Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Today’s guest is Debbie Longo, executive behavioral coach and founder of Life in Bloom, New York. With more than 20 years of experience in leadership development and behavioral strategy, Debbie helps executives and business owners identify and shift the patterns that hold back performance, profitability, and culture. She is also the host of two podcasts, Behavioral Profit and the six Figure Show, where she shares how subtle changes in behavior and mindset can create major business results. Debbie’s approach blends behavioral psychology with practical, real world tools, and her mission is simple help leaders shift behavior, lead with impact, and unlock growth that lasts. Debbie, welcome to the show.

Debbie Longo: Thank you very much for having me, I appreciate it.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m very excited to have you on the show today. So tell us a little bit more about Debbie. And then I want to dive into Life in Bloom.

Debbie Longo: Okay, so I’ve been in this business for about 25 years, and I had a spiritual teacher until 2021, until she died when she died of cancer. So I was. Now I’m on my own. But I was doing a lot of things with her, and so I was kind of doing some things independently also. So it kind of just was a flow, you know, just a natural flow that I could just turn around and start my own business because it was very sudden that she passed away. So that was exactly what I did.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. Well, I’m sorry to hear of the passing, but it does sound like that’s part of your story and how you started this business that you’re in. So talk to me about behavioral psychological psychology and coaching, especially in this executive space. How do how do all these things come together Debbie, in your practice.

Debbie Longo: Thank you for that. So the reason why I call it behavioral is because I’m focusing on it’s almost natural to say that it has to do with psychology. Okay. But I’m focusing on the behaviors of the employees and the executives and the business owners, which based on what their behaviors are exactly right most of the time negative and how it’s negative, that’s decreasing sales and profits. So just by changing their behavior, I can increase sales and profits. Okay. So, um, people think that it has to do with psychology. What I do is actually the opposite of that. Okay. Because I don’t want it to sound like. And be traditional psychology. Okay. If you believe in that, that’s fine. But I’m just going to say that there are people, individual people, business owners, all kinds of people that have tried that and that does not work. But if it works for you, you know, then that’s fine. But I’m focusing on the people that it doesn’t work for that need help that have decreasing, um, sales and profits that are going out of business. Maybe they file bankruptcy, um, you know, recently or, you know, and then they really need to, uh, get back on their feet again. Maybe they can’t afford to put food on the table for their family. You know, maybe they can’t afford to put gas in the car. You know, these are real world things that happen, you know. All the time. Right. They’re happening now. Right as we’re speaking. So, you know, there’s a lot of things here and a lot of people need help, but if they’re going to seek the help, then they’re going to want to do it. They’re going to have to see that just a little bit even there’s something wrong, just even a tiny bit, you know, and that this will help them increase sales and profits 100%. Because I know because I’ve been doing it 25 years and I know exactly what’s going to happen. And I don’t have to be a psychic to know.

Trisha Stetzel: Because you’ve seen it over and over and over again. So I heard you say that this negative behavior, these negative behavioral patterns are what’s limiting growth and profitability. How do you help shift that mindset from negative to something that’s not negative.

Debbie Longo: Right. So there’s about a hundred different ways. So what I do is I give people a free consultation okay. And possibly two. So and then I fill out, you know, I have them fill out things a survey and you know, some questionnaires and different things. And then, um, I make a plan for them. I make a whole outline for them. Okay. And then I give it to them and I discuss it with them, and then it’s their decision, okay. Whether they want to go through that or not. Right. So that’s basically my process. But I can tell you that there’s, there’s, um, control in the workplace where the executives are trying to control the employees and also vice versa, okay, where the employees could come in and they could just do whatever they want, right? They don’t focus on job duties or, you know, they’re doing insubordination. You know, where the executives are telling them what to do, and they’re blatantly just not doing it. You know, there’s so many things, but a control is a very big thing. Because here’s the thing if a company starts doing good, then it’s natural that the, um, executive or business owner, their ego is going to start to grow. Okay. And when they do that, right, then they try to control more. But I teach it that there really is no control. You can make goals. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I think every every company should make goals. But we don’t know if you’re going to reach those goals or not. And that’s why it’s called the goal. And that’s why it’s called goals okay.

Debbie Longo: So. Right. And the the last thing that I want to say is, um. When I am doing something physical, okay. So the mind controls what I do physically, right? When I do something physical, right? I want to be able to produce results, like we said, like making goals and helping people. Okay. Speaking nice to people, respecting Thing, people, you know where it could be anybody in the company. Okay. And when I do things like that, those thoughts turn into physical things that I do. Okay. So I might, you know, throw papers around okay. Which these things are very common. They might sound like, you know, like people don’t do this, right. Like executives don’t do this. Right. But that’s what they do. This is all stuff that’s realistic. Okay. They might, you know, you know, just throw a pen, you know, or something at an employee, okay. Not even realizing it. So just expressing anger in all different ways, they don’t have to be yelling and screaming, you know, at the employee or something in order for them to, you know, to get the point across that they’re being angry. And that creates a lot of negative negativity. I want the employees to be excited to wake up and be excited to go to work every morning, that they have the best job on earth, and they love everybody in their workplace and they love their bosses, and they’re going to respect them and they’re really, really excited to go to work every day. That’s the workplace that should be happening.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that. And I love that culture shift where everyone is happy to be in the workplace. So in your work, Debbie, are you working with just the leaders or are you working with the entire team?

Debbie Longo: Right. So I start off with the leaders, business owners and executives. Usually is what it is. And then if they have a problem, you know, a widespread problem, right, with the company, then as it grows with them. Okay. I would suggest to, you know, can can we do a team call where we have all the employees on. Can we do groups, small groups. Okay. Or can we do maybe one on one with the client and a few employees or one employee, different things like that. So that really depends on what the situation is. Okay. So everything that I do is tailor made to that client, right to that organization because there are so many different scenarios. You know, I can’t even, you know, I can’t even really give you really like an outline, you know, of what that would be. But the idea is to fix the whole workplace, right. So, you know, however I’m going, right, however I have to do that is how I’m going to do it. Okay. Providing that the business owner is willing to do that. So if they say, oh, I just want you to help, just me, you know, and that’s all the that’s all this. The problem is just me. And I know that’s not true. And then I say, okay. And then as we go along, I’m helping them, I’m helping them. And then he sees that it’s working.

Debbie Longo: And then he might say, oh, I have one employee that has this problem. Meanwhile, he’s got like 20 employees. I have one employee that has this problem. Okay. Can you help that one employee? Okay. So we’ll do that then he says I have another employee, you know. So so this is common. You know, that we start off gradually unless he really knows the problem. And then he says, you know, we gotta I know there’s a problem with everybody and, you know, everybody has to leave. I gotta fire everybody. Which is like, it’s a horrible way to do business, you know, because then he’s going to get more people. The problem is going to continue, right? Because he didn’t solve the problem to begin with. And then he’s going to fire everybody. And then the cycle is just going to keep going on. I have a store across the street from me that I buy vegetables from, and that’s what they do. That’s exactly what they do. And they just did it again, you know. So so this is the that’s why there’s so many different examples. And these are things that happen. It’s not you know, this is not like, you know, if you’ve never saw this before, you know, then if you’re listening to this podcast then you’ve just never seen it, you know. But I could tell you that it’s common.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. Well. And oftentimes it’s the leader that needs the cultural shift. Right. And so probably why they continue to fire the entire team and hire a whole new team and have the same problem because they didn’t get to the root of it, which is in between their ears. I’m just guessing it happens, right? What? Um, so you described the negativity and how some of that may be seen physically in the workplace, maybe throwing a paper or throwing a pen. And so we see that negativity when you’re working with teams and you actually see that cultural shift from that negativity to positivity. What does that look like in the workplace and how does it impact performance and revenue in a business?

Debbie Longo: Well, if it a lot of times it happens pretty quickly. Okay. It’s unless it’s a serious, serious issue and it has to be done very gradually. But even though if I give them a plan and I say, oh, you know, it might take months and months and months, they’re going to most likely nine times out of ten, start to see results almost immediately, right within like maybe a week or a month or something like that. And that’s just because the way that I work, right? Because I know you know what’s going to happen, right? So when I see that, that’s why when I start to see that change. Right. The business owner, the client is seeing that also. Now it’s a lot of times somebody sees the the gifts that we get or the positivity somebody else sees it before we see it in ourselves. Okay. So you know that happens a lot okay. But again, there’s so many different situations. But it’s you can see it’s like literally a miracle coming true. Because if somebody knows that they cannot fix themselves. It cannot happen. It’s impossible. And I just sit there and I’m like, okay, you know? And I just listen because it’s only words. Because it’s not true what they’re saying, you know, because I know that I could fix whatever, whatever it is, it’s, you know, it it it doesn’t matter what it is, but they don’t see it that way because they don’t know. Okay. So, you know, there’s a lot of things here, but it’s a it’s a huge transition to go from negative to positive. There’s so many different, you know, ways that I could feel it. You know, that the business owner can identify it. It’s just hundreds of ways I do something negative and then I’m not doing that thing anymore. Right. So that’s positive. It’s the opposite.

Speaker4: That’s good.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Well and you know the the things that we think about and practice the most do become our reality whether it’s negative or positive. Uh, and we push that into culture in our businesses. So we’re about halfway through, Debbie, and I’m sure that there are people who want to connect with you already. How what is the best way for them to get connected with you?

Debbie Longo: Sure. Well, I have a website, Life in Bloom, NY for New York, and, um, they can fill out a contact form and everything on there. They can also look on the website because I have a lot of information on there too. And I’m on LinkedIn. Okay. Um, they can just punch in my name, Debbie Longo, and it’ll come up. It comes up as a, um, revenue strategist on LinkedIn only because I’m doing audits right now, so but it’s part of the coaching thing. So if they if they, you know, you know, get in touch with me, I can you know, I can explain it. Um, so but it’s really the same thing. But so those are probably the two primary ways.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. Fantastic. Debbie. So you guys, life in bloom NY dot net is where you want to go. Or you can look up Debbie Debbie Longo. Longo life and bloom bloom, NY on LinkedIn and connect with her there. That’s how she and I found each other is on LinkedIn. So, Debbie, let’s jump back into the conversation that we were having and I’d like to tie this into burnout. So we talked about moving from negative to positive, creating unlimited growth and profitability in these businesses. Can we talk about how burnout plays into the the negative side of things and can maybe carry over when they’re first building this growth and profitability? Profitability?

Debbie Longo: Sure. Well, there’s it produces negativity obviously. You know, which is the most the most important thing that we don’t want. Um, but if I’m burned out, the common sense part of it is that I get very tired. Right. And I get sick and tired of being like this, having this attitude, doing these things. Okay. And this could be anybody, an employee or a business owner or whatever. But a lot of times the thing is that the burnout comes from what does it come from? Overworked and underpaid. So if they if the boss says, and again, this is another common issue, the boss says, oh, the person works till five, right? I know a lot of people work online and people work different hours. Right. So I’m just giving an example. Okay. The person works till five and the boss says the boss comes and pats them on the back and says it’s like 430 and says, oh, can you just stay an extra hour to do this one thing for me? And then the person says, okay, the next day the boss does the same thing. The person says okay. The next day the boss does the same thing. Now the employee is annoyed, okay, because they have things to do, and maybe they have to pick up their kids from school. Okay, you know, they might have to cook dinner or whatever. And the employee doesn’t want to say no because the employee thinks that she’s going to get fired. Okay. And she says yes. And then the paycheck comes. The end of the week comes. She gets the paycheck. She didn’t get paid for any of those days, any of those hours. Okay. So it’s like 3 or 4 hours in one week, okay. That they would say, oh, excuse me. They would say, oh, just do a little bit of this work.

Debbie Longo: Right. Sorry. And when they know that that work is going to take an hour, and that boss knows that that work is going to take an hour, and then he says, oh, can you just do a little bit of this? It’s not going to take that long. And then they’re there. You know what I mean? They’re there for an hour. So this is the thing. So that is a huge thing that bosses do. And then they feel that because the employee said that they would do it, that the boss doesn’t have to pay them. Now they get resentments. The employee gets a resentment, the boss, they have an argument about something, and then they get very angry. And then the employee now doesn’t care, right? Because of all this, that’s happening because she’s not getting paid. And then the boss says, we are going to have to come to an agreement that either you’re going to leave or you’re going to get fired. Okay. And now the employee loses her job when none of this had to happen at all. Okay. If the boss would just pay if you asked somebody if the, the the job duty and the contract that you signed with that company is 9 to 5. If you ask one employee or anybody to work 5:01. That is the the the manager’s or the executive’s duty. Okay. Ethically and morally and legally to to pay that employee. That’s what the employee is there for to get a paycheck and to, you know, be, you know, like what they’re doing or whatever. Right. But this is the thing. So there are a lot of examples of this, right? But to me this is like the most common sense thing. And it’s also the most common.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Um, can we talk a little bit about six Figure Shift Show, which is one of your podcasts? I’d love to hear a little bit about the show. And if it’s I don’t is it a solo podcast? Are you inviting guests and what that looks like?

Debbie Longo: Right. So I have two podcasts, Behavioral Profit and six figure shift show. But what happened was people were because I have a forum for people to fill out, right. And I have a lot of episodes. I have like 25 episodes in like three months. Okay. So what people would I know what people were doing was they were filling out. They were starting to fill out the application for the behavioral profit, and then they realized they didn’t qualify because they couldn’t answer the questions. So they called me or, you know, on email or whatever, got in touch with me and said, I don’t qualify for this. And I said, why? And then they said, well, you know, this is my business. I do this and that, this and that. So I made a show. It all started with one person. Okay. So I made a show just for I know it’s like, you know, this is what I do, right? I’ll do it. You know, anything for anybody. It’s like weird. So I made a show just for somebody. Then somebody else came along, the same thing happened, and then somebody else came. The same thing happened, right? And so now I have the show, but the whole thing is on behavioral profit. Okay.

Debbie Longo: But it indicates it, right? It tells you in the beginning, you know, even in the title. Right? It’ll say six figure shift show, but it’s all on behavioral profit. But eventually I’m going to separate it. Okay. And the behavioral profit is exactly what I talked about in the beginning of this podcast in my introduction. It’s the opposite of psychology. I don’t do psychology. Okay. I’m not a psychologist. I’m not a therapist. I’m not certified. Okay. In that field, not only would it be illegal for me to do right, but this is what I’m trying to not to do, okay? Because so many people, for so many people, it just doesn’t work. Right. And I’m the type of person that even if it’s virtual, right? I’m not sitting at a desk, okay? They’re showing me, you know, their office through the camera, you know, through video conferencing or whatever. It’s a very on, hands on thing. Believe it or not, even though I’m not really there. Right. So there’s all, you know, there’s all different things. You know, I have them sometimes I have them put up posters like in their office, like think positive, different things like that. It’s called visual manifestation. That’s what it’s called. But that’s another whole story.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s another podcast I think. Daddy, don’t start another one.

Speaker4: Right. Exactly. Don’t start another one.

Trisha Stetzel: Um, tell me who your who are your best clients? I know that they need to want and, uh. And they need to want change. They, they need to want to get from negativity to positivity. But who are your typical clients that you work with.

Debbie Longo: Right. So believe it or not, okay, like any business or anything, the people who are familiar with your business are most likely going to be your best clients. Okay, from down from the fast food store, you know, restaurant all the way up to, you know, stockbroker, you know, financial company, okay. Because they’re going to understand really what you’re doing, okay. And they’re going to 100% believe in it rather than trying to convince somebody to believe in it. Okay. So the people that really understand and anybody I can help anybody, they don’t have to be in this specific field, okay. But I’m just doing it for the purposes of answering your question and just making sure that, you know, this is clear, which is fine. The question is fine. Okay. So. People who are in the health field, in the mental field, natural health, chiropractors are okay. Astrologer I had an astrologer on my show once. Um.

Speaker4: Okay.

Debbie Longo: Maybe medical doctor, because a lot of times they medical doctors now they teach about health and holistic different things like that. Okay. But most of the time a massage therapist. Okay. I had another guest, too. That was a massage therapist. I had one that was a psychotherapist. Also. I had another guest too, but she was a coach and she did other things too. She just didn’t do, you know, she just didn’t do your typical talk therapy. She did other things also. So people who are in the holistic field, okay, and who understand mental health and who go beyond giving medication, you know, what we teach in the Western world, okay, take a pill and that’ll solve your problem. You have anger. Okay. I’m going to prescribe you some medication. Just take a pill, okay? If you’re in a depression because of why, you know, there’s a lot of.

Speaker4: Reasons why, right?

Debbie Longo: I’m going to give you a pill. Take this. Right. And then you’ll get out of the depression. It works. And then this is just my experience. If you’re taking the pills and it’s fine, that’s great. But a lot of people, it works. And then it doesn’t work anymore. And then they come back to it because they haven’t solved the problem in the first place.

Speaker4: Right.

Trisha Stetzel: And one pill leads to the next pill to the next pill. And by then we’re just masking side effects of all of the things right that we’re putting into our bodies. So I love that you, um, have a lot of clients that are in the holistic space. Uh, I love, uh, that we take care of people holistically from, you know, business all the way to personal and sleep and all of the things that we should be doing. But I also understand that you can help anybody out there who’s looking to move from this negative space to this positive space. So as we wrap up today, I have one more question for you. Your company is called Life in Bloom. So if you could leave our listeners with one piece of advice about how leaders can truly bloom in both business and life, what would it be?

Debbie Longo: Think about what we talked about today on this podcast. Everything that we spoke about and think if you can relate to anything. If you can relate to one single teeny drop of one part of any sentence that we talked about in this podcast, then think about if you might need help in any way, shape or form. And also you can do an inventory yourself. You know your workday. You know your workplace. Okay. Take a piece of paper. Say this is the start of my workday. And as things go on, do write it down. This one was angry at me. I was angry at that one. And then do an inventory. And then by the end of the day, look at that. Okay. And that will tell you most likely. Okay. What your problem is. Right. So these are things that people can do on their own. But that’s not going to solve the problem. That’s going to tell you what the problem is. That’s it.

Speaker4: Mhm.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. And then you’re going to help them get to the core and actually make the shift.

Speaker4: Right. That’s the point. Right. Exactly right. Exactly.

Trisha Stetzel: Debbie this has been such a great conversation. Thank you for coming on with me today.

Debbie Longo: Thank you for having me I really appreciate it. It was fantastic.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. So you guys, if you want to connect with Debbie, of course all of this will be in the show notes. So if you’re sitting in front of your computer you can just point and click. Otherwise, when you get home from listening to this in your car, you can visit Life in Bloom, NY for New York dot net, or you can connect with Debbie on LinkedIn. Debbie I l o n g o and it will also say life in bloom and why there? Debbie, again, it has been such a pleasure to have you on the show.

Debbie Longo: Thank you very much. I really appreciate you having me. Thank you.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s all the time we have for today. If you found this conversation that I had with Debbie today. Of value or even of greater value than you could have ever imagined, then please share it. Share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran, or a Houston business leader. Ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Today’s guest is Nathan Turner, founder of Earnest Investing and a seasoned mortgage note investor. We’re going to talk a little bit more about that later. After years in traditional real estate, Nathan transitioned into specializing in mortgage notes, helping investors diversify their portfolios and generate steady passive income. He also runs the Diversified Mortgage Expo, an annual event that brings together experts in note investing and seller financing. Nathan’s mission is to build lasting relationships and educate investors at every level, and he’s here to share why? Note investing is a powerful alternative to traditional real estate. Nathan, welcome to the show.

Nathan Turner: I’m so glad to be here. Thank you so much.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m very excited to have you today. So tell us a little bit more about Nathan and then let’s dive into earnest investing.

Nathan Turner: Yeah. Sounds good. So I’m Nathan Turner. I have been in note investing for about 15 years. But outside of that, probably the most unique thing is I live in Canada, so I live just outside of Calgary, Alberta. Uh, which, if you don’t know, that’s fine. There’s the Calgary Stampede. If you’re in the rodeo business, you maybe have heard of that. If not, I’m about an hour outside of Banff and I think everyone’s heard of that one. And it’s it is as pretty as all the pictures. It’s as pretty as everybody says. So if you haven’t visited yet, it’s definitely worth it. Um, I, uh, I’d like to just be outside as much as I can. I’d like to go and visit all the mountains. I like to go and hike. I like snowboarding, I like doing all those fun things and got my three kids, and we tried to go on as many adventures as we can. And, uh, my wife, of course, is always by my side and she’s the best.

Trisha Stetzel: And we had to put that in there. Uh, she didn’t pay us. I’m just kidding.

Nathan Turner: No.

Trisha Stetzel: Well, we. And we have something else in common. We love snowboarding, too, so we’ll have to have a.

Nathan Turner: Fantastic.

Trisha Stetzel: Nathan. Excellent. Uh, okay, so let’s talk a little bit more about your business. So tell me more about earnest investing.

Nathan Turner: Yeah. So earnest investing is a is actually a fund that we put together a little over a year ago. Um, and it is based on, you know, investors put money into the fund, and then I go out and buy mortgage notes. And in Texas there are deeds of trust. But same thing. Uh, not the same thing, but For our purposes, the same thing. It’s. It’s a loan against a property. Uh, so somebody, you know, they want to go and buy a house. Great. So you typically we go to the bank, uh, we get a loan from the bank. They set it up as either a mortgage or deed of trust, depending on the state. At some point in the future, uh, the bank or the lender, whoever it is that gave you that loan says, you know what? I would rather recapitalize, get my cash back and move on and do something else with that capital. So then they contact somebody like me and I say, well, I will do that. I will buy whatever that loan is that you’ve got. Outstanding. Uh, and I step into the role of the lender. So I don’t actually lend out the money, but I do. I technically am a lender. I step into that role and I become the bank for whoever’s living in the house.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. Very interesting. So you started in traditional real estate, uh, before you transitioned into mortgage notes. So number one, what made you shift and what advantages denotes offer that people often overlook?

Nathan Turner: So why did I shift? That’s a great question. So I really like let’s just, you know, get it straight. I love real estate. I’m a big, big fan. Um, I was doing fix and flip back when it was really easy to do that 2005 and six, where the market was just really conducive to fix and flip. It was very easy to do. Um, as the market turned, I got stuck with actually just one property that I ended up becoming a landlord. I liked that much less, uh, being a landlord was a lot more work and, uh, just yeah, a lot more to do, more headaches and things to deal with. Uh, but I did like that monthly income, and that was an attractive part of it for me. So I didn’t like the landlording thing I did. I do like real estate. I like that there’s a hard asset there. I was introduced into this world of of note investing, uh, about late 2008 and 2009, where, um, you can buy just the loan instead of taking over the property as the bank. We don’t actually take ownership of the house. So whoever’s living in the house, they still retain ownership, but the loan itself transfers over to me. So what that means for me is I get all of that monthly income, the part that I did like without having to take care of the property, the part that I didn’t like. So to me, it was just like the perfect marriage of of how this all comes together and best of both worlds in my mind.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. So my next question was going to be, how does the investor actually make money from buying the loan? So do you want to take that a little bit deeper for us?

Nathan Turner: Sure. Yeah. So um, when I’m looking at buying any kind of a loan, Let’s put some numbers behind it just to make it a little easier to visualize. So we’ll use easy numbers. These are maybe not realistic, but just stay with me. So let’s say the balance of the loan is $100,000. The house is worth 150. Um, I would come along and there’s a lot of factors that go into it. What’s the interest rate? You know, how long is the term, uh, where is it located? When what’s the payment history? All those kind of things go into it. But for super simple discussion we say, okay, so if the balance is $100,000, um, I’m willing to pay out the bank and become that the new bank and step into that role. I anytime that I’m going to do that, I am taking on a little bit of a risk. Uh, you know, I haven’t formed this relationship with the borrower. I this is stepping into a different situation. So it’s always done at a discount. So if it’s $100,000 balance, I’m probably not going to pay more than, let’s say, 80,000. And again, like I said, there’s lots of factors and there’s lots of things that go behind that. But in any case, I’m going to buy it at some kind of a discount. So because I’ve bought it at a discount, whatever that posted rate is, let’s say the rate today is 7% because I bought it at a discount. My return would actually jump up to nine, ten, 11 somewhere in there depending on on all those other factors. So automatically I end up stepping into a higher return. Plus I’ve got an additional equity position in there. So it just increases my safety, helps me feel a little bit better about the whole investment as a whole.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So I’m guessing I’m not the only one. Some of the listeners have probably never heard of this before.

Nathan Turner: Most likely.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. So I’m curious because you’ve been doing this, it sounds like since around 2008, 2009. Um, are you seeing trends in your industry where more people are doing node investing? Or is it still like this big secret?

Nathan Turner: It’s mostly secret still, which is it’s fascinating to me because it’s actually been around a very long time. And especially in Texas, seller financing is done more in Texas than anywhere else in the country combined. In fact, there’s a higher rate of seller financed loans being created than anywhere else. Even if you combine all the other states together, they don’t add up to what Texas does. So I’m actually a big fan of Texas loans. They’re fantastic. But because of that, uh, I forgot where I was going on that.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. No worries. It was. I was asking if it’s still secret or are you seeing.

Speaker4: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: That way.

Nathan Turner: Right. So yeah, it’s still relatively unknown, which is kind of interesting and I, I honestly don’t exactly know why. Um, it’s a great business and there’s not a ton of barriers to entry there. There’s certainly some education that you need to get because we’re dealing with the finance, not the property. Uh, which takes a little while to get your head around, but, uh, but because of that fact, maybe that’s what it is, but I’m not exactly sure why. It’s not as well known as I think it should be. But anyway, I don’t mind it being a secret either, so I guess I’m okay.

Trisha Stetzel: Well, it’s not a secret anymore, because everyone’s listening.

Nathan Turner: Nathan, right?

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Um, so we’re about halfway through, and I’m sure people are already interested in having a conversation. Especially my Texas friends may want to learn more or even have a conversation with you. What is the best way to connect with you?

Nathan Turner: Nathan I think probably the best way is to just go to the website, uh, which is Ernest Investing.com, and that’s e a r. So Ernest Investing.com is, uh, place where you can learn a little bit more about notes. There’s a link there to the Diversified Mortgage Expo. And then of course, there’s a couple of different places on there where you can create an appointment with me and we can have a conversation.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. And you guys, as always, I’ll have that in the show notes. So if you’re sitting in front of your computer, you can just point and click to find out more about Nathan, his business, as well as a few other things. So, Nathan, I heard through the grapevine that you have a book coming out. Can we talk about that?

Nathan Turner: Sure. Well, I’m just putting the finishing touches on it, so it should be ready here very shortly. I think it’ll be ready by the time this airs.

Speaker4: But yes, it is.

Trisha Stetzel: Tell us more.

Nathan Turner: I’m really excited about this because it’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. I think part of me thought, you know what? I think I need enough experience to be able to have the right to write a book. Uh, and I feel like I’m there now. So the book is really all about, um, my journey and notes in general and what that’s all about. And I’ll turns out it just kind of in the writing of it. It really kind of focused on the community of note investing and what a big deal that is and how important that is to just get into this world where generally we pretty much all know each other and I love it. I love that we get to just be this, you know, little secret society almost. We’re doing this business. It’s great.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that. Okay. So have you titled the book yet?

Nathan Turner: Yes, it’s called Passive Secured Unique, which is the tagline for my business.

Speaker4: Okay.

Nathan Turner: And yeah, so it’s just talking about this really cool business which is passive and secured by real estate. And it’s really unique. Not a lot of people know about it.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, that’s fantastic. So where can folks find it, since we know that it’s going to be out and ready for purchase?

Nathan Turner: Yeah. Uh, at the very least on the website, we’ll we’ll have links there to be able to acquire it. However that’s going to go out. We’re not exactly sure yet. But, uh, but definitely on the website. That’ll be the place to start.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. Congratulations. That is an amazing accomplishment. And yes, you’ve been doing this business absolutely long enough to write about it. So you guys go to Ernest Investing.com e a n e investing.com to check out that information around the book. All right, Nathan, I want to know a little bit more about the Diversified Mortgage Expo. What time of year does that happen? Tell me who should come to it where it happens?

Speaker4: Yeah.

Nathan Turner: Diversified Mortgage Expo is so much fun. We we took this over. My wife and I, we, uh, took this over about three years ago. Uh, we run it at the beginning of May, typically that first weekend in May in Nashville, Tennessee. And it’s just a place for everybody to come together and everybody is anybody who’s brand new to the business, and they’ve just barely heard about this all the way to people who have multi-million dollar funds. And it just it it makes me so happy to see all these people coming together. And node investors are some of the friendliest people out there and so open and so sharing with everything. So somebody who’s brand new can show up and go and sit at the same table as somebody who’s very seasoned and, you know, has all these assets under management and everything else, and they can have a really great conversation and there’s no judgment. There’s no like, oh, well, talk to me when you’ve done this a while and there’s nothing like that. It’s very inviting. It’s very open. We come together the night before we start the conference. We do an ax throwing tournament, uh, just to help break the ice and have some fun. And then it’s a no sales, you know, purely in informational, educational, so that you can learn more about this. And, and really the idea is that you can meet other people that are in the business so that you can start making some connections and get some business done.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. Okay, so Nathan’s giving us some information about the secret society of node investing and this expo. So you guys if you want, if you’re interested in node investing and you want to learn more about the expo, please reach out to Nathan. I am sure he’s happy to share the information about both with you guys. All right. I want to jump back if it’s okay. So that was fun, but I want to jump back over to node investing. What are some of the biggest challenges that you see in that space, and how do you coach others or even yourself, uh, to overcome those challenges?

Nathan Turner: So there’s a few things. Um, regulation is a big one. And just learning the ropes. And part of what makes that challenging is. Yes, there are some national standards, but then there are also some state specific standards. And so learning what’s okay in Texas versus Florida versus Ohio, uh, and they’re very different. And they’re depending on what happens and how it’s set up, how you deal with a non-performer if they start, if they default, what happens there? Each state has their own way of dealing with it. So getting that education up front is really important. And again, that’s not a pitch because I don’t teach. But I can certainly introduce you to some people who do. So understanding how it works to begin with, that’s a that’s a major challenge. And that’s something that you really need to focus on before you decide you want to jump into this. On the back end of that, let’s say you do end up getting a defaulted note. Let’s say, you know, somebody’s paying. Something happens. Uh, there’s some life challenge that comes their way and they’re not able to make payments. Almost always, I’ll just preface that almost always, if we do end up going to a foreclosure, it’s usually because the house is vacant.

Nathan Turner: Uh, and maybe they’ve passed away or they’ve abandoned the property. That’s usually when foreclosure happens. It’s very rare that we actually foreclose on a person. It’s usually just on an empty house. That being said, once we take back that property, that’s the next big risk is we’re getting into a property where because we’ve only bought the note, uh, we don’t actually have the right to go inside that house. Unlike traditional real estate. So as much as we have seen it from the outside, we’ve sent somebody out there to go and look at it and observe and everything else. It has happened for sure. Where we take back that property, we get inside and. Oh no. And it’s certainly not what we thought it was going to be. So that’s the it taking back that house. And then, you know, maybe we start doing renovations and we open up a wall and we go, oh, shoot, there’s that. Uh, and that’s the risk where we end up, um, having most of our challenges is when we actually start dealing with the property itself.

Speaker4: Wow.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, that sounds a little scary.

Speaker4: Uh, so they’re a little bit risky.

Trisha Stetzel: A little risk involved, right? Uh, it’s not all, um, roses, right? Uh, and I think with any, any kind of investing, there’s a bit of risk or calculated risk.

Speaker4: Um, when.

Nathan Turner: Absolutely. And it’s something you need to be aware of and, and to take into account, like you say, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. I wish it was. That would make my life so much easier. But no, it it’s a real business. There are real challenges. Uh, so you just need to be prepared for that.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, so, Nathan, um, we know there’s a book coming out. It’s probably already out. Uh, for those of you who are listening today. So go and take a look for the book on Ernest Investing.com. What’s next for you, Nathan? And for earnest investing.

Nathan Turner: I. I am in the midst of, um, preparing my long term play. So as I’m running this fund, part of that, you know, my income is, of course, mixed in with that. Um, and then a big focus for me is building up my own portfolio. And for me, this is my retirement. Um, the plan is, you know, get a whole bunch of notes, uh, that are making monthly payments. And then there’s some management involved with that, of course. Uh, but more or less, I’m, you know, quote unquote, retired where my wife and I can go and travel. My, our kids are just about all gone. Uh, we’ve got one left in high school for another couple of years, and then he’ll move out. And then I don’t know, you know, whether that’s going visiting kids or whether that’s going and doing whatever, uh, different service around the world or who knows what. But, uh, but we’ll be set up to where we can make that choice, and we can have the freedom to be able to go and do whatever we want to do, whenever we want to do it. So that’s the long term play.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that when you first got into real estate, did you think this was going to be the legacy? Uh, the long term plan for you was real estate.

Nathan Turner: Um, I was hoping it would be I. But at the same time, when I very first got involved, it was fix and flip. And so that’s very physically taxing. And so I recognize that, um, you know, I can only last so long doing that kind of thing. Uh, so that was part of the question is like, how do we make this work long term? And, you know, you can hire crews and all those kind of things. Uh, and definitely that works. But the market’s not always really good for flipping. So. Okay. What about renting. Well same thing then you now you’re dealing with tenants and there’s turnover and again repairs to the property those kinds of things. So surely there’s something else, a different way that this can work. So that’s why I think notes is such a great fit for me.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. So you talked a little bit about or you just said you were introduced to note investing around 2000, 2008. Can you tell me a little bit more about that experience? So you’re in traditional real estate. You’ve done all the hard work, the labor behind fix and Flip. Uh, and you were introduced to note investing. So how did that even happen?

Nathan Turner: Yeah. You know, it’s another one of those cases of right place, right time, uh, where I, a colleague of mine, he called me up and said, hey, I’ve got this opportunity. Are you interested? We had, uh, been given charge over about 60 properties, mostly centered in the Midwest. Uh, a couple kind of spread out here and there. But it was a deal where these investors had bought this portfolio of properties. They’re supposed to flip it out to another group. Of course, this was back in 2007, when everything seemed like it was never going to end. Uh, the deal went south, and now they’re stuck with all these properties. So they’d contacted us and said, okay, so can you guys do something? Uh, they had their own, you know, full time jobs. Whatever. Can you guys figure this out? So we we thought we’d come up with the whole concept of seller finance. We thought we were pretty smart there, uh, because, again, we’d never heard of it. It’s still not that common. So we started selling these houses on terms. So basically seller financing, uh, we would take a down payment and then structure a monthly payment plan that included principal and interest payment.

Nathan Turner: And again, we thought we’d invented seller finance. So it was in the in the time where we had created some of these notes and I was looking for, okay, so what’s our back end like? We I don’t know that we want to hang on to these long terms. So surely, you know, you can sell a turnkey rental. So to me this is even better. We don’t even have to take care of the property. So, doing some internet research, I went and took a class down in Houston. In fact, uh, where it was all about this guy that was teaching about, uh, buying the kind of notes that I was creating. So I thought, oh, this is perfect. What a great fit. And then in the course of that, um, class, he said, well, there’s a conference coming up in fall of 2009, in New Orleans. You should come and check that out. And I go into this room and there’s like 200 investors in there that have been doing this for 30 years. And I’m like, this, this is a thing. People do this. No way. And so to me, that was it. Like I was hooked right away.

Speaker4: Yeah. That was really the introduction.

Nathan Turner: Right place, right time.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that. Uh, maybe you should come to Texas and buy the billion dollar lottery ticket, and I’ll. I’ll be your best friend. I’m kidding.

Speaker4: There you go.

Trisha Stetzel: Right place at the right time.

Speaker4: Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Um, okay, I’ve got one more question for you as we wrap up, Nathan. Looking ahead. Um, what do you see as the future of node investing? And how do you think it’s going to open up new opportunities for everyday investors who have maybe never considered it, like you so many years ago?

Nathan Turner: Yeah, that’s a great question because, um, I think partially, you know, to understand the future, we got to look at the past. So as I was getting into this business, I thought, so how long is this going to last? You know, what’s the opportunity here is kind of trying to plan for the future, to see exactly this, you know, how long could I do this? And, uh, in the middle of doing that, I’m like, okay, well, these guys have been doing it for 30 years, you know, since the 80s. Whatever has been around longer than that. And then it was watching a movie with my wife about somebody in the 1800s where this guy had bought this woman’s debts, and he was kind of holding it over her. And now I own your debts. And I was like, wait, wait, that’s what I do. I buy other people’s debts. I’m like, okay, so it’s been around at least that long. And then later we’re, you know, in Sunday school and church and and talking about buying debts in the Bible, I’m like, wait a second. So it’s been around really pretty much forever. Uh, going forward, I think that seller finance is going to be I think it’s going to become more and more common.

Nathan Turner: Uh, dealing with banks is increasingly more difficult. And there’s a better way that within reason, of course, like we we have to set up these loans that are ethical and proper. We never want to be taking advantage of anybody. Um, but there are many situations where banks really don’t know how to deal with somebody who’s self-employed, for example. Um, and we’re seeing a rise in that, and people are starting to work for themselves more. Well, if banks can’t figure that out, that’s where we come in. And then we’ve got these seller finance, uh, type of offers that we can come up with. And then that creates a secondary market where somebody says, well, I’ve created this note now I’d like to cash out of it. So they come in, contact somebody like me. I think that that’s going to be a bigger portion of what we’re buying going forward. Uh, barring something happening in the world that that creates another opportunity. But there’s always going to be something out there for sure.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Well, this has been so much fun, Nathan. I learned something that I had no idea. I’m so glad that we, uh, had the opportunity to have this conversation today and appreciate you sharing so much information about the secret society. There might be people who are interested in joining. I’m just saying.

Speaker4: Absolutely, absolutely.

Trisha Stetzel: Nathan, one more time. Share your contact information with the audience, please.

Nathan Turner: Yeah. So the website is Ernest Investing.com. Uh, and that’s e n e s t, and, uh, that’s the place to go for whatever you want to learn some more about it. If you want to connect to the Diversified Mortgage Expo or if you wanted to set an appointment and come and talk to me, and I’m happy to chat and just see what we can do together.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, or by or by Nathan’s book or by.

Speaker4: Or find the book there too. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: I love this. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate your time today, Nathan.

Speaker4: Thank you.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation I had with Nathan today, share it with a fellow entrepreneur, veteran or a Houston leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.