Thomas Helfrich

Win More Marketing Clients, Get Verified | Build trust faster, overcome skeptical buyers, & win more clients | Get Verified, Risk-Free | 1 Mil YouTube Subs / Top 10% Global Podcast

I deliver on the promise of Ai marketing to generate leads and build your brand. In fact, I guarantee it.

I bring together AI, automation, and human expertise to drive measurable growth for clients ranging from billion-dollar engineering firms to $100M SaaS companies to high-performing solopreneurs. Book a time with me here: Calendly.com/instantlyrelevant

My team and I provide end-to-end growth solutions:
• Social media management (LinkedIn, Meta, and more)
• Content production (posts, podcasts, YouTube, newsletters)
• Direct outreach (DMs, connections, network growth)
• Thought leadership + AI-SEO human-written articles
• 1:1 coaching to sharpen offers, systems, and sales flows
• Integrating Ai into you business to achieve measurable results

In the past five years, we’ve helped secure over $500M in contracts, doubled revenue from $40M → $80M in just two years, and scaled small businesses from $1M → $3M ARR. Every engagement is customized—and all of it comes for less than the cost of an intern.

Before launching Instantly Relevant, I spent 20 years in consulting (including KPMG) and led intelligent automation and AI strategy implementations at Eli Lilly and Stanley Black & Decker.

🎙️ In 2024, I launched the Cut The Tie podcast + YouTube channel, which grew into a top 2.5% globally ranked show with 1M+ subscribers—proof that the same growth systems we use for clients work at scale.

👉 Want to see how your lead gen stacks up? Take my 3-minute assessment: assessment.instantlyrelevant.com

Chief Executive Officer

Let's double your LinkedIn revenue with the Instantly Relevant sales and marketing system.

Real men don’t need anyone.

That’s the lie most of us were handed early, reinforced quietly, and rewarded socially.

• Independence equals strength
• Handle it yourself
• Don’t need help
• Don’t talk about what’s heavy

I believed it for a long time. If you are reading this line, you may believe(d) it too....

Today at North Point Community Church I was invited to attend th North Point Men’s Breakfast, (THANK YOU John Deushane for thinking of me AND giving me my first Bible this week! Book of John. A good place to start. Suggested by a good friend, Richard Baldwin.)

Today's message landed harder than I expected. Because the issue isn’t faith, age, or stage.--- It’s connection ---

Samer Massad walked the group through some data that silenced the room.
• 61 percent of men say they have no close friends they can truly lean on.

...then added these nuggets of reinforcement...
Loneliness increases your risk of dying early by 45 percent.

That’s higher than:
• Air pollution at 5 percent
• Heavy drinking at 20 percent
• Obesity at 30 percent

This comes from the @Harvard Study of Adult Development, running since 1935 (https://lnkd.in/djdFsnfg)

The longest study of human happiness and health ever conducted and  conclusion is uncomfortable and clear.

The quality of your relationships matters more than achievement, discipline, or success.

This lie survives on pride, fear, and drive.

Pride says you should handle it alone.
Fear says closeness exposes you.
Drive says slowing down to connect makes you weaker.

It doesn’t. Isolation does.

We carry hidden habits, thoughts, and shame like anchors.
They don’t stay neutral. They pull you under quietly. They drown you.

The verse on the screen said it simply:

Iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens the other 
(https://lnkd.in/dbCNq6pm) YouVersion

You need real friends you can trust...

Not audiences. Not admirers.

Friends who aren’t impressed by you.
Friends you don’t try to impress.
People who accept you as you are. Nothing more. Nothing less.

They exist. But you don’t drift into them. 

• You go first.
• You reach out.
• You organize the hangout.
• You answer the hard question first.
• You lead.

Grateful for Samer Massad for presenting this so clearly, and for John Deushane and North Point Community Church for creating a space where this conversation actually happens.

(share if you believe this one message could help one man in your network)

Ai Marketing Delivered | Ai + Automation + Humans Integrated to Quickly Grow Any Business

John Deushane giving Thomas Helfrich his first bible

North Point Men Breakfast at North Point Community Church

CEO of Wide Moat Research. Senior Analyst at iREIT, Author of REITs For Dummies, and Adjunct Instructor at NYU Schack Institute | Join my newsletter to get investing strategies delivered to your inbox👇

Did you know there’s a way to get the road map I designed to steer you toward financial freedom? You can! How? When you sign up for the Intelligent Income Daily newsletter here: www.widemoatdaily.com

Brad Thomas knows investments. And real estate. He believes there’s only one rule in investing: protect your principal at all costs. For Brad, he’s spent over 25 years as a developer, investment banker, and real estate analyst.

He’s built that career on trust. On staying smart and conservative. On researching, connecting, and doing what’s best for the client. 

Brad enjoys writing about real estate and investing. He is an editor for the Forbes Real Estate Investor newsletter and writes weekly for Forbes.com and Seeking Alpha, where he maintains “real-time” research on many publicly-listed REIT securities. 

He is the co-author of The Intelligent REIT Investor, and has also been featured in Forbes Magazine, Kiplinger’s, U.S. News & World Report, Money, NPR, Institutional Investor, GlobeStreet, and Fox Business. He was also ranked as the #1 contributing analyst on Seeking Alpha from 2014-2019. 

Thomas received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business/Economics from Presbyterian College.  To learn more, please InMail him.

Brad Thomas

I'm honored to be guest lecturing today at Penn State Smeal College of Business.

I have become a regular speaker in "Happy Valley" where I discuss topics related to Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), corporate finance, competitive advantages ("moats"), and governance.

I always enjoy speaking to the future generation of REIT leadership who are always so eager to learn and become value creators.

If you are considering hiring new talent in commercial real estate, I encourage you to seek out candidates at Penn State University. These students are smart, passionate, and well-trained (thanks to professors like Eva Steiner).

I look forward to visiting again soon!

Christopher Volk Andrew West Anastasia Wysocki Simon Ziff Steve Neamtz  Stephen Hester, CFA Katie Thomas, CPA Kirby Ryan Brad Watt Brookfield Properties Tanger Simon Property Group Realty Income Corporation Federal Realty Investment Trust Agree Realty Corporation The Johnson Group Pershing Square Capital Management VICI Properties Inc. Blackstone Extra Space Storage Public Storage Digital Realty American Tower

Do you remember how bad the housing market crash was in 2008?

I do.

I lost my job, my livelihood, and practically my house because of it.

And if you ask me, it’s not a time I want to repeat ever again in my life.

People tend to blame the big banks, the rating agencies, and the readers who took an otherwise safe asset (or the mortgage bond) and levered it up.

Now, yes, they do deserve some of the blame, but they weren’t the only guilty parties.

There are leaders like Barney Frank, who pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into making subprime loans in the first place.

Then there were developers like me who kept building and building on the supposition that the bubble would never burst. 

And we can’t forget everyone who bought homes, even though they couldn’t really afford them.

Today, we have seen companies talking about 50-year mortgages, and that concerns me.

Why? Because I believe if 50-year mortgages open up, they’ll become riskier still as investors demand even higher yields to justify owning them.

In fact, the only way I can see 50-year mortgages working is if they serve as a bridge for first-time homeowners.

Even then, I would insist that the 50-year loan itself be bankruptcy-proof, similar to student loans.

Without these qualifications in place? 

History will repeat itself. In all the wrong ways.

What are your thoughts on a 50-year mortgage?

#future #investing #business #success #motivation

How many of you have heard of the brand Lululemon Athletica (LULU)?

For most people, this is a brand that they own a pair of yoga pants from or are at least familiar with the products.

For years, this stock was a standout.

From 2010 to 2023, LULU returned as much as 3,900%. 

(Yes, you read that right!)

However, since 2024, it has fallen on harder times, and its share price has been down more than 60%.

But here’s why I am still bullish on this company:
👉 Lululemon boasts an excellent balance sheet and has no debt whatsoever.

👉 The company is also aggressively buying back stock at its depleted prices, and at the start of the fourth quarter 2025, it has approximately $860 million remaining on its $1 billion repurchase program.

👉 Lastly, Lululemon has consistently high return on equity for multiple years, which often indicates a sustainable business moat.

So, if you are looking for a company to invest in with a decent moat that I think will get even better, I would consider adding Lululemon to your portfolio.

Do you invest in this brand?

#investing #business #success #motivation #future

I have good news:

Since the fourth quarter of 2025, real estate investment trusts (REITs) have been on the rise.

And if you know me, you know that this makes me so happy to see.

Now, I know I have been touting them for the past three years, even as share prices dropped, and you might be sick of hearing me talk about them…

… but it’s almost their time to shine again.

They’re finding mainstream investment favor once again.

So, here are two REITs that should be on your radar:
→ Equinix (EQIX) 
This is a data center REIT, and its 34.2 million square-foot portfolio has over 499,000 interconnections. EQIX has maintained a solid record of earnings, with more than an 11% compound annual growth rate over the past decade.

→ EastGroup Properties (EGP)
This REIT owns around 64.4 million square feet of multitenant “flex” space located in TX, FL, CA, AZ, and NC. Its customer base is diversified, and 75% of revenue is generated from tenants that lease under 100,000 square feet. Its growth metrics show a 10% compound annual growth rate in per-share gains over the past decade.

Do you have either of these in your portfolio?

#investing #business #success #motivation #future

I’ll be honest with you:

I have known there was something special about my home state of South Carolina for decades.

Why?

Because:
→ We’re well-situated on the Eastern Seaboard between Washington, D.C., and FL
→ We have business-friendly laws on the books that make us a welcome change from hyper-regulated areas of the country
→ We have a reasonable cost of living that’s especially welcome to all ages and stages of life during these inflationary times in our country

For investors, this means that companies situated in the Sunbelt are great options for solid investments.

(And especially SC!)

One of these is NextEra Energy (NEE), which is a utilities company that generates around 68% of its revenue from the Florida Power and Light (FPL) subsidiary.

Another company is NorthMark Strategies, an investment firm that chose my town of Spartanburg to build a $2.8 billion center for engineering and tech support.

If you had to bet on one region’s growth over the next decade, where would it be?

#future #investing #business #success #motivation

We have been seeing a lot of headlines lately.

And some of them can be tough to break down or know what is true.

In the latest episode of The Wide Moat Show, we make sure you aren’t guessing anymore.

Nick Ward and I sat down and talked about two specific headline-driven market shocks tied to Trump policy pressure…

… and what they could mean for investors in credit cards, financials, REITs, and housing stocks.

The topics include:
→ Trump’s 10% Credit Card Interest Rate Proposal
Trump floated the idea of capping credit card interest rates at 10%, sending shockwaves through the market as major names like Capital One (COF), American Express (AXP), Visa (V), and Mastercard (MA) sold off

→ Trump Targets Institutional Buyers in Single-Family Housing
Trump’s push to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes—and why the market reacted fast in the SFR REIT sector

If you have been seeing the headlines too, you won’t want to miss this one! Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/enXG_mpV 

#investing #business #success #motivation #future

Open video: Housing Stocks & Credit Cards: What Policy Changes Mean for Investors on youtube.com

Housing Stocks & Credit Cards: What Policy Changes Mean for Investors

Have you seen Secret Mall Apartment?

It's a documentary about a group of young people who lived rent-free at the Providence Place Mall for four years.

The 1.4 million square-foot Rhode Island retailer in question opened in August 1999. At the time, it was the country’s largest indoor mall, though that wouldn’t be its only claim to fame.

As the story goes, eight artists discovered a hidden 750-square-foot space inside the expansive building and claimed it for themselves. 

They hauled in furniture, niceties, and even ran electricity, turning it into their home for quite some time.

The squatters were eventually caught, but they mostly got away with it regardless. 

And while Providence Place is mostly known for the story of these long-time squatters, I know it for a different reason.

It was a posterchild for the chaos in malls over the last several decades…

Read more here: https://lnkd.in/geMhVbvm

#investing

Venezuela Oil.
Greenland Minerals.
Energy stocks set to soar.

There are so many things happening in the market right now and we dove deep into these on the latest episode of The Wide Moat Show.

Nick Ward and I had the pleasure of chatting with Stephen Hester, CFA, to break down the latest global developments reshaping energy, commodities, and financial markets.

A few things we discussed include:
→ The market selloff and renewed tariff fears 
→ Why a tiny Greenland bank surged amid geopolitical speculation
→ U.S. pressure on Europe over Greenland’s strategic mineral reserves
→ The capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and what it means for global oil markets

This episode is one you don’t want to miss.

Watch it here: https://lnkd.in/eP9HrnmB 

#future #investing #business #success #motivation

Open video: Venezuela Oil, Greenland Minerals & Energy Stocks Set to Soar on youtube.com

Venezuela Oil, Greenland Minerals & Energy Stocks Set to Soar

I love learning from billionaires and investors.

Recently, I spent some time in Florida to meet with two real estate-specific billionaires.

And that got me thinking about one man I won’t get to meet with again…

Sam Zell.

He was someone I always looked up to and who was really as self-made as you can get.

Zell was an expert on REITs and even founded two himself: Equity Residential (EQR) and Equity Lifestyle Properties (ELS).

If you ask me, we are in a historic buying opportunity for REITs, and I took a look at these REITs to see if it’s time to start dancing:

→ Equity Lifestyle
Owns and operates North America’s highest-quality portfolio of manufactured home communities (mobile homes), recreational vehicle resorts, campgrounds, and marinas. It holds over 173,000 homesites across 35 U.S. states and Canada, with an enterprise value of around $19.7 billion.

Its balance sheet offers some of the most attractive debt metrics in the REIT sector, and in the third quarter of 2025, it maintained its full-year normalized funds from operations guidance of $3.01 to $3.11 per share.

→ Equity Residential
This is an apartment REIT that owns 84,648 units in 312 communities in 12 states with an enterprise value of $36 billion. It has an industry-leading credit rating of A- from the S&P and A3 from Moody’s. 

One of the moats it has is that it boasts the lowest cost of debt capital in the entire REIT space. I foresee the company generating returns of 20% or more in 2026.

All in all, I expect great things from these two REITs moving forward and am excited to see what happens for them in 2026!

#future #investing #business #success #motivation

Markets are volatile, valuations are shifting, and wide-moat companies are back in focus so far in 2026.

And one of the ways to decide on what stocks to invest in is a Monopoly-board framework.

Yes, you read that right… Monopoly.

In the latest episode of The Wide Moat Show, Nick Ward and I sat down to discuss how you can use this type of framework to find the right investments.

We dive into: 
→ Utility, railroad, and REIT “monopoly” picks
→ Netflix’s selloff and why valuation now matters
→ Realty Income’s evolution into a global asset manager
→ Why American Water Works dominates the water space
→ JP Morgan & Goldman Sachs as AI-driven compounders

Check out the episode here: https://lnkd.in/eVmnvb8S 

#investing #business #success #motivation #future

Open video: 9 Stocks With Near-Monopoly Power (We’re Buying These Now) on youtube.com

9 Stocks With Near-Monopoly Power (We’re Buying These Now)

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