#338 A Mind-Blowing Story of Explosive Growth: Matt Onofrio on Mindset, Money, and Maximizing Your Potential

Jim Harshaw
Matt welcome to the show you started out on a traditional path and you made a huge pivot right? This led you to wealth and living the life that you've truly wanted like what happened that took you off of that traditional path by the way Matt.

Matt Onofrio
Great to be here. Jim.

Jim Harshaw
Before you and you respond to that Michael edit this out. Please um I'm going to record a bio and all that sort of separately. So by the time people hear your voice they will already have heard your bio and your background and a little bit about your story that kind of stuff so sound good.

Matt Onofrio
Got it.

Jim Harshaw
Okay, cool so you can just you can go ahead and jump in and answer that question. So what happened that took you off that traditional path. Okay.

Matt Onofrio
Yeah, you know I had always thought my grandfather was a neurosurgeon at Mayo clinic and you know I always thought that that was the ultimate that was the peak right to make it in medicine and came from ah, kind of a perfectionist background largely got a 4 point zero Gpa through you know going through 10 different colleges and you know I got to a point where I just wasn't happy I would sit in the operating room and just hear the beep beep beep of the monitor and I felt like I was in Prison. Um, I you know you had to ask somebody to take a bathroom break because you got somebody life on the table. And you know it was kind of like I achieved and just plateaued and I felt like I didn't have any growth in my life and you know that's the point where I looked elsewhere of how to build passive income and you know how to create so you know other kinds of success in my life. So I hired a performance coach someone like yourself. Who helped me make that transition and you know get into you know I I always thought that you know people I didn't realize that I was as much of a people person and so I think that you know in Anesthesia having your patients asleep all the time I just realized that I really did want to interact with people. And I wanted to be involved in business and create. You know, um, lasting legacy so that that was kind of the transition that got me out.

Jim Harshaw
It's interesting because you're on this successful path and you know you're checking all the boxes that were supposed to check in life and you get restless and you feel like you know there's there's got to be something more and and you hire a performance coach and you make a huge pivot. And part of that pivot for you was learning rightre you know you're you're studying about real estate. You're studying about a new way of going about life but you talk about in your book and your book the insider guide to triple net investing you talk about the outside work versus the inside work and there's outside work certainly like. You could sit here for the next half an hour and just tell us you know how to go about doing what you do in terms of commercial real estate. But there's work that has to be done either in conjunction with that or or before that this inside work what is that inside work. What does that mean to you? What does that inside work.

Matt Onofrio
Yes I think that there's you know some mindset shifts. You know we all grow up with a certain framework of how we do life and that that's largely from our parents and you know environment and so some of those mindset shifts are thinking of you know robert qwasaki had a cash flow quadrant e s b i. And an employee who works you know they are essentially partnering with the government who takes half in taxes whereas an investor you know with depreciation and you know obviously you would have to talk to your account and you can get down to paying zero percent in tax. You know under the right circumstances and so I quickly learned that I needed to have. Partners and a team to get me to where I wanted to go um and use leverage. Not ah, not only of money but of other people's time so wanted to move from active to passive income from income to net worth from 6 figures to 7 figures in terms of just thinking bigger aiming at a bigger target. And then from debt negative to debt positive so just thinking about ah you know how do I use opm or other people's money right to be able to leverage on and you know have that create financial freedom for myself. You know I think those those were and the internal beliefs I think were you know thinking about. Ah, confidence building confidence building a reputation with yourself that you do what you say? you're going to do you know we're we're coming into a new year people are going to be setting. New Year's resolutions and those last about a month um you know but what if you know because you're only checking in a lot of times once a year well this year I'm going to do this? Well what if you shorten those goals. And you know we all run harder when the finish line's closer and you know what if you had monthly goals or ninety day goals and you know for me I created ah a vision for my life. A vivid vision. Ah you know which we spoke about a book by cameron harold and you know setting a 3 hree-year vision and then working backwards to achieve that. You know, really has made all the difference in my life.

Jim Harshaw
So let's talk really briefly about each of the four mindset shifts. So again I want you to state those again just real clearly for the listener and then also and then I want to talk about the vivid vision. So again, what are the four mindset shifts and talk briefly like about each 1 of those.

Matt Onofrio
Yeah, so active to passive income and the benefit is passive income. You know we can. Ah first off, it's it's the biggest asset is time right? and I think that's the piece that needs to be highlighted time is a finite resource that we all have whereas money. People treat it as finite, but it's really infinite I see money as like air or water. It's a flow. It's a concept and when I see myself as more of a steward or manager of that I can create streams of passive income. Ah, the average wealthy person has 7 different streams of income whereas an employee has 1 job. 1 source of income they can lose it and they're giving halfway to the government. Okay, so when you start to think of I have to work for for the money that I get and I'm paid hourly. You know as an anteiirt provider I'm making about 1 hundred and fifty dollars an hour and to get more money I would just have to work more hours. You know, whereas with passive income I could scale that and I was making money while I was sleeping right and I was making money on somebody else's money that was lending it to me. So essentially I'm now becoming the bank so thinking of what is your time worth and essentially creating more thinking of yourself is more valuable. You get what you feel like you deserve in life. And not from an ego perspective. But I believe and I believe in the listener I believe that they they have something inside of them that's greater and there's this future version of them where they're times worth double triple 10 times as much you know today my you know my hourly rates about thirty thousand dollars an hour if you calculated out what I make. Um, and so I think that just helping ah them realize that you know there's there's nothing that's impossible. It's just aiming at a different target.

Jim Harshaw
Um, and for for those who are hearing this like and by the way that's number that's the first of the four mindset shifts. So we're going. We're getting into the next 3 Matt has made an incredible explosion in his wealth in just ah, a short number of years I mean I was watching a podcast episode with you. I think it was just ah, 2 or 3 years ago was recorded and you're like your your income was approaching a million dollars now you're what approaching five million right? sure.

Matt Onofrio
Yeah, so 5 passive but active income I make a lot more than that. Yeah so fullstory, you know 3 years ago I was finishing up a doctorate had eighty grand of my name living in my grandparents garage and you know now I'm about 1 hundred and 25 million net worth about 5 million passive. Um, you know this will this is today's ah account balance is about 30 in checking.

Jim Harshaw
So and so for for if you're listening on the podcast on the audio version. You can cap you can you can go to the Youtube version of this and look at what Matt just flashed up on the screen 30 million plus dollars and his but he held held up his phone with his bank account balance did it. So.

Matt Onofrio
Are.

Jim Harshaw
Um, so this is real stuff I mean this is not just some guy trying to sell you something. This is like real stuff and and we're going to get into. Actually why Matt is why? why why? Matt actually would be interested in talking to us on a podcast about him. He could be sitting on my tide. On the beach drink in my ties. So we're gonna get into that too I got so many questions for you that okay so Mindset shift 1 active versus passive. What second 1.

Matt Onofrio
Ah, income versus net worth or it could also be cash flow versus net worth in the sense of most people you know when they start investing in real estate. They're like I'm going to buy a home that's going to cash flow a couple hundred dollars a month right and that's the way that they're thinking of you know. Fire or financial independence retire early I see in stages and we can get into that. But basically when your passive income exceed your expenses. That's your first step of financial freedom and then to replace your job and then you know to take a step further where you know now you have your assets buying your liabilities and your toys and all that stuff that you see some of those bigger guys doing. But when you think about you know 1 of my main mentors his name was Merle. He's vice president of a bank. Um, you know he taught me and we have coffee and donuts every every morning and and you know, um, mentors are really have really changed the game for me. So every Monday morning he and I've had coffee and you know. He basically taught me Matt you know this is this is about building net worth and he's like as you take on these properties. You're paying down debt and you're you're able to lever more and so I guess I realized quickly that if I could increase my net worth cash flow and all the other pieces would come into line. And really, you can focus on that by filling out a personal financial statement. So when you go get a loan at a bank. The bank will have you fill out a pfs and most people have never done this before but that's basically your your report card in real life. So in school. It's all about these grades well in real life. Your report card is your personal financial statement. That outlines your assets and liabilities and I quickly learned that what you you know where focus goes energy flows and I started to realize to build my net worth I had to focus on what's in my asset column. How? Um and how am I building that and that quickly would turn into cash flow.

Jim Harshaw
So different way of thinking mindset shift. Okay, so that's the second. What's the third one

Matt Onofrio
Third 1 is 6 figures to 7 and Beyond meaning that you know everything that we do in life is a target. You know you're aiming at a target and so going bigger isn't harder. It's just bigger right? and and many people when you add zeros on the end. They. Have this emotional response and just like when you buy anything in life. There's an emotional piece and so you know what I've tried to help people understand through education is that hey we can de demystify some of this and also there's just some limiting beliefs of well I couldn't qualify for the loan. Well. Commercial real estate is different than residential and residential. You're running a debt-to-income ratio of my w 2 job needs to be over this range for the debt on the property where commercial they're evaluating the tenants. Okay, so you're it's not like you're not taking on a liability. You're taking on an asset and the cash flow from the asset. They're running a debt service coverage ratio based on the asset. So I quickly realized that so long as I'm bringing on good properties that I've underwritten. Well I've done due diligence with everything with my team. There was no limit to how many I could bring on um and you know obviously there's different phases an investor of ah you know, kind of a. Heavy growth phase and then starting to diversify a little bit more and you want to make sure you know you're doing it in ah in a wise fashion. Ah, but people just aren't thinking big enough.

Jim Harshaw
Huge mindset shift. That's something that for for the listener Michael chandler talked about this huge mindset shift that he had to make going from a small town kid going to the university of Missouri interestingly Matt. Is friends with michael matt and Michael are friends actually actually how Matt and I got connected was through Michael so fascinating to see see people of this this level of thinking connecting I mean this is this is how it works. So.

Matt Onofrio
Michael's awesome. He's in our doing a deal together right now he's He's so cool. He's gonna fly up. We're gonna hang out.

Jim Harshaw
Yeah, that is awesome I'll shoot him a text straight after this and let them know that that we were talking about him. so um so okay that's the third mindset shift. What's the fourth and final 1

Matt Onofrio
Yeah, fourth and final is debt negative to debt positive so in an environment where you know the us government has printed half of the dollars in us circulation in the last eighteen months that means that you're going to have inflation and inflation this year the cpi is going to be at or over six percent meaning but if you can borrow money from a bank at 3 and a half to four and inflation is six percent your cost of capital is almost a net negative number and therefore debt is actually a hedge against inflation. Okay, so a lot of people think well. They just think of debt in this debt dave ramsey approach of I need to pay off my credit cards and buy a house cash and it's like okay well if you saved up. Let's say you're trying to buy a 200 and fifty thousand dollars house. For instance, if you save up that much money which could take a couple decades for some people by that point, the home is now worth you know, 500000 right? So it's that concept of you know, being willing to take debt on appreciating items that's intelligent, really smart debt and and in in this environment savers are losers when you know the dollar was removed off of the gold standard under nixon and Seventy 1 ever since then when the government freely prints money. The rules of the game have changed and you have to think of yourself as a manager of debt not of just trying to avoid it.

Jim Harshaw
And for the listener I want you to go back and listen to this because this is a series of mindset shifts. You know there's the Dave ramsey mindset which is which is smart I mean there's absolutely a lot of wisdom there in terms of like you know, ah getting rid of bad debt. But you know you. Matt you were brought up in that sort of mindset as well. Now you have tens of millions of dollars in debt right? And it's a total a total shift that has to happen there. Um, you talked about vivid vision you and I talked about this before we hit record you talked about the book and the concept tell us about vivid vision.

Matt Onofrio
Yeah, this was a book. Um, actually I heard about it through Brandon turner from the bigger pockets podcast and the book changed my life. Um, basically the premise is that you know most people underestimate. Ah, you know what they can do in 5 years and overestimate what they can do in a year so he sets this 3 year target of this sweet spot of making it be soon enough that you need to run hard at it. Um, you know, but also not ah too. You know not too far away. So um. What I loved about it is it's written in the present tense. So you're you're going to kind of suspend your disbelief if you will and kind of flood your thoughts out, get them on paper most of the time you have all these beliefs you know as children we have these magical beliefs of who we want to be and what we want life to look like and then you have. You know whether it's family or people around you or people online who remove that and and and we internalize some of those those thoughts and so what I recommend that people do is kind of go back to a little bit of a fantasy of like you know for me, it was I wake up in the morning next to the love of my life I've got. You know 3 kids I can hear the waves outside because I've got you know the ocean coming in sunlight coming through the windows you know plants I mean vivid right? like I'm there I can feel it I get up I get my espresso I walk on the beach I hear the I got my golden retriever next to me you know I've got car all those pieces right? So you have to. You have to use all your senses of I see it I hear it I feel you know and and in kind of that you know meditative piece. But anyways, it's written out. It's 1 page. It's short concise in my book I actually have my vivid vision. Ah that I wrote um and I wrote that in December of 2019 and you know 1 of the goals was to own fifty million dollars in real estate and I really didn't know any better I I had heard some other people use that number but that was actually for syndication and I don't I own my portfolio myself, no partners. Um, so I didn't know any better and I accomplished it.

Jim Harshaw
You didn't know any better but for for clarity for everybody listening like he heard this somebody else talking about owning fifty million in real estate and he just thought that the guy was thinking that he wanted to own that when the guy was actually talking about yeah me and my my syndication. Maybe my my company and my group. And Mattsy's like oh sure I'll just I'll adopt that too and and didn't know any better. So.

Matt Onofrio
Yeah, and it happened and rather than 3 years it was in under twelve months. Um, and and you know granted I put a lot of effort in like I'm a very regular person if you meet me I drive a truck.

Jim Harshaw
Yeah, so.

Matt Onofrio
You know, ah currently I still live in 100 and eighty thousand dollars house. Okay, so I'm a very I'm still working on realizing those right? I'm still working through some of the mindset pieces as well. Um, but creating that vision and then you know sharing it with somebody right and and kind of having that accountability piece. And and you know every morning and the more you focus on it your subconscious your reticular activating system goes to work to prove that it's true, right? And it's just like if you're looking for a red car. You're going to see more red cars in the same kind of way you're going to start finding and your brain's just so much more powerful than you'd think you know and I I think that's true of anybody. Um, and you don't have to be smart to do this. In fact, sometimes smarts can get in the way. Um you know and you can hire Mbas or Jds or doctorates. You know you don't have to have them yourself.

Jim Harshaw
I want to get real for a second here Matt you said I'm still working on some of this mindsets to stuff too. Um, you know for a guy who we listened to you're you have 500 or five million dollars of passive income. You've got other active income 1 hundred and 25 million dollar portfolio.

Matt Onofrio
Worth Yeah, not worth.

Jim Harshaw
Or net worth is what was it no portfolio or net worth yeah okay, net worth so in your you've made this huge leap over the past just couple of years. What do you mean? you're still working on the mindset piece.

Matt Onofrio
Well I think it's ah it's about a journey not a destination right? It's about a process not an endpoint and I think that's what I've realized and whether that's even if you start to hit you know financial goals you know for me, there's also fulfillment goals right? There's other There's there's a lot of pieces to life and so. Yeah, people tend to especially as men. You know we tend to value things based on finances but there's a lot of you know that is definitely not you know tony robbins said it. Best success without fulfillment is failure and you know that's 1 of the main reasons that I'm writing this book is. Trying to help other people create financial freedom in their lives and not for the simple fact of having it but what are you going to do with it and like on your tedx video I saw you put up your kids. That's your that's 1 of your whys and I know that without you telling me that right. Um, and so what drives you whether it's kids. Ah you know or faith or community involvement or maybe for you. It's going back in coaching wrestling you know or that kind of a thing of like what's your why and when you can connect with the why it's not just creating a vision but it's having this driver inside of you because you're going to get beat down right? and here we're talking about. Failures I mean I've had a ton of failures and you know I think that ultimately that's what gets you back up. You know when when you fall down.

Jim Harshaw
Um, and so you you addressed it. The question I was gonna ask you nexts next which is yeah why are you not sitting on the beach sipping my ties somewhere you you you're making a ton of money and that's awesome and it's not. It's not just about that right? There's so much more of this.

Matt Onofrio
Absolutely I mean I I think that it's so empty if you arrive at a desk when you arrive at a certain point. Um, it's all about continuing to challenge yourself I think that's 1 of the reasons why I went to a lot of school was hey I want to. You know, hit that next goal hit that next achievement but that can be pushed into other areas of life whether personal or you know, ah faith life those kind of things and I you know I think that for the listener you know 1 of the things that I've adopted you know is james clear book right? of kind of this. Getting 1 percent better. You know the aggregation of marginal gains meaning that you know you don't have to do you don't have to do what I did right? You can just get 1 percent better every day and that's something that everybody can do and can eliminate a lot of the excuses in the limiting beliefs that you tell yourself is you don't have to get 1 hundred percent better right. You know and even in a year just get 1 percent better and stack those things as you build confidence with yourself of I said I was going to go on the diet and I held out or I'm going to get up at this time in the morning or I'm going to avoid my phone for thirty minutes in the morning so I can come in from a creation state instead of a reaction State. You know those kind of things as you even do those little things then as you set bigger and bigger goals. You believe them right? And for me I didn't think that I could manage employees. You know I start ah twelve months ago I didn't have any employees now I have 10 full-time staff and you know for me I'm still doing that right is i'm. You know where I'm putting out to hire some c- levelve executives ceo ceo cfo and you know I didn't think I'd be paying 6 ix-figu salaries. You know to to other people to help me so you know I think that continuing to just always get better every day. Um. Is is very fulfilling and enjoying the journey.

Jim Harshaw
Um, and for the listener who's sitting there saying I can't even wrap my head around saying the like the 50 million dollars goal or thinking that in a couple of years I could have a net worth of 1 hundred and 25 million if that's like if that's too much for you to wrap your head around. That's okay, like what if it's just half that or ten percent of that or something that's totally different that is something that you actually care about that is more meaningful to you like pick that and and don't measure yourself against Matt because there are a lot of other people who are in amazing places in their lives that that took much long I'm 1 of them I visualized for years. Quitting my job and doing what I get to do what I get to do now like living out my dream and I failed and I failed again and I failed again like I set the goal for when I was 40 years or when I turned forty turned forty didn't happen set the goal again forty 1 I'm out of here I'm quit. Um this is it forty 1 came and went didn't happen forty 2 came and went didn't happen forty 3 finally in my forty third year you know I finally did. But so so you don't measure yourself against you measure yourself against you and and the effort that you're putting in and I say the effort Matt it's like you put effort into. Creating your vivid vision. That's a weird thing like who does that that's like nobody does like like well mad does that I did that I didn't do the vivid vision but I had my own way of doing it that I learned and it and it came true like you have to put the work into these things and then whatever you do. Matt I don't know about you. You tell me what you think but like I feel like whenever you put the work into the mindset stuff. The the Ninety hour weeks which you talked about and by the way for the listener like this isn't a get rich quick thing and easy press a button like Matt worked really hard for this. But.

Matt Onofrio
Um.

Jim Harshaw
But the hard work becomes inspired action. It's not like you're out digging ditches every day you're doing this because you have a vision that you're you're chasing and and it's exciting and fulfilling and the hard work becomes. Yeah, it's still hard but it's it's like inspired action. Am I right is that is that how you feel about it.

Matt Onofrio
Yeah, you know, ah grant kurone says it this way right? He wrote the book called be obsessed or be average and usually you think about obsession as a negative in a negative connotation but when you create these goals and dreams for yourself and you can become obsessed with them. You know it pulls you it pulls you to them so you know other things in life whether you're thinking about Netflix am I going to read a book and write my vivid vision or am I going to go watch Netflix or you know reality tv or am I going to just watch endless sports on Sunday or those little things right? Those little pockets. That's where that's you know it's about separation rather than settling and so you know as you go to make those decisions I mean that's what it was for me. Um, dude I totally forgot the question. What was your question.

Jim Harshaw
Um, when you do the visualize and and Michael you can edit this out by the way if you need to splae this together. But when you when you do the visualization work the the actual work becomes easier becomes like an inspired action because you're chasing your vision your dream.

Matt Onofrio
Oh right? right? right? Um, yeah, so for for me I'm all I'm always focused on I don't want to get distracted by other things right? Most people think about it in reverse they're like. Well, you know I've got my regular life going. So my dreams are distracting me right? if I'm going to work a side hustle or you know do these other things that all my other friends aren't doing that's almost to just and I would like to flip it and say hey. I don't want to get distracted by some of those other things and and that's going to make me look different than other people I grew up homeschooled right? and I was used to teaching myself and used to kind of working on to the you know tune of my own drum and to beat them my own drum and. You know I think that that's what I want other people to think about is like hey you have your own unique path your own unique way of getting there and there isn't a right or wrong way my way was my way but you could do this in in a lot of different asset classes. You can do this in business. In fact, you know businesses you know, arguably? Ah, ah. Ah, better way to do it even you know if you can find a passion that you really want to do so you know for me, it's not ah I'm not pushing I'm getting pulled to it I'm getting drawn to it and I think that when you live in the law of attraction and energy. You have this frequency if it's like the radio of like. You know, okay, country. Whatever you know it's just I'm going to turn to the tune of hey we're doing dreams and and that's going to happen and it's that easy. It's like I'm going to make a right or a left turn I'm it's it's instantaneous and and alignment can happen that way a lot of people think well I got to go through all this work and do all this. It's a decision and once you make the decision. The plan shows up right? It's like you know when the student is Ready. You know the teacher appears kind of a concept and that's what it's happened for me of I'm going to commit that I'm going to do this and then you know whether it's a faith thing or you know the universe thing it's going to bring it to me right. I think that that that's really how things have happened for me.

Jim Harshaw
Matt I got a question for you on that and I don't expect you to have a prepared answer for this I'm a man of faith as I know you are christian um I also believe in law of attraction and when you put things out there. They come back.

Matt Onofrio
I For the video the trans.

Jim Harshaw
How do you feel like are those 2 different things are they the same thing like how do you wrap your head around that and I know Michael chandler's the same way I mean he he believes in in having a vision and in law of attraction and he's obviously a man of a very strong faith I mean how do you? How do you connect the dots there I know how do I'm curious about you.

Matt Onofrio
Are.

Matt Onofrio
Yeah I yeah, you know it was a disconnect for a long time and in fact, that was very difficult for me, but you know because I grew up my parents were Missionaries and I lived in Mexico city from age 11 to 16 and you know i. You know the love of money is the root of all evil or you know money doesn't grow on trees or a penny saved as a penny earned a lot. You know I have this in my book and you know really I came down to well wait. Ah, you know what about a parable of the talents and you know of there's actually a parable or a story. Someone who was given money and didn't invest it and then 1 that made tenfold and you know so I quickly learned that you know I'm responsible for what I'm given and what if god wants me to be the best at my craft and and I started to retrain that with hey. What if god's given me this to bless other people or to make change in the world and retrain some of those thoughts to be hey riches are in the niches or what you know whenever you're going to eliminate a thought insert a thought too right? You can't just take something out and leave a void. So it's about what are you putting in you know and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and so whether that's spiritual thing whether that's you know, ah, investing that type of material is what are you putting in and you know I would really encourage you to to listen to this kind of a podcast and to. To really feed yourself. Um with that so that you know it's just a habit and and you know you can whether it's mastermind I'm in multiple mastermind groups. Um I'm in abundance I'm in Tiger Twenty one um looking at joining r 3 sixty so I'm in a lot of groups where. I'm turning the temperature up in my life of hey my if my thermostats at 1 hundred degrees if my normal seventy I'm going to get pulled up to that and so I think that they're not ah, they're not mutually exclusive at all. In fact, I feel. The most aligned that I ever have been in terms of you know, faith and calling and you know 1 of the things that's really helped me is you know god doesn't call you know, call the qualified but he qualifies the called meaning that you don't have to have all the answers right now like you need to commit.

Jim Harshaw
And.

Matt Onofrio
To making these life changes and you need to commit to creating this vision for you. Whatever that is and you're going to get it along the way right? And so um, that's the biggest thing is a lot of people don't take action and I think the biggest thing is how do you flood with certainty and then take that massive action and that's what it's been for me of. You know I don't have all the right answers I Still don't have all the right answers but I'm definitely going to make some decisions and ah fail forward.

Jim Harshaw
Yeah, and we're going to talk about failure in just a second but add to what you said there Matt 1 of the verses in the bible bible that that helps me connect the dots between law of attraction and sort of the energy and universe thing and and faith is. Mark Eleven twenty 2 says this I'm going to read. Um I just I have it in front of me and we'll put this in the action plan for for the listeners jimharsherjur dot com slash action to get this. It says have faith in god Jesus answered truly I tell you if anyone says to this mountain. Go throw yourself into the sea and does not doubt in their heart. But believes that what they say will happen. It will be done for them therefore I tell you whatever you ask for in prayer. Believe that you have received it and it will be yours so some food for thought there to connect the dots.

Matt Onofrio
Yeah, and I think in addition to you know I think that faith and Belief is a big thing and also if you can get a mentor some maybe somebody like yourself for these people that are coaching with you who you can instill belief in them. You know 1 of the great leadership qualities is. Kind of being able to transfer energy and belief right? And that's something that I'm trying to do with my employees is like how can I build a vision so big that they fit into the vision and then I can communicate and transfer energy belief and skillsets to them which is not something that I had to do prior kind of coming out of that es quadrant of. I'm a self-employed person you know and usually those people are micromanages you know usually the people who are highly trained are just like let me just do it myself. So 1 of the biggest things that I've learned is how can I how can I you know my mentor always believed in me and when i. My mentor and then also my accountant I came into my accountant's office like a year and a half ago and I was like hey I'm going to be retired by age forty and he's like yeah you probably are he just like kind of saw it and he believed in me right? and I've had those people and that's what I I really want this book to be for people. You know this concept of like hey there's something greater in you and I believe in you and try to call that out of the person and be like you know I had somebody be like hey I I see favor in your life right? and when you have somebody that. Looks you in the eye and believes that and and especially when you respect them or especially in that 1 area where you're trying to become whether it's financial business relationship if when they tell it to you. It sticks more and it means more. Um, so absolutely agree.

Jim Harshaw
So let's talk about failure because your story goes from like you go from like zero to 60 in in like 2 seconds right? 2 years you go from you know, eighty thousand dollars living in your grandparents basement to 1 hundred and 25 million dollars net worth. Was there failure along the way I mean is failure part of this because it certainly doesn't say like from the outside looking in it looks like Matt is batting a thousand. There's been zero failures along the way pull back the curtain on that for us.

Matt Onofrio
Absolutely not? Yeah I I really struggled finding what I wanted to do um I have credits from 10 different colleges I had to fund 2 hundred and 50000 dollars for my college and I did it largely based on scholarships. I was applying for scholarship I had to crochet a blanket once to try to get a scholarship I actually didn't get the scholarship but I did crochet a thick foot for blanket because I knew you know I wanted to cover me but like stupid stuff like that right I worked as a I did mechanic stuff I worked as an emt. I'm a paramedic I was a firefighter working 24 hour shifts in the weekends I went to nursing school I got an accelerated bsn in fifteen months I did my paramedic program in Nine months um and then I went and did a 5 ive-year doctorate. You know at mayo clinic a thousand cases in mayo operating rooms. Um, you know so. Definitely a lot of jumping around. Um you know I faced a lot of stuff I remember ah you know getting mono and almost having to drop out of school. Um I yeah I I was engaged at 1 point and my engagement didn't work out. You know so I've had some major you know, major failures. Um, but you know I think that life happens for us and not to us and it's it's not it will happen to you but it's how do you get back up and how quickly do you get back up and that's really been the biggest thing for me is you know in medicine it was always about perfection and that was the standard like. Okay, if we mess up here. The person dies on the table. You know, um because I you know I worked in icu as a nurse I worked in a cardiac surgery intensive care unit at mayo and then you know ultimately went on to to do anesthesia but you know in business. It's kind of the opposite right? and like you know I you build up. Failures on smaller things you know and you have a team that helps you like my mentors are all in their seventy s so I have decades of experience. You know, coming along to help with those but you know definitely definitely have had setbacks and failures and you know I think that. Growing a business which is kind of what I'm doing now definitely have that as well. You know as you're kind of working on your organizational chart and how are we going to handle employees and you know how are you going to move these people. You know? So absolutely I think that failure. Um. I want more of it in my life. Even though it's a painful thing to say but whenever I see more of that I'm going to see more growth and I had a financial planner and analogies like whenever you you have a liquidity to your net worth ratio and he's like when you have higher liquidity you're going to see higher growth.

Matt Onofrio
And they can like look at that indicator just like a physician can look at you and tell you you know what your diagnosis is and you know if you if I can look at you and see that you're having failure but you're continually getting back up and you're going quicker. You know Chandler would say it this way he would say it's not about the winds or losses right? That's what he always says um, but it's he's how did I make the person feel. How? how did you know when they're watching the ufc fight. How how did they feel or for me, it's like you know whether it's employees or investors. How am I making those people feel how am I making the listener feel and that's what somebody's going to remember not as much the outcome but it's those lead measures and am I tracking my lead measures.

Jim Harshaw
So we've talked a lot about you making all this money and being really successful financially here the past couple years in triple net investing for the person whose interest is picked what is triple net investing.

Matt Onofrio
Yeah, so triple net investing has historically been you know ah older white haired guys that own these assets or institutions reads family offices funds. Um, but you know what I've been helping people do with this book is break down that barrier to entry. And a triple net lease would be when you go to get your groceries somebody owns the grocery store you know Amazon they own the buildings that they distribute you know run distribution out of somebody owns those buildings when you go to walgreens those kind of things so a triple net lease means that you get base rent. And you also get cam or common area maintenance budget. So the tenant the beauty of it is. It's super passive and scalable because the tenant pays for their own taxes their own insurance their own property management you're going to get you can do the you know you can do the math for these in the back of a napkin and your andi the money coming in the direct deposit from the tenant. Minus your debt service is what you keep and so it's very easy to determine and and and they're they're safe assets. You know, depending making sure you're doing your underwriting well and everything so you know, um, for instance I own a Fedex distribution facility. Um, and in rochester minnesota and you know it's a great asset. Um, they distribute all the covid vaccines out of there every unit of blood that goes in and out of Mayo clinic goes through my building and it's right on the tarmac on the runway. The planes come in 52 trucks go out the other side to to deliver. So um, you know my tenant is Fedex and I'd definitely you know rather have them than a section 8 tenant in the house right? or running a duplex or. You know, having those kind of problems. So ah banks also like them. They're willing to lend a lot more money and ah you know I I just want to get a bunch of tenants paying down principle on loans for me growing my net worth right.

Jim Harshaw
For the listener who is has bought into the concept whether it's triple net investing whether it's the mindset stuff that we talked about what's an action item that you can recommend Matt what's a next step something they can do in the next say 24 to forty 8 hours to. Start moving towards living more like you.

Matt Onofrio
Absolutely I would definitely have them buy cameron harold's book vivid vision start creating a vivid vision. Um, they can my book will be coming out probably around summertime. They can go to mattonafreo dot com and and get that preordered. Um you know which I think can help them. But I think that. Really spending some time with yourself and creating some self-awareness what do I really want and why do I really want it and how am I going to get it. So I think doing that and then I also think most people who are really serious about it can use a performance coach. Maybe so you know they can reach out to you. And ah have somebody who's who's been there who's who knows how to be successful. Get you there and a good coach. What they're going to do is they're going to turn decades into days. They're going to. They're going to shorten that timeline of learning curve and that's what it's been for me right finding a mentor and you can't go out and just say hey will you be my mentor. They're going to probably be like. You creeping me out like go away, you know, but like trying to figure out how you can add value to somebody and maybe starting. Maybe it's you know, paying a coach but it may be maybe you're at a place where you you can go buy a building or something like that people can reach out I help people get buildings all the time you know this year we've transacted you know about 500 million in commercial real estate. So my team helps people with that but it could be anything if in real estate if you want to start smaller starting in single-family homes is a great way to do it to just get your feet wet. Um, you know it's lower down payments. You can use owner occupant financing sometimes to get those lower down payments or. You know there's different ways to structure it right? and and that's what I would say to the to the listeners. My first deal was a 7 tenant strip mall I was 2 point 2 wo five million and this was my first commercial deal prior to that I did some apartments and single families which weren't scalable but that first deal I got 80 percent from the bank fifteen percent from the seller and five percent was private money meaning I brought zero dollars to the first deal and in 5 months I sold it and made 500 and forty thousand dollars and then obviously went on to do that multiple times. So the answer you know, real estate is kind of like a triangle and this is something Brandon teaches. It's knowledge. Hustle and money and you have to bring 2 sides to the triangle right? So figure out which side if you want to do real estate. You got to figure out which sides you're going to bring. Do you have money and and knowledge and and you don't want to you know run as hard and you can invest in triple net passively or you know which so I think that that's an important piece to look at your specific situation and say. What's my unfair advantage. What what do I have and for some people it may be a really high income and maybe you know a spouse you know can figure out how to qualify for for real estate professional and you can stop paying taxes um or defer them I guess would be the better term but you know I I think that um.

Matt Onofrio
Education and knowledge is is 1 of the biggest assets so I would say starting to read books listen to podcasts those kind of things are great. First places to start.

Jim Harshaw
Excellent and for the listeners you know where to get this. You got the the vivid book and then you got Matt's book and we'll have Matt's link to his website there in the action plan. We'll have the link to the vivid. Ah the vivid vision book in the action plan as well to go to just go to Jimharsherjoer dot com slash action. Matt man this is a wealth of knowledge I hope the listeners go back and listen to this 2 or 3 times this was incredible. Thank you.

Matt Onofrio
Thank you! Absolutely thank you so much for having me on him.

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