Why You Need Masterminds – Interview Alex Pardo | 406

Chris Miles (00:00):
Hello, my fellow Ripplers! This is Chris Miles. Your Cash Flow Expert and Anti-Financial Advisor. Hey guys! I’m going to welcome you out for another show this week. A show that’s for you and about you. Those of you that work so freaking hard for your money, and you’re ready for your money start working harder for you. Now! You want that freedom. That cash flow. That prosperity. Today! Not 30 or 40 years from now, but right now. So you work because you want to. Not because you have to. So you have that life that you love being with those that you love doing what you love. But it’s not just about your own comfort and convenience, right? It’s not just about having that life of your dreams, where you can just sit back and sip on some lemonade or whatever. But it’s so much more than that guys, because as Ripplers, you guys actually want to create a ripple effect through people’s lives. Not just your family, but through your community and across the world, because as you become free yourself, you can help others do the same too.

Chris Miles (00:58):
And I’m excited to be a part of that ripple effect because you guys allow me to create the ripple effect through you. And guys, I appreciate it so much. I appreciate you guys being a part of this. Of this movement. You guys are becoming a part of something that’s amazing, and it’s allowing me to express it and get that bigger impact and reach that I’ve always wanted. So thank you for being a part of this, sharing it bingeing on these episodes and everything else you do.

Chris Miles (01:21):
Quick reminder, check our website, MoneyRipples.Com There’s great stuff on there as well. You can also reach out to me if you’ve got questions in addition to that. All right, guys. So today I want to bring on a special guest, a guy that I’ve come to really respect in one of my mastermind groups that he’s in a part of a high level, real estate mastermind group, Collective Genius that we’re together in. And Alex Pardo. He’s the guy that’s always impressed me, right? One, I mean, not just an amazing entrepreneur and a real estate professional himself and investor and a coach and everything else. Right? But he’s also a family guy. He’s like a real person, which as you guys know, I like to bring on genuine, authentic people. You know, not like the slick, you know, snake oil, salesmen of sorts. Like this guy is the real deal. By the way, he’s also got another podcast you can check out called FLIPEMPIRE. It’s awesome! And that’s also his name of his company. He also has a parent company called Creative RE-Solutions. He’s flipped well over 300 properties. So even after you graduated from college, but you know, almost 20 years ago, he decided to go work for GE at the time. He’s like, you know what, even though I’ve become a CEO, I’m changing that direction.

Chris Miles (02:27):
And so this is where he ended up starting going down that path. No more working 75 hours a week. Moved over towards doing real estate and have a life of freedom. And so guys, the main reason I brought him on today is because, you know, many of you will ask me, they say, Chris, you know, I hear you’re part of these great groups, these masterminds, you know, how do I find people like that? Because right now, now more than ever, you need a support group. And so, Alex, love having you on the show, man. Thanks! Thanks for coming on.

Alex Pardo (02:55):
Chris. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I’m excited to be on and to share some thoughts with Your audience. So thank you for having me.

Chris Miles (03:01):
Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about the path, fill in the gaps for me a little bit, cause I know you’re an adventurer. I mean, you’ve backpacked all over the world and done cool stuff. I mean, but tell us a little bit more about you.

Alex Pardo (03:11):
Yeah. I’ll try to keep it super brief cause you on a lot of it, but you know, sometime around college, first of all, ever since I was 11, 12 years old, I would buy and sell baseball cards. I would buy packs of cards and boxes and I would flip them. And at the time I didn’t know, I was essentially wholesaling like, but I was learning some of the, just the fundamentals of buying low and selling high. And so I think I’ve always been wired with that in me. And something changed there on college. When I was in college, I, I think it was the prestige or maybe it was the ego, honestly, that I wanted to. I saw like the Jack Welch’s of the world and all these big time CEOs. And I’m like, I want to be that guy. Until I got hired by general electric in their financial management program.

Alex Pardo (03:51):
And I moved away from Miami for the first time. And I’ll never forget, you know, three and a half months into that job. I was averaging about 70 to 80 hours a week. I didn’t enjoy anything I was doing. And the defining moment for me, Chris was I would look at my boss. I would look at their boss and then I would keep going up the chain all the way up to the CFO of GE capital. And I looked at them and I said, I don’t want to be that person. I don’t want to be working around the clock. And I just didn’t enjoy it at that decision. At that point, when I made a decision, I’m going to finish the two year program, but I’m going to start educating myself about real estate. I had read Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I had read a bunch of these books, but I had never taken action.

Alex Pardo (04:30):
Right? So long story short, I finished that two year commitment. I went backpacking around Europe to “Find myself. Figuring out what I wanted to do.” And I was in an internet cafe in Ibiza and a friend of mine sent me an email and he said, Hey, I’m going to this camp. Marketing for deals Boot-camp. It’s 997 bucks. It does. It might not sound like a lot of money to a lot of people, but for me at the time I had funded my entire three months backpack, triple my credit card. I didn’t really have much money and it was a fork in the road. Well, thank God. I decided to take him up on that offer. I spent a thousand bucks on my card, went to the event, pulled out a letter. They were teaching us how to market for pre-foreclosures. This was in late 2005 and I started handwriting envelopes and sending out mailers to Pre-Foreclosures. A couple of months later, I closed my first deal and almost made exactly what I was making as a salary at GE. So, I’ve been doing that ever since 2005.

Chris Miles (05:28):
That’s awesome! You know, I can know a lot of people here can relate cause there’s lot of people here that work really, they do really work hard for their money, right? And some of them make great money. But it comes with a price, you know, and some people will actually even believe that you have to do that. Like somehow you just have to work those long hours to get that kind of money. And that’s just not true. That’s a whole paradigm shifts that everybody needs to have. Right?

Alex Pardo (05:50):
That’s right! A hundred percent. I mean, I think you hit the nail on the head. I see. It’s really unfortunate when I see people sacrificing time with their family or whatever they value, whatever it’s important in the pursuit of money. Because as cliche as it might sound, forget tomorrow, the next minute is not promised to us. And unfortunately, sometimes it takes a tragedy or it, sometimes it takes, it takes you hearing about someone passing away for it’s reminding you, like you have to enjoy life. And that’s not to say that, you know, you don’t pay attention to the responsibilities and end generating income and bringing in the finances. That’s important, but you can have both, you know, I learned years ago from a mentor that this is an end world. It’s not an either/or. In other words, you can have both things. You just have to be very intentional and strategic about it.

Chris Miles (06:35):
Yeah. That’s that’s, I love that! That whole abundance mindset and realize not either/or, but it’s a, how would I have both. Right? How do I have my cake and eat it too. Right?

Alex Pardo (06:44):
Right. It’s possible.

Chris Miles (06:45):
It’s sure is. Yeah. Well, tell us, like in your journey, like what’s been some of the biggest ways, what are some of the biggest factor for your success?

Alex Pardo (06:55):
Great question, Chris. I wish I had a sexy answer for you. I wish it was a story with a chance encounter with some celebrity where I got an opportunity. It wasn’t that at all. It was, I’ve, a couple of years into my journey. As an entrepreneur, I tried to do everything alone. I was a lone Wolf and I had some success, but I also had some pretty big failures and those failures kind of shaped me. And one of the things I realized is I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. If I can find the right people, put them into my life and have the right inner circle. I can, essentially success leaves, clues, right? And then I have to follow their exact path because I’m on my own unique journey, but I don’t have to make mistakes that these people have already been through.

Alex Pardo (07:35):
So the two years, it took me losing $51,000, $52,000. In 2007. Right as the market was shifting, I lost just over 50 grand on a deal. And I vowed to that point. I said, I’m not going at this alone anymore. So I hired a coach at that time. And through that process, I got exposed to masterminds. And so for the last, I don’t know, whatever, it’s been 12 years, 13 years, I have been coached by a couple of people at the same time. I’ve invested in myself as you have. We were just talking how we’re both a part of multiple mastermind groups. And I could not imagine, Chris, especially with everything going on with COVID-19, I couldn’t imagine going at this alone or without having a network, a community, a mastermind. Where I could just pick up the phone and call someone like you, Chris, and Hey, this is my challenge. This is what I’m going through. Or I need your insight. I need your perspective. So that’s completely changed my life, you know, not just coaching, but being a part of the right communities, being a part of the right groups, people that are gonna walk alongside you, people that are going to help you to think bigger and challenge you and hold you accountable. It’s been a game changer for me.

Chris Miles (08:41):
Yeah. I’d be curious to know. Cause I know a lot of people ask me this. They’re like, well, how do you find a good group like that? Like how do you find the one that’s the right group? Cause there’s lots of groups out there. Right? And there’s tons of posers out there. There’s tons of people that are kind of charlatans. Right? And they tend, and some of them are some of the biggest marketing people out there. Right? And then you get in their groups, you’re like, this group stinks, you know, it’s like this, isn’t like, this is all hype and no real content or no real like, you know, real muscle to it. You know? So for you, like, what’s been your experience like how you found the right groups.

Alex Pardo (09:13):
Yeah. Well, first of all, phenomenal question. And I think this can be really, really helpful for people that have gotten to the point where they’ve said, okay, I see the value in being in a mastermind. I see the value in plugging into the right community. Now I go online, how do I even start the process. And one of the things I always say is, you know, do some research. Find out. Look at the leader. Who’s running the group? And chances are, you know, most masterminds. You’re going to go through some sort of interview process. And in some cases that’s kind of a marketing gimmick type thing, a sales thing. In other cases it’s legit. Like they, you know, if the leader is vetting, who is being put in the group, that’s the kind of group I think you want to be a part of, not just somebody that can stroke a check or send a wire or make a certain investment in themselves.

Alex Pardo (10:00):
But you want the group to have some sort of qualifications. And that doesn’t necessarily mean X amount of volume or X amount of dollars you make. That could be a part of it. But you want to connect with the leader. They’re going to probably interview you. You want to interview them. Ask them about their core values. Ask them about why they started the group. What’s their intention? What’s their, why are they doing this? Is it a business? And if so, that’s fantastic! Absolutely nothing wrong with that because masterminds can be very lucrative as you know, Chris, but I would want to be a part of a group where it’s more than just a business for them, right? Where their hearts in it, where they have a heart for service and for giving. And so you want to find out what makes up the DNA on that group, right?

Alex Pardo (10:41):
Is it a group of go givers? Is it a group of people or is it a group of just like, you know, ego, chest pounding people that it’s all about, Hey, I’m bigger and better kind of thing because there’s both groups out there. So find a group that resonates with you. I think the second thing you want to ask yourself is, what direction do you want to take your life in your business? Do you have a vision for your life and for your business? Because depending on what you want to accomplish and the direction you want to go could really dictate what type of group you get into. To your point, Chris, there’s no shortage of masterminds out there. It feels like they’re popping up left and right now. Now, the flip side is, don’t do so much research and don’t get into analysis paralysis that, you know, 12 months later, you still haven’t joined the group. The right group is out there. I think you can figure out just by having a conversation or a couple of conversations with the leader. And maybe even get some referrals, find out, Chris, you know, who’s in that group? Who can I connect with? And gain an unbiased opinion on that group.

Chris Miles (11:37):
I think that’s a great idea for sure. Essentially. Cause like, you know, I always took the, you know, as a coach right. And consulting people, I always took kind of more of the group model for a few years. And then I realized that people didn’t really need a guru model. They needed a guide. Right? And obviously I still give, you know, help and advice and guidance and stuff. But I realized that one of the biggest shifts for me was after I started to look into mastermind groups myself. And start to see the value when I started to apply that element to my own clients. Cause I had them come out to my house, for example, you know, twice a year. And, and we just have this very intimate group. And a lot of the members of the group said, you know, they’ll even say at the end, they’ll say, you know, the biggest thing I got out of this, like, sorry, Chris, like your stuff is awesome.

Chris Miles (12:19):
But I love talking to people that were at my level, like people that were dealing with the same thing I’m dealing with right now. Like I’ve learned so much from talking with other people, even just during the breaks or lunch or whatever. Like I have learned so much from that. And it blew my mind. Like my ego was kinda rocked for a little bit. I was like, wait a minute, like I’m supposed to be your mentor. And then I realized, no, this is good. This is awesome. Like it’s such amazing, it was such an amazing perspective shift for me and seeing how it really benefits people.

Alex Pardo (12:49):
Yeah. And I always tell, I think to that end, Chris, you know, when we interview people and when we, and we have a pretty small intimate group through a sense, but when we interview people, we tell them, look, you’re going to get the X’s and O’s and the strategy, and you’re going to get a lot of content. But that’s not even where the real value is. That’s extremely valuable. But it’s the relationships. The relationship capital is priceless. The fact that you and I are in a group and now we’re doing this and there’s ways that you can collaborate with people and the friendships and the fact that I can pick up the phone and call anybody in our group. Chris is, to me, it’s just, it’s priceless. So while I get a lot of value at the actual masterminds, to your point, it’s the side conversations at the bar at the restaurant or at the break, it’s the connection.

Alex Pardo (13:36):
I mean, again, everybody’s heard, you know, your net worth is your net worth. And I’ve also heard, it’s not, it, it’s not what, you know, it’s who, you know, I’ll take it a step further. It’s who knows you. And so to me, that’s, if I was weighing it out, that’s probably 70%, 75% of the value is the relationships. And yeah, I’ve learned a ton and I’ve implemented systems and marketing strategies. And I bought properties from people in our group. And so there’s been a lot of business that has come out of it, but the relationships is really what it’s all about for me.

Chris Miles (14:07):
That’s, amen to that man! So, you know, I’ll tell you like, and like you said before too, you like even mentioned like, it’s, you kind of went to the question, I was already gonna ask you already hit it. Right? Which was, how would somebody know it’s the right route for them? Right? And that kind of leads me to your group. You have a group named Ascend, right? So Alex, tell us more about Ascend, you know, what it is and who would be the right fit for that kind of group.

Alex Pardo (14:29):
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much for the opportunity to kind of briefly share about it. And I don’t want this to be sound like a sales pitch or anything. It’s just, honestly, I’ve been doing real estate now for 15 years. This is what I’m most passionate about. I realized my calling is to pour into people’s lives and to work with them. So, because I’ve been a part of a lot of different mastermind groups and I’ve had a lot of coaches, I never found the group that brought them both together. So when I got together with my partner, Steve Cavanaugh, last year, we said, how can we create an experience where we mastermind? And we also get the coaching component. So it’s a hybrid mastermind and coaching group for entrepreneurs. We have two groups of 15. So it’s very small and intimate. We were talking about this offline.

Alex Pardo (15:08):
It’s not a group where there’s hundreds of people and you, you kind of get lost in the shuffle. And not to say that there’s anything wrong with that. There’s some really valuable groups. We’re a part of one that’s pretty big and it’s awesome, but we want it to go on a little bit of a different direction. We want the right people in there and you know, and so yeah, we, you know, every four months we get together in South Florida and we mastermind in a small intimate setting. It’s an experience. We have a lot of fun while we’re doing it. And then there’s monthly one on one coaching. And then we get together as a group on Zoom. And we mastermind on Zoom. And ever since COVID hit we’ve been doing that on a weekly basis. So the level of accountability, the level of just transparency that’s in the group is amazing.

Chris Miles (15:46):
That’s awesome, man! And like you said, when you’re talking about business owners or you’re specifically saying those that are going in the business of real estate, right?

Alex Pardo (15:53):
No, no, by the way, thank you. Because I didn’t, I didn’t clarify that. No! This group is for entrepreneurs. Now having said that because of the content I produced to the podcast, because I’ve been in real estate, I’d probably say 80%, 75%, 80% of our members are in real estate, but we do have some members that have different businesses. We didn’t want it to just be a group about real estate. And I think the other thing that, that makes it unique, Chris, is that we don’t just talk business, but we actually start with the life component. At the foundation of what we do is, what’s the vision for your life? And then let’s help you either tweak, modify and or create a business that supports that lifestyle. So at our mastermind retreat, sometimes we’re talking about, you know, Hey, my business, I need to generate more revenue and we’re talking about marketing. And then juxtapose that we, you know, we had a situation in our group where somebody is dealing with an addiction. And so we, we really dove into that. So it covers life and business because my belief is that they’re connected and one impacts the other. It has a ripple effect. Pun intended on each other. So…

Chris Miles (16:57):
That’s right. Well, awesome! If people want to find out more information about that, how would they go about doing so?

Alex Pardo (17:03):
Yeah, it’s super simple. AscendYourSuccess.com AscendYourSuccess.com Short five, six minute video on there. And then it’s just an application process. And it’s really just a conversation to see, you know, if it’s a fit, answer questions and us to find out more about you. So it’s a pretty simple process.

Chris Miles (17:20):
That’s great. Yes. There we go. You’ll check that out, man. We’ll put that link in the show notes for you guys to, just to go look at or check it out, you know, apply if you want to apply. Obviously I can vouch for Alex. Alex is amazing, man. Like, he’s both on and off camera, so to speak, right. You know, or off the mic. He’s a great guy. So definitely check that out and also check out his podcast. You wanna get to know him more through there. Check out FLIPEMPIRE as well. So anyways, Alex, appreciate you being on today.

Alex Pardo (17:49):
No! Again, I really thank you for having me on. Again, it’s for me, it’s friendship. I’m grateful for the relationship. I know we have a mutual friend in Armando. And so anything you ever need, brother, I am here for you and same applies to anybody listening to this. If I can answer any questions or if you just want to connect again, I love building relationships. And if I can add value in any way, you know, feel free to reach out Alex@FlipEmpire.com.

Chris Miles (18:14):
Awesome! Appreciate it, Alex, man. Everybody else you’ve heard it like reach out to Alex, check out his stuff. It’s good stuff there, but right now is the best time, more than ever to stay connected. If I would have learned anything from the last recession that I went through, I thought I had to suffer alone. And that was not the case guys. Like if, if I would have learned quickly that it was actually reaching out to people and associated with people and looking for help, I would have not have suffered through the recession as much as I had. So guys, I recommend you. Don’t fall in that same trap that I did as well, that you learn from our mistakes and from our successes too. So everybody, I’ll be making a wonderful prosperous week. We’ll see you later.