Welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable
Connections. I'm your host, Michael Foreman,
and this is the show where relationships meet
real results. Today's guest works at the intersection
of money, housing, and long -term security. We're
talking about solving the affordable crisis,
building wealth through hands -off real estate,
and creating a future where retirement comes
sooner. without cutting back the life you've
worked so hard to build. This conversation goes
beyond property and numbers. It's about access,
trust, and the right relationships that open
doors most people never see. If you care about
freedom, stability, and making smart moves with
the right people around you, you're in the right
place. I'd like to welcome to the podcast today,
Dustin. He has an incredible background. Would
you mind just telling my audience who you are,
how you got here today, and that's how we're
going to start. Hey, thanks for having me, Michael.
Yeah, my name is Dustin Hendrickson. I am the
founder of Mailbox Money Real Estate, and we
raise private equity to develop multifamily housing,
workforce housing for professionals. And I've
been doing it since 2003. My mom wanted to build
a duplex. And so we started, that's how I started.
And then I slowly scaled up. But in about 2018,
2017, 2018, we started flatlining on our growth
or on our profitability. Actually, we felt that
we were still growing, but we were not as profitable
or just flat on profits, even though we were
busier than we ever had been. And that was actually
because of a lack of connections. So we discovered
syndication, the LPGP structure, and it was all
about networking and connections. And from there,
we started networking more. I met another partner
that taught me how to do the syndication process
in Nashville at a networking conference all about
syndication. And yeah, from there, from all the
connections we started building and the networking,
we started being able to scale and expand. Great.
That's great. So you found out that I feel that
networking is the lifeblood of business. And
we can't seem to get away from that. All the
AI talk and everything else, it's the person
-to -person networking. Okay, so let's do this
by the numbers. When it comes to real estate
and housing solutions, how often does success
come down to you when it comes down to who you
know before what you know? 99 % of the time.
Yeah. You want to expand a little bit on that?
Yeah. So in our business, it's all about buying
land. So we have to first purchase the land.
Then we have to raise the money from... a bunch
of investors and we have to know bankers and
each each person that we meet it's about trust
if the land owner doesn't trust you to close
on the land they're not even going to talk to
you they're they might talk to you but they're
not going to take you seriously so that you have
to build a relationship with them they have to
trust you then you go talk to the bankers the
bankers obviously have to trust you and the more
bankers that you know the better it is because
the better terms you'll get and then The investors,
it's 100 % trust. Most investors don't even really
look or study the deal. They more, they like
the location and then they like you. So the trust
that you build with the investors is extremely
important. And then you have to have partners
and employees that also you have good relationships
with that work with you to do all the. to get
all the details done so every single aspect of
it is relationship based and the higher up you
go the more relationship based it is the less
about the work the less about doing the work
and the more about who you know yeah i i go all
over the country and i teach workshops and i
do breakout sessions keynotes and things like
that and i have a hard time telling the 20 -somethings
and 30 -somethings about networking, about the
person -to -person, because they're always behind
a computer screen or their cell phones. They
forgot or they were never taught how to network
and how important it truly is. Yeah, so maybe
one way that you could break through that cycle
with a young crowd is to let them know if...
AI can take your job, which if you're working
behind a computer or a phone or just doing the
work, AI can take your job. If AI can take your
job, your security is not really there. So your
security comes from all the relationships you
build and being able to get something done through
those relationships and not actually doing the
work. So that's really how you scale up. And
AI can never take my job. I've tried to have
AI help me, and AI does not help me. It tells
me to get some of the little tasks done, but
it cannot do what I do. No, I use AI as a tool,
and that's all. Because you don't have the emotional
support when you use AI. It takes all that out
of it. So you have to bring the human element
into it. fix that, AI really isn't going to replace
what I do, but I use it as a tool. Yes. The affordable
housing crisis isn't something one person fixes
alone. What types of relationships have mattered
most in making real progress here? Relationships
with the municipalities. So if you can convince
a municipality that you have the solution. for
their problem what we find is that most cities
that's the top three on their problems top three
issues is affordable housing sometimes it's number
one sometimes it's two sometimes it's three but
it's always in the top three no matter where
you go and if affordable housing is not an issue
that means they got way more issues to deal with
but yeah affordable housing is almost always
top three everywhere we go and if it's not top
three then that's a really good community and
they've got everything figured out, which is
very rare. Very rare. Real estate investing involves
large financial commitments. Does trust get built
inside investor networks and how do you spot
it early? Yeah, it's all about trust. Investors,
if they don't trust you, they will not invest.
It's way too much money. There's way too much
money at play for there not to be trust there.
So, and then how do you, how does that come into,
what'd you say about it? Or how does it come
in early? Yeah. How do you spot it early? I don't
know. How do you spot trust early? I don't know.
There's a mantra in networking. I don't mean
to, but there's a mantra in networking. It's
if they know you, if they like you, if they trust
you, then they'll do business with you. And to
know you, you know everybody. So that's not a
problem. But like you, that narrows the scope
down just a bit. Because listen, as good as you
and I are, everybody isn't going to like us.
But then you get to the trust factor. And the
trust factor is so important that nothing can
be built if you don't go past that point. And
it really I find it just takes experience to
you can see if somebody is truly telling you
the truth or if he's just that good of a con
artist. You've got it. You spot that early because
you can tell whether somebody is not right. Yeah,
I guess. So when I it's easier for me to see
if someone is trustworthy than to see if. than
for me to notice if they trust me. Probably if
they take your advice, if they want to get on
the phone with you, those things. Maybe that's
just a like though. Maybe that's when they like
you and they're answering your phone call. I
know as soon as they invest with you, they trust
you. That's for sure. I think they really don't
have a choice, yeah? Because they've given you
the money and so they have to put some sort of
trust in what you're doing. Yeah. Okay, so. Many
people want hands -off real estate opportunities,
but never see them. How does being in the right
circles change what opinions, I'm sorry, change
what options even become visible? Knowing all
the right people will put you in front of all
the opportunities as well. So as you start to
network, as you start to introduce yourself to
different groups. More and more of these opportunities
will come up. And at first, when you first start
investing, there are no passive opportunities.
So everything seems to be that you have to go
and do the work yourself, except for stocks and
bonds. But those don't really pay that well because
everyone has access to them. So you got to find
the passive deals that the wealthy have access
to. And the more... that you get into that ecosystem,
the more you'll see different deals open up to
you. There's many different real estate deals
you could do. You could start getting in with
some developers that are local. And a lot of
these deals are closed off and they don't go
public ever. So you have to get within the ecosystem
to find those deals. But talking to the wealthy
people, that's where all the deals are. This
is why it helps to have... At least one rich
friend. You have one rich friend and that rich
friend will start introducing you to other rich
friends or more opportunities. I just watched
something the other day that said a rich person
will mentor you and help you and show you. That
makes rich people feel really good is when they
can help somebody climb the ranks, whereas poor
people just want to pull you back down and crabs
in the bucket type mentality. try to upgrade
your network. What they say, your network is
your net worth. You take the five people you're
closest to, average up all the salary, and that's
probably what you're going to be, the salary
you're going to be making. That's great. As a
matter of fact, on my website are digital courses
that I've written. And my number one biggest
seller is network to net worth. And that is what
it's all about. What role? Have warm introductions
played in opening doors to deals, partnerships,
or capital that would have been unreachable otherwise?
I met my partner, Omar, down at the first syndication
conference I went to. And so then he taught me
all about how the LPGP structure works and then
getting that knowledge and being able to talk.
the way he talks has opened up a lot of doors
for me. Bankers tend to open up a lot of doors
for you to get relationships with those guys.
I don't know. I guess it's, I don't look at just
one thing. I guess it's all just seems to compound
so rapidly once you start growing. It's definitely,
it's the warm introductions that can lead to
other introductions. And it goes all the way
back down to that trust factor. So that if the
warm introduction to a person, and if they trust
you, then they'll introduce you to somebody else.
If they're not going to trust you, then they
will never introduce you. Yeah. Yep. I guess
I feel like I just, I do the work. I'll get an
introduction and then I'll do what I say I did.
I do what I'll say I'm going to do. And then
I'll add value first. And then by adding the
value and not really seeking anything in return,
the return comes back to you. And then that's
how you get introductions. You get brought onto
the team. So they'll bring you onto a team. And
then on that team, there's a bunch of other people
and you'll start working with those people. What
you just said is the key to networking. You always
bring value to the relationship before you do
an ask, right? I firmly believe in having a servant's
heart. You go there and you do what you say you're
going to do. You do it for other people. And
when you do enough, they're going to turn around.
They're going to say, wait a second. You know,
Dustin did all this. Let me listen a little bit
closer or let me do something for him. And it
starts that symbiotic relationship. When someone
is focused on not outliving their money, how
should they think about building relationships
differently than someone chasing short -term
goals? Long -term relationships. It's hard for
me to put myself in the shoes of someone chasing
short -term anything. So I don't really understand
what... they would be doing as opposed to the
long -term people. This just comes down to just
putting in the years, just do what you say you're
going to do. Trust takes many years to build
and just a few moments to destroy. So you put
20 years into building trust and then you do
one shady thing and then now all that trust is
eroded. So short term, I don't know, I guess
the short term to me, short term thinker would
be just trying to get something for themselves,
being very selfish, which doesn't work in the
long term at all. So short term thinking, I don't
really understand how they even operate because
it seems like a very low mentality to be a short
term thinker. You just reminded me of something.
I'm an old Air Force vet and. When I was in Desert
Storm and when I was in McGuire Air Force Base
in New Jersey, the commander would, I'd say,
would give you an attaboy. You did a great job.
You did this great. You did this good and everything
else. And you can get 100 attaboys, but you have
one all crap, one negative all crap that wipes
the 100 away. So you have to always follow through
with what you say you're going to do as a minimum.
Then if you want to go above and beyond, that's
different. But what you said was key because
if you do what you say you're going to do, that's
80 % better than your competition. For those
who want freedom sooner without cutting back
their lifestyle, how do relationships accelerate
that timeline? I don't know if you can get freedom
sooner without cutting back. Because the reason
why you're probably in the position you're in
without the freedom is because you're overextending
yourself somehow. Yeah, I don't know. I don't
know. You have to cut back somewhere. Because
if you're doing everything right, then you already
have the freedom. So I would say you have to
examine where your money's going. You have a
bunch of loans and a bunch of debt. You have
a bunch of debt on depreciating assets. So I
would say you have to start thinking long -term
again, and you have to put money into things
that don't necessarily pay you immediately that
aren't liquid. You have to buy long -term assets.
You have to buy assets that reduce your taxable
liability. So I guess that's one thing you could
do. Maybe you don't have to cut back, but instead
of paying Uncle Sam. With your taxes, you start
investing in real estate. But the thing is that
inherently makes you have to cut back for the
first year because you have to invest the money.
You don't necessarily get the tax benefits till
the following year or the following two years.
So all the money you're paying Uncle Sam, so
you have these high earners and they're paying
50 % to Uncle Sam, 40 to 50%. That can all go
into investments and then you can get your taxable
income to zero. So instead of paying Uncle Sam
$200 ,000 to $500 ,000 a year, put that money
into investments. Five years from now, you're
going to have some really good passive income
and your regular ordinary income should be very
similar. So that's what I'd say. Replace all
the money that you're paying in taxes and put
that into investments, real estate investments
that reduce your taxable income. Okay, I'll go
with that. I'll go with that. Not every group
is worth joining. What signals tell you a network
will help you grow instead of draining your time
or money? I go off intuition. So if this resonates
really well with me and I feel like I've got
some aha moments right off the bat and I want
to learn from it, then I'll go into it. But doing
the program is really the only way you can tell
if it's a waste of time or not. cut the program
off once you realize you're not really learning
that much anymore. But you also have to put yourself,
you have to do the program, right? You can't
just go in and then not do the work and then
quit. But if even if you find yourself not doing
the work, it's probably not for you. You're probably
not inspired enough. Doesn't necessarily mean
it's the wrong program. It might just be the
wrong time. You might need some more knowledge
upfront before you join that program. But I say
intuition, if it aligns with you, if everything,
Looks like it's going to work for what you want
to do in the future. I'd say join it. Give it
a try. You're never going to... Some people are
like, oh, if you go do that, you're going to
get ripped off. Oh, don't do that. You're going
to get ripped off. And then they end up doing
nothing. So pay a little bit of money. See what
you feel about the course. And if it's a bad
course, that's fine. Quit the course and move
and do another course or get into another group.
How long would you suggest somebody stay in a
course or a networking group or something else
before they can really truly find out? I don't
know, a month, two months, three months. It just
all depends on you and how much effort you're
putting in. You'll know when you're done with
the group. That's what I always say. And most
people. Probably keeps, they stay with the group
because it's familiar, it's comfortable. But
once you get to that point, you should probably
move on to another group and put yourself in
a more uncomfortable position where you're learning.
I like to learn though. I'm always the one who,
because everybody asks me. where I am and what
because I have a networking group I meet weekly
with about 17 or 20 businesses and we discuss
the networking and everything else and they ask
me they have a thousand other networking groups
and they always ask me a time frame like when
do you know when you find out if it's good for
you or not and have a round term I always say
three three months give it three months And if
you don't, because the first month, everything
is new and you're really unsure. The second month,
you're getting your footing. And the third month,
you're going to really, truly understand what
you're doing, why you're there and everything
else. So I always give it to three months. Okay.
So in real estate, people often guard information.
What happens when professionals choose shared
progress instead of secrecy? I think it's similar.
I think it's similar with every industry. I think
people are inherently scared of giving away the
secret sauce and someone coming in and stealing
all their info and doing what they do. I found
that nobody is going to take your info. Very
rarely is someone going to take your info and
copy you. I put it all out there, put everything
out there. what we're doing. And then that actually
builds trust with people. And now they want to
come in and invest because when they see how
much at work it takes to do what you're doing
there, they just say, ah, that's way too much
work. I'll just, if I can just join him instead
of trying to do all that work, that'll be much
better. So it builds a, when you share all of
your information, it builds a huge level of trust
with people in the public. And then it also,
it signals that you're not scared so you have
an abundance mindset versus a scarcity mindset
and a scarcity mindset will not do you any good
it's never going to do you any good and even
if you have a scarcity mindset people can still
come in and steal all your ideas it's not that
hard i'll go with that let's bring this podcast
full circle and looking back was there a single
relationship or introduction that shifted your
entire path And what lessons should listeners
take from that story? I would say no, because
it happens to me all the time. I'll get introduced
to someone and then that shifts my entire path.
And then I'll get introduced to another someone
and that shifts my entire path. So I constantly
look for that one relationship. But let's see,
my partner, Caleb, meeting my partner, Caleb.
has really shifted because I realized that I
could put all the general contracting work onto
him. So I was a general contractor. I did all
my own building and all my own development and
all my own asset management, property management,
all of that. And I always assumed that if you
didn't build, how could you create the equity
you needed to create to develop these projects?
So that's how I did it. I was the builder. And
so I would use that equity in each project. Then
I met Caleb and I just, one day I just, I think
I hurt my back on the job site. And I said, I'm
done. I'm done with all this heavy lifting and
stuff. I'm too old. I've already put in all my
time. And I'll never be able to expand to where
I want to expand if I keep doing all the general
contracting. So I ended up giving Caleb all the
general contracting work. And then that's when
I really realized that I didn't even like general
contracting. I would rather do the design and
the marketing and the capital raising and the
land acquisition. That really helped me. But
then I did the same thing with property management.
Someone told me one time. you can't find a property
manager. It's because of you. You're not the
best property manager in the world. You just
need to trust. You need to trust and you need
to find a really good property manager. He said,
look at all these buildings down here. These
buildings are better than any building you own
and someone else is property managing it, not
you. So get that idea out of your head that you're
the only one that can property manage because
it's not true. And he said, you'll never be able
to scale. That was one of the first where I realized
that I have to trust other people much more than
I was. And then the general contracting was another
step. And then you meet people that help you
capital raise. I don't know. Once you get that
one connection, you're going to find the next
connection and you just have to keep doing the
same thing because you have to constantly scale.
Good, good. Dustin, this was a great podcast.
I love what you had to say. It really made me
think about my investments. If somebody wanted
to contact you, they wanted your help or to have
you consult, where can they find you? Mailboxmoneyre
.com. Mailboxmoneyre, as in realestate .com.
That's great. That's great. So that was an eye
-opening conversation. What stood out most is
how much progress comes down to relationships,
the right introductions, the right partners,
and the right rooms. If this episode gave you
a new way to think about money, housing, or your
own timeline to freedom, pass it along to someone
who needs to hear it. Thanks for spending time
with me on Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable
Connections. I'm Michael Foreman. Keep building
strong relationships. Keep those thinking long
term and keep moving towards the life you want.
So until next time, I bid you adieu. Dustin,
thank you again for coming on my podcast. Hey,
thanks for having me, Michael. It was a good
time. Well, hold on, folks. Don't go anywhere.
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A huge thank you to our guests for sharing such
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