Primal AF

Andrew Freed - Multifamily Investor and Multifaceted in Evolving

• Jimmy Napolitano

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Welcome to Primal af. This episode is one of my favorites. This guy is a rising star in the go abundance and emerge world. A lot of people know who he is, but also for me, he is actually my pot and I'm really close to him.  After talking to him , We find out  how he is multifaceted and evolving.

I'm talking about my man, Andrew Freed. Let me know what you think.

Find Andrew Freed on IG:  @investorfreed

Welcome to Primal af. This episode is one of my favorites. This guy is a rising star in the go abundance and emerge world. A lot of people know who he is, but also for me, he is actually my pot and I'm really close to him. After talking to him We find out how he is multifaceted and evolving. I'm talking about my man, Andrew Fried. Let me know what you think.

Jimmy:

Well, I appreciate you, uh, being flexible. We just had the, um, One of the boys' soccer games just but, um, well, cool. We'll, um, we'll just get into it, brother. How you doing?

Andrew:

I am fantastic. Thank you for having me on the Primal Podcast. It's super

Jimmy:

honored. D well, it's an honor for you to be on here, like pod mate. Um, your thing is investing. We'll talk a little bit about that, but just a little bit about everything else

Andrew:

too. Yeah. Yeah, sounds good. You definitely got, you could definitely got health figured out yourself, so kind of trying to learn that from you.

Jimmy:

So, I mean, it's just, it's just about environment. So, I mean, a lot of people look up to you in, in the investment world through abundance and emerge and stuff. It's funny cuz I was talking, I, you know, I was telling you, but. I was talking to a bunch of other people and you are the type of person that they're talking about when they say that the people in Emerge are hungrier than some people in in GoBundance. I'm like, yo, that's that dude Andrew, because I mean, you're always pushing everybody in our group. You're like, well, I like it because like, you know, you're like, nah, dude, that's bullshit. You left this out. I'm like, yes, yes. I mean, especially me. I like being called out here like you. You left this out.

Andrew:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's why I love the Emerge Group, and that's why I love masterminds in general, because I love being called, though, I love holding, uh, people, holding me accountable. I love when pe, when I, you know, I do something wrong and people call it out because how do we get better people don't point out our flaws or our failures, right? How are we gonna be the best version of ourself? If we don't address those, those issues. Right.

Jimmy:

Absolutely. So like, take us back, give us, give us, uh, give us like a short or shorter or long, I don't care. Um, like background or intro. Where'd you come from? Uh, how you got into what you're doing.

Andrew:

Where did I come from? So I grew up in a small town, 20 minutes south of Boston. Um, and growing up I didn't have any friends. I was extremely introverted. I had adhd and I think they prescribed me like, 60 milligrams of Adderall when I was, I don't know, like in third grade. So I was truly just zonked out, didn't know how to talk with anybody, just stuck in my head the whole time. And I literally like had like one friend pretty much all through elementary school until high school. Um, and then at that point I kind of weaned myself off of Adderall and kind of learned how to talk with people again and socialize. Um, and then at that point, Kind of my life blossomed from there. Mm-hmm. And I, um, eventually graduated from UMass Amherst, uh, with a business degree. And then I got into project management in research. And from there I kind of ascended the corporate ladder to kind of a six figure job. Um, and then Covid hit, and then my kind of world fell apart when I read Rich Dad, poor Dad. And I was like, at the end of the day, you know, I do make this good money. I do have a swanky condo in Boston, but you know, I, more or less, um, and paycheck to paycheck, yeah, maybe I have six months, maybe I have 12 months of, of reserves built up. But at the end of the day, I always have to go crawling back to that job. And that actually, that frightened me. That frightened me to death. And at that point I kind of was determined to make a change in my life, um, and really take hold of my future. And that's kind of what got me into real estate investing.

Jimmy:

So is that, is that the only change that you made with just like real estate and just like a, a professional switch that way?

Andrew:

Um, so, That was the major shift where I kind of took control of my destiny, cuz more or less, I always relied on the W two. I always thought my escape from the RA race was to move up the corporate ladder. Yeah. But I came to the realization that, um, 20 or 30 K a year isn't gonna make a difference. Mm. Right. Like, you gotta make a big move. Um, and I thought real estate was that move. So that's kind of when I, when I went all into multi-family investing out in Worcester. Um, and today I have about 30 rental units.

Jimmy:

So, so what do you think, what do you think sparked your interest to get into multi-family? Because you are that dude,

Andrew:

thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Um, what got me in the multi-family, um, because it was easy. It's literally the easiest asset class in real estate investing. If it makes sense as a multi, it's gonna make sense. As a short term rental, it's gonna make sense as a medium term rental. And it's easy. It's even easier than single family because single family, once you lose a renter, you're out a hundred percent of the mortgage, at least in multifamily, five, a four unit building. I lose one, I still have the mortgage covered and maybe some, a little additional money for a CapEx and repair. Okay. Um, so it's literally like the safest play. Um, and the other reason why I decided to get into mals, it's a low barrier to entry. You can get into malty with owner-occupied low down payment loans. And as a result, I end up getting in my first six units with as little as$50,000 because I moved into it, uh, with three 5% down. And then a year later I did that with another three family as well.

Jimmy:

Good for you. I mean, that's, I mean, that sounds like the, the smartest move, but um, yeah, that's, that's really, that's really cool. It's really good to step into that. So, wait a minute, did I hear you say that you waned yourself off of the, um, ADHD

Andrew:

medication? Yes. Yeah, that was, um, that was one of the best decisions of, of my life. I mean, um, you know, when it comes to d h d, some people view it as a weakness. Uh, but I view it as a strength because what's really good about d h adhd, which comment many people talk about, is the fact that. You become hyperfocused. Like when I am hyperfocused in something, I don't have any distractions. Like I can get stuff done like three, four or five times as quicker than other people because it's like a hyper-focused type sort of situation. So I kind of, it, it took a while to kind of figure out how to manage a d ADHD kind of work within the realm, uh, of that. But once I've kind of got a hold on it, I, it's, I've actually kind of transitioned that to a superpower so I can really jump in the flow. Pretty easily in regards to kind of doing work and advancing my goals.

Jimmy:

Dude, I love that you said that. I was listening. I forgot what, I forgot who I was listening to, but they were saying something to that extent, and you know how I. How we kind of take boys in, in the education world right now. We just want to kind of keep'em in line. So, you know, the boys that are, you know, rambunctious and, you know, they're full of energy. We just try and, you know, sit'em down in a chair and just make'em focus. We're, that's not what they wanna do. I mean, they're supposed to be outside, like playing and then we give'em medication just to kind of like calm'em down and kind of fall in line. Mm-hmm. Which I feel like is. Probably the best for W two s. Just follow in line, you know, follow orders and do that, but, mm-hmm. You know, kind of following your line, it's kind of like you almost broke that system and said, no, I'm not gonna take this medicine. And then, you know, look at the success that you created for yourself now. You kind of fell out of that and you just doing your own thing, so you get to hyper focus on something else.

Andrew:

Yeah, I mean, you're totally right and you know, with every strength comes a weakness, and with every weakness comes a strength. And you really kind of have to figure out how can I turn this weakness into a strength and how can I mitigate my weaknesses and maybe give that off to another party that might do that better so I can focus on building my strengths. Um, and that's really been instrumental, um, in my success, is not focusing on my weaknesses, but focusing on my strengths and delegating my weaknesses.

Jimmy:

Oh, boom. I was just gonna ask you what your weaknesses are. You just shove'em off to somebody else to get a virtual assistant to do

Andrew:

that. Totally, totally. I mean, yeah. I mean, when it comes to weaknesses, um, social media, I mean, uh, the monotony of doing a social post, uh, editing it. Uh, of doing the caption like that just drains me. Mm-hmm. Um, and I would rather create the content and give it to somebody else to make it look pretty and put it on the internet. So, um, that just allows me so much more energy to put towards things that I do have a fire for. I do have that desire to, to do that. So,

Jimmy:

It's not bad. You just kind of wish you had a team following you around to just do all the edit in market, market it up and send it out, and you can just do your

Andrew:

thing. Yes. Yeah, yeah, totally. I can definitely hire a photographer to just follow me everywhere, so,

Jimmy:

oh man. If I did that, it would, it would be like a, like a bad, it would just be a bad time. I wouldn't look as, I wouldn't look as good.

Andrew:

Don't, Hey, don't give yourself, don't give yourself too little credit, man. You got like an eight pack over there.

Jimmy:

It's, uh, it's tough, man. Like I thought I was one of those guys growing up where I, I'll tell you what, I look better now than I ever did in college or, or high school. Really? Absolutely. By far. Like I was always like, no, I was always kind of like a little big once I, you know, gained enough weight, but, uh, I never had, I could never see my abs and, um, It was really, I, I just feel like everybody has, everybody that I talked to at least has about the same story because we, we go into Covid and we get to determine how we come out of it. Mm-hmm. So we either, you know, sit around and, you know, be a victim and be like, oh, you know, woe is me. Or, you know, we do something, we do something productive during it, we come out better for it. So I changed my nutrition and when I did that, that started showing up. I was like, it wasn't like, wasn't pushups and sit-ups and stuff like that. It was, it was strictly just cutting out the, the shit. Mm-hmm. So, I mean, it was pretty good in that sense.

Andrew:

So what, so what switched for you then, because you were telling me you weren't into fitness and clearly now you're extremely into fitness. Like what shifted for you? To get you to go all into that. Similar to how I went all into real estate investing. Right?

Jimmy:

Yeah, I mean, that's a good question. I would say it, it was right about that time. I've, I've was always been into some sort of training, you know, I just didn't have any clearer or set goals. I was just doing shit to do it. You know, I'd go to the gym just to lift for, for, there was no specific goal. So, um, it was actually, uh, a mentor and a really good friend at work. Who kind of pushed that, that goal setting? Um, as far as money at first, cuz I, I, I was in debt a lot. Um, so he kind of helped me like structure, goals and time block my day and everything was time blocked and the physical stuff ended up being the easiest for me because it was just like that mentality of like, you could go get it and you could set habits to do that. Um, But after that, I think that snowballed and got other things clear for me. So, you know, I could, I could goal set my day as far as training, and now I could goal set my day as far as work and, and making money, and then I could start goal setting and getting clear on other things like I, I needed to do. So it just, it, it just all fell in line that way.

Andrew:

Can you tell me, since Covid you, you got outta debt, you're in the best shape of your life and your family situation is, In, in one of the better situations. Am I understanding that correctly?

Jimmy:

That's pretty much it. I mean, it's, it was just like a process of cutting out that was probably the best way to, to, to state it, to state it. Cutting out things that weren't in line with the goals. So I love alcohol and I love drinking, but I. Getting in shape, but like, I, I couldn't make that fit and then I couldn't make it fit financially and I couldn't make it fit for the marriage. So that was the first thing to go. Um, after that, you know, everything got a little bit

Andrew:

clearer. Yeah. I mean, to your point, life's so much easier when you live by your values and you live by what, what you believe in, you know? Mm-hmm. Even just, even in, even in. Um, business, you know, when you deal with people with the same values as you, with people who want to create, win-win scenarios and have a long-term relationship mm-hmm. As opposed to somebody who's just trying to grind you and get a quick win. Like it's so much, you build a business so much easier when you work with people who share your values than with people who don't. Um, and it usually ends in kind of a win loose scenario and it's a one time sort of business transaction. Absolutely. So it's the same with life, you know, and kind of align your goals with your values and. Life just becomes that much easier. And

Jimmy:

for like, for a little bit, it was almost getting frustrating because you know, I was talking to him and I see people making deals every day and I'm like, God, I just feel like everybody's moving so fast and everybody's doing this. And he is like, man, it's only 1% of the population have this ability to do that. You're just in the right room looking at the right people. So it made it, you know, just a little bit easier to to, because I'm pretty new at this. I mean, I'm 40. And I feel like I'm late to the game, but a lot of people don't get, don't get there. Um, so it's just clear

Andrew:

and I, and I hear that from a lot of, a lot of people where they look at, you know, they look at me and like, oh, you know how, you know, how can I ever get there? And I mean, when I was working in building my real estate portfolio, when I was working to develop myself and become the best version of myself, And every situation where I did compare myself because I'm human, everybody does that, but mm-hmm. Stop myself. And I thought I had to compare myself to the previous Andrew. Right? Yeah. And as long as you incre getting better every single day, increasing the, you know, the performance of Andrew by 1%, 2% every single day. That's, that's who I compare myself to. Not to you, not to Jamie Gruber, not to somebody with a thousand units, but to Andrew yesterday. Mm-hmm. That's how you become a better version of yourself, and that's how you don't dwell. In that negativity, because at the end of the day, the only way you're gonna achieve your dreams is kind of being a positive mindset. Um, and to to, to squash ne negativity and to block out the noise.

Jimmy:

Dude, I feel like life and just like everything else is, is doing exactly what you said because like everything that you think about can bring you down and it just depends on how you perceive it. And if you compare yourself to other people. Then, I mean, you're just chasing an endless stream of possibilities, but it's so much, I feel like it's so much happier and it's so much better if you compare yourself to just yesterday. Um, it's yes,

Andrew:

easy and you focus on gratitude, and you focus on appreciation, and you focus on, you know, positive things in this world. Positive things come to you, deals come to you, opportunities come to you. When you throw on the negative side of this world, you victim mentality, you know, everything seems to happen. You get two flat tires in a week and you're like, why did this happen? Cuz you're ruminating on negativity, right? Mm-hmm. So I'm a big believer in mindset and I'm a big believer in creating and visualizing the reality that you want. Um, because I've been on the other side of the spectrum, I've lived in mental, a negative mentality for a decade. Um, and I always blame the world on why my dreams didn't get achieved, you know? But at the end of the day, the only person I had to blame with my was myself with the mindset that I was living in. How

Jimmy:

did you strengthen that skill on just switching, switching that type of mindset to where you are now? I

Andrew:

mean, that's a great question, and it's a battle every single day. But the more you see yourself focusing on negative feelings, the more you see yourself. Ruminating and getting angry at things that are completely, I mean, they're probably small potatoes. Mm-hmm. That's when you kinda have to snap yourself out out of it. And you have to bring yourself to more of a positive mindset. So the w the quick thing is realizing quickly when you are in that negative mentality and snap yourself out of it and think of things that will get you closer to your goal rather than things that would bring you down. And the other thing that really was life changing for me was focusing on gratitude on a daily basis. Writing three things I'm grateful for and also, um, and I, I learned it from the, you know, the emerged, um, seminar that I attended, which was a fantastic seminar where Matt King advised us to write a one to message one, um, somebody you're grateful for and how they helped you throughout your life. So every single day I do try to text somebody, uh, and to mention how much I appreciate them and I'm grateful for everything they've done. Um, and kind of just that through in my life.

Jimmy:

That's pretty crazy. So do you, do you journal every day or do you like meditate or anything?

Andrew:

So I do the, you're, I absolutely do. I do the Miracle Morning. So every single morning I'll meditate for 10 minutes. I'll scribe our journal. So I write three things I'm grateful for, and then I'll review my, my one year, five year, 10 year goals and be like, what can I do today to get me too close to that goal? And I'll make the list of 5, 6, 7 items. Uh, working out, obviously reading, you gotta just, just like you work on your body, you gotta work out your mind. Mm-hmm. Um, affirmations are absolutely important. Uh, and visualization. You know, I have a, I have a, um, what is it? A, a, a visualization worksheet that just shows like what I want outta life, more or less like where I hope my life to be in 10 years. The kind of the mindset and the mentality that I wanna live by. Um, and just doing that day in and day out like that has a huge effect. Um, on mindset. And that really kind of, um, reduces the, the, the negative paths in, in the brain, right? And it enhances the positive paths in the brain. When you work something more that gets more enhanced, when you ignore something more, it gets kind of more pushed to the side.

Jimmy:

So did you say, did you see Jamie's, I think YouTube on a vision board?

Andrew:

I did not see his YouTube on a vision board. No, no. It was

Jimmy:

like a, it was like through Canva and stuff like that. So you just build like a nine by nine. I'll, I'll, I'll show you mine later on, but it's, it's pretty un, I don't know what it is. It's that energy, but soon as you make the vision board, it was like two weeks later thing from the vision board started happening. I'm like, this is crazy.

Andrew:

It's subconscious, it's a subconscious thing. You know, when, when you think of it at the subconscious level, the world brings it to you, you know, the law of attraction, right?

Jimmy:

Yeah. You're exactly right. And it, you almost go like a little bit, like a step further than that because I mean, it's not like you're just sitting under a tree and saying, man, I sure wish a, a multi-family would come my way. I mean, there's like you, you know, you finish that cycle. So yeah, you, you probably think about the things that you want, but you also take the appropriate actions. To get that. And you also need a clear goal to kind of hold round that whole thing out. Right?

Andrew:

Yeah. And, and I actually, you know, I, I actively think, I, I actively focus my mind on how can I get me closer to my goals. Mm-hmm. Um, so many people can talk about their goals, but you gotta, like, if you're constantly thinking about it, your mind's Yeah. At some subconscious level, your mind's gotta come up with a solution before you can even think about it. Right. So it's constantly being in control of where your thoughts go. Um, just like, just like breath, just like age. You have a finite amount of thoughts every single day of your life throughout your entire life. You have a finite amount of thoughts. You have to be very conscious of where those thoughts go. Um, just so I mean, um, but yeah, so I, I'm very careful of what I allow into my mind, who I listen to, um, who I surround myself around. Um, I'm very, very, very careful about that.

Jimmy:

That's a common theme too, is just your environment. What do you think has changed as far as, you know, where you were to where you're at now, as far as who you surrounded yourself by?

Andrew:

Uh, more or less. I, I block out people that I don't think, um, Are values that I want to emulate. Mm-hmm. At the end of the day, you're the average of the five people you associate yourself with. So if somebody is, if somebody isn't ethically where I want to be, if somebody doesn't have the discipline where I wanna be, I'm not gonna say I'm gonna cut'em outta my life, but I am gonna reduce the amount of interactions I have with them to reduce that, that that energy to spill over to me. And I'm gonna surround myself with people who are disciplined, who are going after their goals, who are seeking their dreams, who do share the same values. And the same ethics that I do, cuz that's what I want to emulate. Boom.

Jimmy:

I mean that's pretty, um, I mean it, those kind of things, at first glance they do make sense, but it's, it's hard to do. Have you ever had to, you know, cut somebody out that you were hanging out with a lot and just like take'em out? What was that like?

Andrew:

Absolutely. I mean, you know, my best friend in high school, I mean, I love the guy. I mean, he is a great person at heart. Buddy doesn't have the discipline that I would like to emulate. He doesn't share the values mm-hmm. That I would like to emulate. He doesn't have the drive that I would like to emulate. So by all means, you know, I hang out with him, you know, one, you know, once a quarter, you know, once every couple months. But I do limit the interactions. And don't get me wrong, you know, I'm, I'm positive it probably hurt him and, you know, I feel bad about that. But at the same time, I'm trying to get towards my goal. I have a vision in hand and, you know, these are the steps I need to take to get towards my vision. Right. So nothing personal. I'm just trying to be the best version of myself every single day. So it's

Jimmy:

almost like you're taking that word selfish and making it more self-serving. You're just doing more for the self instead of like people pleasing.

Andrew:

Absolutely. I mean, to be successful, uh, in this world and to, to live a happy life, you have to love yourself before you can love ev anybody else, right? That's the most important thing. You know, if you're gonna have a successful relationship, you have to love yourself. You can't rely on the other person. Um, and I think that's incredibly important, and that's kind of the way I live, is that I, you know, I am, I am very much selfish with bettering myself because I'm trying to get my best self to the world. How can I get my best self to the world if I'm not selfish on creating the best self? Right.

Jimmy:

Yeah, man. How do you, um, how do you practice that self-love?

Andrew:

Uh, that's a great question. Uh, one practice that I try to do every single day is, you know, I'll try to. Um, like I mentioned, I'll write through things I'm grateful for and I'll do, I, I try to elicit an emotional response, like a tear or some deep feeling, so I really en ingrain with that emotion. Mm-hmm. Um, and I also. I do try to spend my mornings in nature somewhere in the park where I can journal, where I can work out, where I can meditate, and it really makes me in tune with nature. And at the end of the day, how can I be pissed off for the day where I spend my first couple hours park in a beautiful area, you know, meditating, working on myself. It's very challenging to be in a negative mindset I to do with something

Jimmy:

like that. Dude, I'll tell you, that is a skill that I probably learned how to do two, three weeks ago. Like that whole self-love. Hmm. You know, my background is kind of like just, you know, just having a bunch of armor around and just acting tough. Right. And then to get to where I was at, to where I became semi successful, you needed a certain amount of, you know, ambition and toughness and grit. So all of those stories are the ones that I was telling myself like, Hey, you know, you gotta grind, you know? Fuck everybody. That's in the way. You gotta get it. You gotta get it. Gotta get this goal, gotta get this goal. You're tough, you're resilient, you're this, you're that. Right? So what got pushed to the side is the things that a lot of people see when I'm, when I'm like really happy and healthy. It's like, Hey, you're a nice guy. Um, you laugh a lot, you're joyous. It's like, it was like that joy thing that got pushed to the side and it was always just like grind. And it was, it got kind of stressful. So I read this book by, uh, Dr. Kelly Flanagan. Um, it's a, it's a, it's called lovable. Hmm. Um, so it, it describes really that, you know, to love yourself and, and you know, you don't have to people please and yourself worth, don't be a chameleon. Just be yourself. Cuz once you start being a chameleon and start, you know, adapting to all the other surroundings, then you kind of lose, lose kind of who you really are. So doing those things that, like one of the best meditations that I've had now I told you about that group or that retreat I went on. It was, it was pretty crazy. So the, the one thought that I had was, um, this guy Marty, he was like, Hey, picture yourself and your happiest spot when you were like seven or eight years old and you're really happy. Right? I saw him like pitching myself, whatever. And he is like, What would that optimistic, fun-loving, you know, seven or eight year old version of yourself say to you right now, and how would he look at you? And then, um, I started thinking, And I was like, holy crap. Like he's, you know, he is looking up to me and he is like, oh, you know, you're, you're in shape. He doesn't have all this trauma and all the bullshit that I, you know, that I, uh, experienced. So he just, he is, he sees all this, right? So he sees like the happiness, you know, the semi-healthy body and, you know, success. And he's just very, just happy. And he looked up to my current self and said, I can't wait to be you when I grow up. And that kind of got me a little bit emotional. And then I said to him, I was like, dude, it's a tough road. And then he looks back at me and he says, doesn't look like it. And I was like, oh. And that was the first and only time so far that I've like actually shed a tear. I was meditating, it was by myself, but it was like, it was a story I was telling in my head, but it was, it was crazy to look at myself. Like that and share the self-love, which was all on myself. So,

Andrew:

yeah. And, and I mean, just to that point, I mean, ano, another practice that really helped me was self-love, was showing empathy and caring and love to other people, right? Because as men, it's it, we're taught not to show love. We're taught not to show emotion. We're taught not to show empathy, right? So when we get used to and comfortable with telling it to other people, It becomes, uh, more comfortable to tell it to ourselves. Yeah,

Jimmy:

you're exactly right. Have, have you ever, you know, worked or dealt with somebody that was kind of annoying you or something and you had to show that type of empathy?

Andrew:

Yes. And, and I mean, that's another thing is, to your point, some people don't show love the same way. Right. You gotta, you gotta recognize how some people show love, I mean, For example, growing up I, you know, I have a stepfather and he was the, he was the stereotypical hard ass stepfather that was just always uptight and angry or whatever. Mm-hmm. But he showed love in actions. He would show love in doing things for you, bringing you to the doctor, helping you fix this thing. Right. That's how he showed love, and it took me a long time to realize that I had a lot of built up anger towards him when I was younger, but once I realized how he showed love, It kind of opened my eyes to the kind of kindhearted person he is. Um, and I do love him today. So, you know, just being aware that people, people are unusual creatures and people show love in many different

Jimmy:

ways. Well, even if you didn't love him and maybe you were like trying to struggle with that, I heard a good story. Um, it was like, you know, that similar situation where, you know, let's say like God came down and say, Hey Andrew, you know, you're a stepfather. You know, one that you're kind of pissed off at right now. What if he was actually, that's all he knew how to do. He's trying his hardest, like how would you view, view him now? And it kind of gives you a different perspective that, you know, people are, are out to set most of the time. They're, you know, they want to do good and sometimes we just, we speak different languages as far as how that's communicated. So just being open and receptive. Open and receptive to that?

Andrew:

Absolutely. For sure.

Jimmy:

That's, um, that was, we went pretty deep really quick, didn't we? Yeah, I told you man. I have no idea where this thing

Andrew:

goes. You'll be both.

Jimmy:

What do you think? All right. So, and you've done a lot of growing. I mean, what do you think are some key skills that you picked up along the way?

Andrew:

Um, growing up, you know, I was very much. I know it all. Like before somebody could finish the sentence, I had the answer and that really didn't serve me. Mm-hmm. You know, I, it was very, it was very challenging. I mean, I was a good learner, but it was hard for me to take in feedback cuz I already knew the answer before somebody told me. Right. What a real shift for me was when I learned humility and when I learned that, um, To be open, um, to not be in a know-it-all, to be a constant learner, to be to other people's opinions and other people's expertise, um, and to learn from it. Um, and when I started taking that mentality with how I approached the world, my whole life changed. Um, so that was, that was the biggest thing was being coachable, being humble, and being a constant learner. Um, that's what really kind of brought me to the next level.

Jimmy:

Yeah, I guess so you're not fighting. You're almost like not fighting information that, that, that's coming at you?

Andrew:

Or just anything in general? Just going with the flow. I mean, you know, I'm a project manager by trade. I'm a certified project manager. Um, and when you, a lot of first time project managers, when they get in the business, they're very tense, they're very deadline oriented. They're like, you know, it is one way or the highway. The more you get, the more you do project management, the more you realize the more you go with the flow, the more you're relaxing the whole process, the easier the project gets done because that flows down to the rest of the team. Right? If you're anxious, if you have that energy that's gonna flow down to the team and you're gonna get an anxious project, you're gonna get a challenging project. So it's literally the same with everything in life. You know, the when you don't fight it, when you just go with the flow. Mm-hmm. Life is just so much

Jimmy:

easier. What does that quote? Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. So you kind of just, if you're not fighting, if you're not fighting with it, and you're not fighting with other people and you're using them and you're going at that pace, and it flows a lot smoother and it actually gets done a lot quicker.

Andrew:

Yeah. Yeah. Or like, yeah, I mean, or if you like, if you feel yourself, you know, being uncomfortable in a scenario, recognize that feeling. Fall into that feeling. Understand why you're feeling that. And that would help you kind of get over that uncomfortability and tackling that, that

Jimmy:

challenge. So, yeah, man. I mean, it seems like pretty, it seems like this whole thing is like a pretty risky move. Like there's a lot of, there's a lot of like decision making that could, that you go one way or another. How do you, how do you think that you like make decisions, like tough decisions like that? What

Andrew:

is a risky move?

Jimmy:

Just, alright, so just jumping into, you know, ditching the W2 and going into multi-family for instance. I mean there was that like a logical decision or is it more of like a gut feeling that you go with?

Andrew:

Um, I mean, you know, it was more logical in the fact that, you know, I could take a shot at it now I can go for my dreams. I can try to achieve financial independence now. Or I can just contribute to my 401k and wait 45 years and hope it happens. Right? Right. So from that perspective, it was extremely logical. Like I'm already in the workforce for 10 plus years. Mm-hmm. I can't imagine working for 35 more years in the workforce. Um, so it was a hundred percent logical from that standpoint, right? From kind of to your point, you know, closing on a property, understanding all the risks associated with it. Um, that just goes back to self-love and self-confidence in the fact that you can do all the research you want, you can do all the proactive work you want, but you have to just trust in yourself that you're gonna accomplish any issue that comes your way. Right. Um, so yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong, when a project closes or a property closes, like I, a lot of times I don't, you know, I mean, I have a plan, right? But I don't know how that plan's gonna play out. But what I do know is I, I have the ability to deviate and pivot to get to my goal of need be. And I'm, and I'm confident in that ability to pivot

Jimmy:

confidence. Hell yeah. What do you think is your big, like your, your most favorite, I don't know, your favorite risky move that you've made that's paid off? My favorite risky

Andrew:

move that I made, that paid off was I invested in a syndication. My first syndication ever. I took HeLOCK money to do it. Uh, first time syndicator. Never, never done it before. Um, but I believed in him and I believed in the deal. Um, and a year later that syndication sold for like an 89% return. It was a fantastic deal. Hard, great, great syndicator, and, um, and I used that money to actually buy a five unit property. Um, so, uh, that was probably one of the, the, the best. Opportunities. I, I didn't, don't get me, don't get me wrong. High risk, high reward, new syndicator. I'm not funding the money from my cash. I'm taking it from a HeLOCK. I'm essentially taking a loan. Right. Yeah. So it's super risky, but I paid off, so I mean, no risk, no reward, you know?

Jimmy:

Boom. And then, and then that, you said you bought a five unit with that, and then how did that one pan

Andrew:

out? That five unit Pando very well. I bought that for uh,$650,000 worth of partner, 25% down. Um, when we bought it, it had 3,500 in revenue. Now, uh, seven what, eight, eight months later, the revenue's up to$8,000 and it's probably valued at around 800, 8 50 900,000. Cuz commercial property is largely based, the value is largely based on the income and we bump the income up dramatically. So that that property, you know, we're probably sitting on, you know, 300,000 in equity on that thing. So, uh, it went very, very well. Um, and yeah, I transitioned that risky money into another risky project that turned out well. It sounds like

Jimmy:

you're good at this shit. Sounds like you're getting really good at making risky moves, man. All right, so how about this? Well, it's not risk,

Andrew:

it's calculator risk. I mean, you all keep in mind. There's risk in doing nothing, right? Like if I took that$80,000 and I just put in my bank account right now, eight months later, it's actually worth less cuz of inflation. There's literally risk in doing nothing. I'd rather take calculated risks than do the status quo and do nothing every single day of the week. That's huge.

Jimmy:

That's huge. So how about this, I'm, I'm gonna switch gears on you a little bit. I'm gonna bridge this gap. So let's say you've made. All the best moves, and you have all the money that you have ever wanted to make, and then some, right? Where are you, where are you at? And then what are you doing for fun?

Andrew:

So I'm tr I'm traveling the world, hitting up every single country I possibly can. What's the first one you go to? Uh, what's the, uh, Tokyo, Japan, Tokyo, or uh, or Thailand. Um, those are probably some of the, uh, I love Asian food. I mean, some of my favorite food in the world and Thai food is some of my most, uh, favorite food, and they have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Oh, yeah. I would absolutely love to go out there and while I'm traveling, I would love to mentor other people on reaching financial independence and educating others on how they can achieve a similar path that I achieved. Right. I, I love, you know, in this life, you know, the more that I feel like. The purpose in life, at least for me, is I want to provide more value to the world than what I took. Right. So that's always gonna be my goal. And I feel, and I provide, it provides me a, uh, a deep reassurance when I could help others kind of follow the path. I mean it if it definitely feels good to serve,

Jimmy:

for sure. So giving back, even though you have all the money in the world, you're still giving

Andrew:

back. Yeah. I mean, what, I mean, what's the purpose? What's the purpose To have all the money if you can't provide value. Right. That's pretty cool.

Jimmy:

That's a really cool thing to say. That's awesome. Where are you going next?

Andrew:

Where am I going next? Oh man. Uh, I would love to go to, I would love to hit, hit up every country in Asia for sure. I'd love to go to India. Um, hit up all the, uh, Caribbean for sure. Um, Antarctica, Alaska. That'd be pretty freaking cool.

Jimmy:

Dude, I got one of my friends that I, I just watch on Facebook and I mean, she, she's a little bit older. Mm-hmm. Um, but she, I mean, I'll see her. She's in Egypt. She's been the Antarctica, she's been like all over. I'm like, Jesus, it's awesome. She's living her best life. I think she's like 60 years old, but I mean, it's awesome. Yeah.

Andrew:

It's awesome. Yeah. I wanna, I wanna be living like her. That's the, that's the goal. She's doing it.

Jimmy:

Um,

Andrew:

lastly, I would say my last vision is I wanna have a bungalow or something. Like a house, like right in the beach, right? Then I can just walk out, do my mor my miracle Morning freaking meditate. Like, do I journaling? Like how could I be mad when I'm in freaking beautiful paradise on a daily basis, you know, nice and blue

Jimmy:

water. Just, you know, it'll be like, you know, Andrew Fried headquarters in some, some island somewhere with blue water Tropical.

Andrew:

That's pretty cool. Frid Island. That's what we're called. I'll put a

Jimmy:

dude that's baller. Um, alright, last question. Um, for someone that's trying to follow your path, And do the things that you're doing and trying to get to where you're at, what advice do you think that you would give them?

Andrew:

Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, the biggest piece of advice I would give them is be a constant learner. Learn, literally learn everything you possibly can about the asset class, whatever you're trying to do to reach your goal. Like literally, what do they say? It takes you 10,000 hours. Um, to, to, to become an expert in something. I think that equates to maybe an hour of learning a day for seven years. So, as a result, if you do three, four hours, uh, a day of learning, you know, you, you can become an expert in two, three years, right? Mm-hmm. So just be a constant learner. In addition, network as much as you possibly can. The only way I've gotten this far is through network. I met my mentor. Um, at a networking event. Uh, I'm syndicating a, a large, 60 unit complex right now, a really good deal. And I met my partners, um, at this networking event. I met, I met contractors, I met lenders, right? So education is important, but you also have to put that in the practice and network to bring to the next level to actually make the deals happen. Um, and then lastly, um, the Miracle Morning has been instrumental in my success. You know, every single day it kind of realigns me with my goals, um, and really kind of gives me a roadmap on a daily basis and how I can get one step closer to where I want to be. That's awesome, man.

Jimmy:

Well, I appreciate it. I think that's all I got for you, man.

Andrew:

Cool. Well, hey, I just want to thank you again for having me on this Primal podcast. I've definitely, uh, Yes, I've definitely enjoyed it a lot, so thank you. Dude, you're a

Jimmy:

Gia. You are, you're high up on the list. I'm glad I could, I could borrow you, Andrew. Where can, where can the listeners find you on social media? You

Andrew:

can find me at Investor Fried on Instagram as well as Andrew Fried on LinkedIn and Facebook, and I do put out a lot of content on multi-family investing. So if you're interested in that asset class, gimme a follow

Jimmy:

dude, he knows a lot about a lot, so. You're that dude, man, again, I appreciate you, uh, jumping on here and uh, good luck man. Thank you.

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Jimmy Napolitano

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