Do you want to make your ideas a reality? Use full focus! Sam Wilson’s guest in this episode is Vinki Loomba, the CEO at Loomba Investment Group. Vinki explains why multitasking is a myth; you can only do one thing at a time. When you try to multitask, you scatter your energy. But focusing is like concentrating the sun’s rays on a piece of paper using a magnifying lens. The results are more powerful! Join in the conversation and discover the power of full focus to turn your ideas into reality. Tune in!
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Why You Need Full Focus To Make Your Dreams Come True With Vinki Loomba
Vinki Loomba is an IT professional and Professor turned into a full-time real estate investor and syndicator. She is the Founder and CEO of Loomba Investment Group. She’s an entrepreneur, a strategist and has a background in commercial real estate IT and academia. Vinki strongly believes that with 100% focus and concentration, you can change any idea into reality. Vinki, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much. I’m delighted to be here with you.
The pleasure is mine. We’ve got a lot of things to cover in a short time. We’ll get right to it. Three questions I ask everyone who comes on the show. Can you briefly tell us where you started, where you are now and how you got there?
I come from a strong IT background and as well as academia but being an IT professional was not enough for me because we got that piece of passive income. We got our second house and put our first house on rent. We realized, “We can make money this way.” That led me into my real estate journey. I got my realtor license and I got into the retail outside of the house and started selling the businesses. We started investing on the business side. That’s the way to scale ourselves in real estate but at a point, it became too much hodgepodge with a corporate job and the real estate.
I was at a point that I had to choose one. I chose my corporate job because this is my study career that I’ve been working on for the last so many years. That’s the best thing I can do. I put my real estate career on the back burner but I knew that I would come back to it someday. When I left my corporate job a few years back, I landed right back into real estate. This time my focus is multifamily. I’m not into the sales or not on the sales side that focuses on Westman side.
You are no longer teaching or are you teaching still as well?
I do teach occasionally. I’m an adjunct. We were on the semester system before it was quarter, so I got a chance to teach a couple of classes but since I’m going full-time into real estate, I’m not sure how much time I can spend on the teaching side. Though, it’s my passion because that’s my way of giving back, bringing live experiences into the classroom. That’s the perfect pairing for the students no matter what walk of life they’re coming from. I usually teach the grad program just like a lot of line one managers. I’m bringing the live projects from the small to midsize companies. It really helps the students to learn the concept or more experiential learning.
I didn’t go to school. I was in real estate full-time. Somewhere in my mid-30s, I had this bright idea that someday I wanted a degree, just to say I did it. I can agree with you that the most influential are the best ones to learn from where people are actually doing something. That’s great. I’m glad you give back on that front because, to be honest, in the educational system, we’re missing a lot of the active participants in the field in which they have studied but yet never spent a lot of time doing it. Good for you. Now you’re doing adjunct work but you had gone full-time on the acquisition side in multifamily. What has been the most surprising part for you as you have transitioned into multifamily investing? What about that surprised you the most?
No matter what you do in your life, you need to be focused.
First of all, the concept of multifamily investing was a new concept to me. Having a corporate background, I wanted to go into mergers and acquisitions to begin with. When I left my corporate job, I stepped back into real estate and I quickly got my realtor license. There’s a story behind it too, why I got started because after my corporate job, I was thinking, “I’m going to be done. I’m going to retire. I’m just going to enjoy my life.” One day I woke up with this strong feeling at [3:00] or [3:30] in the morning that I had to do something because if I died right this minute, all the experiences, knowledge or whatever I learned to walk my life, that’s going to go waste because I did not do anything.
I did not make any difference in anybody’s life except my own or my family. Just like in the holding phase of, “Let me get this. What did I do to give back?” If I do not need anything now, I should on something and give it to the people who need it. I created a purpose for myself and stepped right back into real estate. I got my realtor license within a week, which was expired years back. I was looking to go into mergers and acquisitions, having a corporate background.
I’m looking for some connection on LinkedIn, trying to figure out who can help me to break into that industry. I read somebody’s profile and read $400 million assets under management. I’m like, “What does that?” I know this person briefly though, from the previous work, and within a year or a year and a half, how could you have that profile or how could you have that big number of assets under management? I called this person and asked him, “What is it?” He introduced me to this multifamily concept. In my mind, I’m thinking, “If he can do it, I can do it, too. Let me do it.” There was the light bulb moment for me but the journey has been exciting and I’m really happy to be here.
I love using LinkedIn. I don’t think most people have gotten their next job. Maybe they’ve got the next job idea off of LinkedIn more than I know but you’re the first person that’s told me that you’re looking on LinkedIn and like, “Multifamily, that’s interesting.” That’s brilliant. Talk to us then maybe we’ve got a lot of the hard skills on this channel where it’s like, “Here are the steps. We built a team. Here’s what we did,” some of that stuff. I want to stay away from that may be and instead, shift the focus a little bit and talk about what you had here in your bio. How do you believe that with 100% focus and concentration, you can change any idea into reality? Talk to us about that part of growing and scaling your multifamily business.
It’s very important. No matter what you do in your life, you need to be focused. You need to have some concentration because we are all energies. What happens is if this energy is not focused at one place, it is scattered. We are not able to do anything. I’m going to give you a simple example. We used to do that when we were little kids, is to take this magnifying glass, a piece of paper and try to focus on the paper, see if we can bond that paper or that one little hole with the sun’s rays.
That’s exactly what I meant when I say 100% focus because when you’re focusing all your energy on one thing, you are able to do whatever you want to do in your life. You’re able to change your dreams into reality. That’s just a basic, and everybody knows that, but the thing is, we get caught up in our day-to-day mundane things and we forget because we think we can multitask. We can do twenty different things at one time but you cannot. You can do only 1 thing at 1 time. If you can just be focused 100% at that moment, see the results for yourself.
That goes hand in hand with Cal Newport’s Deep Work. It’s one thing with 100% focus and cut all the rest out. You’ll be amazed at what you get done. That’s fantastic. I love that. Talk to us, maybe about your translating some of that focus and concentration on the IT side, being a Professor of Information Technology, and how those skills apply now in the multifamily space?
Whatever you do in your life, prepares you for the next step in your life because a lot of the soft skills are that transferable skills you can bring into any field. You need to have a lot of wisdom on how to use something because most of the time, we are in a judgmental phase. We are just thinking, “I do not know this,” despite focusing on what we know, and then how we scale with the knowledge that we have. Once we know that, then we need to understand what gaps are there, so they are able to see the gaps and we can mitigate those gaps.
What are those gaps? Those are the gaps that bring us fear and hesitation. Those gaps are mainly the knowledge that we do not know something, and we hold ourselves back. If we open up ourselves trying to understand who we are or what we know, be truthful to ourselves. Do not self-sabotage. That’s what my philosophy is because I want it to be transparent, at least with myself 100%. If I’m transparent with myself, then I am transparent with others, and I figure out, “Where I lack what,” and try to fill in that knowledge, the gap and move forward.
What were some fears may be that you had to overcome getting into multifamily?
In multifamily, the first thing was when I started in here, “Who to reach out? Who is going to be my connection? Who’s going to help me scale or even get started in the beginning?” I was at the right place at the right time, being blessed and being blessed to have the connections that I have now or the day I started. They helped me in my journey a lot. A network is your network that’s so true because you don’t realize the power of all these connections because if you take just a live by yourself, you cannot do everything 100%. I do not resonate with the people who say that, “I’m self-made.”
If you look at it closely, nobody is self-made. You can’t even buy groceries yourself. There’s not a lot of people in the background who are helping you. There are farmers who grow the vegetables that you are shopping for. They grew the package and brought it to the supermarket. There are so many people in the supermarket to arrange it for you in a certain aisle, so you know exactly where to go, pick that up, buy that, come home and cook.
The thing is, by the end of the day, that’s the thing, “I made this dish, so I did this myself.” Not really. That’s the way I look at my network or all connections because, by the end of the day, I realized that in my life, at this point, that life is all about connecting with others and helping each other grow because your growth lies with others. That’s how we scale or that’s how we reach to our dreams, whether we have dreams and visions for our life.
Life is all about connecting with others and helping each other grow.
That’s a very holistic approach to this. When it comes to connecting with others and scaling, how is it as you’ve built your team and network in the real estate space?
My thing is when I meet with somebody, I ask them, how can I help them? I wanted to see what value I could add to the team. Once I’m trying to offer my help, it gives me a vision into things like what things I am lacking and what I can take from them? It’s a give-and-take relationship always. It cannot be one-sided. You cannot always take and take. It does not work like that.
You have to have the mental side, like, “What value can I add? What skills can I bring to the table to help others so that I can build a strong relationship, strong team or be part of a strong team?” The other thing is I’m a lifelong learner. I’m always looking for opportunities to learn more, and then see how I can learn new skills and use those skillsets to add more value back to the same team or anybody else around me.
I was driving the kids to school and we were talking about our love for learning. There were some neighbor kids who always went to school with our kids. I was like, “Do you guys like school?” They’re like, “No. I’m bored.” I’m like, “Never confuse school with learning because if you think that school is always learning, you’re probably mistaken, especially when you’re in fourth grade. You’ve got to love to learn.” Being a lifelong learner can make you a lifelong earner as well. Putting those two together is fantastic. Could you walk us through the first deal you did? How did you get that across the finish line and what was that experience like?
That was a really good experience, and thanks to my partner who gave me the opportunity as I stepped in as a limited partner and do multifamily. I was looking to how I can scale or what I can do in this industry, not having the knowledge of pigging the deals down. I do have knowledge in IT or maybe some teaching or whatever I have done in my past life but not necessarily have the knowledge to take the deals down or do things on my own.
I was looking for partners. I was looking for the right team to be connected with. I was fortunate enough. I ran into somebody I met at a networking event a few times. I enjoy talking to him. There was some deal that he had. He was looking for investors. I liked the deal. I wanted to invest with him and then ask him if there’s a possibility for me to come in as a coach and maybe I can bring more investors.
He was super sweet. He says, “Yes, why don’t you jump right in?” I got an opportunity to do it. I feel really blessed and very grateful for that opportunity. It’s not necessarily that what I was envisioning that I can race. I wasn’t even close to what I was thinking, just being frustrated but I’m super happy for that opportunity because from then onwards, I was able to make more connections and scale.
On that first raise, did you commit to a certain amount to the other general partners?
Yes, I did, but it didn’t work out because there were other budget partners who were supposed to go to do it together. It did not exactly happen the way we were thinking because the planning, strategies and all those things were missing because we did not put together a strategy on how we wanted to do it. There was no pre-planned thing, “This is ideal. This is coming on our way. Let’s nail it down this way.” There was nothing like that. It just happened. I wanted to grab the opportunity. I’m sorry if I made somebody upset on that too but that was not my intention because sometimes people think, “We’re going to do everything together but things do not happen 100%.”
If there’s an opportunity, I want to will it because my purpose is bigger than myself, like I already mentioned. I wanted to make a difference. I like to help the women and children, wanting to bring them along with survival mode. They have food on the table during the next mealtime and we help people in India. At one point, I wanted to do it at a global level. I mean, put myself in a position so I can pick up the project anywhere globally and try to make a difference that way.
Vinki, I’ve enjoyed this. I’ve had a great time chatting with you. I know that you have lots of things going on, and if I’m not mistaken, you have at least one. If not, two more deals here before the year is over you’re trying to get wrapped up and closed. I don’t want to keep you any longer but before we do, let’s jump here into a final few questions and go from there. The first question is this. If you were to help our readers avoid one mistake in real estate, what would it be and how would you avoid it?
Ask lots of questions. No question is a stupid question and doesn’t go blindly into anything. Nobody should make any mistake thinking like, “I know everything.” Even though you think you know everything, There are many things that you don’t know.
When it comes to investing in the world, what is one thing you’re doing now to make the world a better place?
I’m helping my investors to grow wealth, first of all, and then I’m taking a portion of my earnings and I’m trying to make a difference in other people’s lives. I’m trying to help underprivileged people. My investors are doing me a favor by investing with me because, unknowingly, they’re helping the world and trying to make a difference in other people’s lives just by investing with us.
If the reader wants to get in touch with you or learn more about you, what is the best way to do that?
They can go to my website, LoombaInvest.com, and download my free eBook, 7 Reasons Why Real Estate Syndication Build Long Term Wealth. Also, you can connect with me on social media, LinkedIn or Facebook. I also have a podcast. Please tune into, Vibe! Mind, Body & Entrepreneurship, where I bring all the success stories, and there are many bullet nuggets in those stories that people can take away, learn and implement in their lives.
Thank you so much for your time. For those of you who read that is LoombaInvest.com. Vinki, Thank you again. I do appreciate it.
Thank you so much, Sam.
Important Links:
- Loomba Investment Group
- Deep Work
- LinkedIn – Vinki Loomba, MBA
- Facebook – Vinki Loomba
- Vibe! Mind, Body & Entrepreneurship
About Vinki Loomba
Vinki Loomba is an entrepreneur and strategist with a background in commercial real estate, Information Technology and academia. She loves to help busy professionals build wealth through passive Real Estate Investing.
She is a seasoned business leader with over 20+ years of experience in overseeing the effective execution of synchronized projects focusing on quality, timeliness, and functionality. She is an expert in strategic planning and management with a strong ability to transform “as-is” organizations into industry leaders.
Her in-depth experience as an IT professional drives her systematic approach to multifamily and commercial real estate investing. Vinki is the CEO & Founder of Loomba Investment Group, which is positioned for exponential growth.
