Apolo Ohno’s “Patient” Real Estate Investing Approach for Financial Freedom

Dave Meyer (0:00)

You don't need to be the smartest person in the room to build wealth through real estate, but you do need patience, discipline and a willingness to play the long game. Apolo Ohno understands this concept better than most, having dedicated his entire youth to becoming a short track speed skater. He reached the pinnacle of the sport, competing in three different Winter Olympics and taking home eight medals. But when his skating career ended 16 years ago, he faced a challenge he hadn't trained for. He calls it the great divorce, separating from an identity that had shaped nearly every part of his life. Thankfully, many of the skills he had spent decades honing translated to real estate investing. Now, Apolo operates at the intersection of high-performance business and wellness, helping entrepreneurs achieve their goals in a more sustainable way. And today, he's sharing the lessons that helped him weather tough times, why your investing network is your single greatest advantage, and how to avoid burnout on the road to financial freedom.

What's up, everyone? I'm Dave Meyer, Chief Investment Officer at BiggerPockets. And today, we have a very special guest, eight-time Olympic medalist Apolo Anton Ohno. Apolo has devoted a lot of his time to investing since retiring from speed skating 16 years ago. And he's going to share the key business lessons he's learned here on the show today. Let's bring on Apolo Ohno.

Apolo Ohno, thank you so much for joining the BiggerPockets Podcast. It's great to have you here.

Apolo Anton Ohno (1:36)

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Dave Meyer (1:37)

I remember your Olympic run very well. But for people who might not know of you yet, maybe just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your backstory.

Apolo Anton Ohno (1:48)

My name is Apolo Anton Ohno. I was a short track speed skater. I competed across three Winter Olympic Games. I had a very blessed career. I was able to walk away from the sport with eight Winter Olympic medals. I retired 16 years ago, believe it or not, over 16 years ago.

It sounds crazy just to say that.

There's been multiple reinventions both inside of the sport that I was so passionate and I loved so much. And then obviously when I retired, there was the big transition or something that I call the great divorce from the previous identity into forming the new one. I spent a lot of time now focused on high performance, at this kind of center of high performance business and wellness. And I'm sure we'll talk about all the investing stuff in our combo today.

Dave Meyer (2:31)

I'm curious about this great divorce. Tell me more about that. I imagine after dedicating your entire life to a sport, transitioning to doing something else must be really difficult.

Apolo Anton Ohno (2:41)

I think every Olympic athlete probably goes through some format of this, you know, in their in their each own kind of way or story. Or even just people who've done particularly one thing for a very long time, that the world has signaled your check in the mail has signaled your fees, whatever have showed that this is what you're really good at and this is what you were put on earth for. And then sometimes either by force or by choice, particularly in the world of sport, it's usually you age out or you get injured or you decide to go on another path.

And it feels like that. It feels like a finger snap in which everything you've done has revolved around this one particular thing. And you've said no to effectively every other thing and opportunity that's not allocated towards. Does it make me faster? Does it make me stronger? Does it help me recover better? If no, then it's not in the sphere of where you operate. And then seemingly overnight, after you get back from the closing ceremonies at the Winter Olympic Games and the calls start to get more quiet, perhaps the agent stops calling as much, people stop working for you as much, that you think is this kind of endless supply of deals and opportunities.

But more importantly, you just don't really know what the hell you're good at. So for me, there was this great divorce from the previous identity. I had this person who I thought that I was, the world had signaled to me that this is why it thought that I was going to be on this earth.

And that was gone. That version of myself had no longer or was no longer going to serve me in the same way. Wearing spandex and going in circles is not exactly the way I want to run my business.