On this episode – originally released on Build Your Network, Host Travis Chappell interviews Jay Papasan, Vice President, and Executive Editor at Keller Williams Realty, co-author of the Millionaire Real Estate Agent, The Millionaire Real Estate Investor, and The One Thing.
Topics Discussed:
- You call yourself an author that ventured into the real estate world, talk about why being an author is so important to you.
- He’s always loved books and he’s an introvert.
- He worked in bookstores and majored in English.
- His relationship with Gary Keller started with a writing job.
- The kids that he fell in with in middle school and high school were all very intellectual and successful.
- They could hang out with any group.
- Have those age-old friendships been an escape or a sharpening tool?
- At first, they were a sharpening tool.
- His friend group forced him to play up.
- Talk to us about why you were obsessed with Sherlock Holmes when you were growing up.
- He’s always been into knowledge and trivia.
- He loved that Holmes was the ultimate Renaissance man with no limitations.
- The British Sherlock series is hands down his favorite.
- Where did you go to college?
- He grew up in Tennessee and he wanted to get away.
- He got a full ride to Memphis State and decided to go there.
- What made you change your major from law?
- When he went overseas he got the writing bug and went to NYU for English.
- How important is travel to you?
- Traveling and backpacking all over Europe completely changed his worldview.
- They’ve been taking their kids all over the world.
- What are your favorite places to go?
- They quit their jobs and spent five months backpacking in Italy.
- They’ve gone back four times.
- They like a mix of going to new places and seeing old places they love.
- Is your comfort with change nature or nurture thing?
- It’s a mindset thing, we all can open up.
- If you spend a lot of your days reading books, it’s one of the ways that you can see new worlds through someone else’s eyes.
- Most writers experience the world passively.
- Jay read all fiction growing up.
- What prompted the move out to Austin?
- When he and his wife got married and quit their jobs, they went to go travel for 5.5 months.
- On this trip, they debated where they would move.
- They moved to Austin without visiting any other city.
- He was freelancing and then he joined a newsletter writing company.
- This is how he got connected with Keller Williams.
- He and his wife always had a side-gig.
- Was having a side-hustle helpful for you in the wealth building stage?
- Yes, they always planned to bank $1,500 a month.
- Buying rental property was a result of working for Keller Williams.
- He interviewed over 120 millionaires and learned that it’s not about income, it’s about investing.
- Do you think that if you don’t have a side-hustle now you’ll need one when you’re 60?
- At a certain point, you need to put your eggs in one basket and make things enjoyable for yourself.
- A side hustle works when you’re employed and you also want to be self-employed.
- Talk about how important it is to set a goal and then reverse engineer what it takes to get there.
- If you’re willing to venture out five years and beyond and work backward, it paints a straight line in milestones.
- Setting goals declutter your thinking and every year gets clearer.
- You don’t have to be married to your goal from the beginning, you can date it for a while.
- Nobody’s got a crystal ball, your needs will change based on the moment.
- Talk about your book The One Thing.
- People both like and dislike the simplicity of the book.
- Talk about habit stacking.
- When you talk about the ultimate disciplined person, those habits didn’t happen overnight.
- It seems to be the ultimate superpower.
- What does an average day look like to you?
- He’s become a morning person and he’s found that time to be incredibly productive.
- Most days they get up at 5:10 am.
- They work out with a trainer 3x per week.
- He reads from 30min to an hour every morning.
- They have breakfast as a family.
- They made the decision to have two meals a day as a family, breakfast, and dinner.
- Before 8 am he looks at what he has time blocked for the day.
- Talk about the origin of The One Thing and what The One Thing is that you’re trying to get across.
- The book happened kind of by accident before Lehman Brothers.
- Gary came back after the weekend with an essay called The Power of One.
- They spent five years working on the book and they had two full-time researchers working with them.
- When the recession happened they shifted focus from The One Thing and wrote a book about a shifting market.
- You need to know what the primary thing is to focus on right now and you should be present.
- How often do you need to step back and look at your one thing?
- You get distracted all the time and need to refocus.
- The rhythm for Jay is weekly.
- Tell us about the goal-setting retreat.
- They realized that they needed to get out of their world and reconnect.
- Last year they offered this as a facilitated workshop.
- If there’s one tip you have centered around networking, what would it be?
- Be purposeful, be systematic.
- Writing a book opened a lot of doors for him, but he needed to be purposeful.
- For a year he met with one person he didn’t know on Wednesday mornings for coffee with no agenda and then added them to his database.
- The first year, he did exactly 50.
- Now he averages about 85 people a year.
- Do anything, start a podcast.
- Do you believe that what you know or who you know is more important, and why?
- Who is first, talent tends to attract more talent.
- Everything that he built started with a bathroom conversation with Gary Keller.
- You need to know who you determine wealth for and who are your wealth determiners.
- Ask yourself who the five people are who determine your success.
- All the authors you never got to meet are your “dead” mentors, read their books.
The Random Round:
- What profession other than your own do you think it would be fun to attempt?
- Coder
- If you could sit on a park bench with anyone for an hour who would it be, and why?
- His grandpa Miller.
- How do you like to consume content?
- Books, people
- Give us a glimpse of your morning routine?
- Get up early
- Workout
- Read
- A lot of time with his wife
- Eat a meal as a family
- Visit goals before work
- What is something that you are not very good at?
- Small talk
- What is your go-to pump up song?
- Sabotage by the Beastie Boys
- What is one place where we can find you the most?
- Instagram @jaypapasan
Tweetable Quotes:
- Reading books is a way to see new worlds through someone else’s eyes.
- You don’t have to be married to your goal from the beginning, you can date it for a while.
- Habit stacking seems to be the ultimate superpower.
Resources Mentioned:
- Visit Travis’ website at travischappell.com
- Join the Build Your Network Facebook group travischappell.com/group
- If you want to amplify your network through podcasting apply at travischappell.com/makemypodcast
- Leave a rating and review for World Class on iTunes
- the1thing.com/event
- The Millionaire Real Estate Agent – book by Jay Papasan and Gary Keller
- The Millionaire Real Estate Investor – book by Jay Papasan and Gary Keller
- The Defining Decade – book by Dr. Meg Jay
- Grit – book by Angela Duckworth
