Episode 55: Entrepreneurship, Property Investing, and Mindset with Rene Masse 

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In this episode of The Canadian Wealth Secrets Podcast, Kyle chats with Rene Masse, a seasoned entrepreneur and investor based in Kingston, Ontario. With a diverse portfolio and full-service real estate investment offerings through Masse Property Investments, Rene specializes in multi-family properties, duplexes, and student rentals. Take some time to listen in as Rene shares his journey of acquisition, renovation, and management that has led to his success in the Kingston, Ontario real estate industry.

Entrepreneurial Roots and Mindset:

Rene’s entrepreneurial journey began in an industry far, far away from real estate, however early in his journey he recognized that he wasn’t fit for a “golden handcuffed” job. The pivotal moment that marked his entrepreneurial mindset was the shift from “who” to “how” in approaching challenges, emphasizing the importance of building a strong mindset and beliefs. Rene shares an interesting perspective regarding the power of the mind, noting that it does not distinguish between the imaginary and the real thus providing abundant thinkers an opportunity for growth. 

Unique Ability and Coaching:

Rene discussed his unique ability in real estate investment and property management, focusing on coaching and the development of a strong mindset. Drawing from his 14 years of experience, he emphasized the significance of meditation as a means to control his thoughts and handle stress which has been a crucial element for achieving success in his business.

Active Income and Business Hacks:

To ensure sufficient active income for scaling investment portfolios, Rene shared his “business hack” — a skill he honed over the years, meditation. Highlighting the importance of controlling thoughts and handling stress, he revealed that 80% of successful individuals incorporate some form of meditation into their routines.

Tax Strategies and Financial Management:

Discussing tax minimization strategies, Rene emphasized the importance of finding and implementing creative and compliant approaches. He provided insights into deductions, stressing that practically everything can be deductible. For an active company with employees, he explained the significance of Line 150 and how to maximize deductions when income comes in.

Risk Management and Long-Term Planning:

Addressing the perceived greater appetite for risk among entrepreneurs and real estate investors, Rene clarified his stance on risk, emphasizing the illusion of risks and the need for liquidity. He shared insights into managing risks through saving money on the side and investing in mortgages, pointing out that a significant portion of bank income is derived from mortgages.

What you’ll learn:

• How yet another successful entrepreneur managed to break free from the “golden handcuffs” of their 9-5 job;
• The importance of working to find the “who” for the parts of your business rather than focusing in on the “how” for the parts that don’t suit your unique abilities;
• Why mindset is crucial for entrepreneurs and investors to focus on in order to help you prepare and deal with the challenges you will encounter along the way;
• How coaching and mentorship is an incredible way to speed up the learning process that a coach or mentor has learned over thousands of hours of experience; 
• Why a corporation that earns active income is a game changer to keep up to 87 cents on every dollar earned instead of keeping 70 cents or less; and,
• How to approach the perception of risk and overcome those worries by hedging and having an appropriate emergency fund that is liquid and available if challenges arise.

Resources:

• Masse Property Investments – Connect with Rene
• Think and Grow Rich [Book]
• The Coaching Habit [Book]
• Episode 54: How to Supercharge Your Emergency Fund
• Book a Discovery Call with us so we can help you overcome your current struggle and take the next step in your financial journey
• Connected with Kyle Pearce on LinkedIn for daily posts and conversations about business, finance, and investment. 
• Dig into our Ultimate Investment Book List
• Download our Wealth Building Blueprint

Opportunities, Services, and Consulting:

Take Your Next Step In Your Wealth Building Journey

Get in touch with Kyle so he can help you determine your next step in your financial freedom journey through his Canadian Wealth Planning System.

Interested in Joint Venture Opportunities?

For those interested in being considered for potential Joint Venture (JV) opportunities, reach out to us here.

Reach out to Jon if you’re looking for an Ontario Mortgage, Ontario Mortgage Refinance or a HELOC in Ontario.

Check out the work Jon and Kyle do assisting mathematics educators and district leaders.

Watch Now!

00:00:00:03 – 00:00:16:19
Rene Masse
And what I’ve learned a lot in the years I could get people, I could scale them much, much faster. They would buy three, four properties in one year with one individual with the right funding, of course, and the right backing people on their own could do that because you do your first one, it takes a lot longer. You got to get contractors.

00:00:16:23 – 00:00:53:24
Kyle Pearce
Hey, hey, friends. In this episode, I’m going to be going one on one with Rene Moss and a seasoned entrepreneur and investor based in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, with a diverse portfolio and full service real estate investment offerings through mass property investments, Rene specializes in multifamily properties, duplexes and student rentals. Stick around with me as we dive into how yet another successful entrepreneur managed to break free from the Golden handcuffs of their 9 to 5 job, what kind of job was it?

00:00:53:24 – 00:01:16:06
Kyle Pearce
Well, you’ll find out in just a moment the importance of working to find the Who for the parts of your business rather than focusing on the hassle, especially for those parts that don’t suit your unique abilities. Why Mindset is crucial for entrepreneurs and investors to focus on in order to help you prepare and deal with the challenges you’ll encounter along the way.

00:01:16:08 – 00:01:58:05
Kyle Pearce
And some business wealth planning and tax savings hacks that can help keep 20 to 35% more of every dollar you earn through your business and your investments, plus a whole lot more. Let’s go. Welcome to the Canadian Wealth Secrets podcast with Kyle Pearson. Johnno, where we help high net income individuals grow their wealth into a legacy that lasts generations through hidden investment and tax secrets.

00:01:58:05 – 00:02:22:08
Kyle Pearce
Your financial advisor won’t believe our true Welcome, my friends, to yet another episode of the Investing Teacher podcast. And as we said, we’re going to be digging in here with Rene Moss. Let’s dig in right now. Hey, hey there, Rene. It is awesome to have you on the podcast. I know I was recently on your podcast. Awesome stuff.

00:02:22:08 – 00:02:41:03
Kyle Pearce
Great show, folks. If you look up the Rene Masked podcast, he’s got all kinds of great, great content there, awesome interviews. And you can also check us out chatting over there today on this show. We’re going to try to mix it up a little bit and I want to ask Rene some questions. So before we dig in, I want to take a little bit of time.

00:02:41:03 – 00:02:51:24
Kyle Pearce
Rene, I want to turn it over to you. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who is Rene? Where are you from and what is your entourage scenario or investor shtick?

00:02:52:01 – 00:03:17:02
Rene Masse
My step. I like that I’m Rene Masked. I live and breathe in downtown Kingston. Been here for 30 years. Love it really from Toronto. But I’ve made my mission. Kingston And we do multifamily student rentals and duplexes in Kingston and we were the full package. We invest, we’re full package. Basically we acquire, renovate, we have our own staff and we take care of the property themselves.

00:03:17:04 – 00:03:19:19
Rene Masse
So that’s our stitch. That’s what we do.

00:03:19:20 – 00:03:41:20
Kyle Pearce
I love it. I love it. That is fantastic. So tell me a little bit more about this. So you’re in Kingston. You’ve got essentially like a full service sort of start to finish experience for investors. I’m going to guess that that’s not only helpful for investors that are in town in Kingston, Ontario, but also for people that are looking to do a little bit of diversifying.

00:03:41:20 – 00:04:04:20
Kyle Pearce
Right? Maybe they’re in a market and hey, if I’m in GTA, I’m looking around going, that’s a hard market to try to buy for cash flow unless you’re going like super low loan to value, right? So that’s hard stuff. But then also on the other end is sometimes there’s a lot of entrepreneurs that listen to this show and their number one job isn’t necessarily real estate.

00:04:04:20 – 00:04:21:23
Kyle Pearce
Sometimes they’re buying real estate as essentially an opportunity to grow their wealth, grow their passive income. But ultimately, at the end of the day, really what they’re looking for is for a way into the market. And it sounds like they don’t have to do a whole lot of work in order to do that.

00:04:22:00 – 00:04:40:14
Rene Masse
A lot of people we work with are from the GTA area and Kingston. They like it because it’s much cheaper and overall the rents are still on the high side and there’s tons of opportunities here. So yeah, we do with a wide range of investors, but mostly from GTA. We’re looking to just get more bang for their buck.

00:04:40:19 – 00:05:00:13
Kyle Pearce
Wow, that’s fantastic. That’s awesome. I want to dig in more on that with you there, Rene. But before we do, I want you to think back to your journey. We have people at various places along their journey. We have some folks who have reached out to us and they have very successful businesses. They have quite a bit of retained earnings that they have in their corporations.

00:05:00:13 – 00:05:22:03
Kyle Pearce
And sometimes they reach out to us at that point to say, hey, what should I be doing here? What’s the tax strategy? What’s the investment strategy for some safety, but also exposure to markets, especially real estate. But then we have some other people that are also maybe really early in the journey and just looking to get started. So go back into your old self.

00:05:22:05 – 00:05:44:14
Kyle Pearce
What moment pops into your mind as maybe like a pivotal moment in you wanting to get into this world? What for? You went, You know what? I want to learn more about this, and maybe at the time you didn’t know you were going to go as deeply into it as you did. But what pops out in your mind as sort of that moment that sort of shifted who you were as a person and as a professional?

00:05:44:16 – 00:06:08:19
Rene Masse
Great question. I would say here’s the irony is that I’m on Canadian Wealth Secrets podcast. And as you know, as you may know, I think, you know, this year, this year I was a teacher, although the year I was a trooper, only three months. I went through teachers college and then I realized this was it for me. And I ran out of money and I taught and then I went back at it.

00:06:08:19 – 00:06:24:02
Rene Masse
So I basically I’ve always been an entrepreneur. My side gig when I ran out of money or I needed money quickly, I jumped into teaching or did other jobs just to get back into what I was doing. My own business is the pivotal moment. You’re asking for a bit of commitment that occurred? No.

00:06:24:03 – 00:06:40:14
Kyle Pearce
And I guess you’re kind of painting a picture there where it’s almost like, Oh, or maybe here’s a great question for you is like, what made you initially get into teaching? Was it you already knew you were an entrepreneur, you were working along that journey, ran into a roadblock or a challenge, and then you thought teaching, I’ll go do that.

00:06:40:14 – 00:06:48:20
Kyle Pearce
Or like, were you thinking teaching? And then you recognized, Wait a second, I knew this all along. I’ve always been an entrepreneur and I’m on the wrong path.

00:06:48:22 – 00:07:04:10
Rene Masse
I love learning. I think I love to learn. And I figured out a way of learning in a university, and I could have stayed there. I stayed seven years, which was more than I really should have. But I enjoyed the moment. I enjoyed studying and learning. What do you do when you were starting to learning as an extrovert?

00:07:04:10 – 00:07:20:22
Rene Masse
You teach and I knew other people who were looking to go to teachers college as well, so I just jumped in. And what do you do? What do you do with a French literature degree? You go to teachers college just like you do with it. And as a male who who speaks French, it’s like gold. So it’s very easy to get in.

00:07:20:22 – 00:07:41:21
Rene Masse
I would say easy, but it was very easy to get a job afterwards as well. But along the years of being going to university, I was doing my own deal. I was doing Windows painting, I was running a business, which was only window cleaning and painting, but it gave me the freedom and that’s where I picked up that entrepreneurial side of things and I ran with it once I got out of university.

00:07:41:21 – 00:08:08:22
Rene Masse
I like the idea of getting a job was just beyond my comprehension, beyond my way of thinking. I just didn’t want to do this. So I went more into that. And as a contractor, moving from little things, wire things to something bigger, I was actually helping investors invest real estate by renovating their places. And I noticed that they were doing the rabbi University wasn’t complicated, so I said, I need to do the same thing here.

00:08:08:24 – 00:08:27:01
Rene Masse
And I scrounged around to get any type of money I could. And it was basically loan backed a loan that was based on 2% financing. I really didn’t have much money to buy my first property, but once I did, I rent. I made it work because I knew I believed in it. And then to back that up as well.

00:08:27:01 – 00:08:45:18
Rene Masse
My father did delve into real estate in the eighties in Toronto, and it did very well. I went to Private school, we had family trips to Europe. We benefited immensely from real estate, so I already had the glimpse of it and I knew that this was my journey. In a way. I remember I think it was first or second year university.

00:08:45:18 – 00:09:04:14
Rene Masse
I remember speaking to my landlord at the time and I moved midway. I had problems with some housemates. We sort of spoke in, so I said, I’m out of here. I moved in November and they were questioning the whole thing. But it was it was it was sketchy. I was moving mid-November, so he he demanded eight month’s rent at the time.

00:09:04:16 – 00:09:24:11
Rene Masse
I gave him all my money. Basically, I felt like I gave my my money. I went back to school and studied and I but he this individual, he took off too. It was Tyler for four months and think I’m thinking, what a sec. I’m really working hard in university. This guy basically I mean he house looks good. Nothing’s wrong with it.

00:09:24:11 – 00:09:42:06
Rene Masse
He had staff take care of anything. He takes off. They are Thailand. I think it was it was obvious I’ve got to do something like that so that day there was a pivotal moment. That day I remember being in bed and going, I know I’m going to be owning property, I know it. I believe in it now. I had no idea, No idea.

00:09:42:06 – 00:10:03:00
Rene Masse
But simply the belief was very, very important. Not only that, but I think an emotion to it. I just feel the freedom associated with it. And I was so big on freedom that the security couldn’t care. I had 100 bucks in the bank. I felt secure. I’d sit, but I wanted the freedom that was the big man. So that’s what I ran after.

00:10:03:02 – 00:10:21:20
Kyle Pearce
I’ve got this picture. And even though you and I have met, we talked on your show. We had met back in 2020. We were doing an investing program together. And really at the time I had mentioned and I’ll say it again here for this audience to know, you were definitely in a place further down the road in terms of specifically your mindset.

00:10:21:20 – 00:10:33:20
Kyle Pearce
That was something I noticed back then. And in a way, I don’t think I had a respect for the mindset yet because it when it’s not clear to you, when you’re not there, when you haven’t had an epiphany, you don’t.

00:10:33:20 – 00:10:34:23
Rene Masse
Know. Yeah, I.

00:10:34:23 – 00:10:57:02
Kyle Pearce
Remembered you had a lot the abundance mindset, all of those things going on. And I just remember at the time kind of going like, okay, that’s good. But I wasn’t cluing into it. And I have since done a lot of my own growing in my business partners as well. And when you paint that picture, you had a glimpse, as you mentioned from your experience, I didn’t know this about you that so you had giving it all.

00:10:57:02 – 00:10:58:13
Kyle Pearce
Kyle I’m yeah, I love it.

00:10:58:13 – 00:10:59:18
Rene Masse
I’m opening up now.

00:10:59:19 – 00:11:01:12
Kyle Pearce
Of course. Of course. Which is.

00:11:01:14 – 00:11:03:23
Rene Masse
Scalable here.

00:11:04:00 – 00:11:16:06
Kyle Pearce
So you’re talking about your experience. You then got into this place where you essentially and then you saw it from another angle, right? So you saw it from your own landlord. It was almost like kind of beating you over the head, saying like, hey.

00:11:16:08 – 00:11:35:12
Rene Masse
Listen, reminder. It was definitely reminder. But here’s what I noticed a lot of people, these people who actually offer I mean, few people call me up and they go, I want some coaching. That’s how I got started into the coaching business as well. I started realizing what they didn’t know and how to kind of transmit that because it is all about the mindset.

00:11:35:12 – 00:12:01:18
Rene Masse
How does one think in order to then create the life that you want? A lot of people focus on the how and they’re like the moment they know how to do it, then they’ll jump ship, then they’ll do this. But it’s really not about that. How it’s about the why and the vision I felt that was so important to figure out exactly what you’re looking for and remind yourself on a regular basis where you’re going with your life on a daily basis.

00:12:01:18 – 00:12:33:03
Rene Masse
Because it’s so easy as you know, so easy to just work on autopilot, go to work Monday morning, Monday to Friday, then it’s done and then Friday comes around and then you’ve got your time on the weekend for yourself, your family, when Monday comes around. Again, I just didn’t want that at all. And I think the most important part for people to understand is to believe that it’s possible, believe in themselves, because a lot of people I also speak to financially, they can quit their jobs if they really want to, but they don’t believe that they can actually generate income.

00:12:33:08 – 00:12:36:11
Rene Masse
That’s the truth. But it’s a hard it’s a hard pill to swallow.

00:12:36:15 – 00:13:09:12
Kyle Pearce
Well, the angle I wanted to really explicitly highlight as well is that how often people will get this idea that they want it, whether it’s opening a business, you just kind of reference this idea of maybe leaving their job and becoming a full time entrepreneur, whether it’s a full time investor, whether it’s even just getting in to the real estate market, let’s say as an investor, any type of other asset class, a lot of times they’ll call us and we’ll get on calls and they’re all fantastic people and they’re like, Yeah, like I want to do this stuff.

00:13:09:14 – 00:13:29:20
Kyle Pearce
But the part that I think a lot of people miss and you help people to see here is that the struggle that exists when you make that decision. And I really want to highlight this idea now you’re in this world, you’re an entrepreneur, you have a company, you have your own holdings, you’re assisting realtors and you’re also doing coaching.

00:13:29:22 – 00:13:46:14
Kyle Pearce
So you have quite a bit of a world going on over there. And I think if somebody was to just sort of meet you and not hear some of this story where you had mentioned a couple of times running out of money on this journey, you had mentioned house hacking. Yeah, personal finance. These are all things sacrifice.

00:13:46:14 – 00:14:04:00
Rene Masse
You absolutely face and hard work and some commitment to it. If the hard work commitment is not there and the belief it doesn’t matter. And what I also notice people want they want the freedom, but they also want security. You got to lose that security, the good freedom. Right now.

00:14:04:02 – 00:14:22:16
Kyle Pearce
You have to sacrifice more. So that for me, a message that I hope folks that are listening to this podcast, some we’re kind of speaking to people that are early in their journey. There’s also other people that have businesses. They have income, and they’re just trying to figure out like, you know, what do I do with it? So those folks are probably in a slightly different category.

00:14:22:16 – 00:14:37:22
Kyle Pearce
But for those who are just getting started thinking about how badly you want something, as you mentioned, and then what do you have the mindset in essentially the commitment to it. So it’s like when a child says, I want to be an astronaut and a lot of people say, okay, good luck, or they want to be in the NHL.

00:14:37:22 – 00:14:53:00
Kyle Pearce
And what I tell my kids is, Hey, listen, if you want to do that, I just want to let you know that you’re not on the right path. Because if you want to be in the NHL, guess what? You should be shooting a lot more pucks in the garage if that’s what you really want. And it’s okay if you don’t really want that.

00:14:53:02 – 00:15:06:03
Kyle Pearce
But don’t lie to yourself or don’t trick yourself into thinking you really want something. Because when you really want something and you really, really, really want something, you find ways to make it happen and I’m hearing that in your story. So yes.

00:15:06:04 – 00:15:06:15
Rene Masse
Yes.

00:15:06:15 – 00:15:25:06
Kyle Pearce
I want to hear about you. What would you say? I’m hearing one thing. I can make an assumption about your unique ability that you bring to the entrepreneurial world or the investor space. One I’m going to throw out there. I’m going to say that vision and dedication, that’s definitely something that I would say is in your ability.

00:15:25:06 – 00:15:42:03
Rene Masse
Also writing it down. I think it’s very important to write it down or have pictures of, you know, a vision board. It seems a bit flaky, but it’s so effective because you can see it in the morning and you can kind of trick your mind in believing that it’s already there. When I tell coach your client, as I say, write it in the present tense.

00:15:42:03 – 00:16:03:04
Rene Masse
And the reason that’s so important is because the mind does not distinguish between what is real and what’s imaginary. So if you can imagine it so clearly with such emotion, you’re going to gravitate towards there, to that, to that space mentally and things will come your way. And the harder you work, I’m sure, Kyle, you’re true believer this.

00:16:03:06 – 00:16:20:14
Rene Masse
How do you work? At some things you get luckier in a way, so things come your way, but you got to put the work in. But I find the belief is very important to belief in what it is and also the belief in oneself. And then there’s a possibility of growing with it. I would say I’m just very, very persistent as well.

00:16:20:16 – 00:16:42:16
Rene Masse
Like I just believed in it. And if you in the beginning it was more survival. I basically needed to survive on my own and make this gig of entrepreneurship, make it happen, make it work so that I can actually live properly. That was the struggle. And then what you get is a survival. But once again, I wish I could have a teaching job and people thought it was drummed up because who quit a teaching job?

00:16:42:16 – 00:17:04:18
Rene Masse
You know, you get the benefits, you get the pension, you get the summers off. They just didn’t understand it. But I wasn’t happy with the situation, so I made it work by grinding constantly at it. It’s just grinding to make it work. And as you said, I did the right hack. My first property was 100% financing. It was over loan, but I made sure that I made it work and I made sacrifices along the way.

00:17:04:20 – 00:17:25:13
Rene Masse
Not everyone has to do this journey of it, but I think as I get more into this, it’s easy sell everyone saying, Yeah, by this by that’s passive investing and you’ll be fine. There’s work to be done. Work is the only way to get success and to be successful, you need to be. It’s kind of a byproduct of being comfortable.

00:17:25:19 – 00:17:46:09
Rene Masse
So a lot I find a lot of people here. Here’s the bottom line. A lot of people, they want to grow mentally, emotionally, financially, but they’re not willing to be uncomfortable. Or if they’re uncomfortable, then they retract to the things that weaken them. Alcohol, I mean, nothing wrong with drinking alcohol, but if it’s done as a way of retracting, when you’re uncomfortable, you’ll never grow.

00:17:46:11 – 00:17:54:06
Rene Masse
The deal is if you want growth, you’ve got to be uncomfortable and be comfortable with uncomfortable. How do you do that? It takes work and persistence to do so.

00:17:54:06 – 00:18:24:09
Kyle Pearce
And even more so, you’re speaking to a very specific group of people who want that active. I want to get into this game. I want to do that. But I also have conversations with people that I always say like, you don’t have to want that you could call someone like myself if they want to locally do a joint venture or call Rene, if you like that market and maybe you’re in that area or you’re not in that area because he did do the work right, and he’s doing it now.

00:18:24:09 – 00:18:44:11
Kyle Pearce
Are you going to get all the upside when you take that right? Of course, you’re not as an investor, but maybe that’s the fit that you need and want, right? So for me, it’s all about clarity of deciding where are you? And I always say this idea of trying to hit for the fences, everybody wants that and it seems like a good idea.

00:18:44:14 – 00:18:53:03
Kyle Pearce
But the reality is there’s a lot that goes into that, right? So it’s like maybe you want to be the homerun hitter, but you don’t have to be either, and you can still do really well.

00:18:53:03 – 00:19:15:16
Rene Masse
So I think people in their forties, they hit 40, 45. They realize, okay, I’m set in my job. I like it. I’m here, I’m not going anywhere. They’re not looking for entrepreneurship. But joint venture partners are ways of getting better returns on their money. It’s suitable to work together, of course. And then there’s people who 2030s where they start, they say, I can do this, I can do some myself.

00:19:15:18 – 00:19:33:20
Rene Masse
They don’t realize double the amount of work that’s involved with it. We’ve gone through the mistakes, we’ve gone through the efforts along with it, and it saves a lot of time and effort for our investors. I was one investor in mind who we did one, we bought a property converted to Duplex. Easy stop, We’re done in like two months.

00:19:34:00 – 00:19:52:24
Rene Masse
They’re like, Wow, that was easy. Sure, Because we’ve been doing this for like ten, 15 years. So it, of course, is easy. So what they did, they did it on their own, which is perfectly fine. It was a bit more challenging to learn along the way. It takes time and dedication to it. Whatever you’re going to do. Keep in mind investing in real estate can be passive.

00:19:52:24 – 00:20:10:04
Rene Masse
It’s done properly, but if you’re involved in it, you’re going to learn a lot from it. You’re going to make mistakes, and some of those things could be costly. Or you just partner up with other people who’ve already made the mistakes and you sleep better at night in less stress or time to family or time to do things that you really enjoy doing.

00:20:10:06 – 00:20:29:19
Kyle Pearce
Totally. And I think that’s where, again, knowing yourself is so key. Because for a lot of people, I think there’s this hesitation to do that. But also when you think about a return, of course, if you do something by yourself, in the end, if it’s done well and you don’t make too many costly mistakes, I say too many because you’re going to make mistakes.

00:20:29:19 – 00:20:34:13
Kyle Pearce
You know that’s going to inevitably happen unless you are just super, super lucky. Right?

00:20:34:13 – 00:20:36:03
Rene Masse
That’s how we learn mistakes. That’s how.

00:20:36:03 – 00:21:02:16
Kyle Pearce
You learn. But here’s the part that I think we’ve been talking a lot on more recent episodes about. This is always really trying to analyze what else you must sacrifice for that upside return. And you had mentioned sleepless nights. Sure. But like, what about just time and effort and hours of your time, if that’s where you want to go to learn those things and you understand them and you’re willing to do that work, then rock and roll.

00:21:02:16 – 00:21:17:10
Kyle Pearce
But for a lot of people, they just look on paper and go, Well, if I do it myself, I’ll get this return. And if I go with a partner like Rene or Kyle or whoever, I’m going to get this return and this one’s better. Well, on paper, absolutely. It is way.

00:21:17:10 – 00:21:36:18
Rene Masse
Better. It may sound better, but they’re not seeing the whole picture. Right. And what I’ve learned a lot in the years, I could get people I could scale them much, much faster. They would buy three, four properties in one year with one individual with the right funding, of course, and the right backing people on their own could do that because you do your first one, it takes a lot longer.

00:21:36:18 – 00:21:52:17
Rene Masse
You got to get contractors. I’m also I mean, bless their heart during other so I mean especially in your twenties and thirties, it makes sense when you’re already finding that three kids you’re working full time. Take a be reasonable, be reasonable with it. It’s going to cost you a lot more than it’s going to cost you straight on a family.

00:21:52:17 – 00:22:10:24
Rene Masse
And really, why are we doing this in the first place? Is it just for another buck? It’s for better lifestyle with our family and loved ones. So if you’re robbing them that of now and you’ve got kids as well. I’ve got kids. We really only have we had until the age of 12, 13. After that they’ll spend more time with their friends.

00:22:11:01 – 00:22:26:03
Rene Masse
So precious time is from 0 to 12. So I caution people going on their own if they’ve got young kids. I’ve seen it. And it just breaks my heart to see that they don’t realize where the wealth really lies right, Right.

00:22:26:04 – 00:22:47:09
Kyle Pearce
I’ve said it a number of times. I definitely would not be doing what I’m doing today had I started when the kids were just coming into the world. Right. I began this journey much earlier than that. I had lots of time on my hands. It’s still, I will argue, it’s still cause strain on my relationship with my wife or fiancee at the time or girlfriend at the time.

00:22:47:09 – 00:23:09:00
Kyle Pearce
But together we worked through it. So I would just kind of with your caution for those who are maybe have young children, is just make sure if you are doing it, that you are keenly aware and planning for it, which again means more work and more intentionality on your side to make sure that you don’t forget. Because it’s when you go in on some.

00:23:09:00 – 00:23:19:02
Kyle Pearce
If you’re like me, I get excited. I’m a quick start and I’m a fact finder. So you I could go down that rabbit hole and forget about everything else in the world, Right? And that’s obviously not a great place to be.

00:23:19:02 – 00:23:39:05
Rene Masse
So if you’re investing in real estate, it is a business. And what I find is any business efficiency is done. If it’s efficient, it’s profitable. They go hand in hand. I sell the contracting business, it’s run by people, but I’m still involved in a few things. I’m just surprised by people who buy property. They get a permit and they haven’t even started the renovations yet.

00:23:39:07 – 00:23:52:00
Rene Masse
Time is very expensive. It baffles me if they just work with the right individuals, it would be done much quicker, much more efficient and more profitable. In the end. They think it’s profitable now, but they’re not seeing the whole picture.

00:23:52:02 – 00:24:16:14
Kyle Pearce
Right? Right. It’s interesting. And I want to reframe as well for those who are listening and then also for you as well, Renee, that this particular show, although we deal in real estate a lot, it’s actually not necessarily a real estate focused show. So I want to talk a little more about entrepreneurship in general, because you are and I would argue that pretty much all active real estate investors are entrepreneurs.

00:24:16:14 – 00:24:38:09
Kyle Pearce
It is a business. So you have a business and you’ve been doing some pretty amazing things there in order to create that lifestyle for yourself, that professional lifestyle, that lifestyle for your family. I’m wondering what sort of maybe business hacks or I’m always thinking about that entrepreneurs listening, whether they’re early in their journey or maybe they’re well along their journey.

00:24:38:09 – 00:24:43:16
Kyle Pearce
What would you say is the biggest business hack that has maybe helped you along in your journey?

00:24:43:22 – 00:25:00:10
Rene Masse
Business, hack, business and personal go hand in hand with me. Anything. Business is personal. Personal business? It’s hard to say honestly. The skill that I’ve developed over 14 years is probably meditation.

00:25:00:12 – 00:25:12:01
Kyle Pearce
I like that. I was going to say to you when you said personal, I’m like, I think you’re talking mindset, but I think mindset is so key to running a successful business. So keep going. I want to hear more about what you mean.

00:25:12:07 – 00:25:33:19
Rene Masse
The reason that’s so important is because I find that if you look at times there’s a book about like it’s very successful individuals, 80% of these people meditate one way or another. And I think it’s very powerful because that way you have a lot more control over the mind. And what I noticed over many years of meditating is you’re able to refocus and choose what you want to think about.

00:25:33:21 – 00:25:53:10
Rene Masse
And so, for example, something happens on the job site or some investment or some tenant problem or there’s always problems with estate. Anything that happens, you can lose a lot of stress and anxiety over what’s happening and it’s not worth it. And a lot of it is going to pass. A lot of it can easily be resolved, but it all depends.

00:25:53:12 – 00:26:21:10
Rene Masse
I find any business individual to get to a certain level, you need to be able to control the mind or observe your thoughts and be able to choose what you want to think about, not ignore the negative, but deal with what it is and accept things as they are. Deal with it and move on. I find the meditation has helped immensely and just be able to control, focus and deal with your situation and move on with it and not be reactive.

00:26:21:12 – 00:26:41:04
Rene Masse
Respond properly and you deal with it and move on with it or let it pass. There’s always going to be issues, problems, either a business or personal life. Deal with it properly, but really deal with the problem and a lot of people avoid it. It’s the human condition to avoid a problem are well into buying a car. There’s relationship problems.

00:26:41:04 – 00:26:58:07
Rene Masse
You buy a car or there’s something wrong, you watch TV or something or you divert the mind on something else or you eat more food or something. These little things. But if you’re able to focus and accept a situation and just observe in a way, observe the problem are far better off.

00:26:58:09 – 00:27:21:22
Kyle Pearce
To me, that is a massive business hack because first of all, your personal life creeps in. It really limits or promotes your business or professional life for sure, regardless of even if you’re an entrepreneur or working golden handcuffs job like teaching or whatever it is. The reality, what you’ve just highlighted and I think you’ve helped me think about it differently is that it’s so key.

00:27:21:24 – 00:27:34:08
Rene Masse
I would say. Want to add, to simplify all I would say your level of success is dependent on how well you can handle stress, how much stress can handle, and how well you can deal with it that determines your level of success.

00:27:34:10 – 00:27:55:12
Kyle Pearce
I hundred percent agree with that. And the reality is, when we find ourselves, I’ve got the listeners in mind, those who are running businesses, be it in investment, real estate, or maybe they’re running a different business, maybe it’s we know we have a lot of realtors listening. We also have a lot of founders of companies that are running these large companies.

00:27:55:12 – 00:28:21:05
Kyle Pearce
And the reality is, is that oftentimes where people get stuck is they start trying to do a little bit of everything. And to me, when you do those things, what that means is that, first of all, you’re talking about stress. You’re probably stress. There’s probably lots too much on your plate and you haven’t taken that time to be intentional about what really matters here and what do I need to do next?

00:28:21:07 – 00:28:40:17
Kyle Pearce
What do I need to deal with, like you said, and deal with it to get it out of the way, Get that negativity out of here and what doesn’t actually matter. Right. And I think you’ve kind of tied that back nicely towards this idea of meditation and mindfulness, that type of experience. You hear so many people in business talking about these things.

00:28:40:19 – 00:28:43:21
Kyle Pearce
And I would argue that it’s not just for business people, it’s for everyone.

00:28:43:21 – 00:29:03:17
Rene Masse
Precisely for everybody, because you could be a teacher and something happens at school. How would people bring it home? And then you’re not present with the kids or your spouse and you’re robbing yourself in a way. So it provides a lot more being present at the moment and also clarity on what matters most to you, your loved ones and your community.

00:29:03:19 – 00:29:12:21
Kyle Pearce
I love it. I love it. That’s so well said. And I think a massive takeaway regardless of who is listening and where they are in their world, in their entrepreneurial journey to.

00:29:12:21 – 00:29:13:18
Rene Masse
Get all.

00:29:13:20 – 00:29:16:12
Kyle Pearce
I love and not hold back, there’s no holding back here.

00:29:16:13 – 00:29:22:23
Rene Masse
You know, you don’t want me to hold back. There it is. There. There is like there’s my superpower and the secret to the success.

00:29:22:23 – 00:29:46:01
Kyle Pearce
And it’s something that I’ve been asking Renee more often, and I’m going to continue asking this because I find it very interesting is this idea of many entrepreneurs. Many investors have corporate structures. Okay? And one of those reasons why, of course, liability is there to protect themselves, let’s say, from a slip and fall on one of the rental properties there.

00:29:46:02 – 00:30:13:04
Kyle Pearce
There’s that aspect there. But on the other hand, there’s also this tax implication aspect. And I’m wondering for you personally, I say personally, but really it’s professional, you and your corporate structure. I guess what would be if you off the cuff had to say like, what’s your favorite part about having a corporate structure of any type when it comes to what it offers you in terms of the financial benefit or tax savings?

00:30:13:06 – 00:30:46:09
Rene Masse
One word is deductions. So deductions, everything is deductible. So the way there’s a reason why we still do our property management, because it’s a liability company, it’s an active company, and it has employees. So you’re taxed differently, much, much lower, as you know. So we’re able to say, for example, a property is generating too much cash flow, which is really good, really nice, but it would be tacked on to like 150 on other taxes and then it would bump up their income and then they’re taxed at that actually 2%.

00:30:46:11 – 00:31:06:05
Rene Masse
That seems really silly. Been that way for every dollar you’re getting really $50 out of it. So what we do is we do our taxes and our investors taxes. We do the taxes for the property each and every month. So we know the income and the expenses. So every month we see properties generating a lot of income. What do we do?

00:31:06:05 – 00:31:35:10
Rene Masse
We tack on some deductions on to it. We throw on more property management bond to it, we increase the property management company. There’s so many ways of going about it. But if one is doing their taxes and they’re looking at taxes once a year, you’ve lost battle with taxes you to do on a regular basis. We’ve brought our bookkeeper in-house just to get it done properly so we can see where it’s going and then we can divert some things and then basically pay as little tax as possible, because in the end, it’s not how much you gain, it’s how much you keep.

00:31:35:12 – 00:32:00:21
Kyle Pearce
Awesome. Awesome. That’s a great we’ll call it Hack. I think a lot of people with corporate structures are going to go, Yeah, that is true. But I think your method there of of being more intentional about it and staying on top of it is such an important piece something and this is not an insult to those who are accountants or bookkeepers out there but if you as the business owner are not sort of advocating for that to happen, it might not happen on its own right.

00:32:00:21 – 00:32:15:08
Kyle Pearce
So I’m going to guess that you’ve been very intentional about saying this is how we’re going to do things. We have the opportunity here if we’re intentional, but if we just leave it and hope and pray that somebody else is thinking the way we are, it’s probably not.

00:32:15:08 – 00:32:33:22
Rene Masse
Have been for 30 years. So there are many of sure, there are points where it was a mess. Getting any paperwork was just a mess. Getting to know how much money was making a month or a year. I had no idea. So I’ve been to the situation where it’s challenging to get any paperwork and I think the bookkeeping and the orderly is very important.

00:32:33:24 – 00:32:59:01
Kyle Pearce
Awesome, Fantastic. And we’re wrapping up here. One thing I always like to ask entrepreneurs, investors of all type is there’s this thing that people think about us, okay? Like I’m talking about no one listening to this show. So we’re all we’re all a group here. But when you talk to Will call it the Outsider, the non business owner, the non active investor, they look at us as being really risky.

00:32:59:04 – 00:33:27:00
Kyle Pearce
We are not risk adverse right now. My wonder is now I’m going to be honest. I open it up and I tell people all the time that a for a very long time I think I may have been maybe left myself overexposed in some areas. I always am curious what would be like a safety net thing that you have in place is a tool, a strategy, a something, something that maybe you may not have had in the early years, especially when you were 100% financing, just trying to get off the ground.

00:33:27:00 – 00:33:44:07
Kyle Pearce
But now that things are rolling, what would you say is a safety net thing that you have or that you put in place? Or maybe it’s something that you plan to put in place but haven’t gotten around to yet? That kind of I guess not to say it’s going to completely reduce all of that risk, but ultimately will be there for you.

00:33:44:10 – 00:33:46:09
Kyle Pearce
Let’s say something unexpected happens.

00:33:46:11 – 00:34:05:06
Rene Masse
I mean, I enjoy risk, but I wouldn’t say I love being myself in a risky situation. I’m smart about it. I’ll analyze it, look into it. Bottom line, I think is more of an illusion. The idea of risk is really what I mean. There’s a thousands reasons why things are not going to work out. If you focus on the negative, yeah, you’re going get more negative.

00:34:05:08 – 00:34:29:21
Rene Masse
Focus in the positive, you get more positive. I mean, having access to liquidity is also very important, but I don’t have anything specifically in place at this point in my life. I’m more focused on what’s in between my head that is really what I’m able to control, and I feel as if I have a lot more power on that side of things, of observing thoughts.

00:34:29:23 – 00:34:47:24
Rene Masse
Then I can choose where to put my energy and I really believe wherever my energy will grow in the end, if I lose everything I know, I can build everything. Now, what are chances of losing? Everything are very, very slim. But sure, I would say typically save up. Make sure you don’t spend too much of a bit of money on the side.

00:34:48:05 – 00:35:06:12
Rene Masse
Those are typical things. But once again, I’m more of a philosopher. I really believe that this whole idea of money is an illusion. It’s a tool. It’s really a tool to get what you want and what really matters is time, freedom, spending time with your loved ones and enjoying life. Because as you know, God, my friend, is very, very smart.

00:35:06:14 – 00:35:07:17
Rene Masse
It goes fast.

00:35:07:22 – 00:35:38:08
Kyle Pearce
It definitely is. You made me think here through this conversation that we have an episode and I’ll put it in the show notes for everyone. One of the episodes we talked about, the title of it is Is Your Definition of Risk Wrong? And I think something I heard you say, implicit maybe not explicitly, was this idea that the things that you’re doing are actually inherently less risky for you because you actually are very knowledgeable, You have an expertise in that area, and I would 100% agree with that.

00:35:38:10 – 00:36:08:01
Kyle Pearce
Something we’re trying to advocate more for those who are listening on this show is finding easy ways to kind of throw in that safety net. So, for example, something I never had while I was scaling up was critical illness. So that’s something that I put in place more recently. And the beauty is when it’s designed well by someone who’s entrepreneur, real or investor minded like we are, you can do it where you know, there’s return of premium options, where essentially it acts kind of like a savings account.

00:36:08:01 – 00:36:27:24
Rene Masse
Yeah, yeah. Or I would say invest in mortgages. That’s for fixed return. And basically you have a lot of rights, as many as more rights, as many rights as the bank, which has more power than individuals. So yeah, invested in mortgages, which is a fixed return and that’s secured to real estate. And as long as the loan to value is very low, it’s relatively safe.

00:36:28:03 – 00:36:30:08
Kyle Pearce
Fantastic. Yeah, no, that’s a great one as well.

00:36:30:08 – 00:36:31:09
Rene Masse
Diversifying as well.

00:36:31:10 – 00:36:50:06
Kyle Pearce
Yeah, diversifying. And the way I look at mortgages as well, if you own rental property for example, or real estate is that you’re kind of playing the other side, you’re playing the other side because now it’s like, Hey, if things don’t go well, you’re on the other side of the coin. Instead of everybody who thinks real estate’s going to go to the moon every single year.

00:36:50:06 – 00:37:05:13
Rene Masse
One thing I would like to add is 100 years ago, what was the powerful elements of our society? It was the churches. You see all the steeples all the churches were the highest buildings was the highest building. Now it’s the banks. Where do they invest? They invest invested mortgages.

00:37:05:15 – 00:37:06:18
Kyle Pearce
Yeah, absolutely.

00:37:06:20 – 00:37:16:08
Rene Masse
All with the banks doing all of what works. And the banks. I could ever tell you to invest mortgages because that’s their. That’s what they want to do. That’s what they provide everybody.

00:37:16:10 – 00:37:19:23
Kyle Pearce
With enough safety there if things don’t go so well. Right.

00:37:20:01 – 00:37:33:10
Rene Masse
So I’d say 60 to 70% of their income derives from mortgages. That’s why they’re so closely competitive with each other. So just do what other wealthy individuals are doing. Go where the money’s going.

00:37:33:12 – 00:37:37:06
Kyle Pearce
Yeah, and not to mention the bank doesn’t even have to use their own money. They get to use RPI.

00:37:37:11 – 00:37:38:08
Rene Masse
Yeah.

00:37:38:10 – 00:37:40:10
Kyle Pearce
Somebody else’s money give you a lesson then.

00:37:40:10 – 00:37:56:22
Rene Masse
It’s a brilliant skill. I find sometimes it’s like a veil. I recently saw. What is it, A boss? It’s just a white guy behind a curtain. He’s just a bit of a illusion. They tell us all this stuff and in the end there’s a reality behind it. It’s just a white guy behind the and of it.

00:37:56:24 – 00:38:15:00
Kyle Pearce
I love it. I love it. Listen, Rene, I told you at the beginning, before we hit record, I was going to try hard to keep it under 30 minutes. I failed as I typically do. So hopefully that’s not what I can say. Those people who are listening are definitely enjoying the conversation. So I thank you for your time.

00:38:15:00 – 00:38:27:17
Kyle Pearce
Before we wrap up here, I want to know what if there was one thing, one takeaway that you’re hoping those who are listening will take from this conversation? Only one thing. What’s that big takeaway or that big idea right down?

00:38:27:17 – 00:38:41:08
Rene Masse
What matters most? Write down your values. Break down how you want to live the life you want to live in the next 18 months and write it down. Look at on a regular basis and base those values on what you’re going to be doing, how you’re going to be investing as well.

00:38:41:14 – 00:39:00:17
Kyle Pearce
I love that. That’s a great, great takeaway there. Friends, friends. If you’ve been listening to more, if this is not your first episode, I have a funny feeling you’re going, you know what? Rene saying it, too, because guess what? We need to understand what we really want out of this thing we call life. And that’s different for everyone.

00:39:00:17 – 00:39:24:12
Kyle Pearce
There’s no right, there’s no wrong, but there’s some strategies that are pretty consistent. I heard a lot of great strategies here today from Rene, so I want to thank you for that. And Fred’s, if you want to learn more about Rene, he’s got a podcast. Rene Tell him about the podcast and also where can they learn more about you if they want to hear about investing in Kingston, if they want to hear about coaching, tell them all about the goods.

00:39:24:14 – 00:39:43:24
Rene Masse
Rene Mass. Just Google my name. Everything kind of shows up on Facebook, Instagram and all my websites are on there and I’m a realtor in Kingston. We do property management things as well. We do renovations and some different company. And because I really do enjoy helping others, I coach people as well.

00:39:44:01 – 00:40:04:09
Kyle Pearce
Awesome. That’s fantastic. Rene It’s been awesome to get to catch up with you again, folks. Let us know if you enjoyed this conversation. Make sure to leave a little bit of your big takeaway by leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Rene, thanks for your time and looking forward to catching up with you real soon.

00:40:04:11 – 00:40:07:24
Rene Masse
Thank you, Kyle. Very. You’re very good.

00:40:08:01 – 00:40:31:05
Kyle Pearce
Thank you, my friend. Take care. Chat soon while friends. I’m sure you appreciated the conversation with Rene here today. I know. I sure did. I always have a blast having a chance to reconnect with him any time I can make sure to check out his podcast. The Rene Moss podcast. And I don’t know, I would pick the episode that I was on, but that’s a little bit of a bias.

00:40:31:07 – 00:41:01:08
Kyle Pearce
Definitely go check it out. Gray Guy. In one thing, one of my big takeaways is just how important mindset Rene was very clear to specify how important mindset is in order to be successful not only in business, but in life in general. And I have to say, controlling your thoughts, I am definitely not as far as into meditation yet, but more and more successful people that I run into tend to focus in on that area.

00:41:01:08 – 00:41:30:12
Kyle Pearce
And they claim that being able to see those thoughts and letting them pass by, especially those thoughts that are going to hinder you or hold you back, that’s such a superpower. So it’s definitely something we continue to work on. Mindset is so key. Staying positive, looking ahead, visualizing and essentially convincing your brain of what is going to happen for you and your wealth building journey versus what you’re hoping will happen is so key.

00:41:30:12 – 00:41:52:10
Kyle Pearce
So thanks to Rene for joining us. If you found this episode to be helpful to us, a huge favor and make sure that you follow, subscribe, whatever it is on the podcast platform that you’re tuning in on, maybe it’s Apple Podcasts rating and review goes a massive way. If it’s Spotify, go ahead and follow. And I believe you can leave a rating on there as well.

00:41:52:10 – 00:42:21:11
Kyle Pearce
Or if it’s on YouTube, subscribe and leave us a comment either way, any way that you can help us to grow our community, I think everyone benefits because then we can all get together and we can all share and grow together. Friends, if you want to hop on a call and chat about some of those financial strategies that are hidden, that are unknown by so many out there, reach out to us over at Canadian Wealth Secrets dot com forward slash discovery.

00:42:21:17 – 00:42:59:16
Kyle Pearce
I’ve put in over 10000 hours digging down my fact finder, breaking down those rabbit holes to try to uncover the best ways to structure different scenarios. And I always love digging in to new to bring your scenario through and I’ll do my best to give you your next step. And hey, if I’m not sure what that next step is, I definitely have some people in my network I can connect you with, so reach on out at Canadian Wealth Secrets dot com forward slash episode five five and on there you can click the book call button or head straight there over at Canadian Wealth Secrets dot com for its discovery.

00:42:59:18 – 00:43:46:00
Kyle Pearce
Finally, all notes, links resources all of that wonderful jazz can be found on the website Canadian Wealth Secrets dotcom. All right my friends invested students it’s that time for class dismissed. Just a reminder, this content is for informational purposes only. You should not construe any such information or other material as legal tax, investment, financial or other advice. And as a reminder, John is a mortgage agent with Brick’s mortgage John or license number m23006803.

00:43:46:02 – 00:43:55:23
Kyle Pearce
And Kyle Pierce is a licensed life and accident and sickness insurance agent and advisor with the corporate advisors and pan financial team.

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