50 - Carol Sankar - Building an Empire
Carol Sankar is the ultimate entrepreneur, and she juggles more in a day than most do in a decade. She’s a Mom, Real Estate Investor, Author, Speaker, and Business Consultant, to name a few. She started as an unhappy law student back in 2001, and she knew she had to do something that was going to make her happy. After a layoff, she realized she didn’t want to be disposable, and wanted to do things that she actually wanted to do.
Her first business was in her living room in New York. After hustling and building her business, she took an interest in real estate. She ended up moving to North Carolina, and she has evolved into business consulting. She saw people doing business in more of fantasy than profitable.
How did you start structuring your first deals in real estate? She has tried it all. However, as she got started in the entrepreneur world, she came down to North Carolina to keep a friend company. She saw signs for $500 houses, and was just shocked at the prices. So over two weeks she went from house to house checking out the opportunities.
After realizing she didn’t have money, she called her wealthy friends, and had them put money in an escrow account. She then paid everyone back, and then they continued to do more flipping.
What did you do to protect yourself and your investors? One thing that Carol did was not take their money in their hand. They guaranteed the money in the real estate. Instead of making them an investor, they were lien holders. That way just in the case they couldn’t make the investment happen, they could foreclose her out of the property, and sell it.
Did you have to steer in any different directions when the real estate bubble burst? Carol saw the writing on the wall, and actually held off buying. She saw that when she was trying to buy property, she hadn't been a resident in North Carolina long enough. So the builder told her all she had to do was go work at McDonalds for a few weeks, and she would have qualified. She just saw that since they were lending money to people who couldn’t afford it, a recession was coming. She sat on what she had, put tenants in all her places, and then continued to rent.
What is your business model and what are you creating? She is trying to help people who are thinking big, but end up working like a small business. She finds that so many people are passionate about the passion, but they don’t work on making a profit. She helps people figure out how to generate revenue, how to work profit models, etc.
She works with a lot of entrepreneur who say ‘I’m not good at….’ That way she can help them profitable, and the numbers working in their favor.
From a marketing perspective what has been a big win for you? Networking on a personal level. She loves Facebook and Twitter, but the actual in person is the ultimate win for her. She will call people and let them know she is in an area, and then plans the meeting.
What’s your strategy for networking? Carol is all about making it time constructive for her. She is a morning person, and gets a ton done in the am, and then she designates a certain time of the day for in-person networking. She’ll set a place and say I’m at this place, and then have people come to her. The value of the time is not about being out all day, but it’s about being strategic.
She advises to not get into the brain picking meetings too.
What has been a huge obstacle you’ve had to overcome in this whole journey? The biggest one that she’s still working on is being a woman in real estate. She never wants to call a gender game. However, she’s treated 100% different in the venture capital world because she’s a woman, and it’s definitely a man’s world. She’s been mistaken for an assistant and even a maid during meetings.
She just keeps going and pushes herself out there.
How do you work the juggle of business and mom? She has a lot of great people behind her. She also has a child who finally gets it after he Googled her. Her husband is really supportive too. She’s very adamant that it takes a team.
What’s one thing you can’t live without when it comes to your business? Her 4G Hotspot. She can’t leave home without it. She needs to be able to be accessible at all times.
To connect with Carol you can visit: CarolSankar.com
More About Carol: Carol Sankar is an internationally renowned success entrepreneurship consultant & real estate investment expert who focuses on strategic implementation strategies to assist today's high-achieving and mid-level entrepreneur become successful. Mrs. Sankars' business and wealth tips have been featured in publications in Finland, Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom and the USVI. Her international client-base range from aspiring entrepreneurs to seasoned veterans who are seeking new and innovative methods to up-level their businesses. In addition, Mrs. Sankar is considered an expert in the field of marketing and branding.
Carol hosts a variety of training workshops, live and virtual events world-wide on a variety of topics relating to success, marketing and entrepreneurship. She has been featured in numerous magazines, radio shows, articles and webinars; including a recent features in Madame Noire, LearnVest, EBONY Magazine, The Steve Harvey Show, CNNMoney.com, Daily Worth and Essence Magazine.
In 2005, Carol began to take interest in real estate and subsequently relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina. Carol was relentless as one of the leading real estate investors in the Charlotte metro area. In 2008 she founded Wholesaling 101™ to teach her techniques to other aspiring real estate investors. The Millionaire Mindset Entrepreneurship Program™ was birthed in 2009 and has become a leading program with her vast clientele. Carol has authored 4 best-selling books and just released her latest collection entitled ____-PRENEURS: 25+ Types of Entrepreneurs to Avoid When You Are Destined for Success.