No One Is Coming to Save You: How Jamil Damji Took Control of His Life & Built a Real Estate Empire

0:00When you're in a survival mode, you do what you've got to do to survive. And that means you're clutching and grasping and filling holes of worthiness and filling holes in yourself with whatever you can. And even though it's temporary, and even though the chemical lasts, it's half life, and then you got need more of it, or you crash and you're on this hamster wheel of trying to maintain, eventually you fall, you fall on your ass and you see that you've got to make a real pivot, a real change, something from the inside out. That's why I really believe success is an inside job. This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production.

0:35We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over 6 years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to Right About Now. We're taking the BS out of business, baby. That's the tagline, but it's the truth. And you know what? There's no one better than my good friend, Jamil Damji. What's up, Jamil? What's cracking, brother? Good to see you, man. Hey, man. It's good to see you. I always think TV when I see you and I talk to Pace and you're best known for probably with the masses.

1:11You're best known in our circles with just being a badass real estate investor, but best known probably to the masses from triple digit flip. How's life, brother? Life is great, man. I'm really figuring out how to have this life where I get to do the things that I've been working so hard to do, which is continue to grow professionally, be there consistently for my family and myself. Yeah, it's a delicate balance, isn't it? It's like juggling the balls, but I respect the hell out of you for trying to get it done because that's what it's all about at the end of the day. Yeah, we all got to juggle balls.

1:41No ditty. Jamil, let's set the table for everyone. People probably heard of A &E's show, the triple digit flip. They know you're a badass real estate guy. What got you in real estate? Where does the passion and the energy come from? It exudes from you. Where'd all that jazz come from? I accidentally found myself in real estate. I'm East Indian, culturally, heritage-wise. My family had eyes for me to be a doctor or an engineer, but doctor was where I was being groomed to have my life. I didn't get into medical school, which was at the time one of the most disappointing and heartbreaking things that ever happened to me.

2:12I had worked so hard in college to get a near 4.0 GPA. I killed the medical school interest exam. I did all the things you need to do to pad a resume with volunteering and extracurricular activities that I didn't have time for, but did anyways, because I needed it for my application and the interview process. And then some dude saw me and said, no, you know, just not today. I saw that as a sign, really, because I had done all of the things that you should do. In fact, I can say it now, but in the medical school entrance exam, the guy who sat behind me cheated off me on the test. I know him really well.

2:45He's my cousin and he had partied the night before and needed help on the exam. And I let him cheat off me. he got into medical school. What the fuck? That guy's prescribing you guys all the things and is giving you everything you need right now to survive. He gets into medical school. I don't get into medical school. That just showed me the disparity in this whole process. This some guy, depending on how he woke up today or who I remind him of or something about me made this guy say, no, it wasn't my testing scores because they were better than my cousins. It wasn't my GPA. It was also better than my cousins.

3:16What about me made that person say no? When I saw that, I realized that another human being had control of my destiny and an arbitrary decision could change the trajectory of my life. And I decided then never again, I was never going to let another human make my choices. I was never going to let a human being say yes or no to me. No, I'm going to pave my own path. I'm going to do it myself. And so that's where the passion came from was a general looking at life and looking at the way the system is kind of set up and just rejecting it. It was a full rejection of what was paved out in front of me as a way to succeed.

3:49I knew I had to take control of it. Now I find myself in an entrepreneurial situation, which wasn't really lucrative at the time, but it put me in proximity to a guy who was investing in real estate. And I got an opportunity to do my first wholesale transaction, which at the time I didn't even know existed. There was no online education. I thought I invented wholesaling because of the deal, but I hadn't. I thought I did because I hear from these developers that they're looking for these old bungalows in Calgary, Alberta, where I grew up, that they could demolish. They just needed to have 50 foot frontage, 110 plus feet in depth.

4:18They needed to be zoned R2 and they needed to be in specific neighborhoods in the city. Now, I lived in one of those neighborhoods in a rental and I had tried to rent one of these houses a few months earlier, but I couldn't because it was$200 out of my budget. But it was still available when I was walking my dog the next day. And I called the for rent sign and I asked the homeowner if they would consider selling it instead of renting it because they had been unsuccessful renting the spot. Her answer was, yeah, for the right price. And I inquired what that would be. She says$350 ,000. And this decision that I make next is what changed everything for me.

4:47I didn't go to the people who were looking for that house and say, I can get you this house for$350 ,000, which most people would have done. I went and I asked the question, how much would you pay? And they said$400 ,000. So now I have a$50 ,000 problem to solve because I can buy it for$350 ,000. I can sell it for$400 ,000. I have no money. I have no credit. I have no way of acquiring this. What do I do? I start talking to my family members. I start asking for a loan. I start seeing who could give me 350 grand for a week or two. And nobody wanted to give me any money. I'm the kid who didn't get into medical school.

5:16Why would I give him anything? Then I start calling real estate attorneys. And I get all the way through to the letter S. A guy named David Steed answers my call. He's so fresh out of law school. He had no secretary. And I tell him my problem. And he's like, oh, that's easy. That's called a skip transfer. And I'm like, explain. He's like, you take two contracts, one where you're the buyer and you pay 350 ,000 on that contract. And then you take a second contract with everything else lining up, except you're now the seller on that contract and the new buyer is going to be who the buyer line is.

5:42And the price is going to differ because you're buying for$350, you're selling for$400. Everything else has to be the same. So the conveying attorney, the condition dates, all of that have to line up for this to work. But once you've got these things signed, bring these contracts to me. And then I asked, what happens then? He said, it takes me a couple of weeks to do some research, look at liens, make sure that I can convey title, pay off on the mortgage. All of the documents have to be prepared. And once that's done, I'll have a check waiting for you. It happened. I get a$47 ,000 cashier check and coming from a situation where my parents hadn't made close to that in a year in either of their lives.

6:15For me, that was the game changer. That's where the scales fell from my eyes and I saw what is possible in life. And I never looked back. I went ham after that and I started wholesaling full time. I do really well in it until the financial collapse in 08, where I I lose everything because of leverage and just inexperience and doing too much, which is essentially how I got caught up in that. But it was a beautiful education and it taught me so much. That's where I get started. That's where the passion comes from. Because quite honestly, Ryan, I look at life as a series of choices. You see everybody gets a chance to choose something different.

6:51Choose something that's outside of your regular patterns. And your life is pregnant with these possibilities of making different choices. but too many of us get stuck in patterns that are familiar and comfortable. Now, if you continue to choose the same thing you chose yesterday, then your tomorrow will look like it does today. And if today looks like a job you hate, a relationship that doesn't serve you, and just general discontent with where you've gone, then you're doing what I learned from Andrew Huberman, how they treat rats who they're testing for depression. It's this theory of hopelessness.

7:20At what point does a rat that you put in water stop swimming? When does he give up? And they look at that time and then they give these rats drugs to see if they can extend how long the rat will swim. And then they say that's the drug that's going to cure depression or at least solve some symptoms. Well, what about not putting that rat in that situation? Or how about helping the rat out of that situation rather than just extending how long he'll swim? What about figuring out how to put that rat in another medium? And that's what we're doing to each other in life. We're putting ourselves and we're putting each other in these glasses of water and these tanks of water and we're like swim.

7:52And this is like people that are in relationships that are terrible. These are people who go to their nine to five job that they hate. They work for somebody they don't admire or don't trust or wouldn't trade places with based on character. And they give up. At some point, they say life happened to me and now I'm just going to do what I do until I have to retire. The passion comes from being able to get in front of that person, making the choice to quit, making the choice to give up and saying, hey, I know about another glass. I know about another way that you can get out of this spot where you're no longer hopeless and you can maybe do something with your life that would make you proud.

8:25Damn, man. We say taking the BS out of business. That's how you take the BS out of business. That's real shit right there. I'm here on the job site with Dale, who's a framing contractor. Hey, good morning. Dale traded up to Geico Commercial Auto Insurance for all his business vehicles. We're here where he needs us most. Yep, they sure are. We make it easy for him to save on all his insurance needs, all in one place, with coverage that fits his business and bottom line. Oh, I shouldn't have looked down. It's all right. We're so far up here. Look at me. Take a deep breath. No, I'm good. So good.

8:56Get a commercial auto insurance quote today at Geico.com and see how much you could save. It feels good to Geico. From Geico Subconscious News, I'm Tammy Racing Thoughts, broadcasting from your brain. You think you live in a pretty safe place, but you just heard about a break in four miles away, which isn't close, but it isn't far either, you know? Art Palpitations is on the scene. I sure am, Tammy, and I don't even know why I drove out here, because as you know, you got customized renter's insurance through GEICO, so your stuff is covered. Oh, well, that's great. Any sign of crime there, Art?

9:23Just some light littering, Tammy, but like they say, a little litter can lead to a lot. Wise words. It feels good to worry less. It feels good to GEICO.

9:35They say the best and greatest growth happens in discomfort. I firmly believe that when you didn't get into medical school, when you've been working for that, that's the expectation. You were highly uncomfortable, I would have to guess. The greatest gifts sometimes come in these surprises, in this discomfort. I joke all the time. I have balloons and clowns at my pity parties, but they only last an hour. They're one hour. You may have had a pity party for a little while. I'm sure we all do. But you flipped the fucking switch, dude, and you turned it into greatness. not only going into real estate, but uncovering and unlocking the wholesaling aspect and the ability to do something that a lot of people around you that didn't know how to do.

10:14That's what I call grit and resourcefulness, the two greatest attributes on earth. And you exude it, man. I love that shit. That grit and resourcefulness got you through that. Now you're passionate about sharing it with others and turning them around. That's the greatest gift we all have. Because I remember growing up in my 20s, I was early successful, but it was me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. When you start sharing those gifts and you start spreading it around, that's what really unlocks not only greater gifts, but it's amazing what starts the doors that start opening. And we had some other doors that started opening.

10:44When did it all change? What was round two and three of this journey? The building of Keeg Lee, my wholesale business, was a beautiful dream come true. Unlike what people may believe the perfect entrepreneur looks like, I definitely wasn't in the beginning. I was struggling with alcoholism and addiction to pain medication from a motor vehicle accident. As I'm building this company, I'm still struggling to just maintain life and maintain my head above water and my relationship as good as it can be with a man in that state. I did well. I tried. I was doing okay, but it wasn't until I took a good look inside and I said, what am I doing?

11:19Who am I? Why am I here? Why am I giving up? Why am I getting my energy and my fuel source from this false light, from these false sources? How do I change this. That took me down a path of self-discovery. And I was reintroduced to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which I had been originally introduced to in elementary school by a person who didn't understand it themselves. There I was looking at the pyramid and seeing I've been living in survival. And of course, when you're in a survival mode, you do what you've got to do to survive. And that means you're clutching and grasping and filling holes of worthiness and filling holes in yourself with whatever you can.

11:55And even though it's temporary, And even though the chemical lasts its half life and then you got need more of it or you crash and you're on this hamster wheel of trying to maintain, eventually you fall. You fall on your ass and you see that you've got to make a real pivot, a real change, something from the inside out. That's why I really believe success is an inside job. We can kick in as many doors as we want and we can do this the Newtonian way where every cause has an effect and every action has an equal and opposite reaction. And I can look at the laws of physics and say, okay, I need to have a force.

12:25And that means I need to have some mass and acceleration behind me so that I can actually move this obstacle. Or I can work with my spirit. I can work with the creator, the thing that binds all of this together. And I can part red seas. I can build universes. I can tap into the divine qualities within me and not have to do this the hard way. And that is where things really started to change. That's where second part and the third part of this story come from was me getting in and having a real honest look at who I was and how I was showing up in the world and making adjustments and changing my patterns and deciding that I wasn't gonna be the same Jamil Damji as I was today.

13:00I'm gonna be a new one. I'm gonna make a new choice. And I can't say you make all the changes and choices all on one day. You'll burn out and you won't be able to sustain that either. But it was small micro change after small micro change after small micro change. Slowly but surely, I started to evolve. I evolved spiritually and then I evolved emotionally. And then the last drop was physically. I recently dropped 80 pounds. You know, I was a heavier guy and unhealthy at that. I had to make that final adjustment in my lifestyle. And I feel completely different guy today. I'm healthier. I'm happier.

13:33I'm more fulfilled. I've made more money with those attributes still there and intact. And I'm continuously learning. I'm still finding myself in hard situations. I recently just went through a separation with my wife, who is a beautiful human being and one of the greatest women I've ever met. and it's a friendship that I'll carry on for the rest of my life. I learned so much in how that happened, what I can do differently in my life to show up better as a father and as a husband in the future. I'm making those adjustments, and I'm going to continue pushing forward and growing. That brings me to today.

14:06I'm ecstatic with what's around the corner. I know that because I'm not living in fear, I don't have anxiety about what's coming. I live in faith, and so I have excitement. You look great. You do look good. I wouldn't be surprised. I'm a handsome devil. Lots of doors might be opening for you. When I'm ready, I guess. I've still got a lot of healing and things to go through. I know. You've got the physical, but it's all tied together. And I love what you said about strength and success. Hap starts within. There's never been a truer statement. Everything starts internally and it manifests in the mind.

14:36I'm sorry, it starts in the mind and manifests in the body. If you don't have your head right in the right headspace, and that can be spiritually, that can be meditation. whatever your outlet is, but having that being centered and focused and it's just so important. And I know that's had an impact for you. I'm sure the audience would love to hear probably some A &E fans out there, some triple digit flip fans out there. Talk about that experience a little bit. It was wonderful while we did it. Pace and I, my sister and Laura Morby, we got to spend hours and hours and hours on set, hanging out, doing what we do, enjoy each other's company and flip real estate.

15:13It was really a blessing and I have a tremendous amount of respect and love for our friends at A &E for the opportunity that we had. They originally signed us to a six season deal. And as you guys are probably aware, we only have produced two of them. They did have an order for us of 30 episodes, which Pace and I humbly declined. The reason for it is just at the end of the day, we are principals in the real estate business. Our daily job is not choosing tile and picking paint colors, which unfortunately in a visual medium like TV is something that people want to see. And the general public doesn't realize that real estate investors don't do those things during the day.

15:51I've got people that pick tile. I've got people that choose the paint color. I have staff that handles those things. I'm not the guy doing that. I'm looking for new opportunities. You're doing the boring, not the boring stuff, but the boring as far as TV goes stuff, the roll up your sleeves and deals and hunting and networking and all that shit. They want me to demo a wall. It's just not authentic to the experience that I have on a daily basis. And when you look at it from the perspective of how long it takes to shoot an episode, they're looking at 80 to 100 hours of footage for a 42 minute episode, which is oppressively long.

16:24And it takes us out of our day to day responsibilities. It removes us from being able to show up better for our communities, which I'm 100 percent committed to. And it takes us away from being able to be there for our staff. I've got over 300 people that rely on Jamil Damji being the best version of himself every single day and to be there to answer questions, to motivate, to lead. And if I'm on a TV set pointing at tiles and choosing paint color, I'm not doing that. Unfortunately, that's just not a show we want to continue making. Again, no judgment for people who do and a tremendous amount of love and respect for our producers and friends at A &E.

17:01They are professionals. I have so much respect with A &E. We originally told them, hey, we're never going to do this fake drama stuff. I'm not going to throw a contractor under the bus or a vendor under the bus and pretend like somebody screwed something up. They don't do that. Now, if something authentically happens and a mess up occurs and we catch it and we want to talk about it, I'm totally down. But I'm not going to make it up. We're not going to lie. And there was only one instance where a producer, a director had asked for us to do that. And I walked off set. I just left. I got in my car and said, no, not doing it.

17:32And then the executive producer got on the phone and told that director, what are you doing? He's like, I'm doing what I do. This is what we're supposed to do. He's like, not these guys, not this show. I was apologized to, got back to set. They said, you just do what you do. And I'm like, we do it by heart. We do this thing for real. And I'm never going to dramatize and throw someone under the bus. Unfortunately, that's not the TV we make. They honored that. And they produced a television show that I am proud of, that I know my children will be proud of. And even though it will live in the ether somewhere on the internet, at some point in 20 years, my kids will look at it and say, wow, look how fat dad was.

18:07This is cool. But we want to do something that is meaningful on a societal level. And so Pace and I are self-producing a show where we're going to look at how we can help solve problems we have a hand in. Now, there's no doubt in my mind that real estate investors, wholesalers, fix and flippers have a hand in the inventory shortage and affordability going where it's gone in the United States. And if we want to pretend like we don't have a hand in it, then we're blindly diluting ourselves. That's not to say that I'm not going to participate in it because that's how I feed my family. It's the way that life is.

18:39And that's just unfortunately how it's going. So houses are going to get more expensive. They're going to get harder to buy. But knowing that I have a hand in things getting more expensive, can I not find ways to help the people who are being negatively impacted by what's going on in real estate? And that's what Pace and I want to do. Moving forward, we're self-producing a show where we will go into Skid Row. We're going to go into tent cities and we're going to find vulnerable people who really want to affect some change in their life. And we'll show them how to do this business. We'll show them how to get deals.

19:09We'll show them how to make money. And we'll do that with our own time, our own resources, and prove that you can teach a man or a woman to fish and change their existence. That's going to be how we can, A, at least begin helping solve the problem that we know is sweeping the country. And then change that model from people that are experiencing being unsheltered to single parents who are doing the best they can to other disenfranchised communities in the United States that would benefit tremendously from the knowledge that Pace and I have gained in this industry. I don't give a dang if anybody watches it or doesn't watch it for the fact that we'll be able to do it and do it authentically.

19:47And it'll be a subject matter that we're very tied to, that we're very interested in and that we know will make a huge impact on society. And if you watch that and you see that we can help a person struggling with addiction or struggling with other factors in their life and help them do the business, then what excuse does somebody who has everything going for them except lack of priority and how they want to spend their downtime, whether that be watching Netflix or doing something that can help change their financial life? When we can show that and prove the concept to people that, hey, anyone can do what we do, then we'll have a tidal wave of people that will start taking responsibility for what they produce in this world and how they show up.

20:31I love that, man. I can't wait to watch it.

20:37I'm surprised and you probably did, but maybe I didn't have a discussion with a pitching it there. We did, but they just said people aren't ready for it. They want to still see house porn and that's okay. That's totally okay. It's not until you break the mold that new molds are formed. And maybe we got to self-produce this and show how strong the appetite is from an internet basis. Because Pace and I have really good YouTube channels and our communities are super connected and they are engaged and they're all excited to see this come to fruition, even if it's just self-produced and watched by our communities, cool.