And I suppose if I had enough people saying, Yeah, Josh, you should do it, for sure, I might jump at it. Weve cut down on meat, and work hard to avoid the tempting desserts and snacks I used to be addicted to. And inevitably, you know, I really struggled through those difficult times. And, you know, Ive, you know, when I get back into it, you know, occasionally I give it a kick start. It is big enough that youre not doing everything, but small enough that you can still get your hands dirty when you want. You know, we were living pretty tight on what we were making, where we were, as you know, Denvers not inexpensive. This caused a shift in Joshua's reality, so he dropped everything. I bought a bunch of property as a result of my brother encouraging me to do so, and you know, I thought I was a smart guy. You know, dont keep doing things that keep you super stressed out. I kept this pace up for over 8 years . 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. So Ive got a book journal where Ive literally broken my life down into segments, physical fitness, health, I separate them, physical fitness and health, business and work, wife and love, my kids and you know, some people may put faith in there, whatever it is. I could still make things out, but barely. 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. The impact of the site, the podcasts, the dozens of books, the videos cant be measured in KPIs alone, but must be measured by lives changed for the better.As a result, BiggerPockets helped transform an industry. But Im not currently on it. I easily felt better. Dan Daugherty: Yeah, I mean, lets start from the very beginning. 04 Mar 2023 02:14:54 The podcast has almost 250 episodes and the blog features more than 8,100 articles.\r\r In today's episode, I have a heart-to-heart with BiggerPockets founder Joshua Dorkin about the blood, sweat and tears that's required to start a successful online business. 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. And I was helping other people get rich, and I was broke.\"\r\r Dorkin spent the next 8 years working mostly as a one-man operation as he tried to monetize a fledgling website.\r\r \"We were struggling and scrapping by on every AdSense check that we could collect,\" Dorkin says. 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. We were all about trying to help people build wealth, learn how to build wealth through real estate investing. 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 mean, you know, super, super stressful periods. And then I start knocking them out, hey, I got to get, you know, Ive been eating like crap, Im, you know, 20 pounds overweight, cool. Why I left BiggerPockets is a little more complicated. $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ? As a father, this is what Im excited to see happen for my kids soon, and as an entrepreneur, I cant imagine being more proud than building something amazing that can live on beyond me like BiggerPockets has done. Shipping rates vary depending on location. But, you know, I didnt do a lot of that, you know, I didnt want to share my feelings necessarily in those early years, because I thought it was a sign of weakness. You know, I want to learn how to be happy. The couple also has a son named Wilder. I still get a lot of my great information from the community and the network. I mean, whatever it is. Where previously competitors were weary of one another, we helped people learn that coopetition was a better model - one where people could compete AND cooperate for mutual benefit. Absolutely. There were books, but like, you know, the books were pretty general, they didnt really say, what do you do when your tenant is stealing electricity from the building next door? 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. So what I started doing, I was spending hours and hours on the phone every day, constantly and thats part of my job, right? FHA Guidelines: How to Qualify for a 3.5% Down Loan . But he came in and was instrumental to advancing the business. 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. Just Released: Two NEW BiggerPockets Books to Help You Build Wealth Through Rental Investing . Today, BiggerPockets has grown to more than 870,000 members. I LOVED the first few years of hiring and scaling. And so I think that mindset is exceptionally important. All rights reserved. And in that time, I realized that I wasnt as happy as I wanted to be running the business. Dan Daugherty: Well said. Im your host, Dan Daugherty and today I have a good friend, Josh Dorkin, who is the founder and former CEO of Bigger Pockets. With over 100 million prime members, theres about a 1 in 3 chance you are one and if you are, theres a close to 50% change youre shopping there once a week. 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. Sign up today! I realized that like, thats not healthy, you know, its healthy to be balanced, its healthy to spend time with downtime and so, you know, tried to create operating manuals around that, you know, eventually that became like, my Wednesdays, you know, in the year, call it year and a half leading to the exit, my Wednesdays, I didnt go into work. He was the longtime co-host of The BiggerPockets Podcast, and he's the author of seven books that have sold more than a million copies combined. All rights reserved. But yeah, what else you got? 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? So the operating manual was how do I go from unhappy to happy. I wish it would touch more on farmland and syndications a little more but those could be considered more niches. Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh. Today, I think its a sign of necessity and strength, to be self-aware enough to know. Leaving BiggerPockets was very difficult - probably similar to sending your child off to college, but I did so both because it is was I had to do, but also because it was what was best for the company. ). Originally from the Bay Area in California, she studied photojournalism at San . Suite 675 It's time to start doing And this book will show you exactly where to start! And lifes too short, man. 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. He was wrong. Josh tells his story of wanting to quit, having 3 nervous breakdowns, and eventually selling to a private equity company. And but yeah, thats what Ive been up to. Last month I had the opportunity to speak at the Denver Founders event for Colorado entrepreneurs and had a fantastic Q&A with my friend Chris Franks. Many of you know how I worked almost 8 years without taking a single day off because of this mentality . 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. I mean, I literally started this company with the, you know, like 12 bucks a month that it cost me to host and the whatever four or five bucks it cost to register the domain name back then, and that was it. Theres a lot of, you know, Colorado just, you know, still a lot of chaos. Not the way I wanted to spend my Saturday . vMs=+C>xZ_/>iZg>XA~! And if you want to grow and thrive, you have to become seriously adept at it. A life-long adventurer, Brandon (along with his wife and daughter) splits his time between his home in Hawaii and various other destinations around the globe. And for me in that period, you know, when I realized I wanted to be healthier for example, and by the way, I didnt have to lose weight. I hope to share that journey with you all via this blog, and perhaps through other forms like video or a podcast. I was making money. Dan Daugherty: Ah, I love that. 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. I didnt do a lot of that, you know, I didnt want to share my feelings necessarily, in those early years, because I thought it was a sign of weakness. Where am I good in each of these things? Many of you already know my story, but it is always a privilege to have the opportunity to share it with other entrepreneurs in person, at events, and of course, via podcast conversations. And Im excited to have you on board to really tell the story of how you went from zero to an exit without ever raising a single dime of outside capital. And what happens inevitably, and I think you and Ive seen this countless times, you know, you raise the money, and now you have bosses and those bosses are telling you how to run the business and now you dont get to run the business the way that you actually thought you were going to run the business, because you have bosses and youre not working for yourself anymore. But I got to this point where Id just run myself ragged, really, you know, stupidly worked way, way, way, way too hard. Dan Daugherty: And you have that almost daily and you have to have that type of growth mindset. Is this going to be, is this the prelude to a book? Of course, it took many more months of work and ultimately several years for her to get back to 100%, but with time, energy, an amazing team, and unlimited love, she has since fully recovered from the incident. I got through it, thank goodness, and, again, it was another one of those moments for us where were like, you know, what are we doing? Many avid members of the BiggerPockets forum, listeners to the podcast, or readers of our articles may know our founder, Joshua Dorkin. But I look at the cycle as a multi stage cycle. serendipitous mindset, but you also need to understand who you are. Horrifyingly scary, where I was in my, in the office and I broke down and just I was in tears. Joshua, along with his wife and three daughters, make their home in Denver, Colorado, and spend any time they can traveling, exploring, and adventuring. Is that a good statement to say? Dan Daugherty: Yeah, theres no shortage of chaos in the startup world and those that cannot adapt to change will inevitably fail and close shop. Josh Dorkin: No, thanks, man, I appreciate it. So I hired a consultant and he came in and we looked over the business. The days of building product, building community, marketing, growth hacking and being creative were replaced with days managing people. But thats OK. Hes still well on his way to becoming a mogul just less Donald Trump and more Rupert Murdoch. I need to move more, cool. Josh Dorkin: Absolutely. And hopefully, you know, hopefully, somebody listening takes something away from it, I, you know, entrepreneurship is challenging, its really, its really, really tough. The book teaches readers how to limit spending while increasing income by using techniques like house hacking: buying a multifamily property, such as a duplex, and living in one unit while renting out the other(s). But, you know, if anybody who tries to grasp these things, theyre so big and scary, well then break it down into little steps. 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. Shopping these days is just a little less fun. We launched a book business. He later transitioned to building a team, starting with the BiggerPocket Podcasts very own host, Brandon Turner.This later snowballed into more hirings, with the BiggerPockets growing faster and faster, and being able to scale larger and larger. We had kids at that point. Well, the reality is, we are all running out of time. When the time came to pick out the shower, I realized that there werent any that matched the size we needed. Maybe not crazier than moving to California to dive deeper into the entertainment business, but I digressWhile I struggled for quite a long time before the business really took off, I was able to live my life on my own terms. 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. 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. No, very few people do exactly what you just said and thats actually something that I do as well, I break it out. After spending an amazing day with my girls, out of the blue one of my eyes went blurry. Joshua Dorkin is the founder of BiggerPockets, as well as a serial entrepreneur, investor, podcaster, publisher, and educator. This caused a shift in Joshua's reality, so. So, in 2004, Dorkin launched BiggerPockets, a website for real estate investors to ask and answer each others questionslike a Reddit for property owners. And I did it without freaking out or getting stressed because doing so doesnt help. . Dont get me wrong - I used to stress about EVERYTHING. \"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. All that really matters is our families, our health, and our happiness. This was not like, something that everybodys like, Oh, this is going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. You know, with. I didnt, you know, if there was emergencies, youd deal with it, but like, that was it, that was what that day was about. You know, we are not residents yet, you know, were doing our trial balloon now so to speak. . Proud parenting moment: Tonight while eating dinner, my daughter started to sing Freewill by @rushtheband and followed it up with her rendition of The Trees. That's 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. I think its one of the top hundred podcasts in the world, give or take. Because, man 2020, nobody feels good anymore, man, we dont feel good anymore. 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. And lets dive in. As I sat there trying to relax, things didnt improve and I knew I needed to go in. As Founder and CEO of BiggerPockets, I created the vision and strategy for the business and bootstrapped the company until . |8{'t o`7p\2K`0rS%O|>. Z|\ ~kqCi\hPmskwJLP5|/(X.T \"The business really wasn't making serious money for probably getting close to a decade.\"\r\r The story has a happy ending. He tried to solve his problems by reading real estate how-to manuals, but they made no mention of the real-life issues landlords facelike what to do when someone cuts a three-foot hole in the kitchen floor. And then I go through and Im like, all right, where am I crappy in each one of these things? You know, I felt like, something needed to change for me personally. Joshua Dorkin is a serial entrepreneur, investor, podcaster, publisher, and educator. Accept the New Rules of Life or Suffer in Misery. But, fast forward to where we are today and shes fully physically functional. I dont wish it on anyone to go through what we all went through, but it gave me the time to really think about life. Star Wars: Thrawn Trilogy And instead of working on the business, I was working in the business exclusively. You know, thats, surprisingly a significant boost to your health. I was making money, but I was still ready, you know, that desperate to just get out. Standard economy shipping is always FREE, but you can upgrade if you'd like to receive your book faster. So, I looked at our total budget for the project, made some adjustments, grabbed some floor and wall tile for the newly conceptualized (on the fly in my head) shower and went on my way. Its fantastic. And so we said, hey. Today, BiggerPockets boasts more than 725,000 members, produces the top-rated real estate podcast on iTunes, and last year raked in $7 million in revenue through advertising, premium memberships, and partnerships with companies like credit-rating agency TransUnion. After coming up short, Joshua decided to take matters into his own hands and start his own website. As the message board gained a following, Dorkin quit his teaching job, moved to Denver (for quality of life reasons), and focused on the website full time. It was a hard decision for Joshua to leave, but thanks to his amazing team, he was able to (even during a time of tribulation in his personal life). 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. Josh Dorkin: Man, so Ive started and stopped the book probably 50 times. 40.3K subscribers Thirteen years ago, Joshua Dorkin's friends teased him about starting a website that seemed to have no future. You know, you can work remote, you can do everything remote these days. And so, back in 04 I was living in Los Angeles, I was teaching special ED high school. Was it 2009? Keep in mind that full time in this case means 80-100 hours a week, with no days off, no vacations, no respit. And not difficult. Let me know what you think and please share this if you find it valuable! I learned to stop being a cadet and start being a general.', 'life is too short to be stuck in a job you hate. . . What is a VA Loan and Why Should I Consider Using One? On show 313 of the BiggerPockets Podcast, we interviewed Jesse Itzler and what most struck me was our conversation about how short and precious life really is. What do I do? Knowing it wouldnt be wise to drive, I called 911 and a full squad of firemen and paramedics came to visit. And I mean, even when Brandon was hired, it sounds like you were able to take a step back, look at a much bigger strategic view from a business perspective that accelerated growth. What are you waiting for? Once I realized this, I instantly knew what I had to do. It was a very unpleasant experience, very scary again, you know, I was fairly uncertain I would get through it. Instead, it dives into dozens of unique, life-changing quests and is packed with more than forty real-life stories of how real estate investors are finding success in todays economy. Doing so otherwise would leave me a nervous wreck. You know, I didnt know if I needed to take an ambulance to the hospital. On October 28, 2015, the couple released a book named "The Book on Managing Rental Properties." Children In May 2016, they welcomed a daughter, named Rosie. And everybodys at each others throats and stressed and tense. But, yeah, no, its been a very, very long journey. I know far too many people who live the non-stop life and many, if not most, are unhappy. hbbd`b`ab`gb`\ '11d; Z endstream endobj startxref 0 %%EOF 101 0 obj <>stream Wed launched the publishing business, I mean, you know, the company grew and grew, he will allowed me to think about the business from a holistic standpoint, strategic, and over time, we grew, we scaled, we hired dozens of people. I had never, I hadnt invested another penny in. It is always interesting to see what kind of things come up when you search for yourself online. 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 Start shopping! Rethinking my decision to leave Wordpress. Stop making excuses and focus on those things as your priority because in an instant it can all be over. JoshuaDorkin.com linktr.ee/jrdorkin Posts Reels Videos Tagged Show More Posts from jrdorkin I cant really describe in words what everything looked like, but it didnt feel right. These facts can either break you or teach you that you simply have no control of things beyond yourself. So I read about happiness, right? And I ran across a blog, and they talked about they called it serendipitous mindset, where you leave your mind open and as you see these different things that happen to you serendipitously, whether its the people that you have met five years ago, just like how you and I met many, many years back. You know, we cant ignore SEO, we cant ignore these things. Im on the board. He started BiggerPockets to help democratize the real estate investing landscape for himself and others, aiming to make it . And in that stage, I moved to. It was just another thing I needed to do. But the problem is, none of this goes away. They live in Grays Harbor, Wash. Dan Daugherty: Thats right. They checked my blood, my heart, my eyes, and did a CT with contrast of my head and neck to check my brain and blood vessels. In my case, the two things most searched are my net worth and why I left BiggerPockets. Over the months and months that I spent caring for her, I had something I had never previously had in my adult life - time. I had a budget and time crunch, and was not going to be able to get what I needed on budget or in time. Right? Sitting alone in my hospital bed, all I could think about was my girls, Julie, and the rest of my family . . So, I thought there had to be a better way. For two years I taught and in my free time I coded and built this budding hobby into something that trickled in tiny advertising checks. You know, we started producing video, we created podcasts, we created books, you know, we wanted to be where the listeners and viewers were versus thinking, hey, theyre going to come to us. What lessons did he learn along the way? And so, for example, one of the core values of Bigger Pockets is family above all else. Like, dont do, keep doing things that make you miserable. But time and life experience has taught me that doing so only makes my health, relationships, and happiness far worse. Heres your host, Dan Daugherty. There had been ups, there had been downs. The two of them promised me that they would take care of the company in my absense and they certainly did that and I am of course, eternally grateful. 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. Make sure youre doing everything you can to live your best life. I you know, I think another way of saying is, you know, putting yourself in a position to dot dot dot. Just work, keep working, be dynamic, pivot and you know, a lot of luck out there. 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. Its, instead of drinking soda and orange juice, and, you know, coffees and energy drinks, Im just going to drink water, because water is healthy, water cleanses you, water does this, you know, thats not that big a step. I dont know, you know, I certainly have my own unique and distinct perspective, like anyone else. JOSH DORKIN: But it gave me the time to really think about life. Every purchase comes with free bonus content: How to Invest in Real Estatewill catapult you 510 years ahead of where you are now. Like dont keep doing things that make you miserable. And so thinking about the things you go through, look, we all go through good stuff and we all go through bad stuff. They suspected some kind of migraine, and cleared me of all the really scary stuff. What's my secret? 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. Six years later and a full eight years after I founded the company, I hired my first full-time employee, Brandon Turner, who helped me create our podcast and was crucial in the next stage of growth of the business from lifestyle business to full fledged company.