Adam Torres and Brooke Sousa discuss Brooke Sousa Capital Fund I.
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Show Notes:
Brooke Sousa Capital Fund I has officially launched. In this episode, Adam Torres and Brooke Sousa, Founder of Brooke Sousa Capital LLC, explore Brooke’s new fund and book, Mission Matters: World’s Leading Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Top Tips To Success (Business Leaders Vol. 10, Edition 2).
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About Brooke Sousa
Brooke Sousa is recognized for multiple endeavors. She is the founder of Brooke Sousa Capital LLC in addition to being the winner of both the World’s and America’s Strongest Woman titles.
After her title win in 2019, Sousa began investing in real estate. Within 2 years, she has invested in 65 homes and cleared $7 million dollars in real estate. These metrics make Brooke Sousa Capital LLC the third 6-plus figure business that she has founded.
Brooke Sousa is originally from Columbus, Ohio. Her childhood and young adult experiences compelled her accomplished fitness career. She later added real estate investing to her business repertoire by launching Brooke Sousa Capital LLC.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest on the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. All right, so today is a very special episode. We’re welcoming back Brooke Souza, who I’m proud to announce is an author, and we’ve the book at our best selling business leaders book series, which did go to number one on new releases and Brooke.
Hey, first, I just want to say welcome back to the show. Thank you for having me. All right. So I’m excited to have you back. And I know we’re also hosting an event together on July 19th in downtown Los Angeles, and we’re going to, where you’re going to be headlining and speaking and really educating us all on real estate.
Real estate investing and some of the projects that you’re working on. So we got a whole lot coming up, but you know, as you know, we’ll start this episode, the way that we start them all with our mission matters. Brooke, we at Mission Matters, we amplify stories for entrepreneurs, executives, and experts.
That’s our mission. Brooke, what mission matters to you? The mission that matters to me most right now in this journey with real estate investing with Brooke Sousa Capital is helping new investors get started in investing in real estate. Providing that, you know, passive income
to their Love having you on the show and and love bringing on mission based individuals who are helping others really achieve their goals. And, and one of the big things that you’re doing through real estate. So good stuff here. Well, we got a lot to cover today. So of course, we’re going to talk about the, the book.
So from flipping tires to flipping houses, what a great line. And of course, we’re going to be talking about the launch of your real. I’m so excited and thrilled and to bring this to our audience. But before we get into all that, maybe let’s just kind of take a step or two back. Cause I don’t want to assume that maybe all our new listeners or viewers caught some of the previous work we’ve done together.
So maybe just tell us a little bit more about how you got started in real estate. Real estate kind of just like fell into my lap 2020. I was losing my personal training business with COVID and people not being able to come into the gym. I had a six figure business there as a personal trainer in Columbus, Ohio, along with my online clients.
So now I started educating myself about real estate and not only the business side, but also how to do the work inside the houses learning to raise other, you know. Capital with other people’s money to get started. And I used to buy my first house almost two years ago. And so I want to get back to, I want to stay in those earlier days a little bit longer here because there’ll be some people that are watching this that maybe don’t have much experience in real estate or they’re just kind of getting started.
Like, like, so what was that like for you? Just getting that first house and getting your feet wet? Well, the first house was like the most nerve wracking one as for like any investor, but I also told myself for 13 years, I would never buy a house again after 2008 market crash. So here I am, I’m like, okay, when I purchased this house for 35, 000, I’m going to put 15, 000 into it.
What’s the worst that could happen? Right. I could go through all this and like learn something new. You know, I spend my time, had a lot of extra time on my hands. And I was just like, okay, if all else fails, I can still recover. And at least I’ve learned something. Yeah. And so as you kind of went from one house, like where did this like transition go?
Or maybe it was always the vision. I don’t know. Like, when did that transition happen or how did it happen to where you’re like, okay, you know, I can do this and then be, and then to that next stage of like, okay, I can really do this and maybe I can help others. I think it really like stems from my past.
Right. So when I first went and did my very first competition as well, a strong woman as an amateur. Okay. I was like, okay, well I’ll go and do this, you know, pro bono. Like it was a competition to raise money for a charity. Okay. And so I was like, all right, well, I’ll go ahead and go and compete and people are like, oh, you’re going to do one and be done.
Right. And I was like, oh no, like I’m going to be real strongest woman someday. Oh, well, okay. So I think with like real estate, like you go and do your first one, I’m like, you’re not going to go learn all of this just to do one. And then when somebody was like, oh, well you can go ahead and retire back in February of 2023.
And I was like, I didn’t come this far just for me to not continue. And therefore. You know, back then I was a personal trainer after putting myself through these different journeys. I’m like, okay, and now I would love to go and coach other people through their own personal situation. And the same thing carried over into real estate.
I’m like, once I learned how to do it myself and be successful at it, let me go ahead and, you know, And so now you you’re at this next stage in your career and let’s, I think this is a good time to kind of bring up the, that you’re launching your funds. So I think this is a great time. Maybe give us a little bit more of, of kind of the track record and where you’ve been up to now.
And then why you’re launching a fund now. Well, I started out where, you know, a lot of banks were. Wouldn’t lend to me being a first time investor. Right. And I understand why, especially as I’ve partnered with people along the way. And it’s like, Hey, a lot of people, you know, it’s like, Oh, fun, you know, dandy to get started.
But then when the real work starts, people quit. And I want to partner with people who are like, show them away. Like, okay, this happens. This is normal. You know, during the phases of a house inside of the property, not on, on the business side. And. A lot of people wouldn’t lend to me right on that 1st 1. I’m like, all I need is just to believe in me for 1 house and guy used to have personal train at the fire department.
He was my investor on that very 1st house. And so using other people’s money is like, how I got started. Right? And. It built up over to, I think I have like 32 million in real estate. And like I said, it just needed that first 50 K just get me started. Right. And so that’s where I’m at with like the fund where I’m like, okay, a lot of people don’t understand how I can raise other capital and how I can build this business.
And therefore, like, I want to break it down because it’s really simple, but people will just overcomplicate things or they don’t want to take the time to help somebody else. And that’s really like. My core value of my business is like paying it forward and also operating on how things used to be back in the day.
How many, how many houses have you flipped up to like now? Like roughly, I’m not holding you to the number. Cause I know you got probably deals in the pipeline right now. Not probably. I know. I know. You know, 20 minutes from looking at another one, but ticker in the background. It’s cool. Yeah. But it’s like one of those things where I think right now I’m at over 132.
Wow. Wow. Can’t keep up. This is great. . What, talk, talk a little bit more about maybe some of the markets that you tend to favor and maybe just your investment, like ideology in general. This is a good one. So a lot of people think like, oh, okay, you just want the cosmetic, you know, quick turnaround. And I’m like, I’ve got a house in a three day flip.
Okay. Made a lot of money on that one, but I love. The rough houses, the ones that nobody wants to pay attention to, just as in like my clients, I love taking my clients who are like so out of shape and we’re so far from their goal to make them, you know, reach their goal. And so that’s how I look at these houses too.
I’m like, Oh man, I want the ones that have like foundation problems. And like, we got to get rid of the plaster. We got all this old electrical, like I want to make these homes, you know, livable again for people to have memories with their families and to, you know, just bring back life, you know. I think we’re missing that not only in our community and, but also in these homes.
And like, just because something’s bad or ugly or not attractive, right. Doesn’t mean you have to turn your back on helping it. And that goes as far as like people and in the houses. So I. Love like buying and really D houses is how people would rate them in real estate and like a B plus a minus neighborhood.
So really taking the crappiest house on the street and bringing it back to life. And I have a place, you know, settle here in Columbus, Ohio, also out in Newark, Ohio where. Intel is building and I’ve saw more growth as Columbus expands. Then my favorite spots down in Florida is Cape Coral and Fort Myers from obviously the hurricane and just taking something there that people can’t fix themselves and bringing back their community down there too.
Now, when you’re talking about rehab in these houses, especially when you’re looking, you’re going for the least of these houses, right? Let’s say had to bring in a little, a little reference there, but. Then like you, you must have some like boots on the ground. Like, how are you managing all of this, this workflow?
Because as you mentioned with some of these larger issues, like these are bigger projects, right? Yes, they are. And it’s constantly having your eyes on each one. But now like I’m down to my last six, like we’ve done 69 already this year. And so like the last six, you’re like, okay, well, there’s my problem children.
Right. And we’re just like, and then you just dial down on those and you get them in order and it’s all fine. Once you’re out in the punch face. Is there any, like, in looking for these deals, like, how do you find them? Like what, what kind of, what, what do you, what’s your process to find new deals? It all started like, obviously when I was eight years old and how to talk to people and how to build those relationships, but it carried on into.
The last two years where I’ve built relationships with other people who are out there looking for the houses as realtors or wholesalers. And they know that even during this market transition or shift, you want to call it the last six months, like I continued to not live in that fear, but the numbers made sense then to continue to buy.
So I have those, you know, wholesalers and realtors that noticed I was like, kept on being consistent. And during the last six months that. I kind of get like top choice and which ones are out and that they have their hands on and contract for me to look at and go and purchase myself. Yeah, that’s great.
That’s great. And you and you did mention. So Ohio and and Florida to your primary markets. Are you finding deals right now? Like, are you seeing things that are interesting? Well, they’re always interesting. Right. Just because like, you know, you can doesn’t mean you always should. So there’s some like Florida has slowed down.
We just got done doing like 6 over the last 8 weeks down there. And so now they’re on the market and now I’m looking for more in Fort Myers. Also just signed up a business to be a part of the FEMA, like rescue and Help recover a lot of these properties from the very beginning of any damage, really in North Carolina, Florida.
And I think Kentucky is the other state that I would be able to go in and help. Tell me a little bit more about the vision for your fund and really, and really why you’re launching it. Well, there’s like so many different parts there. So the biggest part, I think the fund really gives opportunity for investors who are like, okay, look, we want to make this passive income, but we don’t want to do what you want that you do.
Right. I’m like, all right, that’s fine. I’m like. There’s a reason why I’m positioned to be able to handle the things on the streets, you know, so other people don’t have to, right. And then I have, you know, obviously my compliance officer who will handle the fund where it keeps me going and everybody, you know, be able to make money off the fund.
So just bringing opportunity to people on the real estate side, but then also growing the people who are on the streets with me. Like it’s really exciting for me to bring an income for the families that all work for me. Oh, that’s awesome. All right. I want to, I want to switch focus slightly here for a moment or two and from flipping tires to flipping houses.
So thrilled and excited to be able to publish your work and to get your, to get your words out really to our audience over at mission matters. Like what was the, what was the inspiration for this writing? I’ve been told for a couple of years now to write something and I’m like, all right, well this is a start.
Right. Just in how. I was world’s strongest woman to now flipping houses. So you guys really encouraged that out of me to be able to publish something and tell a little bit of my story. And I really appreciate the opportunity there. Walk us through a little bit of the writing, a little bit of the story.
I know, I know, I know you as world’s strongest woman, but everybody else may not, unless you Google her, if you Google her, she’s everywhere, but. The talk, let’s do the story a little bit. So in this story, we really talk about how I’ve taken, you know, the people that have worked along the side with me and help them grow in their businesses to, from different situations, from my contractor that was in prison that I had hired right out of prison and.
grew him and to being a contractor himself and then set up to buy his own properties. Also another investor who bought his first house and didn’t realize how scary of a situation he was walking into and just showing him the road of like, look, it’s not a problem. This is how we handle it. And now we have, you know, several properties together and he’s.
million in real estate himself. So like, that’s exciting to me. Like it just breaking it down, having somebody to grow with. And a lot of that book just talks about that process. Yeah. And I think it’s interesting because as you, as you name these individuals, like what I’ve seen, what I’ve noticed. And you’ve, you’ve, we’ve had conversations offline about this is really that concept of like community and bringing those communities together, whether it was your physical training business, whether it was your, you know, you training personally for the, you know, Arnold classic and all these other events that you competed in, or whether it was now real estate, like, and you’re, you’re even building a community through that.
Like I, I rarely hear about. Indicators or things like that, that are, you know, helping others build their own businesses as well as you’re doing. Like, tell me a little bit more about your concept and kind of your thoughts on community. Well, I really missed so much of what was taken away from me with COVID, right?
Like I didn’t ask for that and I am, yes, I know nobody really asked for that, but it’s you know, usually you get to like, say when you want things to be over with, and I didn’t get to have that opportunity with my personal training business. Yeah. And so I was like, well. Depressed and sad. I’m like, okay, well, how can I create this, you know, love and loss that I have for my personal training business into what I do now.
And when I was looking at it, I’m like, you know what, like, it didn’t matter if it was the 10 year old in the gym time, the 69 year old lady, what to do, you know, like. I had everybody in community there. And so now it’s, I have the, what, the youngest kid that works for me now is 12 years old and I don’t care if the 12 year old’s going and telling the 58 year old guy what to do in the house.
You know what I mean? Or if it’s the 69 year old lady who now invests with me in real estate. Then it’s like, I have a lot of my old clients who like play a part in my real estate business now. And to me, I’m like, okay, each person has something to offer in this world, but are you using your talents and your gifts at your highest life?
Right. And to those around you and to the lives of those around you. And so as soon as I can spot that in each person, I’m like, you know what? I got a place for you. I don’t care that you’re not invested in this house, that house or the other house. I need this and, and it’s just so neat how they support other people’s deals too.
And when you build that, it’s like, okay, there are like how many eyes, it’s not just me handling, you know, all these houses. I have different people handling multiple houses. And to me, I’m like, okay, you’re using their strengths and you’re creating an opportunity for them to be creative as well. A lot of times you’re told like, Oh no, you can’t do that.
Or no, that’s the wrong color. You shouldn’t think that way. And I just give these houses as a platform for everybody to learn. Because that 35, 000 house was my canvas to learn, okay, there are mistakes and you know what, everything’s fixable. There is nothing that you can’t recover from. It’s just, you know, a house.
It’s just, whether it’s drywall and you want to learn how to mud, okay, go for it. I don’t want to do it, but… You know, I had to go through that to know these things. And then it was my daughter learning how to run wire, you know, and she was just like, my gosh, I want to learn electrical. And so it’s like, okay, you don’t know the things that you don’t know until you get to try it.
And this is the opportunity for people to try. Hmm. Hmm. As others are going through their journey, whether it’s entrepreneurship or otherwise, like what are some things that as they’re going through it, like that, you know, you’re now that you can obviously have the benefit of hindsight, right? As you went through building your, your real estate business and you’re continuing to add on to it.
Like, what are some things that you would tell them along the way on their journey that kind of helped them get through, especially when we’re talking about those big pivots, like, like, as you mentioned, COVID, like this was technically a big, Pivot and blessing really like for where I see that you’ve come from as well.
I mean, you had a successful business, then another one now, but what are some things that you would tell them during these big pivotal times? I think as you have to like, look at down the road of like, why do you want anything to be, you know, changing your life or to be better. Right. And when you can focus on like, all right.
Things come a lot faster than what we ever planned for. And so it’s like, if you don’t act now, you will never be where you want to be. And six months from now, a year from now, and you can sit there and be like, man, I, it’s funny. Cause this morning, like, sorry, went off here. Ottergo is like, mommy, like, that’s like really cheap gas.
I was like, you know what, it’s been a while since I’ve even looked at gas prices, but because like last summer, I let it take up so much space in my mind of like. I don’t know how people afford this. Like if I didn’t have real estate, like how could I afford this? How could I afford that? And then I’m like, Oh my gosh, I forgot because two years ago I kept on acting as if I had no time and I had no time because I knew I was losing those personal training clients to provide an income for my family.
And so I just, okay, head down, grind. Right. And that’s the biggest thing. Like, K people can sit around and talk about, Oh man, I always wanted to do this and I always wanted to do that. But I’m like. So are you not worried about running out of time? So the biggest thing, and I’m not talking about on a daily, like with your life, right?
And so, okay. That extra 500 a month, that extra thousand dollars a month in interest payments that, you know, these new investors could get it by, you know, investing in Brooks is a capital fund where it’s like that could provide another trip. Right. I mean, to me, I’m like a lot of times, once a month, just give me a little road trip and I’m happy.
Right. It resets your mind. It stimulates the creativity in us and your. Head and knowing where you want to go in life, and it’s like those little things. It doesn’t have to be like, Oh, my gosh, I gotta go travel once a month and spend 20 K on a trip. Like, yeah, you could, you know, depending on where you are and the investment and whatnot.
But at the same time, like, people are stressed right now on the streets of just like, how do you feed your family and put gas in the car? So that’s where I’m like, Okay, you have to look at your goals of like, How much more do you want for yourself and in your life and your family? And to me, I’m like, I will go through all of this, not only for myself, but to teach other people, you know, seeing the freedom behind it.
No, that’s great. And, and now you’re also speaking to coaching and the, and the idea of maybe formalizing a little more. I know it’s just some things that you’ve been, you haven’t, we’re not doing that, but I think you’re going to continue to possibly go down that route and, and maybe start teaching people even more in a more formalized manner.
Am I off on that or Nope, it’s in the pipeline and we got it in the works to basically set that up in here in the next two weeks and have it open. Okay. Oh, that’s awesome. That’s that’s what I like to hear. I like to hear it. Because really what I’ve seen you’ve been able to do is you’ve been able to obviously do yourself first.
You learned you went through your own process. Now you found a way to, you know, give back and to share that knowledge with others, which is to me, that’s the that’s kind of where that multiplying effect has an opportunity to take hold. So I think it’s awesome. Well, Brooke just have to tell you, it has been a great having you back on.
We have an event coming up July 19th. Are you excited? Oh my gosh, I’m so excited. I’m happy that my girls get to be on this end of it. Cause it’s just like five years ago, they got to see me like on a magazine cover and now here, they’re just seeing the growth of from never wanting to read a book to now writing a book and launching the fund.
Wow. It’s a, it’s a, it all comes full circle and I’m excited to continue to watch your growth. That being said, I mean what’s next? I mean, what’s next for you? What’s next for the fund and, and, and the vision? What’s what’s next? Oh my gosh, what’s next in the next six months I see, you know, just traveling the world to go and speak also having more people to coach through this journey and my third book, you are busy, busy.
That’s that’s what I like to hear. And if people are so people that are watching or listening to this what’s the best way for them to connect if they want to learn more and talk more about Brooks is a capital. So you can find me on Instagram right now at Brooke Sousa. You can also we’ve got a website launching here soon.
So stay tuned for that one. Fantastic. And we’ll put all that information in the, in the show notes as well, so that people can, you know, just click on the links and head right on over and Speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with mission matters, or listen to an episode, we’re all about bringing on business owners, entrepreneurs, executives, having them share their mission, the reason behind their mission, you know, why they do what they do.
If that sounds interesting or fun or exciting to you, we welcome you hit that subscribe button. We have many more mission based individuals coming up on the line and we don’t want you to miss it. Brooke, really, it has been a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming back on the show and I can’t wait to see you on the 19th in person again.
It’s been a while. It has. Thank you so much.
