What makes you a heavy hitter on BP?
Most Popular Reply
Real Estate Agent · Washington, D.C. · Member since 2012 · 17k+ posts · 30k+ votes
6yThanks for those that mentioned me. There has been a few points where I came to understand the power of the BP website into getting your name out there. The first time I was trading in my cell phone at the tmobile store, and the clerk kept looking at me, and my name on the computer while we were talking...and he finally asked me, are you Russell Brazil from Biggerpockets. Now I was use to people sort of knowing who I was at real estate events, but not in sort of random environments like the cell phone store. The next time was at a conference, and I just sort of ended up in the hallway with about 4 or 5 people and one of them was the keynote speaker, and about 10 minutes he was like your Russell Brazil from BP. So I was like wow, I cant believe this hugely famous person in our industry knew who I was.
This website and its members however have contributed immensely to my business, helped me to build my wealth, and I in turn contribute back into this site. It is for me a hugely symbiotic relationship. Many of my real life closest friends are people who I have met through this site. There are 22 BP moderators, (and a few past moderators) and getting the chance to be a part of that group has given me access to some of the best real estate minds in the country.
Im a huge believe that people should do what they love for a living. My 3 largest passions are real estate, investing, and personal finance. As a real estate agent and investor, I get to live my dream, and luckily my passions happen to be in fields that produce a high income. What some may, or may not know is that the largest percentage of my time spent working in my profession, is contributing to the BP forums. For me, it hasnt been the podcast, nor blogging on the site that return to me anything either financially or in satisfaction.....but posting in the forums returns both the satisfaction to share my passions and help educate others, but it also has had the largest financial return for me of anything in my business. These forums are perhaps the key reason Ive been able to become a top 1% real estate agent. (Though at the very bottom of that 1% percentile) I will actually be speaking at BPCon this October, if it ever happens on the subject of how vendors (agents, lenders, inspectors etc) can use the site to grow their business.
I do admit though, I like the votes, just like people like the likes and hearts on other social media sites. I am the 2nd biggest vote getter on the site behind @Jay Hinrichs.
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- Rental Property Investor · Brooke Park Drive · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes6y
@Russell Brazil is heavy
- Real Estate Investor · Palm Beach County, FL · Member since 2017 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes6y
A "heavy hitter" is someone who consistently adds value and contributes within the forums.
I would not consider a previous podcast guest a heavy hitter by any means unless they are active within the community long after their podcast aired. Typically they are just self-promoting and looking to use their BP "clout" to attract money or investors to their future deals which of course are usually more beneficial to them than you since they are the "guru".
Votes also hold little weight to me. I've seen countless new members with little to no votes provide much more insight than someone with hundreds or thousands of votes. That is just another clout tool for someone to try and appear like an expert but votes typically have little to no correlation to their actual knowledge and/or real world experience. The "popular" people around here get votes on anything they post whether it's helpful or not and that's just how it goes.
Also I think the term "PRO" needs to be changed for paying members as it's very misleading to new members who don't know better. They can easily mistake this title as someone who is an "expert" rather than someone who simply paid for a membership to the site. Please keep in mind these are simply my opinions from someone who's been around a while!
- 6yScott TrenchPro MemberRental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 6k+ votes
Does being CEO of the company make you a heavy hitter?
- Flipper/Rehabber · Wilton, CT · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes6y
Here is a question. Why is it that these kind of posts get such traction while when a newbie comes to BP and asks questions they get slammed for how dumb they are they are doing it wrong... (yes I see this ALL-THE-TIME). Feel so bad for them.
Focus on providing value instead of who provides it.
Just my blunt 2 cents...
- Investor · San Francisco, CA · Member since 2016 · 338 posts · 444 votes6y
@Scott Trench, If I say yes, does that get me special privileges??
- Rental Property Investor · Woodstock, GA · Member since 2017 · 517 posts · 772 votes6y
@Russell Brazil Thanks for walking through why you post. I wasn't trying to insult anyone or saying anything like 'if you post a ton on BP, you must not be successful because you're not busy.' Not at all.
I agree with the principle of the 'one thing' in that you should focus all your attention on one area to build your business. Rather than trying to post on FB, running a podcast, posting to bp etc., you focus on BP and that's paid dividends, which is a great lesson.
I was thinking more from 'you're the average of the 5 people' approach. At some point, if you reach $100M in assets, you likely would want to network with other $100M folks as compared to BP where I'd estimate 70-80% are folks who are very new
In 10 years, if we ask this same 'heavy hitter' question, I'm guessing a new crop of folks would be listed while the ones today probably moved on to bigger, better things
(or maybe not :D )
@Jay Hinrichs If you need help with Linkedin, let me know :). I built my marketing business strictly from Linkedin when I started a few years ago. I just started trying to use it for RE, and definitely don't get near as much response from "real estate pros" as say executives at a company. Likely because Linkedin is great for B2B, and (unless fundraising), there isn't as much B2B in RE with established execs.I agree with if you're successful at RE, you do have more time. Which means, you use BP as more to interact with other RE folks that aren't physically around you, which is noble.
Everyone invests time in BP for some reason...community, to sell their RE course or product/service, sell their deal, gain notoriety, raise money, list goes on.
What's the best way to balance giving value vs. reaping benefits is always the tricky thing...Likely, many of the folks you mention who left the site started seeing less benefits vs. value given. Why? Not sure.
- Investor · San Francisco, CA · Member since 2016 · 338 posts · 444 votes6y
@Jerryll Noorden, I certainly agree that people shouldn't be treated as unwelcome. As to why some posts get traction versus others - I'm not sure. And this is actually the first I've started that has taken off like this for multiple days. Can you just let me enjoy my fifteen minutes (or seconds)?? ;)
Honestly, though, I'm just trying to have a conversation. If there's a point to this thread, I think that BP members should be more careful about who they are taking advice from, who they are putting on a pedestal, and training themselves to be more independent thinkers. Don't get totally caught up with the forums, and also seek monitorship and expertise outside in the real world. In addition, there's good advice here on how being known on the forums can help your business and investments by creating a virtuous cycle.
It probably doesn't come through, but the tone of my title was supposed to have a tinge of sarcasm. That doesn't take away from the respect I have for folks who've replied and shared their experiences.
- 6yShiloh LundahlPro MemberRental Property Investor · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
@Scott Trench Yes. Congratulations Scott. You are a "Heavy Hitter."
- Investor · San Francisco, CA · Member since 2016 · 338 posts · 444 votes6y
@Charlie MacPherson, I just posted that the flip side to all these good vibes is about people paying attention to what advice they are getting and who they are getting it from. One element I've been bothered by is when teenagers post questions on BP. I'm fine with giving words of encouragement, and a few general ideas. But, I think there's a line there regarding how much direction to offer - especially those ones about whether or not to go to college... I think it's great for young adults to even be thinking about REI at that age, though - totally amazing.
- Flipper/Rehabber · Wilton, CT · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes6y
Originally posted by @Robert C.:
@Jerryll Noorden, I certainly agree that people shouldn't be treated as unwelcome. As to why some posts get traction versus others - I'm not sure. And this is actually the first I've started that has taken off like this for multiple days. Can you just let me enjoy my fifteen minutes (or seconds)?? ;)
Honestly, though, I'm just trying to have a conversation. If there's a point to this thread, I think that BP members should be more careful about who they are taking advice from, who they are putting on a pedestal, and training themselves to be more independent thinkers. Don't get totally caught up with the forums, and also seek monitorship and expertise outside in the real world. In addition, there's good advice here on how being known on the forums can help your business and investments by creating a virtuous cycle.
It probably doesn't come through, but the tone of my title was supposed to have a tinge of sarcasm. That doesn't take away from the respect I have for folks who've replied and shared their experiences.
fair enough
- Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes6y
Originally posted by @Scott Trench:
Does being CEO of the company make you a heavy hitter?
At your age, it makes you a freaking badass 😁
Skyline Properties - Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes6y
Originally posted by @Brian Garrett:
A "heavy hitter" is someone who consistently adds value and contributes within the forums.
I would not consider a previous podcast guest a heavy hitter by any means unless they are active within the community long after their podcast aired. Typically they are just self-promoting and looking to use their BP "clout" to attract money or investors to their future deals which of course are usually more beneficial to them than you since they are the "guru".
Votes also hold little weight to me. I've seen countless new members with little to no votes provide much more insight than someone with hundreds or thousands of votes. That is just another clout tool for someone to try and appear like an expert but votes typically have little to no correlation to their actual knowledge and/or real world experience. The "popular" people around here get votes on anything they post whether it's helpful or not and that's just how it goes.
Also I think the term "PRO" needs to be changed for paying members as it's very misleading to new members who don't know better. They can easily mistake this title as someone who is an "expert" rather than someone who simply paid for a membership to the site. Please keep in mind these are simply my opinions from someone who's been around a while!
Good points, and some I probably disagree with.
There is some truth that some people - the "popular" table - just get votes for being alive and opening their mouth. All of us have seen this, and any of us (including me) with votes have been recipients of this. That's kind of the nature of the beast, so to speak. There is also a tendency to bias towards expertise, and fair or not, high vote/post counts lend themselves towards at least the impression of expertise rather than the possibility of someone with just a whole lot of time on their hands.
On the other hand, cream rises to the top. @Jay Hinrichs didn't get 40k votes based on his syntax, command of the keyboard or knowledge of contemporary culture 🤣 (Jay this is a compliment, ride with me here). Jay is obviously not a keyboard commando. That doesn't matter, as his knowledge and thoughts come through strong enough that people recognize the value for what it is. Accumulating 40k votes is astounding, but when I consider it through the prism of the people that I "know" on this site, it makes a lot of sense - the guy's been in various forms of RE for a hundred years (or just seems like it) and knows what he's talking about. And he freely gives it away. People can talk all day long about "heavy hitters" being big money, big name people that just don't have time for BP but "that don't impress me much" as Shania would say. I like the guys/gals that have something to give away, and give it away without any expectation or avenue for return. Those with their own agendas don't last long here, and I feel safe saying that after about 7 years hanging around.
RE: newbies with good information but low counts - that's where participation comes in. If Warren Buffet himself showed up right now, on this thread, and dropped a deuce of knowledge and left, I wouldn't consider him a BP Heavy Hitter, that's for sure. Just because someone has knowledge and is killing it for themselves means nothing to the community at large. BP was created for people to come get good, hopefully unbiased/low-biased information about real estate, and in my mind being a Heavy Hitter means you participate and add to that mountain of knowledge.
Skyline Properties - 6yNicole A.Pro MemberRental Property Investor · Baltimore County Maryland and Tampa Florida · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
Thank you so much for including me in your list of BP heavy hitters, @JD Martin! My niche and main contribution has been the general topic of landlording, managing PMs, and house hacking. Although I did recently start taking advantage of the BRRR method to get my next deals and that has been quite the learning experience in both the financial steps of is as well as the managing a whole-house renovation. Fun stuff!
I've been pretty active helping mod the Facebook Money and Rookie groups, but I do need to make better effort of jumping on the actual site more as well to keep my posts current. Although it's really cool when I get PMs on here asking me for more information on an older post of mine!
- 6yBrian BurkePro MemberInvestor · Santa Rosa, CA · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 7k+ votes
Originally posted by @Robert C.:
Do you like the notoriety now? Has it changed where you thought you were headed? Or has it pretty much been business as usual from your perspective, with BP being some sort of an off-shoot that supports your main business?
When I joined I wasn't seeking, nor expecting notoriety. If I go to any real estate conference now it seems that a lot of people know me, but outside of the real estate circle I can go on with my life in complete anonymity. Well, except one time when I was in line at Home Depot and someone came up to me and said, "Are you Brian from BP?" and of course my wife thought that was hilarious. I think Brad Paisley said it best, "I'm so much cooler online."
When I joined BP I had a great business going--flipping well over 100 houses/year, had begun accumulating dozens of rental homes in the SF Bay Area, and buying large multifamily. I was raising money and my investor base was growing. But after a year or so of forum posts and my first BP podcast everything changed. Suddenly people were contacting me from all over the world. I'm sure I can trace back well over $100 million of capital to BP in some fashion. Maybe they saw a post or blog, or heard a podcast--or maybe they are a friend of an investor and that friend originally came from BP. Researching the family tree of my investors would reveal a lot of BP DNA. And not because I've ever asked...I just post what I think are accurate and well-balanced answers to questions here. Without BP my road to where I'm going would have been longer and windier. And there is nearly a zero chance that I'd be a published author!
- Rental Property Investor · Hollywood, FL · Member since 2015 · 156 posts · 93 votes6y
All the food I've been eating since "sheltering-in-place" lol
- Investor · Saint Paul, MN · Member since 2015 · 663 posts · 512 votes6y
@Robert C.
In my opinion it to someone who has well over $1 million in net worth individually. 
- Investor · Thermopolis, WY · Member since 2012 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes6y
Wow thank you everyone for the mentions. I do not consider myself a heavy hitter. Many folks here spend more buying one house than I do buying 5. My thoughts on what makes a heavy hitter is number one proven experience. There are a lot of armchair quarterbacks, they don't know what they don't know. They guys who have done it, are very competent about it, and share it to others are the heavy hitters. A good post to vote ratio is a very good indication. Next the folks who can teach me something. I have had my head swell from compliments and had the air let out of me by guys who knew so much more than me. Like the Frank Dobbs act. I heard of it fro the first time on BP and a guy named Jay just nailed it, and every case of solo member LLC piercing in the last 2 years. Wow he educated me with a stick and I loved him for it. Great teacher. Heavy hitters also speak their mind, popularity is not their aim, accuracy is. Throwing the Bull**it flag can be tough. I feel i have gained more than I have contributed. The thing I like most about some folks who post is when they make me think and expand my thoughts into areas not delved into before. I am not going to post the dozens of folks who I look up to, but @Ben Leybovichhas probably challenged me as much as anyone to explore new ways of thinking.
- Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes6y
Originally posted by @Russell Brazil:
Originally posted by @Joe Cassandra:
Another entrepreneur forum I've been partially active on for years had 2-3 'heavy hitter's who everyone flocked to for advice who turned out to be fakeprenenurs/slimeballs.
Having been a part of a few forums in the past, I never put someone into an "expert" category until I've seen hard proof of their success.
(What's great about BP is at least you have to use your real name...no dumb screenames. )***
Most local volume players where I am (Atlanta) aren't on BP...much less heard of it. Guys private lending 7-figures, etc.
A friend from college started here on BP in like 2009 or something. (I won't tag him), and he was very active, and as he got more and more successful, he's posted less and less.
****
Maybe others can set me straight...
Sure, there are many people on here with over 1k posts, you could assume are 'heavy hitters' meaning
1) They know what they're talking about + provide value
2) They are presumed to be very successful at RE
I struggle with the term 'heavy hitters' because most successful people I know (in RE and other arenas) are usually extremely busy.
If I was making buckets of money in RE, why would I spend a ton of time writing up thousands of posts on a forum? ( I wouldn't). Eventually, as you move up the success ladder, you want to hang out with people at your level.
i.e.
A 'heavy hitter' on BP could be someone who provides a ton of value.
Does that mean they're a 'heavy hitter' in RE...I dunno.
I can enlighten you as to why many people spend time posting on BP, making videos for them, doing webinars.....because doing so helps to build our wealth and make us a ton of money, while also being one of the funnest ways to make money. Every time I post a forum reply, thats worth about $150 to me. And thats just the agent side of my business. I borrow hard money at lower rates because of the exposure of the site. I get calls on deals from the exposure of the site. Theres some where in the range of 100 or so BP people who have learned to monetize the site......and the site in turn monetizes our contributions. Its no surprise that you see most of us who largely contribute are not just successful, but also tend to be the same people speaking at all the same conferences, as we monetize the exposure that those speaking engagements bring.
i could drop $50,000 on marketing campaigns.....or I can post 25 times a week on these forums and do some FB lives once a month. Whether its being an agent, a lender, a syndicator, a cpa, a flipper.....across so many of the disciplines, weve figured out that we can build businesses off the back of this company, and doing it this way is way more fun and fulfilling than the other more traditional and boring ways to do it.
To expand on what Russ said...Posting on bigger pockets for heavy hitters is content marketing plain and simple. Yes there is a 'no marketing" policy in the forums but you don't need to market to market, it's an education based content funnel. By providing value to the forums it provides a huge outlet for a heavy hitter to show off their chops. A percentage of people reading this valuable information will naturally look deeper into said heavy hitter and an even smaller percentage of them will reach out to do business with them.
- Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes6y
Originally posted by @Joe Cassandra:
@Russell Brazil Thanks for walking through why you post. I wasn't trying to insult anyone or saying anything like 'if you post a ton on BP, you must not be successful because you're not busy.' Not at all.
I agree with the principle of the 'one thing' in that you should focus all your attention on one area to build your business. Rather than trying to post on FB, running a podcast, posting to bp etc., you focus on BP and that's paid dividends, which is a great lesson.
I was thinking more from 'you're the average of the 5 people' approach. At some point, if you reach $100M in assets, you likely would want to network with other $100M folks as compared to BP where I'd estimate 70-80% are folks who are very new
In 10 years, if we ask this same 'heavy hitter' question, I'm guessing a new crop of folks would be listed while the ones today probably moved on to bigger, better things
(or maybe not :D )
@Jay Hinrichs If you need help with Linkedin, let me know :). I built my marketing business strictly from Linkedin when I started a few years ago. I just started trying to use it for RE, and definitely don't get near as much response from "real estate pros" as say executives at a company. Likely because Linkedin is great for B2B, and (unless fundraising), there isn't as much B2B in RE with established execs.I agree with if you're successful at RE, you do have more time. Which means, you use BP as more to interact with other RE folks that aren't physically around you, which is noble.
Everyone invests time in BP for some reason...community, to sell their RE course or product/service, sell their deal, gain notoriety, raise money, list goes on.
What's the best way to balance giving value vs. reaping benefits is always the tricky thing...Likely, many of the folks you mention who left the site started seeing less benefits vs. value given. Why? Not sure.
LinkedIn is the woooooooooooooooooooorst.
- 6yJay HinrichsBusiness MemberReal Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
Originally posted by @Jerry W.:
Wow thank you everyone for the mentions. I do not consider myself a heavy hitter. Many folks here spend more buying one house than I do buying 5. My thoughts on what makes a heavy hitter is number one proven experience. There are a lot of armchair quarterbacks, they don't know what they don't know. They guys who have done it, are very competent about it, and share it to others are the heavy hitters. A good post to vote ratio is a very good indication. Next the folks who can teach me something. I have had my head swell from compliments and had the air let out of me by guys who knew so much more than me. Like the Frank Dobbs act. I heard of it fro the first time on BP and a guy named Jay just nailed it, and every case of solo member LLC piercing in the last 2 years. Wow he educated me with a stick and I loved him for it. Great teacher. Heavy hitters also speak their mind, popularity is not their aim, accuracy is. Throwing the Bull**it flag can be tough. I feel i have gained more than I have contributed. The thing I like most about some folks who post is when they make me think and expand my thoughts into areas not delved into before. I am not going to post the dozens of folks who I look up to, but @Ben Leybovichhas probably challenged me as much as anyone to explore new ways of thinking.
Dodd Frank :)
- Rental Property Investor · Woodstock, GA · Member since 2017 · 517 posts · 772 votes6y
Originally posted by @James Wise:
Originally posted by @Joe Cassandra:
@Russell Brazil Thanks for walking through why you post. I wasn't trying to insult anyone or saying anything like 'if you post a ton on BP, you must not be successful because you're not busy.' Not at all.
I agree with the principle of the 'one thing' in that you should focus all your attention on one area to build your business. Rather than trying to post on FB, running a podcast, posting to bp etc., you focus on BP and that's paid dividends, which is a great lesson.
I was thinking more from 'you're the average of the 5 people' approach. At some point, if you reach $100M in assets, you likely would want to network with other $100M folks as compared to BP where I'd estimate 70-80% are folks who are very new
In 10 years, if we ask this same 'heavy hitter' question, I'm guessing a new crop of folks would be listed while the ones today probably moved on to bigger, better things
(or maybe not :D )
@Jay Hinrichs If you need help with Linkedin, let me know :). I built my marketing business strictly from Linkedin when I started a few years ago. I just started trying to use it for RE, and definitely don't get near as much response from "real estate pros" as say executives at a company. Likely because Linkedin is great for B2B, and (unless fundraising), there isn't as much B2B in RE with established execs.I agree with if you're successful at RE, you do have more time. Which means, you use BP as more to interact with other RE folks that aren't physically around you, which is noble.
Everyone invests time in BP for some reason...community, to sell their RE course or product/service, sell their deal, gain notoriety, raise money, list goes on.
What's the best way to balance giving value vs. reaping benefits is always the tricky thing...Likely, many of the folks you mention who left the site started seeing less benefits vs. value given. Why? Not sure.
LinkedIn is the woooooooooooooooooooorst.
haha, Linkedin is the most polarizing of the social networks. And the most frustrating, according to...well, everybody.
I've only just started using it for RE purposes...but like I mentioned, it's how I built my marketing company and would estimate have made multiple 6-figures from it.
Very few ways to get in direct contact with the CMO of [insert Fortune 500 company] besides Linkedin. Email and cold calling you have to fight gatekeepers.
If people want some ideas on how to use Linkedin...happy to make a post about it.
(sorry, won't derail the thread anymore)
- 6yChris ClothierBusiness MemberRental Property Investor · memphis, TN · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
This is such an interesting thread and I just spent a half hour just reading what posters think about certain aspects of the site. I am pretty sure although not 100% positive, that I am one of the older posters still here on the site. I joined in January of 2009 and while I am not a prolific poster with fewer than 2,000 posts, I try to make up for it with quality. I only give advice or comment on topics I am knowledgeable in and where my input adds to the conversation. Others would say I make up for the lack of comments with more length! I write like I talk...too much!
But I will say this, I categorize heavy hitters as people that I really, really like reading their posts. They may not be big investors and I don't necessarily care what industry they are in. I care about the advice they are giving. I care about how good they are at listening to others and taking other opinions into account. There are so many on here who I vote for their posts and sometimes they are giving the exact opposite advice of what I would give. Or they may say things like don't buy turnkey or stay away from Memphis, but their hearts are in the right place. They are giving sound, reasoned advice and I vote for their posts because that is what makes BP powerful. There is enough junk on here that hitting heavy, in my opinion, has more to do with giving good, sound advice based on exactly what the OP asked.I have such respect for so many people that have already been listed on here that I won't take up the time to re-list them, but there are many others as well. When you give good advice, I appreciate it and try to show that by complimenting or voting for their posts.
- Investor · San Francisco, CA · Member since 2016 · 338 posts · 444 votes6y
@Chris Clothier, Thanks for your comments Chris. I found the way this thread unfolded pretty interesting, too! I tend to be curious about people and their motivations. And clearly, there are a lot of reasons people stick around and contribute - for sure more than I'd assumed.
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