I spent 24hrs with a blue collar millionaire

0:00Hey, everyone. This is a very special episode. It's meant for YouTube. So I know you're listening to this right now on like Spotify or Apple Podcasts or whatever, but go to YouTube right now and watch it. This episode is where I go with a guy named Mark who I found on Instagram and he restores brownstones. And I asked him everything about his financials, how the business works. But it was a very visual thing. So we decided to make it a video. So again, go to YouTube or you could just listen to it right now. You're probably at the gym or on your way to work. But I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. Let us know in the comments if you want more of

0:31this type of stuff. And I hope you like it. I feel like I can rule the world. I know I could be what I want to. I put my all in it like my days off on the road. Let's travel. This place, how much did you spend on it again? 2.8 to buy it. 2 million to build it. That's 4.8 in and you're going to sell it for what did you say? Six and a half? 6.2. I saw this guy on Instagram the other day. He's Mark O'Brien. He buys and restores it and sells brownstone homes in New York City. I thought it sounded awesome. And I thought, I don't want to make my living using screens all the time.

1:02I want to figure out how his life is, how his business is, the economics behind it. So I called him up. I'm going to spend the day with him. We're going to figure out all the numbers and if this is actually something cool to do. Is his business actually any good? Is his lifestyle any good? Do I want to trade places with him? And at the end of this video, I'm going to give him a Sam score. We're going to look at the economics of his business. Does it make a lot of money? And then we're going to have a lifestyle category where we ask ourselves, is this actually something that you feel pride in? Is it a good lifestyle? So, let's get through it.

1:30Oh.

1:33I fucked up. I messed up. I can't even figure out how to use Apple Maps to get to where he lives, let alone build a freaking brownstone. All right, so let's go this way. Okay, so he DM'd us where to meet him. It's 11.45. We're a few minutes away. We're going to walk a couple blocks. This guy, he looks like the Dos Equis man, like the most interesting man alive. He's got these kind of like movie star good looks. And I don't know too much about him other than he looks awesome. He has a cool job. And so where we're meeting is at his apartment.

2:06And then we're going to go to a townhome that he's currently restoring, as well as a commercial property that he's restoring. I'm excited, but I'm a little nervous. I don't want to look stupid because I know nothing about like construction. I'm wearing Red Wing boots, but the reality is I'm cosplaying. I'm a yuppie guy who's trying to dress like a blue collar guy. So like, hopefully he doesn't call me out on that, but it's the truth. Mark O'Brien, what's up, dude? Sam, what's up, my man? Hey, man. All right.

2:36Nice to finally meet you. Yes. We're going to start with this place. So where are we now? This is your house? 94 Bank Street. It's a project, but I'm living in it. So look, I usually buy things that have rats in the cellar and holes in the roof and water damage everywhere, mold and problems. But this one, when I walked into it, I was like, this is cute. How much did you pay for it? It's 180 years old. It's 180? 180 years old. I mean, it's super old. How much did you pay for this place? Five, five. How much money are you going to have to invest in it?

3:07At this stage, closer to six. How much can you sell it for? 17. Can we see it? Yeah, let's go in. Hey, really quick, guys. If you're interested in this and if you're interested in that blue-collar lifestyle, which, frankly, I am. That's why I'm making this video. And you want to start a business in this space, we have put together this thing called a blue-collar business database. It's a database with hundreds of different business ideas where you can use your hands, you can start immediately. Lots of different metrics about why the business is potentially interesting. And so if you're interested in that, click the link below. Totally free. All right. Now back to the episode. So when I walked in, these floors were shiny.

3:40I just, you know, it just glistened. I thought, I love the floors. I came in here. I love the fireplace. And speaking, we talked a little bit about buying the old furniture. Like, I'm really not fancy. I love just stacking my... I love living in West Village, which is super fancy. But I bring my... The people are like, you bring all that firewood in? Like, where are you going to put it? Like, this is the beauty of living in a house that's banged up. It's insane that a home that's going to sell for $17 million, you are... I'm stacking. That's not how they're going to use it.

4:11That's right. So when do you think this will be done, this project? So it's been two and a half years that I've been waiting for permits. You know, it's landmark. Do you just sit and do nothing? No, it's a lot of work of architects, engineers getting soil bearing tests. You know, they've got to break up the foundation down below in the cellar. And I can show it to you. And then they want to see, where's my neighbor's foundation? Where's the footing? Where's my footing compared to their footing? But it's like just getting the permits and doing all this regulatory stuff. It seems like that's like the thing that...

4:45Like when people talk about like products that they're going to sell on the internet, they think, oh, my product's amazing. I'm like, yeah, but like the reality is you have to be a good marketer. 70% of the value is like, are you good at like buying ads online? With this, it's like, well, I can build this amazing place. I can make a profit on it. I can do it cheaply. But it's like, yeah, but can you spend the years like jumping through the hoops of like getting approvals and all this other stuff that you didn't like? It's the cost to carry it. It's in time. Time will kill every deal. And often it does. Can we see the rest? Yeah.

5:16So and actually, so this is funny because I'm using this as my bedroom because I moved in. I thought I'm going to be here for six months, maybe a year. And then it's going to be a demolition site. I'm going to restore all this. So there's going to be, you know, plastic up everywhere and workers running around. So I'm going to just keep the footprint here and let's start working upstairs. I don't know much about real estate, but the limited amount of stuff that I've done, it seems like everything costs way more and takes way more time. Yes. Yeah. It's, it's, it's just out of control and it's getting worse and worse.

5:46So this is my, my desk, my office. Look at this fireplace here though. I mean, isn't that, is this your brand? Oh, that's my vodka brand. Yeah. It's a broken, broken shed, New Zealand vodka and make it from way a hundred percent New Zealand products, uh, water from New Zealand, way from New Zealand, which is, um, you know, This is a business that you own and started. Yeah. I spoke to a guy about this recently and, um, he was like, well, how did you, how did you get into real estate? Like what, what was that thing that made you get into real estate? And I said, desperation, like I had, I, I did, I was freaking out.

6:19I had two and a half kids. I was living in Greenwich, Connecticut in a house that I had no right. Was it a fancy house? No, that's what, no. It was like a thing that you were going to fix. Yes, exactly. Well, it was something that I would have had somebody else fixed. Right. Okay. Because I wasn't building houses. It seems like maybe you took a project that maybe it was a little bit over your head and then you're like, well, I have to make it work. Right. Yeah. Got it. Exactly. And did that work? Yes. Yeah. And that's kind of always how I've lived. So you're like, and that was like how you got into real estate. Yes. It was, it was, I, I was completely over leveraged. So I'm a big, big believer in, in leverage and use other people's money, the bank's money.

6:54But it's a great way to go broke and get yourself in a lot of trouble. And I know people that have done that and hasn't, hasn't worked out very well. Dude, that's like how so many great things happen, particularly I'm, I just turned 37, but like, I think about this all the time. Like if I lost it all, okay, I have young kids, I'm now like a proper man. I have people who rely on me. And like, if this goes, it's like, it's my job to like, you know, to take care of this group. It's like the most emasculating feeling ever of like, shit, I have not taken care of the thing that I'm supposed to take care of. I feel behind.

7:24And now it's my back against the wall and I have to, and it's like, well, that's the beginning of a great story. Yeah. Hopefully it's going to be a great story, but that's like a very scary primal feeling. I have nightmares about that as like a dad. Did you, um, I think, Hey, should we also, do you want to walk out, step outside? And, um, uh, now the sun's coming out. Hey, let's take a quick break. You know, that feeling when strategy is done, the brief is written, everyone's aligned and you realize someone still has to sit down and actually create all the content. That someone is usually you and it's due tomorrow. Well, the breeze assistant from HubSpot can help.

7:56It works right inside HubSpot. You can draft campaign, copy blog posts, emails, all in your brand voice, all using your actual customer data, so you don't create just content, you create content that converts. Check out HubSpot.com, the agentic customer platform for growing businesses.

8:11How many, so you've been doing this, how old are you? How old do you think? I don't know. Come on. 55?

8:2151. 51. I don't know, man. See, this is why I hate playing this game. No, I'm not. I'm 60, 63. Oh, I hate that game. So do I. I usually say, go fuck yourself. I'm not playing. Your specialty, I think it's townhomes, right? Townhouses, brownstones, restoration. How many have you bought and sold? So this is my third, my third big project of, of restoring brownstones. So 62 Green Avenue in Fort Greene, 428 Vanderbilt and 94 Bank Street. And then I've got, and I've got other projects like in Crown Heights, one over here on Jane Street

8:55that I, I act as the owner's rep. So I don't own it, but I, I, you know, run the, run the project. And then before that you were just selling real estate. No, but I borrowed against my house so I could buy another one. That's insane that you would get into this business without knowing anything about it. And at a big, high level. I mean, you know, how much did you, how much had you, you took a loan out? What was your, so, all right, so, so the numbers on the first one and the numbers back then were basically you, you buy for a million, build for a million and sell for three million.

9:25So you make a million bucks. So this house was 800,000. I, I built it for about 800,000 and I made a lot of mistakes. I mean, crazy. So you were in for one sick. Yeah. And I sold it for like, uh, two, two, three or something. Over how much time? Uh, like less than a year. So that's like a double, right? Is that a double or it's not a home run, right? Uh, I mean, it could have been, uh, but the next one I made a million bucks. I was like, that's a home run. I was like, I like this. Okay. So you're like, I'm good. I'm good at this now.

9:56So I started doing more. I did four. I would get like four going at a time. I'd buy a piece of property. I would go, I'd run with my kids in a stroller, three of them. And, uh, I'd see an old lady. I'd be like, I love your house. I got these, all these kids, these kids, I'm trying, I'm always, I'm looking for something a little bit bigger. I live over on Rocky point right now. I live with something bigger. And this woman, Pat's like, oh yeah, hi kids. And you know, yeah, well, give me your number. And I give her a number and I would do that. I'd put it in mailboxes. I just, it was a numbers game. So it's, it's kind of like boom and bust a little bit. Yes, very much. And it's funny. I mean, does that stress you out?

10:27Yeah, but I've gotten good at it. I think, you know, I do a lot of yoga. I thought it was going to be like hammer shit all day. And it's like fun. No. You want to go see the, yeah, yeah, let's hit it.

10:40This is huge. How big is this one? Yeah. So this, this I bought like two, two years ago. So this has taken me way too long. What's the total square footage? So now it's like 4,500. Okay. So you paid two, eight. How much are you going to put in? I'm putting in 1.8. That's turning into more like 2 million. And what can you get for it?

11:116,200. It's pretty slim. So check this out. This is, this is super cool. This, I just discovered it. Like maybe, maybe three months ago. I, it was, it had plastic vinyl floor over it. And I just assumed it was rotten. And I was going to sweep it out or something. And, and I pulled on, pulled on a piece of the plastic and it came up. And I was like, I wonder what's under there. And it's going to be like a hundred years old, right? And it was glue paint on top of glue. Yeah. This is 140 years old.

11:43And so I, I took my grinder out and started grinding and man, I'm finding, I find this. So look, some people say, yeah, it's, it's kind of banged up. You should really just put something over the top of it. Nice and sax tile. I'm like, I don't care. So I, this is all an extension here. So this, two things that I do. I like to go onto the roof. I like to finish, or three things, the roof, the cellar, and I widen the staircase. So you can kind of tell that there's more of a gap because brownstones are notorious

12:16for being a little dark in the middle because there's no windows in the middle typically. So I widen the staircase and I put a lot of light and a bulkhead on the top. So you get light down the middle. And then this is all, you know, original, original. Those bricks, are those original? Yeah. So, and this also. So these bricks are 140 years old? Yeah. That's pretty awesome. So that's another thing. I exposed the brick. So this has sheetrock on it when I buy it. So I rip the sheetrock down, or not sheetrock, plaster. But usually the plaster starts cracking and it decays against the.

12:46So 140 years ago was 1880, right? Yeah. Yeah. Or 1890? Yeah. So someone made that in 1890. That's pretty crazy. Yeah. Where do you see the cellar? The cellar is literally rock, horsehair, and mud. Let's see it. Is the way they made these foundations. Anyway. So this is the, this is a typical rubble wall, right? So you've got rocks, rocks, and then. I grew up in a basement like this, and it smelled exactly like this. Yeah. It's funny. I love it. So I wanted to keep all of that exposed.

13:19But I also think it's important to get as much usable space as you can. This will be finished? And this is basically free square footage. Because, you know, in terms of FAR, floor area, orisha, they don't count a basement because it's below grade. So I try to make it. And right now, you're not seeing it at the best. I've got to put baseboard on, finish the floor, and really spruce it up. So it feels like it's real space. It's not, it's not a. So how much do you think this home will sell for? Six to. What type of person would buy this house?

13:49What kind of person? Like a, what would the job be? Probably like, you know, yeah, I get a lot of creatives here in Brooklyn. Like actors? Fort Greene. No, more like people like these days in social media and doing some, some kind of media business. That's crazy. Maybe you'll be buying a $6 billion home in Brooklyn. So this is a rental, basically. So you come under the stair. Oh, wow. So there's your own, your own entrance here. And this will be like a $5,000 rental or in-law suite. So you come in, you've got your fireplace, original.

14:25Big open living room, kitchen, washer, dryer, bathroom, bedroom.

14:33Oh, and there we get the backyard. Bedroom. So two bedrooms, washer, dryer. I know it's in a weird place. And then a backyard. So when will this be done? How much longer? I'm hoping to have this, you know, photos taken like in two weeks. So this will get, I'll put like a. What does photos mean? Like pictures and start marketing it. But it's not going to be done in two weeks. No, but I can, I can start selling it and start. So when do you hope for this to be sold?

15:04End of the summer. Wow. Okay. And move in would be when? Like September. Oh, all right. Cool. So you're nearing the end of the two year project. Two and a half year project. Yeah. So this gets, this will get pavers.

15:15Do these guys work for you or are they? They're subcontractors. So everybody these days is a subcontractor. Nobody's, you know, I'm not hiring a whole crew of people. But you're going to come out of pocket with it. Yeah. Dude, there's so much risk. Yeah. All right. I work on, I work on a computer all day. This is my work or.

15:35This is weird, but. Talking to a mic. We get it. I want to do like. You want to bust something. Let's see if we got, if we got something upstairs. All right. Let's see.

15:47Okay. So you probably have heard this on the podcast, but if you're running a company, I think that the number one attribute that will determine if you are going to succeed in business is how fast you can learn from others, specifically how fast you can learn from other entrepreneurs. But there's a problem with that. I have this problem. And in fact, you probably have it too. That's one of the reasons why you listen to my first million in the first place. The problem is that finding other successful entrepreneurs to learn from, it's a pain in the butt. And so that's why a few years ago, I started a company called Hampton. You can check it out at joinhampton.com.

16:18We have thousands of members and they exist for this exact reason. So here's how it works. If you're a founder that does at least 3 million in revenue and you make it through our incredibly thorough vetting process, we then match you and put you in a group with nine other entrepreneurs. You meet in real life in your city once a month, and it becomes your peer group that will frankly change your entire life. It's changed mine. I'm in a group as well. And so if you're a founder that does at least 3 million in revenue, check out joinhampton.com. Again, the URL is joinhampton.com.

16:48What do you think? You want to see? Yes, I'll do that. Let's get you dirty, right? My man, can I get him to cut it or do you want to break it? Can he cut? Just one minute. Just one minute. He's not a spaz. Are you all right with this? Let's do it. But you've got to be careful when you hit that. You know, really hold it tight.

17:20Can he cut that? All the way through?

17:24All the way through, right? All the way? Oh my god, this is so dangerous. Oh my god, this is so dangerous. That's real!

17:45Good! So, what was he saying about the story about getting sued for being too dangerous? Yeah, I mean, if OSHA showed up. Thank you, sir. I'm sorry to mess up your workstation, but let's see. He's showing me how he worked out when he was in jail.

18:11That's right.

18:18Oh, there it is. That's pretty good. Oh, wow.

18:24Did I expect that? You should put that on your hinge profile.

18:30All right, I'll try. Are you goofing with me?

18:34Woo! Not nearly as good, but I can't figure it out. That's good and aggressive. You're just like, right? Because you can probably do it on your skateboard. No, I can't do that on my skateboard. No? No, so you try. Well, I know I can't do that. Okay, we looked at his Manhattan place. We just looked at his Brooklyn place. This place, how much did you spend on it again? 2.8 to buy it and then about 2 million to build it. So, that's 4.8 in and you're going to sell it for, what did you say? Six and a half?

19:056.2. 6.2. And that's over three years. Right. So, you'll make something like $500,000 a year. So, if you want to buy a $6 million, 4,500 square feet, right? Yeah. Home in Fort Greene, this place is awesome. Around the corner from Spike Lee. What a good time for him, right? Deal of the century. All right, thank you. Very hospitable. We're going to get our subway. All right, God bless. See you soon. All right, thank you for everything. I'll talk to you a little bit. All right, we just got back to the office. Let's give this thing a score.

19:35Okay, so I've divided this thing up by business and lifestyle because they're both important. We're going to do money, machine, and moat. And first of all, I love Mark. I'm going to hang out with Mark again. But in terms of money, this business was a pain in the butt, and I don't think it made that much money. I'm going to give it a three. Basically, I think that he probably does something like $500,000 to a million dollars a year in income, but that's on a good year. On a bad year, he probably can lose money. And it was just a lot of work for that amount of money. Second, machine. Can it run without him?

20:05And he has a team of people that he uses in most of his projects, but he's really the catalyst for this whole thing working. And I'm going to give it another three, and for moat, the biggest moat here is I don't think people are crazy enough to do this, but anyone with enough money could probably do it. There's a lot of people in the city who can. I'm going to give it a two. So what does that sum up to? An eight. So the business score, an eight out of 30. All right, now let's do lifestyle. So can you have pride in the product that you're making?

20:36Do you like the people who you work with and your customers? And does it provide any freedom? So for pride, he was very proud of what he was doing. I was actually proud for him. I thought it was amazing. I'm going to give that one a nine. He said that sometimes he'll make stuff and the buyer will just come in and destroy it, which would really suck, but he still gets a nine. Now people, I met some of his coworkers, some of the guys doing work. It was awesome. They were really cool and lovely. I'm going to give it a seven. Just because some of the people who he sells his properties to, I probably don't want to

21:06hang out with some of those folks. And now freedom. I'm going to give this one a five. The reason I'm going to do a five is because each project has an end date, so he could take some time off if he wanted to. But when he's there, like in the thick of it, it seems like Saturday and Sunday is included. He's always on the phone, like dealing with regulations and things like that. So the lifestyle score gets a 21 out of 30. All right. So here's what that adds up to. For business, he gets an eight. For lifestyle, a 21. 21. 21.

21:41You wrote a 31. For biz, he is going to get an eight. Lifestyle, 21. Add all that up. What's that up to? That's 29. So Mark O'Brien, buying, restoring, selling, brownstones. Sam score, 29. I feel like I can rule the world. I know I could be what I want to.

22:12I put my all in it like no days off. On the road, let's travel, never looking back. All right. Let's take a quick break to talk about a podcast. Because if you're listening to this, you like podcasts. And what's better than one podcast? Another podcast. And let me tell you, another podcast you should check out. It's called Success Story. If you like hearing about different success stories and hearing Q&A sessions with successful business leaders or hearing keynote presentations or just checking out conversations about sales and business and marketing tactics, this is a great podcast for you. So check it out wherever you get your podcasts. So check it out.