Podcasts about W2

Ryan Zofay was pronounced dead at 16 after flipping a car while running from the cops. Today, he runs a $100M+ mental health empire. In this raw and powerful episode, Ryan shares his full transformation. from addiction and facing 25 to life, to building "We Level Up" into a multi-state treatment business with 600+ employees and over 400 beds. We unpack the exact mindset shifts that fueled his comeback, the emotional wounds that drive high performers, and how mastering psychology is the real cheat code to business growth. Ryan breaks down his obsession with team-building, the art of raising capital, and why most entrepreneurs fail to scale because they never do the deep inner work. We also dive into how he leverages real estate for long-term wealth and tax protection, how to build emotional resilience as a founder, and why pain if channeled correctly is the ultimate competitive advantage. If you're a business owner, investor, or ambitious W2 employee navigating your own identity shift, this episode will change how you see your past, your power, and your path forward. Book your mentorship discovery call with Cory RESOURCES

Right About Now with Ryan Alford Join media personality and marketing expert Ryan Alford as he dives into dynamic conversations with top entrepreneurs, marketers, and influencers. "Right About Now" brings you actionable insights on business, marketing, and personal branding, helping you stay ahead in today's fast-paced digital world. Whether it's exploring how character and charisma can make millions or unveiling the strategies behind viral success, Ryan delivers a fresh perspective with every episode. Perfect for anyone looking to elevate their business game and unlock their full potential.     Resources: Right About Now Newsletter | Free Podcast Monetization Course | Join The Network | Follow Us On Instagram | Subscribe To Our Youtube Channel | Vibe Science Media   SUMMARY In this episode of "Right About Now with Ryan Alford," real estate CEO Justin Brennan shares his journey from family roots in property investing to building a large multifamily portfolio using syndication and other people’s money (OPM). He offers practical advice on leveraging skills and sweat equity, emphasizes the importance of mindset, and discusses transitioning from a W2 job to investing. Justin also highlights his philanthropic work supporting military families and disadvantaged youth, underscoring the value of community, collaboration, and purposeful giving in real estate and wealth-building. TAKEAWAYS Real estate investing, with a focus on multifamily apartments and syndication. The strategic use of other people's money (OPM) to scale investments. The importance of moving money in capitalism and its economic implications. Tax benefits associated with commercial real estate investments. Mindset shifts required for transitioning from a W2 job to real estate investing. Personal background and family history in real estate investing. Philanthropic goals, including support for military families and disadvantaged youth. Practical advice for aspiring real estate investors, emphasizing starting with available resources. The significance of community and collaboration in wealth-building. Viewing money as a tool for freedom and positive impact rather than a negative force.  

Title: From Hustle to Holdings: The Smarter Path to Passive Wealth With J. Scott Summary: In this episode of the Passive Income Attorney Podcast, host Seth Bradley discusses the importance of transitioning from active to passive income with guest Jay Scott, a seasoned real estate investor. They explore various investment strategies, the significance of due diligence in syndication, and the differences between house flipping and multifamily investments. Jay shares his journey from tech to real estate, emphasizing the need for teamwork in multifamily projects and the importance of understanding market conditions. The conversation concludes with actionable insights for listeners looking to create financial freedom through passive income. Links to watch and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V26Rze2S9TM Bullet Point Highlights: Active income is trading time for money, while passive income allows for financial freedom. Investors should focus on the highest and best use of their time. Flipping houses can be tedious and may not be the best use of time for high-income earners. Transitioning to multifamily investments can provide more control and cash flow. Market conditions can significantly impact investment strategies and outcomes. Due diligence is crucial when vetting syndication sponsors and deals. Understanding the underwriting process is essential for passive investors. Building a strong team is vital for success in multifamily investments. Investors should seek to understand the risks associated with their investments. Passive income allows for a lifestyle centered around family and personal interests. Transcript: Seth Bradley (00:10.188) What's going on, law nation? Welcome to the Passive Income Attorney Podcast, your favorite place for learning about the world of alternative passive investments so that you can practice when you want to and not because you have to. Now, if you're ready to kick that billable out of the curb, start by going to attorneybydesign.com to download the Freedom Blueprint, which will also get you access to partner with us on one of our next passive real estate investments. All right, let's talk about   the highest and best use of your time. We've talked about active versus passive income and for good reason, they are completely different. They're on opposite sides of the spectrum. When we talk about active income, we're talking about your job as an attorney, as a doctor or a business owner, where you trade your time in for money out. Depending on your skill set, background, education, work ethic, et cetera,   You know, this could be a great use of your time or it could be a terrible one. But when most people think about getting into real estate investing, they're torn. Should you do a fix and flip like you saw on HGTV? Should you invest in a REIT like your financial advisor and Charles Schwab told you to do? Should you buy a single family rental or invest in a syndication? There are endless options so I can understand why it's so confusing. Well, start with this.   ask yourself, what's the highest and best use of my time? If you're thinking about doing an HGTV fix and flip and your partner at a big law firm, for example, is that flip really the best use of your time? And don't be mistaken, a flip is transactional and it is active. So will you make more per hour on that fix and flip than you would at your job?   After you factor in the learning curve, the deal sourcing, the headaches, what it takes away from your job and everything else, it's not even close. Unless you truly love doing it, which some people do, it just doesn't make sense for high income earners. You should be focusing on transforming the income you earn actively into passive income streams. At different levels on the passive scale, that could very well be a single family rental or an Airbnb.   Seth Bradley (02:34.26) or could be passive investments into commercial syndications. But if you truly want to obtain financial freedom as quickly as possible, don't create more time consuming activities that aren't as fruitful as the active income stream that you already have. Focus on passive investments until you are financially free. And then you will have the freedom to transition or not into any   active activity you have a passion for. Today, we have a very special guest, Mr. Jay Scott of Bigger Pocket fame. Jay is an entrepreneur, investor, advisor, and the co-host of the Bigger Pockets Business Podcast. He has bought, built, rehab, sold, syndicated, and held over $70 million in residential property, and currently owns several hundred units. Jay is the author of four bestselling books on real estate investing,   with sales of over 300,000 copies. Get really excited for this, folks. You're in for a treat.   This is the Passive Income Attorney Podcast, where you'll discover the secrets and strategies of the ultra wealthy on how they build streams of passive income to give them the freedom we all want. Attorney Seth Bradley will help you end the cycle of trading your time for money so you can make money while you sleep. Start living the good life on your own terms. Now, here's your host, Seth Bradley.   Jay Scott, what's going on, brother? Welcome to the show.   Scott (04:09.196) Thanks. Appreciate you having me here Seth.   Absolutely, man. Appreciate you taking the time out of your day, We've got a little bit of history, but let's jump into your history, man. What's your story? Tell us about your background. Take it back as far you'd like to.   Yeah, I'll keep it short because nobody really cares about what I used to do. So I'm a tech guy by education and former trade. I worked in Silicon Valley for a long time, spent about 15 years doing the engineering thing and the product management thing. 2008 decided to get married. My wife and I, she was in the tech world also. We decided to leave and do something different so we could start a family.   focus on our family. Basically, we were both working ridiculous hours and it just wasn't sustainable if we wanted to start a family. So put our jobs in 2008, moved to the East coast, ended up flipping houses. Long, boring story about how that started, just kind of serendipitous. We didn't really plan it, never really considered real estate, but fell into flipping houses. Over the next eight years or so, we flipped about 400, 450 houses, was great. It ended up being the,   next career we were looking for, it gave us the flexibility to kind of raise our kids and never have to miss a soccer game or a piano recital, which was fantastic. But then around 2017-ish really got burned out on flipping houses and that's when I started to look for some new stuff to do. and that kind of leads me into what I've been doing the last few years.   Seth Bradley (05:41.742) That's awesome, man. That's a ton of houses you flip, man. think that that's, know, a lot of the folks who've been in the game for a long time, they've heard you speak on, you know, on bigger pockets and all of that. So, you know, what attracted you originally to house flipping rather than, you know, buy it holds or anything like that?   So I'll be honest, I don't love real estate. I love business. I'm a business guy. like when I was even when I was in the tech world, I got my MBA and I did some business development and I moved from the engineering side to the product side where I could be more involved in the business stuff. And I'm a business guy by heart. And that's what I love doing. So when it came to flipping houses,   For me, was, I could have been buying and selling anything. It ended up being houses. And again, not an exciting story. mean, literally the story was my wife was watching a show on HGTV with some people flipping houses and she said, let's give that a try. Just as kind of like a fun thing to do on the side while we were waiting for our wedding to come up. So it wasn't something that I ever thought about or planned to do. It just kind of happened.   And so if it weren't flipping houses, it would have been buying and selling something else. would have opened a restaurant or I would have opened a retail store or who knows what I would have done. But for me, the challenge was in the business. It wasn't the real estate piece of it. And so I've always enjoyed the scaling part. So yeah, flipping a house is great. Flipping five houses is great. But I always wanted to know, how do I go from flipping five houses to flipping 50 houses in a year? What are the systems and processes I have to put in place?   how do I build that type of business? That to me is what's exciting. And so for me, it's always been about not the real estate part of it, but about the building the business part of it.   Seth Bradley (07:25.248) I love that man. I don't think I've heard anyone just come out and say that, even though a lot of people are probably in the same boat as you that, you know, you don't have to love real estate to recognize that it's a great business. Right. Yeah. So that that's awesome. So tell me a little bit about your, your transition and what you're doing now, your current business, how you kind of progressed from house living to what you're about to tell us about.   Yeah, so 2017, I just got really burned out on flipping houses. It was good to us financially. We got good at it. I wrote a bunch of books on it, but I'll be honest, it was never fun. And as the years went on, it just ended up getting more tedious. I felt like I wasn't learning anything new. It was revising processes and creating new systems. it was fun, but I needed some new challenges.   So 2017, I decided, okay, done with flipping, actually went and started doing some business stuff. So I do some advisory work for some tech companies. I do some angel investing. And so for a few months, I actually considered getting out of real estate altogether, focusing on other business pursuits. But I actually, what I realized was that I didn't like the nuts and bolts of real estate. I liked the mechanics of real estate.   I loved the negotiation piece. I loved the asset management piece. I loved the putting deals together piece and I was good at it. And so while I really didn't wanna be flipping houses, didn't want to be involved in the day-to-day aspects of managing the projects. I enjoyed the deal part of real estate. And so in addition to that, after I stopped flipping, I had all this cash.   And I was like, okay, what am I going to do with this cash? I was using it to flip houses. We were doing 50 houses a year. It's put a lot of cash to work. Now I had all this cash. I'm a control freak. do invest in other people's syndications, but I don't sleep well at night when all my money is being managed by other people. So I said, how do I kind of take back control of my own cash as well as kind of get back into real estate? What can I do in real estate that I would enjoy? And now I can also deploy a bunch of my own cash. And what I realized was multifamily.   Scott (09:38.648) That was a great opportunity. And I had been thinking about multifamily for a long time. But what I realized was from the syndication side of multifamily, could, one, I could have the control. could be a general partner. could control the deal. I could put the deal together. I could manage the deal. But also I could come in on the limited partner side as an investor. And it was a great place to deploy my capital. So I could deploy my capital in deals that I had full control over. So 2017, I decided I wanted to get into multifamily, probably wanted to get into syndication.   I reached out to a friend of mine, Ashley Wilson, who managed a company called Barred Down Investments. She and her husband had started the company a couple of years earlier. They were doing exactly what I wanted to do. And so I reached out to Ashley and I said, hey, I would love to learn multifamily. I don't expect you to like just take all this time and teach me so I can often be your competitor. But here's what I am willing to do if you're willing to do this. I will come work for you for a year.   And in that year, you've got all my time, you've got all my energy, you've got all my knowledge, you've got all my contacts, I'll put money into your deals, whatever it takes. You mentor me for a year, you've got my commitment for a year. After a year, we can figure out if like, there's a place for me on the team or if I'll go off and do my own thing. But basically, let's work together for a year. And she loved that idea. mean, I think she liked the fact that I was really good with the systems and the processes and the operation stuff.   And I obviously loved the fact that I could jump into a team that was high functioning, already owned a lot of properties and was doing deals. So for the next year, I worked with her team. It took about a year and a half before we finally did a deal. But 2020, just before COVID, we started putting together a deal. That deal went really well. Ashley and I realized that we were like, just we made a great team.   We had a bunch of complimentary skills, the things that she was really good at, I wasn't, the things I was really good at, she wasn't, it was just a good partnership. Around the same time, her husband decided that he didn't really want to be doing real estate anymore. He kind of wanted to be a stay at home dad. He liked helping with the business. He ran the underwriting team and he did a lot of the analytics, but he didn't want to be a partner in the business anymore. So about a year and a half ago, Ashley came to me and said, Hey, would you want to join me and be a partner in the business?   Scott (11:57.678) 2020, 2021-ish. Ashley and I joined forces. She and I now run bar down investments and we do value add multifamily all around the country.   That's great man, said you weren't having fun anymore, you having fun now?   I'm having a ton of fun. And I think the big difference between then and now is when you're flipping houses, flipping houses is a very, it's a solitary venture. Yeah, you have contractors around you and you have eight real estate agents and you have closing agents and lots of 1099 people, lots of vendors and people that come in to help you. But at the end of the day, you're running the show. You're doing the four big things that you do when you flip houses.   you're acquisitions or you're running acquisitions, you're doing the rehab or you're running the rehab, you're doing the disposition or managing the disposition and you're raising the money. mean, all four of those things, you don't generally have a big team to do those things because it's just hard to scale a big team when you're flipping houses. The profits aren't there, the margins aren't there. Unless you're doing real high-end houses, the deal size isn't there. But in multifamily, the thing I love about multifamily is it really is a team sport. When you're doing it,   $10 million deal or a $50 million deal, it's not something that I could ever do myself. It's not something anybody or very few people can do themselves. Typically you have to be part of a team because things are very specialized. mean, the acquisitions piece, you need some of the best acquisitions people in the world to be finding deals in this market. The renovation piece to be renovating a 200 or 400 or 600 unit apartment complex, it's not like flipping a house. You need to have really good systems and processes. need to...   Scott (13:36.448) really know the renovation side of things. Managing the property, I mean, you have to know the asset management side. You have to know how to carry out a business plan. You have to know how to increase and reposition rents. You have to know how to decrease expenses and improve the efficiency of the management. And then on the sales side, that's a whole other world where you have to really know the market and be able to work with the brokers and know how to position the company for sale. And then finally, there's that raising funds piece.   And that's a whole world by itself, whether you're dealing with raising debt through a broker and you're going like just typical, like getting loans, or you're going out to private investors or institutions and you're raising equity, people that come in as partners. And I mean, that's a full-time job in itself, those two things. So when you do multifamily, you really need to figure out what are you great at? And then you need to surround yourself with people who are great at everything else. And so that's what I loved about multifamily. It allowed me to focus on what I was really   and then bring in people who are literally the best in the world at all the other stuff. And now it becomes a team sport. It goes from playing tennis to playing basketball. It goes from being yourself reliant and you have to do everything and be the best versus you have to be able to put together the best team and manage that team in a way that not only is everybody fantastic, but working together, they're better than the sum of their parts.   Yeah, yeah, that's fantastic, man. The whole team game part of multifamily and commercial real estate. It's really interesting because when you get into other businesses, it feels more competitive and kind of like if you if you have the secret sauce, you keep it close to your vest. You don't you don't tell everybody about it. Whereas when you're in this commercial real estate world, everybody's sharing ideas. Everybody's trying to partner. Everybody's trying to see how they can help you rather than just looking about, well, how can you help me kind of?   I call it, I'm gonna get in trouble here, but the Hollywood mentality where it's like, what can you do for me? Oh, you just drive a three series, you probably can't help me. So it's a different attitude.   Scott (15:41.294) Absolutely. I like to refer to it as co-op petition. It's like there are deals that you're going to do with other people and then there deals you're going to do yourself and you may come back to those people later. You may never come back to them, but everybody kind of looks out for each other because you never know when you may end up in a deal with somebody that previously you were competing against. And so anytime that you're not in a deal with somebody, you're still treating them as if, the next deal we could end up being partners. And the deal after that, we could end up being partners.   because it really is, it's a small industry, everybody knows each other. we really, again, going back to the sum of the parts is greater than the parts themselves. mean, working together, we can really do a whole lot more than if we just are purely competitive and try and take each other down.   Yeah, absolutely. And I think kind of going back, there's a lesson to be learned about how you were transitioning from house flipping and you were the best at it. And then you're like, okay, I want to go into multifamily and a syndication. You went and you sought out someone that was already in the game that knew what they were doing, that had the experience. And you said, what can I do to help you? What value can I bring to you to help you so you can teach me what you've done? And there's a lot of value to be found in that lesson for folks that are trying to   you know, get into the active side. A lot of listeners out there are passive investors already and they're, you know, maybe thinking about, maybe I want to do in the active side. And they're like, well, what can I do? Cause a lot of attorneys, especially in doctors and folks like that, they think they have this one track mind. They're only trained to do one thing. And they're like, what value can I provide as somebody else? But there are a lot of skills that you've learned in your W2 profession that you can apply to help other folks that are already in the industry.   Absolutely. I mean, I talk about it a lot, but even outside of real estate, I do a lot of advisory work and I'm still pretty active in the tech world. And I find companies that kind of bridge that gap between technology and real estate. all know about the Zillows and the Airbnb type companies. There are a lot of startup companies in that space too called property technology type companies. so...   Scott (17:46.998) I love to use my experience, my knowledge, my relationships to go into those companies and help them grow their companies. In return, I'm not an employee. I'm not even a 1099 contractor. In return, I'm getting equity so that if I can help make them successful, ultimately my equity is gonna be worth something. I'm gonna be successful as well. And so what I like to tell everybody like figure out what you're good at and then figure out who needs that expertise.   and then figure out how you can offer that expertise in a way that isn't trading necessarily hours for dollars. Figure out how you can trade your expertise, your knowledge, your Rolodex, your whatever it is for equity or potentially passive income so that you can grow potentially many fold as opposed to I charge $200 an hour or $300 an hour. mean, everybody loves $300 an hour, but the minute you stop working, you stop making that money. But if you can get equity, that equity can work for you for a while.   Yeah, absolutely. And it's tough for a lot of the WTs out there listening, they're highly paid professionals. It's tough to get off of that treadmill. For some folks it's easier because they're not making as much money, but for the lawyers, the doctors out there that are making a good amount of money in their profession, it's tough to try to see, you know, to stop trading time for money. But you've got to kind of see through the weeds there.   Yeah, well, what I tell people is, there's two types of income. There's your active income. That's the stuff that you're trading your time for, whether you're a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer or you're a house flipper or you're a consultant or you're a small business owner, whatever it is, that thing that when you stop working, you stop making money. And then there's a passive income. It's the thing you trade money for money. So you put your money out there and hopefully it continues to come back to you for the rest of your life or at least the next several years.   And so what I like to tell people is don't think about those the same. Those are completely different. figure out for your active income, figure out what the highest and best use of your time is. If you're gonna make more money as an attorney than you are flipping houses, don't flip houses just because you eventually want to retire on real estate. You can always use real estate for the passive side of things, but if you're gonna make more dollars per hour as an attorney or a doctor or a consultant, then do that because you wanna get out of that active income as quickly as possible.   Scott (20:05.9) And the way you do that is you make as much as you can and you move it over to the passive side. So focus on whatever it is that's generating the most dollars per hour for a shorter period of time so that you can then start moving that money over to the passive side and start building up the passive side. don't, people ask me all the time, should I flip houses or should I buy rentals? And I'm constantly telling them that's not the right question. Flipping houses is your active income. Compare that to all the other.   potential active incomes you can have. And rentals is passive income. Compare that to all the other passive investments you can make. And so don't say flipping houses or rentals say, should I be flipping houses or should I be an attorney? And don't say, I be flipping houses or rentals say, should I be doing rentals or should I be investing in syndications or dividend generating stocks or something else? And think of them very differently. then secondly,   Make sure as much of that active income as you can, move it over the passive side so that you can start that snowball rolling. I compound interest is the key to financial freedom. And the sooner you can put more money to work, the faster it'll compound and the sooner you can start to live on.   Yeah, I love that man. mean, lot of folks, you know, calls that I take, they're like, hey, they're attorneys. Should I quit my job or how do I quit my job? I'm like, if you want to quit your job, don't be hasty about it. First of all, you're probably making a good amount of money in your active income. You just need to figure out a way to transition that active to passive income and don't just quit your job. It's very difficult to flip houses, to do an HGTV fix and flip while you're working at a big law firm or something like that full time.   I tried to do it, I didn't do it very well. You're not even gonna make it nearly as much money as you would as a doctor, as an attorney, unless you get to level like you did, Jay, but that takes time and that takes a buildup of accumulation of skills and money to be able to get to that level.   Scott (22:05.826) Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, it's a math equation. mean, your passive income or your ability to build up enough income to be able to retire, whatever your number is, is based on how much can you put in per month into that wheel, that passive income growth machine? How much are you generating every year on what you're putting in? So what do your returns look like? And three, how long do you have to compound it?   And so everybody can go out into a compound interest calculator and say, okay, I have $5,000 a month that I can invest passively and I can return 12 % per year and I need $6 million to retire. Well, based on those three numbers, you can now figure out that fourth variable, is how long is it going to take? And so figure out how much do you have per month to put in? What's the rate of return you can generate and how much do you need? And that'll tell you how long it's going to take or   figure out how much you have to put in, how much your return is gonna be and how long you wanna spend. And that'll tell you how much you'll end up with at the end, either way you wanna look at it. But again, it's a pretty simple math equation, but too many people don't actually do that equation where they don't think about it until too late and they think, I wish I would have taken that $5,000 a month that I was spending on my second home in the Bahamas and put that into real estate so that I could have been.   compounding it and so now I could buy that home for cash five years or 10 years later.   Absolutely. Attorneys hate math, but I think they can handle that little equation. I want to take a step back for a minute because you got into house flipping in 2008, which is kind of like around the big crash. And now we're kind of at the height of a market. We don't know where that height is going to end, but we're definitely in it. Right. So can you maybe compare and contrast getting into, let's say,   Seth Bradley (24:01.652) one real estate venture in the middle of a crash compared to getting into another venture kind of towards, towards the upswing.   Yeah, so it's one of the reasons I like multifamily and I like commercial and I like syndication. Anytime you're doing purely transactional deals, buying something and then selling it, not generating any cashflow in between, you run a risk. If the market turns in the middle of the transaction, you're gonna lose money and you don't have a lot of ways to mitigate that risk.   Whereas if you're buying something like an apartment complex, or even if you're buying a rental property, or you're buying a self-storage complex, or you're buying anything that cash flows, the nice thing is if the market turns, you may not be in a great position. You may not be thrilled with what's happening with the value of your assets, but if you're still generating cash flow, you can weather that storm. Maybe it's gonna take, the average recession lasts about 18 months. And so if you can make enough income that you can keep yourself afloat for 18 months, or maybe   it's a horrible recession and it lasts three or four years. If you're still making income and you can keep yourself afloat for three or four years, the market's gonna come back. And so when we do our multifamily deals, yeah, we typically say we're planning to hold three to five years, but we also do all the underwriting to ensure that if we have to hold for six years or eight years or even nine or 10 years, that the numbers still work because.   Again, who knows what's gonna happen three years down the road, we could have a major recession that lasts four years and now we're seven years down the road. I wanna know that my multifamily investments in seven years, they're probably gonna be producing more cashflow. We're probably gonna see more growth in terms of population. We're probably gonna see more growth in terms of employment. Hopefully we're gonna see more wage growth once we come out of that recession. So all the economic indicators that kind of lead towards value growth in multifamily,   Scott (25:58.486) are going to happen over those seven years if I can just get my property seven years and not lose it. With a flip, well, I'm not generating any income. So if the bank calls the loan due or if my two-year loan comes due and I can't refinance, I'm screwed. But in a multifamily, I just waited an extra couple of years and I'm probably in a better position than I was anyway. So that's one of the reasons I love multifamily because we can't predict   what the economy is gonna do in the next couple of years. But I do know that whatever the economy does, it's probably gonna come back in the next five or 10, and I'm still gonna have the problem.   Yeah, yeah, that's great. That kind of rolls into this next question. How does a passive investor that's kind of vetting a sponsor, how do they check kind of the boxes to see if their sponsors are taking the extra measures to look into those risks that you just mentioned, to mitigating those risks, to taking those risks into account in their underwriting and things like that. How can they best vet the sponsor to make sure that they're thinking of those things?   So I invest in a lot of other people's syndications as well as my own. And so when I do that, I kind of look at five areas for due diligence anytime I invest in a syndication. Number one is the team. And that's probably the most important thing. For a lot of people, I have been pleasantly surprised that a lot of our investors have recognized that team is the most important aspect of the deal. I know in the flipping world, everybody was concerned about the deal. Nobody cared about   what was my experience, but in the multifamily world, a lot of investors recognize that the team has to be great. So number one is the team. Number two is location. Location is often overlooked, but at the end of the day, the thing that's gonna drive value for multifamily and for commercial real estate in general is gonna be population growth. So you want more people coming into an area, employment growth. So you want more employers coming into an area that will bring more people in. You want wage growth because that will ultimately drive rents up.   Scott (28:06.082) and you want employment diversity. You wanna know that if one industry takes a big hit, so for example, we invest in Houston, but we won't invest in the energy corridor of Houston because it's so reliant on oil and gas, that if the oil and gas industry took a big hit, the real estate around there would probably take a big hit. So we wanna see that there's good employment diversity. But at the end of the day, location is that next big thing. So team, location, number three is the deal itself.   So you need to know that the deal is gonna stand on its own. I wanna know that if I took a deal and I handed it to pretty much any other indicator, they couldn't mess it up too badly. Obviously, again, we're gonna go back to the team is super important, but I want the deal also to stand on its own. And I wanna know that the business plan for the deal, the hold period, the numbers and the underwriting, the pro forma for the property makes sense. So team location deal.   Number four is the returns. So obviously when I invest with somebody, I'm in it for the money. And so I wanna see that the returns are commensurate with the risk. I wanna know that the returns, if somebody tells me I'm gonna get 10 % returns in this deal versus 20 % returns in another deal, I wanna know, well, why am gonna settle for lower returns? I want the answer to be because it's a lot lower risk or because you're gonna get your money back a lot sooner, which is gonna allow you to compound it or whatever the answer is.   I want to know that the returns make sense given everything else. And then finally is the risks. At the end of the day, I'm always going to sit down with the syndicator and I'm going to say, what are you most concerned about here? Like where, if I'm going to lose money on this deal, where am I most likely going to lose money? They say, there's no shot of losing money. walk away because we all know every deal has risks and every syndicator knows what those risks are. And they're thinking about those risks. I just want them to tell me.   So if I'm gonna lose money on this deal, where am I most likely? Why am I most likely to lose money if I'm going to lose money? So those are the five things that I look for. Talking about each individually a little bit more. the team, I like to know that one, I wanna see how many deals the team has done together because again, like a basketball team, you can put the best basketball players in the world together. And if they've never played on the court together,   Scott (30:31.672) they're not gonna be necessarily the best team out there. You can find another team with five inferior players who have been playing together for 20 years and they're probably gonna be better because they know each other better. So I like to see teams that have worked together for a while. I like to see teams that have gone full cycle in deals. So it's easy to buy 10,000 units. It's hard to buy 10,000 units and also sell 10,000 units for a profit. So I wanna see that if a team has bought a lot of deals, they've at least sold some for a profit.   I wanna see a team that's putting their own money in the deals. So I want people that have skin in the game. If they don't have skin in the game, and I've seen plenty of syndicators that don't like to put money in the deals, well, they need to sweeten the pot for me somehow. So maybe they're saying, we're not gonna take any profits until at least year three, or we're gonna give you a better preferred return, a better split than you would get if we were putting money in the deal. I wanna know if you're not putting money in.   that you're at least giving me something that aligns our interests and ensures that you're gonna be working hard even though you might not have as much financial risk. So those are the types of things I like to see in the team. I like to see things like at least one or two people working full-time. If everybody's part-time, that's kind of a little bit scary. Obviously not everybody has to be full-time because there are a lot of jobs on a GP team that aren't full-time jobs. There are a lot of jobs that might stop the day you purchase the property. Like the person that's raising money, job's   pretty much done other than communicating status when the property's been purchased. But I do want to know that whoever's managing the asset is doing it full time. So that's kind of the team stuff. Location, again, population growth, employment growth, wage growth, and employment diversity. So those are the four big things I look for. Next is the business plan. So I want to see the biggest question when somebody goes in and...   does what I do, which is a value add multifamily. Basically they buy it, they raise the value of the property and then they sell it for a big profit. Where is that profit coming from? Generally the profits coming from raising the rents. There's also some lowering the expenses, but at the end of the day, raising the rents is kind of the big thing that's gonna generate the big profits in multifamily. And so I wanna know how are you raising the rents? And two, when you tell me that you're raising the rents from X to Y, where is Y coming from?   Scott (32:55.182) Show me the comps that tell me that why is a reasonable new rent, market rent for this property after you've done the renovation. So I wanna see the comps. So that's kind of the deal. The returns speaks for themselves. I wanna see like the structure of the deal. So when's the money coming back to me? Is it paid monthly? Is it paid quarterly? What are the returns look like? What's the preferred return? So is it a low preferred return, which means   that the syndicators are getting paid sooner, whereas at a higher preferred return, which means the syndicators have to do more for me before they take anything home. So that speaks for themselves. And then for the risks, I wanna know both the catastrophic risks. So what's the thing that's like going to make me lose all my money? Is there something out there that can cause me to lose all my money? Hopefully the answer is no, but there are probably some risks that are bigger than others. So we do a lot of deals in Houston. If somebody were to say to me, what's the biggest risk on your deals?   The answer is generally going to be weather. If we have a really bad hurricane, if we're in a flood zone, we probably have flood insurance and we have hurricane insurance. But if it's in a place that's never experienced the negative impacts of a flood or a hurricane, and we are not required to have flood insurance, but there's still a massive hurricane that wipes out that property, that's not going to be good. We're going to have to pay for that ourselves. So what's our mitigation there? We don't have a great one. Luckily.   the risk is really low. We don't buy in areas where there is that risk. And if there is, we're gonna get flood insurance. But I do want my investors to know that no matter where you invest, whether it's a risk and especially in Houston, if we see a storm bigger than anything we've seen the last 50 years, some of our properties could be at risk. And then there are the smaller risks. So maybe there's five other complexes being renovated all around us. Maybe there's class A, brand new class A being developed.   all around us. So basically our absorption of units is going to slow down because there's so many more units. Maybe there's one big employer in the area. Amazon just built a warehouse that's employing 8,000 people. Well, what happens if Amazon has a bad year and has to lay off 4,000 of those people? How's that going to affect us? So, so risks is the next thing. And the way I approach it is I literally sit down with the, with the syndicator and say,   Scott (35:15.554) What keeps you up at night? What are the biggest things you're concerned about? And so those are the things that I do. I have no problem basically saying to a syndicator, I need 15 or 30 minutes of your time to ask these questions. Typically the good ones will either find the times themselves or have somebody on their team that will sit down and answer these questions. If they're not willing to answer those questions, well, that's probably a good indication that that's not a good team.   Yeah. For our listeners out there, that breakdown was incredible. Rewind that, listen to those five items again. That's a quick, but thorough and awesome rundown of what you need to do. Just as at least the starting points for your due diligence. And that's, that's great that you said if they won't book a call with you either themselves or an investor relations person on their team, then it's time to, you can just walk away and look at the next, look at the next deal. One question I had on the deal.   So a lot of folks, it's kind of overwhelming to see an underwriting model or something like that. And being a passive investor, I don't know how much you even want to dive into it. Some people do, some people want to nerd out on it. Most people don't. And we don't generally have access to the T12 or the rent roll or anything like that. What are maybe some quick tips on how to maybe proof through that pro forma to make sure that the assumptions are reasonable and the pro forma is generally   a reasonable prediction of what we might expect from that investment.   Well, let me start, me take a step back before I answer that particular question and just say that even for you and me, mean, you know how to do an underwriting, I know how to do an underwriting. If you or I were gonna invest in somebody's deal, Joe Smith's deal, we're probably not gonna have enough information even though we know this business really well and we know the underwriting models really well, we're probably not gonna have enough information.   Scott (37:08.908) that we're going to be able to know for certain that Joe Smith's not trying to scam us out of money. So if Joe Smith is really smart and he could probably put together an underwriting that could fool us because we're just not gonna be putting in as many dozens of hours underwriting as he and his team are. So the number one thing I would say is make sure you trust your syndicate. This goes back to why team is so important.   because there's two types of things that Joe Smith can do. One, he could do a bad job of underwriting and come up with bad numbers. That's not good, but that's not nearly as bad as Joe Smith wanting to scam us out of money. So number one is make sure Joe Smith's not the kind of guy who wants to scam us out of money. And so work with people who are reputable. And that's why I would invest with you before I would invest with 95 % of syndicators out there because you're an attorney, you passed the bar.   you know that if you go and somebody finds out that you're trying to scam somebody, well, you're putting your entire career at risk. And so what I tell people is, so what do you have that really proves that this person is on the up and up? And maybe it's a track record. Maybe it's 10 or 15 years of doing deals. Maybe it's, I like to think with me, I've been doing this business for 15 years. I've done thousands of deals with hundreds or thousands of people.   And if you go out on the internet, nobody's gonna, you're not gonna find anything that's written negatively about me. So that's a good sign. But make sure that there's something out there that gives you faith in that syndicator, even if it's just somebody else that's invested in a couple of deals with them. So that's number one. So that's the way to rule out that catastrophic, they're trying to scam you risk. Then there's the more likely, what if they just didn't do a good job of underwriting risk?   And so for that, would say for people that have very little knowledge of how the underwriting works and how the numbers work, it can be really difficult. And so what I like to do is, or what I recommend people do is sit down and ask to do a Zoom call for 15 minutes with the investor relations person and say, hey, will you kind of walk me through the high level underwriting? And at least force them to go through and then just ask questions.   Scott (39:30.958) when they say something, even if you have no idea what you're talking about and they say, well, it looks like we're gonna be able to reduce expenses by implementing a rub system, blah, blah, blah. Oh, okay, well, what is rubs and how does that work? And at least make them explain it to you. At least then you'll get an idea that they're not making it up as they're going along, or at least you'll get that confidence that it sounds like they know what they're talking about. But the biggest thing that I would say is that whole comps thing.   And this is a question that a lot of people don't like to ask. But I actually, and when people ask me this question, it always makes me nervous because it's the hardest part of the business, but it impresses me when people do. to the underwriting or the investor relations person, what are the comps that you used for your post renovation market rents? So again, the thing that drives values in multifamily is after the renovation is completed, in theory, you should be able to bring your rents up higher.   and your rents, those higher rents, you should be able to figure out what they are by looking at other units that have already been renovated and seeing what their rents are. So if I buy one, two, three Main Street, and I know I'm going to put $8 million into it, well, now that property is going to comp out to 678 Main Street. And well, what are the rents at 678 Main Street? And so by asking, hey, so you're buying one, two, three Main Street, what are the comps for the rents after you renovate?   and they tell you, it's going to be 678 Main Street and 123 Smith Street, whatever it is, you can then go look up those properties and say, okay, well, it looks like a two bedroom at those properties is renting for 1200. Now I go back to the investor relations person or whatever information they gave me I see, oh, okay, after renovation, they have their rents at 1200. Makes sense. If that's a reasonable comp, they now have the rents at kind of where they should be.   If he says that six, seven, eight main streets, a comp, and you go look in a two bedroom at six, seven, eight main streets, 1200, but their underwriting tells you that after they do the renovation, they're going to be charging 1500. Well, why are you now $300 above this property that you said was a comp? And so that to me is kind of the first thing that I look at or the biggest thing I look at is what are the comps that they're using and does just a kind of first pass.   Scott (41:57.762) jumping on apartments.com or calling the complex and asking them what different things rent for. Does that coincide with what they're telling you their post renovation rents are gonna   Yeah, I love that man. I mean, it's not as simple as just going into an old dilapidated apartment building and saying, I'm to put granite countertops and hardwood flooring and stainless steel appliances in there. And then I'm going to triple the rent or double the rent. It's not that easy. If it's not in the right area that could support those, those market rents or that have potential tenants that want those types of things, it doesn't work. So that's why that's so important to check those comps to see what's around those apartments that you're going to be investing in to see if, they can achieve those.   those proforma rents. All right, man, before we jump into the freedom four, what's one last gold nugget for our listeners?   Absolutely.   Scott (42:45.634) Yeah, so again, what I would tell people is figure out your highest and best use on your active side. And then for the passive side, figure out how you're gonna scale. And I know a lot of people like to invest in a whole lot of different things, but I'm a big fan of doing some work so that you don't have to diversify as much. Diversification is great, but diversification,   is for people who aren't really an expert in anything. If you want to get your best returns, the way to get your highest level of returns is not to have to diversify. And the best way not to have to diversify is to get knowledgeable about whatever you're investing in. So if you decide you wanna invest in all your syndications, just cause that's what you and I do. So it's an easy example. If you want to invest in syndications and that's how you wanna grow your nest egg, my recommendation is,   get as much information about syndications as you can. Pick up a good book on syndications. Go find somebody that does syndications and say, hey, I'd to pay you a thousand bucks for five hours of your time. Or you just to walk me through what a typical deal looks like or what the underwriting looks like. Or go sit in on a hundred multifamily syndication investor videos, presentations. So you can see all the different things they're talking about and become as much of an expert there as you can. So that way you're reducing your risk without having to do a lot of the.   diversification. So focus on whatever your highest and best use of time is on your active income and then become as knowledgeable as you can for whatever you're investing in passively. What I like to say on the passive side is it's not truly passive. Nothing's truly passive. But the best investments are the one where all the work is done upfront. You do your due diligence and then it becomes passive.   Yeah, that's awesome, man. And then what you can do though is diversify within that strategy, right? Absolutely. Yeah, different asset types can have different business strategy, value add, or maybe you're dealing with just a class A where you're chasing yield or across different cities, different geographies, or across different sponsorship teams. There's other ways to diversify within that same type of investment strategy. Yep. All right, man, let's jump into the Freedom 4.   Scott (45:05.598) It's time for the Freedom Four.   What's the best thing you do to keep your mind and body healthy?   So for me, it's admitting when I need a break. I know so many people that it's a badge of honor to work 80 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, never take a vacation. I'm just the opposite. If I wake up one morning and I'm tired and I don't feel like working and I don't feel like I'm gonna be productive, I will grab a book. I might even turn on the TV. I might say to my wife, hey, let's go to breakfast or let's go spend the day, let's go to a movie.   And I have no qualms with just saying, I need a break today. Today's not gonna be a productive day. I don't need to pretend to work just so I can have that badge of honor that I work hard. And so, yeah, and that's one of the nice things about real estate. mean, I don't have a hundred percent flexible work-life balance. I can't do anything I want any time I want, but if I wanna take a couple hours off, I normally can. And so I'm not scared to do that.   Yeah, yeah, that's a great answer. With all your success, what is one limiting belief that you've crushed along the way and how did you get past it?   Scott (46:15.734) Yeah, I still have a lot of them. I think we all do. But I'd say the biggest one is that doing a big deal is not that much harder than doing a little deal. I'm not going to say a hundred million dollar deal is just as easy as a hundred thousand dollar deal. But if you're smart enough to do a hundred thousand dollar deal, you're smart enough to do a hundred million dollar deal. And the people that are out there doing those hundred million dollar deals, mean, we have, we now have a hundred million dollars assets under management.   I remember a couple of years ago, looking at the people that had nine figures under management and thinking, they're different. I can't do that. These are people, went to some school that I will never go to, or they were born into something that I was never born into, or they know people I don't know, or whatever it is. No, they're normal people. And the only difference between them and me was I wasn't thinking big enough.   and I wasn't willing to take some risks and I wasn't willing to acknowledge the fact that doing again, a hundred million dollar deal is certainly within my capabilities. So that to me has been probably the biggest one and it's made it a lot easier for me now to say, okay, $50 million deal, let's go do it, not think twice.   Yeah. I had a similar experience working in, in, big law, doing house flips, doing single family rentals, things like that. And even though my clients are doing 50, a hundred million dollar deals and I'm helping them close those deals, it was just like the mindset shift that, a minute, I can do those deals too. I'm actually giving them advice on how to, how to do this thing. I need to step up my game and, and, take some.   Exactly, it's the difference between people doing a hundred million, a hundred thousand, it's all mindset.   Seth Bradley (48:00.866) Yep, absolutely. What's one actual step our listeners can do right now to start creating more freedom.   take action. So the biggest thing that I see stopping people is just this fear to take the first step. And I know this doesn't apply to a lot of your listeners, but I talked to a lot of people who want to get into house flipping or they want to get into rentals and they've been thinking about it for years and they just never take that first step and then they end up giving up. One of the the few truisms I see in this business   is that there are two types of people I meet. Number one, I meet people that have never done a deal. They've done zero deals. And maybe they're still working on it. Maybe they've given up whatever it is, but they've done zero deals. And then the other type of people I meet in this business are people that have done a lot of deals. They've done five or 10 or 20 or 50 deals. There's one type of person I never ever meet in this business. And that's somebody that's done one deal. Because if you get that one deal, you're gonna get the second and the third and the fifth and the tenth.   Nobody does one deal and then says, okay, that's it, I'm done. can't do this. So what I like to tell people is, and that applies to a lot of things in life. If you can get over the hump and do it once, you're gonna get that snowball effect and it gets easier the second time. It gets even easier the third, it gets even easier the hundred. So don't give up until you achieve that first step or that first iteration of whatever it is you wanna achieve because that's gonna get that snowball rolling.   Yeah. Yeah. We preach that on their show all the time. Just like, you know, just do a deal, just invest in a deal so you can get that experience and it'll just kind of open up your mind to other opportunities. You'll just see opportunity all around you. Once you just do one deal last but not least, how it's passive income made your life better.   Scott (49:51.886) Passive income has given me the ability and the confidence to raise a family. Before this, my biggest concern with raising a family was I didn't want to be, I had, my parents were great, but my parents were always working. And I didn't want to be the same type of father that my parents were. Again, they were fantastic, but I wanted to always be there. I wanted to be at every soccer game, every piano recital.   I wanted to be able to go into school for the parent-teacher conferences. so passive income has really given me the ability to build my life around my family as opposed to building my life around   Love that, love that. It's been fantastic, brother. We're gonna listen and find out more about you.   Yeah, anybody wants to get more info, go to www.connectwithjscott, just letter J, Scott, connectwithjscott.com, and that'll link you out to everything you might wanna find.   Awesome man. Talk soon.   Scott (50:54.945) Awesome. Thanks,   All right, Mr. Jay Scott from Master House Flipper to multifamily syndicator. He's a master of creating profitable, well-oiled business machines. I've been reading Jay's bigger pockets books for years and it's awesome to have the opportunity to have him on the show today. Major key, focus. Focus on transitioning your active income to passive income and don't get distracted. All right, if you're ready for a change, you're ready to take action.   partner with us on one of our next passive real estate deals. Go to passiveincomeattorney.com and join our Esquire Passive Investor Club. All right, kiddos, as always, enjoy the journey.   Thank you for listening to the Passive Income Attorney Podcast with Seth Bradley. Do you want more ideas on how to generate multiple streams of passive income? Then jump over to passiveincomeattorney.com for show notes and resources. Then apply for the private Facebook community by searching for the Passive Income Attorney on Facebook. And we'll see you on the next episode.   Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: Seth Bradley's Links: https://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en J. Scott's Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jscottinvestor/ https://www.instagram.com/jscottinvestor/ https://x.com/jscottinvestor https://linktr.ee/jscottinvestor

Brad and Lesley recap her conversation with franchise expert Jon Ostenson, unpacking how non-food franchising helps risk-averse entrepreneurs own a business without reinventing the wheel. They highlight funding paths, corporate support, and why following the playbook matters. You will hear practical ways to start while keeping your day job and how Jon's services are paid by franchisors, not you.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:When to treat Reformer footwork differently from leg press.How franchise ownership works even if you keep your day job.Why matching your strengths to the right franchise matters.Why matching your strengths to the right franchise matters.Common mistakes franchisees make when they don't follow the playbook.The mindset shifts around seeing $50K as possible, not impossible.Episode References/Links:Indivisible Movement - https://indivisible.orgBook: She Caused A Riot by Hannah Jewell - https://a.co/d/cGhs5UYP.O.T. Chicago 2025 - https://pilates.com/pilates-on-tour-chicagolandCambodia October 2025 Waitlist - https://crowsnestretreats.comWinter Tour Waitlist - https://opc.me/eventsSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsEp. 544 Matthew Lesko - https://beitpod.com/matthewleskoBook: Non-Food Franchising by Jon Ostenson - https://a.co/d/29XayrQ If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Brad Crowell 0:00  His services to you are free. How are they free, you ask, because he sees what you're trying to do. Then he goes to the franchise, the parent company, and he says, pay me, and I'll help these guys succeed doing your franchise. Pretty brilliant. I was like, wow, that's amazing.Lesley Logan 0:20  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:59  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the supporting convo I had with Jon Ostenson in our last episode. If you haven't yet listened to that interview, feel free to pause this now, go back and listen to that one, and then come back and join us, or listen to this one, and then you can decide if you want to listen that one. I think it's great. Jon has a book. It's really wonderful. It's a very niche topic. It's a nerdy topic. It's one I wanted to have because I don't think entrepreneurs, I'm like, making your own idea is for everybody, but I do think everybody deserves to have the wealth and agency that they want to have in this world and make what they want to make. So I'm excited about it. Brad Crowell 1:30  Well, I thought I really liked, I really liked the conversation. I was very I mean, especially for me, because I am very entrepreneurial, but I appreciated the back and forth. So, yeah, I, I think that it was very revealing. Lesley Logan 1:51  Are you saying it was a great interview? Did I do a good job? Brad Crowell 1:51  I'm saying it was a great interview. Not only that, but I think the information that he's sharing is shocking. He's super smart dude, and I thought, I thought it was very revealing for someone who might be hoping, wishing they could own a business. This was very empowering, because it, it created hope I think. So, yeah, great. Lesley Logan 2:17  I well, you'll, you guys, stay tuned. You'll hear what we're talking about in a second. Today is September 11th, 2025 and it's Patriot Day, which gives us all time to reflect on the devastating terror attacks that took 3000 lives. We commemorate those who we lost, and give thanks to the brave responders who put their lives on the line. Take a moment today to consider what we stand for as a nation, how we can work together to make the world a better place for all. It's a hard day. Brad Crowell 2:39  Yeah, I mean.Lesley Logan 2:40  Especially with 20, with 25 years to reflect on what fucking lies we're told afterwards, and then how we treat the first responders and how fucking hard it was to get their medical bills paid because they're dying from cancer right now. Like.Brad Crowell 2:56  Yeah, it's like, it's like a story that keeps repeating itself where something devastating happens that is wrong and tragic. People die and then motherfuckers in office take advantage of the public's emotional state, and they use it to go do some wrong shit. Lesley Logan 3:18  Go, so seriously, go watch the movie Vice. I happen to be really lucky to be teaching Christian Bale's wife at the time that he was filming that. And so it was a really interesting time, because, like, he was becoming Dick Cheney, which, like, it is a, I mean, of course, he won an, I think he won a bunch of awards for that. And he literally thanked Satan for the inspiration. Brad Crowell 3:41  Yes, he did. Lesley Logan 3:37  And I remember, I remember my client. I remember my client was, my client was just like, I fucking told him not to do that, or something like that. And so anyways, but go watch it, because it, while it's not historical, it is pretty fucking accurate about like, how rich Cheney and these bitches got after doing what they did and using, using the heartbreak, and what people fought with patriotism to go make these fucking wars, and then we did a bunch of bullshit, and then we ruined places. And it just pisses me off, because. Brad Crowell 4:04  Over, over, lies. Lesley Logan 4:09  Lies and so. And also, if you don't believe in September 11th being what it was like, I don't know why you're here, but like, I, I just really.Brad Crowell 4:18  Well, it was, I mean, it was a terrorist attack, no question. But what we did after it, how the public was manipulated, to then go to war for 20 years after, based on literal lies, you know.Lesley Logan 4:30  Yeah, it's, I it's hard because, like, okay, reflecting on what we consider as a nation today, I think, as an I think the people running our nation today reflect something I would never want to be a patriot of.Brad Crowell 4:42  Yeah, and that that's, that's the thing that really frustrates me as a person who, when you read the definition of patriot, I want to be that. That is absolutely, I mean, I consider myself a patriot. But also there's this, there's this frustrating association with angry white men, usually, who don't give a shit about people. And there's so much fear of others associated with it. And there's this ego that's associated with it that.Lesley Logan 5:17  It's, it's so it's so fragile. What they're like, they're thinking is so they are. They're such fragile people. Because they're just like, they're the way that they think, that they're showing strength. And we're like, protesting, they're like, like, making sure that we see the middle finger, and like, just like, and it's like, I have never driven in my entire life, of driving past something, we're talking about this with the protest where I disagree. Brad Crowell 5:39  We used to live by protests all the time, where we lived in L.A., we're literally next to the federal building, so it was like, every weekend, forever.Lesley Logan 5:45  Every weekend, it was like, who's protesting today? And like, there were times I was like, oh, I wonder why. It made me get curious as to, like, what is going on here. It was very fascinating. And it was like, what the fuck like, but I never was like, here's my middle finger to you. It's like, just, you know, move along. Move right along. The fact that you have to make sure I see your face in your lifted stupid truck while you flip me off, it makes you and that makes you feel good. You're like, yeah, I did it to them. I did it like, we were in Idaho, and there was a big ass sign in this guy's house. I was walking by the lake, and it was like, make liberals cry again, and it's like, oh, you think I'm crying. I'm pissed off. Like the tears of the tears are of what we are losing, of course, but like, no, I'm pissed off. James Baldwin, I want to, I want to make sure everyone hears this quote, because I think it's really beautiful, and I think it's this is what being a patriot is. I love America more than any other country in the world, and exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. And I think that, like, this country has so many shortcomings, and no country is perfect. Like, I was listening to Sophia Bush on a podcast recently, and she's like, like, I'm not gonna move because, like, I love this place. I'm gonna fight for her. And so, like, if you moved and whatever, like, I have no judgments for that, but if you're here, like, you have to fight, because we're losing rights. We're losing rights. And it really pisses me off, because in the time of my mother being an adult and married woman, she could not get a credit card until, like, the 80s, right? Like, like, I if you're listening to this and you're just like, la, la, la, I just want to hear about how to be till I see it. Ladies, you are going to lose your ability to have your own bank account. You're gonna lose your ability to have your own vote. And if you think it's not going to happen because, oh, it's not going to happen. It's they want it to happen. And the right people are in power. And I'm tired of being told that Project 2025 is bullshit. It is happening right now. Lesley Logan 5:46  They're more than 50% of the way through completing Project 2025.Lesley Logan 5:48  In the time we're recording this, seven months. Brad Crowell 7:40  Yeah, seven months. And, I mean, you know, if you go through and you actually read the things that are in that platform, they they do want to make single family voting, which is literally taking away the white the rights of women, because they would consider the man the head of the household. Lesley Logan 8:02  And if you think, oh, I'm not married yeah your brother get to vote for you. I don't have a brother, your uncle get to vote for you. Like they will find a man if and when this type of life existed, they would find someone in the government to become your vote. You don't get there's no getting out of this. You don't get one.Brad Crowell 8:17  Yeah, and, and, and the people in power are Tweeting about that stuff, literally right now, right like they're they're putting it out there. They're trying to normalize the idea so that when they go and try to do it, it doesn't seem like it's as big of a deal as it actually fucking is. Lesley Logan 8:32  So you know what I think patriotism is right now, babe, it is, find a protest. I know you're busy. I know you have fucked tons, going on. We are, too. Find one. Go for an hour. Go yell. Go meet friends. Go meet people who are different than you. It's, these protests people, some people are fighting for their their gay marriages to still exist. Some people are fighting further to not be war. Some people are fighting for God. Some people are fighting to like for the Epstein list. I don't care what gets you out there, but like you think that this, that what they're gonna do is not gonna affect your life, it is. It is. Brad Crowell 8:55  Yeah, go, go check out individual, indivisible.org, for a local, you know, event, or how you can get involved near you. So, you know, we're gonna move on, and we're gonna actually. Lesley Logan 9:11  Well, people like this, Brad, we've been told, hi, Vicky.Brad Crowell 9:14  I think it's so important y'all and and it's like this, I know that we this isn't a podcast about politics, but it is. Lesley Logan 9:22  But also, but also. Brad Crowell 9:23  Being it until you see it is a pod, it is about like politics, and it is a part of every single element of our life, even if you have the perfect life, quote, unquote, it's because of politics that you are able to live the way that you live. And what's happening right now is such fast, dramatic change in our countries. Like, historically, there's so much change happening so quickly there, that when we wake up, you know, in even six months from now, it's going to be like, there we are at the brink of things. Lesley Logan 9:53  I don't even know how we're going to make it to the midterms. That's my fear. That's my fear, and I put it out right now, but I will just say, even if you're like, less. I just want a homestead. I want to be like tradwife. The fact that you get to choose that is because of politics. So that is fine if that's what you want to choose to do. But do not think that everybody wants to do that and that that should be the choice for everybody. So I think that like that is why we have to get involved. And if you are a woman, you are political. Your existence in any room is political has been and if you really want to get fired up, go read the book, She Caused A Riot. Go look at history. Like fucking Socrates, his teacher was a woman. Did you know that? The reason you don't know that is because politics, they didn't want you to know that there was leaders in this world.Brad Crowell 10:39  Politics and religion. Lesley Logan 10:39  Fuck that. Anyways. Brad Crowell 10:39  Frustrating. Lesley Logan 10:39  I'm pissed off, but we're currently in the U.K. We're in the U.K. and then when we get home, well, we're home for a couple of weeks, and we gotta see my best friends and come visit, and then we're gonna go to Chicagoland for Pilates On Tour with Balanced Body. I'm doing the Joe's Gyms there. That's in Burr Ridge. If there's any spots left, you should snag one, because it's super, super fun, and we have a huge party coming with all of our agency eLevate OPC members, then we're gonna be in Cambodia. That's also in October. You can still join like you can join last minute. Guess what? Flight planes will sell a seat as long as there is one. So you can get the fuck out of town and retreat a little bit and be in a different world and get some empathy for what it's like to live in different places.Brad Crowell 11:21  Yeah, and experience a different culture and see that not everybody.Lesley Logan 11:24  If you are worried. Sorry, I cut you off. If you're worried about being an American in a different country, let me tell you, they see what's happening right now, and they are, in Cambodia, they are sad for us. They are scared for us. They know that they know where we're headed, and they're sad for us.Brad Crowell 11:25  Yeah, I was just gonna say with our experience recently about trying to cross borders and getting stuck and turned around and not being able to, it wasn't the it wasn't the attendees of the events that we were not able to attend who were angry with us. It was the border guard who was, you know, unfortunately, misinformed and, you know, and angry. And he's angry because the border guards of our country were turning away people for no reason. So he could just, that's the only power he had, was to turn away, you know, Americans for no reason. And we just kind of got caught up in that. So there's a lot of, there is a lot of frustration, but it's not from the people, right, in this country, it's like, you know? So, so I would say, you know, yeah, it did feel a little bit stressful to you know, as we were approaching, once we got there and started talking to them, it became clear that that there was just silly reasons being turned away but, but even in that, like the you know, the guy wasn't like, he wasn't an asshole about it. So, but I it was really frustrating. If you're worried about something like that, when you come to a place like Cambodia, you apply for your visa ahead of time. You will know before you arrive if they're going to turn you around, because you'll have the right paperwork.Lesley Logan 13:06  And also you're we're all going as tourists. The Canadian thing, we were going into work. Brad Crowell 13:11  That's true. Lesley Logan 13:11  And that was it, we'll have to do a whole episode on it, because it's a longer, longer conversation. That being said, you go to. Brad Crowell 13:18  But as a tourist, they want a tourist. They want that because. Lesley Logan 13:21  That's how they're that's literally how their country survives. Brad Crowell 13:24  Yep, it's how well, it's how the city that we're going to, that's how the economy there survives, from tourism. So, you know, and they are very aware of that, so. Lesley Logan 13:32  Yes, they want us there. They're so welcoming, they're so kind, and you can see what it's like to be living in a different part of this world. I think that's so important. I think one of the biggest reasons why people in this, in the U.S., are so fucking scared of people of a different color is because they've never, they've never gone and seen how they live. Yeah, you know, go get worldly. You will have more empathy, crowsnestretreats.com. After we leave Cambodia, we're going to be in Singapore. We're going to teach at a beautiful studio there, and then we're gonna see the Botanical Gardens. And then we're home. We're home for the whole month of November. Oh my God, no, Brad, I'm not going camping anywhere. We're home for the whole month of November. Brad Crowell 14:10  But my parents are coming. We're gonna go camp. Lesley Logan 14:12  No, we're, that is not why they're coming to visit us. Help make an, help you with the roof or something. And then October, we're gonna be on our winter tour. And if you want to make sure you hear about that first, go to opc.me/events, opc.me/events, because our people on our waitlist will get the access to the tickets first. And the winter tour does have cities that sell out in 24 hours. Okay, we have to get to our interview, but we do have an audience question. So Brad, go for it.Brad Crowell 14:37  Yes. Okay. DMK asks on Instagram, hey Lesley, my footwork question is this, what cue or cues do you like to use during footwork? I'm sorry, if footwork students, very confused. They made a mistake on the word here.Lesley Logan 14:42  What cues do you like to use, if during footwork, students are using it like a leg press? Brad Crowell 14:56  Oh, sorry. Okay. Lesley Logan 14:57  Yeah, thank you. Brad Crowell 14:59  Well, I just read that wrong. That's all.Lesley Logan 15:00  It's okay, it's all good. So.Brad Crowell 15:04  First off, we're clearly talking about. Lesley Logan 15:06  Footwork on the Reformer. Yeah. DMK, this, I hate cues.Brad Crowell 15:13  Well, hold on, let's explain what the problem is. What is the problem that she's experiencing with her class? Lesley Logan 15:17  The problem that she's probably seen is they're, they're, they're pushing out and in, like, it's a leg press machine, like, it's like a leg machine, and they're making it only a leg exercise versus a full body exercise, right? And then the other thing is that they're not using all the muscles of their legs, because they're just, like, shoving their knees straight. And they're probably pausing at the top, which is what you do on a leg press machine. And then kind of, hopefully, on a leg press machine, you're resisting. But a lot of people just kind of, like, close the the weights, or just like, kind of float in or ride the springs in. So here's the deal, DMK, my teacher, Jay Grimes, and the teachers I studied with him, talked a lot about how Joe didn't really correct during footwork. You use footwork to tell you what's kind of going on in the person's body. So I also happen to like three or four springs on for footwork. So some people think that, like heavy springs means they're gonna use it like a leg press machine, but ideally you want those heavy springs to warm the body up. Two lightest springs can actually affect someone's lower back, if they have a tight lower back, or they're not getting the connection, and the warm up for what's to come. So I do like three to four springs. That being said, what you can do for those people who want to make it a leg press machine, take all the springs off, go down to one light spring and see what happens. They're going to fly off. And you're like, yeah, you actually have to push into the foot bar the whole time, even as you come in. So I love a one spring, because it kind of helps teach the actual movement, and then load the springs up. If you take my fast workshop, I think you can get it on our OPC website. You'll see how I explain how to use especially with arches and heels to do that. The other thing I would say is ask them, if they are opening the front of the hips or opening the back of the knees. What is their intention? Meaning, the, when you focus on opening the knee joint, you're a leg press machine. When you focus on opening the front of the hips, you're making this move from your center. I am looking, I actually don't care people's knees go straight. I'm looking at, can they move their thigh away from their center and open the front of their hips and then pull that back in. So I'm kind of looking at that, but if they don't do those things, the footwork is just really telling me how they're actually moving. And I have to pick other exercises to assist. So other ways to help them understand that's not like press machine would be doing leg springs. Single leg springs, both leg springs, footwork on the Tower is gonna be really helpful, because that's a whole different plane. And so like, find different exercises that get your point across. Ask them what they're feeling and then take them back to the Reformer and say, find that feeling here.Lesley Logan 17:39  Great. Love it. That's the best cue you could do. Lesley Logan 17:50  There you go. Brad Crowell 17:50  I love it. Great question, DMK. Lesley Logan 17:52  Thanks, DMK. Brad Crowell 17:52  If you have a question, just text us. 310-905-5534, 310-905-5534 or you can actually send your question in through, beitpod.com/questions, beitpod.com/questions.Lesley Logan 18:07  That's where you can also send your wins in, too. I want your wins, people. Brad Crowell 18:14  We want your wins. Let's do it. All right. Stick around. We'll be right back. We're actually going to talk about Jon Ostenson next. Lesley Logan 18:20  Finally. Brad Crowell 18:22  All right, let's talk about Jon Ostenson. An expert in franchising and based out of Atlanta, Georgia, Jon Ostenson left his W2 job eight years ago, after years in the corporate world, to become president of Shelf Genie, a large franchise system where he says he fell in love with the franchise model, which he explained amazingly and in detail during the interview. So if you didn't get a chance to listen to that, I would, I would very much encourage you to go listen to it. It was super informative. He is, Jon, is now the founder of FranBridge Consulting and author of the bestselling book, Non-Food Franchising, which, Lesley, I know you read, I've seen it on our table out there. Jon helps clients find suitable franchise opportunities from over 600 different brands outside of the fast food industry. His mission is to guide individuals who want to own a business but may feel risk-averse or lack a, quote unquote, genius idea connecting with them with proven scalable franchise model, and here's the, models, and here's the crazy thing, this is where I was like, oh my God, this guy's brilliant, his services to you are free. How are they free, you ask, because he sees what you're trying to do then he goes to the franchise, the parent company, and he says, pay me, and I'll help these guys succeed doing your franchise. Yeah, pretty brilliant. I was like, wow, that's amazing. So.Lesley Logan 19:44  I love it. I love it so much because it's, like, it's completely risk-averse for you, like, and the reason I thought this, I really wanted to dig in with this guy, because I don't even understand how you get into a franchise, and. Brad Crowell 19:58  Well, it makes me want to get into franchises. Lesley Logan 20:00  I know. And we just met someone who's like, all he does is all these different franchises and and so I just like it because, like, first of all, we talked a lot about how you could, like, work and have a franchise. Like, it's like, there's like, there's all these different ways you can do it. So, anyways.Brad Crowell 20:16  Yeah, he said a lot of franchisors, the people on the franchise, still might have a day job, because. Lesley Logan 20:21  Yeah. Aren't they a franchisee? Brad Crowell 20:24  Oh, sorry, franchisee. You're, you're right. The franchisor is the parent company. The franchisee is the person who's, who's like, purchase one of the locations or whatever. So the franchisee as if you could still be working your normal life and have a franchise, obviously, then it's about the team that you put in place to make sure that they can run it without you having to be there. But, but this guy was talking about having franchises all over the country, so he's clearly not in them operating them. Lesley Logan 20:51  Yeah. But also. No. And so you can be an owner-operator. He has, he, like, his book has got a lot of this stuff in it, if you want to, like, dig in even more and then chat with him, but like, here's what I. Brad Crowell 20:51  And by the way, we're not just talking about Pilates franchises. Lesley Logan 21:02  No, he is, like, there's so many, there's some out there. And also, like, I personally, I personally don't want to grab someone else's Pilates franchises, because, the way I like to teach, I probably would want to make my own, but maybe I want to get one that's in the like, maybe that's like a red light sauna space or something that goes along with what I do, that's like in the thing that I am interested in, in life, like I'm already. Brad Crowell 21:23  Or salt path, float, float, yeah, floating, yeah.Lesley Logan 21:27  By the way, there is a float place that I'm sure, is a franchise in Nashville that I'm like, how the fuck do we get it out here in our neighborhood? Because I'm tired of driving 30 minutes to go fucking float, I'm pissed off by the time I get back. Anyways, we just need, I don't know, a few thousands of dollars, and then we can do it, babe. I think, here's where our next adventure is. Brad Crowell 21:45  (inaudible) crazy is you said that, like, a lot of people, will start a franchise with maybe, you know, $50,000 to $100,000 down, and the rest of it is actually from a an SBA loan, because the SBA and the banks believe in the franchise model so much that they are willing to effectively front the rest of the startup capital. And I was like, wow, I never thought about that. That's amazing. Because, and like, you know, $50,000 is still a shitload of money. I understand that. But it also isn't a million dollars, right? Lesley Logan 22:18  And also, like, anyone who wants to start to make legitimate money, you have to stop thinking that $50,000 is a lot of money, start thinking it's possible, that you can get it, that there's a way, because I remember thinking that, oh, my God, it's so much money. And let me tell you the long as you think 50,000 is so much money you're gonna have, it's gonna feel so far away when you start to think like, of course I still have to find $50,000 you, go listen to that podcast we have with the guy with the question marks, I forget his name, anyways, go and find it, but let's just talk about things I loved that he said. Okay, let me get into my notes. He said, you're in business for yourself, but not by yourself. And I love this, because so many of the people I meet, they're like, so lucky that you and Brad, like, are married and like, you work together. And our biggest response is, like, not everyone should do what we do. So if you want to be in business for yourself, but not by yourself, instead of working with your partner, why don't you get a partner? And it can be a franchise like, I think that's really cool.Brad Crowell 23:09  And different franchisors offer different support, and that's one of the conversations that that you could have with a person like Jon, where you might be like, hey, I am innately a marketer, but I'm terrible at operations, right? Then he, he might say, okay, well, this franchise, you know, whatever, they can help. Or, or conversely, I hate marketing. I'm really, that's not my jam. I need a franchise that will create the content for me that I can just use to put out there. So they're different, like, corporate offices will do different things for the business to support the franchisee and but, but, but as a as a layman, how am I supposed to know? But Jon gets to see hundreds of franchises. Lesley Logan 23:53  I think that's what's so cool. Is like, if you know your strengths, then you can talk to Jon and figure out, like, what are the different franchises that I'm interested in that are, like, in an area I want to be in, and then, okay, of those, which one matches my strengths and my weaknesses? Because you don't want to have something that's like, great at marketing and you're great at marketing, but like, has the systems are not there for the operations, like things like that, but also the franchiser does a lot for you. And remember, it's a proven business model, so like, it's already figured like, it's already thrown ideas at the wall, figured out what works, and then you just get to rinse and repeat that. And I really, I really like that for people who want to create their own schedule, create their own impact, be part of the community, but are risk-averse, you know? And by the way, I get it, we just.Lesley Logan 24:39  I'm risk-averse, too. Lesley Logan 24:39  Oh my god, you really are. Brad Crowell 24:41  But in a measurable way. But it's like, I wouldn't want to go, just go throw money away and hope, hope that something works. Imagine being able to follow a systematic approach where they figured out all the kinks in the business. Like, like the business that Lesley and I run that we've created, it has taken us a lot longer to get to where we are today. It's literally 10 years now, 10 years of running this business, yeah, 10 years of trying to figure things out, making mistakes, doing all this stuff, when with a franchise model, there are so many less mistakes to make, because hypothetically, they've already made the mistakes for you and figured it out and put together the playbook that you can simply follow the plan, the process, right? I really loved when he talked about business ownership is really hard. It takes a lot of work. And, yeah, that's that's very true, too. And he said, if it was easy, everyone would be a business owner, and what he what so, so, of all the pros that we've been talking about with a franchise model, it still does take a lot of work, and it's it takes focus and and the biggest thing he mentioned was the people who fail don't follow the plan, right? And Jon goes, calls up the franchise corporate office and goes, yo, what happened here? What's going on? And the franchisor said, you know, would say to Jon, well, look, we did everything we could to support this person, but they didn't listen. They just didn't fucking listen, you know. And that doesn't mean that, like, there won't still be challenges, because every single location is different, every market is different, every opportunity. And what I mean that, I mean different franchise model is different, you know. So it still will take work, but you don't have to do it alone, you know. And that that's amazing, you know. So, so anyway, he doesn't sugarcoat franchises but he said it's a lot easier and a lot more predictable. Lesley Logan 26:40  His book, actually, like, talks about, like, like, kind of like, if it's for you, you know, and this is where like, it, for us to follow the rules, right, with you, you have to know, okay, we're gonna do this thing with this company. We're gonna follow their rules, which means I'm gonna hire someone to go follow their rules, because I am unemployable, so I will probably fuck him up, but you have to know that about yourself, you know. Such a cool dude. He also was like, because I told him I have an idea, I still have an idea that I might want to, like happen and make, and franchise and he's like, just give me a call. Run it by me. And I'm like, amazing. I just love how generous people can be. Brad Crowell 27:18  Yeah, yeah. Well, stick around, we're going to talk about how generous Jon is with his Be It Action Items, in just a minute. Brad Crowell 27:25  All right, so finally, let's talk about those Be It Action Items. What bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted action items can we take away from your convo with Jon Ostenson? He said he really encourages people who are interested in franchising or the concept of franchising, to just simply explore, that there's no downside, there's no cost to learn about how it works, what it is, is it even plausible for me? Is this something that I could do while still doing my life? He said it's super free to work with them, which we already talked about at the very beginning of this convo here. FranBridge consulting, his company helps clients navigate and find top available opportunities among over 600 different non-food franchise brands and. Lesley Logan 28:08  We love that. I do not want to deal with food. Brad Crowell 28:10  Well, he's he's not, he's not opposed to food, but it also, apparently, just adds a whole lot more variables in there. Lesley Logan 28:16  I used to work at a coffee shop, and it was small business-owned, and I'm going to tell you right now, it is,.Brad Crowell 28:21  Well, that's different than a franchise, because a franchise is a system, so small business-owned might make things just complicated because they're making shit up.Lesley Logan 28:28  Food, food, there's, like, the things you have to do to prevent rats.Brad Crowell 28:32  Right, there's just a lot more variables when it comes to food. There's also a lot of more licensing and a lot more, like red tape with like, local state government stuff, you know. So anyway, he explained that what I already mentioned is that, how does he get paid? He gets paid by the franchise business, the corporate, right? He, you're not necessarily paying him directly. So, I mean, it seems like an absolute win-win.Lesley Logan 28:57  Just worth having the conversation like there's no, there's no harm in it, you know. Brad Crowell 29:00  Yeah. What about you? Lesley Logan 29:01  So I love that he said, activity breeds activity. Yes. It's like a body in motion, stays in motion. Yesterday, we just got into town, you know, at midnight on Friday night. I guess it's Saturday morning. Anyways, our friend, my she saw me at the gym, and she's like, you're like, the most consistent creature. And I'm like, I don't if I was to not be consistent, like, like, if I used travel as an excuse, I would never be consistent. So activity breeds activity. A body motion stays in motion. Explain, it's the idea he saw play out in his career and life, that whenever he gets off the sidelines he starts moving to Option A or B. That's that, then that's when option C comes out of left field. He says, good things happen when you're in motion. And it's so true. Like, it's so true. You know, even we got sidelined with the fucking Canada thing, we pivoted and kept going. And, like, because we did that, other things happened, that the dominoes kept going. And like, these other opportunities came around. And I think, like. Brad Crowell 29:53  Yeah, we met a whole studio we never would have met. Lesley Logan 29:55  We totally did. Could be a pop-up someday. But at any rate, like, you know, you, you'd be surprised what happens. Too often, we get we get sidelined, and we're like, I'm gonna sit over here. Keep going, take another step. And if you hear, as you hear in the podcast, it says action is the antidote to fear. So anyways, I'm Lesley Logan. Brad Crowell 30:16  And I'm Brad Crowell. Lesley Logan 30:17  Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We love your reviews. Leave us more reviews. I want more reviews. It's my love language. And share this with a person who needs to hear it like you might have a friend in your life who is like, kind of stuck, kind of wondering what to do. Maybe this is what they need. So send them Jon's episode. Send them this episode. And until next time, Be It Till You See It. Brad Crowell 30:38  Bye for now. Lesley Logan 30:38  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod. Brad Crowell 31:21  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 31:27  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 31:31  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 31:39  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 31:42  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Text us a pool question!In this episode of the Talking Pools podcast, Steve Sherwood discusses various topics related to the pool service industry with Pat of the California Pool Association, including the differences between W2 and 1099 employment structures, the importance of having the right insurance coverage, and the challenges of hiring and managing employees. Wayne Ivusich then takes the conversation into water chemistry testing, explicitly focusing on Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and calibration methods for testing equipment. Wayne emphasizes the importance of contacting manufacturers for clarification on testing procedures and the significance of maintaining accurate testing standards.takeawaysIt's crucial to hire trustworthy employees in the pool service industry.Understanding the differences between W2 and 1099 employment is essential for business owners.Having the right insurance coverage protects your business from potential liabilities.High TDS levels can slow down chemical reactions in pool water.Regular testing of water chemistry is vital for maintaining pool health.Contacting manufacturers for testing instructions ensures accurate results.Employee management is a significant challenge in the pool service industry.Test strips are less reliable than electronic testing methods.Calibration of testing equipment is necessary for accurate readings.Maintaining clear communication with employees is key to successful management.Sound Bites"It's important to have the right insurance coverage.""High TDS can slow down chemical reactions.""If you're not sure, contact the manufacturer."Chapters00:00Introduction and Overview of the Episode03:07Understanding W2 vs 1099 Employment Structures08:06Insurance Policies for Pool Service Companies12:49Hiring and Managing Employees in the Pool Industry17:50TDS and Water Testing in Pools27:53Conclusion and Listener Engagement Support the showThank you so much for listening! You can find us on social media: Facebook Instagram Tik Tok Email us: talkingpools@gmail.com

From room-by-room rentals and creative financing to systems, VAs, and SOPs, Ryan Chaw breaks down how he built a 90-tenant portfolio by mastering the art of student housing. Discover how he went from zero to 14 properties and quit his W2 job by 31. Tune in to learn how he scaled to financial freedom, one bedroom at a time.   Key Takeaways To Listen For PRIME method: A strategy to screen student tenants How to streamline student housing management Why tenants, not landlords, cover utilities in Ryan's model Rent collection systems you should be using The student housing system with a one-on-one model   Resources/Links Mentioned In This Episode The Road Less Stupid by Keith J. Cunningham | Kindle and Hardcover Wise Buildium Rent Manager DocuSign QuickBooks RingCentral Zelle Venmo Reddit Google Docs State Farm Allstate Build a $10,755/month rental portfolio in under 3 hours a week! Learn the mistakes to avoid, how to create time freedom, and the secret to doubling rental income. Get the free guide at https://www.newbierealestateinvesting.com/guide.   About Ryan ChawRyan Chaw is a full-time real estate investor and the founder of Newbie Real Estate Investing, where he teaches others how to build cash-flowing rental portfolios using his proven room-by-room rental strategy. Starting in 2016 with a single property, Ryan grew his portfolio to over 30 tenants and a six-figure annual cash flow, all while working full-time as a pharmacist. He specializes in helping beginners invest in student housing near colleges using systems, SOPs, and virtual assistants to scale efficiently. Ryan is a frequent podcast guest and speaker, sharing insights on tenant screening, HELOC, and DSCR loan strategies, and how to succeed in real estate without quitting your job.   Connect with Ryan Website: Newbie Real Estate Investing LinkedIn: Ryan Chaw Instagram: @ryanchaw1 YouTube: Ryan Chaw   Connect With UsIf you're looking to invest your hard-earned money into cash-flowing, value-add assets, reach out to us at https://bobocapitalventures.com/.   Follow Keith's social media pages LinkedIn: Keith Borie Investor Club: Secret Passive Cashflow Investors Club Facebook: Keith Borie X: @BoboLlc80554

Title: How to Quit Your W-2 and Never Look Back with Jamie Bateman Summary: In this episode of Raise the Bar Radio, Seth Bradley welcomes Jamie, a military veteran turned real estate and mortgage note investor, who shares his story of transitioning from a W-2 career into entrepreneurship and financial freedom. Jamie discusses the phases of his life, including collegiate sports, military service, and a long stint at the Department of Defense before pivoting to real estate and eventually mortgage note investing. He emphasizes how discipline shaped his journey and how shifting mindset, focusing on strengths, and leveraging his network were key to taking ownership of his life and finances. Jamie also dives deep into the mortgage note investing space, explaining how performing and non-performing notes work, the active nature of the business, and how he now offers passive investment opportunities for accredited investors. He closes by highlighting the importance of planning with intention, overcoming perfectionism, and using passive income to create margin and freedom in life. Links to Watch and Subscribe:  https://youtu.be/nRyX8_YA9YI Bullet Point Highlights: Discipline builds freedom - Sports, military, and entrepreneurship all instilled the value of discipline, which Jamie says is critical for success and freedom. W-2 life wasn't the path - Jamie recognized through his commute and stagnant career trajectory that he didn't want to follow the traditional path, sparking his exit plan. Mindset shift was essential - He stopped consuming negative news and started focusing on education and his strengths to shift into entrepreneurship. Mortgage note investing explained - Performing notes offer cash flow while non-performing notes offer the chance to add value, akin to fix and flips. However, both are active businesses, not passive. Passive income fuels risk-taking - Creating passive income streams allowed Jamie to take entrepreneurial risks while maintaining financial security. Action beats perfection - As an entrepreneur, chasing perfection isn't practical. Done is better than perfect. Reverse planning drives clarity - Backwards planning from a vivid vision 3-5 years into the future increases urgency and helps set clear, intentional actions. Final advice - Start by investing passively to learn, and later you can decide whether to become active. Don't underestimate the transferable skills you already possess. Transcript: (Seth Bradley) (00:02.062) What's up, builders? This is Raise the Bar Radio, where we talk about building wealth, raising capital, and all in all, raising the bar in your business and your life. This is the No BS podcast for capital raisers, investors, and entrepreneurs who are serious about scaling their business and living life on their own terms. I'm Seth Bradley, securities attorney, real estate investor, and entrepreneur, bringing you world-class strategies from the best in the game.   If you're ready to raise more capital, close bigger deals, build a better you and create true financial freedom, you're in the right place. Let's go. Jamie, what's going on, brother? Welcome to the show.   Thanks Seth, is awesome. I'm excited to be here and I'm hoping to add some value.   Absolutely, man. Third time's a charm. We've been trying to get this scheduled after I was on your show, which was fantastic. Had a really good time on that show and I think it turned out pretty good. I know we're going to deliver on this one as well.   Yeah, we're gonna try to try to I'll try to do as good a job as you did. So yeah, was that was a yeah, no, I that was a very, very good episode from adversity to abundance. highly recommend your your listeners check that one out to your episode on that show. So thanks for thanks for doing that.   (Seth Bradley) (01:20.086) Absolutely, man. You're an incredible interviewer. I've net, that's the only, I've been on dozens of podcasts and, you know, you pulled out a lot of things for me that I've, I've never talked about on the air. So it's pretty, pretty awesome. Pretty awesome show, man.   Appreciate that.   Cool man, well let's just jump right into your background man. What's your story? Take it back as far as you'd like to brother.   Yeah. Man, I'd like to think that life has phases. So I've had a few different phases in my life. I come from a large family. I'm the oldest of seven kids and we always had a competitive background as far as team sports and things like that. So I played lacrosse in college. That was always a foundational piece of my life and just kind of   think from there learned how to be a part of something bigger than myself and how to work toward a common goal with a with a team. So that's been something that's been a kind of a thread through my life and then got married and joined the military and actually joined the military technically before I got married, but seemed like I got married and then ran off and ran away from my wife. But it's not exactly what happened. But   (Jamie Bateman) (02:36.02) I joined the military, was an officer in the US Army. I did miss my first three wedding anniversaries through deployment and things like that. And again, it was a matter of trying to be plugged into something, you know, to serve and be a part of something bigger than myself and trying to add value like I think we all want to do. I've obviously glossed over a lot of details, but those were a couple of inflection points, I guess, if you will, like you like to talk about, I know.   And so my military career transitioned into a career with the Department of Defense as a civilian, and did 14 years as a civilian with DoD at Fort Meade. And the first half, so the first seven, for all you math wizards out there, was full time. And then the second half, the second seven years was part time. And that   seven years is when I was really building my businesses, which are largely real estate investing and mortgage note investing focus. So we can get into the details there. And then in 2022, I ended up quitting my job and now I have a few different small businesses that I run. And like you, Seth, I've got a lot of different things that I'm juggling and   You know, so, but yeah, I love talking about taking ownership of your financial situation and taking ownership of your life really. And I know that you and I have that in common. So yeah, that's a high level overview of my background.   Awesome, man. I appreciate that. There's a lot to unpack there. You know, going back to playing sports all the way up to the collegiate level, that's incredible. I always like to think even playing like popcorn or football back in the day, you need a way to instill discipline in yourself. And that's kind of the oldest memory I can think of where it was hard, right? Like it was like you've got a coach screaming at you.   (Seth Bradley) (04:38.134) Like back in the day, it's like, you know, they wouldn't give you water unless you like, you know, for like an hour, which I don't think they do that anymore now. But, you you had to earn that drink of water and all those sorts of things. But you you really learned what it's like to work hard and you really learned what discipline was all about. And I would say that and you can you can expand on this. But I would say that, you know, being in the military yourself, that takes it to a whole new level.   Right. It's like you got that from sports. You got that from the military.   Yeah, definitely. I mean, obviously, they're very different in a lot of ways. But that is certainly a common theme is being disciplined. And people, people shy away from that word, because it just sounds like work or no fun and no flexibility. But I found that having discipline in your life ends up adding more freedom in a sense, because you kind of have your foundational pieces set in stone, you don't have to think about those. And so, yeah, regarding   team sports, it's really a matter of, you know, everyone doing their part, right. And so there's a level of individual discipline and, and then just, and then also just kind of putting the putting the group ahead of yourself. Obviously, you know, you want individual, there's nothing wrong with individual accolades. And I was certainly chasing, you know, those individual accolades. It's not something I shied away from, I was definitely was wrapped up in   trying to be an All-American and that kind of thing. And did get that a couple of times, you know, but at the end of the day, nobody really cares about that. And the way I viewed it was if I was doing my part, and I got those, you if I was scoring goals in lacrosse, as an example, that means I'm contributing to, you know, to the team, right. And so there's obviously a fine line there, but of going too far, either way. But yeah, that discipline is critical.   (Jamie Bateman) (06:36.73) you know, even it's certain I played at a high level in college and there was year round your training your your your into it. It was a division three school but it but the reality was we worked just as hard as any any D one program and yeah, it's it's a these are skills that have paid off and are absolutely transferable to the rest of life.   For sure. Yeah, I think you've got to get those intangible things. You've got to develop them somewhere along the way, whatever that is, if that's sports or the military or from your parents. mean, you can get it from different places, but you definitely need it. I mean, we're in different stages of our life at this point. talking about a lot. We talk about freedom and flexibility and fun to try to get away from kind of the W-2 mindset.   But in order to achieve freedom, flexibility and fun in a successful way, have to be disciplined to be able to get there. You had to have done something successfully to be able to get there or maybe what separates you from the guy living in a van down by the river. That guy has freedom and flexibility. I don't know about fun, maybe fun, but it's a different, obviously it's a different outcome.   Yeah, and I, I think I still need, you I still use a lot of discipline today. It's still, still required, but it's, I guess it's self imposed. And, you know, I just love, love having that flexibility and that freedom that comes along with being an entrepreneur. So yeah, it's been a central piece to my success for sure. But I still, I don't think it ever, you know, goes away. I just get to pick and choose what, you know, what discipline I want to   kind of enforce on myself, I guess. So yeah, absolutely. And as you said, the military was a huge part of that for me as well. I mean, that's a different kind of, different kind of discipline and different kind of teamwork and different, you know, if you lose the lacrosse game, okay, you lost the lacrosse game, but military the stakes are a little higher. So maybe certain things are more important attention to detail or critic is critical and   (Jamie Bateman) (08:53.73) But at the end of the day, it's, the same principles apply across both, I guess, sectors, if you will.   For sure. So let's dive into that transition. You started working kind of part-time there for seven years, so that seems like a transitional period. How were you able to progress from that W2? And what I've heard you say is call yourself a W2 quitter. I love that. How were you able to progress from a W2 person to a W2 quitter? What enabled you to do that and what that transition looked like?   I mean, you know, I do remember in 2015, probably a little bit maybe maybe say 2014. But I just you get, you know, I had a wife and two kids and I had the commute the long commute that I know a lot of people can identify with. So it just was Groundhog Day was the same thing over and over and over. And that's not me sitting here complaining about my family or having having the opportunity to work.   But after a while, it gets old. Let's just be real, right? So it's like you're sitting in traffic and I just, you start looking at, you know, I worked for the government and you look around and you say, who, okay, who's sort of ahead of me on this? Like you, like I think you probably mentioned on our, on your, your show and my, show, your episode, you look around to the people who are more kind of further along the path than you. You say, do you want to be that person? Is that the life you want? And man, I did not want that.   And it just just having that just super long term just you know, pot at the end of the rainbow, I guess, nothing driving me in the interim, man, it was it was just it was brutal. So I probably did a little woes me for a little bit there a little victim mentality for a bit. But then you start to realize, like, okay, if you don't take ownership of your own life, no one's going to right. So   (Jamie Bateman) (10:54.934) No one's going to come in and do this for you. So I'm not sure what truly, you know, created the change in my mindset, but my mindset absolutely started to change and it just made a shift. And I, and I stopped watching cable news. I stopped, just, you know, stop paying attention to all the things that I can't control. And I couldn't control back then and, and started saying, no, what do I have? What are my strengths? Who is in my, who's back to the team thing.   who's on my team, who's in my network that I can add value to and who can add value to me. So I started looking around and my father was a realtor for many years. My brother was a loan officer. We had one rental property at the time. I had worked at, I didn't mention, I worked at a title company and I worked for a mortgage broker before as well briefly. So I had this experience that a lot of people don't have and that's   you know, that doesn't mean I'm better than anyone. It just means these are my strengths. So let's point to that. And let's use that. So I started really being intentional about focusing on my strengths and my assets that I had in my life, right. And then another asset that I used to see as a liability was the time in the car. So I started listening to podcasts. you know, and then it turned into wait, I don't even want to go into work yet. Because this this podcast episode is amazing. And I'm learning so much.   know, bigger pockets and all the other real estate podcasts and different investing podcasts and started using that mental bandwidth instead of focusing on national media stories that I have zero influence over. Here's something that I can actually take action on. And so in mid 2015, I went part time and it just so happens that at   DoD is one of the few agencies in the in federal government where you can go part time and still keep your benefits. So I still had health insurance for my family. You know, most people don't have that option necessarily, but well, I did. So that's what I did. And, and, you know, that's, again, decided to decide to start building my my other streams of income outside of my W two.   (Jamie Bateman) (13:15.752) my circumstances been different if I was single, I probably would have just quit the whole thing, right? But I was able to have that kind of laddered approach, I guess, or tiered approach to kind of ripping off the bandaid.   Yeah, yeah, no, that's awesome. I love just the idea of taking ownership of your life, right? Like everybody has those moments where they're feeling sorry for themselves. But the successful people, they don't sit there and stay in that mindset. They move on. You're going to be there sometimes where you've got to get out of it. You got to say, OK, what can I control? What can I change? And you don't say you don't give other people the power to control.   you and your mindset and how you feel about your life. Right. Like that's that's that's the thing. Like if you you're constantly blaming someone else or saying this happened to me rather than what can I do to get myself out of it, then you're going to be stuck there forever. You're going to be absolutely going to be spinning your wheels forever. And a lot of that, I think, helps because you said you don't listen. You don't watch the news. I don't either. No, it's a waste of time. What control? What does that do for us? If I do watch it.   I literally do it for entertainment and you look at it as an entertain. I look at it like I'm watching. I look at it like this is funny. Like I can, you know what I mean? You kind of analyze it like, this is funny. This guy's saying this in a debate. Right. This guy's saying that it's not taking it as a news and this is how I should live my life because of what they're saying.   sports almost.   (Jamie Bateman) (14:43.341) Fact.   (Jamie Bateman) (14:48.078) Absolutely. And it's not to say that none of these topics are important, mean, global war, politics, poverty, global warming, whatever, it's all very important, but I have zero control over it, almost zero, right? And then the other thing is fear sells and that's what they're selling. And so it doesn't mean that every story is invented and it's all fake news, but it's   it just doesn't serve me. And so I'd rather focus on, you know, go ground up and kind of just, I see it in people, maybe older people in my own life now who maybe are retired and they watch the news all day. And it's like, they won't travel because they saw a news story that the airports are packed or something. And, you know, it's, I'm sure that story was, was accurate, right. But it, but the, but the news can filter out and you end up only focusing on   the negative really, and it just didn't serve me. yeah, during that lot, the second seven years, I was able to build out my wife and I were doing single family real estate investing and doing a lot of the BRRRR method that maybe some of your audience is familiar with. And so kind of putting that capital back into the rental property machine and expanding our portfolio. And then eventually last year, well, and   2018, made the pivot, I kept the rental properties, but made a pivot to also add on mortgage note investing. And that's been my primary focus as of late. And if you want, can tell the story quickly about how I actually quit my job in 2022. I think it's kind of a funny one.   Absolutely, let's do it.   (Jamie Bateman) (16:38.318) All right. So, I, so I, two years ago, I was playing badminton and, I'd been doing now, mind you, I used to be like tough, you know, athlete. And like I did, you know, did jujitsu for three years right up before this. And, know, I used to lift weights a lot and still do it here and there, but, you know, I think I'm tough. Right. And,   ruptured my Achilles playing badminton. So that's an ego blow to add on to the physical pain that you know, especially with the recovery. So rupture my Achilles a little over two years ago today and I was out of work, it was my right right foot. And the reason I bring this up is not for sympathy, but to say, you know, I couldn't drive for three months. So I actually, yeah, and I had tons of leave from from work and   By this time, I was tired, really tired of my, I was pretty much checked out. Like I think you, might've been at your, your big law job, but I was, I was checked out. mean, I wasn't the best employee at this point. And so I took as much leave as I, as I could, you know, reasonably right. And so, but couldn't drive. And so I was out for three months and I come back. So come back into work and I'd had discussions with my wife about, about leaving. was just a matter of, of when, not if.   That's right   (Jamie Bateman) (18:04.43) I can tell you truthfully, I had no idea that I was going to quit this day, but I came back in from having been out for three months. Mind you, no one gave me a call. No one from work, no one from my management gave me a call the entire three months I was out, other than to say, to ask me, are you vaccinated? Because you have to be vaccinated to be, to get inside the building. Now, I don't want this to turn into some controversial vaccine discussion.   or get your podcast banned from something but yes, I'd been vaccinated to answer the question. But no one asked me how's your how's your recovery going? Like how you what do you you know, how's your life? You know, what's it's just are you vaccinated, you need to get that shot before you come in? Okay, great. Thanks. I really feel welcome here. So I'm already just, you know, you know what, screw this place, right? Come back in and just   go to my desk, and this is this is an office space kind of thing where I go to my desk and there's some there's an Air Force kid at my desk and long story short, they kind of moved me somewhere else without telling me I can't find my desk, I finally find it, it's got a box with my name on it with, you know, monitors sideways and all and clearly not a functioning desk and, you know, office space. So I literally quit that day. And I just say that it's just like,   I knew 100 % I was done. My wife didn't know I quit, but I quit that day. Still worked for another month or two, but there was no question, zero question in my mind, I'm done with this place. So that was March of 2022. And ever since then, I've just focused on building out my businesses and having look back.   That's awesome. Sometimes you just know, right? Like sometimes it's done. You just knew. I love that story, man. For me, it was a little bit. You already know the story, but for me, it was a little bit more of someone else's decision. I got fired. mean, and you mentioned that, you you weren't the best employee at that point. Correct. I knew the same thing. And it's great to have awareness and perspective and kind of looking back now, you're like, I would have done the same thing. Like this guy doesn't want to be here.   (Seth Bradley) (20:21.292) His output isn't what it should be. Like, he's got to go. mean, he's not the best employee. And as a business owner now, I have really good perspective of that and seeing that. And they were doing me a favor by being like, hey, your heart's not in it, it? And I'm like, no, it's not.   It's not. Yeah. The reality is for me, it's really hard to work. know, once you go part time, I mean, I knew I was casting a vote against my career progression there. So as soon as I went part time in 2015, I wasn't saying I'm in this for the long haul guys. This is this is my focus. You know, it's the writing's somewhat on the wall. Looking back, it's almost surprising. I lasted as long as I did. But so, yeah, haven't looked back and just loved love the entrepreneurial   you know, day to day and freedom that you alluded to and just the multiple streams of income and certainly has its challenges. I probably work harder now than ever than I ever have. But it's by choice. So I love it.   Exactly. Same here, man. mean, it's, you my days are long. I mean, I get up way before I used to get up when I had a 95. I worked past when I would have worked a 95 and definitely more hours. But when you're doing it for yourself and you're doing it because you're working towards something that you believe in, it doesn't feel like you're putting that much time in.   Definitely. I wake up early. A lot of days not on purpose is because I'm just excited to get cracking.   (Seth Bradley) (21:55.886) So, yeah. absolutely. Yeah. Well, let's kind of get into your current business. I know you mentioned that you focused on your strengths and your assets. Yeah. And, you know, I think it's important. just say it's important to take an inventory of what your strengths are when you're kind of considering going into something else, because a lot of our listeners are attorneys, they're doctors, folks like that. They kind of feel like maybe they're pigeonholed, right? Like, well, if I'm not an attorney, what the hell else can I do?   Right. And like, I don't know anything about real estate investing or node investing or starting a business or anything like that. But if you really take a step back, you probably have a lot of skills that you've learned and honed in your career that you can use for something else moving forward. And that was that's what you were able to   to do. Definitely. And one thing I'd say is that, you know, one thing that's always comforting for me is nobody knows everything, right? So you can always find somebody who knows more than you in a certain area. You know, there's one quote about every man is my superior in something, right? So basically, it gives me a lot of comfort to know, like, just because an attorney listening to your show knows a   way more than I do about a particular topic and probably many, many other topics. That doesn't mean I'm less of a person or you know, I don't know more than that attorney does in another area. So it's okay, I'm never going to know everything. There are other people who've already figured it out. So you know, that's, that's always comforting to me is to when I say look to your strengths, it's also looking to the people in your network who know, it can help you get to where you want to go. So yeah, I mean,   So many things we take for granted that we do know. you know, example, when I started working at a title company, fresh out of college, because it was my first real job, and it paid, you know, a salary. I realized quickly how little I knew about title insurance settlements, you know, just just basic stuff. Now looking back, pretty basic stuff. But you don't know that unless you work for a title company, or you're heavily involved in this, you don't you're not.   (Jamie Bateman) (24:10.03) trained in that in school typically, right? So, you know, you forget and so your your listener out there, the attorney, the doctor, guarantee they have a lot of life experience, not just from their professional world, but just life experience that they shouldn't take for granted. And the fact that you can go through law school and then be, you know, be an effective attorney, or go through medical school and be an effective doctor, that that means you you can learn things, right? And so   Again, I'll go back to life as seasons. I mean, you've shown that in your own story, Seth, like, you know, it's a, doesn't mean just because I started a certain business doesn't mean that's going to be what I'm going to be doing for the next 20 years, or just because I'm an attorney now, it doesn't mean that's what I have to do for the rest of my life. So we always have options. mean, you might look back and wish you'd done something differently or something, but you only have one chance at this. And so,   you know, just make the most of it and just keep, think, keep learning constantly is critical. I just hired a business coach, we've had one call. But one of his mottos is, you know, one of his sayings is that he's always he's in permanent beta. So he's always changing, always improving, he's always growing. So I'm trying to trying to implement that as well.   (Seth Bradley) (25:40.64) the interruption, but we don't do ads. Instead, know that if you're raising capital for real estate, my law firm, RaiseLaw, is here to give you the expert legal guidance you need to raise capital compliantly and structure and close your deal. And if you're looking for a done-for-you fund-to-fund solution, Tribest is the industry's only all-in-one setup and fund administration solution. Visit Raise.Law and Tribest.com to learn more.   Yeah, I love that permanent beta. I haven't heard that before, but I like that. I like that phrase. like that phrase. So tell me about your current business. Tell me about MortgageNode Investing. Start with the basics. What is it?   Yeah, so and, and I'll try to keep it, there's so much to it. But again, none of it is difficult. It's just a lot of moving parts and you've got to, you know, takes time to learn. We buy debt, so we buy a mortgage note, and that could be performing or non performing. The real high level version is, is a performing note is kind of like a long term buy and hold rental property.   but you're buying the debt and becoming the lender, becoming the bank, if you will. And so you're buying that performing note for cashflow. So I buy a performing note, the borrower now pays me through a loan servicer and I get monthly payments. So that's a great way to go. The problem with that is you can't really add value to that asset very well. You're kind of, it is what it is. And in fact, with mortgage notes, the value actually goes down over time, generally speaking, because   principal balance goes down. So it's just, it's worth less than, you know, then, you know, then it would then it was when you bought it. Then on the other side, the non performing side of things, we buy those as well. And those are more like a fix and flip property. So although we're still buying the debt, we're not buying the property. But there's a chance to add value, there's an opportunity to buy distressed asset and add value to that asset and then sell that that non performing note, either well,   (Jamie Bateman) (27:49.826) I should say sell that asset, whether that's as a re performing note, or as through the the real estate itself, there are a few different ways you can exit a non performing note deal. And but, but back to your kind of one of the themes thus far, one of the reasons I got into specifically that space was that I understood the real estate space. So I understood the single family, residential real estate space. So it wasn't a huge leap for me to go from   owning the property to now owning the debt on that property. Whereas it would have been a lot bigger leap for me to say, I to start buying distressed, you know, multifamily debt, which I know you could probably help me understand better. But at that, you know, it's like, incremental progress and change isn't that scary. So I kind of expanded my, you know, toolbox, if you will.   and got into the mortgage note space. So we have a couple of note funds. One is open currently and they're all for accredited investors. the income fund that's open pays a monthly, aims to pay a monthly preferred return. I know you and a lot of your listeners are attorneys, so I gotta hold the line here. And...   So the fund is structured to pay, to aim to pay a monthly return of 8%. It's not a, there's no growth in that fund. It's literally a cashflow play and diversification play. You're putting your capital in. We buy assets across the country. We've bought notes in probably 25 states at this point. And so the investment is diversified across geographic areas, across borrower types.   And we buy for a certain yield, we take a small management fee, and then we ideally pay the preferred return that we're aiming for to our investors.   (Seth Bradley) (29:56.686) Yeah, nice. 506c, you're able to talk about it. It's a credit investors only. Just want to that out there. yeah, I mean, so just going back to the basics a little bit and we'll get back into the fun. Like, how do you, how do you even find these things? mean, yeah, that's, how do you get started? How do you find these things?   So I mean, that is an ongoing challenge. I'm not going to lie to you. That's one of the things that truthfully a passive investor who doesn't have time to develop the network to go find these assets, they're just not going to have success. They might here and there, but it takes time. It's a word of mouth industry, just like real estate itself is. so we've built out a network of sellers and that could be   quite honestly, I've never had luck buying directly from banks. It's really either a larger Mortgage Note fund that's closing. So it might be a three year fund and then they've got to, they've got to liquidate, they've got to figure out how to sell off what to do with these assets. And so that's a great opportunity to buy is just a fund that's closing or somebody a note investor who's getting out of note investing or they've had a life change or something, you know, where   they just, there's an opportunity to buy from them as well. And so there are other, you know, I guess we buy from hedge funds, note investors, other note funds. There are also note brokers as well out there. There are also some online exchanges like paper stack and a couple of others that you can go and I've bought and sold on paper stack and other exchanges as well.   And you can find assets there. But at the end of the day, have our list of people that we work with regularly. And I would say one thing is that doing due diligence on a note seller is just as important as due diligence on the assets that they're selling. And so it's taken some work and it's a work in progress always. But it is the million dollar question is where do find these assets?   (Seth Bradley) (32:12.598) Yeah. So that's the hard part, right? Finding these assets is the hard part. Have you ever had to foreclose on any of these notes and actually acquire the property? And I guess a follow-up question is, do you ever look at a non-performing note like, hey, I actually want to own that property?   So, great questions. Yeah, great questions. To be clear, we're not trying to kick people, you know, grandma out on onto the street or anything like that. You know, that's not our goal typically. Well, that's never our goal. But we're never trying to kick someone out of their home. But the reality is, some people honestly need a little bit of a kick in the pants. And oftentimes, that's not really the best them staying in the house is not often   the best scenario for them. know that might sound harsh, but at end of the day, if someone can't afford to live somewhere, sometimes these people are living in squalor and they really need a change of environment. To answer your question about do we target the property? Yes, sometimes we do. In fact, we just closed on to, they're called heckum loans or reverse mortgages, where the borrowers are deceased. The property is underwater, meaning, you know,   the loan amount is higher, than the property value. And it should be a quick exit through the property. So HUD will sell off these big pools of reverse mortgages. And we were able to purchase two of them very recently. It's a vacant property, you're not doing an eviction, borrower is deceased, you've got to work through the heirs or foreclosure and exit the property that way.   If your listener wants to go to my website, I've got a really good Jacksonville blog post, I've got a couple of blog posts about this deal. I still hold this rental today. And it was a non performing note that we purchased a few years ago. And I had no intention of exiting through the property or holding, holding the property as a rental property, but running the numbers, it just was too good to, to let go. so long story, but we, we   (Jamie Bateman) (34:22.51) ended up doing a deed in lieu of foreclosure actually in this case and got the property back and now it's a long-term buy and hold property for my own rental portfolio.   Yeah, that makes sense. It makes sense. There's always multiple ways to look at an investment, right? But it does sound, you know, it's not something that I've executed on myself, but it sounds like this is an active business, right? And that's why you've put together an income fund for people that want to get involved passively. as everybody knows, there's active investments, there's passive investments. If you're to do something active.   Maybe your returns are going to be a little bit better, but you're going to give up a lot of time and effort to get those returns. So if you want to go the passive side, if you're still full-time in your career, you're a full-time doctor or lawyer or whatever you are, these passive investments are the way to go without having to know every single detail about a new business.   Yeah, and I don't know if you can see this, but I wear this specifically for your for this   There it is. There it is.   (Jamie Bateman) (35:29.272) Passive income. You're absolutely right. You know, these gurus, some of the some of the note investing gurus out there will try to sell, you know, notes as passive. We have another blog post that talks about just the it's a spectrum, there's active and passive on either end. But at end of the day, if you're going to note investing in my world is very, very active. And we have a non performing note fund that's considerably more active than the performing note fund. So   You're dealing with foreclosures, bankruptcies, deed and loo, tracking delinquent property taxes. Do I have to physically go anywhere? No, but it is not passive. But that's why we offer the passive investment for people who, like you said, have maybe more capital than time or energy, and they want to put that capital to work.   That's right. There are certain gurus out there that, know, whatever it is that they are pitching, they tend to always pitch it as passive, even though it is an active business, that's money. Whether that's a mortgage note or I mean, people will pitch Airbnb short term rentals as passive. They're like, well, you can delegate this and you can, you know, you can automate that and there's software for all these things. But you still got to put all that stuff together.   Mm-mm.   (Seth Bradley) (36:48.396) You've still got to monitor all those things. still got to oversee all these different aspects of a business. And that's what it is. It's a business that you're running and it's not passive. Like, it's not, it's not. And it is on a spectrum. Some things are more passive than others, but when you're investing in, you know, as a passive investor into some sort of a fund or syndication, that's really leaning really far into the passive side.   Absolutely, 100%. And I'm, as you are, Seth, I'm, I assume you are, I know you're an active investor, but I do have passive investments myself in other, other funds, other note funds, and, and my own, my own note funds as well. And so nothing wrong with doing both, but I would say you need to be careful about, you know, you got to make a decision at some point, do you want to scale this thing and make this really a business? Or do you do you are you satisfied with?   potentially a little bit lower return and you are giving up some control but much, you know, much fewer headaches and just a lot less work.   Right. Yeah. And a lot of, you know, lot of the listeners are high income earning professionals. So they've already dedicated, put a lot of time and effort into being able to earn this much money from their W2. And that's probably your best bet, to be honest with you. I've been there. I was in those shoes. You're probably better off putting your head down and like, let's grind for a few years. Let's not spend every single dollar that we make on all the new stuff on a new car every two years or every year.   in a bigger house that you don't need. Like, let's set aside some of that and invest it passively. And then maybe one of those will stick. Maybe one of those passive investments will be a mortgage no fund where you're like, man, I kind of like this business. I like the sound of it. I've learned about it. And then you start maybe progressing on the active side and maybe that takes over. And you want to get into that as a business, as an entrepreneur. But a great way to kind of dip your toe in the water is to become a passive investor. That's the way that I did it in the,   (Seth Bradley) (38:53.186) multifamily syndications. invested passively in a number of deals first and kind of learned about it, learned the ropes and I'm like, I can do this. And then that's when I made the transition.   Yeah, definitely. It really comes down to what your goals are and what your situation is, for sure. I'll say I was too passive initially when I went into notes, because personally, just don't... You were probably a little better student, Seth. Not that I was a bad student, I invest... Unless I'm actively investing, I'm just not going to learn a lot. So the reality is, yeah, it's fine to learn about the asset class. You definitely should learn about the operator for sure.   you're putting capital with them, but you're not going to once you're getting your checks and your disbursements, you're not going to probably learn a whole lot about how to do that on the active side. And so that's what we're here for.   Yeah, yeah, it's more of like a spark of an interest, right? Like maybe you already have that spark and then you invest passively. Then you're like, OK, well, now I'm invested. Like, let me learn about this. And you have to have to actively go out there and educate yourself and network and talk to people that are in the business.   Definitely, 100%.   (Seth Bradley) (40:01.71) Alright man, before we jump into the Freedom Four, you have one last golden nugget for our listeners.   Oh, I would say within when it comes to investing, you know, take the long term view. Don't chase immediate returns. You know, I do think just, yeah, it's certainly we all want to make a million dollars tomorrow. But I think it's it's a play the long game when it comes to investing. I think that's critical.   Love that man. All right, let's jump into the freedom form. What's the best thing you do to keep your mind and body healthy?   Yeah, I mean, one thing that I instituted this year, actually, is breathwork. And it's, you know, it's so it takes 10 minutes. And per day for me, at least. And it's been phenomenal. And it's something that quite honestly, as a, as a, you know, athlete back in the day, or even in the military, I would have scoffed at something like this, to be honest with you, because it's just, you know, it's not manly or whatever. And it's like, it is phenomenal. So breathwork,   I mean, I do other things for sure. But that's certainly this year, it's been a game changer for me. I just feel like it resets my central nervous system. It just gets me focused. And I know there are other physiological benefits that you can ask Dr. Andrew Huberman or somebody else about.   (Seth Bradley) (41:26.153) Cool. I'll have to look into that. actually have it. mean, obviously everybody talks about it's a hot topic. Yeah. I haven't gotten into it. I haven't gotten into that plus like the cold plunges and that sort of thing. Yeah. But I really want to want to   So I don't know how much you can cut this out if we don't have time, but I had a, I'm just going to be, be open about this. I just had a, you know, in late December, I got a viral infection, like a neurovirus. And then I had, I had a, what I think was a pretty severe panic attack and it was super scary. And so that's why I started doing this. And somebody on my team actually sent me a, I guess we'll call it an implement or a tool that   I use for the breath work. It's blue. There's a Bluetooth connection to your phone and it's pretty cool. So it's structured and back to that discipline, right? But yeah, so it's, there was a reason I started doing it and it's, it's so accessible in five to 10 minutes a day. You can start doing it. So I recommend. Cool.   Thanks for sharing that man. With all your success, what is one limiting belief that you've crushed along the way and how did you get past it?   I think just, you know, being afraid to, you know, that you have to be perfect, right? So I used to be an editor back in the day. And so many things would just not get done or not get completed within our team, our organization, because it had to be perfect. And it's like, I think as I've progressed into more of the entrepreneurial lifestyle and   (Jamie Bateman) (43:02.35) is just it's not a it's not an option anymore. So yeah, I think just taking action has kind of overcome that limiting belief of chasing perfection.   Yeah, I can agree with you there. Done not perfect. Yes. My background as an attorney, mean, we're paid to be perfect. We can't make mistakes, especially in contracts and the way that we write things. But when you make that transition over to being an entrepreneur, there's too much to do to be perfect. You just got to get it done. Good enough.   Absolutely. Good enough. You have to be willing to accept that for sure.   What's one actionable step our listeners can do right now to start creating more freedom?   I'll use the military here, which is where I learned kind of reverse backwards planning, reverse planning. literally just, and I'm not going to tell you I'm perfect at this, but, you know, think about what, create a vivid vision for your life in the next three to five years, pick it, pick three years out from today. And what do you want your life to look like? And then backwards plan. And now I'm not saying you need to plan every minute of every day, but   (Jamie Bateman) (44:20.876) you can be that will that will increase the urgency, sense of urgency in your life and the intentionality of every every hour and every day because you realize this is doable, but I got to take ownership of my current situation if I want this to be the reality in three years. So I would say, create a vivid vision and and kind of reverse or backwards plan to get there.   Perfect, perfect. Last but not least, House Passive Income made your life better.   Yeah, I mean, I think in multiple ways, but a big one that stands out is giving me, I guess we'll call it margin to take some more risks on the entrepreneurial side. And because I do have alternative sources of income, passive income, it's allowed me that kind of mental and financial bandwidth or margin to maybe invest in a company that even if it   doesn't go perfectly, or doesn't go well, it's not profitable, that's okay. I still have that cushion for me and my family. that's, yeah, it's a huge, it's been a huge factor in that regard.   Yeah, absolutely. Game changer, man. It just changes your mindset, changes your life in so many ways. Jamie, this has been incredible, dude. You've got so much great content to share in your brain, man. You got to get out there. know you've got an awesome podcast that I was on, Adversity to Abundance. Everybody should check that out. Other than that, Jamie, where else can people find out more about you? Yeah.   (Jamie Bateman) (45:54.924) Just two things I'll mention very quickly. Literally got my book delivered today, like an hour before I hopped on here. It's from adversity to abundance. It is based on the podcast. So I encourage your listener to check that out from adversity to abundance is the book that's out. then labradorlending.com, L A B R A D O R.com is where you can check us out.   All right, man. Awesome. I'll drop all that in the show notes. Thanks again for coming on, brother.   Thanks for having me, Seth. This has been great.   (Seth Bradley) (46:26.978) Thanks for tuning in to Raise the Bar Radio. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Keep pushing, keep building, and keep raising the bar. Until next time, enjoy the journey. Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: Seth Bradley's Links: https://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en Jamie Bateman's Links: https://x.com/batemanjames https://www.facebook.com/batemanjames https://www.threads.com/@batemanjames11?xmt=AQF0nwaIL6JD_GK94lbTvHphHOmWwlUyt3TkeHLav-vXU_E https://www.instagram.com/batemanjames11/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-bateman-5359a811/ https://labradorlending.com/about/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-adversity-to-abundance/id1618672867 https://open.spotify.com/show/7JjGWsKVzzEI8UwXP9GONZ https://www.youtube.com/@FromAdversity2AbundancePodcast

Lesley Logan sits down with Jon Ostenson, author of Non-Food Franchising and CEO of FranBridge Consulting, to explore why franchising—especially beyond the food industry—is one of the most underutilized yet powerful paths to entrepreneurship. Jon shares how franchising gives you proven systems, built-in marketing, and a peer network, while also revealing what green flags (and red flags) to look for when evaluating opportunities. You'll walk away seeing franchising in a whole new light—with clarity and confidence.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Why franchising can be a faster, safer path to business ownership.The surprising industries thriving in non-food franchising.How semi-passive franchise models allow people to day jobs while building a business.The real numbers behind startup costs, royalties, and profit potential.Green flags and red flags to watch when evaluating franchise opportunities.Episode References/Links:FranBridge Consulting - https://franbridgeconsulting.com/Jon Ostenson on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonostenson/Jon Ostenson on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JonOstenson1/Jon Ostenson on Twitter - https://twitter.com/Jon_OstensonJon Ostenson on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@JonOstensonFBCBook: Non-Food Franchising by Jon Ostenson - https://a.co/d/29XayrQGuest Bio:Jon Ostenson is the Founder and CEO of FranBridge Consulting, which ranked 584th on the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing companies in America. A former corporate executive and past President of ShelfGenie, Jon has sat on all sides of the franchising table—as franchisor, multi-brand franchisee, and now trusted advisor. Widely recognized as a leading voice in non-food franchising, he has helped thousands of entrepreneurs and investors explore opportunities across industries such as home services, wellness, senior care, and pet care. Jon is also the bestselling author of Non-Food Franchising, a practical guide for building wealth and business ownership without starting from scratch. Through FranBridge, he connects clients with over 600 vetted franchise brands and provides strategic, hands-on support at no cost to the client—helping them step confidently into semi-passive investments or full-time business ownership. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Jon Ostenson 0:00  Lesley, franchising is not right for everyone. I think there's some people that, to your point, are too entrepreneurial that want to put their thumbprints all over a business. And you know, it may not be a good fit for them. However, for the vast majority, it's my humble belief that franchising represents a better path to business ownership.Lesley Logan 0:15  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:53  All right, Be It babe. I have a topic we have never touched. I'm so jazzed about this, I actually found it really, really fascinating. And this year is like my year of being curious and understanding more and more about businesses as our business continues to grow. And so when I met Jon Ostenson, I have so much more knowledge, so much more understanding, so much more excitement and inspiration. And I really wanted to bring this to you, because I know how many of you are like, wanting to make other income, wanting to make more income, one of the questions I get all the time is like, how do I make passive income? How do I have another income stream? I know that managing your money in stocks can be overwhelming, and so I wanted to bring a whole topic to you that I think could be really, really fascinating. So Jon Ostenson is the author of Non-Food Franchising. His company is FranBridge Consulting and so we're gonna talk about franchises. And if you're like, oh, this could be so boring, I promise you, it's anything but boring. It's quite fascinating. Even if you never go into this, you'll actually like, look at franchises and different businesses in a whole different light. And I found it to be really eye opening. And I feel like a lot of my friends should be doing this, and I don't know, maybe, maybe I'll create a portfolio and do this too, but I now have so much more understanding, and I'm really excited for you to have that, because to be it till you see it in anything, the first thing we need is have answers and understanding and also some curiosity in a topic we might not have known anything about. So if you've been wanting to start a business, maybe instead of starting something new, you actually want to franchise and so here is Jon Ostenson. Lesley Logan 0:53  All right, Be It babe, I'm really excited. I've read the book by our guest today, and this is a really interesting topic we have never talked about, and I've always been slightly interested in, and now I'm even more intrigued. So Jon Ostenson is our guest today. Can you tell everyone who you are and what you rock at that's so unique, so niche and so wonderfully that we need to talk about it? Jon Ostenson 2:40  Yeah, absolutely, no. Jon Ostenson, here in Atlanta, Georgia, I've got three young kids I chase around on a daily basis, but you know, I spend most of my time helping my clients find the right businesses for them. And so, you know, we work with over 600 different franchise brands, and what I call Non-Food Franchising. So it's all these industries outside of fast food that incorporate franchising. And yeah, it's entirely free to work with us, and I get to help our clients navigate, what are the top opportunities given their background, their interest, what they're looking to do? What are those top available opportunities in their market that can be a fit for them?Lesley Logan 3:11  I so I really, this is, like, really interesting, because first of all, of course, growing up, I only knew like, food franchisers, and I'm just not into cleaning a kitchen. So, like, that was, you know, different. And then also, like, in my industry, there are now, like, franchises in in the Pilates world, but there's always been franchises in the fitness world. And I guess, like, I guess where we could start is, like, wait, why would someone do a franchise versus, like, start their own non-food business, you know, like, what, what would be like, the things that they're thinking about? Because one of the reasons I want to have you on is, we have had a lot of coaches who are entrepreneurial. And I also think, like, not everyone is an entrepreneur, but also I don't want to, like, tell people that, like, I think they need to figure that out for themselves. So why would someone franchise versus start something themselves?Jon Ostenson 3:59  Yeah, great question. And you know, franchising is not right for everyone. I think there's some people that, to your point, are too entrepreneurial, that want to put their thumbprints all over a business, and you know, it may not be a good fit for them. However, for the vast majority, it's my humble belief that franchising represents a better path to business ownership. You know, you've got a lot of things already in place. You've got a proven business model that's been successful in other markets. You've got a coach on the sidelines in that franchisor that's supporting you and their team. You've got other franchisees that are living the same thing day in, day out, in their markets. You're constantly exchanging best practices. You're in business for yourself, but not by yourself. And, you know, being able to step into a business where on day one, the marketing is pretty close to optimized because they know how to run, you know, and the franchisor is doing a lot of that for you. You've got efficiencies and supply chain, and there's just a lot of opportunity that franchising opens up. And what I tell our clients is, hey, you may double down and triple down on franchises and build a whole empire of franchises. A lot of our clients do, or you may decide, hey, after franchising, let's go start my own business. I guarantee you that next business is going to be better for having had that franchise experience and understanding, how do you stand up a business, what are the best practices in the processes that go around it? Lesley Logan 5:09  Yeah, I mean, like, I think that's really cool, because I remember, you know, when I wanted to, first of all, when I became a Pilates instructor, I never thought I'd own a studio, because I worked at a I rented from a studio, and I saw how much stress she was under, and then I worked for a company, high end fitness business, and I got to run a studio for them. And I was like, oh, this is so nice, just to have everyone tell me the budgets, and tell me how much people are getting paid and and do all the do all the math, and then I can just do the thing that I really love. And so in a way, that's kind of like what you're saying, like a franchise is a proven like, it's a business that's already been in existence. It's proven, like, who they're for, what they do, how they market. And so you get to kind of hit the ground already running, in some ways, am I right?Jon Ostenson 5:53  Yeah, you start on third base instead of first. You're not having to test everything now, in exchange, you're paying a royalty back to the franchise or right? And franchising is just like everything. Not every company is created the same. Every industry has got good players. You've got ones that aren't as strong. That's where we come in to help our clients really identify the companies that are providing the most value, that can get them to where they want to be.Lesley Logan 6:13  Yeah. So I guess, then I guess maybe I should have started with, what is a franchise. Maybe I should have started there. And then also, if you can talk about, like, do, do companies that are franchises, they have already been in business before they're selling off businesses, or they they start out that way, like, do you get it on the ground level? Jon Ostenson 6:34  Yeah, well, hopefully they've already proven out the model, at least in one location, if not in multiple locations, you know. And they're well capitalized, they've got a team to support franchisees, but no franchising at its roots, you know, it's really three things. That's, it's a shared brand, we all know that. But then it's, you know, that there's a system, and there's guidance, and there's value being provided from a home office to that franchisee, to that location. The franchisees give me some sort of payment back in the form of a royalty, typically, to that franchisor. So it's really those three things. So there are companies out there that are probably operating as franchises that may not have franchise, but technically, that's what a franchise is. And again, when I say the F word franchise, people think fast food. I mean, that's what comes to mind. But there's so many different industries out there outside of food, and I've got nothing against the food guys. We need them. We support them. But again, there are easier ways to make money that may require less employees, less operating hours, that may carry higher margins because you don't have the food waste, they may be less susceptible to consumer whims. I always say that frozen yogurt was big until it wasn't. Most of our clients are liking opportunities that aren't trendy. They're not going out of style, and they'll always be mainstream.Lesley Logan 7:46  Yeah. Can we talk about like, what are like some of the, what are some of the non-food franchise like, either if you want to name names, or if you want to name like areas of business? Because maybe it would help people to hear like, there, there's actually franchises in an industry they already have experience in. Jon Ostenson 8:01  Yeah, you know. And I'd say 90% of our clients get into something in an industry they don't have experience in. And that's the beauty of franchising, is it allows for those pivots, but you take the transferable skill set. So yeah, examples there, we're seeing a lot of interest, I'd say in the general theme, it's businesses that will do well regardless of the economy, regardless of tariffs, regardless of, you know, other exterior factors. And so it's things that people will always spend money on. So home and property services are a huge area. Health and wellness. McKinsey just came out with a study saying it's now a $480 billion a year industry in the US, growing at 10% so health, you know, wellness, is now mainstream, which I know you would agree with it's categories like kids, pets, seniors again, things that people will always spend money on regardless. And you know, within these there's so many different niches. I mean, I can just, you know, I'm thinking of in-home senior care. We have a lot of clients doing that, but then I've had clients that have been placed there that came back said hey Jon, what's a tangential opportunity that can tag onto this, and I introduced them to one that provides wheelchair ramps and stair lifts and retrofitting within a home, allowing people to age in place. Youth soccer, I've had so many clients do well in youth soccer, tutoring, kids-related, pets, everything from pet grooming to pet boarding to dog training, you know, but. Lesley Logan 9:19  That's crazy, because I would never have thought those things. And also, like, I because we travel around the world. We were talking about that before we hit record, I find myself, like, like, in shock. Sometimes I see a business and I'm like, like, how much did they need to get started? You know? Because, like, what I love about like, like, one of the things that kept me from starting my own studio is, like, just the barrier of entry. I didn't know how to read a lease, I didn't know what kind of insurance I needed to have outside of what the insurance I had as a renter. I didn't know that. And then I had to, like, buy all the equipment, and then it's like, oh, like, literally, my clients came the first like, where's the trash can? I was like, oh, yeah, we need a trash can. Like, you know, you know, right? Like, I was like, I was like, flying by the seat of my pants. But like, what you're saying is, like, I, if I was like, I need a change in my life, or I actually just want to have something that's working alongside what I'm already doing, I can go into another industry, and then they already have the blueprint. So, like, I already know how much it's going to cost me to go all in. I know how much it's going to cost me to run it, and I also have an idea, in theory, at least as I learned this from your book of, like, what I could make off of this investment, which is a little different than stock market, like you think. I mean, we all hope it's going up right now, we're riding a different wave. But, like, but like, you know, so am I right when I say, like, there's like, a nice blueprint there that kind of allows you to know more about what you don't know? Jon Ostenson 10:43  Absolutely. No, you go in and you know, nothing's ever a sure thing, right? I never want to pretend like it is. Business ownership is hard. It takes work. If it was easy, everybody would be a business owner. But franchising does make it a lot easier and a lot more predictable, right? I mean, that's why banks love providing SBA loans to franchises over startups, right? It's just more predictable, and the success rates are obviously a lot higher all the data shows, you know, but I'd say, going in, you know, there's a whole exploration process, and that's where we take our clients through, hold their hand as they're having these conversations with their franchises. You know, learning a lot, asking good questions. They, they get a chance to talk to other franchisees in that system before they ever buy. You know, they get kind of the inside knowledge. They get a franchise disclosure document, which is the history of the franchise and all the information. And to your point, the financials on the all in investment. And you know, there's going to be some variability in there, but it outlines that, and then talks about the historical financial results, what you could expect to make if you execute according to plan. And so you know, you can make disproportionate returns on your investment. Again, because you're, you're putting effort in, right? If it was just thrown in an index fund, you know, you're not going to be able to make, you're going to be capped at what you can make. However, with this, you also get the tax benefit. So it's really a, I call it the trifecta. You're, you're building towards cash returns. You're obviously building an asset that's going to have exit value down the road, and in all likelihood, you'll sell to another franchisee in the system. That's very common. And then third, you get the tax benefits of business ownership. And if you have a W2 job or spouse with a W2 I mean, this could be a great offset. I mean, there's so many levers that the government set up the tax playbook to incentivize business ownership.Lesley Logan 12:19  Yeah, well, one of the reasons why we love being a business owner, I definitely enjoy those. I want to, like, just kind of tap into something, because you talked about, like, being a W2. So realistically, how many people do you know, like, have a job and then have a franchise that's successful? Like, are they overworking? Are they 120-hour work week kind of person? Or, like, is that a normal thing that people can do?Jon Ostenson 12:43  Roughly half of our clients start out with a manager in place. It's what franchising would call semi passive or semi absentee or executive model. I always want to say hey, stop. You know, let's not sugarcoat this. It takes work to stand up a business. You know. I don't want to ever pretend like it doesn't so, you know, it is very doable within a franchise system, because you've got a franchisor and their team supporting that manager that you put in place on a day to day basis, they can answer a lot of the questions and kind of hold their hand. So it takes some of the burden off of you. So much of it your ramp up time and success comes down to who you put in that place. You can have a great vehicle, you still have to have a great driver, so someone that has fire in the belly that you incentivize. You know that's a hard worker. They can make your life very easy, but if it's not the right person, you can find yourself with some headaches and leaning in. So I'd say that is the biggest variable that I see. But I've got so many success stories of clients that have gone that path. I should always want to make sure that they go in eyes wide open, that in the early going especially, it will take work.Lesley Logan 13:43  Yeah, yeah. I mean, like, I think that's really important. Okay, let's just take, take a step back, Jon, how did you get into doing this? Like, did you, did you always know, like, you would be in franchises? Like, did you fall into franchises? Like, tell us the journey that got you here. Jon Ostenson 13:56  Yeah. You know, like so many of your listeners, I spent many years in the corporate world, and you went to grad school and did all the things you're supposed to do as a W2 and had a great run. But, you know, had that desire, like so many, to be a business owner and to do something more entrepreneurial, and didn't know what it what it looked like. And I really fell into franchising. So about eight years ago, I left the corporate world, assumed the reins of a business called Shelf Genie, which is a large franchise system. I served as their president, supporting our home office and all of our franchisees, and I really fell in love with the franchise model through that experience. And I just saw how so many different backgrounds got involved in a shared system because of the support that we were providing. So long story short, I partnered with the founder of that company. We spun off. We've invested in franchises ourselves. I've continued to invest in franchises on my on my own outside of that, so I've been a franchisor. I am a multi brand franchisee as well, and started the consulting practice about little over six years ago, and now I give it most of my full time focus, and just love helping others connect the dots, because I just hear the same conversations every day. So many people, oftentimes midlife, they're saying gosh, you know, I've looked around. And they all know some business owners, and they see them out playing golf or, you know, going to their kids activities. And they say, there's a little bit of FOMO, right? And, but they say, I don't have that genius idea. I'm a little risk averse. I don't know where to start. That's where I come in and say hey, look at all these other people that have done done this through franchising with similar backgrounds, and here's why it worked for them. So absolutely love helping them. I personally, on the franchisee front, this just shows a little bit of the variety out there. I kind of like home and property services personally. So I've got one business that works on parking lots. It provides asphalt paving and line striping, you know, non sexy need based industry, right? I've got another one, is almost like an equipment rental business. It provides temporary walls like containment walls around renovation projects and construction sites. It's a great B2B business. I've got one that this is kind of more in the health and wellness genre. It's uses 3D printing to provide custom inserts and insoles for shoes, right? It talked about a niche, right? But we cater a little bit to the older population. So I've got it down in Delray, Florida, which is a great market. I've got another one where I'm on the franchisor side, I'm invested that provides custom pull out shelving for your kitchens and pantries and stay at home moms are great for that business. They're great designers. They can work when they want to and go in and be very conversational, and it's just cool that, you know, we're creating a lot of jobs out there and helping a lot of communities.Lesley Logan 16:28  Okay, that is so all of those things, I would not have thought that, like, those are franchises. I guess I just thought, like, some guy in Las Vegas, like, start a business, like, putting fences, you know, and then it's like, but then I do see like, oh, it's a company. And then you're like, how, like, how, who got into, like, having a business in every city that has, like, fences. But now that I'm like, you know, now that the wall been pulled over my eyes, I can under, away from my eyes, I can see like, oh, these are companies that got started, and then they had success, and then they basically created a blueprint that they could sell to other people, and then that's how they spread their wings, because they've got good systems in place. And then people like you, or people like listening are like, Oh, I could do that. I actually, like, I have the funds for that. I like that area, or, you know, I can have the time for that. I just wouldn't have thought that those are those. There's things out there. And I was reading your book, one of the things that we all have to realize is, like, there's a massive population of people who are getting older, and there is not enough like services for them, and so like to be able to get into a franchise that is like servicing those people that they for a necessity they need. It's kind of nice, I guess. I have a question, how much of what you have to do as a franchisee, as far as the marketing goes, like, are you curating the marketing? Does the franchise or that's the parent company, right, like the owner, do they come up with a marketing strategy and you just, like, put it out there. Like, I guess I'm wondering, like, how much of it do you be creative? Because I have a lot of people like, I want to do this, but I hate social media, or I hate writing a newsletter, or I hate doing the the money and the taxes, like, how much does the actual franchisor do for you? Jon Ostenson 18:06  Yeah, it certainly varies, but I'd say in most cases, the franchisor leans in pretty heavy on the marketing side, and that's one of the value adds they're bringing. So they're creating collateral and brand standards and customizing things for you for your location. But you know, typically they have an in house marketing team. They may partner with an outside digital marketing firm that's running all your Google ads and social media ads and such. Oftentimes, they encourage you to get involved on the organic side of social media. So it's, hey, I've got a home show coming up. Hey, look at this great job. We just got a five star review. But again, if you need help with that, most of them are able to lean in pretty heavy, because I do have a lot of clients like you said that they hey, I don't want anything to do with marketing or lead generation. And I, you know, in some cases you have franchises that have national accounts. I mean, that's a great lead generator. In some cases, they have an in house call center that's actually sometimes making outbound calls, or, at a minimum, taking inbound calls, setting appointments for you. So, you know, as you go through the expiration process, you want to say, what, what value is that franchisor providing for the royalty that I'm giving them? And, you know, make sure that there's tangible things that they're doing for you, oftentimes on the marketing side as an example.Lesley Logan 19:11  Yeah, okay, you talked about royalties, I guess, for the person who doesn't understand what that means. What is that? And then what are we what can someone expect on like, maybe not like the best end, but like an average, an average earnings.Jon Ostenson 19:26  Yeah, so I'd say six to 8% royalty typically is common in revenue, and when you look at financial projections of a franchise system, they're always going to net out for that royalty, right? I mean, that's part of the business model. But again, those are oftentimes expenses that you would be paying on your own elsewhere. From an earnings standpoint, well, first off, from an investment standpoint, I mean, we have some clients who are getting into big seven figure deals, but most people like when you look at service-based businesses and you're all in investment, your franchise fee, startup costs, several months of working capital, oftentimes you're in the 150,000 to 300,000 range, all in. And some of our clients are using cash, most like the idea of using an SBA loan, where maybe they put in 50,000 cash and then they use an SBA loan for the balance. Some are using an old 401-K from a previous employer, and rolling that over, which is very doable through what's called the ROBS program. So we help them with all of that. But from an earnings standpoint, it definitely varies. You always want people to take a conservative approach. There are businesses that will start cash flowing as early as three months in. Oftentimes, what you see is maybe six months, six to 12 months, somewhere in that range. Again, we always want to be conservative, but no you can make disproportionate returns. So let's say your all in investment was 200,000 from their businesses out there, where you can conceivably do a million dollars for first year. I mean, there are a good number of those. And oftentimes you're kicking off 15 to 20% to the bottom line. So call it 150 to the bottom line. And you may not get that in year one, but that may be your run rate at the end of year one. So 150 on an investment of 200,000 that's 75%, and then you're doing, you're doing that every year, and you're going to sell that business down the road. So again, but you're putting effort in, right? Lesley Logan 21:01  Right, well, well, and it's like, like, I'm just, like, just forever. I, when I opened up my studio, which was a small studio, I, no, my bank did not give me a loan. I've been in business for so many years, like, look, I make, I make over six figures, and I just want, like, a $40,000 loan. And they like, laughed in my face, so I used a credit card. But it was, the investment was like, $40,000 in equipment, all I had to do, and then obviously my rent and everything. And of course, yes, I, because it was on a credit card, I paid that shit off. But, but like you do only have to, ideally, only buy that equipment one time, right? So there's that. But to to your point, like the money that or time I had to spend on marketing my business, on coming up with the marketing, on testing it out, on doing all that stuff, on also collaborating, also doing the organic, also all that stuff, it starts to go sometimes you're like, it would be nice if someone could take this off. And even if you're like, oh, let's all just hire an agency. Y'all, I have talked to marketing agencies. They are not just 6% like some like, you know, when you think about, like, the marketing agency and the account and the organization and the hiring practices and the onboarding, all that stuff costs money, and so sometimes it's kind of like, it's almost like it's 50% it's 50 one way, 50% one way, half it does another. It's kind of like, if you really want to make your own thing and be your own thing, then go do your own thing, and you'll have all the same expenses. But I can't believe, and I don't know, I can't believe it that an SBA loan would be easier to get if you're in a franchise. But it makes sense, because there's a proven track record from all the other businesses, and the SBA is like, oh, this is like, very risk free. It took us a pandemic to get an SBA loan because they were just giving them away. And then recently, a lovely bank helped us get an SBA loan. But, like, it's not easy when you work for yourself and a non proven kind of a thing to get loans. So it sounds really cool that that would be an option for people. Jon Ostenson 22:51  Yeah, and probably two thirds of our clients use them. We really don't have issues getting them. As long as you have semi decent credit, then you know, they have that confidence in the franchise.Lesley Logan 23:00  That's so cool. That is really cool. Okay, so I guess you know there's, there's probably people going, oh my gosh. Like, I don't know. Like, I'm not confident as a business owner. Do you have to have, like, would you suggest, like, you have to have some sort of management experience, or do you have people who, like, do the franchisers like, support you in leading a team and how to lead the business that you're doing. Or, like, are you having to figure that yourself? Jon Ostenson 23:26  Yeah, there are some franchises where you really don't have to have a team. You know, you can be kind of a solopreneur in a way, or maybe have an assistant. Most of them do involve people. And people always ask me, what, what does it take to be successful in franchising? And really, it's two things. It's one, you're good with people. You don't have to be great, but you have to be someone that people want to work with, work for work. So that's just Business 101, and then secondly, your willingness to follow a system, where I see people get in trouble in franchising is that they come in and they think they're the smartest guy in the room, and they don't have the humility to actually learn from others and to follow a system, even if they have questions. When I was at Shelf Genie, our best franchisees were the ones that followed the system the closest. That sounds so cliche, but it's true. Lesley Logan 24:04  I mean, just being in business myself for 15 years, like, how, like, there are some days I'm like, I just wish there was a fucking blueprint that I could just wake up, follow, like, there's days and I'm like, so I can't imagine, like, not only take advantage of that, but I guess, like, maybe that would be the person who wouldn't be right for franchising, and maybe they shouldn't have gotten into it in the first place.Jon Ostenson 24:29  Yeah, no, I've seen clients do very well within a franchise system, and then, you know, I had a client that didn't do well in it, and the feedback from the franchisor was said, what's going on? Why is it working for them and not for them. You said, we've coached them, we've done everything we can, but they're not willing to follow the system. (inaudible) But certainly, if you have any business experience that you know, those transferable skill sets definitely help and maybe give you a leg up. But I've got plenty of clients, you know, doctors or a big client, mainly clientele of ours, most of them don't have business experience. They may be really, they're like, smart and smarter than their little niche but they don't have that business experience. They love the idea of, they know how to learn, and they're willing to learn, and they're willing to follow the playbook the textbook. Instead, they come in and they say, Hey, we want to flex that intellectual muscle. And most of them are keeping the day job. You know, they've invested too much to walk away from that. But they put a manager in place, and they go out and run a restoration business, or a mobile pet grooming business, something that allows them to flex that intellectual curiosity a little bit.Lesley Logan 25:29  That is so cool. I just think it's so cool, like I was, I never thought about, I'll be really nice, I actually never thought about owning a franchise. I have been wondering and been very curious of like, what if I wanted to open up something that I made into a franchise like that has been on my mind a lot lately, but the more I read your book, the more I'm like, what a cool investment strategy. Like, you know, just to diversify how you're investing for retirement and wealth, and, like, generational wealth. I don't have any kids, but like, it would be cool to have have have another way of having an income stream or or a way of growing wealth without having to, not that it's not work, but also just not rely solely on, like, what my wealth manager is doing with my stocks.Jon Ostenson 26:13  Oh, because so many of our clients do have kids or family members that they plan on bringing in on the business over time and kind of setting an example for them to learn from as well, and of taking a risk, if you will, a calculated risk. But now from an investment standpoint, I'm an all of the above investor. I invest in real estate and energy and the public markets and private credit. I encourage people to do all that. I just think the business ownership can have a unique place in that portfolio, and there's a whole lot of tax benefits and other synergies to come from that. So I'm not against any of those other investments. I just think it's an all of the above approach. And a lot of our clients invest in real estate too, some more actively than others, but there's a lot of synergy between those two, I think, from a mindset standpoint, from a tax advantage standpoint, and then directly from an industry standpoint, a lot of these businesses support real estate.Lesley Logan 27:00  What are some, like, green flags about a franchise, or some red flags, like, what are some things that we would like? You'd be like, oh, this looks really this looks really good. I think a client would do really well with this. And then what are some like, ooh, maybe, maybe watch this one, or don't, don't sign up for that.Jon Ostenson 27:16  You know, certain the brand is more important in certain industries. I mean, certainly, food, hotels, things like that. You know, but in a lot of industries, I think about insulation, that's a $50 billion a year industry, no one can name an installation company, right? And so that's less important. But still, some of these industries, you know, if it's a household name brand, then it's probably sold out in all the good areas of your market, right? And so oftentimes, we find ourselves working with more emerging franchises. You know, they may have five locations, 25 locations, 50 locations. Yes, they haven't been around forever, but they're growing fast. And really, the what I look for there, it's the competitive advantages, it's the financial models got to be very robust, because you have a smaller sample size to look at. You've, you know, the early franchisees have to be saying positive things about their experience. But then a lot of emphasis I put on those companies is the leadership team. I want to see a good blend of industry experience, but also franchise experience represented on that team that's essentially going to be your business partner. So I would say that the people involved on the other end, I can't underestimate that enough. That's something I emphasize with our clients. Let's vet them. Those are the ones that you want to have a good relationship with that are going to be supporting you day in, day out. You know. I would also say, you know, make sure that, if it's an early stage franchise, make sure it's well capitalized. You know, they've got plenty of assets in the bank. I have seen companies, at times, rush into franchising thinking it was their gold mine and they needed to have a pot of gold going in, because it's expensive to franchise, but no, private equity loves franchising, you know, they they invest strategically at the franchisor level very oftentimes, just they love the model and kind of these industries that they play in. There's a lot of smart money getting involved. But I always encourage people, you know, and that's why we set up our exploration process the way we did. And, you know, I'm essentially a real estate broker buffer franchises, and so I help our clients understand what's going on behind the scenes, how to think about this, the questions to ask, provide them with a lot of resources, and then we simply get a referral fee from the franchise brand on the back end when a placement happens, like a real estate model, you've got the seller, and none of that's passed on (inaudible).Lesley Logan 29:17  So that's why you're free. Because, like, I couldn't believe it. I was reading the book, and I was like, because to me, you know, one of the one of the big hurdles for a lot of people is like hiring a coach to help them make the best decisions. You have to have the money for that and hope that it works, but to work with you, you know, it's just free for for the person wanting to work with you. So like, you get paid because the franchise company pays you like a real estate so, got it. Jon Ostenson 29:40  For them, it's a sales and marketing expense. None of that's passed on to our clients at all. So you know, whether they go directly to a brand or go through us, they're paying the same franchise fee. So it's a nice, it's really a great model, and, yeah, we're able to help a lot of people through it. Lesley Logan 29:58  That is so cool. Yeah. I mean, so you did this six years ago. Okay, so you started right before everything shut down. Like, can we just go back? Was it, what was the be it till you see it, or what would, like, the things you had to do? Because, like, my goodness, during that time, a lot of franchises could be open. A lot of franchises had, like, limitations. Did you worry that, like, this was going to all, like, be affected negatively. Like, did you see the light at the end of the tunnel? Tell me about it. Jon Ostenson 30:25  Yeah, you know, just like everything, we're all questioning what's going on there for a few weeks, but then as soon as the dust settled, I mean, the franchise deals started happening again, and people started jumping back in. They said, I want something that I can be in control of, and I really don't want to go back to the office. I really, you know, a lot of people took time to think about what they wanted to be until they saw, you know, and they said, you know, that's the time a lot of introspection, which led to a lot of people saying, maybe now's the time. If I don't jump now, when am I ever going to do it? So, you know, there's a lag effect. Some of those late adopters I'm still having calls with now. They're like, I've been thinking about this for years, and most of them are realizing there's never a perfect time to jump into business ownership. But, you know, good number of them realize, hey, now's as good of a time as ever, as ever. And yeah, for me, you know, I love what I do. I've had teams in the past of, you know, 50 employees, and you know, I can do that, but that's not what I love doing. What I love doing is working with clients. I love strategy. I love seeing business models being out there at the tip of the spear, and so I've really structured my business now. I had that vision early on that, hey, I'm going to play to my strengths and how I want to spend my time, and that's what I've built. So yeah, love our model and how I get to help people and engage with clients all day.Lesley Logan 31:35  Yeah, so in that because, like, we talked to a lot of people get really passionate. And I think what, especially when I work with studio owners, like, sometimes their passion becomes like a prison because they like, stop taking care of themselves to like, do their passion like, how do you prioritize yourself so that you can have the mindset and the wherewithal to help the people that you like to help?Jon Ostenson 31:54  Yeah, I'm probably one of the more intentional people that you'll meet in that regard. You know, I think through things in the area of five domains, you know, faith, family and relationships, but then also finances, fitness and franchising. So my 5F framework, if you will, you know, but I'm constantly evaluating and balancing, you know, how my day is spent in each of those so, you know, work out on the fitness side. You know, the trainer a couple times a week, and got my infrared sauna and cold plunge and red light and all that here in the office. And, you know, coach my kids teams, you know, teach their Sunday school. You know, try to balance everything and very blessed, very thankful for what I get to do, and that allows me to do the other things I want to do. And I will say I'm the hardest boss I've ever had. You know, business ownership isn't easy. I work myself hard, but there's so much flexibility, and I'm just thankful. I pinch myself every day having had a W2 job for many years, I could, can never imagine doing that again.Lesley Logan 32:48  Yeah, I understand that. Okay, this is a really, like personal story we had. Our health insurance company is contracted with another company. Maybe it's a franchise that, like, comes to your house to, like, do, like, your physical, which is, like, just the meetup, just the heart, the lungs, just the blood pressure, and then, like, talk to you about, like, what doctors you want to see this year. And the whole time I was like, this feels like a scam. Are you casing the joint? Like, what are? What are? I'm like, I feel like this, this is too good to be true. And then they left and my husband are just like, let's just pretend it's not a scam. How lucky are we that we could set aside the time in the middle of a workday at our home to, like, take care of our health, and then, like, go back to doing the things we love everyday. Working for yourself is, like, the hardest thing, even if you work for yourself, for your own franchise, like they're running a business is, you know, there's only so many days where there's not an obstacle. You're like, what the fuck just happened there? But when you are realizing it's all part of the plan that you set out, like when you actually got what you wanted, it is worth pinching yourself. So I love that. Thank you for sharing that. And I also we second y'all red lights, cold plunges like, work out, move your body. It makes running your business, whatever that is, so much easier.Jon Ostenson 34:07  Absolutely, absolutely, no, fully agree. Lesley Logan 34:09  What are you most excited about right now? And like, it can be like in the franchise world, or it can be in like, in your business. Like, what are you most excited about right now? Jon Ostenson 34:16  Yeah, you know, I I practice what I preach, and I love just trying new things and then bringing them to my clients. So for me, I've got my consulting practice, and then I've got all these franchises and other investments in a holding company, and I'm just, this is the nerd side of me. I'm just realizing all these different tax plays and alternative investments and how they can work together, and I'm bringing in the best of the best advisors, and, you know, really trying to level up. That was my theme last year, was level up. I'm like, am I with the best bank out there? Am I with the best concierge doctor? Am I with the best financial advisor? I identified 25 different areas, and this took time by one by one, leveled up in each of those. And said, if I'm not working with best in class, why not? And so I'm just thinking through that lens, and I think it's helping our clients to just kind of say, you know, let's get off the sidelines. Let's just forget the status quo. Like, how do we level up and get better? And you know, whether it be personally or those that we work with in every area.Lesley Logan 35:11  That's so cool. Thank you for sharing that. Because I, I think it's really easy to just keep doing the same thing, and you're like, well, this works and this works. And like, going back to that the bank that gave us SBA loan, I told my husband, I was like, well, why aren't we working with that bank? Like, why is that is not our bank? Because our bank certainly didn't help us. So why are we not with that bank? And it was like, one tiny thing, and I'm like, can we figure out a way around that one time? This seems so stupid. I want to work with a bank that's going to give me money whenever I want it. That's why, why I have a bank. It's not like they're getting interest. I'm not making any money off them. So I so I find, like, it's, it's effort to go through and figure out what that is. And then there's that change, which most people don't like, but then it's like, but then you have, like, the best of the best. So, you know, I think that's really cool.Jon Ostenson 36:01  Yeah, absolutely, you know, unfortunately, I've got the best wife, so I'm not up leveling there.Lesley Logan 36:06  That's good to know. That's good to know. Shout out to her. Okay, is there anything I didn't ask you, because this is a new topic for me, so I really want to make sure that, like, we covered all the bases that you think we needed to. Is there anything to ask you about franchising and getting into it that you want to share with us today. Jon Ostenson 36:22  Yeah, you know, I think we really hit a lot of the hot topics. You know, we're seeing more interest than we've ever seen. I think, for a variety of reasons, our biggest challenge is not lead flow, it's, it's, you know, just the opportunities. They move so fast in good markets. So I would encourage people, if anyone has an interest in exploring, there's no downside, there's no cost. I just hear testimonial after testimonial of franchising wasn't on my radar. I was looking at existing businesses. And actually, that's a good topic. A lot of our clients say hey, we've been looking for an existing business. Here's what I hear. We've been looking for four years, five years, six years. We've been under LOI, letter of intent for five companies, six companies, due diligence didn't shake out someone else outbid us. We uncovered this. And due diligence over and over again, and then they come around to franchising. They say, wait a minute, I can get into franchising without having to pay the premium of an existing business, without having to have the risk of change in ownership. I mean, you're going to lose some key employees. That just happens when you have a change in ownership. And there's so many people out there looking because you have all these talking heads on social media saying, hey, buy a business and then build it. It's like, what was the franchise system? Buy a proven model, but put your thumbprints on it from day one, and build the culture the way you want it. So I'd say that was one thing I wanted to add that just came to mind.Lesley Logan 37:36  I'm glad you brought that up, because we first, like, I work with a lot of business owners who are like, I want to sell my studio. They want to sell their business. And I'm always like, okay, well, what can we sell? Because if you are the main person, not much to sell, babe. So we have to, like, do all this work to make the business sellable. And, and I was like, and I really wish that someone had told you have to think about the exit in mind. Because you have to think about the exit in mind when you start anything everyone, but I do think that there's a lot of people in, oh, I'll just buy this one because I've seen how good it is. I like going there. And so we have this, like, almost like, attachment, but it's true, like, even if people like you, they might still leave, because people don't like change.Jon Ostenson 38:17  Yeah, and you paid a premium thinking nothing was going to change, right? So, you know, that's one of the things I love about franchising, too, is that exit in mind when you start in the beginning again, most franchises, you're not going to find many good franchise resales out there on the market, because any opportunity that's worth buying is going to be bought by another franchisee in that system, that internal M and A, as I call it, mergers and acquisitions, where franchisees buy each other's businesses, which allows for exits and allows others to expand. That's so, so common. I've got so many clients have done, I've personally done it just again, when you think about the end in mind.Lesley Logan 38:52  Yeah, okay, we're gonna take a brief break, and then we're gonna find out how people can work with you, do a call with you and see if this is what's in it for them. Lesley Logan 39:02  All right, Jon, how do people like, it's free, so they could just, like, chat with you and just see if, like, this is a good idea for them, right? Like, that's how they can work with you. How do they find you?Jon Ostenson 39:10  Yeah, come out to our website, franbridgeconsulting.com F-R-A-N bridge consulting dot com you know, share your email address. I'll send you a free digital copy of our book, Non-Food Franchising, which is a great primer to kind of get the juices flowing and help you connect the dots on franchising. And yeah, more than happy to jump on a call, just to indicate that interest when we reach out to you, and we'll jump on a 20-25, minute call, and I can give you some thoughts and get to know you a little bit better, and we can go from there. So again, entirely free to work with us. Certainly if you want to follow on LinkedIn, I put out content most days on LinkedIn. So that could be another place to find me. Lesley Logan 39:42  Oh, that's cool. LinkedIn a place that I keep saying I'm going to start printing thumbprint on. And I go in there and I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. So maybe in a maybe in a future year. You guys, I did read the book. I'm telling you, it was an it's a great read, and it really helped. It will. I think if it's for you, you'll know by reading the book, and if it's not for you, you'll know by reading the book. And I think that that's really cool. And also I just really, one of the things I'm really intentional about is like we have so many listeners, and I really want people to have I think freedom to make decisions is one of the most important ways you can be it till you see it. And having an, a way of making an income that works for you is one of the best things I could give to you guys as listeners. So thank you so much for being here. Before I let you go, Jon, you've given us so much already, but we love to give our listeners some bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps people can take to be it till they see it. What do you have for us? Jon Ostenson 40:35  Yeah, you know, I would say, here's a quote, activity breeds activity, and it's the idea. I've just seen this play out in my career, in my life. Whenever I get off the couch, off the sidelines, I start moving towards Option A or Option B. That's when option C comes out of left field. And so I think good things happen when you're in motion. That idea of activity breeding other activity. Oftentimes you don't know what's coming, but you stay active, it comes.Lesley Logan 40:55  So good. It's so good. It kind of like, ladies, my Pilates lovers, it's like a body in motion stays in motion, like it's like that, but also like we had someone else say, like, I'm, everything is everything. And when you never know what, going out and talking to someone could turn into, my husband talks to everyone at every party, and I I'm so thankful for him, because I can talk to like, five people at a party, and then I'm like, okay, that's good. I'm good. Like, but he and, you know what, we've needed some of those people. He's like, oh, there's this guy I talked to at this place and, like, so, and you just never know what those connections are. So that's a great Be It Action Item. Thank you so much, Jon. Jon Ostenson, everyone. You can get his book, go to franbridgeconsulting.com. Perfect. Go there. We'll have the link in the show notes. And, you know, share this with a friend who needs to hear it. If you had a friend who's like, I need something different, I need to change. I need a new job, like this might be the exact thing they need. And then you get to be part of that. How cool is that? So thank you, Jon. And until next time everyone, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 41:35  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 42:39  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 42:44  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 42:48  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 42:55  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 42:58  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Discover 5 game-changing money moves that transformed one educator's financial journey from underpaid teacher to thriving entrepreneur. Packed with actionable advice and motivational insights, this video is your guide to making bold financial decisions, embracing mindset shifts, and betting on yourself to achieve abundance. **KEY POINTS:** - **Real Estate Investments**: Learn how building a portfolio of properties created long-term wealth and financial stability. As the host shares, “Real estate absolutely changed the game for me.” - **Embracing Flexibility as a Digital Nomad**: Redefine success and joy by designing a life on your terms, exploring new possibilities, and experiencing profound personal growth. - **Hiring Your First Employee**: Discover how delegating tasks to a W2 employee built a stronger business foundation, allowing the host to “work smarter and focus on growth.” - **Setting Big Goals and Betting on Yourself**: Hear how setting a goal to make her business so profitable that a traditional job would lose her money created urgency and focus. “The math had to math, and by the time I graduated, my business was thriving.” - **Investing in Coaching for Rapid Growth**: Shift your mindset to see investing in growth as an essential move. “The moment I took the leap, I expedited my business growth and made my money back plus more.” With unwavering belief in your potential, the power of building community, and a commitment to investing in yourself, you can create a life beyond limits. Whether you're an educator or entrepreneur, these lessons will inspire you to take action.

Title: How to Quit Your W-2 and Never Look Back with Jamie Bateman Summary: In this episode of Raise the Bar Radio, Seth Bradley welcomes Jamie, a military veteran turned real estate and mortgage note investor, who shares his story of transitioning from a W-2 career into entrepreneurship and financial freedom. Jamie discusses the phases of his life, including collegiate sports, military service, and a long stint at the Department of Defense before pivoting to real estate and eventually mortgage note investing. He emphasizes how discipline shaped his journey and how shifting mindset, focusing on strengths, and leveraging his network were key to taking ownership of his life and finances. Jamie also dives deep into the mortgage note investing space, explaining how performing and non-performing notes work, the active nature of the business, and how he now offers passive investment opportunities for accredited investors. He closes by highlighting the importance of planning with intention, overcoming perfectionism, and using passive income to create margin and freedom in life. Links to Watch and Subscribe:  https://youtu.be/nRyX8_YA9YI Bullet Point Highlights: Discipline builds freedom - Sports, military, and entrepreneurship all instilled the value of discipline, which Jamie says is critical for success and freedom. W-2 life wasn't the path - Jamie recognized through his commute and stagnant career trajectory that he didn't want to follow the traditional path, sparking his exit plan. Mindset shift was essential - He stopped consuming negative news and started focusing on education and his strengths to shift into entrepreneurship. Mortgage note investing explained - Performing notes offer cash flow while non-performing notes offer the chance to add value, akin to fix and flips. However, both are active businesses, not passive. Passive income fuels risk-taking - Creating passive income streams allowed Jamie to take entrepreneurial risks while maintaining financial security. Action beats perfection - As an entrepreneur, chasing perfection isn't practical. Done is better than perfect. Reverse planning drives clarity - Backwards planning from a vivid vision 3-5 years into the future increases urgency and helps set clear, intentional actions. Final advice - Start by investing passively to learn, and later you can decide whether to become active. Don't underestimate the transferable skills you already possess. Transcript: (Seth Bradley) (00:02.062) What's up, builders? This is Raise the Bar Radio, where we talk about building wealth, raising capital, and all in all, raising the bar in your business and your life. This is the No BS podcast for capital raisers, investors, and entrepreneurs who are serious about scaling their business and living life on their own terms. I'm Seth Bradley, securities attorney, real estate investor, and entrepreneur, bringing you world-class strategies from the best in the game.   If you're ready to raise more capital, close bigger deals, build a better you and create true financial freedom, you're in the right place. Let's go. Jamie, what's going on, brother? Welcome to the show.   Thanks Seth, is awesome. I'm excited to be here and I'm hoping to add some value.   Absolutely, man. Third time's a charm. We've been trying to get this scheduled after I was on your show, which was fantastic. Had a really good time on that show and I think it turned out pretty good. I know we're going to deliver on this one as well.   Yeah, we're gonna try to try to I'll try to do as good a job as you did. So yeah, was that was a yeah, no, I that was a very, very good episode from adversity to abundance. highly recommend your your listeners check that one out to your episode on that show. So thanks for thanks for doing that.   (Seth Bradley) (01:20.086) Absolutely, man. You're an incredible interviewer. I've net, that's the only, I've been on dozens of podcasts and, you know, you pulled out a lot of things for me that I've, I've never talked about on the air. So it's pretty, pretty awesome. Pretty awesome show, man.   Appreciate that.   Cool man, well let's just jump right into your background man. What's your story? Take it back as far as you'd like to brother.   Yeah. Man, I'd like to think that life has phases. So I've had a few different phases in my life. I come from a large family. I'm the oldest of seven kids and we always had a competitive background as far as team sports and things like that. So I played lacrosse in college. That was always a foundational piece of my life and just kind of   think from there learned how to be a part of something bigger than myself and how to work toward a common goal with a with a team. So that's been something that's been a kind of a thread through my life and then got married and joined the military and actually joined the military technically before I got married, but seemed like I got married and then ran off and ran away from my wife. But it's not exactly what happened. But   (Jamie Bateman) (02:36.02) I joined the military, was an officer in the US Army. I did miss my first three wedding anniversaries through deployment and things like that. And again, it was a matter of trying to be plugged into something, you know, to serve and be a part of something bigger than myself and trying to add value like I think we all want to do. I've obviously glossed over a lot of details, but those were a couple of inflection points, I guess, if you will, like you like to talk about, I know.   And so my military career transitioned into a career with the Department of Defense as a civilian, and did 14 years as a civilian with DoD at Fort Meade. And the first half, so the first seven, for all you math wizards out there, was full time. And then the second half, the second seven years was part time. And that   seven years is when I was really building my businesses, which are largely real estate investing and mortgage note investing focus. So we can get into the details there. And then in 2022, I ended up quitting my job and now I have a few different small businesses that I run. And like you, Seth, I've got a lot of different things that I'm juggling and   You know, so, but yeah, I love talking about taking ownership of your financial situation and taking ownership of your life really. And I know that you and I have that in common. So yeah, that's a high level overview of my background.   Awesome, man. I appreciate that. There's a lot to unpack there. You know, going back to playing sports all the way up to the collegiate level, that's incredible. I always like to think even playing like popcorn or football back in the day, you need a way to instill discipline in yourself. And that's kind of the oldest memory I can think of where it was hard, right? Like it was like you've got a coach screaming at you.   (Seth Bradley) (04:38.134) Like back in the day, it's like, you know, they wouldn't give you water unless you like, you know, for like an hour, which I don't think they do that anymore now. But, you you had to earn that drink of water and all those sorts of things. But you you really learned what it's like to work hard and you really learned what discipline was all about. And I would say that and you can you can expand on this. But I would say that, you know, being in the military yourself, that takes it to a whole new level.   Right. It's like you got that from sports. You got that from the military.   Yeah, definitely. I mean, obviously, they're very different in a lot of ways. But that is certainly a common theme is being disciplined. And people, people shy away from that word, because it just sounds like work or no fun and no flexibility. But I found that having discipline in your life ends up adding more freedom in a sense, because you kind of have your foundational pieces set in stone, you don't have to think about those. And so, yeah, regarding   team sports, it's really a matter of, you know, everyone doing their part, right. And so there's a level of individual discipline and, and then just, and then also just kind of putting the putting the group ahead of yourself. Obviously, you know, you want individual, there's nothing wrong with individual accolades. And I was certainly chasing, you know, those individual accolades. It's not something I shied away from, I was definitely was wrapped up in   trying to be an All-American and that kind of thing. And did get that a couple of times, you know, but at the end of the day, nobody really cares about that. And the way I viewed it was if I was doing my part, and I got those, you if I was scoring goals in lacrosse, as an example, that means I'm contributing to, you know, to the team, right. And so there's obviously a fine line there, but of going too far, either way. But yeah, that discipline is critical.   (Jamie Bateman) (06:36.73) you know, even it's certain I played at a high level in college and there was year round your training your your your into it. It was a division three school but it but the reality was we worked just as hard as any any D one program and yeah, it's it's a these are skills that have paid off and are absolutely transferable to the rest of life.   For sure. Yeah, I think you've got to get those intangible things. You've got to develop them somewhere along the way, whatever that is, if that's sports or the military or from your parents. mean, you can get it from different places, but you definitely need it. I mean, we're in different stages of our life at this point. talking about a lot. We talk about freedom and flexibility and fun to try to get away from kind of the W-2 mindset.   But in order to achieve freedom, flexibility and fun in a successful way, have to be disciplined to be able to get there. You had to have done something successfully to be able to get there or maybe what separates you from the guy living in a van down by the river. That guy has freedom and flexibility. I don't know about fun, maybe fun, but it's a different, obviously it's a different outcome.   Yeah, and I, I think I still need, you I still use a lot of discipline today. It's still, still required, but it's, I guess it's self imposed. And, you know, I just love, love having that flexibility and that freedom that comes along with being an entrepreneur. So yeah, it's been a central piece to my success for sure. But I still, I don't think it ever, you know, goes away. I just get to pick and choose what, you know, what discipline I want to   kind of enforce on myself, I guess. So yeah, absolutely. And as you said, the military was a huge part of that for me as well. I mean, that's a different kind of, different kind of discipline and different kind of teamwork and different, you know, if you lose the lacrosse game, okay, you lost the lacrosse game, but military the stakes are a little higher. So maybe certain things are more important attention to detail or critic is critical and   (Jamie Bateman) (08:53.73) But at the end of the day, it's, the same principles apply across both, I guess, sectors, if you will.   For sure. So let's dive into that transition. You started working kind of part-time there for seven years, so that seems like a transitional period. How were you able to progress from that W2? And what I've heard you say is call yourself a W2 quitter. I love that. How were you able to progress from a W2 person to a W2 quitter? What enabled you to do that and what that transition looked like?   I mean, you know, I do remember in 2015, probably a little bit maybe maybe say 2014. But I just you get, you know, I had a wife and two kids and I had the commute the long commute that I know a lot of people can identify with. So it just was Groundhog Day was the same thing over and over and over. And that's not me sitting here complaining about my family or having having the opportunity to work.   But after a while, it gets old. Let's just be real, right? So it's like you're sitting in traffic and I just, you start looking at, you know, I worked for the government and you look around and you say, who, okay, who's sort of ahead of me on this? Like you, like I think you probably mentioned on our, on your, your show and my, show, your episode, you look around to the people who are more kind of further along the path than you. You say, do you want to be that person? Is that the life you want? And man, I did not want that.   And it just just having that just super long term just you know, pot at the end of the rainbow, I guess, nothing driving me in the interim, man, it was it was just it was brutal. So I probably did a little woes me for a little bit there a little victim mentality for a bit. But then you start to realize, like, okay, if you don't take ownership of your own life, no one's going to right. So   (Jamie Bateman) (10:54.934) No one's going to come in and do this for you. So I'm not sure what truly, you know, created the change in my mindset, but my mindset absolutely started to change and it just made a shift. And I, and I stopped watching cable news. I stopped, just, you know, stop paying attention to all the things that I can't control. And I couldn't control back then and, and started saying, no, what do I have? What are my strengths? Who is in my, who's back to the team thing.   who's on my team, who's in my network that I can add value to and who can add value to me. So I started looking around and my father was a realtor for many years. My brother was a loan officer. We had one rental property at the time. I had worked at, I didn't mention, I worked at a title company and I worked for a mortgage broker before as well briefly. So I had this experience that a lot of people don't have and that's   you know, that doesn't mean I'm better than anyone. It just means these are my strengths. So let's point to that. And let's use that. So I started really being intentional about focusing on my strengths and my assets that I had in my life, right. And then another asset that I used to see as a liability was the time in the car. So I started listening to podcasts. you know, and then it turned into wait, I don't even want to go into work yet. Because this this podcast episode is amazing. And I'm learning so much.   know, bigger pockets and all the other real estate podcasts and different investing podcasts and started using that mental bandwidth instead of focusing on national media stories that I have zero influence over. Here's something that I can actually take action on. And so in mid 2015, I went part time and it just so happens that at   DoD is one of the few agencies in the in federal government where you can go part time and still keep your benefits. So I still had health insurance for my family. You know, most people don't have that option necessarily, but well, I did. So that's what I did. And, and, you know, that's, again, decided to decide to start building my my other streams of income outside of my W two.   (Jamie Bateman) (13:15.752) my circumstances been different if I was single, I probably would have just quit the whole thing, right? But I was able to have that kind of laddered approach, I guess, or tiered approach to kind of ripping off the bandaid.   Yeah, yeah, no, that's awesome. I love just the idea of taking ownership of your life, right? Like everybody has those moments where they're feeling sorry for themselves. But the successful people, they don't sit there and stay in that mindset. They move on. You're going to be there sometimes where you've got to get out of it. You got to say, OK, what can I control? What can I change? And you don't say you don't give other people the power to control.   you and your mindset and how you feel about your life. Right. Like that's that's that's the thing. Like if you you're constantly blaming someone else or saying this happened to me rather than what can I do to get myself out of it, then you're going to be stuck there forever. You're going to be absolutely going to be spinning your wheels forever. And a lot of that, I think, helps because you said you don't listen. You don't watch the news. I don't either. No, it's a waste of time. What control? What does that do for us? If I do watch it.   I literally do it for entertainment and you look at it as an entertain. I look at it like I'm watching. I look at it like this is funny. Like I can, you know what I mean? You kind of analyze it like, this is funny. This guy's saying this in a debate. Right. This guy's saying that it's not taking it as a news and this is how I should live my life because of what they're saying.   sports almost.   (Jamie Bateman) (14:43.341) Fact.   (Jamie Bateman) (14:48.078) Absolutely. And it's not to say that none of these topics are important, mean, global war, politics, poverty, global warming, whatever, it's all very important, but I have zero control over it, almost zero, right? And then the other thing is fear sells and that's what they're selling. And so it doesn't mean that every story is invented and it's all fake news, but it's   it just doesn't serve me. And so I'd rather focus on, you know, go ground up and kind of just, I see it in people, maybe older people in my own life now who maybe are retired and they watch the news all day. And it's like, they won't travel because they saw a news story that the airports are packed or something. And, you know, it's, I'm sure that story was, was accurate, right. But it, but the, but the news can filter out and you end up only focusing on   the negative really, and it just didn't serve me. yeah, during that lot, the second seven years, I was able to build out my wife and I were doing single family real estate investing and doing a lot of the BRRRR method that maybe some of your audience is familiar with. And so kind of putting that capital back into the rental property machine and expanding our portfolio. And then eventually last year, well, and   2018, made the pivot, I kept the rental properties, but made a pivot to also add on mortgage note investing. And that's been my primary focus as of late. And if you want, can tell the story quickly about how I actually quit my job in 2022. I think it's kind of a funny one.   Absolutely, let's do it.   (Jamie Bateman) (16:38.318) All right. So, I, so I, two years ago, I was playing badminton and, I'd been doing now, mind you, I used to be like tough, you know, athlete. And like I did, you know, did jujitsu for three years right up before this. And, know, I used to lift weights a lot and still do it here and there, but, you know, I think I'm tough. Right. And,   ruptured my Achilles playing badminton. So that's an ego blow to add on to the physical pain that you know, especially with the recovery. So rupture my Achilles a little over two years ago today and I was out of work, it was my right right foot. And the reason I bring this up is not for sympathy, but to say, you know, I couldn't drive for three months. So I actually, yeah, and I had tons of leave from from work and   By this time, I was tired, really tired of my, I was pretty much checked out. Like I think you, might've been at your, your big law job, but I was, I was checked out. mean, I wasn't the best employee at this point. And so I took as much leave as I, as I could, you know, reasonably right. And so, but couldn't drive. And so I was out for three months and I come back. So come back into work and I'd had discussions with my wife about, about leaving. was just a matter of, of when, not if.   That's right   (Jamie Bateman) (18:04.43) I can tell you truthfully, I had no idea that I was going to quit this day, but I came back in from having been out for three months. Mind you, no one gave me a call. No one from work, no one from my management gave me a call the entire three months I was out, other than to say, to ask me, are you vaccinated? Because you have to be vaccinated to be, to get inside the building. Now, I don't want this to turn into some controversial vaccine discussion.   or get your podcast banned from something but yes, I'd been vaccinated to answer the question. But no one asked me how's your how's your recovery going? Like how you what do you you know, how's your life? You know, what's it's just are you vaccinated, you need to get that shot before you come in? Okay, great. Thanks. I really feel welcome here. So I'm already just, you know, you know what, screw this place, right? Come back in and just   go to my desk, and this is this is an office space kind of thing where I go to my desk and there's some there's an Air Force kid at my desk and long story short, they kind of moved me somewhere else without telling me I can't find my desk, I finally find it, it's got a box with my name on it with, you know, monitors sideways and all and clearly not a functioning desk and, you know, office space. So I literally quit that day. And I just say that it's just like,   I knew 100 % I was done. My wife didn't know I quit, but I quit that day. Still worked for another month or two, but there was no question, zero question in my mind, I'm done with this place. So that was March of 2022. And ever since then, I've just focused on building out my businesses and having look back.   That's awesome. Sometimes you just know, right? Like sometimes it's done. You just knew. I love that story, man. For me, it was a little bit. You already know the story, but for me, it was a little bit more of someone else's decision. I got fired. mean, and you mentioned that, you you weren't the best employee at that point. Correct. I knew the same thing. And it's great to have awareness and perspective and kind of looking back now, you're like, I would have done the same thing. Like this guy doesn't want to be here.   (Seth Bradley) (20:21.292) His output isn't what it should be. Like, he's got to go. mean, he's not the best employee. And as a business owner now, I have really good perspective of that and seeing that. And they were doing me a favor by being like, hey, your heart's not in it, it? And I'm like, no, it's not.   It's not. Yeah. The reality is for me, it's really hard to work. know, once you go part time, I mean, I knew I was casting a vote against my career progression there. So as soon as I went part time in 2015, I wasn't saying I'm in this for the long haul guys. This is this is my focus. You know, it's the writing's somewhat on the wall. Looking back, it's almost surprising. I lasted as long as I did. But so, yeah, haven't looked back and just loved love the entrepreneurial   you know, day to day and freedom that you alluded to and just the multiple streams of income and certainly has its challenges. I probably work harder now than ever than I ever have. But it's by choice. So I love it.   Exactly. Same here, man. mean, it's, you my days are long. I mean, I get up way before I used to get up when I had a 95. I worked past when I would have worked a 95 and definitely more hours. But when you're doing it for yourself and you're doing it because you're working towards something that you believe in, it doesn't feel like you're putting that much time in.   Definitely. I wake up early. A lot of days not on purpose is because I'm just excited to get cracking.   (Seth Bradley) (21:55.886) So, yeah. absolutely. Yeah. Well, let's kind of get into your current business. I know you mentioned that you focused on your strengths and your assets. Yeah. And, you know, I think it's important. just say it's important to take an inventory of what your strengths are when you're kind of considering going into something else, because a lot of our listeners are attorneys, they're doctors, folks like that. They kind of feel like maybe they're pigeonholed, right? Like, well, if I'm not an attorney, what the hell else can I do?   Right. And like, I don't know anything about real estate investing or node investing or starting a business or anything like that. But if you really take a step back, you probably have a lot of skills that you've learned and honed in your career that you can use for something else moving forward. And that was that's what you were able to   to do. Definitely. And one thing I'd say is that, you know, one thing that's always comforting for me is nobody knows everything, right? So you can always find somebody who knows more than you in a certain area. You know, there's one quote about every man is my superior in something, right? So basically, it gives me a lot of comfort to know, like, just because an attorney listening to your show knows a   way more than I do about a particular topic and probably many, many other topics. That doesn't mean I'm less of a person or you know, I don't know more than that attorney does in another area. So it's okay, I'm never going to know everything. There are other people who've already figured it out. So you know, that's, that's always comforting to me is to when I say look to your strengths, it's also looking to the people in your network who know, it can help you get to where you want to go. So yeah, I mean,   So many things we take for granted that we do know. you know, example, when I started working at a title company, fresh out of college, because it was my first real job, and it paid, you know, a salary. I realized quickly how little I knew about title insurance settlements, you know, just just basic stuff. Now looking back, pretty basic stuff. But you don't know that unless you work for a title company, or you're heavily involved in this, you don't you're not.   (Jamie Bateman) (24:10.03) trained in that in school typically, right? So, you know, you forget and so your your listener out there, the attorney, the doctor, guarantee they have a lot of life experience, not just from their professional world, but just life experience that they shouldn't take for granted. And the fact that you can go through law school and then be, you know, be an effective attorney, or go through medical school and be an effective doctor, that that means you you can learn things, right? And so   Again, I'll go back to life as seasons. I mean, you've shown that in your own story, Seth, like, you know, it's a, doesn't mean just because I started a certain business doesn't mean that's going to be what I'm going to be doing for the next 20 years, or just because I'm an attorney now, it doesn't mean that's what I have to do for the rest of my life. So we always have options. mean, you might look back and wish you'd done something differently or something, but you only have one chance at this. And so,   you know, just make the most of it and just keep, think, keep learning constantly is critical. I just hired a business coach, we've had one call. But one of his mottos is, you know, one of his sayings is that he's always he's in permanent beta. So he's always changing, always improving, he's always growing. So I'm trying to trying to implement that as well.   (Seth Bradley) (25:40.64) the interruption, but we don't do ads. Instead, know that if you're raising capital for real estate, my law firm, RaiseLaw, is here to give you the expert legal guidance you need to raise capital compliantly and structure and close your deal. And if you're looking for a done-for-you fund-to-fund solution, Tribest is the industry's only all-in-one setup and fund administration solution. Visit Raise.Law and Tribest.com to learn more.   Yeah, I love that permanent beta. I haven't heard that before, but I like that. I like that phrase. like that phrase. So tell me about your current business. Tell me about MortgageNode Investing. Start with the basics. What is it?   Yeah, so and, and I'll try to keep it, there's so much to it. But again, none of it is difficult. It's just a lot of moving parts and you've got to, you know, takes time to learn. We buy debt, so we buy a mortgage note, and that could be performing or non performing. The real high level version is, is a performing note is kind of like a long term buy and hold rental property.   but you're buying the debt and becoming the lender, becoming the bank, if you will. And so you're buying that performing note for cashflow. So I buy a performing note, the borrower now pays me through a loan servicer and I get monthly payments. So that's a great way to go. The problem with that is you can't really add value to that asset very well. You're kind of, it is what it is. And in fact, with mortgage notes, the value actually goes down over time, generally speaking, because   principal balance goes down. So it's just, it's worth less than, you know, then, you know, then it would then it was when you bought it. Then on the other side, the non performing side of things, we buy those as well. And those are more like a fix and flip property. So although we're still buying the debt, we're not buying the property. But there's a chance to add value, there's an opportunity to buy distressed asset and add value to that asset and then sell that that non performing note, either well,   (Jamie Bateman) (27:49.826) I should say sell that asset, whether that's as a re performing note, or as through the the real estate itself, there are a few different ways you can exit a non performing note deal. And but, but back to your kind of one of the themes thus far, one of the reasons I got into specifically that space was that I understood the real estate space. So I understood the single family, residential real estate space. So it wasn't a huge leap for me to go from   owning the property to now owning the debt on that property. Whereas it would have been a lot bigger leap for me to say, I to start buying distressed, you know, multifamily debt, which I know you could probably help me understand better. But at that, you know, it's like, incremental progress and change isn't that scary. So I kind of expanded my, you know, toolbox, if you will.   and got into the mortgage note space. So we have a couple of note funds. One is open currently and they're all for accredited investors. the income fund that's open pays a monthly, aims to pay a monthly preferred return. I know you and a lot of your listeners are attorneys, so I gotta hold the line here. And...   So the fund is structured to pay, to aim to pay a monthly return of 8%. It's not a, there's no growth in that fund. It's literally a cashflow play and diversification play. You're putting your capital in. We buy assets across the country. We've bought notes in probably 25 states at this point. And so the investment is diversified across geographic areas, across borrower types.   And we buy for a certain yield, we take a small management fee, and then we ideally pay the preferred return that we're aiming for to our investors.   (Seth Bradley) (29:56.686) Yeah, nice. 506c, you're able to talk about it. It's a credit investors only. Just want to that out there. yeah, I mean, so just going back to the basics a little bit and we'll get back into the fun. Like, how do you, how do you even find these things? mean, yeah, that's, how do you get started? How do you find these things?   So I mean, that is an ongoing challenge. I'm not going to lie to you. That's one of the things that truthfully a passive investor who doesn't have time to develop the network to go find these assets, they're just not going to have success. They might here and there, but it takes time. It's a word of mouth industry, just like real estate itself is. so we've built out a network of sellers and that could be   quite honestly, I've never had luck buying directly from banks. It's really either a larger Mortgage Note fund that's closing. So it might be a three year fund and then they've got to, they've got to liquidate, they've got to figure out how to sell off what to do with these assets. And so that's a great opportunity to buy is just a fund that's closing or somebody a note investor who's getting out of note investing or they've had a life change or something, you know, where   they just, there's an opportunity to buy from them as well. And so there are other, you know, I guess we buy from hedge funds, note investors, other note funds. There are also note brokers as well out there. There are also some online exchanges like paper stack and a couple of others that you can go and I've bought and sold on paper stack and other exchanges as well.   And you can find assets there. But at the end of the day, have our list of people that we work with regularly. And I would say one thing is that doing due diligence on a note seller is just as important as due diligence on the assets that they're selling. And so it's taken some work and it's a work in progress always. But it is the million dollar question is where do find these assets?   (Seth Bradley) (32:12.598) Yeah. So that's the hard part, right? Finding these assets is the hard part. Have you ever had to foreclose on any of these notes and actually acquire the property? And I guess a follow-up question is, do you ever look at a non-performing note like, hey, I actually want to own that property?   So, great questions. Yeah, great questions. To be clear, we're not trying to kick people, you know, grandma out on onto the street or anything like that. You know, that's not our goal typically. Well, that's never our goal. But we're never trying to kick someone out of their home. But the reality is, some people honestly need a little bit of a kick in the pants. And oftentimes, that's not really the best them staying in the house is not often   the best scenario for them. know that might sound harsh, but at end of the day, if someone can't afford to live somewhere, sometimes these people are living in squalor and they really need a change of environment. To answer your question about do we target the property? Yes, sometimes we do. In fact, we just closed on to, they're called heckum loans or reverse mortgages, where the borrowers are deceased. The property is underwater, meaning, you know,   the loan amount is higher, than the property value. And it should be a quick exit through the property. So HUD will sell off these big pools of reverse mortgages. And we were able to purchase two of them very recently. It's a vacant property, you're not doing an eviction, borrower is deceased, you've got to work through the heirs or foreclosure and exit the property that way.   If your listener wants to go to my website, I've got a really good Jacksonville blog post, I've got a couple of blog posts about this deal. I still hold this rental today. And it was a non performing note that we purchased a few years ago. And I had no intention of exiting through the property or holding, holding the property as a rental property, but running the numbers, it just was too good to, to let go. so long story, but we, we   (Jamie Bateman) (34:22.51) ended up doing a deed in lieu of foreclosure actually in this case and got the property back and now it's a long-term buy and hold property for my own rental portfolio.   Yeah, that makes sense. It makes sense. There's always multiple ways to look at an investment, right? But it does sound, you know, it's not something that I've executed on myself, but it sounds like this is an active business, right? And that's why you've put together an income fund for people that want to get involved passively. as everybody knows, there's active investments, there's passive investments. If you're to do something active.   Maybe your returns are going to be a little bit better, but you're going to give up a lot of time and effort to get those returns. So if you want to go the passive side, if you're still full-time in your career, you're a full-time doctor or lawyer or whatever you are, these passive investments are the way to go without having to know every single detail about a new business.   Yeah, and I don't know if you can see this, but I wear this specifically for your for this   There it is. There it is.   (Jamie Bateman) (35:29.272) Passive income. You're absolutely right. You know, these gurus, some of the some of the note investing gurus out there will try to sell, you know, notes as passive. We have another blog post that talks about just the it's a spectrum, there's active and passive on either end. But at end of the day, if you're going to note investing in my world is very, very active. And we have a non performing note fund that's considerably more active than the performing note fund. So   You're dealing with foreclosures, bankruptcies, deed and loo, tracking delinquent property taxes. Do I have to physically go anywhere? No, but it is not passive. But that's why we offer the passive investment for people who, like you said, have maybe more capital than time or energy, and they want to put that capital to work.   That's right. There are certain gurus out there that, know, whatever it is that they are pitching, they tend to always pitch it as passive, even though it is an active business, that's money. Whether that's a mortgage note or I mean, people will pitch Airbnb short term rentals as passive. They're like, well, you can delegate this and you can, you know, you can automate that and there's software for all these things. But you still got to put all that stuff together.   Mm-mm.   (Seth Bradley) (36:48.396) You've still got to monitor all those things. still got to oversee all these different aspects of a business. And that's what it is. It's a business that you're running and it's not passive. Like, it's not, it's not. And it is on a spectrum. Some things are more passive than others, but when you're investing in, you know, as a passive investor into some sort of a fund or syndication, that's really leaning really far into the passive side.   Absolutely, 100%. And I'm, as you are, Seth, I'm, I assume you are, I know you're an active investor, but I do have passive investments myself in other, other funds, other note funds, and, and my own, my own note funds as well. And so nothing wrong with doing both, but I would say you need to be careful about, you know, you got to make a decision at some point, do you want to scale this thing and make this really a business? Or do you do you are you satisfied with?   potentially a little bit lower return and you are giving up some control but much, you know, much fewer headaches and just a lot less work.   Right. Yeah. And a lot of, you know, lot of the listeners are high income earning professionals. So they've already dedicated, put a lot of time and effort into being able to earn this much money from their W2. And that's probably your best bet, to be honest with you. I've been there. I was in those shoes. You're probably better off putting your head down and like, let's grind for a few years. Let's not spend every single dollar that we make on all the new stuff on a new car every two years or every year.   in a bigger house that you don't need. Like, let's set aside some of that and invest it passively. And then maybe one of those will stick. Maybe one of those passive investments will be a mortgage no fund where you're like, man, I kind of like this business. I like the sound of it. I've learned about it. And then you start maybe progressing on the active side and maybe that takes over. And you want to get into that as a business, as an entrepreneur. But a great way to kind of dip your toe in the water is to become a passive investor. That's the way that I did it in the,   (Seth Bradley) (38:53.186) multifamily syndications. invested passively in a number of deals first and kind of learned about it, learned the ropes and I'm like, I can do this. And then that's when I made the transition.   Yeah, definitely. It really comes down to what your goals are and what your situation is, for sure. I'll say I was too passive initially when I went into notes, because personally, just don't... You were probably a little better student, Seth. Not that I was a bad student, I invest... Unless I'm actively investing, I'm just not going to learn a lot. So the reality is, yeah, it's fine to learn about the asset class. You definitely should learn about the operator for sure.   you're putting capital with them, but you're not going to once you're getting your checks and your disbursements, you're not going to probably learn a whole lot about how to do that on the active side. And so that's what we're here for.   Yeah, yeah, it's more of like a spark of an interest, right? Like maybe you already have that spark and then you invest passively. Then you're like, OK, well, now I'm invested. Like, let me learn about this. And you have to have to actively go out there and educate yourself and network and talk to people that are in the business.   Definitely, 100%.   (Seth Bradley) (40:01.71) Alright man, before we jump into the Freedom Four, you have one last golden nugget for our listeners.   Oh, I would say within when it comes to investing, you know, take the long term view. Don't chase immediate returns. You know, I do think just, yeah, it's certainly we all want to make a million dollars tomorrow. But I think it's it's a play the long game when it comes to investing. I think that's critical.   Love that man. All right, let's jump into the freedom form. What's the best thing you do to keep your mind and body healthy?   Yeah, I mean, one thing that I instituted this year, actually, is breathwork. And it's, you know, it's so it takes 10 minutes. And per day for me, at least. And it's been phenomenal. And it's something that quite honestly, as a, as a, you know, athlete back in the day, or even in the military, I would have scoffed at something like this, to be honest with you, because it's just, you know, it's not manly or whatever. And it's like, it is phenomenal. So breathwork,   I mean, I do other things for sure. But that's certainly this year, it's been a game changer for me. I just feel like it resets my central nervous system. It just gets me focused. And I know there are other physiological benefits that you can ask Dr. Andrew Huberman or somebody else about.   (Seth Bradley) (41:26.153) Cool. I'll have to look into that. actually have it. mean, obviously everybody talks about it's a hot topic. Yeah. I haven't gotten into it. I haven't gotten into that plus like the cold plunges and that sort of thing. Yeah. But I really want to want to   So I don't know how much you can cut this out if we don't have time, but I had a, I'm just going to be, be open about this. I just had a, you know, in late December, I got a viral infection, like a neurovirus. And then I had, I had a, what I think was a pretty severe panic attack and it was super scary. And so that's why I started doing this. And somebody on my team actually sent me a, I guess we'll call it an implement or a tool that   I use for the breath work. It's blue. There's a Bluetooth connection to your phone and it's pretty cool. So it's structured and back to that discipline, right? But yeah, so it's, there was a reason I started doing it and it's, it's so accessible in five to 10 minutes a day. You can start doing it. So I recommend. Cool.   Thanks for sharing that man. With all your success, what is one limiting belief that you've crushed along the way and how did you get past it?   I think just, you know, being afraid to, you know, that you have to be perfect, right? So I used to be an editor back in the day. And so many things would just not get done or not get completed within our team, our organization, because it had to be perfect. And it's like, I think as I've progressed into more of the entrepreneurial lifestyle and   (Jamie Bateman) (43:02.35) is just it's not a it's not an option anymore. So yeah, I think just taking action has kind of overcome that limiting belief of chasing perfection.   Yeah, I can agree with you there. Done not perfect. Yes. My background as an attorney, mean, we're paid to be perfect. We can't make mistakes, especially in contracts and the way that we write things. But when you make that transition over to being an entrepreneur, there's too much to do to be perfect. You just got to get it done. Good enough.   Absolutely. Good enough. You have to be willing to accept that for sure.   What's one actionable step our listeners can do right now to start creating more freedom?   I'll use the military here, which is where I learned kind of reverse backwards planning, reverse planning. literally just, and I'm not going to tell you I'm perfect at this, but, you know, think about what, create a vivid vision for your life in the next three to five years, pick it, pick three years out from today. And what do you want your life to look like? And then backwards plan. And now I'm not saying you need to plan every minute of every day, but   (Jamie Bateman) (44:20.876) you can be that will that will increase the urgency, sense of urgency in your life and the intentionality of every every hour and every day because you realize this is doable, but I got to take ownership of my current situation if I want this to be the reality in three years. So I would say, create a vivid vision and and kind of reverse or backwards plan to get there.   Perfect, perfect. Last but not least, House Passive Income made your life better.   Yeah, I mean, I think in multiple ways, but a big one that stands out is giving me, I guess we'll call it margin to take some more risks on the entrepreneurial side. And because I do have alternative sources of income, passive income, it's allowed me that kind of mental and financial bandwidth or margin to maybe invest in a company that even if it   doesn't go perfectly, or doesn't go well, it's not profitable, that's okay. I still have that cushion for me and my family. that's, yeah, it's a huge, it's been a huge factor in that regard.   Yeah, absolutely. Game changer, man. It just changes your mindset, changes your life in so many ways. Jamie, this has been incredible, dude. You've got so much great content to share in your brain, man. You got to get out there. know you've got an awesome podcast that I was on, Adversity to Abundance. Everybody should check that out. Other than that, Jamie, where else can people find out more about you? Yeah.   (Jamie Bateman) (45:54.924) Just two things I'll mention very quickly. Literally got my book delivered today, like an hour before I hopped on here. It's from adversity to abundance. It is based on the podcast. So I encourage your listener to check that out from adversity to abundance is the book that's out. then labradorlending.com, L A B R A D O R.com is where you can check us out.   All right, man. Awesome. I'll drop all that in the show notes. Thanks again for coming on, brother.   Thanks for having me, Seth. This has been great.   (Seth Bradley) (46:26.978) Thanks for tuning in to Raise the Bar Radio. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Keep pushing, keep building, and keep raising the bar. Until next time, enjoy the journey. Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: Seth Bradley's Links: https://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en Jamie Bateman's Links: https://x.com/batemanjames https://www.facebook.com/batemanjames https://www.threads.com/@batemanjames11?xmt=AQF0nwaIL6JD_GK94lbTvHphHOmWwlUyt3TkeHLav-vXU_E https://www.instagram.com/batemanjames11/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-bateman-5359a811/ https://labradorlending.com/about/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-adversity-to-abundance/id1618672867 https://open.spotify.com/show/7JjGWsKVzzEI8UwXP9GONZ https://www.youtube.com/@FromAdversity2AbundancePodcast

Scrappy ABM host Mason Cosby sits down with Nick Bennett on 1,000 Routes and tells the story behind a “little teeny tiny side hustle” that became “sold a million bucks” and then “another million” within months. Starting with a $25,000 win in March 2023 and a $150,000 deal that “backed out,” Mason lays out “project revenue,” the activation playbook, an $80,000 annual contract, and why “less is more” with “two service lines.” It's all inbound from LinkedIn and a podcast, plus “speaking engagements,” saying yes to interviews, and an “absurd number of webinars”—including 60 podcast interviews and 18 webinars in ~60 days that created over $2 million in pipeline.He gets “shockingly honest” about 120 hour weeks, a postpartum spouse editing podcasts, firing seven contractors, moving to W2s, and then learning seasonality and sales cycles. Mason explains why a debt free approach matters, how he's scaling out for a two-month paternity leave, and why he turned down six to seven million to stay focused on a mission: equip a million marketers with repeatable account-based playbooks by January 2035.Nick Bennett — host of 1,000 Routes. In this conversation, Nick steers the candid discussion on solopreneurship, scaling, contractors vs. W2, and the shift from “Mason the marketer” to “Mason the CEO.”

In this episode, Harry interviews Daniel and Andres Munoz, co-founders of Tower Mobility. They discuss their extensive backgrounds in global strategy, operations, and last-mile logistics, as well as how they launched Tower Mobility during the pandemic with a focus on wheelchair accessible vehicles. The conversation delves into Tower Mobility's operational model, including its fleet of over 600 vehicles, primarily electric, and workforce of 2,000 W2 employees. Key topics include their partnerships with Uber and Waymo, the advantages and challenges of managing a large EV fleet, and how they are preparing for an autonomous vehicle future. The episode wraps up with insights on safety training, driver coaching, and the potential for human-powered services in the evolving mobility market. Check out Terawatt here for more information: https://www.terawattinfrastructure.com/   0:00 Who are the founders of Tower Mobility and how did the company begin? 02:59 How did Tower Mobility get started during the pandemic? 04:13 What is the W2 driver model and how does it work? 06:43 What types of drivers does Tower Mobility recruit and how do they find them? 13:27 How does Tower Mobility partner with Uber? 20:00 What safety and insurance measures are in place? 21:38 Why is adhering to speed limits so important? 22:16 How does the hourly pay model compare to being an independent contractor? 23:16 What are the main challenges of managing a fleet? 26:28 How are electric vehicles being used in fleet operations? 28:41 What cost benefits come with electric vehicles? 32:18 What does the charging infrastructure for EV fleets look like? 34:07 How might autonomous vehicles shape the future of fleet management? 39:20 What are the final thoughts and takeaways from the discussion?   Daniel's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-munoz-gmvp/ Andres' LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andres-munoz-0278926/

In this episode of The Modern Hairstylist Podcast, host Hunter Donia sits down with Michelle Cook CPA to clarify what the so called Big Beautiful Bill actually changes for beauty professionals. If you have heard conflicting takes on tip taxation, entity status, and year end reporting, this conversation gives you straight facts on what is in the final law and how to prepare your business for it. Whether you are a W2 employee, a booth renter filing Schedule C, or an S corp owner, you will learn what qualifies, what does not, and what documentation you will need so your records match what the IRS expects in 2025. You will also hear which other provisions may help or hurt your bottom line this year so you can plan with your accountant before deadlines hit. Key Takeaways:

Get my new book: https://bronsonequity.com/fireyourselfDownload my new special report - How to Use Inflation to Your Advantage - www.bronsonequity.com/inflationWelcome to our latest episode!Join host Bronson Hill for the 2024 Tax Strategy Summit webinar, featuring an expert panel sharing actionable tax strategies for passive investors and entrepreneurs.Courtney Moeller, a tax strategist at Diversified Investment Partners, specializes in oil and gas investments, offering 80-90% deductions against any income, even W2, with no real estate professional status required.James Rainwater CPA, founder of Rainwater CPA, advises entrepreneurs on business structures and tax planning, emphasizing proactive strategies like tax loss harvesting and oil and gas investments.Mark J. Kohler, CPA, attorney, and founder of Main Street Tax Pro, trains advisors nationwide and shares year-end tips like S-corp elections, family board meetings, and charitable remainder trusts for wealth preservation.Discover how to leverage bonus depreciation (potentially returning to 100% under President-elect Trump), oil and gas deductions, family office strategies, and charitable trusts to minimize taxes. Learn why proactive tax planning—through quarterly advisor meetings—is key to building wealth.TIMESTAMPS01:16 - Panel introductions: Courtney Moeller, James Rainwater CPA, Mark J. Kohler02:38 - Bonus depreciation: Will it return to 100% under Trump?05:45 - Oil and gas: Courtney on 80-90% deductions against any income07:00 - Year-end strategies: Mark on high earners' tax-saving options10:16 - Planning ahead: James on 2024 vs. 2025 tax strategies11:56 - Alternative investments: Solar, farmland, and beyond13:55 - Family office: Mark on tax-deductible board meetings15:19 - Hiring kids: James on shifting income to lower tax brackets17:35 - Courtney's approach: Paying kids in crypto, charitable donations19:29 - Roth IRAs: Mark on funding kids' tax-free wealth21:42 - When to hire a tax strategist: Mark and James on proactive planning25:58 - Sourcing deals: Courtney, James, and Mark on finding tax-advantaged investments30:58 - Mark's 10 year-end tax tips: S-corps, HSAs, 401ks, and more37:31 - Charitable trusts: James and Mark on CRUTs and multipliers41:02 - Courtney's advice: Find a CPA who invests and strategizes46:39 - Q&A: Side businesses, short-term capital gains, LLCs56:24 - Connect with the panelists57:57 - Wealth Forum and 2025 Investing Outlook Summit detailsConnect with the Guests:James Rainwater:Website: https://rainwatercpa.com/Courtney Moeller:Website: courtneymoeller.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/csmoeller/Oil & Gas Report: http://oilandgasreport.net/Mark J. Kohler:Podcast: https://mainstreetbusinesspodcast.com/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkJKohler/featuredWebsite: https://markjkohler.com/#TaxStrategy#PassiveInvesting#OilAndGas#BonusDepreciation#FamilyOffice#WealthBuilding#CharitableTrust

"With your job you have to go into work every single day to keep getting paid. With your investments, once you put your money to work it'll keep paying you even if you're not working." Want to quit your job but keep your paycheck? Jaspreet breaks down the exact five assets that can replace your W2 income so you never have to work for money again. This isn't about getting rich overnight, it's about creating passive income streams that work harder than you do. What You'll Learn: Why Treasury bonds paying 4.7% might be the safest income you'll ever earn The dividend ETF strategy that lets you own hundreds of companies without picking individual stocks How to calculate if a $200,000 rental property will actually make you money (spoiler: most don't) Why real estate investors can make $1 million and pay zero taxes while doctors pay $500,000 The difference between working IN a business versus owning the profits FROM a business Peer to peer lending secrets that can pay 10-20% returns (with the right collateral) Jaspreet reveals the brutal math behind each asset class and explains why most financial advisors only tell you about one of them. From the easiest Treasury bonds to the most advanced business ownership, he shows you exactly how much money you need to invest to replace every dollar of your job income. Want more financial news? Join Market Briefs, my free daily financial newsletter: https://www.briefs.co/market Below are my recommended tools! Please note: Yes, these are our sponsors & advertisers. However, these are companies that I trust and use (or have used). The compensation doesn't affect my recommendations or advice. That being said, you should always do your own research & never blindly listen to a random guy on YouTube (or a podcast). ---------- ➤ Invest In Stocks Passively 1) M1 Finance - Buy stocks & ETFs automatically: https://theminoritymindset.com/m1 ---------- ➤ Life Insurance 2) Policygenius - Get a free life insurance quote: https://theminoritymindset.com/policygenius ---------- ➤ Real Estate Investing Online 3) Fundrise - Invest in real estate with as little as $10! https://theminoritymindset.com/fundrise ----------

In this Tax Tuesday episode, Anderson Advisors' Barley Bowler, CPA, and Eliot Thomas, Esq., tackle ten listener questions covering essential tax strategies for business owners and real estate investors. They break down the enhanced contribution limits for solo 401(k)s, including the new employer Roth contributions and age-based catch-up provisions. The attorneys explain proper loan structures between shareholders and corporations, emphasizing documentation requirements and interest rate compliance. They cover installment payment reporting for private money loans, clarify the Augusta Rule (280A) for tax-free rental income from home meetings, and distinguish between deductible business expenses versus personal costs. Investment structuring strategies for AI and energy stocks are explored, along with C-corporation real estate ownership considerations. The episode concludes with discussions on the expanded SALT deduction limits, pass-through entity tax workarounds for high-tax states, and the new research and development tax benefits under recent legislation. Submit your tax question to taxtuesday@andersonadvisors.com Highlights/Topics: "What is the maximum that can be contributed to a solo 401k Roth as the employee and employer of my own business, what do I need to do to handle payroll for myself?" - Employee limits: $23,500 (under 50), $31,000 (50-59), $34,750 (60-63). Employer: 25% of compensation. Use professional payroll services. "I want to loan cash for my business to myself, since my spouse and I have regular W2 jobs that push our incomes into high, the highest tax brackets. Other than loaning money to myself to pay for rental property. Are there any other uses for those loan funds? What are the issues on the backend for repayment rights?" - Must have written documentation, regular payments, and applicable federal rate interest (4.22% for 2025). "I'm receiving installment payments on a private money loan from my borrower. Are these payments listed as income, even though the entire principal balance and interest haven't been paid yet? How do you show this on a tax return?" - Interest portion is taxable income as received. Principal repayment is not taxable. Report on Schedule B. "I have a C Corp and two LLCs. Can you clarify the tax allowance on Augusta meetings, please? Also known as 280A. I believe I was informed that I can deduct up to $1000 per month on these monthly meetings when held, is this still the case for 2024 and 2025?" - Fourteen days maximum per year regardless of entity count. Get three local quotes for reasonable rates. "Are the paid fees for business essentials and the Living Trust deductible as startup costs or operating costs?" - Business essentials are deductible (startup vs operating depends on timing). Living trust is personal expense, not deductible. “What strategies should I set to invest in AI or energy stocks?" - Wyoming LLC for passive investing. Trading partnership with C-corp for active trading and tax benefits. "A C corporation owns a disregarded LLC, which in turn owns real estate. The real estate is sold for capital gains that is incurred by the C Corp. Is this the best way to be structured?" - Never put appreciable real estate in C-corp unless flipping. For buy-and-hold, use Wyoming holding company structure. "Does the SALT (state and local tax) deduction of $40,000 apply to a joint tax return?" - Yes, $40,000 limit applies to joint returns. Phases out at $500,000 AGI but maintains $10,000 floor. "How does the new PTET (pass through entity tax) SALT (state and local tax) deduction work around policy work for high tax states like California? Are certain entities included like SSTBs (specialized service trader businesses)?" - Pass-through entities can pay state tax for federal deduction. Complex structures and publicly traded partnerships excluded. "How might the research and development (R&D) tax credit that's been affected by the big beautiful bill help me as a small business owner?" - Domestic R&D expenses can be deducted immediately (100%) or over five years. Foreign expenses still 15 years. Resources: Schedule Your Free Consultation https://andersonadvisors.com/ss/?utm_source=5-reasons-restructure-sole-proprietorships&utm_medium=podcast Tax and Asset Protection Events https://andersonadvisors.com/real-estate-asset-protection-workshop-training/ Anderson Advisors https://andersonadvisors.com/ Toby Mathis YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@TobyMathis Toby Mathis TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@tobymathisesq Clint Coons YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@ClintCoons  

In this powerful episode of The Mike Litton Experience, we're joined by Jessie Lang, an inspiring real estate investor who made the bold leap from a traditional W2 job to building a thriving real estate portfolio—now owning over 70+ rental units. Jessie breaks down the BRRRR strategy (Buy, Renovate, Rent, Refinance, Repeat) with real numbers […]

Title: Life's Best Moments Are Earned Not Given with Celina Eklund Summary: Seth Bradley shares his unique journey from being adopted and raised in a blue-collar family in West Virginia to pivoting through medical school, business school, and law school before discovering his true calling in entrepreneurship and real estate investing. He explains how a mindset shift, exposure to high-level deals as a big law attorney, and a relentless work ethic led him to launch multiple businesses and build true freedom. The episode explores his beliefs around grit, personal development, hiring values-based teams, and designing a life around ownership instead of employment. Links to Watch and Subscribe: https://youtu.be/2Gcx4Ix8-zo Bullet Point Highlights: Adopted from Korea, raised in West Virginia by a coal miner and teacher. Went from med school to law school before finding alignment in entrepreneurship. Realized in big law he wanted to be the dealmaker, not just the attorney. Now runs 7+ businesses including RaiseLaw, gyms, and startups. Works 12-hour days by choice — building freedom, not trading time for money. Core values: Accountability, Resilience, Transparency, Intelligence, Consistency, Awareness (ARTICA). Married to Allison — also from WV, they now run gyms together in SoCal. Major mindset shift came from Rich Dad Poor Dad in 2013. Believes most avoid hard things because they've never seen the reward on the other side. Emphasizes hiring based on culture and values over just skills. Stays grounded through personal development and emotional regulation. Focused on building legacy, not just income — ownership > employment. Transcript: Seth Bradley (00:00.462) Welcome back to Revenue from Retention, the show where we dive into the stories behind success, the mindset, the pivots, and the purpose-driven decisions that create powerful transformations. Today's guest has a story that is inspiring, as it is also uncommon. Seth Bradley was born in West Virginia and adopted at birth and has been defying the odds ever since. He walked the path from medical school to law school only to realize that neither were truly aligned with his purpose.   After years of grinding, Seth made a bold leap into real estate entrepreneurship and never look back. Today, he's a thriving investor and a sought out after mentor, also soon to be father and the host of Passive Income Attorney Podcasts, where he teaches other high achievers how to break free from the golden handcuffs and build true freedom through passive income. This episode, we're going to dive into reinvention, identity and finding courage to live life on your own terms. So welcome to the show, Seth. So good to have you.   Oh, so good to be here, Selena. Thank you so much for having me on. Really appreciate it.   I love people with, I don't know if I've ever interviewed anybody that has like medical and law background per se. So it's neat to be able to like have, I love people that have so many, so much on their resume and it's like so colorful because you have so many experiences. So glad to have you here, but I ask everybody the same question before we dive into the podcast and I'm going to ask you the same. Why do feel like people should listen to your story? There's millions of podcasts out there. Why do you feel like people should listen to you?   Sure. You know, I believe that my story resonates with a lot of people. I like to frame it and I like to call it the blue-collar mindset. know, trading time for money, right? We've all heard that. We've all kind of been through that at some point in our lives, at least most of us. You know, getting caught up in comfort and lacking, you know, just lacking that knowledge of what's possible and like what's out there. And that's kind of how I grew up. Just a small twig, I was actually born in Korea.   Celina Eklund (01:56.652) And then I got adopted in West Virginia. So I was there for about three months and maybe I made my way over to West Virginia via plane when I was three months old. But growing up in West Virginia, great place, beautiful place, not a lot of diversity, but also growing up with my parents who are incredible people, I love them so much and they were instrumental in making me who that I am today.   But that being said, they're just, you know, I was never exposed to entrepreneurship and real estate and just the, you know, these bigger concepts, right? Of like private equity and owning companies and raising capital. Like none of those things were ever even in my atmosphere ever until I got really to really until I got to business school and law school. So, you know, that blue collar mindset or, you know, just get the best job that you can possibly get and getting caught up in just   living that life and getting comfortable with it and not knowing what's possible that's out there, I think it's a relatable story.   That's cool. did, how did you, what was the thing that got you into education, into school first? Because like my family, my dad is like, no, we're all 25 plus years retired in the military. You're gonna join the military. And then my mom is like, you're gonna go to school. And I didn't really wanna go to school, but then somebody, there was one person, it was the one person that changed my life forever that told me about sales and entrepreneurship. Like I'll never forget that light bulb moment of like, oh, interesting. So like, did you have that?   Like that person that had the conversation with you or a professor that talked to you that brought you into like, you know, like going to school. What did that look like?   Celina Eklund (03:34.766) Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, having that blue collar mindset, my dad's a retired coal miner, my mom's a retired school teacher. And they had that mindset like you need to go to college, get an education. And that's just the best thing that you can do for yourself. I'm still kind of of that generation, right? But and school was always really easy for me. I'll say that. So it was really easy for me. So and I never had like a passion for anything in particular. So I just kind of looked at like, what's the best   job that I can get. And to me when I was younger, that was becoming a doctor. So that's why I went kind of that med school route first before realizing that wasn't for me. And then that's when I went to this school and then law school and all that. And my parents were encouraging of all these things and they're actually very understanding of when I kept changing between the schools because I was still on at least, you know, that educational path, still higher education and striving towards. Yeah, curious. Yeah, striving towards something.   So I was always just kind of put in that again that kind of narrow mindset where that's the only path I knew I didn't know about entrepreneurship or didn't think it was like a possibility for me and for my life.   That's cool. I am. Do you have any other brothers or sisters? Are you the only one?   I do, have an older sister.   Seth Bradley (04:53.27) And what's the age gap difference between you two?   About seven years. Okay. She's not adopted, so she's biological.   on the issue living california with where you guys are at   No, she's in Charleston, South Carolina. That's cool. Do you go up?   Celina Eklund (05:14.328) Have not.   I don't, you know, I've talked to other adoptees in the past and that's always one of the core things. They all want to go and figure out where they're from and they feel like they're kind of missing something. I think that my parents did such a great job and loved me so much and I felt that throughout the process that I just never felt the need to kind of go outside of that. They were always just my parents and that's it. I didn't feel the need to find anything else.   Yeah, to like hunt back. My boyfriend, he doesn't know his dad. I think his dad left when he was like three or four years old, really young age. And so I've asked him this before too, like, do you think your dad will ever find you? And he's like, you know, if he finds me, great, but like, I'm not out there like actively searching into that. So, that's cool. It's neat to hear from, I don't know too many people that have been adopted like so young, so early. So it's good that you have that. And then also you have really good   your parents are like a form of mentorship and, you know, have been very supportive. So that's cool that you're able to carry it on. yeah, so let's talk a little bit about like entrepreneurship. And when we were, before we got on this podcast, we talked a lot about like, you know, leadership and the importance of like building people. So did you, when you met your wife, did I know that she is a big part in like business with you too? Like, did you find her through business or how did that whole thing happen?   Yeah, it's really interesting because she's also from West Virginia, but we didn't meet until we were actually in San Diego. So I moved to LA first in 2009 and then made my way down to San Diego for law school. And then she came out later and we met through a mutual friend who's also from West Virginia. So like West Virginia was the, you know, the commonality between us. So pretty awesome that we met each other, you 2000 miles away in San Diego.   Seth Bradley (07:10.722) Wow, that's neat. so like, how did you guys both realize, we like business and we want to like do this together?   Yeah, I mean it took a while, right? So I ended up graduating from law school and we moved back across the country together back to West Virginia because at the time that was the best big law firm job that I could get. It was back home because I had some pull there. So she followed me back to West Virginia begrudgingly. She didn't want to do that, but she did. So God bless her. And then we ended up going to North Carolina for a little bit and then trying to find a way back out to California.   But at the same time, I was actually working for Big Law Firms at the time. again, entrepreneurship wasn't really on the table at that point in time. It was still, hey, let's just keep slaving away here, grinding, trying to work a way up to partner at the Big Law Firms. And she had actually went back to school for her second degree in interior design and started.   You guys are smart. Both of you are just geniuses. Holy cow.   Well, I don't know about that. Honestly, like nowadays, if somebody asked me, should they be going to college? I would have to have a deeper conversation with that person, right? Like it depends on what they're going to get into.   Seth Bradley (08:19.97) Yeah, you're it's just crazy because times have changed so much like back then like you needed a degree to do anything and now it's more of like people are looking for like experience.   Yep, 100%.   Like if I, you know, if I'm looking to, you know, if I own a restaurant and I'm looking to hire like a bartender, like I don't care if you went to school for four years to get a science degree. I'm like, how many cocktails have you made? Do you know how to make a spicy margarita and a regular margarita? Like, do you know what ingredients are in it? You know, so it's kind of like, it's, it's insane to see like how things have changed over, over time.   Totally, It used to be like a minimum, right? Like you had to get a four-year degree no matter what you're doing. It doesn't matter. Like get a degree in communications or general studies or whatever, but you have to get a degree to kind of get to that next level or to get a good job. But it's just not like that anymore unless there's like a very specific skill set that you have to have a degree for. I don't believe in that system and that's coming from a guy who went to school for 11 years, which is insane to say out loud.   But if you're not going to school to be a doctor, to be a lawyer, to be a dentist, to be an engineer, things like that where you have to have a degree for it, it probably doesn't make sense.   Seth Bradley (09:38.274) Yeah, I, it's funny that you said, you said just a little bit ago, you said that you're just kind of grinding and grinding, grinding, keep on going. And you know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel, but you don't see like the light yet and what, what that looks like. And, it's, it's funny how like when your intentions are in the right place and your heart is in the right place and you want to, you know, give back to other people and you're a good human being, like those things naturally, you know, come like they unfold.   for one another and that's neat that you guys have that vision of just like, put in the hard work right now. That way we can have the fruits for our kids later. And I think that that's where like a lot of people get caught up or give up is like, the result isn't tomorrow. And I'm sure that you see that with investing too. Like I can't just pick up my phone and be like, okay, here's a million dollars in my bank account. Like there's strategy that's involved, right? Like there's thought and processes and it.   Like you have to build certain things and go certain avenues. So with you guys like getting into investing now, what are some of like the bigger projects that you guys are working on or what it is that you focus on?   Yeah, I was gonna say before I get into that, mean, it does come down to relationships and networking and things like that where you just, you have to get out there and meet the right people and get exposed to the right people. I think that that's really key. I mean, I know for me, working in those big law firms, I was actually doing what I do now on the business side. I was representing clients to do what I do now on the business side. So they were buying large real estate projects. They were raising capital.   to buy huge apartment buildings and to buy companies and things like that. But it was funny because when you're in the weeds, you don't really think about you on that side of the table. You're always just like kind of in it and you're like, all right, well, my job is this small part, which is being the attorney on the job. But then later, like you have to take a step back and say, wait a minute, like I know all these things and I would actually be really good at this. Why wouldn't I want to be on the business side? And that's kind of the light bulb moment for me was just seeing   Celina Eklund (11:38.766) take a step back and say, maybe I don't want to just be a vendor. Maybe I actually want to be that person that's buying businesses, that's operating large apartment complexes, that's doing, that's raising capital, doing those things. And I think it's funny, especially for attorneys, because that's just one example of a person that's in the weeds there every single day, but perhaps they don't necessarily own any real estate, even though they're a real estate attorney, or they've never raised capital before, even though they're a securities attorney.   Things like that. Another common example is like real estate agents, right? There's so many real estate agents out there. many. You know, they're supposed to be professionals. It's like, well, if you ask them, like, how much real estate do you own? You know, maybe they own their own house, but they don't own any rental properties. Most of them, I should say, don't own many rental properties. They're not actually in that business, which is wild because they would probably be really good at it if they could kind of take a step back and say,   Yeah, maybe I should get into this bit, the business side, not just the vendor side.   Yeah, it's so true. Find somebody that has been where it is that you want to go. It's kind of like, it's kind of like if you want to get like, like body modifications, right? So like Botox or like, you know, you want to get what's what's in for hair right now, hair extensions, right? Like you're not going to go to a hair salon and the freaking chick doesn't   have hair extensions in right or like the lady that you're go get Botox from like she doesn't even have Botox and you can clearly tell like she's not taking good care of her skin it's like okay wait what like I want to make sure like whoever I'm working with like they have that that track record.   Celina Eklund (13:17.662) You gotta be careful with that talking about education, right? So it's it's awesome that there's all this alternative education out there with coaching and mentoring and YouTube University and Master, I like to call these folks mastermind scholars sometimes it's like, know, make sure that you are buying from the right people people that are doing what they said that they are doing and teaching what they what you want to learn, right? Like they're not just they're not just educators. They've actually done what you want to do.   It's really important and they're continuing to do that. Like they were successful at it and they were good enough that, you know, hey, I want to teach other people, but at the same time, that's my core business. My core business is what I'm teaching, not the education side because there's just a lot of people out there that you can waste a lot of money with. So that's kind of the downside to that.   That's true. like what is your, also talked about like the reason why we love entrepreneurship so much is because it gives you the ability to have freedom. You can go take a trip to Disney world with your family for three days, or you can, you know, fly wherever it is that you want to go because you're not working in the business. You're working on the business and you have other people that are helping run it too. So what is like that? I have a lot of people that are going to be listening to this that are   you know, wanting to get maybe out of their nine to five, or if they work a corporate job and they kind of like want to transition. like, what is your day to day look like for you? Like what does an average Monday through Friday look like for you? And like, what does that schedule, you know, represent you? How does it look like?   Yeah, I might be scaring some of your listeners away by telling them this, but my day is long. I have seven businesses that I run, at least seven, some people might say more than that. So I get up around six o'clock and I start working almost immediately. I used to have kind of this long, drawn out morning routine, but I'm kind of the Alex Hormozi cult now where it's like, how quickly can you get dialed in? And for me, I just grab a cup of coffee, I sit down, I put some headphones on and I get going.   Celina Eklund (15:17.31) So I can get in that zone pretty quickly. But I'm working long hours. I mean, if I'm in the office and not traveling and not speaking at conferences and doing those sorts of things, I'm working six to at least six o'clock, like 12 hours straight. I might take 30 minutes off for a quick lunch, that sort of thing. And then I'll go get my workout. And it's six thirty across the street at one of my gyms. So it's long. It's very long. But alluding to what you said to earlier, if something did come up,   or if I did want to go on a vacation or take 30 days off, things like that that you might not have the flexibility or freedom to do with a W-2, you can. So I am choosing to work 12 hour days because I'm putting that time in for myself because I can see the vision for myself, my family, and my businesses. And it's different. It's different when you're putting that time in for the things that you believe in and the things that are important for you.   as opposed to working at W2 where all you're doing is counting the seconds as they're ticking down so you can clock out. And you're working for somebody else's dream. It's totally different. 12 hours working for myself versus nine hours working for somebody else is totally different. Totally different.   Do you, this is a side note, do you play the guitar? There's a guitar, I know people can't see this, they're only gonna hear it, but do you play music?   I used to. don't have as much time anymore, but I grew up playing guitar all the way through college and that sort of thing, but not so much anymore. But I do want to get back into it one day.   Seth Bradley (16:54.146) Do you think that music has helped fuel your creativity and keep your brain fresh?   I think it always does. I think it always does. think that that's a completely different side of your brain that you can stimulate and I should probably get back into it because of that. I think it just kind of unlocks things for you.   Yeah, it's a, I'm reading this book right now. Well, it's like probably my third time reading it. He's one of my favorite authors, Seth Godin. He wrote the book, Lynchpin. He has a couple of different books. Have you heard of him before? for sure.   Marketing marketing king   my gosh, he's just, he's incredible. But I read different things and he talks about how to like not fit the mold, the purple cow, be the purple cow, not the black and white cow. And so like, I think like music is something that kind of helps fuel that creativity. But why, why do you feel like you love the grit so much? Like you don't have to work 12 hours every single day. You don't have to get up at six if you want to get up at, you know, 12 o'clock in the afternoon, you can, but what makes you so addicted to the grit and the hard work? Why do you like that? Cause most people   Seth Bradley (17:57.068) want to run away from the stuff that's hard. They're not trying to put themselves in the tough stuff, which is rare. And I feel like that's how I found you is because I love tough stuff. Especially being a female, I love it when people tell me, you can't do that. And I'm a woman. So the odds are even smaller. like, hell yeah. Like that, like I'm all in. how do you, like, why are you so obsessed with business and wanting to grow so much?   Yeah, I mean, think there's a couple things. think number one, I just enjoy building. So like I enjoy being a builder and building businesses and learning about new things. I have a hard time saying no. Like I've gotten better at it and I think I'm actually pretty good at it now, but it took me a long time to get there. It probably got me to this maximum capacity before I started saying no, because I just love like diving into new businesses and learning about new things and   and ways to make money and build businesses and help people. But that's number one. I think that I just genuinely enjoy that. So I try to fill my day up with that. Now, sometimes you do get bogged down with some of the smaller things that you don't want to do, but try to avoid that as much as possible and still dedicate as much time to your highest and best and most fun, enjoyable use as possible. And number two, I think that a lot of folks   avoid the hard because they haven't been rewarded for doing it. I think that people that have been successful have seen that the hard stuff is the best stuff. Meaning like once you've gotten through that hard place and you just kept pushing and pushing and pushing and you had that breakthrough and you saw it and you were like, that's it. That's it. Like that's where I need to get. So when you see it again, when you see it get hard, you realize that's what you want. Right. That's when you realize   I just got to keep pushing and pushing and pushing and eventually I'll break through again. Whereas other people may have in the past ran up against something hard and said this is too hard and kind of pulled back. So they weren't, didn't get to see that, you know, that reward.   Seth Bradley (20:06.702) How long have you been into the self-development space? Have you always been there? like personal, I should say personal development. Have you always been there? Is it something new or do you?   Yeah, I would say it actually started with maybe around 2013 when I got my first big law firm job and I realized once again that that wasn't necessarily what I wanted to do. So I started kind of looking around and learning about real estate and I read Rich Dad Poor Dad. That was kind of a game changer, which it is for a lot of people just with like mindset. So I would say that that book, even though it's not necessarily a lot of personal development there, but it is a mindset shift.   And that was probably the one that kind of got me going and got me to start reading more books and start thinking about things differently.   He lives here in Arizona. We've ran into him a couple of times. Yeah, he lives here in Scottsdale. or like going to the mall or restaurant like every now and then somebody in our company will come across him and he's a great guy. We have his book around our shelves too as well. Yeah, I wish I found self-development when I was like 18. I'm like, where was this? My brother is, there's a big age gap difference between the two of us, but he just turned 17 in January.   and he's been into self-development because of me since he was 15 years old. And, you know, I just want him to be so much further ahead when he's like 20, you know, and 21 and like he's making good decisions for himself. think that's so important. So I even watched like really old videos of like Tony Robbins. Love Tony Robbins. And it's neat to watch like his evolution from when he first started with the big baggy suits and he was doing, you know, one-off seminars.   Seth Bradley (21:52.31) you know, way back in the day. And then now, like, I mean, he's at a point where he's starting to retire because his vocal cords are going out, kids are getting older. And it's neat to watch him grow because he, you know, if like he can do it, there's no difference between me and him. Like, I, the only difference between him and me is like, he just wanted it more than I wanted it. And he made it happen faster, you know, so.   You're doing that for your brother. I mean because that's again It's all about like exposure, right? Like the sooner that you're exposed to that or the sooner like you meet that person even if it's a sibling or whoever it is, right? That gives you at least that exposure. Maybe sometimes you Resist it like you might not want it at the time But at least it's kind of in your mind and then later when you're ready You know you you have that at least that idea and inclination in your mind So just being exposed to different ideas and networking with the right people   makes a huge difference. The earlier that it can happen, the better.   Yeah, I think that's when like the ego has to be put aside. Like you gotta, you gotta set the ego down. You know, you don't know it all and that's okay. And I think for men, maybe it's a little bit more difficult because guys want to act like, you know, they, they know everything. Women are like, no, what are all my resources? Like, I'm going to read all these baby books. Like I'm going to start, you know, watching YouTube videos on how to properly, you know,   do something for their baby like me. I've got a ton of women around me and I have like, don't have kids yet, but I'm just like, I tossed out our candles because the flame from the candles isn't good for your insides. So we got like this freaking new scent thing. We got rid of the microwave cause I'm like a little nervous of radiation for my baby. know, like I'm just like kind of like immersing myself, emerging myself like into the whole process of like becoming a mom. But that's like the cool stuff with, with resources, but that takes the ego to like put aside, you know.   Celina Eklund (23:38.078) I agree. I think you're onto something there. I remember being in my 20s and I thought I knew everything and I never ask questions, which is sad to even say now. I wouldn't ask questions. I'd be like, I'll figure it out. I don't care. I'm not going to give you anything. It's crazy how not humble I was. I was really just like, I know everything and if I don't, I'll figure it out. I don't need help. And nowadays, I'm totally different mindset now.   I'm gonna share.   Seth Bradley (24:08.354) I'm going to share my screen with you. And even though the people on the other side, they can't see this, we'll just kind of like walk through it. But I look at this chart every single day actually, and it talks about power and force. like whenever I'm in a situation or having a conversation with somebody, I'm like always trying to check what my level is. And so I'm just kind of walking through it because other people can't see this. So they're just hearing it.   At the bottom of this chart, it's like bright red. And then at the top, it slowly starts to go into it, like a yellow, a green, a blue, and a purple. And at the very bottom, it talks about shame, guilt. And that's how you're operating at a level 125, desire, anger, pride, 175. And then you slowly move up the chart. And as you get into the blues and the purple, you operate out of love and joy and peace and enlightenment. So you either have power or you have force that's coming out of your system.   And I'm just always trying to think like, how can I always operate at this violet purple? Because if I'm that way towards somebody, like they're going to have that reciprocity towards me versus like operating out of anxiety. And I think it comes to like emotional maturity. I think emotional maturity is really like a big part of this, but I wanted to share this with you because I thought that I look   at it every do you use that? Do you kind of look at this every day and then just kind of stop and take a moment and just kind of where you're at?   If I need like a reset, you know, if something bad happened or something that was unexpected or, you know, I'll give you like an example. Like my, text my dad on Saturday and I'm like, Hey, this is the venue where we're having our wedding at. You know, this is what's happening in March. And he just hasn't texted me back at all, you know? And I'm just like, I just think to myself, like you're my dad. You're also important part because you're supposed to be here at this wedding coming up and I haven't gotten a text back. immediately, I mean, I'm over here like boiling in like,   Seth Bradley (26:01.652) shame and anger and I'm pissed off. And so like whenever I like lose that edge, I check myself and I'm like, okay, how do we go back over here? Maybe, you know, back to enlightenment, powerful inspiration.   you know, maybe he's on a trip right now and he doesn't have phone service or signal or, you know, maybe I just need to have more compassion for his situation. My stepmom got diagnosed with cancer last year. Who knows? Maybe it came back again. They're at the hospital. Like, you just kind of don't know what other people are going through on the other side. So I just like check myself on this list. And if I'm not, if I don't see the chart, I kind of take like a mental note of like, you know, hey, let's go back up to the top. It's okay. And everything's all figure audible.   I that. like my thing. So I just kind of wanted to like share that, but I'll text it to you after this so you can have it.   Sure, yeah, I appreciate that. That's awesome. That's awesome.   That's a, that's important to me. And I noticed another thing. I love watching people's patterns. That's what I'm, I am really, really good at is like studying people because you obviously have information and you want to take it from the people who have it to the people who need it too. So how have you learned to be like so coachable and open-minded? Like I can tell that there, you have a certain level where you can put your ego aside. And you know, I think that that's kind of like why we're on this podcast too, as well.   Seth Bradley (27:23.852) you have a certain level of like open mindedness. Is your wife somebody that like grounds you with that to be that way or is that something that's always been in   She definitely helps, that's for sure. I would say it definitely hasn't always been in me. Like I said, I think that I was not humble enough in my 20s to be able to accept coaching and mentoring and advice. I wasn't as open as I used to be. I think it probably took a little bit of spinning around, meaning going to medical school and   dropping out and then going to business school and like, isn't good enough and then going to law school and I was like, okay, this is cool, but going to get in a great job and then realizing like, this isn't what I want to do either. I think it took a lot of that like kind of spinning around where it's like, hey buddy, maybe you don't know it all. Right. And then you had to have a little bit of self had to have a little bit of self reflection and say, all right, what, what am I missing here? And just be a lot more open to mentorship and coaching and   and people just that are, you know, that are, have the experience that you want to have and to have more life experiences and have done the things that you want to do already. And once you kind of open yourself up to that and realize like, man, this is a shortcut right here. Like this is the shortcut. You know, I think again, it comes with experience and exposure and results.   That's cool. So you and your wife now you guys have two gyms and you're opening up a third one soon in Southern California What's next up for you guys? What is a what's a thing that's up and coming? have the third gym You're gonna have a family soon, too So do you are you guys like building out like another team for your third location? Or what is what is like the next like six months to a year look like for you guys?   Celina Eklund (29:14.54) We are, we are. So I've been kind of kicked out of the partnership for the gyms, so to speak, at least on paper, just because she wants to just, you know, it's her baby. So she wants to run with it, which is great. Even though I'm still doing the same stuff that I was doing before, I'm just not going to get paid for it. All good. No worries there, but we'll get it. I know, I know. So helping her get that launched, hopefully before the end of the year. And same thing with the family starting before the end of the year as well. So they'll   still loves you, don't worry.   Celina Eklund (29:43.97) be going about at the same time, it looks like. And then, you know, with my other businesses just really growing my own boutique law firm and my startups as well. So a lot of, a lot of irons in the fire right now to keep going.   Do you guys have our culture where I'm at, like hiring is really important, the way that we bring on people. So do you guys have like a specific way of how you find your people, how to find the right people, like retaining employees? Because I mean, I feel like there's a lot of people that just kind of, you know, they're in it for like the paycheck, they're there for six months and then they're bouncing. So like, do you guys have a specific process of what you're doing for your upcoming third location?   Yeah, I mean, think you get better at it as you go, right? Like trial and error, figure out who, know, personality wise will work. I think you've really got to stick to who's going to fit in with your culture and your values and things like that. I mean, for instance, like we really value accountability and transparency and consistency. Awareness is another big one, right? So like making sure that the people that you hire on your team also value those same things. And if they don't.   it's probably not going to work out in the long run. So it's really important that culturally, that your values align. So that's the important thing. And we do certain things like we don't even hire out of the gate necessarily full time. It's, you're on a 90 day probationary period. We like to call it so that, hey, we have this exit. And especially in California, we've got to spell these things out very clearly with everyone.   I think you just get better at it and we've gotten a lot better at keeping employees and retention.   Seth Bradley (31:30.52) Yeah, that's important. We, we always talk about having like an unrecruitable team, you know, like no matter what, if somebody came over here and tried to pay me a million dollars, like I wouldn't do it because this is my family and we've gone through the tough stuff. And if you can go through the hard stuff, like you can go through the easy stuff together. hiring, like we, whenever we go to hire too, we always meet the spouse, the kids, the whole family, because it's like the, the, person's going to be working there for 10 hours out of the day or eight hours out of the day. Like we want to ensure that the spouse knows that   they're at work working hard. And also like you don't want to treat it like it's they're just paying for a paycheck. Like this is a family, like we're doing life together. Like you made a commitment to work here. Like I'm going to make a commitment to making sure that we're increasing your bonuses or your salary or you you're upping the standard of the company. So that's super cool. I love that. Yeah.   What's a so so you guys have that that's coming up you're going to be starting a family that's so exciting What a what a good time in life for everything to be coming through together I'm I can't wait to to see your guys's baby on Instagram and and you know like Watch your baby start doing pull-ups in the gym. You know, yeah   Yeah. He's so cute. That's super exciting. Yeah, super excited.   And as we wrap up here, is there anything else that you'd like to leave off with or any other message that you'd like to put out for anybody that's listening to this too?   Celina Eklund (32:54.572) Yeah, I mean, I would just say like stick with it, right? Like figure out where I'm trying to think what the best word would be. I don't like to say where your passion is, but figure out where you can where you can harness your energy and focus it somewhere and then stick it out and really push through. Like I said earlier, the hard when it gets hard, that's when you you don't stop. That's not when you pull back. That's when you push harder and you push through and there will be a breakthrough.   but you just gotta keep going.   yeah love that you are your new life is on the other side of you being uncomfortable have to go through that that uncomfortable face that's awesome well if i have somebody that's actually looking for a job or wanting to come to your heart of your team you know cuz i do have people out in southern california that are always like looking for new opportunities and also want to work with like like-minded people you know so   Somebody is looking for an opportunity like I'm not going to send him to Joe Schmo or have him go Google something right like I would love for them to be work directly with you. So what's the best way and point of contact that we can that anybody can get a hold of you?   Yeah, you can go to SethBradleyESQ.com, so like Esquire, S-SethBradleyESQ.com. That will be set up for you to kind of tell me where you, what your interest is with me and then we can kind of point you in the right direction. I do have a number of businesses, so that site is kind of set up to guide you to the right resource.   Seth Bradley (34:22.542) Awesome. Well, thank you, Seth, so much for being here. And next time on our next podcast where we shatter limiting beliefs. Thanks for being here, Seth.   Thanks, Elena. Really appreciate it.   Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: https://www.instagram.com/p/DJ7TLuEz93X/   Celina Eklund's Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celina-eklund/ https://www.instagram.com/celina.eklund/ https://x.com/AiryJane1 https://www.youtube.com/@CelinaEklund/featured https://www.facebook.com/CelinaEklundd https://www.threads.com/@celina.eklund   Seth Bradley's Links: https://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en

Can oil and gas really be a smart play for high-income professionals? In this episode, Tait Duryea and Ryan Gibson sit down with Mark Fleming, petroleum engineer and Turbine Capital's oil & gas advisor, to break it down. From the basics of how drilling works to the tax advantages that can offset W2 income, you'll learn the realities of this often-misunderstood industry. The conversation covers political risk, environmental concerns, portfolio allocation, and many more. Whether you're curious about non-op partnerships, cashflow timing, or long-term energy trends, this episode gives you the insider perspective every pilot-investor needs.Mark Fleming is a petroleum engineer and oil & gas advisor with over 20 years of experience across Chevron, Hess, and EOG. He has also advised major banks on energy lending and helped startups navigate the public markets. Today, Mark serves as Turbine Capital's oil and gas advisor, guiding strategy and due diligence for private funds. His expertise spans drilling technology, unconventional plays, energy policy, and risk assessment, making him a trusted voice for investors seeking clarity in this complex sector.Show notes:(0:00) Intro(00:41) Why oil & gas still matters(05:20) Oil investing is long-term, not quick(08:16) Politics and pricing shape investor returns(11:42) Game-changing advances in drilling & fracking(13:03) ESG, environment, and energy reality(16:47) Oil plays vs. gas plays explained(19:26) Three ways to invest privately(24:21) Upstream, midstream, and key tax benefits(30:58) How to vet operators & reduce risk(45:05) Oil cashflow vs. real estate returns(49:22) OutroHelpful Links: Houston Bus Tour Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/houston-self-storage-portfolio-bus-tour-tickets-1591575237379?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios&sg=ed19105646f93b16506dd629ad293a6953b60f4c21904c87d174147bc25617d71f6099f588a1abb3a895fbbeef2578e057d6effbb7d6e124cd35f68fece2d51827faa0c5beabab7ede30c93969LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-e-flemingGuide to U.S. Tax benefits for Direct Oil & Gas Drilling Investments: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DZBu5zH8dpotRFijs6-VmJo1HF4EvIIu/view?usp=sharing Bettering Human Lives Liberty Energy: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BqCoKUbcWBiaeY6g9l1DDsQFUY8Y8y82/view?usp=sharing The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power: https://a.co/d/bwwLzZq — You've found the number one resource for financial education for aviators! Please consider leaving a rating and sharing this podcast with your colleagues in the aviation community, as it can serve as a valuable resource for all those involved in the industry.Remember to subscribe for more insights at PassiveIncomePilots.com! https://passiveincomepilots.com/ Join our growing community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/passivepilotsCheck us out on Instagram @PassiveIncomePilots: https://www.instagram.com/passiveincomepilots/Follow us on X @IncomePilots: https://twitter.com/IncomePilotsGet our updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/passive-income-pilots/Do you have questions or want to discuss this episode? Contact us at ask@passiveincomepilots.com See you on the next one!*Legal Disclaimer*The content of this podcast is provided solely for educational and informational purposes. The views and opinions expressed are those of the hosts, Tait Duryea and Ryan Gibson, and do not reflect those of any organization they are associated with, including Turbine Capital or Spartan Investment Group. The opinions of our guests are their own and should not be construed as financial advice. This podcast does not offer tax, legal, or investment advice. Listeners are advised to consult with their own legal or financial counsel and to conduct their own due diligence before making any financial decisions.

What does real financial freedom look like for a mom? It's not about choosing between wealth and presence - it's about creating both. In this powerful conversation, Sarah sits down with real estate investor and GoBundance Women leader Mandy McAllister to explore how women can build genuine freedom through smart property investing. Mandy's story starts with a tear-filled breakdown in a hospital parking lot and transforms into a blueprint for escaping corporate burnout without sacrificing family time. From medical device sales to building a real estate empire centered on values (not hustle), she proves that you can think bigger, move smarter, and stop waiting to prioritize your real life. This isn't your typical real estate podcast episode. This is about feminine energy in business, receiving instead of forcing, and creating wealth with intention rather than endless grinding. Whether you're starting from scratch or ready to level up your existing portfolio, consider this your permission slip to finally take action.   What You'll Learn The exact moment Mandy knew she had to leave corporate (and how $2,000 in rental income saved her) Why multifamily investing beats single-family properties every time Her house hacking strategy that eliminates housing costs while building wealth How to manage properties with intention, not burnout The difference between masculine "attack mode" and feminine receiving energy in business Practical steps for moms who want both wealth and presence with their families Why going bigger in real estate is actually easier (and the government incentives that prove it) How she turned property renovation into bonding time with her teenage daughter   Episode Summary Beyond the real estate strategies, this episode reveals the deeper transformation possible when women reject hustle culture for sustainable wealth building. Mandy's house hacking approach eliminates housing costs while the live-in flip method can generate hundreds of thousands in tax-free profits - but the real magic happens in the mindset shifts. The conversation explores why multifamily properties offer better financing and easier management than single-family investments, with government incentives that make larger deals more accessible. Mandy's daily dashboard system allows her to manage 373 units without being tied to her phone, proving that scaling doesn't require sacrificing presence. A standout moment involves Mandy and her 15-year-old daughter spending 36 hours renovating a rental unit together - work that created deeper bonding than typical parent-teen interactions while teaching practical wealth-building skills. This hands-on approach demonstrates how real estate investing can strengthen family relationships while building generational wealth. Sarah and Mandy discuss their upcoming collaboration and the movement they're creating for women who refuse to choose between financial success and family connection. The episode includes exclusive access to Mandy's signature course for listeners ready to begin their own real estate journey.   Related Episodes You Might Love Ep 21: 3 Things Every Successful Woman Must Have https://sarahwalton.com/3-things-for-success/ Ep 287: The $68 Trillion Wealth Transfer: Why the Future of Money is Feminine https://sarahwalton.com/wealth-transfer-women/ Ep 131: How Do You Grow a Business When Your Schedule Is Crazy? https://sarahwalton.com/grow/   Special gift from Mandy Signature program, Buy Small Multis: The Step-by-Step Blueprint to Building Wealth and Gaining Financial Independence Through Small Multifamily Properties. This course is designed to help women gain the confidence and clarity to acquire their first cash-flowing small multifamily property faster and with better returns than traditional single-family investing. Inside, you'll learn how to underwrite deals, build broker relationships, and uncover the hidden gems that lead to real financial freedom and passive income. Use code GIRLFRIEND at checkout to get $500 off your enrollment. LINK: https://programs.mandymcallister.com/buy-small-multis   Connect with Guest Mandy McAllister  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMandyMcAllister/  Website: https://www.mandymcallister.com/  Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/themandymcallister/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themandymcallister/  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMandyMcAllister  TikTok: https://www.TikTok.com/OfficialMandyMcAllister_   About Mandy McAllister  Mandy McAllister is a multifamily real estate investor, mindset ninja, and connector. She spent the bulk of her career in medical device sales chasing cases and commission checks. In 2021, Mandy left her W2 to lean on the financial independence she built through real estate investing. Mandy now serves as CEO of GoBundance women, a tribe of healthy, wealthy, generous women who choose to lead epic lives. Her real estate expertise includes repositioning underperforming assets to increase cash flow and value. Her portfolio is currently comprised of 373 doors of B-class workforce housing, furnished student housing, and a motel reposition. She is most proud to be mama to her hilarious 8-year-old son Duncan, who, coincidentally, wants to be a real estate investor when he grows up.   Free gift from Sarah Book a free 15-minute call to explore working together: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule/60d4f7f6/appointment/52999780/calendar/909961?appointmentTypelds%5B%5D=52999800 Ready to shift from chasing to receiving in your business? Book your call with Sarah today and discover how The Abundance Academy can help you scale with soul, strategy, and sanity.   Work with Sarah Apply for The Abundance Academy group coaching program https://sarahwalton.com/abundance-academy/   Connect with Sarah Website: https://sarahwalton.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesarahwalton/ You can check out our podcast interviews on YouTube, too! http://bit.ly/YouTubeSWalton Thank you so much for listening. I'm honored that you're here and would be grateful if you could leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, and clicking "Write a review." Then, we'll get to inspire even more people! (If you're not sure how to leave a review, you can watch this quick tutorial.)   About Sarah Walton Sarah Walton is a business coach specializing in helping women entrepreneurs overcome internal barriers to success. With a background in trauma-informed coaching and nervous system regulation, she takes a holistic approach that addresses both mindset and tactical business skills. Featured on The Today Show and speaking at women's conferences worldwide, Sarah has helped hundreds of women build profitable, sustainable businesses aligned with their values while healing the deeper blocks that keep them playing small. She's the creator of The Money Mindset Course, The Sales Mastermind, The Abundance Academy, and host of the 5-star rated Game On Girlfriend® Podcast, becoming the go-to source for women who want to build businesses that honor both their ambition and their nervous system's need for safety.  

In just a few years, Chad Schieler went from zero to over 700 units, ditching his high-paying W2 job to build a real syndication business from scratch. And he did it the hard way - solo, self-funded, and battle-tested.In this episode, Michael Blank sits down with Chad to unpack the gritty, unfiltered truth behind the rise of Focus Capital. They dive deep into the growing pains of scaling fast - partnership failures, capital raising fears, management misfires, and what it really takes to build a machine that lasts.If you think you're ready to go full-time, this episode will either snap you out of it - or show you the way forward.Head over to https://thefreedompodcast.com/500 to submit for a chance to win free merch and be highlighted in episode 500!!!Key TakeawaysFrom W2 to 700+ Units: Why Chad Walked AwayBuilt a career in credit card processing—but hit a wall with taxes and purpose.Real estate started as a tax strategy and turned into a full-blown mission.Why chasing a deeper “why” made walking away from comfort worth it.The Truth About PartnershipsChad's first syndicated deal looked perfect—until it nearly fell apart.Why being $4K short led him to take control of the entire business model.How too many “chiefs” in asset management created chaos—and the fix.Raising Capital When It Doesn't Come NaturallyChad self-funded his first four deals—then hit a ceiling.The mental shift that helped him want to raise capital.How his best capital raiser came straight from his LP base.Scaling a Real Business (Without Burning Out)The struggle of hiring when revenue is lumpy—and what worked for Focus Capital.Why Chad hires 12 months ahead of revenue (and how it paid off).The non-negotiables that protect his time and family life.When Bigger is Actually EasierWhy 100+ unit properties are less stressful than small ones.The mistake most investors make with property management on smaller deals.How Chad's early inspection and financing mistakes shaped his future deals.Connect with ChadVisit Focus Capitalchad@focuscapital.com Connect with MichaelFacebookInstagramYouTubeTikTokResourcesTheFreedomPodcast.com Access the #1 FREE Apartment Investing Course (Apartments 101)Schedule a Free Strategy Session with Michael's Team of AdvisorsExplore Michael's Mentoring ProgramJoin the Nighthawk Equity Investor Club

Elisabeth Embry talks with Lauren Foundos, founder of Forte, and Britany Geautreau, Vice President of Investment Advisory Services at Clarity Capital LLC. Brittany is a Seattle native, who went on “life's adventure” to Southern California and worked in our Newport Beach office until 2016. That year, she moved back to her home state of Washington to head up our Pacific Northwest office. Brittany is Series 65 licensed and is an Investment Advisor Representative with Clarity Capital Partners. She is also licensed as a registered representative (Series 7) with Niagara International Capital Limited. Lauren left the world of buying and selling Treasuries and started a subscription based online workout company called Forte. Forte's goal is to make sure athletes love and crush each workout. Forte live streams boutique fitness studio classes for their members, as well as providing their classes on-demand. Key Takeaways: Britany Geautreau Interview: 3:32 Who Britany is and what her specialty is 4:15 Britany breaks down what a CFA and a CFP are 8:10 When you should use a financial firm rather than an online platform like E-trade 12:23  How people should be researching which firm is right for them, and some questions to ask to vet the firm 15:38 Your relationship with your financial advisor isn't just a one time meeting 19:56 The market is at an all time high, which means you need to ensure you're not too heavily invested in one particular stock Website: www.ClarityCapitalLLC.com "In this type of environment, don't be greedy. If you have this mentality of "oh I can't lose"...remember companies like AOL" Lauren Foundos Interview: 24:58 Lauren's target audience 27:36 What is Exhale? 29:32 Whether Lauren has unique content or just leveraging studios that are already in use 30:10 How to find the right classes for your personal style 32:01 Lauren's switch from treasurer broker to on-demand fitness guru 33:32 How Lauren was able to pursue her new venture while still having a W2 job 37:46 The importance of working out when you're feeling overwhelmed Website: www.Forte.fit "There's never the perfect time to do anything"     Follow Jason on TWITTER, INSTAGRAM & LINKEDIN Twitter.com/JasonHartmanROI Instagram.com/jasonhartman1/ Linkedin.com/in/jasonhartmaninvestor/ Call our Investment Counselors at: 1-800-HARTMAN (US) or visit: https://www.jasonhartman.com/ Free Class:  Easily get up to $250,000 in funding for real estate, business or anything else: http://JasonHartman.com/Fund CYA Protect Your Assets, Save Taxes & Estate Planning: http://JasonHartman.com/Protect Get wholesale real estate deals for investment or build a great business – Free Course: https://www.jasonhartman.com/deals Special Offer from Ron LeGrand: https://JasonHartman.com/Ron Free Mini-Book on Pandemic Investing: https://www.PandemicInvesting.com

What happens after the financial freedom? In this episode, we sit down with Clark Lunt to talk about the part of the journey most people don't prepare for: finding meaning once the money is no longer the motivator. Clark shares the truth about building a successful real estate business, navigating identity shifts post-exit, and how chasing purpose—not passive income—is what really keeps you going. From his early years flipping rentals to the real reason entrepreneurs feel lost after “making it,” this conversation is raw, honest, and full of perspective. We dive deep into why surrounding yourself with the right people matters more than the perfect business plan, how staying curious creates compound returns in life and business, and why health, relationships, and self-awareness are the real flex. Whether you're trying to leave your W2 or already financially free and asking “what's next?” — this one will hit home. Book your mentorship discovery call with Cory RESOURCES

Today's Flash Back Friday episode is from #558 that originally aired on Feb. 27, 2023. Chris Larsen is the founder and Principal of Next-Level Income. Since “retiring” after 18 years in the medical device industry he dedicates his time to helping others become financially independent through education and investment opportunities. Chris has been investing in and managing real estate for over 20 years. While completing his degree in Biomechanical Engineering and M.B.A. in Finance at Virginia Tech, he bought his first single-family rental at age 21. Chris expanded into development, private-lending, buying distressed debt as well as commercial office, and ultimately syndicating commercial properties. He began syndicating deals in 2016 and has been actively involved in over $1B of real estate acquisitions. Quote:   I hit this moment where you've done something, you pick your head up and you realize there's more to life than this. This isn't what it's really all about.  Highlights:   06:02: Chris's first property and how it shaped the rest of his career 09:05: Growing on your investment journey while working a W2 job 13:20: Making the switch from single family to commercial investments 15:05: How Chris decided to switch to syndication as a path to financial independence 17:10: The assets Chris is currently investing in 19:42: Value add opportunities in newer Class A apartment complexes 21:10: Navigating current market volatility and what that looks like in the long term 24:10: Integrating infinite banking into your life Connect with Chris: https://nextlevelincome.com/ Recommended Resources: Accredited Investors, you're invited to Join the Cashflow Investor Club to learn how you can partner with Kevin Bupp on current and upcoming opportunities to create passive cash flow and build wealth. Join the Club! If you're a high net worth investor with capital to deploy in the next 12 months and you want to build passive income and wealth with a trusted partner, go to InvestWithKB.com for opportunities to invest in real estate projects alongside Kevin and his team.  Looking for the ultimate guide to passive investing? Grab a copy of my latest book, The Cash Flow Investor at KevinBupp.com.  Tap into a wealth of free information on Commercial Real Estate Investing by listening to past podcast episodes at KevinBupp.com/Podcast.

In this episode, I introduce you to Leslie P. who lives with her two dogs and has always been a renter.  Leslie was searching for podcasts about organization. It caught Leslie's attention when she heard one of the Monday Connections podcasts when we were talking about subjects related to those things she loves like demographics, sociology, and anthropology.  Leslie was always an organized person but once her mom had passed and she was in the role of executor, she just couldn't get out from under all the paper!  She needed help and was looking for organizational solutions. The year after her mom passed Leslie referred to as the “Year of quiet living.” She stayed in her mom's 55+ community and took time to figure out her next steps as she faced hurdles in NYC. She'd decided to go out on her own and no longer be a W2 employee.  When Leslie decided to move down to Florida and stay with her mom to take care of her, who had cancer, she grabbed most of her stuff and just left. Well all that stuff was up there still waiting for Leslie to deal with. When Leslie finally located some important paperwork under the couch pillows that she'd been looking for, she decided she had to get a system in place.  In the midst of the mess, she created a priority list like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. What was the most important first step. She then started to feel permission to put things in logical places like her socks by the front door. She started to task stack while her dogs were eating so she could do other things in her kitchen. And she now gives herself permission to honor the phase of life she is in which may mean the fact that she'll buy new tools, get rid of things, make mistakes, and allow new permissions. Like keeping two sets of china and hosting the holidays her way. She's also given herself permission to have a personal life outside of working and taking care of her dogs because she also had more free time now. And with systems in place she no longer has a need for a to do list AND she's not forgetting to do things.  Leslie opened the conversation saying she was not the Organize 365® typical demographic. I wanted to dig into that a little. Leslie uncovered how renting an apartment is kinda like PCS'ing. You move more frequently and need to start all over again. What does a day look like again? How is the drive to work? Can you keep the same medical providers? How does errand running look? Coffee shops? And we talked about things about renting like owning a car and having outdoor space. We also talked about cost opportunities and what that means for the quiet middle of society from each person's point of view. We both pointed out things the other had not considered.  Leslie also attended a Planning Day. Leslie had attended plenty of corporate organization/productivity events and they all paled in comparison. She was so impressed with how comprehensive and effective Planning Day was. It's frustrating for Leslie because she wishes she'd known sooner that a lof of people struggle with organization and for a long time she thought it was just her. Now she has less anxiety, perceived anxiety, as well as sleeping better, and has a healthier outlook.  Leslie's advice is, “Listen to Lisa because she is smart.” But all joking aside she added “Give yourself permission. You are the subject matter expert of your family, your life, home, of your goals, and your priorities. You get to decide. Trust yourself.”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Planning Day Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Kiera and Kristy break down a few reasons why your practice might not seem (or might not be, period) to have any money. They touch on how to find your profit point, knowing your debt, staying on top of collections and AR, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today I have Kristy with me and I'm super excited because today is one of my favorite things to do as consultants and I call it office autopsy. ⁓ Don't worry offices, this is a mix of a few offices because believe it or not, offices think that they're on individual islands and believe it or not, you're not. ⁓ Multi-practices actually struggle, they actually do the same things that you struggle with. And so we just wanna make sure that we bring, we're not going to ever disclose who this office is.   We will mix a few offices together, but I think for people to see what the office's pain point was and then what as consultants were able to do. Kristy, we have some really fun ones. so Kristy and I decided we wanted to podcast today about some office autopsies of what, hopes to help more offices. So Kristy, welcome to the show today. How are you?   DAT Kristy (00:48) Good, thank you. Pleasure to be here.   The Dental A Team (00:50) Of course. Well, I'm super happy because I think the one that we run into a lot ⁓ is we call it cash flow row or cash flow woes, like whatever you want to talk about. But it's really when an office comes to us and they seem to not be able to figure out what's going on. ⁓ They feel like they're producing. Sometimes they're producing, sometimes they're not. So we'll kind of discuss like how to know if you're producing enough or not. But then they feel like they just like have no cash. And so giving some background.   Like I said, I'm going to blend a couple of practices together, but we have kind of going to do like two simultaneous ones. One practice was producing really, really well, but literally the owner felt like they had no money. We're talking like flat broke, felt like they were completely going to go under, had no money, but yet their production numbers were really good and their P &L looked really good. And we're just like, it showed on the P &L. I think, Kristy, you'll find this too, offices get so frustrated.   I got so frustrated and angry with my CPA when they said, well, Kiera, like according to the numbers, you have money. And I'm like, great, high five, jerk. I have no money in my bank account. Like it's the most infuriating feeling in the world of my CPA tells me I should have money, but there's no money. Flip that too on the other side when a practice isn't quite producing what they need to be producing to pay for their expenses. And they feel like they have no money and they are flat broke, which in reality that practice is flat broke because they need to produce more or they need to cut.   So we're gonna kind of dig on both sides of these with office autopsies of what we see, what we've been able to do. And let's start, Kristy, on the side of what do we do? Like, okay, first step, how do we find like the profit point? Like, how do we figure out what should an office be producing? Because I think that's also infuriating when doctors are like, but I'm just producing. I feel like I'm trying to out-produce my problems. Like, I don't know how to produce more. ⁓   how do you, Kristy, as a consultant, come in and help offices just gain that clarity? Because I think sometimes when we know the North Star and we know what we should be targeting, it actually becomes a lot easier to then build block schedules and then figure out what our overhead should be. But how do you help offices even dig into that? As point one to figure out, let's autopsy both of these practices, I think this is step one to really getting clarity.   DAT Kristy (03:00) Absolutely. I agree with you, Kiera. ⁓ The first step is to understand how much we're paying for things. What is the cost to keep the doors open? You know, we talk about overhead, right? But what is overhead? It's everything that we have to pay within a month. Rent, utilities, staffing, right? The other thing that I want to point out is many doctors don't include themselves in that. And I definitely want to pay them   The Dental A Team (03:16) you   DAT Kristy (03:30) Just like if they were an associate in the practice and so we want to include that in that overhead cost if you will and find that What I like to call profit point so we know where we're what's our? BAM right   The Dental A Team (03:48) bam, that bare ace minimum, like what do we have to   do? It's kind of like in real life. I mean, I think all of us have a bam in real life. You know what your mortgage or your rent is. You know how much it costs you to like do your groceries. You know how much daycare is, you know how much it costs you for like your Amazon spending. And some of those are fixed costs. So fixed are like your mortgage or your rent. You can't really change those. Those are fixed for you. Yes, like I get it. The semantics, we're not CPAs here. We're not like, that's not our world.   The semantics are can you change your rent? Potentially you could go find somewhere else. That is an option you could do. But most of the time those are pretty fixed. Just like our utilities are pretty fixed. You can be like my husband where literally our AC goes off at 6 p.m. at night. He freaking freezes us until 6 o'clock to save on these utilities until 9 o'clock. It drives me wild. I'm like in a hoodie freezing, shivering. And then the AC goes off and I'm like roasting. It's really entertaining because he wants to save the $3.   But genuinely speaking, like you're not really going to be saving on those fixed costs. are some fixed ones. Staffing is usually pretty fixed. However, we could add team members or take team members away. So therefore it's not as fixed. But like you said, Kristy, I think it's figuring out in a practice and agreed, doctors should be paid. Like nobody, think that that actually causes more stress for owners. If you don't even know what your paycheck is or you're just taking draws, because then how do you budget your life on a up and down volatile paycheck?   I think that creates a lot of stress versus like, okay, great. Let's just put you at a hundred grand or let's put you at whatever is a reasonable salary. Talk to your CPA. They'll be able to give you that. ⁓ And that can be agreed with Kristy. I like to pay you as an associate, but if right now the practice can't support that minimum should be a reasonable salary of say a hundred grand. So that way you can at least bank on that of getting that paycheck in your practice. Sometimes you have to adjust that, but generally speaking, if we at least give you some type of certainty and clarity,   that's going to help you then be able to budget your life around that too, in addition to budgeting your practice.   DAT Kristy (05:49) Absolutely. In fact, Kiera, sometimes even with startup doctors, I like them to even keep a spreadsheet of their production as if they were paying them as an associate. And then when they start to get profitable, we can back pay those wages. But definitely they have to take care of themselves first. ⁓ I've even seen where they get a little bit of animosity if not, right? Like, staff's driving these cars and they're getting their nails done and they're doing   The Dental A Team (06:00) Agreed.   Mm-hmm.   DAT Kristy (06:19) and I can't even pay myself. So I think it's very important that we understand what that is and work toward that, number one, if we're not there. And then if we are there, adding additional ⁓ percentage to that, which us as consultants can help guide that depending on your goals. If it's paying down debt, paying you as an owner doctor.   ⁓ And you know, we follow the EOS system, so adding those buckets for taxes and those sort of things that come up and we can be prepared for.   The Dental A Team (06:55) Yeah, no, I think it's brilliant, Kristy. And when you said that, I agree. You don't want to not be paid in your practice, because that gets, A, it's stressful, and B, it's annoying, and C, you've got all this debt on you. ⁓ But I also think when we're looking at our practices, there are pieces, so when doctors are like, I'm not getting paid, I just want to remind that sometimes we're being paid through things running through our practices. And so we've got to be careful, because that is,   Like if you didn't have your practice, you'd be paying for that out of pocket. And so that is technically part of your salary, doctors. And I don't want to be the like balloon pop girl over here. I do want to be realistic because a lot of times doctors are like, I'm not making money. And I'm like, but you forgot that these things are running through your practice. So you are being paid for those or those things are no longer coming to you, which is totally fine and legal. Talk to your CPA. Like we want you to do that. There's nothing wrong with it.   But when we're looking and we're like stomping our foot saying we're not being paid, sometimes I even have to remind myself of like, yes, but Kiera, if you didn't have the business, all those costs would be coming out of your W2 paycheck, not your business right off. So agreed with Kristy, when we're looking at this, step one is let's find that BAM, let's find that profit point, let's find out what you have to produce. And then from there, what we need to find out is also in addition to that, how much is our debt?   Because a practice should not have to be covering your debt, but you as a human needs to be covering your debt. So if your student loans, your practice loans, things like that, the practice isn't necessarily a poor performing practice. You just have all this excess of like, my gosh, I have to pay this off, which that's real life for you. And I think that's the difference of a CPA's bookkeeping for you versus your real life living through it. And I can tell you from personal experience, like this is very hard. Sometimes practice loans do go through your   your practice profitability. Again, this is pending on your CPA and how they recommend you do it. But most of the time your student loans and different things like that don't run through the practice. So, but you as a human need to have enough money to be able to pay for all those things. So I think it's finding out the practices, BAM, like Kristy said, finding out your personal BAM, because that might be different. And then from there, let's tack on 10 to 20 % beyond that. So let's say you know you've got to produce 50,000. Well, awesome. 10 % of that would be 55, adding   20 % excuse me, so 10 % of that is going to be an additional $5,000. To do 20 % of that's going to be an extra $10,000. So if I know I've got to do 50, I've either got to produce 55 or 60. Now that becomes much easier and I know beyond that I'm going to have 10 to 20 % leftover of the practice after everything's spent. Our ideal is to get it to where your 50,000 is 50 % of your practice and there's 50 % quote unquote profit beyond that. Now again,   that profit is a little bit funny because if we're doing a 50 % overhead and 50 % profit, doctor salaries usually are not included in that. If doctor salaries are included in that, then usually it's a 20 % profit at the end of that. So I know those two numbers feel a little like disjointed. They've been very disjointed for me. So if you're doing true overhead, we want it at 50%, 30 % doctor pay, 20 % profit. If you want to combine it all together, then it would be 80 % quote unquote overhead, 20 % profit. Now that 20 % profit though,   does technically pay for debt services. So watch that. You might need to scale down our 50 % down a little bit more or 80 % to then be able to offset that. So hopefully that wasn't too confusing for everybody. This is why we're consultants. This is why we help you. But I think when you understand like either need a 50 or an 80 % ultimate goals, we're trying to get 20 % cashflow at the end of the month. think for me, that's like the easiest thing. Like, okay, if I'm producing a hundred grand a month,   I want 20 % of that, so that's 20 grand. So like I'm trying to do easy numbers for all of you. I want 20 grand after everything's paid to still be remaining. Now, one other kicker as a business owner is that 20 % is also taxed. So don't forget that that gets taxed. So if you're at a 30 % tax bracket, well, you gotta take 30 % of 20 grand and then the rest of that you can spend. And this is why I think owners get so frustrated, because it's like, oh my gosh.   Like just tell me how much money I can have. And when I talked to a CPA and Kristy, I think you come across this, like our whole lives up until owning businesses, we've been paid at the W-2. So everything we got paid, we were able to use. Well, now as business owners, everything we're paid, we don't get to use. That's not the way the game works. ⁓ And it's due to write-offs and different pieces like that. So I think just knowing the rules of the game, I remember being so fresh with my CPA and I said, I like you're playing Monopoly with me. Like just tell me the dang rules.   So, and like, don't tell me like, no, you can't pass go, but you can pass go if you do X, Y, Z, but then like, no. So it's really, you've got to have a profitable practice of overhead. That's what we as consultants are really obsessed with. You also as an owner need to be responsible of how you spend. That's not to say you can't spend, but you do need to spend responsibly and you do need to set aside your taxes. And I think when you have all those pieces set up, then you can have guilt free spending because you're paying yourself.   Plus, you know what your true profit is. You've saved for taxes, you've saved for a rainy day, like Kristy was saying. We can put buckets into place to pay down more debt. You can put buckets in place for emergencies in your practice. You can put buckets in place for ⁓ vacations. I have a doctor I was just talking to on Alaska cruise and I was like, how's that bucket working out for you? And he's like, I love it, Kiera, you set it up for me. And I know how much I can spend on vacations. I know how much of my paycheck goes into that portion. He also used to spend an absurd amount on CE. So we set a true budget of how much CE money he could use.   But that's kind of where you then as owners aren't just trying to waffle through this and actually can figure out those profit points. And I do think, Kristy, like as much as we've belabored this so much at the beginning of this podcast, I feel this foundational piece is what makes owners crazy because they don't know the rules of the game. So they start spending all the money. Then you get this huge tax bill. Then you feel mad. Then you feel like you have no money when it's like, no, you did have money. just we accidentally spent it. So now we got to make up for it later because we didn't put these rules of the game into play.   Kristy, you might have a simpler way to do that. What are your thoughts around that?   DAT Kristy (12:49) No, I agree with you 100%. Otherwise, what I find is, you know, business owners, doctors, they just come up with this arbitrary number that they want to hit. But again, just because we're producing something doesn't mean we're profitable. And so they go together, but we have to understand the difference.   The Dental A Team (13:12) I agree. And I love that you said that because production feeds the ego and profit feeds the family. And so it does not matter what you're producing. And I agree with Kristy. It's like, I want to produce a hundred grand. I want to produce 200 grand. Well, high five. Let's help you do that. But on the flip side, let's make sure your expenses are there. And there's another practice I'm thinking of right now where they're like, we have no money. And I'm like, all right, if we have no money, truly it's let's do the checklist. Number one. Like, do you see me even scratch my head? I'm like, if you're not watching the video,   Just know when I hear people say, don't have money. I'm like, all right, it's either a production issue or a spending issue. It's one of the two. So just know those are the only two levers for when you're saying, I don't have money. It's either actually there's a third. There's technically a third. And that is a collection issue too, because we're either not producing enough. And if we are producing enough, we might not be collecting enough. And if we're doing both of those two things, then it's a spending issue. So let's break it down to this office autopsy. Kristy, let's go for a practice that is producing enough.   they don't have money, how did you fix or how did you find out that this practice had a collections issue?   DAT Kristy (14:14) Yeah, well number one we would look at.   How much was their net production and how much are they currently collecting? My minimum benchmark is always to be at 98 % or higher. Obviously, if we can get reservation fees to pre-collect on things, we may see that up a little bit higher. But if they're not at that 98%, what can we do to get them there? What's getting in the way? Is it patient? Is it insurance? Are we not submitting clean claims and getting them back in a timely fashion?   The Dental A Team (14:26) Agreed.   DAT Kristy (14:47) ⁓ But definitely that would be the first place to look.   The Dental A Team (14:51) Yeah. And so Kristy just said the benchmark. If you're not at 98 % collections, then there's a problem. Second piece is look at your AR and if you have more than one month's worth of production in your AR, we also know it's a collection problem. So when we diagnose on this practice, I remember we talked to a doctor and they're like, Kiera, I have no money. Kristy, I have no money. And I remember we're like, so actually you do have money. Believe it or not, the money is there. It's just sitting in uncollected amounts. So Kristy, you even went with another office and like they didn't have money and you just straight up called.   You like went with the office manager and you guys just picked up the phone and started calling on balances to get the money. And I really want doctors to know, and Kristy, I think this is the infuriating part as a consultant where I'm like, no, like you're producing well, you just have to collect the money that you're producing and don't like, don't even feel bad about it. So what do you do for teams that don't want to collect, that have these big ARs? Like what are a few simple steps? Like if that's my practice, I'm-   Hi, Kristy. I'm the doctor today. My team, this does not want to collect money and I feel like I can't pay any bills. What do you do in that scenario as a consultant, Kristy?   DAT Kristy (15:53) Yeah, well, I think we have to dig deeper into their own, like the team members own biases and what's getting in the way and get them comfortable to realize that we're not doing good by our practice and or patients if we're not collecting those balances. So, you know, really seeing what's the roadblock and let's work through it to overcome it because people deserve the care. Patients deserve to be healthy and   And part of that is also paying for the treatment, right? So just digging deeper, figure out what's getting in the way and helping them to overcome, create some verbiage for them to feel confident in being able to collect.   The Dental A Team (16:39) Yeah. And Kristy, I think you do an amazing job as a consultant. think this is where I love being consultants is like, you will actually help them sometimes call on accounts and help them see how easy it is. And ⁓ I also think when we're looking at AR, let's get our best bang for our buck. like, let's sort it to biggest balances and let's call on those first. Like, let's figure out different pieces. And like you said, there might be a myriad of reasons why your team members don't want to collect. don't think typically it's due to the fact that they don't want to collect. I think they're just scared. There's fear.   They're afraid of a patient being mad. They're afraid of not being able to explain the balance on the account. They might not understand why insurance is denying claims. Billing is a whole black hole, just so doctors understand, like there are a lot of nuances there. But I think on that side, if you are producing, like I remember this practice, they are producing like 150 to 200. And I was like, what do mean you don't have money? And we looked at the P &L and we're like, no, according to your P &L, you have money here. And we just realized it was a lack of collection process.   We implemented that Kristy, you helped this practice. They implement, they started collecting and now the doctor's like, wow, like two months later, I feel like I'm like happy as a clown because they literally have money now, but the money was there all along. And that's really like, I think a myth to dispel on this office autopsy is a lot of times the money is actually there. We're just not collecting. We don't have the correct processes in play to do correct insurance verification, to have better estimates, to collect in practice, to then have better ways that we are posting payments.   We don't have a process for how we're calling patients and insurance. And if you don't have that whole process dialed in, that can actually get really daunting for a practice. But Kristy, let's flip sides to the other dark side of this coin where they might not be producing enough. So like we said, it's either a production process, a collection process or a spending process. What do we do on the dark side where they're not producing enough? Like that's scary to me. So what do you do on that? I think there's like two zones here.   DAT Kristy (18:33) Yeah, absolutely. Well.   Number one, once we figure out that benchmark, typically, Kiera, we go and look at how much are they diagnosing, right? If we're looking to hit 100,000, we typically need to be diagnosing minimum three times that number ⁓ if we want to hit it, right? So where are we with diagnostics? And then where are we in case acceptance? how, if we are diagnosing that much, how much are we   actually getting patients to say yes to that treatment if you will.   The Dental A Team (19:09) Mm-hmm. And I think, Kristy, great point on that because it's twofold on this dark side of the coin of if we're not producing, are we diagnosing enough? And if we're diagnosing enough, are we closing enough? And those are two different people actually in this scenario. So doctors, have to diagnose. And if you're a doctor who's scared of diagnosing a couple tools, it's OK. I always tell doctors, it's your moral obligation to diagnose. As a patient, if you were to go in and there was someone who saw   Let's say you did a scan, I've had multiple MRI scans on my brain. Do you know how mad I would be at a doctor if they chose, because like they don't know if I can afford it, if I don't wanna hear the bad news or like whatever it is, they choose not to tell me what's on my brain or a broken bone or if I've got something in my blood work, I would be livid. And yet doctors, you're diagnosing, you're taking x-rays and if you're not telling these patients what's going on, ⁓ that's your moral obligation to do that. So if you're nervous about it, that's okay, I'm not here to tell you.   there's anything wrong with it. I just want to remind you that this is your moral obligation as a healthcare provider. So there's Pearl or Overjet of an AI solution that might be a solution for you ⁓ or just diagnosing one more thing than you normally would. If you're used to like watching, ⁓ that's okay. Maybe like just watch 75 % of it, but diagnose one of those things that you would normally watch and just notice patients don't get mad. They don't get angry. ⁓ Remember when you do get that frustration, it's just due to their expectations not being met.   So if you can even help them co-diagnose with you. So having your hygienist call out their perio numbers and let the patient know before they do it, like, hey, we're looking for the health of your gums, anything above a four, that's something that we need to watch if there's bleeding. And I'm gonna show you, so listen with me, you're gonna hear, ⁓ and then you'll be able to hear. Well, now that patient's listening actively with you of, wow, I heard like seven fours, or I heard like a six in there, now you don't have to try and teach them and say like, you've got perio.   They actually heard it and they co-diagnosed with you. You can show them x-rays of here's a healthy tooth. This is what a healthy tooth should look like. Now look at this tooth and what do you see? You guys, if there's decay in there, even the untrained eye usually can see that pretty big chunk of decay taken out of there or use intraoral photos to where that patient's co-diagnosing with you to gain the trust. And that actually makes it easier for you doctors, because then you're not teaching them. Or if you're like really nervous about it.   AI teaches them. Like it literally just puts the puts it up on there and you don't even have to hardly do anything other than just presenting it to them and educating them. So something simple there. And then if your team's not closing cases, amazing simple things like an NDT our handoff. next visit date, time, recare that can help tremendously. ⁓ having your team members track their treatment plans, having a consultant help them. Like we literally help listen to treatment plans, guide and give coaching on different ways that they can do it. So there's two ways if you're not diagnosing or producing enough.   that we can easily do that. And the next one would be a block schedule. Kristy, any other thoughts on that? Because I'm sure you've got pieces working with so many team members too.   DAT Kristy (22:06) Yeah, listening to you talk about the case acceptance, it's just hitting me that sometimes I think our fear is in telling them, but really if we take a step back and just include them in the process and figure out what are their long-term goals for their mouth and being able to speak to them in a relational way that...   The Dental A Team (22:23) Thank   DAT Kristy (22:29) really is flipping it to what is their goals and getting them what they want. I think that takes the pressure off of us telling the patient, right? And so, ⁓ truly, I think when we master this, it's a beautiful thing and you get patients to stick for very long time because they feel heard, right? And they still are in control of their care. So.   The Dental A Team (22:53) Totally, I agree with you, Kristy, and I love that you talked about like, they're part of the solution with you. And I agree, like, I can't as a treatment coordinator want this more than they do. It really has to be something that they're a part of. ⁓ And also just helping your team see, similar to doctors, when we're watching so many things, team members can accidentally be saying one or two words that's guiding a patient the wrong direction. We might be highlighting insurance more than we're highlighting total treatment. We might be putting emphasis on like your max on insurance or   Like we could just start with one thing because we're afraid of presenting total dollar amounts. All of those things are normal. That's like very normal. Your team's not struggling, team members listening. You're not doing anything wrong. Just highlighting that there are different ways that you can present it. And I call it like the sequence. So think about when you're back in high school and you had your locker combination. If your combination code was 321, you could put in the number 213 and your lock wouldn't open. You could also do 123 and it wouldn't open. You could also do 32...   three and it won't open. You can have the exact same numbers and just do them in the wrong combination and it won't open versus if we have the right pieces in the right combination, we actually get more case acceptance. So just realizing like what are my tools that I'm using? Am I putting them in the right sequence? Am I using the tools like insurance is a tool? It's a coupon. So let's maximize that, but it's not going to guide my treatment. Let's maximize getting full case acceptance. Let's maximize like Kristy said, knowing their ultimate goals and tying my treatment back to those ultimate goals.   just using the tools in the right sequence can also help with that case acceptance. Now, if you are a practice that's not diagnosing enough, I think that this becomes like a little bit of an ego check and I'm sorry to be the ego check day today, but it might be something where if we're not diagnosing enough and we are collecting and we're not producing enough, it might be time for us to look to see about cutting costs. And this is something where I don't love to have this conversation. However, bottom line is the practice has to thrive.   Otherwise we all will fail. And doctors like you won't be able to help your team. You won't be able to help patients. And ultimately your livelihood is on the line too. Nobody is happy in this scenario. So when an office is like, don't have money, great. We've looked to see, you diagnosing? We've looked to see, are we collecting? We've looked to see our case acceptance. Like let's check all the boxes. Flip side is what are we spending money on? Immediately I'm gonna go to anything that you no longer need in the practice. So I know we might have been in the glory days.   doing all these ITero scans. Well, guess what? Glory days are gone. We're no longer there. And I hate to be Debbie Downer, but the reality is we need to sell that. We need to get out of that contract. Anything we are not using in the practice, we need to cut those debts off of us. And this is just a yucky moment. And I'm sorry, but you've got to do it. And as a business owner, this is your job as a CEO is to watch the profitability of the business. Like you have to, and you have to make those hard cuts. And I will tell you, you do it one time. You're a lot more cautious on things you'll purchase in the future.   So we start cutting costs of things that are not paying for themselves. So if we've got extra equipment in the practice, if we've got other things that we can sell. Also, team members, we might have bulked. I've done this as a CEO, so I'm just gonna tell you, like, it was a really, really, really bad day when I realized I over-bulked anticipating something to happen in the practice, and I actually had to scale back and cut. That does not feel good, and it's something that we want to avoid. However, if we have ultimate, like, more team members than are necessary, or we could outsource to things,   I'm not here to say, determinate team members. Like we said, like we went through all the different scenarios, everything we possibly could do. But the reality is you may have bulked too much in a practice and you need to scale back and cut. And that's just a zone where you walk the walk of shame and you commit you're never going to do it again. But ultimately you have to get yourself to a profitable zone. You've got to look at your own spending. A doctor was like really struggling on spending and they had multiple credit cards. Consolidate those credit cards down to where you only have one. We pay it off every single time.   We look to see what other things we like work out deals with the lab or different people. ⁓ But you've got to be realistic. You might have to get a line of credit to get yourself out of it. You might have to take equity out of your home or your practice. Those are things I hate doing, but I also feel sometimes the pain of discipline is better than the pain of regret. And I would rather go through the pain of discipline and learning to like cut my costs and watch my costs and not hire. Like I might extra hire.   a hygienist. I might extra hire a treatment coordinator. Those are two players on my team that will actually generate revenue for me. And not to say assistants don't because assistants can, but I could get by with a Mr. Thurshy. Now, dentists, I know I'm going to get a lot of flak for that. The reality is you can do that for a short amount of time. And I just want to highlight like it's inconvenient, but it's also inconvenient not to have money to pay your bills. So like choose our heart on this. But this is a zone where like I heard a doctor and they were struggling and they   They spent like 10 grand on something unnecessary. And I'm like, that's a spending issue. That's a you issue. That's not a practice issue. And it's not a diagnosis issue. If you cannot produce what you have for your costs, it's like the person has to accept the fact that they bought too big of a house. Like you've got to scale down. You got to size down. And as much as that's an ego blow, that's also smart business ownership. So Kristy, that's my like soapbox. So doctors, like we said, it's first, let's make sure we're producing. Like, let's figure out our amount. have to, then we're going to check our production. Then we're going to check our collections.   Then we're going to check our diagnosis. We're going to check our case acceptance. We're going to check our block scheduling. Then we're going to go into any unnecessary costs that are on our PNL. ⁓ Look to see, there anything we could do to reduce costs? And then it's going to be, we've got to cut. And like, you've got to make that decision before you go under. ⁓ You owe that to your patients. You owe that to yourself and you owe that to your team. And it's a sad, crummy day, but it's part of business. Kristy, what are your thoughts?   DAT Kristy (28:27) Yeah, I think you nailed it. The only area we didn't uncover was you usually do have some unscheduled treatment that you may be able to tap into. And I would definitely explore that resource. But you nailed it, Kiera. I mean, you hit all of the boxes for sure.   The Dental A Team (28:46) So those are kind of like looking at a practice that says, I don't have cash. These are some of the ways to diagnose that we do within practices. And notice the very last thing that we went to was cutting. That's not our mission. That's not our process. And we're never going to tell you to cut somebody. That's going to be ultimately your decision. We're just going to remind you that as a CEO, that's part of your job. And I remember going through COVID, had a coach and she said, Kiera, you've got to have a list. You've got to have a list in your mind of like when things get tight, if they get there.   What are you going to do to make sure your business thrives and survives? And that has stuck with me when I realized like, that's why I'm paid a CEO salary. That's why I'm paid to make these hard decisions. That's why I ⁓ signed up to be a business owner. Like that's the hard side of success. Success has two parts of that coin too. There's the light side and the amazing side. And then there's the dark side that a lot of people don't talk about. So if you're looking at your practice and you're saying, I don't have cash, go through the checklist, Kristy and I just gave you. ⁓   And sometimes it does help to have a buddy in it with you, a consultant, somebody who's in it with you. Like Kristy, I think about the night that you picked up the phone with that office manager and you guys started calling, you called on accounts with them. I think sometimes not feeling alone in the process. think somebody pushing your team, because you're like, I don't know how to say this to my team. ⁓ Someone who can help guide them, someone who can help look at your diagnosis and help you diagnose maybe one more thing, ⁓ really can be an asset. And I call Kristy our money bloodhound.   If I have a practice on cashflow row, I'm like, all right, Kristy, I don't what you're gonna do, but girl, go to work and go start looking. And I think having an outside set of eyes, it's not sitting in there floundering with you, but can have a cool, calm, collected head, sometimes can be the most beneficial. So if you're struggling, reach out, we're here to help you. And it comes with no judgment. Kristy, don't think I've ever once heard you judge a single practice. You come with love, you come with open arms, and you come with solutions quickly.   to make sure they get there. So Kristy, any last thoughts you have for these practices who might be struggling, who are hearing this office autopsy being like, my gosh, that's been me, or my gosh, I feel like I'm headed that way. Any other thoughts you might have for them?   DAT Kristy (30:43) ⁓ Just again that you're not in it alone and having us to help ⁓ guide mentor and just make sure you have you know daily weekly monthly Systems in place and balance, you know a checklist balance. We got ya we can help   The Dental A Team (31:00) We do. do. Well, Kristy,   thanks for being on the office autopsy with me. Thanks for just loving our clients so much and helping them. I think that client who two years after you started helping say to us, I like have never been this free or like, my gosh, like this is what ownership should feel like. I think those are the wins that we live for as consultants of hearing you thrive, hearing your successes, hearing you have your dream life and not being so stressed, ⁓ even in possible situations that are stressful. So Kristy, thanks for being that consultant with us.   DAT Kristy (31:30) It's a pleasure. Thanks.   The Dental A Team (31:32) Of course, for all of you listening, don't be on cashflow row. Don't be struggling about these things. If you are part of any of the scenario, if you're like, my gosh, any of those things resonated, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Go to our website, click on TheDentalATeam.com book a call. Like truly it's a no judgment, just clarity, just momentum. Even if we can't help you, we've got resources. Even if you're not quite the right fit, that's okay. Like we will be there to support you. ⁓ but I think it takes courage to book the call. It takes courage to admit you need help. but there's so much freedom.   to know that you're not alone, that you're not having to do this alone and that there's somebody who truly can help you get out of the scenario and that's been there, done that and done it successfully many times. So reach out and as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team Podcast.

Title: When Real Estate Deals Go South: What to Do Next with Ted Patel Summary: In this podcast episode of “Decoding Cash Flow,” host Ted Patel interviews Seth Bradley, a securities attorney and real estate syndicator. They discuss the intricacies of raising capital for real estate investments and delve into the legal considerations that come into play, especially regarding compliance with SEC regulations. Seth shares his journey from a blue-collar background to becoming a successful attorney and real estate investor, providing a detailed account of his experiences in syndication and capital raising. The conversation covers topics such as the importance of being an active partner in syndications, the evolution of his investment strategy from small multifamily properties to larger syndications, and the rise of fund of funds models. Seth emphasizes the necessity for investors to understand legal documents and outlines key strategies for successful capital raising. This episode serves as a valuable resource for both passive and active investors looking to navigate the complex world of real estate investment. Links to listen and subscribe: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2104713/episodes/15911080-ep-153-leveraging-legal-expertise-for-investment-success-with-seth-bradley Links to watch and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4xTU9T6CVA&t=375s Bullet Point Highlights: Securities Compliance: Understanding the legal framework is crucial when raising capital to avoid issues with the SEC. Transitioning to Syndication: Seth discusses moving from small investments to syndication, emphasizing a progressive approach. Legal Documents: The importance of reviewing legal documents and understanding what to look for to avoid pitfalls. Network Importance: Leveraging existing networks can significantly boost initial capital raising efforts. Fund of Funds: Exploring how the fund of funds model offers a structured way to raise capital while adhering to regulations. Investor Communication: Maintaining regular communication with investors leads to referrals and sustained relationships. Future Trends: Insights into potential changes in the real estate syndication market depending on political climate and economic factors.   Transcript: you can certainly partner with other partners and buy a property together and raise Capital together and it's perfectly fine but as you know all you all need to be active partners and as you also know many times people put these things together not everybody's an active partner some people are just coming into the deal just to raise capital and then they don't have anything to do with the operations or the decision-making or anything like that and that's where you get yourself into trouble with the SEC and the state   commission are you looking to achieve massive success in your life without dealing with costly investment nightmares if yes then this is the podcast for you here we provide engineers and busy professionals all the secrets and strategies to create multiple streams of income build generational wealth and live a meaningful Life by Design here's your host Ted Patel welcome back to another episode of decoding cash fla podcast and today we have a very special guest Seth Bradley who is a Securities attorney and   a real estate syndicator he's a chief legal officer at tribe West and a managing partner at rise law and law Capital Partners uh Seth is also a host of passive income attorney podcast and uh today we'll like to you know get his perspective on as an attorney I would say uh on the ways different ways to raise capitals and you know what to look into or where to be careful why is why rais Capital Etc so we'll dive deep into those aspect as well as touch based upon uh the pros and cons of passive income   so uh Seth welcome to decoding cash flow it's a pleasure having you on the show Absolutely Ted really appreciate you having me on man looking forward to it all right great so said before we uh dive deep into your Niche uh can you give our listeners a little bit background about yourself what do you do and how did you get started in the real estate for sure man I I'll give you the expedited version but um you know I grew up in West Virginia grew up blue collar my dad was a coal miner he's a retired   coal miner my mom's a retired school teacher so you know I didn't come from a an entrepreneurship or a real estate background uh blue collar background and you know that kind of sent me into a path of you know full-time W2 and trying to figure out what the best job I can get because I didn't really think of you know entrepreneurship and owning assets and things like that were really an option um so I went into med school um hated it I went for about a year and a half uh dropped out on my own valtion um   ended up actually getting my MBA after that and then into law school where I really started to thrive I really liked law school a lot I liked you know I never wanted to litigate but I was always interested in business and transactions and real estate and those sorts of things so um getting that that legal background gave me kind of that really solid foundation to you know honestly at a young age getting myself into into doors uh where I probably didn't belong you know when you say you're an attorney you're a real estate   attorney or Securities attorney um you know when you're younger it's like oh really that's really cool um and you kind of you know eat your foot in the door so that's really how I got started um I worked in big law for about six six almost seven years um worked at most recently uh one of the top three law firms in the world um uh you know it it was a great experience gave me a really good background and foundation on Securities Law and kind of that that highest level of sophistication and transactions um and you know allowed me   to you know save a little bit of money and really kind of start going out on my own and start purchasing real estate and start investing in syndications passively and then actively um and then eventually start my own firm uh my own Boutique Securities Law Firm that's awesome I love it so you know a lot of people uh you know they they start their investment journey by maybe at at the initial level they buy a small multif family or do a Fix and Flip you know uh how how did you manage to get into syndication directly or what   what what was the path that you took you know what inspired you to get into syndication directly while being an attorney in sort of going through through the normal route of you know starting small and then getting into multi family syndication yeah well I'll tell you what Ted I actually took a I took the traditional route man I started you know like a lot of people do I started really small I started listening to Bigger Pockets right you listen to Bigger Pockets you started thinking oh I've got to uh own rental property so um   as soon as I got my first big Law Firm job I actually house hacked into a duplex lived in one half uh my wife was flexible enough with me to be able to do that so she didn't mind living in a duplex and living in one half renting the other half out and having them pay the mortgage and that was kind of the beginning and then I just started um like a lot of people uh you know doing fix and flips and doing fixing buy and holds and wholesaling a little bit here and there and then moving your way up to   uh you know small multif family and then as I got more sophisticated as an investor and more sophisticated as an attorney and started looking at the clients that I have because I'm working at Big law firms and you know these clients are the folks like like us now right like they're taking down you know $20 million properties hundred million funds things like that um and you just start thinking man I'm I'm not thinking big enough um I need to go bigger how do I do that um you know having that attorney background in real estate   Securities really helped me out um but I was still kind of you know a little bit hesitant I didn't really know that side of the business I knew the legal side I knew the closing side but I didn't know the business side um so I started investing passively first and that was after I spoke to some people and they said that's probably the best thing to do you know I had a good job so I I was able to afford it so I invested passively in some deals kind of got my feet wet that way started to understand   from you know the investor standpoint what that looked like to invest in a in a syndication or a fund and then at that point I realized hey I I can do this um so I actually started leveraging my Securities background um to partner with other operators um and get an equity position in the company um you know bringing in investors I'm doing the due diligence doing the uh some of the underwriting and and then also you know bringing my Securities uh Securities skills of the table which everybody needs when they're raising   capital okay all right that sounds great man so so you did take a traditional route as you mentioned right you yeah maybe maybe didn't uh you know stay in that U uh field for quite long time you just jump to syndication yeah pretty quick hacking yeah pretty quick yeah yeah I mean I built a small portfolio and like I said went into some smaller multifamilies maybe took about three or four years and I started investing passively and then you know by the time I started investing passively I was already looking to go to   the active side within you know a couple of months so are you an attorney do you still practice law I do um kind of as a you know it's not like a a full-time gig but I do have my own Boutique Law Firm raise law where you know I I you know if it's down the middle I'll take on the work um you know if it's a real estate syndication if it's a real estate fund or it's a fund of fund I put those together for people U you know I've been doing that for you know over a decade now so it's like breaking sticks at this   point but I've really been able to leverage my uh Securities attorney background to um some of these other positions with uh startups so startups are really exciting for me um you know they've those are home run swings right like real estate is kind of like singles like let's let's hit singles let's keep that batting average High um you know these are you know a little bit safer they're secure um when you get into the startup world it's like your chance of failure is pretty high whereas real estate your chance of failure is on the   low side um but with with startups it's pretty high but you know that that kind of appeases my risk appetite um to get involved with these startups and I've been able to to like I said leverage my security skills and my background as a a syndicator and a fund manager um to become Chief legal officer for trib bestest so trib bestest um traditionally was a group investing platform and uh you know I was speaking at a conference in the bvis with uh Travis Smith who is the CEO and we really just hit it off   and our wives hit it off and you know they were trying to Pivot from this group investing platform to um you know try to try to enter the Securities and the syndication market and I and they were looking at like a cgp model and I said look Travis this this is going to fun funds right like you know this was this was about a year and a half ago um some things were going on in background with the SEC uh doing some investigations and things like that for some well-known folks and you know the market was starting to to see hey we   need to we need to start paying more attention to these Securities regulations and maybe get away from the cgp model and the solution all along has always been fund of funds it's just fund of funds is expensive it's hard to put together it's you know all those different things um but what we've done to try best is be able to kind of package that into a fun fun in a box all right yeah we'll we'll speak um get more uh into that fun of fund models you know but before we dive deep into that I just wanted to che check few   things like you you mentioned uh startups so in addition to the real estate you also do raise capital for the startups is that so so I'm not raising capital for the startups I'm actually uh fractional clo for not only tribe vest but two other startups one called clavis which is also a real estate uh technology software platform um and then stack rck battery which is a battery manufacturing company so think um you know Tesla power wall it's similar to that it's actually a newer technology that we use a more powerful   technology um but it's very similar in nature where you pair that with solar so we're we're a solar manufacturing or a battery Manufacturing Company um and again these are you know these are I would call them somewhat mature startups in in that world I mean um you know we're well over a million and a half in revenue of a stack rack and um we just went live with a fully automated software with with clavis and then triest is of is is really headed towards series a right now so you know all three of them are progressing really   well um and looking forward to seeing how I can help help ignite that okay sounds good man all right so now moving on to this uh triest right tell me something about uh a little bit more about what do you do at Tri like you said you have a fund in the Box model yeah now uh so so any any group of investors they can come together create their own fund and they can invest in a operators fund is is that though how it works with triest yeah to a certain extent I mean I think it it helps to think about kind of   the history of group investing so traditionally tested what they called group investing it's more similar what you described let's say me you and three buddies put in 100,000 bucks and we've got 500,000 bucks now to get over maybe an investment minimum to invest in a syndication or a fund um and that's it so we just we leveraged each other's Capital to um you know get into a deal at maybe a a large minimum or maybe that uh you know we got a bet we got better financial terms because we put together   half a million instead of investing 50,000 bucks or something um the the ISS is there is is no one gets paid right like we're all just putting our money together investing together and it's really set up like a joint venture we all have equal voting rights based on how much money we put in um you know we we make decisions together we all decided to invest in that one deal and we could all decide together to invest in a different deal if we actually want to um but nobody's getting paid um because when you start getting paid now   you're talking about Securities laws when you start getting paid you should be licensed or find an exemption so um you know you need a broker's dealer license or be in raia under certain circumstances so that's where you start getting into that um a lot more complicated when that starts to happen and that's what tribe vest pivoted to last year is hey we still have the group investing option but a lot of times what happens is one of those people in the group is the one doing all the work right like one of the person is the one   that found tribe vest and is like hey I found this platform I'm gonna let's all put our money together and then you know he's the one collecting the money and badgering people to you know do the distributions and the taxes and all those sorts of things there's somebody putting in some time and effort for that and they at some point they're like hey if I do this next time like I want to get paid for it but how can I do that um you have to find the right uh Capital raising vehicle to be able to legally   pay yourself and we've created that with trivest and that kind of coincided with what I mentioned earlier which was kind of the industry pivot away from the cgp model um when I say CP model I mean I mean the abuse of the cgp model you can certainly partner with other partners and buy a property together and raise Capital together and it's perfectly fine but as you know all you all need to be active partners and as you also know many times people put these things together not everybody's an active   partner some people are just coming into the deal just to raise capital and then they don't have anything to do with the operations or the decision-making or anything like that and that's where you get yourself into trouble with the SEC and the state commissions and the solution to that is is well first of all just don't do it but the solution to it if you still want to raise capital is to create a fund of funds um but the problem with the fund of funds model is now these former cgps have all these new   responsibilities they have to find a Securities attorney they have to put together offering documents they have to find a CPA they have to start a business they have to get a business banking account they have to manage their investors they have to find a portal they have to do all the things that a a real active GP would normally have to do um but typically you know the the active partner is the one doing it for them now they have to do it all themselves so it's a lot more work so in short um it as you mentioned right cgps um they   need to be active in the syndication you know if you're Co GP and know any of the property you need to be active and I I also seen and you might have also seen uh there are certain projects where there are 10 or 15 different C GPS and only five or six takes responsibilities other are just you know raising fund for that uh particular property so this helps uh this model uh you know helps the inactive coach I would say Partners to get the fees that they need as well as raise Capital without getting into   Crosshair of s that's right that's right and the only reason that it's it's been going on for so long now and I'll say since like I'll say 2012 because that's when the jobs Act pass and you were starting to be able to advertise for um these syndication deals and things like that um is because real estate's been so fantastic right like it's been going up up up since the crash in 2008 um and nobody's nobody's suing anyone for the most part because their Investments are great right up until let's say that   little blip in 2020 from but then last year when the interest rates started going up some of these projects started to fail and that's when investors start getting angry because they're not getting you know their distributions and they start asking questions and that's when you're seeing people you know they're getting Capital calls and and they're starting to you know get sued by passive investors that's when these things start to fall apart because if if everybody's happy there's there's you know nobody's going   to get caught so to speak you know what I mean like nobody's going to find out that you raised Capital illegally unless somebody's upset and starting last year that's when people started getting upset and that's when you're starting to see some people um you know get exposed for raising capital in the wrong way what what are the fees that uh you can charge in this fund of fund model what kind of fees because as a cgp there are many different venues right you you can charge the finding fees operations   management fees uh at the end you can also take a part of the profit uh you know yeah so a lot of comes down to how you structure it right like these are these are very complicated Securities regulations that have a lot of layers on top of them because when you get into a fund of funds you're not just dealing with um what people are familiar with 506 C and 506b exemptions which are the 1930s acts you also get into the 1940s acts when you start dealing with fund of funds um and those are uh the invest the   investment advisor Act and the Investment Company act so there are lots of nuances to that and how you can get paid but if you're structured correctly you can get paid the same way so you can get paid an upfront fee you can get paid a um you know an ongoing annual fee percentage and you can get paid a profit split like basically all the same types of fees that you would collect as a cgp you can also collect as a fund manager but again there's a lot of nuances to that okay all right so um for for the new investors right   uh uh when when they start into this passive invest investment world you know uh they are you know they get a little intimidated by seeing all the different uh documents that the operator sends them uh the ppms and all the other legal documents right um and so based on your perspective like you know you're an attorney right so what what are the things that the investor needs to checking these legal documents to make sure there are no red flags or to be cautious of something what what are those things that you would like to   tell to our listeners for sure and it's tough right like these are not short documents I mean you know the the subscription booklet so to speak that includes let's say the subscription agreement the operating agreement and the the PPM it can be minimum 100 Pages it's probably going to be closer to 200 pages in totality and that's in intimidating I mean that's intimidating for myself who is an attorney let alone you know a passive investor that says hey I I thought I was just going to invest passively like this reading a   200-page legal document is not passive to me so you do need to be educated on kind of the things to look for and you know you should read the whole thing unfortunately I you should at least skim it over and the more you do it the more you'll get comfortable with it and the more when you see that see it the next time and the time after that you'll be able to get through it quicker and quicker because they all look you know they all have the the same basic parts but I you know I would say some things   to look for you know first of all make sure that everything matches so let's say the what call the offering memorandum or the pitch deck that the the marketing piece that the operator puts out you know they're going to have their projected returns their fees the proforma they're going to have some other information in there make sure that those numbers match the numbers in the PPM and the PPM is is a Disclosure document so it's a legal document but it's not it's not the final legal document the final document is going to   be the operating agreement so you really want to make sure that the the marketing piece or the pitch deck matches the PPM and the PPM matches what the operating agreement says and ultimately whatever the operating agreement says is what goes so if you take the time to read anything it should be the operating agreement even though that will probably be the hardest um hardest document to read because it will be completely in legal ease but that's the controlling document so if if the pitch deck says   something um and then the op agreement says another thing the operating agreement is what controls um so you know some big things to look out for are are voting rights you know typically as a passive investor you're not going to have a lot of voting rights but there should be some sort of a mechanism to remove the manager in very extreme circumstances so if there's you know some sort of gross negligence or fraud or misrepresentation or you know things like that then there should be a mechanism to um remove the manager and   that's usually done through some sort of a majority vote or super majority vote Plus you know proving that they did commit those actions um again it should be a pretty extreme case but there should be a mechanism there for that um obviously you know make sure that your Fe you know what the fees are going to be you need to know what fees you're paying you need to know um what that waterfall looks like meaning you need to know how you're going to get paid as the passive investor make sure you understand that and make sure it matches   your understanding and if you have questions about it make sure you ask the fund manager or ask the operator um to explain it to you in in um you know in non-legal e language so that you can understand it um and then on top of that you know another important thing that you're seeing nowadays is capital calls make sure you know what the capital call language is so if there's some sort of a a demand for Capital from the operator or from the fund manager what triggers that is it mandatory is it discretionary   um is it up to a vote it could be up to a vote um just make sure you know the mechanism for that and that you're comfortable with it yeah and if uh if your share gets diluted if you don't contribute to the capital call that's right that's right and it's perfectly fine to get diluted if you don't contribute I mean that's typical like if you don't contribute um you should get diluted right but what you need to look out for is if you get deluded Pro uh based on how much you didn't contribute which is fine um it's   typical but you'll see some uh penalty Provisions where you get diluted even more so than than prata and that's where it can be a problem um so just look out for those types of provisions and um in in these documents right the legal documents what if if you take fun of fund model if you take like separate 506b or C right what what are the extra documents in each of these sections that uh uh any any person who wants to start uh raising Capital uh needs to be aware of yeah so if you do a fund of fund you   you just have to think of it like it's your own syndication it's your own fund so you're going to have your own separate set of offering documents or subscription booklet whatever you want to call it so there's going to be two sets and looking at it from the passive investor standpoint if you're the passive investor that's going to be investing in the fun of fund there's going to be two of documents you're going to have to look at you're going to have to look at the fund of fund documents um which is going to have the   PPM the operating agreement and the subscription agreement and then you're also going to have to look at the offering documents for the um for the Target deal that the fun of fund is investing in so there's going to be two set so uh double the work um but you know there there are some benefits to that and obviously if you're investing in a fund of fund then you have a certain level of trust with that particular fund manager which is you know probably why you're investing with them anyways and sometimes you can get a   better deal I mean not all the time but every once in a while you can um so there you know you'll have to review two sets of offering documents but at the end of the day you know it's like I said you'll get better and better at as time goes by as a syndicator uh what what are the different uh assets that you are involved with I know multif family is there anything else that you do syndication for yeah I've done I've done a lot of different things um multif family I've done industrial I've done ret shopping   centers um RV parks um different funds right now um I'm actually doing a California U fund so accessory dwelling units so we're doing those in Riverside County it's a $20 million fund um and we're buying single family houses and turning it into a basically a three or four Plex um and sometimes you split the lot and you end up with six to eight units on that thing and they're incredible um it's it it's really the only thing you can get done here in California um with you know Little Resistance because everybody knows   California is the king of Regulation so but for some reason they think the adus are the the solution for the housing crisis out here so they let these things get permitted pretty quickly and it's an excellent opportunity it may be might be a short window but right now it's it's a fantastic uh fantastic asset right and uh so you only invest in California you're only focused or are you look at the other properties on out of state also oh I look out of state for sure this is actually the first thing   that I've done outside of you know a few single families and condos um in California generally I was I was one of those people that always said hey you can't really invest in California doesn't cash flow it never makees sense um I've actually came around quite a bit to that you know now that I'm I'm a more mature investor and you know you're in you're in New Jersey so you see like you know that big appreciation play as well um I just remember like bigger Pockets used to be they used to preach oh it's   all about cash flow right like you know all cash flow don't don't invest for appreciation but you need to invest for both I mean I think you need to invest for cash flow because you need to cover your bases I mean you don't want a negatively cash flowing asset that's for sure you don't want something that's going to cost you money but when you invest in places like New York and Coastal California and you know Beach areas things like that um City centers over the long run they're going to appreciate and they're going to   appreciate a lot I mean you might have you know more of a up and down um but at the end of the day it's going to be much higher whereas you know when you invest in which I do I invest in the midwest I invest in the South um those places a little bit more um you know subtle and they're going to increase in in price as well and in appreciation but it's just you know it's a lot more slow um and you might get a little bit more cash flow so you know I like to have a good mix but you know if if you're not strapped for   cash um and you're really trying to build long long-term wealth um that appreciation play is is really important absolutely I can't agree with you Mora because it's all about numbers right first of all yeah you don't don't have to have a negative cash as you mentioned uh the other thing is regardless of which state it is like California New Jersey New York uh of course you know there are some landlord friendly States some are not but as long as you know how to navigate those Waters you'll be fine for sure for sure and   then and you know obviously Force appreciation in everything I mean I don't buy anything that doesn't have some some upside from rolling up your sleeves for sure so um now you you are an ATT Securities attorney do you see in in in next few years do you see any uh any changes upcoming changes with regards to real estate indication like there are you know some more uh rules or you know coming in you know I I I don't want to get political but I I do think that politics have a a pretty big influence   on this um you know I I vote for policy um I don't vote for the the uh person I vote for the policy and I'm in business I'm in real estate so I like to vote for people that are going to be favorable for me so you know this recently proposed massive capital gains tax is absolutely insane to me so things like that really tough to tough to judge right but like you know if it let's say it does go towards um the Republican side let's just say that it it's known that there they want less government oversight um including the SEC um   because you've seen the SEC pick up in the last four years um with oversight you've seen it o you know increased um employees with the IRS things like that so that does influence things um especially with the SEC right because we're talking about syndications we're talking about funds it'll make people a little bit more uh trepid to do anything right um if if people if it's more of a free market and you know they're not too worried about the SEC you're going to see more business you're going to see   more funds you're going to see more syndications um you know looming is the capital gains thing that is huge that will that will be massive for the real estate market whichever way that goes now even if it even if it goes towards uh the left it's not to say that those laws are going to pass I mean that's that's going to be a really difficult thing to pass anyway ways but if it does that can that can dramatically influence it um and there are other things that are out of control as well I mean things   like um you know world wars like things like that you can't predict control you cannot predict those things so you really just you can't focus on politics you can't focus on things that are out of control you have to do what what you can do to to make yourself better and to better your business um but you know I I see the the Securities um the Securities industry um you know funds fun to funds raising capital for Real Estate those sorts of things I can only see it going up I mean there even even with some headwinds from   different things from different regulations or different things that are happening around the world um you know just there's a massive there's there there's a massive movement towards it so I think it'll continue to to go up over time okay all right so um before we get to the final round of questions I had one topic that I want to touch based upon you know you being a syndicator if you like to give a listeners a little bit uh overview on the strategies that you use to raise Capital sure sure man   um you know and I actually have a really good perspective working at tribe vest now because we deal with so many different uh Capital raisers and fund managers and Lead sponsors and we're getting to see who raises a lot of capital who doesn't who's able to perform who can't and you know you start to see the people that are successful and the people that are not and you know what we're trends that we're seeing are people that already have an existing Network are usually successful out of the gate right like if you're a doctor a   lawyer an engineer um maybe even a software engineer someone like that that already has a a wealthy Network those people are generally very successful at raising Capital because they have wealthy friends and it's easy for them to raise uh you know half a million bucks a million bucks out of the gate um that's number one but that only lasts for so long I mean number two once you kind of exhaust those resources you really need to focus on um referrals from those people that invested with you and hopefully you did a good job and you   keep your Communications up um which is really important too I should say that keeping those investor Communications are super important and hardly anybody does it you would you've got once they invest with you you got to fall up on regular basis that's right man provide the reports you wouldn't believe it I mean you would think that that that would be one of the easiest things but it's not because everybody has shiny object syndrome and as soon as you close a deal you're moving on to the next one   and you're not worried about those other investors well that's your best source of new investors are your current ones for referrals because if they give you a referral that's that's golden that's your easiest way um and then secondarily you're going to have to figure out a way to get in front of strangers and new investors so whatever that looks like if that looks like um going on other people's podcasts or starting your own podcast or speaking at events or um you know if you're a doctor start going to   conferences and just talking about um you know what you're investing in and what you're doing and the deals you're deals you're doing things like that you you've got to network you've got to get out there and you've got to figure out a way to get in front of of new people and and new potential investors any any specific uh um tools or you know softwares you recommend um you know me personally I I just use active campaign for my CRM um I've seen a bunch of people use different ones um go high level is great   as well because it's all in one so you can create your your emails your funnels CRM your courses if you have one you can manage a mastermind on there you can do it all on there um it doesn't do anything exceptional but it does everything pretty good so that's that's kind of the knock on it but yeah those are the two big ones that that I use same here I'm also good uh I'm I'm also into active campaign oh cool yep yeah yep that's a good tool yeah all right uh so uh Seth loving this conversation you know but uh I also need   to be mindful of your time so I would like to move on to the final round of questions uh is there anything else that you like to tell to a list us before we move to the final questions um I would just say you know I've seen this journey before I know a lot of your in your a lot of your listeners are passive investors and a lot of times when I give a keynote when I'm speaking it's a it's two passive investors so and I talk about the journey from passive investing to raising Capital um because that's kind   of the the natural progression it's like you invest passively for a while then your friends ask you about that deal and oh man where do you find these Investments blah blah blah and you know eventually you're like man maybe I can raise some Capital but you know doing that transition from passive investor to Capital razor um has never been easier right and especially with um you know I'm going to plug tribe here because it's a done for you product so when you have your five wealthy friends or your   10 wealthy friends that want to invest in a deal but you want to figure out how you can actually get paid for it legally triest does all the stuff that I was talking about doing before that's just a pain like getting your CPA getting a Securities attorney doing your offering documents starting a business we do all that for you we onboard your investors we do everything I mean it's it's a white glove service so you that didn't exist a few years ago um so it's it's easier than ever to make that transition   from passive investor to raising capital for somebody like you Ted that's awesome man uh you know it's always good to uh see like you know people simplifying the things less time less money less energy to put in and you get the same kind of returns and uh you know for sure yep uh let's move on to the final round of questions are you ready let's do it all right pretty easy ones okay so all right man I'll take your word for it better not stop me here so uh what are the main source of information main source of information   to learn and grow um you know I listen to a lot of podcasts I I do a lot of audio um if it's and especially like Audible for books and then podcast obviously for shorter content um and then if if I think it's a really good audible book then I'll actually buy the hard copy and and try to read it I won't say that I always get to it because I just don't have time but I like to listen to stuff while I'm working out and running and doing stuff like that um but mainly podcasts to just stay up up to date on   things and you know I've kind of actually gotten away from Real Estate specific podcast and more into like business things like um you know Alex horos and and those types of guys that talk about business generally I think it's a good flavor um to mix it up with awesome uh what is the one book that you'll recommend would had the most impact on your life or on your business yeah I mean you know it's Rich Dad Poor Dad I mean that's for sure I I'll say another one though because I would say everybody probably says that I   mean It Rich Dad Poor Dad definitely had the the most impact I mean it's I think it has that influence on a lot of people when they read that book they're like it's so simple but it just flips the light and it just changes the way that you look at kind of Life generally um but I would say this one it's a little flu flu but Miracle equation by Hal Hal Elrod um who did the miracle morning um this one came after that but it it's great because it's it just the the main line which is unwavering Faith plus   extraordinary effort equals Miracles I mean if you just kind of I use that as a mantra because it's like you know gets tough right like and you've got to be consistent and you've got to do it over and over again and when you're an entrepreneur or you're a business owner or even if you're an investor and you're trying to get out of your W2 you're 9 to5 like you don't know if it's going to have a happy ending so you have to have unwavering faith and if you do have that faith and you do keep putting in the   consistent effort it's going to work out in the end yeah absolutely I have read that book too it's one of my favorite also and all right so what is the one advice that you like to give to at least any business or investment advice yeah um pay for help pay for Speed um you know you can you can sit here and um figure it out yourself you can go to YouTube University you can go to chat GPT um you can listen to all the podcasts and read the books but nothing's going to accelerate your time like getting a coach or a mentor that's   already doing the things that you want to do um and don't be if you can't get them on board for free then pay them to do it um make sure you know what you're doing because a lot of people out there you know call themselves coaches and they're they're not they don't know what they're doing so be careful but if you find a good one don't be afraid to to pay money for that it it just blows my mind that you know people pay 40 50 $60,000 a year for a college education but then for you know a fourth of that   they could get direct Hands-On mentorship from somebody that's already doing exactly what they want to do and people don't want to do it it's you know they don't be afraid to pay for Speed don't be afraid to pay for help yeah just check out in detail what the coach has done for you know what exactly he's doing and what what he has done for different people yeah of course if it fits your yeah all right uh SE uh it was a pleasure talking to you and thanks a lot for all the details and information that   you provided to thanks Ted really appreciate it man oh before that I just missed one part how can decoding cash FL listeners get in touch with you for sure man I usually update my Links at Seth Paul bradley.com you can find all my social media links there and you can find links to tribe vest and and other things that I'm involved in if I'm raising capital for anything in particular but that's that's the best place to find all my links South paa bradley.com awesome man all right thanks a lot for   coming on the show my friend all right Ted appreciate it man thanks all right take it thanks for listening to decoding cash flow brought to you by Aster Capital if you found value in this episode then please share it with someone who you think could benefit from it and make sure to ask on what you've learned if you want Ted Patel to personally help you reach your goals then feel free to set up a one-on-one call with him also visit us at Aster capital.com for more free resources content of this podcast is for   informational purposes only as always please consult your own adviser before making any investment decisions or setting a course of action thanks again for joining us on this episode of decoding cash flow and we'll catch you in the next episode Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4xTU9T6CVA&t=375s https://www.linkedin.com/posts/astre-capital_astrecapital-podcast-finance-activity-7250610044331769857-4KgJ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAFY-6nMBbbX5J6KeuEtIMcA9tcRG4F_1ItE https://www.instagram.com/p/DA_3q-BOWJm/ https://x.com/AstreCapital/status/1844844972295741635 https://fb.watch/zpTx6laLaU/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/astre-capital/ https://www.facebook.com/AstreCapital/ https://x.com/AstreCapital https://www.instagram.com/astrecapital/ Seth Bradley's Links: https://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en

What does it really take to break free from the 9-to-5 and build a thriving short-term rental business?In this episode, We sit down with Jake Martin, a former corporate professional who left the security of his W2 job to chase a different kind of success—one built on freedom, flexibility, and financial independence.Jake opens up about the real story behind his transition: the fears, the failures, and the big wins. From learning the ropes of vacation rental investing in San Diego to managing multiple properties and navigating tough decisions, Jake shares hard-earned lessons and no-fluff advice for anyone dreaming of a similar leap.Whether you're exploring co-hosting, thinking about your first property, or simply craving a raw and honest take on entrepreneurship, this episode delivers both inspiration and actionable insights.

⭐ Join Rental Property Mastery, my community of rental investors on their way to financial freedom: http://coachcarson.com/rpm  

What happens when your business no longer fits the market—or the law? In this episode, we explore the challenges of pivoting, from labor law changes to zoning regulations to personal burnout. We share stories of sitters who had to shift away from overnights, navigate the shift from independent contractors to W2 employees, or give up in-home boarding due to city requirements. While pivots can feel like rejection of our original vision, they also open doors to resilience, creativity, and new opportunities. Ultimately, give yourself grace, communicate with clients, and stay grounded in your mission of serving people and pets. Main Topics Forced pivots from labor laws Market misfit and niching down Personal capacity and burnout Overnights, IC vs W2 challenges Zoning, licensing, and compliance Main takeaway: “Pivots are not a failure. They're a way for your business to keep going and keep growing and serve more people.” It's easy to feel like you've failed when your business vision doesn't match reality. Maybe new labor laws mean you can't keep using ICs. Maybe your market doesn't want the service you love most. Or maybe your own energy and capacity have changed. But pivoting isn't quitting—it's adapting. Each pivot is a chance to realign with your mission, meet your clients' needs, and keep moving forward. The heart of your business isn't a single service—it's the relationships and trust you've built. Links: Check out our Starter Packs See all of our discounts! Check out ProTrainings Code: CPR-petsitterconfessional for 10% off

On August 7th, with little fanfare, the IRS announced that, as part of its phased implementation of the OBBBA, it would not be adjusting W2 or 1099 forms for the current calendar year but would provide guidance and new forms, in due course, for calendar 2026. This seemingly innocuous statement confirms that we will see in an even larger crop of personal income tax refunds early in 2026 than was anticipated when the OBBBA was passed. These higher income tax refunds should work much like a new round of stimulus checks, adding to consumer demand and inflation pressures early next year.

Imagine working helping to grow a tech company from 20 to 1,000 employees, going to New York for the celebration of taking it public, and then getting let go just 2 days after returning from paternity leave with your first child. This is one of Kyle Luetkehans' most difficult challenges that he's turning into his greatest success story. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he rolled up his sleeves and used this as his opportunity to leap into the life of his dreams! In in just 6 short months after leaving the W2 world behind, they packed up their lives in Florida, turned their current home into a short-term rental, moved to the Midwest, became a partner on an exciting hospitality deal in North Carolina with some amazing business partners, and are set to close on an amazing business opportunity in Alaska with another new business partner. When life hands you these challenges and stresses, Kyle stands at the top of people looking to turn them into amazing opportunities!Follow Kyle

You don't need a trust fund, Ivy League degree, or insider connections to become a millionaire. You need a system. And if you're determined to become the first millionaire in your family, this episode will show you exactly how to do it. Ryan and Cory break down the real math behind building a million-dollar net worth, even if you're starting from zero. You'll learn the mindset shifts that separate the wealthy from the average, how to build momentum with your current income, and why compound interest is the most underrated cheat code for beginners. They also reveal their personal wealth-building routines, their favorite investment strategies using real estate, index funds, and Bitcoin, and how to leverage a W2 job as your financial launchpad. From debt payoff to down payments to long-term wealth, this is the episode that simplifies the entire roadmap. No fluff. No theory. Just the step-by-step blueprint to becoming the first millionaire in your bloodline. Book your mentorship discovery call with Cory RESOURCES

Send us a textEver been shocked by a massive tax bill in April? Let's not let that happen again! For business owners, freelancers, and anyone with significant non-W2 income, estimated tax payments necessary.The IRS rules have changed in recent years. While the IRS used to charge around 3% for missing these payments, that penalty has increased. Now more than ever it is important to make your estimated tax payments!The good news is that navigating estimated tax payments is manageable with the right approach. In this episode we walk you through how to make estimated tax payments and answer all the common questions we receive about them. Take control of your tax situation by planning ahead. Your future self will thank you! Share this with a friend who complains every April about owing too much – you might just save them from the next tax-time panic!Support the showCreate a STAN Store - Click here to try it out!Here's where you can find us! Follow along on Instagram for lots of free content for business owners daily!Shop our business guides!Our Instagram PageOur family page

At 50 years old, San Diego's JZ Zendejas turned a $600 payday into a springboard for financial freedom and community change. In this episode, Subto leader Jordan Whittenburg sits down with JZ to uncover how he leveraged his W2 job, built deep relationships, and carved out a niche as a connector in real estate lending. From avoiding bad deals with strict vetting, to launching co-living projects in Sacramento, to flipping homes in Cleveland, JZ shares the lessons, timing, and mindset that helped him go from unsure beginner to trusted dealmaker. If you're looking to break into real estate investing *without quitting your day job* this conversation will show you how to start smart, build trust, and create lasting impact in your community.

Welcome to another Rookie Reply, where Tony J Robinson and Ashley Kehr answer questions from the BiggerPockets Forums and Real Estate Rookie Facebook group. This time, we're covering questions like: What are the different ways you can structure an offer on a property? Should you use an attorney for an eviction or do the process yourself? Should I pick my W2 job to align with my real estate goals? Looking to invest? Need answers? Ask your question here! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-601 Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertise@biggerpockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Loral answers real-life questions from entrepreneurs at different stages of business on how to structure, protect, and grow their companies while minimizing taxes.Whether you're just starting out, ready to invest, or looking to make a tax-smart move from W-2 income to business ownership, listen in to hear her share the same direct coaching and real-world strategies she uses with her community of high-achieving entrepreneurs.Loral's Takeaways:Discussion on Business Strategy and Tax Planning (01:48)Nick's Dune Buggy Parts Business (03:34)John Hood's High-Yield Savings Account (04:33)Vincent's Search for Hands-Off Investments (05:50)Krista's Question About Multifamily Property Investment (07:19)Geronimo's Investment Losses and Tax Strategies (08:47)Mario's Question About Moving from W2 to Real Estate Professional (09:39)Margie's Son's Life Insurance Question (11:15)Meet Loral Langemeier:Loral Langemeier is a money expert, sought-after speaker, entrepreneurial thought leader, and best-selling author of five books.Her goal: to change the conversations people have about money worldwide and empower people to become millionaires.The CEO and Founder of Live Out Loud, Inc. – a multinational organization — Loral relentlessly and candidly shares her best advice without hesitation or apology. What sets her apart from other wealth experts is her innate ability to recognize and acknowledge the skills & talents of people, inspiring them to generate wealth.She has created, nurtured, and perfected a 3-5 year strategy to make millions for the “Average Jill and Joe.” To date, she and her team have served thousands of individuals worldwide and created hundreds of millionaires through wealth-building education keynotes, workshops, products, events, programs, and coaching services.Loral is truly dedicated to helping men and women, from all walks of life, to become millionaires AND be able to enjoy time with their families.She is living proof that anyone can have the life of their dreams through hard work, persistence, and getting things done in the face of opposition. As a single mother of two children, she is redefining the possibility for women to have it all and raise their children in an entrepreneurial and financially literate environment. Links and Resources:Ask Loral App: https://apple.co/3eIgGcXLoral on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/askloral/Loral on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/lorallive/videosLoral on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorallangemeier/Money Rules: https://integratedwealthsystems.com/money-rules/Millionaire Maker Store: https://millionairemakerstore.com/Real Money Talks Podcast: https://integratedwealthsystems.com/podcast/Integrated Wealth Systems: https://integratedwealthsystems.com/Affiliate Sign-Up:

Ryan previews W2 of the preseason against Cincinnati, providing names to watch, players that need to step up, and much more. He also dives into some news and notes around Ashburn as the regular season closes in.

#633: Paul is worried the private equity investment he's about to make could be a scam. How can he do his due diligence and stay protected when there's a shortage of reliable information? Rob is questioning the purpose of a bond allocation in his eight-figure investment portfolio. Is he on to something, or is there a legitimate case to add them? Dan can retire in a few years, but he's itching to do it now. Would buying a business be the key to unlocking an earlier exit from his W2? Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these three questions in today's episode. Enjoy! Resources: Interview with Dr. Eric Cole Interview with Katie Gatti Tassin P.S. Got a question? Leave it at https://affordanything.com/voicemail Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Think today's mortgage rates are stopping you from getting rich with rental properties? Think again. Today's guest built an 11-unit rental portfolio—starting in 2022, with high interest rates—and is cash flowing on each property. In fact, he's making more cash flow than most investors we know, even with still sky-high rates. How's he doing it with such little money down? No creative finance, no expert skills—Justin Albrecht is just following a simple, repeatable rental formula.  After moving back in with his mom, Justin was getting the itch to find his own place. The problem? This was 2022, where single-family homes for sale were rife with bidding wars. What about small multifamily properties, like a duplex, triplex, or quadplex? That seemed to be the sweet spot. With zero experience in property management or landlording, Justin took the plunge. Fast forward three years, Justin now owns four properties totaling 11 rental units, and just quit his W2 job to focus his full-time efforts on his rentals. He did it all without putting a ton of money down and dealing with 7% interest rates on most of his properties. Still, he's making sizable cash flow, impressive return on equity numbers, and living for free. Today, he's breaking down his blueprint. In This Episode We Cover The small multifamily rentals that average investors can use to build massive wealth How to unlock monthly cash flow even with interest rates at 7% (or higher!) Getting into your first real estate deal with just 3.5% down  Does the 1% rule still exist in the 2020s? Yes! Here's how Justin is finding these deals “Turnkey” rentals that are move-in ready but still produce serious cash flow  And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-1159 Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertise@biggerpockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if the fastest path to true financial freedom isn't flipping more houses, grinding in a business that owns you, or endless hours chasing leads? In this kickoff episode of Storage Wins, host Alex Pardo shares why self-storage is the smartest way to build cash flow with less chaos. After leaving a corporate job, building a seven-figure wholesaling business, and still hitting burnout, Alex discovered self-storage, and everything changed. Let's talk about ways to reclaim your time and finally build a business that works for you. Listen and enjoy! You'll Learn How To: Escape the grind without sacrificing income Build wealth without managing dozens of doors Start a storage business even if you've never done a deal Use systems, simplicity, and strategy to scale sustainably Buy your first facility without a million in the bank What You'll Learn in This Episode: (00:10) Why flipping more houses isn't the answer (00:34) What it means to build a business that works for you (01:19) From wholesaling burnout to discovering a better model (02:24) How one right facility can unlock freedom (03:24) Self-storage is built for people who want true freedom (04:22) A smarter, simpler way to build wealth (05:05) What it takes to buy your first deal Who This Episode is For: Real estate investors who are sick and tired of trading time for money Burned-out investors who are ready to build a business that creates real freedom W2 employees who want out but don't know how Entrepreneurs who are tired of the grind and chaos Why You Should Listen: You don't need dozens of properties or years of hustle. You just need one good deal and the belief that freedom is closer than you think. This episode is your starting line.   Follow Alex Pardo here: Alex Pardo Website: https://alexpardo.com/  Aex Pardo Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexpardo15  Alex Pardo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexpardo25  Alex Pardo YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlexPardo  Storage Wins Website: https://storagewins.com/ 

What if the business you worked so hard to build ends up taking more from you than it gives? In today's episode of Storage Wins, Alex Pardo shares the vulnerable story behind why he walked away from a seven-figure wholesaling operation and how that decision opened the door to a life and business that finally felt right. If you have ever hit a wall in your business or questioned the path you are on, this one's for you. This is the episode where we stop pretending everything's fine and start talking about what works. We will get to focus on an asset class that truly gives you financial freedom, time freedom, and choices and options. Listen and enjoy! You'll Learn How To: Recognize when your business model no longer aligns with your vision Get out of the giant hamster wheel and a business that feels like a prison Transition out of high-stress real estate to freedom from all the traditional headaches of real estate Align your business with the lifestyle you want What You'll Learn in This Episode: (03:02) The morning everything shifted (03:44) The life-changing moment for Alex at the Collective Genius Mastermind (04:34) What if your business is no longer aligned with your vision? (05:40) Getting out on a giant hamster wheel (07:06) What to do when you have built a business that you no longer want to be in? (09:15) The conversation in Guatemala that sparked a new direction (11:58) Chasing money and deals, but it feels like it wasn't enough (13:56) Why cash flow was the goal and wholesaling wasn't delivering (16:28) Figuring out an exit plan (17:55) Rentals weren't the answer either (19:05) COVID, chaos, and the unexpected opportunity to reset (23:23) Skills acquired as an investor, wholesaler, or flipper translate over into storage (27:12) Storage business aligned with Alex's vision (29:10) Tactical knowledge and information about storage with Storage Wins Who This Episode is For: Investors who feel trapped by the very business they built Wholesalers chasing income but craving freedom Entrepreneurs who are tired of reinventing the wheel and are ready for a real shift W2 employees who are unsure of their next move Why You Should Listen: If you've ever asked yourself, “Is this really it?”, this episode is proof that there's another way. Alex doesn't sugarcoat the journey, but he does show you what is possible when you realign, rebuild, and commit to something that actually works.   Follow Alex Pardo here: Alex Pardo Website: https://alexpardo.com/  Aex Pardo Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexpardo15  Alex Pardo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexpardo25  Alex Pardo YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlexPardo  Storage Wins Website: https://storagewins.com/ 

In this rewind episode we feature Fritz Gilbert who has been retired for years and has not only written a book and blog, but also demonstrated how to live a good life post W2 employment. Today we discuss the seven secrets of a happy retirement. Fritz's wisdom not only is for those wanting to retire, but also for those at the beginning of their career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is the entrepreneurial drive something you're born with, or can it be learned? Alan had the chance to sit down with his friend and colleague, Dr. Mark Costes, at the recent Voices of Dentistry Pop Up for a deep dive into the mindset of a business owner. Drawing from his own family history, Dr. Costes argues that an entrepreneurial spirit is often an innate trait (nature), but that the skills to succeed can absolutely be cultivated (nurture). They explore the massive shift in the dental profession from the "golden era"—when clinical skill alone could guarantee a great living—to today's reality, where staggering student debt loads make business acumen a non-negotiable key to survival and success. The conversation also contrasts the cottage industry of dentistry with the consolidated world of medicine, weighing the pros and cons of being a W2 employee versus taking on the risks and rewards of practice ownership. Key Takeaways   Entrepreneurs: Nature or Nurture? Mark believes that while an entrepreneurial spirit might be an innate personality trait, the systems and knowledge required for business success can be learned and mastered by anyone. His father, a corporate man, had the spirit but chose security; Mark was able to live out that entrepreneurial drive. The "Golden Era" of Dentistry is Over: Dentists from previous generations could often succeed despite lacking business knowledge because the revenue from clinical dentistry was high enough to hide inefficiencies. The Stakes Are Higher Now: With average student debt approaching $300,000, new dentists cannot afford to be sloppy with the business side of their practice. Every penny must be accounted for, making business education more critical than ever. The W2 Path is a Viable Option: For dentists who are not interested in the risks and stress of ownership, being a W2 employee can still lead to a successful career and financial freedom. However, it requires a different kind of discipline focused on personal finance, smart investing, and tax strategy to build wealth without the final asset of a practice sale. If You Own, Do It Right: For those who do take the leap into practice ownership, it is crucial to commit to learning the business. Otherwise, you are taking on all the risk, liability, and stress for potentially no significant reward. The Problem with Medicine (and a Blessing for Dentistry): While medicine offers high-income W2 opportunities, it is a highly consolidated system that often leaves physicians with little control and massive tax burdens. Dentistry remains a "cottage industry" with immense entrepreneurial opportunity, despite its own challenges with insurance and patient payment discussions. Information vs. Willpower: Whether discussing personal health or business success, simply having the information is not enough. The key challenge is developing the discipline and willpower to act on that knowledge, a hurdle that many people struggle to overcome. Some links from the show: Dental Success Institute Voices of Dentistry Join the Very Dental Facebook group using the password "Gary," "Timmerman," Hornbrook" or "McWethy," "Papa Randy" or "Lipscomb!" The Very Dental Podcast network is and will remain free to download. If you'd like to support the shows you love at Very Dental then show a little love to the people that support us! -- Crazy Dental has everything you need from cotton rolls to equipment and everything in between and the best prices you'll find anywhere! If you head over to verydentalpodcast.com/crazy and use coupon code “VERYDENTAL10” you'll get another 10% off your order! Go save yourself some money and support the show all at the same time! -- The Wonderist Agency is basically a one stop shop for marketing your practice and your brand. From logo redesign to a full service marketing plan, the folks at Wonderist have you covered! Go check them out at verydentalpodcast.com/wonderist! -- Enova Illumination makes the very best in loupes and headlights, including their new ergonomic angled prism loupes! They also distribute loupe mounted cameras and even the amazing line of Zumax microscopes! If you want to help out the podcast while upping your magnification and headlight game, you need to head over to verydentalpodcast.com/enova to see their whole line of products! -- CAD-Ray offers the best service on a wide variety of digital scanners, printers, mills and even  their very own browser based design software, Clinux! CAD-Ray has been a huge supporter of the Very Dental Podcast Network and I can tell you that you'll get no better service on everything digital dentistry than the folks from CAD-Ray. Go check them out at verydentalpodcast.com/CADRay!    

Dreaming of escaping the paycheck trap?

For many years, it was rare to see a new CRNA grad get a 1099 opportunity, but that's been changing over the past decade. This new generation of CRNAs looks at work differently than previous generations and 1099 fits their lifestyle needs much better. So what do you really need to know if you are choosing between traditional W2 employment and the increasingly popular 1099 pathway? Kevin and Larry welcome on Beyond the Mask hosts Jeremy Stanley, EA, CFP®, AIF® and Sharon Pearce, DNP, CRNA, FAANA, FAAN to talk tax advantages, income potential and career flexibility. Here's some of what we discuss in this episode:

Most people think money is the biggest barrier to buying rental properties—it's not! Inaction is what keeps most rookies on the sidelines. Today's guest was making $35,000 a year and had very little money saved, yet found a way to buy his first property. Since then, he has built an 11-property rental portfolio and walked away from his W2 job. If he can do it, you can, too!   Welcome back to the Real Estate Rookie podcast! With just a $35,000 salary to support himself, his wife, and a baby on the way, Matt Krueger knew he needed to make changes to forge a better future for his young family. Thankfully, his in-laws had modeled the power of real estate investing, having retired with rentals many years earlier. So, Matt took action—hunting down his first property and negotiating until he was all in for just $2,500!   Feel like money is getting in the way of your first deal? It doesn't have to! In this episode, Matt shares the “hacks” he used to lower his down payment and closing costs. He also talks about how pivoting to short-term rentals fast-tracked his financial goals and the moment he realized he could ditch his nine-to-five! In This Episode We Cover How Matt went from making $35,000 a year to quitting his job (thanks to real estate!) Little-known “hacks” that can help lower your down payment and closing costs The primary residence “mistake” that could derail your next deal The power of reinvesting your cash flow back into your rental properties Tapping into your home equity to help fund your next investment Building equity fast with low-money-down, “fixer-upper” properties How to self-manage your rental property without it becoming another full-time job And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-596 Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertise@biggerpockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob Cesternino and Taran Armstrong speak with the second player evicted on Big Brother 27.

In this episode of the Secret to Success Podcast, the guys go all in on the mindset shift required to break out of survival mode. They challenge the traditional W2 mentality and expose why playing defense in life keeps you stuck. If you've ever felt like you're doing everything right but still not getting ahead—this episode is for you. Topics Discussed: Why the W2 mindset is keeping you broke How real wealth starts with real exposure The power of playing offense in your life How Jamal's early moves set up generational wealth Why people criticize your grind but ask to eat from it What it really means to be a value-add in your circle And why you can't save your family with a small mindset