You do not need to be the smartest person in the room to build long-term wealth through real estate, but you do need patience, discipline, and a willingness to play the long game. According to financial experts and seasoned investors, real estate will rarely make someone rich overnight, yet it remains an incredibly forgiving asset class. Investors can make mistakes, experience short-term financial losses, and still ultimately come out on top.
Apolo Ohno understands this concept better than most. Having dedicated his entire youth to becoming a short-track speed skater, Ohno reached the pinnacle of his sport, competing in three Winter Olympic Games and taking home eight medals. However, when his illustrious skating career ended 16 years ago, he faced an unprecedented challenge for which he had not trained. He describes the transition as the "great divorce"—the painful process of separating from an identity that had shaped nearly every aspect of his life. Thankfully, many of the rigorous skills he spent decades honing translated directly into the world of business and real estate investing.
Recently, Ohno joined Dave Meyer, Chief Investment Officer at BiggerPockets, on the BiggerPockets Podcast to discuss his journey from the Olympic podium to the boardroom. Operating today at the intersection of high-performance business and wellness, Ohno helps entrepreneurs achieve their goals in a more sustainable manner. During the conversation, he shared the hard-earned lessons that helped him weather difficult times, explained why an investing network serves as an investor’s single greatest advantage, and detailed how to avoid burnout on the road to financial freedom.
Reflecting on his retirement from competitive sports, Ohno noted that the transition felt jarring. While he had attended university, his energy and focus were entirely consumed by speed skating. When he finally had time to listen to his inner voice—the quiet space when the applause stops and no one else is around—he realized he lacked the specific skill sets needed for his next pivot.
Initially, Ohno admitted, his primary drive was financial. However, chasing capital purely for the sake of accumulation led him to make costly mistakes. He found himself more willing to take on risks that did not genuinely align with his personal strengths or long-term vision. When an investor chases capital rather than seeking synergy between financial sense and personal attributes, Ohno explained, the mismatch almost always results in failure. The tuition paid through rushing, choosing the wrong business partners, or poor timing proved far more expensive than accumulating degrees from multiple universities combined.
One of the most significant hurdles Ohno faced was realizing that the relentless drive and grit required in sports did not always translate neatly to the business world. While athletes are trained never to give up and to grind through multi-year cycles to achieve success, business owners must learn to spot when it is time to pivot quickly, cut their losses, and begin again. Furthermore, Ohno admitted he struggled initially with asking for help, operating under the mistaken impression that he had to handle every challenge entirely on his own.
Those early missteps culminated in a painful real estate investing experience during the 2006, 2007, and 2008 market cycle. Operating primarily as a passive investor, Ohno allocated funds through a specific group, writing promissory notes and loans with blind faith. Unbeknownst to him, the principals were engaging in severe mortgage fraud. The partners ultimately filed for personal bankruptcy, and Ohno only discovered the truth when a contact in Utah informed him that he was not even listed as a creditor.
The financial loss was devastating, particularly while he was still training and competing. However, rather than remaining in denial or exclusively pointing fingers, Ohno realized he had to radically own his decisions. He recognized that he had failed to bring in the proper legal teams or perform adequate due diligence. Accepting responsibility allowed him to shift his mental perspective, absorb the difficult life lesson, and determine how to move forward constructively.
Despite that early trauma, Ohno maintained his belief in real estate as a powerful asset class. He pointed out that approximately 80% of the Olympic athletes from his cohort who have since retired and achieved financial success are involved in real estate development, commercial brokerage, or residential sales. Former Olympians like Rusty Smith, Chad Hedrick, and Ryan Bedford successfully applied the rigorous work ethic, discipline, and consistency learned in training to the property sector.
For his own part, Ohno channels his earnings into health and wellness technology companies, as well as funds and ventures tied to trusted long-term relationships, such as industrial real estate investments. He enjoys interacting with the vibrant entrepreneurial community in the United States, meeting general partners, family offices, doctors, optometrists, and individuals making the leap out of traditional W-2 employment. He emphasizes that while real estate is capital-intensive and subject to shifting interest rates, opportunities and deals will always present themselves to those who keep their eyes open.
Drawing direct parallels between athletic performance and entrepreneurial success, Ohno introduced the concept of the general adaptation syndrome—alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. In sports, growth occurs when an athlete recovers adequately before reaching total exhaustion. Athletes do not train at maximum capacity every single day; instead, they utilize periodization, balancing large volumes of training with substantial blocks of true recovery.
Many entrepreneurs, however, fall into the trap of running continuous, never-ending cycles until the quality of their decision-making begins to degrade. Because business owners and real estate professionals are accustomed to grinding long hours, they often fail to notice mental fatigue. Ohno stresses that treating the human mind and body with respect, incorporating micro-recoveries, and maintaining physiological health—such as proper sleep, nutrition, and training—directly enhances mental acuity and decision-making capacity.
Ohno also emphasized the importance of mastering personal habits and reducing friction in daily routines. By pre-planning decisions, such as laying out workout gear or clothing the night before, individuals can shorten the negotiation time between thought and action. This automation of habits helps build powerful behavioral patterns over time, allowing professionals to rise to the level of their potential without constantly battling decision fatigue.
Addressing the modern hustle culture, Ohno noted that burnout is often a direct reflection of enduring long durations of hard work and facing repeated failures without feeling a sense of progress. While resilience and relentless effort are necessary traits, recognizing when to step back, recover, and approach a problem with a fresh mind prevents inefficiency. Solving a problem in one well-rested hour is vastly superior to spending three exhausted hours banging one’s head against a wall.
Furthermore, Ohno highlighted the critical importance of networking and interpersonal relationships, particularly in an industry as people-centric as real estate. Initially disliking networking events, he eventually realized that building relationships is a fundamental professional prerequisite, much like running is to a speed skater’s training cycle. How an individual shows up in the first five to ten minutes of an interaction dictates whether others will want to do business with them. By acknowledging that everyone is navigating their own challenges, professionals can focus on showing up authentically, reliably, and as trustworthy partners.
Concluding his advice to entrepreneurs and investors, Ohno urged individuals to listen to their true north and recognize the finite nature of time. By understanding where they find fulfillment, showing up fully as themselves, and consistently doing the right thing, individuals can pave the way toward financial freedom and personal success faster than they might expect.
For those wishing to connect with him, Ohno is active across major social media channels and shares extensive long-form business insights and thoughts regularly on LinkedIn.