RG 322 – Building a Business Without Leaving Your Career with Vikram Raya

We’re psyched to have an old friend on the show today, none other than the all-around all-star Vikram Raya!

Vikram excels in just about anything. He is a cardiologist, high-performance coach, international speaker, functional medicine specialist, and avid real estate investor. He has raised over $100 million in private equity and spearheads Viking Capital, a real estate company that helps busy physicians create multi-general wealth through multifamily investments.

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How does Vikram do it? In this week’s interview, Vikram and I talk about his journey of being a cardiologist while building up multiple businesses from scratch. We touch on what it’s like combining his career and his business, becoming an entrepreneur with traditional family background, the steps to scaling up, and so much more. 

Starting a business doesn’t mean you should quit your first passion. Tune in to this episode to learn how Vikram managed to balance the best of both of his worlds.

Key Takeaways

• You don’t have to separate your day job from your business to be successful in both.

• When you have multiple passions, focus on what’s easy, lucrative, and fun (ELF) and avoid things that are hard, annoying, lame, and frustrating (HALF).

• Figure out what you’re good at and find people who can help you build your vision.

• When you hit a plateau, regroup, reach out to others, and find a way to figure out how to break through the ceiling.

LINKS
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikramraya/
https://www.vikingcapllc.com/
https://vikramraya.com/

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

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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 may be 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,

Vikram Raya (00:41):

I would ask your listeners when, when there have multiple interests and multiple passions, figure out, uh, use two, two frameworks. One is L one is half El means easy, lucrative and fun. Go toward things that are, that, that it’s effortless for. You that’s effort for others. Go go things that are gonna make you bunny without you have to actually work that hard because you love what you’re doing. And you’re good at it and avoid things that are half hard, annoying, lame, and frustrating.

Speaker 3 (01:17):

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-getters risk takers and the best in the business about their journey towards financial freedom and the sheer joy of creating something from nothing.

Reed Goossens (01:38):

Good day good day. a Ladies and gentlemen, on welcome to another cracking edition of investing in the US podcast from Los Angeles. I’m your host reed goossens good as always every with us on the show. Now I’m glad that you’ve all tuned into it to 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 flow, and ultimately created extraordinary 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 (02:25):

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 bots. 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 wherever 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, but 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 (03:12):

Today. The show are the pleasure of speaking with a really good friend of mine. Vikram Raya. Now Vikram is the Swiss army knife. When it comes to being a successful human, he is a trained cardiologist, functional medicine physician, high performance coach, and an avid real estate investment. He’s raised over a hundred million in private equity from high networth individuals across the countries, doctors and other professionals who are really looking to make their money work for them more and to diversify their investments. He is also the CEO of Viking capital, a real estate investment group located in Washington, DC. I’m really pumped and excited to have him on the show today. We’ve been friends for many, many years, but it’s the first time he’s been on this show. So big round applause, get a Vikram. Welcome to the show, mate. How you doing?

Vikram Raya (03:53):

It’s awesome to be here. Reed let’s let’s do this man. Let’s let’s rock your audience.

Reed Goossens (03:58):

Let’s rock it. I was, uh, I was just, as I mentioned, we’ve been mates for a couple of years now. We’ve been, we’ve done deals together. I’ve spoken on your stage, but I hadn’t had you on the show. You you’re such a successful human that I, I, I, it’s hard to track you down. You’re just in Italy for a month. Tell us a little bit about what’s been going on.

Vikram Raya (04:15):

Yeah. Um, you know, it’s, uh, whe when, when markets are in flux and there’s, there’s concern a lot of trepidation out there, some people shrink, um, me and you we’re smiling. We’re, we’re getting excited because now that the, the, the, uh, you know, the seasonal players have left the true players who, who, who who’ve been in this, in the, in, in the grind for the last 7, 8, 9 years, uh, we’re smiling because there’s opportunities to be had. And so I was like, let me get some little bit R and R. And I also, you know, I, I teach a concept to my, a lot of my coaching clients. It’s called the five freedoms, and we’ll just start with that. And then we’ll, then we’ll jump into, uh, what what’s, what’s ahead on the horizon, but read, I believe in, you know, obviously financial freedom. That’s what we’re doing, the real estate thing.

Vikram Raya (05:03):

But on more than that, I would love to have time freedom, like literally do whatever I want when I want finally location freedom. Like, you know, you’re you, I, I have a hard time finding you, man. I’m like, where in the world is Reed today? And I’m spinning the globe and throwing some darts there. And then it’s, it’s, it’s the resilience that I’ve seen you ex uh, exhibit reed, you’ve gone through, you know, cycles and, and challenges and obstacles. And you just, you’re like a Mac truck. You just keep busting through. And that inspires me as well. So I love that Bulletproof resilient mindset you have. And the final thing is, I mean, when you’re on stage, man, uh, not only are people listening to your voice, but man, they’re like, man, this guy’s jacked. He’s fit. He’s physically, he’s a surfer. He, he is ready to go.

Vikram Raya (05:50):

So that vitality freedom is what we’re all looking for as well. So I think these things are, what if I, if things are, uh, allowing me to go toward that, I say, it’s a hell. Yes. If, if things are taking me away from these freedoms, it’s a, it’s a no for me, mm-hmm . And so I wanted to charge up my batteries. And so I wanted to test if I really had these freedoms. So I said, I’m gonna disconnect from Viking, my real estate company, disconnect from my, uh, coaching company and let my team run it. And me and my family are gonna go and enjoy Italy world class. And it was awesome. We, we, we really had a great time, but now look, it’s time to get back and get back to business. So, uh, Reed, I know you’re so crushing some deals we are as well. And I think that yes, interest rates are going up. Yes, there’s a economic correction. Yes. You know, there’s uncertainty, but there’s opportunities to be had

Reed Goossens (06:41):

100%. And, and there’s a lot of things to unpack there. And, and one of the things that, you know, attracted me to you when we first met many years ago, when we did the, the, the reserve deal, uh, which was hands down, the best deal I’ve ever done in my entire life, five and a half cap in Austin, we only get with it , but, but I’ve seen you grow in such a, in such a way that you’ve sort of kept pushing yourself. And, and we’ve had many discussions at your boot camps and at your, um, conferences in and around how you’ve grown your team and how you become a better version of yourself or everything through, from health, uh, through to mindset and, and, and those five freedoms. But bef you know, I wanna rewind it a little bit, you know, like walk me through the early stages of VRA and how you got to this point, because, you know, someone just tuning in right now be going, wow, million miles an hour, Vikram’s coming at me all this energy, but you obviously weren’t like that. Right. You have a story behind you. You have a, an evolution that has got you to this point. So maybe walk the listeners through what that is, and, and in your background and in medicine and, and how that’s gotten you UA, you are today.

Vikram Raya (07:40):

So, uh, my parents and I, we came from, uh, India, uh, you know, at a very young age. And then when we, when I got here, you know, my, my parents really had to work their tail off. And, you know, dad was an engineer. Mom just was a more of a housewife, but then she, you know, had some small jobs and, uh, money for whatever reason caused a lot of discord in our family. There’s a ton of discussion around money. How much of it, oh, like, you know, like the scarcity, the lack of money. And, you know, my dad wanted to be sort of an entrepreneur, but he was stuck in a, like a W2. My mom was really risk averse and that just boated for like huge arguments and concern. And, and I remember listening to this and, you know, I’m like, man, I wanna figure out this thing called money, because it’s obviously causing a lot of problems if you don’t.

Vikram Raya (08:32):

And, um, you know, uh, as, as, as I, as I went through with my training and figuring out things, uh, we had so many people in my family have heart attacks. I’m like, oh, well, let me study that as well. Cuz that’s important. And so I became a cardiologist and while I was training in cardiology, um, I was in Milwaukee and I was like, I was trying to sort of frustrated the fact that I seeing all my friends around me, you know, their investment bankers or, you know, they’re, they’re all successful consultants management, consult, consult, they’re doing all this stuff and I’m still like, you know, $30,000 a year , you know, struggling. And, and I was like, man, I need to figure out how to make some extra money on the side. And so no, I, I moonlighted, which is just essentially, you know, doing odd jobs as a physician outside of your main career.

Vikram Raya (09:15):

But then, um, I had an idea. I was like, I, I, I found this like long term like care facility and they were looking for a lot of doctors. They didn’t know where to find them. I’m like, dude, I know a lot of doctors who are looking for physicians. I’m like, why don’t I do this? So I, I, I secured a contract with my company, which I figured out how to create an LLC. I created a company. I said, okay, I will provide you all the doctors you need. And here’s my fee for each doctor I bring. And so that was the first company I ever started. And it was like, oh, this is pretty cool. And the cool thing was, uh, three years later when I finished training, I had to leave. I sold my contract to another, another young doctor and he paid for it and I’m like, whoa, this is there’s something to this thing. And so that’s what, like, that’s what I realized, like the, you know, your brain can create more riches than, than amount of hours you work.

Reed Goossens (10:03):

How much of that upbringing wanted made you move away from that pain? You know, like I, I grew up in a pretty middle class family as well, both high school teachers, you know, money was, it felt like there wasn’t a lot of it, right. Secondhand cars growing up. Yes. You know, like, you know, just buying secondhand clothing and not that we were struggling so to speak, but you just, you had that sense of like, yeah, we weren’t, we weren’t the wealthiest guys.

Vikram Raya (10:30):

You, you, you have to be CA you have to be cautious. And then they were talk about people like, oh, look at them. They’re wealthy. Look at those guys. Look at those. You need to be like, you need to work hard. You need to study, you need to go to school and be a, you know, and then it’s like, you know, it, it does make it impression. Sounds like, like it made an impression on you read, it made an impression on me. Um, it felt like, you know, there’s a certain thing you had to do to achieve certain kind of wealth. And, and I don’t think that was the wealth code I cracked. It was really reading the books. Like you’ve read the, the Kiyosaki, the, uh, Rich’s man and Babylons these kind of books. And self-development that sort really started unlocking my mind. And then I had to learn to think differently in order to become different.

Vikram Raya (11:17):

And, uh, the doctors, I know the only way they know how to make more money is kill themselves in the hospital or kill themselves in the clinics. And then, and, and some doctors started doing things that were not kosher and just increase their income, you know? And at that point I made a, I drew a line in the Sam like, look, I’m gonna earn my income outside of medicine. And I wanna practice medicine because for the love of the game, for the passion. And, and once I made that decision, then I was on a search. I was on a search for the holy grail and I tried options trading. I got my like handed to me. Uh, and, and then I was like, all right, what else? I’m like, well, I know a lot of smart, not, not, I know a lot of not smart people.

Vikram Raya (12:02):

Who’ve crushed in real estate. I’m like, okay, may you know, I’m, I’m a pretty smart guy. I worked, I went to medical school. I can figure this out. So that’s where I, I dove in and I tried single, single family investing and, and I did some fix and flips. And I did that with my dad and it made sense. But then I was like, this is still like, I’m not gonna really like, be able to retire from a couple of single family homes. It was all like, what’s the next step? And I heard this guy speak about something called syndications and multi-family. And I thought it was illegal first, cuz I was like, dude, this I don’t, I’ve never heard of anyone talking about this stuff. And this was in like 20 15, 20 14 where you know now like, you know, you can, you run into a syndicator every, on every doorstep now, so , but uh, it was, it was sort of new back then and, and, and definitely no one of a proper profession was doing it, you know, mm-hmm .

Vikram Raya (12:52):

And so, uh, that seed, uh, stuck. And then once I sort of sort of maxed out my capabilities of the single family thing, I switched over to that and everyone was telling me, don’t tell anyone you do real estate. Don’t tell anyone, you’re a doctor. Don’t use what you are in what you’re trying to do. You have to keep everything separate. And it was not until I realized, look, that’s why would I take my, my advantage and put it away? You know? And so once I realize as a physician, I can harness other physicians and bring them to the investments I’m doing. That’s when the whole, the whole lot opened up the Pandora’s box opened up.

Reed Goossens (13:30):

How much and assets under management do you have today with Viking Capital?

Vikram Raya (13:34):

We have 650 million, uh, of transactions we’ve done. Yeah.

Reed Goossens (13:37):

That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Now it, it’s a great indication of how you can apply yourself and you, I can already feel the energy through the camera and, and every time I’m I’m around you, I, I can feel that energy that can do attitude, but I could also imagine coming from an Indian background, you know, very much traditional of like go to school, get a job that when you started going down this other path that people were like, what is he doing? Like, you’re a physician man. Like just, just stick to your lane. And don’t, don’t, don’t rock the boat. So to speak. Was there any of that type of chat going on back when, uh, back when gonna get started?

Vikram Raya (14:10):

You know, I was on a recent podcast and someone asked me that, that, uh, that question and, uh, you know, it, it made me pause and reflect Reed cuz I was like, oh, okay. Uh, well first my wife was like, are you sure? Does this make sense? But she was supportive. And then my, my dad always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but it, he, you know, he had to provide for the family. And so it’s usually the it’s, it’s usually the first generation that makes the opportunities for the second generation. So I have to thank my dad for that. So he allowed me to, you know, do things that were probably his dreams as well. Um, but that being said, the person that really was upset was my mom. She’s like her whole dream was become for me to be a doctor. And then more than that at card, oh my God.

Vikram Raya (14:48):

Cardiologist is great. And then I’m like, mom trying to move on into a different direction. She’s like, oh, that looked that’s risky. That’s crazy. What are you doing? Like you’re making good money. You, you know, and then, but I’ll tell you who really, uh, called me out. It’s my colleagues, my peers, other physicians thought I was ludicrous. I thought was crazy. They, they, they were trying to fill my head with all this negativity, concern, uh, question. And, uh, and, and, and I, I think it happens in any, any person’s career when you’re in one career and you’re trying to pivot into another, there’s always this inertia and this like, um, resistance you get from everyone around you.

Reed Goossens (15:29):

No, and I think it’s a little bit of jealousy, right? Because you are taking that action of pushing yourself to, to, to, to do more and be more. And they’re like, why are you doing that? I now either take me with you or I’m gonna, you know, burn your boat. I’m gonna burn your boat for you. Cause I don’t want you to leave. I want you to stay with me in this. Exactly what I think is, is the best spot in life. But, um, but that’s incredible, but now let’s, let’s, let’s pivot into what you said earlier, which I thought was, was kind of really, you know, the love for the game. You clearly are a physician at heart and you do love everything about being, um, with health mindset or, you know, meditation, all that sort of stuff. So to now talk about how you’ve pivoted and, and you’ve got limitless, MED you have your, uh, coaching business. How has that evolved for you as an entrepreneur, continuing to be curious about different things as you start creating and, and going down this path of entrepreneurship.

Vikram Raya (16:22):

So, uh, uh, when I was out Italy, uh, I, I, I picked up Walter Isaacson’s, uh, li out DaVinci and I was reading the book, you know, in Florence. And I was just, it was just, I was just really, I, I felt like en Vogue with these Renaissance guys. And I like, you know, uh, Reed, you have so many freaking skill sets. You know, a lot of our friends that we know, like, you know, Dan Hanford, I mean the guy , so we have so many friends that are like actually good at multiple skills. And so I think it’s okay to do this, but you have to do it in the right way. So what I’ve realized is you need sequential successes and then you have to build, bring in systems and teams. And once you hit a certain threshold, then you can take on another role, another task, another thing, um, uh, we ended up seeing Richard Branson’s house in lake Cuomo and I’m like, Richard Branson has 500 companies.

Vikram Raya (17:14):

I think I can figure out how to run two or three. Right. so, yeah. Yeah. Uh, it’s it’s I think you have to do things that are in an alignment. So the easiest thing is find comp things are complimentary, right? So like, you know, it’s like, Hey, you own a, uh, apartment, uh, uh, investment company, maybe a property management company could potentially be a synergistic combination. Right. And then maybe you’ll have a, a company that is dead or something, whatever. So that’s one way to think about things. The other thing is your passions. You love, I love health and wellness. And I, you know, I started after I became a cardiologist, I, I studied something called functional integrative medicine to figure out how to reverse disease. And that was like a, a complimentary second business. I started then now I’m. Then I was like, Hey, I, I wanna help doctors and other high professionals earn money in real estate.

Vikram Raya (18:01):

And so I did that, but it was the connection was I’m a doctor and I’m helping similar folks doing that. Then I’m like, doc, I wanna help doctors now in, in life, in business and success. And so I’m like, so there’s, there’s a connect. There’s a golden thread. If, if you will. So Reed, uh, figure out, I would ask your listeners when, when there have multiple interests and multiple passions, figure out, uh, use two, two frameworks. One is El. One is half, uh, El means easy, lucrative and fun go toward things that are, that, that it’s effortless for. You that’s effort for others. Go, go to things that are gonna make you bunny without you having to actually work that hard because you love what you’re doing. And you’re good at it. And avoid things that are half hard, annoying, lame, and frustrating. And what I realized was like, yeah, being a traditional doctor was sort of half for me.

Vikram Raya (18:48):

It was hard, annoying, layman, frustrating in the sense that it didn’t for the amount of hours I was putting in. I was not getting what I deserve, you know? And so I’m putting in a fraction of hours now in real estate and I’m like, you know, we’re, we’re crushing it, me and you. Right? So, and it allows me to have the free time then to pursue other passions and interests, which also, you know, lucrative and easy and fun. And so it, that’s the name of the game to a, to be of service, to the most amount of people and create enough income because you’ve created enough value for others. And, and essentially a rising tide raises all boats. And that’s why we’re, I’m trying to not only help myself help my tenants, help my community, help doctors, help physicians help my coaching clients. And then, um, just pay it forward

Reed Goossens (19:35):

For those of you who are interested in staying up to date with all the latest happenings in my business, or to learn more about passively investing directly into my multifamily value, add deals, then head over to reed gin’s dot com and sign up for my monthly newsletter by signing up, you’ll 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 in the United States and much, much more. So head over to reedgoossens.com and sign up date. Now back into the show, when will be enough for you.

Vikram Raya (20:14):

Uh, I already have enough like five years ago. I, I mean, and this I’m not necessarily like the wealthiest person in the world, I feel wealthy because of what I do. Uh, and, and the people I’m around. Like I get to talk to people like you, you know, on a daily basis, I go to go to conferences and, and it’s fun for me. I get to travel. I get to I’m posting stuff on Instagram, uh, that I think will help people. Um, uh, you know, I go to, you know, I read books all the time and I, it, I know the books I’m reading will actually help my business, my mindset, others. Um, I’m, I’m, I’m, you know, both me and you are very into charity. We do Phil philanthropic work and it’s, it’s like, everything we’re doing is sort of a, a, a, it’s like, it’s a pleasure and it’s a gift. And so I guess it’s more about how much more can I squeeze out me versus how much is enough,

Reed Goossens (21:05):

Right? No, no, no, it’s a good, because the, the outsider would think, and, and I know this because I’m, I’m shiny objects syndrome all the bloody time, right? Like I’m, and, and you get, so you, you get so distracted with so many things. And I, I, I, I, I see you as a guy that, that has that, uh, you know, curiosity all the time. You wanna keep scratching and keep giving. And I think that helps you propel forward and the book who not, how figuring out who you need to bring on board to help you go off and do things that you are passionate about. You can give back to more people, you know, you can reach a bigger, a wider audience. So, um, I think that takes a certain type of person, but I also, I understand how hard it is to build, you know, the, the empire, so to speak. So, um, yeah. So I guess what has been some of the struggles as you’ve been building this over the years, because we all can talk about success. Success is great. Everyone’s like, yeah, great, great success. But what have been the actual, some of the struggles that you’ve found building Viking, building limitless, building your coaching business? What, what, what, what has it been,

Vikram Raya (22:01):

Uh, the perceived, uh, limits, the perceived ceilings that we all have and these plateaus, uh, well, they’re not plateaus initially. You think of them as ceilings, and then once you burst burst through them, then you’re like, oh, that was just a plateau. Uh, so, uh, I’m a visionary and sounds like you’re you, you’re one of those unicorns. You’re probably a visionary integrator. You can do both. Probably

Reed Goossens (22:24):

.

Vikram Raya (22:24):

I don’t know. I, I don’t know what you are. You’re probably both, aren’t you.

Reed Goossens (22:28):

I, I, I am, I’ve done, uh, the dis score and I am, but I need to go into my, into my more visionary role and let someone else do the integration.

Vikram Raya (22:35):

So I can be an integrator, but I don’t think I’m the best integrator. And it was really realizing these terms, these terminologies and realizing there’s there’s patterns of business, there’s patterns of success. Right, exactly. Uh, and it’s, it’s figuring out what you’re good at. What’s your personal’s about your skills and then finding others who can help you in your mission and vision in life. And so, thankfully I found Ravi and Viking, and now I found another, uh, amazing, uh, doctor named UN Keith. Who’s a, a, uh, uh, anesthesiologist at duke. And so he’s coming in my coaching business, but he also is a working now, now that, uh, we we’re having a lot more physicians joining Viking. He’s now the physician investor liaison for them now. So it’s like, it, it, it’s, it’s a beautiful thing that I, now I have team members who, who are amazing.

Vikram Raya (23:22):

I found like, um, our marketing guy who’s like, he he’s like everything. He touched turns the gold. And so, but we’ve had to go through so much pain to find people like that. And, um, and, and sometimes everything’s going great. And then you say shiny object syndrome. So if you’re not, if you’re not evolving, you’re decaying. And so what I realized was I have to keep testing and pushing and, and, and, and, and, and moving forward. But as I do that, sometimes I break things. And so I broke Viking for about a couple of months, and we’re like, oh, we’re no investors, uh, like what’s going on. Or like, our deals are not like, I mean, there’s some resistance. I didn’t know what it was. And then you, you have to just persevere and, and talk

Reed Goossens (24:05):

To me about that. What, what happened? How did, how did it go? How did that, how did that come about? What, what was the sort of looking back? What, what happened?

Vikram Raya (24:11):

It’s, it’s not knowing having a pulse on your coaches, on your clients, not having a pulse on your investors, it’s it, it’s, it’s, it’s acting, uh, based on your thinking versus, uh, getting feedback from your, your tribe and what I realized, like, one of the things like, um, you know, we have this amazing fund that we’re, we’re, we’re launching, uh, it’s called the Viking wealth fund, and we have two deals in it. We have, we just, uh, are about to close on our third and it’s a great fund. And, uh, it’s almost filled up, but, uh, what we’ve realized is our, our investors love this for sure, but they actually still love the single asset deals. And we’re gonna go back to that single asset, because that’s what they, they like, it’s interesting. So, I mean, the fund is there and, and we may do another fund too, but, uh, the we’re not gonna let go of the single assets, which initially was our thought process.

Vikram Raya (24:59):

And the reason is we have so much investor feedback saying, Hey, we want the, the single assets. And so this is where if I had listened to my investor in the first place, maybe I would’ve done things a little differently. I don’t know. Mm. So it’s, it’s, these are the kind of things. Also, I, we went to a different marketing company based on extensive research, and they promised the moon and we’re like, all right, let’s go. And, and then, and then they, they felt flat on their face. And a delay in marketing in our field is, you know, can be potentially, uh, you know, uh, life, life threatening in, in, in multifamily, cuz really we’re at the stage where, you know, our whole country, the whole United States is, is our investor base. And so , we have to be being in front of them, reaching out to them, educating them, empowering them, inviting them in, and then, you know, asking to join our, our, our, our tribe, if you will.

Vikram Raya (25:53):

So, uh, and then we went, we switched also, uh, going from, uh, one, uh, investor platform, our portal for our investors, uh, to another one, uh, and all, all the, so like we had essentially did about six different changes all at once at Viking and, you know, in a, in a 90 day span and it was, it was, and we also had a personnel change. So mm-hmm, , it, it, it was a lot of stress and I was questioning a lot of things, but, uh, you just have to put out the fires, you guys have to reassess, you have to use all the books, you’ve read and extract the knowledge instead of just reading them, apply them. And then you reach out to your mentors and your colleagues, and then you’re like, you know what, we can figure this out. And we did, and now we’re actually stronger than we ever were. So it’s these scars, these battle scars, uh, give you the courage to, you know, uh, actually be more successful than you ever could be.

Reed Goossens (26:48):

It’s, it’s so interesting when you, you, you probably know and, and talk a lot about with your coaching and, and probably limitless MD your alignment, right. And, and it’s not until you go through an alignment shift, I’ve had a different alignment shift recently, which you personally know about, um, that you realize you were never in the right alignment from the beginning, because you, maybe back when you made the decision, you thought that was the easy decision, because yes, it’s gonna that marketing. Company’s gonna knock it outta the park and it’s easy and they fell flat in their face. And it sort of was like the, if you really, really thought about it, maybe that wasn’t the most aligned in alignment with what you wanted to achieve and bringing that maybe more in house and talking more to your investors and understanding where the rub is versus a fund versus individual assets, was all the answers you needed to push you on another direction and chart another course with a different team member and, and it’s, and it’s hard.

Reed Goossens (27:39):

And it’s challenging to, to, to have that mirror in front of your face, but you need sometimes to go through those things in order to, to go off and be better, like what you’re doing now and, and start breaking that ceiling, which you just mentioned earlier, you know, you didn’t mean it was ceiling, it was more of a plateau. So I really, again, I’ve admired a lot of your work that you’ve done over the last eight, nine years that we’ve, we haven’t known each other eight, nine years, but we’ve known each other since, you know, probably 2018 to the last three or four years. So seeing you grow and then continue to have the hunger to, to, to build other businesses is extremely, um, influential, you know, so it’s so well done. You’ve definitely been an influence on my life where where’s the business going in the next couple of years? What, what’s the sort of the big picture now? Do you, do you have one or is it just more picking up the pieces as you go and figuring it out year and year?

Vikram Raya (28:24):

Yeah, I think, uh, the more clarity, uh, I think your listeners have the more power they have and, uh, uh, clarity is also kindness and that’s a new one I’ve heard. So what that means is, uh, if you have a clear vision, then you you’re gonna have buy-in and alignment with, from your team as well. Uh, because they wanna know exactly like if people have clarity, then they can accelerate toward those goals. And so, uh, you know, we do an annual, you know, you know, goal setting thing. Uh, actually I wanna recommend a resource to all of your listeners right now. There’s something called life book it’s, um, everyone does goal setting, but the, this guy named John butcher really takes it to the next level. He essentially, uh, has isolated 12 main categories most people have in their life. And, uh, he takes you through a process where you clearly identify, you know, sort of your belief systems, um, you know, your vision, um, and, and sort of the strategy to achieve that vision.

Vikram Raya (29:20):

And, and he wants you to, like, it’s almost like, think about it as, um, a, a, a vision board meets, um, you know, uh, Cameron, uh, I forgot his name. Uh, he, he, he wrote the book vivid vision where you describe it, uh, in so beautiful detail on with like, uh, Tony Robbins’s like massive action plan, all in one thing. And so, um, it, I’m, I’m going through that right now, but it, it, something like that, it doesn’t have to be as formalized as I just mentioned, but doing that consistently, uh, what it happens is your subconscious brain then connects with your, your, your present, you know, your, your, your prefrontal cortex and, and you’re sort of drawn toward this destination that you’ve sort of pinned and, and, and sort of, uh, created in, in your mind only. And, uh, so my goal for Viking is essentially we want to hit, obviously the there’s a, there’s a holy grill in, in, in multifamily, the 10,000 doors, obviously. So you, it’s a good, I used to think that was the end goal. And, and now I, the more and more I talk about m , with, with my mentors, they’re like, oh, that’s when you get started

Reed Goossens (30:29):

.

Vikram Raya (30:30):

And so, and so, you know, I think it’s a good goal. It’s great. Um, I, I would like to take, uh, uh, I like to take, uh, limitless MD to become the number one, um, coaching platform for physicians worldwide. Um, wow. And then I, I would like to take a piece of book from, uh, there there’s, there’s a couple of people. I, I admire, uh, Tom Billue, uh, a guy named Alex formo grant Cardone. And one of the things I notice is people stop buying assets, stop buying real estate, they start buying companies. And so I’m thinking I would love to be, get equity in multiple companies that I have, like a, a passion or interested in like something that I’m, you know, I, I really care about and, and help them succeed and grow. And I don’t want salary or money. I just want equity. And that’s what I’m thinking, you know, over time. And, you know, maybe you can just invest your own money, like a venture capital or something like that. But instead of that, I would love to, for my services of them being sort of on their board and, you know, helping them succeed, maybe be, you know, get equity. And so it, it get, create a portfolio of companies, uh, that are in alignment with my values.

Reed Goossens (31:36):

Yep. No, I, I, it’s funny you say that, cuz it’s, I’ve also got to that stage where I’m looking 10 years down the, around the corner and I see exactly the same thing. Like there’s obviously building the, the empire of, of the, the, the multifamily assets under management, but there’s also other assets classes. And then there’s also interests outside of, of, of real estate in businesses that you can continue growing that, you know, ecosystem of businesses. Right? Cause you then also reduce risk for yourself and your, your personal family’s, uh, finances, but it’s also helps you scratch an itch that you want to be surrounded in these companies that are doing good for the world or in your alignment. So, awesome, awesome stuff, Matt. I know you’ve got some incredible things coming down the road. I can’t wait to see you continue to flourish and, and, you know, step into the person I know you’re meant to be. Um, but with that being said, we do like to round out the show with the top five investing tips, you ready to get into

Vikram Raya (32:25):

It? Let’s do it, man.

Reed Goossens (32:26):

Mate, maybe the number one habit you practice to keep on track towards your goals.

Vikram Raya (32:31):

Uh, it’s called magic time. Magic time is essentially, uh, do the opposite of what everyone says, stop doing the morning routine and do the anti morning routine. So the anti-war routine is you drink water and you get to work. And literally you spend the first 30 minutes of your day before your meditation. You’re journaling, you’re, you know, one finger pushups. And you’re actually doing, uh, meaningful work on your number one goal for that year. And, and we call this UI time, not urgent, but important time. And if you just do this one activity, it will literally change your, your, your year, this year or your last next time you days. So, uh, like, uh, my, uh, my morning time right now has worked on that, that, uh, that life book. So I’m literally creating that life book every morning, cuz it’s, you know, 12 different categories.

Vikram Raya (33:26):

It’s pretty extensive. So that’s what I’m doing like right now. And then if, if, if it’s not that then I’ll work on something else. But something where it’s like, it’s the goal, the big goal I’m going after. It’s like, I’m, I’m you chunk it down into mini segments and you just, you chip away at it and you do it. First thing you know, they say, you know, eat that frog, right? Eat. If you have to do eat something, you have to do something unpleasant might as well do the worst UN most unpleasant thing first. And Tim Ferris says this make a list of five things that scare you or, or, or you’re procrastinate upon and then go tackle the worst one.

Reed Goossens (34:00):

Mm-hmm . Yep. No, I love it. I love it. Question number two is who’s the most influential person in your career to date?

Vikram Raya (34:07):

Uh, I want all your listeners to look up this guy, Alex for mosey, he wrote a book called a hundred million offers. Uh, this guy is phenomenal. He, he has a company called acquisitions.com. He made his money and, and, and, and doing gym turnarounds. And then he’s become a coach and you know, an entrepreneur, but then, uh, he’s created this thing called, uh, acquisitions.com where literally he’s giving all his knowledge and education away for free. And so he has all his like channels you wanna, uh, catch in on. But the cool thing is, uh, if you hit the $5 million mark he wants then help your company go to like the 50 or a hundred billion mark. And, uh, I don’t know, the guy is just amazing. And I love the fact that everything he’s giving for free is so valuable. And so I, I I’m like drinking everything he’s saying right now.

Reed Goossens (34:54):

Awesome. Alex Hermo right.

Vikram Raya (34:56):

Or Mo

Reed Goossens (34:58):

Hermo awesome stuff. Question number three is what’s the most influential tool in your business. So it could be a tool like a physical tool, phone journal that you can’t run the business without, or it could be a piece of software. What is it?

Vikram Raya (35:09):

Uh, it’s it’s right behind you to your left, uh, S traction, uh, and, uh, a lot of people for, okay. Number one, go ahead and read the book. And if you don’t choose traction, choose E myth. If you don’t choose emo, choose scaling up by Verne Harnish. I don’t care what you choose. There’s something called 12 week year, um, choose a business system operating system for your company. Um, number two, uh, if you’re gonna do it go all the way, don’t be half halfass at it because, uh, we were reading traction. We had it on our shelf for years, but it was not until I hired actual official implementer to come into our company. That boom things really started happening

Reed Goossens (35:49):

And, and, and shaking up by the sounds of it as well. Oh yeah. That’s awesome. Question number four in one sentence, what’s been the biggest failure in your career and what’d you learn from that failure?

Vikram Raya (36:00):

Uh, a lot of failures. Um, one of the biggest ones was, uh, during, uh, the COVID crisis, the pandemic I was running a, I had sort of left cardiology. I was running this car, really cutting edge cardiometabolic clinic, reversing disease, you know, in a physical location. I was trying to run, um, Viking capital as well. And, uh, and I was, uh, early stages of this coaching business. And one, I was really over leveraged with too many activities. All at once. Simultaneous activity is, is a killer to success. Sequential sequential building of companies works not simultaneous. Uh, number two, it was, it was the, I was, I was, I thought I was meant to be a doctor for the rest of my life. And I, that was my identity. And it was when your identity becomes a prisoner versus a sculptor is when you is when you’re in trouble. So I, I realized that I am Viro Maria, and I can do all these things and being a doctor, just one of the many things I can do and is by letting go of being a, uh, just, uh, just a doctor, which, you know, it is a big deal for a lot folks, but it allowed me to embrace these new identities. And then I exploded all my other companies.

Reed Goossens (37:11):

That’s awesome. That’s incredible. That’s incredible, mate. Last question. Where can people reach you to continue the conversation that wanna be in your sphere? Where do they go?

Vikram Raya (37:20):

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, to, uh, I have my, my personal website, vikramraya.com. Uh, I have tons of free resources and great information on there. Uh, please join me there. And then if you’re interested in learning about investing and, and, and multifamily and, and growing your wealth Viking, multifamily.com

Reed Goossens (37:38):

Fighting. Awesome, mate. Well, look, I wanna thank you for jumping on the show today. I just wanna reflect some of the things that I took away from the today today’s conversation. I think sequential success. I think that is an underlying theme that so many people like yourself, you have, everyone has shiny objects being an entrepreneur, but you do it sequentially, right? You’re not just going out and scatter, shoting it all. And trying to do everything at once. You’re doing it. Once you build success in one region, you’re then moving onto the success in the second region and then a third region. I think that is very, very key. Also how you’ve been able to, I think personally adapt yourself away from just being the doctor right away from being what your mom wanted you to do, or what your, you know, former colleagues want you to do. And you went into being the better version of yourself. And I think, again, as a, as a personal friend of yours, seeing you grow and, and seeing all the success you have, I just applaud you for what you’re doing, because you are challenging yourself in so many awesome ways to then serve others. Um, so, and then I love the L and the half easy, lucrative, fun, hard, annoying, lame, frustrated, so awesome stuff, mate. Did it leave anything out?

Vikram Raya (38:39):

That’s the awesome brother. No, you’re a keen memory, man. Is, is it a memory like a, a kangaroo? I don’t know. I know what’s, what’s the animal

Reed Goossens (38:47):

Kangaroos. It’s dexterity of a hand in I’m. I’m writing it all down, mate. So I’ve got my cheat sheet here, but awesome brother, look, thank you for jumping on the today. Show, enjoy the rest of your week and we’ll catch up very, very soon.

Vikram Raya (38:58):

All right, man. Cheers.

Reed Goossens (39:00):

Well, they have another cracking episode jam back with some incredible, uh, advice from Vikram Raya. Remember head over to vikramraya.com to check out everything that he’s doing. He’s a man. You need to be around. If you don’t know who he is, go check him out. He’s on Instagram. He’s on LinkedIn. He’s on Facebook. He’s on probably on TikTok. You know, I can see that he probably dances a little bit, but definitely go check him out. I wanna thank you all for taking some time outta your day to tune in, to continue to grow your financial IQ. That’s we’re all about here on this show. We’re gonna do it all again. Next week. Remember be bold, be brave and go give life a.