Joe:  How are you doing, everybody? Joe McCall with the Real Estate Investing Mastery podcast. I’m here with a good friend of mine, Gene Guarino.

Gene:  I’m doing great. Thanks for inviting me on, Joe.

Joe:  Glad you’re here. And you’ve been a good friend that we’ve been kind of connecting with over the last year or two with different masterminds that we’re in. And you’re doing a lot of amazing things. I always get the word wrong. I’m going to ask you about that in a minute because there’s something you should call it and something you shouldn’t. But senior living. Assisted living.

Gene:  Yeah. Yeah. Residential assisted living.

Joe:  Residential assisted living. Cool. But you got a really cool event coming up. And this is not for the beginning investor. This is for somebody who is very serious about raising serious amounts of capital for big deals. And there’s a real fine art and skill to doing that. And you need to be you need to know how to present yourself in a professional way. Right. And not that’s just not your normal way to raise private money. So Gene is putting together an event that’s coming up in Scottsdale, Arizona. And I just I said, hey, man, can I get you on the podcast? Let’s talk about this, because I think this would be very beneficial and helpful for people to understand and learn how to do in a real live event situation in a real live room. I know there’s a lot of people listening to this that need this right now, Gene, especially as the market is shifting and changing anyway. How are you doing?

Gene:  I’m doing great, Joe. Thanks for inviting me on again here. I know that a lot of a lot of people have asked me how to teach them how to speak and present. So really, that’s what this event’s all about.

Joe:  Yes. Well, give us a background real quick of you and what do you do?

Gene:  Sure. So I’ve been an entrepreneur my entire life, and what I’ve been focusing on for the last seven and a half years is called residential assisted living. It’s a real estate play and a business play with senior housing. And it’s been phenomenal, and especially this last year or so. It’s just it’s exploded in a really good way. So we teach people how to turn single family homes into these assisted living homes. But along the way, a lot of the people that we teach, they need to raise capital. So we actually created a whole nother company that we call pitch fasters. And the reason why we did that is because they need to know how to pitch present themselves. So that’s why you and I got to talking, because a lot of people have asked me, how do you communicate? How do you speak? How do you present yourself and what do I need to do and to have to be prepared to present? So that’s why we created this entire event.

Joe:   And it’s coming up in April. Yeah, April 18th to the 20th. Prepare to pitch dotcom. Right. Is the website you guys can go to. I want you guys to check it out because and maybe you can answer this for me. Like there’s a lot of books and podcasts and courses on how to raise private money. But this is different, right? Why is this different?

Gene:  Yeah, it’s different because the basis of what you need to know, certainly you need to have your PM, your private placement memorandum. If you’re going to do an official syndication, you also need to have your business plan and your financials. We should have power points, but the ability to present and get your idea across. And really, you know, we did this last year. We did this live event. We had Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank and that was fun. And now we’re bringing Kevin back just one more time with another good friend of mine, Tommy Hopkins, a world-renowned master sales trainer, in addition to a host of others. But really, what we’re going to do is go through and teach people how to be prepared, how to communicate. And one of the things that I’d be willing to share with your listeners right now is a one-minute pitch formula. I know you’ve been on the clubhouse as well as me, is that right?

Joe:  Oh, yeah, a little bit. Not as much as I was when it first came out, but.

Gene:  Yeah, yeah. And it’s amazing to me because one of the groups that’s there a lot in these meetings is people pitching products and most of the pitches are horrible. And I’ll just be blunt and straightforward. They’re just really, really bad. So I had people reaching out who know what I do and say, look, can you help put together a one minute pitch formula so we don’t have to listen? All these terrible pitches? And I did that. And that’s something I’d be happy to share with anybody here. Yeah, yeah. This live event that we’re doing, though, this is a really huge event, but it’s a very limited size when I say huge meaning, really important. We’re not only bringing in Kevin and Tommy and myself and a host of others to train, but we’re limiting the number of people who are there because we’re going to hold your hand. We’re going to walk you through. We’re going to show you exactly how to communicate so you can be very successful in raising capital.

Joe:  All right. So it says, Learn from the top pitch, master’s in the country and perfect your pitch. It’s an exclusive in-person person training and management experience for entrepreneurs and speakers that want to learn from soldiers so children and hang out with top public speakers, sales trainers and pitch masters in the country today. So we’re not, I just want to clarify this, because when I first heard this, I was thinking, oh, you’re going to teach us how to sell products or how to sell coaching. And it’s not necessarily about that, although you can take some of what you learn from you and you can sell anything with it. Right. But you’re specifically talking about pitching things like businesses, raising massive amounts of private money. What you need for a lot of these bigger deals that you do. And a lot of people are. Right. Right.

Gene:  Yeah. And. When you think about it, the idea of pitching, it’s really communication and presenting an idea to get somebody else to respond. So in our case, we’re using it very specifically to help raise capital. So whether you go to a bank, you’re pitching right. Whether you go to an investor, you’re pitching. So the idea of pitching or presenting itself and knowing exactly what to say, how to say it, because it’s not just the content, it’s how you present it. And it’s really trying to transfer the story of why you’re doing what you’re doing to somebody else, because certainly the bank wants to lend money. It’s why do they want to lend it to you? And you need to give them the reason for that. That’s what Pitch Master Academy is all about is teaching people how to raise that capital in this live event is really a hands-on live event, very limited in size. You actually have to apply to attend. It’s not just can you affordit? It’s are you the right person that we want to be working with?

Joe:  Yeah. OK, so before we get to the little of the one-minute formula thing, let’s talk about your experience in raising money and pitching and speaking from stages. Or by the way, we’re not talking about speaking from a big stage with hundreds of people in attendance, although you can do that as well. Right. But this is more for maybe smaller groups, more one on one with banks, with institutional lenders, private investors, things like that, right?

Gene:  Yeah, the formula is really the same, because right now you and I are having a conversation. So you may be speaking one to one to a banker or an investor or a potential business partner. So you need to know how to communicate this way. Communicating online is different than in person. Communicating one on one is different than to a group of 10 or 20 and different than a group of two hundred or two thousand. So we’re going to share all of that. But the essence of communication is always the same. And when you’re raising capital, there’s a formula that you need to follow.

Joe:  OK, good. We’ll get to that for more than a second. Talk about your background. I can’t draw much money. Have you raised what kind of things have you pitched in the past for your deals, for your products and things like that?

Gene:  Again, I’ve been an entrepreneur my entire life. So overall, when it comes to all my projects and people that we work with to help them raise capital, we’ve helped them raise over 50 million dollars directly. But the people that I work with in our team of pitch masters, it’s over five hundred million dollars directly. And then when it comes to sales, myself personally on stage and in person, I’ve sold over one hundred and fifty million dollars’ worth of products and services. But collectively, the team of us between Kevin Harrington, myself and others, over five billion dollars in sales. So it’s a pretty extensive and I’ve been public speaking for almost 40 years now. It’s a long time.

Joe:  That’s more money than I’ve raised ever find out. But it has a lot of money. Oh, my gosh. All right. So maybe you can give some more examples of when you would do this and when you would you need this.

Gene:   Sure. And again, we created this for the people that we work with who need to go to a bank to learn how to raise that capital there. So you need the business plan, all of the different pieces, but then the words that come out of your mouth and how to get them to ask you questions. So banks, private investors. So people who might be part of your syndication, putting capital in it could be friends and family. In your case, it’s communicating online and over the phone. So whether it’s somebody hearing your voice or they’re seeing your face, that concept of getting the message across to get them encouraged, to call you, to ask questions or say, yes, I want to hear more, I want to invest in your project. So banks, investors, lenders, all of all of those.

Joe:  So this could be for multifamily deals and apartments, businesses. Maybe you’re pitching or selling a business idea. Somebody else. Yeah. OK, cool. I see here the three things you’re going to be covering mainly is preparing your pitch, presenting your pitch and perfecting your presentation. Is that pretty much the main agenda that you’re going to be doing?

Gene:  There it is. And let me give you one key element. One of the things that everybody who attends is going to be required to do is do a three-minute pitch and we’re going to have you do that. Then we’re going to teach you how it should be done and then you’re going to get to do it again and you’re going to get to do it literally live-in front of Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank himself, small group of people. And he’s not just there to hear you. He’s going to give you input. Here’s what you did right. Here’s what you can do better. Here’s what you should add and subtract. He personally is hurt over fifty thousand pitches. I mean, it’s an incredible amount. He’s the godfather of the infomercial. He is the creator of as seen on TV. So his insight alone is incredibly valuable. So I’m bringing him in, as well as Tommy Hopkins, a very, very good friend of mine who’s been in the sales training world for a long time and learning how to communicate. We’re actually going to teach you how to tell a story, because whether you think about it or not, you go to the bank, they want to hear your story and your story is in. Hi, my name is Joe. Lend me a million dollars. It’s here’s what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, how we’re helping the community, what’s in it for the bank, how you can help me and how we can help others. That’s the story that needs to be communicated very effectively.

Joe:  People need to take this seriously, too, don’t they? I mean, you only have a short little attention span. I mean, a short little window. Sure. Grab their attention because you could kill the deal in the first five seconds, couldn’t you?

Gene:  Absolutely. See, you’re talking for wisdom there. You’ve had experience with people are hearing other people, but people judge you right now. People are looking at the screen and they’re saying, well, what shirt is he wearing? And his beard trimmed it. What about that background, all of those visual things? But then they’re also listening to the tone of your voice. And some people talk in a way that you just go to sleep and others talk in a way that energizes you. And ultimately, when you’re communicating with that bank or lender or investor, you want to inspire them to say, tell me more, because that’s the key. You don’t give it all to them in the hope they invest. You give them enough to they say, tell me more, give them the next level, will tell me more. And now I’m interested and now I’m ready to invest.

Joe:  And I guess some people are looking at this thinking maybe like, well, I have to be like Gene Guarino or I have to be like John McCall or have to be like Kevin Harrington. No, but people can do this just by being themselves. Right.

Joe:  That’s the magic, Joe. And I’m so glad you said that because I could not be Joe. You can’t be Gene, and I can’t be anybody else. Everybody is unique, and that’s part of it. You need to discover who you are and how you’re going to communicate. But there are certain things that if you do, like you said, you’re right in the foot and you’re out before you even started and others. That pretty much will mean success if you follow that formula.

Joe:  Yeah. You also is Sean McCloskey still coming?

Gene:  He is. He is going to come and share with you just one thing, because he could share four days, but he’s going to teach one thing, which is, yeah, in a great way. I mean, that he’s going to share.

Joe:  We’re giving him a hard time. He’s a mutual friend of ours and Gene is intentionally limiting him to just a small. No, I’m just kidding.

Gene:  But the piece that I really want him to focus on is the ability to communicate that story because he’s so good at being able to formulate a story that has a beginning, a middle and end, but a purpose. How do we get somebody from here to here in that arc of that story and how it goes through? So that is magical right there. That alone is worth one hundred thousand dollars. That information about how to tell a story, because that’s the essence of how we learn.

Joe:  That’s yeah, that’s awesome. And another speaker, Matt Scott, who’s Matt?

Gene:  He operates a company called SevenX Capital, and they have helped raise over five hundred million dollars for other people’s products and services. So when it comes to raising capital, he knows who to talk to, how to speak to them, how to present to them. But he’s going to be going through the fine points of how to find the right people to pitch to and then how to deal with them and all the paperwork and documentation that’s required along the way. He’s going to be an incredible asset to this event.

Joe:  Nice and I should say about Sean McCloskey as well. He’s one of the bestselling real estate educators in the industry without being, what’s the nice word to say, without being a douche bag. Right. Like he is so good at when he’s selling. You’re just listening and you’re learning and you’re like, oh, man, that sounds really cool. I want to invest in that. And so Sean has been he’s really, really good at that. And I’m excited. I’m glad that he’s there talking a little bit about Tom Hobkins. People don’t know who Tom is, maybe.

Gene:  Yeah. Tommy, his claim to fame, by the way, when he was in his twenties, got into real estate investing as a Realtor. His goal is to sell one house a day for an entire year. And he did it within his first year. He was absolutely the top salesperson. He was on main stages. So training other people how to be a sales person is really his skills. So not only was he a top realtor, but he’s been training people. And over the last 40, 50 years, he’s a little bit older than I am. So but over the last forty or fifty years, he has literally trained over five million people face to face who are paid for his training, his program, and he’s retired now. He lives up here in Scottsdale, Arizona, in my area. And we play golf. And I was out playing golf and I said, Tommy, I would love to have you come into our event. Would you be willing to? And he’s retired. And he said for you, I will. So it’s going to be an incredible opportunity to hear from an OG of the industry.

Joe:  That is awesome. And I just would ask that you stop talking about golf because it’s still winter here. Today is actually a nice day. But, Gene, it’s funny. We go back to and we go back. He’s always golfing, sitting by the pool, smoking a cigar. And it’s like ten degrees here. And it’s nice. Seventy eighty degrees where he is in Arizona and he’s always rubbing it in and I just get oh.

Gene:  I’m always inviting you out to play. That’s what I’m doing about it. And it’s just come on out. It’s OK.

Joe:  All right. Whatever. So this is going to be this is cool because this isn’t a live on online thing is it. Is it going to be live and in person?

Gene:  It’s in person. And we literally just did one of our three-day trainings we just finished last night. People are anxious to get out. They’re so excited to be in a room with people where we could actually shake hands, give a hug and have some fun. So it’s going to be an incredible event to come out and have that. It’s also had an incredible location there in Scottsdale, the Talking Stick resort. So there is a casino and there is a golf course. I don’t mean to rub it in. In addition to that, there’s all kinds of incredible restaurants and hikes and things you can do. What a great time of year to be in Arizona in April.

Joe:  I would. There, if I didn’t already have a commitment, so I appreciate it, looks awesome. All right. Now, let’s talk about this. The one-minute thing that you said I in, by the way, again, guys, the place to go to is PreparetoPitch.com, PreparetoPitch.com. If you’re interested in this event, this is there is no other event like this. I don’t know if Gene is going to be doing this again. So don’t think like, well, I’m just going to wait to see if he does it again, see who else does something like this. And this is the only event I’ve ever seen that does this. I’d be surprised if Gene doesn’t. I don’t know, maybe.

Gene:  But the plan is not to. This is it. It’s a big effort to put it on and to bring in all of these big hitters. So if somebody’s serious about learning how to and you really want to get a chance to meet somebody like you, Kevin Harrington and Tommy Hobkins, and to learn all this incredible information and get prepared, come on out one chance. And again, you have to apply. It’s not just if you can pay to come, it’s you have to be the right person. We’re going to be working with you one on one. So we want people that are coachable, people that have the right attitude, people that have the right heart, and we want the right people. So if it’s you, apply at PreparetoPitch.com.

Joe:  Yeah. And it’s a premium event, right? It’s not cheap, but you’re not going to be with hundreds of other people either. It’s going to be a small intimate or you’re going to get really, really good feedback. Yeah, absolutely. All right. So talk about this one minute.

Gene:  You’ve got it. I’m going to give it to you in three steps. And again, if you are presenting to anybody, if you follow these three steps is going to get you to the right point. So here it is. Step one, start with an engaging question. That’s where it all begins. If you ever watch Shark Tank, a lot of them come up and they stand there and they say a script and there’s a formula to it. Hi, my name is Jean. I’m looking for one hundred thousand dollars in exchange for five percent of my company. Then a lot of times the good ones will ask an engaging question like if I could show you how to make a million dollars in the next 12 months with only four hours of your time, would you be interested? The whole goal is to get them to say yes, tell me more. So the first thing is to ask an engaging question, and I’m just going to give you a few examples. The second step is to present the problem and solution in just one sentence, the problem and the solution in just one sentence. So let me give you an example. Right now, there’s twenty-three million people in the US that are facing housing insecurity. That’s a serious crisis. And with your help and my proven real estate method can solve this problem within the next thirty-six months. So we stated the problem and the solution.

Gene:  And now that person is going to say, tell me more. Let me just give you one more to give you an example that again, one sentence, the problem and the solution. Electric cars are here, the key to the masses adopting them universal charging stations. I’ve created the first universal charging adapter that fits every electric car in the market. Would you like to learn more so that asking a question, that problem and the solution all in one sentence, step three and very simple, be clear about your needs and what’s in it for them. Be clear. This is really critically important because a lot of times you listen to somebody and say, well, what do you need? What do you want? So what are you asking for? Their mentorship, money, their business knowledge or connections? And if you’re not clear on this, they can’t say, yes, the banker wants to lend you money. The investor wants to invest in your project. But if you’re not saying at the end of this, what I need is one hundred thousand dollars and I need it by next the end of the month or whatever it is, they can’t say yes, they can’t help you with it. So the clarity of your ask is incredibly important. Then I might add one more. I gave you the three steps in the last one finish with a compelling closing line finish with a compelling closing line.

Gene:  So let me give you, for instance, you’ve now talked about would you like to learn how to solve housing insecurity in the next thirty six months? Yes, I would. So now, as a closing line, would you like to join me and my mission for solving housing and security in the next thirty-six months or the one about the million dollars in four hours of time. Who would like to make a million dollars in twelve months with only four hours of work? So that question is going to lead to them saying Tell me more now, Joe, I’m going to tell you this right now, that formula, I put it together that way specifically because there are thousands of people pitching on clubhouse right now. Their pitches are horrible. They get through about three minutes and you don’t even know anything about the product, the service, the ask. They do all the wrong things. So this formula itself cleans it all up. But now I know for a fact, used it on doing these podcasts for a long, long time. You’re confident. You’re comfortable. But other people are thinking to themselves, I could never do that. We’ve taken people in just twenty-four hours from not even need to look in the camera because they’re so embarrassed and scared to be confident being on stage communicating. And that’s what the pitch master academy is all about. But this prepare to pitch event is for those select people and I hope some of your listeners are going to say that’s for me. We only have a few spots left to take advantage of it.

Joe:  I love it. So step number one, start with an engaging question, step number to present the problem and the solution in one sentence. Number three, be clear what your needs are and what’s in it for them. And finish with a compelling closing line.

Gene:  You got it in 60 seconds, by the way, because, you know, sometimes those people there on clubhouses were like, look, you got 30 seconds and they go for three or four minutes. If you’re sitting in front of an investor, Richard Branson’s in the elevator. Door closes And you’ve got 30 seconds. If you don’t get your point across in 30 seconds, the door opens, he leaves, your opportunity is gone. But if you set an appointment with somebody and they say you’ve got 60 seconds and you take three minutes, you’re already in trouble. You’vealready stolen their time, their most valuable asset.

Joe:  So important. I learned best many times from seeing examples of people doing this. Are you going to be doing a lot of that, giving examples, showing people through real pitches?

Gene:  Yeah, I’m laughing because we have a before and after video that’s on our website. So you guys can see that we’re some people the first time they did their presentation than just twenty four hours later, the improvements. So if you want to see some live examples that were recorded right there, go to that website, PreparetoPitch.com and you’ll see it. It’s cringeworthy at the beginning, man. I got to tell you, it’s awesome at the end.

Joe:  That’s awesome. And I wish I could go. I’ll have to look at my calendar and maybe I’ll switch things up a little bit. But I already have a previous commitment. I got to see if I can wiggle out of it. But April 18 through 20th. Scottsdale, Arizona, PreparetoPitch.com. And the thing I love about this, Gene, is it’s not going to be a big pitch fest. You’re not going to be selling people into other things. And it’s not going to be you’re going to be in a room with a players. I mean, it’s an exclusive little group. And you got to apply to be in it, but you’re going to get number one, really great feedback from the people that are there. Kevin Harrington, Tom Hobkins, Sean McCloskey, Matt Scott and Gene Guarino like. Yeah, that right there is gold because I think if you learn how to do this and learn how to just say it in your sleep, which you’re probably going to be practicing a lot, you’re going to get your money back ten times over with. Just signing up one investor or signing up, one banker.

Gene:  I just want to know, one of some of the attendees from our last class came and one of the projects they needed one point six dollars million, one point six. Once they put it all together and applied what we told them, they raised it in two weeks’ time, one point six million. So this is serious stuff. This is for serious people. This isn’t for somebody who needs ten thousand dollars from Aunt Betty. This is for people who are serious, that really want to learn how to communicate and present and speak. And I have to say this to thousands and I’ve met thousands of people have asked me over the last 40 years, Gene, will you teach me about how to sell, how to speak, how to present from the front of the room, etc.? And I’ve had to say no because I don’t have the capacity to do it. So this event is where I do get to share and I do get to give that input. And it is going to be so much fun. So I hope you guys can attend, but apply. And by the way, when you do apply, you’re going to make an appointment with my team and Kellin, his name Kellin. It’s a guy he’s going to have that conversation with you. And really what he’s trying to figure out is if you’re coachable, if you’ve got the right attitude and I want you to tell him that Joe sent you Joe. So when Joe sent me, he knows who you are. He knows the conversation we just had. And I want you to have that conversation with and see if it’s a good fit for you. And he’s going to check you out and see if it’s a good fit for us.

Joe:  Nice, good guys. If you want more information, go to PreparetoPitch.com, PreparetoPitch.com. I was just looking at my calendar. I might be able to come.

Gene:  Oh, wouldn’t that be great, man? I would love to have you there and come early. Stay late. Play golf.

Joe:  Yes. I’ve never flown with golf clubs before, so I don’t know.

Gene:  I have clubs. Let me know you’re coming and I will get you a set of clubs. Not a problem.

Joe:  I just got fitted for new clubs, my new ones.

Gene:  All right. Well then bring them and stay for days and enjoy yourself and play golf.

Joe:  It’ll be fun. All right, listen, I know you got another appointment coming up. Appreciate your time. Thanks for being on the show here, guys. Again, PreparetoPitch.com. This is for serious players who want to learn how to pitch and raise a lot of private money and do it. Really, it’s not that complicated. It’s really hard. I mean, it’s not hard. It’s really easy. But check it out. All right, Gene. Thanks again. Thank you, guys. Bye bye, everybody.