In this blog, we interviewed Brian Snider, the COO of Collective Genius - one of the biggest real estate investing masterminds in the country.
Brian has an incredible journey, going from being a middle school math teacher to helping build and run one of the largest wholesaling companies in Indianapolis. He now leads Collective Genius, working with some of the nation's top house flippers and real estate wholesalers.
In this wide-ranging discussion, we will cover:
Whether you're looking to quit your 9-5, scale an existing business, or take your investing to the next level, this episode is packed with golden nuggets. Let's dive in!
To start things off, Brian takes us back to his teaching days and what led him to make the jump into real estate investing and wholesaling:
I was a math teacher teaching middle school math. I liked being a teacher, it was good. But I reached all my goals and everything I wanted something else to do. So got my Master's to become a principal and realized that was like the worst job in the world. Did not want to become a principal at all after I went through that and stuff.
So I was just looking for something else and I literally just teamed up with my buddy Brett Snodgrass and he already had an existing business. I came in to help him and I had no idea what wholesaling was, anything about real estate. Had never bought my own house yet, had never sold a house. I was complete newbie and honestly by teaming up with Brett, really just kind of jumping in and understanding it and learning and connecting with people like David Lecko and stuff, I mean I went from really just coming in and doing some marketing stuff, helping out to running dispo to running operations.
This is a common thread we see time and time again - partnering with an experienced investor when first getting started can dramatically shortcut the learning curve. Brian was able to bypass years of trial and error by joining forces with someone who had already built a successful real estate investing business.
Next, we discussed the all-important question of how much money needs to be invested into marketing and lead generation to get those first wholesale deals:
Our goal was always to have at least a $3 or $3 for every dollar that we put into it. That's always what we wanted to do for our return on investment. And for if you're going out there trying to figure out like, oh, what do I need to spend? You got to do one of two things. Either you got to spend time or you got to spend money. It's one or the other.
I think DealMachine is a great avenue to get into that where you can have some low cost lead gen is what I like to refer to DealMachine because there's a little bit of money you can put into it and time, you got to do both of those things to put that into it.
This is a great benchmark to shoot for - trying to get at least a 3x return on your marketing dollars. When just starting out, it may take some trial and error to dial in your marketing and refine your systems. But within 3-6 months, you should aim to be profitable.
DealMachine is a great option since it can provide motivated seller leads for both your time and money. Whether you're driving for dollars or sending direct mail campaigns, take advantage of both avenues in the beginning.
As the COO of Collective Genius, Brian works with real estate investors at all different stages. He explained the three levels of the mastermind:
This is for newer investors who have completed at least 8-10 deals in a year. They know how to source and real estate wholesale deals but are looking to turn it into an actual business. The goal is to double their deal flow.
At this level, investors likely have 1 or more employees and are doing 20+ deals per year. The focus is on scaling the business responsibly - figuring out systems, processes, hiring, budgeting, etc.
This is for elite investors doing 100+ deals per year. With an established business, it shifts to legacy, lifestyle, and diversifying into other strategies like flipping, commercial, multifamily, etc.
This pathway shows that real estate investing is a journey. You can start small with just a few deals, reinvest profits to grow, and eventually build it into a major enterprise. Masterminds like Collective Genius provide the community, coaching, accountability, and support needed along the way.
We asked Brian about what separates those who succeed and those who struggle when getting started:
Really what it came down to is just it's that taking action thing. It's those people that I mean, you can come, you can have a plan, you can have the best laid out, you know, blueprint for how to do things and stuff like that. But it's people that take action is the is the biggest difference in the world.
And then also, too, just knowing, I say to back that up, it's it's also knowing when to ask for help, connecting with the right people that can help you out and asking questions and just educating yourself and things like that. I think it just goes a long way way.
The third part of that, I think, too, is just be that person that's willing to help. I think if right behind taking action and then connecting with the right people, asking questions, stuff, it's just being able to help.
This reinforces the theme that action is what matters most when getting started in real estate investing. Having plans and tools like DealMachine is great, but taking action on those plans will determine your success.
Asking for help and being willing to help others along the way is also invaluable. Real estate investing is a people business, so building genuine relationships is crucial.
To wrap up the interview, we asked Brian how he went from real estate newbie to COO of the largest real estate investing mastermind:
I've just kind of jumped in [in life] and throughout my real estate career
Brian consistently took opportunities to add value, help others, and put himself out there. This opened doors and enabled him to rapidly advance from a wholesaling employee to COO of one of the largest real estate communities.
So dream big and take action. You never know how far real estate investing can take you!
I want to thank Brian for taking the time to share his journey and insights.
Some key takeaways:
Whether you're looking to replace your current income or build a real estate empire, the opportunity is there. Start taking steps forward and you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish.