Engelo Rumora “The Real Estate Dingo” is the CEO/Founder of Ohio Cashflow. Engelo has been involved in over 300+ real estate transactions along with successfully founding and running three businesses: Ohio Cashflow, Rumora Construction and a venture capital firm called Venticap. To get in contact with Engelo, please click here. Follow him at @engelorumora.
Who is your hero? (In business, life, or both.)
My mum and dad. They are my No. 1 purpose and why I get out of bed every morning. I am who I am today because of the beliefs they both installed in me while growing up. Although they separated when I was young, they have remained great friends ever since. They taught me to always be loyal, honest, not greedy and respectful. These are things that I now look for in others.
What’s the single best piece of business advice that helped shape who you are as an entrepreneur today, and why?
The best piece of business advice I can offer is to always make sure that you establish trust and relationships first with the key people involved in a certain deal or business venture. Once you have these established, then and only then should you further look into the stats and demographics to find out if the business venture might be worth pursing further. Every time I have lost money, it was because I was working with the wrong people. They ended up being dishonest, disloyal or greedy. It was never because of bad numbers. This approach has taught me to be patient. I have learned to say no to the good opportunities so I can say yes to the great ones.
What’s the biggest mistake you ever made in your business, and what did you learn from it that others can learn from too?
The biggest mistake I made in real estate was being impatient and investing for the sole purpose of being able to call myself an entrepreneur/investor. Starting a business or investing in real estate should never be about the title that comes with it. The purpose should be much bigger than yourself. It should be about bettering the lives of your friends and loved ones along with those in need. Today I have a clear understanding of why I do what I do and what my end goals are. I want to leave a legacy through my business ventures and see the smiles on peoples faces that have been helped by my business practices.
What do you do during the first hour of your business day and why?
I am up every morning at 6 a.m. I get to the office at no later than 6:30 a.m. The first thing I do is read a motivational article and share it across all of my social media platforms along with any other motivational quotes I find. I will then jump into emails for the next 1-2 hours. We work with investors from all over the world who are living in many different timezones, so it’s not unusual for me to have 50-100 actionable emails every morning. I am also known for never wearing a jacket no matter how cold it is outside. It’s a trick I play on myself to always keep me out of my comfort zone.
What’s your best financial/cash-flow related tip for entrepreneurs just getting started?
Keep costs at an absolute minimum and drive revenue. When I started my business I couldn’t afford my own office. I was renting a desk in a shared hallway of a shared office complex. Then revenue allowed me to upgrade to a 200 square foot mini office. Now we have our own 1,000 square foot building. It’s still quite small but we want to keep costs down. We generated $1.4 million in revenue last year and had only $20,000 in expenses. Keep it tight and get the funds into your account. Once the funds are in you can easily delegate how to spend them wisely.
Quick: What’s ONE thing you recommend ALL aspiring or current entrepreneurs do right now to take their biz to the next level?
Keep working the numbers. Whatever those numbers may be (emails, phone calls, meetings, etc.), work hard and work smart. It comes down to a commitment of 80+ hours per week and an undivided focus within those hours.
What’s your definition of success? How will you know when you’ve finally “succeeded” in your business?
Success in my business would consist of me not being needed anymore. I wish to have 10-15 great people on board that believe in the same bigger picture and vision that I do and who strive to keep growing the business and continue to serve the vision of all of our investors. This would allow me to commit my time and efforts to other ventures, enabling me to make a further impact on this world.
The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.
