Podcast Transcription

Intro: Welcome to “Flippin’ Off,” a purpose-driven podcast about flipping houses and making a difference.

Melina: Melina Boswell here, co-founder of New Wealth Advisors Club. With me today, I have my youngest son, Andrew Boswell.

Andrew: Aloha.

Melina: All right. Oscar Suarez.

Oscar: Hey, there.

Melina: COO of NWAC, and special guests in the house today, Joel and Mary Ann Bongco.

Joel: How’s it? How’s it?

Mary Ann: Chihuu.

Joel: Oh, we’re executive directors in Hawaii. Yeah, yeah.

Melina: Yes, and Andrew Boswell, regional manager.

Mary Ann: Yes.

Joel: He is the regional dude.

Melina: Regional operations, yeah?

Joel: Yes.

Melina: All right.

Andrew: I don’t know if we ever even solidified that. I don’t know what the title is.

Melina: We definitely solidified that. So, hey, well, welcome everybody to podcast today. And I want to let you know kind of what the intention is today. It is 2019. It’s the end of 2019, almost one exact year, since the last time we recorded with Joel and Mary Ann. And I actually listened to our podcasts last night. So it was number 66 and 67, was the podcast that we did with you guys earlier this year actually. It was in January. And it was really funny for me to listen because I realized we didn’t know each other that well. We did know each other, but we didn’t know each other like we know each other now. And so it’s really cool for me to reflect on this last year and what we’ve accomplished and what has actually transpired, which is nothing short of miraculous in my mind. So, you know, last year in January was the first time that we had people from Hawaii come over and join our training. They did our three day RPP. You guys repeated training at that time. And from that point, we made a decision to build the Hawaii market. And so much has taken place in this last year. So I’m going to start with letting you guys know, I was thinking we could make a list of all the things that we’ve done, and kind of, there’s been so much transformation that has taken place and growth that has taking place inside the club over this last year, which we’ll talk about in our end of the year podcast, I think. But I want to talk about what we’ve done in Hawaii for the last 12 months. So the first thing is that we truly do have a community in Hawaii, a real, live, community, meaning active club members. So we did our first RPP training in July. And, you know, we did go over in March and I think my commitment…well, I don’t even know if it was a commitment…my goal was to be in Hawaii every other month. And let me be honest, there is times when I was going over there, I think maybe in like May, and questioning myself, “What am I doing? Why am I getting on this flight? What’s going on?” And so, so much happened during that time that we planned our first training in July and I did hit every other month, which is pretty incredible. I’ve been there every other month, this entire year. And so, well, why don’t we share a little bit? We did our trainings. I guess the biggest thing is that I gave Hawaii my son, Andrew.

Andrew: Twist my arm.

Joel: Poor guy…

Melina: Yeah. So Andrew actually officially moved to Hawaii and…Andrew, when did you move, when this year?

Andrew: I moved in June, which, it’s funny, I was actually just thinking about it. And when Joel and Mary Ann came and recorded the first podcast in January, I had no notion in my mind that I would be moving to Hawaii. It wasn’t a thought, you know, not even in the back of my mind. And then when we were there in March, I think it kind of got dropped in my head, I think God, kind of planted it there. And I was just kind of like, “Maybe like I really like this place, you know.” But still, it wasn’t a thought, you know…

Melina: It was more of like, “Oh, I’ll be there.”

Andrew: Right. I’ll be here a lot. It’s a cool place, you know, obviously. And then it was when we went in May, it was when we went in May and I remember we were sitting at dinner and Joel and Mary Ann had really gotten the ball rolling with club members at that point and people that were interested and started building a community. And they hit that point where they said, “Hey, we could use an extra set of hands out here.” And so that was in May. And I don’t even know how it got brought up of me moving. But next thing I knew it was like, “Oh, yeah, Andrew’s moving next month in June.”

Melina: I know exactly…I can remember where we were sitting. I can remember sitting there and you looked at me and you said, “So who can you spare? We need somebody from the mainland to come over from the Mothership, who knows, you know, the details about the club and who could actually be a third person.” And who could that be? Do we have anybody?” And I started laughing. And I think Andrew was sitting right next to me and I just looked over at him like…and then Joel was like, “Well, I wasn’t gonna say anything.”

Joel: That was my first choice.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He had shame at first. But since you mentioned it.

Joel: Yeah, and he’s been a sponge. And, you know, a couple of things. One is, he eats Spam Musubi.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joel: And…And he’s kind of cool. I mean, he’s really adapted well into the local culture, especially with elders. He refers to them as auntie and uncle, which is a really big thing in Hawaii because we’re all like, calabash family, you know, not necessarily blood related but yeah, you know, part of that is in spirit of just being in Ohana and community in Hawaii.

Mary Ann: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: It’s respect. You know, it’s like they’d rather me say auntie or uncle instead of sir or ma’am, you know, which I think is cool. I mean, I love that anyway. It fits with who I am, too. So it makes it really easy to…

Melina: I feel like you were raised that way.

Andrew: Yeah, absolutely.

Melina: I never allowed my kids to call their aunt and uncle by their first name. So it’s just has never been a thing in my family. Well, for me anyway. Other people do it, but not for me. My kids are always…they refer to their aunt and uncle as aunt and uncle, period.

Mary Ann: Well, I just think, with Andrew too, he blended in naturally. It wasn’t like an effort for him. It just became natural, you know. And when you’re around him, you’d think he’s just part of the local boys.

Melina: Yeah, it is a funny thing. Well, I think that’s one of the most interesting things that happened for me after being there a few times. I do feel at home there, you know, in Hawaii, which is strange. I didn’t know how I would and I didn’t understand that that was an actual thing. And I just remember at one of the meet-ups at your house, one of the local Hawaiian men, he said to me, “Well, the island either loves you or it hates you.” And he said, “And the island clearly loves you.” So, which really meant something to us. So I don’t take that lightly. It’s a very real thing. And so part of our concern, I think, in opening up, you know, an NWAC Hawaii, first of all, we didn’t know exactly what that was going to look like. We really were stepping out in faith. The main concern was, are we mainlanders coming over trying to sell things to locals to take advantage of locals? And so I think by us giving, you know, Andrew, the opportunity to move in there and to really get immersed into the culture for real and become a resident… I mean, he even shipped his truck there.

Mary Ann: Yep.

Andrew: That’s right. That actually fit in well, well. There were so many Tacomas. It’s kind of wild, actually. There’s only a few that got the orange.

Melina: That’s true. That is very, very true. Yeah, go ahead.

Andrew: I was just gonna say, well, what you’re hitting on as far as you know, there is a stigma of people especially in the real estate business go to Hawaii, take money, and then go back to the mainland. You know, and you don’t see them anymore. I mean, I blended in so well, because I was accepted so well. You know, I was immediately accepted and brought in and made part of the family. And I think that a lot of that had to do with the fact that, exactly like you said, they saw that we were serious about being there. That we weren’t just trying to take people’s money and then run back to the mainland. We’re going to do real estate in Hawaii, we’re going to hold your hand, we’re here, this is who we are. And it was us putting action to those words, if you will, and especially how much you’ve been there. And I think that that is directly related to the welcome that we’ve received in Hawaii.

Melina: Yeah, it’s a funny thing. One of the things that we’ve always said is that real estate is local. Like, everything about real estate is local. And part of the problem with some of the other like, you know, “gurus” is that, you know, they fly in, fly out. And, you know, the market in Utah is entirely different than the market in California, you know, and the market in Hawaii. And so every market is very local. And you can’t contribute anything to a market unless you are immersed in it and you live in it. Even in California, the market between the Inland Empire and North Los Angeles or West LA is entirely different. And so it is, it’s very, very local. And it’s now we know the same on Oahu, right?. And I feel like I’m finally starting to understand the market in Hawaii much, much more. I was listening to our podcast before and I didn’t even understand the difference, you know, between Honolulu and North Shore. You know what I mean? Like, I don’t know that I necessarily understood and what I know now. So let’s talk a little bit about what we’ve done in the last year. So, Joel, you want to talk about maybe numbers? Like, how many active club members do we have right now?

Joel: Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. I mean, we started back in July, and we’ve got over 40 club members in our club in Hawaii. And one of the profound things for us, especially with just being in community is, many of them are local, many of them grew up in Hawaii, and, you know, we’ve got people from Ewa Beach where I’m from, Wailua, Kailua, all over the islands as well as Maui and on the Big Island. So that’s been huge because what’s been happening as well is, having this community in place, it also enables us to help connect with homeowners that are in distress. And more often than not, when we are connecting with those homeowners, there’s a connection there as well. And they could potentially be classmates, they could be friends of friends. I would say 90% of the homeowners that we’ve touched out there, we’ve got some kind of connection to, some kind of family connection to. I mean, just there right before we flew up to the mainland, Mary Ann went and visited a homeowner in distress. And that homeowner in distress was an older lady and her daughter was Mary Ann’s classmate. Isn’t that phenomenal?

Melina: And she knew it?

Joel: She recognized her, yeah.

Mary Ann: Exactly. Yeah.

Melina: Yeah. So it is quite fascinating. And this is my favorite part right now, is that, we’re not even one year in and we have like, how many deals? Like, we do real estate deals in Hawaii, which is just amazing. So Andrew is counting on his fingers. So just go ahead like name the street or the city or whatever, however you want to do it.

Andrew: Let’s see. I mean, I’m sure I’m gonna forget a couple too. Let’s see. We got Joe and Mary Ann’s Kailua, I don’t remember the name of that street. The Malko place or the Condo in Waihua. We got Onelua, and then the Waihua, the Manila villa. Right?

Joel: Right.

Andrew: And oh…

Mary Ann: We got Kalihi.

Andrew: Kalihi Oh, that’s right, Kalihi, yeah.

Joel: We got Kaneohe.

Andrew: Kaneohe.

Joel: And then we had Waikiki.

Andrew: And Waikiki. So, nine, so far.

Melina: It’s amazing. I mean, that is just…I’m so excited. And that’s all we’ve done on Oahu. So we’ve started to look at the Big Island. And we’ve spent a little bit of time over there and recognize, there’s a lot of opportunity over there as well.

Andrew: And it’s a different market. That’s actually what I was gonna say is. You said the difference in the market between Riverside and even West LA. Well, I noticed when we went to the Big Island, there’s a big difference in the market between Oahu and the Big Island. The way I related it, it’s kind of similar to like Oahu is more West LA Orange County, nicer area, you know, and then the Big Island price point is kind of like the Inland Empire actually. It’s interesting.

Melina: Yeah, yeah. So we’ve been going…it’s unbelievably exciting. And I think people don’t think that you can do real estate investing in Hawaii, right. So why don’t you talk about that a little bit maybe. You say it’s a commodity yeah?

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, one of the things that we talk about is, real estate investing in Hawaii is a specialty and not a commodity. And the reason why is in order for you to be successful in real estate investing, I think it’s an absolute must to do it as a community. So one of our profound terms that we use all the time is bumbai you learn, which in pidgin it means, “You’ll learn later on.” And many people try to do a real estate investing themselves where it’s important to be part of a community and to do real estate as a community. One of the big reasons why is just this level of connectedness in Hawaii. One of the things that people do is they authenticate you. And they authenticate you by family relationships, by what high school you went to, you know, what nationality you are. And there’s so many degrees of connections within real estate investing that is important that, you know, you should have that as part of your community. For example, the way that we connect with homeowners, Ewa Beach, for example is you bring people that are from Ewa Beach. We do have club members that are from Ewa Beach, from Wailua, from pretty much all over the islands. And that’s a huge part of what we bring to the table as a community, is the fact that we’ve got local people that have local relationships, local families, in the neighborhoods.

Mary Ann: And that’s important because of our mission. Because ultimately, real estate investing, you could say, one would argue that it’s just about the numbers, and so why do you need a community, right? Either the numbers work or they don’t work, but that isn’t the truth, in terms of what our business model is. Our business model is one that says homeowners, people, come before profit. So when you put people over money, then it stands to reason that you need to have a relationship with the person. And the only way to do that is through connection. That’s where community becomes so powerful. And the reality is, people do business with people they know and people they like. There’s an automatic trust factor that shows up when people, A, know you, and, B, when we can explain or show them that our business model is one that puts people ahead of $1. So, you know, the club has always had the mission to put people first. Meaning, if you can help somebody save their home, rather than buy it, if they’re in distress, and you can help them save it, and not get paid, we do that. And that is what the club has been built on for the last 10 years. And so now, taking that model and implementing it in Hawaii seems to be very, very natural. It’s very congruent with the culture in Hawaii. And I think that has a lot to do with why we’ve been so well received and how we’ve had the success that we’ve had, specifically with locals in the market that they…you know, there was almost this feeling of, “Are they for real, for real? Like, you’re really going to help somebody save their home?”

Andrew: And I was gonna say too, I mean, Mary Ann has been more involved in the weeds with this, but we have had…we’ve saved what? Three now?

Mary Ann: Yep.

Andrew: Three homes in Hawaii that we’ve had students help homeowners save their home.

Mary Ann: Yeah. Through the “No Modification,” yeah.

Melina: Yeah, which is an incredible opportunity.

Mary Ann: And the cool thing about that is Joe was talking about the community of Ewa Beach. We have people there that’s actually serving people that they grew up with. And it’s just amazing because then it is the word of mouth. You know, “So and so helped me out so I have somebody else that needs help.” And so they go and, you know, and that’s effortless, when it’s through word of mouth to the community.

Melina: Which is a really big deal especially because there’s a little bit of shame involved around people that are…you know, I mean, it’s true everywhere, but I think in Hawaii it’s even more intensified in terms of people having…you know, there’s respect that people want to offer to others and then there’s, you know, I would say shame, which, you know, really ultimately is, you know, pride, but shame involved in it. And so not wanting to ask for help, not knowing, and then not trusting anyone. And then once we’ve been you’ve been able to step into somebody’s world and improve that you really are there to help them. And then you’ve served them and then you don’t get paid. And the power in that, right?

Joel: And it’s amazing to me, in many of our homeowner conversations, we’re not even talking about real estate. You know, Mary Ann was with our last homeowner, she was actually talking to the mom, and that her husband had passed away a few years ago. And it was really an opportunity for us to help the mom and her kids rebuild relationships. That’s what it was all about. That was just…

Mary Ann: Is that all? You know.

Joel: And then just a few days before, we were helping another homeowner. And he was in turmoil with his wife. And he was just missing his four kids. So most of the conversation was about him and his wife, they were separated and their four kids. So it had nothing to do with real estate at all.

Melina: Yeah, yeah. Well, it’s because we talk about it all the time.

Christian: Hi, this is Christian Rios. As many of you know, I’ve been a member of New Wealth Advisors Club for over seven years and got started when I was 17 years old, with absolutely no real estate experience. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from being in the industry is the need for authentic relationships. If you’re looking for an actual team locally in Southern California with all the resources needed to close deals, register for one of our free workshops by visiting www.joinnwac.com. Thanks for listening to the Flippin’ Off podcast.

Melina: Well, it’s because we talk about it all the time, right? As real estate investors, we’re problem solvers and we all recognize that it’s not the real estate necessarily that has the problem, it’s the people. So, which is why I think we’re having the success that we’re having in Hawaii. So in terms of where we’re going now, with the NWAC: Hawaii, Oscar, do you want to talk a little bit about, like, what our vision has been, and then maybe where we’re going, you know, kind of the way you see it going?

Oscar: Sure. You know, firstly, just looking at this year, I think it’s exceeded what we all thought was gonna happen in multiple ways, right. First was, we’ll start with Andrew’s growth, and how he’s stepped into a role that none of us were really clear on what to expect, but we knew that there was a need.

Melina: Do you mean expect from him or even that the role existed?

Oscar: The role. What the role was…

Joel: We think it’s both.

Oscar: We’re defining the role as we went, right? We knew there was a need. The thing is that we knew that he could handle it. It was a matter of him, you know, stepping into the role, which is great. He’s there. And then that happening, then translated to Joel and Mary Ann being freed up to now really work with people and have the homeowner meetings, all these things happening, right? So now we’re at a point where we have the 40-plus. The next step that we’re already looking at right now is, you know, Andrew and I had a conversation about, we need to start developing our support structure out there. So now we’re starting to identify candidates to be accountability partners, to fall into our fulfillment side of things. We have accountability partners, junior coaches, and senior coaches which is our model. We’re already looking at people to identify those resources to again, provide another level of support. So people that are listening to this…and I think it’s important to understand a few things. One is, who we are here in the mainland, is who we are there. Nothing is shifting, nothing is changing. It’s exactly who we are in Hawaii and the rest of the islands. And who we’re going to develop there is exactly who we’ve developed here. You know, I’m sitting down writing some paperwork and doing things and I realize that our foundation as a club has been built on developing servant leaders. Nothing else, right? Real estate is real estate, it just is. And that’s where we are right now in Hawaii. So, the next step is, we have additional training sessions going on out there to look back and say that we’ve been out there… Roughly six weeks out of this year, have been spent there, if not a little bit more for you.

Andrew: I think more than that.

Mary Ann: For me, more. Yeah.

Oscar: Right. So if you look at it from that perspective, we definitely don’t just fly in and fly out. We fly in and then we come back, and then we’re back, and then we’re back again. And every trip, we do something different. We impart different information, different knowledge base, as we just continue to develop the market there in Hawaii, our training starts to adapt to the folks in Hawaii. So when you’re listening to this, just be clear that, “Man, these guys are real.” And we’re doing something that it’s hard to imagine. So I remember having that conversation with that state official.

Joel: Oh, man, I remember that.

Andrew: Yeah, we were sitting in a truck.

Oscar: Yeah, I had it on speaker and Andrew was listening to it and the guys just in total disbelief of what we do and how we approach things. He was like, “It’ll never work. It’s not possible. You guys can’t really show up like that.” And here we are now with three saved homes, nine folks that are essentially being helped and supported to move on with life. So by my account, that’s a dozen, right? So I think we proved them 12 times over that we are who we are and what we do is what it is. But it’s always how we show up, right? The odds are usually against us, and we always find a way to fight through it and go through it. So 2020 is going to be fun. You know, we already have our calendar set. It looks super busy. But it’s not. There’s a lot of things happening. We have three major training sessions that are going to be held in Hawaii. In between that, there’s clinics that you guys have put on, there’s foundations, DPA classes, there’s other trainings being put out there. There’s some remote training that we’re working on right now and putting together. So everything is coming together right now to the point that we will absolutely be the…we’re going to be the de facto. If you want to be an investor, these are the guys that you need to be with. Because we see all the posts on Facebook, like, “Is it really real?” If you have half a million dollar, sure you can invest here. We’re doing things with none of our own money, right. So, I don’t know, for me, if I’m there, this is exciting. It’s an exciting time for everybody there that wants to get into this business. And we have a lot of military folks out there that are now going to…it’s kind of a…Joe and I talked about this, it’s a Launchpad, if you will.

Melina: Yeah.

Oscar: Where these folks are going to pick up skills, develop them there and take it somewhere else and continue to build. So there’s so much happening right now. It’s busy but it’s good busy, it’s fun.

Mary Ann: For me what comes across to me when you share what the future looks like, we’re focused more on quality versus quantity. And being in Hawaii where we at geographically, we’re like the gateway. You know, there’s so many people coming through the island on all the different states.

Melina: The meeting place, the gathering place?

Mary Ann: Yeah, Oʻahu it’s called the gathering place, is where Oʻahu is.

Melina: You know, Mary Ann, when you were speaking right now I was thinking how you said quality over quantity. And you coined something for me that just has resonated, I’ve used it so many times about building a business. So would you share that kind of what your revelation was? Because it was your idea and the way you formed it into words. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Mary Ann: No.

Melina: You don’t know what I’m talking about?

Mary Ann: I don’t remember.

Melina: You posed the question, are you looking for a deal or are you looking to build a business?

Mary Ann: Right, right. That was really profound actually.

Melina: Very profound.

Mary Ann: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: I don’t think the coffee kicked in yet.

Melina: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mary Ann: And the reason why is, you know, this year and a half has been a journey with building NWAC in Hawaii, what did that looked like for us personally, professionally. And at one point, you know, it just hit me and it’s like, “You know what? You’re no different than anyone else in the street that’s just looking for a deal. If you really want to make it stick and be there for the community, it is building a business.”

Melina: Versus going after a deal.

Mary Ann: Yes.

Melina: Looking for a deal.

Mary Ann: Yeah. And it’s not a one hit wonder either. We’re here for long time, we’re here to build, not really build but continue the legacy. It is. It’s about continuing the legacy way beyond after us, you know, when we’re gone.

Melina: That’s exactly right. We want to build something that is long lasting.

Mary Ann: Exactly.

Melina:. Yeah. So the opportunity for everybody, anybody listening here is that you get to…if it’s something that people want, if they want to build a real business that is powerful in a couple of ways, it’s powerful in terms of impacting community, impacting your own personal life because of the leadership development that we have inside the club. So the idea that we have accountability partners, junior coaches, and senior coaches, that is all leadership training that is offered inside of the club, not as what…you know, it’s funny, we were talking yesterday about how when Dave and I first built this business, we built it on the foundation of servant leadership. And we were running so fast to like, make sure we could pay the bills. We didn’t take the time, we didn’t have the resources, the anything to even think about documenting what we were doing as we were going. And so now it feels like that’s what we’re able to do in Hawaii. We’re in a different place where we’re able to actually document the growth that we are creating, and the idea of building a leadership pipeline. You know, Dave and I had done leadership training for, you know, the last 10 years with everybody, we just didn’t document it. We were like…isn’t that right, Oscar?

Oscar: Yeah. That’s totally right.

Melina: Yeah. And so now we’re able to actually document it, and create so that it is duplicatable, which is really the bigger picture of the club. And sometimes it feels like, “Oh, my gosh, we’ve been at this for so long.” And then I realize, “My gosh, we haven’t been at this for very long at all.” And now the time has been collapsed, right?

Oscar: Yeah. So the excitement for me is that we’ve put things together now where our fulfillment side, which is really the accountability partners and coaches, they’re going to go through essentially a three-month training period. So before they can even be called a coach, they’re like, the intense training that they’re going to go through, everything from accountability to deal strategies, and financial fitness and everything in between. All these things are being put together so that whenever someone new steps in, the trust and confidence is in place that, “Hey, these guys know what they’re doing, and I’m going to be supported by someone that knows what they’re doing.” It’s not an 800 number, it’s not an email address. There’s still support from the mainland? Absolutely. Because we have to get things going. So if you’re out there, and you’re interested in being someone who is going to drive things and interested in leadership and developing those skill sets, man, this is it.

Melina: Absolutely it’s it. And you get to make money along the way. And that’s the beauty. That’s the beauty of it. So we’ve been able to acquire properties right now. And we’ve got, you know, excellent deals, which are exciting as all get out. So there’s the opportunity to build a real business that will create financial freedom for people, but it’s building a business. And there isn’t any other business in my mind that, you know, any simple person can do. And for me, that is the biggest reward that I could possibly offer to people. Is that, anybody can do this. It’s simple, but it’s not easy. Any person, like, you don’t have to have money in the bank, you don’t have to have a college education, you don’t even have to graduate from high school, frankly, you could have a prison record, you could have, you know, like any of those things. You could be from a broken family,. You could …any of those things. It could be who you used to be. But I believe that is what makes people powerful. And that’s what gives you all of those things that you’ve experienced in your life are the things that give you the opportunity to pay it forward to somebody else. And the club, as it sits, is created for that exact…it’s like the breeding ground for people that have been broken, and are in the process of rebuilding and they want to be able to pay it forward. I know the best way to heal is to serve others. I know that for a fact. I’m living proof of that. And so I want everybody to have that same opportunity and that same option. When I think back to the club members that we have now, you know, I remember when I was there in March, in Honolulu, I said, “This is a ground floor opportunity for people to join in.” And the truth is, I just knew it was a ground floor opportunity to something. But I didn’t know what it was. And now I’m like, “Oh, it’s very real.” And so we’ve had quite a few people, actually, many of those people who were at that March training are still with us today. And they’re getting ready to be into the fast track for accountability and coaching and senior coaching, which is phenomenal for me, in my mind. And I don’t think that anything else…well, I know, this opportunity doesn’t exist anywhere else. It really doesn’t.

Oscar: I think there’s programs out there that have tried. And the reality is that it’s because of the mission. The mission that we hold on to is different from everybody else. And that’s really what drives us and has continued to be the driving force behind it all. And that leads into not only the success that we’ve had there for the last 12 months, but over the 12 months the relationships that have been established and the partnerships that are starting to become more congruent and concrete and how we operate. You know, we have folks that authentic training here in Riverside and then years later there’s this blow up success out there and doing things. And now we have relationships with him again.

Melina: Yeah, with Cory.

Oscar: With Cory, yeah. Cory, again on what he’s doing with his company because he’s vertical now right? He’s got all these other companies and funding and other things that are going on. So he’s funding…what is it? NIHI?

Andrew: NIHI.

Oscar: NIHI, right?

Andrew: He went from hiding in the corner in our room to…he’s a guru. The guy does really, really big stuff.

Oscar: And it’s awesome, right? Because, I mean, it’s…I mean, so now you look at, wow, you have this kid, right, to me he is a kid. Actually, most all of you are kids to me.

Melina: Except for me.

Oscar: So this kid came up and did his thing and then stayed humble. And it’s absolutely aligned with our mission and doing some really cool things out there and now he’s a business partner. You know, yeah, it’s so cool. So, again, just the stuff that’s going on is insane.

Melina: Yep. Really, really exciting. And actually, Corey said he would come and do a podcast. So we got to get together and find a day. It’s actually really funny. Andrew and Corey live in the same building in Kaka’ako. Do you know what? I was studying when I was listening to you on podcast. You mentioned Kaka’ako and I was…you were actually talking about it. And I just started laughing. I realized how much I just didn’t understand and just what I’ve learned over the last year, about Hawaii and about the islands and what everything is and where everything is. And I’m so thrilled by that. I can’t even…you know, in Andrew’s condo, you know, I made sure that we got a two-bedroom two-bath. So that I literally have clothes and all of my toiletries, everything is there. So for me, Hawaii is home as well. And I plan on being there more and more and more. In fact, I’ll be there next week.

Andrew: Yeah, you will be there next week.

Melina: I will be there next week. Yeah, exactly. Oh, and the one last thing I was thinking about and I don’t remember when I stated this, but at some point in the last year I said something like, you know, I want to create a space for our Hawaii club members in California to come to, to stay if they decide that they want to join us for training in California. Again, I threw it out there. I said it out loud. I’m going to find a place and it’s going to be for Hawaii. And, you know, well, I mean if it didn’t happen, I ended up being able to acquire a property which is walking distance from the office. It’s like…I don’t know, it’s a quarter of a mile from the office. And I got to bring Joel and Mary Ann there yesterday.

Mary Ann: I didn’t realize how close it was.

Melina: So that means people from Hawaii, if they want to come, they have a place to stay, literally. And you can walk right to the office for training. And we actually changed a lot of our trainings for this next year coming up and clustering them together, so that if people want to fly in and take some of our advanced curriculum, they can do it all at one time and have a place to stay, which is really, really exciting for me, for all of us. So, well, stay tuned guys. We are going to keep you updated. And maybe I was thinking what we’ll do is we will do a case study on one of the deals, a local deal that we’ve done. Well, probably that’ll be our next podcast. So stay tuned for that. If you are listening to us for the first time and you are a local in Hawaii, we really do look forward to meeting you and to welcoming you into our community and we are looking for leaders. We don’t have a shortage of leaders, we’re looking for people who are looking to build a business and to lead by serving.

Joel: That’s right.

Melina: So for now, we are NWAC: Hawaii and we are flipping out. I’m Melina Boswell, your host of the Flippin’ Off Podcast. I really hope you enjoyed it. If you did, we’d love for you to subscribe. Give us a five star rating and tell your friends all about us. You can find more episodes of the Flippin’ Off Podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever else you would like to listen to awesome podcasts like this. If you like what you’ve heard, we’d really appreciate it if you’d follow us on Facebook and Instagram and tell us the stories that you’d like to hear.

Tim Jackson is our senior producer. Luke Jackson is our editor. Brothers. Josh Mauldin is our producer. Sound design by Frequency Factory. Our executive producer is Mind and Mill. This was all created by Dave Boswell for New Wealth Advisors Club.