The Mindset Series – Breaking Through Mindset Blocks With Trevor McGregor

 

Getting beyond your mindset blocks is the only way to clear the path towards success. To be able to do that, proper motivation and support are needed. Lisa Hylton interviews business coach Trevor McGregor to share his own story of success by making a massive leap from the corporate world to real estate investing. Trevor explains how an inspiring coach helped him find his current path and eliminate his limiting belief. Furthermore, he provides tips on getting through a challenging time like 2020 and how to prepare for the better in 2021.

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The Mindset Series – Breaking Through Mindset Blocks With Trevor McGregor

I am excited you are reading because this episode is a part of my series on exploring the impact mindset has on you achieving your goals, be it real estate, career, business, but most importantly, your ability to create the life that you truly want. In this episode, I am honored to have Trevor McGregor. Trevor is a high-performance master coach with over 25,000 hours of coaching experience under his belt. He has worked with clients from around the world, including Fortune 500 executives, high-level real estate investors, entrepreneurs, world-class athletes, and business professionals. They all come to him for one reason, life-changing transformation.

In addition to running his own private coaching practice, Trevor was a master platinum coach with a Tony Robbins Group, offering elite coaching unlike any other program in the world. In addition, Trevor is also an active real estate investor holding assets in his portfolio that range from single-family homes to multifamily apartment buildings, self-storage, agricultural hemp farm, and others. Definitely, his mission is to assist others in realizing their true power and hidden potential to achieve more success, wealth, freedom, and contribution than they ever thought possible. I am so excited to have you on the show. Welcome to the show, Trevor.

Lisa, thank you for having me on. It’s a pleasure to be here.

To get started, we’re definitely going to get into mindset. Can you share a little bit about how you got started investing in real estate?

It’s a unique story. I am born and raised in Canada. I’m in Vancouver, British Columbia and like a typical person go to school, you go to college. I studied business. I went to work in the hospitality business and I ended up moving my way up through the corporate office and became the executive director of operations. I enjoyed it because it had a lot to do with people. In around 1999, I know that goes back a few years now, the owners of the company were impressed with my work. They said, “Trevor, we’re going to expand. Do you want to be part of our expansion and put some money into it?” I thought, “This is my big chance.” I literally cashed in my 401(k). I took all of my savings.

Focus on the things you don't want and you will attract them. Focus on the things you want and you will move towards them. Share on X

Lisa, I even convinced my very own parents to take out a six-figure second mortgage on the family home. We plugged all of that money into this big expansion. We were expanding in five major cities and for the first 1.5 years, that went well. Right around 2001, right around the time the planes hit the towers in New York, we were expanding so fast. The whole economy stopped. People didn’t know which way was up. To make a long story short, I lost all of that money that I put into that expansion. There I was broke, that caused a strain on my marriage, on my health. I gained a bunch of weight. I don’t know if you or anyone that’s reading has ever been broke, fat and lonely, but there I was in my early 30s and I thought, “This is not good.”

What do you do when you’re down and out? Thank God for me, I found a coach and a mentor. He said to me, “Trevor, what’s happened to you is unfortunate, but you got to get up. You’ve got to dust yourself off and you got to keep on moving.” I said, “I know, but how?” He said one thing to me, Lisa, that changed my life forever. He said, “Have you ever thought about investing in real estate?” I said, “Real estate? I don’t know anything about real estate. I sure don’t have any money.” He said, “Trevor, you can use other people’s money, buy a place, fix it up and either rent it out, refi or sell it and keep that going.” To make a long story short, I knew that he was a smart guy. I knew that he was probably my one guy that believed in me. He had this recipe roadmap or blueprint for real estate.

I followed him and I bought one little townhouse and that was a great experience. I refied that and bought a condo. That was a good experience. Vancouver was going through a big appreciation. Lisa, I bought my first duplex and that’s when I discovered what cashflow was. I refied that and bought another duplex and another one. I bought a fourplex and then I kept buying a bunch of those. Literally, in 2.5 years, not only did I pay off all of my failed loans, but I had a beautiful cashflowing portfolio on top of it. That’s when people started to come to me saying, “Trevor, how did you do it?” It was my son’s baseball coach, my other son’s soccer coach, somebody at the swimming pool. They kept asking me for advice. As I started to share my methodology that I got from my coach. I found myself soon coaching other people. That’s when the coaching bug bit. I decided to leave the corporate world and I became a full-time real estate coach and a business coach. Now I run my own company, Trevor McGregor International.

I feel like backtracking a little bit right through all of this. I feel that mindset had a big role to play in terms of believing in yourself to do all these different things. Taking that leap in the corporate job that you were in to then ultimately going on your own and opening up your own now successful coaching practice. Can you talk a little bit about the mindset behind all of that experience for them?

 

Absolutely, Lisa, because again, I make it sound easy, but it wasn’t that easy because the mind is a finicky thing. I thought, “First of all, I have no money. Nobody’s going to want to lend me money to buy the first thing.” I had to get past that. I thought, “I’m already in my mi-30s, I’m getting too old. Maybe I should stay safe in corporate.” I had to start thinking about what if I lose the money? What if it doesn’t go well? What if my coach is maybe thinking about a different time where it was easier to get into real estate?

When it comes to mindset, we’re always either focused on what we don’t want, or you’ve got to pivot and start focusing on what you do want. Thank God because I was meeting with my coach regularly and I started to read the books. I started to listen to CDs and audios. I started to go to personal development events. I soon learned that if I focused on what I didn’t want, I was going to attract that. If I started to focus on what I did want, I would move towards that. For you and your readers, you got to start with the very first question, which is are you focused on what you don’t want or are you focusing on what you do want. Does that make sense?

Yes. I guess then connecting that to 2020, it has been a crazy year for a lot of people and being able to focus on what you do want versus what you don’t want in the face of so much uncertainty and life coming at you in ways that you did not expect. As a coach to clients, what are some of the things, strategies that maybe you’ve shared with clients to help them during this period, especially starting a new year, 2021?

This is my life’s work. Obviously, working with Tony Robbins for as long as I did, once I started to build my real estate empire, I started to coach people. I was working with my own Tony Robbins coach at the time. He said, “Trevor, you’re so passionate about business. You’re so passionate about people, you’re so passionate about real estate. Why don’t you come in and support the Tony Robbins mission?” That’s exactly what I did. As I started to learn more about focus, I started to also learn more about identity. Let’s come back to COVID in 2020. People will either see themselves as a victim to COVID in all of this craziness and literally stay on their lower vibration and their lower self or they will transition to this too shall pass.

Out of all chaos comes order. We know that tough times don’t last but tough people do. To the reader who’s out there who’s having a tough time. Maybe they’ve lost their job. Maybe they’ve been furloughed. Maybe they’ve had to take a pay cut. Maybe they’re dealing with homeschooling their children or aging parents. I don’t know of anyone that has a straight line to success, but I’m telling you here that success leaves clues. If you identify what your focus is and you’re able to step into your higher identity knowing that we’ve all faced adversity before, this has been one crazy year back to back to back. It started with global warming and then it went COVID, we’ve had this crazy election. It hasn’t been an easy year for anybody. I do believe that where you’re focused on your state management, being your focus and you’re focused on your story, being your identity, you can then move to what we call the third S and that is your strategy.

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I’m telling you, there are the wrong things to do and right things to do to condition the mind for success. What books are you reading? What great podcasts like Lisa’s are you listening to? Are there any virtual events that you can attend? Is there any type of virtual meetup? Whether you’re an accountant or a doctor or a lawyer or a business professional, I guarantee that there are different communities out there that you can tap into because you tend to become who you hang out with, but you got to align your state. That’s your state management focus, your story, that is your identity. The third S is your strategy. That’s what you’re doing to go out there and literally win the game of life. Does that make sense?

That makes total sense. Connected to that, you’ve touched on a bit about coaching a bit in this episode so far. Can you talk a little bit about how coaching has impacted you in your life and how you’ve seen it impacting other people as well?

Lisa, I got to take you back to my own story that when I was down and out and I was literally not in a good place with my mindset, it was a coach that picked me up, dusted me off and said, “Trevor, there’s a new way of thinking and a new way of behaving that you absolutely are able to do.” A coach is there to give you inspiration, strategy, and clear out the cobwebs to any limiting beliefs you’ve got. A coach is there as a sounding board, also, see things that you cannot see yourself. It’s like that old saying the inside of the jar can’t read the outside of the label. For anybody that is defiantly committed to living their best life, they need either a coach, a teacher, a mentor, a trainer, a facilitator, an accountability partner, or somebody to help them co-create possibility. What do you think of that, Lisa?

I know that personally during this time I’ve had so many accountabilities. I’m a part of accountability groups and also found additional support and coaching during this time. I shared this with you before we started doing this. I feel like some of my readers can relate to this. We haven’t necessarily been financially impacted by the impacts of COVID, but it doesn’t mean that you’re not emotionally and socially impacted by the changes that COVID has caused in your culture, environment, and cities. I feel that to some extent, it’s underplayed how the closure of these places that you can go to find community and be amongst other people, be it dance or yoga or all these different things that we were doing before. The fact that they’re no longer available for us, it does leave a space that requires filling. Being there to sit and be aware of that, and to find other avenues and ways that you can surround yourself with good and healthy community while also being safe at this time.

 

You’re spot on with that. If you think about it, we’ve had a pretty good run. The last major hiccup we’ve had in society was maybe the global financial crisis of 2008, 2009. If you think about it, for the last decade, Lisa, people have been able to go out there and go to gyms, go to yoga, go to restaurants, go to the swimming pool. We’ve had literally a decade of freedom to go out there and be doing, have anything we want. What I find with mindset is it’s even tougher to navigate change like this when things start getting shut down, when you can’t go to your favorite restaurant, when you can’t go see your parents or your friends.

I find a lot of people get into a little bit of depression, disillusion and start thinking that this is as good as it’s ever going to be. That’s where a coach again, or somebody that has been through different market cycles or things in life because everybody has ups and downs. You have to start remembering that life is either happening to you or life is happening for you. For a lot of people that might be reading who think that COVID has happened to them, I want them to look through a different lens for a minute. What if this was all happening for us? What if this allowed us to slow down for a minute? What if this allowed us to reconnect with our significant other or our kid or stopped saying that crazy line of, “I’m too busy.”

Nobody I know right now is too busy to take a look at what I call your values hierarchy. That is what are the most important things in your life? Is it your body? Is it money? Is it your relationships? Is it charity and tithing? Is it your children? Are you reconnecting with your parents and speaking to them through Zoom or Skype? I can tell where people’s mindsets are by what they value in their life. While I miss going out to restaurants, the gym and a lot of those things, it has given me a unique perspective to reconnect with old friends and people I’ve worked with and that sort of thing. Does that resonate with you?

That totally resonates with me. What’s left is like all the things that matter and slowing down gives you the ability to take stock of what’s truly important. It’s almost like a clearing. It’s definitely a challenging time, but it’s also a very beautiful time of growth and new beginnings because people can start to be like, “If you’re into intentionality, you can come from a place of intention about what it is that you want to create as you start your 2021.”

I’ll stack on what you said because you’re spot on. For some people, they feel like this is the end. But for other people, they think that this is the beginning of a new chapter that we get to go out there and write. I know that 2021 is going to look radically different than 2020 because again, we’re different. We’re going to come out of it. We’re going to want to go travel. We’re going to want to go out and be with our loved ones and our friends. We’re going to want to get out there and live our best life. Sometimes we’re reminded of that through tough times or through times that don’t meet your expectation. I invite the readers to understand that in my reality, every problem is a problem of perspective. COVID has given us the opportunity to have perspective.

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Last question before we head into my level up questions. As 2021 starts and many of the readers are people who are interested in investing in real estate, they’re probably thinking, “How does this real estate ties in with mindset and mindset and real estate?” Can you share a little bit on your thoughts on the intersection of real estate investing and mindset?

The thought there would be that you’re either in the game or on the sidelines watching the game. For a lot of people, they think right now that nobody’s doing deals or all the good deals are gone or it’s way more competitive than it’s ever been or what if I lose money. That focus is all about what is not working. When guys like me and a lot of my clients are out there, we’re doing deals right now. We’re raising capital right now. We’re finding people that have literally held onto the property for 5, 10, 15, 20 years that have already made some good money that want to take some money off the table. They’re selling. I’m telling you, 2021 is going to be a magical year for anybody that is in the game instead of sitting on the sidelines, waiting for stuff to happen.

That takes me now to my level up questions. The first one is what are you grateful for in your life?

I’m grateful for my health. I’m grateful for my wife. Her name is Lisa. I’m grateful for my three beautiful boys, Matthew, Mitchell, and Maxwell. I’m grateful for my family. I’m grateful for my tenants. I’m grateful for my clients. I do live with what I call an attitude of gratitude because what’s wrong is always available, so is what’s right. Let’s focus on what’s right and invite more gratitude into our lives.

 

What has attributed to your success and continuous growth?

My success is absolutely directly proportionate to the mindset work that I do. I get up at 4:44 every single morning, even weekends and holidays. I’m reading great books. I’m watching great audio clips and literally attending virtual events because I believe, Lisa, that there’s always another level. If the reader is good at mindset, what’s preventing them from going to great? If you’re already great, what’s preventing you from going to outstanding? Maybe you’re already good with mindset and you’re outstanding, but what if I told you there’s another level that I call extraordinary or extra ordinary? I’m telling you, mindset work never stopped. It’s a daily practice. There’s always something new to learn. Even after doing 25,000 coaching calls, that’s an actual statistic with people all over this planet. I’m learning and growing every day.

It’s like a true testament that there’s no finish line here. It’s a journey and to embrace that journey and continue to keep growing and being the best you can be. Lastly, what do you now know that you wish you knew at the beginning of your journey?

It’s going to sound very similar, but I didn’t know that this three-pound mass between our ears called our brain was so tricky. It’s there to focus on keeping you safe and alive. It’s there to focus on survival. When you tap into doing mindset work, you also realize that this beautiful three-pound mass between your ears is here to help you be creative. It’s here to help you problem-solve. It’s here to help stretch you and get you to think bigger. I believe that the number one law of the universe is expansion. I want to use my brain to keep creating things and expand my health, my wealth, my travel, my experiences, and all of those things because I truly believe in working towards what I call the five freedoms.

The five freedoms is where I use my brain to keep growing and keep contributing. Work towards number one, financial freedom. For anybody that’s defiantly committed to it, you can achieve financial freedom. Number two is time freedom. Once you achieve financial freedom, you actually are able to do more with your time. Number three is what I call geographical freedom. Now, we can get on airplanes and literally go see other parts of this beautiful blue planet. Number four is what I call freedom to go impact humanity. That is once you’ve got your financial freedom, your time freedom, and you can travel anywhere, you get to work on your impact projects or literally find a way to give back. Number five is my favorite. It’s called freedom of relationships. That is not from relationships, but of relationships where we get to go hang out with cool people that we like to hang out with that elevate our emotions and take us to the next level. Financial freedom, time freedom, geographical freedom, impact freedom and relationship freedom can be yours if you do mindset work.

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Thank you so much for coming on. If my readers want to learn more about you and to learn more about your work, where can they go to find more?

It’s simple. Head over to my website. That is TrevorMcGregor.com. You can find out a little bit more about who I am and what I do, and there’s a contact opportunity there as well, but I truly appreciate coming on.

Thank you so much, Trevor.

You bet.

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Thank you again, Trevor, for coming on the show. I appreciate it. What an amazing episode. Two golden nuggets that I took from this episode, and there were so many, but the first one was the three Ss that he talks about state management. Secondly, your story, your identity, what you think about yourself, and then number three is your strategy. The books, the podcast, the people that you’re spending time around, all that stuff helps you in terms of priming and keeping your mindset in a place where you can continue to be creative and after, and see the opportunities that are in your life.

 

The last was his five freedoms. Number one was the financial freedom. Number two was time freedom, number three, geographical freedom. I love all these freedoms. Four was freedom to impact humanity. Contribution is such a huge part of being a human and being able to add value to the lives of other people, it’s a feeling that is an amazing feeling. Lastly is the freedom of relationships. Being able to spend time with the people that you love and when they’re sick or when they’re healthy, being able to cultivate and nurture relationships that matter to you, and that are important to you.

I hope that you enjoyed this episode. As I said before, this entire series for is going to be on mindset and the impact it has on you living the best life that you need to live, that you want to live. For 2021, this is my gift to you, which is birthed out of my own personal pain of 2020. As I said on this show, while 2020 has not been a financial distressing year for me, it has definitely been a year that has impacted me emotionally and socially. In terms of all the different social activities I was a part of that no longer operates the way it does because of COVID, but finding new avenues and being able to take the lessons that I learned during those painful times. To then come and to be able to share and bring to you amazing people who hopefully can come into your life and come into your mindset and to come into the way in which you’re doing things and to be able to positively impact your 2021. Thank you. As always, if you want to learn more content from me, you can go to my website, which is LisaHylton.com.

There are tons more podcasts. There are also lots of blog posts on there, all about passively investing in real estate. If you want to check out my Passive Investing Made Easy seven-day email series, if you’re interested in passively investing in real estate and you’re curious about how the process all works, then head to my website. Drop-in your email and it will come out that you’ll get seven days of amazing content that gives you a high-level overview of what it’s like to be a passive investor, what the process is all about, why I like investing in apartments and why I like investing in real estate in general. I definitely hope that that adds a lot of value to you. Until next time, keep leveling up.

Important Links:

• www.TrevorMcGregor.com

About Trevor McGregor

Trevor is a High Performance – Master Coach with over 25,000 hours of coaching experience under his belt. He has worked with clients from around the world, including Fortune 500 executives, high-level real estate investors, entrepreneurs, world-class athletes and business professionals and they all come to him for one reason: Life-Changing Transformation.

In addition to running his own private coaching practice, Trevor was a Master Platinum Coach with the Tony Robbins Group, offering elite coaching unlike any other program in the world. Prior to that, he spent over 20 years in Corporate working as the Executive Director of Operations for a very successful Company.

Trevor is also an active Real Estate Investor holding assets in his portfolio that range from owning single-family homes in Vancouver to owning Multi-family apartment buildings in multiple cities all over Texas, North & South Carolina, Tennessee and other states as well. Trevor has also diversified into other asset classes such as Self-storage units in Key West Florida, an Agricultural Hemp Farm in Colorado and he has also been an impact investor in many exciting projects around the world including Costa Rica and as far away as Australia.