Negotiation begins with awareness. You must understand the expectations of the other party.
A true win-win happens when both sides feel respected, understood, and whole the moment the deal is done. If a seller, tenant, investor, broker, lender, or vendor would willingly sit with you again tomorrow, you have succeeded. That is the quiet sign of a good deal.
Real estate is taught as numbers and formulas, yet value is created through the energy you bring to the table. We pour in time, effort, skill, and capital into an asset — and if the final value is equal to the cost basis, then the investment has returned nothing. Profit is fair compensation for the time, risk, capital, and judgment you invested.
When evaluating a distressed asset, we look to the future — NOI, cap rates, financing, stabilized cashflow.
But the most important aspect of any deal is the relationship you build with the people involved.
They say, people don’t care what you say until they know that you care. Our value-add business — every acquisition, lease, negotiation, and refinance — is ultimately a human relationship expressed through financial terms. Your responsibility is not only to create value but to share it in a way that meets their expectations. When the other side feels content and respected, trust begins — and everything becomes easier. Deals accelerate, terms improve, friction disappears.
Not everyone will walk this path with you. Some people come, some go. You can only maintain meaningful relationships with no more than 150 people. The goal is not to keep everyone; the goal is to keep the right ones.
For a long time, I doubted concepts like the Law of Attraction. I thought they were vague, mystical ideas with no grounding in reality. But life has a way of teaching gently — and sometimes, fiercely. Over time, I came to understand something simple: like attracts like. When you operate from honesty, kindness, and genuine care, the right people gravitate toward you. But there are others — people who will lie, cheat, steal, or take advantage of the openness you offer. I used to feel anger toward them. Now I feel gratitude.
They arrive as teachers. They reveal blind spots.
They show you the type of energy you must never again welcome into your life.
I learn the lesson they bring, thank them silently, and release them. And when I do, something remarkable happens: what remains are the people who reflect your values — people who want to build, share, contribute, and rise with you. This is how your world will transform.
When you surround yourself with people who operate with honesty and fairness, who believe in creating value rather than extracting it, your life becomes better. Deals become easier. Partnerships turn into friendships. Growth becomes inevitable.
Why The Value Add Network will Change Your World
This is why I created the Value Add Network — not just as a mastermind, not just as an investor group, but as a new kind of tribe, of people who share these values.
• add value first
• share resources fairly
• respect each other’s time, capital, and energy
• collaborate instead of compete
• celebrate each other’s wins
• build wealth through alignment, not aggression
Inside this community, something powerful happens:
People begin to elevate each other. One investor’s capital or knowledge becomes everyone’s advantage.
One person’s connection adds leverage to the other. One lesson learned becomes a hundred mistakes avoided.
You begin to operate in an ecosystem where:
• Deals flow faster
• Support is real, not performative
• Growth is shared
• Mindset is elevated
• Trust becomes a form of currency
• You never feel alone in the journey again
This is how your world will change by surrounding yourself with people who want you to win. People who reflect back the best parts of who you are becoming.
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In my view, Negotiation Is Not a Battlefield
My style has never been Machiavellian or Art of War Sun Tzu style. I aspire to the energy of Buffett’s patience, Jim Rohn’s wisdom, and Tony Robbins’ generosity. Zig Ziglar said, “If you help enough other people get what they want, you will get everything you want.” And he was right. Help others win, and you will win — maybe not immediately, but always eventually.
So when negotiating, spend 80% of your time asking questions and 20% listening. Learn what the other person values — their fears, hopes, expectations. Guide them toward their goal while honoring your responsibility to your own mission and investors.
When people feel they can trust you — when they sense your intentions are clean and your words are sincere — the universe responds through people:
Sellers offer financing.
Lenders present terms that they rarely offer.
Tenants commit long-term.
Partners extend opportunities.
Investors return again and again.
Brokers send their best deals to you.
And without forcing anything, without wrestling for every inch, you begin to build something powerful, profitable, and deeply aligned.
This is how you build a $100M portfolio — through clarity, kindness, alignment, and unwavering standards for who you allow into your life.