Forged In Fire
Hosted by Nate Pharmer-Eden and Cole Farrell, Forged In Fire is where real entrepreneurship meets raw, unfiltered stories. This isn’t your typical business podcast—we skip the fluff and dive straight into the heat of what it really takes to build, run, and grow a business. From late-night doubts to game-changing wins, we explore the trials, setbacks, and breakthroughs that entrepreneurs experience at every stage of their journey.
Whether you’re a seasoned business owner navigating new challenges or someone with a burning desire to launch your first venture, this podcast offers powerful insights and practical lessons for everyone. No sugarcoating—just honest conversations about what it takes to forge success through the fire.
Get ready to be inspired, learn from real-world struggles, and gain the tools you need to make your entrepreneurial dreams a reality. This is your front-row seat to the highs, lows, and everything in between. Are you ready to step into the fire? 🔥
Forged In Fire
Episode 43: Avery Robertson's journey from Cattle Rancher to Capital Provider
What does it take to walk away from a stable job and build a multimillion-dollar lending business? Avery Robertson pulls back the curtain on his remarkable journey from cattle rancher to capital provider in this riveting conversation.
Avery's story begins in the wide-open spaces of one of America's largest cattle ranches before transitioning to agricultural lending. All the while, a passion for real estate investment simmered beneath the surface. Despite years of attending investor meetups and analyzing potential deals, Avery found himself stuck on the sidelines – until a pivotal moment when he realized his lending expertise could become his competitive advantage.
The path wasn't straightforward. There were nail-biting moments of committing to loans before having all the capital lined up, the constant balancing act of finding quality borrowers while raising investor funds, and eventually, that heart-pounding day when he finally quit his stable job. Now, with over $18 million in loans facilitated, mobile home parks in his portfolio, and an RV park under management, Avery shares the unfiltered truth about hard money lending and real estate investment.
What makes this conversation particularly valuable is Avery's transparency about both the challenges and strategies. He reveals his criteria for evaluating borrowers, red flags that make him hesitate, and his approach to structuring deals as win-win scenarios. For those curious about real estate lending, his explanation of the differences between joint venture partnerships and debt funds provides crucial insights rarely discussed in public forums.
Perhaps most compelling is Avery's reflection on the psychological journey – overcoming fear, developing grit, and finding the courage to take that next step forward. As he puts it, "Don't let fear rule you... use it to make sure you're making a wise decision, but jump in." His straightforward advice to take whatever opportunity stands directly in front of you serves as a powerful reminder that entrepreneurial success isn't built through giant leaps but through consistent, determined progress.
Ready to unlock insights from someone who's built a thriving business by helping other entrepreneurs achieve their real estate dreams? Listen now and discover how prayer, persistence, and partnership created a pathway to financial freedom and control.
Forget what you've heard. Forged in Fire is where real entrepreneurs come to share the untold truths of success the late nights, the crushing setbacks, the moments that change everything. No fluff, just fire, ready to step into the heat and unlock what it really takes to build a business. This is where legends are made.
Speaker 2:Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another exciting episode of Forged in Fire. I'm your co-host, Nate Farmer Eden. I'm introduced by counterpart Cole. How we doing, brother.
Speaker 3:Nate. What's going on? How are we doing today?
Speaker 2:Doing good, doing good. It's a Tuesday afternoon, well, almost afternoon. It's raining outside. I'm in the office it's been like 100 degrees for the last few days and I'm just like you know what I'm ready for the weekend. I don't know Enough about me. How about you?
Speaker 3:I love it. I love it. It's a heat wave here, so it's definitely not raining. I wish it would, but I don't know. Life's good. The universe, for some reason, is challenging me on zoning. It's trying to drill some zoning lesson into me and we're getting nailed on every single aspect possible. I'm up to my eyeballs in that. But hey, it's fine, Laugh it off right. So I'm trying to tell myself, at least so it's been good.
Speaker 2:But A question on that for you Are you going to give us an update, week by week, in a play by play, on how this all sort of pans out?
Speaker 3:I can if you want, but to be honest, I've learned that nothing happens week by week, it's like month by month. So I'll give you updates if I got on, but otherwise, no, I'll give you a quick update on their office building, though. So, to make a very long story short, we had our architects come in and they're trying to figure out the best way to make everything work. And when I say make everything work, I mean get it up to code. And when I say get up to code, I mean put all these bogus regulations in that we have to have.
Speaker 3:So, for instance, the office has a step it needs, needs to be ADA accessible. Hey, that's cool. So we got to build a ramp no big deal. But the bathroom is a little too small for ADA. So naturally they want us to rip the entire bathroom down and rebuild it. So that's just wonderful. And so we have the whole shop section, and we're trying to avoid renovating that yet and we're trying to see if we can get that through and some other little things. So, anyways, the architects went in, they took their surveys and plans, and now we're just waiting to hear back. So that's what's going on right now.
Speaker 2:Holy cow, Never a dull moment right.
Speaker 3:Never dull, always expensive, is what I'm learning with this stuff. But hey, that's how this stuff goes. So look, enough about these crazy projects. I'm excited for this interview and to everybody listening, most of you guys do not do the one thing that we ask you, and it's the one single thing that would really really help us and help us teach you more, and that is just to follow us or comment or just subscribe any of those things, which are all really the same. So that's what helps us grow, that's what helps keep giving us better guests, and so if you could do that, that would really really mean a lot for us. So please just hit the follow button and, besides that, sit back, relax, enjoy the show.
Speaker 2:Dude. This show is going to be crazy, as they all seem to flow into man. Today we're going to be interviewing Avery. This dude is amazing. Long and short of his story and I'm going to let him tell it way better is he became a lender. He realized that there was some hardships within the real estate space. He had grabbed some amazing mentors. I'm sure he's going to touch base on them and they have some famous mentors of his that were helping him out. But enough about me trying to explain his story. Let me go ahead and bring him on. Avery. How you doing, brother, come on stage, man.
Speaker 4:Doing really well. How are you guys?
Speaker 2:Doing good. Thank you, man. Thank you so much for coming into Forged in Fires. Please tell us a little bit about yourself. What got you here? What brought?
Speaker 4:you here. So I, you know I've always had an interest in finance and investing kind of my whole life. You know I thinking back, even as a kid, I remember just kind of starting a few little you know side little businesses, like kids do, and but never really knowing where to take them and get those next steps and really I guess not having the right mentors to show me what I could do, and then kind of fast forwarding. You know, I went to, went to college, I studied um ag business, was kind of going into the cattle world and worked on a on a one of the the U S is largest cattle ranch in Florida, and did that for a couple of years and you know I really enjoyed that.
Speaker 4:And that whole time too, though I was still looking for investment opportunities, listening to Dave Ramsey, trying trying to be smart financially and then getting into Rich Dad, poor Dad, discovering bigger pockets and just you know, telling my wife like hey, we've got to invest, we got to get into real estate, trying to figure that out, and I ended up leaving that ranch and taking a job as a ag lender, so doing the farm and ranch loans here in Idaho, and I was at that job for just over seven years and same thing during that time, like we really wanted to get a house hack, you know, and we looked at we're looking at a lot of properties and this was right, you know, 2017. So real estate was starting to take off and heat up and there wasn't a lot of inventory and a lot of competition and we had a few, a few chances at once, but just kind of always got that cold feed or didn't pull the trigger and just kind of get my wife and I on the same page and to make that commitment. And I was attending all these REIA events the Real Estate Investor Association. We had some meetup groups here in Idaho and I was going to those and trying to network and trying to see where I could get my foot in the door. It seemed like at the time, single family rentals were getting tough to cash flow, so a lot of people guys were flipping homes around here and so I tried doing that, tried to do some direct mail. I knocked on a bunch of doors, you know, I cold called sellers and I just like, I never found, never found a deal.
Speaker 4:And I was at a re-event and a guy named Matt Strong from Utah. He came on and was talking about hard money. He, he did a lot of lending in Utah and quite a bit here in Idaho and it just kind of connected at that point. I was like I'm a lender by my day job. I do these farm and ranch loans so I know how to look at collateral and analyze that. I've been trying to find my own investment so I've been analyzing deals. I was like I could be the hard money lender and I talked with a buddy of mine who was a coworker and kind of told him my, my plan and and he had some better connections to some capital and I kind of had the idea and the know-how at least. And uh, it's a long story short. We kind of brought that business together and, um, now it's taken off. I've, after doing it for over four years now. Last April I left my due job and been working for myself for the last year.
Speaker 3:That is incredible. There's so much I want to dive into there. So I guess first, my first question is you mentioned why you got into lending. That completely makes sense. Is there something that you prefer to lend on? Is there a certain type of asset? Is there things that you won't look at, Like talking about? What do you guys like and why?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean as a lender, right Like, our thing is all about collateral, especially as a hard money lender. I'm not looking at your taxes and your income, your credit report, so I'm really just like do you know what you're doing? Is this a good property and if, in the worst case scenario, could I liquidate this and recover my investment? And so majority of what I do is single family homes fix and flip. I'll do like a six month loan for house flippers and then but really we'll look at other things as well, but we just want there to be. Is there skin in the game from the borrower? Is there value in the property and is it like something I could liquidate and recover my investment if it came to that?
Speaker 2:I love this so much. We can go back to this lending thing in a second, but there's a few other key pieces that I need to sort of harp in on and we can talk as much or as least as you would like to on them. I see also here from the bio that you also invest in syndications and you close on your own RV park as well. That's right. You were talking about yourself. Tell me about it, brother.
Speaker 4:That's true. Yeah, I, you know I one of my first investments was actually into a syndication, because you know I wasn't getting that traction and I think you know for a lot of people it's like taking the opportunity you have at the time. It's like, and as you get longer in the game you'll get more and more opportunities. But I think in 2021, I invested my first syndication. It was an industrial kind of flex building, so it was new development, built to rent industrial warehouse space in Idaho and that was my first investment. Actually, I had some cash and then I also used a 401k loan and put $50,000 into this place and then from there after that I got into the hard money lending and then it's really kind of ramped up in the last year or so. Last year I had a partner and I that you know. Just, I think networking is huge, right, like, that's so much of what I've done has come from that.
Speaker 4:Like at the Rio I learned about hard money and then I networked with the guy that was in the mobile home space I had known for a few years. Uh, me and him partnered on a mobile home park in nebraska last year and that you know that's been a just a great deal. Um, rents were like 160 on average when we bought it and it's a small park. We're talking like, I mean, I think there's like eight occupied lots, right, like a small deal. We bought it for $90,000 with some seller financing, but now rents are at $300 plus a utility bill back. So I mean it's just been a big turnaround on that one. And then, yeah, this a few months ago we closed on a RV park here in Idaho as well. So and that was also just a connection. Uh, you know I had made a connection with um and a pal um, he also has a podcast and then she connected me with this guy who was the partner on the RV park. So we're in the thick of that right now, getting that turned around.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. Emma's great. We had her on this and she was very fun. So, yeah, highly recommend. I love that you brought up the meetups and you know you're chatting about how important they are. We just think they're invaluable and that's kind of how I got a lot of my start was going to meetups and meeting the right people and I just kind of get your foot in the door. I got to ask you've had a lot of success from the meetup. So, like you met these partners from that or one thing led to the next. What do you do when you go to a meetup? Because I find a lot of people go, okay, I go to a happened and we're like, yeah, of course, because you didn't go chat. So what do you recommend somebody does if they're getting into real estate and somebody says you should go to meetups, what makes it productive?
Speaker 4:Yeah, for sure. I think you know the magic at the meetup happens like after. If there's a presentation, let's say after that's over, you know, and I used to go and the presentation happens and then you're like this is awkward, I don't know anyone, I'm out of here, right, but I just sticking around and embracing the awkward and and just talking to people, right, like everyone is. If they're at a meetup like 95, 99 of them, that I mean they want to connect with people, right. So I mean just introduce yourself, ask people what they do, and you know what they need and how they're doing it, if there's a problem you have. So yeah, I mean just opening in your mouth and talking to people. So, and I didn't, I was that guy for a while, like I was there for years where nothing was happening. I'm like is it worth to keep coming back to these? Everyone's doing things and I'm just not sure where to go. But it kind of you get momentum and keep making those connections.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I love it For all the listeners that are out there. There was this old saying and I'm going to butcher it, I'm going to slaughter it, I apologize, but there's this old saying about if you're in a classroom, just raise your hand and ask the question, because nine times out of 10, there are other people sitting around you that have the exact same question. And I say that to say this. This is the exact same way when it comes to meetups as well. If you're nervous, if you have some hesitation, if you have some reservation, just do it.
Speaker 2:There's other people out there that are going to be nervous, but somebody's got to take that first step. Somebody's got to move the needle forward. Why not let it be? You Look, it happened for Avery. Avery did it. Avery's like you know what. I'm just going to go ahead and make this happen, and he did. He's making shit happen. I'm proud of him for it. So, brother, you can take this in whatever direction you would like, but tell me about some of the hardships, some of the challenges. Rather be on the lending side, rather be from diversification, from syndication, going into running your own RV park, because if you're lending just on single family, single family is a whole different beast than running an RV park park, let me tell you. So please talk to us about some of the hardships that you're enduring yeah, I mean it's the.
Speaker 4:There's always a like it just takes, you know, discipline to kind of keep growing. Like I mean, listen someone on a podcast and you hear those highlights and you know we're, do, we're doing all these great things. Like it just it sounds so far away and so foreign. But like the, the devil's in the details, right. Like by just doing those details and consistency every day. Like things build up on each other.
Speaker 4:You know, in lending it's a challenge. Like so I'm, I put some of my own capital on each loan, but then I have majorities coming from investors, right, and so I've had to call these investors and make these relationships and then I'm balancing that out. So I've got to get out there and find loans to do and I've got to go out there and find investors for the money. And it's a seesaw all the time. It's a challenge to keep that in balance.
Speaker 4:It never works out perfectly right. Like at one point you might have more people asking for money than you have the fund for at the time, and especially in the first few years, that was always big. Like I've always been kind of growing hand to mouth right as my demand for the loans increases. I'm right there trying to get the investor capital to increase as well. And so there been times where, like I've told people and they don't see this, it's all behind the scenes to me sweating but I'm like, yeah, I'll do this loan but I'm not like 100 sure where that money is coming from at the time.
Speaker 4:So I'm like I'm I'm calling all these because I have making it happen, pooling funds together, moving things around, and you know, thank God, like I've been able to make them happen, like I haven't had to turn people away for that, but it's, it's a, it's a grind, for sure. It's just going out there and believing, you know, I just I always have, maybe, this naive belief like, oh, I'll find the money, I'll find the way to do it, and you know, you know when to say no too. But um, but it's a good deal, like I, I make these connections and make it happen and it comes together. But it's not without some sleepless, sleepless times of some nail biting, for sure.
Speaker 3:That's awesome, but I think it's cool for people to hear that because I didn't realize until relatively recently, um, in like the hard money space, that a lot of it wasn't those guys' capital it's. You know, I always thought it was a bank that was kind of doing the role and that somebody just had limited money that was involved and that's how it went. And that's not the case. Usually it's somebody, like you said, like yourself, that is basically brokering the loans and bringing in people and that's not probably the proper term but, you know, making it all happen. So it's awesome.
Speaker 3:I think it's important for people to understand that I like talking about the lending stuff because I feel like there's so much misconception around it. So if you're looking at it and you're looking at a borrower, if somebody comes up to you and says, hey, I want to do a deal, what are, like, the most important things you look for? And maybe part two to that what are some like red flags that you would say, hey, don't ever say this to me or I watch out for this yeah, you know, I in in in the investing world, like as the as the active investor, the person borrowing the money.
Speaker 4:Like oftentimes we're high leverage right, like you hear. Like I want 100 financing and all those things. But like true hard money learners, like that's really rare to find, you might find a private, you know relationship with the one-off high net worth individual that will fund those deals for you at a high leverage amount. But like guys like myself who are doing this day after day, like you know the reason we're doing hard money is because, um, we're protected by collateral and so that's a big thing for me is like you know what can you bring to the table. And then, like experience to and communication. So my, like I love I want these to be win, win right. Like when I look at a deal, like I only want to do the deal, like if I think this is gonna make you money, like so I analyze, hey, if I was going to flip this house, all right, here's, here's how much you think your rehab budget is. I run comps and this is what the house should be worth, so I think you'll have a profit of, you know, 30 grand, 40 grand when it's done. Great, yeah, let's do this deal. Give me, you know, 15, 20% down, whatever it is based on, kind of what we've done, and then it's a go and then we can make it pretty easy.
Speaker 4:But like, sometimes you come to it and I look at this deal and I'm just like I'm not seeing these comps. Like you know, it's just this house has to sell for this but nothing else has sold for it. And those are like conversations I think are important to have and be like, hey, I don't, I don't see really a margin here for you. Like you know, help me, if I'm missing something, let's talk through this. But like I don't want to do deals that I think are going to end up getting them in a bad spot as well.
Speaker 4:Oh, I think you know, knowing coming to me and kind of and having obviously a skin in the game, you know, be able to put some money down, kind of knowing your numbers, what your exit strategy is, exactly what your rehab budget is I feel I'm pretty good about what that after repair value is is great. And then you know that first loan is always a good test of a relationship. Once we can through that, I love repeat borrowers that, hey, I know they're gonna keep me in the loop if something starts going south. It's like don't don't go hide your head in the sand, just keep me in the loop and let's talk and see if how we can work through this.
Speaker 3:Nate, I can't hear you. We might be lagging. Oh no, we went silent. All right, while Nate figures that out, I'll ask you a follow-up question. Nate, keep trying to figure that out. Do you guys have, like, a specific market that you focus on or specific markets that your lenders focus on? And if so, well, I guess let me start with that. Is that the case? Yeah, If we have a specific market was that your question, yeah, or is it like nationwide?
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, for me it's really primarily Idaho, just because I know, I know the market and I have access to most of the MLS here because I'm a licensed realtor so I can run my own comps and kind of have a feel for it. I'll lend in some neighboring States that are close by, like I've done some in Western Wyoming and things, but definitely focuses on on Idaho, ok, I know, I'm sorry, I was just going to say without pivoting.
Speaker 4:I know you kind of talked about some red flags. When a borrower calls I think there's a few, you know there's not many I would say that just like, oh, these are consistent red flags. But you know I have people like I've had a guy once like call for own and you know just me asking for some information to kind of understand what he was doing, like he kind of he wasn't too happy that I was just like hey, this is just a deal, like you just should be a privileged to lend me this money. Most people are like the most when they're asking for money. That's when they're willing to jump through the hoops and do the best, and it's once they have the money and things go south.
Speaker 4:Then they're harder to deal with. So if it's already a little hard to deal with before I've given you money, that's kind of a red flag to me, like, ok, what problems are going to have later if me just asking some questions about the project and your budget and this, and that just seems like a burden to you. So you know, I think realizing, realizing like this is there, this is a working relationship and and taking that stewardship? Hey, if I'm wearing two hundred four hundred five hundred thousand dollars, like that's a big and and taking that stewardship.
Speaker 3:If, hey, if I'm borrowing 200, 400, 500, 000, like that's a big responsibility and and taking that serious. Oh, you're not back yet, shoot, all right, nate, just keep trying to jump in and eventually we'll find you here. Um, all right sounds so. Do you have a favorite between doing lending I'm assuming it's lending, but doing lending doing the mobile home parks? Is there anything else that you want to get into? Or do you kind of just want to buckle down, keep growing your business as it sits? What does kind of like the future look like?
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know I I love the lending space, I think you know it's it's it's a very a business where you can obviously involves leverage, but it's a high leverage business as well. Um, and I can really scale and I I like that. You know, long term, looking on the road, like I want to be the, the passive guy right like where I'm not actively out there underwriting loans and constantly raising capital and doing these things. I think when I get to a point, you know my goal isn't to have this the biggest business in the world or be the biggest lender in the nation. You know is to have financial freedom where we can, my family and I can pursue what interests us and the passion projects or whatever else it is that we want to do.
Speaker 4:So I think for the, for a good, you know, for the near future, you know five plus years in the future still be doing the lending, focusing on that. But I am wanting to take some opportunities to kind of grow this passive side too. I just recently put a little bit of money in another syndication and you know I love the mobile home park, like, once it's up and going like it's it's really just consistent mailbox money the RV parks. Quite a bit of work right now, but I think once we get the systems in place too, hopefully it turns into the same thing.
Speaker 2:Let me try this again. Can you guys hear me now? Yes, you're back I'm back, holy cow, okay. So sidebar rookie mistake, I left my official mic at home in my other office, so I'm like let me go ahead and use this generic mic set and it just like completely died on me, even though it's plugged in via usb. It's fine, I apologize, guys. I'm back now, so let me back.
Speaker 4:No worries.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Let me take this back. So we talked about, like the lending side. So if somebody was interested in coming in and they had like a home and what your qualifications were, but what if you and me met and I didn't know much about real estate and I had my own money and I wanted to become a lender, what advice could you give to somebody that wants to do it? And or, what's more important, to be able to, why would I do it myself versus work with you? Or?
Speaker 4:would you recommend?
Speaker 2:me work with you to be able to get my feet wet.
Speaker 4:Fill me in on that. Yeah, you know the the very first time I did it I actually went with this guy, matt Strong that presented, and you know I called him up after the REIA and said guy matt strong that presented, and you know I called him up after the rea and said hey, I really enjoyed your presentation. I've got a question for you, like I know I would. I kind of want to do what you're doing and I understand I would be competing against you in a way up here, but I was wondering if you'd be willing to kind of open the curtains and help me understand and and that's. You know, just stand up, guy. And he was super willing to do that and talk me through things. And and he opened the door and just said why don't you invest with me on one? You can see what that looks like and then see if you want to keep doing it. And so I, I invested in a loan with him and you know that's that's really, I think for a lot of people that's going to be the a couple hundred thousand dollars to lend out. You know it's going to take the time to make sure that you find those borrowers and and that you can keep that money constantly. Well, by myself I'm I've created that, um, this business where I have the loans coming in, where I can keep that money working consistently and things.
Speaker 4:But that's not to say, if it's something you're interested in, that you shouldn't pursue it. So I would say, um, you know, get out there and and just get your feet wet, find a, tell people you have money, go to a meetup or something and say, hey, I'm looking to lend some dill and you'll be a popular person in that room, I think. And and get your feet wet, make sure you're, you got you got some down, a down payment, they have skin in the game and you got your paperwork right and that you have a first lane position. And you know, here in idaho we work with title companies. I know some states have attorneys, whatever it is, making sure that you're in the first lane and that your values there in the property and just get the paperwork in way and give it a shot. But you know we're investing with someone like myself is a great way to get started and then see if it's something you know, if that's what you wanted to pursue.
Speaker 2:Now is this something that could like potentially turn into like a fund, of fund models, to where you can have, like, investors come in and you just pull all the stuff together and then you're sort of just sitting on this money, naturally offering a return, but then just being able to branch out and diversify amongst whatever assets you want to rather be single family or whatever, what have you and then growers. I never knew that you thought about going down, or let me know about that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know, I think there's a lot of opportunity in the fund space. I could, I could turn this into a strictly a debt fund and just kind of grow that way. And there's some pros and cons to doing it that way versus kind of the joint venture, kind of partnership way I've been structuring it. And then you know it is interesting, after this last time talking about this RV park we bought, I have had some investors that have invested with me on the lending side ask about the RV park and opportunities there. So yeah, I'm not sure where the future will go, but you know, I think, as we think big and where things can grow, there's definitely opportunity where you know we can start raising some capital and doing a fund or syndication for some RV parks or this or that. But you know, right now I'm going to put most of my eggs in the lending basket and focus on that and try to systemize other investments and then, as opportunities come up on there, we'll see where that takes us.
Speaker 3:I love that. I'm curious what are the pros and cons doing a debt fund versus the joint venture? Just because you said that, now I'm very curious any means.
Speaker 4:But once you have those funds in place, you have a lot more latitude to control. Let's say, I have a $10 million fund and I've got that fully funded and I know I have $10 million. I know what I'm working with so I know how much funds I have at a time. While in my space I talk to investors, I know how much they want to invest or have invested currently and how much they might have on the sidelines. But it's not like it's sitting in my bank account and I just have control that send it out. I find the deal. I kind of have them on the sideline and I'm and I'm actively playing that matchmaker game. So there's a little more stress that goes into that. But then also on the fund model, you kind of have that stress of if I've taken on $10 million and it's in this fund account, you know I've got to keep that deployed and make sure that's going out there as well. And because I've told them they're going to get whatever return. However that fund's set up, you know is that 10% annualized or you know there's many ways to structure it.
Speaker 4:But and this has worked well for what I'm doing I I think one of the biggest pros to to the way I'm doing it is on the raising capital side. Um, because, looking back, like when I first started, like you know, my friend and I would call up some guys we know that might have some money and we're explaining to them what we're doing. I can show them like hey, there's this property in Idaho you know they lived in Idaho. They're putting this much money down. This is the borrower. And then I here's the deed of trust and all the loan documents. They can see my money is secured by this property. Well, oftentimes on a fund there's different funds as well. It's kind of blind. You don't necessarily know exactly what you're going into and that. So it can be a little more challenging, I think, to raise money in the starting phase that way.
Speaker 3:I love that, super helpful.
Speaker 2:Thousand percent, and I think you might be Cole. You think he's ready?
Speaker 3:I think he's ready. I agree, avery, we got a surprise for you.
Speaker 3:Avery we got a surprise for you all right so, avery, we're going to ask you these six questions we ask them to every single guest and, uh, we're going to see what you say and you can answer at length. You can answer succinctly, really whatever you want to do, but we're going to do our best to not respond to you and just keep rolling, and usually we don't do that, we, we fail. But we'll see what happens. I'm ready. First question what separates top performing entrepreneurs from the rest of the crowd?
Speaker 4:Grit, you know, just being able to stick in there when the when it's not all roses. You know, in the tough times, when you feel like giving up and you don't feel like doing it, it's just the grit to keep moving forward.
Speaker 2:What's a daily habit that's contributed to your success?
Speaker 4:You know, for me, I think you know it's it's prayer, to be honest, I think, daily prayer. And for those, no matter what your religion is, I think, meditation, taking time to be still and think and you know, if you are religious, whatever that takes, I think that centers ourselves and helps us focus on what matters most and get ready for the day and the next week.
Speaker 3:What is a piece of advice that you'd give to yourself if you're starting again?
Speaker 4:I would say don't be afraid. You know, I think some fear is good. Like you know, I talked to a lot of other entrepreneurs and there's like, oh I, always, every time I sign the contract on that new property, there's always a little nervousness and fear. But it's like learning to deal with that and overcome it. Not let the fear rule you. I guess, use it to make sure you're making a wise decision.
Speaker 4:But but jump in, like when I quit my job, like I, I had thought about it like a year before and the timing wasn't quite right. And when I finally decided to do it, like I had been talking to my wife about it, I told her hey, I'm going to do this to you know, tomorrow. And she's like, ah, no, you're not, I'm going to do it. Like we're going to make it happen. And like that whole morning I'm like pretty nervous to go talk to my boss and like pull the plug off from the paycheck, right, and I, I set the time and I did it. And now, like, looking back, you know, I have no regrets and and and I'm not looking back at all.
Speaker 2:Dude. Hats off to you, Anybody that's listening. I'm notorious for this. Pause, this rewind. Play this whole thing all the way back. So many nuggets have just been dropped. This is amazing. What is your favorite business book?
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's a great question. You know, right now I'm in the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and I had picked that one up years ago and and like oftentimes got partway through and then put it back on the shelf. But like right now, it's really hitting home. I think it's a great book that talks about a lot of the great attributes to be an effective person in this and in life.
Speaker 3:What is your favorite part of owning your business?
Speaker 4:What is your favorite part of owning your business? I think it's the freedom and the control right Like the freedom to control my schedule, the freedom to control it, to influence how much. You know what my income is Like. I'm not set by the salary and a bonus structure. It's you know. Know, if I put the time and efforts in, I see the fruits of those, my labor. So I think, having having that control and obviously the stress, responsibility that comes from it, but the work I do, I add to that too, like I love oh sorry, I paused there for a second, but I, you know, I love to just the freedom, like you know, with my family, like obviously, like there's probably times I work more than I had a w2 job. But I also like, when I want to take off and you know this, we just got back from a trip to utah this weekend. We might drive out to, you know, some family across the country later this summer it's like the freedom just to pick it up and do it and like and manage your work schedule.
Speaker 2:I love it. What is something new that you've implemented in your business that's helped drive your success?
Speaker 4:I I recently kind of hired the first um kind of part-time employee contractor and you know that's. You know that book I read that 10x is better than 2x or easier than 2x, something along those lines. Like you know it has it's. It is like it's has lots of great insight and like it's hard to commit to wanting to pay someone or grow to this next level but by taking things off my plate and giving it to someone else. Lets me focus on, you know, those income producing items that I can do best awesome avery this has been fun.
Speaker 3:It's cool just dialing all the way back and hearing income producing items that I can do best. Awesome, avery, this has been fun. It's cool just dialing all the way back and hearing your story. So you started in the agriculture world at a cattle ranch. You started listening to all the notorious stuff the Ramsey, the Bigger Pockets, all that stuff and kind of getting that itch. And then going into the agriculture lending and doing the farm and the loans and things, and then headed to the meetups, the REI meetings, and then becoming your own hard money lender and then just growing that and now you're full-time self-employed. You just hired somebody and things are growing and it's super cool to hear that, not to mention the other investments, the mobile home parks, et cetera. So I have two final questions for you. One, any final advice? And two, where can people find out more about you or just find you?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I, you know. I think any advice would be like just just take the next step that's in front of you. It's. It's easy to see all these big businesses. Like you know, we've I've done over like $18 million of loans now. It's easy to see all these big businesses I've done over $18 million of loans now.
Speaker 4:But when I first started the business, my partner and I we were like man, if we could get to a million dollars at a time, that would be huge, right, and that was just this big milestone for us. And we just took these small steps at a time. And then, as we grow, we're like you know what we can. We can change this goal and do this. Like you know, the first thing is if you're working at your job and like is maximizing that 401k, maximizing what you can do there, putting as much into that as you can, and then finding those next opportunities, so it's all gross. So just take that opportunity that's in front of you. Take that first step. What's your next step? And sorry, remind me again of the second part of that question when can people find you?
Speaker 4:Yes, I'm on social media. You can find me on LinkedIn. That's a good place to connect with me. You can find on Facebook. My business is a page there, j&r Capital. But yeah, linkedin, avery Robertson, would be a place to connect.
Speaker 2:Avery, this has been amazing. Brother, Thank you so much for coming down to Forest and Fire. Our house is your house. You are welcome at any point.
Speaker 2:For those that are out there listening, make sure that you pause, stop, rewind, play this all the way back. So many golden nuggets have been dropped and one of the biggest takeaways and I hope that you pause, stop, rewind, play this all the way back. So many golden nuggets have been dropped. And one of the biggest takeaways and I hope that you guys are resonating strong with you is continue to move the needle forward.
Speaker 2:Avery set huge, big, audacious, hairy goals of just being able to hit a million, and now he's at 18 million. I don't know how much he's lending out and he did that by setting those milestones and then continuing to move the needle forward every day, that he would get up. Even when he was stuck in the face of adversity, he would find a way to plow through it, and I know that you guys can do that as well. So again, avery, thank you so much for coming through. Man, this has been an honor, a pleasure and a privilege. It's truly ours. For those that are listening, if you are driving and this is your daily commute- get, but we will see you all next time on Forged in Fire.
Speaker 1:Take care everybody. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Forged in Fire. If you enjoyed today's raw, unfiltered stories, don't forget to like, subscribe and leave us a review. Your feedback helps us bring more real-world insights to entrepreneurs like you. Be sure to join us next time for even more lessons, struggles and breakthroughs on the road to success. Keep forging ahead.