The 5 Questions Podcast
Join us as we unlock real estate and business insights, one question at a time.
The 5 Questions Podcast
Wealth, Wisdom, and Giving Back: Conversations with Alfonso Cuadra, Nicky Billou, Jas Takhar and Danielle Chiasson
Five real estate visionaries share their insights on building wealth, creating content, and making meaningful impact through strategic investing.
• Alfonso reveals his motivation comes from seeing people build wealth that lets them spend more time with family and give back to their communities
• Freedom Tree partnership aims to build schools in Sierra Leone, Africa, with funds raised through Wealth Genius
• Nicky Billou explains why podcast guesting delivers better ROI than traditional marketing for just $600/year versus $60k-$240k for Facebook ads
• Building relationships with podcast hosts creates 100+ new business connections annually that can lead to investment partnerships
• Jas recommends new investors leverage their natural curiosity by interviewing others and repurposing content
• Content creation gets easier over time just like driving, kissing, or any other skill that initially feels awkward
• Danielle Chiasson shares how she evolved from house hacking in 2003 to sophisticated conversions and multi-unit properties
• When selecting a coach, vet at least three options and ensure they have both expertise and time to give you proper attention
• Mindset work and surrounding yourself with the right people is often more impactful than technical knowledge
• Strategic Success Consulting offers three coaching tiers from educational content to one-on-one accountability
Visit wealthgeniusai.ai/gives to support Freedom Tree's mission to build schools in Africa.
Well, I think exactly what you're doing. This, in all honesty, is the best strategy when you're getting started.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Five Questions Podcast, where we unlock real estate and business insights, one question at a time.
Speaker 3:We're at the Expand Investor Conference, I'm at the Five Questions Podcast, my brother Mario right here, and we're doing a little mini podcast. But what's going?
Speaker 2:on. It's going to be a one question, because you have to go on stage and we're busy, but you know, I wanted to ask you a thought. So, because you've been inspiring people, you inspired me, you changed my life I want to ask you why do you do it and what keeps you motivating to keep doing it? Because you don't have to.
Speaker 3:Well, you know what, if you look around here to see the smiling faces, to see people enjoying themselves, connecting, building wealth and I know that I'm changing a lot of people's lives I know that the fact that we can organize this together and help people change the trajectory of their lives.
Speaker 3:That keeps me going. When I get someone that comes up to me and says lives, that keeps me going. When I get someone that comes up to me and says, hey, alfonso, because of Wealth Genius, I can spend more time with my son. Because of Wealth Genius, I got to fly out and see my mom when she was sick. Because of Wealth Genius, I got to give back to my church. Because of Wealth Genius, I got to do all the different things that people can do with their time. And when I hear that it just fuels me, it's like I know I'm doing the right thing. Right. And you know, we want to build wealth together. And I know this is not a community that wants to buy Ferraris and boats. I mean, those things are fine, but I know that a lot of people here simply want to take an extra vacation or want to help out their parents or help out their kids or, you know, maybe take their family on a trip around the world. That's what life is about.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Life is meant to be well lived, and if I can have a part of helping someone live a better life, then that's what keeps me going.
Speaker 2:Alfonso, I have to admit I lied to you. I said I would ask you one question, but I'm going to ask you a second one, okay. You know there's the real estate and it's nice. You inspire investors, but you also try to give to people, try to help, and Freedom Tree is an organization that you are trying to help.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you are trying to build a school with. Actually, today, you announced that the fund was AFT there yeah. The goal is AFT there. So what is exactly going on with Freedom Tree? What is it? You're building a school in Africa.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so basically, freedom Tree is an organization that focuses on creating birthing clinics in Sierra Leone, africa, and you know, part of my mission is, you know, inspiring youth and teaching young people financial literacy. You know, a long time ago I got this opportunity to go to a developing country and I realized that some of these young people around the world don't even have schools, and so I became obsessed in wanting to build a school somewhere. You know it didn't have to be from El Salvador, I just wanted to contribute in some way to help move along some of these developing nations. So at some point I can come back and do financial literacy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And you know it's harder than you think. I mean, you don't know who to trust, I don't have the time, and so, you know, I thought about Tara that was doing something similar. I called her up and she's like hey, we do birthing clinics, but we're also doing schools now. And I was like Tara, I'm in, let's do it. She's passionate, she's authentic, she has integrity and you know, I know we can do a lot of good work together. You know we're going to be building wealth here and that's fine, but it's the impact that we can have together and that's also what keeps me going.
Speaker 2:So if somebody wants to donate because we're going to put this to our viewers- if somebody wants to donate to Freedom Tree or through Wealth Genius? What's the address?
Speaker 3:So wealthgeniusai forward slash gives. Okay, wealthgeniusai forward slash gives.
Speaker 2:You heard it from the man himself, the godfather. He'll say let's build something together. Thank you so much, Alfonso. Let's do this. We are here at Xpand another very, very special guest. We don't have a lot of time, but I'm very privileged to interview Nikki Balloon and thank you so much for taking the time to answer a little question. You just came off the stage and talked about the importance of being on a podcast if you want to expand your business. Yes, I'd like to ask you if you can maybe explain a little bit why to our viewers, the importance of being a guest on a podcast show.
Speaker 5:It's the trend in marketing that's actually working today, because the trends from the past aren't working as well. And this is normal in business, right? A marketing trend happens. Nobody's doing it. It's exciting. It starts to work, then everybody jumps on the bandwagon. It doesn't work as good anymore and then it's time for a new trend.
Speaker 5:So people have been doing facebook ads and social media posting for the last seven, eight years and for a while they worked really, really well. But the return on investment on facebook ads right now is negative, which means you put money in ads and you make less money out, so it doesn't really make sense anymore. And social media posting oh my God, you could post a billion things on social media and get no return and you put all this time and all this money if you're having people do the posting for you. But podcast guesting the way that I do it and I'm the world's foremost expert on podcast guesting monetization is brilliant, because you go on there and not just have a conversation, not just to vomit verbal diarrhea on people, but you go on a podcast in order to generate leads, sales and clients and with these AI driven platforms that are out there these days, you can do that my friend, with low to no spend on ads or even an agency, ai-driven platforms can cost less than 50 bucks a month and you can get between 100 and 700 shows a month. You can go on. No one's gonna go on 100 shows a month, nevermind 700, and for less than 50 bucks a month.
Speaker 5:So think about the course of a whole year. If you were doing Facebook ads, you'd be spending 5,000, 10,10,000, $20,000 a month, so somewhere between $60,000 and $240,000 a year. With podcast guesting, you can spend somewhere between $0 and $600 a year and with Facebook ads, that money that you spend is going to give you a negative return. With podcast guesting, you can make $100,000, $200,000, $500,000 for $600 spent. Come on, that makes sense to anybody. You know math might not be your strongest subject but, everybody knows $600 to get $100,000 is a good deal.
Speaker 2:It's a no-brainer for a lot of people. But so just because our audience is real estate investors in business, this is great for real estate investors because they can get more access to more deals.
Speaker 5:Listen. You go on a show, you can get access to investment money, you can get access to more deals, you can get access to people who can show you opportunities you never even thought possible, and your brand awareness goes up. So if you're in the world of real estate investing, you want people to know you in your particular area as the godfather, like our friend Alfonso of that area and podcast guesting.
Speaker 5:you build your authority, you build your brand, but you build the relationships with people. When I go on a show, there's three things I always do. First and foremost, I inspire the audience. The audience is listening to the show because they want to be inspired Very, very important. Second thing I do and this is important I got to make the host look good.
Speaker 5:You're spending money putting this setup together. You're spending time bringing me on the show. I want you to think oh my God, this guy's the best, I want him back. That's what I want you to think. Oh my God, this guy's the best, I want him back. That's what I want. But this is the most important thing everybody misses.
Speaker 5:Until I figured it out and I taught him the host is a fellow business owner. The host is a fellow investor, fellow real estate man. That host is a relationship you can build. You can do business with that host. They can be your client, you can be theirs. They can be an investor in your projects. They can be your client, you can be theirs. They can be an investor in your projects, you can be an investor in theirs. Think about this you go on 100 shows a year as a guest. That's 100 new business connections, 100 new people that you can potentially put in your network. People forget about this, they miss out on it, they don't even think about it, they just go. Oh my God, I'm on the show. Hopefully someone's going to call me, hopefully nobody. You made a relationship with that host, yeah, boom. And then there's audience members boom. Then there's the brand awareness of having hundreds of thousands to millions of people. I've been a guest on almost 700 shows. Three and a half million people have seen me on those shows.
Speaker 2:buddy, that's amazing that's a lot of relationships, that's amazing and I have almost 700 relationships with hosts.
Speaker 5:Yeah, two and a half years. Let me ask you a question Would you like to make 700 good relationships with people in the next three years? Would that be good?
Speaker 2:for you. That would be amazing. Would that be a game changer? It would change the right people. It would change a lot of people's life. It would change my life, I'm telling you my friend.
Speaker 5:I can show you how, next year, those relationships can add $50,000, $100,000, $200,000 to your income. They can open up deals you would never otherwise be able to get. If I can show you how to do this for near zero spend, will you be happy.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 5:Congratulations.
Speaker 2:Nicky, thank you so much. I know you're a busy man and you got to go. You got some other podcasts to attend, but it was a pleasure to have you for a short time on the five questions podcast. I really feel privileged that we had a short discussion and hopefully we talk again soon.
Speaker 5:Well, hopefully about it, brother, we're going to make it happen.
Speaker 2:God bless you, thank you.
Speaker 5:Have a nice day.
Speaker 2:So, as we were discussing with Jazz here thank you so much for taking the time I'd like your take on investors. We know we believe the same thing. We need to get ourselves out there. What do you suggest, or what do you think investors should do to get themselves?
Speaker 1:out there. Well, I think exactly what you're doing. This, in all honesty, is the best strategy when you're getting started, the strategy being sitting down with other people, and why so? Everyone who's watching or listening right now think about who's really doing the heavy lifting in this conversation me because you're gonna have me.
Speaker 1:You're gonna ask me four or five, six questions. It's a great idea to start those four to five six questions, like you did already, with open-ended questions what, where, when, how, why because if I answer one of your questions like what you just asked what should investors do and I say, no, that's a little weird. Yeah, right, and so for someone who wants to get started, don't try to do all the heavy lifting yourself at the start. Ease your way into that. And what you're doing, mario, is the best strategy. Because now what you can do with this long form content 20 minutes, 15 minutes, whatever it is you can chop it up. If you ask me five questions, you can chop that up to five pieces of content absolutely. And here's the best thing, because there's people. I know there are people right now.
Speaker 1:I've been blessed enough to be on stages now in the last couple of years for hundreds of thousands of people in like combined, and majority of of people are like oh my God, like I'm still new at this, like this investing thing, business owners, I just got started in business or I just got started in sales. That's actually the best time to get started, why? Because you're naturally curious. You're like me, being in the real estate investing world for the past two decades. I forget to ask stuff now, right, and I sometimes even go into my own head, which is, oh, I'm not sure if, nikki, the public needs to know that. But as a newer investor, as a newer business owner because you're naturally curious you're asking questions already. Why not just put the camera on? And I can speak from 100% experience with this For my first. I think I'm around like 280 episodes for my own podcast. It's targeted towards salespeople, not investors. The first 20 episodes I did all audio why I was scared shitless of the camera.
Speaker 3:I was scared, shitless.
Speaker 1:And then the first time I recorded on camera, I never looked at it ever. I just had it on. God bless my multimedia designer at that time, because he made me put the camera on. We got like 30 pieces of content Out of it and then that started the process for me. To kind of look at the camera, I'm like, okay, the lens don't look, it doesn't bite me. Yeah, okay, it's not gonna kill me. And then I got more and more comfortable. Now look at us. We got four cameras. I'm a little disappointed that my videographer doesn't have three on his head holding.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean you get comfortable over time.
Speaker 2:So it's a great point. It's not easy at first, but it's a must. People, investors, you have to get yourself out there.
Speaker 1:Really quickly. Mario, not to cut you off, because I love what you said there, that it's not easy at the start, but if we look back, majority of things were Driving, wasn't you know what I mean? Like you were maybe a little awkward when you were getting started 10, 2, seatbelt mirror check, and now people are like driving like this and have a cigarette, and they're drinking and eating and putting their makeup on and that's just the guys I'm talking about.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:and they're drinking and eating and putting their makeup on and that's just the guys I'm talking about. You know what I'm saying and so over time you got a little bit more comfortable. Kissing somebody was probably awkward at the start.
Speaker 1:Now we love that stuff right, and so, just like anything else, it becomes easier. And the best thing about content, the best thing that I find about content is that you don't have to do video. It's where I think you should get started, because the repurposing of content, magical things happen. But if you're not comfortable over after doing it for, say, a hundred videos, then you can take the route of just doing audio or the written word absolutely, jaz.
Speaker 2:I know you have to go on stage, but thank you so much for taking your time to talk with us, answer some, some questions. You know I love it, it was lovely to have you on the podcast.
Speaker 1:Congratulations on your success, man. Keep doing this, and I want to give you some flowers because we need more positivity out there. It's kind of the virus that I like to spread, and I can see the smile and the energy that you came with. You just kind of quickly pulled me aside, the energy that you came with you just kind of quickly pulled me aside, and for you to do that quick, that's pretty cool man.
Speaker 2:So congratulations, thank you 100%. All right, we are at Expand and yet another superstar guest. This time I am with Danielle Chaisson. Danielle, thank you so much for taking a bit of your time today to answer some questions for the 5 Questions podcast.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, I appreciate you inviting me on. I'm really excited to get to know you a little bit more in the audience and pour into your audience.
Speaker 2:So this podcast usually is a short form podcast where I ask five questions, but because we are at expand, there's so much fun happening we only have a time for maybe two questions.
Speaker 4:I don't know, I'm French too. Like you, I love to talk, so I don't know.
Speaker 2:We'll see how that goes yeah, we'll see how long we. So you've been investing for a long time now. You have investing, I think, in different strategies too, it's not only one field that you do. Maybe tell us how long have you been investing and what type of investment strategies do you use for your own investing?
Speaker 4:Great question. So I started investing back. I bought my first house back in 2003. And that was a house hack and a conversion kind of all at the same time. So there was like multiple strategies.
Speaker 4:And I think for anybody who wants to start investing and they're not sure how and especially with real estate prices, where they are right now doing that stacking is really what they need to do in order to make it work for them. So what I did is I got a partner. So there was a JV partnership involved with my best friend at the time. We got a bungalow that had an in-law suite downstairs and we lived in one and rented the downstairs. So there was like the JV. There was like house hacking cause we were renting I think we rented out a room even in the unit that we were sleeping in upstairs. So like you just stack that and then you can make it work. And then after that I just continued to buy more real estate. But when I was buying more real estate I was doing it as a landlord. I really didn't know what I was doing. There really wasn't any strategy, but I thought I knew everything.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 4:And for 10 years.
Speaker 2:Don't we do when we start right, when we start Like I had it made.
Speaker 4:Nobody in my life owned real estate other than like the really old people, and they only owned their primary right and so, like nobody had rental property. And actually when I bought my first one, I bought two at the same time, so just to put that out there. So I had, really creatively with my broker, my mortgage broker, we were able to buy two at the same time and they were duplicate houses, so it was an up and down and we rented up and down on one and then we lived in one and rented the basement. So there was yeah, it was just all very creative and that had nothing to do with any knowledge that I had, because I didn't even know what a mortgage was. I was like a mortgage is a loan from a bank and it scares the crap out of me.
Speaker 2:Like that's all I knew.
Speaker 4:And, but my again, my mortgage broker was very creative. They guided me along the way with my realtor. So you really don't need to know everything, you just need to have the right team. And so I invested for 10 years as a landlord, thought I had it made, decided in 2013 to start educating myself in real estate, went down south and then my life just blew open like wide open, and that's when I went from being an amateur investor, aka landlord, to a sophisticated investor slash real estate investor. That's what I do now, and now I just call myself an investor because I don't just invest in real estate, I don't just coach in real estate, I also do it in business. So, um, so, yeah, so I mean, I've just evolved in the last 10 years exponentially. So, to answer your question, that's how I got started and the strategies that I use primarily. Uh, in 2013, what I did was I focused on flips at the time.
Speaker 4:So the flips, turned into conversions, turned into additional units. Um, I was taking, and then it was on single family homes into two plexes and then I'd take single into three. So that can some people call that land development. I personally don't think it is, but it's more of a conversion Um. And then I started going into um, uh, small multi-units. And then recently, like as you know, in the last two years, I've been focused mainly on my coaching program instead of coaching one-to-one, one-to-many, Just from people always coming up to me and saying can you help me with this, Can you coach me on that? I love what you're doing. So now I have a whole program at Strategic Success Consulting as a company and our accelerator program has three tiers to it. So it doesn't matter where you are on your journey. We'll fit you into the tier where you fit and then help you, because everybody gets blocked.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:If you're new, if you're a seasoned investor, I mean I get blocked and I have coaches that help me through that, Right.
Speaker 2:Well, that's. It kind of leads into the second question. I wanted to to ask you question, I wanted to ask you, but first I want to make sure I understand what you're saying. Is you started small, like first house, right yeah? And then evolved slowly, slowly, bigger projects, bigger properties, and now it brought you where you are today. Having said that, you said you went and got some coaching to evolve in your journey Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Now you have a program, you offer a service to help people who want to evolve Absolutely. And what kind of program? What can they get, or what should people get if they want to evolve in real estate or start in real estate?
Speaker 4:I get that question a lot because what happens is there's so many coaching programs out there, so how do you know which one you're going to get value from Right? Because a lot of people have bought a coaching program and haven't gotten the value that they thought that they were going to get. Okay, see, and I can also take, because I've, like I'm a part of almost all of them out there and I've also experienced that Right.
Speaker 4:Or you know you get part of a big company and you think they're going to be great and then you get a coach and the coach isn't so great and they're really not tuned into you or maybe they're not giving you the attention or they're not listening to really what your needs are, maybe they're just new themselves and that happens and it's really unfortunate. At the end of the day, when you're looking at a coaching program, just like you're vetting for your power team members, your coach is on your power team and you have to vet them and ask them a lot of questions to find out whether or not it's the right fit for you Right Now. Number one is you want to ask them like what have you done in real estate? How long have you been doing it? How many assets do you have under management? How much time do you have? If you have a lot of assets under management, are you actually going to have the time to give me any attention?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Like don't get, just because somebody has a lot of assets under management doesn't mean that they're going to coach you. Well, yeah, maybe they have the knowledge, but they're not going to give you the attention you deserve, right? So that you dig deep a little bit and I always tell everybody I have a rule of three.
Speaker 2:You should be vetting at least three and comparing them. Same as a contractor, you always ask for three quotes, right?
Speaker 4:Always, always and minimum. The bigger the investment, the more you should be vetting Right. And then, as you continue to have those conversations with those multiple people, then you start learning really the gamut of what's out there. And then you, you continue to have those conversations with those multiple people, then you start learning really the gamut of what's out there. And then you can say, okay, now I know what's out there, this is going to suit me. Better than that, and more than just what they're going to provide you is also how you connect with your coach, because you need to be able to connect with that person in order to have some trust in them, because if you're not connecting with them, you don't trust them and they can tell you everything that you need to know. But if you're not trusting in what they're saying, or you don't really respect for whatever reason what they're saying, because you're not connecting with them, you're not going to put it into action.
Speaker 2:And there's a difference between having a coach and going through an educational program, because a coach is going to tell you stuff that maybe sometimes you don't like, oh my God, all the time.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and that's the biggest thing that my students love about the one-on-one program. Yeah, and you're right, there's. You know, for us our program has three tiers. One is strictly educational. It's content only for newbies. That's because, look, we don't want to charge you astronomical amount of money for something that we can give you in content and say here it's designed watch one module a week, it's 12 weeks.
Speaker 4:You're going to get through it. It's perfect. Now you have a base knowledge to follow along in the second tier if you want. So our second level is our group coaching program. It's our pathway to clarity and prosperity and essentially it's building the foundation that you need in order to actually start in real estate and scaling a business in real estate. And the reason why we did that? Because we used to have like the level one and then the level three, which was just the two programs at the time, but then we realized then the level three, which was just the two programs at the time, but then we realized in the level three, which is one-on-one accountability coaching, we were spending the first four to six months just cleaning up everybody's financial house, getting them connected with the right people, getting them clarity on their goals and their strategies. So that's what we do in the middle program and the level two program, because that is all fundamental stuff.
Speaker 2:And so we just need to do that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and then. So we set the foundation for people so that now, once they get through that program, if they choose they can go out and do it on their own and put properties under contract and, you know, go vet properties, whatever. But if they want to go into the one on one accountability program, now we're there with you every step of the way and that's the highest and best use of the time for you to have your coach is when you're putting a property under contract. You want your coach to look at schedule A and make sure the clauses are in there. You want them to run the numbers for you and give you that validation that hey, this is a good deal. You want them.
Speaker 4:I just had a conversation with one of my students lawyers the other day, uh, last week, and that was because the lawyer wasn't understanding something which we've all run across, that I don't understand how, because they do this every day, but anyway. So then I had to like talk them through. It was a wholesale deal, mind you, it was a little bit more complex but in any event.
Speaker 4:So then we kind of calmed down the lawyer a little bit, explained how things work, and that's why it's important you have the right people on your team. But in any event, so that's what your coach is good for is to help you through that, not just to say, oh, this is what this acronym means and this is what you know wholesaling means. No, like, all of that is fundamental stuff that we can give you for a lot cheaper in a different program, right?
Speaker 2:I believe in coaches, because Alfonso is one of my coaches and once I started working with him and being around him, it changed my life.
Speaker 4:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So having a coach that you fit with is almost indispensable If you want to grow, and not just grow as financially, grow as a person too, because they're going to bring you to somewhere else that maybe you you didn't even expect to go.
Speaker 4:I love that you said that, because the biggest impact that I have on my students is the mindset.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:It's the mindset. So it's also like just structuring your life so that you're around the right people that are going to help you get to where you want to be, and also around the right people that are going to put you, that are going to lift you, put you in a better place mentally and stronger, because I think a lot of times we put too much weight on the people that are closest to us, that we're born into and that's your biological family, but then you have your chosen family and those are the people that are going to really help you elevate Right. And so I just like to help people learn to segment and put different groups of people in different silos and understand what their purpose is in your life. And I'm going to tell you right now, your uncle and your cousin, like those are not the people that are going to help you in real estate. No wrong silo.
Speaker 2:Sometimes they'll stop you because they think they know best and they don't want you to get hurt. They do it out of love, absolutely, but it's not maybe the right thing to do for your journey. Danielle, you know you were right.
Speaker 4:We like to talk, we could keep going. I'm just saying we could keep going for another half an hour here easily.
Speaker 2:But thank you so much for your time that you gave and answered some questions. If people want to work with you and get enrolled in your program, how can they reach you?
Speaker 4:So the easiest way to get a hold? Well, two ways. You can go to my Instagram and shoot me a DM. So it's daniellechason, it's at daniellechason. Or you can go to my website, which is strategicsuccessconsultingcom, and there's a contact us page. There you can submit a form and then, just you know, you can book a call. Like even on my Instagram. Go to my Instagram page. You can just book a call right away. Just click on the link in my bio and then that's like a link tree, so there's different information. There you can find the link to book a call directly with me.
Speaker 4:Yeah, there you go, the one thing that I love too about that. I'm just going to say, like every time, I want people, when you book a call, bring a challenge to the table, because then it's fun for me too, and then if we want to talk about anything else beyond that, but I want to make sure that there's value given back in exchange for your time.
Speaker 2:So yeah, hey, you heard it. It's easy to do Book a call with Danielle and step up your game. Danielle, thanks again and we'll talk again soon.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Maybe we'll have a full podcast next time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right.
Speaker 4:High five, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Thanks for tuning in to the 5 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.