EP. 31 // How to Achieve “Enough” Passive Income w/ Spencer Hilligoss
On today’s episode of the podcast we have the CEO and Co-Founder of Madison Investing, Spencer Hilligoss, out of Alameda, California. Spencer has an incredible track record in the financial technology industry, including a 13-year track record building high-performing teams across multiple billion dollar companies in executive roles. Now, as CEO of Madison Investing, he focuses on passive investing and active syndication. In this episode, Spencer and David talk about the strategic benefit to personally onboarding your partners, focusing on sustainable growth over exponential growth in order to maintain a lifestyle balance, and how self storage investments are the “best kind of boring.”
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Key Points from This Episode:
Spencer started Madison Investing with his wife organically when he and she were looking for ways to achieve passive income through real estate
Spencer grew up in a real estate family and worked for his parents; this gave him the foundation of entrepreneurship and real estate.
In 2016 he started working for Lending Home, a fix and flip company. Spencer made a healthy W-2 in Silicon Valley but knew he wanted more
In 2019 he left and became an entrepreneur.
Spencer felt the ramifications of economic swings during the 2008 crisis; because of this he wants to create “financial moats” in his finances.
Self storage is “the best kind of boring” when it comes to asset classes; it’s reliable, stable, and often is resilient during economically turbulent times. There are no tenants living inside storage.
Common wisdom says to build a big marketing funnel; Spencer, however, made something that he wanted as a beginning GP/LP, where someone else is vetting the deals, doing the diligence, and even putting their own money in the deals. After those parameters are met they bring in partners.
Spencer has personally onboarded all partners. The first investor group were Spencer’s colleagues. He’s spread out organically, speaking at conferences and relying on referrals in order to pursue a quality over quantity model. He’s used social media to telegraph his business model and activity, and over 900 organic posts helped bring his network growth.
He focuses on 2x growth annually in order to maintain a healthy work balance.
Relevant Links from Today’s Episode:
ABOUT SPENCER HILLIGOSS
Spencer Hilligoss is the CEO & Co-Founder of Madison Investing, a real estate investment firm specializing in real estate syndications. As a passive investor and active syndicator, he understands the unique challenges that busy professionals face when starting out on their REI journey. Spencer’s mission is to arm investors with the know-how they need to make confident investment decisions tailored to their individual life goals.
Prior to pivoting to real estate, Spencer held several executive roles in the financial technology industry, including positions at Intuit and Gusto—forging a 13-year track record of building high-performing teams across five companies (three of which were valued at over $1B). Throughout his career, one thing has remained consistent: his ability to keenly focus on professional development- helping teams and individuals reach their full potential. Spencer is a member of the 2022 Forbes Real Estate Council and has been featured in publications such as Business Insider. When he’s not shifting the way people think about investing, you can find him listening to metal, adding to his tattoo collection, and jogging through the Bay Area with his wife and two sons.
