Ryan has been in the real estate industry since 2010 and is also a YouTuber and the host of the podcast “The Ryan Pineda Show”. He joins Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios at the Wynn Las Vegas to talk about how to build your side hustle, what it takes to flip your first house, how he built his social media following from 0 to 900k in 18 months, why now is the right time to invest in real estate and much more!
On where it all started:
“I always knew that content was important, and I have always been active on Instagram. I post stories and try and do some cool little videos here and there, but it was a hobby. When COVID hit, I was like, ok where is the world going here? What can I do to do something with my time? I thought that TikTok and YouTube, they are only going to get bigger, this is where the world is going. It ended up being the right bet, for me it was the ebay thing that ever happened. I got to sit down and look at the world for what it was and I’m like, the world is going digital. Now I am all in on the digital side. Because if you win where, whatever you have physically, will win too.”
Growing the brand:
“So my plan was to put out two YouTube videos a week and one TikTok a day, and let’s see what happens. Sure enough, we started getting traction, so I doubled down. I ended up doing a YouTube video every day, which is not easy. Then I started doing TikToks, that starts taking off. So what would be the optimal amount of content if there was no restriction of time or money? If I can do the optimal that fits my time and my schedule, I think we can get the best results, and I think I have finally figured that out. I’ve tried YouTube from two videos a week to one a day. We currently do 5 videos a week, and that is the sweet spot.”
The power of hiring:
“One of the big things in business I learned early was that there were a lot of things that I didn’t want to do. When I started flipping houses, I never once fixed a house on my own. A lot of people tell me ‘You Should do it yourself, get your feet wet and know what you are doing…’ No, I’m not swinging a hammer, that ain’t me. So I always hired. I did this while I was playing baseball in Canada, and while I was playing, I was flipping houses, you can’t do both unless you know delegation. So it was kind of natural for me to do that, and as I started to build more businesses, it was very easy for me to repeat this throughout industries and businesses. You hire people and give them a process to follow. As long as you hire the right people, then you will succeed.”
On the hiring process:
“I didn’t either, but you don’t hire 10 people in a day, it’s a gradual thing. I started off by filming my content myself, if you watch my earlier videos, they are all in my dining room. My wife edited them, because she didn’t have anything to do, and they just started taking off. I was like, this is moving, so I need to hire someone. I hired my first videographer and paid him $3,000 a month. The plan was to put out 3 videos a week and I would pay him 3 grand a month. Some would be in the office, some would be a house flip, whatever. So that worked, so I hired guy number 2,3,4 and it just goes on. We now spend about $40,000 on wages, but the return of investment is phenomenal. If I could spend 100 grand, I would do it. But right now, we are doing the optimal of what we can do.”
Why Ryan likes doing multiple things:
“I get bored really easy, which is why I have all these businesses and challenge myself. I don’t know if I will ever be the guy who can just grow one business to crazy levels. When I have talked to other business people and asked them ‘What does it take to go from 1 million to 10 million, then to 100 million…’ They say to me ‘Well Ryan, very few have multiple businesses that they are getting to that level, they focus on one.’ I couldn’t do it, I would get bored focusing on that one business for the next 20 years. Also I don’t want to put in the work to do that, I don’t want to go public and have stockholders. It’s better for me to just chill, have a few businesses that make millions, and I am good with that.”
No risk no reward:
“I think the moment you decide you want to flip a house, you have to understand that there is risk with everything that you do. I think that is the biggest thing that holds people back is the fear of losing money. It could be contractors screwing you over or the market. The fear of the risk scares people. But if you fail, what’s the worst thing that can happen? If you’re young, who cares? You’ve got the time to recover. It’s not like you’re older and you’ve got 4 kids, if so, I get it. I was 25 years old, had no money, I had nothing to lose. But if it doesn’t work, I am still broke. If it does work, that upside is so great! What is the risk of doing nothing? It’s staying in the same spot for the rest of your life.”
Why the time is now:
“I think that has never been a better time to flip houses than today. The market is so hot that it is easy to get bailed out, if you try to flip in a downmarket, you have the risk of not having a buyer and having to drop the price. I have not had to drop the price in a long time, I’m getting 10 or even 20% more than I thought. Right now there is so much room for error in today’s market. If you are looking for a deal today, now is the best time to start.”
Why flipping is better than renting out:
“My philosophy is that most people are trying to get passive too quick. They are buying a rental here and there and accumulate a load over the long haul, but it’s not going to make you rich quick. What I teach is to master flipping houses, because if you can do that, rental is the same thing. But instead of selling the rental on, you choose to keep it. If you have the skill of flipping houses, you can do anything in real estate. Most people who start, they are not making a lot of money. A rental might make you $200 a month, but life is the same. If you flip, you can maybe make $40 grand, and that is life changing.”
On when he will stop:
“I always get asked the ‘When are you going to stop?’ question. And there isn’t really an end to this. I just want to get better and grow. Right now if I am focused on social media, that is what I will try and do. A couple of years ago it was the flipping business. There will come a point where I am happy with social media and my focus will shift, it might be to my family. But I know I can get better every day, there is always a way to get better, but people just get too complacent.”
On one of his failures:
“My first big failure was back in 2018. We were speculating on the market, actually it was similar to how it is today, super hot, we were making more money than ever. But going into the winter, they decided to raise interest rates. Being younger and only seeing interest rates go down and down, I was like ok, whatever, who cares? Well people care, and when they raise the rates, people stop buying. I got stuck with a ton of inventory on deals that were not great deals. I thought that the market would be good and bail me out, but I ended up losing $500,000 on those bad deals. That was tough to swallow, you think you will make a million, but you lose half a million. But my investors did not think less of me, they thought more of me. They saw that when it hits the fan, you will still do what you said you were going to.”
What are the first steps:
“You have to look at your budget, and say to yourself ‘How much money am I willing to put into this business.’ For me, I bought a good camera and I did it all myself. We get some momentum, so I hired the video guy. Yeah $3000 a month is a big commitment, but it started snowballing. Right now the iPhone is incredible, you can get high quality videos with your phone right now. You can buy a $20 microphone and a $30 light from Amazon and you basically have what I have.”
On what he is grateful for:
“My wife, my kids and my employees.”
Featured images: Instagram
Featured image: Kivo Daily
