048: From Green Beret to Master Marketer with David Corbaley

On last weeks episode of the InvestFourMore Real Estate Podcast I spoke with Jason Luchessi, who was a professional body builder. We discussed how many successful people were athletes or in the military. Today’s guest David Corbaley, was not just in the military, he was a green beret. David talks about his journey into an elite military unit (at least the things he can talk about), and how he eventually became a real estate investor. David built his real estate investing business very quickly, and realized he was a master marketer. He starting helping other businesses market online and built a huge business aside from real estate.

How did David become a green beret?

David entered the military at a young age. While in the military he happened to see an advertisement for elite forces. He called the recruiter who was very secretive about the program and decided to give it a shot. David went through intense training programs that were meant to weed out the week recruits. He talks about how recruits not only quit because they were not tough enough mentally, but they broke bones and suffered other injuries that forced them to quit as well. In the end 7 out of 79 people made it through the programs and David became a green beret.

David talks about how incredible it was to be in the elite forces. He was one of the most highly trained military personal in the world. When he had been in the military about ten years, he knew had to make a choice. Continue in the military for another 10 years, or try something else.

How did David get into real estate after leaving the military?

Although green beret’s are highly trained, they are not trained for civilian careers. David struggled finding work that suited him. He was a mechanic, worked in retail, installed cable and eventually became a fire fighter. Fire fighting worked well for a while, but he knew he wanted to work for himself and start a business. He figured real estate was the best way to start a business, without much capital.

David bought many real estate courses and studied them in his down time at the fire station. He learned about lease options first, and 6 months after buying a course, he did his first deal! David made $4,000 without spending any of his own money, but realized he was a one trick pony. He knew how to do lease options, but that was it. He wasn’t sure how well lease options worked for the seller, so he expanded his knowledge.

What real estate investing techniques did David learn?

David bought more courses and learned many more techniques. He learned how to use subject too’s, how to wholesale, and how to market. He warns that course can be a great way to learn, but too many people get caught up in constantly learning, without taking action.

David built a very successful real estate investing business using marketing. He marketed to sellers using bandit signs, post cards, and letters. He was doing well, but realized he was constantly chasing sellers. He had to market non-stop to bring in seller leads. If he stopped marketing, his business dried up. He knew he had to change things to build a business.

How did David build a marketing company?

David decided to build an online marketing system to get seller leads for his real estate investing. He built a website, started advertising and the leads started to come in. He continually improved his online system until he had a 7 figure business. David had something interesting happen while using his website to get real estate leads. He had other businesses start to ask him for help.

Local businesses wanted David to use his marketing techniques for their business. These were not real estate investors, but computer shop owners and other small businesses. He built his business even bigger and found even more success. David was able to build his business so that he was not doing all the day-to-day work and he was free to pursue other activities. Right now David is moving to Arizona to start renovating million dollar homes.