What would you do if you lost $50 million? Just thinking about that huge amount can already send most of us crashing down. But not our guest today. Chris D. Roberts is with Rod Khleif, one of the country’s top business, real estate, and peak performance luminaries. For Rod, losing $50 million was a gateway for him to gain more. He recovered not from real estate but from his mindset, considering the mindset of success as one of the great things he earned. In this episode, he takes us through the ups and downs of his career, how success came to him, and how it has continued to evolve in its meaning. Rod also shares the areas people need the most help with while giving us a peek into the hand holding he is doing in his Bootcamp. Don’t miss out on the wisdom and insights from this conversation!

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The Key Ingredient To Recovering From Losing $50 Million With Rod Khleif

Hint: It Doesn’t Have Much To Do With Real Estate

We are here with the one and only Rod Khleif. I mean it when I say, “The one and only Rod Khleif.” If Rod Khelif had had a previous life, it was a Pharaoh ruling over the lands of the multifamily landscape, teaching millions of followers how to rock the multifamily real estate space. Rod, please say hi to everybody.

Thank you. Let’s have some fun. I appreciate you having me on, Chris. I do not know about that whole feral reference, though. I am still dissecting that one.

Rod, do me a favor here and share with us your thoughts on the definition of the word “success.” It means a lot of things to a lot of people, but it is very personal to entrepreneurs who have overcome adversity. I know you have. If you do not mind, share your thoughts on the word “success.”

The word “success” has evolved for me in a big way. At first, I thought it was material things, the Lamborghinis, the M on the Maserati, and all the stupid crap that I ended up buying, and houses. Now it has evolved. I can speak about the epiphany moments that this evolution took place in. I measure success by how well my students do. My warriors, my coaching mentorship students, there are somewhere between 60,000 to 70,000 doors now. I have been teaching for a number of years. I am super proud of that. I consider that success and. I am not bragging here, but when I say this, it is the truth.

When I tell you, I get love several times a day, every single day, from students and people whose lives have been impacted by my work, I am not exaggerating. On the wall behind me, there are hundreds of thank you cards. That, to me, is success. It is seeing other people’s lives changed. This is not hyperbole. I am not saying this to make myself pump myself up. I truly freaking love what I do. That is success as well. When you love what you do, you never work another day in your life. When you love what you do, you are passionate about it. When you are passionate about it, then you have the ability to influence people.

I absolutely love what I do. Success, for me, is seeing success in other people. It is loving what I do. Success is also happiness. The purpose of life is to be happy and whatever that means to you. It means different things to different people, but it is being outside for me. In between interviews and whatever I am doing, I walk outside on my compound and be in nature.

You are living it. I live vicariously through some of your crazy Facebook posts. You are always having fun on the water somewhere between teaching students and rocking multifamily deals. I would 100% agree with that. Crew, what I want you to take away from that is Rod’s ability to recognize that giving back is living a purposeful life. He reached a level of success at some point, whatever that meant. It could have been a certain amount of doors, money, freedom, family, or health. Once he reached it in his own mind, he gave back and he taught others.

That is what drives and inspires him. It is watching others succeed. I agree with that because I have taught many people individually throughout my life. There is no greater reward than taking somebody trying to aspire to get to where you are and watching them grow and achieve that. That is amazing. You touched on enjoying life, getting outside, and taking it all in because it could be gone in a moment. I agree with you, Rod. That is spectacular.

Success is seeing success in other people.

If you have not followed Rod, you got to get on his social sites. You will see all the amazing things he is doing with people. I 100% agree with your board. I see it. I have heard. Every time I have brought your name up, people rave about your attitude. Your energy and enthusiasm are contagious. Keep up the good work. Rod, if you do not mind, I know a lot about you, but some of the readers may not. Would you mind sharing about your journey in overcoming adversity challenges? I know you have got some wild stories, but feel free to get into detail about some of the things you overcame along the way. You have such a crazy history.

I have built 27 businesses. When they fail, I do not call them failures. I call them seminars, but several of those 27 have been worth tens of millions of dollars. Most have been spectacular flaming seminars. Let me go way back. I immigrated to this country when I was six years old with my brother Albert and my mother. I was born in the Netherlands, Holland. We ended up in Denver, Colorado. We struggled initially.

I remember my mom buying food at the expired food store. We drank powdered milk with our cereal in the morning, which, I promise you, sounds better than it is. I wore clothes in the Goodwill and the Salvation Army all the way through junior high school until I lied about my age when I was 14 because I was 12. I got a job at Burger King to buy my own clothes and buy a car.

I am sure, Chris, you have got readers that had it harder than I did and have it harder now, but I knew I wanted more. Luckily, my mom had an incredible worth work ethic. She babysat kids so we would have enough money to eat. With her babysitting money, she was an entrepreneur. She successfully invested in the stock market and then in real estate. Her first real estate acquisition was the house right across the street from us. When I was fourteen, she bought it for about $30,000. When I was seventeen, she told me she made $20,000 in her sleep, that it had gone up in value. I am like, “What? You made $20,000 and you did not do anything?” I was already thinking that I wanted to be a capitalist. I am like, “Screw college, mom. I am getting into real estate.”

I went and got my real estate brokers licensed by the time I turned eighteen, which you could do back then with education. I could own my own office. It was not just an agent. Now they got smart. You need some experience to be a broker. I was a broker and I was going to be rich in real estate. My first year in real estate, I made about $8,000. In my second year, $10,000, but in my third year, I made over $100,000. That is what I am known for because what happened between year 2 and year 3?

I met a guy. In fact, I was dating his daughter, who taught me the importance of mindset and psychology and how 80% to 90% of your success in anything is your mindset and psychology. Only 10% to 20% is the real estate stuff we talk about on our podcasts. Fast forward, I have owned 2,000 houses that I have rented long-term. I owned and still own thousands of apartment units. In 2006, my net worth went up by $17 million while I slept.

You might be like, “Wow,” because I was like, “Wow.” That is $8,300 an hour over a 40-hour workweek for the whole year. I thought I was a freaking real estate god. I could barely fit my head through a double door. When that happens, God of the universe will give you a smack. That was 2008 and 2009. I lost $50 million in 2008 and 2009. What I am known for talking about on my podcast and in my boot camps and stuff is the mindset it took that $50 million to lose the first place, but then the mindset it took to get back to the success that I am blessed to have. We can drill down as much as you want any piece of that, buddy.

It is a critically important piece of whether it is success, achievement, fulfillment, or purpose is finding in your own mind’s eye what that looks like and then how to execute it. Something I would love for you to touch on, which is something I am a big believer in, is trying to pull out of people the abilities they do not know that they have quite yet. It could be outside influences. It could be in their own head. It could be overcoming adversity. They are knocked down so low. You mentioned the rough upbringing you had or being broke. I was the same, government cheese, food stamps, food lines, and about with homelessness.

 

Everyone goes through stuff, but not everyone has the ability or finds the ability to pull themselves out of that and achieve a level of success. If you do not mind, touch on that. I know you are big on mindset. You are a fired-up individual. How do you stay inspired every day? How do you teach others? How to do all that?

Go out and get the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and read it several times a year. Not once. In that book, he talks about the fact that you need a burning desire to do anything, push through fear, push through limiting beliefs and get uncomfortable. We all know, Chris, that the comfort zone is a warm and soft place, but nothing freaking grows there. You have got to have that burning desire. If you come to one of my boot camps, I have got one coming up at the end of July 2022. It is the only live one that I do all year. It is in Denver for three days.

The first thing we do for an hour and a half is goals. We do goal setting on steroids because how the hell are you going to get anything if you do not know what the heck it is? You have got to know what you want with clarity, and you have got to know why you want it. One of the first things we do is goal setting and helping you create that burning desire because that is the only way you are going to take action. That is the only way you are going to get your butt up early, stay up late, work Saturdays or do whatever you have to do to grind for a few years like most people will not. You can live the rest of your life like most people cannot. The first piece is burning desire. That is why my students are so successful.

One of the things we do is get them aligned on their goals and then I help them visualize where they will be in ten years, what their life will look like and what an ideal day might look like in ten so that vision will pull them into it. That triggers something in your brain called your reticular activating system.  That is that subconscious filter that points your subconscious, not aware of it, but it points you in the direction your brain thinks you are interested in it. The best example of it is when you first buy a car. You never noticed them. Once you buy it, they are everywhere. Were they there before? They were.

It is the same way with your goals and your dreams. That is why writing your goals down and associating with them regularly is so critical. When I lost everything in 2008, that is how I pulled myself out from underneath the rock. I hit under a rock for a few months, licking my wounds and feeling sorry, but then I reassociated with my goals and got going again. It is like, “I am back. Let’s make this happen.” I had to evolve, innovate, and pivot. We all do throughout our lives.

Back in 2020, I was supposed to have 800 people in Orlando at a live event. I am like, “What are we going to do?” I had to innovate and I had to pivot, and we went virtual. I built a video studio here at my compound. If you go to MultifamilyVirtualBootcamp.com, you will see me on my cell phone recording a video because we pivoted quickly. If you are reading, you need to pivot right now or innovate. That is okay. You have got to do it.

You started to deep dive into what you teach people when you guys have these events, which is great. I get the question oftentimes, “What is your goal? How many doors do you want to own? What are you trying to grow? How much money do you want to make?” Oftentimes that is not what is important to entrepreneurs. It is, “I have to have the right mindset. I have the right student base. I have to have the right model for cultivating the execution of my value system.  Not money.” Money comes to successful people that go out and go after it and work hard and hustle. Money comes. Money is not the end of the means, especially when you start to achieve a certain level of financial success.

As you said, Rod, how many Ferrari can you have? How big of a house can you have? I love that you are teaching people from the beginning how to shift their mindset because if that is not set up correctly, they will never realize their potential. They have to have goals. It does not have to be financial, but it could be, “I want to go out and I want to build a website. I want to go out and I want to build a small investor base.” Whatever it may be, you have to start off with the right foundation.

The purpose of life is to be happy, whatever that means to you.

Would you mind, Rod? Give us an example. You have multiple levels and layers of what you do. It is from start to finish. You could do a course, an online thing. You could go to a three-day event. You could be a mentor. There are all these great things that you guys do in the Rod Khleif Camp. Can you walk us through what that would look like? Could you give us an example of one of your seminars?

I have got that July event coming up. It is the 29th, 30th, 31st. It is for three days. It is not a sales pitch. It is drinking through a fire hose. We go through every aspect of the business, building a team because this business is a team sport, picking your market, how you decide if it is a good market, finding deals, evaluating those deals, due diligence, financing them, syndicating, joint, venture, and all the pieces of this business. I am going to ask you a question, but I want to lay that groundwork. That is at the three-day boot camp. It is not a sales pitch. I have panels all three days of about 3 billion in assets owned by the panels or managed by the panels.

The networking is insane. There will be about 1,000 people there. It is an incredible environment to learn, grow, and network because this business is a team sport, but here is it. I do those three-day events. By the way, you come for $197 for the three days. If you are interested, you need to be there. It is not a sales pitch. It is training. If you are interested, go to MultifamilyBootcamp.com. If you text my name Rod to 72345, we will send you that link to MultifamilyBootcamp.com. It is $197. The price will go up to about $700. If it has gone up, DM on social and say that you heard me on Chris’s podcast and I said $197, I will get you that $197 price if it has gone up.

What do we do? That is the foundation. It takes three days to fully understand all the pieces of this business because what you have got to figure out is where you might fit in. You are not going to do all the pieces of this business. You are not going to want to. There are outgoing people like me who build relationships with brokers, build relationships with potential investors, and go out there and network and do that piece. The analytical ones do not love to do that part that focuses on the underwriting, for example. You might have a process-driven person who managed people or project-managed to help with asset management and help with due diligence.

There are a lot of gaps. Maybe you are the bird dog. You are out there finding deals and evaluating them. There are a lot of places you can fit in. When you come to the boot camp, you will figure out where you fit in. This business is a team sport. I was mentioning my warriors. Those are my coaching students. Those are the ones that go into my coaching program. They own somewhere between 60,000 to 70,000 doors that we know of. Most of those deals are done between warriors because it is an incredible ecosystem to connect and tag team with somebody to make this happen.

By the way, guys, if you are going to buy multifamily, that is why you are tuning in to Chris’s show here. Not only is it a team sport, but you are going to want to play to your strengths. This is what I teach people. Play to your strengths and hire an aligner partner for your weaknesses. If you are doing what you are strong at, you are going to enjoy it. It is something you love doing because that comes as a strength for you. If you love doing it, you are going to be passionate about it. As you can tell, I am passionate about what I am doing here. When you are passionate, you will have the ability to influence, but you have to figure out what you love.

I like to say it like this. This flow starts with competence. You need to be competent first. That competence will also equate to confidence, which will then equate to your ability to influence. It starts with competence. You have got to learn this business. There are others that teach this stuff. I can tell you, I have had thousands of people attend my show. The only complaint I ever got was the food sucked or the room was too cold. If you come and you do not love the event, I will give you your money back. I do not mean like it. I mean love it. I will give you your money back. No problems. It never happened, but there was a first time for everything.

To start, figure out what lane you are going to play in. Immerse yourself in this, wallow in it, and see what you are going to love. If you do not love real estate yet, you can associate pleasure with it and learn to love it, but I say this to you. If you cannot learn to love it, go do something else for God’s sake. Life is too short.

 

Rod, you touched on so many things there. Going to these events is critically important. If anything, get around like-minded individuals and get inspired to drive your way through this process. You are right. One of the things you touched on was how complicated these processes are to buy a multifamily asset. Whether you come into a three-day event or hire a mentor, I believe it is critically important to your success, especially if you want to scale quicker to get a feel for it and then obviously be mentored by somebody who has been there and done that.

Even if you are going to invest passively as a limited partner in a deal, for God’s sakes, come learn the business. You do not give your hard-earned money to somebody in anything business if you are going to invest in startups or the stock market. Get a basic understanding of the business before you go out there and give your hard-earned money to somebody that you do not know who they are, what they do or what they are made of. That is also an important piece.

Something you touched on was your warrior group, which is a network of influential people that are in a closed loop. In other words, you sign up, you are part of this elite group, you all do deals together, and you help each other. It is very inclusive. That is important as well because this can be a lonely road when you first start out.

It is and you cannot do all the pieces. Nobody is good at the whole thing. Everybody who gets into this business does, but let me say something about peer group. We talked about goals. Another piece of this that is critical is your peer group. Many of us have people afraid of what we our dreams or they are jealous of our dreams or afraid of losing us or they are afraid of feeling less than if we accomplished something and they do not. Sometimes it is family. Love your family. Choose your peers because who you hang out with is who you become. Whether you join my program or anything like that, get around people who want more out of life who are not going to be afraid of what you want to do because they can derail what you are doing.

You can make no more important decision than who you hang out with. You show me your three best friends. I will show you who you are in your happiness, physical fitness, finances, and everything. Choose proactively. Many people default to the people they work with or went to school with. That is a mistake. Go out and find a meetup group or a local group to get around people who want more out of life that will be encouraged by your success that will validate you, encourage you, and push you. I remember when I was losing everything. I was in Tony Robbins’ Platinum Partnership. That is his high-level mastermind. There were people in there that were killing it through the crash.

Fifty million? Pick your wimpy ass up and get back to work. You want to be around people who are pushing you, not those afraid of your success. I would get around people that think what you think is hard as easy. I started a mastermind myself. I had sixteen people here at my compound when I started it. It was about a billion in assets. I knew the value of a mastermind because, like Napoleon Hill says in his book Think and Grow Rich, anytime you get two like-minds together, they create this third intangible mind that is greater than the sum of the parts.

We had sixteen people. It was incredible. I paid for everything because they wanted to see how it would go. Now I formalized it. It is called the Multifamily Boardroom. There is about somewhere between 14 to 16 billion in assets in there. We meet three times a year because I want to be around people that think what I think is hard is easy. Your peer group is critical. Get around like-minded people. I want to hammer home what you said. You brought it up and it is such a critical piece.

He said, “Love your family. Choose your peers.” I have not heard that before. I love that.

That is a Tony Robbins quote.

The comfort zone is a warm and soft place, but nothing freaking grows there.

I have not heard that from Tony, but I love Tony. That is great. I wanted to hit it home, though, because I have talked to a lot of people throughout the years in the multifamily space that has not paid a dollar for any education. They are asking all these questions and I am saying to them, “Have you ever been in a mentor program? Have you ever gone to a good event with tangible information that is that you can execute on?” Not, “I go and shake hands with people,” but a teaching place to cultivate success.

The  things you are talking about, Rod, it is like, “I am not sure which one I go in.” You go to these events 3 or 4 times a year, but you are not doing anything other than shaking hands with people. You have got to go where people are having success. They are all working together to help each other grow. That is what you are describing, which is awesome.

I would love to show a picture and then I will describe the picture to the people that cannot see this. There is a picture of me with a couple of hundred lanyards around my arms and around my neck from bootcamps and masterminds and events that I have gone to over the years. I am bragging. I am standing in front of my Bentley and one of my Mercedes, but the point in this is we are constantly learning and growing. Myself included. You get around people that want more and that is what I do. I have been in numerous masterminds. I go to boot camps every year still. If you are not learning and growing, you are dying.

I remember my son asking me. When I was ten years old, I told him I was going to a real estate boot camp and I owned 2,000 houses at that point. He is like, “You could go teach.” I said, “I could.” I did not teach back then. You always get nuances and we are always growing. It was a teaching opportunity for my boy. I want to mention that too.

Rob, let me ask you this. Of all the great things that are going on out there in the real estate world, and I know that is your sandbox now. You have gone from single-families to multifamilies to educational materials. You are doing it all, which is amazing. What have you found has been the common denominator of those folks? Let’s say weaknesses or areas of opportunity that come into your courses, your events, and your mentor programs. What is the common denominator that you see the most in people that need the most help with? Oftentimes you are solving that problem. What do you see out there?

It is analysis paralysis. Some of the most successful people in this business are the most analytical ones, but the analytical ones have to check off every freaking box before they make a move. You know who you are. If you are reading, you know who you are. That is okay, but I am going to tell you, you have got to take action. You have got to take that first step. As Dr. Martin Luther King said, “You take that first step in faith. The next step will be revealed.” Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” You have got to recognize the fact that you can drive all the way across the United States at night, seeing 50 feet in front of you with your headlights, and you can make it. You know that other people have made it.

You may have some obstacles, but you know you can make it. It is the same way with your goals, but you got to get started. I see it with my students all the time. They are bemoaning the fact that it is 6 or 8 months. I do not have to deal yet and then they get one. The next thing I know, they have 5. It is like, “What the hell happened here?” My catchphrase is, “Massive freaking action.” Action mitigates fear. Action is what makes this happen. You learn as you go. You have got to have the framework and you will come to my boot camp to get started. You have to have a basic understanding, but then you dig in, see where you fit in, and take massive action. Success is inevitable. It is.

What I teach my students is to get associated with what they want so that they have that drive. They keep that in front of them. They keep pictures of their goals. I got pictures of my goals around me on my wall here. I have got pictures of my planner here. I have had pictures of my planner here for many years. I have everything in there except a six-pack. I got a picture of a guy with a six-pack and I have not done that yet, but it is under this layer here. The point is, and I teach them this, when somebody gets a little out of whack or they are overwhelmed, I have got this incredible planning process that I teach as well at my boot camp that helps people get focused. Focus is power as well.

 

If you are tuning in to Chris, you are a leader. The world needs leaders now more than ever. It is so important that you pay attention to what you focus on. Do not get me started on the fake news. I do not think they ever air anything that is accurate, but the point is do not bring in that crap because whatever you focus on is going to get bigger. Bring in the good stuff.  I have got a podcast. If you do not listen to it, come listen to it. It is called Lifetime CashFlow to real estate investing. I am blessed to say that it is the largest commercial real estate podcast in the world. We are approaching 13 million downloads. Another thing is I do these clips every week called Own Your Power. They are motivational clips.

I published the Power of Problem. Problems give you power because they build your strength. It is with music and I will pump you up. Give me five minutes. I will juice you once a week. Bring in the good stuff. If you do not listen to me, go on YouTube university and watch the motivational stuff because you are a leader right now. Even if you are leading your family, it is so important for them to see you be a leader and focus on what you want. Whatever you focus on is going to get larger.

They asked Mother Teresa if she was anti-war. She said, “No, I am pro-peace.” It is the same thing, but it is the focus. I get people to call me and say, “How do I get out of student loan debt?” I am like, “Wrong question.” How do you make so much freaking money that the debt is irrelevant? That is the right question. Pay attention to your focus. It is important.

To feed off what you said is that oftentimes when you come across people, it could be you are watching the news or you are at your household or an event. The first thing people want to talk about is negativity. They want to bring up things on the news. They want to bring up something that happened to them. It is very rare that you come across somebody and say, “How did your day go?” They go, “My day was spectacular. This wonderful thing happened. There was a challenge, but I am not focusing on that. I am going to focus on what is going to be amazing by the end of the day.” Never does that happen. We all gravitate towards negativity.

To your point about Tony Robbins and mindset and everything else, it is so important. Unfortunately, it gets lost in translation where people feel like when you talk about mindset, it is almost like a guru-type thing. It is almost like, “You are trying to pitch. It is easy to say because you are wealthy.” No, it is not easy to say. It is not a guru thing. It is a way of living. It drives more positivity in your life. When you think about positive things, it also draws positive people in instead of negative ones. Negative people do not want to be around positive people.

If you are sitting there right now, going, “Why are not we talking about real estate?” You are missing the freaking point because this is way more important. This is 80% to 90% of it, which is the reason that my students have been so successful. I have been so successful. I do not know if you have ever seen the movie, The Secret, or read the book. When I first saw this about the law of attraction, I was like, “That is what I have been doing for 30 years,” getting pictures of what I wanted, putting them in front of me. First, it was the things like the Lamborghinis, the Maseratis, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, all this stuff that I got because I had pictures. I am bragging, but that is what I thought was important at one time.

I had pictures and that is how I got this stuff and kept that stuff in front of me. This is how I have $50 million to lose. That is a credible reason. This is how I got back to the success that I am blessed to have: thousands of apartments and a beautiful compound on the spectacular water. The point is that is what Chris and I are talking about here. You’ve got to learn the business, but I am here to tell you, this is more important.

Let me ask you something, Rod, because you talk about the fancy things. You are right. When you can afford fancy things, they are not relevant because you can buy as many fancy things as you want once you achieve a certain level.  The question I have is for you is specifically. You came from some adversity growing up.

You want to be around people who are pushing you, not the ones that are afraid of your success.

I also came from some adversity, which is what I used to drive me because I realized, “I cannot go much further down. I will keep pushing.” As I started achieving, it was perpetual. It kept going and kept building. I got more excited and then it became not about the fancy things. From your perspective now, I am curious whether it was using your upbringing to drive you or is there someone in your life that is influential? Rod,  you are on fire.

I am so impressed with the questions you are asking and some of the things that are coming out of your mouth. I do not say that. I get interviewed a dozen times a month. Please take that for the genuine compliment that it is. When I immigrated to this country, I got thrown into school and I did not speak English. I did not know how to fight back yet. I discovered what bullies were for the first time. I got my ass kicked regularly. My mom, God bless the proud Dutch woman that she was, thought that it would be a great idea to send me to school for Show and Tell in wooden shoes and those leather shorts the Germans wore for Octoberfest. I got my butt kicked again.

The bullies would chase me home and she would chase them off with a flyswatter. The next day, but kicked again. I came to the belief that I was not good enough. In fact, I used to ask myself the question, “How can I show them I am good enough?” I was at a Tony Robbins event. I discovered that question. I cried for about 30 minutes. I’m like, “That is what it has been. I have needed to prove myself.” Lots of people have these limiting belief systems, “I am not old enough. I am not young enough. I am not smart enough. I am not analytical enough.” That was another one of mine. “I am not good enough,” is a big one. Guys, there is a reason the acronym for belief systems is BS because 99.9% of them are BS.

We had some emotional event in our childhood, even sometimes subconsciously, that affects us. Here is what I want to say to that. If you have one of those you are aware of, bring it out into the daylight, look at it with your adult rational mind, and start to burn it up. It will go. I used to be afraid to raise my hand in class. I was afraid I would get picked on or humiliated or embarrassed. Now, I am speaking to thousands of people a year. I could care less because that is what I did. Every time it popped up, I would look at it. I would say, “If they reject me, they do not know me. They already got their own BS going on.” Do that if you have got one of those and bring it out. If you do it enough times, it will be gone. I promise you.

That drove me, buddy. An answer to your question. In fact, I had an epiphany. I will tell you about my epiphany. When I was eighteen, I knew I wanted to live on the beach. There is no beach in Denver. That is where we were. I would visualize the Palm trees, surf, sand, and waves. Twenty years later, I built this $8 million, 10,000 square foot mansion on the beach. It was on an island. It was all Gulf to Bay. The beach on one side and my boats on the backside. It was spectacular. This house was spectacular, giant waterfall from the second-floor balcony and the pool. I had a giant spiral staircase up through the middle of the house, an elevator, and a wine cellar.

On the second floor, I had aquariums. It cost me almost $200,000 that wrapped around the staircase. It gives you an idea of the house. Two months after I moved in, I worked for this thing for 20 years. Two months after I moved in, I am floating in the pool at night. I am looking up at this testament to my ego, which is what it was. It was to prove to the world that I was good enough. It is embarrassing to admit. I am looking up at this thing and I got depressed. I do not mean a little bit depressed. I mean, I got bummed. I am like, “What? I have achieved success times 1,000.” That is the year I went and saw Tony Robbins. I had to pull myself out and I discovered that he fed families for the holidays. I am like, “What a concept. Do something for someone else.”

I am embarrassed to say I had to be 40 to get that memo. I went back. I called my brother, who lived in Denver. I was going to go visit him for Thanksgiving. I said, “Let’s go feed five families.” He went to his church and found five families that needed help. We bought food and frozen turkeys and toys for the kids. It was a lot of fun. The third family changed my life, Chris. We go up to this row house. It was a crappy one-bedroom because you had to walk through the bedroom to get to the kitchen, which had the bathroom off of it. There was a woman in there with five kids. She comes out, sees all the stuff on the porch, and starts crying.

Her kids come out. The older ones start crying. I start crying and I am hooked. I am blessed to say that we have fed over 110,000 to 120,000 kids for the holidays in the last number of years. We have done tens of thousands of backpacks filled with school supplies for little kids that do not have basic school supplies. Do not get me started on that. We gave thousands of teddy bears to local police departments for their officers to keep in their vehicles when they encounter a child that has been traumatized. Again, I am not bragging. There is a big message in this. I was successful, but I was unfulfilled. Tony calls it the science of achievement versus the art of fulfillment. Achievement is a science.

 

If you want to learn multifamily, listen to these podcasts, come to my boot camp, and I will tell you what to do. You got to go do it. There is a science to it, but fulfillment is an art because you got to figure out what juices you. For me, it is kids. Maybe for you, it is the elderly or it is the environment or it is animals. Whatever it is, give back right now because we have been taught to achieve to be happy. We cannot be happy until we have achieved. When you give back, you are happily achieving. I know that sounds like a play on words, but it is super important. If you are reading and going, “When I have some money, I will do it.” Big mistake because, trust me, you can do something even if it is your time.

The success will come faster because that is the way God or the universe or whatever you believe in works. You want to do it right now, but you will be happily achieving. Until I started doing that and giving back, to my students and the podcast, I am sure you get a lot of love for you. This show is awesome. I can tell you get back a hundredfold, a thousandfold, whatever you put in. Give back now. Start right now. Trust me. You will be glad you did.

Rod, thank you so much for that. The main reason I asked the question, which you answered beautifully, was for me, what inspired me to drive and move forward and achieve whatever level of success that is or what that means to others was through the challenges I had growing up. Rod, I am not even lying. I have written about this.

What’s crazy is that I was embarrassed to raise my hand because I always had the wrong answers. I got jumped by gangs growing up in Southern California. I was on my own at the age of fifteen. I went through a lot of struggles, but I never looked back at that as a negative. At the time, it was scary and terrifying, but moving forward in life, I used it to propel me and allow me to see a world ahead of where I was that I was never going to go back to.

The other thing you touched on, which was beautiful, was you talk about all the giving back. When I first started giving back in my life, I would talk about it because what better way to get the message out? Some, especially those who do not give back and are selfish, downplay that. They say, “Why are you talking about it? Why are you bragging?” You say, “How am I supposed to spread the message? How am I supposed to share the good word? How are we all supposed to make a difference if no one is talking about feeding people, the homeless?” It is not bragging. You are inspiring people.

I get that hate all the time too. I have been on podcasts and they are like, “He is bragging about it.” That is the only way for me to tell you how important it is to do it for yourself. I do not need to brag anymore. I do my bootcamps in flip-flops and a t-shirt. I could care less what you think of me. I love you. If you do not love me, that is fine. You do not know me, that is it or you got your own BS. That is my belief system.

I cannot tell you the things that I do that I never tell any about the gifts I give to people on the side of the street and tens of thousands of dollars over the years that I do not brag about. Honestly, it does diminish it when you brag about it or when you are telling people about it. It diminishes it. It is more powerful when you do not share it with anybody, but I will never get the message out if I do not talk about it. I love that you shared that, buddy.

I appreciate all the wisdom and sharing all that. It is important for people to understand that when you do achieve some level of success, whatever you define as your level of success, it is important to give back. Something you touched on was vehicles. I was an Audi, Rolex guy when I first started having success. I sold all that stuff and realized all it was maintenance and issues and headaches. It did not define me.

Success is inevitable.

I was worried about getting shot for my watch and thought, “I do not need all this crap. I want to go out and win and achieve and hustle.” Good for you, Rod, for paying it forward and doing all the wonderful things you are doing. In closing here, Rod, would you please tell the crew where the top place is that they can find information about you?

Depending on when they do it, if you text Rod to 72345, you will get the multifamily boot camp website. If you are interested in this business, you are crazy not to come. Honestly, it is three days of training with nothing being sold. I am no sales pitch. I give you an opportunity to check into the coaching if you want, but it is 30 minutes. I mentioned it. You can meet with my people if you want, otherwise, no big deal. It is an incredible learning experience. It is 8 to 12 hours each day. If you want to check out what I am doing, go to RealEstateRod.com.

I have got free books, free articles, free videos, and so much free information there. It will help get you ramped. Come check out my podcast. I am blessed that it has done so well. It is called Lifetime CashFlow Through Real Estate Investing. I interview, like you do, some of the top players in the world in this business. Thanks for having me on, buddy. This has been a lot of fun. I enjoyed your questions and your responses because we are absolutely kindred spirits in that regard.

I appreciate it, Rod. You are an absolute rock star. We love you. We appreciate everything you are doing for the industry. You are changing lives. I hear it all the time. People are so inspired by your events and fired up. We appreciate you sharing. We are finishing up here with Rod Khleif, an absolute multifamily rock star. If you want to learn more about him, track him down. He is all over. You cannot search his name without finding him all over Google. Thanks, everybody. Take care out there.

 

Important Links

• Rod Khleif
• Think and Grow Rich
• MultifamilyVirtualBootcamp.com
• the Rod Khleif Camp
• MultifamilyBootcamp.com
• Multifamily Boardroom
• Lifetime CashFlow
• https://www.youtube.com/c/RodKhleif
• RealEstateRod.com

 

About Rod Khleif

Rod Khleif is a multiple business owner and philanthropist who is passionate about business, high performance, real estate and giving back.

As one of the country’s top business, real estate and peak performance luminaries, Rod has built over 24 businesses in his 40-year business career several which have been worth tens of millions of dollars. He has also owned over 2000 properties.

Rod Khleif soared from humble beginnings as a young, impoverished Dutch immigrant to incredible success. Khleif’s experience involves both remarkable triumphs, and spectacular failures, which he affectionately calls “seminars:’ Rod will explain the mindset required to recover from losing $50 million dollars in the crash of 2008 to the success he enjoys today.

Rod brings incredible authenticity and insight to his approach to business, mindset, real estate, success and lite. Rod can talk about the psychology of success, and any business or real estate topic in great depth, contributing incredible first-hand, technical, and motivational knowledge and skills to the conversation.

Rod also founded The Tiny Hands Foundation, which has benefited more than 95,000 children in need.