A financially independent real-estate investor shares his top book recommendation and the succes

• Volnay Capital founder Ricky Beliveau bought his first property in Boston in his early 20s.
• Between Volnay Capital's portfolio and properties that he owns with partners, he has over 1,000 units.
• The investor and developer shared one of his top book recommendations: "Sell It Like Serhant."

Ricky Beliveau never expected to make a career out of real estate.

He studied finance at Northeastern University, interned at an investment management firm as a student, and took a job at the same firm after graduating in 2010.

A real-estate finance class he took during his senior year of college introduced him to the business side of real estate. Before, his definition of real estate was essentially, "the house that you live in," he told Insider.

Beliveau bought his first property, a multi-family in Boston that he house hacked, less than a year after graduating. He gradually built his real-estate portfolio, using FHA loans to purchase multi-families, and experimented with condo conversions starting in 2013. That's when he started making enough money to quit his finance job and go all-in on his real-estate business, Volnay Capital.

Today, he runs several real-estate-related businesses, including a property management firm, development firm, and brokerage, and personally owns 94 units. Between Volnay Capital's portfolio and properties that he owns with partners, he has over 1,000 units, according to an asset sheet viewed by Insider.

Beliveau has his Northeastern professor to thank for launching his real-estate career — and he has continued to self-educate since graduating.

He subscribes to the "Real Estate Addicts" podcast hosted by two Boston-based investors, Ray Hurteau and Dan Rubin. As for his top book recommendation, it's "Sell It Like Serhant," by real-estate broker, investor, and "Million Dollar Listing" star Ryan Serhant.

While Serhant has built his career around real estate, his book is for any professional looking to get ahead in their career.

The success principle that most resonated with Beliveau while reading Serhant's book doesn't necessarily have anything to do with real estate: It's what the author calls a "balls up" mindset.

"He talks about having 'balls in the air,'" said Beliveau, and those balls represent different business or income-generating opportunities. "Picture juggling 100 different balls. Some of those balls need a lot more care because those are the most important leads or the most important things you're working on, but if you're just juggling one big ball and it falls or goes away, you've got nothing else to do."

If you're a real-estate agent, having multiple balls in the air could mean "trying to work with 20 clients, not just one client," said Beliveau. Or, if you're a developer like him, "you might have one project under construction, but you can't just be working on that one; you have to be looking for your next one to get under agreement."

In the book, Serhant describes this principle of having the most balls in the air as "a secret that gave me a huge advantage."

He's never just been focused on one ball, even when he first got his real-estate license and started renting apartments, he wrote: "I didn't put all my energy into one sale or one client. I'd go from a closing with one client straight to a showing with another client, and took calls for offers while in the taxi. I didn't live or die by one deal. I never closed a sale and wondered, 'What now?' because the next deal was already happening. My more-balls-up approach gave me a big edge, and I quickly became a top seller."

When you have "more balls up," as Serhant puts it, "you're surrounded by opportunity and you're taking advantage of those opportunities at the same time — you're making new contacts, gaining great referrals, and maximizing the hours you're awake."

Serhant believes that it's possible to juggle multiple deals or opportunities at once. "So, why grab just one ball when you can handle five or more?" he writes. "Go big."

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