From Tanks to Magazines
How the Military Shaped this Publisher’s Leadership Style and Work Ethic
By Carole VanSickle Ellis
Today, Robert “Bob” Rakowski is the publisher of something very rare in the 21st century: a profitable, monthly, print real estate magazine for active real estate investors. The REI-INK founder and publisher proudly observes that the first issue of the magazine, which made its national debut at the Pitbull Conference in February 2019, is built on customer service. “We bend over backward to make our readers and our sponsors happy,” Rakowski explained. The formula seems to be working, as the magazine has featured some of the country’s highest-profile real estate companies and most influential innovators on its cover and, furthermore, has attracted many of these industry experts to its contributor population and editorial board.
“One of the things that makes our magazine so good is that all the content is written by subject-matter experts and professionals,” Rakowski said proudly. Unlike the other members of this relatively small real-estate publishing sector, REI-INK also covers all sectors of real estate with the idea that real estate investors who are truly treating investing like a business want and require information from all relevant sectors of the industry. “We knew from the beginning we would not focus just on single-family,” Rakowski said. “We also deal with multifamily, land, industrial real estate, office space, warehouse and storage – if it is important to our real estate investing readers, it is important to us and we will find an expert to contribute on the topic.”
Bitten Early by the Entrepreneurial “Bug”
When Rakowski graduated from Purdue University, he did what most recent graduates are expected to do: He got a job in his field and started working – hard. “I was working with an international company as a management trainee. That was how things worked back then,” Rakowski recalled. It might have seemed as if today’s REI-INK publisher was destined for a future in the business world (or the music world, as he is also an avid musician and lifelong guitarist), but the future was not so clear at the time. Soon bitten by the “entrepreneurial bug,” Rakowski began “doing his own thing” and started a business. However, just a few years in, “everything changed,” he said. “I had a daughter, and I could no longer be ‘risky’ the way I had been.” He decided to join the U.S. armed forces as an officer in the Army.
“I got commissioned as an armor officer in 1984, and I cannot say enough about the military. It is the best job anyone can have in their life,” Rakowski emphasized. In fact, what he planned to be a four-year stint in service extended nearly 17. He worked his way upward through ranks and responsibilities, even working in the “underground” Command Center in Seoul, Korea, where he was assigned to the United Nations for a time. After returning home, he taught ROTC in Arizona and earned his master’s degree. After leaving the military, he served as former presidential candidate Bob Dole’s director of operations for Arizona before being invited to run a political campaign in Phoenix.
“That was when I finally reached the point I was at least ‘touching’ the real estate sector,” Rakowski recalled. Still unable to resist the allure of entrepreneurialism, he started a company that helped land developers navigate zoning and entitlements. He even worked with foreign companies who hoped to develop a presence in the United States as well as recognizable names like Wal-Mart, Target, and Circle K. Business was booming, right up until it stopped in the mid-2000s when the housing market crashed and the Great Recession came calling. Fortunately, by then Rakowski had moved into the industry that would ultimately become his passion: publishing.
“When the Great Recession hit, a lot of my former clients quit building,” Rakowski said. “They either went bankrupt or they could not get loans to buy land. Fortunately, I had linked up with the owner of a magazine a few years earlier, so I went to work for him during that time. Nine years later, in 2018, that experience served me well because I started my own magazine, REI-INK.”
Lessons Learned in the Past, Applied in the Present
When Rakowski talks about REI-INK either in terms of production or the finished product, he seldom, if ever, refers to himself. Instead, he speaks of individual participants in the creative process by full name and title or refers to the “REI-INK team,” particularly when giving credit for anything positive accomplished by the group.
“In the military, one of the first things they drill into you is that a leader never takes the credit for anything but takes the blame for everything,” he explained. “I know I owe the credit for this magazine’s success to our writers, to Kevin Fullerton of Springboard Creative who designs the magazine, to our advertisers, to our sponsors, to our printing company, to my partner and chief revenue officer Suzanne Andresen who spearheaded the REI Referral Network when we first started that referral program – the list goes on and on.” He concluded, “In the military, you have to trust the people on your right, your left, your front, and back, which I do. That is why this magazine has taken off so successfully, and that is why our readers can trust us to be a reliable part of their real estate team as well.”
SIDEBAR
Connecting Professionals, Investors & Service Providers Through the REI Referral Network
Bob Rakowski launched REI-INK to provide active, full-time real estate investors treating their investments like a business with a trusted resource in the industry. As the magazine skyrocketed to popularity, Rakowski and his CRO and partner, Suzanne Andresen, realized that many investors needed even more.
“Our readers told us clearly they wanted to work directly with real estate professionals in local markets, to share areas of investment opportunities, and to have a platform designed specifically for active, full-time real estate investors,” Rakowski explained. In response to this request, the REI (Real Estate Investor) Referral Network was born.
REI Referral Network is a membership organization designed to address every one of those needs. “If you are an investor looking to hone your portfolio or a professional specializing in working with investors, this should be your home,” Rakowski explained. “Real estate has always been a foundation for wealth. Collectively, we will build a national platform that will further that mission.”
Learn more about the REI Referral Network at REI-ReferralNetwork.com.
