Sanjay Hegde Joins Us On The Join Up Dots Business Podcast
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Introducing Sanjay Hegde
Sanjay Hegde is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots.
He is Founder and President of Blue Ring Investors LLC, a company formed to pool investors’ funds to purchase high-performing multifamily, senior and student housing properties in U.S. emerging markets.
He finds the properties.
He vets the deals and manages the assets.
His clients make the investment and sit back and collect the income and appreciation that comes from investing in investment-grade commercial real estate.
Now this story started in quite a different place, and certainly with more than a few obstacles to overcome on the way to where he is today.
Sanjay has an inspiring story, or his journey from India to North America to work as a trained pharmacist.
But being unable to continue that career in the US, he had to find a way to make things happen for himself.
How The Dots Joined Up For Sanjay
Working his way up the ladder from minimum wage to the success he has today, he utilised the skills of his formal education in pharmacy and dental marketing
He understood the goals, needs and challenges of the medical professionals he works with and this knowledge helped propel a friend’s dental practice to greater success while providing him an in-depth knowledge of the financial challenges and issues faced by busy medical professionals aiming to grow their retirement portfolios more efficiently.
He then realized that passively investing in real estate could provide a powerful solution to their problem, prompting the creation of Blue Ring Investors LLC to educate them and help them make smart investments to meet their ultimate long-term financial needs.
So when he found out that his initial plan of working as a pharmacist was a non starter, what steps did he take to change the path?
And of course once the “Big Idea” hit, and he could see the birth of investing, how hard was it to get it off the ground?
Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to Join Up Dots with the one and only Sanjay Hegde
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty subjects with Sanjay Hegde such as:
Why a business should be based around realistic goals whilst always having an ability of being agile to changes.
Sanjay reveal’s the words of advice of his parents who told him “no matter what job you do try to be the best that you can be”
And lastly………
Why you have to have a plan of how you are going to grow and make every opportunity you can to make that next step happen.
How To Connect With Sanjay Hegde
Return To The Top Of Sanjay Hegde
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Full Transcription Of Sanjay Hegde Interview
David Ralph [0:14]
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Intro [0:18]
Why shouldn’t be hard life should be a fun filled adventure every day. So now start joining up dots happened to your talents, your skills, your God given gifts and tell your boss, you don’t deserve me. I’m out of here. It’s time for you to smash that alarm clock and start getting the dream business and life you will, of course, are dreaming of. Let’s join your host, David Ralph from the back of his garden in the UK, or wherever he might be today with another jam packed episode of the number one hit podcast. Join Up Dots.
David Ralph [1:00]
Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. whatever time it is when you start listening to this podcast, thank you so much for being here. This is Join Up Dots and today’s show is an interview show. And we are going to be talking to the founder and president of blue ring investors. A company formed to pull investors funds to purchase high performing multifamily senior and student housing properties in US emerging markets. He finds the properties he vets the deals, and he manages the assets and probably manages his stress as well. Now his clients make the investment and sit back and collect the income and appreciation that comes from investing in investment grade commercial real estate. Now, this story started in quite a different place, and certainly more than a few obstacles to overcome. On the way to where he is today. He’s got an inspiring story of a journey from India to North America to work as a trained pharmacist. Yeah, he’s done the training already, but then finds himself unable to continue that career in the US. So he had to find a way to make things happen for himself. working his way up the ladder from minimum wage to the success he has today. He utilised the skills of his formal education in pharmacy and dental marketing. You see he understood the goals needs and challenges of the medical professionals he worked with. And this knowledge helped propel a friend’s dental practice to greater success, while providing him with an in depth knowledge of the financial challenges and issues faced by busy medical professionals aiming to grow their retirement portfolios more efficiently. He even realised that passively investing in real estate could provide a powerful solution to them. So when he found out this was his initial plan of working as a pharmacist, totally a non starter, and how did he sort of take the steps to change that path? And of course, once the big idea here and he could see the birth of investing? How hard was it to get off the ground? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show, to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr. Sanjay Hegde.
Good morning Sanjay how are you?
Sanjay Hegde [3:09]
Thank you for having me on your show.
David Ralph [3:11]
Always lovely to have your Sanjay is lovely to connect with a sexy man from America. What’s it? What’s it like out there at the moment? Because obviously, we’ve all had a weird sort of 16 months, it’s starting to settle down a little bit now. You told me that you’ve been on vacation, and I thought how the hell have you done that? Because we can’t even really come about back gardens at the moment. What What’s life like for you?
Sanjay Hegde [3:36]
Well, thank the things have improved over here dramatically compared to last year. So we haven’t seen any COVID cases, not as many COVID cases. We are all immunised. So, you know, everybody in my family is immunised. We’ve got both doses of our COVID vaccines. And obviously, you know, when we are in public, we try to keep our masks on, even though it’s not mandatory, and we maintain social distancing. So that’s pretty much what it is.
David Ralph [4:05]
So has this obviously, I don’t want to timestamp it too much. But did it have a positive to your business or a negative because I’m finding almost a 5050 split on some people going, Wow, my business exploded because of the issues and other people struggled a bit.
Sanjay Hegde [4:24]
From a business perspective, I think it has been pretty stable, cannot say from especially from a real estate business. I do know that there were because of certain moratoriums that were put in place. Certain apartment owners had challenges collecting rent or evicting people. But I think the key for us was a we didn’t face any of these challenges because we always make investments in the right kind of apartments and we also train our property managers properly on how to manage the situations.
David Ralph [5:01]
Now I had a question that was answered on a recent podcast where a lady said that she, she asked me basically my advice on how to deal with difficult customers how to deal with difficult financial refunds that were hitting her business. And I basically gave her the advice of it isn’t the customers, it’s you, you’re not setting the right boundaries, you’re not setting the right term conditions, and you’re not really setting up your business for success. If you’re allowing that to happen. Now, we’ve yourself, obviously rental properties and stuff will go up and down, they do fluctuate, how have you set your business up to ride Bo’s sort of ups and downs.
Sanjay Hegde [5:44]
As I said, most of our properties are managed by our property managers, and having a good business plan is very important, David, I think as you would have noticed, been in business for so long, having a good business plan and looking at all the challenges that could come in, is important. At the end of the day, we do also need to realise that we are dealing with humans. So being empathetic is also a key. I don’t think anybody out there who wants a good housing, clean housing, wants to not pay. But every every now and then everybody goes through a certain hardship. So we do workouts work with our people, we do tell them to be empathetic, we do tell them how they could manage to recover the funds. So we do that in a very empathetic and systematic manner.
David Ralph [6:36]
Now, our business plan Sanjay really required because being an entrepreneur, you know, you’ve got to be agile in your thinking you’ve got to be out but to be responsive to the now. And I find a lot of business plans are kind of hypotheticals that never really come to fruition. Somehow I’ve seen it in corporate land, I’ve seen it in entrepreneur then is it not better to be more agile and having a plan?
Sanjay Hegde [7:03]
I agree with you. It has to be agile and realistic. I think when when you set unrealistic goals or unrealistic expectations, that is when you see failures, I think having a realistic goal, trying to explain to your investors, why these are realistic, maybe things might look rosy, or on the other side, but let’s let’s all be smart enough about it and try to understand that, hey, this is reality. And these things are possible. And you know, these are realistic possibilities that can happen. And we plan according to that. And you’re absolutely correct how being agile, and flexible, it definitely plays a major role in the business, because you should be able to manoeuvre the business in a positive manner.
David Ralph [7:55]
Now, I’m going to take you back in time. So you’ve got on a plane, you’re flying over to North America, and you land there and whether it was quick, or over a period of months, you found out that your idea of being a trained pharmacist wasn’t coming to fruition. Now, that’s one of those moments when you either go into yourself, you get into a bowl and think oh, why? Why weld why welder you doing this? Or you see as liberation and sort of start over? Tell us about your sort of mindset at that time when your projected plan really went out the window?
Sanjay Hegde [8:33]
Oh, so it’s a very good question, David. I think a credit, a lot of credit goes to my mother and my father for this one, they moved to the United States to give me a better life. And when and I had to wait back in India, because I’d already crossed a certain age where I was not a minor anymore, so I could not move to the United States with them. And when I did come over here, after seven years of them applying for my green card, it ended up happening where usually you get a green card within like probably two weeks, two to three weeks, and it took about three months before I could get it. And David one of the things that I realised is when a man has too much time in his hands. And he makes babies Yes. And you know, my wife got pregnant and I had to really, really go look for a job. I went to the local Walmart asking if there was a pharmacist position open. They said, well, you don’t have a formal education over here. And they said, you know, either you go to college, or that’s that’s the only way you know, get yourself a licence. And that was hard on me because I didn’t have a choice. But my parents always told me one thing, Sandra, never give up on anything. And it doesn’t matter what job you do. excel at it. Do your best. That’s that’s all you can do. You know, be the give your best. be your best at anything that you do. So, you know God has been very good. To me, I was very fortunate, I got a temporary job at through a temporary agency or temp agency at a company called Saft. And I started on the floor at $7.25. And I worked really diligently at that I learned how to do some things. And that’s exactly when 911 happened. And they were looking for a maintenance helper, and it was paying a little bit more it was paying like about $8, and around 875, or $9. And I took that job just purely because of that, and I started working on it and started learning the job. And later on, they promoted me as a full time mechanic, which I did for about three years. But at the same time, I did 90 hours a week, when everybody was doing 40 hours a week, I did, you know, half a first shift all of my second shift and half of third shift, I did that three years in a row, you know, and later on, there was an opportunity to become a production supervisor, I became a production supervisor, and then got into sales. And then they promoted me as the sales manager, then the director of sales for Americas and Asia. Later on one of the competitors hired me as the vice president of sales. And, you know, all through, you know, it was it was a good journey going from $7.25 an hour to doing quarter million dollars. So that was pretty much how the journey was. Now, how did I get into real estate was as I was growing, I, I always knew that real estate always has value. But not all real estate will be the same as what I’m doing right now. I started investing in single family homes, thinking that I might be able to pass it on to my kids, I could rent it, and the mortgage would pay for itself through the tenant. And that was not the case, I ended up spending more money than what I was getting from the tenants because there were constant repairs that had to be done. So I really did not see much of a maybe I would say I didn’t find much of a luck in that one. But what I was noticing is that my some of my other investments that were passive investments in storage, and multifamily housing, was giving me good dividends. So I would, I was like, Okay, I’m doing something wrong over here, let me go to one of these seminars and get an understanding of multifamily investments. And I went to this institute called Ari mentor, which trains how to invest and how to syndicate for multifamily rentals, senior housing and student housing. And I said, you know what this makes perfect sense to me, I think this is something that I see value in, and I can help people actually passively invest in something like this. So that is why I signed up for their mentorship. And I learned how to do it, and I decided to, you know, start losing investors,
David Ralph [13:02]
let’s take you back to your mum and dad’s advice, because I want to start with that no matter what job you do try to be the best that you can be. And I want to sort of delve into that because in entrepreneurial land, I totally, totally agree with that, if you’re going to be the best of whatever, you then become the category of one that people turn in your direction and, and the world is your oyster. Now, in corporate land, I’ve seen it so many times that the best person at the job fails to get pushed on because they are the best person in that job. They almost create a ceiling for themselves. Did you never find that at all that you got to a point where actually you knew you were ready for the next move, but because she was so bloody good at doing what you were doing, they kind of wanted to keep you in place.
It’s a yes or no answer. David, I think it’s a very valid question that you asked, and many hesitate to, you know, get over that. But I think if you want to, if you’re best at something, you also at the same time, the need to focus on your next journey. So as I always say, you got to have a plan as to how you are going to grow, whether it is within the company, or you know, whether it is for yourself, but if you’re within in the corporate world. I think just like in any other thing, networking is a key. So build your network, build that relationship. I asked your bosses, what is if you want to grow and if you want to get better, what is that other next thing that you can do? And try to get involved in that try even though you are doing something, try to push yourself a little bit further than what you are doing now. So that you get an idea about what that next step is try to learn that step and always pitch that in front of people so that they know that hey, you are because at the end of the day, they don’t want to lose one of their best men either. So They will know that if they don’t promote him, or they don’t take him to the next level, he might just get bored of this place and he might leave them. So, you know, I always say that that the employer needs an employee just as much as the employee needs an employer that answered your question is totally did
Lets listen to Oprah would be back with Sanjay,
Oprah Winfrey [15:19]
the way through the challenge is to get still and ask yourself, what is the next right move? not think about, Oh, I got all of this. What is the next right move, and then from that space, make the next right move, and the next right move, and not to be overwhelmed by it. Because you know, your life is bigger than that one moment, you know, you’re not defined by what somebody says, is a failure for you. Because failure is just there to point you in a different direction.
David Ralph [15:51]
Now, you were saying, Sanjay, that you realised that number one, you were a hard worker, and which is you know, credit to you. But you got to a point where you thought I need to know more about that subject, or I can see something here. But I need to do a deep dive, was that difficult to invest in yourself? Because certainly at the early stage of the journey, you’re bootstrapping it, you haven’t got the sort of influx of cash and cash flow to be able to spend on courses. How difficult was that, to actually invest in yourself to go to that seminar?
Sanjay Hegde [16:28]
Well, when I got into this seminar, I was already making quite a good sum of money.
David Ralph [16:35]
I don’t show up, Sanjay, don’t show up.
Sanjay Hegde [16:39]
Now, I’m not trying to show up, David, but I’m just being honest about it. But I do know, one thing is that I appreciate anybody who really wants to go after something, and they go after it. Because there were a lot of people at the seminar who were not at the same level as I was, financially, and it was hard on them, but yet they made it happen. So that goes to tell me that if you go after something hard, you have a strong desire to do something, you will find ways to do it. And and that is what is the key, it doesn’t matter. Like for example, you don’t need to have a $5 coffee from Starbucks, right? You can save that money, you don’t have to have a fancy car, you can save that money. So that is the key right? To make sure that you you show the desire. And and I can tell you, it’s the universal law, right? When you you, you think hard enough for something, the universe makes it happen for you. People will recognise that you need the help you go and ask people for help. People are out there to help you, they’ll help you they’ll guide you in every way possible. So you know, if I would only say is have that strong desire to make something and it will happen.
David Ralph [17:55]
Now, you obviously created blue ring investors and doing very well for yourself. You are but but you, you do it, you’ve done the work, you know where the value is. And you went and found a solution to provide that value. How difficult once again, it was it to convince other people because you’re surrounded by people that are naysayers, and will stamp on someone’s dreams? How difficult was it to get that through?
Sanjay Hegde [18:28]
I think when you have a plan and you’ve made up your decisions, you will find that you will have a whole lot of naysayers or a lot of people saying that you sure you can do this, or is this something that you’ve done before? Those are the questions that will definitely come up and they will sometimes it does come across discouraging. But I think the key is to there are two things to this. Number one, have a good plan. Discuss the plan with a mentor. Have a mentor in life. Have someone that you can you trust and trust their advice, someone that who has really made it in life through hardship or hard work and understands the business. So connect with those people connect with the light like minded people. And yes, you will find a whole bunch of naysayers but at the same time, you will also be working with a team of people that are networking with a team of people who are in the same boat as you are or have been in the same boat as you are and will guide you through it.
David Ralph [19:32]
Who was your mentor then at each stage because it’s it’s rare, you find one back grows with you, you get to a point and you’ve outgrown them and you move on to another coach or mentor who was your starting one.
Sanjay Hegde [19:46]
I would say the starting one were my parents. So I would definitely give a lot of credit to them. And I was very fortunate. As I said, you know God has been very good to me. I had Glenn balling as my mentor who was My was the vice president of sales and marketing when I was attacked. I had Tom outside as my mentor who was the president of soft. I had the Ben Hellman, who was the director of sales, you know, for Saft, and so so all of these guys groomed me through it, and guided me through it and helped me understand business. They encouraged me to go to ama classes, and, you know, understand business, grow through that. And later on when I got into multifamily space, obviously, Ron Zhang who’s my mentor for this is there, and Tyler is there, I have a whole bunch of people that I connect to, and always, you know, you have to read, understand the books. So that’s, you know, try to try to, you know, go deeper into things. And I think these are the people who have really guided me through through these hard times, or how I would say, through my journey,
David Ralph [21:04]
and that’s one of the key things is, if you haven’t got the ability to pay for a mentor, or you’re not in the surrounding sort of area environment, you can find out so much by going to the library and getting an autobiography, you know, I I’ve read so many autobiographies of Branson, and jobs, and Buffett, and, and musk, and all the kind of, you know, the big cheese’s out there. And it doesn’t cost me anything at all. But time. And if you’re willing to make the most of your downtown time, to upscale your knowledge, I don’t think there’s any way back, I think you’ve been moved on to that next part of your life where it’s bigger and bigger dreams. Do you think?
Sanjay Hegde [21:50]
I completely agree with you, I think the world has become flat. Thanks to, you know, I would say thanks to the internet. So obviously, you know, you can you can always meet with people. That’s one part that way. You know, that’s one of the ways of doing it. You can read books, a lot of books are online these days, it’s free. You can share it with people. So I think that if there is a will, there is a way that’s all I can say.
David Ralph [22:25]
I think you’re absolutely right. So where did blue ring suddenly take hold? Obviously, at the beginning, you plant the seeds, and you you hustle, and you grind and you make it happen? Can you remember sort of that moment when you thought Hang on, this is really going somewhere now.
Sanjay Hegde [22:45]
I think when I started blooming investor, I had already started networking, and I started working towards it way before I could start with blooming investors. Because until then, I was trying to put money through my own and through some of my family and friends. But the reason I started with bluing investors is to bring in newer investors other than the friends and families. And, you know, then later on, it was all about talking to people making them aware of that that is a different avenue for or should I say a different approach towards investments as well. And why than the traditional investments in stocks and bonds.
David Ralph [23:30]
Now, explain your day to day cuz the utopia I suppose, is being in a position where you’re running your own business and everything looks great. But behind the scenes, when you’re sitting there in your underpants in the morning, getting ready to go, there is a lot of push that you’ve mentally got to have. And there’s days when actually you don’t feel like doing it. And you have to force yourself totally different from corporate land where you think I’ve got to be at the desk. If I’m not at the desk, they’re going to sack me. How do you find that motivation? Sanjay, when you are having your sort of saggy days when you’d rather be on a sofa just watching Netflix all day?
Sanjay Hegde [24:13]
You know, David, it’s a very good question. I think to become an entrepreneur you need to have that drive the vision and when you enjoy what you’re doing, I don’t think that it feels like work. The second thing is yes, you know I work remote so I work from my home. But I also believe that you know Don’t slack off just because you’re working from home Don’t be in your pyjamas right. You know you you take a shower fresh and up. You know where your formal clothes and sit down and do the business the way you would normally do. That keeps you going you know that I think approach towards everything is the key right? So wake up early in the morning, take a shower or you know, do your exercise, take a shower and you know, have a public And right, like everything is based on the plan. So what I normally do is, David, I plan my week, and I say, you know, I, this is what I’m going to do, this is what I’m going to accomplish, because I tried to break down everything into smaller bites, I tried to keep it realistic, I tried to say something that is achievable. So I tried to say that, okay, there are three things that I’m going to do. And I’m going to do it today, no matter what, I keep it only for three tasks, because three tasks are easy to get done. And that also gives you enough room for, you know, to keep yourself agile for a sudden, you know, things that happen.
David Ralph [25:39]
I agree with that totally, you know, if you can do 21 things in a week, vein, you you’re really making moves on who you are, you’re on the road to success. And I find I’ve seen quite a lot of people I’m training a guy at the moment actually lambley guide is this guys called Jamie, Jamie, if you’re out there, this is about you. And when we first connected, I said to him, jot down what you do on a daily basis, I looked at it and by about half past nine in the morning, I’d be ready for bed, he was squeezing so much in every second of every time was something in and it’s not maintainable is it Something’s got to give. So by doing pre big things, and by reverse engineering your goals. So you think this is what I need to achieve? What’s the steps to get there. That is truly how momentum and successes bill,
Sanjay Hegde [26:33]
I completely agree with you, I think there are two things that happens. A number one, when you keep small, when you take smaller steps, and you keep a few things out there, you accomplish it. And when you accomplish that you feel good about it. The biggest challenges when you trying to get too many things done. A you’re trying to balance a whole lot of things. And when none of those things happen, because you’re not able to give yourself 100% to it. You start feeling now you start self doubting yourself and your abilities. So I’m not trying to say that don’t don’t get too easy about yourself, but understand your limits and try to you know, because everybody has a different limit on themselves. And yeah, you do have to push yourself a little bit. Now say for example, now if you’re feeling that, okay, I can do three things, and I’m doing these three things, and it’s easier for me, then, okay, step it up a little bit. And and keep doing that. But try to don’t over, overwhelm yourself with things. That’s that’s pretty much what I’m saying.
David Ralph [27:34]
Have you ever been close to burnout? You know, I talk about it a lot, because I hit extreme burnout. And I really had to sort of make lifestyle choices. Just because I was so driven. I was so focused, I was the classic. If you do 90 hours, I’m gonna do 95 hours and come back for more. I just, I was obsessed, Sanjay, for some reason, I was so obsessed. Like, I’d never been in corporate land. And I think it was a bit of ego. I think people wanted, I wanted people to look at me and go, Wow, he’s done well for himself, instead of thinking, you know, why did he leave that comfortable job? Why did he do that? So I basically made myself feel, have you ever come close to that?
Sanjay Hegde [28:20]
I think when I used to work for served as the director of sales, for Americas and Asia, I had so many things going on, I used to sleep only three hours a day. And I would do that continuously for two weeks. And then there would be one day I would just crash out. I would go to sleep. And I would wake up when I would wake up. So I would not say it’s a healthy way of doing things. But that does happen. But I think as I always say, right, as long as you’re enjoying it, do it. But if you feel that this is going to affect your health, and your happiness, your state of mind, then don’t even venture into it. It doesn’t it’s not worth it. That’s all I would say because nothing is more important than your health and your family.
David Ralph [29:05]
We lose track of that. And the world is full of divorces, where the man can argue I didn’t see you in the kids because I was earning the money I was going out to earn the money. It’s it’s just the way of the world isn’t it?
Sanjay Hegde [29:19]
I agree with you there, David. And that was one of the other reasons why I wanted to start off with blue ring investors is because I had a consulting business on the side while I was working a corporate job. And it all came as a you know, help coming up to help a friend who was a dentist who wanted to grow her business and she had approached me saying hey, Sanjay, you know, what can I do to grow my business? And I kind of told her what kind of marketing Have you been doing? And she kind of explained to me what she was doing. And I said, That’s not what it’s called marketing. And she ended up telling me, why don’t you help me out and I helped her out and it did really well you double her business. And then later on, she wanted me to manage the administrative side of things for her, you know, so I kind of took certain classes through UCLA that took some of their CTE courses and understood the a little bit about it, and start used my experience in marketing to grow her and manage her business, which helped her a lot. And she introduced me to another friend. So that’s pretty much how I got into the consulting side of things on the side job, while I was still having my w two. And, but all these were great, I was enjoying what I was doing, had a great team, all all things were good. But David, you know, one day, my son, he met with an accident. And, you know, fortunately, nothing happened to him or the person. On the other side, everybody was good. But I was scared at that time, because I was not there for my son, because I was travelling. And I felt really sad that, you know, we, we spent so much of our time, you know, trying to accomplish everything, when we neglect, you know, sometimes forget that the very person that we are doing this for can be hurt, and we are not there for them. And that is when I said that was my aha moment, I would say, Well, I said, I need to do something where I should be able to be flexible, I should be able to spend more time with my family and be there for them. And that’s one of the other reasons for how doing investors kicked in.
David Ralph [31:27]
So do you look at it as lifestyle first, because I’m very much, I don’t care how much money I could earn. If it takes me away from the lifestyle that I want. ie being there with the family having vacations when I want, I say no to it, I look at it as I will earn a ceiling amount each year. And if I do more than that, then brilliant. But if I don’t, then I don’t care if a lifestyle gets affected.
Sanjay Hegde [31:59]
I strongly agree with you on that, David, but I would be a hypocrite if I were to just say yes, outright on that one. Because I was of the different mentality where I was like, okay, hey, I’m going to work my butt off on this one, and I’ll make a lot of money, become aggressive. And I’m going to I’m doing all this for my family. And it’s so that I can give them a better life and all these things. And then after a while you do realise the day comes when you don’t know when you continue to keep growing. And then it gets heavier and heavier. And then not until an incident happens. That gives you that aha moment saying, oh, where am I going? Is this what I really want? Should I be doing this? So I think yes, has things changed for me now? Yes. But if not for that incident, I don’t know if I would have stopped at it. Or I would have just continued doing what I was doing. So I think for me, it was, you know, one incident that changed my life. But some of them are just like that from the get go. So I would say for me, it was just an experience that made me change my mind.
David Ralph [33:13]
Yeah, I remember sitting with my wife saying to her, look, I’m doing it for you. I’m doing it for the kids. And she just simply said, none of us have asked you to do it for us. And I thought oh, yeah, you’re right. You’re right. I’m doing it for myself. I’m not doing it for you. So yeah, big things had to change and things did change. Now, I want to spin the conversation pre 60. At the moment have previously we’ve been talking about almost the difficulties and the hardships. Now that gets to a point where you look at your business, and a lot of the hardships and difficulties have kind of passed you by and you’re you’re cruising for a little bit. And is that something that people have to be aware of that the cruise is actually good for you for a while, but you’ve got to be ready to jump back into it. Otherwise, you get a bit flabby and your muscles and your brain gets soft. But after that, that grind and that climb. It’s vitally important to really rest and assess for the next part.
Sanjay Hegde [34:15]
I completely understand where you’re coming from on this one. And I agree with you, David, I think getting complacent about anything is not a good thing. Whether it is working or whether it is achieving and any of those things. Don’t get too complacent about anything. It’s always good to take a few steps back, you know, back and relax and try to see if you want to know how would I say plan the next steps a little bit. You know, a little bit more intelligently. It is very easy sometimes to get carried away with when you’re, you know, when you’re going success after success or no matter whether it is success or whatever you’re doing it it’s very easy for us to get caught Implement with it. And we do a certain extent, we think that we are challenging ourselves. But we are really not challenging ourselves. Because the two challenge is not doing what you’re doing but taking up something new and starting afresh,
David Ralph [35:14]
and you will never get to the top. Well, yeah, that’s that’s the thing that I’ve realised, but no business is finished, yet, it just gets bigger. And you look at it, and you think, okay, I was aiming for that. But now I’m there, I might as well aim for that the mountain just keeps on climbing.
Sanjay Hegde [35:30]
I agree with you completely. And which is why I like to say that I’m, I’m never gonna retire, I might retire from what I’m doing now. But I’ll get into something else. And I’ll do something else. And that’s what keeps life interesting.
David Ralph [35:45]
I’ve got this image of me dying on a mountain somehow. But I just decided that instead of climbing the business mountain, I actually climb a real mountain, and just sit at the top and think this is what it was like, This is the view I was aiming for. Because you never as I say you never get to the top. So if you ever find somebody holding a microphone, dead on the top of a mountain, Sanjay, that’d be me. And I’ve climbed to the top. And I’ve just gone I’ve had enough, closed me eyes and just drifted away a bit. But it’d be the perfect way of going. So we’ve Sanjay, we were moving investors and everything. But you’ve got going on at the moment. If maybe two or three big learnings that you think to yourself, God, if I had known this, if I’d known this, this would really have speeded things on.
Sanjay Hegde [36:41]
I think, if I had known multifamily before, I was investing in, you know, a single family, I would have saved a tonne of money, I would have probably, you know, saved a lot of heartache, in terms of because managing a single family is it’s a challenge. And the returns are not there, you got to be there all the time. But whereas multifamily it’s a great thing. Passive both for passive investment, and as well as active investments, because you’re working with a team of people, you’re not doing it all by yourself. So that’s that’s absolutely something that I would have tried to do. The second thing I would have done is also started losing investors much faster than on starting my business of my own, instead of dreaming about it for the longest time or having that, taking that, you know, deep breath and getting that courage and saying, Hey, you know what, this is what I should be doing. Because I kind of to a certain extent, was getting complacent with the W two job. You know, I was kind of getting to the point where how my money is coming in, I’m making fairly good money, why worry about it, as long as I keep going within the company, I’m good. So that was if I would have taken, you know, God out of it and saying, Hey, I have all these abilities that I can do on my own. And I was I started off earlier, I would have been much more successful I would, you know, that’s that’s that’s the second thing that I would say about what I can do differently. And obviously, I would have spent more time with my family, because I can tell you that my son who’s 18 years old, he’s 19. Now, I really did not get a chance to see him grow. But now I have a daughter who’s 11 soon to be 12 in December, I would love to spend more time with her so that I could you know, she could remember that. Okay, Daddy did do something with us. And it’s not that he used to only do over Skype, we would only see him on Skype or zoom.
David Ralph [38:47]
Can I give you some advice, Sanjay of a man who has raised four daughters. 11 years old. 12 years old. They’re lovely. They’re sweet. Soon, they’re gonna turn horrible. They’re gonna turn horrible. And it takes another 10 years for him to turn back to normal people again, their teenage teenage daughter, Sanjay, you don’t want to be spending more time with your teenage daughter, do you?
Sanjay Hegde [39:10]
Well, I don’t know. I just want this is the thing that habit insulates the more about, you know, it’s not the spending more time with a teenage daughter. It’s more time spending with who’s the boyfriend is going to be?
David Ralph [39:27]
Yeah, yeah. I’ve been through it many, many different times. I don’t think I’ve liked any of the boyfriends, the husbands of all right? I accept them when their husbands I don’t know why. But the boyfriends that kind of thing. You’re not good enough. You’re not good enough for my daughters. Well, let’s hear from the late Steve Jobs. He said these words back in 2005 at Stanford and it’d be good to hear him again. Here’s Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs [39:48]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards. 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking Forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future, you have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [40:24]
Right away kind of words do make all the difference to you? Yes, it definitely does. What is your big.if, you look back on your life.
Sanjay Hegde [40:38]
The Big Dot for me is watching my parents work very, very hard. And I wanted to do better, I wanted to be able to provide much more than that to my kids. And I think to a large extent I accomplished that part of it. And I think now it’s more about me getting into the next chapter of my life where I want to do the same for others, give back to the community. And, you know, in whatever ways possible, whether it is helping them grow, or helping them with their if they want to get into their, say, investments in terms of so that they could retire early. Or, you know, or if they just need some sort of a guidance, that those are the things that I would live madly, you know, that’s the thing I want to give back to the community now.
David Ralph [41:35]
I reflect a lot, there was a book that I read, and this guy was struggling, and he went up to this multimillionaire and said, You know, I need your help, I need your help. And the multi millionaire said, Yeah, fine. Here’s the thing, you don’t know enough about the system, you don’t know enough about your subject, learn as much as you can, you’ll be fine. And he kind of went away. And he was like, Oh, my God, you know, I wanted more than that, I wanted that you press this, and you do this, and you turn this up to 10. And everything’s gonna be perfect. But I reflect on that a lot. Because I’ve been in the online business for like, 15 years now. And it’s literally like a spider sense. It’s like a superpower, you look at things, and you can just see where things are failing and why things should be better. And once you get to that point, it is all you can think about is how can I share this knowledge with as many people as possible? Because I can take any online business now and literally see with laser vision, why it’s not converting What’s happening here? What’s happening there. But it took me a long time, I didn’t know enough about the system. Do you kind of see what that guy was saying?
Sanjay Hegde [42:46]
I completely agree with you. And this is exactly why they say knowledge is power. And networking is definitely another way of learning. So because when you speak to people, you You learn a lot of things that you would have probably not known. I think listening to people is the key, always be open to listen. Because you will always learn something different. Even though you might know a subject. When you listen to others, you learn more about things because when you say I don’t know, and you go with an open mind, you’ll learn more. And there are there are so many things that you don’t know, and you learn something every day about that particular subject. So, you know, knowledge is is definitely the key. So try to if you like something and if you want to get into a certain specific business, my my advice to people would be is, you know, talk to people who have excelled in that particular business. Say for example, David, if somebody wants to know more about online business, I would come down to you like, yeah, I will learn from you. You know, I would say, hey, David, teach me everything I know. And this is what I have learned so far. What am I missing? Is there something more I can and I’m pretty sure you will guide me, you know, get into network of people who are into the similar business and get into, you know, discussions with them, try to understand everything that you can. And obviously, as I said, there are always books out there to learn. But there is nothing better than, you know, a human connection. Because at the end of the day, everything gets connected. We are all humans. And tomorrow, if you’re going to do business, you’re going to do it with another human being. So you know, stay stay connected. You know, learn as much as you can to people. And that’s that’s the only way to do it.
David Ralph [44:35]
Well, this is the bit of the show that we’ve been leading up to but we like to call it a sermon on the mic when we’re going to send Sanjay back in time to have a one on one with his younger self. And if he could go back into a room and speak to the younger version. What age would you speak to him? What advice would he give him? Well, we’re going to find out because we’re going to play the music. And when it fades, it’s their time to talk. This is the Sermon on the mic.
Unknown Speaker [45:05]
We go with the speed of the show the Sermon on the mind the sermon on.
Sanjay Hegde [45:24]
So yes, this is Sanjay talking to Sanjay when he is 1011 years old. And I would only say this much to him saying that nothing lasts forever. Good or bad, it will all pass soon. It’s a life is a cycle. And you know, ups and downs are part of it. Place your family first, your health first. Because if you have healthy, and if your family is with you, you will always be happy. And work is important. But always remember, you can always be replaced. If something happens to you tomorrow, have a plan, work on the plan, and always do good to others. That would be my advice.
David Ralph [46:12]
Perfect advice, but you weren’t out there as well. So Sanjay, what is the best way the number one best way that our audience can connect with you?
Sanjay Hegde [46:22]
Absolutely, I’m on Facebook. And also I have my blooming investors, as well on Facebook, I’m on Instagram, as well as on LinkedIn. So they can all reach me on any one of these. My website is www dot blooming investors.com. I’m also on YouTube. So I keep making videos to talk about the business and educate my investors or people who just want to know about passive investments. I also have a white paper on my website, which they can download. It is just a free read, which they can, you know, get an understanding about nine good reasons why to invest in real estate as well as I’m writing a book, which is going to get put on on the website very soon, it will be a free download as well. I also made it very easy. I have a calendly on my website, where they can look at my schedule and set up an appointment for a no obligation call.
David Ralph [47:27]
Perfect. Right, we will have all the links to make it as easy as possible to connect with you. Sanjay, thank you so much for spending time with us today. joining up those dots. Please come back again, when you got more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our pasts. It’s the best way to build our futures. Sanjay, thank you so much. Thank you, David, I
Sanjay Hegde [47:48]
appreciate you taking the time to talk to me and I appreciate your listeners for taking the time to listen to me. Thank you very much.
David Ralph [48:00]
Mr. Sanjay hegde, dive slow. He comes across to America. He has his plan sorted out when he gets here. They don’t allow him to do what he does. So does he just sort of mope around and sit there? Oh, he goes a different way. And by building upon your skills, or shall we say dots, you can always find another way. But then when you find the place, you’ve got to become an expert. You got to be a category or one you really got to hit home and make things happen for you. Guys, you can do it. We’re here to support you. As always, you can always come across and get our free courses on Join Up Dots. Oh, just send an email through anything you need from us. We will supply and until next time, we’ll see you again. Cheers. See ya. Bye bye.
Outro [48:46]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you were wants to become so he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up Dots comm to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.
