Einstein Disease (Aired 08-13-2025) W-2 to Financial Freedom: Short-Term Rentals with B&B Investor Academy

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Einstein's Disease. Through real world insights and powerful conversations with industry leaders, we help you break past limitations and rethink success. Are you ready to push the boundaries of what's possible? Good evening. I'm Greg Ellers, your host of Einstein's Disease. We've got a wonderful show tonight. Today we one of the big challenges that many Americans are facing and that is the aspiration of entrepreneurship as the economy and the job market changes. And we've got a wonderful guest today, Michael Elefante. He's an entrepreneur, real estate investor and founder of BNB Investor Academy. Michael has a real estate portfolio and oversees a very sizable business. He's helped thousands of people achieve financial freedom through short term rental investing and while challenging the traditional narrative of what success looks like. Michael, welcome to the show today. [00:01:06] Speaker B: Greg, thanks for having me. [00:01:07] Speaker A: Yeah, it's, you know, we talked prior to the show obviously, and we really. I got a chance to, to understand a little bit more about your story, but your story isn't unlike many other people out there, Michael. It's the, it's the bridge going from a W2 employee to being an entrepreneur who has a vision and understanding that to get across that bridge, there's periods of self doubt, there's scary, what your personal risk factor is and many other things. What we want to really get to our audience today and share is that what are some of those that you faced or the people that join your academy and have success have faced? So we can walk through those in the, in the following segments and help our viewers and listeners understand that many of the things they might be thinking about have been addressed. And maybe the best thing to do is for them eventually to come and speak and work with you. So with that, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna give you the opportunity to kind of get into some of the things you and I spoke about earlier in, in terms of the fear, the risk factor, etc. And those challenges and, and what people need to realize you faced or others and that there's a solution on the other side. [00:02:36] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. It all started about six years ago and even prior to that, you know, I was an athlete growing up, played baseball in college, and after that I didn't have the opportunity to play professional baseball, which was what I spent my whole young adult life pursuing. I kind of had to just figure out what was next for me, you know. So I started applying for jobs like most people, you know, out of college or out of high school and landed an entry level sales job in Dallas, Texas. Growing up in North Carolina, I was looking to just try a new place to live in and try something new. And just thought I'd work my way up the corporate ladder and just kind of live the, you know, quote unquote American dream. And what I quickly found out was that pounding the phones in a great cubicle and kind of working for someone else, not there's that there's anything wrong with it, but there was just a lack of fulfillment for me. And even as I progressed in my career, made a little more money, I changed jobs and locations multiple times thinking that more income would equal more happiness. But it actually was almost the opposite. You know, it made life easier making a little more money. But what I found was trading that time for my money often came from instead of 40 hours a week, I got to work 60 or 80 hours a week and maybe do things I, I don't want to do. So I found myself, you know, just not having a ton of fulfillment. So I was looking for a more passive source of income and something I was passionate about. And that's how I found short term rentals. And the creativity aspect of it is what sparked the interest in creating a cool experience for people. And when you do that and do it the right way, you can in turn generate a lot of semi passive income. And I was fortunate. I had a 10 year goal to replace my income and make my job more or less optional. And I was able to do that in about a year and a half. And my wife and I quit our jobs and traveled the world, really the US in a camper van. But we faced, you know, a lot of challenges along the way as you were mentioning. I think the biggest one was just addressing the risk of what, what happens if it goes wrong, you know, and I think almost anyone listening to this can sympathize with that. You know, you work hard for your money, spend a lot of time investing in work or whatever it is, and you know, I'm here I am investing my life savings. I sold my car to just get our first property. And I think what helped me get over that hump or the realization was thinking bigger picture. And what is the long term risk in terms of how I'm going to live my life and what, you know, our legacy will be for our family. And I didn't want the risk of working 40 plus hours a week at a job that I maybe didn't like for 40 plus years, what that regret could feel like, you know, when I'm 60, 70, 80 years old on you know what my life could have looked like. So I think that's what over helped me overcome that initial nerve or risk of making the jump. [00:05:21] Speaker A: And when you, you talked about fulfillment, many people, myself included at a young age like yourself, we had a vision of progression, of what fulfillment was, satisfaction, the American dream. That lens of fulfillment continues to change with technology and opportunity. When you think about the fulfillment element and the misconceptions of it, what are some of those, the misconceptions? Obviously one of them is risk and financial. Well, you said you had to sell your car to be able to buy your first piece of property. But not everybody that comes into the the BNB Investor Academy is in that position, but they're still looking for that fulfillment element. Talk to us a little bit about the predisposed conditions of well, that's not going to change it or I can't do that because that is in the end where many people have to break through to go, wow, I can't believe I got to do this. But it's that fulfillment element, isn't it, Michael? [00:06:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's really drawing a bigger picture of what you want out of life. And I've heard people talk about this. I don't know if it's a quote or whatever you want to call it, but at the end of your life, if you know they made a movie about your life, would you buy a ticket to go watch it? And the way I was thinking about how my life was going, it's not that it wasn't a completely unexciting life by any stretch of the imagination, but I think there was just so much more I wanted to do. And what brought me more fulfillment was travel, spending more quality time with my life, having the optionality to travel internationally, whatever it is, and especially do that. When we started having kids, and now we have two young kids and we have the freedom to really kind of pick and choose where we want to live, where we want to travel, what we want to do with our times? Never miss a moment with them. And so how do I align what I'm doing to earn income or build wealth to be in line with how I want to live my life? So that was the bigger vision you have to buy into. And I think a lot of people just get caught up in societal norms, right? Go to school, go to college, have a, you know, good degree under your belt and then go apply for work and see how marketable you are. And then work every week, you know, minus maybe two or three weeks of pto a year until you have enough saved up in a 401k or the stock market to hopefully retire at an older age, 65, 70 years old. But the sad part of that is the average life expectancy is around 77, 78 years old in the U.S. so for me, it was like, you know, then I have maybe 10 or 13 years or so, 10 or 15 years to like live it up, you know, in my golden era. And so I kind of wanted to flip it, you know, the script on its head and say, well, what if I could live life this, you know, along the entire journey versus just kind of waiting, right, and sacrificing to hopefully have the time then. [00:08:17] Speaker A: So in. What was the biggest misconception you had when you and your wife made that first leap? You had a. You may. You took the risk. So your personal risk factor was there. You were willing to concede your car. But. But what was it that was the biggest misconception that you had that almost kept you from doing what you did. What was it? [00:08:44] Speaker B: I think the biggest misconception was, actually held me back from getting started much earlier, was that you needed a ton of money, right? And most people have that, whether it's, you know, starting a business or especially investing in something like real estate. Why I need a large down payment if I'm doing Airbnb, obviously I need to pay for furniture, all these things. But what I had learned over the years is there's multiple ways to get started in this space, which makes short term rentals really special. You don't actually have to buy a property, especially with your own money, to get started. I mean, you could borrow, you could work with a partner, an investing partner, and you do all the work and you could carve out the details on how that equity and profit is split. And then we have a lot of people that we actually work with that have less than 30 grand to their name, or some of them are even using business credit to get started. And what they're doing is they're signing leases or corporate leases and getting permission from the landlord for a home or an apartment complex to then sublet the unit. So you're basically arbitraging the unit. You don't own it, but it's a great cash flow play. And any money you make on Airbnb, less your rent and expenses, is your profit. So we have a lot of people get started there into scale. And then something I've done with the business partner is once we kind of got the management of the properties down there is a great Business in managing property for other people. Especially as you mentioned technology earlier, technology is made investing and managing short term rentals like completely democratized for the everyday person. You don't even have to live near the unit to manage it. So you can build up a portfolio of homes and that doesn't really cost you anything outside of your time and setting up the systems. And you can get a percentage of the rental income from all these homes. So there's, there's a, there's a multitude of ways to start and scale in this industry and create, you know, semi passive cash flow for yourself and for your families. And that's what I think is the most intriguing aspect of getting started. Because usually the number one thing that holds people back is, well, I'm just going to wait till I have enough money myself. [00:10:33] Speaker A: And what you just shared was probably the aha moment that not only you understood and realized, but it's also one that probably you run into the most with people that go through your academy. They, they don't realize that it doesn't take a lot of capital. They can actually get started. [00:10:56] Speaker B: Right? Yeah, capital and then time. Most people think I'm going to do Airbnb or short term rental property I need. It's a whole nother job, but truth be told, is it don't clean it yourself, you know, don't do the maintenance yourself. You can outsource all that to a local handyman. And we have people that we've taught that live in, in Germany that have properties in Tennessee or other states in the US and they've never even been to the property and they've had them set up and running and cash flowing. So it's pretty fascinating. [00:11:24] Speaker A: Well, that's great. Well, I look forward to coming back after we take a commercial break here to pay for this show and learn a little bit more about the solutions and what the academy does and how you help people. So we'll be right back after a commercial break. Michael, it's great to have you on the show and look forward to the next segment. Hi, welcome back to Einstein's Disease. Are you loving what you're watching? Don't miss a moment of this show or any of your other NOW Media favorite TV shows live or on the demand. And anytime you can Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and enjoy instant access to our full lineup of bilingual programs in English and Spanish. If you're listening on the go, use the podcast version. Get that at NOW Media tv. From business to breaking news, lifestyle, culture and everything between. We're streaming 24 7, wherever you are. We're back with Michael Elefontein, real estate entrepreneur and educator and the founder of the BNB Academy. And Michael, in that first segment we, we kind of dove into the misconceptions or the conceptions that might be reality for some, but with the right training or the right process, they become misconceptions because you're able to get people to success. And the way that you do that and where we kind of want to, I want to dial in here is I'm coming to the B and B Academy. I want to get out of my W2 job. I've got a little bit of money, I'm there. When I come to your academy. What am I coming to, Michael? And what are the things that are the most important in the early stages of being a student in your academy? Talk to us a little bit about how that works. Because the, the other misconception or sometimes reality, the same thing is there's a lot of people out there that say they can help or can put you in the right frame of mind to be able to be successful. But in many cases, either the person that is entering that agreement with somebody is not really ready and they fail or their process fails. And I know your successes is, you know, world renowned. Talk to us about that. I'm coming in. What, what's going on with me? [00:13:49] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. So the first thing we do is we have a meeting with you before you enroll just to make sure one, you have the time commitment for it, you're seriously interested in making a change and making this priority. And then two, financially prepared based on the strategy you want to deploy. And we actually help craft the direction of the strategies that we talked about earlier. Again, whether you're managing property, doing the rental arbitrage route or buying property. And so once you enroll, I mean it's a very hands on process. From day one, the BNB Investor Academy consists of three key areas. So one, of course you have a curriculum that is close to, actually might be over 20 hours of bite sized modules. Right. And that walks you through everything from the beginning of what is a short term rental. The different strategies, how to analyze market data, analyze properties all the way down to tax strategy, layered asset protection, and then managing the properties, how to automate the business. So obviously that's the core foundation and there's a lot of programs out there that provide some type of foundation. But what separates us is going to be number two, which is the, the coaching and mentorship Coming from an athletics background, coaching and mentorship played a massive part in my, you know, baseball career. And, and it plays a huge part into entrepreneurs as well. And you know, you can have all the information you need at your fingertips, whether it's chat, GPT or Google or YouTube or podcast. But until you have somebody that is looking over your shoulder and you're bouncing ideas off of them and concepts or reviewing deals, if it's real estate transaction and ensuring that you're actually going down the right path and limiting the mistakes, that can be very costly mistakes. Whether it costs you time or money, that's the most important thing. So we're there every step of the way. It's one on one support. You get coaching with me, our whole community. And then the third leg of that would be the community aspect, which is you are at an arm's length to all the other investors in our community from around the world. The majority of them are in the US but we do have several international clients as well. So there's tons of benefit to that or you can see where other people are investing the success they're having. You can connect with them locally. So yeah, it's a very, you know, holistic minded program and our number one, you know, drive is to help people get at least one, if not multiple short term rental properties and to really jump start their, their journey to financial freedom. [00:16:14] Speaker A: Yeah, so that, that's interesting. So when you talk, talk about your community and the one on one coaching, I'm assuming that the coaching's done with you, is that right? [00:16:23] Speaker B: Yeah, it's done with me. And we have a full time staff. So we have nine client success managers who are assigned clients as they enroll. And every single one of our client success managers works for us full time. And they're, they've been through the program in the past and they all have at least one, if not multiple properties under their belt. And so they're actually coaching you from day one, onboarding all the way through the program, one on one. And then you have access to a coaching calendar which includes me, a tax strategist, an attorney and several others as well. Whether it be design, property management, deal reviews, those types of things that you have access to. [00:16:59] Speaker A: And from the standpoint of you got into this, you and your wife started out with one property and grew. Talk to us a little bit about why the BNB Investor Academy. What was it that took you from just being a successful entrepreneur that had properties, that managed properties, et cetera? What got you and why did you feel the Investor academy was something that was not only important to you, but more importantly to the people out there that. Did you see a lot of failures? Did you see that there was mistakes being made? What was it that created the mindset to say, you know what, I got to help other people? [00:17:44] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, once I started doing this and I had three, four or five properties under my belt, I was talking about it online and just locally to anyone who would talk with me. Friends, family, strangers. And what I found was the majority of people, regardless of where they come from, their background, what they do for a living, almost every single person has some interest in real estate. I don't know what it is. I think everyone just understands that it's a, it's an amazing wealth building tool. And Airbnb and short term rentals, most people use them when they travel in addition to hotels, so they're somewhat familiar with it. It's more of a tangible, you know, real asset. They can actually understand the concept behind. And you know, I just, the reason I started it was because it's had such a profound impact on my life and the trajectory of my life and providing financial freedom for my wife and myself and now kids is like, I'm forever grateful for it. So being able to help other people do that and accomplish the same thing really gives me a lot of fulfillment in life behind that. And not only the cash flow, but then the tax savings. There's so many different unique things about investing in short term rentals. It's really a wonderful wealth building tool. And then one of the misconceptions I failed to mention earlier that I had was when you invest in real estate, most people think I need 50 to 100 doors or, you know, apartments. Right. To create enough cash flow to replace my income. That's what was discouraging about traditional real estate investing. Right. Long term rentals. But with short term rentals, if you set up a really great short term rental and manage it effectively, it can generate thousands per month in profit. So that became tangible for me. I could, I could hit 10k or 15k a month in semi passive income with just a handful of properties instead of needing 100 or 200 doors. Right. Traditionally. So I think that's, that's what got me so interested and bought into the idea and a lot of other people. It resonates with them. So the coaching aspect really just to help them get there faster and eliminate mistakes along the way. Because if you blindly buy a property, set it up, and don't really know what you're doing, you could end up barely breaking even or losing money. And all of a sudden this became the worst idea in the world that you've ever done, and it's now a huge liability for you when it could have been an asset. Right. So whether you do it right or wrong the first time is definitely going to dictate largely if you decide to continue on and do it again and again and again or not. [00:20:05] Speaker A: That's. That, that's a, that, that's a great, great way to phrase it. So when we think about, and you mentioned earlier, the community. Talk to us a little bit about the community. Are your graduates not the people that still work for you? I'm sure they stay in contact with the people as mentors or what have you, but the people in your community, I mean, do you find a lot of them working together or staying in contact? I mean, what type of a culture is that academy with the other people? Because I'm going to come to your academy. Am I going to come with five people? Am I coming with 10? What's the background with respect to what would somebody expect if they became a student in your academy? [00:20:54] Speaker B: Yeah, so we have a lot of individuals that come and work with us. We have a lot of couples, so people with spouses, boyfriend, girlfriend that are working together. And then we even have people who partner up with friends or family and they're more or less business partners that will join together. And in terms of the community, I mean, it's such a diverse community, which is awesome, but everyone's bought into the same thing, which, which is what makes it, you know, a lot of fun and unique. And we have people that are 18 years old and then people that are retired and in their 60s that are just looking at diversifying everywhere in between. And then obviously there's such a diverse geographic location or background for all the students as well. So we have had a lot of people meet up in person, probably more than I even know happens. Right. And then a lot of people will communicate with each other within the community as well, just to bounce ideas off each other from as far as, or as little as just saying, hey, what cleaners do you use in this market? Where did you buy this piece of furniture? What contractors did you work with all the way down to, hey, let's partner up on deals. So we've had people partner together and deploy capital collectively to tackle bigger deals together instead of just on their own. [00:22:00] Speaker A: That's fantastic. So as a student at the academy, how long does it last? What, what's the, what's the, I'm starting August 1st. I'm just making up a date since the 29th of July. What, what is the, how long does the academy last? You know, talk to us a little bit about how that works. [00:22:25] Speaker B: Yeah, so it's, you have lifetime access to the resources, any updates we make to the material and the community and then the only thing that is time, limited access would be the active coaching. So you have access to that for six months. So, and what we've, we've, I've done 12 months, I've done six week sprints. I've done a lot of different things in the past, but over the past few years the six month has driven the highest degree of client success. And you might ask, well, wouldn't a year, two years be more? And we actually found the opposite. So and there's a six month is like the perfect amount of time for somebody to feel a little bit of that time pressure to actually take action, show up and do the work and they have more than enough time to acquire one or two properties in that time period and then go live with the property and get a hang of the management and all the systems. And then we have opportunities for people to continue working with us too. Of course, after the six month is up. [00:23:17] Speaker A: That's fantastic. Well, listen, I really appreciate you sharing what, what and how the academy works. We're going to take a quick break and come back and dive a little bit more into, into the industry itself and some of the challenges that are being faced with maybe some regulation, maybe changes in the economy, etc. But I really appreciate, appreciate this time. That was, that was a great segment. And we'll be right back after, after we get to our people that are paying for the show. Michael, thank you very much. And we'll be back shortly. Hi, welcome back to Einstein's Disease. Providing tools to help you maximize your future by sharing new processes of saying yes and no versus assuming you already know my guest today, Michael Elefontein, entrepreneur and founder of BNB Investor Academy Short Term Rentals. Michael, it's, it's really, it's, it's been interesting as we've gone through these segments, understanding not only where you were, where some of your students have been, where people are trying to get out and cross that personal risk factor bridge of getting away from being a W2 employee full time to create passive income or maybe a career. And after we talked about your academy in the last block, I'd really like to kind of get into some of the challenges that people face and your expertise helps people manage some of these things. And the first, I'd like to kind of break it up into two. One, the challenges of short term rentals or certain areas in the community where people are reticent or trying to, you know, get away from the bachelor bachelorette parties, other big parties, that type of thing. And so it's putting some governors on your industry. I believe many people would say that's good because it kind of separates the wheat from the chaff. But as you're bringing people into this industry and they go through your academy and how do you address that? I mean, what's the, what's the process that BNB Academy has to assess some of these things and how do you mitigate it or make people successful when some of those hurdles are in front of them? [00:25:49] Speaker B: For sure, yeah, there's, there's several different things you need to consider. Right. And that we teach during the market research phase. And it's not just is, do properties perform well, are is occupancy high, daily rates high, revenue potential high, and is the ROI there, but also regulation. You and I have talked about this previously. Regulation is a changing landscape and it's at the very local level, just like a lot of things, real estate. So it can be down to the city, within city limits or a county, it's never really statewide. But you do have to be cautious on where you're going to invest because the last thing you want to do is invest in somewhere like New York City and then have New York City, which they recently did, I think two years ago, and basically outright ban non owner occupied short term rentals. So that was thousands, if not tens of thousands of rentals, like, just like that. People had the rugs pulled out from under them. So you really have to be cognizant of that and include that in your market research. So there's a couple of things we look for. Is there existing regulation and if there is, that's not necessarily a bad thing. But you need to make sure that you're operating within the guidelines of those regulations. So in many cases, like in Nashville, Tennessee is a great example where they do allow short term rentals, but only in particular zones. Right. Zoning. So you need to work with an experienced realtor or call into the zoning office and ask about particular addresses or understand that. So you're not buying a property or renting a property and then setting it up, spending all this money only to find out you, you won't be able to qualify for a permit. So that's One thing we need to look at and then two, it. It's really important to pick areas that are largely dependent on tourism. Tax revenue, like the Great Smoky Mountains, for example, will never ban short term rentals. I mean, they've existed there for decades, long before Airbnb or VRBO ever existed. Right. So they are largely dependent on people coming in. They want the cabin feel in the mountains, and then they're spending tons of money locally in the economy, which supports a lot of jobs as well. So a lot of, I think short term rentals gets, you know, a bad rap some sometimes, but it really does play a large effect into the local economy, not just the tourism. But what does that tourism support? Like a lot of local jobs, even from cleaners, handymen down to, you know, what are people out doing, spending money on. [00:28:07] Speaker A: No, for sure. So. And I appreciate that and it makes a lot of sense. So as I get into this, it seems to me when I look on Airbnb or I look on VRBox, there seems to be a greater amount of experiential type rental properties versus I'm just going to go rent a house and, you know, drive to the golf course or go to the beach or whatever the case might be. Can you spend a little bit of time? Because I know you have some properties like that yourself. But talk to us about the. Is this because of the demographics are changing or is it because it's just an easier way for people to get everything all in one? How do you market it that way? And just kind of give the audience a little bit of a understanding of what that experiential opportunity might be if they were, if they were renting one of your properties? [00:29:12] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. And we've done everything from, you know, custom home gyms to building a par three short course, you know, turf greens, turf tee boxes and all sorts of different things. But the point you're getting at is people, people will pay for an experience. Right. So there's different tiers in which travelers are going to fall into different buckets, if you will. Right. There's always going to be the budget traveler who's looking for a place to kind of put their head on a pillow at night and be as close as possible to whatever. You know, the, the reason they're visiting that destination is that might be close to maybe a baseball stadium or a concert venue or downtown, whatever it is. And then you're going to have people who are willing to pay for the best experience for whatever reason they're traveling, whether it be a family vacation they do once a year with all their extended family and they're just looking for the coolest place to stay in and get to experience things they don't get to experience every day. Not everybody has a sauna, a hot tub, a pool or a golf simulator at their home. But if they see that property compared to just the average rental, they're probably going to consider spending more money to have that amazing experience and almost have a vacation within their vacation just by being at the property. So I've always leaned, and over the years I've leaned harder and harder into this is providing an unparalleled experience that is hard or impossible to get anywhere else. So that's why we started to do some, some more custom things within our properties. And the ROI is, is way higher. You get better renters typically and it's just, it's just awesome. So if you guys are getting started, even if it's a one bedroom couples retreat, how can you be the number one experience rental in that market to attract the highest quality renters? And that's usually the ticket to success nowadays. [00:31:00] Speaker A: That's, that's well put. So as we think about this now, your life's changing, right? You, you have two young children and you still, as you mentioned, you like to travel the world. We're getting to that point where your generation, the 20 to 40 year old generation or segment of the, of of our society, there's they're having kids. I mean Disney World or Disneyland was always something, but do you see something that's what do you look for number one? And what do you see as the change in the attitudes with people? They don't have to be ultra wealthy, it's just people that want that as you called it, PTO time where they go somewhere and have an experience. Is there something you're seeing in a trend? Is there something that you feel is going to continue to grow and you might have actually got in front of it with respect to some of these experiential vacation properties? [00:32:04] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I mean what I found even in my own family or friends often talked about, even around the holidays or for birthdays, people aren't gifting as many material things as they once were. A lot of times now they're gifting experiences or planning trips. Instead of spending money on each other for Christmas, why don't we pool our money together and go on an awesome trip somewhere? So I think that is shifting somewhat and Covid really changed a lot of this as well. When people got so cooped up at home and they were really just itching for an experience or be able to go create memories with their, you know, their loved ones, friends and family. So that shift is definitely real and we're seeing it in the rental environment for short term rentals. [00:32:46] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I hear you. Do you, when you, when you're going back and I'm going back to your, your academy and people start to look at or see some of these, I would call them more Tiffany properties if you will. I mean a nine hole golf course or something like that. How do you, how do you sequence people? Capital's one of them risk factor but starting out at the bottom and that's really what it is because I'm coming to your academy and I've got $50,000 I can invest and I've got the time I kind of check all the boxes but, but I don't have the capital to move into some of these higher, you know, where the trends are. How do you, how do you see those opportunities? Are they more on the service side? Where, where, where do you see that entry level person that's coming in through your academy, Michael, having the most amount of success? Is there, is there a, has there been a little bit of a change in trend there? Has there been something where people are having more success? [00:33:57] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, you know, it's still experience driven now experience doesn't have to be crazy amenities, it's also large in part due to design. So strategic design and I, you know co own Summerl Designs which is currently the, the fastest growing and number one does boutique design agencies specifically for short term rentals in the states. And our whole thesis and process with clients is to create you know, a one of one rental. And it doesn't have to be a nine bedroom, 10 acres with a golf course on it. It could be a tiny home, you know, in the wilderness somewhere that's very affordable, very cheap. But how you set up that rental is going to be the biggest differentiator for you. So interior design, how the rooms are decorated, exterior amenities. It could even go down to like what type of hot tub you have. Right. If you have just a standard hot tub that's on a porch and how you photograph it compared to one that's like a wood burning hot tub that's set out in the grass near the trees and you photograph people using it. Right. Like a couple, like stage photography. All of that plays into how attractive that listing is online. Because remember people are interacting on a phone 99 times out of 100 so they're scrolling through these listings and you have one photo and a title to catch their attention in order for them to click and then get to a splash page and scroll through more photos. So the longer they're interacting with your listing, the more likely they are going to pick your rental and book and book at the price you want them to book at. So that's why design is so important, because every photo matters in that listing, but especially the top 10 or 20 photos. So that's where we wrap the design in. And again, it doesn't have to be, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars on crazy amenities. It really can just be, I want to be the number one or like in the top 10% at least of operators in my subcategory. So again, that could be a one or two bedroom place and you know, tertiary market in the Midwest or it could be in a hot vacation market, a big property. But I'd rather spend more money on a cheaper property creating a one of a kind experience for that subcategory than stretching my budget just to get into a bigger property. But not having enough to make it special for that category of property. If that makes sense. [00:36:06] Speaker A: Makes perfect sense. That makes perfect sense. With that, we're going to, we're going to cut away to our sponsors and come back and learn a little bit more about Michael and maybe Michael's family and where things are going. We'll be back right after these commercial messages. Thank you very much, Michael. Welcome back to Einstein's Disease. Love what you're watching. Don't miss a moment of Einstein's Disease or any of the other shows on NOW Media live or on demand, anytime, anywhere. Download the free NOW Media app on Roku or iOS and enjoy instant access live or taped, both in English and in Spanish. Want to listen on the Go get our podcast version on NowMedia TV. From Breaking News to business, lifestyles, culture and everything in between, now media is streaming 24 7, wherever you are. We're back with Michael Elefonte. And Michael, I've really enjoyed this not only because of what you were able to do, assess your risk factor, start a career, have your life partner there with you to do it and to grow. But more importantly, you did it at a young age and you figured something out at a young age and said, as you said, I want to be able to, want to sit back and buy tickets to my life's movie. And I wasn't going to do that if I was going to be 70, retiring and only have a few years left. And I appreciate a Lot of that. And I know that it's something that our audience picks up on a lot in these conversations and in this last segment, I'd really like you to share a little bit about Michael. Share with the audience some of the things that not only make you tick, but that our other listeners and entrepreneurs out there might be able to take from you. Because everybody struggles. They're not all going to become a short term rental. They're not going to go to the academy. Some of them will, I'm sure, but not all of them because they've got their own businesses in their life. What is it that you want to share or could you share from that entrepreneurial mindset and the challenges that you faced and the successes that have come from taking those challenges head on? [00:38:27] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll say the number one thing that has helped me scale in the time frame I've scaled in any business is creating a personal brand and staying consistent with it. And that's, you know, posting a lot on social media and you could do it doing a podcast or, you know, a bunch of different channels. But that alone has opened up so many doors to both business, business partners, you know, new relationships that I never would have thought would be possible. You know, it's always easy to look at someone in my shoes or somebody online that you guys probably follow and think, wow, it must be nice. You know, it's. But it's not an overnight success. I mean, most of these people started with no personal brand, no success, and it. They just didn't give up along the way. But a personal brand can elevate at anything you're doing behind the scenes as long as you know how to pair the two. What I mean by that is even if you, let's say you're in. We were talking about, you know, lawn care, right. Or landscaping. You could start a landscaping business and if you know how to promote that on social media or run advertisements to it, or pair the two and then hire people the right way to scale beyond just what you're capable of doing with your own time. That's how you go from employee to solopreneur to entrepreneur. And I will tell you firsthandedly that you just don't know what's possible until you just take the leap and bet on yourself. And the amount of doors that have opened up over the years for me have just been incredible. And I think it's achievable for anybody out there listening regardless where you're starting from. [00:40:03] Speaker A: Do you find that as you built your business and you reached out to people, whether it was because you were trying to get more notoriety through social media or wherever it was. Do you find that most people want to help. Most people want to help people have a good story. And I know that's part of who you are in terms of the BNB Academy and such, but did you find that? Because to me, when I meet with other young people, they're. I don't know who to ask. And I always tell them asking's free. And usually the advice you get, whether it's accurate or not, it at least gives you a different lens to look through. Do you. Did you find that through your journey as well? [00:40:52] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And honestly, I didn't do enough of that starting out. I kind of just figured stuff out. A lot of trial and error, which is, which is great and all, but if you can ask the right people, get in the right rooms, right rooms per se could be online communities, it could be free or paid mentorship. That's where you start to get the keys to unlock doors that you don't know how to unlock. And you could do it in a much shorter time frame. So. But you're never going to know unless you try or ask the question. Like you said, you know. But what I've noticed is if I'm the biggest person in the room, I'm probably in the wrong room or I don't need to be in that room for much longer if I'm looking to then, you know, continue to climb up the mountain and whatever, you know, journey that is, you know, you don't want to be the biggest person in the room because there's. You find yourself teaching and providing all the knowledge, which is wonderful. However, if you're looking to grow and break, you know, through the glass ceilings that you set above yourself, you really gotta get out of your comfort zone a bit. [00:41:47] Speaker A: And I think that is something that a lot of people going from a W2 lifestyle to an entrepreneurial lifestyle, you find yourself without that built in safety net. You've got to create that yourself. Right? It's not like, well, I don't do that. Call such and such. That's their job. When you become an entrepreneur, every one of those is your job. Until you get to the point that you go from being a solo entrepreneur to a business entrepreneur, you have to learn how to do those things. And that kind of leads to the cultural issue. Share with our audience a little bit about what's the culture of Michael Elefante's business? What's the culture of what you look for in people that come to work for you. What's that process and what does that culture look like? [00:42:40] Speaker B: Yeah, it comes down to our core values and a few that I'll point out are. One is client obsession. We want to help people and go out of our way and do things before it's asked upon us to help or do. And I think if you do that for any area of your life, whether it be business relationships, right. Friends or family, if you go out of your way to do things for people before someone asks you to do them, they're almost always going to want to be around you more or want more to do with you, or be appreciative of that versus having to always come for you. That level of client service or customer service is what I found in talking with a lot of entrepreneurs out there has helped companies scale to the moon. Right. Another thing is going to be accountability, and that's largely self accountability. So taking a lot of pride in the actions you take and not waiting for somebody else to ask you to do something or to correct a mistake, or if you make a mistake, own up to it and then be able to learn from it. Because mistakes are good, but they're not good if you make them five times in a row and you learn nothing from it. So I encourage employees to take risks, make mistakes and try new things out, or even challenge me to what I'm leading the business from the top down. It's always an open door policy. They can come say, hey, I think this would be better if we do it this way. And I'm usually open to testing things out because I don't know everything. I'm still figuring things out as I go. But yeah, the extreme accountability, client obsession. And then one other thing I'll mention is really health and wealth. And so what I found is a lot of people who chase dollars and chase wealth often let their health go to complete crap. And that ends up really prohibiting you from reaching new limits on the wealth side of the equation as well. So you really want to find a good balance in life in treating your body right, be considerate of the food you're eating, exercise, getting sun on your face every day and having good balance there. Because I think if you have better balance there is going to elevate the other areas in your life as well. [00:44:54] Speaker A: No, that makes perfect sense. So as, as we get ready to close this out, people want to go to your academy or learn more about it. Where do they go? Michael? [00:45:11] Speaker B: Yeah, you can always reach out to me on social Media, it's @m elephante6. And also, you know, bnb, investoracademy.com, there's a lot of information there as well. And yeah, you can. You can go there to learn more. [00:45:23] Speaker A: That's fantastic. And what. So it's. It's 2025. What's. Michael, you've done a very good job of mapping out your career and having goals. What's 2030 look like for Michael? [00:45:40] Speaker B: Yeah, hopefully another kid, maybe two, but we'll probably cap it at three. And my wife and I bought a piece of property. It's about 50 acres. And we're in the process of designing and building our dream home and create more of like, a little homestead for. For our kids and ourselves. So really stoked for that. That'll be done in the next few years. And yeah, just, you know, I'm not really chasing an end goal because what I found with that is once you reach whatever goal that is, even if it's lose £10 or, you know, squat this much weight in the weight room or make this much money, is that fulfillment? And even down to Scotty Scheffler recently talking about this, like, yeah, I finally won the Masters. And he said he enjoys it for maybe an hour. And then all of a sudden, it's kind of like, what's next? So what you really have to do is chase, you know, the. The lifestyle or the life you want to live, because that's an. It's an ongoing thing. And if I can achieve the lifestyle and the things that bring me joy and happiness each and every day, then it's a perpetual state of being versus just an end goal and then figuring out what's next. I'm not saying don't have those rigid goals that you want to hit, but really what I found is chasing. Chasing the perpetual, you know, well, being or lifestyle that you want is. Is really a better place to be, in my opinion. So for me, yeah, it's just growing the companies, helping as many people as we can. It'd be great if we have a minority or majority exit for one of our businesses in the next five years. But outside of that, it's really just travel with the kids, spend as much time with them as possible, and wake up smiling and enjoying life every day. [00:47:20] Speaker A: You still follow baseball? [00:47:23] Speaker B: Yeah, a little bit. Not as much as I used to, but I still enjoy watching or going. [00:47:29] Speaker A: No, I hear you. It's. You have. But you have a pretty good crystal ball. You have. Have a call for the World Series this year. [00:47:39] Speaker B: I'd love it if the Yankees get back and don't blow it. But. [00:47:42] Speaker A: Yeah, you and me both. But I, I don't have a whole lot of faith in that one. [00:47:46] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't know. It's tough to bet against the Dodgers. They're. They're pretty stacked. So we'll see. [00:47:50] Speaker A: Yep. Well, listen, Michael, it's been a great, great hour with you. Appreciate it. I know our audience did and anybody that's interested reach out to Michael. He's a wonderful person and clearly has a lot of passion for people and any of our viewers or listeners that are looking for that. There's no better person to go to than Michael. And with that, I will sign off for the night. Great to have you, Michael. [00:48:18] Speaker B: Yeah, thanks for having me. I enjoyed it. [00:48:20] Speaker A: All right. Goodbye.