JASON PEARL: Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Company We Keep podcast. I'm Jason Pearl, your host. This is a podcast for everyday business owners, entrepreneurs and leaders that want to think differently about growth and success and want to achieve better balance in both business and life. We're finishing our episode with Chris Niemeyer who is a super successful entrepreneur. If you listen to episode one, you're not going to want to miss episode two. We finished our conversation talking about all things growth both personally and professionally, and how to be the best you can be in the current role you have. Let's tune in now.

We haven't talked much about this, but during Mission Travel, you did meet some people and you started becoming a business coach and you started feeling very called to help businesses succeed in a lot of different areas. So you started building that, you had some rental properties, can you start to tell the audience a little bit about the true shift you made in going all-in as a business coach and then as a real estate investor, and bring us to like present day to talk about what you're doing today and how it's working out for you?

(01:16)

CHRIS NIEMEYER: And I remember those conversations with you, Jason with you, me and McGreevy, and a few other guys. Those were the moments where, and I think, I think I even said this on one of these calls, that guys, this, like you said, a hundred year pandemic, this is the kind of where the '08 financial crisis, The Great Depression, these are the times where guys like us would jump out of a building or run in front of a train track. And to your point of this podcast, the company we keep, we have to make sure that we're all right, individually and together. I remember sharing a story with you, like somewhere end of March, having to sit at the foot of the bed with my wife, going, honey, listen, we're going to be okay financially. This is hurts right now. And I hurt inside. I hated to lay off all these employees and I hated the red I was seeing. I want to let you know that we're going to be okay. I'm okay. But I need to check in with you every once in a while, I need you to ask questions, like, how am I doing? Because these are just scary times we're living in and there and there's been all kinds of stories that have come out of all of that. But I kind of went to that a little bit of a funk there for a few months if I'm being honest with myself, going I had this thriving business, what happened? I didn't do anything to deserve this. But then licked my wounds and said, all right, let's reinvent yourself here. What am I passionate about? I remember taking my journal for a day and just go into the beach here in Florida and going, what do I want life to look like? And part of it was, I didn't love having employees. I never did, if I'm honest, right? I didn't love having employees. And the fact that I had to have these really emotional conversations with each of them to let have to lay them off, and I hated that. And so I knew that I wanted a pretty lean business model for myself going forward.

You've mentioned, I started doing some business coaching the last couple of years. Didn't really market myself much, was just in these online groups where I'd meet people and a business would happen pretty organically and through referrals. I knew I wanted to help other business people, especially like smaller entrepreneurs, get their lifestyle back. I'm a firm believer in that your business doesn't serve your lifestyle, you're doing it backwards. And so many of us like we get guilty of, Hey, I'm starting in business, I'm working 70, 80 hours a week to fill a bank account, but I'm coming home to a bankrupt household. Bankrupt relationships. And I wanted to flip that on a dime. I believe in coaching, I've had coaches, I've seen the power of it in my own own clients. And so I spun up this Freedom Business System where I walk people through how to systematize their business and really get themselves out of their own way, really to have the lifestyle they desire and build a business that way. And spun that up and then realized from a real estate perspective, gosh, this is a pretty cool business where I can, I've learned the skill sets to grow a team. So I know what it's going to take to grow a team as a real estate investor and as an investor, it's really my money working for me. These people I can, they're not employees. I can choose to go with different people. And so just saw clearly that path and went, you know what? I'm going to go in here. We still had a property over in Oregon that we've moved from. And so I knew there was a 1031 process I could use to really go bigger, to invest more because I wanted to have these varied income streams. I wanted to have these streams of income that would put a really solid floor under us that would have the kind of pandemic proof us.

(04:42)

JASON PEARL: You obviously created Freedom Business System, which is available on your website, ChrisNiemeyer.com, and we'll link to all your socials and in the show notes and all that type of stuff that people could find that. But you started creating ways to generate revenue and not generating revenue in a sleazy way, but generating revenue in a way that you knew what these are my skills, this is my gifting. And throughout your whole career, you've always known what your gifting was. And so you started saying, okay, I know this, I know business owners need help. So you spun up Freedom Business System, you can purchase it and people can work with you as a coach. And then you decided to say, hey, I've got a rental property, I've got some equity. Now it's time to get real about making real estate, not just a long-term game, but a short-term and long-term game where you can create and generate revenues that you can use today that give you the opportunity to grow and generate more opportunities. So again, I know you're a humble guy, but over the course of the past 12 months, how many new doors are you a part of now when your real estate investors?

CHRIS NIEMEYER: So I've got 27 currently. So 27, it's the combination of a couple of duplexes, a bunch of single families. And then I just, I'm in contract on a quadplex.

(05:53)

JASON PEARL: If you think about over the past year, you're basically on average every month you've been adding two doors, if not a little more than that, depending on the month. So it's an aggressive path, but what is so impressive about that is it, you understood real estate, but I think you'd be the first one to say that you've immersed yourself over the past year in learned so many tricks of the trade. Met with people, spoke with people and now, if they follow you online, they see your travels, they see what you're doing in real estate. And that's actually created another opportunity for you where you're in the process of creating another opportunity where you can coach others on how to get into the real estate. You want to maybe tell us a little bit about that?

CHRIS NIEMEYER: Yeah, it's funny when you just start talking more openly about what you're interested in and passionate about. And in the last year, again, I do this every once in a while where I'll just go to the beach for a day with my journal and planner. And I remember end of last year going all right, what do I want this next year to look like? And you remember like Robert Kiyosaki's RICH DAD, POOR DAD, cashflow quadrants, right? The employee to the self-employed to the business owner, to the investor. And, and I'm a big guy like in that choose a word for the year to help guide you. And I just stopped and said you know what, I have been those other three pretty well. I'm ready to push into wearing that investor hat and finding out ways to be an investor, to be active there, that really makes sense for the family lifestyle that we want to live. And so "Invest" is my work for the year. And so I'm like, if I'm going to do that, I need to go all-in and so move some different investments and money around in this real estate space, which a third of the books on my bookshelf, if it's not personal professional development, I'm just over the years, loved talking about and learning about a voracious reader in real estate and in markets. And just started learning about that and talking a little bit more openly online too, to where by January the calendar turns, and I'm getting people to reach out saying, hey, I know you're a business coach and I want to talk to you about that. We'd get on the phone, and three people within the month of January by the end of the conversation was like, yeah, I'm a business owner, yeah. I need some help there, but I really like what you're doing in real estate. I want that too. And I want to have that other income stream. Would you just coach me to help me get started on my own real estate journey? And you just say yes to things and, and pick up three real estate coaching clients, which I'm still working with one of those guys. And so I'm just realizing there's an opportunity there to help people. Maybe, especially higher performing business owners or executives who realize they want an active new income stream. And so now I'm putting together, if you can't afford me as a real estate coach, there's a process I've developed bringing these people through that kind of method to work into a real estate investment course.

(08:44)

JASON PEARL: I think oftentimes, people will be like, I don't want to go pay for this course. I don't want to go do this. I don't want to do that. And the things we live in an instant gratification world. Where people are like, if you've got the knowledge, can we just hop on a call and chat? The business world has changed. You are an investor in multiple different areas. You're a coach for businesses and you have an experience that has a wide range, so there is value to that. And I think the layman would look at a course online, and be like what's the catch. The catch is I have knowledge, you don't. It's an exchange. And when we're hungry, we buy food, use money to buy food. It's an exchange. It's the same thing with knowledge. And I think that what's really interesting is, or in a world where I think we're still straddling that should I pay for these things or should I not in, in what it is, is because of the internet and because of the ways that we can consume information. And like you said, you've got tons of real estate books that you've been reading for years. The transfer of knowledge is actually where the value is. And I think that ultimately for all the entrepreneurs out there, what you had said is what a lot of marketing folks will say is build on purpose. That's something you do so well, whatever you're building, you're publicly doing it, not to show off on social media, but this is how you generate interest. You've got a large following online, but when you build in public. Whether it's a podcast, whether it's a real estate course or whether it's a consulting firm, like I have with Nacre Consulting, or you have with all of your other online courses and systems, building in public people will either like you and want you, or they won't. And that's the best part of that. And I think that's such a great tip for entrepreneurs and leaders that are out there: when you do things in public, people are able to see what you're doing and they either are interested in it or they're not. So I just commend you for doing it because that's how you build. That's how you that's marketing in and of itself.

CHRIS NIEMEYER: It's cool to hear that because oftentimes we think that those topics of interest that we are, that we're personally passionate about, we think yeah, no one wants to hear that. But if you're passionate about it, you just want to share it, you want to transfer that knowledge and get people aware. And so I just went into this year going, you know what, I'm going to talk a little bit more openly about some of these areas that I'm invested in, that I've been invested in for a while. They are topics that are on people's mind.

It's interesting, we haven't talked about it yet, but another topic that I'm really interested and passionate about and have been since 2017 and is cryptocurrency and Bitcoin and blockchain and all that. This was a great year to start talking about that because it's really taken off. And so I started sharing about that. I ended up going to this, the largest Bitcoin conference in the world yet. And so. As I'm there and I'm just posting and posting thoughts about it and what I'm learning there and actions to take. And people started just pinging me left and right going, I need to get into the space. I know I do. I just don't know enough. And to your point of that transfer of knowledge, like I literally had dozens of messages. I just couldn't get back to all of them. And I'm like, you know what? This is another opportunity.

And so let me, and I did this within a couple of days, spun up a little landing page. It says, hey, if you want to know more about Bitcoin and crypto and blockchain, put your address here. I'm putting a resource together. Let me know your questions are, I want to answer them all. And then within about 10 days, spun up a Bitcoin, crypto and blockchain course. So just to kind of a primer. Okay. Here's what you need to know. Here's why this technology is here. Here's where I think it's going. Here's how you get to be part of it.

(12:13)

JASON PEARL: But people that have defined success, the way that you have Chris, which is the 9 to 5 was not something you wanted. You wanted more time with your family, you wanted to travel. And the way that you do that in this world is like you can't be as tied down. So you've figured out ways to get knowledge, and perfection of the knowledge is never really there, but you become very good at that knowledge and the application of that knowledge, and then now you're basically selling that knowledge to help others.

And one of the stories I want to tell, because I think it's important for people to hear this is that. So you just spun up this crypto course, you and I are very close friends. I purchased your crypto course. I probably could have said, hey, Chris, I'm interested, can you just share with me? And I would have put you in an awkward situation. You probably would've said, sure, Jason, I'll share this with you because we're tight. But I didn't do that because I don't have the knowledge. I didn't spend money to go to the conference. I haven't spent five years trying to learn about crypto. So you know what? You put your credit card number in and you get a course and you start educating yourself. There's an exchange of money. And then there's the diving deep into learning, and then applying what you learn. And I think that because of the instant gratification world that we live in today, people want it at the snap of a finger, but things still don't work out like that. You couldn't have been a business coach if you didn't start as a political analyst and ran a PAC, and then started Mission Travel, and ran it successfully for years. I would not have been able to spin up and launch Nacre Consulting and be a growth consultant business and sales consultant if I didn't spend 17 years in banking and in business. It just, you just can't have that. So there's a price to those . Things and it's the transfer of knowledge. I always find that when I exchange money for something, it makes me more committed. If I'm going to buy something, I'm going to, I'm going to spend some time on it. If I'm given something I haven't put effort into acquire it, I don't necessarily need to put effort into learning it. So I think whether you're looking at buying a course, whether you're looking at hiring a consultant or a coach or any other expenditure that you make, that transfer of money for a lot of people is what makes you committ.

(14:29)

CHRIS NIEMEYER: No, I'm really glad you shared that Jason. Cause that's a key point. I'm a big believer in investing in your own personal professional development. I've spent, you know, tens of thousands of dollars over the years. And here's another thing I learned. I learned this from one of my mentors, Michael Hyatt, is he would get asked a lot as well. Hey, can I pick your brain? Can I take you to lunch? Can I ask you this? Right. Especially as he got more and more notoriety and became a bestselling author and speaker and all this kind of stuff. He realized, you know what? I can't scale my time like that. And he puts together, and I actually have this on my website too. He put together this one long blog where he's like "Ways to work with me." okay. And so he's known for a certain few things, I'm known for business and real estate and crypto and these kind of topics. So mine is, hey, you know what? Here are the, here are links to the best blogs I've written on these five topics. Go read those, go learn here. Here are some podcasts that I've been on talking about these specific subjects. So it starts free in terms of here's. Here's a lot of information I already have out there. If you want to learn, go learn here. And then it starts down to hey here's a couple of very approachable price points of some courses that I've built out. If you want to work with me more directly, obviously there's a higher cost to that in my time. And so here's my coaching fees and here's links to that. But I think that's valuable for anyone that's in a space where they want to transfer knowledge. They're there in that kind of education information realm of the internet and eCommerce now is start by that.

[00:15:59] JASON PEARL: Yeah, you do have to protect your time, which is a perfect transition point into, we've been talking a lot about business and courses and stuff like that. I want to get into some lighthearted stuff because I think it's really important. People oftentimes will look at a guy like Chris Niemeyer and see polished, smart. Like, where does he have all the time of the day he's super successful? He's also a handsome guy. How does this all work? What is most important about you, what I admire the most about you is how you are as a husband and a father, and how you prioritize being a husband, a father, and then ultimately your faith above everything else. And I think that it's important to note that people as successful as you prioritize properly. So if you could share a little bit about what that stuff means to you, I'd appreciate that.

(16:51)

CHRIS NIEMEYER: Yeah. As much as I love entrepreneurship and real estate and crypto these days, my two favorite titles are husband and father. I've got four kids, they're all 12 and under. So life is busy and crazy and fun, but I want to be there for them. I've got a whole other story about not being there early on with one of my babies, we almost lost. So I just, I knew like I want to be an active husband and father. I don't want to be the guy that's working 70, 80 hours a week. And so again, my, my whole thing and through the lens of even the business system that I share with coaching clients is, design the lifestyle you want, think about what does that look like? Can I take off Tuesday at 1:00 PM and take the kids to the beach if I want to, or is my business so consuming that I can't do those kinds of things? I knew that I didn't want to be the guy who was running too hard in business to not be there to coach soccer and to go to the beach on a Tuesday afternoon or we're here in Florida, so we're at Disney and water parks and rollercoasters. We'll just sometimes say, hey, know what? Let's go to Disney for the day or let's go to the beach for the day. We actually did that this week. I knew I was going to be taking a two day real estate trip. I'd be gone from the family, surprise them all Monday morning, I said, hey guys, pack up. We're going to the beach for the day. And I just love, I love that. I love that approach to spinning the whole kind of American dream and corporate focus and profit on his head.

JASON PEARL: Speaking of family, pop it into a couple of lighthearted conversations, which is always fun. So I recorded a podcast a week ago with a guy that just gave me a super funny story. Being a dad and being as involved as you are with your family. Do you have any really fun or interesting or funny fatherhood stories that, that has happened recently that you want to share with the audience?

(18:42)

CHRIS NIEMEYER: Oh man, I'm sure there's many. Okay. So one thing that I'll do every once in a while, I'm Jason, you know this about ourselves, like we're wired the same way we've got like, you know, I've got whiteboards over here where I'm jotting ideas and to do lists less stuff. I've got an extra one. So sometimes I'll come out cause I'm the first one up, always in the house. So sometimes I'll come out and okay, let's be spontaneous and say, hey, it's backwards day. You have to walk backwards. We're going to have dinner for breakfast and work backwards. Like that one time I got this stupid, crazy, whatever funny idea where I'm like, hey, at breakfast, this is funny that I'm even saying this on a podcast. But at, at breakfast, bring an extra pair of underwear. Kids were like, what? And so we sat around the breakfast table. I'm like, all right, everyone put your underwear on your head. This is underwear on your head day.

(19:31)

JASON PEARL: We put so much pressure on ourselves and on our families to just succeed and do well in schoolwork and good grades and all that type of stuff. So, you know what? Sit at the breakfast table, eat your eggs while you have your underwear on your head. It's just clean underwear, right? Just clean underwear.

We always like to ask a musical question. So what is the last album you either bought or downloaded live show you attended? Or what are you listening to right now that you can't stop listening to?

CHRIS NIEMEYER: So my wife was big on going to Christian camps in the summertime. So there's this Netflix special called A Week Away. It's all about Christian camp experiences. So they put the soundtrack together with all these old, like nineties Christian music songs, and it's all like this choreographed. And so it's like people that my wife and I used to listen to when we were in high school. They've redone it and now our kids love it. So that plays right into playing constantly in our house by stuff like Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant, like all the old names. So I have that. And then again, two girls, girl dad, you gotta be like relevant, weird to to admit this on the podcast, but I've downloaded a couple of Taylor swift albums.

(20:36)

JASON PEARL: So last fun question. What is Chris Niemeyer's favorite guilty pleasure.

CHRIS NIEMEYER: If it involves chocolate and then you layer some like peanut butter or like coffee flavor or mocha.

(20:48)

JASON PEARL: You're a dessert guy then, but before we close, is there a platform you prefer to be connected with? Or is it any of them?

CHRIS NIEMEYER: Yeah, I'd say Instagram or Facebook.

JASON PEARL: When you listen to it, podcasts that have a pen and piece of paper ready, because you're going to need notes. So thank you so much, Chris. I love you man. And wish you nothing but success. Thanks.

CHRIS NIEMEYER: Thank you. Jason. Love you too, brother.

JASON PEARL: thanks for listening to another episode of The Company We Keep podcast. Hope you enjoyed that final episode with Chris Niemeyer. I know I had a blast chatting with him, and there's so many good parts of both of those podcasts that I think are phenomenal takeaways for all of the listeners. If there's anything you missed, you want to relisten or you want to get the contact information for Chris, best way to do that is visit my website at JasonMPearl.com in the show notes and on the website, everything will be linked. If you're enjoying this podcast, I would love for you to subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're using. But until next time, this is Jason Pearl.