In Episode 48 of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast Rennie is joined by Doug Marshall. Doug has 40 years of real estate experience, is the author of the book Mastering the Art of Commercial Real Estate Investing and the online course The Great Game of Real Estate Investing. Doug uses his 13 years investing in real estate to create wealth and grow passive income to allow him to follow his passion of helping the homeless. He is Co-Director of The Jesus Table and President of Hope for the Homeless Foundation.
In Episode 48 of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast Rennie is joined by Doug Marshall. Doug has 40 years of real estate experience, is the author of the book Mastering the Art of Commercial Real Estate Investing and the online course The Great Game of Real Estate Investing. Doug uses his 13 years investing in real estate to create wealth and grow passive income to allow him to follow his passion of helping the homeless. He is Co-Director of The Jesus Table and President of Hope for the Homeless Foundation.
Doug and Rennie have known each other for over eight years, and if Rennie was living in Oregon, Doug would be the only commercial loan broker he would work with. Doug has financed over $600 million in loans during his career!
In this episode Rennie and Doug cover:
About Doug Marshall
A veteran commercial real estate professional of 36 years, 30 of which are related to financing apartments and commercial real estate. For the past 10 years he has also invested in rental properties. In 2003, he founded Marshall Commercial Funding, Inc, a commercial mortgage brokerage firm located in Portland, Oregon.
Doug’s higher education began at the University of Idaho. He earned his MBA and his webbed feet at the University of Oregon. In 1999 he received a CCIM designation, which many consider to be the PhD of commercial real estate.
Doug has been married to Carol for 38 years. They have raised two responsible and self-supporting children. Doug enjoys reading, blogging, golfing and time in the hammock.
For free resources visit https://marshallcf.com/
You can also purchase Doug’s book Mastering the Art of Commercial Real Estate Investing from amazon.com here.
If you'd like to know how books, movies, and society programs you to be poor, and what the cure is. Visit wealthonanyincome.com/tedx. You'll hear Rennie's TEDx talk and can request a free 27-page Roadmap to Complete Financial Choice™ and receive a weekly email with tips, techniques, or inspiration around your business or money.
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Rennie Gabriel 00:09
Hi, folks, welcome to Episode 48 of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast. This is where we talk about money tips, techniques, attitudes, information and provide inspiration. In the past episodes, we spoke about how to build an income and expense report, how to measure the level of pleasure based on where you spend your money and how to track money in 5 - 10 seconds, what to look for in a net worth statement to see how close you are to Complete Financial Choice™. And last week, we had business coach Paul Moehring. Today, we have as our guest, Doug Marshall. Doug and I have known each other for over eight years. And if I was living in Oregon or Washington, he'd be the only commercial broker I'd work with. He's financed over $600 million in loans during his career. He has over 40 years of real estate experience, including 13 years investing in real estate personally. That's what he does to create wealth and grow a passive income. Doug is also the author of the book, Mastering the Art of Commercial Real Estate Investing, and the online course, The Great Game of Real Estate Investing. But Doug is also passionate about helping the homeless. He is the co-director of The Jesus Table, and President of Hope for the Homeless Foundation. And we're going to talk more about that charity shortly. Doug, welcome to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast.
Doug Marshall 01:37
Oh, Rennie, it's a pleasure to be with you.
Rennie Gabriel 01:40
Thank you. Well, let's get right to it with some questions. Tell us what you do, and why.
Doug Marshall 01:46
Okay. Well, I both work and play on things that I'm passionate about. You know, that's my why. And as we mentioned, before we we started recording today, many people aren't passionate about anything. They're not even, you know, passionate about their favorite sports team. And I'm very fortunate that I follow those things that I'm passionate about. And some of them are work-related. Some of them are charitable organizations and some are just things that I like to do. And so that's my 'why'. I go after those things that I'm passionate about.
Rennie Gabriel 02:29
Terrific. And we're going to probably veer a little bit about the standard questions, but tell me more about what you do, and what Hope for the Homeless Foundation does?
Doug Marshall 02:40
Well, I started Hope for the Homeless Foundation in 2019. And we provide a service that no other organization in the Portland area - where I'm located - does. In fact, we might be the only ones in the country that do what we do. See, what we do is we vet non-profit organizations that help the homeless. And non-profit organizations can really be divided into one of two categories. There's the compassionate care, organizations that help with making it more comfortable for the homeless to stay on the streets. It could be people that help with food, clothing, shelter, temporary shelter, medical, whatever. And that's under the category of compassionate care. And there's nothing wrong with compassionate care. But it doesn't solve the problem. And the second category of nonprofits are those that actually tackle one or more underlying causes of homelessness, resulting in the homeless finding permanent housing. And the vast majority, unfortunately, fall under the compassionate care umbrella. And, you know, our vetting scorecard, answer seven critically important questions that need to be answered to find out which category they're in: the compassionate care side, or whether they're tackling an underlying cause of homelessness. We then financially partner with those organizations that are doing great work, getting the homeless permanently off the streets and doing that work cost-effectively. And as a result of our vetting process, we know which organizations in the Portland area are actually helping to reduce the number of homeless on the street. And maybe more importantly, we also know the ones that are not. So that's what Hope for the Homeless Foundation does.
Rennie Gabriel 04:37
Fabulous. I'm going to ask you about The Jesus Table next. But that makes so much sense to look at those two different categories, which I hadn't really thought of from the standpoint that here in the Los Angeles area, we've got a horrible homeless problem. And there are people who do have the compassionate approach. They make sandwiches and they distribute food and that does nothing more than show that they're compassionate. But it doesn't solve anything other than maybe providing food and alleviating some hunger. It doesn't get to the underlying issue. So I'm very glad you explained that difference to me.
Doug Marshall 05:18
And that's, you know . . . We all want to be compassionate towards the homeless. But the reality is, is that don't you want to focus your money - if you're going to try to help the homeless - wouldn't you rather put your money towards those that are actually helping them get off the street?
Rennie Gabriel 05:36
Yeah. That would be my objective, too.
Doug Marshall 05:41
And so what we're doing is... we consider ourselves kind of like the, I'd say the Consumer Reports of nonprofits that help the homeless. We provide an objective look at what they're doing and how they're doing it and how cost-effectively they're doing it.
Rennie Gabriel 05:59
Yeah. Later on in the interview, I'm going to ask for a link, but I would really appreciate - personally - having that list of the seven criteria you use, because I think that's extremely valuable. And that's something I would like to communicate to my entire list.
Doug Marshall 06:14
Sure. Happy to.
Rennie Gabriel 06:16
Thank you. All right. Tell me about The Jesus table. What is that about?
Doug Marshall 06:22
Well, about 10 years ago, my wife and I started The Jesus Table, and it's been shut down as a result COVID, but we plan to restart it again beginning in September. It looks like everything as far as COVID restrictions is going to be over by then. So what we do is we provide a warm meal and a conversation every Tuesday night at our church. And it's based on the idea of creating community at each table by having what we call a table host. Now, Rennie, the hook, the initial hook, the reason why people come is for the food. And the food that we provide is really outstanding. It isn't like we just open up a can of pork and beans and provide them food that way. The food that we provide is excellent quality. But the real need is not the food, surprisingly, the people that we have, they might actually be if anything, they might even be a little overweight. So it's not like they're in real need of that.
Rennie Gabriel 07:30
Yeah.
Doug Marshall 07:31
That's the hook. But the real need is they want to feel loved, and have a relationship with people. And many times these people don't have any type of warm friendships at all. And so that's established by our table hosts. They are the ones that establish a relationship with the people. They can come to any table they want, but the table host is always at the same table every week. And over time, the people gravitate to one table host, and that's when things can happen as far as that creating community, among those who sort of feel lonely and want a relationship with others.
Rennie Gabriel 08:16
That makes perfect sense. Because from everything I read about getting homeless off the street, it starts with creating a level of trust, and that takes time. It doesn't happen as soon as you walk up to someone.
Doug Marshall 08:28
Absolutely.
Rennie Gabriel 08:29
Regarding your business. I'm struggling here because the podcast was designed to highlight someone's business, and what you and I spoke about was the transition that you're going through. So you know what, I'm going to pass on that question. I'm going to go to something that's more personal, and ask you what was your biggest - either personal or business - failure? And what was the insight you gained from that?
Doug Marshall 08:59
Well, I am one that has had over the years, many failures. I'll just say that right up front. I have failed both personally and professionally, many times, and it's not pleasant. Nobody likes to fail at things. I can also say, though, that I've also had my share of successes too.
Rennie Gabriel 09:25
Yeah.
Doug Marshall 09:25
And I look back and I think that my biggest failure - the one at least that was the most painful, by far the most painful - was that I was, probably 20 plus years ago, I was fired from a job. And that was, was probably my biggest failure.
Rennie Gabriel 09:46
And what was the insight from that? Or did you use that as leverage to create the success you've had?
Doug Marshall 09:53
Well, the biggest insight by far was that I was under the wrong assumption. And let's see, if you, maybe you or your listeners are under that same assumption. I assumed that if I worked hard, and I was faithful, and I did my job, that over time, my career would advance. I would be promoted. And I would be rewarded for my hard effort. And I found that that was simply a myth. And you see over the years, for whatever reason, I don't know why, Rennie, I wish I knew why, but I had this uncanny ability to attract awful, I mean, awful bosses. You know the type. They're the screamers. They're the intimidators. They're the perfectionists. The ones that you can never please. See, I used to collect them. It was like . . . I remember one time, when I was interviewing for one of these jobs that I had, that I asked the person. Because I was already getting to the point where I couldn't believe I could collect another bad boss. So I asked this person, this woman, I said, "What do other people think of you?" As one of those interview questions. And she said, "Everybody thinks I'm just great, you know, blah, blah, blah." Whatever that was. And within 30 days of starting my employment with her, I realized that I was working for someone that made Attila the Hun look like a puppy. Yeah, that was really fun. So the thing that I've learned, the big thing I've learned over the years was that I needed to be much more proactive on my career. I could not expect that my boss would reward me with an improved career path by doing good work. So in 2003 - let me back up - I knew that what I was doing over the years, I knew that I was very competent at what I did, and I did it really well, and I really kind of enjoyed it. I just didn't enjoy the people I was working for. So in 2003, I took that leap of faith and started my own business, Marshall Commercial Funding. And I can tell you that first month - I'm not somebody that's overweight or anything - I lost seven pounds in that first month because I was so stressed out, starting my own business and never done anything like that before. And another part of this I haven't told you about was that - I was just... over the years, because I was always in these junior positions, I was just barely getting by financially, just eking out a living, paycheck to paycheck.
Rennie Gabriel 13:01
Mm hmm.
Doug Marshall 13:02
And in that first year, Marshall Commercial Funding, I made three times what I made the previous year. I'm not talking a 30% increase. I mean...
Rennie Gabriel 13:11
300%.
Doug Marshall 13:13
Yeah, yeah. And, and boy, did that feel good. For the very first time I had money. I mean, actually had money in the bank, and it was such a great feeling. So making that leap into self-employment was the best business decision I ever made.
Rennie Gabriel 13:35
Terrific. Congratulations. I love what you had to say. In terms of what the people who may be investing in real estate do, rather than telling me about what do you do for these people - because of our earlier conversation - let me ask you, what are the common mistakes of people who are intending to invest in real estate. What are their common mistakes?
Doug Marshall 14:03
Well, the common mistake is fear. It is like the overwhelming issue. Two, three years ago, I wrote my book, Mastering the Art of Commercial Real Estate Investing.
Rennie Gabriel 14:15
Great book.
Doug Marshall 14:16
I think I was on 40 different podcast interviews over a period of about 18 months. And the reason why I bring that up is that when I talked to many of these podcasters, they would tell me that the people, their audience, were either newbies or more likely, they'd never invested. In fact, the majority of the people that were listening to the podcast were people who were interested in real estate investing, but they had never pulled the trigger. And there are reasons for that, but the primary reason, it's not because of a lack of money or a lack of knowledge, that's just not the case. The primary reason why people never go through with buying their first rental property is fear. And there are many types of fear. And I've talked about, in the past, four different types of fear. There's the fear of failure, the fear of the unknown, fear of inadequacy and fear of rejection. And I read a book recently - actually it's been about two, maybe three years ago - that is just awesome. It's just the best book on this subject. And it's called Mastering Fear - a Navy SEAL's Guide by Brandon Webb. And in that book is this quote. So listen up to this quote and see what you think. I want to hear your . . .
Rennie Gabriel 15:44
I'm writing down Brandon Webb.
Doug Marshall 15:47
Brandon Webb.
Rennie Gabriel 15:48
Mastering Fear.
Doug Marshall 15:49
Mastering Fear - a Navy SEAL's Guide. So this is a quote that comes out of his book. I don't think it's attributable to him, but I'm not sure who it is. But it goes like this. "Everything you really want in life is on the other side of fear." Let me say that, again. "Everything you really want in life is on the other side of fear." Is that true? What do you think?
Rennie Gabriel 16:16
I would have to agree to that. If I think back about the things that I've done, like the first three-unit property I invested in, and not feeling I knew enough, and being afraid, and using every penny of the $18,000 I'd saved over three years. Yeah, there was fear. It was mitigated because my wife was investing with me and so was the realtor who was bringing us the three-unit property. But yeah, there's fear of going from, this is the first time I've had any money in my life, I'm 50 years of age, it took me three years to save $18,000 and I'm pouring it all into this one thing.
Doug Marshall 17:03
Yeah. You know, I think it is to. I'm going to get even more basic than that. I'm going to, remember that first kiss?
Rennie Gabriel 17:13
Oh, big time rejection. I mean, what is going to happen? Am I going to be made a fool of? Oh, right. Yeah, yeah.=
Doug Marshall 17:22
Yeah. I mean, everything you really want in life is on the other side of fear. It really is. It is. It's like that first - that date with that gorgeous woman that you're with, and somebody that you really want to get to know and that first kiss. That is a perfect example. Very simple, very basic, but it's something that it's universal, everybody has gone through that. So I really believe it's the biggest problem of most of my prospects... I've had people come up to me, who said, "Doug, I really want you to finance my first property." And they have like 20 questions that they wanted me to answer, and I'd be happy to go through it. And then some time would go by, sometimes six months or a year go by, and they call me again. And they say, "As soon as I find my first rental property, I'm going to have you finance it for me." And I answered, "Well thank you very much." But they're never going to find it because they couldn't get enough information. They're always looking for more information. And at some point, you just have to say enough with the trying to get more information. You just need to pull the trigger.
Rennie Gabriel 18:35
Yeah. The comment I've heard, the expression is - analysis paralysis.
Doug Marshall 18:41
Yeah. Yeah.
Rennie Gabriel 18:42
So, cool. All right. Well, that's great. Great insights. And in terms of where you're going at this point, because we spoke about . . . You and I are both in a very similar situation. Neither one of us have to work for a living.
Doug Marshall 19:00
Right.
Rennie Gabriel 19:01
And both of us have lots of things that we're interested in, or passionate about, that we want to pursue. And for me, my intention is to be spending more time with the charity Shelter To Soldier, working with their donors, working with those soldiers, and using the skills that I've supported the public on with these soldiers.
Doug Marshall 19:23
Yep.
Rennie Gabriel 19:23
Is there some free resource that you could provide that would be of value to the people listening to this podcast?
Doug Marshall 19:33
Well, the free resource that I offer, just go to my website. There are a variety of things on there - if your audience are interested in real estate investing. There's a variety of things on there that they can sign up for and get on a regular basis. My blog is there.
Rennie Gabriel 19:58
I've read your blog steadily and there's always great information in there. Everything from a case study of a financing deal that goes wrong to the books that you've read and the value you've gotten from them.
Doug Marshall 20:14
Yeah. So I would start there. But there's a variety of other things that are on my website that are virtually free. Almost everything on my website is free.
Rennie Gabriel 20:26
I will put the link for your website in the show notes.
Doug Marshall 20:30
Okay.
Rennie Gabriel 20:32
And the last question I'll ask is, what would be the one question I should have asked you, that would give great value to my listeners?
Doug Marshall 20:43
Sure. So the question, Rennie, I'm really disappointed you didn't ask this question. Shame on you. Now, I would have been really surprised if you'd asked this question. But, the question I'm going to answer here is, tell us about the relationship between success and a person's superpowers. Okay. And I like to use the word superpowers, I think it really accurately kind of describes those natural gifts, or maybe spiritual gifts that you're given. But before I answer the question, I'll give you my history. For years, in fact, for most of my life, I really wanted to be somebody that I wasn't. I envied the certain people who are outgoing, the type of person that people naturally gravitate towards. And for lack of term, I would just say, those who everyone likes. The guys who are comfortable in front of an audience, that can tell a story or tell a joke, and people like to listen to them and laugh along with them. I envied their superpowers. I am not in that category. I am something of an introvert. I certainly don't like getting in front of an audience. I can't tell a good story. I certainly can't tell a joke. And so I've always envied those people who can do that, the ones that are have that charisma.
Rennie Gabriel 22:16
I know who you're talking about.
Doug Marshall 22:17
Yeah. So about 10 or 15 years ago, sometime back then, I had a change in my mindset. I began leaning into my superpowers, the things that I do that make me who I am. And I used to resist my superpowers, because they kind of make me, they kind of make me kind of quirky. But I found out that the more I lean into my superpowers, the more successful I became. And I believe it's true for every one of us here. I believe that God has given each of us our own set of superpowers. And the less we focus on what we don't have, and the more we focus on those things that make us unique, the greater the chance that we will succeed in life.
Rennie Gabriel 23:11
I agree completely with you, Doug, because my wife will make comments to me often, about, she's not happy with the way I dress, but I enjoy wearing Hawaiian shirts. But it really has to do with being comfortable in my own skin. And there were people who I envied and I realized what was working for them isn't going to work the same way for me. And what is it I need to be doing that best works for me? So this is probably one of the best interviews I've had, Doug. And for my listening audience, they need to know that - this is the one I want to promote all over the place. And, Doug, I really want to thank you for being on the show.
Doug Marshall 24:05
Well, it's been a pleasure. It's been a pleasure, Rennie, and thank you for having me on your show.
Rennie Gabriel 24:11
Thank you. And to my listeners, thank you for tuning in. You can listen to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast on your favorite platform. And please rate, review, and subscribe. If you'd like to know how books, movies and society programs you to be poor, and what the cure is, then log on to wealthonanyincome.com/TEDx. You'll hear my TEDx talk and can request a free 27-page roadmap to complete financial choice, and receive a weekly email with tips, techniques, or inspiration around your business or money. Again, that's wealthonanyincome.com/TEDx. And next week, we'll have Kristin Swanson as our guest, who helps Thought Leaders execute their 'someday when' procrastination projects. Until next week, be prosperous. Bye bye for now.