The 5 Questions Podcast
Join us as we unlock real estate and business insights, one question at a time.
The 5 Questions Podcast
Discover the Path to Fulfillment and Financial Success with Patrick Francey
Unlock the secrets of successful real estate investing with Patrick Francey, CEO of the Real Estate Investment Network! Whether you're an active or passive investor, Patrick’s insights into education and strategic planning are essential for success in the Canadian market.
Beyond financial goals, this conversation dives into personal fulfillment—how envisioning your ideal life is just as important as wealth-building. Inspired by my wife Stephanie, an Olympic mental performance coach, we discuss the commitment behind big achievements. Tune in for motivation, life lessons, and real estate wisdom from everyday millionaires!
https://reincanada.com/
Sponsored by Aliferous Academy: https://aliferousacademy.com/
#RealEstateInvesting #PersonalGrowth #FinancialFreedom
Ultimately, who you are as a person is actually how you show up as that leader on that team.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the 5 Questions Podcast, where we unlock real estate and business insights one question at a time. This episode is sponsored by Illiferous Academy. I'm Christian. Spilfogel and this is your Illiferous Academy. Finding top-notch real estate education can be tough. Many courses are taught by novices. I am Cherry Chen, and this is your Illiferous Academy.
Speaker 1:I'm Seth Ferguson and this is your Illiferous Academy.
Speaker 2:At Illiferus Academy, only experts in their field teach the courses. I'm Mark Amiat, and this is your Elliphorus Academy. I'm Melissa Dupuis and this is your Elliphorus Academy. Elliphorus Academy all the experts one subscription. I'm Chad Robinson and this is your Elliphorus Academy. Dive into self-paced courses, regular group coaching and stay ahead with fresh content every month. Sign up now at ElliphorusAcademycom. Welcome to the 5 Questions Podcast. I am your host, mario Lamar, our guest on today's show. He is the CEO of RAINN, the Real Estate Investment Network. He has over 40 years of experience in real estate investment, education, entrepreneurship, personal and professional development, and he is an expert speaker and coach. Welcome, patrick, franci. Patrick, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me on the show. I look forward to the conversation.
Speaker 2:Patrick, the concept of our podcast is really simple. I ask five questions about real estate or business in general and we get straight to the point. You ready? Okay, let's do it. See a lot of people you know wanting to start their journey in real estate investing. What do you believe is the most critical factor for someone starting their journey in real estate investing?
Speaker 1:in today's market. I mean, the shortest answer would be the lack of education. You know the would be the first, and the shortest answer you know is really first steps is getting an understanding, that part of, at least a sense of what's going on in real estate, why you want to invest in real estate. But ultimately, you know, coming and creating a plan is ultimately where you have to step back and go. Okay, what is it that I want real estate to do for me? And then, what is the strategy or tactics I will do to or use to achieve that goal?
Speaker 2:Right. So someone doesn't just get started in real estate for the heck of having investments. There's a purpose behind getting started into real estate investing.
Speaker 1:Well, whether you do it yourself, whether you're going to be a do-it-yourselfer, where you're going to actually be the person that's going out finding deals and doing the math and doing the diligence and really grinding it out, which is what many do Not everybody is built to do that. Some just want to park capital and put it into a store of value. Real estate is that store of value and, especially given what's going on in the world these days, it's been a very effective store of value and has been for many years. And as much as we think about the headlines that are saying that Canada is going down the tank and we're in a real estate bubble and all of the stories and the headlines that go along with it, real estate will remain a very strong store of value. The reason I give you that background is because some people who aren't do-it-yourselfers realize that real estate can, in fact, be a great place to invest their capital and get a return on that investment. But, having said that, a lot just trust where they're putting that cash without doing the diligence in behind to say, well, what is this deal? What is my exit strategy? Okay, it's one thing, I'm writing the check, but how am I exiting this deal, or what is the expectation and why of the expectation of that return on that investment? So, whether you do it yourself, or which takes a lot more education, but having said that, even if you're an investor, which is a hands-off I want to be an armchair kind of guy. I just want to put cash in the game. There's still education that goes along with it, and what we're seeing is the results of people who didn't do that diligence. We're certainly experiencing it in Vancouver and in the Toronto slash GTA condo market, for example.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. That brings us to our second question. You have a philosophy. You've been very successful in your endeavors and your businesses, but there's a philosophy behind it that emphasizes of creating a context for life with intention and purpose. Now can you share with us the approach, this approach and how it has influenced your own life, but also your business decisions?
Speaker 1:this approach and how it has influenced your own life, but also your business decisions. I think, ultimately, when we look at, you know what we want to achieve in life. You know at some point in our life we just want to go out and make money. Now, I think that's fine, and you start to realize at some point, though, that is making money is an important part of it, and being profitable in business is all part of it Having a great income, whether that's in entrepreneurship or in a great career but ultimately we want to have enjoy life, we want to get fulfillment, we want to make a difference, we need to be recognized for the work that we do. So it's all to say that the dollars and cents of it are one aspect of it, but are you having fun? Are you feeling fulfilled? Are you making a difference in the world? That becomes far more intentional. So a little bit more of a long-winded answer is that you know there's lots of memes out there. We've all seen and heard the quotes. You know it's not the goal, it's who you have to become to achieve the goal. It's not the goal, it's who you have to become to achieve the goal. It's not the goal, it's the journey, and that's all true, by the way. Having said that, it is intentional. You know it's being open to and having an open mindset as opposed to a closed mindset. You know, there are those individuals who literally believe that they're genetically predisposed, predisposed to being a certain way, acting a certain way. It's like the common phrase, just the way I am, yeah, and you know, really that's not the case. It's who you're choosing to be, and we do have a choice. And so when we look at a goal, for example, that we might have a vision for our life so I'm not a big goal setter, I am a real, strong proponent of having a vision for my life. So, in other words, what do I want my life to look like, what do I want it to feel like, who do I want to be in relationship with? So when I start to have that vision, I'm going well, who do I have to become to achieve that vision? And so I don't want to minimize that phrase. It's a common phrase, but it is so, so true is that it's not about the doingness of things as much as it is about who do I have to become to do that, and that becomes a very conscious choice, and so when you start to create a vision for your life, for your then translates to your business. It's about who you are, who you want to be, how do you want to show up, how do you want to be known, what are the relationships you want to attract? And so those are very intentional thought processes that it actually takes work to do that. You have to sit down and go well, gosh, who am I really? Who do I want to be? And so that's the conscious work that we do in reflection of I will call it identity.
Speaker 1:But who are you in the context of your life and what changes are you willing to put in? And you know, there's a Mary. The thing about it is that people say they want change, and that's true, but what's behind that is the reality about it is that people say they want change, and that's true, but what's behind that is the reality is that very few people want to change. So, in other words, they want the outcome. They just don't want to do what it takes to achieve that. They don't want to become the person and I'm part of that. As you get older, you're in these relationships. It's family, friends, peers, and a lot of individuals don't make changes in their life because the fear of the judgment of those friends, those peers, that family, and so these are some of the kind of the pros and cons, the yin, the yang, the. You know I want to do that, but, oh, but what if they don't like me if I do that?
Speaker 1:So these are kind of the quandary and that's why I spend a lot of time in my own coaching and the work that I do with individuals is okay. Are you willing to be misunderstood in the context of your life and are you intentionally creating a context? So I don't know if that answered the question or not, but that's kind of the over high level view of how I view life and how I view business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it absolutely does answer. And to further your point, people, you're right, they do want to change, but do they want to put the efforts that's going to take them in that different outcome that they, and not a lot of people are willing to put in that effort? Because sometimes you have to do major shifts in your life to be able to achieve the end result that you really want. So I 100% agree with you.
Speaker 1:Well, it's interesting too, mario, is that? Just expand on that a little bit. So my wife, stephanie, is an Olympic and world-class mental performance coach. You know, right as we speak, olympics and she's in Paris and her team is gold medalists in another sport. But long story short, is that what we've come to recognize in.
Speaker 1:We've worked with athletes and business owners for many years in our own programs but people see the outcome, so we'll use the example of. We've noticed that people see the odium, they see the athletes, or they see those individuals getting those awards or getting the medals, whatever that might be, and they want that. Yeah, what they don't see is what it took to get there and who those individuals had to become to actually achieve that outcome and who they had to show up as how they had to build their teams and behind them, like, there's so much involved in that journey. And so you not only see the, you know that outcome is. You know it's seconds long.
Speaker 1:Okay, gold medal, Okay Done. You wake up the next day and you go okay, now what? Okay, well, I spent my whole life to get that gold medal. I've got it, and this is some of the things that people don't really think behind is like I want that to your point. Are you willing to not just do the work, but it takes a shift of who you are to actually achieve that. So again, a little bit in depth, but just to give it some extra context.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. That brings us to our third question. And you have a profound commitment to holistic growth. Okay, we can. We can even read that in your bio. Now, how do you integrate personal development with professional success in your different coaching and educational programs?
Speaker 1:You know there's a lot to that question, so, but having said all of that, you know, many years ago I remember coming off the stage after speaking and I'd been sharing some of my story. That was part of what I was on stage for as a keynote. And as I came off the stage, a young man approached me as they're going to break, and he said Patrick goes, gosh, how many hours a week do you work? And it really threw me off and I went I don't know, I don't think of it that way. I don't track hours. I've been a business owner for 40 plus years not at that time, but I'd been a business owner. I mean I go. There's no really distinction. This is my life, and so whether I'm working, not working, whether I'm on stage, off stage, whether I'm in my operations of my business or on the beach, this is just my life. I don't calculate hours. So part of that is because I love what I do, and so it doesn't really feel like work, although it's a lot of responsibility and accountability. That's all part of the game that we play called business and life in general.
Speaker 1:So, ultimately, as we evolve as people, as I evolve as a man, as you evolve as a man or women or whatever the case is. We evolve as people. The differentiation of who we are when we're having a conversation with friends versus who we are professionally there isn't that big a difference. We still have to hang our hat on the values that we embrace. What's important to us, who we are, if you're a business owner, if you're a manager, if you're a supervisor, whatever if you're the pointy end of the spear of your team, ultimately who you are as a person is actually how you show up as that leader on that team. And so if you're not being an effective leader on your team, if you go back into your life overall, there's probably lots of gaps, lots of places where you're not being effective there either. And so as we evolve and grow as people and as we get really conscious as to how we're showing up, maybe we have to embrace more empathy, more compassion, better listening skills. That's in all aspects of our life, not just business.
Speaker 1:So when I talk about holistic, you know personal professional development. There's the personal development part of it, which is who are you? There's the professional development is how does that translate into being a great leader? How does that translate into operating your business. How does that translate into creating the culture and the environment? Because that has to be. If you're a business owner, and whether that's in real estate or just business in general, your business needs to be a reflection of who you are Full stop. And that reflection is based on you defining who you are and being very clear on that. That takes reflection, it takes intentionality, it takes putting systems together, maybe breaking old habits. I mean, there's lots of development in that process.
Speaker 2:And one thing I also want to add to your point is sometimes you start your journey and you start your development and it's okay to take a step back and refocus, reassessed, because you might not get it 100% right the first time. But as yeah, exactly as long as you, you're okay with that take a step back and refocus, change a few things and then go forward again.
Speaker 1:And just to your point, Mario, is that you have to always be assessing, because you go through different phases of your life. You go through different phases in your business. There was a point where in my early on in one of my businesses, I was the technician, I was in the business my one of my businesses I was the technician, I was in the business. I exited that business. I still own it, but I'm no longer in it. That was a phase that I went through where I was growing to be the business owner, not the entrepreneur, not the solopreneur. So you know, now I have a team of people that operate that business. I check in with them every couple of weeks. You know we share information and we do all those things. But that's the shift of me.
Speaker 1:As I went through that phase of my business and my life, as I had to mature into that, I had to grow into it. Some people do that very quickly. You know, I don't think I did. I think I'm a pretty slow study, but ultimately I know now, today, at 66 years old, who I want to be.
Speaker 1:I have a vision for who I am at 70. And I started implementing that a year ago. I'm going okay, this is how I want to be at 70 years old, and so I'm looking into the vision for my 70 year old self, the same as I looked into the vision for my 50 year old self and my 60 year old self, you follow, what I'm saying here is that we go through these phases and what served me at 50 doesn't work for me at 66, you know. So these are things, and that becomes a place of intentionality and I can't. You know I've said it a few different ways, but ultimately we have to be intentional about it. And, to your point, as you step back and you go yeah, this doesn't work for me anymore and I have to change. I have to shift my view of the world and how I look at the world that I'm playing in today.
Speaker 2:Brings us to our fourth question. You have a podcast of your own called the Everyday Millionaires Podcast, which maybe one day you'll invite me on, but we'll see about that. So you inspired many, many listeners that went and listened. But I want to hear it from you what you believe the most powerful lesson your audience can get from your podcast, like why should they go and listen to the Everyday Millionaire Podcast? Why should they?
Speaker 1:go and listen to the Everyday Millionaire podcast. You know when that show came out I started producing that podcast eight years ago and you know we do about a hundred and some thousand downloads a month now it's become. It was kind of an interesting tipping point. Now, having said all of that, you know the premise of the show was very, very fundamental. Many want to have that status of being a millionaire, literally a true millionaire, in other words, a net worth less your home, liquidatable assets, a million bucks and it doesn't sound like a lot of money these days, especially when the government's out there talking about billions and trillions and it seems like what's a million bucks? Our house is 1.5 million, so we lose a little bit of context for it, but less than 3% of the population have a net worth of a million dollars, a true net worth of a million bucks, and so it's still a very great goal for people to strive for, to want to achieve. Now, having said all of that, the podcast was born from the observation I had of my circle of influence, of how many true multi-millionaires I knew and I was friends with, who were just quietly doing their thing. They had no fanfare, no branding, no big deal. They had great businesses and the realization that there was really nothing special about them. They were really nice people and they were pretty savvy, but there was nothing special and so they were just everyday people who had created this net worth. So the lesson in all of it and where I try and go when I interview my guests and I've had some amazing guests, that it's the premise is seemingly ordinary individuals who have achieved extraordinary results, and my message is if they can do it, you can do it too. And so when I'm interviewing my guests, I'm really looking about and having conversations. It's long format. It's easily an hour to an hour and a half, sometimes even longer, depending on the guest.
Speaker 1:But ultimately, how did you get there? You know what is your story? You know, is it nature, is it nurture? Did you come out of the chute? An entrepreneur, or did you get supported? Did you learn? How did you do that?
Speaker 1:And so, ultimately, the stories and the interviews that I'm doing are really to send a message that if they can do it, you can do it too. And I know that my guests would say that is that there's nothing special about me, and some of them have very, very jaded past very difficult upbringings. Others had magical upbringings. You know parents who were very, very supportive, and so it's not a case of well, they, you know they came from the lucky sperm club, it wasn't. It isn't about that. Some of them were just like my parents divorced at six and I was on my own and I was raised by a single mom and, like they all have stories and the point is is that, regardless of their story, they went on to do really great things because of the determination that they had and the commitment to their life and to being and being fulfilled and being a contribution.
Speaker 2:You know and I encourage everybody to go listen to the Everyday Millionaire podcast, because this is what we need. Maybe we can use it as fuel, you know, in our endeavors, in our personal lives, our business endeavors. All we need is a little bit of self-confidence that we can achieve something and then we use those tools, like those podcast episodes, to fuel our next steps, to bring us further. And thank you for putting that platform for people to listen to it, because I think I believe it too, and that's what a little bit I try to do is influence people where maybe they come from nothing, but they could still achieve great things.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's very, very good there's a quote that I often use which is to your point, mario around confidence is that I use a quote often that confidence is rarely owned, it's almost always borrowed, and so when you listen to some of these podcasts, what you're really doing is borrowing some confidence. Gosh, if they can do it, oh, look at that, they did it, I can do it too. You're borrowing confidence and then you're using that to kind of build your own foundation to help you climb that mountain whatever that mountain is that you climb to take that next step. And so you borrow confidence and you borrow it from others and, because of how you're built and how you're wired, you're actually giving confidence to others. That's your intention. You got this. You know you got this. Those are powerful words for people.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, patrick, it brings us to our fifth question already, but through your programs, through your educational programs, you impacted countless lives. I want to hear from you what you consider your greatest accomplishment in helping others achieve either their financial or business goals.
Speaker 1:I don't. Oh gosh, that's a tough question. I don't know that I can say that, uh, I have a greatest accomplishment. I think for me, my greatest accomplishment is in my own kind of realizations, my own development, and that only came with a lot of years Like I say, I'm a pretty slow study, I think but my greatest accomplishment was in my own development, personally and professionally, and the realization that I had is that start living my values, being true to who I am.
Speaker 1:My tagline personally is be your greatest self, live your best life, and so when I'm on these interviews, when I'm on my podcast, when I'm coaching and doing the programs that Stephanie and I roll out, that's where we're coming from is supporting people in being their greatest selves, living their best life by design.
Speaker 1:So it's all about intentionality. So if there's an accomplishment that I can say is my greatest accomplishment, it is in my own realizations and development of that. The other part of that question is if, in reflection, what would I encourage others to do? Number one is be coachable, and number two is engage those who've gone before you, and those are two lessons that I learned, and you know that this point in my life I really feel quite clear that wisdom comes from just time on this earth. You know, and some people are born old souls and they have some kind of ingrained wisdom. I don't, maybe I wasn't that person, but I now know at this point in my life, uh, where that experience and you know that can be passed on and that's what I look forward to doing. So if I have an accomplishment, it's getting to this point in my life, having the success in my business and then being able to be the contribution that I want to be to support others in their success.
Speaker 2:Patrick, so much insights, so much valuable lessons that we got to learn from you today. Thank you for being on the five questions podcast and I hope that we speak again very soon.
Speaker 1:Look forward to it. Thanks, Mario.
Speaker 2:All right, Bye-bye. Thanks for tuning into the Five Questions podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, like and hit the notification bell on our YouTube channel so you never miss an episode. Stay tuned for more insights and tips to transform your real estate and business game. See you next time.