Episode06

Transcription

Jeremy: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the investor chat podcast today. I have the amazing Nikki Hayek with me, Nikki has been absolutely crushing the real estate world, she's just a total badass and I'm so excited to tell her story today, let her tell her story today. So with that, Nikki, thank you for joining me today.

Appreciate you.

Nicki: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Jeremy: Cool. Very awesome. Thank you. So let's just start at the beginning, right? , what brought you to real estate and what's your introduction to real estate? You know, was there something in your life that brought you into this?

I want you to kind of tell your story is what really brought you into the real estate and into the investing world.

Nicki: Sure. So real estate for me really [00:01:00] came pretty organically, but not without its struggles. Um, I actually started back in 2017, I had just left a 10 year relationship and moved to McKinney, Texas.

Was a newly single mom with no career really going or anything like that. I really didn't know anybody here, I had gone to work for. You know, just a normal W 2 job. I was working in the med spa, and I was just so unhappy, and.. I really needed to be able to create something where I could make a living and make a life at the same time.

, looking back on that, you know, those next steps really propelled me into where I am today, which was super exciting. But I first started out actually owning a cleaning company, and so I started up a cleaning business. It really grew very rapidly. I started marketing. in my neighborhood. And before I knew it, I was covering multiple towns and then eventually an entire county and then an entire area of [00:02:00] DFW.

So it was very momentous and, you know, really just kind of came out naturally. I'm a natural marketer, so I very easily connect with people. And I think that really helped me to grow it, but it was also. You know, it was a necessity for me. I had to be able to make something and do something where I could pay all of my bills, still be able to put food on the table for my two kids, still have money to give them the life that I wanted them to have and not overwork myself to where I thought I was just, you know, basically working to pay for daycare.

Like I was with my W2.

Jeremy: So I want to, I just want to unpack that for just a second. Right. So you talk about this adversity, right? , A newly single mother you have two kids, you're on your own, you're in a new town, all of these challenges coming to you. . Was there a point in your, thinking there that you was , like.

I just got to find somebody else to help me with this, or what was going [00:03:00] through your mind at that time? Because , I mean, that could be a really dark place for a while. And if, if somebody's got challenges, what are some of the things , that really helped propel you through that because , ya.

hear are people all the time when they get into a situation like that, that they get really depressed and really down on themselves. And it's really hard to get out of that. So maybe what's a word of advice to somebody else that might be going through a challenging time? What, what helped you through that?

Nicki: Yeah. So, I mean, I personally experienced that. I mean, it was coming into this place, I mean, definitely the first couple of years were just, it was really tough. It was really tough. I mean, I'd been with somebody for 10 years. life as I knew it had completely just uprooted and had changed 100%.

Um, and it, it is very easy to get down on yourself and feel just completely defeated. even now I still feel, have moments of feeling defeat. I mean, that's just a human nature. And the biggest thing and the biggest key to just overcoming that is knowing that piece, that it is human nature to feel defeated.

And you [00:04:00] have to be able to take. You know, take your mindset and set it aside for a second and say, and look at , the overall picture and say, you know what, I can make changes here. And not focus on the things that you can't control because there's always going to be elements in your life that you can't control.

But if you can step back and say, but I can't control these and then focus on those situations. That's the things that are going to make an impact in your life and allow you to make those changes.

Jeremy: Yeah. I think that's really amazing, right? Because a lot of people will focus on the negative, right? human nature is to, to try to control things, right?

A lot of times we're trying to control the environment around us. And so I think that's really powerful is being able to , take a step back and realize, look, these are the things that I can't control. I don't have control over that. You know, I don't have control of what happened over here. I have control over my reaction to that.

Right. And so I think that's super powerful to. Get out of your head space for a second , and then break it [00:05:00] down. And I think it's really powerful. The way that you presented that is to be able to like, look, these are the things that I can control. And so these are the things that I can work on my reaction and my next steps are super powerful in being able to make sure that I can succeed, you know, when you've got these two little kids that are, .

Pushing you along and motivating you, right? It's like, I've got to do this. This has to be successful. And so being able to realize I have the control to be able to do these things, not worry about these things. And so I think that's, that's so powerful.

Nicki: I think it's not even like you can, you said reaction and I hate the word reaction because I don't want to react to something.

I want to respond to it. I want to be intentional about it. I talked to somebody one time and this was years ago, like right when I was getting started and, ironically, I think it was a date, but, um, he called it PRR and it was to pause. In the [00:06:00] situation, take a second to reflect and then respond rather than react. And that's for some reason just really stuck with me because I used to be such a reactive person and you know, I'm like, you know what, if I just , stop for a second and I really look at the overall picture, a lot of the times the things that seem super scary.

Or super, you know, daunting, they're actually not when you break it down into pieces and you're like, okay, let's do this step by step. And how you know, how can I get from point A to point B? Or how can I change the situation that I'm in that I'm not comfortable in to make it comfortable?

Jeremy: I love that.

That's such a great thing PRR pause, reflect and respond because you're absolutely right. You know, if, if you just have a, the natural reaction, the natural reaction may not be the best . Right? Yeah. So by being able to reflect. And then respond. I think that's so powerful. So you was able to do that at this point, right?

So you was able to [00:07:00] take that time, reflect on what's going on, realize the things that you can control, and then be able to move forward. So what does that look like for you as you continue to move forward? You talked about building a cleaning business, so. Why did you, decide to build a business , most people they're just gonna, go find a nine to five.

I gotta go find something that I can just work in. So obviously , you're very outgoing and if , you're going to build something, build a business what made you decide to build a business instead of just going to work for somebody?

Nicki: So it was really the control aspect. and it's funny because now I consider myself unemployable.

Um, but it's just, it's just the control aspect. I had these two little kids and they were young. I mean, in elementary school and just going into elementary school at the time. So, you know, very young kids, definitely not self dependent children at this point in time. and I really needed to be able to not pay for daycare.

And... be able to go to work when they were in [00:08:00] school and still make the same amount of income. And the cool thing about owning a business or, you know, Even just doing some side hustles or anything like that is that you really set your time And you're as successful as you want to be so as much as you put into it That's how much it's going to give back.

I'm a firm believer that the world gives you back what you put in So in anything whether that's a nine to five or , whatever you're gonna get back what you put into it So if you're really pouring your heart into it, which is what I did Out of necessity, but also out of desire to build something , bigger, and we'll talk about my vision for that here in a second.

But , when you put that much effort and that much energy into it, you're going to get back. And I did. And I knew going into it, I was like, this is going to be hard to build at first, but there's tools out there. There's, platforms that you can utilize to reach out to network.

Even if you're not an outgoing person, there's ways for you to get connected to those opportunities. And so I knew [00:09:00] going into it that if I was going to go work for somebody else, I was going to be unhappy , and I can't be a good mom if I'm unhappy. I can't enjoy my life if I'm unhappy. What is life if you're unhappy?

Jeremy: Right. Right. It's miserable, right? So you recognize that. And so , by being able to have your vision and be able to build that out. So that's really the driver here , is having control of your time and , your energy and being able to have that flexibility. Right. So again, those are a couple of things that a lot of people , are trying to get out of their W 2 to be able to do those things.

And so you recognize that. And it was like, Nope, this is the only way that I can make this be successful. Yeah, it was cool. Yeah. So , let's talk about that then. What was, your vision? , how did you grow from there? what's going forward here? What do you, what do you have going from there?

Nicki: So recognizing my own need and my own desire to be, financially free but also flexible with my time and being able to support. What was going on in my [00:10:00] life. I realized that i'm not the only single mom in the world And so I really started connecting with other single moms and because my business had grown I couldn't take on any more clients without bringing somebody else on and so it became a team of moms that were Able to make a living and a life and that became our motto.

And our goal and our Vision there was just to create , an opportunity for people to make a living and a life. And it's really cool because I have to, I have to pause on this for a second because now, you know, we're, we're several years into this, we've had several different moms working for us and we've had a few moms that have left and gone and done other things, but , we've been able to give this platform, which this is like, so it's so heartening for me.

I love it. We've been able to give this platform for people to come and like, get their bearings because especially as a newly single mom, everything is shook. I mean, you have, you really have to step back and be like, Oh my gosh, what do I do next? And this allowed people to kind of come in, join our [00:11:00] team.

They had some were comfortable to be themselves, but also some more flexible that they could come in and say, Hey, I want to, I need to work for this amount. I need to make this much, you know, this is the hours that I can work. And. really be able to do that. And now these girls have gone off. They've started their own businesses.

They've been able to go back to school to, you know, build their families up more. I mean, it's just, it's been a really cool experience.

Jeremy: That is such a powerful motivator, right? I mean, when you talk about vision, holy cow you're not only Solving your immediate problem that you had. Right.

But now you're able to give back to those around you. You seen, this , was a need within the community. It's like, look, this is something that happens and not only are you being able to provide a service to them, they're providing a service to you, but now you can be a mentor, a coach, and not only just an employer, you know, a lot of employers are just like here, go do this job, but now , you're.

Like a life partner with these people to be able to [00:12:00] help them with their life, help them through , the coaching that they need. And I'm sure you probably get a lot of times that you're just like, Hey, you know what? I know where you're at. I was there. I can see where you're at in your head right now, your mindset.

Right. And be able to help them through that. What a powerful, powerful message I mean, Holy cow. I can, I can only imagine the amazing things that you're able to do. Yeah. That's so cool. And be able to give that back to the universe. . And again like you mentioned you get back what you put in and being able to put in so much to these other, women that need , that help.

That's amazing. Nikki, I think that's, that's such a powerful vision. So, . Let's talk about that. So is that all you're doing now? Are you just doing this? Let's talk about, I know you're doing some other stuff. So let's talk about how did this grow? What's, what's the next step? What was the next step?

Nicki: Yeah.

So, um, the next step really, honestly [00:13:00] was more adversity. Um, 2020 happens.

Jeremy: Ah, yes, yes.

Nicki: And when 2020 happened as we all know, everything just kind of stopped and that was no different. for our business. Um, because nobody wanted other people in their home. So things really changed there for us for a while.

Um, the girls that I had at that point in time kind of moved on because we just didn't have the business coming in. I mean, my business just stopped. I was luckily able to get, you know, some assistance because I had. Proof of that income being coming in, but everything kind of stopped.

And so during 2020, I had a lot of downtime and that downtime allowed me the opportunity to start on my real estate courses which is something that I had wanted to do for a really long time, but I was also, while I was doing that building relationships and building back up the cleaning business, do it working with short term rentals [00:14:00] because.

Everybody was still wanting to travel and , you know, go places and get out of their house because they couldn't do anything else. So short term rentals became a huge part of everybody's life at that point in time. I'm so sure you know and so that's kind of what I went into next about the end of 2020.

, I kind of relaunched the cleaning business. I was working with short term rentals. I was building back up the clientele and then, sorry, not the end of 2020. It was the end of 2021, started working with short term rentals. And built the cleaning business back up within like, it was like 30 days that I had the business built back up.

and I was needing to hire. And so I brought on my first person back one to the cleaning business. Cool. Within another month, we were hiring our next one. I mean, it was just rapid that it was growing and I, I found a way to duplicate the process, which I would love to chat about [00:15:00] a little bit.

Jeremy: Well, yeah, let's talk about it.

Nicki: So I think, I think the easiest way to grow anything, if you guys are listening and you're, you're wanting to build a business, the easiest way to build a business is to find a process that's duplicatable. So for me, the way that that looked was. That I had to build up an entire schedule for myself to be able to train on.

Now I brought somebody on and I was training them on the schedule that I was already working. And. That was taking money away from me. So, I did other things intermittently, like door dashing, or corner shop delivery, grocery delivery, things like that, to subsidize that. And I only had to do that once, because the next person I brought on, their training was subsidized by the other person that I had bought on.

So, every time you added a person, they were covering the next person's training costs with the [00:16:00] jobs that they were doing on a full schedule. So it was super duplicatable.

Jeremy: Yeah. So with, with each one of these individuals that you brought on, you basically just cloned your process, clone yourself and says, here's the tools.

Here's the process. This is what we're doing. Duplicate it, follow this. So. A lot of times, you know, when you're talking in business, you're a visionary or an integrator you're, at this point, you're filling both of those roles. And so , you have the vision to build the business, but you're also building out those processes and making sure that they're not only sustainable for yourself, but transferable to another individual.

A lot of times in business, you see, this is like a franchise, right? So a lot of times a franchise, they'll be like, you, you just hire the people will give you the processes and the access to all of the supplies and all of that stuff.

Right. So basically what you did on a, on a micro level is you [00:17:00] franchised yourself. Yes. Processes to all these other individuals. And then you're getting, you're getting a payback on that. . So that's super key. And I think a lot of times in business, so I've, I've been in, in manufacturing for a lot of times, we've We hire new people and we have to go back through those processes.

Right. And it's like, you're always hiring people and you're always training on those processes, but you have a guidebook, whatever you want to call it these processes and these individuals are now coming in and you just plug them in, here's your process, your franchise, however you want to look at it, that's super powerful.

So as you build this out, now how many people do you have on your team that that's following through this and doing this process?

Nicki: Yeah. So, um, right now we have, I want to say we have, we only have like 10, but they're all like, so we do short term rental cleaning. We do post constructional cleaning.

And then we also do our residential services. So we've kind of switched gears a little [00:18:00] bit. We are partnering now with and doing more of like a sub out, but with premier cleaners. So we still have a ton of people messaging us regularly, calling us to get cleaning services and everything like that.

But we can only handle so much. And with my direction and my attention going to some of these other elements of our businesses now. Um, we needed a way to carry on all of those requests. And so we started kind of working with other. Cleaning companies that have good reputation and things of that nature and providing them with a referral.

And so we have referral relationships also.

Jeremy: That's amazing. So not only are you building out your own team, but now you're partnering , instead of viewing them as competition, right? You're going to them and say, Hey, look, we have too much business. We want to throw you guys some business partner with us on this.

Right? So again, these are not obstacles for you. You're just like, Hey, we're running into so much work. Let's just solve it. Right. And [00:19:00] again, that's that visionary integrator piece of it, right? You're, you're building the business again with the visionary side of it, but then you're integrating it and building out new systems, new processes.

So that's just super cool that you're able to now view that as not competition. But as a way to collaborate with those additional cleaners, they're getting more business, you're getting more business, you're building out , the entire area with this unique empire. Right. And again, it's kind of that franchise, right?

You're just kind of franchising. It's like. Don't be an independent operator. Again, let's, let's work together. We're going to build this out together. And now , again, you're kind of franchising yourself out. It's just as super cool that you're being super creative in all of these unique areas.

So that's awesome. Okay. So that's, that's just one piece of this, right? I think this is super powerful. This is one piece. Now I know you're doing some other things as well. And so let's talk about what other businesses and other integrations that you're doing [00:20:00] within your business. Cause I know you're doing some other stuff besides just the cleaning side of it, right?

Nicki: So I am. So once the cleaning side really just took off, I was running on its own. I mean, just running very smoothly. we were starting to do other things and working with short term rentals was a big, big part of it. So, we were starting to get in, you know, I had started working by cleaning for the short term rentals but I got to know the owners.

I've always been very creative, with everything, my life, but I really love interior design and interior decorating and just re creating spaces so that kind of led into working with the owners on re setting up their properties to really maximize the potential, the interest on renting the space.

and then they also really enjoyed our processes for how we cleaned our communication styles, everything like that, which led into requesting us to help manage and co host with them. Um, so I [00:21:00] now have a co hosting company. I am partnered with another sub two student, which we haven't really talked about sub two yet, but we'll dive in there.

Um, we have a really, really, really awesome team for that side of things, too. My assistant, Lynn, is fantastic and then we have a couple VAs that do and help with our messaging. We have It's on the ground in various areas to support co hosting across the United States. So we really grew with that business, and helping people find properties that they can use as short term or midterm rentals, is a whole nother side of it, but we do that as well.

Jeremy:

So that's, that's awesome. Right? So not only did you say, okay, well I can do this piece of it, but let's integrate some additional pieces. So you'd start. Partnering with these guys and you're giving them a little bit of design advice, some coaching and be able to help build their space out.

Right? So now they're getting better bookings. They're getting more bookings because of the support that you're able to provide them. But then now you're also [00:22:00] being able to not only just help with the design aspect of it, but because of your systems that you have built and, the evidence that you've been able to provide them that, that you can excel at this spot.

Now they want to work with you. They want to pay you to manage their properties. So, so you're just like vertically integrating is, is one of the terms that I like to use . As you continue to grow your business, they're all these little pieces that all work together and mesh together.

Now, again, you're building this empire, right? Of not only the cleaning, but the co hosting and the design as well. So , how does that work for somebody that wants you to do the, the hosting piece of it? So let's talk about that for just a second. They own the property. And then you're, you're added as a co host.

How do you guys split profit? Do the, do you charge them a set fee or is it like a split? How does that work for you guys?

Nicki: Yeah. So the way that we kind of did it and it's pretty standard across the board for co hosting and management [00:23:00] services. but the way that we do it and the way that, we can do it everywhere is that we do have a lot of systems in place.

So we have different processes and different checks, that we do for each guest. We have different communication methods for our clients so they can keep up to date on what's going on at the property. Um, but yeah, basically, I mean, they, they're the owners of the property. this allows them the opportunity to own it, collect the checks on it, but they don't have the day to day, you know, struggles that they may have otherwise.

And a lot of times people that own properties, investors that, you know, are buying properties. That's what they do. They buy properties. That's a full time job on its own. So when you're looking at what to do with those properties, short term and midterm rentals are, and long term rentals are a really valid option.

And so what our service does is we come in and we kind of take all of that day to day off their plates we do charge so like for short term rentals, it's a percentage of the daily rental rate. [00:24:00] So somebody comes in and, you know, books 100 a night stay or 500 a night stay or whatever.

We get a percentage of that. And, what that encompasses is all of the guest communications, all of the maintenance scheduling, all of the pictures and documentation that everything is done correctly. All of the, you know, conversating on the various platforms with support staff.

So like if Airbnb has an issue, we contact them, they contact us, not the owner. We're handling guest messages at three o'clock in the morning. We're handling, Hey, we need toilet paper here. So it's really taking everything off of them. And then they still collect all the checks they pay it. We bill out, you know, for monthly for the stays that happened that month.

And we take care of everything else and our cleaning company for our local ones gets to support the cleaning services.

Jeremy: That's awesome. So, so now not only are you helping with the hosting, but also the cleaning on that. So now you've got two companies that you've got there. They're supporting this property, the communications all running through you.

So [00:25:00] it's, it's kind of like a one stop shop for these investors that have these properties is they can just come to you and say, look, Nikki, I want you to manage it all. You're going to manage the cleaning. You're going to manage the people that that's so cool to be able to be offering all of these individual services to, these investors that are buying these properties.

And then also you're helping them with the photos, the setup, the listing. You know, some design concepts that really maximize that listing and maximize those profits. I guess it depends on probably the location and all those things depends on how much you guys negotiate, right?

So you probably kind of have kind of a set range, you set a percentage, but then that kind of probably varies based upon the property. How large it is. Um, so it's really a case by case negotiation on, on what those fees are. Correct.

Nicki: It really is. So we, we do have, I mean, we have a pretty flat rate for starting with it, but as, as they grow with us, um, you know, [00:26:00] obviously each property is going to produce differently, so we may have, you know, a property that we only make

500 bucks a month off of but it's it's not requiring as much and it's a smaller property or something like that We may have a property that we you know Work on all the time. There's lots of big things and it makes a lot of money for the owner and for us also, so it really depends on each property, but it is a pretty standard rate across the board and then as you grow with us as you get more properties with our management services and they can be again anywhere nationwide Then we start lowering that management fee for you based on the number of properties that you have with us So there's ways to save money there, too

So as you tier into that, right. As you get more and more properties, they're able to get a little bit of a discount. You're getting more clientele . So that repeat business. So I think that's super amazing that you're able to offer all of these pieces that are supporting the real estate realm.[00:27:00]

Jeremy: So. Aside from that, Nikki, I know you, you've made some posts about some stuff that you're doing as well. So, on the investing side, what does this look like? So you've built an amazing empire to support this need the short term long term rental term rentals. Um, but really. What does this look like for Nikki personally, as you're building out your portfolio what are some of the steps that you're taking to build that out for yourself?

Nicki: Yeah. So, um, you know, it's, it's so crazy how all, like I said, at the beginning of this, you know, everything here, they came organically. The cleaning service moved into the management service with, you know, and the design service. And so we have all three of those businesses now, the cleaning, the management, the design.

Um, but the design led into working with investors and, and people that are really, you know, doing things like that. And so that [00:28:00] allowed me the opportunity to start working very closely with contractors. Um, and so I have a GC partner now, um, that I work with on pretty much like if I'm going to work with somebody new, that's usually who I'm going to now.

We still work with other GCs also. But this, this couple is fantastic. Um, and so that has given me the opportunity to step way more into real estate, to the investing side than I ever did before. 'cause we're doing fix and flips. We're doing new construction properties for these investors, we're doing all these things and I'm designing all of it, and we're able to see the cost upfront.

Which gave me a way better interior look into what all goes into flipping, into purchasing, into buy and holds, all of that stuff. Because I'm seeing all of the elements as one. Um, super cool vision. Yeah.

Jeremy: Yeah. That's super cool.

Nicki: Yeah. So we've been, we've been doing some of that. We've been doing [00:29:00] a lot of, um, fix and flips for other people.

So really where I'm at now is. starting to connect with as many people as possible to build relationships for lending, to build relationships for, you know, property referrals, things that I can then take a look at and say, well, you know, we can do the work for X amount of dollars. It's going to cost this much, you know, it's going to be this much for material.

This is all of the design plan. You know, this is and then I'm now with my life, my agent license, I can look and do MLS and, um, you know, check, check and see the comps and everything like that. And then pull the design, Hey, this property sold, you know, 20 days ago at this rate. This is the design style that it is.

I can take that into account also. So I'm really capturing every single step of the way now and just working on building out those networks.

Jeremy: That's, that's amazing. There's, there's a lot to unpack there, right? So again, so not only are you. [00:30:00] Now you're tip to toe, right? As you're building out this empire, as you're building out your, your multiple businesses and these revenue streams, um, being able to work with partners like general contractors, being able to, to now have your real estate license so that you can have access to the MLS.

You could actually, you know, work with your fix and flip contractor. And if the property doesn't make sense to work as a short term rental, you just sell it on the market. Right. And now you're going to be able to get those commissions off of that, as the listing agent. So again, you're expanded even further.

Right. And again, I love how you said this was kind of organic and we can see as you talk through your story is how that's one step has led to the next step has led to those connections and networking has led to more opportunity and being able to now move into the fix and flips and and the contractors.

And the, renovations. So now the cool thing is now as you're building out your network of [00:31:00] contractors, as you have Properties, you can have handyman that's like, Hey, look, we're managing this property. Here's our partner. We're going to partner with this contractor.

You know, like you mentioned is you, you're going to be able to see the insides of the transactions, the costs, you're really getting your pulse on the entire network and that whole market right now, you're. You're kind of being able to see all sides of it.

You know, most people focus on one thing, not Nikki. She focuses on everything.

Nicki: You know, I really enjoy being busy.

Jeremy: I can see that. Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, and the reality is, is most people that are super busy. Are busy because they love it. And I can see in your energy that you absolutely love this. This is something that it's not a nine to five for you.

, this is Nikki's life, right? This is who you are. This is what you are. This is what you do and you love it, right? , I'm sure [00:32:00] you have days that are overwhelming. And so as you think, so let's, let's just look at that for just a second, is that as you have days that are overwhelming, you have so much going on.

How do you recenter yourself? How do you refocus yourself? You know, what is it? Again, we talked about mindset early on as he was going through some really challenging time in your life, but what are you using today? What are you doing today? That kind of helps refocus you when there's so much going on, it could be over stressful.

what are you doing to help you through that?

Nicki: Yeah, so it's funny you asked this because, right before we jumped on, I did a Facebook Live about how sometimes in live things don't go according to plan. And the biggest thing that I would say , really helps me is I'm very flexible and I know that like, Going into it, not everything goes the way that we plan it.

And so I don't just have a plan for the day. I have backup processes. [00:33:00] Okay. So, I have the ability to on a whim, come up with something, you know, creative to solve a problem. And earlier you mentioned, you know that I get really creative with an adversity. I'm not the type of person and I don't, I've always been this way, but I never come to someone with a problem.

I come to someone with a solution. Amazing. But it does, it does take a lot to stay in that mindset. Um, and to, you know, make sure that you keep yourself grounded and I'm not going to lie, I, I struggle with major depression, I struggle with major anxiety, I'm medicated, I would rather just deal with it, be in my feelings and be numb.

so anybody that's going through depression or anxiety, I feel you but just, I mean, being able to really structure time for yourself is super important. I almost make it a priority. It's not quite like I have to, but it's, it's pretty consistent that every three months I take a trip, even if it's just a weekend somewhere or a [00:34:00] day out of town or something like that, travel is my happy place.

experiencing other cultures is my happy place. And so like this next month, literally in a week, we're going to Austin with my daughter and I are going to Austin to ACL festival. That's going to be something that's going to reset me and be able to give me some time away so that I can still be enjoying my life.

Because back to that initial vision, this was to make a living. And make a life. Yeah. And so I still have to be able to enjoy those life moments. And I think that a lot of times we, you know, we experienced what, especially when we're running as fast as I do. Um, you know, we experienced things like burnout and you get really exhausted and it's very easy to say, you know what, this isn't what I want to do and throw the towel in.

But if you can make it past those moments of burnout and you can find ways to, stepping aside, making, creating some space, even if it's. Hey, on Sunday mornings, I'm going to go take a walk around my neighborhood, like whatever makes you happy, whatever grounds [00:35:00] you find that thing and make time for it in your life.

Because if you are not also making a living while you're making, yeah, making a life while you're making a living, you're not going to be happy. And if this is not going to grow, it's not going to grow for you.

Jeremy: Yeah, I think that's so important to remember. Right. I think sometimes, especially as we get into something new and real estate , to be honest with you is a 24, seven, 365 business.

And there's no way that you're not going to be thinking about it or concerned about it or working on something at some point during the day. Right. And so I think that's super powerful that you can recognize that. I have to take a step back. I have to disconnect every once in a while. And maybe you're not fully disconnected, you know, but you're, you're changing your location.

I love that you said you're going to Austin, right? This isn't hometown. We're going to go somewhere different because it helps reset your frame of mind and being able to [00:36:00] just get out of your space a little bit. And I love to travel as well for the same reasons is you get to experience something new.

And it helps refocus you to be able to say, you know, this is neat. I love what I do, but you get to experience something new.

Nicki: It's not even just that. Even if you don't have a lot of money to do, like, when I started, I didn't have anything extra.

But even if you just get out of your space, like, it could be in your same town. It could just be doing something new there. It could be, you know, anywhere. But every time I get out of my space, I appreciate what I have so much more. Because I'm able to take time to really appreciate all that life has to offer.

Jeremy: Yeah, that's, that's super powerful. And it's just being able to, to reset your mind by stepping out of your comfort zone. and it's apparent that you've had to step out of that comfort zone several times as you've built this empire, right? it was growing organically, [00:37:00] but.

Again, you there's challenges, there's new processes that you have to build. There's new people that you have to talk through and being able to re center yourself and take that time to take a step back. Because if you're, again, if you're actively working all the time, you mentioned burnout and burnout is real.

We all experience it. Being able to take that time and, and recenter yourself is, is amazing advice. Thank you for sharing that. I can see where that's been help helpful to you. I don't know that you would have been able to grow your business like you have without taking that time.

You know, and I, I'm glad that I was able to get to the root of that because. Otherwise you'd have just been doing cleaning. You'd still be doing cleaning. If you didn't take that time to recenter, refocus, grow that vision and be able to think outside of the box, being creative, you know, give you the opportunity to give you access, to be able to move on those thoughts, to be able to take that action.

So I think that's super [00:38:00] powerful and wonderful advice. Thank you for sharing that.

Nicki: So, you know, you talk about, um, getting outside of your comfort zone and. Definitely had to do that many, many times. Um, and you know, that's just, that's, that's another thing that I'd tell people, like if they, you know, if they're really want to build and stuff like that, it's not going to be comfortable all the time.

It's really not, I mean, you're going to have to. Just talk about, you know, talk to people that you've never talked to and, you know network the heck out of everything in order to get to where, like, that's what I had to do. I mean, I did a lot of networking and I still do a lot of networking and none of this would be possible without taking that time for myself, but also without the people that came along the way.

Jeremy: Yeah, that's amazing. Is there any shout outs that you want? I know you've mentioned you've got some partners, but is there anybody you want to shout out at this point? Like you said, talking about those people along the way, right? Are there people that you just want other people to know about that, have helped you [00:39:00] along the way?

Nicki: Yeah, I don't know that people would know these people. but it's been a lot of different people. So as I've progressed, it could be, so it was, you know, some of my clients that my initial clients. It just believed in me and gave me a chance. Um, you know, just my residential cleaning client.

And so one of my friends who, actually brought me into sub two, and started connecting me with sub two students. a few years ago was, one of those people and she, she kind of lit the fire if you know what I mean.

Um, cause she was, she was out here just closing Airbnb arbitrage left and right and having me do the setup and, help her find, find properties to do that with and stuff like that. But that's really what inspired her name's Anna Carolina, Tanner. And so she is currently doing crazy good business.

If you guys are working on wrap deals or anything like that, that's what she's primarily focusing on and she is [00:40:00] crushing it. she introduced me to Jada Tholey, who is my partner with, the Airbnb management services on property management, actually. so the All Star program is our baby and, she has helped me tremendously with connecting, you know, with other investors and other property owners.

last year we did , 17 or 18, um, different properties. For staging and design for short term rental and so we were helping other people find arbitrage deals by actually reaching out to owners and getting them to say yes I'm doing str and so she connected me with a lot of those people , so Jada Tholey is a wonderful connector and if she can't do it, she knows somebody that can , but really just getting involved in the sub 2 community has been such an eye opener the community itself is wonderful.

The people that you will meet in this network, though, is Man, those are like gold nuggets everywhere. [00:41:00]

Jeremy: Yeah, that's, awesome. I'm glad that you, explained that there was several people along the way. Right. Yeah. Everybody from your clients to superstars that are helping you.

At the end of the day, if you want to be successful in real estate, you have to have people in your network.

Nicki: Oh yeah. And in your circle. I mean, my assistant keeps my entire life moving without, without her. And that would be definitely another person. Her name's Lynn and she's just, I think I mentioned her earlier before, but she really does just keep my entire life moving and all of the business.

She keeps me grounded. I definitely think in any kind of industry, you really need a battle buddy. And she is for sure my battle buddy.

Jeremy: That's awesome. So you have somebody that's on a daily basis that you're reaching out to, you're talking to, they're helping , keep you organized, call them an executive assistant or whatever you want to call them .

Your battle buddy, but that individual. So again,, having those partners in [00:42:00] your business, not only are you positively affecting them. Yeah. With, with all of these amazing things that you're doing, but they're positively affecting you back. Right. And I just want to go back to that again, that statement that you made earlier about what you put in, you're going to get back out, right?

What you put into the universe, the universe is going to give back. And so I think that's amazing that you're able to work with all of these amazing people, along the way. That have helped you with this, this empire that you've been able to build.

And it's not just you, because like I say, you've got partners on it. You've got people that you're working with. And so now your network is, is amazing. It's grown and it just goes to show the power over just a short amount of time. You talk about, a few years that you've, that you've done this how much more are you going to be able to build going forward?

How much more. Are you going to be able to grow this and more people that you're going to be able to positively affect it along the way. And so that's just super amazing, [00:43:00] right? It's just as it's amazing journey that you've had so far.

Nicki: So I'll speak to that plan of action, how far we're going to take this.

So I'm currently working on, obviously we're going to to build on our portfolios within real estate. That's, you know, Next steps very soon, you know, continuing to grow that, but , my love child of a product right now is to create the RECON network group. So it's real estate connection network group is what it stands for.

And, um, basically what I am building is. A nationwide group of people that can all be connected very easily. We all have access to literally everybody's number, everybody's contact information, what they're working on. Like it's all there. and that's what we're building is a network of people that are real estate professionals services.

So it's not just investors, it's not [00:44:00] just real estate agents, it's the cleaners, it's the contractors, it's the HVAC specialists, it's the title companies, it's everything you could possibly need in a real estate transaction and the people to support what you're doing in that space,

Jeremy: How are you building that empire,?

Or that connection that recon, what does that look like?

Nicki: We're starting here in DFW, so I've started hosting a networking event once a month. It is on the second Thursday of every month from six to nine at our office in Allen, Texas. And open to anybody.

We're marketing and all kinds of different groups, anytime that we have outside of DFW anytime that we have to set up a new Airbnb property for somebody, or we're, onboarding a new management client, we're making connections because like I said, we're doing those nationwide. So, for example, we just onboarded another property in San Antonio.

This last month. And [00:45:00] so we went down there. We met with new cleaners for that area. We met with the handyman. We met with, you know, all of the different support staff that goes into making that happen. And that worked proficiently. and so all of those people are now within our network. So that's what we're doing is like another .

Example is, um, we're working with a client right now who's purchasing a sub two property in Augusta, Georgia. I reached out to multiple contractors to get bids. All of those people are now within our network. and then the people that we're actually, you know, we're one on one working with, those are going to be highlighted.

So you're going to be able to see, hey, you know, someone within this group has experience with this person. And this is the result. And if you want references or anything like that, you can reach out to the person who they've worked with. So it's really just expanding it that way. So,

Jeremy: Not only are you building a network, but you're building a community of like minded individuals that are doing real estate investing that can help in the [00:46:00] different markets.

But then you're, building this contacts list, right? A phone book, if you will. And the. Network of being able to access who these people are, what they do, and you're growing that as well. So that's amazing. So if somebody wants to be part of this, how do they gain access to be part of this?

Nicki: Yeah. So we do have a website. It's going to be www dot recon R E C O N network group. com. There is, um, links to the forms, on the website. You can also check out the various people that we have highlighted. I will tell you my businesses are on there, so if you need any services from me, you can reach out to me there.

but you can also find it on Facebook. So we just started growing the Facebook group. we just started the page. you can find me on Facebook or Instagram, Nikki Hayek, it's N I C K I the last name is H A J E K, I promise, I'm the only one on there, easy to find, and [00:47:00] reach out to us anytime, and we can, you know, we can help connect that too, but the events that we're hosting are on the Website, as well as some other awesome sub to meetups.

Jeremy: That's awesome, Nikki. I think it's amazing that you have all of these different ways that people can work with you, work with your businesses, partner with you and partner with your partners. and you're building that network out again, as you mentioned, it's like, you're giving to the network, right?

You're giving to the universe. Is what you're giving, you're going to get in return. And I think that's such an amazing theme and everything that you've talked about and you're building out, you can see that that is like your core value. One of your highest core values is being able to.

To be able to give back to the community, to work with other people and, and be able to build this empire is amazing. Right, Nikki. I think this is so cool. And I I'd love to be able to work with you on some of this stuff. And, and anybody that's watching this, if you are a contractor, if you're an investor, if you want to [00:48:00] be joining Nikki's team.

Go be part of this, the recon networking website, I'll make sure to put all of the links and everything down in the show notes so that everybody can reach out to you and talk with you. I think this, this has been such an amazing conversation, Nikki, and I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today as we wrap up, is there.

Anything that we, that we didn't get to cover that you want to want to cover real quick?

Nicki: That's really the biggest piece of the puzzle right now.

It's just really growing that network Just free it like you said, I'm being able to pour value into something and being able to connect other people I mean, it's all about a firm believer on this not so much what you know is who you know, Because you can learn so much from other people you start surrounding yourself with People that are where you want to be, you're going to be able to bring so much value to the people who aren't quite where you are yet.

And you're going to be able to get so much value from the people that are already where you want to be. [00:49:00] So, just really reach out and start connecting with people, get out there. Get out of your comfort zone. If you are scared to go to a networking event, go anyways, and just believe in yourself. I mean, that's the biggest component is life is tough.

life is going to throw you some really, really hard obstacles and. You're going to feel like you want to give up and don't give up. In five years from now, you're going to look back and you're going to say, I made it, I did it and I'm here. And if I would have given up, I wouldn't be here.

Jeremy:

Yeah. That's, that's so amazing. If you look back along your story, I just want to highlight this as we close up, but your story has been. One of adversity, finding answers, moving forward, adversity, moving forward, finding those solutions, finding those answers, finding the right people that's there.

Right. And just never giving up finding those creative solutions and moving forward, you know, just keep moving [00:50:00] forward. And I think that's such an amazing. Mantra that we can have, especially in real estate is don't give up, find a solution and move forward. You know, you're a prime example of somebody that's had a world of adversity thrown at her, but you've been able to just move past that, move through that, find the solutions, use your why use that adversity as your strength and just move forward.

And, with that, I just want to, thank you so much for your time today. I know people are going to get a ton of value out of your story and I'm so excited to be able to help share that story. So Nikki, thank you so much for joining me today.

Nicki: So much for having me, you know, I really appreciate just the opportunity to share. And I hope that this does reach out somebody in. Inspire somebody. Cause that's, that's all I can do.

Jeremy: Awesome. Thank you so much. .

Nicki: All right. Bye.