Dean Rogers Shares his Underdog Journey and How to Think Like a Champion

Kevin Harrington
Hi, I’m Kevin Harrington, an original shark from the hit television show Shark Tank and you’re listening to the underdog podcast

Pamela Bardhi
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the underdog podcast. I have an incredible guest here with me today, Dean, how are you, my friend?

Dean Rogers
I’m good. Thanks for having me.

Pamela Bardhi
Oh, man, it’s such a pleasure to have you on. As we started this call. I was like, man, welcome to the familiar. I feel like it’s kind of what do they do. Like when they bring people into the mall for the first time? It’s like welcoming or something.

Dean Rogers
You gotta do you gotta jump me in or what is

Pamela Bardhi
It’s such an honor to have you as part of the mastermind as well, family mastermind. It’s honestly, to get to connect with awesome people. I’m just so thankful to have you here today. And I can’t wait to get into your story. You’re brand new to me. So I’m like, Oh, I can’t wait. So to start you off with my favorite question, one of my favorite questions. I have a lot. What inspired you on your journey to where you are today? My friend?

Dean Rogers
Ooh, boy. That’s a loaded question. I guess, to flash forward past kind of like, kind of my origin story. But I’d say what inspired me to get where I’m at today is probably what everybody is searching for. Which is just like that feeling of freedom and, and reaching your potential. There was a point in time, which I’m sure we’ll come back to where I basically had to start all over in life. And for me, I knew that I had to kind of find my own way. And so that’s what I had to do. I had to find my own way. And thankfully, I found real estate, which we’re both passionate about that created that opportunity for me.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s amazing. Dean, thanks so much for sharing that. Oh, man, I can’t wait to get into all that you dropped some gems, and I can’t wait. But first, before we get into all that, what did you want to be as a kid? Like when you grew up?

Dean Rogers
Yeah. Well, what I wanted to be I actually got to experience for a short bit, which was, you know, being a kid in class. I was almost embarrassed to put it because it almost seemed like such a fairy tale. Like is it really going to be possible, like, I don’t know, that’s just what all kids dream of. But I always put I wanted to be a professional athlete, right? And I always wanted to play it, I want to be in the NFL, or I want to be in the NBA, or whatever it is.

So kind of growing up, I went to a small little private school, 20 kids in my class. And then I got to high school and some people knew me but not many and kind of got started in sports there. Then I excelled and did great and came to star player and you know. Did grades and did all that kind of stuff got recruited for college, but I was under-recruited for college. Like I was kind of like big time under the radar. And I gotta be honest, like it kind of like put a chip on my shoulder. Because, you know, being a sports fan, like you want to go to the big college, you want to get recruited and everything like that. But I was really under-recruited for high school.

Part of it could have been the position I was playing. Maybe it could have been because the small school I went to kind of in the middle of nowhere. But I went to UC Davis for football. So I got a scholarship there went to play there and same kind of thing as high school. Kind of had to like make my way and kind of prove that I was somebody funny enough. I actually didn’t get a full-ride scholarship right out of the gate. They gave me a half scholarship. They’re like, yeah, you’re okay, like, we’ll give you something you know, and I was like, Oh, what the hell.

Like, I feel good, like about my skills like I know I can be better and there’s like other people coming in with full-ride scholarships that I’m way better than. But it was like I whatever like I’ll show you guys so and I’m getting a full-ride scholarship after my redshirt year. But you know how to like kind of make my way in there and then make them our way through college doing good. And performing at a high level and started getting recruited by scouted by the NFL. And lo and behold, a year that they have for me to be eligible to be drafted. They have the lockout that year.

They actually had like the player Association, the NFL had a lockout and everything like that. I actually did not get drafted. I didn’t get drafted I was being recruited almost got drafted in later rounds but didn’t get drafted. So to play up the underdog didn’t get drafted. Then the lockout happened there were six months of like uncertainty like no one knew what was going to happen. How long the lockout was going to go all communication with scouts and teams was like completely radio silence. So I just kept training with some other NFL guys and stuff like that.

And as soon as it lifted, got the call from the San Diego Chargers you know, hey, you got your bags packed. It was like at 5 pm at night they’re like you gotta fly at 6 am in the morning. Come on, you’re coming out. I was like holy crap. So flew in that next morning. They gave me a physical made sure my body worked and Give me a tour around the place sign the contract right there. And the general manager’s office. There I was, I was on the team. So it was pretty crazy to get to that point, certainly to live out the underdog.

Like every kind of stage to get there was kind of like, kind of looked past, you know, kind of looked not really looked at at the top. And I definitely give credit to myself for like, being disciplined to get there, I was not always the fastest. I was not always the tallest, not always the strongest, whatever it was, but I always perform. Because, you know, not only did I give it my all, but I always put in the work to be prepared, you know, so got there. And then I got lots and lots of stories about what it was like to be in the NFL, which was crazy. You got lots of those kinds of Hollywood stories, red carpet, event-type stuff, and all the fringe benefits that come with being treated like a celebrity.

But at the end of the day, like it just it was such a cool experience. And for me, it’s kind of give you the short story on that being in the NFL was amazing like is everything I wanted. I was playing great felt great saw. I’m here, I made it, and had Norv Turner, who was the head coach telling me I’m gonna have a long career. All these things were coming together, but they changed positions on me. So I went from playing running back in high school, to playing tight end and college, to now playing fullback for the Chargers. And if you know about football, being a fullback they did put me out as a receiver and use me athletically.

But your full-time position is pretty much like a battering ram. Like you’re just there to kill people, the other person you’re going against is 10 yards away, instead of being tight. If you’re gonna go on a blocking play, you’re blocking someone like a couple yards away. But as a fullback, you’re running 10 yards full speed just trying to kill each other. And usually, you’re running between the big offensive lineman and the defensive lineman. So like, the gap that you have the run through is so narrow. So the best way to like get through and make an impact on that plays is like lead with your head. And you know how that turns out, you know, it leads to concussions. I just saw the writing on the wall. Like if I kept doing this for a living, I’m going to kill myself.

So, you know, I made the hardest decision of my life to hang up the cleats and walk away from it because I just knew like, I could do it. I was playing great feeling great, all these things. If I kept doing this for a living, it was a death sentence. And I’m sure I could have like, Hey, let me go to another team and try to get back to playing tight in and doing all that stuff. But I just had this gut feeling like you know what, it’s everything I wanted and dreamed of. But I just have this feeling like I’m gonna wreck my body if I keep doing this so called it quits and moved on. My goodness.

Pamela Bardhi
Wow. What I love though, is that you did fulfill your childhood dream, which is super cool. That I find absolutely amazing. And you were mentioned along the journey. Got a half scholarship. Like I haven’t even ever in my life heard of a half scholarship. Like how does that how does it even work? You go full? Or there’s no I’m like, yeah, all in or all out like don’t put me halfway.

Dean Rogers
Believe it? I couldn’t believe it. They’re like, yeah, we’ll give you half a scholarship. I’m like what? Like, you guys? Oh,

Pamela Bardhi
My goodness. Oh, gosh. So like what inspired you a young age? Like, did you have mentors in this day that you’re like, I just want to be a professional athlete? Are you that was just like your goal? And that’s just all you want it?

Dean Rogers
Yeah, it’s just my goal. And I wouldn’t even say that like I had some like highlight reel the flashback to of me doing all this training. And like being bred as someone to make it to the NFL or anything but I didn’t even do like my first real training. Like speed and agility training before my senior year in high school. That was the first time I ever did training.

But I don’t know, it was just a childhood dream, man. Like, I want to be a professional athlete. And growing up where I did, there wasn’t a beach nearby. There wasn’t like, something really exciting to go do. It was just like flat farmland and sports in school, you know? So like, for me, it was like, alright, well, this, I’m doing good at this. So I’m gonna this is what I’m gonna do forever, you know?

Pamela Bardhi
So you’re like the town celebrity kind of a little bit?

Dean Rogers
Yeah, yeah, I was, you know, in the papers every week and all that kind of stuff. So a lot of that sticks around because it’s a small town. And not to mention, it kind of helps that I do TV commercials for real estate there now too. So that kind of keeps it going.

Pamela Bardhi
Oh my god. I’m talking to the local celebrity where we’re from.

Dean Rogers
So I’m from California, and there’s a lot of big cities there. But in central California, there’s a little town called Visalia. Most people know about it that do just because it they call it the gateway to Sequoia. So if you want to go to the Sequoia National Park with the big redwood trees that are big, massive redwood trees. Then you drive through Visalia, but usually, you’re not stopping.

Pamela Bardhi
You’re just like, Oh, hey, how are you? Oh, like,

Dean Rogers
Oh, there’s a town here, I’ll let me keep going to the cool. Sequoia.

Pamela Bardhi
So awesome. Who or What inspired you throughout your journey, especially like, while growing up on that path? Because you mentioned like, it’s been an underdog journey kind of getting there. And the whole bunch of discipline that it took to get to that point to get drafted, if you will. Then, of course, dealing with a lockout and a whole bunch of other things. And seeing as how you basically built this dream yourself. Like, it’s not like you had connections into the NFL or anything that you do, like, build a dream yourself, which I find amazing. So how you know, who or what inspired you in that realm? What kept you going throughout the process? Because it takes an extreme amount of mental discipline to get through something like that to push levels?

Dean Rogers
Yeah, no doubt. That’s a good question. I don’t know if I really thought too hard about that before. But the thing is, is like, you’re right, I know a lot of people that do end up getting there, like in San Diego. Especially, which is where I moved back to I live in San Diego now in La Jolla. And there’s endless amount of resources, like if you want to if you want to be a professional athlete. A lot of times you’re starting in some clubs, sport, or traveling team or something like that. There’s so many trainers and everything that’s all around, so not having any of that growing up. You know, I think it was just like the desire like that was the dream that I wanted to work through.

And I think a lot of probably, my dad’s personality, and just, you know, seeing my dad and mom being entrepreneurs. And putting in the work all the time, that’s just kind of all I knew, is just continuing to show up and put in the work. Whether you’re sick or not, like, Hey, we’re here to get this done. So I think part of it was environment. Part of it was just personality, it’s the same thing for me now too. Whether I’m sick or something or not, like, I’m still getting up, I’m still working, I’m still getting stuff done. That’s what it takes, like, it takes discipline. To get the results.

I heard someone say this just the other day, as I was scrolling through social media, like, it’s not motivation that really gets you to get there. Because if you just relied on motivation, there’s gonna be a lot of days, you’re not that motivated. And it’s going to take the discipline to push you through and put in the work day in and day out. Whether you feel like crap, whether you’re just not into it, whatever it is. You got to show up and put in the work. So that was me, I’m just mistered consistent, you know, and that’s always kind of been the case.

Pamela Bardhi
So how do you maintain safe being Mr. Consistent because that’s like, huge? Because you’re like, some days you’re not motivated. And that’s so true. So like, how do you create a habit and just like, stay consistent with it? Like, what do you put in your mental frame to be like you are doing this, this is a non-negotiable. Like, I always love hearing that,

Dean Rogers
I think what it is, is I’ve created this big, massive, this idea of what I want my life to look like. And the potential that I have as a person, not only like, what’s around me what I’m doing. You know, the people I love and the things that I’m able to do, but just like the impact, I’m able to make too. And so, I’ve always had this huge chip on my shoulder of like, trying to become the person that I believe I can be, and reaching for that. Naturally, like, once you hit a certain goal, you create a new one that’s bigger. So from the outside looking in, and a lot of people might say like, you’ve got this amazing life and things have been so easy.

But if you look under the covers, like holy crap, the amount of stuff I’ve had to overcome. Now, granted, I won’t say that other people haven’t had a harder. I grew up with two parents, I had all the essentials that I needed stuff like that, which is I know, for a lot of people a big step ahead. But you know, I had to come in from the NFL, I had to start all over. Because I was there a short period of time and didn’t have the long career that was seemingly in front of me. And I decided to walk away, I didn’t have the millions of dollars that I was there to get. And that I was dreaming of having any part of that like fulfilling that kind of destiny for myself.

A part of that was like what everybody dreams of when they become a celebrity or a professional athlete. Like being able to provide for your family and okay, you get a house, like, you know, everybody’s taken care of, but I had to start all over. So, like the chip got bigger for me, and it was like, Okay. If I want to get there and still fulfill, like what I dreamt up. Because I would even tell my parents when I make it like, even though they already have a house. Like we’re gonna level up, we’re gonna go to the next level type of thing. And so for me, it’s always been like that mission to get there.

And you know, as an entrepreneur, I don’t know what hurdles you’ve had to overcome. But boy, have I been you know, kicked in the teeth many times and lost lots of money on all bad. Now granted, it always comes back to me as the responsible party to make the decision to move forward. But it’s been a result of like some bad apple that I came across. You know, some wolf in sheep’s clothing that ripped me off real bad. Whether it’s a contract or something like that, so being kicked in the teeth, and then had to, you know, stare myself in the mirror and be like.

Alright, did that really hurt, and this wound is going to keep hurting, and it’s gonna, it’s not going to heal overnight. But you got to keep putting in the work. And you got to dig yourself out of this. I’ve had a handful of those moments and blessed to be on this side of the fence where you could say, I’ve made it. But I still have those large goals that I’m still chasing after and stretching for.

Pamela Bardhi
Yeah, for sure. And I mean, I think one of the most admirable things that I’ve heard from you, your mental discipline is a one, like, I mean, it’s just absolutely incredible. But making the decision to be in a place where you’ve always wanted to be and be able to pull back from it. A lot of the time, we think we know what we want, we get there. And then we’re like, crap, this is not what I want. This is not, like, envision that up here. But to have the strength to let it go, is a really big deal a lot of people hold on for a long time.

So I think what you did for yourself was huge. Now can you walk me through that process and give some advice and shed some light on entrepreneurs. Or anyone who’s listening right now that knows they have that one thing in their life? That could potentially be all that they ever wanted. But how do you recognize letting it go? And how do you actually do it? It sounds very elementary, but it’s super complicated.

Dean Rogers
It’s extremely complicated. I don’t even know how I can unpack like, my thoughts and how I went through because I made the decision so fast. But for me, like, as you said, it was everything that I wanted. Just imagine, like you’re growing up dreaming of playing, being a professional athlete. Everybody understands what professional athletes are today. 40 years ago, they didn’t get paid what they got paid. They weren’t as much of a celebrity but now it’s like, they get big-time checks, they get all these endorsements. And everybody treats them like celebrities.

So to be in that world, and be there like and share a locker room. Like I’m four lockers away from Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates. Guys, I played on video games with like, these were superheroes to me that I played, you know, with on video games. And now I’m sitting right next to them. I’m their peer, you know, I’m about to be on a video game, you know what I mean? So like, that was everything I ever dreamed and wanted. And obviously seeing what it was like to be on the other side. What was kind of surreal about it was once you’re there, it was kind of like, oh, like, this isn’t too crazy.

Like, the media makes it you’re just playing the game that you already know how to play, and that you already love the play. As long as you do your job, like, everybody’s cheering for you. And everybody’s happy, you know, like, it was like, Oh, this is easier than I thought. But getting here was really, really hard. So once I was there, saw the opportunity saw the potential was getting the results, getting the feedback from the head coach. Hey, you’re gonna have a long career like, Alright, man, this is cool. But it was just that one thing that I knew if I kept doing this, I’m going to die early.

Like, I don’t know what to relate it to. But it was just that thing like I had all this power, I had all these dreams coming together. But if I kept doing it, I’m going to keep hitting my head. And it’s going to kill me like I would go after practices and ice my head. That’s the first time I’ve ever done that in my life. You know, I’ve never had to do that before because I’m now at this different position. That basically is like two bowls running head to head against each other 10 yards away. And that’s what you do for a living. I just knew that like, alright, this is gonna be this isn’t going to turn out good.

So it’s just that gut feeling that even though I could go down this journey, and it could turn out? Well, on paper, it wasn’t going to turn out well for me health-wise. And that’s kind of how I went through that. So yeah, I mean, I still have turmoil over today, you know, but I knew I knew it was the right decision. At the end of the day, If I wanted to live out long life if I wanted to be able to play with my kids and run around. And chase them and play sports with them and do all that kind of stuff, which I still do to this day. You know, I go play pick a ball, pick a basketball and, and do all that kind of stuff to stay active. But it was a really hard decision.

Pamela Bardhi
Yeah, no, thank you so much for sharing that. That’s what because I mean, you had mentioned earlier like being in the NFL is very, it’s a dream. And then yeah, just like living It also feels like a dream because you’re celebrity status at that point. So it was just amazing to hear your journey throughout all of that. Because at the end of the day, I mean, my grandmother says this all the time, your health is your wealth. No amount of money could ever good ever. I mean, continue the list goes on. And on, and on and on. You could have all the money in the world. But at the end of the day, when you’re talking about your life, that’s a whole nother. What’s the point that you know, what’s the point?

Dean Rogers
Exactly. And for me, like, that’s where kind of my focus is gone is not only living a great life now, but I want to live as long as I can and be as healthy as I can. I don’t drink I don’t do drugs. You know, I wouldn’t say I sleep a lot, because I’m always working too much. But am I my kids are keeping me up. But I try to eat really healthy, really good diet, really good quality food because I want to live a really healthy life. So that just kind of plays into the whole reason, kind of why I walked away from that, even though it was so hard to know for

Pamela Bardhi
For sure. And I mean, what was the next step after that? Like, what was your journey, like after that fact? Because I know you jumped into real estate, I think right after?

Dean Rogers
Yeah, so not actually right, right after. So I had a good college buddy of mine, who kind of been riding along the journey with me and staying up to date with me. And as soon as I stopped playing, he reached out. He’s like, Hey, I got a really good opportunity for you. And this was just like months after I got a really good opportunity for you to work for this corporate job I’m working at right now in San Francisco. And I think it’d be really great opportunity for you. So he told me all about it. It sounded exactly what I wanted. When I grew up and had a real job when I was done playing sports. Like if sports didn’t work out, or once I was done with the career that I you know, dreamt of having.

This is kind of the path that I was gonna go and so he basically walked me in the door to this big corporation for they went public. And pretty much you know, Fastpass me to getting a job. So that was like, an amazing opportunity in itself. So I started working there, did what I knew best, which was was was the work hard. And I wasn’t in a sales job, which I’ll get to that in a second. I was in kind of like a consulting job. But it got I thought it was so easy, like, all you got to do is like show up and sit at this desk. Like you’re not throwing your body around and working out for eight hours a day.

And running sprints and trying to take 250-pound linebackers and block them and take them to the ground and do all that kind of stuff. Like it was the easiest job ever. I just got to sit in front of his desk and hit these keys on the keyboard. Kind of how easy it was, from an effort standpoint, I worked my butt off for a year. And I’m thinking to myself, Okay, so I went from, you know, a seven-figure NFL contract to now a $65,000. Salary. Okay, obviously, I put in the work, they see what my potential is, I’m ready to get this big payday, and at least move into the six figures.

But they’re like, Hey, you worked your butt off, we love what you’re doing, you know, we’ll give you a $2,000 increase. And I was like, Holy crap. This is not gonna work out. I’m living in San Francisco. It’s super expensive. I’m living in a tiny 424-square-foot studio with my wife and two dogs. I got to figure this out on my own apparently, because this is not the fast track to you know, that lifestyle that I want. So I went on Google and typed to how to get started in real estate. Just because I was thinking like, I had this heart, heart, to heart moment. What are the things that I’m passionate about? And I kind of reflected back to the old Dean Graziosi, late-night infomercials.

And more than one occasion, I would find myself at two in the morning watching these things on the edge of my seat. Wanted to buy it as a teenager and those kind of memories flashbacks to me like, you know, I like real estate. Let me see how to get started in real estate. The OG man I still love who’s in the family. Sean Terry had his flip to Freedom podcast. And it was how to get started with little to no money and I was like, Oh, this is interesting.

So I just listened to that. And since the second I listened to it, I was obsessed, did my first deal three months after that. Actually, co wholesaling a house with Sean Terry and was just you know, hooked after that. So that’s kind of my journey in real estate started in the corporate world. What I thought was going to be, you know, the perfect job, perfect opportunity. And then I was like, Okay, this is not going to get me anywhere fast. I gotta figure this out. You know,

Pamela Bardhi
I’m telling you real estate’s such a funny thing, because it’s like, it attracts the most hyper-obsessed people, most passionate people on planet Earth now. There is no industry that can touch us. Sorry. Anybody who’s listening and that has not in the real estate space is just like, there’s just such passion and such joy and such love. And just like so many entrepreneurs that are so creative and talented. And it’s like, wow, you know, and I just love that you started off.

That’s why just like how I started, how to get started in real estate on Google and take it from there. Right? So that’s super cool. So how did you get past the analysis paralysis of doing your first deal? Because we all know how everyone gets stuck in that rut for whatever reason. Like, analyze it, why does it to the point that they never get there? You know, so how did you get past the first lock?

Dean Rogers
That’s so true. I don’t know what it was about me during that, that stage in life because and I’d say I probably haven’t had too much analysis paralysis. Now, granted, I might have, I might be guilty of having 30 tabs open on my Google Chrome right now, of things that I know I need to do. Like, ah, I need to finish doing this document, or, oh, I need to finish this, you know, new campaign that I’m starting or whatever. But at the time, like, I was so determined to get out of that situation. And it wasn’t a bad situation. It was a great opportunity. It really was, but I knew it wasn’t going to get me anywhere close to where I wanted.

So I think I was so I had the, you know, the fortunate opportunity to where I didn’t have a lot of other distractions. And so I just went all in. And here’s the thing that I think a lot of people that hold people back is just the belief that they don’t have enough time. I mean, I had a full-time job. I commuted three hours a day, hour and a half in the morning, an hour and a half back in the afternoon. My wife would have worked till you know, eight in San Francisco. So I’d meet her on the BART train station, you know, and meet her there and jump on together. Get back home and wake up at six o’clock and do it all over again.

And for me, every second I had on the commute to work at lunch after work. I’d wake up sometimes in the middle of the night because I was so determined to like learn just how to fill out a contract. And granted, I didn’t have a YouTube video for it. It was just words from a podcast. So I had to like listen so carefully, word to word, and almost like write it out on a piece of paper to try to, like really grasp it. This I was just obsessing over how to fill out the contract with the seller right to get the house under contract, but little things like that. I was so determined to figure it out.

And I just took the action and believed in it that it would work and didn’t let fear hold me back. And was able to get results and once I proved it to myself that first time I was like holy crap like I split a $12,000 check with Sean Terry. I made six wasn’t gonna change my life but it did from a mental mindset standpoint of like, holy crap, like this is real. This 6000 Just hit my bank, I can do this again. And I can make those $6,000 paychecks bigger. You know,

Pamela Bardhi
That’s so amazing. Oh, God. And the thing about that is once you get a little bit of taste of real estate, that’s the other thing. My first flip I made almost, I think was like, almost 100k. So like, that’s,

Dean Rogers
That’s a sweet first one.

Pamela Bardhi
Like, after that you’re like there is no way ever that I am doing anything else in this life. Sorry. How did it go after that first deal for you? Did you just start multiplying and cranking out like what happened with that?

Dean Rogers
Yeah, so after my first deal, I only did about eight, my first year. Okay. And that was me just having to figure stuff out, right, like figuring out how to do marketing. And direct to seller and you know, getting that going and getting a budget for marketing and doing all that kind of stuff. So I got those deals going then after, towards the end of the first year. I was wholesaling some of those properties to my now business partner. And he’s like, Hey, you’re really good at finding deals. Do you want to do flips together? I was like, Well, I don’t have a bunch of capital to you know, buy a house for cash. He’s like, Dude, don’t worry about it.

Like, we use other people’s money for that. And we put the deal together. Just bring the deal. I’ll get the logistics, I was like, Alright, cool. Let’s do this. So we started doing flips together. But funny enough, instead of doing it in Visalia and surrounding area where I grew up, which is where he’s from. He’s like, hey, you know what, it’s kind of slowing down here in this market. Do you want to go to Phoenix where you did some of your first deals Sean Terry, you know, the market there. I was like, Yeah, that sounds good. We started working some of the relationships that I have.

And we quickly get six deals under contract within the first month, and we start flipping them. Well, I did all the rookie mistakes even though he was experienced. He kind of let me take the reins. I did all the rookie mistakes of like, rushing into getting a contractor who wasn’t the right one. Not looking at the comps well enough believing the realtor and last $100,000 On my first couple flips. So out of those six some of them so for profit, but we end up losing $100,000. For me, like just getting started with not a lot of capital, as I dug myself a hole right out the gate. Like that next year, it was like, All right, well, time to dig myself out. So started working my ass off, getting more deals, closing those, you know, and paying that back.

And my partner told me after the fact he’s like, I don’t know, I didn’t know what was gonna happen. I don’t know if you’re gonna like tuck your tail and run, you know, and just give up. But like you’ve proved your you’ve proved that like, hey, no matter how hard it gets, you’re willing to work your way out. So after that next year and a half, we like formed an actual partnership on paper. We scaled it to doing 20 Then 30 than 50 than 100 deals right a year. And we’re just cranking flips out. Now I will say I had another booboo story where a couple of years down the road.

A guy who was actually in another family right another family group of individuals was actually a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Kind of like I said at the beginning. And he seemed like a good guy. He was kind of a little on the edge, you know, kind of grey area stuff he would say, and stuff. But it was like, Alright, he’s, he’s still in the family. Like he’s cool. He’s still doing good stuff, doing projects, and working with other people. So it’s, it’s probably good. And to spare you all the details. He had me buying onto this, this development deal ground-up development deal. Day one after getting in all the bad stuff started coming out like the loan he had actually taken out on the project. He’d already drawn money from it and hadn’t paid all these people.

And all these bills stacked up for architects and civil engineers. He basically bailed on the whole thing ended up being $187,000 Nightmare loss, that was another year of pain. But it was like, hey, you know what, this is what I signed up for, I sign up for you know, doing stuff on my own and finding my own way. And this is life. Like there’s some bad people out there and you got to try to avoid them, but some stuff happens. Call it bad luck or bad decisions, whatever you want to call it. But there’s another thing that kind of like work through, getting past. Just proving myself like, hey, no matter what the obstacle is, I can overcome it. And push past it, you know,

Pamela Bardhi
Oh my goodness, I thought I was the underdog in real estate, I think to pass the torch to you, my friend. Holy crap. Oh, man. But this is the game, right? A lot of the game realizes that yes, you can make millions, you also could lose millions.

Dean Rogers
Yeah, well, just when I thought like, Oh, I’ve had a bad streak like, oh, it’s only me. I’ll share my story as I did now. And someone else in the room will be like, Oh, that’s it. Like, yeah, I had a deal. I just lost a million dollars on, you know, and so, hey, it can happen. You know when you’re trying to play big and push hard and take things to the next level. You can get kicked in the shins pretty hard sometimes. And can it be avoided? Sure, but at the same time, some stuff can’t be avoided.

Pamela Bardhi
Absolutely. Oh my goodness. And what were some of your biggest lessons from that? Because it seemed like you went from like one deal to six to then like 125 and then Wolf, all these massive deals. So what were some of your biggest lessons throughout that process?

Dean Rogers
Yeah, so I see some of the biggest lessons from the mistakes. Or it can literally be as simple in both of those biggest mistakes. The first flips where it was the bad contractor who charged way too much ran off with money. All the work he did was so bad that we had to do 100% of it all over again. All that kind of stuff. You know, all it took was one more phone call. One more phone call. And by that I mean like let me check this guy out. Let me be sure. I met him in person, you know seemed like he was pretty good guy seems like he kind of fit the profile. But let me talk to some references.

Let me just make those extra phone calls with the other guy right, who’s who ripped me off and screwed me over. Let me just call the lender. He said the loan was all in place. He already called him and told him I was gonna come in on the deal. Everybody’s cool. We actually all knew each other. Right? All it took was one more phone call. Hey, are you guys cool with this? What do you mean cool with this? This is the first time I heard of you and or heard from you. And by the way, he’s taking money out and he hasn’t paid anything like no, this isn’t good.

Oh, well, that’s a red flag. Maybe I shouldn’t do this deal. That could have saved me a lot of money by just making one more phone call. So if you’re ever on the edge of making a big decision you don’t know that every box has been checked. You just got to make one more phone call and may Make sure that you have the answer you’re looking for. Because chances are the person on the other side of that phone is going to tell you right away like, Yo, this isn’t gonna work out. This isn’t gonna check out you know,

Pamela Bardhi
So important. Everything you’re saying right now I’m like, all my mistakes. Same thing could have called with one more phone call just didn’t do the damn diligence on.

Dean Rogers
I know it’s the due diligence in the sick part is it the last person who ripped me off for that big amount? He would always say trust but verify. He himself would always say we’d be talking about a project. And we were looking at potential ones to do together. And you’d be like, Yeah, this is good. Trust, but verify. Like, he would always encourage me to verify, you can trust the person. But make sure you verify do that extra due diligence. But he was the snake who was let’s say in that, but I didn’t follow through. Because I was like I trust that this is going to work out probably.

I’d say the biggest lesson I learned from the success was sometimes you just get like, caught up in the day-to-day busy stuff. And you’re just, you’re just busy kind of putting out fires or making the phone calls to get deals done. Sometimes you just gotta take a step back and look like for me to get to this next level, it actually isn’t that much harder. I just got to tweak a couple more things. And a lot of times, it’s like, you know what, I just need a little bit more marketing. I’ve got the resources to do it. I just need to do more marketing or better marketing, like, that’s all it really is.

And I’m kind of in that position right now, where it’s like, we’re doing 10 to 15 deals a month. Now it’s like, well, there’s actually an opportunity for us to be doing like 15 to 20 deals a month. if we just do a little bit more marketing in these other areas, we got the manpower for it. But we just need to get our marketing maybe a little bit, you know, pumped up. So yeah, it’s always kind of been on the success side, the biggest one. We went from doing like a couple dozen to pumping it up to 100. The biggest thing was just like doubling and tripling down all marketing at that point. So I think that was the biggest thing for us.

What Would Dean Older Self Tell His Younger Self

Pamela Bardhi
For sure. Oh, and here comes my favourite question, which is what would your older self tell your younger self based on what you know, now? I know you dropped some gems just now. But this could be personal business, whatever, whatever flows to you,

Dean Rogers
Man, if I could like walk into my studio here and like stand next to myself. And when I’m there like getting started, it would certainly be like. You can go faster, you think you might be doing a lot right now. But you’re just doing a lot of busy work, you got to get more stuff done faster. And I think that’s kind of what holds back a lot of younger people is they’re keeping themselves busy. But they’re not really getting a lot of stuff that’s going to move you forward, done. So for me, it was like around marketing, it was around relationships, the relationships are huge. So think about this. I’ve been a virtual investor my whole entire life.

You know, when I moved to San Francisco, I didn’t invest in San Francisco, I was investing in Phoenix. And then once I had some budget for marketing, I started investing in Visalia, where I grew up. So I’ve been in San Francisco, and then I moved to San Diego. Still, my business is in central California. So for me, the relationships I kind of kept my head down, and was like. Hey, I’m, I’m working on my goals, my mission, I’m getting deals done. But I kind of ignored the relationships in my community. And just the past three years, I’ve done that.

And like, whoa, our business has blown up, even more, the quality of relationships, the quality of new opportunities. Just everything has gotten better as a result of it. So day one, I would have spent way more time networking and building those quality relationships within the community. I was investing rather than being like, Hey, it’s me against the world. I’m keeping my head down, staying in my lane. I’m going to show them you know, what I got? I got this chip on my shoulder. I was like, no, let’s go be abundant and meet more people.

Pamela Bardhi
I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. Oh, my goodness. I just love your trajectory throughout. Like all life stuff. It’s so beautiful and awesome. Oh, my goodness, Dean. Wow, I’m inspired by you, man. Seriously. So now what’s up in your world in the next like three to six months? Well, what’s happening?

Dean Rogers
Yeah, what’s happening? Well, just recently, I launched a coaching program because I’m so passionate about real estate. And I got good friends that have like, you got to do it, you got to do it. And you know, people been asking about us, so I launched that. So that’s been a passion project. I’ve got 15 or 16 people that are in the coaching program. I’ve just launched this so more people are going to be joining soon. So I’m passionate about that. What I’m most excited about is meeting people like you that’s really like my mission over the next three to six months.

You know, I joined the mastermind, and The quality of people in there that are just thinking at a high level, that is thinking abundantly, That are go-givers. Is just almost overwhelming and gives me you know, chills while I’m thinking about it now. Because that is why I went from kind of doing my own thing in my own community to starting to do content on social media. Other good friends pushed me to do it and then do the coaching program. I kind of wanted to be a peer with you and the other people in the community that I was trying to attract. Because, man, there’s just so many good people in there. So many good opportunities to like enrich your life with the quality of people and new opportunities, new relationships. And that’s what I’m most excited about right now.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s so amazing, man. Well, as I said, when we started, welcome to the family. It’s amazing when you connect with like-minded people who really just inspire you and like the coolest thing in the world. As I said, real estate just attracts a special type of energy and type of person. And it’s just incredible. Like, everyone’s here to elevate. When you surround yourself with the right people, then you just go further faster. Much like you, in the beginning,I was like, I’m trying to do this, I’m trying to hustle, do it all myself. And then like, you find that when you collaborate with the right people.

You have the abundance mindset, you just like skyrocket on a whole nother level. So that’s one piece of advice that I give people. Please just surround yourself with those who think like you that have the same goals. Because you will go to the moon and beyond if you do that. That’s amazing, man. You are super cool and super awesome. I just love all the things that you’re up my friend. My gosh like you’ve got to drop everything. Let everyone know where to find you and your awesomeness, your coaching program, all the things Dean let us know.

Dean Rogers
Yeah, so you guys can go to deanrogers.com got all the information on there about the coaching program. What I’m doing you could find me on Instagram @deanrogersreal estate. So you can find me there you go to YouTube or slash Dean Rogers on there as well. See, I talked about the deals we’re doing have interviews with people like you and all kinds of fun stuff. So Oh, amazing,

Pamela Bardhi
Dean. Oh, my goodness. It was such an honor to have you here today. My friend. Thank you so much for sharing your story and just all your gems and all your wisdom. Thank you so so much. So that’s it for today’s episode of underdogs. Catch us next week, always dropping on Thursdays. And remember, if you’re interested in real estate, or want to learn how to create more money and magic in your life. Check out meetwithpamela.com and let’s chat sending you so so much love