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*****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.
Vitaliy's Background:
In this episode we cover:
Connect with Vitaliy:
Connect with Dave:
Other ways to listen/watch:
Follow or Subscribe:
If you enjoyed this episode or like the show, please subscribe and leave a review! It is a huge help for just a little effort
*****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 Vitaliy Gnezdilov. Vitaliy, welcome to the show.
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Hi, Dave. Thanks for having me.
Dave Morgia:Yeah we should have I'm sure a great conversation today. And just to fill the listener I just wanting to give a little more information on you. He's the founder at the digital collective and at their firm, they create standout digital experiences for syndication firms to attract more high net worth investors online. They specialize in a bunch of things. Website design, investor. Onboarding experiences, digital advertising, marketing, remarketing. I can keep going, but Vitaliy, you just want to kind of fill us in on a little bit more about your expertise and what you focus on.
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah. Thanks. So The Digital Collective, I am a, a business partner with Chris Arias and him and I, um, are kind seal team two where, I build the website design and kind of the overall brand. And he kind of. It is more kind of on the, on the systems and, and the social media and the, um, uh, the, the paid search and as well. So he kind of does all of that sort of analytical stuff. And, and, you know, I kind of bring the, the, the design expertise into the mix.
Dave Morgia:Yeah. So I guess, uh, I reached out originally and it, it's funny. I had a conversation the other day, um, kind of about this topic. Someone was kind of speaking to me about, you know, what they do to get their credibility. They were looking for something and I forget what it was, maybe like the 40 unit range, but like, how do you get that broker to just, you know, trust you and, and kind of, you know, show that authenticity and whether it's broker investor, I think I'm sure you can agree. The kind of catch all today is if you have a good website, it's really that kind of on my business card and really helps you kind of. cement some presence in the market that you're trying to get in. Um, so can we just kind of lean into that topic today what you can do those you know mistakes those those green red green flags red flags all that great stuff Just let's kind of dive in
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Well I'd be curious to hear what you told them what your answer was
Dave Morgia:I told them"Yeah you you definitely need a website Cause they did not have one at the time So whether it's even just a$500 you know Wix website or something you got to get something to start at least just so that sniff test is kind of passed at least initially And it might not be perfect but at least at least you're there for for the time being until they get some more capital, but
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah it really is incredible how much uh uh a gut feeling can tell somebody about you know your presentation Um you know one of the things that I like to tell uh you know folks that I work with is that um you know the more you invest in yourself um the more likely others are going to invest in you if and just to give you kind of a you know kind of a contrast scenario here um if you're starting out and um Uh you know you're you're kind of playing around with an idea and you're you know you you've invested a little bit just to to to start up and then you know maybe you've experienced some sort of traction or whatever and and the the presentation doesn't keep up with you, that's kind of a a bad sign because those who are just now experiencing your brand for the first time um you know there's there's a Uh kind of a a feeling well are they going to stick around Whereas if you're investing in your brand and you're constantly giving back you know to invest into your own brand and building it out And so the brand is growing with you um it it really does you know Those who are who are new to your brand they're going to they're going to see that constant growth alongside of you And so that's that's a that's a big deal So the more you invest in you the more others are going to be likely to invest in you as well
Dave Morgia:So maybe um can we just get into I guess some low-hanging fruit like I guess in that example say you know kind of nothing started where do you begin Uh what's the kind of the best use of dollars or your time to kind of get that sniff check passed I guess when you're talking to investors or brokers or whomever
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah So so you know it might come to a surprise but from a marketing perspective um you know I I'm a designer a graphic designer by trade um and you know working with um a graphic designer who hasn't had their own experience and and starting some sort of a brand or a company um You might experience some sort of you know analysis paralysis where you you know you might spend a couple of months on on your logo even cause you just want it be perfect Um and the thing there is that you don't look around look around how many successful companies there are and this is kind of the counterintuitive part Cause I'm a graphic designer I create logos Um Your logo doesn't really matter all that much Look around how many successful companies there are uh in the world just globally that are making millions and billions of dollars annually and look at their logo And you're going to find that a lot of them have completely crappy logos And the key there is to just make sure that your logo doesn't look phallic That is the only rule for logo design As long as your logo doesn't look like genitals you're fine And that's really it So so you don't you kind of want to balance like building your brand and also you know uh not going after what you think is perfect Cause there's really no such thing in a moving world you have to keep moving So um and it's a constantly evolving world that we live in So um so yeah so that's that's kind of it you know so lowest hanging fruit um You know I here's and here's the thing it's not just one thing It's actually a a cultivation of uh you know all the various channels that you might be on whether that's you know your your photography that you use on your social media um to what your website looks like um to your business cards although that's Kind of less prevalent now Um
Dave Morgia:definitely lately
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:yeah Lately Yeah Um and so so th th th the secret there is is is to have a tight kind of presentation to have a tight brand What does that mean Um so from a designer standpoint and this is kind of where I think I can add most value here is when you're building out a brand or you're thinking about redesigning your brand um and your it's called brand identity Um so you want to make sure that uh you know you're sticking to a select few fonts no more than two and they should be complimentary Uh I can go into that in a little bit more detail if you want but you know that's that's kind of high-end or high level type stuff so make sure your colors are consistent your fonts are consistent and those are really kind of the two you know and there's imagery as well but and that can be photography and sort of kind of Uh you know textures and things like that that you're using on your uh collateral but that's kind of the simplest lowest hanging fruit that you can hit um is to make sure that you're at the very least you've got your colors and check your logo is nice and crisp Um and then you're using the same fonts whether that's you're building out an offer memorandum uh and you know what your The fonts on your website so that that's kind of you know making sure that the whole look is consistent The look doesn't have to be perfect but it has to be consistent
Dave Morgia:Yeah it's it's something I think in in human nature is you don't really know necessarily but it kind of the the sum of the parts doesn't add up in a way if you see something that's kind of funky on a website or anything in life really it's like it doesn't really make sense And it just kind of turns you off if you kind those those slight mistakes Right So
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:And I've got one more for you actually and you just kind of reminded me and here's another one And and this often um is the difference between a great looking website and a not so good looking website And and I'm not saying bad it's not you know it's not bad but it's uh you might've spent a couple thousand dollars on a website redesign and you got it But some something just doesn't feel right It's not quite there and you don't even know what it is I can probably tell you what it is right now Um Make sure that your website has a container So the container what that means is that there is uh all your content on the left aligns on the same imaginary line So imagine there's an imaginary line that runs on the left side of your website as well as the right side of your website And that's called the container make sure that the contents within each section line up on that same imaginary line I've seen Far too many times where you have a different container for each section of your site And so you kind of start having this like sort of jagged edge effect where it's kind of like a staircase you know your content starts here and you know on the next section it starts you know it's a little bit more indented and so on and so forth And so one way to make sure that you have a really tight website presentation is make sure you're using the same container for all of your sections
Dave Morgia:And I think a lot of that Can be two is maybe if it's your first time getting your website created it's a you want to put everything in there and you're kind of putting the cart before the horse but really you should keep it simple and make sure you're nailing what you can put on there That's important before it's like a resume right Like people have like a three-page resume but it's looks sloppy and and you don't really know what's what's going on And it's you know different fonts and bullets and stuff It's nail what you got before you move on to the next stuff So
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah Yeah And and having been on the hiring end as well I I much prefer uh a one page resume rather than three page resume with just all the gutters filled in and you know you've got the page turned sideways and Texas running vertically you know they're just taking up as much room as possible and yeah and that's that's another thing too It you know how that translates to to web design and and you know securing more uh investors for your you know for your deals essentially building trust For a syndicator Um you know it's it's you you have to you have to make sure that that you allow your content to speak for itself You're not trying to cram it in there You're giving every thought and every uh point uh ample opportunity to to resonate with somebody with before you know you you put another thought into their head
Dave Morgia:Yeah I mean it's it's should always kind of be synonymous to me with how you would speak to them in person You're not going to cram you know 500 words down their throat in two minutes and say are you ready to invest You're just you're just going to have a natural conversation So it almost just kind of know in in a different way Flow on a website like that too So um
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:And it's surprising how much just that can be such a differentiator because you know it's if somebody is nervous you know they talk faster and that's a can to your website having too much stuff on one page it's like well is that the vibe you really want to give off You know And that's the subconscious kind of gut feeling that I was talking about earlier that people are really good at picking up Whether they can even explain it or not
Dave Morgia:Yeah absolutely Whether there's just that like a subconscious just gut check feeling that you it's kind of a yes or no answer Um so I guess kind of getting into I mean obviously you you've really worked with a lot of syndicators You've had I'm sure a ton of feedback at this point working with them and designing what their needs are Um what were some of the Things that you learned over time that were important to them and that you realized they needed to be able to convey in a way that made sense for everybody as far as you know navigating the website getting you know the investors comfortable getting anybody you know into the funnel that type of thing I know you're more on the design and but you know it all kind of plays together Right You have to be to almost lead the horse to water So how does that kind of play out in your guys' mind
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:So I think it's important to understand that uh let's let's start with this basic kind of fundamental understanding if you meet me for the first time And I didn't hokey with the very first thing I said or the very first thing that I said flew over your head then you're going to probably ignore Everything else that I have to say even if that's the important thing So it's important to have a really strong kind of um value prop right And the value prop has to be backed with a certain call to action So that's number one Uh so value prop with a supplemented call to action Um A lot of times and this is such a you know valuable real estate on a website where when the page loads uh what you have is a welcome slide or otherwise known as a hero section And that is such valuable real estate that I see go to waste oftentimes And that's also called above the fold which means that this is the first thing that pops up whether that's on a phone which is almost half of website visitors Depending on the industry but it's about half here Um and and also on the desktop right Those are two different interfaces Those are two different uh View ports they're called Uh so you have to make sure that each kind of you know your your your value prop is clear within that uh you know section above the fold So before even scrolling anything they already know what you're about and what you want them to do next what you want your visitors to do next Um so that's really important um and that kind of helps and everything So you know once you start scrolling it should just add onto what you said Up in the hero section And so then that kind of opens us up to um you know kind of thinking about what the uh you know the technical term for this is user experience but it's it's really kind of uh you know uh it could also be like a you know a customer journey right Like what what do you want your website visitors to do or your potential investors Right Um and so it's important to think about um And and this is kind of an idea that I've been playing around with lately and it's it's uh kind of thinking about website design less So being a website but more so being an interface where they land with a certain predisposed uh understanding of you know what this is are they ended up on your page Some Some way or somehow um and then it's important to think about okay Understanding where they land with what understanding they currently have how do you speak to them to get them to take the next step and then the next step and then the next step and then the next step Right So that so to think about the journey is kind of a sequential step-by-step and then gamifying it So Uh so it's not to say your website should have all the things but the things that would be on your website um are built in such a way to provide a stew provide delight every step of the way there is should be a reward along the way And an example of this is is this And I really kind of like this this thought process where The concept of fine print Let's think about that for just a second When you think about you know when you start seeing asterisks and and you know fine print you're like Oh okay Everything that this this claim is making uh it's all about to be disputed in
Dave Morgia:comes with catch all this stuff Yeah
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:yeah Right right But but the key there and this is this is cool I love this is you put an asterisk there and then you know like for uh for for example you know it's like um For example uh um you know let's let's say uh You know some it let's let's think of uh an email sign up for example you have a newsletter signup and then there's an asterisk that says you know after the call to action then you're like Oh okay they're going to sell my information all this stuff Right But you actually give them some sort of a Uh a positive sort of footnote that says you know we hate spam as much as you do Uh and maybe there's a there's a better example for this but the idea is that you put an asterisk and a footnote in there on purpose but you kind of reward the person for uh for looking they'll feel smart because they're doing their due diligence Um but you also kind of reward them and say Hey this isn't what you thought it was It's actually even better And you found it yourself Look how smart you are
Dave Morgia:Yeah it's almost like Easter egg you right Where like you're you kind of you can make it a little more personal touch or something and it's not like the uh you know the law and order jargon type of type of stuff in there Yeah Yeah Uh so so getting into I guess uh you kind of did the call to actions um and and a lot of this to me at least in the real estate space I don't know I'm sure you have numbers that you could kind of back this up with but uh if you were to say a real estate syndicator a larger percentage of the people visiting your site Did that intentionally and weren't kind of just tripped and found your site type of scenario because ultimately you're you're talking about smaller more boutique shops generally Um it's not like they're blessed and ads all over Google ad space and everything all the time So so most people coming in the door are at least Shopping around and familiar with the space So so how does that kind of differ as far as a you know a setup like this goes does it really affect anything much or is you know you talked about this type of setup where you're getting people through the website Um does that does that come into mind at all When when doing something like this
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah And uh example actually comes to mind where there's there's kind of two approaches to building out an online presence One is you start with the Homebase which is your website You know we are a real estate syndication that offers passive investment opportunities And and that's you know but that's that's really kind of generic and and you know everybody can every syndicator can basically say that very same thing but that's kind of the Homebase approach The home-based approach is like you know welcome to our page This is who we are And you know uh granted there there's better ways of doing just that And then there's much worse ways of doing this And so that even there is a differentiator but that's kind of the starting with the home approach Um the other approach Is uh going uh is actually starting with um you know with with lead pages So um so that's that's kind of uh having a landing page that uh kind of talks about your specific Offering So um for example we just put up a a website called invest in ATM's dot com And so that's a um uh a landing page on behalf of uh of real estate Uh um I think they're that they're more of an aggregator um and uh And so w we kind of had a choice like do we start with your with their main website or do we start with um the landing page Like one seems more actionable but it seems like you know you almost can't have one without the other but you have to pick you know you can't design both at the same time so you have to pick one or the other and and I've been kind of experimenting with uh with with that approach Um Um lately I'll let you I'll let you know how that goes later but um but yeah there's there's two ways to kind of start at the home base way Uh and then kind of the the more actionable like let us get your email into our our kind of our flow So you can learn more about this very specific opportunity And then along the way maybe you can learn about our company and and you know that sort of
Dave Morgia:Yeah So I guess a more boy maybe if you had like a some type of incentive for the calls offer like a like a free book or a ebook or something like that that might be you know maybe that's like your thing that you decided to offer out to the world And you've been putting that on social deck that would maybe you would say you would focus more on the landing page not necessarily only but but at least first to kind of shape that and then lead in to the website after that So that's interesting
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah Yeah And there's a lot of uh kind of conversation about you know that they're called lead magnets Like what uh offering something you know for a signup So we can touch on that real quick Uh you know and and that that lead magnet so that that downloadable PDF or whatever it has to be It has to be good It can't just be another thing that you're giving to somebody Um you know I I'm a minimalistic person So if somebody comes to me with a box of free stuff and then hands it to me I'd be like well wait a minute Do I do I need any of this Like do I want
Dave Morgia:Or is this actually just joke
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah Or is it actually exactly or it's actually just junk right So that there's that sort of bit so it has to be the gift has to be good Um so so Tim Ferriss actually has a a method on his email signups So when you sign up he gives you a couple of free things Um think he gives a couple but one of those I remember is the first hundred pages of a four hour chef or something like that Or two of his books first a hundred pages I mean that's that's pretty dang valuable you know that's actually valuable Uh and the best part is is that actually probably lead into an actual purchase
Dave Morgia:Yeah it leaves you hanging
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Right exactly So it's it's a it's a it's a great it's a great you know it's a great funnel setup
Dave Morgia:Yeah That's that's interesting I guess Um It really boils down to having that value I'll say a tip it for you or anybody listening Um I signed up with some of those things just kind of peak my interests you know the the call to actions Um and I signed up with just like a junk email that I have with like it's not even tied to my name or anything just cause I want to see what they offer You know maybe maybe I need to get some uh Inspiration or just to see what people are doing It's interesting to see what kind of comes back and sometimes you just get spammed with like five emails in two minutes and I'm just like eh just totally totally ridiculous You don't even want to be involved with something like that personally but I guess everybody's style is different So
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:And that's the thing you know that's that's really what it all comes down to Everybody's style is different and what works for somebody may not work you know for for for somebody else And so you know the idea there is just to experiment as much as you can use your best judgment Um and then you know see what works really you know and that's that's another thing is so just try something for three months and uh or three to six months and see what see what you get don't pivot your strategy and just see what happens gather enough data And see if you can look at the data afterwards whether that's through your um you know through your Google analytics which doesn't really Say a whole lot actually Um you know it my tell you where people land on what page and and where they went after that page Um you know see that that that is kind of helpful but uh I'm more talking about like let's say you're using you know uh we use active campaign and uh so you know it it it's uh it's a software that basically lets you Send email campaigns and automate some stuff And um you know there's a lot of really valuable information there as far as like who opened your email and how engaged they are um overall um and uh yeah so
Dave Morgia:No it it
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:that that come in play there
Dave Morgia:yeah it is It's it's definitely powerful and kind of like we basically alluded to the whole show and really it boils down to anything but have the kind of the goal in mind first in my opinion it sounds what you should be doing here If you need to figure out what you want These People visiting your website or joining your social programs um be doing you know if you're just saying hi and then leaving it's not really going to help your business at all I mean yeah You might get another page click or something but it's not utility there So figure out what
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:And it's it's all an experiment you know at the end of the day you know like I said what works for somebody else may not work for you And um yeah Yeah I think one of the really interesting things that um You know that that I am a fan of like inherently is to approach a problem as if it's the first And I love this kind of mindset as if it's the first time that problem has ever been solved Cause you can summarize how you solve that problem that in a way that nobody else you know has kind of thought about approaching it that way
Dave Morgia:instead of thinking outside the box just get rid of the box I like it
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah I like that That's nice I'm stealing that
Dave Morgia:Yeah Go for it It's all yours man Um yeah so So I guess uh I guess we'll get into the five key questions I know uh you're a little bit time constraint I think we hit all the kind of high level stuff here as a what you really need to kind of focus on to make sure I mean it's all about presentation Like we got to it it's about making sure you're telling your story correctly and getting people basically to to hitch along for the ride So as long as you're ready you want to hit these questions
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah let's do it
Dave Morgia:Yeah So first one here if you could only pick one trait that explains your success what is that trait and why
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Uh that would probably be um that would probably be not giving up Uh and and kind of understanding that um uh I think it was in the book uh Crossing the chasm I could be wrong but a great book regardless Check it out Fantastic book Um uh it's in a book that I read basically it it says that you know every experience that you have or you know what I think it might've been uh anyway th th the quote the takeaway is this is is a um You know every experience that you have whether positive or negative you're just in a in a in a flow So if you're ever feeling any uh any defeat it's it's probably temporary So you just got to ride through it and understand that for every equal uh for every you know for every reaction there's an equal and opposite uh you know reaction So that's that's kind of the thing that's been able to kind of keep me going and and it it it's Not anything except uh you know perseverance to to go forth and keep moving forward that you know the only then I've been able to see uh you know success even if it's a you know a temporary feeling of success or or um you know or something that's a little bit more more tangible It's it's all it's it's all an emotional journey this whole this whole you know entrepreneurial thing
Dave Morgia:I'm right with the the knowing it's temporary feeling whether it's business or whatever is is very helpful If you know if you're you're allowed to have emotions like obviously you're supposed to process them but If you're if you're having an overwhelming emotion and you think that doesn't make sense maybe just you know understand this temporary and figure out why it might be a little overwhelming Not that you shouldn't enjoy the emotion whether it's good or bad but but kind of figure out you know why it's affecting you the way it is necessarily
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah And that takes
Dave Morgia:for sure
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:that takes a little bit of skill to be able to take yourself
Dave Morgia:a muscle
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah absolutely And it's a it's a tough thing to do Cause you know if something might feel so real and you know but give it some time and It'll just be a thing of the past and you you'll be thinking about something else you know
Dave Morgia:Yeah I'm right there with you And then next question here what is the most uncharacteristic thing you've done in your business and why did you do it
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:So I I think uh I'll go back to a statement that I made a few minutes ago Um and and this inherent sort of uh you know we'll go back to the box uh and not only is the box you know removed uh Inherently I do this and this is just my personal traits uh where I see what everybody else is doing And I'm a very kind of uh opportunistic individual So you know I'm very risk tolerant and uh I know what it's like to experience temporary defeat and all that and move past it Um but but the takeaway is this is that um I I see what everyone else is doing And I do kind of a sweep of the marketplace and see what you know see what people have going on And and I do my best to just do the exact opposite of it And it seems counterintuitive And um I always hear this all the time It's like well why why are you reinventing the wheel Um and and I hear that all the time And and my answer to that is that that's that's where uh that's where the glory and the Lich and the richest lie you know it's you have to take a chance and you have and there's a chance that it won't work out but Hey you've got a an interesting case study under your belt now And and you know some things might just work and when they do work they
Dave Morgia:Yeah very very interesting I love the country I get these answers a couple of times that like straight up contrarian to that question And I always I always appreciate that Cause I mean it's just like the heart of all businessmen and women I think is is to do of thing too is just to you know what if type of scenarios in their head all the time constantly you know so love testing the
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:uh yeah I I can't I can't help it either
Dave Morgia:Yep It's just it's just natural for of us Yeah
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah Yeah
Dave Morgia:And we kind of alluded to this one 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
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Oh boy Yeah Um let's see So a specific time uh um I'll go personal uh on this one Um so I moved to the United States when I was 11 years old and that was by far um The hardest thing that I had done in my life Um and I remember coming home um from my first uh you know day in seventh grade being a new foreign kid in a place that's completely new to me I'm like anything that I've you know I I was I was Uh born and raised in the in the now Soviet union I mean you can imagine the contrast between America and you know the Eastern block you can imagine and you know being exposed to other kids and and you know in in that first seventh grade uh classroom I had no idea what you know I I Barely knew uh what the teacher was saying I somehow got special treatment but I didn't feel special I in fact didn't want that Um and and you know I didn't even know what the word you know due date meant So I didn't do my homework but some you know and I have a feeling they gave me uh uh um gosh they gave me Some sort of uh gosh what what what did they call it Like a some sort of an achievement certificate at the end And I was like I didn't earn this Why did you give this to me Like I didn't do my homework I didn't know I had to do my homework And anyway and so uh and that was probably the toughest thing And and you know kind of going back to our conversation uh you know we were talking about just perseverance and you know you know look at me now I I speak English better than I do my native language Uh Almost to a fault there Right Cause I have to now practice speaking Russian I speak Russian exclusively with my parents now Um you know just so I can sharpen up the language but that was uh adapting to a whole new way of life That was probably the toughest thing And perseverance is how I I got it done
Dave Morgia:no that's awesome That's that's right in the deep end right there So especially especially at that age you talk about kids moving schools like you city away and that's like scary to them at that age you're just like completely moving house So yeah That's awesome
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:yeah yeah
Dave Morgia:And then opposite to that One is um can you name a time in your business where something went perfectly and what you to do to make that a reality
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:uh can I name a time where uh something in my business went perfectly and what did I do Um let's see So uh Hm So yeah Okay So I uh so okay Starting uh before so before the digital collective um I was um and this is again kind of another story of me moving Cause I I I tend to do that a lot Um apparently um and I I'm in Minnesota now by the way uh I just moved here from California about six months ago
Dave Morgia:even the way you said Minnesota had Alexa to it So I
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Oh no shoot And
Dave Morgia:the yellow a little little bit
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:man And yeah I don't leave I don't leave the house to go to go to the gym you know it's it's we just had you know a couple of inches of snow here but um but yeah so so when I when I uh before the digital collective I had started um Company called gem digital agency Um and this was way before uh you know I kind of niched down to uh become a a S you know a marketing professional for real estate syndicators but um kind of starting that journey from you know from getting an office space and and you know Getting together a uh a down deposit to get the uh office space and keeping it for three years Um that was a really fun sort of experience that overall looking back I'm like wow You know and and uh and that's kind of when I met uh my business partner Chris and I invited him in And so you know we kind of shared the space for uh you know The last year and a half or so uh if not more Um but yeah so so kind of having a plan seeing it through um and then ending up where I am where I am now where we're working primarily with um uh syndication professionals for real estate Um and uh you know niching down is kind of where I think that Switch clicked for me and for a long while um I kind of struggled with that I didn't know what niche to choose and that was always the question it's like well what's your niche Well shoot how am I going to limit my genius to just one thing you know But it wasn't until I you know uh found that niche and it was thanks to to to Chris Arias for that Um you know it wasn't until then that I really kind of saw myself as a You know and and it was starting to be seen as a as a kind of an industry expert in a way cause it's not until you get into a room where you're phew where you know you start to get noticed Cause if you're in a room with a bunch of like uh like individuals then you know it's it's not really gonna work in your favor So that's kind of a maybe a lesson there as well for your listeners too as to you know find a niche And when you find one you'll know
Dave Morgia:Yeah but getting a to a big business and making your network small ironically enough is is kind of worded weirdly I guess but that's a huge way to you know to make everything seem so it's like everybody knows everybody That's that's how you know you're doing well when when you can recognize everybody around you So so yeah
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah And and and you know and I think uh going into the niche uh after being a generalist um I think If I were to do it all over again um I probably wouldn't go into business for myself until I haven't niche selected because a lot of the kind of the the thought process is well get into business and then find a niche Well you probably should find a niche before you get into business and that's that's a much smarter way of doing it and that's how it would have done it If I had to do it all over again
Dave Morgia:And last one here a little bit easier but what have you been focusing on lately to improve yourself or your business
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Well uh that uh it's it's probably um it's probably saying no to two opportunities to some opportunities and focusing on so it it it it took me uh you know a little while to be in this position where I could choose who I work with and and you know the the And and it took a couple of failed relationships and a couple of you know pre you know sort of dating uh phase moments before you say okay well this didn't work out Uh but you know but it of course you learned something from it and then you you bring that to your next relationship and you say well you know I don't want to end up where that was against but you know here's what I learned And so here's what I'm going to do to Make sure that this doesn't happen again or this goes favorably for everybody Sometimes you have to protect you know the people that you work with from themselves you know by saying Hey I've been here before I see this pattern uh you know let's let's do what we can to make sure that we have a sustainable you know working relationship And and that's that's a huge thing is to do things sustainably because um you know at the end of the day like what are we all what are we all rushing for You know Yeah
Dave Morgia:Yeah it's it's uh you gotta you gotta keep your eye on the prize and you not get that shiny object syndrome it's whether it's business decisions or anything else you just kinda you know remember what you're here for So I'm with you man Yeah
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:you have you have you have you heard of this just real quick Have you heard of this clubhouse thing
Dave Morgia:Yeah So I downloaded it and I haven't I haven't um we haven't found a way to make it useful for our business yet so we haven't really touched it but I feel like I'm missing the boat but if it hasn't lined up yet then I don't really know but everybody's on it so far It interesting I still like podcasting a little bit better Obviously I'm a little biased but uh
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah Yeah Right Well you know you kind of reminded me of the whole shiny object syndrome and I don't know man It's like is there a blue ocean there Is it worth spending some time there to figure and you know maybe quickly grow your audience or uh you know is is is this another kind of Thing And I'm I'm not a social media guy I'm barely even on LinkedIn anymore just because I've been so busy Um you know and so I'm just like you know when someone proposes let's get on clubhouse I'm just like groaning I'm like Oh geez
Dave Morgia:yeah I haven't found a way to make it and maybe it's just not my style that we went back to but it it doesn't entice me as much as other Platforms do yet And not to say that it can't and maybe I mean I'm sure it'll grow over time Like any of these social media sites have over the years but but yeah it'll be it'll be interesting to see heaven It hasn't fit us yet At least I'll say that So uh so yeah I guess I guess it's got to it's got to grow a little bit for me at least personally
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah And I think there is a value also kind of going back to saying no to the wrong opportunity So you can say yes to the right ones It's like well I think uh let's say you're a syndicator and uh You know you're you're announcing that you're you have a clubhouse presence now So new social media thing uh that's one way of doing it The other way of doing it is saying you know we're going to go back to you being a syndicator and you know there's this whole clubhouse thing but you're going to say no to the whole clubhouse thing because you're going to keep your eye on the prize I think there was no right or wrong move here but I think both options Yes Let's jump on the new thing or Hey we're going to ignore the new thing and keep focused There's risk and reward in both
Dave Morgia:Yeah It's like it's like 80 20 rule If you have room in the 20th maybe check it out Cause it's not in your 80 then go for it But if your 20 is filled up and it doesn't align with your 80 then I think you kind of let it let it go Like for us personally I made one I threw in multifamily syndicator and real you know real estate kind of tags in my profile And I directed it back to her Instagram That's all I've done with it so far And I think it got me like a couple of DMS but but that was two minutes of work and you know at least There's something but I'm not gonna invest time in it yet because I don't think it aligns with our goals yet at least So so that's kinda my take on it
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:And either either either path you go at it it says a certain thing about You know your level of thinking and your your your methods of thinking more so you know and that's that's kind of the important part of like well what are what are you like on on the internet right Like we're talking about so you know digital or online presence like it's decisions like that that kind of help you help other people figure out what kind of person you are
Dave Morgia:Yeah absolutely I couldn't agree more It's it's again just reflecting of yourself which is your brand It's just like the whole way up up up and down the chain So all has to be congruent whether it's talking about fonts or talking about you know your speaking style or whatever So I'm right there with you Um this was an excellent talk really Like that we were able to kind of chip away at what a investor needs to be thinking about when they are talking to someone who's passively investing or anybody else who wants to get onto your your website or platform You got to have that kind of goal in mind um get into your faculty questions I thought I thought they were great And then we kind of had that little tidbit at the end love expanding and just kind of talking things out especially when it comes to the mental and the principles and all that stuff It's it's not just the technical it's the you know the mental and the fortitude and and and everything We could probably have another three hours but uh we'll we'll keep it
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:we could Yeah I already overstayed my welcome
Dave Morgia:Hey you're fine Your your the moment the time but I'm glad I was able to eat a couple more minutes out of here So uh Vitaly appreciate the time today And before we sign off do you just want to let the listener know how they get reach you
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Yeah sure So uh best way to reach me would be on LinkedIn Um it's uh Vitaly or you can just go to LinkedIn forward slash I N forward slash fatale V I T a L I Y G And just connect with me there
Dave Morgia:yeah I'll drop that in the show notes as well in they want to reach out. Yeah. Really appreciate the time today.
Vitaliy Gnezdilov:Oh, you bet. Yeah. Thanks for having me. I had a great time time, Dave.
Dave:Thank you for listening. This has been the Making Money in Multifamily Podcast. If you have any questions, comments, or would just like to connect, please feel free to check out the show notes for how you can connect or visit longviewacquisitions.com