TEDM – Tom Karadza – Your Life, Your Terms (Episode 197)

Tom Karadza is Co-Founder of Rock Star Real Estate Inc. in Ontario that has worked with real estate investors since 2008 to help educate, inform and ultimately buy rental property across the Greater Toronto Area. 

With a start in the software industry back in 1998, after a few years of being on the “technical” side of the business Tom decided to join the sales team. And he hit it out of the park in a big way! But he was miserable and felt like a cog in a big fat money machine.

With the guidance of an early influence, Dan Kennedy, Tom made the decision to become the master of his own life, his own rain maker, and the personal freedom that came along with that. He wanted to create his own business and live life on his own terms. This led to two things: real estate investing and a very serious study of marketing and sales.

Tom and his brother Nick decided to create their own real estate investing business and a real estate brokerage dedicated to investors. They started an investor program, “Income for Life,” in 2006 and then launched their own brokerage, “Rock Star Real Estate.” They wanted to start a brokerage “by investors, for investors” – so they did!

Dive into this episode, to hear more of Tom’s story from IT to Rock Star Real Estate, the influence of his immigrant parents and a contrarian mindset that informs his values and integrity and is at the root of how Tom operates both in business and personally. Tom shares how their company has evolved from operating exclusively in Toronto and the GTA to recently expanding (with the right team) to offer opportunities for real estate education and ownership in Florida. Exchanging the role of interviewer from time to time, Tom and Patrick talk about the powerful impact of meditation, personal integrity, economics, real estate markets, creative strategies, government policy, cryptocurrency and the value of creating positive culture in business.