Welcome And Brent’s New Focus SPEAKER_00 0:26 Hey getting entrepreneurs, welcome back to the show. Today I'm thrilled to sit down with Brent Bowers, a former US Army officer turned Land Clipping Powerhouse and the founder of the Land Sharks. After eight plus years of service, Brent traded military goods for vacant lots and built a business that has helped everyone from broke college students to seasoned investors generating serious income through land without needing deep pockets to start. He's based in Colorado Springs, a husband, a dad, and a proof that you can scale well without sacrificing the people who matters the most.

Brent, welcome to the Juggling Entrepreneurship Podcast. Let's go. SPEAKER_01 1:13 Thank you for having me. Yeah, I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:21 Me too. I'm really excited for our um the session. And uh let's see, I gave a little bit of preview about yours. So um can you add anything more?

Moving To Florida And Adding Homes SPEAKER_01 1:36 Yeah, no, thanks for uh thanks for having me on here. Oops, I guess my camera decided that I was gonna use my other camera here. Let's put that back up. Um yeah, good to see you.

Um I'm actually in South Florida right now. We we have relocated to Florida. Um enjoying this. We've also made a little bit of a transition.

Uh we now place manufactured homes on our land uh as well, in addition to selling the land. So it's been a great addition and it's been more of a consistent uh business because now a lot of people, more people are able to get financing when there's already a house on the land rather than it's just vacant land. So they can get FHA lending or VA or conventional. So it's it's really added some extra juice to our our existing business.

SPEAKER_00 2:26 That is a good strategy there by itself. So and thank you for a quick update on on one. So do you want to start with where did you actually start it? And how do you end up in a successful pub and where you are right now?

SPEAKER_01 2:46 Yeah, so you know, it all started when I was actually in the military. So I was uh I was stationed in the military uh in in Fort Carson, Colorado. Uh that's why I was in Colorado Springs. I was preparing for my third combat deployment.

I was gonna be away from home for another year. Uh this time I actually had children, and my relationship was on the rocky road. Um, I had already gone through one divorce from multiple deployments. I did not want to do it again.

Uh, so I was looking for a way to get out of the military, to quit my W-2 job that I absolutely hated at that point. Um, so I found land investing. I found a guy talking on a podcast, From Army Stress To Land Investing SPEAKER_01 3:25 talking about flipping vacant land and doubling his money overnight. And I was like, if that is half true, that's what's gonna allow me to quit my job, get out of the military, and still be able to feed my family.

That's how it all started. SPEAKER_00 3:40 There you go. So um, how are you actually managing uh your life with kids and your entrepreneurship journey? Um, it is sometimes really hard to manage, and sometimes it is re-prioritizing the things to make it well balanced.

So when you're going through this journey from moving from army to setting up your own business, um what went through and how did you handle the transition? SPEAKER_01 4:14 Yeah, it was actually scary. Um, how did I handle it? It was a little bit stressful.

I I had uh actually a few months that the Army gave me uh to do an internship and I was freaking out the entire time. But luckily, I had about a three three years left on my contract when I started building my land investing business. So it gave me quite a bit of runway uh to where I had built it up to $18,000 a month coming in from land payments. Uh and I was still stressed.

I was so used to making $4,000 a month for the last eight and a half years. So to leave the military, I was like, oh my God, am I gonna lose my house? Uh but I had built that passive income to $18,000 a month. So I wasn't as stressed leaving, but I was still nervous, very nervous to leave.

SPEAKER_00 5:07 That is a tough call for anyone who is switching from their comfort zone to uh the entrepreneurship journey where there is no guarantee, right? SPEAKER_01 5:18 So yeah, no guarantees, absolutely. Only guarantee you got is uh hard work and persistence, yes, for sure. SPEAKER_00 5:27 So um let's dig a little bit deeper into your business.

Um let's talk about investing nowadays. Uh the strategy or which is the best, investing in land versus investing in homes. SPEAKER_01 5:43 Yeah, well, uh Building Runway Before Leaving W-2 SPEAKER_01 5:44 right now um it's easier to get started in land, absolutely easier. But if you want a more consistent, uh predictable business, then absolutely placing brand new manufactured homes on land is by far hands down the best investment strategy I've ever been in.

Now it's active income. You need to take that income that you actually make from flipping, basically flipping land with mobile homes on it into other passive income sources like rental properties. That's the more passive side. But uh, I'd say hands down placing manuf brand new manufactured homes on land.

We call them land home packages. Um, it has absolutely been explosive for my business because the real estate market has sucked lately. You know, the interest rates have been high, inflation's high, everything costs a lot right now. So that's squeezing the almighty.

I mean, it's it's making the the dollar go less further, and it's squeezing all of us Americans. So most people don't wake up and say, oh, I want to live in a mobile home today. Well, no, that's that's all they can afford. I mean, but these aren't like your 1965 mobile homes you you picture your your grandmother in.

These are brand new, all drywall, beautiful, white, light, bright on the inside, and they're nice, but they are absolutely affordable. I mean, we're the we're in one market where the median home price is $440,000. We sell these on land with warranty for several years for $220,000. So we're half the median home price.

That's how we're able to sell these on a weekend. Now, I mean, I didn't just fall into this. We took years figuring this out, but it's it's it's working out very well. Land Vs Homes And Why Packages Win SPEAKER_00 7:25 Any suggestions for you for veterans who are interested in real estate and building this successful business?

SPEAKER_01 7:35 Um, any advice? Is that what you're asking me? Yes. Yeah, I would say that my advice is get started now.

If you're still in the military, if you got three years or five years left on your contract, get started today. Don't wait till later. And if you're already out of the military, it's never too late to start. Maybe investing in land, maybe purchasing that first rental, maybe buying that piece of land to place that manufactured home on it.

Highly, highly recommend it. Um, you know, it's it's I I my hours, my work hours are pretty much from 10 to 3. Uh, usually don't work this late on a Friday. Um, but it's just it's you're able to do this with not spending like hours and hours and weeks and weeks.

Like it doesn't I don't do an 80-hour work week in anymore like I used to in the military. SPEAKER_00 8:26 I think um some of the parents um are definitely looking for that flexibility, and that might also be the reason. They want uh again that financial freedom, um, they want the time freedom where they can spend time with their family and they can decide their own clock. Um, I think that is what I've been hearing from multiple parents recently is around the time and financial freedom.

Absolutely. Um and I think whatever that you're doing uh can be a really good path for them. Yeah. Um let's talk about a little bit um deep into your business and the lessons that you have learned.

So let's start with why is there no competition in land right now? SPEAKER_01 9:18 I'll say, you know what, there's starting to be competition. Really, people are I mean, successfully it's clues, people are figuring this out. Um, I think there's starting to be competition, but I will say there's absolutely no competition in place in manufactured homes on land.

More people are doing land deals, and it's actually helped me because now they're selling me the land. I've taught them how to find it, and now they're selling it to me. So um it's absolutely incredible. I don't have to actually go and do the marketing myself anymore.

Do I still do the marketing? Yes. You never want to turn off a faucet that's producing income. SPEAKER_00 9:50 So, what are the three top reasons why we have to love the land, or in this case, the mobile homes, as you're saying, in terms of investment and uh businesses?

SPEAKER_01 10:01 Yeah, I mean, reason number one, you make your own hours. Uh, reason number two is I think land is way easier to buy from a landowner than a house is because people are way more emotional with their houses. They raise their families in these houses. Uh, they, you know, we're always told our house is our biggest investment.

So, what do investments do? They go up in value, uh, but they were not told that about their land. And I could buy, I could buy a $12,000 piece of land, put about $140,000 into it. So, what is that?

That's putting me at about $152,000 total, and turn around in Georgia and sell it for $217,000. That's a massive and that's a massive amount of money for just very light improvements. What's the improvements? A brand new home, water, either sewer or septic, electricity, and a certificate of occupancy.

Now, I really made that simplified. There's that we have a system, a step-by-step structure that we do it. Uh, and a lot of people that help us, like my permit tech's calling right now. Competition, Deal Math, And Finding Land SPEAKER_01 11:05 She's the one, she's the one in the county, she's the one talking to the health department, she's the one doing all these things, and I pay her great money for it.

But it still allows me in less than 10 hours per deal. I've got eight deals on my board going right now, actively as we speak, 10 hours per deal. And I usually net about $45,000 after paying my lenders, paying my realtors, paying the title company, paying my my employees. Well, my partners, I shouldn't say employees.

I have one employee, my office manager. So you don't need a big team to do this. SPEAKER_00 11:37 That definitely sounds feasible, um, rather than scary, to be frank with you, Brent. And I think all it needs is understanding the business, having a plan, follow your guidelines, and try to build something by your own.

Um, just curious around how do you locate these properties in the market outside your own? SPEAKER_01 12:02 Yeah, so how I'm locating them is I go on Zillow and Redfin and I see where other land is selling, I see where the brand new manufactured homes are selling. A lot of times you don't get to see the brand new ones because a lot of like not many people are actually doing this. So I'm having to look at like 1990s, and if they pencil out, if those would make me a profit, then I absolutely know when someone walks into one of my brand new 2026 models, it smells brand new, it's got warranty for two years on all the systems, 10 years on the structure, it mine's gonna sell quick.

SPEAKER_00 12:41 Sounds good. So let's a little bit talk about your leadership skills, right? So when you actually started the business to where you are right now, what have changed and what you have learned through this process in terms of leadership, in terms of team building, in terms of working with people, because businesses need to have that talent. SPEAKER_01 13:04 Yeah, I'll tell you what, one of the biggest mistakes I made was I hired cheap bookkeeping, like overseas, I didn't monitor them.

I should have paid to have an accountant a lot sooner on my team because you know, when you're doing multiple transactions, multiple deals a month, paying multiple contractors. I mean, at one time I had $44,000 a month coming in just from payments from land, and we would need to do an uh installment sale template worksheet on each one of those. Well, my tax return is almost 300 pages. Well, that really multiplies and compounds over a few years, and I got into big mass.

So, what I'm getting at Leadership Lessons And Costly Bookkeeping Mistake SPEAKER_01 13:55 here is you need to plan where you you need to plan now where you look to be in the future. You need to have the right people now to where you want to be in the future because I I basically outgrew my first bookkeeper, hired another one and held on to them with dear heart, even though they wanted to like listen, I'm this is above my head. I was like, listen, don't leave me, don't leave me. I was so focused on doing the next deal, and I had all these accounting and books, book messes building up in a real estate business.

That's that's kind of that that that's a big like issue. So I'm fixing it all now, but painfully and very expensive. SPEAKER_00 14:35 So what you're saying is SS fast, take action fast, yeah, and and build the team that you can trust. SPEAKER_01 14:44 Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely, and get referrals from other people that are where you want to be of who they're using right now. People where you want to be and who they're using right now. SPEAKER_00 14:57 That is a very strong statement, but it's very practical too at the same time. Um, because you should have a vision with respect to either the team or your goals or financially where you want to be, and so on.

So I think amazing points. Thank you a lot, friend. SPEAKER_01 15:15 In the Bible, it says where the people lack a vision, they will perish. You gotta have a vision.

SPEAKER_00 15:20 That's a nice close out, definitely for sure. So um, let's wrap up this forecast with three questions. Um, one, what would your suggestion be to the parents who Advice For Parents, Students, And Investors SPEAKER_00 15:35 are thinking to start the business? Um, example, your kind of business, but they are hesitant, they are scared about balancing family life and entrepreneurship.

What would your suggestions be to them? SPEAKER_01 15:50 My suggestion is we're all scared. You think I'm not scared? I got a bill this morning that that was more than what I used to make a whole entire year in the army.

That scared the heck out of me. But uh there's gonna be moments of fear, but we just gotta put put push past them. You know, that at the end of the day, your life's gonna be out of balance from time to time. My life's always out of balance.

I'll get my physical fitness in perfect check, and then my marriage will start to go down. I'll get my marriage in perfect check and then my business will start to suffer. You know, like it's there's always something out of balance. I was just in the emergency room with one of my sons, and then I had to take my other son to the orthopedic surgeon.

My wife's been busy, so she couldn't run them. Like it's just like I've been out of balance all day long. I just barely made it to this podcast. Thank God uh you were waiting on me.

Thank you for doing that, by the way. SPEAKER_00 16:40 No, no worries. Uh a parent can't understand a fellow parenting. So don't worry about that.

But yes, so that is the harsh reality, audience. There is now a balancing act, it's always a juggling act. Some days you have to prioritize the things between yourself and family and business and finances. So always keep an eye, always keep juggling, but it's not impossible.

That's what Brent is trying to tell us. Um, the second question uh to you is to the people who are in the teams, who are doing their undergrads in colleges, who want to come in this business around the land and mobile uh homes, any suggestions for them? What is the reality of the business here? SPEAKER_01 17:27 Yeah, um, you know, start sooner than later, find a coach that's doing it, find someone that's willing to walk you through doing it, and you know, kind of let them take you on them take you under their wing, uh, and just start taking action.

Start taking income-producing actions each day. SPEAKER_00 17:46 Awesome. Sounds good. And the last question before we close out this podcast any uh suggestions to the people who are already in the business line as you and want to, you know, improve their business.

SPEAKER_01 18:06 Yeah, uh any suggestions is you know, geez, that's a good question. Make more offers. SPEAKER_00 18:14 Make more offers, there you go. Brent Bowers, everyone.

Thank you, Brent, for your valuable time and thank you for your valuable lessons of life. SPEAKER_01 18:24 My pleasure, thanks for having me.