals that I,I learned and I made part of me,part of my DNA.And I went out my first nine months in the real estate business.I sold78houses.I built a team selling125houses a year.And did that consecutively for about12years.Uh,2005rolled around.I saw the market was starting to shift and knew that I needed to go do something.So,what I decided to do was go in the apartment business.So when I was in the construction business,I did a lot of work for a couple of major syndicators here in the Chicago market.And I understood the model.I understood you could raise private equity from individuals,marry it with a great real estate deal,stay in the middle.And as long as everything went well,people did well.Well,I,I went out my first,uh,syndicated my first deal in2000and.Over the next30months I raised18million.I bought60million worth of real estate in five different markets,built a property management company managing7,500units.And I did that in about30months.Built a hundred million company.So we grew really fast.And,and one of the,one of the things that I want people to always listen to is that we grew way too fast,very unstable as a company.So
Dave Morgia:that,uh,yeah,well,that's,that's my first comment.And if you don't mind me interrupting,uh,the30months for18million capital rays and,and growing out a vertical leg with the PM company,that's a LA velocity.So my first question before we kind of hit,maybe,you know,how fast is too fast is,uh,do you attribute that to just your prior experience in the GC world and prior experience in the,the retail,residential world?Uh,how are you able to kind of accomplish that?So.
Mike Morawski:I,I,you know,that's a really great question.I,I don't know.um,here's the deal,right?I,I sold residential for,for15years and,and it was a different world coming from the residential side,into the commercial side,into the multifamily side,there were all these terms and all this language I needed to learn.Right.DSCR and NOI and,and,uh,you know,loan to value and cap rates.You know,EGI what did all this mean?And,and I just,I just took the step forward and did it.Um,so I aggressively every day went out there and,and learned something new and did something and pushed the ball forward.Um,and the one thing that I did along the way was I continually talk to people about private equity,about putting money in deals.I did seminars,uh,met people,built a data.Kept inviting people to,um,to different,uh,um,opportunities where they could learn about real estate investing and people just started wanting to put money in deals.So it was interesting how that whole piece transpired though.
Dave Morgia:Yeah,I think,I think that's,especially when you're talking about getting into a different niche within an industry,you know,you had the residential experience,the preparation to move into a different market to get investors,to go with you.I think you,it sounds like you did it pretty well was,was,you know,add value and prepare them for what you're getting into.Cuz if you just.Showed him something,you know,six months later and Hey,listen,I'm doing this now.You wanna invest today.It's never gonna happen.But,uh,you,you,along the way,telling him you're getting into this and,and warming them up to the,you know,the,the idea of it.And you talk about the business model of syndication that I'm sure helped quite a bit along the way.Uh,but Mike,yeah,you mentioned maybe the velocity was,was too much for you guys.So why do you say that?And,and what kind of,uh,what kind of happens at that?
Mike Morawski:Yeah,so,you know,2005,I started that whole thing and I,I never,I knew that something was changing in the market at that time,but I didn't know what that was or what was gonna happen.Well,then,you know,we all know2008rolled around and you know,that was the worst economic crisis the country's ever seen.And,uh,you know,I thought my whole thinking around it was,Hey,this is a recession,uh,recessions typically last17or18month months,there's a10or12%correction in the marketplace and it bounces back.Well,um,that's not what happened this time.It lasted seven or eight years with a40%correction in the marketplace.You know,it caused a lot of business instability.I had38different companies and some were operating really well.Some were not operating as well.So I crafted a scheme where I could take money from profitable companies and move them into non-profitable companies.My whole goal was I wanted to not let any of my investors get hurt.I wanted to prop the whole thing up,write the ship and,and,you know,help,uh,help the recovery in my own world.Well,what I should have done was I should have just let a few deals go to foreclosure and some of my investors get hurt,but I didn't wanna do that.So I start moving money back and forth between companies,my,my accountant and my attorney both said,Hey,it's okay to do that.Just leave a paper trail.And,and it's not illegal to move money back and forth like that.But what's illegal is,and what I did was I didn't tell my investors.Of the movement of money.So for nondisclosure and,and I want people to understand that,that the disclosure piece in real estate is very important.You have to be extremely transparent and I was not that transparent.So because I didn't tell my investors,um,I wound up being charged on wire fraud and mail fraud charges and sentenced to10years in federal prison.So I actually lost everything as a result of trying to save everyth.And,um,I,I always tell people,I say I grew too fast.I was under capitalized as a company.I was over leveraged.I had60million worth of real estate that we had,um,85%loan to value on.And,and you know,this is a big thing and I want people to be aware of this today is.You should not do a real estate deal unless you're65to75%LTB in that deal because of changes in the market.And if something changes,you wanna be able to pay your bills and I couldn't pay my bills anymore as a result of the changes that is.
Dave Morgia:Such a unique turn of events that I think most people probably can't replicate,right?Like the whole tax fraud,mail fraud,that is something like as far as effects go that most people don't experience.I'm sure with that comes a,a completely different level of learning.And understanding and kinda lessons learned.Um,so how do you even just condense that into,you know,a podcast episode today?How do you even just teach that lesson to someone to make sure they don't,you know,follow through the same things you did?I think a lot of it to me is probably like just investor relations and transparency and trying to do the right things.And it even sounds like you were trying to do that.Mikey,we're trying to basically make these investors whole.Um,but you know,what would you say to someone that,that is obviously looking to not make those,those types of mistakes and,and trying to do the right thing out?
Mike Morawski:Yeah,I,first thing I'd say is,remember,it's a marathon,not a sprint,you know,that's a
Dave Morgia:great one.
Mike Morawski:um,you know,sometimes those silly cliches are the most important ones that we need to,to remember or listen to.But what we have to do is we have to just walk slowly,you know,take one step at a time and,um,uh,you know,make sure you're capital.Make sure you're not over leveraged and,and then pay attention to the details.You know,there's a difference between property management and asset management and make sure you're asset managing.Even if you are doing the property management.Make sure you're asset managing and watch the KPIs,those key performance indicators,cuz I didn't do those things.And I was out of pocket on all that.And as a result,I broke the law,uh,for non-disclosure right.Um,and here's what I always tell people,Dave,I say,Hey look,I never flew private.I didn't have a boat.I didn't have a big house.I didn't have a fancy car.It was the neighborhood baseball coach home every night for dinner,had a great.And I went from that to live in a12by12room with three men.I didn't know,nor did I like,uh,wondering what the hell happened in my life.And,um,Um,you know,I,I got to prison and I thought,man,my,my life is over.What am I gonna do?And,and I was in prison probably about three weeks and my ex-wife decided she was gonna divorce me.And that really crushed me.It,it just wrecked me and,and I didn't know how I was gonna get through today much less10years.Uh,actually the joke in prison was that we should take his shoelaces,cuz we're afraid he's gonna hurt him.Hm.Um,so,you know,here's a,here's a key point that,that I think everybody needs to be aware of in their own life is I believe that we all have defining moments in our life at times.And I,um,I had one,you know,one of my defining moments was about six weeks into prison.I walked in the gym one day and I,I was only window shopping.I wasn't looking to pick up a weight.I wasn't looking to work out.I was actually looking for somebody.And as I walked in the gym,this guy walks over to me and he says,Hey,don't let these people beat you.All they wanna do is take from you.Everything you've ever known,and they can take your real estate,they can take your business,your money.But with,uh,and they can destroy your family,but what they can't take from you is who you are and what you're made of.And he said,you can get it all back.He goes,just dig deep,get down into who you were,come to the gym every day and start working out.Remember this,I went from running marathons to being35pounds overweight.I hated.Um,but whatever this guy said to me that day just flipped the switch that I said,man,I think I can,I can do this.And so I started going to the gym.I started working out,losing weight.I was feeling better.I,um,I,I went on to,um,go to college.I got a bachelor's degree in theology.I wrote two books while I was gone.One is,uh,exit plan,your complete guide to multifamily investing.Why you need an exit plan before you buy?I,um,was on an outreach pro team.I would go into the community.I told my story40times to local business owners and college students.I,uh,wrote an ethics course.And so I taught real estate investing.Property management and ethics in prison for six years,I also met a professor from the university of Minnesota and he and I co-authored a paper together that we had published in the business journal of ethics.Last year,that paper actually gets taught at the collegiate level today for forensic accounting and sales and marketing classes.You know,today,Dave I'm home,I'm in the coaching and training business.I help real estate investors multifamily specifically scale their business and do it living a balanced lifestyle,not making the same mistakes that I made.And I,um,recently was approved by the SCC to go back and,and sponsor deals be an issuer.And so,you know,I'll partner with my coaching clients.We two of my coaching clients and I just bought a apartment complex in Tampa,Florida.I feel like life has come full circle and I'm back in the game.Right.Doing what I love and my passionate about and helping other people love what they do and be passionate about it.Yeah.
Dave Morgia:It's,uh,you know,it's,it's odd how,when one door closes,another one will kind of pop up and it might not be the one you thought you were gonna go through,but you find a way,like you say,it kind of comes full circle a lot of times more often than not.Um,man,there's just so many lessons to unpack there.To me.This stood out,Mike was,you mentioned that you've been kind of coaching in prison for a little while.Um,you know,we can get into the real estate,but I wanted to hit this just for like a minute.Uh,what did you learn from that experience?Kind of coaching.While you were,you know,I assume you were kind of out at the time,but going back and,and that whole experience,what did you kinda learn?Getting the feedback from people who you used to,you know,be with247?How did that go for you?
Mike Morawski:You know,that's a great question.And,and for all the podcasts I've been on,I don't think anybody's ever asked that.um,I'll take it.Yeah.Good for you.Um,here's one of the big things I learned.Uh,I had a guy in my class for a couple years who was a high ranking gang member from St.Louis.And the night before he went home,he went home about a year and a half before I did.But the night before he went home,he and I were sitting down,we were sharing a meal together and he,he looked me right in the eye and he.Man.If I would've known,I could've made this kind of money selling real estate or being in the real estate business,I would've never sold drugs.And I thought,man,that's making an impact in somebody's life when just those things.And,and my goal today is to make those kind of impacts in people's lives to help people go somewhere else that they wanna go,or maybe they don't know about it.And how do I educate them,teach them and help them get there.To me,
Dave Morgia:to me and you,Mike,it's such a enveloped game.We feel like everybody's in this game cuz we're,you know,involved in it.So often,so many hours a day,a week,but multifamily and even more specifically like syndications,it's such a niche thing.I mean it's private placement.It's,it's such a rare thing.Everyone else is talking about kind of the stock market or,you know,Digital currency or all these other things,but they don't even realize that this is such an accessible thing that you can get involved in.So,yeah,I,I kind of find that funny that,uh,you know,someone in that field looking to do illegal activities could,uh,could be so excited about something that seems so simple to you.I mean,that's such a,such a funny,funny takeaway for sure,
Mike Morawski:for sure.Absolutely.
Dave Morgia:Getting into,I guess,more of the,just getting up to speed.There was a lot of,it sounded like small wins,you know,looking into just getting back in shape you,you used to be a marathon owner used to,you know,do at scale a ton of real estate transactions.So these small wins building back up to this full circle that you mentioned.Um,how much did you focus on that momentum?What were kind of the things you employed,whether it was habits,kind of that mindset stuff.What,what did you kind of focus on to,to just keep rewarding yourself,to keep moving forward?Um,
Mike Morawski:You know,I think one of the things you,you,you mentioned the key word there it's mindset,you know,in,in prison,you could let that system beat you.Uh,had,uh,somebody said to me,uh,pretty soon after I'd gone in,they said,look,you have a choice.You could either let the time do you,or you could do the time.And,and that was one of those statements.Again,where success leaves clothes.And if you looked around and you saw the guys that were letting the time do them,they were overweight.They were eating all the time.They were watching TV,they were sleeping.They weren't doing anything with their time.And I didn't wanna be one of those guys.Um,I wound up coming home in the best shape of my life,physically,emotionally,mentally,spiritually than I had ever been.And it's because I took a,I took a step forward every.You know,they say,if you improve personally1%a day,that by the end of the year,you've improved365%.Well,um,tr run that out over eight years.What do you got?You know,and I feel that that's what I did because every day I did something either to make an impact in somebody else's life or to get better.I read400books.I,I wrote,you know,two books.I,I wrote two home study courses.I wrote an ethics course and,and I taught.And so I was making an impact all the time,but more than that,I was making an impact in my life and I was bound and determined to come home a different person,which,which I know I.and
Dave Morgia:moving forward to today,I would argue you probably have,you know,a lot more lessons learned than maybe the average person or at least I'll say different lessons learned.Right?Certainly different lessons learned than the average person,especially when it's successful,as you are in real estate.What would you argue?Is the differentiator comparing yourself to another investor?Another syndicated?What have you,is it,is it just the ethics driven kind of business model you choose?Is it the conservatism?Where do you kind of really think you.
Mike Morawski:um,definitely it's my conservative,my conservativeness today.Right?When I teach people how to underwrite,um,I just because the rental rate reports says that the rents are gonna raise20%this year in a specific sub-market doesn't necessarily mean you should underwrite your deal at a20%rent increase.Um,you.5%,8%,10%is good.You know,you can make the deal work.Um,So,so be conservative,be humble in your actions,you know,um,be humble in how you treat people,uh,build relationships,build relationships that aren't just churn and burn relationships,but relationships that are gonna last you,you know,a long time.I,I think those are a couple key factors that,that help today and that I really try to coach other people.
Dave Morgia:And here here's maybe an interesting one.You talk about maintaining relationships.How many people are you still investing with that were around for the first go around before the fallout?How,how many are still around or what does that look like?Yeah,so
Mike Morawski:I had a hundred employees and I had about,uh,240investors.Um,there's five people in my life today that are from,from those days back then,um,I came home,no money.Nobody I knew and have started to rebuild from,from below zero,I would call it,you know,from a negative deficit,it's easy to go build a business.It's easy to go build something.If you have already some momentum behind you,people in your life.Um,I didn't have any of that.And you know,I,I have done this,you know,I've,I've,I've rebuilt or started to rebuilt because you know,I'm nowhere near.Um,uh,one person at a.One capital partner at a time,one business partner at a time,you know,and,and I think that,that this goes back to it's a marathon,not a sprint.Right.Um,so I,I wanna just help,you know,I tell my story because I think there's hope and inspiration in it for people,but it's based on the success I've had,you know,I had great success,but I lost everything,you know,can,you can lose everything.but how do you get back up?That's where that's what really separates people is.What do you do after the mistake?What do you do after the fall?And,and how do you get back up?And I think it comes down to personal choices.What choices are you gonna make?Are you gonna be intentional with your time and how are you gonna go do something different?
Dave Morgia:Yeah.And I I'm forgetting the,the verbiage and your bio.I.Recall it saying something to the effect of,um,like due to your own mistakes or something,uh,to quote it,uh,you know,you had a,some struggles with your investors and I think that's an important piece too,is,is you're you took the blame for that.You did not try to point it at the world at the world's fault.You know,it wasn't my fault,all these things.It was,you know,Mike made a mistake.I do the same thing.It's like,how,how did I not do this to the best of my capabilities?Like where did I have a gap here?And.When you can do that repetitively consistently,you're gonna grow a heck of a lot faster than,than trying to say.It's not your fault.And trying to say,it's the world against you.
Mike Morawski:here,here again.And that's a great point,but here again,you know,this is success leaves clues before I got in trouble before I ever even built my,uh,uh,apartment business.I read a thousand books and I read business books.I read biographies.I read,you know,stories of,of great people who made great,you know,successes in their life.And what I always,what people always said was the guy who leads the company needs to take responsibility for the good.And the bad,right?So you take responsibility when something goes wrong,you fall on the sword,you know,there's that old cliche that the ship,the captain will go down with the ship.Right.And,and that's what I did.I remembered that when things were going bad,you know,I took all that responsibility.And,um,I learned a lot of lessons as a result of it.
Dave Morgia:No,that's really good.And I don't know.I don't know if you follow Tim Ferris,I'm gonna rip this question from him cuz he asked it quite frequently on his podcast,but of those thousand books you read,what is the one?And maybe we won't count your book.We'll talk about that at the end.Uh,but what is the one you gift the most or you recommend the most to,to someone?If you're talking to them.So,
Mike Morawski:you know,I just have to talk about three real quick.And the first two are,um,Steve jobs,biography,and,uh,Colin Powell's biography.Interesting.Two leaders that I really have a lot of respect for.And,um,I,I love their philosophy.You know,you,you look at a Steve jobs who,um,who said one day he comes back to apple and Apple's got1500products and he says,Hey,we don't need.And he disseminates a thousand products.Right.And all of a sudden he disseminates another350and goes,look,alls I wanna do is put a thousand songs in somebody's pocket on a little box.And that's what he did.Right.The MP3,which has evolved into,you know,One of the most powerful things we have today,the iPhone.Right.Um,but,but that philosophy,you know,I love his quote.You know,the rebels are the,are the people who are changing the world,you know,the,the square pegs in the round holes that,you know,I,I,I wish I knew the whole thing by heart,but,but I'm a re.I'm a square peg in a round hole,right.And then co and Powell,co and Powell,you know,just a respected American leader who just really,you know,Hey,um,take responsibility,take action,and take responsibility for the action when things go great.Give that credit to your team.And,and I,I believe that that's how I always was and that's who I am today.Now I'll never put CEO on my business card.Right.I don't want that responsibility
Dave Morgia:today.Sorry for mentioning in the intro then no,that's okay.That's
Mike Morawski:okay.I,I just,I don't want that that's way too much pressure today.And then,um,then the last book was a book that was written by pat Riley,pat Riley used to coach the Miami heat.Basketball coach.And,um,pat Riley wrote a book called the winner within,and,and in that book,he talked about the game of basketball and he talked about the,the little wars on the court back and forth.And the one who won the most wars back and forth,whether it was on the offense or the defensive side was the one who was ultimately gonna win the.And that's why,you know,the Chicago bulls were so successful in the Miami heat and then the Lakers and you know,all these dynasties because they,they,they played so many of those short wars and beat those wars.And this goes back to being a marathon,not a sprint,go out and win the war today.Just today.Don't worry about20years from now or10years from now.And don't try to accomplish in one.What could take you a week or what could take,you know,in one week,what could it take you a month or in one month what's gonna take you five years or a decade to do.Win it today,just today.Right?So I'm a big,uh,basketball and baseball guy.I use a lot of those analogies,so
182 video:I
Dave Morgia:I'm a hockey guy,so I got a couple hockey ones,but,uh,yeah,I,I totally agree.Um,me and my partner talk about this all the time.We're both.Uh,well,I'm about to turn30he's he's in his thirties.We're we're,you know,consider ourselves pretty young in the game.We,we look at it as,you know,a,a long time in this game and we'd look at it as we have so many decades ahead of us to do.Now do we try to iterate as quick as possible to get up to speed to where we want to go.Sure.But we're not trying to just get antsy and,and,and do the wrong things cuz that's not what we're about.We're we're in it for the long game.Like you say,the marathon.I,I always think about this sometimes.Not always,but every now and again,I,I wish I renamed the show to,or name the show multifamily marathon,cuz I always thought that was fitting and I run myself too.I've run some marathons.So I always had that affinity for it after I named the show.But here we are but yeah,I couldn't agree more.It is certainly certainly a long game.You have.Be ready to be patient.And to understand it takes a lot of work,whether it's this or any business,really,you gotta understand,you gotta put the work in it and just be patient with it.So,
Mike Morawski:yeah,for sure.Absolutely.So,
Dave Morgia:Mike,I,uh,I wanna get to these five key questions cuz I wanna make sure we have time.I think we've hit a few of them,you know,at least briefly or,or probably quite extensively so we can,you know,give the,the shorter,long answers.But I think these are especially with you super important to,to cover today.So as long as you're ready,I'd like to get.Yeah,absolutely.So the first one,if you can only pick one trait that explains your success,what is that trait?And.
Mike Morawski:It's tenacity.Um,you know,I was probably in the real estate business three years,I walked into a client's house and he said to me,man,Moroski,you're the most tenacious person I know.And I said,oh,very gracefully.I didn't know what it meant at the time.And very gracefully.I said,thank you.I appreciate it went right home,grabbed a dictionary,looked it up and said,that is me.I'm the guy who never quit.I just keep going,going,going.I'm like the Energizer buddy.And,you know,You have to be very tenacious in this business.You know,it's like a guy in sales.You can't,you can't take no the first time and be done.You know,the sales in the follow up.It's not in the initial contact.
Dave Morgia:Absolutely.It's uh,it's again,kind of more the long game,right?the results will end up compounding.And then Mike,what is the most uncharacteristic thing you have done in your business and why did you do it?
Mike Morawski:Um,you know,I think one of the most uncharacteristic things I've done in my business is come back after prison and go right back into the business.Um,and,and I'm very open and I'm very transparent about my story and,you know,a lot of people aren't,I know there's a lot of guys out there that,you know,have,have had similar experiences to me that won't talk about it,that don't want to talk about it.They're ashamed of it.And,um,I embrace it.Because I think that people can learn lessons from it.And,um,you know,here's where it was really clear to me.I was doing a meetup one day and I was on,uh,actually able Pachecos meetup.And there was about75people on it.And some guy,I didn't even know who it was.He,he hollered out.He said,Hey,are you raising money yet?And I said,I'm not.He goes,well,you let me know when you are,because I wouldn't wanna invest with anybody other than you,because you've already made the mistakes.You,you know,and you probably won't make those mistakes again.So,you know,that was very eye-opening to me and,and what I decided,Hey,I wanted to go,you know why I'm doing what I'm doing?
Dave Morgia:Yeah.The authenticity thing is huge.The authenticity transparency.Um,it's half the reason why on these shows,I like to just not pref prepare questions other than these five key questions and just kind of feel out the show.Yeah.I think it garners a better conversation that way.Um,I would not have imagined the conversation go this way today.I thought we'd get into more real estate to be realistic,but it's,it's better this way.You know,I,I think that authenticity of listening to someone hearing their real thoughts,like you mentioned,with that example,you'll just trust someone that much more and you can see who they are as a person.So,so that's in.Yeah,
Mike Morawski:absolutely.Thank
Dave Morgia:you.And then,I mean,this one,I think we've,we've kind of covered.Uh,but can you name a time where you felt like you were not going to end up successful and how did you overcome that fear?Yeah,so
Mike Morawski:I,I think that time was when I realized that,uh,we were gonna lose the company and,and then when I realized I was gonna go to prison,um,how did I overcome it?Boy?You know,when I,when I look back on that time,Dave,I don't really know how I overcame it.I just pushed forward every day.I knew before I went to prison that I needed to make sure my family was gonna be okay.Uh,even though we're not,you know,I'm,I have two kids that I still don't talk to.It's been eight years.Um,I have two younger kids that,uh,and younger they're teenagers know,but,um,they live with their mom.You know,we hardly hardly see each other,but we do see each other.Um,but I needed to make sure that they were all set up before I left.And,um,I built a property management company.Uh,so I had lost everything right.The day I got indicted,I looked at my wife,uh,and I said,Hey,you know,we have two choices.I,I could give you some money in an envelope,but you're gonna burn through that in a couple years and have to get a job,or I could build this business.That you can run.And she still runs a property management company today that,uh,kept her and the kids in the house and,you know,food on the table.
Dave Morgia:So that's an awesome solution to a very complicated problem.So good for you for that.And then,uh,the flip to that one,Mike,is,can you name something in your business where it went perfectly and what did you do to make that a reality?
Mike Morawski:Yeah.You know,um,I think what went perfectly was when I,when I was building the company at the radio,I was building it at,um,people showed up.Because I had had an idea that we needed somebody to fill a spot,to fill a hole.So employees showed up,um,it helped the bandwidth,uh,never saw2008come in.And when it hit,I thought,oh,this is just the residential side.It's not gonna hurt the,uh,commercial side.And then,you know,18months later,the commercial,uh,markets went.You know.Um,but I,I think,you know,at that time I was very successful at raising money.I was very successful at,you know,building that business.
Dave Morgia:That's uh,yeah,I mean,it's,it's one of those things that's kind of,I.I'm just very impressed at,at how you were able to,to keep moving forward.It's it's easy to say.It's not so easy to do so.Yeah.That's,that's amazing,man.And then kind of continuing that thought.What have you been focusing on lately to improve yourself or your business?Yeah,so
Mike Morawski:I'm me coaching myself today.I have a personal coach in my life and then I have a business coach.Also I'm an advocate for coaching.I think everybody needs to have a coach,even if it's somebody that you meet.Once or twice a month,maybe once a month.Um,but get a coach,get somebody that can help shape you and hold you accountable.Right?Cause it's not just the education.It's not just the training that we get,but it is the,it's the ability to be held accountable to our actions.Um,so I am a coach today.I believe everybody should get a.That's what I do.I'm in the coaching and training business.I help people,uh,get the education.They need build the network that they need,do the deals that they wanna do and live a balanced lifestyle,a quality lifestyle,cuz Hey Dave,I'm sure you know,in the real estate business,we can get sidetracked.We can get busy and you know,things like family in that that are really important to us,kind of go to the wayside for a different agenda.
Dave Morgia:Yeah,I,I hate the term,like juggling the balls because I,I feel like you're just never not giving enough attention to any one thing when you're doing that.So it is a,it is balancing the imbalance more for me,you know,you gotta make sure that you're given the proper attention.So like you say,the,the life and family and friends and,and all that.Um,can,can definitely get hurt.Uh,Mike,this has been a great show.I know we've covered kind of the whole goal of your story.Um,we did not touch too much on,you know,the current activity of your real estate today,but I think just through the30,40minutes here,we've kind of shown,you know,how you are as an operator.Uh,if the listener did wanna reach out to you today,or if you wanna,you know,mention your book,just feel free to.Yeah,
Mike Morawski:thanks.I appreciate it.And really appreciate you having me on Dave.Um,it's always nice to be with,uh,somebody who,who does these well.Right.Um,so if,if people wanna find me,uh,wherever you hang out on social media,you'll find me there.Everything from,you know,Twitter,LinkedIn,Facebook,Instagram.You know,TikTok,uh,you can find me,follow me,like me,love me,you know,and,uh,subscribe to my YouTube channel.Uh,if you wanna connect with me directly,I love to network with people.I'm very open to conversations and answering questions.If I can help,I will,but you can reach me@mikeatmycoreintentions.com.And then if you want a copy of my book,exit plan,your complete guide to multifamily investing and why you need an exit plan before you.You can go to my website,to my core intentions.com,download a free copy,just put my core intentions.com/free.And you can grab,uh,grab a copy of exit plan if you're like me and you like a book where you can highlight right in the margins dog ear,the pages put highlights in it.You'll ha you know,you can buy one there also.
Dave Morgia:So this was,uh,just a,a great conversation,like really appreci.Uh,your transparency,the authenticity,like we mentioned,I think it's relatively,unmatching the game and it's,it's interesting to see you share that hope listener got as much out of,as I did,cuz I,I really enjoyed this one today.Um,just appreciate your time once again.Thank
Mike Morawski:you.Appreciate you.Thanks Dave.
Thank you for listening to the show.I don't take your time and attention for granted and appreciate that you would spend it with me.If you enjoyed this show or any of my previous shows,it would be a huge help if you would rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcasting service,or even just share the episode with a friend.And if you'd like help from me or would like to talk about real estate investing further,feel free to visit the show notes for more information,or you can visit davidtravis.com.