Self-Made Series: Mar Lou Merilles from Isaw stand to Self Made Real Estate Investor

Mar Lou is a father of three wonderful boys and a husband to a supportive wife. Mar Lou joined the Blackcard community 2 years ago as a Bronze Student. He was then coached by Sean Lacap and now being coached by Jason Greschuk as a Platinum Student. Mar Lou is a whale for wholesale deals. He has the talent and perseverance to get things done accordingly. He is humble and knowledgeable, being a young father he took advantage of it to relate with the sellers, gaining their utmost trust. Now he is teaching and exposing his eldest son on what real estate really is and the knowledge and value they can gain from it. Of course all success stories have a rather unpalatable past. Before he began this journey, Mar Lou had spent his saved up money to buy his own property and use it as a rental after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad. Being a landlord was not easy and simply not a pleasant experience for him. He was losing more-than gaining from it. That’s when he told himself he had to take a different route. “and then I heard about Stefan Aarnio, curiosity got the best of me, I searched who he was and now I am here!” He now has almost a dozen doors of rental properties, gaining him almost a million in equity in such a short amount of time. In addition he also built a multi six figure wholesaling business. Mar Lou believes that not limiting the knowledge you’re willing to share with people to achieve such success in life would be an honour to look forward to.

It is better to sell one $1,000 hot dog than to sell one thousand $1 hot dogs. That’s why Stefan Aarnio chose to get into real estate. Selling one hot dog for $1,000 makes so much more profit, requires less effort, and has less customers and overhead than a high-volume business. In this chapter of Money, People, Deal, you’ll learn all about the three business models: the horizontal, the vertical, and the diagonal. You have no idea where thinking big could take you, so there is nothing wrong with asking for more dollars for a single hot dog. Compare a $1 hot dog to a $1,000 hot dog, which cart would you rather own? “I got into real estate because in music I was selling hundreds of $1 “hot dogs,” whereas in real estate, I could sell a few $1,000 “hot dogs” and make a much better living.”

Baseball is America’s favorite pastime, and believe it or not, baseball and entrepreneurship have many things in common. Many baseball terms are also used in business, and today, Stefan Aarnio will be focusing on his favorite terms: “single” and “home run”. In this chapter of Money, People, Deal, you’ll learn how business and baseball are closely intertwined. You’ll be taking a lot of value with you as well, for you’ll be having a glimpse at business and the entrepreneurship world from a fresh and fun perspective. Are you ready to switch to the major leagues? “In my own business, I decided to swing for a home run at the start of my career; the payoff was high if I succeeded, but defeat would absolutely crush my investors and myself if I failed.”

Cash flow is the goal of most long-term, buy-and-hold investors. Cash flow is the dream and the allure of real estate. Even though cash flow is a concept that excites most people, it is often what makes people leave the business as well. In this chapter of Money, People, Deal, Stefan Aarnio breaks down the glorified “cash flow” concept for you. You’ll understand what it really is, why it is not a synonym for profit, and how you can make money from all the information in this chapter. “Everyday in every market, there are new investors who absolutely hate real estate. They are in pain and want to get out of the market. Find these investors; relieve their pain, and get paid handsomely to take their pain away.”

Flipping real estate is one of the most sensationalized forms of real estate investing around today. This is a very popular and romanticized real estate strategy, but many flippers are uneducated, unsophisticated investors who can lose their shirts if they play the game wrong. In this chapter of Money, People, Deal, you’ll learn about the one biggest calculation mistake flippers and new investors make, spoiler alert: if used, it will absolutely kill you. Stefan will provide you with his 15% rule to appropriately calculate profit. From the final sale price to the financing, carrying and insurance, this formula will make everyone happy, especially you. “If your deal still makes sense after applying the 15% rule, you have a great deal.”

You don’t have to be a genius to make profit. In fact, the best entrepreneurs in the world are even college dropouts. Business is a simple game, so you should always keep it simple. If you’re having a hard time making money, you’re probably messing up and making your life tougher. In this chapter of Money, People, Deal, Stefan Aarnio will teach you the importance of finding audiences instead of creating them. You’ll learn the valuable formula for no-risk profits, and important lessons Stefan learned through his own experiences. Stop making your life so hard, find your audience and give them what they really want. “The lesson that I have learned from my experiences is to know your audience inside and out. Know what they want; know what they don’t want and make sure you deliver at the right price.”

A man alone is nothing. A group of men is nothing, and they need women to have a future. Men must compete for women, but there is a point where men become weak around women. They say that when a woman loves a man, he becomes her strength, but when a man loves a woman, she becomes his weakness. When a man falls in love, he surrenders and is willing to do just about anything for the woman he loves.  Women, relative to men, are a double-edged sword. Women possess a high sexual value and are willing to trade it for power. They are aware of their own value, and will do anything to protect it and ensure their own survival, even betraying their partner for a stronger man. Women are creators and destroyers, in a world of weak men, they’ll do what it takes to find a strong man.

Has it ever crossed through your mind that Coca-Cola and drug dealers share a lot of things in common? Addictive products, insane profit margins, and concentrated producers are some of the features both share. The success of both models lies in the fact that “everyone who touches the product gets paid”. In this chapter of Money, People, Deal, Stefan Aarnio compares the addicting soda with illicit activities’ to prove a point to an important statement: everyone who touches the product gets paid. This strategy is relevant for you and your business, since you want everyone to be paid, well and happy to work with you.  “Learn from Coca-Cola and drug dealers, and implement the “pay-everybody” strategy in your business. If you build a good program and stick with it, then you will see fantastic results in thirty days or less.”

Christianity is nearly 500 years ahead of Islam in ideology, because Christianity is 500 years older than Islam. During this time, Christianity has had more time to grow, explore, and move from an intolerant warrior culture to a tolerant, pacifist, female-ruled culture. This 500 year gap is the reason we find Islamic practices so barbaric and medieval. So, should we let the violent, intolerant, militant people from Islam into our pacifist, tolerant, and weak society from the West? What do you think will happen? America embraces the melting pot ideology where you become American when you emigrate to America. Here’s the problem though, America also believes in religious freedom, so when Islam moves in, they do not have to assimilate into the melting pot. What will happen when the western families are outnumbered by the poor families of the welfare system? In 50 years, Muslim refugees descendants won’t even have to invade, they will already be settled in and ready to enslave the weakened and subverted Americans. Are you willing to allow the demise of our nation?

Speed is a virtue in all arenas and it is a key to victory. In the wild and in business, it takes to be fastest to be at the top. In real estate investing, speed marks the biggest difference between a novice, an intermediate and an advance investor. In this chapter of Money, People, Deal, Stefan Aarnio breaks down the models and strategies he prefers in his real estate career. From wholesaling to buy-fix-sell, you’ll learn all about fast strategies to stop wasting your most important currency: time. Hop on and leave the slow, “residual” businesses behind. “Money can be manipulated and recreated if it is lost; Time is lost forever when wasted, and it is the real limiting factor in any business.”