HEATHER EWING: The CRE RUNdown
Are you intrigued by Commercial Real Estate? Join Heather Ewing, CCIM each week as she dives into CRE trends, Deals, and Developments throughout Madison, WI. Learn the crucial role of Mindset in CRE and Marathons! Success leaves Clues.
HEATHER EWING: The CRE RUNdown
Ep. 54 Mustafa Ladha - Unlocking Financial Freedom Through Real Estate and Mindset Shifts
What if you could shift your mindset and unlock the key to financial independence? Join us as we uncover the extraordinary journey of Mustafa Ladha, who traded a promising career in genetics and pharmaceuticals for the realm of real estate investing. Mustafa shares his transformation story and how he harnessed the power of mindset to achieve financial freedom. We discuss the art of tailoring real estate strategies to personal goals and how passive investing can be a vehicle for success. Mustafa passionately emphasizes the importance of aligning investment choices with individual objectives, making it clear that real estate isn't a one-size-fits-all solution.
Throughout our engaging conversation, Mustafa and I explore how viewing money as a tool and maintaining honesty in financial planning can dramatically change investment outcomes. We delve into the significance of conviction in one's investment strategies and the necessity of continuous learning and a growth mindset. Together, we highlight the importance of living a balanced life, using healthy outlets like family and sports to relieve stress and find joy. Mustafa's insights on maximizing time and embracing discomfort for personal growth are invaluable, along with his commitment to sharing knowledge to empower others on their financial journeys. Tune in for a wealth of perspectives on real estate investing, mindset, and living a fulfilling life.
Welcome to Heather Ewing, the CRE Rundown. I have a wonderful guest today. It is none other than Mustafa Lada Welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, heather Nice, to be on the show.
Speaker 1:Definitely Well. It's a pleasure to have you on and we've connected through LinkedIn, and I really enjoyed learning about your background and your transition as an investor years ago. Please share with our audience a little bit more about you.
Speaker 2:Sure sure, I know. Even before the podcast, when we were talking, we were just discussing how real estate is such a huge space and people are often looking at that space thinking how do I get started? And I think that's also indicative of life, like when you go through college, you know, you have a certain vision of what you're going to study, and then you go out into the real world and get a job and in most people's situation it's nothing like what they studied in college, and so that was similar for me. I studied genetics, I went to medical school. I decided medicine wasn't how I wanted to help people.
Speaker 2:So I came back, I got a job in the pharmaceutical industry and in that space I was helping people in terms of drug safety, which was great. But it was like how do I kind of scale that impact and help more people? Fundamentally, when people are taking medicine, yeah, they want it to be safe, but they don't really understand what goes on behind the scenes. So I wanted my impact to be more germane or more relevant to the average person. And so a lot of my friends, a lot of people that I was speaking to, they fundamentally had challenges understanding their money and how to grow money and I could relate to that. So I was on my own journey of financial independence. Along the way I took time out to really educate people in my circles to say, hey, this is how you invest, this is how you think of money. And that's kind of led me to where I am now, where I help people passively invest in real estate.
Speaker 1:Which is terrific, because there's so many misnomers on it. There's just a wealth of information that isn't as accurate. So it's nice to have your voice on LinkedIn and on other platforms for that. So you touched on mindset, essentially right. What is the shift that helped you, or what do you notice helps your clients in shifting into a more wealth mindset?
Speaker 2:I think it's a great question because I think when you get started at least for me or a lot of people that I speak to I don't think mindset is really valued or respected or prioritized as much as it should be, because you can't know what you don't know. So early on I was working that pharmaceutical job. I live in New Jersey, it's an expensive state to live in and I'm looking at it like, fundamentally, if I just rely on this one job, I'm not going to hit my goals. And my goals weren't monetary, they were based on impact. Like, if you want to give charity, for example, you have to be able to make money to pay your bills, to help others, right. So for me it was very. I was looking at things like that and saying, fundamentally, if I'm not making enough now and if the American dream is X, y, you know, used to be like the house with the white picket fence.
Speaker 2:Now I don't know Now maybe exactly exactly Now it's probably traveling the world and working from wherever. Whatever your version of the American dream is, fundamentally, it costs money, and then you don't want to hit 65 and not be able to afford retirement, which is the reality for most people. So then it's like, if you know the traditional wisdom is XYZ and that gets you, you know ABC outcome and that outcome is suboptimal, then you have to start making changes now. So I think to some degree it was thinking through that whole workflow. Heather, if that makes sense, and my friends to say hey, fundamentally, or the people in my circles to say, hey, fundamentally, what is your goal? Because real estate is not the answer for everyone and there's no answer.
Speaker 2:There's no universal, ubiquitous answer for everyone, because everyone's problems are unique and everyone's challenges are different. So it's to understand where is the person at. What is the right strategy for them? It may be real estate, it may not be. And even within real estate Heather, obviously you're very accomplished.
Speaker 2:So you know, like real estate is a big space, but when you're talking to somebody who's maybe new to the space, it's viewed as like a nice tidy box. But it's not Right. You ask the classes and you want to peel back the layers to say, hey, fundamentally I do multifamily real estate, so layers. To say, hey, fundamentally I do multifamily real estate, so I provide housing, that might not be the right solution for XYZ investor, right. So it's kind of about understanding the person's concerns, really hearing where they're at and treating it as we're on a journey together. There's like no pressure in this process and, fundamentally, if I'm not the best person to help you, I'm going to tell you early on, because that doesn't help anyone long term, right, that relationship long term over, like you know, 20, 40 years. How do I optimize value for somebody? It's by giving them exactly what they're asking for, not exactly what I want to give them, and there are two differences.
Speaker 1:I agree completely, and one of the things I've really liked about connecting with you through LinkedIn for the past I don't know, is it maybe almost a year somewhere in that arena of your heart and knowledge really shine through in your posts. And so to me, especially when someone is getting to know maybe real estate in general, the different asset classes and how investments work, what is passive truly, what is it not? I think it's really nice how you genuinely care and really take the time of getting to know people, because, to your point, if you don't really know what someone's goals are, you know what their past is with investing or lack thereof, and their risk tolerances. All of these are really crucial factors and you can't guide them effectively without that. So I love how you really do take that step back and look at it from an impact standpoint of how can you create the best impact in this person's life and thus their wealth.
Speaker 2:And I think, just to add to that Heather life and thus their wealth, and I think just to add to that Heather, like it cannot. It can be a not fun process for people in the sense that, like, real estate is confusing, they recognize it's confusing and they're not taking action. Then they talk to somebody like me who more or less is like here's the forest, we're going to walk through the forest together and along the way I'm going to stop and I'm going to talk about this bird, I'm going to talk about this plant, and these are like useless things for you, but in three years time it'll all click and you'll be like okay. This is why Mustafa was talking about tax efficiency and saying I'm not ready for this, but I'm happy to talk about it, and he'll spend 5-10 minutes talking about the strategy.
Speaker 2:That's not right for me right now and it's not right for that investor right now, because that strategy is like you know, maybe you'll get your money back in three years through a refinance event, but fundamentally you're holding for 10 years and that investor is right now focused on short term cash flow. So they're in a completely different bucket versus like building generational wealth. But for me, heather, it's important because it really stems from that mentality of you don't know what you don't know. So if no one is taking that time to kind of educate you on the things that you should be thinking about in the future, then you can't decide for yourself if I want to think about it now or if I want to actually think about it in the future. Does that all make sense or not really?
Speaker 1:I think a lot of it. It's funny one of my early mentors made that statement of you don't know what you don't know, and I remember at the time I had heard it and I was like that is a valuable statement, because you don't know what to ask, you don't know what to look for or what to seek out, and so to your point. That's really important and I think it's all partnering up. And to your point I relate everything to marathons. You know it's like you can't run before you walk and you can't run the marathon until you get some miles under your belt and you know having those pivotal markers at each point.
Speaker 1:So, similarly to investing, you have to do it in different stages and everyone has different learning curves with it, risk tolerances, where some might move really fast and just go and others aren't there. So I think it's important of almost, if you want to say, understanding the whole person, because money is a huge part of life. And I think too, when people feel that they aren't where they're at, it's really uncomfortable to talk about that, and that's where I like to. I would anticipate your approach is really just a completely respectful understanding and helping them see of like, hey, this is a courageous step, and now you can move into these next steps and here's our plan and adjust as needed.
Speaker 2:And I think the beautiful emotional aspect of this Heather that you're touching on is that people unfortunately attribute their financial status to their personal value, which is illogical, respectfully to everyone, because where you're at does not represent who you are as a person.
Speaker 2:There are different struggles and adversities that you're overcoming that affect you financially, but your mental resilience, how you show up and how you respond to that is who you are as a person. They're two different things. So whether somebody has a dollar or a hundred million, one person is not better than the other in my humble opinion. But we live in america. America is very capitalistic, so we tend to judge things by, by numbers, which is not necessarily bad. But it's to say, fundamentally, money is a tool. I would not go around saying, oh hey, I have the nicest calculator or the nicest pen, the nicest car. So it's like, hey, fundamentally, if you have a nicer car, nicer house, nicer pen, nicer calculator, you're not necessarily a nicer person, right? So if that's the mentality and you try to have that mental shift as an individual or when you're talking to individuals, then it's a very no judgment space. And what I've learned over the years is like everyone feels like their background, or people like them are bad with money or don't like to talk about money or have like money sensitivity, and we all have it in different forms. So I think, to some degree, having that conversation is important, because then you're able to say, hey, fundamentally, you are the right profile of person to invest in a 10 year strategy, for example, which is like tax efficiency, generational wealth, all of these buzzwords that you'll see around like negative K-1s, tax free, all these keywords. But if that investor has never invested in real estate, it's okay to admit to yourself or for them that you're scared, you have anxiety, you're unsure. These are not negative emotions. It just means that the proof of concept isn't there. No one should do anything unless they're convinced it'll work out well. Because if you're doing something with low conviction, it's probably not going to work out well. Even if it's 100% passive, right, exactly, still room, like you know, you'll delay sending the wire for like six months and you'll miss out on the opportunity, like one of those things that if you don't have buy-in on the approach and the strategy, nothing's going to happen.
Speaker 2:Positive, like if I go to the dentist and you're saying I need to floss and I don't floss the next year. I'm checking the the hygienist to see is she saying my teeth are worse? If she's saying they're not worse, um, and it's the same with investing fundamentally you need to see your portfolio growing to have more buy-in in that strategy, and that's kind of what I've noticed. That's why you know there are strategies optimized for short-term return and I tell people straight up like, fundamentally, this strategy will make you good money but you're going to get taxed a lot at your ordinary income. It's not the best for growing your net worth, but're saying xyz.
Speaker 2:So psychologically you need this to kind of boost yourself up, to feel comfortable investing in something outside the stock market. And none of that is negative, even though it might be phrased as you need a psychological boost or you need to feel good about yourself. Those are not negative things that I would be saying. It's just to say, fundamentally there's a roadblock and this is the detour. Anytime you see a detour sign, you're not happy, but you recognize that you need to go on that detour to get to your destination and that's kind of what we're doing, if that all makes sense, heather.
Speaker 1:Definitely, and I think a lot of it too is people want to know that if they have this input that they'll get this output and there's always room for shifts in the market and changes and unforeseen things.
Speaker 1:You can do a great job of due diligence and sometimes there's just things that are there that you hadn't anticipated. So with that conversation too, of if someone isn't fully honest with you about their feelings, about their concerns, their desires, all these things, you can't accurately guide them. That's, like you know, back in the day, of having a map like you're in Iowa but you're in Idaho.
Speaker 2:It's not going to serve you well, right? Yeah, very true.
Speaker 1:So it's really yeah, it's getting real being authentic no, I 100 agree.
Speaker 2:And the and the, at least from my perspective, the beautiful thing is there's. There's never any pressure, like if somebody is looking to invest or they're not looking to invest. Fundamentally, my question is not are you looking to invest? It's, are you looking to learn? Somebody's not looking to learn, there's nothing I can do and that's perfectly fine. Um, fundamentally, if it's a conversation based on, hey, this is what's out there, then it's a very exciting conversation for everybody, because you're showing up saying, hey, I'm learning something I don't know, and the person I'm learning from can be 100 wrong, and this is important and you touched on due diligence. The person that I'm talking to can be 100 wrong, but they're sharing their perspective based on their experiences, so I can learn from and it can revalidate my other strategies I could be investing in.
Speaker 2:You know Airbnbs in, like California, and this guy can be doing ground up construction and multifamily in New Jersey completely different sector, but California and New Jersey are both strong real estate markets. So if he's feeling pain in New Jersey, then I can say, okay, hey, I might start to feel pain in California, or vice versa. Or if his build cost is much less than mine in California. It's interesting to reflect on, because maybe there's somebody in California that has his build cost Right. So my point is to say that, no matter where somebody is at, if you have the right mindset which is kind of something you alluded to early on you can treat every conversation as I can learn one thing, that one thing can make me 1% better and that 1% better can help me accomplish XYZ goals.
Speaker 1:And that's why I'm really happy in general when you hear there's a lot of emphasis on a growth mindset, which is what you're sharing here, versus the fixed mindset of this is how you know, this is the roots that I'm from, this is how the family is and that kind of like kiss your life goodbye. There's no option, but I really like the mindset that you take to that. So the world of investing is obviously busy. It can be a lot of stress. There's a lot of variables. How do you find your ways to de-stress?
Speaker 2:So I think early on it was like, you know, when I was in college, it was like this was one of the questions they asked and I was like, oh, I just go to sleep. Then later on you're like eat, there's nothing wrong with that, you know, in moderation. But I think, as I've gone through life, you you find other outlets that are, I guess, more traditionally healthy, like you find sports. I play pickleball pretty regularly, I go to the gym, um, but I think the number one thing is like when I've had a tough day and I come home and my I have two young daughters. So when my older daughter comes and she runs and gives me a hug, there's nothing better in my opinion. So so I tell all the guys who are like having kids, who are having, you know, daughters, I say like listen, I don't have any sons, so I don't know, but there's nothing like daughter's love in terms of like making your day amazing, no matter how stressful it's been.
Speaker 2:So I think, heather, for me like to answer the question pretty simply I'm pretty traditional in these things.
Speaker 2:Like you know, my time is really important and to me, like that's the best thing when it comes to like drowning out whatever stress there is in life because, to some degree, circling back to that growth mindset if you're not stressed, if you're not uncomfortable, you're probably not growing with, with all respect, like there are days where I, or weeks or whatever, where I'm looking at like life is too easy or my work is too like mundane, that means I'm not like pushing the envelope, I'm not growing in different directions, because I think for me, part of the mentality to maintain a growth mindset has been being comfortable, being uncomfortable in the sense that I always need to be pushing myself and I always need to be like oh man, like you know this, this is like I'm testing the boundaries, I'm learning something new, I'm trying something out, and there comes a point where you start feeling comfortable in that flux and that change.
Speaker 2:And I think that's important to like maintaining a growth mindset and to just being curious about what else is out there that I don't know Right out there that I don't know Right.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think too that that ties into human performance, right Of, we all are wired, I think, with different gifts, and it's a matter of utilizing those gifts, sharing them with people you know, kind of like investing of what a wealth of knowledge, of information.
Speaker 1:You can truly transform people's lives with this, and also it's it just really makes life beautiful and it allows you to know, kind of like where's your boundaries. And then how do you go beyond that kind of what you're saying and really max life out and I agree with you completely, it's if you're too comfortable. There's an old old saying another mentor taught me of you're either growing or dying, and that ties in with this of I think it's good to have a little comfort after you pushed hard right. But then too, it's like it's the natural adventure of like how do I expand, how do I perform at a higher level so I can impact more, which is something that I know is really important to you. So, as we bring this home and you've kind of answered part of this, but what would you say living fully means to you.
Speaker 2:It's a good question. I don't know. I think to some degree, living fully just means maximizing the time that we have on earth. I think for a lot of people that definition is different, but for me it's one of those things that I'm of the mindset that, like, the next minute's not guaranteed. So if that's the case, then you want to really do what you want to do and then you need to define that. So for me, like, what I want to do is I want to be in a position to help people. So if that means that I'm talking about like money and I'm educating people about money, that's a form of charity where you're teaching people about a topic that they don't admit that they want to learn about, necessarily because it feels uncomfortable.
Speaker 2:So it's like, okay, we have to navigate this uncomfortable feeling, no problem, and then we have to get to this raw data or and in theory, we have to make it entertaining as well, or interesting or or capture people's attention. Because if we just talk about spreadsheets which I prefer, um, and maybe the average person I talk to prefers it might not resonate with everyone. So you have to say, okay, this is fundamentally what it means. Here's a picture of the asset. Here is you know what it can mean for your net worth and for, like, the life that you're trying to build. And then, fundamentally, that puts you in a position where you're able to help people who are not able to invest by, you know, giving back in charity and things like that.
Speaker 2:So for me, heather, it's really those are the types of things that make me feel fulfilled. But then also it's about kind of realizing that growth is in multiple directions, so like in that example where I talked about stress and my kids. It's about kind of realizing that growth is in multiple directions. So, like in that example where I talked about stress and my kids, it's also to say, hey, fundamentally I don't want to be just hanging out with my kids when I'm stressed and they're not just a me. I need to be unstressed. I need to also have quality time with them and I need to kind of learn that like work-life balance, which I think is something like maybe two, three years ago I would not have believed in at all, but part of that mindset is kind of keeping your eyes open and saying, hey, where do I need to consistently improve?
Speaker 2:and so that's something that, like last year, I worked on a lot, this year I work on. So it's it's something that, as an individual, I try to improve on as well, to just figure out what that right level of balance is, and it's different for everyone. Some people can be 9010. Others it can be, you know, 5050. Whatever that looks like is just to say fundamentally, to answer your question like how are you taking each minute that you have and really feeling like you've maximized it? And for me it's to like look at all the different aspects of my life and knowing I'm doing the best I can in each aspect, whether that's like my family life, my work life, my spiritual life, etc.
Speaker 1:Wonderful. Well, it was such a pleasure connecting with you, mustafa. Thank you for joining me today and share with our audience. How can people connect with you?
Speaker 2:Sure no, heather. The conversation has been great. People can reach out to me on LinkedIn it's Mustafa Ladda. They can reach out to me via email it's ml at velocecapitalcom. Feel free to contact me either way and I'd be happy to help add value.
Speaker 1:Perfect. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:No problem, have a good one.
Speaker 1:You too.