In this premiere episode of The Launch Button Podcast, host Hugh Zaretsky shares a personal story that changed the course of his life. He reflects on the impact of 9/11 and how it led him to reassess his career and find his passion in real estate investing. Hugh provides insights into overcoming traumas, discovering one's passion, and taking the steps towards success. He delves into the mindset required for entrepreneurship, offering practical advice for listeners interested in starting their own business or investing in real estate.
Join us as we explore stories of resilience, the path to success, and the journey to achieving your dreams.
Key Highlights
About the Host:
Hugh Zaretsky, was an IT executive until his wake-up call came on 9/11. Realizing how short life can be, Hugh transitioned his career to become a real estate investor, international speaker, best-selling author, philanthropist, and advocate for empowering individuals. Hugh started investing in the precursor to Short-Term Rentals back in 2005. His expertise in cash-flowing properties (STR, SFH, and multi-family) has allowed him to successfully train over 12,500 real estate investors and entrepreneurs to complete profitable real estate transactions, launch businesses, or take them to the next level.
Hugh has been a certified real estate continuing education instructor in 4 different states. His latest book "The Launch Button" was an Amazon best seller in 4 categories including all of real estate. He recently spoke at the Humanity Summit in Portugal on the global issue of "Sustainable tourism (including STRs) and how to work with local communities". His dedication to mentoring and coaching aspiring entrepreneurs makes Hugh a highly sought-after speaker. Get ready to be inspired and gain invaluable insights from Hugh's wealth of experience.
www.thelaunchbuttonpodcast.com - Subscribe and get updates, Swag, etc.
Purchase Hugh’s book, The Launch Button here: http://bit.ly/launchbuttonbook
Private Community: www.eframily.com - Want to work, train, or get coached by Hugh?
IG - @hughzwealth
FB - @hughzWealth
Thanks for listening!
Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.
Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!
Subscribe to the podcast
If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.
Leave us an Apple Podcasts review
Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.
Welcome, everybody to The Launch Button podcast episode number one, we are here getting this content out there for everybody. So why are you here? And why am I here? Right? That's the big question that we're talking about.
Imagine yourself on a beautiful Tuesday morning, the sun is shining, the clouds, there's not a cloud in the sky. Two beautiful day, you just got to the office, you've recently been promoted. So you've got the corner office, became director of technology, and you're high on life, and you go into a meeting. And then all of a sudden, something goes past your window.
And then people will run into the window.
And all of a sudden, there's a building on fire.
That's the day that changed my life. I know it changed a lot of American lives, a lot of international lives. So thank you to all the military members, first responders, doctors, lawyers, all the people that have kept us safe during COVID. But that's the day that changed my life as on September 11 911, both planes went directly past my window and into the Twin Towers. And I was one of the first people to take pictures of the scene that day that went out to every major newspaper, I don't tell you that sorry to bring you down, I tell you that story. Because oftentimes, it takes a trauma, it takes a situation for us to sort of step back and realize I wasn't happy. Now I come from three generations of teachers, both my parents were teachers, my grandfather was a teacher, right. And I watched my parents struggle financially. So I didn't want to do that. So I got pushed into it. And just like a lot floating on a river, I got pushed in a direction of something that I was good at. And it took something like 911 Because I was making more money than my parents combined. I had the luxury condo with the pool on the roof, and I thought I was set on life and then family. Life changed. And that day, I did lots of crazy things. And I won't take you down that story here today, we may go into that in future episodes. But it caused me to realize, as we processed the photos of 13 people jumping off the top of the Twin Towers, that their choice was jump or burn. And I realized the only difference between me and them was that my company signed a lease on a smaller building. Otherwise, that should have been my choice.
I didn't know what I was passionate about. I didn't know what I liked. So I sort of had to step back. I started dabbling in a bunch of different things, just like a lot of you guys have tried different things and been successful or not successful. That's okay. And I found real estate investing started an investment with a friend of mine. And I ran out of friends and family to borrow money from. So I said, I need to take your course at this course, right? And I got it out of the magazine. So some of you guys like you know, I totally believe in like the three day boot camps that you can learn stuff, you can accelerate your growth really quickly, just like with this podcast, you'll be able to accelerate your growth really quickly as you listen to the different episodes. But that being the case, I signed up for this course took the course and out of that they offered me an opportunity to start teaching and training real estate investors all around the country, the exact opposite what I was doing at my job. And I tell everybody, and you'll learn as we go through this, that I believe in the philosophy of if something is 70 to 80% of what you want, say yes to the opportunity, you're never going to get 100%. And if you do, it's probably not really what you want it. So say yes to that 70 80%. So I took a chance, said yes to that. And that led me on a whole new journey. Right. And sometimes our traumas like 911 can open up doors that we never expected. And oftentimes it takes us down the path that we really believe in, we really deserve. And we really want deep down inside. That's what happened. Now I get to teach and train real estate investors, entrepreneurs all across the United States, Italy, Canada, all over the place. And I get to see the light bulbs go off in their brains as they be able to do things that, you know, they never thought were possible. And it all started with that little day there on 911. That led me down a journey I never expected in this podcast and to lead you down the journey you probably never expected as we go through this. And you're going to conquer some of your fears. You're going to go through those things.
See, I had no I told you, both my parents were teachers. My dad was a math teacher. My mom was an English teacher. And I followed my data that I was really good at math and numbers. That's why I went into it. But I felt I couldn't spell or do grammar. I used to send out take me three hours to write an email to my team and there still be spelling mistakes and grammar mistakes in it. And yet I knew I had to write a book. So it took me eight years to write a book. Go through that whole journey. It brought me closer with my mom brought me closer with my family to be able to write that book of not only my success, but my students success and we're going to share some of those stories with you guys throughout this podcast. But it leads led down a path where I had to change my own mindset. And a lot of times it's our mindset that holds us back right these six inches. So we're going to show you guys that how I overcame that and I've been in boats with Les Brown, Jack Canfield, Brian Tracy, I'd been in books with those But I've never written my own book. And this was the opportunity and it's called the Launch button, how to launch out of your, your situation, whether to your corporate job, because you might have hit the glass ceiling like I did in it. Whether that is you know, your own family, you don't want to leave it. And sometimes we don't want to leave our jobs because of our titles or ego, all of the different things. And we're going to explore those together on this journey about why people stay where they are, instead of taking the next step towards success. As we're going through that process, though, you're going to learn from the stories, the challenges, the things that people have had to overcome, just like I've had to overcome, and we're going to be that tore died for you on this journey to success. So you can find your passion, fire your boss, or fire yourself, if you're already doing this, and take your business to the next level. And I believe you got to have business ownership and real estate investing that go together. And that's what we do with the Launch button, we're gonna help you launch into where you want to be.
So as we go through the podcast here, and we started with the book with that, and now we're going to bring on experts and students and people that have gone through the journey, just like I've had to go through the journey, people that I've helped, and, you know, experts in their industry, to share with you the challenges that they've overcome the situations, the traumas in their lives, you're going to be surprised by the things you're going to learn and how it's gonna affect you. It doesn't matter your financial situation, right? Of course, it's easier if you've got a great credit score and a million dollars in the bank to become a successful business owner and real estate investor. But if you got a 350 credit score and $500 in the bank, you can still do it too. Right? Because that's just a mindset, it's gonna take more energy and effort for you to achieve the success that you want and might be longer. But when you're doing something you're passionate about, we're gonna get you there. Now, here's the big thing. Most people don't even know what they're passionate about. I do this all the time I walk down the street, or people come to one of my trainings or, or come meet me and I say, Hey, what are you passionate about? And they give me what I call the BS answers. Right? Like, why do you want to do this? Well, I want to make more money, I want to spend more time with my family. Right? Or I want to travel more. To me, that's BS, because everybody wants that. Everybody wants those things. But why are you going to get out of that? Why are you going to go the extra mile to do these things? Right? Here's a bigger, deeper, why we're going to help you get there, if you don't know it. And then a lot of people are passionate about helping other people. And they just want to help other people. And that's great.
But whether you know, it doesn't matter your religion that you believe in every single religion, whether Judaism, Catholicism, right, Hindu, everything says you got to help yourself before you can help other people. So we got to get you to that position so that you can do that. And you do that through business ownership, real estate investing, before we can give that to charity, and charity is gonna be a big part of what you're gonna hear about. You hear how some charities are successful summer, not what's the difference from business ownership all the way through the process. So we're going to help you guys on that journey to success, no matter what it is, you're going to hear the stories of people that are doing the things that you want to do. And we're going to pull back the covers, just like an onion, we're going to peel it back. So you can see the deep truth of the things that they had to overcome. Because everybody's had to overcome things, you just don't see that in today's world. Everybody just looks at the finished product. But we're going to walk you through that journey. All you got to do is subscribe, hit, hit the Follow button down below. And I'm going to take you on that journey. And we're going to share the stories and you're going to learn and do something today that your future self will be proud of. And that's just a small step, hit the subscribe button, hit the Follow button so you can get every episode that comes out. And you can stay plugged in in the future. And then there'll be a few bonuses along the way for you guys on this journey to success and some opportunities. And who knows, maybe you'll end up on this podcast. Just to be clear. This is not theory. This is not schoolroom. This is real life, you're gonna be learning from people that are doing it in today's world, not five years ago, not 10 years ago, people that are successful today. Because the world is constantly changing. Business Ownership is constantly changing. Real estate is constantly changing. Entrepreneurship is constantly changing, and you got to stay up to date. And that's why you're here. Because we're going to be doing this with people that are successful in today's world making a difference today, giving back today and showing you guys that path. And it's constantly changing. And you're gonna learn just like with, like I will, on this journey, because everybody does it different. And that's what's great about being an entrepreneur, real estate investor, finding your passion, launching your dreams to new heights, because there's many different ways to do it. There's no one path to success. So you're gonna get to hear how all these different people did it and how you can do it to just come along for the journey and let's launch you to the new heights that you want to achieve in your life.
So I've been telling you about the things that we're doing, but the question is, are you ready to launch with me on this journey to success by hit the Follow button, hit the subscribe button down below, and then we're going to take you on that journey. Are you ready to launch your future and take yourself to new heights. All you got to do is hit that launch button. And you'll come on this journey today. Success with us. One of the keys to success that most people don't talk about is most successful people fail more often. And they fail fast and fail forward is what I say. So as quickly as you can fail, as quickly as you can go out there and do it, it's because you're taking action. And we go into much more detail in the book that you can get on Amazon. So you go to Amazon and grab the book, because we're gonna go into much more detail in the book. And you can start laying out a plan a path, what I call your blueprint plan for success, right? Every good house starts with a blueprint, every good business starts with a plan. So we'll start laying out that blueprint plan for success. If you want to jump ahead and accelerate your business, you can get started there, and then come back to the episodes and do that there's actually even a free course in there for you guys. So feel free, you can go to the launch button, dotnet and go to Amazon and grab it. And then we'll continue to build and grow off of that. So you can reach the heights that you want in your life. And everybody's got a different goal. Everybody's got different things that they want. So it's going to be up to you to take this and accelerate it quickly into your business.
Just a reminder, for those guys that want more hands on in the field training, we run a three day boot camp where we take you guys out into the field, specifically on the real estate side, where we're going to go through your mindset, make sure you've got yourself dialed in, and we're going to lay out your KPIs for your business. And then we're going to walk you through properties, right, so you're actually going to get a chance to walk through properties that you find, and other students find on the street. Now we limit it to 20 people, because that's all I can work with to really do that one on one attention to get you where you want to be. And then we take you out into the field. And within four days, we can have you guys make it offers. And then there's a five week coaching program behind that. So those you guys that want to learn more, right, head over to user xe.com, forward slash bootcamp, and we'll show you guys exactly that path we get to hear from other students. And we get people from all around the country and Canada from New York, Chicago, Florida, all the way up to Canada. And it's just up to you to continue to take that next step. And you really truly get to see the mindset that it takes. Oh, by the way, it's not a short date. It's, we start workouts at ADM, and we go all the way through until we get the job doc, you're going to be surprised at how much you can get done in three days. So head over there. And we'll see you soon at the next bootcamp