57. Investing In: Yourself, People, Real Estate

Today we talk INVESTING… in yourself, others, and of course, business (real estate). This is the first interview of my second PodMax Live event! I will have two more casts coming out after this one all focusing around money. You know how passionate I am about the dollar- how we earn, spend it, and invest it. Conscious consumers are a must in 2020!! Kevin is an all-around investment expert, so I am excited to welcome him on T&T to discuss the importance of investing all the way around. Kevin, like many of us, changed majors a few times, landing with a Biology Degree from UC Berkley, but really revealed entrepreneurial soul when he read the book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert T. Kiyosaki. Kevin has a wealth of experience in the real estate industry, focusing on building communities and teaching the keys to long-term wealth along the way. He specializes in low income communities and leads all personal and business initiatives with the idea of caring for people and paying it forward wherever he can. Money makes the world go round, for better or worse, so it’s great to know we have responsibility, heart-led businesses people leading the way, like Kevin. Learn about money early folks, it will make all the difference… knowing that everything that really matters cannot be bought. 🙂


Highlights

Paying it forward. Learning how to invest in yourself, others, and manage your money. Learn about money and learn early. Get to know yourself and know that all is right on time. Taking care of people and recognizing we are all human. Business is but a game, dial into what really matters. What is really the point? Graceful disruption and questioning a better way. Generation and mental health and wealth. 


Kevin Dugan, Investment Expert 

Kevin Dugan is a serial entrepreneur with a diverse background in building remote teams, acquiring underperforming assets, construction management, asset management, and dynamic experience in industrial b2b robotics sales for the medical | aerospace | government |semiconductor | gas & oil sectors. He takes the complex and makes it simple.

He is currently the Managing Partner of Altus Investment Group, a fast-growing private equity firm with 35AUM that specializes in acquiring, repositioning, operating, and selling residential and commercial properties that are underperforming. His team implements systemized improvements and proven processes to maximize the net income of the assets. These investments did not achieve their potential due to poor management, operational inefficiencies, or outdated materials causing rents to drop below market values. Altus is vertically integrated with in house property management, full-time general contractors, and an acquisition group. 

He is big on education and teaches co-founded one of the fastest-growing multifamily meetup (MultiFamilyMasters.com) communities in Los Angeles, that has grown rapidly to 7600 members in a little over a two.

​He believes that holistic investing is an integral part of life. You should always be investing in yourself and your education, in your relationships and network, and your capital into secured investment vehicles. His passion is to create massive value and educate others to achieve financial freedom through active and passive real estate acquisitions.  

​A Los Angeles native, Mr. Dugan holds a degree from UC Berkeley with a concentration in Biology. He found his calling as an entrepreneur late in college after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad and is now on a mission to continuously create massive value for others.

@kevinkdugan


Atlus Investment Group

Altus Investment Group was founded on the idea to lift everyone in the family (clients, strategic partners, and the employees) to the highest levels financially and mentally so you can live the life you deserve.

Altus is a vertically integrated real estate acquisition and management company with nation-wide holdings and has the sole focus to build generational wealth through passive real estate investments for our clients. 

Our philosophy on investing in real estate is to create great wealth through holding real estate property long term, allowing investors to benefit from increased cash flows, appreciation, huge tax benefits, and the ability to exit at the proper time in the market cycle. With more than four decades of collective experience, our team actively creates lasting, valued relationships with our investors by carefully selecting secure investment projects that prosper and grow throughout all economic cycles over.

Our mission is to help YOU attain financial freedom by providing support, education and passive cash flow real estate investments.

@altusig

https://www.altusig.com

@podmaxlive

www.podmax.co

38. The Upside To The Down Side

Things happen in life. How we process those “things” is everything. The hard part of being able to process things is not always having the tools to do so. On this cast I sit down with Jason Hopcus and we discuss life, mental health, stress, stigma, and how to approached uncomfortable conversation, and of course, connection. Jason is the Founder and President of The Connection Project,  “The mission of the Connection project is simple- to strengthen the connection to ourselves and others”. Jason has a wealth of experience in life with equal parts education and evolution. We talk about how really hard things are usually the things that define our respective journeys the most and how it is time to celebrate and share that recovery process. There is really only one way to get through anything and that is together- through connection. The Connection Project meets people where they are, reshaping how we (the community) think about and speak about “mental illness” and/or more comfortably digested, stress. Stress is often championed in our society as many of us wear it as a badge of honor. And given this forced slow down because of CV19, we all know a rebrand of thinking around stress is needed! 

The Connection Project focuses on four main pillars: Health (mental and physical),  job, money, and tribe, through four key elements: community conversation, aligned partnerships, resource tools, and then training and education. They want to immediately welcome people in and surround them with people like them, likely letting some of the initial boundaries about connecting on any topic, aside. We need The Connection Project more than ever in society and now that CV19 is here, it’s critical. Join our conversation and please check out The Connection Project if you feel like it sounds like a community that would be beneficial for you or anyone you know. Stay safe out there, we are all in this together!


Highlights

Mental health and wellness. Community, connection, stigma, and worth, but uncomfortable conversation. The upsides to the downside. Breakdown and breakthrough. Celebrating the journey. Gratitude and strength. Humility and empathy. Graceful disruption. 


Jason C. Hopcus Bio 

In the effort to effect change, Jason Hopcus openly shares his personal story of the struggle with mental health. He battled his own king of hell to climb from the darkest semblance of human self- struggle. As a result, Jason fully acknowledges the amount of work it takes, how necessary it is to share each other’s journeys, and why we as a society need to move the needle towards unashamed conversation. Jason is a catalyst for a powerful, cultural shift because everyone, directly or indirectly, is affected by mental health. 

“The stigmas of mental health cannot be unraveled unless we begin to celebrate those who have pulled themselves back up… and then some. It’s time to acknowledge recovery success.” 

-Jason Hopcus, Founder of The Connection Project

Jason’s mission is to advance human connection by embracing the conversation of fighters; the folks whose journeys from black to light give hope to those that deserve a 2nd or even a 3rd chance to be the ambassadors of conversation. The present narrative about mental health is often perpetuated through sad, scary, or traumatic events, which typically overlook individuals who are simply struggling with functional life issues. The Connection Project takes a fresh approach by focusing on those who have turned their personal struggle around to champion for a community-driven cause. Through the raw focus on the individual, Jason nourishes honest conversation to birth a system of ‘next level’ social responsibility. 

Jason Hopcus is a motivator and catalyst for cultural change within organizations. He believes that connection to one’s self, one’s transparency, and one’s passion to connect, allows individuals to live a wholly authentic, full life. He creates systems of people working to deepen their relationships to their work, their play, and ultimately our world. He presently serves as non-profit President/CEO of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) of Arapahoe/Douglas Counties and is Founder of The Connection Project, a for-profit company.

@realpeople_reallife

www.RealPeopleRealLife.org