Brandon Lee is an an entrepreneur and writer. After spending three years an an international speaker for churches and nonprofits, he reinvented himself and became a real estate investor. In this episode, Brandon talks about reinventing himself, making an impact, and mentorship.

Here are three things you can learn from Brandon:

You Can Make an Impact

While working as a speaker for non-profits, Brandon learned the impact he could have on people. He didn’t need to go to school or take a course to learn it. He discovered it intuitively.

After giving speeches, people would approach him and tell him how much his talk meant to them. It was in this moment that Brandon realized that something that seems trivial to you can mean the world to someone else.

This just goes to show that everything we do can have an impact on others, regardless of whether we are conscious of it or not. That is why it is so important to be aware of what we do and say around people. An insult can destroy a person’s day and a compliment can make someone else’s.

You Can Reinvent Yourself

Most people believe once they choose a career they are stuck there. They think they have to live the rest of their life doing the same thing.

Brandon proves that statement is completely untrue. After building a successful career as a speaker for non-profits, Brandon felt the need to change. He didn’t think the non-profit space allowed him to to make enough money to make a difference doing what he truly loved, helping people.

So he shifted his focus and got into real estate, and he did it without knowing anything about real estate! He taught himself from the ground up and was not afraid to do it.

If you do not feel fulfilled in your current situation, make the necessary change. Just because you chose a certain career path does not mean you have to stay there.

You Don’t Need to Find Your Passion

Everyone seems to be enamored with the word passion. It feels like we need to find our passion or we will never be fulfilled.

Brandon sees it another way. Instead of trying to discover what you are good at or passionate about, find something you are interested in and explore it.

Many of us feel the need to go all-in on things in order to make something out of them, but that isn’t true.

Brandon uses the example of learning All of Me by John Schmidt. One day after hearing the song, he decided he wanted to learn it. So he bought a keyboard and began learning to play it.

Does this mean he is passionate about learning to play the piano? Not necessarily. Does it mean he could eventually develop that passion? Possibly.

Far too often we live in this black and white world, but the world doesn’t work that way. Instead living in the world of all or nothing, do some exploring. You might be surprised by what you find.

Shownotes

• about Brandon
  • How long does it take to be identified by a label?
  • doesn’t self-identify with labels
  • these are just things he is currently doing
  • pursues things he’s interested in and life interests

“I think a lot of people struggle with the fact that, when they’re break into something new, they struggle with their identity.”

• beginnings
  • grew up in Silicon Valley
  • participated in a lot of extra curriculars
  • thought he was going to play soccer for a living
  • wasn’t that good in academics, which was frowned upon
  • was never stand out in any sort of way
  • band, calculus, etc.
  • it wasn’t until college that he started asking himself questions and start speaking for himself
    • started doing things for himself
• going to school
  • most of his friends went to Berkley/UCLA/other UC college
  • he went to local community college because he had no idea what he wanted to do
  • took a bunch of classes to figure out what he wanted to do
  • knew that if he went to UC, he would have conformed to the mold
  • intuitively uncomfortable with doing what others were doing
  • didn’t want to conform and live up to everyone else’s standards
  • never finished community college
• after community college
  • transferred to another school and dropped out
  • started working with churches in the area
  • was able to impact others and himself
  • how one insight can lead to gratitude
  • why invest time when you can do something now?
  • spent three years with friends doing the same thing he was
  • built network and platform around their work
  • people flew them out to different countries to speak
  • realized there was no money in the space and a lot of them were older
  • went on to re-invent himself in real estate investing

“Something you do that might seem very insignificant or trivial can actually mean the world to someone else.”

• getting into investing
  • bought one of the investment programs people tell you not to buy
  • didn’t know anyone in the space, so he took the only option he had
• making first investment
  • program taught foundational principles to be successful in real estate
  • buy houses at 80% of fair market value, and re-sell at fair market value
  • a lot of people helped with their first investment (parents/family friends/etc.)
  • the low risk of his real estate investments
• how real estate relates to his why
  • moments of helping others drives his life
  • initially went into real estate to deal with funding issue of non-profits
  • right now, he wants to gain financial freedom and discretionary funds to do what he wants
  • does not care that much about real estate, is more interested in the freedom it provides
• his next reinvention
  • first reinvention was getting into real estate
  • already the reached the top of his first career as a speaker for non-profits
  • was able to let go of that identity and change directions
  • when he feels he has reached the top or has hit his financial goals, he will switch again
• changing when you feel stuck
  • felt he needed more to go beyond where he was
  • most people in non-profits don’t think about self-development
  • felt there was a missing component that he wasn’t going to find there
  • now knows to look for mentors, find advice, etc.
  • people who feel stuck – 2 missing perspectives
    • they don’t know what components they need to thrive in a working environment
    • they may not understand what stage in life/mastery they are in
    • settling for the jobs they have or are vague about what they want from their job
    • not knowing what makes you fulfilled
  • mastery takes time
  • usually we become passionate about things because we are good at them
  • freedom from mastery
  • having passion comes from a level of mastery

“I just knew I was missing something that I knew could probably take me to a new level and I knew I didn’t have it and I knew I wasn’t going to find in the space that I was in.”

“You need autonomy, a sense of challenge, and a sense of belonging in order to feel like you can thrive in some environment.”

• discovering what you are good at
  • finding someone who is a master at some skill and wanting to pursue it
  • the main thing separating you from master is time
  • learning songs because he likes them
  • learning All of Me by John Schmidt
    • bought a keyboard so he could play the song
  • being passionate vs. wanting to learn something because it interests you
  • you can let labels be a box or take it for what it is, a label

“I think a lot of people feel like they need to go all-in on something in order to make something out of it and it’s entirely not true.”

“I think people underestimate the power of just taking minute steps and incremental steps towards maybe seemingly lofty goals.”

• Little Book of Talents by Daniel Coyle
  • developing a talent and the many components of it
• The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin  and The 4 Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss
  • both taught process of learning
  • removes daunting feeling
  • learn the basics and build up from there
• Tim Ferriss Experiment
  • playing with Foreigner, learning Tagalog, learning to Parkour
  • knowing what to expect when trying something new
  • things being painful the first time you try and seeing progress after a little bit of practice
  • uncomfortable stage is short lived
• seeking out mentors
  • James Altucher – The Ultimate Cheat Sheet for Reinventing Yourself
    • reinvention never stops
    • you can learn from anyone, anywhere
    • find thought leaders, act on the things you’ve read, tell them the results you got from taking their advice
    • reinvents himself every 6 months
    • does interviews only after studying guests
    • see and recognize the work they’ve done
• writing practice
  • started writing on Quora because he needed an outlet to process
  • writes more for himself than others and helps him crystallize beliefs
  • media outlets are looking for ways to get traffic, so they take things that aren’t his best writing
  • someone on staff approached him to publish on other outlets
  • wrote best content he could, which got featured
  • Nicolas Cole on Quora
    • hacked Quora media outlet formula
    • has had at least 20 articles featured and is regularly featured
    • writes in five bullet format
    • know how game is being played (writing clickbait articles)
    • Quora does promotion for you, you just need to piggyback on it
  • does not write to get views, more to help audience
  • views are an indicator of something resonating
  • Marcus Aurelius – Meditations was written for himself  and was not intended for an outside audience
• posts that gained traction and those that didn’t
  • one of first articles he wrote was comprehensive article about confidence
  • one of most upvoted articles was about creativity that he churned out in 20 minutes
  • upvotes does not equate to quality
• plans for creating a larger platform
  • hasn’t taken time to think about it, wants to get there first
  • has vague ideas, but they change based on everything that happens
  • living in the present vs. planning for the future
• expectations vs. reality he faced
  • expected to be successful in two years, didn’t realize how much went into the real estate business
  • underestimated how deep and vast the subject was
  • expectations will change after you actually get into it

“There’s the value in the mentorship. Finding people who have already been there and done that and are able to give you the real DL[downlow] on what to expect and what the industry or what that thing I’m actually pursuing is going to look like.”

• speaking – 3 year journey in confidence
  • when you’re coming from a place of confidence, it changes how you interact with people and your intentions for interacting with people
  • those interactions have helped him get where he is today
  • framed identity and confidence through Christian perspective
  • knowing your audience
  • did it intuitively, he didn’t have any business knowledge when he started
  • help people at your truest and best
  • deeply understood his audience
  • created a survey intuitively, asked what their most pressing issues were that weren’t being addressed by community
  • crafted his message through their language
  • Jay Abraham’s strategy of preeminence
    • 3 star Amazon book reviews strategy

“How you see yourself affects how you see other people, and therefore how you treat people and how you interact with people… If you’re functioning from a place of insecurity, and wanting to be seen and wanting to be known, all your actions and your interactions with people are going to have that undertone.”

• morning routine
  • spend first hour reading/writing
  • then breakfast/meetings/errands
  • dedicate the first hour of the day to yourself
  • we neglect ourselves and use the end of the day instead of the beginning of the day
• books, resources
  • reads based on glimpses and personal experience
  • was musician for most of his life, which is where he learned the creative process
  • learned through tinkering
  • play, rest, and not filtering yourself
  • when he writes, he removes every filter
    • throw it out there and sculpt
  • Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
    • forces him to stop and think
  • Elon Musk Biography by Ashlee Vance
    • understanding man behind billion dollar empire
  • Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
  • Give and Take by Adam Grant
  • Justine Musk on how you can be like Elon
• creative people
  • mastery enhances your ability to express yourself
  • being able to freely play and express
  • drunk people as creative
  • mentor in real estate being creative

“Creativity is the synergy between mastery and freedom.”

“I think creativity is such a fluid topic.”

• definition of creativity
  • adding expertise and mastery to creativity leads to worship and awe
  • improv in music requiring mastery
  • musical improv as the epitomy of mastery
  • improvisational blues
  • complete freedom in technical mastery
  • B.B. King only knowing a small set of music, but being able improv

“Creativity is being able to expressly yourself freely… but when you’re able to have some level of technical mastery in that form of expression, that’s when it amplifies… that’s when people can actually stand back and admire it.”

“I am forever impressed by musicians who can improv very fluently and in a pleasing way.”

Follow Brandon on Quora