462 | Dirt Rich!💸 Make So Much Money You’re Bored

Jun 24

[00:00:00] Mark Podolsky: what do couples fight about the most? Money, sex, and the kids. I can't help them with the other two, but if, if that big bucket of stress in life, we call money is solved. It really, just makes everything.
[00:00:13] Mark Podolsky: Better.
[00:00:13] Chaz Wolfe: What's up everybody? Welcome back to Gathering the King's Podcast. I am your host, Chaz Wolf. Today we welcome Mark Pildoski to the King's stage. Mark is widely considered to be trusted authority On buying and selling raw undeveloped land. He has completed well over 6, 000 unique transaction and has been crushing this real estate niche for over 20 years.
[00:00:37] Chaz Wolfe: Dude's got massive success record.
[00:00:39] Chaz Wolfe: Here's what we cover in this episode.
[00:00:42] Chaz Wolfe: One, how to make money through investing in land.
[00:00:45] Mark Podolsky: To me, it is the best passive income model. And I can walk you through exactly step by step how I do it
[00:00:52] Chaz Wolfe: Two, we talk about how people get bored with making money. Yes, seriously.
[00:00:57] Mark Podolsky: I see it happen all the time. People get bored with making money and then they complicate it. It's true.
[00:01:02] Chaz Wolfe: And we also talk about the land geek and how he shares. How he crafted his own lifestyle on his own terms.
[00:01:09] Mark Podolsky: for me, total freedom is the freedom to work when I want, where I want and with whom I want,
[00:01:15] Chaz Wolfe: comment down below, tell me your best dad joke. Cause you know, you heard me pull off three or four of them in there. Enjoy the show.
[00:01:24] Chaz Wolfe: Mark, my brother, welcome to the King stage. How you doing today, man?
[00:01:28] Mark Podolsky: Chaz, pulse is normal, respiration's fine. Thank you so much for having me. , I'm honored to be here.
[00:01:34] Chaz Wolfe: The audience needs to buckle up because it, it might go fast and right, right over their heads if we don't, if we don't pay attention. But,~ um,~ Mark, I appreciate you being here. Tell us what kind of business that you got, man.
[00:01:43] Mark Podolsky: Yeah. So I've got several businesses, but my mission in life is to help people solve not just their money problems, but their time problems. And so the way that I do that is by creating a passive income in raw undeveloped land. And so once your passive income exceeds your fixed expenses, and you're totally free, you've got the time and the energy and the resources to go and live your best life.
[00:02:13] Chaz Wolfe: And you've got a story obviously of how you did this for yourself and you, you weren't just making a little bit of money that you had to replace. ~Um, ~you've got a background where, you know, that was, you know, Quite a large income that you had to, had to replace. ~Um, ~I want to get into some of that, but tell me about freedom first.
[00:02:29] Chaz Wolfe: Why, why does passive income overcoming my expenses give me freedom
[00:02:35] Mark Podolsky: Well, because it's, it's really that idea that you can be sick, you can lose your job, anything in the world. And the, it's the very uncertain volatile world. And so it's sort of the antidote to financial insecurity, knowing that you have this income stream coming in every single day or week or a month that you've already done all the work upfront to get.
[00:03:02] Mark Podolsky: And so if something should happen, you're taking care of your family's taken care of, and. It's just antidote to financial insecurity. I don't mind. I mean, cash is great, but you got to pay taxes and you got to find, you know, more cash where cash flow and that passive income is just, I think, king of.
[00:03:27] Chaz Wolfe: king, king, king of all,~ uh,~ of all income. Right. ~Um, ~but, but you also think dirt, you even wrote a book about how to get rich on dirt. Why is dirt or un,~ uh,~ developed land as you call it? Why is that king versus all the other real estate options?
[00:03:44] Mark Podolsky: Yeah. So dirt is a little bit unique in the sense that you're talking about it, a very inefficient market. Number one. So you can't go and look at the MLS and be like, okay, that dirt is worth this. So it's really what a buyer and a seller agree to. So it's very inefficient and there's very few of those left.
[00:04:07] Mark Podolsky: Number one, number two, you couldn't think of a more boring real estate niche. So you're not going to go in HGTV or the DIY network and say, flip this, you know, gland or flip this dirt. The before pictures, raw land, the after pictures, raw land. And then, so you're talking about something that's very non competitive.
[00:04:27] Mark Podolsky: So if you go to a real meeting, a real estate investment association meeting, a hundred people in the room, 99 of them will be landlords, house flippers and wholesalers. You and I would be the only land guys there. And then you're talking about a massive market. There's billions of acres of raw land available in the United States.
[00:04:45] Mark Podolsky: And. You, me, a million people can be in this niche. We'll all run out of money before we run out of deal flow. And so, and there's not big money in it. There's not private equity groups. There's no hedge funds. They have too much money for the niche, which I'm going to walk you through anyways, and then it's really interesting in the sense that you've got this asset.
[00:05:04] Mark Podolsky: You don't have to maintain, you don't have to protect, and you don't have to deal with a tenant. And so. To me, it is the best passive income model. And I can kind of walk you through exactly step by step how I do it.
[00:05:19] Chaz Wolfe: , I definitely want to give you the chance to do that. I think the obvious question for the entrepreneur, who's probably listening, maybe they're a real estate investor as well, but you know, you put a tenant in a property, you, you wholesale a deal, you, you know, put,~ uh, uh, ~you know, an investment and remodel and, and then resell it.
[00:05:35] Chaz Wolfe: There's, there's an exchange happening,~ um,~ with raw land. There there's nothing there's how, where's this money coming from?
[00:05:41] Mark Podolsky: So, so where's the money coming from? I'll, I'll walk you through it.
[00:05:46] Chaz Wolfe: Perfect.
[00:05:47] Mark Podolsky: Yeah. Okay. So she has, where do you live?
[00:05:49] Chaz Wolfe: I'm in Kansas city.
[00:05:51] Mark Podolsky: You're in Kansas City. I live in Kansas City. I lived on the Plaza in Overland Park. What part are you
[00:05:55] Chaz Wolfe: There you go. I've been in Overland park, but I'm in, I'm in Martin city area,
[00:05:59] Mark Podolsky: Okay, great. Great. Okay. So. All right. So you're South of Missouri side, you're in Kansas city, go chiefs. And I'm going to assume that you own five acres of raw land where I live in Arizona and you owe, let's say 200 in back taxes. So you're advertising two important things. Number one, you have no emotional attachment to that raw land.
[00:06:19] Mark Podolsky: You're in Kansas properties in Arizona. And number two, you're financially distressed in some weird way, because when we don't pay for our property taxes, we don't value that property in the same way. And as a result, the County treasurer keeps sending you notices saying, Chad, you don't pay this property, these property taxes, you're gonna lose this property to a tax deed or tax lien investor.
[00:06:40] Mark Podolsky: So all I'm going to do. It's like it's comparable sales on your five acre parcel for the last 12 to 18 months, I'm going to take the lowest comparable sale, let's say it's 10, 000 and divide by four, and that's going to get me what Warren Buffett would call a 300 percent margin of safety. So I'm going to send you an actual offer.
[00:07:00] Mark Podolsky: Of 2, 500. Now you accept it. Why? Because for you, 2, 500 is better than nothing. In reality, three to 5 percent of people are going to accept my quote unquote top dollar offer, but now that you've accepted the offer. I'm going to go through due diligence or in depth research and confirm you still own the property.
[00:07:22] Mark Podolsky: Confirm that the back taxes are only 200. I want to make sure there's been no breaks in the chain of title, no liens or encumbrances. And so I'll outsource this to my team in Jamaica. They're connected to an American title company. It costs about 11. Now if I was investing more than say 5, 000, I'm not going to take any title risk.
[00:07:42] Mark Podolsky: And I was just closed traditionally through a title company, but this is only 2, 500. And so everything checks out. Give you a check for 2, 300. I give the treasurer a check for 200. I want it free and clear and now Chaz I'm gonna sell it 30 days or less. I'm gonna make a cash flow like your precious rental home So I have a built in best buyer.
[00:08:01] Mark Podolsky: Do you know who it is?
[00:08:02] Chaz Wolfe: Ooh, the neighbor.
[00:08:03] Mark Podolsky: The neighbors. You're right
[00:08:05] Chaz Wolfe: am. That's awesome.
[00:08:06] Mark Podolsky: Yeah So I'm going to send out neighbor letters saying, Hey, here's your opportunity. Protect your privacy, protect your views. Know your neighbor. Often the neighbors will buy. They don't go to my buyer's list. The buyer's list passes. I'll go to a little website.
[00:08:19] Mark Podolsky: You may have heard of. It's the 15th most trafficked website in the United States called Craigslist. I'll go to another one that's even bigger called Meta or the Facebook Buy Sell groups in the marketplace. And then I'm gonna go to the Land Land moto.com. Lands of america.com, land.com, land and farm.com, land flip.com, land hub.com, land century.com.
[00:08:40] Mark Podolsky: These are platforms where people buy and sell raw land, but the secret is in the pricing. So all I'm gonna ask for is a $2,500 down payment. For someone else to control that five acre parcel owned by the famous Chaz Wolf, and then I'll make it a car payment. Let's say two 97 a month and 9 percent interest for the next 72 months.
[00:09:02] Mark Podolsky: So it's a one time sale to get my money out on the down payment. I could go six to 10 months out and then I'm going to make it a car payment. Two 97 a month, 9 percent interest next 72 months. Chaz no renters. No rehabs, no renovations, no rodents. And because I'm not dealing with a tenant, I'm exempt from Dodd Frank, RESPA and the SAFE Act, all this onerous real estate legislation.
[00:09:27] Mark Podolsky: So then it's a simple game. Can we create enough land nodes? Where our passive income then exceeds our fixed expenses. And we're working because we want to not because we have to
[00:09:38] Chaz Wolfe: I love it. Love every part of that. Thank you for following my very facetious ask and leading you right to the, to the,~ uh,~ to the equation there. Also an entrepreneur, maybe an investor is not familiar with land and thinking, well, Well, the, the risk I see there is then what if they stopped paying me? And if I have a bunch of people stop paying me, then there goes my passive income.
[00:09:59] Chaz Wolfe: What happens?
[00:10:01] Mark Podolsky: Yeah, that's fantastic. So, and it's a great question. So, you know, and by the way, an entrepreneur, they don't want to build themselves another job. And so this is the business and a machine, a passive income machine of buying and selling land. So we're going to use. three points of leverage. Number one, other people's time.
[00:10:19] Mark Podolsky: Number two, software and automation and number three, other people's money. But let's talk about that default. We're going to use a software called geek pay. io and it's a set it and forget the payment system. So we'll collect our down payment via credit card. We'll get our monthly payments via ACH and it's going to automate it.
[00:10:36] Mark Podolsky: Now the ACH balances. Okay, great. You've got 30 days to cure your default. If in 30 days, you don't cure your default. We use a land contract, which means the asset remains in our ownership. And so we keep the down payment. We keep the monthly payments, which is now lowered our cost basis, which means if I paid 2, 500 and you've already paid me 500.
[00:11:00] Mark Podolsky: Now my new cost basis is only 2, 000. I'm going to resell it again. And get a new down payment, a new monthly payment. And it's increased my return on investment by doing that. So
[00:11:14] Chaz Wolfe: So you almost
[00:11:15] Mark Podolsky: don't mind
[00:11:16] Chaz Wolfe: pay. Yeah.
[00:11:19] Mark Podolsky: There are things you can do. Yeah. I mean, it's, there are things you can do to, to make sure that you do get defaults.
[00:11:26] Mark Podolsky: You ask for a really low down payment. ~Um, ~that's going to increase your default rate, but if you don't want defaults, you'll, you'll try to get, you know, a higher down payment
[00:11:36] Chaz Wolfe: Quality buyers. I mean, that's with any
[00:11:37] Mark Podolsky: inequality buyer. Yeah. But if you've got a, if you've got a job, you can afford this land.
[00:11:41] Chaz Wolfe: Good. Well, the, the listener is thinking, okay, geez, like I'm intrigued. This is interesting. ~Um, ~you say it's like a part time machine. ~Um, ~I know that you were doing it part time outside of a very, you know, Corporate investment banking solution or a situation that you were in before you left that. If I'm an entrepreneur listening right now, how realistic is this for me to reach out to you and go, I want this little part time land machine, but I've got, I've got a business
[00:12:05] Mark Podolsky: Well, yeah, I mean, it's a good question. I think that if you've got an hour or two of focus time a day, this is a great side hustle. To build passive income as an entrepreneur. I'm a, I'm really focused on focus. So I would say, who could you get to really run this for you? If, if your business is going well, if your business isn't going well, then this could be a really interesting pivot into something else.
[00:12:40] Chaz Wolfe: when you've, you've worked with a lot of people through your program. And so I want to kind of tap into a little bit of your, your authority here. You personally have done. Over 6, 000 land deals. Like this is not just an idea you got last
[00:12:51] Mark Podolsky: Yeah, no. And, and growing. I mean, we're, I think, yeah, we've, gosh, how many deals we've done over 200 deals so far this year.
[00:12:59] Chaz Wolfe: Wow. Yeah. I mean, I, I think the space is raw for upgrading. See what I did there. Appreciate that. Okay. So inside of this, like, okay. So we know why land, we know that you have an exact formula. What do some of the people that have either come through your program or that have tried to do this, what mistakes have they made that you are like, ah, if you hadn't done that, or, I'm trying to keep them away from maybe the bad, the bad habits.
[00:13:27] Mark Podolsky: Yeah. Yeah. The biggest mistake I see people making is fear based. So they buy a bunch of land and then they stop deal flow. So we're sending out offers. And there's about a six week lag between the time you send out offers and the time you're going to get responses. Now we buy all this property. And what do you do?
[00:13:51] Mark Podolsky: What does a newbie do? They get scared and say, I'm not going to send out any more offers until I sell this property. And so that is the biggest mistake. And I've been doing this full time since 2001. I've never been stuck with a piece. They all sell at the right price and because you're looking at inefficient market, your average ROI is 300 to a thousand percent.
[00:14:14] Mark Podolsky: So there's plenty of, you know, meat on that bone. If you need to wholesale it and make a hundred percent and move that money.
[00:14:22] Chaz Wolfe: yeah, exactly. I think that,~ um,~ the, you know, the concept there of really kind of just paying attention to what you have and also then the flow, right. I was just talking to somebody actually last night about kind of this idea of. You've gotten to where you are based on these specific activities. ~Um, ~don't stop these activities.
[00:14:40] Chaz Wolfe: You know, it's like that old water pump, you know, and out on the farm,~ uh,~ you just never can keep, you know, it doesn't take as much effort as the beginning, but you just can't take your hand off of it.
[00:14:50] Mark Podolsky: no, I see it happen all the time. People get bored with making money and then they complicate it. It's true.
[00:14:56] Chaz Wolfe: It's so true.
[00:14:56] Mark Podolsky: they'll be in this, in this nice county. And they're like, I want to go to another county. I'm like, well, why can't it be an expert in this county?
[00:15:04] Chaz Wolfe: Interesting. Do you see, I mean, that, that's a, that's a problem with all entrepreneurs, right? Like we, we just want the next thing. Why, why in that moment, that, that example that you just gave there, like, I want to go to the next County over, do they feel like that I'm running out of opportunities in this County?
[00:15:20] Chaz Wolfe: Is it the next County over is more like it's a higher end. It makes me feel better. Like, what do you find?
[00:15:25] Mark Podolsky: I think it's just. They get bored with it. They get bored with the marketing of it. They get bored with the selling of it. They're bored because if they're continuing to make money there, there's no reason to go into a different market. And that's what I, that's what I see now to your point. If they're saying, Hey, there's, this is, this area is drying up for me then.
[00:15:46] Mark Podolsky: Absolutely. You want to go to a different market, but that's not what I see often. I just see them wanting to complicate it. Like they get bored with it and they want, they want to, they want to spice things up just like entrepreneurs tend to do.
[00:16:02] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, we tend to create problems so that we have something to fix. I mean, that's just the honest truth. ~Um, ~you, you obviously talk a lot about, you know, overcoming. ~Um, ~really just economic, you know, issues with passive income through the formula that you've given here, which I absolutely love. What do you think holds people back from even just being able to get to that place?
[00:16:24] Chaz Wolfe: Mentally or understanding money like that money can come in. I don't have to work for it. And it can actually solve my problems or my dependency as you call it.
[00:16:34] Mark Podolsky: Right, right. So that, that idea of solo economic dependency, which means if you're personally not working, you're not making any money. So if you have a job, you're a freelancer, you're a solopreneur. I mean, we can even pick on people that have solved their money problems without their time problems. You know, doctors, lawyers, the dentist.
[00:16:53] Mark Podolsky: The dentist, right? The dentist's hands aren't in the patient's mouth. They're not generating any income. And so that passive income piece solves that problem. And I, I actually lost, what, what was the question, Chaz? I, I went on a tangent
[00:17:09] Chaz Wolfe: How do you help people understand
[00:17:10] Mark Podolsky: on my soapbox about, so economic
[00:17:12] Chaz Wolfe: you're good. We're on the right. So box you, you've got your, your answer in the right, right department here. But how do you take somebody from not maybe believing that that's possible or whether it's possible for them,
[00:17:24] Mark Podolsky: right.
[00:17:24] Chaz Wolfe: a system that can pay me.
[00:17:26] Chaz Wolfe: Whether I do the work or not.
[00:17:27] Mark Podolsky: Yeah. Okay. So I mean, I think the mindset I think it's really interesting that It's, it's something that you actually have to do for yourself. I can't sit here and say, yeah, this is going to be right for you. I think that if you're listening to this, like for me, it was right for me because I just liked the idea of something that I can work from anywhere in the world.
[00:17:51] Mark Podolsky: I like to travel. I have some computer skills and I hate physical things. I'm, I mean, I have no business owning a home. Like I need,~ uh,~ like, ~uh, ~you know, the handyman and it's so masculine. They come over, I have to get on my computer, pretend like I'm doing something when, when they're there. So, you know, if you're really handy and you love meeting with some contractors and you have a passion for that, like traditional real estate, If you're kind of geeky or nerdy like me, this is something you probably want to experiment with, but I think everything's a test.
[00:18:26] Mark Podolsky: You have to test it out for yourself.
[00:18:28] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, I think you're true. I think you're right on that. I also think that if you just like money, that they're probably right for land. ~Um, ~you know, there there's anything land,~ uh,~ other real estate and opportunities, other business opportunities. Cause I've been in lots of different industries. It's not really the widget and I've learned, I luckily I learned this at a very young age.
[00:18:47] Chaz Wolfe: It's not about the widget. It's about the system. And if I can create a system. Regardless of me, the value, the reason why I'm still going to get paid, whether I'm physically working or not, is because I built the system where I put the right people in the right place,~ uh,~ created the automations or whatever it is that that goes into the machine.
[00:19:05] Chaz Wolfe: That's the value that keeps paying over and over, which, you know, I'll give you a chance to talk about this, but some people come across or butt up against, you know, like, you know, is passive income or maybe not passive income, but is, Earning money after working. Is that, is that like a something for nothing?
[00:19:20] Chaz Wolfe: It feels like, well, if I'm not doing anything, you know, there's no value here, but the value is in what we just talked about, the creating of the machine and you've done so, and you've helped many other people do this. We can talk about this.
[00:19:30] Mark Podolsky: Yeah. I mean, the machine is everything. You're right. And the more valuable, valuable you are as the, the owner, the entrepreneur, the founder, the less valuable your, your businesses. And so. Again, I mean, it's, it's really creating those systems and those processes and those automations and 90 percent of this business can be automated with inexpensive virtual assistants and software.
[00:19:51] Mark Podolsky: And so it's really just working that system consistently and in doing that creates all that value.
[00:20:00] Chaz Wolfe: I used to train,~ uh,~ hundreds, if not maybe a few thousand sales reps. And it's, it's funny how,~ um,~ You know, it's phone calls that we, we, we made phone calls, hundreds of phone calls a day, and it's just really not that difficult. Like, yes, we need to work on your tone and yes, we need to work on the, you know, your understanding of tonality or your, the script and, and how to persuade and, and the sales process.
[00:20:20] Chaz Wolfe: Okay, fine. Sure. It, if you only make 10 phone calls today, I can't help you, you know? So that consistency piece is huge. You get bored with the idea of just making phone calls or just sending out more offers, you know,
[00:20:31] Mark Podolsky: Yeah, no, it, yeah, it's, it's so true.
[00:20:34] Chaz Wolfe: What do you think? ~Um, ~as far as like regionally is a hot place for land right now. Is it, is it even regional like that?
Hey Kings and Queens, Chaz Wolf. I want to talk to you about something that's super important to me. We put a lot of time and effort, we meaning myself and my team into this podcast, into the content that goes out every single day. And if you have been getting any sort of value or insight from this, we want it to be able to reach other business owners too.
So we would love if you would like comment, share, leave a review, post, share again, all of the things. On social media on all the different platforms or even on the podcast mediums of apple and spotify We would love to be able to get our content into more hands more entrepreneurs So they can grow their business as quick as possible together We are building a community of like minded entrepreneurs who are committed to growing their businesses to new heights So let's do this.
Let's help each other grow
[00:21:28] Mark Podolsky: Yeah. I mean, Chaz, look, I love Kansas city. I do. I love Kansas. But nobody wakes up and thinks to themselves, boy, I'd like some raw land today in Kansas. Unless you live in
[00:21:39] Chaz Wolfe: I was gonna say, Hey,
[00:21:40] Mark Podolsky: Yeah, so, we want to focus on the Southwest, Northwest, California, Florida, and some wooded areas in the Midwest. Right. So the sunshine States places where people would, you know, they can imagine retiring to, or taking their family out camping,~ uh,~ those types of, of, of places.
[00:22:03] Mark Podolsky: So, you know, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada,~ uh,~ those are going to be your, your hotter areas. Not to say that you can't do a deal in Kansas. You can, it's just, we want to get our biggest buyer, our biggest market, you know, buyer pool in those areas.
[00:22:21] Chaz Wolfe: explain, explain the market cap here, because you kind of said earlier that you'd run out of money before running out of opportunities or deal flow. What do you mean by that?
[00:22:31] Mark Podolsky: Well, there's billions of acres of raw land available in the United States. And because a bank won't lend on this, these are all cash deals. So at some point you either have to get investors or you have to sell your note portfolio to continue buying. And you can, you can do that for sure. But at some point you'll just have to.
[00:23:01] Mark Podolsky: The market's so big, you will just run out of money.
[00:23:05] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, there's, there's,~ um,~ that was probably two or so weeks ago. I'm, I'm,~ uh,~ going through the process of, of,~ uh,~ a 10 31 or about to start a 10 31 and I've been looking at land, believe it or not, not necessarily in the way that you've done it. ~Um, ~I, I'm intrigued by the way that you do your business for sure.
[00:23:20] Chaz Wolfe: I have been for a while, but this is just a, a more of a,~ uh,~ a family play. And so I'm looking at land, but my point in saying that is, even though I'm looking at land, not necessarily from a flipping perspective, you could just, Go online and you find several pieces and you zoom out and you're like, wow, that's, that's 300 acres, you know, two, 3 million piece of property.
[00:23:41] Chaz Wolfe: And you zoom out and it's like this little bitty blip. And I haven't even exited the Kansas city region, you know, let alone the state of Missouri or Kansas, let alone the entire country. So to your point, it's funny when we talk about, you know, acreage, or especially if anybody's listening right now, they, they grew up around acreage or farming and their family, anything like that.
[00:24:01] Chaz Wolfe: It, you know, you talk big acreage quite, you know, quite a bit, especially a, you know, a big farmer is gonna be, you know, maybe a thousand or 2000 or 5,000 acres. That's a pretty big farmer.~ Um, ~and just a such a small drop in the bucket when it comes to the total land mass that's currently not being developed at all anywhere.
[00:24:20] Chaz Wolfe: You know what I mean? It's just crazy.
[00:24:21] Mark Podolsky: Oh, it's yeah. It's, it's a really interesting niche and market for sure.
[00:24:26] Chaz Wolfe: your background
[00:24:27] Chaz Wolfe: Is not in land, your background, investment baking. And so deal making maybe I can see the correlation there, but how, how were you even drawn to land to begin with?
[00:24:36] Mark Podolsky: Well, I was drawn to it because. I, I like getting a deal, like I grew up, like my, my, my dad was a wholesale grocery knew the prices of everything. And so when I first started, I was going to these tax deed auctions and buying up raw land, like pennies on the dollar. I'm like, Oh my gosh. And then I just liked the idea that, well, what's the worst case scenario on this?
[00:25:04] Mark Podolsky: I own a piece of raw land and it's not anything physical that I have to deal with. It's just a piece of paper. And so I could just figure, well, okay, let's say I can't sell it. Well, I could probably barter, you know, maybe I could get a free haircuts or free dentistry for a year, you know, this land, but in the tax is really inexpensive so I could hold it and I could figure it out.
[00:25:31] Mark Podolsky: So for me, it, it made a lot of sense. And if you're the kind of person that gets excited about a deal, right? Like, you know, we're buying something 25, three cents on the dollar, then I really liked that. And then helping somebody that thought, Oh, I can never afford this piece of land. You make it affordable and then that other piece of it that I don't talk probably enough about is the fact that that person who's buying that piece of land, they're paying property taxes and those property taxes are improving that county's roads and schools and hospitals.
[00:26:10] Mark Podolsky: And so there's value all the way along that, that value chain that I find very interesting.
[00:26:16] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, no, you're a hundred percent right. And that's where obviously money comes from is, is what the value is. ~Um, ~So I'm glad we went through that a little earlier, the, the end result of all this for you, you talk about this a lot in your content. ~Um, ~and so I want to give you a little on ramp here to maybe talk about it a little bit, but then how it applied to your life, but you talk about kind of, you know, overcoming the rat race, if you will, passive income, I can now be free.
[00:26:38] Chaz Wolfe: We've, we've mentioned this thing, but ultimately that leads to a lifestyle of freedom, which we kind of talked about earlier, but. What does that look like for you now? What does lifestyle look like for you? How do you define that? What's freedom? What are you doing? Tangible things, intangible things. Like, give us a picture of like, man, you're the land geek.
[00:26:55] Chaz Wolfe: Like what, what is, what does this really get me? You know,
[00:26:58] Mark Podolsky: Yeah. So I've done a lot of traveling. ~Uh, ~I've been to Bali and I've been to Africa and Vietnam. I've been to Hawaii and this is all like Europe. And this is all like the last 12 months. So I've done a lot of traveling. ~Uh, ~number one, I take July off for years. I've always taken July off and just see like stress test the business.
[00:27:19] Mark Podolsky: How does the team do without me? And it's the most. humbling experience because the business always does really well in July. I'm like, what am I like? Why am I should even work at all? So I think that for me, total freedom is just that the, the freedom to work when I want, where I want and with whom I want, and then the, the freedom to have the, the time and the energy and the resources.
[00:27:49] Mark Podolsky: To really work on things that, for me, transcend money. So, I want a fit body. I want a calm mind. So, I work out every day. I do breath work and I meditate every day. I read every day. ~Uh, ~and so, and then, you know, that time, well, there's all these happiness studies, the people who are happiest, they have the best relationships.
[00:28:16] Mark Podolsky: It has nothing to do with money. And so that's really what I want to do with my time is pour in to my relationships. And sometimes they're business relationships. You know, sometimes, you know, your deal friends become real friends, which is awesome.~ Uh, ~And so, but we only have so much time, I'm, I'm obsessed with death.
[00:28:36] Mark Podolsky: So I try to make the most out of every single day and, and really that's, that's what I do. That's, that's what the business allows me to do. And I get to, you know, ask myself these sort of deep philosophical questions about life and happiness and meaning and purpose.
[00:28:59] Mark Podolsky: You know, you're kind of moving up Maslow's hierarchy needs into,~ uh,~ self actualization or transcendence
[00:29:04] Chaz Wolfe: Where do you think that you were in that hierarchy when you were, you know, before land and, and
[00:29:12] Mark Podolsky: land. When I had a job, I think I was just trying to live egoically, if you will. So I wanted to make money. I wanted status. I wanted my friends and family to be like, Oh, look at you, Mark, you're doing pretty well. And that, that investment baking job must be pretty good. Right. I want people to think I was smart or capable.
[00:29:38] Mark Podolsky: And ultimately what I realized was. Number one, no one's really thinking about me. No one cares, right? I bought a, you know, a big house and I had a,~ uh,~ you know, like big car, like I'm named a car guy. So not like a really value driven life. It was just kind of buying into what culture told me look makes you look successful.
[00:30:05] Mark Podolsky: And,~ uh,~ You know, it was not success. ~Uh, ~I had to be at a job at a 45 minute commute to work and back. I was micromanaged. And so I was living a life that was not,~ uh,~ truly authentic to me as a person and trying to live up to somebody else's idea of success, but not my own.
[00:30:24] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. What was that breaking point for you in that moment where, you know, maybe the person listening right now is already an entrepreneur. So maybe it's not a breaking point of leaving a job for a business, but the breaking point of enough is enough. I need to change something. When did that
[00:30:41] Mark Podolsky: I mean, I think, I think that's that. I think all entrepreneurs go through that. Like how much is enough? is what I'm doing day to day really what I love to do? Like, I'll ask my question,~ uh,~ pretty much on a weekly basis. And I, and I, you know, one of those things that I didn't talk about was I journal every day.
[00:30:58] Mark Podolsky: And so I asked myself these questions. I'm going to journal and think about them is, you know, are the activities that I'm doing, can I do them forever? And is the, the value, like, is what I'm doing creating value? Is there anything I'm doing that's not creating value and, and taking a look at that? You know, mapping out sort of these value engines, if you will, and going through that exercise.
[00:31:20] Mark Podolsky: So I think as an entrepreneur, you need to know what your definition of enough is. So for me, enough is 200 percent of my passive income should exceed my fixed expenses. So now that I'm way over that, it's all just a game now. It's like, okay, let's do it. Let's add value and, and do your best and enjoy life.
[00:31:46] Mark Podolsky: And if I wake up and I don't want to do anything, I'll enjoy it. Not do anything. If I, if I wake up and think I want to start a new business, I'll do that. It's, you know,
[00:31:57] Chaz Wolfe: I do know. I also know that you're a competitor. ~Um, ~even from our little Oh, Conversation back and forth here at the beginning before we hit the record button, you know, we, we had to kind of blow some,~ uh,~ blow some smoke up your skirt just to make you feel good about your mic over there. ~Um, ~and I'm just kidding,
[00:32:10] Mark Podolsky: yeah,
[00:32:12] Chaz Wolfe: but in all seriousness, no, no, but in all seriousness,~ um,~ I know you're a competitor because competitors win and you're winning.
[00:32:18] Chaz Wolfe: ~Um, ~and so the, the, the picture that's been painted of almost like this. You know, blissful mark I know is true because you've gotten there, but I know, I know that there's the game. That you talked about. And I actually loved how you kind of, you, I can use this as a transition because you know, even whether you've self actualized or reached a point where passive income over, you know, ~uh, ~takes over your fixed expenses, there is a freedom in that.
[00:32:44] Chaz Wolfe: Okay, cool. There's still a game to play. So you kind of identified what that looks like potentially, but give, give the listeners a thought, especially if they don't have that freedom yet of being able to kind of just. Play the game. However, that looks because I want to, not because I have to. What, what is that part of it?
[00:33:03] Chaz Wolfe: Look,
[00:33:04] Mark Podolsky: Yeah. I mean, I have no interest in, in, you know, sitting in a cave. And meditating, you know, 12 hours a day, right? I mean, so there, there is something to be said about the game of life and the game of business and playing it as well as you can. Ultimately, you're competing against the, the prior version of yourself.
[00:33:26] Mark Podolsky: So can I be a better version of myself today than I was yesterday? That's, that's really the competition. And then having the, the game, the fun of meeting people like you, who,~ uh,~ You know, are smarter and they've got better microphones and you take all that
[00:33:42] Chaz Wolfe: we have the same
[00:33:43] Mark Podolsky: you apply it to your own life. Right. And so, yeah, I mean, there's certain things like I'll never be as good looking as you, or maybe as talented, but I can certainly take some of that knowledge.
[00:33:55] Mark Podolsky: I can listen to the podcast and I can surround myself with, with those people. And. And level up. So I think that there's a lot to be said about just enjoying that game of life and kind of being like a duck, right? You see these ducks and they're, they're totally tranquil, but below the surface, they're paddling furiously.
[00:34:20] Mark Podolsky: And I think that's the way to do it. I mean, I know it's like this paradox because we all want. Things and we all strive and,~ uh,~ and there's nothing wrong with it. Right. I just think that,~ uh,~ you should enjoy it while you're doing it. And if you get it great. And if you don't great.
[00:34:39] Chaz Wolfe: I appreciate those,~ uh,~ not true statements, but I do appreciate them. It does make me feel good. At least,~ um,~ the,~ uh,~ the, the duck on water is usually used in a scenario of crisis chaos, but I'm cool on the outside. Nobody knows. But you've used it in a different scenario. You've used it as cool, calm and enjoyment or fulfillment or, or happiness on the outside.
[00:35:05] Chaz Wolfe: But I can still work or play the game, even inside of the fact that I've achieved quote unquote,~ uh,~ you know, financial freedom. Have you seen, I know if you've seen that in your own life, but Have you seen that in the people that have come through your program and that,~ uh,~ are doing what you're doing, other people that you're around?
[00:35:20] Chaz Wolfe: Like, what does that look like from a, like you looking in on someone else, like them actualizing that?
[00:35:27] Mark Podolsky: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that for me is the most gratifying thing is when someone calls me and says, Hey, Mark, you, you changed my life. And I just was actually just talking to a couple,~ uh,~ this morning that, you know, they, they made that comment. They said, land changed our lives. And so he was a principal and she was a stay at home mom and now he's more than replaced his Income as a principal, three kids and young kids.
[00:35:56] Mark Podolsky: They could spend all day with those kids and they can be totally present. And as a couple, what do, what do couples fight about the most, Money, sex, and the kids. I can't help them with the other two, but if, if that big bucket of stress in life, we call money is solved. It really,~ uh,~ ripples out and affects all your areas of life and, and just makes everything.
[00:36:22] Mark Podolsky: Better. And you can really choose to spend your time in the ways that again, are the most meaningful for you. And so,~ uh, ~I mean, I just, you know, one of our, our newest coaches, Roberto Chavez, he was a corporate attorney in El Paso and in his first year, he got his passive income to 10, 000 a month and the second year, 18, 000 a month, third year, it was over 30, 000 a month.
[00:36:47] Mark Podolsky: Now he's over 50, 000 a month passive income. So he quit and he's. at home with his baby, him and his wife can do whatever they want. And it's, it's amazing. It's amazing.
[00:37:00] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, that is, it's really, I mean, I think, I think some people might be listening, you know, still in disbelief that someone can actually produce 50, 000 a month in passive income. ~Um, ~but I, I want to, I don't want to miss this opportunity to, to shed some advice on, you know, ~uh, ~those three areas that couples fight on.
[00:37:17] Chaz Wolfe: I think that they're, they're true. You know, you got money, sex, and children, like you said. And I think that the antidote to all of those is just more,
[00:37:23] Mark Podolsky: Yeah.
[00:37:23] Chaz Wolfe: more money, more sex, and more children, right? Like
[00:37:27] Mark Podolsky: Yeah. It could, it could be, I mean, I think,
[00:37:30] Chaz Wolfe: you're hesitant, Mark. Why are
[00:37:32] Mark Podolsky: I think you need to know. I think you have to have your enough point on that for sure. I
[00:37:38] Chaz Wolfe: I had to get a good laugh at you. ~Um, ~but in all seriousness, someone's listening right now. They're going 50 K a month in passive income. Their, their belief isn't there. What would you say to that guy?
[00:37:47] Mark Podolsky: feel the same way. I I'd be skeptical too. There's, there's so much snake oil out there. I think that. It's you have to do it for yourself. You have to really try for yourself or talk to more people who are doing it. I mean, we have a whole community. Do your due diligence and really see like, okay, I talked to Mark.
[00:38:11] Mark Podolsky: Yeah. What's he going to say? He's not going to say it sucks, right? It's a little self serving all these other people. It's worked for them and they look like me and maybe I look like you too. So it's great. So I would say you've got to try it for yourself. You definitely want to have a certain healthy amount of skepticism.
[00:38:34] Mark Podolsky: I mean, I have, you know, I talked to people and I get these shiny objects syndrome and this business looks amazing. That business looks amazing. And that business looks amazing. And ultimately when I start digging into them, they're not for me. And they don't really, you know, nobody wants to be in a race, a winner, a race they don't want to be in.
[00:38:56] Mark Podolsky: So is this the race you want to be in? And for me, The freedom race was one that I wanted to be in and having no headaches race was one I wanted to be in. But for other people, it might be boring. It may not be exciting. It may not be enjoyable. I mean, I talked to a guy the other day and he's like, you know, I can't get excited about two 97 a month in payments.
[00:39:18] Mark Podolsky: I want to make, you know, I want to do these bigger deals. I'm like, great. You can do bigger deals.~ Um, ~there's, there's nothing wrong with it. It's, that's just not the niche. I. Teach.
[00:39:27] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. 297 75 times or 127 times or 10, 270 times. Like come on now.
[00:39:39] Mark Podolsky: Yeah. I mean, you can do it once. You can do a million times. So it's, it's one of those things, but yeah, I think, I think,~ uh,~ if anything in life, right. I make, I make it sound easy. It's nothing's easy. It's a simple model. It's not easy. If anyone tells you anything that they're doing is easy, it's just not true.
[00:39:58] Mark Podolsky: I mean, especially for entrepreneurs, right. Entrepreneurship is just not easy. We're, we're all a little, you gotta be a little crazy. I think,
[00:40:05] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I think a lot more than a little bit, but I'm with you. ~Um, ~Mark, I, you've, you've got so much experience. I just appreciate you. ~Um, um, ~you know, sharing your drop of. You know, where you were investment banking and wanting to be in deals. And, and I love the model that you've created here. I love that the fact that you've helped so many other people do it.
[00:40:21] Chaz Wolfe: If you had the opportunity to go back and talk to you, I don't know, younger, you pick the age, what would you tell yourself?
[00:40:28] Mark Podolsky: well, number one, I would, I would tell myself to learn to, to meditate and, and not take all these thoughts so seriously. I, I, I would not have suffered as much in my twenties and thirties for sure. And,~ uh,~ and probably would have enjoyed life way more,~ uh,~ at that time. So that, that would be the first thing I would have, Told myself and I think the second thing I would have told myself was get out of that job faster Yeah, for sure
[00:40:58] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. The,~ uh,~ You know, like you said, it's, we, we kind of have to define what we want. And,~ uh,~ I think that there's a time and a reason, you know, for those, those things in our lives, especially as entrepreneurs, the ones that want to take that risk to do something different. And so if you're listening right now and you think land,~ uh,~ is, is a vehicle for you to help you get there, obviously we'll put all of Mark's information, but give us just a quick drop,~ uh,~ social media website, give us where they can find you and learn more.
[00:41:24] Mark Podolsky: yeah,~ uh,~ I think the best place to go is thelandgeek. com thelandgeek. com and ~uh ~Since you're an intelligent listener For the gathering the kings podcast. I have a free book dirt rich. I'd like to offer as well~ Uh, ~just pay for the shipping and you guys will have the links
[00:41:42] Chaz Wolfe: We've got the link in the show notes, click on that, get your free book, dirt rich. You're a man of maybe few words, but lots of wisdom in there.
[00:41:50] Chaz Wolfe: So I'm glad I got,~ uh,~ some, some chuckles here with you today. I'm thankful to know you and to know just the things that are happening in land. And, and I think that there'll be plenty of listeners, hopefully that take you up on that offer for that free book and,~ uh,~ you've been a blessing. So I appreciate you being here, Mark.
[00:42:06] Chaz Wolfe: And,~ uh,~ we, we hope to stay connected with you.
[00:42:09] Mark Podolsky: Thanks, Charles. Appreciate you.
[00:42:10] Chaz Wolfe: Thank you for listening to Gathering the Kings today. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself, doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself.
[00:42:28] Chaz Wolfe: What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different industries, and now interviewing to over 200 or 300, Other very successful seven, eight and nine figure business owners is that it's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings exists to Bring together successful entrepreneurs.
[00:42:48] Chaz Wolfe: In fact, we are putting together 1, 000 Kings specifically. Who are grateful, but not done. We're intentionally assembling Kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities. And here's what we believe that in the pursuit of excellence in those areas. That it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy.
[00:43:12] Chaz Wolfe: So if that relates in and resonates with you, and you know, that you need people around you, sharp, qualified, other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gatheringthekings. com. I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 Kings talk soon.

Host Chaz Wolfe welcomes the legendary Mark Podolsky, also known as "The Land Geek," to the King's stage. Mark is a trusted authority in buying and selling raw, undeveloped land and has completed over 6,000 transactions in his 20+ year career. If you’ve ever wondered how to create passive income streams or live life on your own terms, this episode is a must-watch!

Mark Podolsky:

https://landgeek.samcart.com/products/dirt-rich?utm_source=gathering-the-kings&utm_medium=podcast

https://www.thelandgeek.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thelandgeek

https://www.instagram.com/thelandgeek/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thelandgeek/

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLandGeek

Chaz's favorite morning drink to fuel him for his day

10% off Code: GATHERINGKINGS10