3 Degrees of Freedom
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3 Degrees of Freedom
Ep 113 - The Crowdfunding Revolution Comes to Real Estate with Levi Brackman
Buckle up for a new episode of Elevate Your Equity podcast with Levi Brackman. Levi is the CEO and founder of Invown (invown.com), a crowdfunding fractional real estate marketplace where everyday investors and real estate owners transact. On the show, we talked about the spark to his real estate investing interest and managing relationships with other investors. He also highlighted some technical stuff including:
• What Crowdfunding and Syndicated Funds are.
• Some common misconceptions in crowdfunded real estate.
More about Levi. Levi has been investing in real estate for 17 years. He is a serial entrepreneur, bestselling author, Ph.D. in the quantitative social sciences, former principal data scientist at Travelport, and executive at Priceline and BP. Levi holds a Masters’s degree from University College London and three rabbinic ordinations.
Thanks a bunch Levi Brackman for coming on the show!
Unlock 3+1 degrees of freedom (time, location, financial + health) with our 5 Point Blueprint! https://elevateequity.org/podcastgift
If you really enjoyed this content and are looking for more, you can continue to learn more about us in several different places for free!
- on our website for blogs & other podcast interviews! elevateequity.org
- our YouTube channel! youtube.com/channel/derekclifford
- our book/audiobook! amazon.com/dp/ebook
If you'd like to have a FREE copy of our 7 Ways Commercial Real Estate Syndications Protect and Build Wealth, simply click the link below. We are here and vested in your long-term success! elevateequity.org/7waysEbook
Unlock 3+1 degrees of freedom (time, location, financial + health) with our 5-Point Blueprint! https://elevateequity.org/podcastgift
If you really enjoyed this content and are looking for more, you can continue to learn more about us in several different places for free!
- on our website for blogs & other podcast interviews! elevateequity.org
- our YouTube channel! youtube.com/channel/derekclifford
- our book/audiobook! amazon.com/dp/ebook
If you'd like to have a FREE copy of our 7 Ways Commercial Real Estate Syndications Protect and Build Wealth, simply click the link below. We are here and vested in your long-term success! elevateequity.org/7waysEbook
Welcome to the Elevate Your Equity podcast, where we, as married busy professionals, leverage real estate investing to unlock the three plus one degrees of freedom, health, location, time and financial.
Derek Clifford:Today, I'm joined by Mr. Levi Brackman. How you doing, Levi?
Levi Brackman:I'm doing well. How you doing, Derek?
Derek Clifford:Good man. Good to see you. Levi is the CEO and founder of invown.com, a crowdfunding, fractional real estate marketplace where everyday investors and real estate owners can transact. Levi has been investing in real estate for 17 years now, and basically wants everyone to be able to take part in the opportunities that come along with investing and owning real estate, if they want to. And so, Levi, it's awesome to have you on the show. We are fellow GoBundance brothers and I think what we want to talk about today is crowdfunding and how this all works in this amazing platform that you've built for everyone to be able to do that. But before we get started there, why don't you tell us a little bit about how you first found your spark in real estate investing or investing in general.
Levi Brackman:It's actually interesting, I never saw myself as a real estate investor. As a matter of fact, I even today, say to myself, I'm not a real estate guy. I'm just a guy who does real estate. And I think there's kind of a difference there, right? I don't see like that as my identity, I think I always knew that real estate was a good investment. And that was something which I should get into. And I should own my own home and maybe a couple of homes. And that was really kind of where I was and what I thought about. And mostly, though, I've been investing in the up until very recently, where I've moved much more heavily into real estate, mostly I was investing in the stock market. And that wasn't like huge investments, right? I was a nonprofit guy, I don't come from welfare. So I'm not a person who came from means and somehow made millions and wasn't an investor, I don't have that kind of story. But it's always been very, very clear to me that it's important to have part of what you're doing, investing in managing your money and allowing your money to grow for you. So I've been doing that for a while. And you know, I think like the biggest predictor of net worth is age. So if you're doing it right, as you get older, you'll find yourself having some means. I'm not saying that I'm super, super wealthy. But I'm fortunate to be in a position where you know, I'm able to do some of these other kinds of things.
Derek Clifford:Great, that's great. And when you got started out early, like there was a specific point in time, in which you realize that you had to start getting your money to work for you. Maybe your parents taught you this, or maybe there was something about your upbringing that said, you know, what, when I grew up, I want to make sure that I manage money well, or is this more of like kind of a gradual thing that works for you.
Levi Brackman:I'll tell you a little bit of my background of why I care about like, the little guy that everyone being involved with this. And that is because I grew up in a family where I was one of nine. And my father was a scientist, my mother was a teacher. And my father, you know, he had a job for a big Chemical Company. He was a chemist, a PhD in chemistry, and we never had much money around. As matter of fact, I like to tell the story that, and this is just the fact that, you know, in our house, we had carpet, and the carpet ended up being threadbare. And the solution to the threadbare carpet was not buying new carpet, it was a rug. And when we wanted to. And I remember my parents, you know, we were a bunch of seven of us boys. And we were kind of rambunctious lot. And we would jump on the couches, and we ruined those couches, and we need new couches. The way, the way we got new couches was not going out and buying new couches, but rather a friend moved to Australia. And we kind of my father paid them 100 pounds or whatever, for their couches. And this was in North London. And we had those counters which are much nicer than our couches, but we're still 15 years old. You know, my father never had a car, which was less than 18 years old. He really never had much money, I remember actually getting a view on my father's bank statements. And he was always overdraft. So you know, in England, you have this thing, but you can take out an overdraft. He was always in overdraft. So he never really had much money around. We never had the refrain I heard most often growing up was we can't afford it. There were a few things which I said to myself growing up. And one of them was that I never really want to be in this situation where I have to tell my kids, I can't afford it. I can't afford it the whole time. But the other thing which I told myself was that there's nothing I won't do in order to be able to fight for my family properly. I will slapbox this, whatever it needs, whatever it takes. My number one responsibility is to make sure that I'm actually able to provide for my family. That doesn't mean I need to be very wealthy, but it needs it means that you know my kids need to feel that they can have what they need. And so one thing which I saw with my father was that it wasn't because he wasn't smart. My father was a very smart guy had a PhD if God said, right, my mother was a teacher, but they never understood money. A MP they never had access to the kind of opportunities wealthy people have access to. So I remember when in England they did privatizations have been A public companies and public companies back then was it was owned by the government. So you had British Telecom, British Gas, British Petroleum, which is now BP, British Airways, these were all government owned companies. And Maggie Thatcher back in the 80s. She privatize them, which means she floated them on the stock market. And because they were owned by the government, you able to subscribe prior to IPO day to some stocks. And your since there were 11 of us in the house, my father, you know, he subscribed to everyone, and we all got some stock. And he sold an iPod and made a little bit of a profit. And he did that for every single one of these companies. So whenever we had access to kind of these deals, he understood what to do and how to do it and to go after it. But access was far and few between, you know, you just didn't have access to deals which he could like put his money to work for him. So the best he could do was if you had money was to put in the bank. And but mostly the bank was taking money from him in overdraft fees. So you know, it just as I look back at it, I think to myself, if someone like my father had access to private real estate deals, would he not have taken advantage of them, he definitely would have but there was no access back then today, we have the regulatory framework to allow anyone to invest in cash flowing assets, like real estate, and to get in on all kinds of different private investments because of the Jobs Act and crowdfunding regulations. And therefore, all he needs to do I feel is to create the platform, bring the deals onto the platform, and let everyone know that they can access it those who want to, and you know, you create an ability for just the average person, like my father to be able to invest. So when I think about like, who am I building this for I built this for, I think about people like my father. So that's really how that became real estate is another part of the story.
Derek Clifford:This is a fantastic story about foundations. And I always love to ask questions that drive into that, because we start figuring out like, where this passion comes from, and where the motivation comes from to get into these types of things. So let's talk a little bit about crowdfunding. Right now, I do want to talk about real estate, I also want to talk about your specific platform as well, and how it can help people what it is. But let's talk about crowdfunding in general first, and let's talk about how it's different than syndicating funds, for instance, or if it is different than syndicating funds with these different reg DS. However, that all works, I would love to hear your take on what crowdfunding is for these privatized investment offerings.
Levi Brackman:So they're all part of the same family, if you like of regulations, fundamentally, if you are trying to buy a security, that security needs to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That's why we have the SEC, it's so that, you know securities can be registered, and what is a security, which maybe should take a step back in full, you know, what is a security because there's a lot of like, confusion about what a security is, and the Supreme Court, they somehow these tests came up with the definition of a security. And it's really very simple. It's anything that you purchase, which is part of a common enterprise, which you expect the profits to be as a result of the efforts of other people, that's considered the security. So if you're purchasing common enterprise, whatever the enterprise is, doesn't matter what it is, it's something which you're purchasing, which is you're not going and working in that enterprise, but you expect someone else to work in it, and you should just get the profits. That thing that you purchased is called a security. Now, real estate for real estate that's really, really simple to understand if you've got an LP position. So if you've got a, you're buying membership units in an LLC, but you're not working on that LLC, you're not collecting rent, you're not going in there and fixing up the walls or painting it or whatever else, then you are a silent partner, you are buying a security, technically speaking needs to be registered with the Securities Exchange Commission, unless there are some exceptions that you're using. And when you say reg D or 506, C 506. B reg CF Reg, a, what you're really doing is you're referring to chapter and verse in a law, which explains what these exceptions are. Now, as long as you follow those exceptions, you might not have to either register with the Securities and Exchange Commission or the registration and information and given this to the street and Exchange Commission can be much less than you would if you're doing a proper public offering. So really, that's that's really what to understand. So reg D is kind of part of crowdfunding it allows In other words, crowdfunding allows in the sense that allows people to go ahead and offer a security to friends or to people that they know from other people. So in that sense, it is kind of like crowdfunding. But neither of those five reg D need a 506 C or five or six P allow you to just offer them to the public as a whole. For that you need reg CF or reg A.
Derek Clifford:Yeah, that's awesome. So let's talk a little bit more. Thank you for explaining all the legalese there behind that. Let's talk about what investing in a crowdfunding platform looks like or how it's different compared to a A regular syndicated fund that most people understand as either accredited sophisticated investors, I want to make that distinction right now clear. And then we can talk about your company and what you can help with as well.
Levi Brackman:So yeah, so now that we understand what a security is, and we understand the exceptions which are used, we can like dive into the different exceptions. So syndications typically use the exception of 506 C, or five or six B, so let's talk about five or six C from and what that means is, you can create your own website, you can actually put information all about the offering on the website, but the only people who are allowed to actually invest in that offering, and you could also do Google ads, you can put on Facebook ads can do whatever you want, but the only people wants to people come to invest, you have to have a third party verifying that that person is accredited. And what accredited means is that they either have a million dollars worth of net worth outside of their own personal residence, or they're earning $200,000 a year as an individual or $300,000 as a couple, if they can verify that with a third party verification company, then they can invest in a 506 C offering. And if you are a person who is doing a five or six C, and you're accepting money from people who are non accredited, that is against the law, okay. 506 B, what that means is, is that you can offer it to accredited investors, and to non accredited investors, 35, sophisticate non accredited investors. And you can ask them why what that means I'm not a lawyer, I'm just this is me to share my information. None of this should be taken as legal advice. That 506 B, you cannot advertise anywhere, all the people who invest in attracting people who either no, you somehow came across you and approached you and said, Can I invest in this, but you're not allowed to do any kind of advertising. As long as you keep to those laws, you can then sell securities to people, and you're allowed to have up to 35 to 50 non accredited investors in the deal. Now, you don't need any portal, you don't need any platform, you can all do five or six cm five or six be all on your own your own private websites, your own private, whatever, you know, then you have reg CF, what reg CF says is that you can actually advertise that certain things you can't advertise, right. But you can advertise, in general, you can advertise that you're doing an offering. But it has to be through either a funding portal or a broker dealer. Now what the funding portal then has the role of doing is they will host your offering. And they'll also do background check on the issue or the sponsor, they'll do bad actor checks, they'll make sure that the offering is not about any kind of fraud. And therefore the public can feel more confident that this is a good offering. And then anyone can invest in it. unlimited amount of non accredited and accredited investors can invest in it using reg CF, the underlying structure where basically the investors or LPs and the sponsor or the offer a person who's offering it is the GP is the same whether it's 506, C five or six feet, or reg CF key differences, how many people can invest in it, and the type of people that can invest in it and whether it needs to be done through a portal, which is portal registered by the SEC and a member of FINRA or not.
Derek Clifford:Love it. I guess when someone is interested or looking at a crowdfunding, like you said that you're looking for something that the masses can essentially invest in someone that's a lot like your father or other people who are maybe in that similar situation? What does it look like the experience more for someone who can invest? And how much do you need to invest in a crowdfunded type of investment offering?
Levi Brackman:Anyone can invest. Now, there are certain limits about how much you can invest in a given year based on your net worth and your income. And that's all self reported. So I mean, no one's going to audit you to make sure you haven't gone over your limits. But there are certain limits of how much you can invest based on your net worth. And we actually ask the question, how much have you invested this year in crowdfunding? So that's the first thing. The second thing about it is that the minimum we want it to be as minimum as possible. So it also depends on the issuer. So we as a platform, we would like the issuers to set it as low as possible. But right now, the minimum on our marketplace for the deal, which we have currently is $1,000. But you know, that could drop to 500. That really, we would like it to be a situation where anyone can invest and everyone can afford to invest in it. So and how does it look like when you show up and the offerings are right, there you go shop inbound.com. And the offerings are on the front page, you click on it, click, you know, put the amount of money you want to invest. And I'll take you through to a process to invest the, you know, on the platform.
Derek Clifford:That's awesome. And these offerings that are offered on the portal are vetted. And if for someone who wants to invest in this platform, what's to keep them from granted that they're a not a bad actor, right? I mean, there's this background checks in place, but what's to keep an operator to go on the platform and say, Yeah, I'm gonna do a 25% IRR and start attracting all of this money into their deal. And then they end up not performing or something happens where they're not reputable. How do you guys prevent against that even though they may be legal and fit the they're not a bad actor, but they're just not they're new to the space or Are there operators that maybe are looking to, to kind of like grind their teeth or cut their teeth on some of these deals? How do you get around that issue at the beginning,
Levi Brackman:part of our mission is to allow those people in the beginning to also raise money. Now, of course, those people that they have that profile that people will know that these aren't newbies, and maybe those newbies are gonna have to offer a better deal to investors, because more risky, but I like everyone to be able to raise money on the marketplace. Because, you know, why should it only be that people that's everyone's got to start somewhere, right? And everyone's gonna find people to invest somebody to invest in that, right? Yes, earlier, people are more risky, but they need they also are charts. So if you're a person who wants to start off in real estate, and you want to raise money, then you know, we'll look at you, and we'll put up your deal. You know, we'll make sure that you know what you're doing somewhat, we'll look at all your documents to make sure that there's actual real estate there, and you're actually going to buy it and you know what you're doing. But it's not super, super important to us, that the person has 50 years of experience, you know, currently the one we have up like, Guys, he's got $14 million of assets under management. So he's a pretty sophisticated guy, we still have plenty of those as well. But this is the goal of our marketplace is really to be a great equalizer, where anyone who wants to get into real estate, as far as being a sponsor, or an owner should see envision as a place where they can use to be able to raise money, and we won't judge them, because they're a first time, you know, first time at it.
Derek Clifford:I think that's really, really cool. And I guess as far as diversification goes for risk management, maybe that's how this makes sense, right? For some of these investors who are looking to get involved in real estate somehow, with these newer operators, or with these experienced operators, is you get to kind of try a whole bunch of different things out. So if you had$10,000 to invest, instead of sticking it in with one operator, potentially, sometimes, you know, the minimums are anywhere between 30 and 50,000. Right? Yeah, if you have $10,000 A man imagine the diversification of investment could do in your platform. And that is one way of spreading up the risk. So
Levi Brackman:There's actually people will come up with all different kinds of strategies associated with that, because you'll also have different types of real estate assets that, you know, you'll you'll have public storage, you'll have mobile home parks, you'll have you know, multifamily, single family, etc.
Derek Clifford:That's great. That's great. Now, can you tell me what are some common misconceptions in crowdfunded real estate? If you've heard any over the years?
Levi Brackman:I think one of the big common misconceptions is that they're investing with us on embalm, you're not you're investing with the sponsor, right? We're just a facilitator. So that's a big misconception. So people like sponsors will come to us and say, Oh, well, what rates do you have? I don't want any rates, right? Because you offer the rates all the terms, right. And if you offer rates in terms of shine, they're great, then investors probably won't invest. But so you're the one that offers the array, the terms, you're the one who offers all those other things. We're just facilitating it. And when the person invests, again, they're not investing in us investing in the sponsor.
Derek Clifford:Got it? That's perfect. That's awesome. That makes a lot of sense to, and then how does your platform get paid? Because I'm sure a lot of people are out there wondering, Well, geez, you know, that's all well and good. But how are you guys making money and staying in business? Like Nothing is for free in this world?
Levi Brackman:Yeah, well, right now, we're still building so we're not getting paid that much, to be honest. But we will. It's fees. Basically, it's fees, there's money, it costs money to invest on the way in, so they say a commission, which you pay on the way in, and then there's cost of capital for the sponsor on the way out. Got it.
Derek Clifford:Excellent. Now, let me ask one question about the portal. And then we can kind of go back to talking about real estate investing in general for you. But my main question is, what does the relationship look like between several investors, few operators? And how do you guys manage that relationship? Like, are you involved on an ongoing basis? Or do you make the connection and say, here's a match, go for it? And then on the next deal, we'll match you up again and again. But you're not really getting involved on the day to day things? Or helping? Like, do you do tax returns? I'm just curious to see how you guys help out investors.
Levi Brackman:Yeah, so post closing monsters closed, they're your investors, not our investors. So what we do is we partner with people like some of the big names on them, investment management companies, where if you raise through us, you'll get a better deal on their platform to manage your investors. But we don't do the investment management, we're on the front end of doing the fundraising management. And then once the fundraise is done, and it's closed, then there's the investment management, that there are other companies which do that pretty well. We all know the names don't have to give them free advertising assert him, but you know, that's something which we have relationships with, and you'll get a better deal if you do a deal with us that's on that part of it. But part of the value proposition if you're doing a five or six, B five or six C, you're gonna have to go to your lawyer and get all the legal documents put together and I'll cost you 10 $15,000. We offer templates for all the legal documents, right? So if you want to use our templates, you can they're vetted by our attorney. We have multiple different types of waterfalls you can use as well, which we have the templates for. And so it's really a one stop shop, you can get all the illegal subscription agreements, everything else done through our portal, including the form See, which needs to be filed. So five or six cm five or six, B, you need to file a Form D, with REG CF, you'll file a Form C, and all those things, you know, will help you with.
Derek Clifford:Yeah, absolutely. Now, last question I have regarding the technical parts of this too, because I'm a real estate investor and a capital raiser. And so I attract capital through five or six B five succeed deals. Is there a potential way where you could have a property where you've got both a crowdfunded capital source and a sophisticated or an accredited capital source at the same time? Is that possible to do in any one deal?
Levi Brackman:Yes, you can do 506 C's and REG CF, you cannot do a 506 B.
Derek Clifford:Got it. Okay.
Levi Brackman:And the reason for that is because with five or six B, you're not allowed to do any kind of advertising. And Reg cf You are. So it's kind of like the counter.
Derek Clifford:That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense. Okay, very cool. Well, hey, man. So one thing that I gotta ask you, before we end up going over to the Rapid Round, which is the same five questions that we ask every one of our guests at the end of the show, I want to talk a little bit more about your love for real estate too. This is more of a tech based platform. It's also a security based platform. So if you wanted to, you could invest in companies, you can invest in Bitcoin mines, you could do individuals tech, like anything, right? You could you could invest in through your platform. But let's talk just a little bit about why real estate appealed to you and why that became your first low hanging fruit in this platform, so to speak.
Levi Brackman:First I'll go back, and I'll say I'm gonna admit today, my sins and myself that I was never necessarily, you know, when I, when I, in the beginning, I used to say to myself real estate, this this thing, which people attach a lot of emotion to, and therefore is difficult to really understand. And that was in my ignorance, right. And therefore, I felt like, you know, I wasn't sure about real estate that much. But that was based on a lot of my ignorance, it was like, kind of later, when I kind of fell into it. Basically, I own this home in Colorado, and I went and bought another home, because we moved and I kept that home, and I started renting it out. And that's when the whole thing, I became like, my eyes open to this thing that wow, you know, basically, I have this home, I'm renting it out. And money just shows up in my bank account every single month, and I can raise the rent, the tenant leaves, I get new tenant higher, rent them out, I got a raise. You know, and, and it was a revelation to me. And I was like, You know what, I need to rethink about real estate, I basically, I bought homes, I never sold them, I only sold one of my homes. And that was last year in Colorado. And that was because it just makes sense financially to sell and buy more here in Connecticut, a lower price, with a higher high cap rate, etc. There are a few good deals chat, but the realities are that real estate is a thing you can show up to and look at, and everyone always needs it, right? You know, people need a roof over their head, it's like a product, which there's no one who's gonna say they don't need it, right. So you need it's a, it's a product people need, they value it, if you provide good home for people, you treat your your tenants, right, it's a great product. And it's relatively hands off, and the money just flows into bank. And so it just makes a lot of sense to me. Now, how I got built in bone as a marketplace for real estate was not to do with that necessarily, it was mainly because I had a problem myself, which was I was trying to buy another house in Connecticut, and buying that house, the landlord who knew how much money I was making in my corporate job, because, you know, he saw that, because when I when I applied to you, right? So I'm trying to buy from him and all, you know, he had a certain price when we were negotiating the rent. And now the price went up by probably about $60,000. And this was 2019, when no one knew what was gonna happen, you know, with COVID, and the whole housing market going crazy. I didn't want to overpay for this house, I was looking to see whether other people would invest alongside me in my own private home, buy some of the equity, and you know, partake in some of the upside. And I realized there were a few companies willing to do that. But when the price was just too high. So I thought if I create a marketplace where people can invest in equity and each other's equity, peer to peer, you know, that would be something we should have solved my problem. And maybe I'll solve other people's problems too. So that's how I really kind of got into it. And then once I started realizing that I realized, wow, this is just couldn't just stop this has potential not just solve people's problems, but to offer private investments into cash flowing assets to just anybody. And like solve problem for little guy. And I got very, very passionate about the thing, being able to solve the problem on both sides.
Derek Clifford:Yeah, I love this. I love this idea. Because you're able to combine two of those really early influences in your life, right? Which was a being able to help the little guy right, like your family, get into these private offerings that would have really helped your family out when they needed it and there just wasn't a flow, right? And then also having this recent problem that you just had with real estate and getting your stuff out east and all of that right. I love how this is just kind of like a natural, passionate result of these two things coming together and giving something incredible to the world. So thank you very much We're doing it. That's awesome. Really love it.
Levi Brackman:Yeah. Thank you.
Derek Clifford:Yeah. So in order to close the show out, because we can continue talking about this for probably another hour or two, at least, at least till the sun comes down here in Portugal, let's go ahead and head into the Rapid Round, which is the same five questions that we asked all of our guests. And then after that, I'll help you explain to the audience how we can find out more about you and your platform. Okay, so are you ready to go? Let's go. All right, number one, what book has had the biggest impact on you and why? And we hope that you don't say the Bible or the purple Bible, because we get those every single time.
Levi Brackman:You know, there's two books, which I would say one is Siddhartha, I don't know if you've ever read this?
Derek Clifford:I haven't. But it's, I have a feeling I know what that's about.
Levi Brackman:That was a really, really eye opening book for me, you know, I'm Jewish, and that's like a more of a Buddhist book or has a lot of Buddhist influence in it. But you know, the whole concept of being able to kind of like focus on the moment, really, really powerful to me. And so that has is a great writer and Siddharth is really fantastic book, really big influence on me. Another one was actually a book written by a medieval Jewish philosopher called the guide to the perplexed, I think they arrived each other. Although the guides perplex, I've read more often than Siddhartha, but it's a book by my manatees, and got a huge amount of wisdom in it.
Derek Clifford:Awesome, man. I love that I haven't heard of those two yet live. Actually, I heard of a book similar to the first one that you mentioned on the Buddhist side. And then this Guide for the Perplexed is something I'm gonna be adding to my Amazon cart, right in about five minutes or so.
Levi Brackman:Yeah, so it's a bit tough going to read it, though. It's a bit technical good.
Derek Clifford:I'm sure I'm sure. I'm sure it's well worth it in a way for sure. Number two, if people wanted to emulate your success, what do you think is the first actionable thing they could do to follow in your footsteps?
Levi Brackman:That's a tough one. Because you know, when I think of my success, I don't think of it in terms of only money, right? I think actually, money is very, very secondary, even third or fourth down the line of success. I think the holistic success is really important, you know, seeing the entire picture, I would say you need to find the things you're really passionate about them, figure out your purpose, and then follow that. And it's not about the money, because you don't need to be super wealthy, you need to kind of have well being in your life, and doesn't necessarily coincide with making lots and lots of money. But it does coincide with following your passion and purpose.
Derek Clifford:Well said, well said very well. So I couldn't have said it better myself. Number three, what is one tool process or hack in the last three months that you've used to help save you time or effort?
Levi Brackman:There's a bunch, but I think the thing which has saved me more time and effort than anything else, is actually having an assistant to take off a lot of the load. So it's probably really a tool. But I think you know, someone who really was trained in and knows what they're doing. And then I can trust and say, Hey, you do this, we'll meet every morning, this is what you're going to do. The other thing, which is a hack, which is I don't know if it's a hack or not, but we have, I have a stand up with my team every single morning at 8:30am is to check in. So I know what they're doing. They know the priorities. And we use a tool called clickup, which is basically an asynchronous communication tool. So basically, I can say, I put a story together, I tag them put it in that column. They know what it is. They can kind of asynchronously get back to me put it in the Done column. I know it's done. That saves a lot of the check ins and the handoffs. Oh, yeah. That's very, very helpful.
Derek Clifford:Yeah, I'm really big on this Levi, like, I've got all these processes set up in Asana, which is like, click up, but probably less powerful than click click up is amazing. But we do this in Asana. And we love it. Because like, for instance, this podcast that we're recording right now is going to become a little box in a task for my assistant to help with any conversations that we have regarding that tasks sticks inside the task, it stays there. And so as it moves through status, all the comments and everything, it gets logged and changed every time they start working on I can see when it's work, and when that was moved over lots of really powerful things you can do with it if you need the data. So love that that mentioned there with click up and using sort of that along with your meetings to help get full alignment with your team.
Levi Brackman:So yes, so the meetings are really kind of part of the meetings are really kind of prioritization to make sure.
Derek Clifford:All right, number four, if the people that you know, had to describe you in one word, what do you think that word would be?
Levi Brackman:That's a good one. I hope they would say he's a good guy.
Derek Clifford:Yeah, I think so. You know, when I first met you, I would say that that's the impression that I got also. So yeah, it's because it's been really fun to see the whole journey. Like go I remember, getting the FINRA thing was a huge thing to overcome. And we've been talking about it for a while. And you know, it's been in government, so I totally get it. All right, number five. What small thing do most people not know about you?
Levi Brackman:I don't mean because not anyone else's business only because it's kind of part of your own self development. So I would say as a general I care very much about becoming a better person, right. You know, and I do the things I do. And it's a hot it's a hot slog, right?
Derek Clifford:It takes time and energy. But all of those things that are worthwhile usually take sacrifices. So I love that answer. All right, Levi, thank you so much for coming on and sharing all of your wisdom. But before we go on the show, once you please tell the listeners how we can find out more about your platform you in general and what you have going on right now to speak your truth.
Levi Brackman:Well, thank you very much. This has been so wonderful and having me on. So my email is levi@invound.com. I used to be a writer and I have a book and best selling author of a book called The Jewish wisdom for business success, you can check that out. It's available on Amazon, if you want. I also do a podcast called The Wisdom for business and life podcast, you can check that out. It's just me riffing it for half an hour more or less, right? Occasionally have guests but mostly it's just me roughing it. And then I do another one called the investing on real estate show, which I hope there will be a guest on. So that's basically all the forums I'm on. I'm not on YouTube yet, is operative term,
Derek Clifford:I would highly recommend it because there's a lot of things you can do to take the content and restructure it and send it out in different ways and package it but anyway, that's a conversation for another day. But for now leave I just want to say thank you for coming on the show because this is super, super powerful stuff. A lot of people don't even realize that you can raise money through crowdfunding as a capital raiser, but also as an investor, to be able to invest money with such a small amount, right and get yourself really diversified. So I'm really excited with the platform that you've built. I think that we should start to talk about getting some of that going with some of our investments as well. So looking forward to continuing the conversation there too. And for you listeners out there that have listened to this point, I want to thank you guys so much for it. Really appreciate you and please do not forget to like comment, subscribe, engage with us, give us a comment, give us a thumbs up just engage with us so that we can appease those algorithm gods. And as we do that we can get more and more exposure to more people and bring on incredible guests like Levi on the show. So that being said, thank you, dear listener, and we will see you next week. Have a good one. Take care. This is Derek, signing off.