August 16, 2022

JF2905: 70 Syndications & 15K Units in Just 4 Years ft. Ryan McKenna


Ryan McKenna grew up with an entrepreneurial mindset, but his dream wasn’t initially to get into real estate — it was to become a professional baseball player. He attended Arizona State University on a baseball scholarship but was forced to walk away from the sport after being diagnosed with ITP, a blood platelet disorder, during his sophomore year. After recovering with a clean bill of health, Ryan decided his next move would be syndication. 

Today, Ryan is the CEO and founder of McKenna Capital, a real estate private equity firm that provides passive investment opportunities through real estate syndications including multifamily apartments, senior living, bitcoin mining, self-storage, express car washes, and other niche alternatives. In this episode, Ryan shares how he came to grips with such a major life change, what drove him to start his business, and how he was able to scale to 70 syndications and 15,000 multifamily units in only four years. 

 

1. Transitioning from Baseball to Real Estate

It took a while for Ryan to accept that he would need to shift career paths after dreaming of playing baseball for so long. “It was hard because my identity was associated with this baseball player for so many years, and it was crushing the way it ended,” he says. 

Now, however, he firmly believes he was born to work in real estate. “Now I look at what we do in real estate syndication and I always say, hey — you can make pro-athlete money doing this,” he says. “So it more than made up for any baseball dreams that I would have had.”

 

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2. Launching His Private Equity Firm

Prior to investing in real estate syndications, Ryan did some single-family rentals, but he always knew he wanted to be involved in multifamily. His former teammate’s father was an apartment syndicator, so Ryan began passively investing in his deals with some success. He soon realized he wanted to take things a step further. 

“I always wanted to be a syndicator and I felt like this was a great time to do it because I had personally done it myself and it was working for me, so I wanted to start a business,” he says. He founded McKenna Capital in 2018 so that he could help friends, family, and others in his network reap the benefits of multifamily investing. He began partnering with others as a co-GP wherever he felt he could add value, and the business took off from there. 

“I have probably two or three relationships that I look back on and they really were critical to our growth,” Ryan says. His main mission now is to create awareness about syndications and the excellent opportunities they provide to passive investors. 

 

3. Scaling to 70 Syndications in Just 4 Years

Ryan says there were two keys that allowed him to scale so quickly: having good partners and putting in lots of work. Despite its massive success, he still views McKenna Capital as a startup. He recently brought his brother on board as the company’s COO, which has also proved extremely helpful. 

“When you have a really solid partnership and you’re in a certain market that’s going really well and you’ve got a great system in place, you can easily replicate the deal flow,” Ryan says. 

 


Ryan McKenna | Real Estate Background

  • CEO and founder of McKenna Capital, a real estate private equity firm that provides passive investment opportunities through real estate syndications, including multifamily apartments, senior living, bitcoin mining, self-storage, express car washes, and other niche alternatives.
  • Portfolio:
    • GP of over 70 syndications, including 15,000 multifamily units, and a total portfolio valued at over $2B
    • LP of over 100 investments across various asset classes
  • Based in: Glenview, IL
  • Say hi to him at:
  • Greatest lesson: Finding the right partners and building long-lasting relationships is paramount to your success.

 

 

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TRANSCRIPT

Ash Patel: Hello, Best Ever listeners. Welcome to the best real estate investing advice ever show. I'm Ash Patel and I'm with today's guest, Ryan McKenna. Ryan is joining us from Glenview, Illinois. He is the CEO and founder of McKenna Capital, a private equity company that provides passive investment opportunities in real estate, senior living, Bitcoin mining, self storage, carwashes and other alternative investments. Ryan is a GP on over 70 syndications, including 15,000 multifamily units with a total value over $2 billion. He's also an LP on over 100 investments. Ryan, grateful to have you. How are you today?

Ryan McKenna: Ash, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on your show here.

Ash Patel: It's our pleasure. Ryan, before we get started, can you give the Best Ever listeners a little bit more about your background, and what you're focused on now?

Ryan McKenna: Sure, I grew up in an entrepreneurial family, and always had that kind of mindset, someday I wanted to run a business and being an investor and control of my time; my father always had that ability with his business and was able to coach me in sports, and just always kind of be there at all my activities, so I want to be able to do that same for my kids. It actually helped growing up having all that support, because I ended up going to Arizona State University on a baseball scholarship; I give a lot of credit to my parents for being there, and all the batting practices and everything they did to make sure I had every opportunity to succeed.

So I got to my dream school, Arizona State, which was just an amazing opportunity to play with some of the best baseball players in the country... And I had my dream set on going to the next level. Arizona State, if you're not familiar, it's got more major league draft picks than any other division one school. A lot of my teammates went on to play professional baseball. I think there were 17 that made it to the Major League.

So this was always kind of like, "Hey, I got there. Now I've gotta go to the next level." And then like threw me a curveball. I got diagnosed with ITP - it's a blood platelet disorder - in my sophomore year, and everything completely changed. I went from starting at Arizona State University to being in a hospital for six months, and really dealing with a serious illness, very similar to leukemia and lupus. So I was bed-ridden, and literally had to do a medical redshirt.

So at that point, I had to start thinking about what next. Baseball is obviously not going to work out for me... And I had to go to plan B, and that was falling back on my education. But while I was at Arizona State University, I got to know the multifamily space really well. One of my teammates, his father was an apartment syndicator in Phoenix, so I got first-hand experience, kind of seeing what he was doing, and just thought that was really cool. And at the same time, while I was bedridden in the hospital, I was given the book by Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and I just devoured that thing, read it multiple times. It became my blueprint for real estate investing passively, which is what I do today.

So I took everything I learned and applied to get to the top level Division One baseball to what I'm doing today, and just the business world in general... And I think there's a lot of similar traits. And I always say, you've got to have adversity in life to really be able to bounce back and appreciate the things that you do, chase and achieve. And it's just a story I like to share, because I thought life was going in one area, and I thought I was gonna have an opportunity to be that athlete that made good money and was smart about it, and invested it, and I knew where I was gonna put the money, as I'd been exposed to real estate syndications at a early age. But I had to start from scratch and work my way up, and here we are today, I built a pretty successful business, and we've worked with thousands of investors.

I'm very proud with what we're doing, because not only was I able to help myself get that lifestyle by design that I always had sought, but we're helping many others do the same, and it's fun to be involved in all these different syndications and really kind of work together... The team approach that I had when I played baseball at Arizona State. So I'm super-passionate with what I do, and happy to share more about my journey, what we're doing today... We're in the syndication space, and we love assets, that cashflow, have equity upside and great tax benefits.

Ash Patel: Ryan, I've got to ask you - you were undeniably committed to a baseball future. How long did it take you to come to grips with that not being the case?

Ryan McKenna: I would say up until recently, McKenna Capital and where I was able to get to with these investments. It was like the first time in my life where I felt like, "I'm loving something more than the baseball dream that I wanted to chase for so long." And I actually feel like this is what I am born to do. And it took a lot of different things in my life to really get to this place, and it was partly because my identity was associated with this baseball player for so many years... And it was crushing the way it ended, because I couldn't go out on my own terms. I literally had to walk away because of the medical issues I was having. And it literally happened at the worst time, because your junior year is the first year eligible for the draft; most of my teammates went pro, and here I am, doing a medical redshirt, and having to graduate and then walk away. It was tough. So it took me many years to finally get over that. And now I look at what we do in real estate syndication and I always say "Hey, you can make pro athlete money doing this." So it more than made up for any baseball dreams that I would have had.

So I'm in a great place now, I am totally fine health-wise... This was just kind of a rare blood platelet disorder that happened at a critical time in my life when I was playing baseball. But I've been fine ever since, and I think I'm lucky in a way that I got started in the business world a little bit earlier... And here we are.

Ash Patel: Alright, now that we know the story has a happy ending, let's dive into how the hell did you start this thing.

Ryan McKenna: Well, I've always been entrepreneurial... I've had a few side hustles along the way, and I didn't start investing into real estate syndications until 2016. Prior to that, I did some single-family rentals, like most, but I knew that multifamily syndication was where I wanted to be. It's where I felt I could scale the most, and it was very much a passive investment, versus - I've found the single family homes to not really be passive, because you get a lot of the calls from the tenants, and you're dealing with all that, and it's taking you away from your job.

But what I looked at syndications was I felt like I was working hard, I was making good money, but I can invest and build out the cash flow needed to walk away from the corporate world, and I felt like syndications was just a different way to do it. Most of the time when I was pursuing this, we were still doing, "How many doors do I need? How many houses do I need?" and I was looking at really just the cash flow kind of backing into a number that I could get from these syndications to give me the ability to say, "Hey, I'm going to walk away from my W-w and pursue this full time."

And so over the period, about three years, I started just investing everything I had, and through some side hustles - I had some successful businesses - I was able to add some decent seed capital. But then I got to the point where I was sharing what I was doing with others, and people were just so excited and really felt like they wanted to be part of it, and that's where I felt like, "Okay, maybe I should take this one step further." And I always wanted to be a syndicator, and I felt like this was the right time to do it, because I had personally done it myself and it was working for me, so I wanted to start a business, which - I did McKenna Capital back in 2018, to really help others in my network. It started with friends and family, and it just grew from there, and now it's a ton of referrals, and I love all the different people I get to interact with.

I got in through -- my teammates father, I invested in five deals with him. So that was a great relationship to kind of start my investing journey, because I knew him very well, and he became a mentor to me throughout those years, where I was trying to figure out where I was going. And then I started investing with other syndicators, because I wanted to get exposure to different deals, and different markets, so I can learn and see what else was out there as I was starting to look at building my own business.

And then I got started as a co-GP partnering with others who I respected the industry, who I felt like I could add value to, and we started small and then just grew it from there. I have probably two or three relationships I look back on and they really were critical to our growth. Now I've built a business really where it's all about the passive investor, because I look at all the different deals we do, and I want it to be where investors have great deal flow, they get to choose the right deals that fit their goals and objectives... And I really took it to heart to represent the passive investors out there, because at my core, I've built up my own personal investments to really give myself that resiliency in any sort of downturn, that things are still going to keep growing, or when you go on vacation and the money keeps coming in from these types of investments... So it's all by design, and I'm just fortunate that a lot of people out there really liked these types of investments. For me, it was about just creating more awareness, because I feel like these are such great opportunities that most people don't even realize exist. So my mission was really to just get the word out and let other investors decide if it's the right fit for them or not.

Ash Patel: Ryan, I think, like myself, a lot of the Best Ever listeners have some crazy numbers going through their head... One of them is 70 syndications, 15,000 multifamily units... But then you throw us a curveball, and you said you started your company in 2018. How did you scale so quickly?

Ryan McKenna: It's a great question. I'm someone who I believe is as efficient as I could be running my business. I did it with good partners, I did it with a lot of work. This is still in some ways a startup, and I've always had that mentality that I like to work hard. And what was very fulfilling about this was that I was helping others along the way, and this doesn't feel like work to me. It's something I'm truly passionate about. And I think it really helped, because through some of the partnerships I had support and back office that really - I could spend a lot of my time working with our investors, and we had some back office staff that can help me with the other aspects that still need to get done and take a lot of time in these deals.

But yeah, my brother came on board about six months ago, he's our COO, and I honestly don't know how I was able to do it all by myself for that long... And we're busting at the seams already right now, just with everything... But yeah, it was one of those where I just felt like the timing was great, and I came in at a great time, with some people who were really kind of getting going, and we've just together flourished... And one thing kind of led to another; when you have a really solid partnership and you're in a certain market that's going really well, and you've got a great system in place, you can easily replicate the deal flow.

Just to give you a perfect example, in the last three years we've purchased over a billion dollars just in Phoenix alone, and we were buying one apartment a month, and the market's been on fire there for definitely the last several years... And it's still obviously very hot right now, but at the time - yeah, we were going at such a fast pace. I look back on it now and it's like, "Wow." Then we've exited eight or nine of those deals already too, and the returns have been pretty phenomenal.

So I'm just kind of head down, and in great partnerships... And honestly, the growth has really just been to support the demand that we've seen. We don't have a certain number of deals we need to do, and we say no to a lot. Really, it was about building really good partnerships, and going deep in those... And I'm just trying to keep up with the investor demand that's coming in, and trying to match that up with good deal flow. Multifamily is our main focus, but we've also gotten into other alternatives that just give investors different choices. So that was a lot of work as well. But being a full-time syndicator, passive investor, all I do is connect with people in this space, so I feel like I've got a good pulse of what's going on. I'm listening to investors, I'm talking with our operating partners, I'm learning about new investment opportunities... Typically, I try to invest first in those, to really test-run and make sure that is a good fit. And if it is, then we would maybe consider doing a fund or something like that for our investors.

So it's something I'm truly passionate about, I do spend a lot of time -- but I think I look back at the last three, four years... A lot of hard work, and now my most valuable asset is time, and I'm looking forward to getting some of

that back.

Ash Patel: Ryan, when you say "we", who is that?

Ryan McKenna: As far as our partners, or who works with me, or...?

Ash Patel: I want to understand a little bit more about the evolution of McKenna Capital. You started out obviously as a passive investor in someone else's deals. Did you then transition into being the operator, doing your own syndications? Or did you always partner with other operators?

Ash Patel: That was a decision I looked at what was best for our investors, and I felt like being an investor myself... Like, say, for example, after I invested in three deals in Orlando, as a passive investor, I'm gonna probably want to diversify in another market, just because that makes sense to me. So instead of us going and putting our sole focus in one market, and that's where we're going to plant our flag, I said, "Why don't we go out and find the best partners in the markets we really want to be in, and we'll play a key role with them, but we're going to take less, because we're ultimately coming in and partnering in a joint venture structure?" And it's good for the investors, because then they're gonna get deal flow from Phoenix, Dallas, Orlando, the Carolinas, Colorado.

So that was been our approach from day one. And it's one word today - yeah, we could go hire an acquisitions person and go find a market, and we've got enough capital from our investors to go do our own deals. I still like the structure that we're working in, because it's great for investors. And we've done our own deals. Typically, those are more in the alternative spaces, where we would be considered a sole sponsor. But from a multifamily perspective, we really like being that co-manager, co-GP. And I get very involved in all those deals, and for most of them, every single property in Phoenix, I sign on alone, I put up earnest money, I invest in the deal. I've got skin in the game, as they say.

So yeah, I'm very, very involved, but I'm lucky that I have some great partners as well. And it gives me the ability to have a little bit more leverage and grow a little bit faster... And at the end of the day, like I said, I'm trying to do this all for the benefit of investors that are looking for good deals, and we really like the markets that we're in, and I couldn't do it without the partners that we have today.

Break: [00:16:46.16] to [00:18:31.16]

Ash Patel: Ryan, are most of your investments a fund-of-funds type model?

Ryan McKenna: No. We've done some fund-of-funds, but most of our -- since I'm part of the general partnership, they're direct investments into the deal. So when we partner with someone, our investors are coming into the same LLC that is created. There's a manager's LLC that I'm part of as a general partnership, and then there's the LLC for the deal that all the investors invest in. So it's generally coming in through that LLC structure. And then the funds - I would say we've seen more of those, some of the alternative asset classes that we see is more fund-of-funds or more of a fund structure, but a single asset in multifamily is really just the LLC that's coming in with all the investors, so we just kind of work together as a partnership make it all happen.

Ash Patel: Yeah. If somebody wants to set up a similar type of entity, how do they end up making money on this?

Ryan McKenna: So as far as partnering with someone, or if they want to do like a fund-of-fund approach, or...?

Ash Patel: Well, let's say you are bringing your investor capital into someone else's deal. How does that person get paid?

Ryan McKenna: It's all a negotiation on the frontend of the deal, and it varies. We've got partnerships that are 50/50, so it doesn't matter how much capital we're bringing in. Yes, we could probably bring in a lot of capital, but you've got a lot operation experience, we're both signing a loan... We'll just work together. And so on lot of the deals we do now - yeah, it's more of a 50/50 joint structure. Sometimes it might be a third, a third, a third, if you've got three partners. Other times it might be based upon kind of your role and your value and everything else you're doing. So it's kind of spread across the board, but we're in a position fortunately where we could go and do our own deals if we want to. So when we're looking to partner, we're really looking more for a joint venture overall, because we get involved with the asset management, we get involved signing the loan, we put up earnest money, we're working with a big group of investors... So there's a lot of work that's put into this. So generally, it's an upfront negotiation.

And we don't really worry about it from deal to deal. We just go out and execute, and once we set it in stone, and you've got a good partnership, it just happens naturally. So it's really kind of up to you. I would say starting out, you're going to have less leverage to negotiate, but we're in a good place now where we're very selective, and whoever we decide to partner with, we do bring a lot of value, and we want to make sure it's a good fit, good deal all around. But we don't need to do more deals or partnerships. It's just - hey, what's working well, and what is the interest from our investors? And typically, when we find a really good partner, we'll do a lot of deals together.

We've got two partners. One we've done 26 deals with, the other one, we've done 22 together, so there's a big track record and consistency there. And they're both pretty cool stories, because on the one we started partnering as their third deal they ever did, and the other one, it was their first deal. And both of them have exceeded the billion dollar mark in each of their markets, which is just phenomenal growth, all within a 3-4 year period.

And so that's how we've grown as well, we've been part of these two rocket ships that have really just taken off. And we've got a few others that are on a smaller scale, but it's been just kind of a great partnership, and I think the one thing that we've gotten good at is identifying these up and coming syndicators, where they've got a great team, they're in a great market, they're very competent, and they're coming in from, whether it's real estate experience or experience in the business world that led me to believe that they would have success... And together, we've just taken it, made it better for investors, and we've been very fortunate that things have worked out. And so they're some pretty cool stories just in the growth, not just with our firm, but our partners, too. We've kind of taken maybe more of the silent partner approach, but we're pretty well connected within the industry with what we do, and it's pretty cool to see and reflect on where we are today.

Ash Patel: So essentially, when you're bringing capital to the table, when you're signing on the loan, when you're bringing the earnest money to the table, you get to negotiate whatever share you want. And if you're doing all of that, is that fair to say you've earned 50% of the GP?

Ryan McKenna: Yeah, it depends on the deal.

Ash Patel: And a follow-up question to that - do you require the operator to also have capital into the deal?

Ryan McKenna: Yes, we require that, because I don't think they would want it to be where we're responsible for bringing all the capital into a deal; we don't want that pressure. And I want to know that my partners are out there working with investors, too. They might spend more of their time on the operations, maybe finding the deal, but I think it's good too for us... Because we're going to play a role in the due diligence, we're going to play a role in the asset management... So I think it's good for everyone to help out in all aspects, but certain people are gonna take the lead on certain aspects of it. That's what I think makes a truly good partnership, because then we can share best practices, too.

I get a lot of people that reach out to me from the investor perspective, because we do touch a lot of different investors... And we can give insights with what we see out there, and we feel like we've got the get pulse on different markets... And that's very beneficial to an operator who's maybe looking at another deal and "Is there going to be demand? Is this the right time?" And that's some value that I think we can give and share. But yeah, I would expect whoever we're partnering with to bring in capital as well. And typically, what we'll do is we'll divide it up. We'll say, "Hey, do you want half the capital? Do you want 75% of it?" It's pretty easygoing based upon the demand and the deal, and that's really kind of how we work it with them. So far, it's worked out really well, and I think it comes down to picking your partners, because I know not every partnership works out... But I look at this as -- you've got to vet that on the front end. I tell investors - we see a ton of deals, and at the end of the day, sometimes the numbers all start to look the same. And I really believe what's most important is the people behind the numbers. If you can get that part right, and you're in it for the long haul with them, I think you're going to be happy with the results. And I feel like we've found a few of those partners who were in this for the long haul, and that's why we're doing so many deals together. And that's important to vet out before you commit to something.

Ash Patel: Right. Let's dive into some of these alternative investments. You've got self-storage, senior living... Pretty safe. Carwashes - they're on fire right now. Right?

Ryan McKenna: Yeah.

Ash Patel: They're just moneymakers. Bitcoin mining. So I've invested in a lot of these as well, and timing is kind of critical. Bitcoin has obviously taken a bit of a hit... Are these the same investors that put money into multifamily, that put money into these alternative investments?

Ryan McKenna: Yes. They are investors who have pretty good, solid foundation in the multifamily space, and want to diversify, and so they're looking at emerging asset classes or other alternatives that just might give them a different diversification in their portfolio. So yeah, most of them are coming in from other investments that they've done with us. I would say that there's been a few that maybe didn't have the multifamily investments experience, but jumped in because they found these to be attractive as well. But yeah, a lot of our investors look at the deals, and they're building out their own private equity real estate portfolio, and they're taking positions in different markets, different asset classes, with different operators... And really, it kind of depends on what their goals and objectives are. Because some deals we have that are going to be shorter in duration, high cashflow, others might be, let's just say no cashflow, but bigger upside. And then multifamily has kind of got the best of both worlds, and it really kind of depends on what investors are looking for. But yeah, I was surprised, especially with our Bitcoin mining fund - we had a tremendous amount of investors come in from all the other deals that we've been a part of, and that was cool to see. A lot of interest.

Ash Patel: Yeah, so Bitcoin is under a fair amount of pressure today. It's off over 60% from its highs. How's that investment doing?

Ryan McKenna: So our fund just kicked off not too long ago. Obviously, there's a correlation to the price of Bitcoin. Being a bitcoin miner though, we sat on a lot of capital, so we raised a lot of this back in November, December, and when Bitcoin started to make its turn downward, we looked at it as a buying opportunity for the Bitcoin miners. So we secured a significant discount on the miners, which allowed us to get about 60% more computational power and buy a lot more miners for our fund. So there's value there that is going to be extracted over time, as Bitcoin turns back up. So right now it's all about just mining as much Bitcoin as we can. We know the value is down because of the price of Bitcoin, but this is a long term play. We knew there's gonna be volatility. I would say I didn't expect it to be this volatile right now, but Bitcoin has an 80% correlation to the NASDAQ right now, and we know what's happening in the stock market, and just other macro-economic events... So yeah, it's not a fun place right now if you bought Bitcoin at the top, because you've lost a lot, but you've really only lost it if you sold it.

I invested a lot in the mining fund, I invested a lot in Bitcoin and crypto too, and I'll tell you right now, as much as it sucks where the market is at, there are some great buying opportunities to get in at a very low price point. So I continue to keep reinvesting, because I do believe when we get out of this rut or recession, whatever it is... Because a lot of it is being manipulated right now, but I do think that there's gonna be some great returns down the road. And with Bitcoin, a lot of the investors, I would say, and most people who invested in Bitcoin - we don't ever really plan on selling the Bitcoin. So the price is going to fluctuate. It's more about holding long-term, and we believe in it. So we're not too worried about -- it could go down to $15,000, $10,000, but I'm looking at this long-term and I'm still very, very bullish. It's just... Right now is not a fun time.

Ash Patel: Yeah. And the reason I brought this up is - are you having to have tough conversations with investors?

Ryan McKenna: I wouldn't say tough, but yes, we're being very transparent with "Here's the profitability." We're still profitable right now in our mining fund, with the level of Bitcoin right now. So yeah, it's not the start that we had initially looked at back in November, because back then Bitcoin was at 60,000. And it was a tougher fund, I think, to get right, because each day, the numbers change based upon the value of Bitcoin. So you have to kind of take the approach of long-term, and we did different periods where we did an update, "Okay, Bitcoin's at 42k. Here's what the numbers look like." And it could change tomorrow. Bitcoin could be 25k, 30k, and then the numbers are different.

So that was all part of the deal on the fund, so investors know that... But yeah, we definitely had to have conversation around that, because there was a huge learning curve. To take Bitcoin price out of the equation, investing in this type of operation - it was new for every investor, so there was a lot of questions. There still are today, just in how to distributions work; how do I set up a wallet.

This was our biggest fund we've had, to date. We released it and in the first day we had over 20 million in just investor commits come in. It was a huge success from the standpoint of the interest level. So we're managing this with over 500 investors, and each one of them has questions, so it's a lot to handle. It's been a huge undertaking, but we're in a good place with getting through the onboarding process right now, and we've just got to continue doing what we're doing, and like I said, we believe in the long-term value of Bitcoin, and we're looking at as a five-year horizon.

Ash Patel: Yeah, I get it. I didn't want to segue too much into Bitcoin. I really just wanted to find out about those difficult conversations and if investors are pushing back... But Ryan, what is your best real estate investing advice ever?

Ryan McKenna: I would say from a passive investor perspective, do a ton of research, get to know people that you want to emulate what they're doing with their investment style... But after doing a bunch of research, at some point, you're gonna have to pull the trigger to find out what this is all about. And I always tell investors, you may not get 100% of your questions answered in the way that you want, but if you've got 85%, 90% of them answered, and you feel good about it - hey, not a bad idea to pull the trigger and see how it goes. And if it goes well, great. We see a lot of investors that will continue to keep investing into syndications. But if it doesn't - you know, it's one investment, and you can take a pause and reevaluate. But I think just getting started... Because the number one regret I have from people who invest with us, they tell us, "I wish I would have got started sooner. Had I known about this 10 or 15 years ago, what I could have grown my net worth to." So I think a big part of this is after doing your due diligence and finding a good fit, eventually, you've just got to pull the trigger and see for yourself what it's all about.

Ash Patel: Ryan, are you ready for the Best Ever lightning round?

Ryan McKenna: Sure.

Ash Patel: Alright, Ryan, what's the Best Ever book you've recently read?

Ryan McKenna: There's a book that I've actually read a couple of times, and I read it over and over again, because it's kind of the story of my life... It's called "Essentialism - the disciplined pursuit of doing less." I'm the type of person who takes on a lot and does a lot, so I've got to manage my time very efficiently, but this book is all about really just focusing your efforts on the highest value items that you have, and then letting everything else go. Because as someone who is so busy, I can't do everything, and so I've got a pinpoint on where the time that I'm going to spend is best spent. So it's a great book; I would encourage anyone who is very busy and wants to get more quality out of their day with things that actually matter, this book will provide a great guideline for doing that.

Ash Patel: And Ryan, how can the Best Ever listeners reach out to you?

Ryan McKenna: We're on all the different social sites, but probably the easiest way is to go to our website, mckennacapital.com, and then from there, you can connect with me or our team. We're always happy to chat with whoever. But I'd say our website is probably the best way to get a hold of us.

Ash Patel: Ryan, I've gotta thank you for your time today, sharing your story. Your baseball career took a turn. You had some medical issues, which we're glad you overcame; that your friend's father was an inspiration to you in the syndication world, and you've built an incredible company... So thank you for sharing those lessons with us today.

Ryan McKenna: Thank you, Ash. I appreciate you allowing me to come on your show, and hopefully our listeners got a few things out of this. So thanks again.

Ash Patel: Awesome. Best Ever listeners, thank you so much for joining us. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a five star review, share the podcast with someone you think can benefit from it. Also, follow, subscribe, and have a Best Ever day!

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