442. The Only Woman in the Room – The Inspiring Story of InvestHer

Nikki Miller:

Hey, everyone. And welcome back to The ONE Thing podcast. I'm Nikki Miller.

Chris Dixon:

And I'm Chris Dixon.

Nikki Miller:

And today, we have the pleasure of talking with Liz Faircloth, who is a very successful investor overseas and has thousands of units within her portfolio and is also the co-founder of real estate investor, which has free classes and a podcast and events and is really focused around empowering women in the investment space, empowering people in the investment space and especially women.

And this was a really cool conversation, Chris, I think about. We get to talk to a lot of really successful business owners and the ones that are the most exciting conversations for me are people who are just really purpose driven, who found why they were put here or why they walk this earth, how they want to impact and then go and create opportunity around it. And I think Liz is just a beautiful example of that.

Chris Dixon:

Agreed. I appreciated how she shared some parallels between how she's found success in our system in and around The ONE Thing of both establishing a plan and a goal, but then having a way to kind of revisit, adapt, and adjust that plan over time that I think it's cool to see how she's found that success in that framework in her own way.

Nikki Miller:

And also to hear her evolution. I think sometimes when we meet people like this who have thousands of units or oversee these huge businesses or portfolios, we can feel like they woke up one day and this all happened or they went a day in school that one of us missed or they know something we don't. And I really appreciated her walking us through the evolution of how she's been able to do that and how every stage has looked a little bit different. And she certainly didn't learn it all at once and didn't do it all at once.

Chris Dixon:

Yeah. It's cool to see how the achievement, the evidence of her achieving her goals starts to show up and she shared about her event and how she had someone coming to her event that didn't even know who she was because part of her goal was to build this community and that community was starting to become like self-perpetuating. And so I think it's cool how she shared where evidence can be found that you are on the path to achieve your goals.

Nikki Miller:

Let's go listen to Liz Faircloth:

Welcome, Liz Faircloth. We are so excited to have you today. Liz is the co-founder of the Real Estate Empire Investor and Community, a platform to empower women to live a financially free and balanced life on their own terms. She also co-founded the DeRosa Group in 2005 with her husband, Matt. And the DeRosa group based in Trenton, New Jersey, she has raised tens of millions of dollars, works with hundreds of passive investors and controls thousands of residential and commercial assets through the East coast.

She's the co-host of The Real Estate Investor Show and coauthor of the Amazon bestseller, The Only Woman in The Room, Knowledge and Inspiration for 20 Successful Real Estate Women Investors. Welcome, Liz. We're so excited to have you.

Liz Faircloth:

Thank you for having me, Nikki and Chris. Appreciate it.

Chris Dixon:

Yeah.

Nikki Miller:

Well, I left off what is the thing that we could probably nerd out about the most, which is that you're also a mama to two kiddos and you're also an avid runner and triathlete. So you are in the right place today. This was the right podcast for you.

Liz Faircloth:

Yes. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. Well, I haven't done a race in a while, but I will get back to it.

Nikki Miller:

That's all right. Once a triathlete, always a triathlete.

Liz Faircloth:

That's right. That's right. I like that.

Chris Dixon:

I feel like we can't neglect to mention the quality of the sign she's got that maybe listeners can't see, but pretty impressive.

Liz Faircloth:

Oh, yeah. Right behind me? You like that?

Nikki Miller:

Yeah. We're going to have to encourage them to go to our YouTube and watch. They can see this cool sign behind you. Liz, it's interesting because before I jump into the things that we actually want to talk to you about today, I find this really common thread. I mean, Chris and I are lucky, we've got the coolest job ever. We just get to interview a lot of really incredible successful people. And there's a real common thread. Chris and I talk about this all the time. There is no shortage of very accomplished businesspeople that get on the show that are also ultra marathoners, marathoners, triathletes. What do you think that connection is? It's very clear to us.

Liz Faircloth:

It's funny because I always liked I was an athlete. I love moving my body. Didn't matter what the sport was. I think for me, what I really gravitate towards and probably for others is that it like re-engages you with goal setting. It's a very defined, I mean, it's a little different than starting a business, right, because it's not just like do these five things and you'll make a million dollars, right? It's not that simple. However, I think it changed your mindset, your way of being to be like, okay, I want to accomplish this goal. Let me work backwards in accomplishing that goal. And then you set out to make it happen.

So I think that's always really been something that I've enjoyed. And I really love that, like re-engaging, like falling in love again with goal setting, if you will. That's what it does for me. Plus, it's like my mental therapy I mean, honestly. It's my, as my husband calls it, my sweat therapy.

Nikki Miller:

I love that.

Chris Dixon:

Yeah, I agree. I think that's been my experience too. It’s that reflection time you get when you're exercising, like scratches that goal setting itch and you feel like you've achieved something. Also just like the mental state you tend to be in when you get that kind of physical exertion. I feel like it takes the edge off a little bit.

Liz Faircloth:

Absolutely.

Nikki Miller:

I also think, I mean, Liz, I don't know about you, but the way I see it, you said earlier that it's different than building a business. But at the same time, it's sort of not. I mean, in practical application, of course, running a marathon is different than building a business. But what I see when you're training for anything that's challenging like that, whether for you it's a 5k or marathon or an ultramarathon, doesn't matter, I always say business is just a roller coaster and so is that experience.

And I find that if you can lean into that roller coaster, like there are parts when you're doing a really long race where you are going to feel like everything is coming together, you're totally in rhythm, you're feeling like everything is working the way that it should be. All the training has led you to this moment. And then a mile later, you can feel like you're one step away from dying and you've got to learn how to be able to push through.

And to me as an entrepreneur, this is a lot like that. Like you are going to have great days where everything seems to be working in your favor and everything's working in rhythm. And then you're going to have days where you look up and say, why am I doing this to myself? And I think that they're very synonymous in that way.

Liz Faircloth:

Totally. I find often that it gives you this, like, escape as well, to be honest, for me. And it allows me to like -- actually, I get my creativity there. I get ideas as I'm running, as I'm moving my body and ways that don't happen if I'm sitting at my desk. So definitely, I think it adds to my creativity too.

Nikki Miller:

Well, it's probably one of the only ways when you have such a big life and a family and all these things that you actually get quiet time and it's probably the allure tour. It's like the only time you're not checking email or you're fully accessible to people.

Liz Faircloth:

Yeah.

Nikki Miller:

Well, I'd love to hear sort of the journey, because I think when people look at someone like you, you've raised millions of dollars, you've got thousands of units that you oversee, and I bet that there's someone who's listening to this podcast right now who has one unit or wants to get their first unit, or maybe even wants to just buy their first home. And they might look at someone like you and say, that's impossible for me, or that feels really out of reach. And so I'd love to hear your journey because you and I had the privilege to get to meet before this and chat a little bit, and you didn't start here. This was not overnight. And I'd love for you to sort of take us through that story.

Liz Faircloth:

Yeah, absolutely. So I actually got my degree. I got my master’s degree in social work, wanted to really be a therapist and help people. And during that time, my brother-in-law had to be Rich Dad, Poor Dad, little purple book and said, you need to read this. So I did, and it kind of forever changed my whole trajectory of what I wanted out of life. I never heard of passive income. I never heard of like so many different concepts in that book. And I was like, wow, I can buy real estate and it actually is an asset. And just the whole, all the concepts were really new to me as a 20 something year old. When I got there, I was 22.

And so I took a step towards getting a sales position because in the book, it says, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you really need to learn how to sell. So I kind of abandoned my trajectory of being a therapist and decided to get a job in sales. But the job in sales was actually consulting teams and companies on how to best work together. So it actually married my social work interests with business. So it's actually a really neat kind of next step for me. And I ended up doing that for about a decade, management consulting.

During the same time, as I got this like job underway, I met my now husband, and we started the path towards investing. And so we bought our first duplex in 2004. We were dating. We weren't even married, which I don't know if I suggest to anyone, but it was like, oh, okay, this is an intense, we’re going to buy a house together. So we really bought an investment --

Nikki Miller:

Basically, like getting married.

Liz Faircloth:

Like getting married. We were about to be married, but still it was a leap of faith. My father loaned us the money about $30,000 to buy the property and to renovate it. It was a duplex outside of Philadelphia, a small little row home. And that got our start in investing. We didn't know much. We took a lot of courses and figured it out and took the step towards investing. And that really led us to building a business around rental properties and multifamily in particular.

But it didn't just linear hap, like it wasn't a linear jump. I wouldn't say we were in our twenties. We were learning, we were making mistakes, then the market crashed. So we had to learn a lot and we did, but it was -- God, I wish I read The ONE Thing back then, we would have gotten focused much sooner. But it also added to our path and it also added to our experiences so.

Chris Dixon:

We might not have been receptive to The ONE Thing back then, right? There's also timing in life when you can recognize those things. I think about that for myself too. I'm like, man, I wish I would have been influenced by some of these things at a younger age, but then you just --

Liz Faircloth:

And then you're like, hold on.

Chris Dixon:

You question whether or not you would have even been open to or seen the value.

Liz Faircloth:

True. That is very true. So I'm grateful for the journey, but you also think back, okay, what would have been different had I gotten more focused, right? Because we were involved in flips, we had a rental prop, we had rentals. We bought land. I mean, we really were, when I say a little bit all over the place, we were. And then we really zoned in on, okay, what can we really double down on where are we having success?

And I remember the conversation we had, and we said, it’s great we're buying small multis, renovating them with others. Let's do more of that. And that really then fast forward trajectory of from small multi to larger, but it's the same process, right, buying undervalued properties, renovating them and adding the value and then stabilizing them. Same thing, whether it's a 2 unit or 100 unit.

Nikki Miller:

You mentioned different product types you were looking at, though. And I find, as someone who invests myself, I find that's a big mistake a lot of people make early on that they think real estate investing is one in the same across the board. And being a land investor is an entirely different due diligence process and investment process than flipping, which is a totally different process than buying and holding. And I'd love for you to look backwards and tell us some of the biggest mistakes that you see, or that you could go back and tell your younger self, don't do this or do this differently, and is that one of them?

Liz Faircloth:

I would definitely say focus was one of them. I would say too not hiring help soon enough, really trying to do it all ourselves. Now, sometimes that was a financial decision, right? But I think people can buy two hours of time a week, right? I mean, like if we were -- we're not talking about hiring a 10 person staff and I think that's what people think about. I think, I wish we had brought more people on sooner and gotten more help sooner and figured it out financially, which would have propelled us much sooner, hands down. I was putting furniture together. I was cleaning apartments. We were like doing everything.

Now, we had property management help and we started to outsource some of that, especially –

Nikki Miller:

But that’s after the fact, right?

Liz Faircloth:

It’s after the fact. Yeah. And so I think that would have been one thing. I think I really wish we were better at like managing the money side and obviously in real estate investing, that is incredibly important. Right. So many people get excited about buying the property and getting the deal. And really the success with investing is actually the managing of the property. It's the stabilizing of the property. It's the optimizing the property, in my opinion. That's where you're going to make or lose your money often. I mean, obviously you have to buy, right? But if you buy right and then don't manage it right, it's going to be a loss.

So, I think we learn to do that more efficiently with systems and processes but I don't think we started out that way, where we'd be like, okay, should we, is this property making money? Is it losing money? Should we reinvest?

Nikki Miller:

Do we know?

Liz Faircloth:

Do we even know? Do we want to know? And I think, we often do things because we've always done them, not because it's actually the best use of our time or it's actually yielding us the result we want. And so I wish I had gotten that sooner because I think we would have offloaded certain properties sooner. We would have made different choices sooner and that's okay. It's all part of the process. But because you've been doing it and you've had a property for as long as you have, doesn't mean it's something you should continue. We need to continually be very, I think, vigilant, like what's working, what's not working, even in our portfolios and even with our energy. So those conversations just we didn't have as often as we do now.

Chris Dixon:

We talk about this a lot with a goal setting system and the importance of not only like doing the clarity work to set the plan, but then how frequently you revisit the plan to check, adjust, make changes. Sounds like there's a parallel here with the way that you've approached your investment portfolio, your properties and saying, hey, don't just buy the right property and the criteria and the terms, et cetera, to make cashflow or profitable or whatever your strategy is. But how do you revisit this management process over time to stay connected to catch things as they're happening before it's too late, et cetera? Can you share a little bit more about how that works for you?

Liz Faircloth:

Meaning like what the -- repeat that last.

Chris Dixon:

Yeah. Like what your system is of not just setting a plan but revisiting it over time.

Liz Faircloth:

Yeah. I think for me and my husband, we were more reactive than proactive when we started. And I think as you get a little smarter in business, it’s really about the proactivity. I mean, there's things that happen that you're not like, whoa, I didn't know that that was going to happen. Of course, that's just life. But I do think the kind of like the -- Stephen Covey said it. I mean, I love his book in the nineties, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It's an oldie, but a goodie. And in one of them is really being the four quadrants, right, and really focusing on the important non urgent things. So --

Chris Dixon:

The Eisenhower Matrix?

Liz Faircloth?

Yeah. They all probably came from the same thinking of that. Are we focused on important things and are we focused on important, not urgent things that are really going to propel us forward? Those are the harder ones for people to spend time doing. I think planning and meeting and having the conversations of like, continue, start and stop, what's working, what's not working is an important and non-urgent meeting. It's not urgent from the perspective of we got to, like, put a fire out, right?

So for me and my husband, especially because I think it does begin at the home and then your businesses should support your lifestyle that we're diligent to have monthly meetings together. We have a date night goal. We have quarterly getaways that we have with each other. So we're both growing in our relationship and growing our businesses and our finances.

I don't think we were as diligent -- I mean, we've been married almost 18 years, right? So I wouldn't say all 18 years have looked that way. But I think as we've gotten older and like a little smarter, hopefully that we're like, we just met today and really course corrected a few things, put a couple of quarterly goals on the plate of like, we really want to buy a business outside of real estate. Okay. So what are some next steps that we can take to move us towards that? Right.

We always wanted to do that kind of stuff, but making the time, committing the time and then actually doing it. And we both have other businesses that we can be -- I mean, we both have a lot of different things we can be doing. So I think those big rocks, as they say, are key. And I think it does -- I think it starts in your relationship. I think it starts with your -- and even if you're not in relationship, it starts with your like personal and then any business, real estate or project should support you and your lifestyle ultimately. That's the way it should work. Doesn't always work that way.

Nikki Miller:

I'd love to hear how over time, Liz, I think that my perspective on business is that it takes the same amount of energy and focus to run a small business as it does to run a big one. In the end, it's really just your ability to scale. And I love to know how that evolved for you over time, because you started with this one duplex, and now you're managing thousands of units. And I'd love to hear like what you learned on the way to scaling this huge portfolio.

Liz Faircloth:

Sure. So for us, look, at the time we were, like I said, involved in a few different asset classes and we were managing everything. So we had a rule, we would only manage, we'd only buy properties we can within 30 minutes of a radius. And so that worked for a while. And then we started to get a little outpriced, if you will. So we knew we wanted to scale our multifamily. We just didn't think or really considered it. We didn't really want to do it local, if that makes sense. We just, 30-minute radius was no longer an option in the New Jersey area due to taxes, due to a lot of different reasons.

So then we said, okay, we want to scale, but, and this is the asset class we want to scale in, like small to midsize multis, where else can we look? So we started to expand the market, which I know a lot of people consider, and we got presented with a deal project that was about 50 units, about an hour and a half from our house. So that was a really pivotal moment for us where we said, okay, we can send our team because we were self-managing. We're like, we can send our team, but that's a very big deal to send a team or build it. You could build a team that can locally manage that. But we decided with that property, it was the first one that we decided to hire a third-party manager. And that was a really big shift from a like to scale.

It's fascinating because now we brought all of our units back into us managing it. We built a team of 40 people to manage all of our assets. That was like a full circle kind of experience though, because at first we're like, we need to outsource this so that we can grow, and it did allow us to grow significantly. Because quite honestly, most of our time was property managing and that's a lot. It's a lot of energy. It's a lot of time. We all know that. It's like the Achilles heel for investors.

So that was a pivotal moment for us. And then that really expanded our thinking where else can we invest? And then we started to invest that was much further like the Southeast. So it was really letting go of things we were doing, outsourcing certain things. We also brought in a partner who could really underwrite the properties really well in a way that we couldn't for like a 200 unit.

So we started to say, like, what are the gaps in our team? What's the gaps that we have? And if we really want to buy larger multifamily and scale, what does that need to look like? We also shifted our fundraising. We were filing with the SEC. We had syndications, but this is more like pre-existing relationships so non-accredited investors at the time. And then we shifted as we got into larger assets to doing only accredited investors.

So again, it was a scale moment where we can solicit, we can market it, you can't market if it's preexisting and all the rules that go along with that. So we shifted certain things in order to buy and get into larger property, both from a team process and just like marketing perspective, but it wasn't one thing. It was like probably multiple things over time. But that shift to a new market really expanded us in a way that really worked.

Nikki Miller:

What I love about that evolution though, Liz, and what I think is really important for people to hear, is I think so often we look up at these really big goals we have. And I always sort of synonymize it with like, I'm standing at the bottom of Everest, looking at the top, figuring out how do I get there? And I'm trying to bridge the gap between where I am and the top of that huge mountain. And it's one step at a time.

And what I love about what I heard from you just now was we didn't always know how to do this. And there was a period where we didn't know how or want to, so we hired someone else. And I think sometimes when people are building business, there can be an aversion to that or like shame around it that I don't want to hand this off. I don't want to admit that I don't know how to do it. And there's nothing wrong with hiring someone to take care of that thing, maybe forever, or maybe until you have the bandwidth to take it back or build your own team around it. And I think that's a really important part of growing and scaling and learning as you build.

Liz Faircloth:

Yeah. No, absolutely. And I don't think it's a process in the sense of like, it's like a one and done. It's like this evolving process and you have to continually say, and it has a lot to do with like, what are you great at? Like, what's that one thing that you're great at? What's that one thing that you're exceptional at, I should say? Not even great at because we're great at a lot of things. I think it's that, like, why are you on the payroll?

And so that really, we really started to own like raising money, putting the deal together, finding the partners. That was what we were great at and so many other things we weren't great at. So I think that's also part of the scaling process. I don't think you can scale when you're good at a lot of things. That’s just not going to work.

Nikki Miller:

I want to take us back to something that you said earlier when you got that purple book for the first time, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and you said, you'd never really heard of passive income at that point. And you and I got a chance to talk about this. And I think for women, especially, but for a lot of young people, males, females, everybody, right, they're just not exposed to this conversation. Like, if you don't have people around you who are really intentionally talking about this with you, it's something that you find out much later.

And if anyone listening is anything like me, and I know you are, so we got to talk about it already, it's like why didn't anyone tell me this? Why hasn't anybody taught me this? This seems really important. This seems sort of like the keys to success. And so then we end up having to learn about it later. And I'd love to hear your evolution and taking this knowledge and then starting to build out InvestHer, because I know that was a big part of why you started it, to expose people to this knowledge and also give community. Can you talk about how that idea came to fruition and what the heart was behind it?

Liz Faircloth:

Yeah. I had nothing to do. I was sitting around one day. Now, that never happens.

Nikki miller:

Nothing else on your plate.

Liz Faircloth:

Yeah. Right. So, it's funny. I decided to leave my corporate work. And it was 2013 and I had my son, our first kiddo who's 10 now. And I said, I'm going to leave my corporate work. At that point, we were really building up our passive income and our business, so I could leave. And then we said, okay, great, at this time, I'm going to leave that, and I'm going to join my husband full time and take care of my little guy.

And what was interesting is, like, during 2013, 2014, 2015, I feel like I lost a lot of myself. Like, I was doing that, but there was a passion that was missing for me. I always gravitated towards supporting women, especially in the corporate work I was doing. I started, during -- when I was at grad school, I started a business plan. I wrote a business plan that was actually supporting women who had substance abuse.

And so that was like my business plan that I created when I took one class at Wharton while I was at Penn, I was in social work school, but I took one class, a business class, and that was my thesis, right? I wanted to create a community building location center for women. That's what I did when I wrote this business plan, I was 22. So full circle, right? That was always something that was in my heart to do and supporting women on some level.

And then, here I am building this business with my husband and quite honestly feeling really lost, feeling really depleted, feeling lack of purpose. And that really frustrated me because I really love to be passionate about what I'm doing. I can't just do things. I love real estate, but it was like a little bit of the passion and the purpose was a little bit missing for me.

And so at the same time, I met my now partner and business partner, Andressa. And we became good friends around the same time. And then we started a group of women mastermind before InvestHer. And then we said, what if we did something and we go to conferences, we partnered on deals and we go to all these conferences and talk to all these people. And it was always like, we felt like we were the only women investing. And now we know that's not true, but we just felt that way. And we said, we got to highlight women more and create this opportunity for them to get the support they need. You talk to neighbors, you talk to family members. Always seem like women just weren't on the forefront of investing.

And so we started a podcast together in 2018 and said, let's just highlight women's stories on this podcast. Didn't know if anyone was going to listen to it so, six years later, 400 episodes later, we even were told that we'd run out of women to interview. I was told that by someone, I said, I don't think I will. He's like, no, you're going to run out. There's not that many women that invest.

So I proved him wrong. We have plenty of women to invest -- to interview, excuse me. And that led us to, we're published now by Bigger Pockets Network, which is really cool, but that led us doing meetups around the country. So we have 50 plus meetups where women are coming together and supporting each other. And then we have a free Facebook community and that led us doing a mentorship program. And then we have our conference. So we've led to all these different like ecosystem.

But ultimately our mission and what we believe is that every woman has a birthright for financial freedom on her own and on her own terms too. And some women, it's life or death. Some women, they aren't able to leave a relationship until they get this financial stability and then independence. Women outperform men, statistically, women are also not investing as much as men. And that's why we exist to shift the investment decisions, which shifts then the trajectory of wealth being in the hands of more and more women.

So I love men, Chris, of course. And I think women, men work phenomenally together, but there's something really beautiful when you bring a group of women together, they feel like they see themselves in other people, just like men do. And it's really important for women. And that's why our conference, only women speak. And that's why we hold such a power in that community building for women, because they make it happen when they get that like camaraderie going.

We see that with so many different examples from Barbie to last summer when Wall Street Journal came out with an article, Women Own the Economy This Summer. It's because they went everywhere like groups of women, from Barbie to Beyonce to Taylor Swift. That's because women do things together. So we're just creating that, not the -- we don't have Taylor Swift coming, but we're creating that energy in the investment space. And that's really what it's about. Not just investing in a deal together but supporting each other. Who are you using? Who am I using? What do you know about this deal?

And how do I make this happen with the interest rates and all the stuff that comes up?

Chris Dixon:

With the objection that you got about the podcast and running out of interviewees that are female investors, did you, I'm sure a byproduct of having this podcast in your business is that you are creating net new female investors, but did you have a full circle moment where you ended up having someone on your podcast that was inspired by, or driven by your business that you could see evidence of that?

Liz Faircloth:

Yeah, meaning like they are plugged into the community and then they had some sort of success story?

Chris Dixon:

Yeah, yeah. Because like the objection was you're going to run out and you're like, well, actually we're producing more by even existing so there you go.

Liz Faircloth:

Yeah. I do believe that the pendulum has shifted a little bit. I actually went to the Bigger Pockets conference this past year. I speak at it every year and it's 50-50. It's a lot of women. And I can't say it's all because of us, right, but we're contributing to that which is really great. But yeah, we've interviewed women who were like because of your podcast, I bought that first property, I bought my second one, and the meetups and the success stories.

Even our mentorship program is where women really are like, I use you guys when I make an offer on a property and then when I like -- because it's like you're tapping into this, more of a community and a support network versus having to make it all like on your own. And then we don't do anything because we don't feel like we know enough or it can be enough, which is not true.

Nikki Miller:

I think what you said earlier, Liz, is really important. And you mentioned that part of the value in this community is that you're sharing resources. This is who I use to finance, or this is who I use for repairs, or this is my property manager. And I find that this is one of the biggest gaps that people who are getting started in any type of smaller community, that this is probably one of the biggest barriers to entry that they just don't have anyone around them saying, hey, this is my person for this, or this is my person for this, or do this.

And I think that's one of the biggest values in finding a community, whether, whether that community looks like you or not in finding community is that you get to shorten your runway to figuring out the thing, whatever the thing is you're trying to figure out because people will help you along the way. There's someone before you who has done this and can make that path a little bit easier.

Liz Faircloth:

Make it a little easier and make it a little more non-overwhelming because I think that's also what happens is that so many women, especially women get overwhelmed because quite honestly, there's so much information out there. Yeah. There is so much that it actually stifles people. Yeah. And so it's like, do I buy now? Do I not buy now? Do I refinance now? Do I not refinance now? Interest rates going up or they're not going up. Like there's just so many different kind of conversations happening, especially in the real estate. It makes people not do anything pretty much.

And so that's what we want to avoid is the non-doing something, right? It's the making the decision, taking the action, moving the needle is what it's about versus like having all the answers. No. No one has all the answers.

Nikki Miller:

And if they profess to you, you should probably run the other direction.

Lis Faircloth:

Exactly.

Nikki Miller:

One of the very first steps that you're going to take when you start building that business, brand, or big dream that you have is going to be creating a website so other people can find you. But if you're anything like me, when I was in the early stages of building my business, I couldn't afford to hire a web developer and I certainly did not feel tech savvy enough to do it myself.

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Nikki Miller:

All of this is accumulated into an annual event now that you do. There's so many real estate conferences out there and you have a real estate investor conference. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Liz Faircloth:

Yeah. Our conference is going to be in Austin, Texas this year, June 2nd to 4th. And this is the third year. We have 500 women coming. It's going to be about 30 companies that come. It is nothing like a transactional or traditional conference. It feels like this transformational retreat with 500 people. And that's what it feels like. It's over two days.

I think what really makes our conference special is that like, it's all about mindfully networking and women are doing like talking about deals at the hot tub to the bathroom, and like, women are just so excited about being there. So very curated group of people, not like, I have nothing else to do, I want to hang out in Austin. I mean, yes, women get away, but it takes a lot for women to get away to spend the money, to spend the time. This is not cheap to come. It's an investment of yourself.

So we literally make every moment of this conference count for women, and the sponsors because they're there to support. Women are just, they feel so upleveled when they get there because it's not just listening to a speaker, but it's about the connections they're making throughout. And we have very focused breaks, mindful networking, exercises for them to do, not just listening to a bunch of people. Although the speaker is going to be amazing.

We have Kim Kiyosaki coming back this year. We have a couple bestselling authors coming to speak. So really about real estate in that real estate business and self-care and our theme this year is all in. So it's all about helping women create more confidence internally so they can make that next investment decision and not wait.

Nikki Miller:

And is it all levels? Like, is it women -- can women go if they've never started? If they, excuse me, haven't started investing up to people who might be like yourself, who are managing thousands of units?

Liz Faircloth:

I think we have -- we tend to attract, like our mentorship program is like women who've done 5 to 10 deals. So we do have quite a number of women who have done properties, I'm sorry, have done deals, made things happen for themselves. I think the women that come that are complete newbies, and we do have those women, they tend to know, they tend to be -- they didn't know what they want. So they want to buy that.

They tend to know what they want, meaning they're going to invest this money. They know there's a few questions they have, but they're like more serious, if that makes sense. They're more ready to go, if you will. And they're just trying to put some pieces of the puzzle together versus like they just woke up and they had nothing to do on June 2nd. That's usually not the women that come. These are a little more serious.

They're, again, it's like, think about how much it takes for a woman to get away for two and a half days, especially if they're in the -- and I don't mean to be stereotypical, but a lot of women still are at the helm of their household. They're still the ones leading the kids and this and that. And I do -- my husband and I do a lot. He does, I don't do it all, but I am more probably like 60 percent. He's probably 40 percent.

And so when I go away, I'm even going away this weekend, I'm starting to make a list now to set him up for success because I know everything that needs to happen. It's a lot of mental load, right? So we know a lot it takes, and we know a lot that women get to take, get to get away. So it's like we make every moment count for them in there. So when they leave, they're like, wow, I just got 10 times the value and the investment that I need because that one person or that one deal or that one new market I'm going to invest in, we take it seriously for women. We don't want to waste their time.

Nikki Miller:

I love that. Whenever someone has a really purpose driven or mission driven company like this, and I know you have very, very business oriented companies as well that produce quite a bit of cashflow, but this one seems like it's your heart and really purpose and mission driven. And I always love to hear that when someone has something like that, what's that like standout story? Is there one that you think of where you're like, this is why I did this. I'm sure you have a bunch, but is there one you can share with us that is just exemplary of why this community exists?

Liz Faircloth:

There was a woman at a meetup. So we have meetups and I went to speak at one of our local meetups. And everyone, and what was special about our meetups, right, is that it's not like people come and go and they don't even know they came in. Like you know, you go to networking events. It's like, you just talk to people and you leave, and no one even cared you were there.

This is much more inclusive, right? And in a sense of like, women are like almost like sitting in a circle, right? They're connected. They're here to give and get. And we were all getting up and introducing ourselves and this woman that got up and said, I'm so grateful to be here. I just got a divorce, and my husband told me for over five years that I should never invest, I'd be a horrible investor. I don't believe him. And I feel like this is the first step towards me finally taking financial control for myself.

And I was just like, we all just like start crying. Just the way she said it, is just very meaningful. Like, wow. Like, this is what I'm doing. I don't want to say what I'm doing, I think --

Nikki Miller:

It's okay to say you're doing it. You’re leading a movement.

Liz Faircloth:

I'm leading this organization, I'm leading a movement, but it's not me because she's not there for me is what I'm trying to say, and I love that. I love that she had enough courage to say that and then to take the step. And I think that's what we're creating is the space. And then women are just so amazing because they then take the next step they need to.

At our conference last year, I'll just tell you a quick story that I am sitting there and we meet on dress or chatting and talking about a session.

And there's a woman that came up to me and said, are you guys excited about the conference? We're like, yeah, we're excited about the conference. She's like, yeah, I'm really just start going off on how she's excited by the conference.

And she's like, my name's Mary. What's your name? I'm like, oh, I'm Liz and this is Andressa. She goes, oh, you're Liz and Andressa, that's cool. It was almost like she didn't even know who we were, but she came to the conference. I was like, that is awesome. I love that. Because for me not to get even noticed at a conference that I'm hosting means that she came here for something much more than a person.

Nikki Miller:

The community.

Liz Faircloth:

And I just love that. I was like, I love that. I love that you didn't even know who I was. So I think that's what we're up to is creating that space, and it's not about a person, it's not about a thing. It's about a movement and an energy. And so that's exciting. That was really, I actually really love that.

Nikki Miller:

Well, I think that also allows you to sustain. I think a lot of communities will build around a person. And the problem with that is that the community ceases to exist if that person literally wants to do anything else. Like if they leave the business or the community or the movement, whatever it is, then it no longer exists. And to me, that's not something that's really got traction at all.

Liz Faircloth:

Correct. And it's more of like a --

Nikki Miller:

Not that they don't need you, Liz. Don't leave. That's not what I'm saying.

Liz Faircloth:

No, I'm not. No, not yet value. I know that, but it's not about me. And I really appreciate that thinking and that process. So, but yeah, I just like, I love that. It was so cool. You came across the country and you didn’t know who I was. That's awesome.

Nikki Miller:

Liz, at the end of this podcast, we always want to know what's the one thing, for those that are listening, what's the one thing that you would want them to take away from this conversation?

Liz Faircloth:

I'd say the one thing, and I didn't say this yet, but I would say create space to just have some quiet time. I think we know the answers of what we need to do. I really do believe that people internally know what they need to do. They have the clarity, they have the focus, they just don't create space and the headspace and the time to get honest with themselves. I really believe that.

And I think people are staying busy and busy, busy, busy, busy, because they just don't want to, like, face the truth and get really clear. Like, what do I really want? Like, asking yourself, like, some tough questions, what's working, what's not working on a weekly basis. Having a date with yourself, even if it's 30 minutes a week can really help you get focused, can really help you get honest, and can really help you propel you where you want to be. That's the work that people I think, I believe that people need to do. Don't just set bigger goals and just stay busy because that's what average people are doing.

And I don't think anyone listening to your podcast wants to be average. We want a bigger life. That's why you're listening to this podcast. So you need to spend time with yourself and getting honest to have a bigger life. So that's what I would say that one thing that I would add.

Nikki Miller:

Love that. And if people want to connect with you, where can they find you?

Liz Faircloth:

Sure. I would say you can, definitely I would love for those to go to the realestateinvesther.com. And on there, you'll see a little button for free events. Get connected to our free events. We do two a month. Men, women, everyone is welcome to those free events. And then you can learn more about our Facebook community and certainly our InvestHer Con coming up June 2nd to 4th. But yeah, get connected to those free events. Those are free. Those are meant to really move the needle for your investing business.

Nikki Miller:

And I just want to asterisk those free events because there's also great information on how to invest in a breadth of different type of investments.

And I know you're doing one coming up on, like, mobile home parks or whether it's multifamily you want to invest in or single family or flipping. There's just a breadth of knowledge on there. So I'm going to shout you out and encourage people to go check it out.

Liz Faircloth:

I'd love that. Thank you.

Nikki Miller:

Thank you so much for being here, Liz. It's an absolute pleasure.

Chris Dixon:

Thank you, Liz.

Liz Faircloth:

Yes. Thank you, Nikki. Thank you, Chris. I appreciate it so much. And thank you for having me.

Nikki Miller:

We’ll see everybody next time.

Outro:

Thanks for listening to The ONE Thing podcast. If you're a bold risk taker who wants to dream big and achieve a higher level of success in your life or business, visit the1thing.com. There, you'll find information on one-on-one coaching, our exclusive community membership program, and customized workshops that will help you get your team or organization aligned and rowing in the same direction.

That's T-H-E, the number 1.com to start living the life you've always dreamed of today. Be sure to follow the show to stay up to date on weekly episodes, guest interviews, and more. Plus, we would love to hear from you. Send us a voice note by going to speakpipe.com/the1thing or email us at podcast@the1thing.com. We'll see you next week.