RG 305 – Real Estate, Crypto, Venture Capitalism & More: Diversification 101 with Ryan McKenna

Are you looking to diversify your portfolio with alternative assets? Join us in this episode to learn more about real estate, cryptocurrency, venture capitalism, and more!

Ryan McKenna grew up in a very entrepreneurial family, but despite having the opportunity to join the family business, he decided to create a successful life on his own.

Ryan is a seasoned investor, real estate syndicator, and serial entrepreneur that invests in all sorts of ventures apart from multifamily real estate. He is the CEO and Founder of McKenna Capital, a real estate private equity firm that helps investors grow their wealth through real estate syndications.

Interested in becoming an Investor with Reed? Click here to join his Investor email list.

In today’s episode, we talk about how and why Ryan invests in cryptocurrency alongside his multifamily business. More than that, Ryan tells us about the potential of the future of crypto as it matures, as well as how you can learn how to protect your downside.

Click on that ‘Play’ button now and learn more about the benefits of investing in cryptocurrency and other alternative assets to diversify your investments!

Key Takeaways

• Cryptocurrency is like the digital version of real estate, but it is more liquid.

• When investing in crypto, you are essentially investing in the people behind the projects. With that being said, do your due diligence.

• Cryptocurrency is riskier than real estate, but it has the potential to fund your future real estate ventures.

LINKS
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanmckenna1/
https://www.mckennacapital.com/

Be Bold, Be Brave and Go Give Life a Crack!

Remember to join my Investor Database for the latest Investment Offerings!

Reed Goossens (00:00):

Good day. Good day guys. Now, before we dive into today’s show, I want you to let you know that some of you maybe aware that over the past eight years, I have built a substantial multi-family real estate portfolio here in the US worth over half a billion dollars. And in that time, my passive investors have received fantastic double-digit returns, and now you too can invest directly into my deals for as little as $50,000. So if you’re an interested investor, head over to reedgoossens.com to find out more that’s reedgoossens.com. Now back into the show,

Ryan McKenna (00:40):

You know, we’re still very early and that’s exciting because I don’t think you get many opportunities like this in your lifetime where, you know, people equate it to like, Hey, this is like when the internet first came out, or this is like, when you’re investing in, in, in the start of Google or Amazon or Microsoft, I mean, that’s, what’s, you know, upon us. And I’ve kind of used a lot of, you know, what I do in real. Like, I love it because, you know, I get a lot of consistency with, you know, my returns and just, you know, the cash flow and this allows me, the crypto allows me to, you know, take a little bit more risk. And then when I, you know, make money there, then I put it back into real estate and then make more in real estate, put it in crypto. And so that’s kind of what I love doing as an investor. And again, I’m, I’m exploring and learning as much as I can in crypto, but I do see more and more of that down the road where, you know, there is gonna be, um, when that industry matures more and more of that overlap. And again, with it being digital real estate with you being able to earn passive income from, you know, a lot of this tokens you can acquire in crypto, I think that’s pretty cool. And it’s pretty easy, too.

Speaker 3 (01:50):

Welcome to investing in the US a podcast for real estate investors, business owners, and aspiring entrepreneurs looking to break into the US market, join reed as he interviews go-geters risk take and the best in the business about their journey towards financial freedom and the sheer joy of creating something from nothing.

Reed Goossens (02:10):

Good day. Good day ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another cracking edition of investing in the US podcast from Los Angeles. I’m your Host reed goossens good as always Abby with us on the show. Now I’m glad that you’ve all tuned into learn from my incredible guests and each and every one of them are the cream of the crop here in the United States. When it comes to real estate, investing, business, investing and entrepreneurship, each show, I try and tease out their incredible stories of how they have successfully created their businesses here in the US, how they’ve created financial freedom, massive amounts of cash, and ultimately created extra bring lives for themselves and their families life by design. As I like to say, hopefully these guests will inspire all of my cracking listeners, which are you guys to get off the couch and go and take massive amounts of action.

Reed Goossens (02:57):

If these guys can do it. So can you now, as you know, I’m all about sharing the knowledge with my loyal listeners, which is you guys, and there’s absolutely no BS on this show, just straight into the nuts and bolts. Now, if you do like this show, the easiest way to give back is to give us a review on iTunes and you can follow me on Facebook and Twitter by searching at Reed goossens. You can find the show, every you podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google play, but you can also find these episodes up on my YouTube channel. So head over to reedgoossens.com, Click on the video link, and it’ll take you to the video recordings of these podcasts, where you can see my ugly mug, but the beautiful faces of my guests each and every week. All right, enough outta me, let’s get cracking and into today’s show.

Reed Goossens (03:44):

Today. The show I have the pleasure of speaking with a true legend on the multifamily space. I’m talking about Mr. Ryan McKenna. Now Ryan is the CEO and founder of McKenna Capital and McKenna Capital. For those people who dunno what it is. It is a private equity firm that offers passive investing opportunities to its partners through both syndications and funds. And we’ll probably touch on a little bit of the difference between a fund versus a syndication. And Ryan is currently a general partner in over 60 real estate syndications, totally over 15,000 units across the US with a portfolio valued at 2 billion on a, has also invested as a limited partner in over 300 syndications, sorry. And he’s made his mission to help share passive investment strategies with others so they can achieve and maintain wealth through real estate and other alternative investment opportunities. I’m really pumped and excited to have him on the show today to share he’s incredible knowledge with us, but enough outta me, let’s get him out here. Get a Ryan to the show. How you doing today, mate?

Ryan McKenna (04:42):

Uh, good to hear Reed thanks for having me arm doing very well,

Reed Goossens (04:45):

Mate. We’ve known each other for, for, for quite some years now. We’ve worked together on many different transactions and it’s, uh, I was scratching my head the other day and I thought I’ve not had Ryan on the show. So, uh, it’s really good that you’re here. My friend for those people who don’t know where you live, where, where are you calling in from today?

Ryan McKenna (04:59):

So I’m in Glenview in Illinois, just north of Chicago.

Reed Goossens (05:02):

Love it, love it. Okay. Well, I ask all my guests, this question, when we start this show, can you re one the clock and tell me how you met your first of a dollar as a kid?

Ryan McKenna (05:11):

So first dollar as a kid, I, I, I remember, uh, at an early age, I, I was, yeah, I wanted to have just my own source of income. And so I, I literally created a, a, a, um, a, a sheet with all the chores I had on there. And I put a price tag next to them for my parents and said, yeah, if I mowed the grass, you know, I want $2. If I, you know, clean my room, I want a dollar . And, uh, I had to been probably, I dunno, eight or nine years old. And, uh, it was just a way that, you know, I felt like, all right, like I could earn a little bit of extra money and, and, uh, my parents thought it was gonna creative. And so I had like a daily, or actually a, a weekly chore list that I had a, a dollar amount associated with all the things I was gonna do around the house.

Reed Goossens (05:50):

That’s awesome. That’s awesome. I love being entrepreneur from a younger age. So, so walk us through the journey of how you’ve got to where you are today and, and give us some of the background of who Ryan McKenna is. Did you have a, you know, a, a corporate job before gen venturing into this world of entrepreneurship?

Ryan McKenna (06:05):

I did. Um, I had a corporate job, but I also, prior to the corporate job, I worked in a third generation family business with my father. Uh, he owns a metal finishing company. And so, you know, I grew up in a family business, a very entrepreneurial family, and, uh, have always had that in, in the forefront of my mind that I wanted to, you know, run a business, run a company someday and have, you know, control of my time. And I also worked for a, a serial entrepreneur out in, um, LA when I first graduated college. And so I got to kind of see, you know, what that, that startup venture world was like. And so all the different experiences I’ve had, you know, has really kind of helped shape where I am today. And I’ve always had the side hustle. It’s always been something I’ve done, you know, just to kind of get ahead.

Ryan McKenna (06:47):

So whatever I’m doing, I, I usually have multiple projects going on at the same time because, you know, I, I, I really believe in just kind of the, the velocity of money and, and compounding and getting things started. And then, you know, building one successful business and then, you know, creating more from that. And, uh, I was able to do that with a business. I started back in 2006, it was in, uh, sports ticket, reselling space. And, uh, I bought a bunch of season tickets and, uh, you know, grew that into a multi-million dollar business and, and still have some of it today. It I’ve used a lot of those profits to invest in real estate as a, a passive investor. And then, um, you know, after doing many syndications my own and building up nice passive income, you know, foundation, I, I, I walked away from my corporate job and, you know, wanted to help others invest in, in real estate syndications, just because of the impact I saw personally with my life and just been a passion of mine that I think ever since I was, you know, uh, a young kid, you know, just wanted to have, uh, you know, control your future in a way and, and live a lifestyle that, that most dream of it just always been something I’ve just tried to chase.

Ryan McKenna (07:53):

And so, yeah, here we are. I feel like I am living a dream. I’m doing something I’m extremely happy about. Um, you know, it might look like it happened quickly, but it, it was 15, 20 years in the making, uh, just with relationships and experiences and, uh, a lot of family support friend support. And then, you know, just, you know, here we are. And, uh, I think you would probably say the same thing too, about you, your journey, it’s, it is a lot of different ways you get there and you love, and, and, you know, I think we’re both in a great spot where we’re, you know, in control of our own destiny,

Reed Goossens (08:24):

It’s, it’s, it’s you totally correct. You know, the reason we all get involved in this business is to try and create a better future for ourselves. But one question comes to mind is did the, uh, did the parents, or did the family try and get you involved in the business at all? Like did take over and, and sort of go down that third generation, like, you know, you, you venturing off on your own and doing sports tickets and real estate investments, like it’s, it may not be what the, what mom and dad, or, or the uncle and aunties thought that, you know, was the path for Ryan .

Ryan McKenna (08:50):

Yeah. I mean, they were always supportive with, you know, whatever I wanted to do. And, uh, you know, before that, you know, baseball was always something that I thought, Hey, maybe I’d have a shot to go on and play at the next level, you know, professionally, because I, I got a scholarship to Arizona state university and, you know, set myself up, but I, I had a very unfortunate illness that really kind of ruined my career. And so after, you know, graduating that’s when I, I moved out to LA and, you know, know really got a, an awesome entrepreneurial experience with, um, with someone who’s now, um, I believe a billionaire has gone on to do very, very successful things by the name of Ryan Blair. And, uh, you know, after a while I felt like, you know, I wanted to, you know, get back home, you know, Midwest, those are where my roots were and then I got into family business.

Ryan McKenna (09:33):

And so I spent five years years, and yeah, I think, you know, at some point it was like, all right, you know, is there something here that we can, you know, turn this business into, you know, long term, because we had a great niche that we were in. Uh, but I just feel like, you know, you gotta be passionate about what you do too, even though it was a family business. And I had absolutely great working relationship with my dad, me, my grandpa for a while. And, and, and I would not trade that experience for anything, but yeah, the industry in general was, was, you know, it was a little bit harder for me just to feel like I could grow because it was, it was so niche and, um, you know, a 2008 hit, uh, you know, every business kind of took a little bit of a hit and it was, it was really a time for me to, I, I think branch out and, and really gonna go, go to go seek out what I really wanted to do.

Ryan McKenna (10:18):

And, you know, real, estate’s always been the end game. And I just feel like, you know, I’ve been able to, to get there, um, by doing different things and getting started a little bit earlier in that space. Um, and so, yeah, my, my dad and family, uh, they invest a lot in our, our deals too. So we still get to work together and it’s kind of come full circle and, uh, you know, it’s my dad’s business been going really well. And, uh, yeah, you missed those moments where, you know, you could be with family, but you, you get to experience those in different ways. And, um, yeah, at the end of the day, I, I felt like I wanted to kind of create my own path too. And I think that’s important too, because yeah, there were pressures and you felt like, okay, like, you know, that you, you almost to take it on, not, not that my parents put that on me, but you just feel that sense of responsibility. Um, and, uh, it was just something that at the end of the day, you know, my, my, my, my passions kind of took over and, um, I just, I didn’t wanna, you know, limit my, my potential in what I felt like I could really, you know, spread my wings and fly in the real estate space.

Reed Goossens (11:16):

Oh, look, that’s one a hundred percent agree with. And I think so many people feel that pressure from family members, whether it be in taking over family businesses or getting that job or going to university, but having that sense of curiosity to go out and, you know, achieve your unfilled potential is, is, is pretty much what drives us all right. Over interviewed over 350 people on this, on this, get on the show. And they all have that in a burning desire to go out and do more and be more so it takes a, all the guts to do that because you could’ve, you could’ve probably coasted along with the family beers, right. You could’ve just had had it easy, but you wanted to challenge yourself to be more and do more. So I think that that’s kudos to, to you and, and a real example of how people can, you know, throw caution to the wind, because you probably did have a safety net there that you could have just, you know, clipped a ticket and had had a really good life in the Midwest. And, you know, the rest is history. You know what I mean? Like it, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s pushing yourself to that next level. So, and I’ve been witness front row seat to your success mate. So, um, and what you’ve built. So let’s get into that. You are in the space of helping investors get involved in alternative assets, primarily multifamily, syndications, but you’ve also invested across a wide, wide range of different alternative assets. Do you wanna just gimme the list of what you’re investing in today and what’s sort of peak your interest?

Ryan McKenna (12:34):

Yeah, so, so most of my, my net worth and investments are in, um, what I would call value, add, you know, multifamily, syndications, but I’ve also, you know, as you, as you grow a portfolio, you look for diversification too. So I’ve invested in, you know, self storage, mobile home parks, ATMs, uh, Bitcoin mining, uh, you know, food hall, uh, hemp farm, um, a lot of different, uh, investments. Oh, I do a lot of angel investing too. So I, I, I’ve got, you know, some stakes and some small companies that, you know, eventually some of those, you know, should likely, you know, pay off, but it’s is much different cuz there’s no cash flow, so it’s a little bit more risky, but you know, that’s where you can get the 5,000 X returns. Um, and I also invest a lot in crypto right now in the blockchain.

Ryan McKenna (13:19):

I, I really do think that there’s a lot of technology that’s gonna, you know, disrupt, you know, the financial space and it’s coming and, and I’m trying to get in as early as I can with as high quality of, you know, opportunities as I can, you know, find. And, uh, and so I wanna be part of that kind of new web three that, that, you know, looks like it’s gonna be created right in front of our eyes. And there’s a lot of, I think spillover that will happen in the syndication space as far as like, you know, tokenization of, you know, investments, things like that. But we’re still very, very early. And, and for me, it’s, it’s really about kind of just learning to, I mean, I like the diversification, but I also like to explore new types of investments because sometimes those investments might end up turning out to be a really good syndication that we could put together for our investor base.

Ryan McKenna (14:04):

So I like to try to kind of get in there first and see, you know, if it is, you know, what I perceive it to be on the outside. And I just try to, you know, kind of work out any of the kinks I might have, you know, personally with it before you, if we think about syndicating it. Um, but yeah, it it’s something that being a past investor. I mean, it, it’s something I’ll do for the rest of my life because I, I can, right. I mean, if you’ve, you know, it doesn’t take much, once you have kind of the, the wherewithal and, you know, kind of, you know, the good people that you wanna, you know, put your money with and eventually as, you know, gets recycled it in and out of these deals as we exit, you know, you’re gonna be looking for that next opportunity.

Ryan McKenna (14:39):

So it’s a really fun space to be, uh, it it’s, it’s something that I, I, at an early age, I just, I knew that, you know, very lucrative and there’s great tax benefits. And, you know, the cashflow is really what’s important too, because it gives you the ability of like, if you wanna walk away from your job or you wanna have that security or that, you know, that income’s coming in and all you’re building these great equity positions, long term that, you know, with the tax benefits allows you to keep more of what you make. So, uh, for me, it’s just been, yeah, a lot of diversification, but I’m starting to look at certain deals where it’s like, okay, I’m gonna go in a little bit bigger just because of, you know, some of the exits and, um, you know, do a little bit of consolidation. But, but yeah, I mean, I, I, I, it, it’s hard to think that , my accountant loves me with all the K one he gets, but, you know, it is hard to keep track of, you know, being in that many deals, but, you know, you gotta be pretty diligent and organized too,

Reed Goossens (15:29):

For sure. And I’m sure we’ll getting that in a little bit, cause we talked a little bit about that in the green room and how you are growing as a company, but just talk to me a little bit more about the crypto side. I, I, haven’t had a lot of people on the show talking about crypto and how that interfaces with real estate, you know, we don’t have to get into specifics of, of what you’re investing in, but from a high level, point of view, what are you seeing for those, the laymans out there? Who, who, who know about the multifamily to know about the value ads who know about syndications, but how does crypto now see you see it as a, a new vehicle? And, and is there any relationship with the real estate or is it purely just a, you know, a crypto investment, you know, real estate aside For those of you are interested in staying up to date all the latest happenings in my business, or to learn more about passively investing directly into my multifamily value ad deals, then head over to reedgoossens.com and sign up for my monthly newsletter. By signing up, you will automatically be notified about my new up and coming investment opportunities. You’ll be able to stay up to date with all the latest real estate news here, United States, and much, much more so head over to reedgoossens.com and sign up today. Now back into the show,

Ryan McKenna (16:44):

You know, I, I look at, um, you know, certain crypto is, I mean, it’s, it’s the digital version of real estate. I mean, there’s a lot of passive income streams. You can earn, I own, uh, tokens that I stake and, and staking is just basically you own the token and you, you know, you transfer it over to, you know, the company so they can sit on the network and validate, they call it, you know, validating the nodes, but, you know, you can earn some really nice passive income. So that’s a really cool investment because I know I not only have the, you know, the upside appreciation, but I might be earning 15 to 20, 30% on my money on an annual basis just for letting it sit there. You know, and I like crypto because it’s very liquid. As I mentioned before, a lot of the, you know, the venture capital investing, I’m doing the early stage, uh, investing, you know, that money could be tied up for seven to 10 years and it’s not liquid.

Ryan McKenna (17:31):

I can’t get it out, but the crypto, I, I can find a really, you know, up and coming company that I think is very promising. I can invest today and I could, I could sell it tomorrow and triple my money if, if, if that happened. But, but a nice thing about it is I can, I can be liquid with it and move in and out as I, as I, as I so desire. But, um, I do see a day where, and this is already, I think, has the capability, but it’s not, you know, it’s not adopted yet, but like, just imagine for all of our investors who, you know, take a position, a limited partnership position in a, in a deal. And you know, that money’s typically, you know, it’s locked up for three to five years or however long until we sell that asset.

Ryan McKenna (18:06):

But if that, if that investment was tokenized, I used to had some collateral backing it that went in. Like, imagine if you could borrow against your position as an LP and take that and reinvest it into another deal, that’s gonna happen someday. I mean, it’s already like with Bitcoin right now, and a lot of the coins, I mean, you can, fidelity is doing this with all their institutional, uh, investors and, you know, there’s, there’s Bitcoin mining, you know, T out there, and, and I’m, I’m part of one that I’ve invested in. And it’s like when, um, you know, that money comes back that Bitcoin or the distributions, I mean, you can in theory, borrow against that Bitcoin very, you know, very easily. And it’s very low interest and it’s to yourself, there’s not a bank involved and that’s a non-taxable event. So, you know, it, it allows you to hold on of the Bitcoin, let it, you know, appreciate over time.

Ryan McKenna (18:51):

But now I’ve got that capital back and I can reinvest it. And I just see that happening. You know, there’s a lot of big money coming into Bitcoin when a lot of the companies start realizing that instead of having, you know, the money, just the reserve sitting cash, and they can put it in Bitcoin and, and, and really kind of be able to borrow against it when they need that short term liquidity, but also to preserve, you know, know, I, I get, you know, with inflation and just, you know, some capital appreciation with Bitcoin. I, I, I think that again is more and more adopted. It’s just gonna be more prevalent. And I think it will take more of the risk out of it too, cuz right now, yes, it’s, it’s very risky. It’s a lot of up and down, especially movement with the stock market right now.

Ryan McKenna (19:25):

But I think it will break away at some point, but I really do think that the tokenization is pretty cool because there’s a think could happen there from a real estate perspective where, you know, people could buy and sell their positions. And, and there’s just, there’s a lot there, but I think we’re still years away from that. But, but it is, you know, I do see this intersection of, you know, the blockchain and real estate investing in syndication investing as well, because once you tokenize something, I mean, you can, you can transfer it, you can borrow against it. Um, it’s just an easier flow of kind of getting access to your own capital. And, uh, it might actually help for some of the deals that are done too. I mean, with, you know, capital kind of coming in from all different parts of the world, you know?

Ryan McKenna (20:03):

Um, so again, I, I’m speaking more, just what I see my vision, you know, this is not any financial advice or anything like that, but it’s like, it’s a space I really, really love. And I feel like, you know, we’re still very early and that’s exciting because I don’t think you get many opportunities like this in your lifetime where, you know, people equate it to like, Hey, this is like when the internet first came out or this is like, when you’re investing in, in, in the start of Google or Amazon or Microsoft, I mean, that’s, what’s, you know, upon us. And I’ve kind of used a lot of, you know, what I do in real estate. Like I love it because, you know, I get a lot of consistency with, you know, my returns and just, you know, the cash flow. And this allows me, the crypto allows me to, you know, take a little bit more risk.

Ryan McKenna (20:44):

And then when I, you know, make money there, then I put it back into real estate and then make more in real estate, put it in crypto. And so that’s kind of what I love doing as an investor. And again, I’m, I’m exploring and learning as much as I can in crypto. Um, but I do see more and more of that down the road where, you know, there is gonna be, um, when that industry matures more and more of that overlap. And again, with it being digital real estate with you being able to earn passive of income from, you know, a lot of the tokens you can acquire in crypto, I think that’s pretty cool. And it’s pretty easy too, once you, you know, get into that space. And, and, uh, so, so that’s, that’s my 2 cent on, on crypto and, uh, you know, I’m sure we’ll be talking about it more on the road is, uh, as that whole industry matures,

Reed Goossens (21:24):

Well, being at your, the interface of you talk to a lot of investors, you’re, you’re actively invested in partnering with, with, you know, some incredible opportunities. How do you navigate, you know, what, what, what, so the with, with the gums and crypto, there’s obviously gonna be big learning curve, right? Where are you pointing people to, to go out and learn a little bit more about this space so they can get educated, they can, and they can ultimately feel, feel safe about protecting their downside because you hear a lot of the hype in the news crypto, crypto, crypto, you see guys posting in front of Lamborghini, you know, all this, all this stuff, but what is your advice to the average passive investor who is trying to maybe understand a little bit more about this next wave of crypto and maybe how it even interacts with, with real estate?

Ryan McKenna (22:09):

Yeah, I mean, I think just like anything with real estate, uh, you know, you can get all caught up in the numbers and, and, and, and everything that comes with that. But I really, I think what’s most important is the people behind the numbers, the people behind the business, that’s, that’s what you need to understand. You need to, you know, are these credible people, are they good people? Do you have access to them? Because in part of my crypto investments, you know, we’re looking at the team, you know, and, and their background and who the advisors are, uh, on their board. And you, you know, at that point, you’re kind of betting on the entrepreneur and the team. I mean, sometimes a product isn’t fully developed. And so that’s all you really have to go off of. What’s their track record? What does that team look like?

Ryan McKenna (22:46):

And a lot of times in crypto, like, I mean, the team you don’t really have access to, they don’t even sometimes put their full name or their, you know, they might have, you know, avatars of them. I mean, that’s where I would start to get a little concerned that you know, that, you know, if you don’t know who these people are behind it, you’re investing in them. Like, what happens if the project goes south and you have no way to even find out or connect with anyone. And so, um, yeah, there are some scenarios where people invest in, in, in crypto and it doesn’t work out for them. And so for me to limit my risk, I really, you know, I’m all about, you know, high quality projects, great teams and, uh, you know, so I do my due diligence. I, I do a lot of research at night on crypto.

Ryan McKenna (23:26):

It’s kind of like what I do for fun, because it gives me a little break from all the real estate, which I, I absolutely love, but it’s just something that, you know, I’ll casually do. And then I, you know, you pick up and you learn from others and I’m involved in a lot of different crypto groups. So we share ideas and, uh, I follow a lot on Twitter. And so I’m always kind of looking and exploring, but, but yeah, really it comes down to the people, the teams that are backing it. And a lot of times, you know, you’ll see on a website like who’s funded, or who’s a partner and there’s some big venture capital firms. And some of this, you know, some of this crypto that like, you know, if you’ve got 20 VCs invested in it already, I mean, clearly they’ve done some due diligence to, to be able to put, you know, money in there and their name on their website.

Ryan McKenna (24:03):

Um, so that, that gives me a hope in, you know, is kind of checking the box for certain things that I’m looking for. Um, and then, you know, market cap is really big looking at, you know, the potential, um, just to growth the sector. I mean, there’s a lot in crypto with gaming, like these, you know, play to earn where, you know, there’s certain countries like I, I saw an article like at the Philippines where, you know, a lot of people there, they’re making more money playing these play to earn games where they just, it good at it and they can earn crypto. Then they are in their job that they’re doing on a full time basis. That’s just, you know, and they’re in these, some of these countries where their, their income, you know, potential is, is severely limited by, you know, the government and, and here they can access the entire world through, through a crypto game and get good at it and earn, you know, real money that can, you know, you can earn then convert it to whatever currency they want.

Ryan McKenna (24:48):

And I think that’s pretty cool to see that. And, and that’s just, you know, one aspect of, you know, of, of, of change that, that I see is coming. And, um, yeah, I think the, the days of having to wait three days for an ACH to clear , you know, crypto will solve, that’ll take three seconds, you know, like, and, and, and, and cost way less. And though, like, those are some of the cool innovations that I think we’ll all appreciate. Um, and so, you know, it’s just a matter of time, but, you know, I know there’s a lot of regulation around it that has to, you know, everything has to be checked out and, and made sure that it’s all legit, but just some of the, the technology that’s coming and, and the smart people. I mean, a lot of people, I see leaving Silicon valley to get into crypto in the blockchain, because, you know, the opportunity, um, you know, you talk about those guys that are, that are, you know, flashing, you know, money and Lamborghini around.

Ryan McKenna (25:33):

I mean, some of these people truly were, you know, three years ago working, you know, uh, bagging groceries, you know, to grocery store. Now they’re worth a hundred million dollars. I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s, that’s, that’s, what’s happening. Not, not it’s all the time, but there are those stories that I, that I see in here. And, and it’s, you know, so for me, it’s kind of like, all right, I, I, I do this more for, you know, the upside investment I’m taking on more risk, but I’m going for some moonshot, you know, and, and I have my real estate where I have my consistent long term, you know, wealth that I’m accumulating, and this is more of the venture, you know, smaller bucket that I’ll, I’ll take investments in.

Reed Goossens (26:07):

No, that’s, I think that’s incredible. And something I wanna definitely learn more about and myself as a, as a potential passive invest in the future. So I’ll have to talk to you a little bit offline about what you, what you got going on, but, um, how have you seen

Ryan McKenna (26:19):

In

Reed Goossens (26:20):

The years that you’ve been involved in the real estate investments and, and moving back to the physical real estate now? Yeah. Like where we are right now, like you you’ve, you’ve been in involved in very similar deals that I’ve been involved in. I think we’ve been involved in the same deals, both on personally, but also as, as limited partners and, uh, back in the day with valuations and where they’re going, what are your sort of 2 cents or your, your heartbeat says about where we are in the market today on evaluation perspective, in terms of rents, in terms of multifamily and how that compares to say, maybe, maybe some of your other alternative assets that I know you’re also invested in self storage. I think you’re also invested in, in, in car washes and all this sort of good stuff. So maybe give us, you know, breaking, there’s a lot of questions in there, but, but where have you seen it come from? And then where do you think you it’s, it’s going,

Ryan McKenna (27:05):

Yeah. I mean, I would say kind of across the board, I, I, I see valuations as, as being somewhat high. I mean, in, in almost every industry, I mean, but real estate in particular. Um, but what I see I is that the fundamentals are still very strong. And, um, I, I read an article the other day by an economist that talking about, you know, just that the high retention rate on, on, on rental renewals and a lot of this, you know, the, um, you know, a lot of people are making more money today and so they can afford, you know, the, the, the renter that is, you know, renewing the lease. And we’re, we’re seeing a significant increase. I mean, they’re their, income’s rising too. So they’re able to afford, you know, a lot of the partner that we’re doing. And so, you know, those, those, those new leases are being absorbed, um, at a pretty good clip.

Ryan McKenna (27:50):

And, and so it’s not like we’re in a scenario where, you know, tenants are getting priced out from where, what they can afford and what they want. Cause a lot of the renters, you know, it’s by choice, they wanna live in have flexibility. Um, but I see, you know, a pretty strong runway, you know, definitely for the next couple years. Um, obviously no one knows for sure and things could change, but you know, my outlook is, you know, I, I take a long term view in real estate and it’s still very bullish because, you know, at the end of the day, everyone needs a roof over their head. Everyone needs shelter. And you know, what we saw going through a global pandemic with COVID it, you know, behind, you know, food, I think housing was, was number two and people paid their rent for the most part that, that, that could pay their rent.

Ryan McKenna (28:32):

I mean, obviously there’s situations where some, some couldn’t, but that was a pretty good Testament to why we love multifamily value, add, you know, real estate. Um, just because, you know, it held up really well, whether that’s dorm and we went through a global pandemic and yeah, it early on, you know, it was kind of scary cuz no one knew what this even was not like we were underwriting deals for, for COVID , but we got through it. And um, I think we came out even stronger and like that is , is a really good feeling. And um, so I think we just saw more and more capital poor into multifamily just because it did so well. So I still think that there’s a lot of capital out there and you know, yes, interest rates will rise, but historically real estate’s been a good hedge for that.

Ryan McKenna (29:15):

And you know, when you have, you know, interest rates rising, it makes it harder for your, your, your tenant base to afford a mortgage on a new home. So it almost suppresses them in a way to, to, to rent longer as, so I still think long term, yeah, we’re gonna see a lot of continued growth, but you know, even if it does slow down, I, I think people will just kind of have to adjust their expectations and that’s okay. I mean, that’s, it’s not gonna go on forever. Um, and I hope when we have, you know, uh, you know, a slow turnaround, you know, if, if we do kind of hit a point where, you know, things need to kind of come back a little bit, but another thing I, I like about multifamily real estate is that, you know, we get to kind of choose when we wanna exit.

Ryan McKenna (29:52):

So just for example, like going back to COVID when we, you know, uh, we’re, we’re looking to sell, we had four or five properties that were ready to, to, but COVID hit. And we said, all right, you know what? We don’t wanna sell in a down market let’s hold on. And we wrote it out, which is the nice thing you could do when you you’re cash in these assets. And then the following year, you know, we turned around and we were able to sell these assets and we were getting millions of dollars more over asking because it was a healthier time. You had a lot of people, you know, that were outbidding each other. And so having more of the control of when you exit into how you exit, I think really matters. And it’s, it’s pretty cool to see that, you know, we’re able to do that if you, you know, can get in a conservative investment and, and you can operate it well, um, it, you just have more options when, you know, you wanna, you know, choose to kind of deliver those returns to your back to your investors.

Reed Goossens (30:40):

Uh, I, I, I love that. And I, it’s so important about understanding what you’re getting into and, and right. And making sure you’re getting into an investment that can ride out downturns because no one ever thought about the pandemic was gonna come. We don’t, I know looking at five years ago when you’re underwriting for five year projection, no one was ever thinking, oh, there’s gonna be a pandemic in, uh, in 2020. So, uh, I think is really good lessons for all of us in, in involved and have, have weathered the storm. If you can weather the storm through investing in,in all in good real estate, IE multifamily, cuz it covers your basis. Then if you can, you can hold out through those downturns and you will be able to profit on the other side, which is what we’re seeing right now, mate. But we’re coming to the end of the show. I wanna be respectful of your time. I know you have a hard stop here a little bit. What are you go playing for 20, 22 and beyond?

Ryan McKenna (31:26):

That’s a great question. cause right now it feels like, uh, you know, day to day, we’re just trying to keep up with, um, everything we got going on, which, uh, which is a good problem to have, but you know, definitely want to get ahead. And, uh, we’ve got a lot of opportunities, a lot of growth, but yeah, my brother just came board about six months ago. He’s a CPA. He’s been helping with the operations finance of the business. And uh, you know, I think as we continue to grow, you know, we have to look at like, where do we ultimately wanna be? You know, what does this, you know, business look like for McKenna Capital? Because, you know, I never would’ve thought we would’ve grown this quickly and kind of been to the place where we are today and, you know, think that, you know, that might encompass, you know, bringing on some more people and just trying to, you know, further automate everything that we do.

Ryan McKenna (32:11):

And, um, you know, just because it it’s, it’s been a fun ride. It’s been, you know, explosive growth, but you know, we also gotta plan ahead for the future and you know, we want to be doing this for many years to come. So I, I definitely feel like, you know, we’re gonna keep continuing to do what we do best. And that is, you know, working with our individual investors. I mean, that’s probably where I spend most of my time. And then obviously our operating partners looking at deals, you know, that that’s where, you know, we wanna, you know, provide the most value, but everything else when running a business has to get done and you know, you, you need people and help to do that. So my brother’s been a huge help, but I do think, you know, we’re already at the point where , you know, we’re kind of doing everything we can and, uh, you know, bandwidth gets tight. So, so yeah, I think we’ll end up, um, you know, probably having to figure out, you know, um, you know, some additional help down the road and as we continue to grow,

Reed Goossens (33:00):

I’m sure it could be a whole episode of just that and talking about scaling a business from, uh, from nothing. So I look forward to getting you back, but mate, at the end of every show, we’d like to do the lightning round, the top five investing tips, ready to get into it.

Ryan McKenna (33:12):

Sure, sure. Mate,

Reed Goossens (33:13):

What is the daily habit you practice to keep on track towards your goals?

Ryan McKenna (33:17):

You know, I would say how I have a gratitude journal that I, everyday I have three things I, I, I put in there that I’m grateful for. It gives me that that moment to reflect each morning and it kind of puts me in a really positive mood cuz it, it makes everything I’m doing all worthwhile. When you can take a pause and say, all right, this is, this is why I’m doing it. This is why I’m grateful because I’ve worked hard and to be able to do this or achieve that. And so that’s just something simple just gives me good positive mindset to start each day and helps with, uh, you know, with, with my goals as well.

Reed Goossens (33:47):

I love it being, taking that time to reflect in the morning to understand the journey you’re on and, and where you’ve come from is, is, is sometimes a lot of people forget that. So including myself. So awesome answer question number two. Is who did the most influential person in your career today?

Ryan McKenna (34:00):

Oh, wow. Tat’s that’s uh, I, I would probably have to say my father just with being in the business, you know, just the way he raised me. Um, just all the support and my mom too. I mean, she’s been a huge help and, uh, I, I think just, I, I couldn’t have asked for, you know, two better role models and just, uh, you know, not only in life but business. And so there’s a lot of is, you know, what I’ve derived from those experiences and, and I’ve learned a lot from others too, but you kind of take it, make it your own, but I think I’d say my parents have been there the most and, and given me the most, you know, influence over the years. So that that’s the what I’m going.

Reed Goossens (34:34):

Thanks, mom and dad

Ryan McKenna (34:36):

Yeah. Question,

Reed Goossens (34:38):

Question. Number three is what’s the most influential tool in your business? And when I say a tool, it could be a phone, like a physical tool, like a phone or journal, or it could be a piece of software that you just can’t run the business without. What is it?

Ryan McKenna (34:50):

We’re, we’re, we’re pretty big on, on MailChimp just with, you know, a lot of templates we use. I mean, it helps streamline our business. So I would say probably as far as, you know, for what we put together and the content we put out, that’s been a great tool for us to, to scale and also to organize things. Um, so that’s probably been the so far. I know the technology moves very quickly, but, uh, but that to date has been probably, you know, a lifesaver from, uh, for many hours of, you know, manual stuff that, that we would’ve had to do if we didn’t have it,

Reed Goossens (35:18):

Love it. IUSE mal, uh, my entire life as well. So people haven’t used it, get on there and check it out. My second last question is in one sentence, what’s been the biggest failure in your career to date. And what’d you learn from that failure?

Ryan McKenna (35:31):

I would say probably the biggest failure has been trying to do everything myself , you know, and, and part of it is like, you know, wanting to have that control and, and realizing that, you know, when you let go of that, you, you know, you can free up more of your time. You can help others grow. And, and that’s just, it’s been something really hard when, um, you know, I’ve always been driven like, oh, I want to do it. And, and when we talk about scaling a business, like you need to bring in other people, you need to bring other help in. And so, so my, my, I think I’ve put too much stress on myself to do it all, you know, my perfectly and the way I want it versus like, I’d rather have someone else do it. They do it 80, 90% of the way that you would do it.

Ryan McKenna (36:09):

And you free up your time. You’re in a much better place and you give someone a great opportunity. So that’s what I’m kind of, you know, seen and, and learning. But it’s, it’s, it’s my, mentality’s always like, you know, I set a goal, I’m gonna go out, focus in on it, I’m gonna achieve it. I’m gonna figure out a way. And I, you know, kind co put blinders on other things, but, you know, as, as I get older and wiser, you learn there’s other more efficient ways to probably do it. And, and you gotta let go as well.

Reed Goossens (36:33):

That’s that’s I mate, you and I both, we probably cut from the same cloth. I, uh, I’m in the same, same pivot right now. Uh, last question mate is where can people reach you to continue the conversation they wanna be in your sphere? Where do they go? So

Ryan McKenna (36:45):

They can go to McKennaCapital.com. It’s our website. And from there, you know, they can connect with me, uh, follow us on, on all the different social sites. Uh, but that’s probably the best way to just connect, get some more educational content. And, uh, we sync up there.

Reed Goossens (36:58):

Awesome. Mate, look, I wanna thank you so much for jumping on the show today. Wanna reflect some of the things that I took away from today’s show. I think, you know, knowing you personally and seeing your growth over the years, you’ve done super well with what, what you’ve built at McKenna Capital. So first and foremost, kudos to you. I think that the other big thing is your ability to look at diversifying and helping your investors diversify into other asset, knowing that the core nucleus of your business is multi-family real estate, but then branching out into mul, you know, mobile home parks or self storage or car washes, and now evolving into, you know, the cryptocurrencies of the world and being on that cutting edge technology front to, to see what’s coming down the line and then hearing about your venture capital stuff. I think to me, that’s, you, you are really diversified, like not only your risk, but your investor’s risk and you get to sort of have your cake and eat it too. So you, you get a bit of, bit of, bit of all the, the best world and you know, what your role is, right? Your role is to be a support there. So, um, it’s, I think it’s really, really important. And then what you said earlier about investing in people and entrepreneurs first and foremost, and then, you know, obviously diving into the numbers is really important, but making sure you trust the operators is as a passive investor, 100%, like one of the keys takeaways to, to, to this conversation. So did I leave anything out?

Ryan McKenna (38:09):

No, I think you pretty good recap there and, uh, yeah, this was great. I really appreciate you having me on your show here. And, uh, it’s always good to catch up and connect and, uh, yeah, thanks again.

Reed Goossens (38:18):

My pleasure, mate. Well, look, enjoy the rest of your week and we will catch up very, very soon.

Ryan McKenna (38:24):

Sounds good, Reed.

Reed Goossens (38:25):

Well, they, you have another cracking episode jam pack with some incredible advice from Ryan. If you do want to go check him out, it’s McKennaCapital.com. He’s got all over social media, LinkedIn, uh, Twitter, as you mentioned earlier, check him out, check out what he’s doing over there. It’s incredible stuff. All the notes from today’s episode will be on my website at well, as well as reedgoossens.com. If you like this show, the easiest way to give back is to give it a five star review on iTunes, and we’re gonna do it all again next week. So remember be bold, be brave, and go give life a crack.