The Science of Flipping
From Lost to $15K: One Phone Call Changed Everything for Him | Phillip Godkin
Fri, 25 Apr 2025
Join the REI LIVE Community today! Go to: https://reilive.co/ -- In this inspiring episode of Entrepreneur DNA, Phillip Godkin shares his transformation from a confused newcomer in real estate investing to someone confidently closing deals—all in just four months. After encountering the real estate world by chance in Nashville and moving back to Milwaukee, Phillip struggled with information overload and a lack of coaching until discovering Justin Colby’s REILive.co. With determination, he took consistent action, overcame fear, built key relationships, and followed Justin’s success pillars to earn $15,000 across two deals. His story is a masterclass in taking imperfect action, building certainty, and committing to a vision of financial freedom. -- About Phillip: Phillip Godkin is a real estate investor based in Milwaukee who began his investing journey after a life-changing encounter with a bandit sign in Nashville. Though initially overwhelmed by the vast real estate investing landscape, Phillip committed himself to growth and learning. After joining Justin Colby’s Science of Flipping program and REILive.co community in December 2024, Phillip closed his first deal and has another in escrow, all within four months. He is a passionate coach himself, drawing parallels between athletic coaching and real estate mentorship. Phillip believes in persistence, daily action, and building relationships as the core of his investing philosophy. -- Thank you to Mando for supporting today's podcast! Stay Fresh, Stay Confident with Mando! Tired of body odor? Mando Whole Body Deodorant keeps you fresh for up to 72 hours—pits, feet, and everywhere in between. Grab the Starter Pack and get $5 off (over 40% off!) with code [COLBY] at ShopMando.com. Smell fresher, stay drier, and boost your confidence. Get yours today! -- About Justin: After investing in real estate for over 17 years and almost 3000 deals done, Justin has created a business that generates 7 figures in active income through wholesaling and fix and flipping as well as accumulating millions of dollars of rental properties including 5 apartment buildings, 50+ single family homes, and 1 storage facility Justins longevity in real estate is due to his ability to look around the corners, adapt to changing markets, perfecting Raising private capital, and focusing on lead generation which allows him to not just wholesale and fix & flip, but also accumulate wealth through long term holds. His success in real estate led him to start The Entrepreneur DNA podcast and The Science Of Flipping podcast and education company, and REI LIVE where he’s actively doing deals with members. He has coached and mentored thousands of aspiring and active investors over the last decade. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby
Chapter 1: What inspired Phillip Godkin to start his real estate journey?
back to you know, what was that first year? So like, what was that journey prior to me looking like for you?
So it really, it all started for me in Nashville. I'm back in Milwaukee now, but I was in Nashville in 2022, 2023, first part of 23. And I answered a bandit sign. I just called the number and it turns out it was some wholesalers. Yep. Net worth realty. Anyway. Yeah.
Just met with the guys, started realizing like, holy crap, this world of real estate investing, this is something I should have done 10 years ago. And of course, it's the next best time to plant a tree right now. And I just, I went to a, I went to a, yeah, right. I went to a real estate investment association meeting in Nashville.
The room was filled with people, big players, guys that, you know, have been doing it 20, 30 years. and really just got my eyes peeled back to the world of real estate investing. I mean, the verticals were just mind-boggling, you know, from fix and flipping to rentals to multi-units to, like, I met the gentleman who is building the high-rise buildings in downtown Nashville, right?
Like, yeah, just amazing. And it was then I said, you know, that's it. I'm getting into real estate. I'm just going to look learn whatever I can learn, however I learn it, but I'm not stopping and I'm not giving up.
So, you know, here I am back in Milwaukee, working with you in your REI Live, you know, science of flipping was something, you know, that I saw and I looked at and, you know, just all that whole fix and flip. And in reality, Justin, I was like, I don't have the crews. I don't know that I want to manage the crews.
I don't know that I want the downtime carrying costs of when, you know, the crew doesn't show up. All these pitfalls. I mean, yeah, I get it. You make money when you solve people's problems and you're going to run into these pitfalls. But I just wasn't really willing to do it. But I had this attitude that I was not ever going to give up. In fact, I had a bracelet.
I don't have it on right now, but it says never give up, you know. And so I would look at that every day. And, you know, we all have. You know, we all have our reasons. Right. And one of the big things is they're like, what's your what's your why? What's your why? What you know. Right. What is it that make you get up every day? Well, you know, I have my reasons.
I have my whys, you know, and it's always family. And at least it should be right to provide a better a better life for your family. Right. Maybe provide something for your children. Yeah, if they buy into what you're doing and they want to get involved, maybe that idea works. But it's really just to provide a better life for my family.
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Chapter 2: How did Phillip overcome challenges in real estate investing?
What are you doing? But you don't get access to them. You get access through the community and the community is the Facebook page. A lot of times it almost felt like the blind leading the blind a little bit. Yeah, there were definitely seasoned people who had deals and could do deals, but
It wasn't their program, so they didn't have a huge vested interest in really, really helping you understand it, right? Right. And so then I saw you out there. I watched a bunch of your videos, all that kind of stuff, and signed up for Science of Flipping, right? Right. And then you reached out to me with this special offer.
Like, I'm going to take one person from the program, kind of bring them under my wing. So that was a huge opportunity for me. And maybe not everybody gets that. But when you go back to just what you offer in the Science of Flipping, just the library of everything and the daily calls that the Science of Flipping offers. And then...
Here we are with REI Live, and that is more of a bring a deal and we'll make the calls. We'll walk you through it. You're going to learn by example. You're going to listen to us. You're going to just see it all the way that you guys do it, right? And so that's invaluable to just, yeah, you got to carve out that opportunity.
time in the day to get on the call and sit in front of your computer with your video on and get into the conversation, right? But you got to commit to learning. And oftentimes, Justin, I would think to myself, we go to higher education, right? We go to some course to learn it. And we kind of blindly go into that course knowing that if we finish it, we're going to be set up for success, right?
Not necessarily. You get all the education you need, but you still got to execute when you graduate, right? You still got to go find that job. You still got to put in the time for your employer, et cetera, et cetera. And we're all so willing to do that, right?
Isn't that crazy?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so I would think back to that, like, OK, you know, I just blindly went to college. I mean, not blindly, but I went to college with a goal and an objective and just, you know, that's what you do. And you're going to come out on the other end and you're going to get a job and you're going to go to work. And it works. It works. It does. I mean, it works. So why not here?
As many of you know, I'm constantly on the move, juggling multiple businesses, traveling, and ensuring I get my morning workouts in. Staying fresh isn't just a preference, it's a necessity. But let's face it, after back-to-back meetings, juggling two kids at home, and the hustle and bustle of everyday life, body odor can become an issue. But here's the deal.
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Chapter 3: What are the key factors for success in real estate according to Phillip?
Like it's a creator society and most people align creator with creator of content like Instagram and TikTok. But you're a creator. I am a creator. Even if it's in the real estate space, we are creating a space for ourself that is ours. We are creating an opportunity to design the life we want versus just live the life of what historically speaking has been the norm, right?
And I think that's what I hope to empower a lot of people within the real estate space is you have an opportunity to pour into your own business, not someone else's business, not your boss's business, not like your own. And the crazy part that always gets me, and I talk a lot about this, is people are willing to work 60, 80, 90 hours a week for their boss.
But when I show them and give them this opportunity
lane to do it for themselves as an entrepreneur to just go crush it so they can have the life they deserve all of a sudden they like take off weekends and five o'clock comes around they quit working like that's it it's five o'clock right they don't go the extra mile if they had a boss they're working till seven no boss oh well i don't have a boss this is what i did it for so i can take off right
Now, in all fairness, you are tied to that salary. So you have that obligation.
Well, I find that people work harder. Like, I agree with you, by the way. But I find, and I've never been employed, by the way. I've never had a W-2 job after college. And I see people walking back and forth.
You're what we call unemployable.
Oh, for sure. I'm totally unemployable. I always have been. It's unusual. So but but I find that more often than not, when people get into my space, they're burnt out because not only are they working their normal 40 hours, but their boss pushes them another hour or two every single night. And not I mean, they just say yes.
They're obligated to a five or whatever the 40 hour work week is, but they say yes because they feel like if they don't, they'll get fired. And maybe that's true or maybe that's not. But the point being is there's a lane that now you now see, you feel it, you see it. You've created what I call certainty. I did what I came here to do for Phillip.
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Chapter 4: How did networking contribute to Phillip's first deal?
Chapter 5: What lessons did Phillip learn about taking action?
And then the next day, you know, call five new ones. And then after, you know, I think for me, it was three weeks. I have my calling five old ones. Realtors, not old realtors, but previous contacts. Every three weeks I rotate back in because two weeks to me is a little too frequently. One month seems like a little too, you know, too far off because I mean, there's a lot of activity.
There's a lot of action. These realtors are hustling for their own self, you know, and surprisingly, they're hustling for us. crapload of real estate investors like us. I mean, their opportunity to sell a house a lot of times can be before it's even listed.
Yeah, it's funny.
They got a half a dozen people that can call and go, bam, this baby's gone, right?
Totally. And it's funny how the ties have changed because it used to be where realtors didn't want what I call dumpster fire properties. You see a lot of those properties on the MLS now. A lot.
Yeah.
You know, and I think part of it is because, you know, right now it is not the easiest real estate market, right? If realtors and wholesalers as a term are fighting to try to find motivated sellers and a realtor comes across a
investment property that is not typically listing ready prior to that they would probably tell the homeowner or whoever you got to do this repair you got to fix this thing now they just list it because there's so many of us investors out there now they know that there's got to be a fix and flipper that's going to find it on the mls oh yeah and so they're just they're taking the listings
So if there's something you can leave, you've been with me for four months. You have one deal closed. You have another deal closing. If you can leave these listeners and people viewing right now with something to help them get off the edge, join REILive.co or whatever it may be, start making calls. What would be the suggestion you'd have for them?
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Chapter 7: What advice does Justin give about creating revenue-generating activities?
You know, I would ask myself, is this going to move the needle? Right. Your words. Is this going to move the needle? Is this going to get me where I want to go? Is this going to get me where I want to go? What I'm doing actually matters. Moving me in the direction of getting a deal. Right.
And so whatever, you know, wherever you're going to get the lists, you know, I'm I wasn't I don't have the budget to do pay per clicks and stuff like that. So to me, it was the real thing was just call an agent, call a listing, have a conversation.
just you know yeah but the thing is is i wouldn't have had any of that confidence and knowledge had i not sat on the calls on rei live and listened to how you do it and then once it was like i started going well if he can do it i can do it i mean you know right but it's like right i mean but that's how you should feel like i'm not saying any you know algebraic equation
It's like, hi, my name is Justin. We're buying properties in the area. The listing looks good. Can we have a conversation? Yeah. Right? It's not hard. Right.
Yeah. You know, you give us a script. Lots of people have scripts. Yours, to me, felt a lot more just kind of real, just kind of like chill. Some of the other scripts are like, oh, geez, come on, you know? Yeah. Can we just talk to each other like we're people? Probably. We all know that a deal is going to be made somewhere.
Yep. Yep.
How does that happen? How does that look?
Right. Well, what do you what do you see the next moves you're about to make going to finish this year? We got eight more months, give or take your successfully completing deals. What do you what do you see your agenda, your vision, your mission? What do you see your day to day look like going forward to to go wrap up the next eight months of this year?
So it's definitely keeping the activity level and increasing it when I can, when I have the available time to do it. And time meaning during the workday hours, but I've called realtors after hours, you get their voicemail and I do leave a message. And part of it's because, you know, they got a call. I'm just going to take a pot shot at it. Maybe they call you back. Maybe they don't. I don't care.
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