Unfiltered Insights with Kent Clothier
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This is Wake Up To Wealth, a podcast dedicated to helping you change the way you think about wealth. And now, here's your host, Brandon Brittingham.

Hey, what's up, everybody? We are back in the Wake Up To Wealth podcast studio. Actually, we're in Texas today because we're traveling. And one of the cool things about today is, you know, I got some pretty cool friends and Kent happens to be a good friend, but also a guy that I coach with, somebody that has mentored me, absolute like monster in the space. And

Bro, thank you for taking the time. It's been a long time coming. Yeah, man. Happy to do it, brother. Glad we made it happen, right? So if someone's living on a rock in the real estate investment space and they don't know who you are, tell everybody who you are. Dude, at this point, I'm just a guy that has been in the space. I'm affectionately the OG of the space, which I hate that term. That's why I didn't use it, by the way. But I'll say it. I've been in the real estate space now for about 20 years. Yeah.

Active real estate investor, family, runs a very successful real estate investment company called REI Nation. Flips about anywhere from 800 to 1,000 turnkey properties a year. Manages another close to 8,000 single family homes, 11 different markets. We've, in my education company, has helped about 50,000 investors over the last 15 years.

have a lot of different funds that we run that invest in commercial, multifamily, hospitality, industrial, RV parks, self-storage, you know, kind of got our hands on a lot of different stuff, lending, et cetera. And then I've been lucky enough for the last 11 years to run, you know, the premier real estate mastermind in the entire industry called The Boardroom. And Boardroom Mastermind has been, you know, kind of the

humbly put it, have been kind of the pinnacle of all of it. And then obviously having the opportunity to privately work with super high level people in the space, badass CEOs in the space like yourself out there and help them kind of get to the next level. So it's been a journey, man. Yeah. So you've done all this shit and you've seen so many different things.

I know it's like, it's a lot of things, right? You can't tie it to one thing, but like, what are two things you would say that like you think got you to where you are today? Like two things you could tie to. I know it's a lot. That's a great question. No, I would say that, that,

Look, I was raised by an entrepreneur. So first and foremost, a lot of people don't come into entrepreneurship and owning a business or anything naturally. They come from some other place. I was born and raised to be an entrepreneur. I'm 150% unemployed. So I think that foundation just never...

even considering going toward for somebody else and always never seen it that you're always got the target on your back i never saw it that way but you know as i've gotten older i kind of realized that that's what it really is um you know just being super comfortable in that space from the very very beginning i think has been very very pivotal um i'm one of those guys that i'm really comfortable being uncomfortable uh but equally i would tell you you know kind of what got me to where i is

where I am is not, shockingly enough, it's not the success, man. It's the hits. And a lot to be said for being 30 years old, 30 to 32, and losing millions of dollars, and effectively going bankrupt, and divorced, and in every possible way, life just going to shit. That was real humbling for me. And I've had several of those types of experiences over the years that

basically galvanize the resolve inside of me to where I completely trust myself. I'm more than willing to bet on myself and take the hits and fall down and absolutely get beat up because I know I'm capable. And along with a lot of people around me, we're more than capable of

fighting through anything we need to fight through to go make dreams happen. I mean, so I think that when you get that mentality, kind of that savage mentality, and however you get there, but I would argue the only way to get there is to get in the ring, get beat up a little bit. When you get that inside of you, it's really hard to beat that person. Like, I don't care what you're doing, personally or professionally. And so I think those are probably, you know, you take that kind of foundational stuff, and then you really start layering over the top of it,

how to build a business, how to scale a business, how to analyze and measure and manage people and put leverage. You start putting the actual systems on top of that kind of foundation.

that's the recipe for uh greatness right there man yeah um you know another thing i mean i think that's great a lot of people just you know they see someone like you or me and we do cool and they see the side of it that's cool but they don't see the side of it where we got uppercutted 100 times right and uh you know that's part of it and that separates the men from the boys so to speak pretty quick you know and i think that's why i always vibe with you from the very beginning

Another thing I think that's really cool is, so I was speaking on stage before I, you know, I knew you were, but I hadn't met you. And the first time I saw you speak on stage, you spoke about time. You said it differently, but you said it in the same terms of how I speak about time on stage. I'd love for you to share your view on time because mine is very similar. Yeah, I think that, you know, kind of adding to what I just said a second ago, I think that when you, you know, look in the history of the world, right?

Nobody's ever gotten out of life. And I think it is probably the single greatest asset you could possibly have when you actually understand that you're going to die. And when you understand that you are for sure going to die and the time you have on this planet is very, very precious and you actually take responsibility and accountability for that time,

And, you know, I go as far as I take people through an exercise to calculate how many days you have left on this planet. Yeah, yeah. So powerful. If you're a man, start with the number 78. If you're a woman, start with the number 82. Subtract your current age, multiply that times 365. And theoretically or statistically, I should say, you just calculate it based on, you know, when the average man dies or the average American female dies. You've calculated how many days you have left on this planet.

When you see that number in black and white, and then you have the mentality of go take that number and go put it right in front of you every single day. And every morning when you wake up, count that number down. When you can see your life ticking away to the right people,

You'll start to take accountability for it. And you realize that you actually, nobody's a victim here. Right. You're listening to this podcast and all likelihood you're listening to it or watching this, you know, on some device like a thousand dollar phone or a $2,000 laptop or whatever the hell it might be.

If you're listening or watching this, you're not a victim. There are plenty of victims in this world. I mean, there's 3 billion people that do not have access to clean water or sanitation. There are almost 4 billion people that live today, survive on less than $2 a day in the world. There are 600,000 people on any given day that are in a hospital bed in the United States.

When you think about it, you get real separate fact from fiction. You realize that how blessed we are to be sitting in a studio in Dallas, Texas, right? And living the life that we live. And it doesn't matter what you're doing. Even if you have a $50,000 or $30,000 a year job, if you woke up this morning, number one, be grateful. You got a gift. If you are walking around and you're healthy, be grateful. Because if you're in the United States right now,

and you are walking around and you're listening to this podcast, then you are at a complete, I mean, you're at such an inflection point to where anything you dream can be, you can make it happen. I mean, this time right now, from a technology perspective, there are 18-year-old kids, 16-year-old kids making millions of dollars online. Don't tell me

that you are somehow confined to your circumstances. That's just not true. You may not be ambitious enough. You may not have the belief system yet. You may not have all the tools yet, but those are just excuses. Those are just obstacles. The opportunity still exists. And so when you realize that the opportunity exists for all of us and the clock is ticking, the time is now, you need to start taking action

And again, in the right hands, that's a pretty lethal combination because you'll realize that there's no reason to be fearful.

um you just gotta go like your dreams matter the things you want to accomplish matter and time is not on your side and to act like somehow like today or tomorrow or next week or next month or next quarter all the we tell ourselves act like those days are you know somehow promised to you it's irresponsible it's reckless because it's just not true you know you could die in a second you definitely don't want to die you know you don't want to be on your deathbed or in those last moments saying i you don't want your dreams to die with you and so

Again, when you have this healthy appreciation for time and you realize that all the things that you believe that you're scared of and you really think about, you know this as well as I do. The reason people don't go and fight for their dreams is because they have a fear. And the fear usually, you know, it's always frankly. It's usually not real. Yeah. It's like, oh, I have a fear of failure. Who gives a shit? I mean, or I have a fear of judgment, to be real honest.

I got news for your ass. You're getting judged either way. Guess what? If you guys ever see me dress, you know I don't give a shit about being judged. Right. I mean, the point of it is, you're dressing like the way you dress. You go for it. You're going to get judged either way. Of course. You're going to get judged as, man, look at this guy. He's flamboyant as hell. You're going to get judged as...

you know, the guy's not playing out full. What do you want to be judged for? Right. And everybody's judging everybody. So who gives a shit that everybody else's opinions do not matter. It's your life. And so I think when you, when people understand the value of this moment,

Like this one right now, like I don't wear a fancy watch. I got a wristband that says the time is now. It's tattooed on me that says the time is now. Funny thing is, you know, this little bracelet that says the time is now, it's the best damn watch I've ever had in my life because that bitch is always right. Yeah. And when you really get dialed in on time and really get dialed in on what success looks like in your life, that's, you know, again, now you'll start figuring out the way to get around the right people and

and get the right information that you can act on. But until you understand that tomorrow's not promised, it's all just bullshit. So I'm going to ask you two more questions. The first one is, I think, and this isn't blowing smoke, and if you know me, I don't blow smoke. I'm pretty blunt and honest.

I think you have almost a superhuman capability. Cause I've been in, you know, a ton of rooms with you where I've watched you do this. I've actually watched you do it for me too. You can sit down and take a very complex problem that someone else is having and you can see right through it and actually guide them through it in like a split second, which is fucking superhuman talent. And I mean, I've seen you do it on the fly a hundred times. Like,

How the fuck did you develop that? Like, where do you think that comes from? Man, I wish I could answer that. You know, I completely acknowledged, you know, at this point. I mean, that's like one of your superpowers. That is my superpower. Yeah. Like at 53 years old, I think it just comes down to, you know, a lot of the stuff we've talked about. But also, you know,

I've been in business for 35 years. There's not a lot of 53-year-old guys that can say that they've been in business for 35 years. I got a question that I wanted to ask that I forgot. Do you think it's the losses over the wins has given you that capability? I think it's both. Yeah. I think it's understanding what works, right? Understanding what to ignore, right? So anytime somebody has a problem, right, or a challenging business situation,

99% of the time, they're just too close to it. They're emotionally connected to it, whatever the case might be. They're thinking about... A great example of this would be like I was working with a guy, a super high-level guy, and he was coming at me with his organization, and

well, I can't let go of this girl. She's been with me for 15 years. And yeah, she's a pain in the ass. And everybody hates her. And we have to deal with this. We have to deal with that. And she's causing all kinds of issues in the problem. But she's been with me for 15 years. And so my point being, and that very rudimentary example is that he knows the solution. Right. It is, but he's so emotionally attached to it that he can't bring himself. So a lot of times what it is, is I see...

What absolutely needs to be done because I'm not emotionally attached to anything. All I'm looking for is you're trying to go from point A to point B. Here are the obstacles. My job is to give you the turn by turn directions and I'm trying to get you there as fast as I can. And now whether you want to hear it or not is a whole nother, you're paying a hell of a lot of money for me to sit down for you to not listen to me. Right. Right. And so,

I'm just, I believe in ultimate candor. I believe in transparency. It all goes back to the time thing. I don't believe in wasting one minute of anybody's day, including mine. And so I'm not going to bullshit you. I just don't fucking care. I'm just going to tell you exactly what you should do. And I'm going to hold you accountable to get it done. And I'm going to push you further than you think is possible. But I can tell you, having done it a long time, that more times than not,

The answers are fairly obvious, at least they are to me. It just comes down to people don't always... They're just so close to it, they don't always want to see it. And they found themselves ignoring it. Yeah, that makes sense. Last question, and I ask everybody this. So we call the show Wake Up the Wealth. And it really... I mean, money, obviously, but I think we've all been taught wrong about money. What we think is wealth in general, how we're educated, all those kinds of things.

So one of the things that the point of the show is I bring people on here like you because I want people to educate it, educate it from the standpoint of every day they wake up to wealth and wealth is their own definition. So what to you every day is waking up to wealth? It's the life I live right now, right? So to me, wealth is you clearly define what you want out of life, right? And, you know, I define, this was about a little over 10 years ago, I made a very,

you know, pivotal decision in my life that I was not living the life I wanted to live. Lots of success, lots of money, but I wasn't living the life I want to live. And so I uprooted my family and moved to San Diego, moved to a little, you know, beach town called La Jolla.

and into a neighborhood called Bird Rock where I could walk to my office every day, right? I could wake up to the ocean every day. I could walk my little girls to school. That quality of life really mattered to me and could work out, be outside, be in a place that... So for me, wealth is when you are...

You get the opportunity to control time and you get the opportunity to live life on your terms. Now you have to put things in place that allow income to come to you and money to flow to you, whether you show up or not, not trading dollars for hours.

And so then from a financial perspective, you put yourself in a situation to where I get to do things. I don't have to do shit. Right. Like I love working. I love the businesses I own. I love, you know, it really lights me up and I'm good at it.

But I don't have to do any of it. I get to do this stuff. It's a choice. And I put myself in that situation. Equally, I can live anywhere in the world I want to live. I live exactly where I want to live. I get to do this. I get to wake up, walk my little girl to school. I get to go to the gym. I get to take the time that I want to take with my family, my wife. I get to do... Life is on my terms. To me, that's wealth. I...

I am as healthy as I've ever been. I'm as happy as I've ever been. I'm as fulfilled as I've ever been. I'm, I'm, um, you know, I think I'm better at every area of my life that I've ever been. Right. To me, that's wealth. Yeah. Right.

I mean, we can stop it on that because I think that's a great answer. Man, I appreciate your mentorship. I appreciate your friendship. And I appreciate the fact as busy as you are getting on here with me today. Thank you. Oh, man. You know I'd do anything for you, brother. All right, brother. See you.

Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of Wake Up to Wealth. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. This way we'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and tell your friends about the show. It is how new people find us. Until next time.