Author. Dan Daugherty: Well said. And but yeah, thats what Ive been up to. In this conversation. Where are you spending all of your money? What you may not know is Joshua's journey in founding, building, scaling, and finally leaving BiggerPockets. I didnt do a lot of that, you know, I didnt want to share my feelings necessarily, in those early years, because I thought it was a sign of weakness. Dan Daugherty: All right. Joshua Dorkin is a serial entrepreneur, investor, podcaster, publisher, and educator. Denver, Colorado, United States. But did you, were you ever really depressed at all? And you know, the kids can go out and do physical stuff. The content-rich chapters and corresponding stories of real estate investors give you guidance from the top real estate pros. So, without spending any more money or giving up any of your time (both of which I recommend you do in support of great charities around the world), you can be a philanthropist! First, for those who arent sure how to do the math, in order to determine someones net worth, you need to take into consideration all assets and liabilities and put together a balance sheet.. Start shopping! Let me know what you think and please share this if you find it valuable! Just work, keep working, be dynamic, pivot and you know, a lot of luck out there. Joshua Dorkin's Podcast Credits & Interviews | Podchaser After about six months since transitioning out of the role of CEO of BiggerPockets to advisor, I thought it was time to kick off my own personal platform, this site. There had been ups, there had been downs. And I guess, you know, if you dont mind me throwing this in there, you know, if you raised money, or if you bootstrap, you know, its fighting for exit is, I think, one way to run a business, I think the other way to run a business is fighting to create an amazing business. But yeah, I mean, there were down periods, dark periods. It was a lot to manage and with it came all the headaches that come with growth. I learned to stop being a cadet and start being a general.', 'life is too short to be stuck in a job you hate. Dan Daugherty interviews Josh Dorkin who founded BiggerPockets in his living room with $12 bucks. From a life experience, it sounds like youre doing the same thing. By the time I exited, we had over 40 full time employees, and around a dozen contractors - close to sixty people working for the business. I wasnt, however, happy with what I had spent my time doing. The real estate industry is huge, and often complicated, but this book clears away the fog and uncertainty in a fun, easy-to-read manner. 04 Mar 2023 02:14:54 And Im, you know, Im trying to figure out whats next, you know, looking at ideas. I want to, I listened to experts on it. This caused a shift in Joshua's reality, so he dropped everything. We had kids at that point. Josh Dorkin: Yeah, yeah, I think for me, the book, The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, was one of the most impactful in just, you know, helping me kind of break things down. and they hold the #1 real estate podcast on iTunes. And after about two years, I quit my job teaching and I went full time. Bye. This terrifying situation broke us, but didnt defeat us. On Pivoting and Maintaining Control of Everything, Finding That Moment of Time Each Day to Live and Be Present, The Evolution of Business: From Bootstrap to Semi-Retired (Video), How to Support Your Favorite Charities (for Free) Every Time You Shop on Amazon, 50% change youre shopping there once a week, The Return . Joshua Dorkin Quotes (Author of The Book on Investing In Real Estate Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. And the company was profitable. It sounds like you said okay, what am I going to do next? Twitter View on Twitter. He started BiggerPockets to help democratize the real estate investing landscape for himself and others, aiming to make it accessible for everyone, regardless of income or education. I love being an entrepreneur, but I simply prefer working at a smaller company - the sweet spot for me is probably up to 15 employees or so. This caused a shift in Joshuas reality, so he dropped everything. serendipitous mindset, but you also need to understand who you are. Startup / real estate investor. The list of accomplishments goes on and on, but with this growth came the need to hire, and that we did. There were personality clashes, bad hires, and everything else you could imagine. I doubt it. Do what you need to do to find your happiness. Joshua Dorkin on Twitter: "I saw my daughter's teacher working at And you are in Hawaii now, right? Josh Dorkin and Brandon Turnerlongtime hosts of the worlds #1 real estate podcast, The BiggerPockets Podcastgive you an insiders look at the many different niches and strategies that exist. because I felt that I had to succeed, and because in reality, I was STUCK IN MY BUSINESS instead of working ON MY BUSINESS. Shopping these days is just a little less fun. I wish it would touch more on farmland and syndications a little more but those could be considered more niches. Yeah. Many of you already know my story, but it is always a privilege to have the opportunity to share it with other entrepreneurs in person, at events, and of course, via podcast conversations. It was brutal. Every purchase comes with free bonus content: How to Invest in Real Estatewill catapult you 510 years ahead of where you are now. Dan Daugherty: And well, first off, Im so happy that your daughter is healthy now. I mean, you know, you want me to just take it from the beginning or? And Im excited to have you on board to really tell the story of how you went from zero to an exit without ever raising a single dime of outside capital. I didnt, you know, if there was emergencies, youd deal with it, but like, that was it, that was what that day was about. How One of the Largest Real Estate Communities was Built? with Joshua Dan Daugherty: You know, this is, as you were talking, all of the significant life changing moments that occurred not just in your life, but just in our own individual lives, tends to be even if its really, really bad, or really, really good, it tends to be a catalyst for something even bigger, and not all the time, but even from listening to you, it sounds like different things that happened within your life, almost had a purpose or a reason that got you to where you are today. With over 100 million prime members, theres about a 1 in 3 chance you are one and if you are, theres a close to 50% change youre shopping there once a week. Joshua Dorkin is the founder of BiggerPockets, as well as a serial entrepreneur, investor, podcaster, publisher, educator, and co-author of How to Invest in Real Estate. Julie was in California and I was home alone with the girls. Zf|Gy}dN1,2,qY\ s#sK~?>#W]CYq~Z6btV37 g)v3[# kG:_jJ/0Cr[-I\7{\t_LkL,K'4'Mm+"Pd60|q!?jO7S9h,P-WwS/. And, you know, so I take those moments when they come to me and I try and take bold steps when they come. C X" But thats OK. Hes still well on his way to becoming a mogul just less Donald Trump and more Rupert Murdoch. (BTW - Ill certainly talk more about working on a business at another time). 28 Jan 2023 08:21:40 k cG-t} October 22, 2022 Almost a lifetime ago - 18 years today - I officially marked the founding of BiggerPockets Starting a hobby website while working as a full time teacher was one thing. Its, instead of drinking soda and orange juice, and, you know, coffees and energy drinks, Im just going to drink water, because water is healthy, water cleanses you, water does this, you know, thats not that big a step. Beyond that, weve helped transform neighborhoods, built communities and so much more.It has been almost 4 years since exiting the day to day and stepping away. I didnt have a co-founder, I didnt have any partners. It's time to stop just thinking, talking, or dreaming about the future real estate investing can give you. Looking back, Im reminded of the following from the incredible Hamilton. I realized that like, thats not healthy. So, I looked at our total budget for the project, made some adjustments, grabbed some floor and wall tile for the newly conceptualized (on the fly in my head) shower and went on my way. I eat well - seriously cutting back on sugars, eating lots of fruits and vegetables. Well, the reality is, we are all running out of time. Right? Is that a good statement to say? But I look at the cycle as a multi stage cycle. A life-long adventurer, Brandon (along with his wife and daughter) splits his time between his home in Hawaii and various other destinations around the globe. Instead, it dives into dozens of unique, life-changing quests and is packed with more than forty real-life stories of how real estate investors are finding success in todays economy. What is a VA Loan and Why Should I Consider Using One? And what happens inevitably, and I think you and Ive seen this countless times, you know, you raise the money, and now you have bosses and those bosses are telling you how to run the business and now you dont get to run the business the way that you actually thought you were going to run the business, because you have bosses and youre not working for yourself anymore. As you can see in the image below, every time you shop while using the smile subdomain, Amazon will show you your charity of choice (in this case, you can see that we support Childrens Hospital Colorado Foundation). Problems dont go away. Joshua Dorkin - Audio Books, Best Sellers, Author Bio | Audible.com How to Invest in Real Estate: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Getting Started is written by Brandon Turner; Joshua Dorkin and published by BiggerPockets. Joshua Dorkin Oct 2016 Mar 2021. \\ + endstream endobj 99 0 obj <>stream As the message board gained a following, Dorkin quit his teaching job, moved to Denver (for quality of life reasons), and focused on the website full time. We grew the platform and its offerings. And so thinking about the things you go through, look, we all go through good stuff and we all go through bad stuff. For two years I taught and in my free time I coded and built this budding hobby into something that trickled in tiny advertising checks. Josh Dorkin: No, thanks, man, I appreciate it. The Hobby that Turned into a Lifestyle Business When I founded the company I was teaching full time at a special ed high school in the Los Angeles area. So we made the decision that we would start and hire one person who could lighten the load for me. What lessons did he learn along the way? Shipping rates vary depending on location. |8{'t o`7p\2K`0rS%O|>. Z|\ ~kqCi\hPmskwJLP5|/(X.T We were thinking about picking it up and mailing it to you.\"\r\r At the time, Dorkin had just launched BiggerPockets, a then-nascent website about real estate investing. I mean, we were able to do that in Colorado, but you know, youre on a trail youre, you know, running across people without masks, you know, its just the, you know, the whole debate, were not going to get into it, but either way, it you know, it presented an opportunity for us to find some kind of, to find some peace and to find a place where everybody just could feel good. This led to massive burnout and I came very close to quitting and shutting everything down. Joshua Dorkin | BiggerPockets You know, like any entrepreneurial story, lots of ups, lots of downs. something that I used to think gave me hustle street cred, but today I realize was just a formula for burnout. Where previously competitors were weary of one another, we helped people learn that coopetition was a better model - one where people could compete AND cooperate for mutual benefit. http://biggerpockets.com/moneyshow42Real estate is a hot topic right now, and who better to talk about the subject than BiggerPockets founder Joshua Dorkin a. Joshua Dorkin on Twitter: "Proud parenting moment: Tonight while Joshua Dorkin Oct 2016 Mar 2021. Was it 2009? I had purchased a few rental properties and needed some help dealing with all the questions I had, but couldnt find a place where I could get answers without having to deal with solicitations and promotions of these self-proclaimed gurus who dominated the scene at the time. Josh Dorkin: Man, so Ive started and stopped the book probably 50 times. Quotes "I believe 100% in putting all my eggs in one basket. I choose to deal with them as they come using logic and working through like I would any game or problem. There were books, but like, you know, the books were pretty general, they didnt really say, what do you do when your tenant is stealing electricity from the building next door? But, you know, I didnt do a lot of that, you know, I didnt want to share my feelings necessarily in those early years, because I thought it was a sign of weakness. So hired a guy named Brandon Turner, he, some of you listening may know him, hes still the co-host of the Bigger Pockets podcast. And that ended up it was probably like eight years of grind, that is not healthy at all. We have a guy named Josh Dorkin. And then I start knocking them out, hey, I got to get, you know, Ive been eating like crap, Im, you know, 20 pounds overweight, cool. When I started Bigger Pockets it was, I was teaching special ed. It is always interesting to see what kind of things come up when you search for yourself online. Josh Dorkin's Blog - Joshua Dorkin And I didnt want, I just didnt want to do that. Almost everyone that builds a business wants some kind of growth, but as much as I loved seeing my brainchild thrive and grow, I was having less and less fun doing it. What's my secret? We launched a book business. And its interesting, you know, as you and a stressor might be, I come in every day, and I look at emails for three or four hours, and Im stuck in email. In the early years, that was mostly strangers, as most of my friends thought I was nuts, but the coolest part is that today, many of those strangers are my closest friends.Finally, if youre dreaming about starting some crazy idea - whether it be a small business, a startup, a real estate investment, or anything else, I encourage you to take a chance.Life is too short to life without taking some risks.And no one wants to live a life full of regrets.Besides, youll never know if that hobby or idea can become a success if you never give it any real effort. You know, with. \"I was working a full-time job making no money as a teacher,\" Dorkin says, \" and then [I] quit that job, reliable income, to blindly create this platform for other people. . Like any 18 year old, it has continued to mature and to life a life of its own.While my personal contributions to the business are today marked by occasional phone calls and quarterly board meetings, I hope my personal stamp will continue to last for the next 18 years and beyond.Thank you to everyone who believed in me. Thank you so much, Josh, I want to have you on again. 40.3K subscribers Thirteen years ago, Joshua Dorkin's friends teased him about starting a website that seemed to have no future. Josh Dorkin's Blog BiggerPockets Turns 18 Years Old! Theres so much. I took the viral photo of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Here - TODAY.com Stop making excuses and focus on those things as your priority because in an instant it can all be over. But I got to this point where Id just run myself ragged, really, you know, stupidly worked way, way, way, way too hard. I coasted through the store with the ease of a professional, choosing items that would look great together and which would stand the test of time. As Founder and CEO of BiggerPockets, I created the vision and strategy for the business and bootstrapped the company until . For returns, refunds, or the status of your order, you can contact. Just Released: Two NEW BiggerPockets Books to Help You Build Wealth Through Rental Investing . Join us today to talk about real estate investing and specifically how to get started. Most people do what they can to help others out, and I wanted to share a little tip along those lines that I dont think a lot of people are familiar with. You know, Im not without stress, and headaches. Read it!Ryan Harris, Super Bowl 50 Champion and real estate investor. Host and Producer on The Undeniably Curious Podca, Host on BiggerPockets Real Estate Po, BiggerPockets Video Podcast, and Money with Friends, and Guest on BiggerPockets Business Podcast. Copyright 2019 Joshua Dorkin. JFIF ,, C Second phase was when I took it serious, quit my job and really spent all my time on it. A lot of people can at least. And lets dive in. And, you know, were in a position where we have an opportunity to do something like this, like, do it. . And it can be significantly helpful, but I want to press upon anybody whos thinking about it to just recognize that its not something to take lightly. %PDF-1.6 % BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast - 421: Family Over - Stitcher You got to deal with them. So we went and we hired an investment bank, I mean, cutting a long story short, Im sure youre going to have a ton of questions and sorry for ranting, but we hired a bank, went through a process, and, you know, six, eight months later, I had an exit to a private equity company, still own a significant piece of the business. Yeah. I was making money, but I was still ready, you know, that desperate to just get out. Last month I had the opportunity to speak at the Denver Founders event for Colorado entrepreneurs and had a fantastic Q&A with my friend Chris Franks. How to Invest in Real Estate: The Ultimate Beginner's G It is big enough that youre not doing everything, but small enough that you can still get your hands dirty when you want. I felt trapped. Why do you write like youre running out of time?Write day and night like youre running out of time?Evry day you fight, like youre running out of time. All rights reserved. Dan Daugherty: Yeah, theres no shortage of chaos in the startup world and those that cannot adapt to change will inevitably fail and close shop. Or just shut it down. But, you know, I think the key was just persevering through those in order to come out at the end. Dan Daugherty: Yeah, I mean, lets start from the very beginning. You may fail, but at least you will have taken your shot.Good luck! Save up to 80% versus print by going digital with VitalSource. Josh tells his story of wanting to quit, having 3 nervous breakdowns, and eventually selling to a private equity company. Joshua Dorkin Public figure Father. Here youll have a chance to follow me via this blog and to explore the ideas, products, services, books and many other things that influence me. But, you know, if anybody who tries to grasp these things, theyre so big and scary, well then break it down into little steps. And in that time, I realized that I wasnt as happy as I wanted to be running the business, that I went to my wife, year eight of the company, and I was in tears. But Im not currently on it. You know, how do I make it so I could either scale this, get to an exit or just, you know, sell it and quit and be done and find something else. Thank you for the stories and the insights and the tips. And not difficult. Thats a really weird thing to say, especially since I loved the company. You know, what are you doing and deal with that situation. Josh Dorkin: So it must have been 07 maybe that that we connected and you and I were talking about, you know, you were thinking about buying different companies, and we were just chatting about that, and that didnt go well for me. I think its one of the top hundred podcasts in the world, give or take. BiggerPockets has also added a publishing arm, which released Set For Life on April 23just in time for the height of house-hunting season. But yeah, what else you got? I mean, nights, weekends, you name it, seven days a week. I was teaching high school in Los Angeles. Ill argue that all of that stuff is bullshit. Just at the time when things were starting to go from big to bigger, Joshua had to take time off to take care of his daughters medical emergency. I could still make things out, but barely. It was a blast, but by year 12, 13, 14 my job changed. Host Joshua Dorkin is an entrepreneur, most notably the Founder & former CEO of BiggerPockets. Josh, thank you for coming on the show. And so, for example, one of the core values of Bigger Pockets is family above all else. And anything thats stressing me out, you absolutely have to dissect it, and then figure out what the root cause is and that opens up everything else because then you figure out ways, again, Ill use the term operationalize it, is because then it allows you to leverage different tools, maybe you have to delegate more, maybe you dont have to respond within an hour of every single email that comes in, whatever it might be. And I had just swarms of competitors coming out of the woodwork trying to take me down and so there was threat everywhere, right, theres threat everywhere. He was wrong. So, in 2004, Dorkin launched BiggerPockets, a website for real estate investors to ask and answer each others questionslike a Reddit for property owners. Like you cant find that and all that was out there were communities, forums, but they were all kind of tied to or in cahoots with I call them the gurus, the get rich quick crowd. Its fabulous. And from a bootstrap perspective, you know, bootstrapping, you have a lot less support than you do when you raise money. The days of building product, building community, marketing, growth hacking and being creative were replaced with days managing people. Thats why two of the biggest names in the real estate world teamed up to write the most comprehensive manual ever written on getting started in the lucrative business of real estate investing. Plus, he doesn't own any rental properties outright anymore, simply because BiggerPockets requires too much of his attention. And I realized that I was unhappy. You know, if youre not spending significant time every day learning, youre not going to grow, youre not going to get better, youre not going to be competitive with other people across your area of expertise. But he came in and was instrumental to advancing the business. &i(y`ryG|29#4#Gj9F){(B;y@OJO,4f7Q$t8*>]SvC,:: Fr9BoQhF8E \lNr)#@ 4S9> HZ)9zve'qQE!Q@Q@Q@Q@Q@Q@JLQ_\h? 5o5IJStAmaMb ; +xWjoI:_g#r3/\)T Moi_9}/?i)me 6Oki!h(pf_ x_V{(n5[Y%{c-Iy,Y^a3{W ?5?m,|W"S*B'D]>V^1_7=|V~ How to Invest in Real Estate - Google Books Thanks, Josh. I move daily and if not for some nagging injuries, try to get in intensive workouts 5 days a week. This book provides a comprehensive overview of real estate investing strategies whether buy and hold to short-term rental and everything in between. His wife and three daughters wouldn't take too kindly to sharing their space. But instead of sitting in my office talking on the phone, every phone call that I had was a walking call. Six years later and a full eight years after I founded the company, I hired my first full-time employee, Brandon Turner, who helped me create our podcast and was crucial in the next stage of growth of the business from lifestyle business to full fledged company. His vision for the site and its future brought national press attention to both Mr. Dorkin and to BiggerPockets. Explorer. If Squarespace had an autosave function and you didnt lose almost an hour of work on a great blog post when your iPad shuts down. This happens so often where and you mentioned it, its at the SEO algorithm, is it, its almost like youre manic because one day you just closed a really large client, youre all celebrating, and then the next day, all of your servers crash. the health, for example, instead of like, hey, I need to lose weight. Press the space key then arrow keys to make a selection. Given the choice, I decided to pivot and change course. Whether its in business, you know, I want to be a better CEO, I want to learn how to become a CEO, so I went and read lots of books on it. Everything came back clear and they released me. I immediately stepped back from the day to day at work and handed charge to my number two at the time, Scott Trench in coordination with Brandon. Meet Denver's New Real Estate Mogul, The Creator of BiggerPockets Welcome to the Big Exit, where we discuss startup acquisitions with the founders who lived it. What do you do when somebody is ripping the copper piping out of your vacant unit? Joshua Dorkin is the founder and former CEO of BiggerPockets, launched on October 22, 2004. You know, thats, surprisingly a significant boost to your health. On show 313 of the BiggerPockets Podcast, we interviewed Jesse Itzler and what most struck me was our conversation about how short and precious life really is. How to Invest in Real Estate: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Getting https://www.biggerpockets.com/show421Many avid members of the BiggerPockets forum, listeners to the podcast, or readers of our articles may know our founder, Joshua Dorkin. My excitement for the company and brand never waned, but I really stopped loving going in to work, but didnt know it. So, you know, the decision was, do I raise money? No. Josh Dorkin: Absolutely. The impact of the site, the podcasts, the dozens of books, the videos cant be measured in KPIs alone, but must be measured by lives changed for the better.As a result, BiggerPockets helped transform an industry. hbbd`b`ab`gb`\ '11d; Z endstream endobj startxref 0 %%EOF 101 0 obj <>stream Unlike most traditional real estate books, this one wont tell you there is one secret path to real estate success. On October 28, 2015, the couple released a book named "The Book on Managing Rental Properties." Children In May 2016, they welcomed a daughter, named Rosie. What do I do? For me, I realized that if Im going to run this company, Ive got these kids that I love and my wife and I had spent so long not taking vacations, not taking days off, I worked eight years without a single day off, which is incredibly stupid. BiggerPockets has grown quite a lot since Ive left, and Ive enjoyed watching it take on a life of its own without me steering the ship. 95 0 obj <> endobj 100 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[]/Index[95 7]/Info 94 0 R/Length 36/Prev 376417/Root 96 0 R/Size 102/Type/XRef/W[1 2 0]>>stream They really wanted to take me, but without Julie around, I worried about the girls, and passed the initial neurological tests, so I decided to play it by ear. You know, I got a standing desk instead of a sitting desk, you know, then I started to add one on one meetings, you know, when I had one on one meetings, instead of doing it at a restaurant or coffee, or sitting down in the office, they would be walking meetings. While teaching, I began to build a directory of resources and a forum which were the roots of todays community and platform.