Introduction 0:03
Welcome to the Elevate Your Equity podcast where we, as married busy professionals, leverage real estate investing to unlock the three plus one degrees of freedom, health, location, time and financial.

Derek Clifford 0:16
Today, we have Yannik on the call. Yannick, how are you man?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 0:21
I’m good, I’m good. I can’t complain at all. How are you?

Derek Clifford 0:25
I’m doing great. Thanks for asking, buddy. And for those of you who don’t know Yannik, he is a former linebacker for the Tennessee Titans. Now principal of Merlin acquisitions a real estate investment and syndication firm. And his experience in commercial real estate began as an asset manager by trade for various real estate private equity firms. And he has since then transitioned full time into his own real estate investing portfolio and his own real estate investing career. So Yannik, it is an honor to have you on, especially given your background, and all of the hard work that you’ve put in to get to this point, man. Great to see you here.

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 1:01
Oh, thank you so much for having me on the show. I’m excited to talk more.

Derek Clifford 1:06
Absolutely, buddy. Well, let’s start how we always start with our guests. Let’s talk about how you first got super excited about real estate investing. I know you had a previous career in the NFL, which is something we also want to touch on is super interesting for our listeners. But tell us a little bit about how you got that spark. You’re like, oh, real estate is the thing. It’s the real deal.

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 1:27
Yeah, so my journey from real estate stemmed from something that I did in the offseason, my first year in the NFL, and it was spending $20,000 In one month, and having no clue what I spent it on. And you hear all of these stories, man about NFL players going broke within two or three years after leaving the sport. And good enough, I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, really, after the month that I spent that 20,000. And that book just changed my life and the trajectory of my life. And the biggest thing that I learned was, it’s not about how much you make, it’s about how much you keep. And it was a great time because again, I spent the money and I had no idea what I spent it on. And I did not want to be a part of that statistic. So Rich Dad, Poor Dad led me to real estate, and also meeting other real estate investors in the state of Tennessee. And you know, from there, I was rehabbing. And I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen after football. But fortunately for me, just to pick it up that book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and that leading me to real estate and then being introduced to commercial real estate by a developer who I met at a hockey game in Tennessee. It really just spurred my career into where I am today. So I’m really excited about what we’ve been able to accomplish so far in real estate.

Derek Clifford 2:55
Yeah, and I’m super excited to talk about that too. But I still want to backup right? Because everyone has that aha moment. Right in reading Rich Dad Poor Dad. Do you remember what that was? Like? Was there a specific story or like a certain takeaway, that you’re like, oh, man, I gotta do something like real estate or real estate itself? Do you remember what that was? Looking back then?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 3:15
Um, you know what, I think the biggest thing is Rich Dad, Poor Dad was a was a great book. I think most real estate investors can attribute their pivot to somewhat to real estate to Rich Dad, Poor Dad, right. And I think the biggest thing, the biggest takeaway that I got was that the rich buys assets, and the poor buys liabilities. And it was, I’m telling you, man, it was a great time for me to read that book. Because in the NFL, people spend money on things that are nothing but liabilities. And I knew that I wanted to create generational wealth, I knew that I wanted to have the lifestyle that I had in the NFL, after retirement. So I figured that real estate was the best way to do that. Because it allows you to create that lifestyle and that freedom through cash flow. And I think everyone can use some cash flow because I’ve never heard someone say, hey, I want to work corporate America for the remainder of my life. And I just want to work, work, work, work, work. I think everyone has desires of doing things and to some degree, living with a degree of freedom, right? And when you when you work for corporate America, you don’t necessarily have that at your choice. And I tell people all the time, you know, when I was working for Asset Management and private equity firms, my employment was at will. So at any time the pendant on if the owner wanted to or not, you know, he can terminate my position and I’d be out of out of a job, but when you have cash flow, you live life on your own terms, because because you control what assets that you buy and the cash flow that comes out of bit. So that’s really what got me to where I am today, based off of the the literature that I read from Rich Dad, Poor Dad, you know that the assets is really important, you know, rich buys assets and the poor life buys liabilities.

Derek Clifford 5:17
Yeah, that’s a great takeaway. And do thank you for highlighting that because that is a super powerful thing that a lot of our listeners are going to take away, you know, whether there’s just starting out, or they’re more further along along the path, there are plenty of real estate investors that forget that too. Right? Like on the personal side, you can say, Hey, am I spending my money on liabilities? Or is it going into more assets. And sometimes things go slide, right, and you have to be intentional about these things. So I appreciate you bringing that up. Specifically, now, I’m just changing gears here. Let’s talk about the transition away from the NFL and how you eventually came to do this full time and know that you were working for some private equity firms in the middle there. But let’s talk about those transitions, like, you know, why the transition away from the NFL, and then why the transition from the private equity firms and being a role there to doing your own.

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 6:07
So my career ended shortly because of a knee injury. And, again, I mentioned that, you know, I wanted to get into, I had to find something because I knew that I wanted to get into a business where I can retain the same amount of cash flow, it might not be the same seven figure, you know, contracts being signed in the NFL, but you can still have somewhat of that same lifestyle, right? When you have cash flow from properties, you can go take trips to Miami, I mean, my girlfriend and I, we went to Mexico last year, we went to Panama, we’re doing all these trips. And this is because of the cash flow that we’ve created from our real estate portfolio. And so I wanted to get into something that would also be translatable from the from the real estate space, when we when we think about real estate, we think about a team, you know, we think about being able to put people in certain positions to be successful, you know, those are the same skills that I was fortunate to be crafted with while playing in the NFL, or just playing sports, you know, my entire life. So I wanted to get into something that’s translatable. And then from the private equity space to a full time entrepreneurship, I knew that I wanted to be a full time entrepreneur, I personally do not have the DNA to be an employee. Because my entire life I’ve been in leadership positions my entire life, I’ve been in positions where I wanted to control my own destiny, and you just don’t get that 100% When you work for someone. So entrepreneurship, although it is risky, there’s so much to gain in the future. And my goal was to go and learn from the best use their playbook to create the real estate empire that we’re working so tirelessly for every single day. So that’s that was my goal to do that, you know, you know, eventually it was just the work for a firm, take the knowledge and the expertise, and then just go off and do my own thing full time.

Derek Clifford 8:10
That’s awesome. So you, you transitioned away from something that was very much like a W two. I mean, I know that I actually don’t know too much about being a part of the NFL. But I imagine there’s training, there’s workout practice, all these things that kind of make up of like a full time job, maybe even more than that. And then you stepped into that type of job into an actual you’re working for someone else, like in an office or you know, out in the field, that type of thing. And now you’re off on your own. So you’ve had a lot of different types of lives here in this, which is super admirable. And what we’re going to see here in just a second is that the common thread behind all of it is your tenacity, right? I asked you, you know, in the call before this, what is your superpower? And you said that tenacity sticking with it like doing putting the hard work putting the hours in to learn something, whether it’s, you know, a physical thing or, you know, a new skill or technique. You have that in spades here. And so while we’ve seen that in the transitions that you’ve gone through, can you talk to us a little bit about where you think the origin of this superpower came from? Like, it takes a special type of person to get into the NFL in the first place. Right. And then to continue having that legacy move through to what you’re doing now. Talk to us a little bit about where do you think that came from?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 9:27
Yeah, so you know, to get really granular about it. I came to America with a bag of clothes, you know, and that was it. You know, from Trinidad. When I was 10 years old. We slept on the floors and a three bedroom, two bathroom, one bathroom apartment with about 10 people in there. So I knew that I wanted to create a life for us. You know, when I say us, myself and my mom, I knew that I wanted to create a life for us. And that didn’t come easy. It wasn’t going to just be handed to me with a silver matter. So at an early age, I knew that I had to go get what I wanted in life. I’ve always been in positions from a sports from a sports place, I’ve always been the underdog, you know, so when you when you when you constantly go through life where you had to work for everything, where you were constantly placed in different challenges where you had to overcome such challenges to get to the next level, you kind of build up that that tolerance for for getting past adversity, you know, and it’s, it’s the little things in life that just compound and compound over time that kind of builds that character of who you are today. So when I say when you say tenacity, I would definitely 100% say that, that is definitely my secret sauce. Because I am a true believer that it doesn’t matter what space that you want to play in, you know, people start off at different markers, you may start off at the 100, I may start off at the 200 Someone may start off at the three in the four. But with hard work, you can close that difference. You know, it’s it doesn’t matter what what it is in life, you know, obviously, some people might be talented, some people might have that natural talent, but I’m a true believer in if you really want something, and you’re willing to put in the work, you can definitely achieve it. And it just comes with, with with that mindset, you know, and and not only applies to sports, but applies to business, or just just in life in general.

Derek Clifford 11:36
Was there anyone in your life early on that helped you develop this trait like was there a parent? Was there a mentor? Was there someone? Or was this like, just innate?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 11:47
Yeah, I would say my mom, my mom definitely helped me develop this trait, you know, I’ve seen her sacrifice so much, just to give me the opportunity. You know, everything that I’ve built today is on her back. So you know, when I wake up every single morning, I make sure that you know, what I’m doing will not go in vain, you know, we will be successful, we will hit these markets that we that we want to hit. And I’m telling you man is nothing better than buying your mom house, you know, from coming to coming to this country with nothing, and being able to, to smile and take a picture at closing. With keys in our hand, it’s a blessing. So there’s no limit to what we’re going to accomplish in life.

Derek Clifford 12:30
I know your mom is very proud, as well as all the people in your life and just listening to your story. It’s super inspiring. And this is the quintessential, like, you know, person coming to the United States at an early age, willing to work really hard. And then just a success story in general. I think that what you’re doing is what we need more of in the United States, like we need more people just like you to come in, really, really work hard to try to add value anywhere. And this tenacity is something that I think is a really rare thing. There’s a lot of like, you know, people that are looking for the microwave mentality, right? Like, the microwave, what’s the silver bullet? Get it done? I can tell that’s not in your, in your psychology at all?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 13:11
Yeah, yeah. Definitely, you know, to to get to the top, you have to be willing to put in the work. You have to be willing to make those sacrifices, you have to be willing to tell people all the time and success comes with sacrifice, you know, name one person who’s great at their sport that hasn’t had really had to sacrifice a lot. And sometimes that might be family sometimes. You know, on the on the world of entrepreneurship, I think that’s one of the toughest parts is not being able to spend time with family all the time. But if you have it in you that you want to be great. You want to be a part of that top 1%. That’s just part of the sacrifice.

Derek Clifford 13:49
Yeah, absolutely. Dude. Great, great story, awesome background. Now let’s start shifting into how you’ve actually been able to use this tenacity so that maybe we can inspire the audience to maybe try to develop some of this on their own right? Because like you said, it’s everything can be learned, right? If you’ve got the burning desire for it. Can you tell us a time in which this tenacity trait of yours really showed itself in your investing career? Like maybe through a difficult situation or some sort of scenario where you’re like, man, looking back, I’m so glad I stuck with it and just really, like hammered through it?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 14:26
Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, a lot of times deals don’t go according to plan. And people don’t get to hear that side of things in the world of real estate. Sometimes, I think, in the world of social media, and people are so ashamed of maybe just sharing a journey where they they had a rough patch on a deal or something that they’ve been through because they are afraid of being perceived as a weak operator or a weak investor. But you know, how I look at it is I like to invest with People who have been through something, and I think that is part of my training for my sports career, because you want to make sure that if something happens that your partner is going to do whatever it takes to get get on the other side, right, you want to make sure that your teammate is going to do whatever it takes to get both of you guys to the neck to the other side. And one of our deals that we’ve actually, my first deal, my first deal was a fix and flip, fix and flip project back in 2018. And it was with a mentor that honestly did not have my best interests at heart, you know, it happens, right. And the deal went south, he was supposed to complete the project, I was leaning on him to complete the project. And it just kind of didn’t just stop working. And you know, sometimes sometimes in life, you just kind of have to step in and take control, you know, that’s just part of part of real estate, sometimes your partner may not be able to perform, and then sometimes you just have to take control work for me, what I did was just did simply that right, met with different contractors, we had a situation, we’ll be able to extend the loan, I mean, six to nine month project turned into 18 months. But what I learned from that was two things. The first thing is vet your partnerships. Because just like this deal, partnerships are like marriages, easy to get into hard to get out of jail. Yeah. And then the second, the second thing. The second thing is, as I mentioned, you know, you want to be with a wartime general and not a peacetime general, because everything is all peachy and green, when things are going well within real estate transactions. And most of the time, if you’re a good investor, it should go well, but there are some times where things don’t go as planned. And you really have to step in, and you start seeing someone’s character. So that is kind of a story in a nutshell of how I was able to use some of that tenacity and willpower to get to the other side, because we ended up selling the project and getting the deal completed. The economics were not favorable on my end. But the point is, is that real estate is a marathon, not a sprint, you really have to have that endurance to push past a lot of the trials and tribulations that are going to happen, because sometimes it’s going to happen. But what you can do is you can fall back on your why, why did you get into this? Why did you Why are you doing this? And I always tend to lean back on my why. And that gives me energy and the tenacity and the willpower to push forward. So that in a nutshell is how I was able to apply that in a real life deal scenario.

Derek Clifford 18:06
You know, I want the listeners to really listen to this because because of tenacity, you’re able to take a really tough situation that was a negative and turn it into a positive. And now you own that advice, right that you tell other people that’s part of your character part of your DNA. And if you didn’t have that tenacity, there’s a strong likelihood that you could have just folded in and on steel and lost money been dejected, and probably would have given up on real estate for at least some time, right? But here you are man on the other side of that because you’ve leveraged your talent of tenacity to bring you through this tough time to get you to a point where you’re turning these negatives into a positive. So it’s kind of like this compound effect, right? Like, you got to tenacity. You’re dealing with these lessons that you’re learning, right? You got adversity, adversity, adversity, adversity, but then you get challenges, obstacles, failures than successes then challenges that obstacles and failures than successes, right. But every time this happens in a loop, you’re always adding it and become it’s becoming part of you. And over the long term. Like you said, it’s a marathon. All these little lessons are going to add up to you becoming 1% Better a day, which is like you become three times better in a year. Three 3.65% better every single year if you’re 1% Better a day. And so I love it that you’re that you talk about this man. So really inspiring. I don’t know if you want to add anything before we go on. But I just wanted to chime in there. Yeah,

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 19:35
No, you’re 100% I mean, that’s, that’s the goal every day is to get 1% better every day. That’s what we did when we when I played sports. And I say all the time, you know, you want to fail fast and failure. You shouldn’t be afraid of failure. Failure is just a part of progress. I look at it. You know, failure is if you’re not failing, you’re you’re doing something wrong. You’re not You’re trying hard. You’re not trying Exactly, you’re not trying hard enough, right? You’re not giving them your own. So failure is just a part of progress. And like you said, turn a negative into a positive.

Derek Clifford 20:09
Yeah, man love that for sure. So let’s start talking about what the audience maybe can do to try to develop some of this tenacity. So what advice do you have for those who want to, you know, look at their situation, and they realize that they’re giving in to some of these limiting beliefs. And they’re kind of a victim of this. Man, I can’t get anything done. I just, I’m missing all this tenacity in the Spirit. What type of advice would you give them?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 20:34
If you could? Yeah, yeah. So So two things, two things, right. The first thing is are covered as your why, you know, why do you want to do this really, really lean into that? Why? Because that should be so strong enough that it should be able to propel you during any time of turbulence. whenever something goes wrong, go back to why. Because if your Y is strong enough, it’s going to push you for the second thing. Yeah. The second thing is, if you’re not, if you are not happy where you are today, and you do not want to be where you are a year from now, you need to do something about it today. Like, it’s about taking action, it’s about making progress. It’s about realizing that, hey, we only get this one shot at life. So why not just go 100 miles per hour? Because we never know what’s you know, life is so short man. You never know what’s going to happen and happen tomorrow, but you don’t want to have is anything full of full of regrets, right? You think the price of success is too expensive? We’ll try looking at the bill of regret. That is that is something that you do not want to take on.

Derek Clifford 21:53
Dude, that’s awesome, man, I think yeah, right perspective, understanding where your life is headed, and just trying to put yourself in the future. Man, I love these and asking yourself why this is some awesome stuff. Okay, so we have advice, we know how important it is and how it’s showed up consistently in your career to bring you to this amazing place that you’ve been have a very varied life, living a lot of different worlds. How do you build tenacity into your business plan? Have you, you know, obviously, it’s you who you are. And what you do is you’re very tenacious, and you stick with things. How has that become a part of what you do as a business person? And like, where do you look to take advantage of that trait with your business ventures?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 22:36
Yeah, simply within a business plan, I think in itself, you know, the hardest part of this, and not necessarily the hardest part, but the one that is the most important but not actually talked about too heavily. Let’s say for example, the multifamily syndication business is the execution part. That is really where the money is made in value, add multifamily syndication, so you’ve got to be able to execute. And there are going to be some times where contractor is not going to perform, or materials are going to come late. But you whoever is driving the boat has to have that mindset, that it doesn’t really matter. Like what happens today, what matters is how you respond to such thing that happened. And real estate is I mean, it’s not easy. If you’re renovating properties, or you’re renovating units, and you’re doing a lot of construction, I mean, things are going to happen. So anyone that is on my team that is well as a property manager or contractor, I’m constantly looking at the little things like that, how are they responding to adversity, because I’m not giving a cop, my contractor, a big project, if he can’t handle adversity in a small project, I’m not going to get my architect the big project if she can’t handle adversity on a small project. So it’s the same mentality that I’ve developed from sports from the professional space, we need everyone firing on all cylinders we need, we’re only as strong as our weakest link. And so if you really take that model, and you apply that within the world of business, man, the sky’s the limit, you’re really gonna have a super super team, you know, call it the New England Patriots, right? And New England Patriots or real estate, right, that’s a bunch of a bunch of no names, just executing and going full force. And that’s what you want on your team.

Derek Clifford 24:30
Dude, this is a great analogy. I’m really, I’m really loving this. The thing that I also missed in talking with you about tenacity, and something I picked up on early was your ability to work with teams and how important it is to be able to rely on the people that are on your team to do this. And I never really drew connected the dots here that like you know, you need a team when you’re working when you’re in the NFL, obviously, but you also need a team and kind of the same way in a real estate venture. or in some sort of business marriage? Right? And so what have you been able to take from your NFL career? And from, you know, all the training that you did probably in college in high school, right? Going being in football? What have you learned from those that translated also along with your tenacity that helps you with the team building? I mean, you’ve touched on some of it already. Just Yeah. Should we really wrap a bow on?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 25:21
Yeah, the biggest thing I would say is, is assessing someone’s character, assessing, assessing how they, how they, how they handle adversity, you know, because if you really want to be great, and you really want to achieve things at a high level, if you look at anyone at a high level, their team is phenomenal. And that’s because they know that this person not only can execute, but they also have the character. You see, I’m not looking for just shiny objects, you know, I’m looking for someone who is willing to get the job done by any means. And in the world of real estate, we have things that we need to do we have timelines that need to be met some of the little things that make us that separate us from the competition. And I make sure that whoever is on our team for the long term is consistent, and has proven that they can be consistent and can serve results as well. Right? It’s no excuses on my team. It’s about results. And that’s the same thing that we apply from the sport space to entrepreneurship, specifically, real estate.

Derek Clifford 26:32
Heck, yeah, man. So whatever offering you’ve got, I’m ready, I’m signing up, dude. Cuz I love. I love that approach. It’s totally true, I think holding people accountable to what they’re doing and seeing how they react to that. And if they step up to the plate, or they don’t, that’s a huge judge of character. And hopefully, you get a chance to check out what people do before you end up getting into a business partnership with them. And so I absolutely love what you said here, man, like this is this has been absolutely gold. Now, I have one last question for you. And this is kind of a gratuitous question. Because like I never, it’s very rare that I get an insight to the NFL. And I’m just fascinated with the high level that these, you know, incredible athletes work at on a physical, mental and spiritual level to do what they do. But I’ve always been curious to to ask, what does financial awareness look like to focus on the NFL world? Right? Like, is there programs is there like? Because I mean, you know, you got to wonder you have these NFL professionals that will have an incredible career, right, that that’s gonna take them, you know, it’s gonna drive them in their 40s For some people, some of their mid 30s, maybe early 30s, depending on what position you’re playing. I get that. But, you know, depending on where you go, like, that’s the end, like, that’s the end of your income years for what your skill that right, yeah. What type of things does the NFL have to help ensure that the money that’s made in those careers can carry forward for sustainable life in the future?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 27:59
Yeah, no, that’s a that’s a really good question, man. And I think I’m gonna think I’m gonna slam dunk it here. So all right, I’m five years removed from the NFL. You know, when I was there, we had different seminars where someone from the NFLPA office would come by, and they would educate us on a couple of days on basic finances, what to look for. Basic, really basic things, I think, I think, today’s world where we are seeing a new generation of athletes, historically, within 70, within two to three years, like I mentioned, 78% of NFL players have gone broke within two to three years after leaving their sport.

Derek Clifford 28:43
Wow. That’s awful, man. Jeez.

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 28:45
I think in today’s in today’s modern day world, see, here’s the difference here. Back then, the difference was, it was cool to go buy a new car, it was cool to buy this big house. It was cool to have jury and all this fancy all these fancy things, right? That was the model athlete. When you think about the model athlete today, who’s the model athlete and the end the NBA, you have Bron James, right. You have folks like the late great Kobe Bryant. In the NFL, you have people like let’s say, Tom Brady, right? What are they doing now? They are investing. LeBron James is now the I think he was the first like, billion dollar athlete ever. So the thing within these athletic circles, is that what one person does the next person does too. So I’ll take it back here and I think it will all make sense once I’m done with everything. Historically, when you’ve seen athletes get into financial schemes. A lot of times it’s not just one athlete, it’s about five to 10. The reason is because A lot of athletes deal with the same service personnel, right? The SIRT. The same to this this urgent this agent refers this athlete to this financial advisor. This athlete then goes and talks to someone in the locker room that, hey, I’m working with this financial advisor work with him, the next person does the same, or the same agent that represents two people with the same locker room. Yeah, works with this financial advisor. And so now you have a five to 10 NFL or NBA players that have been in this Ponzi scheme, and have lost millions of dollars. I think the new generation of athlete now models, LeBron James, the Kobe Bryant’s, the folks who are now investing because the world and in our world today, entrepreneurship is the new cool, right. So now we’re starting to see athletes tap into the entrepreneurial bug, because everyone else is doing it. And, you know, arguably enough, they’re smarter now they have more access to information compared to the 90s or the early 2000s. When that video that ESPN 30, for 30 was made right there, we have more access to information. There’s more, there’s more conversation centered around athletes investing. And the NFLPA has different offseason seminars and programs where you can go and do other things outside of the world of, of sports. And so we’re starting to see the new generation of athletes, because they’re also making more money off the field as well. There are many athletes that are podcasting endorsement deals, I mean, it’s just a plethora of things that are going on outside. So I think the old statistic of 78% of athletes go broke within two to three years after leaving their respective sport is, is going to be abolished. And I think we’re starting to see the newer generation of athletes that are smarter, that are going to be investing in different different, you know, businesses, and a lot of them are interested in tech, because you’ve seen people like Steph Curry, and the Kevin Durant’s of the world doing things. So athletes follow athletes, that’s what I’m getting to. And so our job in today’s world is now the next step is to start partnering up with each other, because there’s so much potential for athletes partnering up with each other. You know, we could do a lot in this world of if athletes were able to put their capital together and do things at a high level and contribute to society on a much deeper aspect. So that is essentially what I think that the athletic gene today is going to be compromised, is this new generation of your Mega athlete where they’re making a ton of money in their respective respective sport, but now they’re also financially astute to create generational wealth?

Derek Clifford 32:56
Dude, thank you, man, you did crush that answer, for sure. And all I’m gonna say here about this is, Hey, man, if you can pass this podcast along to all of these, all of those people, that hey, man, you never know, you get this influx of sports. And I’m just curious to know to ask you, is that a strategy for you later on, because you have a unique perspective of folks working in the NFL and in the elite sport realm. You know, you have your knowledge on real estate investing you you bring that skill set to the table, but you also know the perspective of what an NFL player goes through an elite performance. So I’m just curious, you know, even though this is this is an overtime right now, so to speak. We’re talking about like, you know, what it is that you’re what you’re trying to do with, you know, potentially raising capital and putting deals together. Is that part of your strategy? Or are you looking for more like blue ocean in that realm? Or just you know, more retail investors or things like that? What are you guys looking for?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 33:51
Yeah, that is that is definitely a part of our investor base at this time, you know, we are we are also interested in helping you know, business owners and your middle income you know, w two professionals, but then also the athletics you know, the athletic space of helping those guys or women you know, put their capital to work while they’re playing their respective sport. And I think it’s a great way for them to really get in on deals and learn about why it’s important to put your money to work and really kind of let compound interest kind of take take its role from there, you know,

Derek Clifford 34:28
That’s right, man. Yeah, you got you got the the athlete working on the field or working on the track or wherever they are working on the ice, and then you’ve got, you know, the money in the bank or working elsewhere in deployed and investments. I think that’s awesome, dude. Love it. Yeah. So thanks for all of this Yannik This was incredible, man. I had an awesome time. But before we go, there’s a couple of things we got to do. We got to do the Rapid Round, which is the same five questions we ask all of our guests, and we want to rapidly ask them to you if you’re ready. Let’s do that. Yeah, absolutely. Let’s do All right. Number one, what book has had the biggest impact on you? And why? And we ask that it not the rich dad or the Bible, because we would get that answer every single time. So outside of those two, what book is the biggest impact on you?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 35:16
Yeah, yeah, I would say the next book would be The One Thing by Gary Keller. And it really allowed me to understand how valuable my time was, with respect to progressing the business forward. And when I started in the world of entrepreneurship, man, I was reading emails, I was answering texts, all of these things that really did not contribute to the, to the progression of my business. But reading the book, The One Thing by Gary Keller really helped me understand, hey, what’s that one thing by doing this? What’s the one thing such that by doing that one thing, everything else would be easier and unnecessary? That’s the biggest thing that I took from that book. Yeah, great book for any entrepreneurs, any entrepreneur to read?

Derek Clifford 36:00
Oh, for sure. And even if you’re not an entrepreneur, you’re intrapreneur or someone working at W two, that’ll help simplify your life. Even, you know, with the health front, or with relationships, things like that. And I gotta take say that we’re definitely on the same wavelength here, because that is my also number one book outside of Rich Dad or the Bible. So good job, man. Number two, if people wanted to emulate your success, what do you think is the first actual thing they can do to follow in your footsteps right now?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 36:29
Yeah, I would say just have that tenacity and just take action. You know, it’s kind of like that rally ready fire aim, you know, perspective, right? Just Just take action. I’m all about massive action, you know, it’s good to have action that is purposeful, as well. But you really have to just get started, just get moving. And I think as you get moved, as you get moving over time, you can naturally start the angle and point your compass to where you really want to be. But the point is just taking massive action, and success will be right behind you.

Derek Clifford 37:01
Sounds good. Man. I love the advice. All right. Number three, what is one tool process or hack in the last three to six months that you’ve used to help save you time and or effort in either your business or your personal life?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 37:17
Yeah, so every week, I have a list of the top three things that I need to do to move my business forward. And it kind of goes on align somewhat with the Gary Keller the one thing but, but if you really, there’s a lot of things that we have to do on a day to day basis, week to week basis within our entrepreneurial journeys, but if you really understand that, hey, there’s something called an 8020 rule, right? 80%? Was it 80% of your efforts, read 20% of results, or 20% of your efforts read 80% of results. However, it really goes right. That is very, very true. You know, so I tried to break down, Hey, what are the top three things that I can do, because everything else really may not even matter. And it’s answering an email or answering a text message, you know, those things really don’t matter. But if you focus on taking action on the things that would actually progression business forward, everything else would be outsourced to a virtual assistant, or someone else that can handle that task.

Derek Clifford 38:18
I love this man. Fantastic. And like you said, for this process of creating the top three things you want to achieve in your business. Is this something that you do every at the end of every week? So you know, on Sunday? Or what does that process look like for you just as a follow up?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 38:32
So yeah, every Sunday, every Sunday, we’re writing down the top three things that it might be something last week that we weren’t able to, to completely finish, you know, it just comes down to that tenacity. And that will let us pursue the results and just stay in focus. Nice top three things that we need to do every week to be successful or to progress forward.

Derek Clifford 38:51
Yeah, I think I’m going to be taking taking your lead on this and doing that also. But do you put it down on a piece of paper that goes up on a wall or is it in a in a journal?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 39:00
Sticky notes, sticky notes, sticky notes, you know, it’s pretty cheap, man. It’s like five bucks. And with 500 sticky notes, you’re gonna tear it up and throw it away. And you use it for the for the following week.

Derek Clifford 39:16
That’s awesome. All right, question number four. If the people that you know how to describe you with one word, what do you think that word would be?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 39:25
Yeah, um, so we talked about tenacity. And I’m not I’m not going to use that again. I wouldn’t say intentional to, you know, if it’s not tenacity, its intention. I am not a proponent of just of doing things kind of just to do it. I am a proponent of taking action. But eventually, like I mentioned, it has to be curated and intentional and purposeful. Because we if we’re taking the risk to be entrepreneurs, we need to have some Bolon and we need to know exactly where we’re going. And then we need to know that destination on the onset and then just working back to figure it out and you may not figure it out and sometimes you don’t figure it out for a week, a month, two months, three months, but at least you have your toe pointed in the right direction and natural body mechanics if you know anything about kinesiology that’s that’s just my major right. I majored in kinesiology and Maryland natural body mechanics. If you point your toe, somewhere, that’s where your body is naturally going to head to. So it’s all about being intentional.

Derek Clifford 40:31
Very cool, man. Yeah, great word. Quick word. Last question that we have for you is what is one small thing that most people don’t know about you?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 40:41
One small thing that people don’t know about me? Oh, man, that’s, that’s a really good question. Um, I think I talked about that I was originally from Trinidad already, right. It’s part of part of my roots part of my heritage. You know, growing up in a third world country. We I used to shower outside some days. And some of the things we take for granted over here, like just a cold, it was a hot shower. You know, we didn’t really have hot water when I was growing up. In that country today, some people still don’t have hot water. So it’s just about the little things in life, man, just being being happy being, being grateful about the little things just helps you really appreciate some of the big things more some of the little things more as well throughout your life, because it could always be taken away at any point in time. So I just try not to take anything for granted.

Derek Clifford 41:31
Beautifully said, Man, if the tenacity part of this conversation is the young than the gratitude is the Yin for sure. And you need both of those in order to make it happen. So dude, Yannik this was so incredible man, I had a blast talking with you about your tenacity, how you’ve been able to live all these different lives, going from the NFL getting some insight into the NFL is financial world and what athletes are doing these days. It’s been a pleasure to have you on buddy. But before we go, why don’t you tell the audience a little bit more about how they can find out what’s going on in your world? Like where can they find out what you have going on? What do you got for him?

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 42:07
Yeah, no, thank you so much for for having me on the show. So we do have a podcast as well. It’s called the Mogul marathon real estate podcast, helping our guests become real estate moguls, so I’m really excited about that. Definitely feel free to like and subscribe that podcast and then also, feel free to send us an email. Our company is MerlynnAcquisitions.com. Feel free to send us an email if you’re interested in learning more about what we’re doing. And then also, if you’re interested in getting into real estate, send us an email. I’m always happy to have a 10 to 15 minute quick conversation with someone to help them get started. So thanks so much.

Derek Clifford 42:47
That’s awesome, Yannik. For sure. And we’ll be sure to link all of those places where people can find you inside of the show notes or the specific page for this particular podcast that will be released out in social media and out to our subscribers so Yannik dude, awesome stuff, man, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil 43:06
Oh, thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

Derek Clifford 43:08
Absolutely. And for you listeners that have listened to all the way to this point in the podcast. I want to thank you especially thank you so much for listening. And wherever you’re listening or watching this podcast, please be sure to like, subscribe, comment, engage with us. We want to hear from you guys, because we want to continue to bring you excellent content that Yannik has completely delivered on today want to continue to bring those and at the same time, we want to appease those algorithm gods so that we can get more and more exposure to more and more people and potential guests to come on the show. So again, it was awesome, having Yannik on the call and thank you listeners for listening. This is Derek I’m signing off. Have a fantastic week. See you next time!