As Founder and CEO of BiggerPockets, I created the vision and strategy for the business and bootstrapped the company until . Like, dont do, keep doing things that make you miserable. Here youll have a chance to follow me via this blog and to explore the ideas, products, services, books and many other things that influence me. Dan Daugherty: All right. That was all I was allowed to do on Wednesday. You know, from a sheer depression, man in the year before my exit, in the year and a half before my exit I had Id never had this before, but I had three like full on panic attacks. Almost everyone that builds a business wants some kind of growth, but as much as I loved seeing my brainchild thrive and grow, I was having less and less fun doing it. I mean, nights, weekends, you name it, seven days a week. In this conversation. Thank you for the stories and the insights and the tips. You know, thats, surprisingly a significant boost to your health. very much oversimplifying it. The blur lasted a little less than 10 minutes, but after that, my eyes just felt funny. You know, I got a standing desk instead of a sitting desk, you know, then I started to add one on one meetings, you know, when I had one on one meetings, instead of doing it at a restaurant or coffee, or sitting down in the office, they would be walking meetings. Josh Dorkin: So you know, weve always wanted to come to Hawaii. Find which one works best for you, your resources, and your goals. And so within the business itself, you know, hey, I mean, you used to work at Google, you know, as a media company, Google would change your, Google changes their algorithms all the time, as an example, right? What do I do? But yeah, I mean, there were down periods, dark periods. So you know, whether its that or, hey, Im stressed about money, well, you know, you got to then go and break down your budget, and you got to figure out why youre stressed about money. His wife and three daughters wouldnt take too kindly to sharing their space. And, you know, Ive been investing, you know, since my exit, in different things, looking for, you know, startups to get involved with, looking for boards to become a part of, looking to advise, Ive been advising some small companies kind of off the books. Copyright 2019 Joshua Dorkin. FHA Guidelines: How to Qualify for a 3.5% Down Loan . They cleared me, but my very high blood pressure of 160/100 and other symptoms had them concerned, so they stayed to make sure it went down, and before leaving, strongly recommended I go to the hospital if after a little bit things didnt get better. . Dorkin failed to account for costly evictions, irresponsible tenants, inattentive property managers, and unforeseen repairs, such as mending a three-foot-wide hole cut through a kitchen floor. In my case, the two things most searched are my net worth and why I left BiggerPockets. Joshua Dorkin didnt have to go to Trump University to learn a difficult lesson about real estate investing. Like, I mean, you wouldnt know the difference between her and any other kid. After spending an amazing day with my girls, out of the blue one of my eyes went blurry. } !1AQa"q2#BR$3br Dan Daugherty interviews Josh Dorkin who founded BiggerPockets in his living room with $12 bucks. You know, these little things allowed me to continue to work, do my job and stay healthy at the exact same time. I know far too many people who live the non-stop life and many, if not most, are unhappy. Ill argue that all of that stuff is bullshit. Came to be ready to quit and like told my wife, hey, Im ready to sell the business. And so yeah, that becomes stressful. Right? Sitting alone in my hospital bed, all I could think about was my girls, Julie, and the rest of my family . I had purchased a few rental properties and needed some help dealing with all the questions I had, but couldnt find a place where I could get answers without having to deal with solicitations and promotions of these self-proclaimed gurus who dominated the scene at the time. Josh is also host of the BiggerPockets Podcast (80 million . And I guess, you know, if you dont mind me throwing this in there, you know, if you raised money, or if you bootstrap, you know, its fighting for exit is, I think, one way to run a business, I think the other way to run a business is fighting to create an amazing business. Separating the job from the company took a lot of time for me to do, but the realization set me on a path to where I am today. Many of you may know him and he's someone who's going through a whole bunch of transitions in his life, both personally and professionally. So the operating manual was how do I go from unhappy to happy. And so as we were going through this situation with my daughter, little by little she was getting better. I make a list of everything thats stressing me out, all the stressors, from big to small, and then I start to knock them off. And so what I tell my friends and just people that you know if I ever am speaking is, you know, you got to take care of your first, yourself first. Lets do it. And so you can freak out and flip out, or you can say, all right, you know, what, they made this tweak, what could we do better? And lifes too short, man. Yeah. \"The business really wasn't making serious money for probably getting close to a decade.\"\r\r The story has a happy ending. Almost a lifetime ago - 18 years today - I officially marked the founding of BiggerPocketsStarting a hobby website while working as a full time teacher was one thing.Two years later taking the risk to quit my job to become a full time startup founder was the craziest and smartest thing I ever did. I was happy to have three amazing children, food on the table, and a safe place to live. Days and weeks of not knowing what was to come with my daughter eventually led to glimmers of hope that wed see a recovery. Find which one works best for you, your resources . Dorkin, 41, won't be hacking houses anytime soon. But cool, you know, and you move from drinks to water, you start losing weight. Today I think its a sign of necessity and strength. In all three cases, my wife was able to kind of talk me down and calm me and you know, but it was like, you know, stress, right, stress and I think we humans just internalize so. I kind of just glazed over it and just put my head down into work, so I didnt feel depressed anymore. Accept the New Rules of Life or Suffer in Misery. You know, dont keep doing things that keep you super stressed out. \"I was working a full-time job making no money as a teacher,\" Dorkin says, \" and then [I] quit that job, reliable income, to blindly create this platform for other people. How to Invest in Real Estate: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Getting Started is written by Brandon Turner; Joshua Dorkin and published by BiggerPockets. I still get a lot of my great information from the community and the network. My strategy was to first pick out the easy items like toilet, vanity, towel bars and hooks, followed by choosing flooring, and finally finding a pre-fab shower that we could just drop in. A few months back I had the blurry thing, but without the other stuff, and of course, went to visit Dr. Google. Joshua Dorkin, Brandon Turner. I dont know. Why do you write like youre running out of time?Write day and night like youre running out of time?Evry day you fight, like youre running out of time. Lets just do it. So, in 2004, Dorkin launched BiggerPockets, a website for real estate investors to ask and answer each others questionslike a Reddit for property owners. I easily felt better. But Joshua Dorkin is creating an online empire. We always wanted to be, you know, in Hawaii and Colorado. You know, we were living pretty tight on what we were making, where we were, as you know, Denvers not inexpensive. And if you want to grow and thrive, you have to become seriously adept at it. I realized that over the past fourteen years as CEO and sole founder of BiggerPockets, I sought out success, fame, fortune and accolades, as most people do, but despite achieving all of those things, I just wasnt fully happy. Thats why two of the biggest names in the real estate world teamed up to write the most comprehensive manual ever written on getting started in the lucrative business of real estate investing. And please share this article so more people can learn about this amazing program. Is it all the material stuff? Genealogy profile for Joshua Dorkin Joshua Dorkin (1843 - 1914) - Genealogy Genealogy for Joshua Dorkin (1843 - 1914) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. Is that a good statement to say? Many of you know how I worked almost 8 years without taking a single day off because of this mentality . This terrifying situation broke us, but didnt defeat us. You know, like any entrepreneurial story, lots of ups, lots of downs. 4.6 208 Ratings; $11.99; Listen $11.99; Listen . I learned that the sudden eye blur thing could be a sign of a stroke, but I believed it needed to come along with other symptoms. You know what, Im going to get a fitness watch, and Im going to walk 10,000 steps a day. And Im. Well, what do you need to do to change it? I felt trapped. What you may not know is Joshuas journey in founding, building, scaling, and finally leaving BiggerPockets. Im 43 and I know Im not a kid anymore. And so what happened was little by little, I found myself running into some problems and I didnt quite know how to deal with those problems. Like any 18 year old, it has continued to mature and to life a life of its own.While my personal contributions to the business are today marked by occasional phone calls and quarterly board meetings, I hope my personal stamp will continue to last for the next 18 years and beyond.Thank you to everyone who believed in me. Instead, Joshua and I focus on the harsh realities of growing an digital empire.\r\r Enjoy!\r\r \u0026nbsp;\r\r You can find more information in the show notes at http://podcast.affordanything.com/episode99 Press the space key then arrow keys to make a selection. And in that time, I realized that I wasnt as happy as I wanted to be running the business. Joshua Dorkin BiggerPockets Founder Maui, HI 28K FOLLOWERS 5 FOLLOWING 346K CONNECTIONS I am the Founder, former CEO (2004 - 2018), former podcast host, and current board member of BiggerPockets. The company, by the way, is the largest real estate investing media company and community out there. We were all about trying to help people build wealth, learn how to build wealth through real estate investing. Cool. So, the operating manual was, how do I go from unhappy to happy, and that was, it became not just like a. question, but it became a significant force within my life, whether its about you know, journaling about it, contemplating it, talking about it out loud, and making decisions around it. And I had spent so long not taking vacations, not taking days off, I worked eight years without a single day off, which is incredibly stupid. I was in tears, I was just miserable. So, you know, being willing and open to change and being dynamic, I think is one of the most important things. $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ? But the problem is, none of this goes away. So I read about happiness, right? I move daily and if not for some nagging injuries, try to get in intensive workouts 5 days a week. So, you know, the decision was, do I raise money? In 2006, Brandon Turner got married to Heather. Youre operationalizing your life and that has allowed you to kind of be more open. Just work, keep working, be dynamic, pivot and you know, a lot of luck out there. You know, I couldnt breathe. Im on the board. Stop making excuses and focus on those things as your priority because in an instant it can all be over. But did you, were you ever really depressed at all? All rights reserved. You may fail, but at least you will have taken your shot.Good luck! And my quick advice on that is this, this has absolutely worked for me over and again, it may not work for you, but its definitely worked for me. But its fantastic. Star Wars: Thrawn. Dan Daugherty: That is, as you know, I have two little ones of my own and that is, that changes everything, and Im glad that you priorities that over anything else. He started BiggerPockets to help democratize the real estate investing landscape for himself and others, aiming to make it accessible for everyone, regardless of income or education. I remember the exact phone call that I made to the two of them to tell them what was going on. I wish it would touch more on farmland and syndications a little more but those could be considered more niches. In the early 2000s, Dorkin bought rental property in St. Louis andafter adding up what he could charge for rent and subtracting his expected expensespredicted hed make a tidy profit. And so, you know, its a serious decision to raise money or not to raise money. It was a blast, but by year 12, 13, 14 my job changed. And so thinking about the things you go through, look, we all go through good stuff and we all go through bad stuff. I was making money. Have you had additional clarity from just taking a step back? Like dont keep doing things that make you miserable. I coasted through the store with the ease of a professional, choosing items that would look great together and which would stand the test of time. This keynote speech goes deep into what really matters most. Your In-Depth Guide to the Best Golf Courses Around Denver, Six Bizarre Majors That Will Actually Get You A Job In Colorado, How Trumps Executive Orders Are Affecting Refugees In Lakewood, The Best Ski Run at (Almost) Every Mountain in Colorado, Advertising and Sponsorship Opportunities. The company is one that I founded almost 18 years ago and left back in November 2018 after undertaking a recapitalization via McCarthy Capital, a private equity shop out of Omaha. Standard economy shipping is always FREE, but you can upgrade if you'd like to receive your book faster. I learned to stop being a cadet and start being a general.', 'life is too short to be stuck in a job you hate. I immediately stepped back from the day to day at work and handed charge to my number two at the time, Scott Trench in coordination with Brandon. What regrets does he hold? So we went and we hired an investment bank, I mean, cutting a long story short, Im sure youre going to have a ton of questions and sorry for ranting, but we hired a bank, went through a process, and, you know, six, eight months later, I had an exit to a private equity company, still own a significant piece of the business. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. Ive always followed the same mantra - work hard, hustle, grind. Highly recommended!" Nat Borchers, retired pro athlete, serendipitous mindset, but you also need to understand who you are. If Squarespace had an autosave function and you didnt lose almost an hour of work on a great blog post when your iPad shuts down. I was teaching high school in Los Angeles. . And Ive given two examples of bad things Ive been through, Ive been through a lot, you know, some pretty bad things on top of that. The Digital and eTextbook ISBNs for How to Invest in Real Estate are 9781947200050, 1947200054 and the print ISBNs are 9780997584707, 099758470X. We build tools, our content, our social presence. Whether it is the struggle to communicate at checkout while you and the cashier are donning masks, or the untrusting looks from everyone around you, the entire experience is less pleasurable for all of us. Lifes too short, man. But I, you know, theres so many books out there. After two years, I quit my teaching job, got married, moved to Colorado and began working full time on BiggerPockets. . It's time to start doing And this book will show you exactly where to start! Thinker. Just Released: Two NEW BiggerPockets Books to Help You Build Wealth Through Rental Investing . And I think the way you live your life, and your happiness is going to be determined by your outlook on that. . We came to Hawaii, weve been here since July. Find which one works best for you, your resources, and your goals. Copyright 2019 Joshua Dorkin. It is my mission to continue to better all of these until my time comes - hopefully when Im much older, but I wont allow myself to let the other nonsense get in the way of that mission. Did you feel, I mean, Im sure you had lots of times where you just wanted to quit or push through. So that hire, I really believe the business went from hobby to kind of this you know, call it Mom and Pop, you know, sole operator business and then it became a company and very quickly I had to learn how to deal with employees, how to scale and spent the next number of years doing that with Brandon as kind of my copilot. Be there for your families. Joshua Dorkin is the founder of BiggerPockets, as well as a serial entrepreneur, investor, podcaster, publisher, educator, and co-author of How to Invest in Real Estate. The real estate industry is huge, and often complicated, but this book clears away the fog and uncertainty in a fun, easy-to-read manner. A lot of people can at least. Post close, I joined the board of directors, but no longer was involved in the day to day decision making at the company. And so, for example, one of the core values of Bigger Pockets is family above all else. I put on my headset and Id walk around the neighborhood and I easily got my 10,000 steps. But instead of sitting in my office talking on the phone, every phone call that I had was a walking call. I mean, we were able to do that in Colorado, but you know, youre on a trail youre, you know, running across people without masks, you know, its just the, you know, the whole debate, were not going to get into it, but either way, it you know, it presented an opportunity for us to find some kind of, to find some peace and to find a place where everybody just could feel good. But, you know, Ive written a book before with Brandon on real estate. 04 Mar 2023 02:14:54 Podcaster. Star Wars: Thrawn Trilogy But, you know, getting to exit, getting close to the finish line, so to speak is an absolutely incredible feeling and I wish it upon, you know, all the entrepreneurs out there. But I wanted to be healthier. But I just got caught up in the details, I got caught up in every little detail. For returns, refunds, or the status of your order, you can contact. You got to deal with them. Its not money, its not success, but its something that matters even more: fulfillment and family.Be sure to give Joshua a follow on Twitter at @jrdorkinCheck the full show notes here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/show421 . JOSH DORKIN: But it gave me the time to really think about life. x337R0 B],s@(PH(Y And so we said, hey. (Where the hell have you been Josh?!? Keep in mind that full time in this case means 80-100 hours a week, with no days off, no vacations, no respit. So hired a guy named Brandon Turner, he, some of you listening may know him, hes still the co-host of the Bigger Pockets podcast. And instead of working on the business, I was working in the business exclusively. . Plus, he doesnt own any rental properties outright anymore, simply because BiggerPockets requires too much of his attention. It was excruciatingly slow and frustrating, but we never let up. Instead of getting my hands dirty building product or testing some new landing page or campaign, I was overssing someone else that was. . Dan Daugherty: Yeah, I mean, lets start from the very beginning. https://www.biggerpockets.com/show421Many avid members of the BiggerPockets forum, listeners to the podcast, or readers of our articles may know our founder, Joshua Dorkin. When the time came to pick out the shower, I realized that there werent any that matched the size we needed. The list of accomplishments goes on and on, but with this growth came the need to hire, and that we did. Yesterday that reality came a little too close for comfort for me.