The #1 Reason Entrepreneurs Fail (I Lost $2M Learning This) w/ Austin Zaback

Brian Luebben (0:00)

The American dream used to be, get a good job, get paid good enough to go buy you a house in the yard and have a dog. That American dream is now kind of disappearing.

Austin Zaback (0:08)

Renting is actually cheaper than owning, as it stands right now. Less and less people actually want to own a house. If somebody really wants to buy a home, then they're going to have to increase their skills to make more money, or they need to start living below their means. They need to start saving money. They can stop eating out. They can stop drinking, you know, coffee bean, right? They'll eventually be able to afford to buy a home.

Brian Luebben (0:26)

First thing that I learned from my mentors was, in corporate, you work on your weaknesses. You're well-rounded, but in entrepreneurship, you-

Austin Zaback (0:35)

Some of my business partner divorces have been more complicated than if I were to get divorced in my marriage.

Brian Luebben (0:40)

What are you looking for in a partner, and then what are some discrediters of a partner?

Austin Zaback (0:43)

Number one thing I'm looking for is, do we align on our personal core values? Stop thinking you need to be the smartest guy or gal in the world to go buy a company or do this, that, and the other thing. You do not. You need-

Brian Luebben (0:56)

Austin Zaback, over here, the man, the myth, the legend and the flesh in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Austin Zaback (1:01)

Something like that. I appreciate you having me, man.

Brian Luebben (1:03)

Appreciate you having me. I just was on your show, and I've been basically living at your studio this week.

Austin Zaback (1:08)

Yeah, yeah.

Brian Luebben (1:08)

So I appreciate the hospitality.

Austin Zaback (1:09)

How's it been? Good?

Brian Luebben (1:10)

It's been great. It's been great. Yeah, me and your team are basically homies at this point.

We all just hang out now. But man, I'm super excited to interview you today because you are someone that's just a businessman through and through. You have three core companies You have. a media company, you have a residential real estate company, and you have one of the largest wholesaling companies in the nation. So we have a lot of cash flow, a lot of business, a lot of stuff coming in today. So I'm curious, first, I want to allow you to introduce yourself and add a little bit of meat to that. Then I want to break each one of these businesses down sequentially. So how would you introduce yourself to a stranger today?

Austin Zaback (1:48)

At the end of the day, I'm just a serial entrepreneur. I've been very blessed, very fortunate to end up in the position that I have. I've failed more than I've succeeded by a long shot. I've started like 12 companies. I currently own probably seven or eight, if you include title, mortgage, insurance, everything like that.

And we're actively looking at doing a lot of what you're doing, actually. So I'm excited to be... We might talk a little bit about that. But real estate is my bread and butter. It always has been. And anytime I've gone away from that, I've always found myself back doing residential real estate at an extremely high level. So that would be probably how to introduce myself. But you know, I'm a brand builder, right? Like I like social media. I want to be omnipresent. I want people to know who I am. And in some way, shape or form, I know that'll drive revenue.

Brian Luebben (2:34)

Beautiful. So I actually want to start on the kind of macroeconomy or macro situation before we dive into the sequential business building. Because as somebody that is very, very, very deep, both in helping people buy their first time homes and also wholesaling homes off market, I think that you're probably more tuned in to the residential real estate market in America than 99% of people.

Austin Zaback (2:56)

Probably.

Brian Luebben (2:57)

So let's talk about the situation today, man, because I see a lot of people that are in our sphere that are saying, you know, I'm going to go buy these houses and do all of this stuff.

Then you go back to 95% of normal people that are struggling to buy that first home, right? And every time that they try to buy a home, it's bought in cash by a Black Rock, by a private equity firm. So like, where do you see the ball going for these first time home buyers today in this market? And what's some advice that we can give to them? Because I see their videos too, and I want to help them as well because the American dream used to be get a good job, get paid good enough to go buy you a house, a yard and have a dog.