#31 - The Wild Wild West of Mineral Real Estate

**Mike Brown** (0:04)
What my mentor said when he hired me on that 2011 was one of the best times in the history of the oil business to be in the oil business, he was right. I grew up in a small town in Midland, Texas, which is actually the oil and gas capital of the world. And I started a company that buys oil and gas properties the big fish aren't looking at, put them together in a package, and then sell them to the big fish.
Almost every other country in the world that has oil government owns the rights and gets paid for the revenues in the US. Private citizens actually own the rights to the land and they can be divided up over generations. So there might be hundreds of people that own a small piece of the mineral estate in a particular track. What we do is basically track those people down, make them lump some offers for the rights to the property in hopes that there might be future drilling in that area.
We were making millions of dollars building a lifestyle that to ride bikes every day and work out together and go to this office, also a clubhouse and spend a lot of time with my kids and my family. We had an eight-figure exit, certainly probably could have had a nine-figure exit.

**Shaan Puri** (1:12)
People are going to listen to this and be like, this guy has the best fucking life.
Five million is not enough. Ten million. Fifteen million.

**Mike Brown** (1:22)
Twenty million. A hundred million dollars.

**Shaan Puri** (1:23)
A half a billion.

**Mike Brown** (1:24)
Eight hundred fifty million dollars.

**Shaan Puri** (1:26)
One or two people in a bedroom actually the threats to these giant multi-million dollar companies because you have creativity and you have nothing to lose.

**Mike Brown** (1:34)
Add another zero to that price, buddy.

**Shaan Puri** (1:37)
Add two more zeros.
Every week, we sit down with self-made millionaires and ask them, how did you do it? I didn't start a podcast. I started my own personal business school. And the teachers are the successful entrepreneurs behind the biggest brands and businesses that we find today. I wanted to know the real stories with all the details, like how did you get your first hundred customers? What did it feel like when shit hit the bank? I ask them, how did you spend your money now that you're rich? And what would you do if you were starting over from scratch again today? If you're like me and you want to own your own business instead of living a nine to five job, this is the podcast for you. The hustle presents My First Million.
First, hello and welcome. We have Mike Brown here. We met like three days ago or something.

**Mike Brown** (2:29)
Right.

**Shaan Puri** (2:29)
We just bumped into each other at Sam's office when we were recording The Million Dollar Brainstorm and I hit it off right away. And I was excited to get you on, and I was kind of begging you. I was like, hey, how long are you in town for? Let's get in the studio because I like that you're a couple of things, not a high tech business. In fact, I think it's a boring business, and it's a beautiful boring business. It's a non-traditional background, so you're not like, you know, got my MBA, worked up the corporate ladder, and then did this thing. Totally different background. Some other things to look forward to, and this is really small company and big revenues, and those are always excited to me. So those are like three of the things that I'm like, people got to hear this. Mike Brown, welcome to the podcast. First, how are you feeling today?

**Mike Brown** (3:04)
Thanks. Yeah, it's great to be here. I appreciate it.

**Shaan Puri** (3:06)
You spent all morning on a mushroom farm, so I think that's like, if you're not ready for the podcast, I don't know. I don't know what else I could do for you.

**Mike Brown** (3:12)
Yeah, definitely a nice relaxing piece of property down south. So happy to be back in the city and back to business.

**Shaan Puri** (3:20)
So I gave people the teaser, which is not a high tech business, small company, big profits. What is it that you do?

**Mike Brown** (3:27)
My name is Mike Brown. I grew up in a small town in Midland, Texas, which is actually the oil and gas capital of the world. And I started a company that buys oil and gas properties and packages them up to private equity backed funds. So basically I'm an aggregator. I buy smaller properties that the big fish aren't looking at, put them together in a package, and then sell them to the big fish. The big fish.