Transcription of Episode
Intro/Outro 0:04
Welcome to Investing Across Borders with Lauren Cohen. Every week she will share valuable information that you need to know in order to successfully invest in real estate and other business endeavors in North America. We believe in helping clients invest, live, work, and play across borders. And now, your host, Lauren Cohen.
Lauren Cohen 0:24
Good morning, everybody from sunny and warm South Florida. I’m Lauren Cohen, international legal and real estate expert. And I am the host of Investing Across Borders, where we teach you how to navigate a path to invest live, work and play across borders. I am here today with my guest, we’ll call him Polish Peter, because I don’t even think I can pronounce his last name. But he is an awesome guy who started on his own podcast called Masters Unite. And he invited me about a year ago to be on Masters Unite. When we had no idea what we were in for at all, we just had a great conversation, we connected, and Jazzy, my social media person, was putting out some messages about that podcast a couple of weeks ago. And we reconnected and I invited Peter to join the show. He has quite an amazing story, AND I just found out he’s in the midst of being trained as a Tony Robbins master coach. So, welcome to the show. Thank you for joining us, please introduce yourself, and then let’s talk a little about Tony.
Polish Peter 1:48
Yeah, so first and foremost, Lauren, thank you so much for having me on the podcast. I love what you’re doing with this podcast. When I heard you talking about investing without borders, and my podcast is interviewing immigrants. I’m like, what, that is amazing that somebody else is stepping up and doing those kinds of things as well. So my background is our Jew was born in Poland. So there’s a little accent. That’s where it comes from. I came to United States when I was 14 years old, didn’t speak any English, and I’m still learning, I don’t think you can ever learn this language completely. I remember thinking back in the day, like, so when I’m doing my polish, or am I Polish? That’s the whole thing of all English language. It’s all about context. But anyway, so I came here to learn the language, went to college, got a degree in architecture, I was an architect for a while, until about 2008 when the whole real estate bubble crashed, and burst. And the first time Yeah, and the whole architect, you know, professional panel evaporated, I started my own company here in Michigan. And the company was basically helping real estate agents market their businesses on the internet. I was always in touch with the human mind, I was infatuated with it. So, there was marketing, I was infatuated with technology and things like that. So as you know, that progress, I evolved into having more insights, and I started learning more about the human behavior, the human mind. That led me into learning about the psychology, human psychology and the role of scientists and became a coach over time because people kept telling me, man, you should be a coach. So in 2013-14, I became a coach and got through all kinds of different trainings. And now I have a couple of coaching masterminds, where I help people live their true vision, such that their assets, their stuff that they have in their life are basically paying for the lifestyle. So they’re not working for the money, the money is working for them. And as far as Tony Robbins, when I first started going through the entrepreneurial kind of journey, and this was early 2000s. There were three books that I read that had a big impact on me. The first one was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, second one was Robert Kiyosaki Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And the third book was Tony Robbins’ Unleash the Power Within. All three are amazing books. So that’s how I know him, and I’ve been following him and, he’s my mentor. So I studied him, I am three in this program. I know the master called program a certified coach. And, and I just love what I do.
Lauren Cohen 4:59
You know it’s interesting, when you think about somebody like Tony, and you wonder, who is it going to be for our kids? Because I mean, eventually Tony’s not going to be doing this circuit anymore. As much as he’s larger than life, he’s still human. And you have to wonder who’s going to replace that level of energy and charisma and everything. And brilliance. I mean, what a brilliant mind and that voice is just so magnetizing it’s just amazing to be in his presence. And I always talk about who are the six people, the six artists that you would like to see in concert? Who knows about that now, but before they go, Neil Diamond and Paul McCartney, and you know, the classics, and who’s going to be that person in the mindset and brilliance and training space? I don’t know. Is there anybody that can ever be like Tony? Who knows, maybe YOU!
Polish Peter 6:01
Yeah, I’ll be Polish Peter, right? No, he is a very unique individual. And it’s an amazing story while he wants to get to where he is at right now. And I saw him in new pw in 2017 in New Jersey with about 15,000 other people. It’s just incredible. I mean, the white man brings the energy. It’s just short of amazing.
Lauren Cohen 6:28
We’re very fortunate, we at eXp, my cloud based real estate company I’m associated with, we’re having Tony speak at our our next live event. We were supposed to speak last August, but of course, that got postponed. So he’s supposed to speak and it will be a much smaller room. So I bought the platinum, because of course, I want to be as close to him as possible. Even though it doesn’t matter how far you are from him. You can’t help but be mesmerized by his energy it’s like, he bounces, he doesn’t walk. But anyway, this is not about Tony, there’s more than enough stuff about Tony, this is about Lauren and Peter. And Peter, I was gonna say, I didn’t know that you were involved in the real estate industry. And, working with realtors and real estate professionals. There’s a lot of mindset issues, because real estate investors, one of the things that we teach our real estate investors is mindset is 90% of the battle. You have to find the deals, you have to be able to analyze them. But if your mindset is not in the right place, doesn’t matter what you do, you’re going to hit your head against the wall every single time. And I don’t know if you’re aware, because when we spoke last year, this was not my signature program, I’ve developed it over COVID. But my signature program is immigrate through real estate. And that’s one of my websites, so you need to check it out. Because you probably have some people that could benefit, because I brought it full circle in that my real estate, you know, being a realtor and a duly licensed lawyer bringing it all together. And of course, being an immigrant, helping people to navigate their path. That’s why I have this podcast, that’s why I have the tagline. So it’s nice fit. So now you’re working exclusively as a coach and no longer as an architect or anything in the real estate industry?
Polish Peter 8:25
Yes, exclusively as a coach. And by the way, I love that you are combining immigration with real estate because, you know, my podcast, I’ve interviewed almost 100 people now and they’re all immigrants. And one commonality that I found out for those people, because they’re very successful. Some of them are multimillionaires, some of them have they’re successful in their own right. And real estate is one of the most common vehicles for them to be able to be successful in life.
Lauren Cohen 8:54
I think it’s the most common vehicle for anybody. I mean, immigrant for sure, and one of the things that I focus on is helping people that maybe are not immigrating, but want to invest in the US or Canadian real estate, because there’s so much misinformation out there. And there’s so many bad apples that just teach you, this is the way to do it in America. It’s one size fits all. And it’s not like dealing with somebody from Poland, I would deal with that person very differently and bring in somebody that understands taxes in Poland, and the US versus in Canada and the US versus in the UK. In the US the rules and laws are different, and also the interaction between the countries because some have more visas available than others. So it’s all about looking at each client individually. And that’s what makes my world go round. And it’s exciting. So tell us how long did it take you to learn English? I mean, I’ve heard a lot of stories. You know, obviously I didn’t have that issue as an immigrant because I’m from Canada and I think I speak English. I’ve been thinking of moving to Israel with my son, and now he’s 10. And I’m wondering, you know, he has a background in Hebrew, but how hard is it to become fluent?
Polish Peter 10:07
Well, for me, I would say, there are phases that you go through, right? But ultimately, to actually understand and be able to speak English, probably 10 months or so. I was 14 at the time. And the younger you are, your brain has is more open, to bring in new information. And there’s all science behind that. But you know, your son’s not gonna have a problem learning the language, that’s for sure. But you go through stages, like I remember going through thinking, Okay, somebody said something in English, I will have to translate it in my head in Polish, then converted to English in my head, and that would speak out in English, right? To be able to understand what people are saying probably five, six months, and to be able to actually communicate about 10 months.
Lauren Cohen 11:01
It’s easier to understand than to speak. And you know, even though I understand certain languages, I don’t speak as well. And part of it is just because I’m afraid, because I don’t want to say the wrong thing, or mess up the way I say it. Just like you said about polish or Polish, right? Because that’s a constant thing, especially when you’re looking at a language that’s completely foreign to you. French is not so challenging, although you still can say things wrong. So tell me a little bit about the podcast and what made you develop that podcast? What’s the Why?
Polish Peter 11:36
Well, I mean, obviously, I’m an immigrant myself. And what I saw back in the day is a lot of the immigrants are coming into the country, a lot of them are kind of disempowered, because I’m starting at the bottom right? Or I don’t have the same opportunities as other staff. You know, you were born here. So you know the language, you know, all this kind of stuff. But I don’t, right. So there was a lot of disempowering going around. So one of the things, I saw statistics that said that 43% of Fortune 500 companies were started by first or second generation immigrants. So I’m like, wait a minute, almost half of the Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants. I mean, I was that. So I went onto this journey. I started researching and interviewing successful immigrants first or second generation immigrants and asking them the questions. You know, why do you think you’re successful? What had you be successful? And it’s just amazing to not only hear their stories of them coming here and all that kind of stuff. Some of them have on short term, unbelievable stories, you know, I mean, I landed in Chicago with a suitcase in my hand and no English. But some of those other guys who literally I know one gentleman, literally on the low fishing boat in the middle of the ocean, escaped from Vietnam, like a fishing boat.
Polish Peter 13:03
Let’s think about
Lauren Cohen 13:06
The woman I interviewed on Monday, a good friend of mine, Quynh Vo, she lives in Calgary in Canada. And she said “I was one of the boat people.” Now they went to Canada, but it’s still that same concept. And you know, for me, when I say I’m an immigrant people are like, What? Like, not that long ago, I was introduced to somebody in Canada also. And she had a very thick accent. And I guessed where it was from. And she almost bit my head off. That How dare you! I’m an immigrant. And you’re disrespectful. I go, really? I’m an immigrant too. She goes, were you an immigrant family? Well, I’m from Canada, and I live in the US. And let me tell you, I had to do all the same stuff that everybody else did. Canadians may have a little bit easier time because there’s different visas available. But we still have to do it. I had to go through the green card. My ex husband was deported. Like, hello, people, it wasn’t an easy ride for me, just because I speak the language. So you’re seeing, obviously on top of all that, there’s the speaking the language piece. And one of the things that I tried to do for my clients is because even if you speak the language, you don’t necessarily speak the language of business or the language of investing. And it’s different. And it’s different in Canada. And it’s different in Poland. And it’s different in Israel, it’s different in Greece, in Brazil, and you need somebody to be your guide, to hold your hand. And maybe Peter can help with the coaching and help you with mindset and help you with focus. And I’m going to help you navigate your path because it’s a complicated path. And anybody that thinks it’s easy, it’s going to end up in a mess. And I mean, we see the stories all the time. So not everybody is going to be the Elon Musk’s of the world, right?
Lauren Cohen 14:54
Because why I mean, multi billionaire is one of those What
Polish Peter 14:59
You know, one of the things, as far as mindset, you’ve mentioned that one of the things that I started doing a while back is I starting watching, listening, learning, and reading about people who are successful. Getting into their mind. And also autobiographies are a great way to get into those. And he’s one of those brilliant people, who, it’s just unbelievable what he can accomplish. I mean, I don’t even know how he does it.
Polish Peter 15:30
But it’s, it’s unbelievable, right?
Lauren Cohen 15:32
Yeah.
Lauren Cohen 15:33
And, the other thing about being an immigrant, it’s like, coming through a war, because after World War Two, look at how much success was created by the people that didn’t war, you know, especially those that were in Nazi Germany or Poland, which when it was occupied and everything, and they did, I mean, they built or rebuilt America, but immigrants, especially when you come with a suitcase in hand, look. I was on food stamps when my son was first born. He’s 10 now, and I was embarrassed beyond belief to be in that situation. But I had no choice. And at the time, I was no longer an “immigrant” but I didn’t have the same social welfare system as I would have been in Canada, in my home country. But when you’re an immigrant, you have drive, you have a different level of drive, because you don’t have a choice. And I think that drives us to be that much more successful. Would you agree?
Polish Peter 16:30
Yeah, I know, there was the why behind it. You know, one of the things that I remember, my mom came to United States about six years before I got here. So I ended up living with my aunt and my uncle for about six years back in Poland, from age of eight to 14.
Lauren Cohen 16:47
Were you an only child?
Polish Peter 16:49
No. Me and my sister lived there with my aunt and my uncle, she came here to make some money, and then she was going to come back to Poland. Now, here’s the thing. Until I had my own kids, I did not get what it took for her to be able to do that. I can’t even imagine leaving my kids for six years, fly across the ocean where you cannot just get in a car and then just drive over there to see them. And this was like, late 80s, early 90s. If you want to make a phone call, it costs you like $20,000 a minute kind of a thing. And you could barely ever get through. So we used, actually rolled letters, and the little cassettes. But I cannot imagine what it took for her to do that. So that drive, that why of actually having to do this is what I think drives a lot of people to do this. Because she told me she cried many nights of the fact that she wasn’t there. But had to drive her like for what she was doing for us in our main course. And you’re a mother yourself, so you can probably empathize with that. My parents got divorced when I was eight. So after the divorce, and she came here.
Lauren Cohen 18:12
Yeah. I mean, you’ve got it. You’ve got to do what you got to do. And sometimes my son does not understand because I worked so hard. And he will God willing, I pray every day.
Polish Peter 18:26
He will, trust me, one day he will. When he has his own family, or maybe even earlier. So my mom waited a long time, but now I’m waiting with my kids. One day they’re gonna get it.
Polish Peter 18:39
so.
Lauren Cohen 18:40
So you’re currently living in Detroit, right?
Polish Peter 18:43
About 30 miles north of Detroit in suburbs there. It’s called Shelby Township.
Lauren Cohen 18:49
Okay, there’s a lot of a lot of hockey fans there, huh?
Polish Peter 18:52
A lot of Detroit redwings. Just wanted to point that out. This is the hockey town. I know you see the maple flag there, but this is hockey town.
Lauren Cohen 19:04
I think hockey town is north of the border. Sorry.
Lauren Cohen 19:13
There’s a lot of real estate opportunities in Detroit right now. Right? I mean, you can buy real estate for a few $1,000 it’s not like, you know, crazy numbers like Ohio? So, are you involved in real estate investing now?
Polish Peter 19:32
Not currently. But I have a bunch of students who are investing that I helped them into it and they’re investing either in a wholesaling or flipping or Airbnb. These are very popular right now to the short term rentals, that kind of stuff. So yeah, we do a lot of that kind of stuff.
Lauren Cohen 19:50
Cool. Yeah, everybody wants to be in real estate. I’ve never had so many inquiries in my entire life as now. And you know, I don’t only help people invest in the US and Canada, I help North Americans invest outside of North America too. I have a client that’s building in Honduras, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Israel, you name it. Oh Portugal! Portugal is a big one right now. Because there’s a golden visa available. So there, it’s not just about inbound, but it’s about outbound, and you’re still an immigrant. But you know, if you’re investing overseas, or in another country from North America, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to immigrate. But there’s advantages and disadvantages. And, you know, having written a couple of books about immigrants, it’s been interesting to realize the scope of how much of this country, America, has been built by immigrants. Because it’s an immigrant oriented country. And when, you know, the last administration, which we’re not going to talk about politics, but it was really sad to see some of the immigration policies because it really was very, you know, negative toward immigrants and immigration lawyers were not the biggest fans. But you know, it all balances out. And I hope that immigrants will start coming again, I know that they are interested and intrigued. And I think that the reality is, that as time goes on, and the opportunities open more, we’re going to have more and more demand and the borders open as well, that’s going to change things, too. So tell me a little bit about when you were named as one of the most influential people in the top 100 most influential people on the internet.
Polish Peter 21:37
Right. So, this was his Fast Company magazine. And basically, it was almost like a contest where you had to go and show some kind of a proof and get involvement from people around the internet into your own circle into your own tribe. So this was a few years back, it was a fun project. And I loved participating in it and ended up being named top 100. So this was a great privilege to be able to do that. But it’s all about, you know, looking at in the eye of the beholder, right. And the thing about the credibility is, for those of you guys who are listening to the podcast, you got to look at, you know, not only, it’s great, and I’m in the top 100, on LinkedIn, I mean, the top 10% of the people or top five now, I’m not sure. But you have to look at it, not just about the awards, but you got to look at the results, you know, and you got to look at the people who are looking to work with or they’re, you know, trustworthy, getting some recommendations from others to make sure that this person is actually what he says, right? Because especially in today’s world, you can pretty much get on the word for anything, you know, are those agreements that honor your word, and be impeccable with your word. Taking responsibility is one of them. Is the Four Agreements. That’s a great book, by the way.
Lauren Cohen 23:12
Yeah, the Four Agreements, and suddenly they’ve escaped my brain. But the four agreements are really important. And one of them is, if you’re going to do something, do it. Because otherwise people lose faith and you lose credibility. And that’s really, really important. So that’s another book we could add to your list because the Four Agreements and it’s not even that you necessarily need it as a book I should have it hanging up here so I don’t forget it again. But, anyway, Peter, how do people reach you?
Polish Peter 23:40
Well, people can reach me by email me at peter@mastersunite.com or go to one of my social profiles. On Facebook, I’m Coach, Polish Peter (https://www.facebook.com/CoachPolishPeter/) or they can go to my website: https://immigrantmastersunite.com where you can hear all those different podcasts. I have close to 100 right now on interviewing these, Lauren included.
Lauren Cohen 24:21
So it’s great to be a part of your world. It’s great to be connected with you. It’s great to share our entrepreneur, immigrant entrepreneur stories. And I don’t know if you’ve heard of this book called the Immigrant Hustle: Stories of 50 Immigrant Entrepreneurs, but it’s something that you should definitely look into. They’re all of them entrepreneurs in that book. Any one of them would be good podcast interviewees for you. It’s called Immigrant Hustle, and it’s by Amine Rahal, who was one of my guests on my show, he’s a great guy. So it’s a pleasure. Thank you so much. This is Lauren Cohen international legal and real estate expert. If you haven’t had a chance yet, please subscribe on either Apple or Google or wherever you choose, Spotify to my podcast Investing Across Borders and give it a five star rating. I’m Lauren Cohen, the host of Investing Across Borders, where we teach you how to invest, live, work and play across borders. Thank you so much for joining us today and have a wonderful rest of your day. Take care.
Intro/Outro 25:34
Thanks for listening to Investing Across Borders with Lauren Cohen. Make sure to check the show notes for any links and for guests contact information. If you have questions for Lauren, please reach out to her at FOUNDER@ecouncilglobal.com. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast with a friend.
