The Collective Genius Podcast

The CG Podcast is the go-to resource for active real estate investors looking to scale their business to the next level. Tune in as the nation's top real estate investors share their success storiesthe game-changing decisions that shaped their journeyhow they turned failures into valuable learning experiences. Whether you're aiming to grow your portfolio, refine your strategy, or gain insights from industry leaders, this podcast delivers the knowledge and inspiration you need to accelerate your success.

The Collective Genius Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Leon Barnes, with 150 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Leon Barnes hosts The Collective Genius Podcast, a business show with 150 episodes published.

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  The Collective Genius Podcast

  Levi Gurno: The Three Leadership Shifts That Help Real Estate Investors Scale Past $2 Million

  Oct 2, 202619 min

  Levi Gurno is an executive coach, keynote speaker, and workshop facilitator who coaches CEOs and executive teams on leadership and culture, including Collective Genius member Chad Young as he scaled from $2 million to $5 million. Recorded live at the Collective Genius Q3 event in Dallas, this conversation follows a keynote that brought the whole room to its feet. Levi breaks down leadership audits, the three shifts to becoming a coaching leader, and why most real estate investors hit a ceiling when every problem still lands on their desk. If you run a real estate business doing $1 million or more and your team still can't make decisions without you, this episode is for you. Timeline Summary [0:22] – Leon opens live from the CG Q3 event in Dallas, where every meeting starts with a member's scaling story [0:54] – Levi's name came up seven times as Chad Young explained how he scaled from $2M to $5M [2:33] – Levi's mission as an executive coach: helping leaders build winning cultures that transform lives [3:37] – The audit most real estate investors skip: looking at their own leadership in the mirror [4:27] – How team leadership audits expose the gap between a leader's vision and how it gets executed [5:44] – The complaint Levi hears most from teams: "we feel like tools, not people" [6:27] – Why high D entrepreneurs miss slower paced team members, explained through the DISC language [7:25] – "I'm just not a good leader" and why business owners don't get to opt out of leading [9:41] – The first step for anyone who doubts they can lead: gather evidence against the story you tell yourself [10:49] – The SHACK acronym for auditing yourself: skills, habits, attitude, capacity, and knowledge [11:46] – Shift one of becoming a coaching leader: from vague standards to clear expectations with no gray [12:25] – Shift two: from telling to asking, the only approach that truly transfers ownership [13:30] – Shift three: from solving problems to developing problem solvers so you stop being the bottleneck [15:03] – Levi's ideal client: $2M+ operators with teams of 7+ moving from entrepreneurial to purposeful [16:28] – Why most investors stall at $1M and why $2M to $5M is easier than $1M to $2M [17:02] – How to connect with Levi and how to apply for a seat at the Collective Genius table 5 Key Takeaways Audit Your Leadership, Not Just Marketing — Investors audit their marketing and financials constantly but rarely audit themselves. Ask your team for honest feedback and treat it as information, not judgment. Remove the Gray From Expectations — If a standard is open to interpretation, your team will miss it. Define exactly what winning looks like so ownership and accountability have something to stand on. Ask More, Tell Less — Telling works when someone is new to a role, but only asking builds critical thinking. Better questions lead to better outcomes and people who don't need to be told twice. Develop Problem Solvers to Scale — When you solve every problem your team brings you, you become the bottleneck and burn out. Systems and processes matter, but undeveloped people will still cap your growth. Leadership Is Built, Not Born — Nobody comes out of the womb a natural leader. Define what a great leader looks like in your business using SHACK, rate yourself honestly, and work on the gaps. Links & Resources Levi Gurno's website — https://levigurno.com Follow Levi on Instagram — https://instagram.com/levi_gurno Apply to Collective Genius — https://explorecg.com Enjoyed This Episode? If Levi's point about every problem landing on your desk hit a little too close to home, send this episode to a business partner or leader on your team who needs to hear it. Then follow the Collective Genius podcast and leave a rating and review so more investors can find conversations like this one.

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  Episode #83

  How Fewer Deals Can Make Your Real Estate Business More Money featuring Travis Copeland

  Sep 29, 202638 minS1

  Travis Copeland is a Columbus, Ohio real estate investor who left an eight year career at OhioHealth, where he rose to system manager of customer experience, to go full time in wholesaling and fix and flip. His business now runs about 75% flips and 25% wholesaling across central Ohio and Dayton, and bringing design in-house helped him hit 9 days on market in a tough year. Travis shares how a $9.95 course led to a $75K first deal, why he walked away from a turnkey general contractor as margins tightened, and why he now cares more about net margin than top line revenue. If you're a fix and flip or wholesaling operator watching days on market creep up and wondering whether bigger is really better, this episode is for you. Timeline Summary [1:30] – Host opens on CG's go-giver culture and introduces Travis Copeland from Columbus, Ohio [3:18] – How Columbus investors built an abundance mindset, from Covid shutdowns to trips to Egypt and Costa Rica [5:56] – Expanding beyond Columbus into Dayton and Newark for cheaper price points and good school districts [6:49] – The current model: 75% fix and flip, 25% wholesaling, plus long term and short term rentals [7:57] – Tertiary markets have fewer buyers, but some own 500 to 600 rentals and buy in bulk [10:39] – From hospital CEO ambitions and a master's in health administration to eight years at OhioHealth [13:37] – Starting with Austin Rutherford's $9.95 course, VA cold callers, and calling leads after work [16:36] – A first wholesale deal that paid $75K, close to his full hospital salary [16:58] – Why his first acquisitions hire didn't work and what the lean team looks like today [19:04] – Moving off a turnkey GC as margins shrank and every flip started looking the same [20:47] – Hitting 9 days on market last year with in-house design [21:06] – Ditching white subway tile: the small finish upgrades that make a median priced flip stand out [23:57] – Buying in good school districts at median prices as houses see 25 to 30 showings with no offers [26:09] – Joining CG to scale fast and learning why speed leads to bad decisions [28:40] – Chasing net margin over revenue and why $10M with under 10% net isn't the goal [31:14] – Leaning out the team and cutting expenses to be ready if rates come down in 2027 5 Key Takeaways Small Finish Upgrades Sell Flips Faster — Swapping out white subway tile, standard light fixtures, and basic plumbing fixtures costs little but makes a median priced flip stand out. Travis credits those upgrades for hitting 9 days on market in a tough year. Tertiary Markets Have Fewer, Bigger Buyers — Markets like Dayton and Akron don't have Columbus's buyer depth, but a handful of buyers there own 500 to 600 rentals and buy in bulk. Find them and you can move deals consistently. Turnkey Contractors Get Expensive When Margins Shrink — A GC who buys materials and floats construction costs is convenient but pricey. Bringing design in-house helped Travis protect margins as the market shifted. Scaling Fast Leads to Bad Decisions — Chasing volume targets pushes operators to sign deals that aren't really deals. Slowing down and buying based on data is where responsible scaling starts. Net Margin Beats Top Line Revenue — A $3 million business netting $1 million beats a $5 million business keeping less. Travis is cutting expenses and leaning out his team to do fewer, more profitable deals. Links & Resources Collective Genius — https://explorecg.com Follow Travis on Instagram — https://instagram.com/trav_cope The Real Estate Blueprint course by Austin Rutherford Enjoyed This Episode? If Travis's point about doing fewer deals that make more money made you rethink your own numbers, share this episode with a flipper or wholesaler who's been chasing volume. Want to be in the room with members like Travis? Head to https://explorecg.com , and don't forget to follow, rate, and review the Collective Genius Podcast.

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  The Collective Genius Podcast

  Chad Young: The Direct Mail Split Test That Added $2.5 Million in Revenue

  Sep 25, 202625 min

  Chad Young is a seven-time Collective Genius belt winner whose real estate investing business hit $2 million gross in year two and $5 million in year five, growing from CG Select to Premier along the way. His company scaled to 150 transactions a year within three years and now mails 100,000 direct mail pieces a month at a 4.5x to 5x ROI. Recorded live at the Collective Genius Q3 event in Dallas, Chad walks through the three levers that took his business past the $2 million plateau: a direct mail overhaul worth roughly $2.5 million in added revenue, plus a heavy investment in coaching and leadership that pulled him out of the day-to-day. If your business has hit a ceiling and you suspect the bottleneck might be you, this episode is for you. Timeline Summary [0:22] – Live from the Collective Genius Q3 event in Dallas, Chad Young joins fresh off stage [1:47] – $2M gross in year two, $5M in year five, and why almost everything from 0 to $2M broke on the way up [3:41] – Direct mail was a mediocre channel at 3.5x ROI on 30,000 to 40,000 pieces a month [4:27] – The 90 day split test: 80,000 records mailed head to head against Tim McGarvey's system, now Airmail [5:38] – Scaling to 100,000 pieces a month at a 4.5x to 5x ROI, worth about $2.5 million in revenue [7:01] – Why marketing channels are cyclical and how check mailers lost their edge [8:53] – Mo money, mo problems: growing from 6 staff to 22 by hiring every six weeks for 18 months [10:03] – Coaching as a core investment with required book clubs, paid coaches, and a mission of improving lives [11:48] – Culture is just leadership repeated, and how Chad became the chief problem solver bottleneck [12:58] – A team that brings tested solutions, leaving Chad with just two standing meetings a week [14:47] – Scale math: how addition plus subtraction leads to multiplication [16:58] – Replacing 40% of in-office staff in six months and the pain of letting loyal people go [17:55] – Don't scale businesses, scale people: why scaling starts with the leader [19:50] – Living your culture instead of hanging it on the wall, starting with Chad's definition of "humble" [21:16] – Standards and expectations as a clear line of acceptability to coach people up or out [22:08] – Why an efficient company with weak leadership trains your competitors' next great hires 5 Key Takeaways Split Test Before You Scale Direct Mail — Chad mailed 40,000 records through his existing vendor and 40,000 through a new system over 90 days. The winner held a 4.5x to 5x ROI even at 100,000 pieces a month. Stop Being the Chief Problem Solver — Answering every question is fast in the short term and bad leadership in the long term. Once Chad stopped solving his team's problems, they started bringing him solutions they'd already tested. Addition, Subtraction, Then Multiplication — Fast growth brings on people who got you here but won't get you there. Coach them up or out, and the team that's left is what multiplies the business. Define Your Core Values in Writing — A value like "humble" means nothing until you define it. Chad's company defines it as extreme ownership over mindset, actions, and outcomes, which makes hiring decisions obvious. Weak Leadership Trains Your Competitors' Hires — An operationally efficient company with poor leadership is easy to join and easy to leave. Investing in coaching and leadership is what keeps your best people around. Links & Resources Collective Genius — https://explorecg.com Airmail (Tim McGarvey's direct mail company) Scaling Up (book referenced by the host) Enjoyed This Episode? If Chad's point about being the chief problem solver hit a little close to home, send this episode to a business partner or leader on your team who needs to hear it. Ready to get in the room? Head to https://explorecg.com and make sure you follow, rate, and review the Collective Genius Podcast so you never miss an episode.

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  Episode #82

  How Smart Operators Turn Recorded Calls Into Closed Deals featuring Elizobeth Lunsford

  Sep 22, 202646 minS1

  Elizobeth Lunsford spent nine years at Honeywell working on the International Space Station's habitation node, earned a Six Sigma Green Belt, then went on to management consulting for Fortune 100 companies like Chevron and Shell before co-founding True Homes with her husband Ryan in Colorado. Today she runs a fix and flip, wholesale, and rental operation across Denver Metro, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo, and she's the founder of Rev North, an AI-powered revenue intelligence platform built for real estate investors. Leon and Elizobeth get into why most investors keep throwing money at marketing while 70 to 80 percent of their paid leads sit in the CRM unconverted, and how the four visibility gaps in her own pipeline led her to build a tool that reads every recorded homeowner call and tells you exactly who to close next. If you're spending five, six, or seven figures a month on leads and can't see where the revenue is leaking, this episode is for you. Timeline Summary [1:30] – Leon welcomes CG member Elizobeth Lunsford of True Homes, a fix and flip, wholesale, and rental operator out of Colorado [4:08] – From aerospace to real estate: nine years at Honeywell building the ISS habitation node and earning a Six Sigma Green Belt [5:55] – An MBA, Newmont Mining in Africa, and Fortune 100 consulting for Chevron, Shell, and Huntsman on change management and blind spots [6:22] – Crystal ball exercises: how corporations hire teams to find operational blind spots before they hit quarterly revenue [8:31] – The one problem every investor and every boardroom shares: if you can't measure process variation, you can't get consistent results [11:34] – How True Homes started as a side portfolio, why Ryan left oil and gas 18 months in, and how they split acquisitions and marketing [13:47] – Water availability killed their fix and flip cash cow market, forcing a pivot to wholesaling and buy and hold [15:39] – Biggest scaling struggles: stacking appointments across a two hour drive and knowing which mastermind ideas to ignore [19:42] – "The smallest company with the most processes" and why they chose family owned over speed to growth [23:36] – The four visibility gaps that led to Rev North: 3D call insight, mishandled call revenue threats, skill gaps, and a leaky pipeline [30:10] – Even great closers convert 20 to 30 percent, so 70 to 80 percent of paid leads are sitting in the CRM waiting to be worked [32:12] – Inside the insights engine: 500 selling signals, 18 revenue linked skills, 250 decision branches, plugs into any CRM and phone system [36:47] – Agents who get feedback right after a call improve up to 20 percent on the next one, so Rev North serves up two coaching priorities per call [41:06] – After analyzing thousands of calls, the money is lost on the call close, and built-in redundancy catches leads the CRM misses [42:46] – Rev North offer for CG members: $1,500 onboarding fee waived plus 20 percent off the first three months [44:39] – Why the timing is right as the industry standardizes on one or two CRMs, and where to find Elizobeth and Rev North 5 Key Takeaways You Can't Close What You Can't See — Closers keep asking "who do I call next" because the CRM only shows what an agent typed in, not what actually happened on the phone. Real pipeline visibility comes from the conversation itself, not the stage column. Buy Fewer Leads, Convert More of Them — Top closers land 20 to 30 percent of their appointments, which means 70 to 80 percent of your paid leads are still sitting in the CRM. Improving conversion on what you already own beats adding another marketing channel. Immediate Feedback Beats Weekly Sales Pods — Research shows agents who get feedback right after a call can improve up to 20 percent on the very next one. Two specific coaching priorities per call move the needle; generic scorecards get ignored. The Deal Dies on the Call Close — After analyzing thousands of homeowner conversations, the biggest revenue leak is a call that ends with a vague "I'll follow up" instead of a verbally agreed next step. Momentum lost on the close rarely comes back. Reduce Variation Before You Chase Growth — True Homes is a small family operation with more documented processes than most companies twice its size. Lower process variation gives you predictable results, and predictable results are what let you scale on purpose. Links & Resources Rev North (CG member offer, demo, and pipeline diagnosis) — https://revnorth.io/cg Collective Genius Community — https://explorecg.com Elizobeth's background in Six Sigma and corporate blind spot analysis is exactly what most real estate operations are missing: someone who refuses to accept that "leads don't close" is just the cost of doing business. Her point that you can't close what you can't see should sting a little if you have hundreds of paid leads sitting unworked in your CRM right now. Share this one with an operator who keeps upping their marketing spend instead of fixing conversion, and then head to https://explorecg.com to learn more and apply.

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  The Collective Genius Podcast

  Matt Miller: Why We Kept Building Tech While Losing $100K a Month

  Sep 18, 202622 min

  Matt Miller is co-founder of Fair Trade Real Estate, a California-only wholesale brokerage launched in July 2020 that now runs five offices and roughly 60 team members alongside his partner Deke Blake. A former Army paratrooper who enlisted at 17 and served nearly five years including deployments to South Korea and Iraq, Matt brings 14 years of real estate experience to one of the most competitive markets in the country. Recorded live at the Collective Genius Q2 event in Oceanside, this episode covers how Fair Trade survived a partnership split and months of six figure losses while refusing to abandon the dispositions technology they were building. If you're a wholesaler in a competitive market wondering whether to keep investing through a downturn, or a leader trying to get more out of a mastermind, this one is for you. Timeline Summary [0:00] – Leon opens live from Oceanside at the CG Q2 event with 200 plus Premier and 40 to 45 CEO members in the room [0:40] – Fair Trade Real Estate: exclusively wholesale, exclusively California, 5 offices, 60 team members since July 2020 [1:03] – Matt's path from enlisting in the Army at 17 to deployments in South Korea and Iraq [1:45] – Why former athletes and military veterans consistently scale the biggest real estate businesses [2:41] – How military leadership, good and bad, shaped Matt's approach to running a company [3:51] – The difference makers presentation: from peak performance to falling off a cliff after a partnership split [4:17] – Why the hardest part wasn't telling the story but telling it respectfully [5:56] – Committing to the tech build while hemorrhaging $100K plus per month, funded entirely by retained earnings [7:08] – Why off the shelf software couldn't give their agents an edge and why building was the only option [7:37] – Keeping the doors open: cutting staff, subleasing offices, killing software that didn't work [8:55] – The broken dispositions problem and why they rebuilt it as an investor marketplace [10:01] – Training agents to think like sales professionals with pipeline management and buy windows [10:51] – Southern California is a top five most competitive market, and why "I can't compete" is the wrong response [12:14] – The goal: become the largest home buyer in California within five years, with talent as the only constraint [12:56] – Why Fair Trade won't expand to new states unless it's a culture fit [14:01] – Top three takeaways from 18 months in CG: real networking, a mini leadership offsite, and industry intel [17:33] – Why the best operators stay an extra day after events to turn notes into a strategic plan [19:06] – Borrowing one CG networking exercise per event to make internal team trainings more impactful 5 Key Takeaways Invest Through the Downturn — Fair Trade kept building its dispositions platform even while losing six figures a month. Technology gives you an edge for a short window, and waiting until things are comfortable means someone else builds it first. Cut Everything Except the Priority — Staying committed to the tech build meant cutting staff they liked, subleasing office space, and killing underperforming software. You can't fund a vision on business as usual when revenue is down. Agents Are the Number One Customer — Sellers are a single transaction and investors need to repeat, but agents have to win for the business to grow. Every tool Fair Trade built was designed to give their agents the best chance to close. Competitive Markets Reward Differentiation — Every market is tough, so "I can't compete" is not a strategy. Fair Trade picked dispositions as its differentiator and built a marketplace nobody else in Southern California had. Stay the Extra Day — The best operators in mastermind rooms don't fly home right after the last session. They spend a few hours decompressing the notes and picking the one domino that will move the business. Links & Resources Collective Genius, application only, 500 plus members meeting four times a year — https://explorecg.com Deke Blake's episode on the Collective Genius Podcast (released a few weeks prior) Enjoyed This Episode? If Matt's story of building through $100K monthly losses reminded you that the tough season you're in is survivable, share this with a partner or operator who needs to hear it today. Then follow the Collective Genius Podcast, leave a rating and review, and head to explorecg.com to find out which room you qualify for.

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