Adam: Going to a conference, which is what most people do think about ... My clients tell me, "We just flew to this ..." Why are you doing that even now? What is the connection between going to a conference and having a podcast? What are the similarities, what is the overlap, and what are the benefits - pros and cons - of having a podcast over that?

Hunter: Sure. I think there's an important distinction to be made between typical weekly/monthly networking events, and conferences, and podcasts. I think they all play a role, but my real challenge was that I was struggling to go above a certain hurdle at just typical networking events. Again, with a purchase price of, let's say, $25, it attracts a lot of people that are not interested in participating in a real estate business in the way that I was interested in participating.

I know that you are a huge proponent of the syndicated model. Almost all of my entire portfolio is invested in passive syndications. When you invest in syndications, or if you create syndications, you stand to gain high returns as a passive investor. If you create them, you stand to gain millions and millions of dollars. When you're able to generate millions and millions of dollars, you don't find yourself with the time to go to a lot of in-person events. For myself, someone that's positioned their portfolio like that, I'm not meeting a lot of people that I'm going to be working with, or investing with, or raising capital from.

Now, the conferences, let's say most people maybe attend somewhere between two and four a year. These are typically in the $500 to $1,500, to maybe even $3,000 range. That can attract a lot of caliber of talent. The challenge there is the expense, itself. You're playing this game where, if you're going to fly to Orlando for four days, spend three nights in a nice hotel, and pay for the ticket price, you're talking about $3,000 to $5,000 on a business expense, and you're hoping that you're going to get the best out of it.

There's an amazing way to supplement that, especially as it relates to education. But the component that I think most people give up is that podcasts can be excellent for networking, as well. I'll give you a perfect example - this conversation. Adam and I have known about each other for several years; we haven't gotten to connect, but now I'm positive, if we continue this conversation, we'll eventually find a deal that we can work on together; or even better, we'll find a way to solve a problem for someone else because we'll know about each other and know what our interests are. That's a great way to do it. Another way to do it is to reach out to guests that speak your language, that you feel, from a gut-intuitive perspective, that you should reach out to them and start that conversation.

That's just some of the examples. I think the networking event, the conference, and the podcast medium all are incredible. Just one more pitch about the podcast medium - from an influencer's perspective, it's the most intimate source of communication. You're literally plugged into someone's ears. You can listen at a speed that's advantageous for you. You can listen while you're going and coming to work. I know you have a PhD. I'm confident that someone can get an MBA in real estate or, at least, the equivalent, driving to their job. That is an unbelievable thing, and I'm such a ... I'm very, very grateful to be part of it and to be able to participate in people's learning, as I know you are, as well.