Today, Lane Kawaoka is investing in real estate syndications, which invest in Class C & B Multi-Family apartments, RV Parks, mobile homes, and assisted living facilities because of the USA’s demand for affordable housing – not rich-people Class-A assets. His mission is to help regular people make good deals that were once only accessible to the rich.

The passive income from investing in stabilized rental properties made it possible for me to move back home to Hawaii , where the cost of paradise is 10%+ the cost of living and 30% less than the pay for comparable jobs in the US mainland. There, I was able to live a lifestyle where I could bike to work. It did not take me long, however, to finally quit my day job and ditch the e-bike for a Mercedes.

Graham and Kevin introduce their guest Lane Kawaoka, CEO of The Wealth Elevator, who is joining them from Hawaii, which is a day behind their current time. They discuss Lane's background in real estate investing, starting with single-family rental properties and then transitioning to larger commercial real estate deals and syndications.

Lane explains the "1% rule" for evaluating rental properties - the monthly rent should be at least 1% of the property's purchase price. He discusses how this is easier to achieve in secondary and tertiary markets compared to high-cost primary markets like California. He also highlights the benefits of focusing on cash flow over pure appreciation.

As Lane's portfolio grew, he found the hassle of managing numerous single-family rentals became too much. He pivoted to investing in larger commercial real estate deals through syndications, which provide more institutional-quality assets and economies of scale. This allowed him to focus more on value-add strategies and force appreciation.

Lane discusses his book "The Wealth Elevator" and how it aims to guide investors at different net worth levels on appropriate investment strategies. He is passionate about empowering the "first generation" of wealth creators, providing free educational content, and building a community of like-minded investors.

While real estate remains Lane's core focus, he is also exploring opportunities in other asset classes like micro private equity and digital marketing agency acquisitions. He emphasizes the importance of having a clear financial track record and P&L when evaluating new investments, rather than "flying blind".

Graham Arrowsmith

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. Graham founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, which combines the world's biggest source of 10,000 marketing experiments with AI. Find Graham on LinkedIn.

Kevin Appleby

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of

John Hannum provides an overview of his fractional CFOs business. His company takes experienced CFOs and "fractionalises" them to serve multiple clients.

John Hannum provides an overview of his fractional CFO services, explaining that his company takes experienced CFOs and "fractionalizes" them to serve multiple clients. The key benefits are access to high-level financial expertise without the cost of a full-time CFO, as well as the ability to leverage a CFO's industry-specific knowledge.

John discusses the process of hiring and managing fractional CFOs, emphasizing the importance of finding the right personality fit and industry expertise. He also outlines how he structures the client engagement, with a focus on regular touchpoints and clear communication boundaries to ensure the CFO's time is used efficiently.

The group explores the impact of AI on the finance function, acknowledging that AI will automate many repetitive tasks but arguing that the strategic, advisory role of the CFO will remain valuable. They discuss how AI can enhance financial analysis and decision-making, but emphasize the continued need for human leadership and judgment.

John provides data on the size of the fractional CFO market, noting that there are currently only around 11,000 fractional CFOs serving 33 million small and medium-sized businesses in the US. He sees this as a significant growth opportunity, especially as more companies recognize the value of accessing high-level financial expertise on a part-time basis.

The group concludes the discussion, summarising the key insights around the evolving role of the CFO, the potential impact of AI, and the sizable market opportunity for fractional CFO services.

Graham Arrowsmith

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. Graham founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, which combines the world's biggest source of 10,000 marketing experiments with AI. Find Graham on LinkedIn.

Kevin Appleby

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com

Canary Island Garlic & Herb Olive Oil is the name given to Kristi's business partner's great grandmother's special recipe. Pour it over fish and it's like eating a Michelin star meal. It was a secret sauce that captivated the people who came into contact with it. These people included some very famous marketers including Dean Jackson and John Carlton.

Kristi and Graham both are members of Flint McGlaughlin's MeclabsAI Guild. Kristi has been around since God was a lad, and Graham a more recent joiner.

I grew up the child of entrepreneurs. My parents owned grocery stores,a beauty shop, hobby shop and rental properties. My parents taught me at a young age to do what you love... and you'll never have a dull moment... my parents became cosmologists because there was a beauty salon for sale! My dad then got a gig doing hair for the local funeral home customers... he never did get a complaint.😉

North Caroline State University

Fast forward I went to school at North Carolina State University and double majored in Communication and Social Work... then with one class left to graduate with two degrees... I chucked it all behind, moved to Florida and opened a coffee house.

We were the first coffee house in the area (this was 1994) and people didn't know what Cafe Latte's were and would often call them Cafe Ladies... one person who didn't turn out to be a customer funnily enough.... said... "You really think you'll sell hot coffee... It's Florida! I said... We have frozen coffee too!

How to Cook

Eventually people caught on and loved our little Cafe Latte shop and wanted to eat there and began asking for lunch... which was a huge problem... because I didn't know how to cook!

So I said to my business partner, "All these people want to eat here but I don't know how to cook, what do we do?" She said, "Well I'll make my great grandmother's secret recipe and you just Splash it on everything and people will think you know how to cook!"

Well it worked, we ended up winning 13 People's Choice Awards, and I would tell our customers... You don't have to know how to cook when you can Splash!

Our customers went wild over our secret sauce and harangued Miriam to please bottle her sauces to which she replied, "I've already got two businesses. I don't have time to start a seasoned olive oil company as well."

Soooo.... customers started bringing in empty jars on their own birthdays and really big jars on Christmas and requesting "fill-er-up" gifts of our secret sauce.. gifts for themselves... from us!

After seven years they finally talked my business partner into bottling her secret sauce and we officially named it the Canary Island Garlic and Herb Olive Oil in honor of her great grandmother's heritage. And began doing live events.

We ended up going on tour every year for 2 months and would close our restaurant for the summer and go up north to do shows with our hand-blended seasoned olive oils.

In 2016 we returned to a yucky surprise when we came back to find our restaurant had been destroyed by a flood (from our neighbor) the insurance refused to rebuild and eventually we ended up selling our gutted restaurant building and going on the road full time...

But... not all is lost ... I like to say, "We had over 20 years in the restaurant business... we just went out with a Splash instead of a bang!

And went into the "secret recipe" business.

Canary Island Garlic Herb Olive Oil

Our Canary Island Garlic Herb Olive Oil has been sold in Whole Foods Markets, gourmet shops, specialty food shops and online as well as in our restaurant. We've been featured in multiple magazines, t.v and even did a guest appearance on NPR (National Public Radio)

We've co-authored 3 books and done over 800 live events, probably more like 1000 by now... I...