October 8, 2019
Episode #72 – John Heeney – Legacy Through Trust and Confidence
Note to listeners: if you’re interested in receiving your own copy of John Heeney’s summary of Real Estate Investing in Canada by Don R. Campbell, please email [email protected]. Enjoy!
“Equally important to me is a genuine, heartfelt interest and a passion to help other people find what their ‘why’ is… My passion is to solve other people’s ‘why’ and that’s probably what my ‘why’ is; the joy and fulfillment that I get helping other people.” – John Heeney
John Heeney and his wife Dorli are the owners of Tranquility Enterprises Inc. They have been married for 24 years and have four children between the ages of 14 and 21. Formerly dairy farmers from Ingersoll Ontario, they sold their dairy farm in 2014 to pursue a real estate career.
In 2011, on the advice of some shrewd mentors, John decided to create Tranquility Enterprises before the sale of the dairy farm. Having all his assets tied up in the dairy farm, John quickly had to learn how to raise capital and utilize Joint Ventures, RSP’s and private money to build and grow his real estate portfolio. After making a couple of property purchases, it was clear to John that he needed to be educated thoroughly if he really wanted to grow his portfolio. Enter REIN!
John became a member of REIN in 2011, literally studied everything REIN had available to learn, built a real estate team and chose a target market in which to invest. Over the next year, being fully equipped with education, John purchased 14 properties, primarily suited houses and single-family homes. In 2013, John was awarded REIN’s Rookie of the Year and Investor of the Year for Ontario along with his Bronze, Silver, and Gold Pins for purchasing properties. REIN has continued to be a vital part of John’s education. He has transacted almost 60 deals so far and continues to focus on suited homes primarily in the Edmonton market.
Recently, John hired Jared Hope of Tilt Property Group to act as his coach and is now in the process of learning new strategies with plans to actively purchase 18 properties within the next 12 months. His focus continues to be raising capital with JVs and other people’s money. He has raised over $12 million dollars to invest in real estate over the past 9 years and that number continues to grow each day. John is also working with Jared as a real estate coach with a primary focus on teaching people how to raise money using JV’s, RSP’s and private money.
John has a huge passion to help others build LEGACY to create TRANQUILITY!
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- Show Notes
- [01:52] Patrick introduces his next guest, John Heeney.
- [03:59] John’s elevator pitch gets the conversation underway. What does it mean to him to build a legacy?
- [07:16] In conjunction with legacy, it’s fundamental to John to include and incorporate the words trust and confidence.
- [09:13] John shares the story of his upbringing which was deeply rooted in dairy farming, how he got started in business and the influence his entrepreneurial farming parents had on his own path. His tale takes us to how and why he transitioned out of the business of dairy farming and into the business of real estate investing.
- [13:33] During the 3-year closing process of the dairy farm sale, on the advice of his mentors, John decided to get a solid real estate investing business underway. But wait, all his capital was tied up in the farm! Time to get educated and training. Enter REIN and a dedicated study path.
- [16:28] John talks about the mentors he’s been fortunate to have in his life, and the traits of a solid coach who spends the time to get to the “why” of their client’s desired path.
- [20:16] In what way did John show up that allowed the space for his mentors to want to support and guide him with no skin in the game except to help?
- [26:06] John’s “why” has two equal sides: both building businesses that his kids can passively or actively participate in and a genuine passion to help other people find out what their “why” is and pursue their own financial success towards that.
- [29:02] John and Patrick talk about their connection through REIN and Jared Hope, along with the success John has achieved with the building blocks that being a REIN Member provided him then getting aligned with important relationships.
- [32:22] Patrick expands on the great opportunities coming up for REIN Members as the company gets back to some of its fundamentals, plus Patrick expresses his uncompromising accountability for the many directions of REIN as CEO.
- [33:35] John describes a bit more of what he’s doing now with acquisition and those valuable REIN pins!
- [35:07] Trust and confidence. What those two words mean to John in the context of raising capital and his joint venture partnerships.
- [36:45] Creating relationships and investing time to genuinely understand the drivers and “why” of your co-venturers sets the groundwork for a clearer, more grounded and ultimately more successful joint venture partnership.
- [38:43] John shares a story about one of his clients to illustrate the point that not everyone’s motivator is money and return on investment. These folks have a broader definition of what success will look like.
- [39:58] Four quadrants of trust. Truth, reliability, competence and care. Patrick revisits this concept to demonstrate how we show up within these four components is paramount to our success in building relationships.
- [42:10] This concept fully aligns with how John views the world, adding that maintaining trust is equally as important to relationships as is building it.
- [43:35] How John works through the fear of potential breakdown with his joint venture partners in tough times. Transparency, accountability and authenticity go a long way in maintaining trust.
- [46:46] John shines a light on the importance as the “expert” partner to be aware of mindset during times of adversity. As the partner typically focused on daily operations, they are typically the ones spending hours upon hours immersed in the challenges. The money partner who is typically brought in when necessary likely doesn’t experience the same mental and emotional strain.
- [47:58] Facing the fears of consequences. Issues don’t improve when we ignore them; they build.
- [48:56] Both John and Patrick have witnessed the hurdle so many people share in hiding their fears or issues out of shame or embarrassment. Pride gets in the way. It’s so important (and easier) to reach out and get support.
- [50:09] You can have anything you want in life if you’re willing to help enough people get what they want – Zig Ziglar. John embodies that in his approach with clients. Empathy, non-judgement and problem solving to help his clients move forward.
- [52:53] Switching gears a bit, John clearly explains the nuts and bolts of how he finds joint venture partners and raises capital.
- [57:29] Patrick elaborates on our spheres of influence; the inner circle of people around us. When we reach out and take the time to understand their motivations for investing, they could very well be great joint venture partners.
- [59:04] John shares a cool example from one of his coaching clients about the power of creating a story to share with potential joint venture partners, whether you own even one piece of real estate yet.
- [62:36] Digging into RRSP mortgages: important parameters and a little role play with Patrick as John walks through the broad steps of how it works.
- [67:09] Linking the dots to further break down the initial process and provide additional clarity for listeners.
- [68:16] Addressing some of the common questions and potential push back from capital investors.
- [70:06] John clarifies the next steps once a person has invested with their arms-length RRSP mortgage.
- [70:28] John explains another way in which he works with investors who may not have all the capital needed for one project; plus, the important factors in his investment strategy including results and exit strategy.
- [74:33] John communicates one more important option for those who may not have the extra cash or ability to get mortgages – high loan to value. Cash flow may not be great initially, but particularly for a younger person, they will have long-term appreciation and mortgage paydown. There are many ways to slice the pie.
- [77:25] Joint ventures aren’t simple, but learning the systems, steps and possibilities is simple through education with REIN and experienced mentors who are happy to work with people to achieve their dreams.
- [78:58] When it comes to real estate, often our best initial investment is not a piece of property, rather investing in the foundational education and training to build a solid business for endless possibility.
- [80:00] John hits home a couple of points REIN has always stressed: you don’t need to invest in your own backyard (John invests in Edmonton from Ontario) and you want to make your money work harder for you in markets that make sense.
- [82:50] It always goes back to relationships. Building solid relationships in any market, with any type of investing or business is the single greatest factor to success.
- [85:05] A mutual shout-out to recent TEDM podcast guest Krista Hope!
- [87:50] Patrick emphasizes how the mental game becomes more important than the how-to. How-to can hit a saturation point, and the mindset must continue evolving.
- [89:03] Rapid-fire show down! Favourite book John recommends; a very targeted use of swearing; favourite inspirational quote; messages at the pearly gates; John’s low weirdness scale; what he’s not very good at (along with a short example of how to work with it); room-desk-car; favourite tune; favourite movie – a classic! and Netflix faves.
- [95:56] John’s gratitude.
Connect with John Heeney:
Selected Links and People Mentioned from this episode:
The Thin Book of Trust (4 Distinctions [Quadrants] of Trust) by Charles Feltman
Dan Sullivan – Strategic Coach
Real Estate Investing in Canada by Don R. Campbell
The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
