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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

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

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 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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.

Got a CP59 notice, but didn't receive a 1099 or W-2? How is this and why? Don't fret, all your questions are answered in this video! Do you have unfiled tax returns that need filing? Call us at 866-8000-TAX or fill out the form at https://choicetaxrelief.com/If you want to see more…-YouTube:    / @loganallec  -Instagram: @ChoiceTaxRelief @LoganAllec -TikTok: @loganallec-Facebook: Choice Tax Relief // Logan Allec, CPA -Reddit: u/Logan_Allec

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!    

In this episode of Real Money Talks, Loral Langemeier answers real questions from real people, from side hustlers and W2 employees to entrepreneurs stuck in high tax brackets. If you've ever wondered “Am I doing this right?” with your money, business, or investments, this episode is for you.You'll meet listeners from across the country, including Lenore, a Texas-based HR consultant looking to replace her W2 with rental income, and a California engineer ready to build a cross-border wealth strategy with property in Mexico. Loral walks them through exactly what to do next: where to start, how to avoid costly mistakes, and why “lazy assets” can be your biggest opportunity.Loral's Integrated Wealth Strategy puts, tax, trust, and investment decisions all into one powerful, long-term plan.This isn't financial theory, it's real guidance for real results.Loral's Takeaways:Introduction and Importance of Asking Questions (00:00)Introduction of Participants and Initial Questions (02:06)Strategies for Financial Independence (04:53)Challenges and Opportunities in E-commerce and Real Estate (06:43)Tax Strategies and Business Structuring (14:55)Addressing Tax Overpayments and Business Expansion (19:17)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:

Join The Creative Finance Playbook Coaching Program & Learn Directly from Jenn & Joe:⁠https://creativefinanceplaybook.com/wait-list?utm_source=zoom&utm_campaign=wlistFrom W2 to 9 Properties Using Creative Finance!In this powerful clip from our 5HR LIVE, meet Carlos Cespedes—a husband, father, and one of Creative Finance Playbook's most dedicated students. Carlos shares exactly how he built his real estate portfolio while working a full-time W2 job, raising kids, and managing his time with precision.✅ Learn how Carlos went from zero deals to owning 9 rental properties using strategies like:Seller FinancingZero Down DealsFacebook Lead GenerationTime-Blocking for SuccessKPI Tracking & Daily HabitsCarlos didn't have a big budget, perfect credit, or extra time—he had discipline, mentorship, and the right framework.If you're a new or aspiring real estate investor looking to build wealth without using banks or large capital, this episode will inspire you to take action.

In this episode of the IC-DISC show, I sit down with Ronak Shah to discuss his transition from a corporate career at Intel to entering the scrap metal business, to founding a successful scrap metal business in New Caney, Texas. We talk about the motivation behind his career shift and the mentors who guided him along the way. Ronak opens up about the challenges he faced while transitioning from a large corporate environment to a smaller, more hands-on business. We also explore Ronak's decision to sell his business and the unexpected opportunities that arose from that choice. He reflects on the experiences gained throughout his career, emphasizing the importance of taking calculated risks and adapting to change. His story offers insights into the value of connecting past experiences to current ventures, even when the path isn't always straightforward. Finally, we discuss navigating today's fast-paced digital world and the importance of maintaining a low profile on social media. Ronak's journey highlights the balance between professional growth and personal fulfillment, making this episode a thoughtful exploration of entrepreneurship and resilience.     SHOW HIGHLIGHTS I explore Ronak's remarkable transition from a corporate role at Intel to establishing a successful scrap industry business in New Caney, Texas, emphasizing his desire for more tangible work and the influence of key mentors. The episode delves into Ronak's career progression at Schnitzer Steel and Alter Trading, where he gained critical insights in non-ferrous recovery and learned the importance of agile, smaller teams in driving technological advancements. Through journaling and introspection, Ronak clarifies his professional desires, leading to the creation of Levitated Metal and reflecting on personal challenges, including his late wife's battle with cancer. We discuss the financial strategies Ronak utilized in his entrepreneurial ventures, such as leveraging IC-DISC tax advantages and aligning financial decisions with personal values. The conversation highlights Ronak's leadership insights, his decision to pursue a smaller business for personal fulfillment, and the impact of selling his business on both his professional and personal life. Ronak shares reflections on his entrepreneurial journey, touching on the lessons learned from his career, the importance of taking risks, and the role of hindsight in connecting the dots of his experiences. The episode concludes with a discussion on navigating the complexities of the modern digital landscape and the importance of maintaining a low profile in a rapidly changing social media environment.   Contact Details LinkedIn - Ronak Shah (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronakshahpdx/) LINKSShow Notes Be a Guest About IC-DISC Alliance About Levitated Metals Ronak ShahAbout Ronak TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dave: Hi Ronak, how are you today? Roank: Good David, Nice to see you again. Dave: Likewise, and where are you calling into from? Where are you in the world at the moment? Roank: I'm at my factory in New Caney, Texas, just a little bit northeast of Houston Great. Dave: Now are you a native Houstonian. Roank: I'm not, so I moved out here in 2019 to build this factory and start this business. I think I've been to Houston once in the prior year to visit for the first time and never before, other than perhaps through the airport. So, I didn't know a lot about Houston. I'm not saying that I know a lot about Houston now, but it's been a great place to build a business. It's been a fine place for my kids to grow up. Dave: It's been good it's been a fine place for my kids to grow up. It's still good. Yeah, it's. Uh, it's kind of a, it's kind of a hidden gem in a lot of ways. Uh, you know houston is, it's got a lot going for it that if your only experience is just driving through town or going through the airport, you know, I mean you hear traffic, humidity, heat, urbanl and you're just kind of like, you know, yeah, it doesn't sound like my kind of place. Roank: Yeah, well, it would be a lot more believable if you did not have a Breckenridge background behind you. Dave: True, yeah, that is the Breckenridge background for sure. So where did you grow up then, if you didn't grow up in Houston? Roank: I grew up in upstate New York so my dad was one of the many immigrants that came over in the late 60s, early 70s. They were looking for people with medical training and background. So he came over from India, lived in New York. I was born in New York City but very soon after grew up in the middle of the Finger Lakes. We moved to Syracuse when I was in middle school and then I went to Boston for undergraduate and I bounced kind of between Boston and London and back to Boston, then to Portland, oregon, which is where I came into the scrap industry and lived for some time in St Louis. I lived there for about nine years and from St Louis to here. Dave: Okay. So what made you get into the scrap business if you didn't have a family history in it? Roank: Yeah, it was just very random, my interest in the scrap industry. I think, the truth of the answer is probably the more interesting one. So after mba I was working, I was an operations guy and I was working at intel corporation in portland, near portland oregon, and loved being in portland. It's a fine place to live. But intel was, I mean, a huge company, right, 80 000 people, and just like the process of making something that was about this big, the the size of the core diet, multiprocessor, microprocessor this wasn't sufficiently interesting to me and I was too far from it, as well as my chain organization. Yeah. It didn't feel tangible enough, and so that was one part of it. But then the other part of it as well was you know I was there as a worker bee, you know, in a reasonably senior job for someone of my age, but then, you know, in a reasonably senior job for someone of my age, but then you know intel was having difficulty. So they bring in bane and company to kind of work on strategy or whatever and so two of the guys that I went to school with that, I knew well, were like literally working literally seven layers in the organization above me, and I'm like what? and so I just hit that, I tapped out, I extracted, I was like this is just some horse crap. I, this isn't the place for me. I need to go somewhere where I'm, you know, in a, in a smaller pod, where I can really touch and feel a thing. And so I just started throwing resumes out and wound up at Schnitzer Steel. Now really, yeah, and oh really. Yeah, and it was great. It was a time of transition for Schnitzer. I don't know if it was a great transition time for Schnitzer. They were transitioning from an older style scrap company to a more professional slash corporate company of the style that it is today. So they had parts of the parts of their business were both things and for sure I liked the old thing a lot and just tons of fun being in places like Boston and Portland scrapyard when they were building big mega shredders and new factories and driving the continuous improvement process there and trying to get metrics around things. It was really a good time. I enjoyed a lot of it. I came to Alter Trading in 2010 and that was wonderful right, I owe so much of my career everything I learned everything to the team at Alter, to Jay Rabinovitz and Rob and Michael Goldstein. I learned a lot there. I did a lot of really fun stuff for them that helped transform the company into the highly successful privately owned scrap company it is today. Dave: Like on the technology side, correct yeah. Roank: So I built a few factories, non-ferrous recovery plants to process not steel non-ferrous portions of the shredder and extract more metals out of stuff that would otherwise have gone to the landfill. And it was you know, exciting to do that, and it wasn't just building the factories but really growing out the entirety of the division that became, you know, a kind of center of excellence around that function, and it's an area that you know Alter remains very strong in today. Dave: Okay, well, I am excited to get into the next part of your story. So you're living in St Louis, working at Alter, being involved in some cool stuff and forward thinking technology. So how did from there? How do you end up starting a company in New Caney, texas? Roank: Yeah, so it's no reason not to be as open and honest about it as possible. So Alter was amazing. For the first six or seven years I was there, the job was like a nine and a half out of 10. I remember I was in New York going to make this time up sometime in 2013 or something like that. I've been there for three years and the Powerball was like some huge number, like a billion dollars, and so me and some buddies that were in finance, we all bought Powerball tickets and we talked about what we would do if we won the money, and I remember I determined to say I don't know if I would necessarily quit my job, right, like I really love what I do. I still think about that today. Dave: Did any of them have the same thought? Roank: No, they thought I was just completely crazy and they weren't necessarily wrong. I think I think perhaps again I loved it, but the point of it is I really enjoyed it. It was fulfilling, I had impact, things were changing. All of that when I struggled is as that phase of what Alter needed ended and I needed to move and assist alter with other things, primarily helping them grow a tier of management that had come from the art management level into being the next business leaders of the company. Just, you know, it's kind of standard transition planning type stuff and succession planning. I struggled with doing that successfully, a role that perhaps would have been viable or successful or satisfactory for me to do had it occurred during a standard line management. You know, hierarchical management structure was hard for me to find value in fulfillment, in and I would say success in doing. Yeah, as a matrix manager, you know, as a, as a guide, as a internal consultant. I just didn't love it. I hate to put it that way. I just sure, sure and at the same time, alter was going through a certain amount of a a ton of growth, right, a lot of growth that I participated in through acquisition and internal growth as well disbanded organic growth. But it was going through a lot of growth and so the company that felt small and familial at 40 yards suddenly felt just large and 70 for me. Dave: Too much like it felt too much like Intel. Roank: Nowhere near that level. There's nothing like that. It remains a really effective, well-directed company today. But, it felt different for me and I also realized that I wasn't good at that bigger company stuff. You know, my way of thinking about things didn't scale successfully to that level. I would not be the right guy at that level and this is an unfortunate thing to say. But I chose to. I did not want to change. You know, I thought about so. My boss for many years there was Jay Rabinowitz, who was, until he retired recently, the CEO of Alter Trade. He was fascinating. His ability to grow into the mindset required, the management rank that he was in at the time, or growing into, was phenomenal. And so a guy that if you only knew him 30 years ago was a rough and tumble scrap guy was and you've seen him on podcasts and things like that. It became and presents fully as and fills the shoes of a methodical, thoughtful, mature and a CEO who does a great job of leading A 1,200, 1,500 person organization. You would have never thought that if you only knew him 25 years ago perhaps, but his ability to grow was really phenomenal. For, by choice or by capability or whatever it was, I did not have or want that and so I wanted something dramatically smaller. Dave: Okay. Roank: And so I spent a bunch of time not just thinking about it but literally journaling about it. Because when you just think about these type of problems in your mind like hey, what do I want to do professionally? Yeah, you can just ping pong in your brain. And what I found helped me through the process was writing it down. And if you remember, back in high school, your English teacher would tell you to you know write a draft of the story, or an outline, and then a draft and then the final essay. I mean, I don't know about you, but I would never do any of that crap. But I did this time and I found that, like the first draft was, you know, just vomit on a page of orally thought out concepts and beliefs. And so I wrote it again and it was clear. And I wrote it again, it was clear. It helped me really understand what I liked and didn't like and what I wanted and didn't want from the next phase. And it was a time when, you know, my kids were just about to graduate middle school. If I was ever going to leave St Louis, this was the time to do it. It was not going to be easy. It was not easy for them to leave St Louis, but that's when. That's how I made that choice. I was uncertain as to what I would do. Right, I was out there both looking at shredder yards to buy as well as businesses. To start, I looked at a wire chopping plant. I ultimately built a heavy media plant. I did look at and made successful offers on a couple of different shredders, but none of that actually panned out and in the end I raised a bunch of money, moved out to Houston, built this thing. Dave: That is a great story and your kids ended up adjusting okay to, because I believe you live in one of the really nice master plan communities around Houston. Roank: Yeah, and they've adjusted well. I think my son is glad that we moved down here. My daughter is a little bit on the fence, but she was younger when we moved. Both my wife my late wife and I in many ways would have probably preferred where we lived in. Dave: St Louis, it was a small town in Kirkwood. Roank: You're familiar with it, but here it's been great. The Woodlands is a, you know, magical little bubble of a place to live. It's got everything you need. It's 25 minutes to the factory. All of it has been, from that perspective, just fine. When my wife got cancer, we were right here at MD Anderson. You know a lot of that stuff worked out. Dave: That is great. So tell me what your business premise was for Levitated Metal. So maybe give just a little background. What does the company do? Roank: Sure, so we're a heavy media flotation platform. What we do is we buy a thing called Sorba and we make aluminum Twitch. But stepping back from that to people that don't know what any of those words mean, our suppliers are the largest scrap metal processors in the region. Right, the states who will buy something like an old 2008 ford 500 sedan that's at the end of its life, yeah, shred it into fist size and smaller pieces, extract all the steel out with a magnet and then extract all the other metals like aluminum from the engine, copper, brass zinc, die, cast through other technologies. That aluminum, copper, brass zinc all is mixed up together in little pieces in a giant pile and that product is called a made up word Zorba by the industry. They make lots of it inside of houston. probably 15 million pounds to 18 million pounds of it is made every month right I buy that it's useless the way it is because you can't melt it, because it's got too many different types of metals in it and it doesn't make a useful alloy. But if you can get the aluminum out, that aluminum is super valuable because that aluminum you know used to be the engine block of a old car. It's a pretty tight chemistry match to the alloy required for the engine block of a ford f-150 a 2005. So through a density flotation process using water and ferrosilicon, we can change the density of that water so we can actually float the aluminum out. Dave: Hence the name levitated. Roank: Yeah, it's not a novel technology. I buy the equipment from some dude in Italy. There are well over 100 of these kind of plants in the world, maybe a little less than a dozen when levitators started up in the united states and a very what it sounds like a simple process is a royal pain in the rear. That actually managed because it's a very analog system with all sorts of weird chemistry and other things involved and a challenging plant to rot. But you know, we do a pretty decent job of it. Dave: Now, why did you pick New Caney, texas? I've been to St Louis, in fact, I was just there last month. They appear to have plenty of land around that place, you know, especially across the river in uh, is that illinois? That's just east so why? Didn't you just buy some land and do it up there? Roank: so where these plants, where the competitive plants exist, are relatively close to where their consumers, the aluminum smelters that would buy the recycled aluminum, are, and that's generally already in that area. So there are plenty of plants in that area. Dave: Okay. Roank: Down here in Houston. What was the case when I chose to move down here it became very quickly not the case, because two other people also built plants was that there was a large market in Mexico that did not have access to this type of material because there were no media plants in Texas or along the Mexican border. And aluminum manufacture in Mexico was growing incredibly well, much like the rest of their economy, and so what I saw was a consumer need right mexican heavy media plants, a set of suppliers in the texas area that did not have a domestic buyer for their zorba and so good supplier footprint and, at the time, a relative lack of competition. But I didn't realize. So, like two months after the financial raise was done and everything like that was, there were in fact, two more plants that were in the process of being built. They both started, you know, six to 12 months after mine did not so far away. There's one up near dallas, there's one up in arkansas so it became a little bit more competitive, though in truth that has not really changed the calculus on anything in a great way. It hasn't really improved the deal too much. Dave: Okay, and it was you started with, just a green field, right? Roank: Yeah, it was some trees and dirt and 10 acres. It was some trees and dirt and 10 acres and I started with dirt work and stormwater and concrete and buildings and equipment and built the whole thing. Dave: What year did you? Roank: start COVID 2020. Oh, it was the heck of a time. Dave: That was the construction was during COVID yeah. And when did you open? Roank: Then we started processing. At the end of December we shipped our first 2020 and we started shipping material in full January 2021. Dave: Oh wow, that really was in the midst of COVID. It was Most of it wasn't? Roank: that big a deal. There was some delay in equipment delivery because it came from Italy, and so if anybody had a rougher time COVID wise, it was Italy. So it came from Italy, and so if anybody had a rougher time COVID-wise, it was Italy. So it came from Italy but that might have only cost us a couple months. What was really frustrating and challenging and ultimately we were able to get through it was simply the difficulty of bringing process experts from Europe to the US during the COVID timeline. You know, like I can't tell you how many voicemails I left at the US embassy in Milan to sorry the US consulate in Milan to try to, you know, accelerate the review of the visa for the texts to come in from Italy, but I can tell you how many times somebody probably listened to it with zero, so just a royal pain in the rear. You know, just because the pain in the rear to get that all done, it got done. But those were challenging times. Dave: So started January of 2021 and, uh, at the time, had you given any thought to how long you might want to, that you and your investor group might want to run the business or own the business? Did you have any thought when you started it about what I honestly thought? I? Roank: would run it and own it for like nearly 10, 15 years years and grow it over time and continue to be in the space, et cetera, et cetera. It was meant to be a longer term cashflow, not one necessarily built on an exit strategy of selling at some point in the future. That was the original intent. Dave: How did that-year plan end up working out for you? Roank: Well, it turned out to be much shorter than that. So, as it turned out, in 2023, we had an unsolicited offer from Murfrees Industries to purchase the business assets. Dave: Wow, just two years later. Roank: Yeah, two years of operation later. Yeah, and for a number of reasons, it was the right choice for me and my investors to do the sale and it's been absolutely phenomenally good, I think, for both sides. The transaction itself, you know, from my perspective, great because you know it was an accelerated exit, but an exit nevertheless, and it still gives me the opportunity to continue to do the same job in the same office every day that I really enjoy doing that. I find great fulfillment and mental stimulation and sense of purpose in without the undeniable and underestimated stress of being a business owner. Dave: Yeah. Roank: So that's been absolutely great. It occurred at a time when my wife was battling cancer and took a lot of stress off. Taking that business stress off the table Sure Just made it easier to get through that entire process. Yeah, and it's just been a good. I think it's been fun for everybody. You know Adam and Michael Mervis were the you know fourth generation. Perhaps Adam and Michael Mervis we're the fourth generation perhaps owners of Mervis Industries enjoy having the levitated team in their company. We enjoy being part of it. Both of us have to do better together. It's been really just great. Dave: That is awesome, because not all transactions work out that well. Roank: Yeah, I'm sure there's some number out there that I would have sold the company at, knowing full well that I would not have wanted to work there afterwards. I'm sure there is, but I'm glad I didn't have to. Dave: Because you were I'm guessing you were the. Were you a minority shareholder? Did your? I was a minority shareholder. Roank: Oh, you were the majority, okay. Dave: So it was ultimately your call Correct and your but the the deal clicked, checked all the boxes and and were your investors disappointed that they were going to lose their cash flowing business. Roank: No, they were very pleased with the cash they got all up front. They were fine. That is great. Coincidentally, I did this math when we were doing the sale. I think that the net result of it was the same. Dave: IRR or plus or minus one within 1% of the IRR. Roank: That was in the financial presentation for the business itself. Really, yeah, very unexpected. Yeah, again, nothing more than a coincidence yeah what do you, what do you enjoy most? enjoy the most about the business is building and growing things. What I have realized is that is not sufficient to be a great leader. Right, there's building and growing things. A great leader right, there's building and growing things. But there's also all the other things that a leader should gain and find value in a business that I'm just not personally built to enjoy nearly as much. Right, I enjoy growing the skillset for the people that work for me. I enjoy seeing them be successful, but I don't think I enjoy it as much as I really should, or that a leader really should. In many ways, I think what I've discovered is I almost enjoy being an individual contributor more than. I enjoy being a leader and in in many ways, that's why I enjoy being at such a small company. Right, yeah, here the leadership I have to do is very direct. It's in the office, with people that are no more than 15 feet away from me right now. It's a very old style of working. You, you know, I have one remote employee and thank God she is very self-directed and capable and intelligent and proactive about reaching out to me, because otherwise she would be really disappointed and I would suck at that job. And so when we talk about you know what do we like about the job? I enjoy the improving of things. I enjoy the new thing to be done. That is not as much of it's not that much of running a business as you would want it to be. Sure, it's not like about a small business, though are just the variety of stuff I get to do I wear slightly fewer hats now than I did before the acquisition, but I was the CFO. I was, unfortunately, the lead IT guy, even though portions of these functions were outsourced as well. I sold all the metals. Having never sold a pound of metal in my life prior to levitated metals, I sold all the amount and then I was the president. I was the lead on any plant improvement projects of great size that we had again support throughout the organization on all these little pieces. But that's a lot of little hats to wear okay, okay. That a bigger company would have a head underneath every one of those hats. Sure, so I enjoy being able to do the breadth of those activities. I think it's rare that people can do the breadth of those activities. You and I talk about ICDIS stuff all the time and I would wager at a level that maybe less than five company owners that you interact with are able to discuss the situation. Is that probably correct, or am I? I think it's probably less than three yeah. Dave: And I can't think of who the other two are, so you might be in a class of your own. Roank: Yeah, I enjoy that thing right when I think about things that I would have been in a different life. Perhaps tax accountant could be one of those. But man, this is a very different life than tax accountant. Dave: Yeah for sure I think you made the right call. Well, as we're kind of rounding the home stretch, I've just got a few more questions. One is when you were leaving Intel, if you had a time machine, or maybe right after you left Intel and you had a time machine that you could go back and have a conversation with the younger Ronak 20 years ago, what might you have told yourself? What advice might you have had? Roank: or wisdom that you might've wanted to share. I don't think I would've shared anything. Dave: No, wouldn't want to, but I would've wanted that. Roank: With the exception my wife's death, there is not a single thing that I would have changed that is a you're. Dave: I asked that question on my guest and you're probably the only one who's ever answered it that way. Roank: So I would say, yeah, what type of things do people say? Oh, you know the number one, because I'm not just saying that because I don't want to watch other podcasts, I just yeah, well, no, I can give give you the rundown. Dave: The most common answer is they wish they would have taken a risk sooner. They wish they would have started their company sooner. They wish they'd been more willing to take a chance. Now, granted, many of my guests are self-made first-generation entrepreneurs like you know, are, you know, self-made first generation entrepreneurs like you are meaning? You know they formed the company, but some of them may have worked at other companies. In hindsight they realize, oh, I should have done this five years sooner, you know it. Just, it would have only been better if I'd done it five years. That's kind of. The most common answer is just, they wish they'd played it less safe. You know, they wish they'd taken, you know, more risks in college. They wish they. That's kind of the most. But that one is consistent with what most people say near the end of their life they don't regret the things they did, they regret the things they didn't do. So that tends to be the answer. But that, to me, is a really good. That's a really good answer for somebody who's pretty content with where their life is. Roank: Yeah, other than you know your wife, obviously, and I see what everybody else describes, but I feel that everything I did, I was learning something that became foundationally valuable. Dave: Yeah. Roank: You know there was a period of time I got laid off from Schnitzer in early 2009. And I didn't start up at Alter Trading until, you know, about a year later. But I did some consulting in the middle for a wonderful company, Steel Pacific Recycling in Vancouver Island, Victoria, British Columbia, and I was there for three months and it was a magical time because we were there in the wintertime. The whole family moved up. My kids were very young. We had an apartment right in Victoria. I rode a bicycle to work to the scrapyard. But I did a bunch of really interesting financial cost accounting structure set up that helped them understand their business better and those were super useful skills when I had to do a chart of accounts setup for levitated metals. We were able to slice and dice our financials. You know extremely well and I don't know if I would have used an erp system nearly as well as I do here had I not had all those little formative experience things in the end I think for me at least. I don't feel like I had a lot of wasted years throughout any of that time I learned steve jobs, as you say. Dave: Steve jobs has the saying that you can only connect the dots when you look backwards, that at the time you can't. It's not like you had some grand plan, I'm guessing you know when you left intel. It just you know. Because steve talks about. He took this calligraphy class that he audited in college and, uh, you know, and that influenced everything at apple design and fonts and and other stuff that it only makes sense looking back so that's. Roank: That's interesting. Yeah, I can. I can see that, and it is hard to connect the dots until yeah until you look back so. Dave: So here's kind of a fun one. I think you've been a like me, you're a. Well, I consider myself a naturalized texan. My wife's a native texan, so, uh, you know, if you you know. So you're also a non-native texan, but I think you've been here long enough for this question. Tex-mex or barbecue. Roank: Barbecue makes me fall asleep. I'm not saying Tex-Mex, I've always loved Tex-Mex. So yeah, we've got some great barbecue. Actually, right near the plant Rusty Buckle is some great barbecue. Near my house is Corkscrew, which just got a Michelin star, which. Dave: Oh nice. Roank: Yeah, which I still struggle to understand how that all plays out. But Texas I guess you get a star. But I love me some Lupe Torquillo yeah yeah, I am with you. Dave: Well, is there anything I didn't ask you or we didn't talk about that you wish we had or we should have? Roank: No, but I'll do you a favor and I'll plug a little bit the IC disc. I know that's not the goal of this podcast, but it is why we know each other. Yeah, so I'll tell this story if I may. Yeah, absolutely, the IC disc and levitated metals. Yeah absolutely, yeah, absolutely, disc and levitated metals. So I called you on my birthday, three months before I, a little bit before I sold the company, and I had talked to you many times previous to that about setting up an icy disc. We, like many scrap companies, are well suited to the icyDIS because the profile of our sales are high margin exports and lower margin domestic sales, and the value of, as a pass-through entity, being able to translate ordinary income into dividend income, has great benefits to the investors of a company. I think there's probably some advantages, even if you're a C-corp, but you can detail that kind of At most. I think there's probably some advantages, even if you're a C-corp, but you can detail that kind of stuff out. I don't really know. Dave: Sure. What was? Roank: interesting when we talked about it is I was in the process of selling the company and when you sell a company that's done a bunch of bonus depreciation because it built a big factory, there's always depreciation recapture that shows up as ordinary income at the time of the sale and so whatever normal ordinary income there would have been that year it was going to be much, much higher because we would have clawed back a ton of depreciation. I put a recapture on depreciation. It's ordinary income. We, like many scrap companies again, have an IC discable kind of amount of headroom of income translation from ordinary income to dividend income Well in excess of the ordinary income we normally make in any particular year, and so, like most scrap companies, there should be no reason to pay ordinary income tax. Dave: Right. Roank: Again, most scrap companies that are Nazi corpse or whatever. But in the year of the sale, all that extra headroom suddenly became valuable because I was going to have this abnormal ordinary income from the depreciation recapture, and so what would have been X million dollars of ordinary income that would have turned to dividend income wound up being something like 2.5, x, yeah, all of which I was able to use because I had so much ordinary income, yeah. And your shareholders as well. Yes, absolutely yes, I and my shareholders. And that was phenomenal. And then on top of it, I think I got to. The ICDIS lets you defer some of that dividend income into the following year. So just sat there in our bank accounts making 5% or whatever we chose to do with that money for another year more than a year, excuse me. Just truly phenomenal. The impact of the ICDIS in my space. Not an easy thing to kind of think through. You and I were just spitballing stuff. We popped it up as an option. You had to go back and think about it, but it looks like it works. And I don't know if you have done it before. Dave: No, yeah, it was just such a unique fact and it was mostly because of how new the business was. Right, if the business had been open for 10 years, we would have started the IC desk probably in year four or five it was coming, and then you would have been using it and then you would have had that transaction, the depreciation recapture, and it would have given you a bigger benefit. It would have happened anyway. It was just your circumstances were so unique is how it all fell out, and I doubt we'll ever see that. That circumstances, because it's so rare to start a business and sell it so quickly, you know I think the takeaway of it is the one. Roank: So one of the takeaways I have from this is I should have started the ICS earlier, because of the bonus depreciation as a startup of the company and the complete depreciation of the entire factory. In the first year, I and investors had a ton of NOL and net operating losses that were just going to take a while to turn into a cumulative net gain and before that happened we sold the company. I was planning on doing an IC disc in 2024, I think was my expected timeline, which is when we would have clicked over to a game and then suddenly there would have been income that I wanted to translate over into dividend income. But I really should have just done it before into dividend income but I really should have just done it before. Dave: So the question I should have asked you was if you could go back in time two years and do anything different. Give any advice to yourself. What would it have been? I mean, it's a joke, right? You would have said start the ICDISC sooner. Roank: The real advice I would have given would have been understand how your NOLs work so that you can do a donor advice fund for the ordinary income you thought you were going to. But outside of that, in truth it's a minor esoteric thing that doesn't really matter. Dave: And so, since you brought it up I rarely talk about this. Since you brought it up, just a couple quick questions. One, because the cpa firm you use actually has some icdisk expertise and you know you could have used them. So do you recall what aspect of our I remind you. Roank: Yeah, because you're, I see this guy. Okay, and the thing that I was talking about felt esoteric enough that I didn't want to click just on a cheap bastard. I didn't want to click over, you know. CPA for billable hours while they tried to figure it out and roll me in a show or something like that. That's not how I want to play now, but the truth is I just needed something done quick and fast because every day that I waited to do the icy disc was another day of revenues that I couldn't utilize. And the second reason is, you know there's a time there's time it takes to create an icy disc and set it up and all that kind of stuff. You have that down to a science and had a method to kind of quickly get me rolling on it. While you and I both know you made a bunch of money on that transaction for a couple of years of work on it, it was completely worth it to me and a very satisfying business and personal relationship that tested both of our intellectual capabilities to kind of put together and work on. I enjoyed doing it right, like when we talk about what we enjoy and work. Dave: Yeah, that was a fun thing it was, yeah, no, it was for me too, because so yeah, so few of my clients, you know, know, have that much interest, you know, getting into the weeds there, and it caused me to think of some things I hadn't thought about in this. And again, since you brought it up, in the experience, you know, the team was the responsiveness Good, I mean, was the? Is the experience been positive? Oh yeah, it's been great, yeah what about coordinating with your CPA firm, because sometimes a CPA firm who has an ICDIS practice will sometimes say things like yeah, but it'll be more seamless if it's all under one umbrella right. Umbrella right, I mean, it's the. Did you get the sense that? That it created a lot of of extra work by the cpa firm, or that balls got dropped because you didn't have one entity doing it all? Roank: I don't think I got that sense, because the cpa firm is made up of multiple people too. That, oh, it's a good point, right? I mean, it's not like the ICDISC person is the CPA that you're working with, right? Dave: You know, I hadn't thought about that, and you're right, and there's some level of communication that is required regardless. Roank: Yeah, and that. Dave: IC-DISC practice, if I recall, for that particular firm. I think it's out of a different office. Roank: Anyway, I don't think, even if they were next to each other right which are of course not next to each other because they all work remote Even if they were next to each other, still two people having to talk, and so there's still coordination that has to happen, and you know what you're talking about. In the end. There is enough esoterica on optimizing the ICDISC usage, that especially trying to maximize the ICDISC capability that I don't think others really understand and not all of them need to understand it. But what I mean by that is for many companies they can just use the stupid simple approach for doing ICDISC and it'll still let them translate all the income they have right. In my particular case, it was important to look at the transaction by transaction optimization capability of the ICDISC in order to fully utilize and maximize the amount of income I could translate to dividend income. I use shared logic as my ERP system. There is literally an ICDISC button that creates the report that you care about. Dave: Right, and so that's one of the benefits of not to interrupt you, but people ask me because, like my, our IC disc business is almost impossible to sell. In fact your CPA firm even talked to me a few years ago about buying the ICDIS practice. The problem is we're not very sellable. We have a huge, we have a concentration risk because it's all tied to one part of the tax code. So they wanted to discount that, or they would have wanted if the conversation on that far. And the second problem is I'm a craftsman, I have the primary relationship with all of the clients. So they would have made me stay around for three or five years and I'm like you know and it would have been tied to some kind of an earn out because they're going to say well, what if the IC just goes away next year? You know we want you to basically keep some of that risk. So I don't know what got me off on this tangent of that risk. Roank: So I don't know what got me off on this tangent. I hear you, and I've thought about that question on your behalf as well, because from my perspective I think your job is kind of interesting and fun. Right, you get to visit a lot of different scrap yards, talk to a bunch of different scrap dudes about a thing you're very knowledgeable about that you know really could trans dramatically improve their financial position, and yet it's still a tough sell. Right, it should be like selling. You know it's not like selling ice cream to eskimos, and yet sometimes it probably feels that way. It is that way, yeah, yeah, and also the question of how to. Because you have a couple of people, I think that work for you, right, at least? Dave: one, yeah, yeah, there's a whole team, yeah. Roank: And so, yes, if IC-DISC went away, it would be I don't know what else you guys do, but pretty close to the end of the company and that's a rough gig. And you know, the low-grade communist in me certainly is shocked, shocked by all the awesome and incredible tax code optimization tools that exist for business owners tools that exist for business owners. Dave: I mean between the IC-DISC, new market tax credits opportunity zones right Bonus appreciation just it's Cost segregation, research-. Roank: Absolutely phenomenal, right, I am now a W2 employee like a putz, you know it's just phenomenal. But if that went away then, yeah, this does die. It's a really difficult thing to try to sell, right. It's the type of thing that, I don't know, if you can't keep some level of skin in the game or risk on it. It feels like the type of thing that if you have the right person in the organization that could be the face, should be kind of employee acquired in some capacity. Dave: Well, and that opportunity exists Some of my partners, I mean I have a standing offer to basically sell my part of the business and in many ways are you familiar with the inside. Roank: I am the. Dave: There's a deep dive of tax yeah, yeah, the structure for us I've already looked at it just doesn't. It doesn't really, it's not not the right fit, but yeah, I thought this thing. You know the funny thing about the disc it's been around since 1972, but it's been quote going, going away since 1973. So I've been doing this 20 years, and I thought I might have five years before this went away or there was a change. But the key, though, is that and that's true the concentration risk is there, but on the flip side, there's also a premium. You get a specialization premium that comes along with it. It's the reason if you look at a lawyer, the more specialized they are, the higher their billing rate, and so there's a premium that comes with that specialization. I know what I was going to say, and then I doubled down further where we have a concentration of risk within the scrap metal industry. But the benefit of that, though, is that when I show up to a scrap metal conference, I'm the only one there talking about IC disc, and I'm the one that well, a scrap guy introduced us. I mean, in fact, I won't mention him by name, but I call him my best unpaid salesman. He's referred as multiple clients. For a variety of reasons, they don't use us, but he's still a big fan of uh, of the work we do. So, yeah, and then the. Finally, there's this concept that has not caught on with a lot of americans. But there's this concept of saving Like you don't have to spend all your income in any given year, so there is this concept of you can make money, put it away and then, if the business goes away, you have this thing called like a nest egg, or you know. So People should think about it, yeah, but yeah my clients, my clients who I have a relationship with, that's. Oftentimes they'll ask me hey, dave, I'm a little worried about you, like as a friend, what happens if the IC disc goes away and I'm like I'll just spend more time there? That's what will happen. Roank: If it makes you feel better, I don't worry about you. I just think it's a very interesting company sale situation. I just think it's a very interesting company sale situation. Yeah, and you know, when you look at the environment today, you could be a tweet away from getting doged. Yeah, yeah, exactly yeah. So one of the you know, keep your head down and stay quiet, kind of things which appears to be the standard business approach to today's situation. Dave: It does seem to be. Roank: Well, hey Ronak. Dave: I can't believe how fast the time has floated. This has been a blast. I really appreciate it and I hope you have a great afternoon. Thank you, it's good to talk to you. Special Guest: Ronak Shah.

Dreaming of escaping the paycheck trap?

In today's episode, I sit down with Darren Palmer, a respected leader and entrepreneur, to discuss the unseen struggles that even the most successful leaders face. While many look up to leaders for their polished accomplishments, the truth is that behind every great leader, there's something they're still working through, something unfinished, something real. Darren's journey is no exception.About Darren PalmerDarren M. Palmer is a dynamic Serial Entrepreneur and the co-founder of one of the nation's fastest-growing agencies, Prosperity Partners Agency. With a mission to empower families and entrepreneurs, Darren and his partners are equipping leaders with the tools and strategies needed to achieve financial freedom.Before entering the insurance industry, Darren founded Self Publish -N- 30 Days, the #1 self-publishing company in the world, serving high-level entrepreneurs and helping them turn their stories into seven-figure platforms.Through mentorship and experience, Darren discovered the keys to building wealth—but also realized the deep gap in financial literacy within the business community. Refusing to stand on the sidelines, he became a solution in the marketplace, teaching others how to build legacy, protect income, and steward their financial future with confidence.Reconnecting with Your True PurposeDarren kicks things off by sharing something incredibly personal: he's been recalibrating and reconnecting with what energizes him. As a business owner, it's easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day operations of running a company and forget the authentic connections that once fueled your passion. Darren's biggest challenge right now is returning to his true gift of connecting with people—something that energizes him rather than drains him. He reflects on how business can often make you forget who you really are, and he's currently on a mission to get back to what made his business grow in the first place—genuine human connection.The Struggles of Business OwnershipWe then dive into the roadblocks many leaders face, whether they're entrepreneurs or employees in a W2 role. Darren admits that for a long time, he found himself stuck in the mundane tasks of running the business, often mistaking activity for actual progress. We talk about how easy it is to get caught up in busywork—checking emails, filing documents, making small changes—and feel productive without actually moving the needle on what really matters. Darren points out that it's essential to identify which tasks are truly income-generating and which ones are just distractions.The Pitfalls of Following External ExpectationsA powerful moment came when we explored how easy it is to fall into the trap of doing things the way others expect. Darren shared a biblical example, David and Saul's armor, which Darren uses as a metaphor for business and leadership. Just because something worked for someone else doesn't mean it will work for you. Darren reflected on the times he ran his business the way others thought he should—like having a brick-and-mortar store or hiring large teams—only to realize that these decisions weren't actually the right fit for him. The important takeaway here? Do what works for you, not what worked for someone else.The Right Person in the Right SeatDarren got real about some tough leadership decisions, particularly about trusting the wrong people in the wrong roles. Just because someone is a family member, friend, or someone you trust doesn't mean they're the right person for a role. This conversation opened up the idea of the right person, right seat philosophy from the book Traction, where we often fill seats with people we already know rather than figuring out who's the best fit for a role. Darren's perspective here is that while it's important to trust people, it's critical to put them in the role they're truly qualified for.Redefining Your Seat as a LeaderWe also explore the difficult moment when founders or CEOs realize that their leadership may have reached a plateau. Darren shared a conversation with a CEO who felt he had taken the company as far as he could, wondering if he was the right leader to take it to the next level. Darren and I discussed the importance of constantly reevaluating your own role as a leader and asking the tough question: Are you the right person for the seat you're in, or is it time to redefine your role?The Power of Partnership Over EgoThe conversation took another turn when Darren talked about his strength in building partnerships. As he's learned, having a strong team around you means you don't have to do everything yourself. The real key to success in leadership, for Darren, is recognizing your strengths and knowing when to delegate to others who excel in areas where you're not as strong. Partnerships are essential for building a scalable business and living in alignment with what truly energizes you.Key Takeaways:It's easy to get lost in the daily grind and forget what truly energizes you—get back to connecting with people and sharing what you know.Activity does not equal productivity. Focus on the tasks that truly drive your business forward.Don't follow others' expectations for how your business should look. Create a model that works for you.The right person in the right seat is crucial for the success of any business.As a leader, it's important to reevaluate your own role and ask if you're the best person for the seat you're in.Resources Mentioned:Darren's website: www.selfpublishn30days.com Find Darren on social media: @selfpublishn30daysIf you're ready to grow as a leader, join me for my free monthly leadership workshop at rockygarza.com/confidenceKey Timestamps:00:00 – Introduction: The Unseen Struggles of Great Leaders01:06 – Meet Darren Palmer: A Journey of Leadership01:34 – The Importance of Authentic Connections03:03 – Balancing Business and Personal Growth05:00 – Identifying and Overcoming Obstacles06:38 – The Right Person in the Right Seat10:07 – Finding Purpose and Passion18:40 – Conclusion: Embracing Your True RoleTo join Rocky for his next free virtual event, go to https://rockygarza.com/beyondsuccessSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/trgs/donations

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:

Ever wondered what it really takes to leave your 9–5 and build a successful short-term rental business on Cape Cod?

Welcome back to The Dental Board Room Podcast! In this episode, we continue our multi-part series on financial planning for dental practice owners. Phase 1 covered building the right financial team. Now in Phase 2, we shift the focus from the business to you personally — developing a Personal Plan for Financial Independence.In today's episode, we deep dive into Step 2 of Phase 2:Creating a Personal Spending Plan – or how to design a smart, sustainable approach to how you use your money today.You'll learn how to separate your business cash flow into short-term personal spending and long-term savings, why most dentists mistakenly reverse this process, and how you can proactively plan for both your current lifestyle and your financial future.

"I was so excited to get the contract—I didn't read the fine print." Sound familiar? In this episode, Patrice Davis, founder of Grants Works, shares the painful but powerful lesson she learned about intellectual property when a contract misstep led to a cease-and-desist letter and thousands of dollars in losses.Patrice opens up about how she built a scalable training offer from scratch, only to find out she didn't legally own the product she created. Erin walks through exactly what went wrong—and how you can avoid making the same mistake with your high-value content.This candid conversation is packed with practical insights on contractor agreements, NDAs, and how to protect your IP before you scale. Plus, Patrice shares how she turned things around—and the licensing play she's launching now that could be her most impactful move yet.Key Takeaways:The Mistake That Sparked a Cease & Desist - Patrice shares how one contract oversight with a client led to losing access to the training materials she created.The Cost of Vague Deliverables - Erin explains how unclear contract terms around “deliverables” can lead to clients assuming full IP ownership even when they shouldn't.Free to Paid: Building the Grants Works Academy - From webinars to a scalable online academy, Patrice reveals how she productized her consulting services with intention.Protecting Your IP from Client Hires - Patrice details how she shields her business from contractors or employees assigned by clients to “help” and potentially steal her systems.Rebuilding with Licensing in Mind - After losing her original materials, Patrice rebuilt her training with future licensing opportunities and legal clarity at the core.Ownership Differences: Employee vs. Contractor Work - Erin clarifies how IP rights shift depending on whether someone is a W2 employee or a 1099 contractor and why that distinction matters.AI, Otter & ChatGPT Cautions - Both Erin and Patrice share risks of using AI or transcription tools with confidential or proprietary content and how to safeguard it.A Resource for Consultants Ready to Scale - Patrice discusses her free eBook for professionals looking to turn their expertise into a multi-six-figure consulting firm.Resources Mentioned 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

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 Bronson for an inspiring episode with Aaron Ameen, host of The Hybrid Real Estate Professional Podcast. Aaron, a management consultant and father of three, shares his journey from buying his first rental property in Las Vegas to owning eight cash-flowing rentals across three states while working full-time. Discover how he transitioned to long-distance investing, navigated life changes like COVID and family growth, and now syndicates a $9M residential assisted living development in Houston. Aaron reveals time management hacks, the power of masterminds, and embracing a hybrid investor identity to balance a W2 job and real estate.Learn his “20-Minute Investor” system for managing rentals efficiently and overcoming mindset barriers to scale.TIMESTAMPS01:58 - Aaron's journey: From one rental to eight across states 03:53 - Why long-distance investing? Circumstances and courage 05:19 - Overcoming fear: Managing rentals remotely 05:56 - Scaling to development: Residential assisted living 08:03 - Masterminds: Learning from bigger deal operators 09:13 - Residential assisted living: A high-impact niche 11:13 - Life changes: Balancing family, job, and investing 12:29 - Impact-driven investing: Solving senior care needs 13:16 - Syndication: Transitioning to raising capital 14:51 - Know your endgame: Aligning strategies with goals 15:47 - Mentors: Navigating challenges with support 17:33 - Hybrid identity: Owning real estate openly 21:17 - Burnout risks: Balancing high-demand roles 22:18 - 20-Minute Investor: Systems for efficient management 24:38 - Time hacks: Delegate, automate, eliminate 27:18 - Fractional VAs: Flexible task delegation 28:20 - Buy Back Your Time: The camcorder method 29:51 - Non-linear life: Adapting to changing circumstances 31:22 - Connect with Aaron: Free workshop 32:14 - Takeaways: Systems, mindset, and hybrid investingConnect with the Guest:Website: https://20minuteinvestor.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-ameen/Podcast: The Hybrid Real Estate Professional Podcast#HybridInvesting#RealEstateInvesting#CashFlow#ResidentialAssistedLiving#TimeManagement#Masterminds#MindsetShift

In this no-holds-barred episode of The Higher Standard, Chris and Saied dissect the death of the American Dream through a lens only they can provide—one that blends biting humor with financial clarity. Picking up where episode 291 left off, they explore how corporate America broke the social contract: wages are down, debt is up, and company loyalty is officially dead. Chris opens up about his recent exit from corporate life, shedding light on how fear and financial insecurity trap most people in a cycle of compliance. From housing market madness to the real reason Jerome Powell wears purple ties, this one peels back the curtain on power, policy, and personal freedom.➡️ But it's not all doom and gloom. The crew also dives deep into what actually builds wealth—ownership, autonomy, and making your money work for you. They dismantle the myth that hard work alone gets you ahead, spotlighting the tax code's favoritism toward business owners and investors over W2 employees. You'll hear stories of immigrant grit, generational wisdom, and why even your lemonade-stand-running kid might have a brighter financial future than most adults. If you've ever traded time for money or questioned the rat race, this episode is your wake-up call.

Title: The Hidden Cost of "Family & Friends" Capital and How to Avoid It with Chris Salerno Summary: The video features a compelling discussion between host Chris CNO and Seth, an experienced SEC attorney with a diverse background that includes starting as a nightclub promoter and ultimately becoming a successful attorney specializing in securities law. The conversation dives into Seth's personal journey, detailing how his upbringing in West Virginia shaped his perspective on success, risk-taking, and accountability. He describes the importance of working hard and not making excuses, emphasizing that anyone can succeed regardless of the challenges they face in life. The two also touch on the realities of the current economic climate in the U.S., specifically in California, the significant changes in real estate investing due to securities regulations, and how entrepreneurs should approach risk in their business endeavors. The dialogue seamlessly transitions to discussing their shared experiences in fitness, a matter that Seth and his wife have prioritized through their ownership of Burn Boot Camp franchises while navigating the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As they conclude their conversation, they reflect on the shifting dynamics of real estate and the importance of investor communication and education during economically unpredictable times. Links to listen and subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fund-it-scale-it-close-it-unlocking-real-estate-success/id1760606484?i=1000680833837 Links to watch and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR8RiGLlZMA&t=2732s Bullet Point Highlights: Seth's Early Journey: Seth was adopted from South Korea and raised in rural West Virginia, leading to his realization of hard work and accountability. Nightlife Promotions: Before becoming an attorney, Seth thrived as a nightclub promoter in Los Angeles, reinforcing his skills in sales and networking. Law School Transition: After dropping out of medical school, Seth shifted focus from medicine to business and law, finding success in both fields. Importance of SEC Compliance: The conversation highlights common mistakes investors make regarding securities regulations and emphasizes how crucial proper legal guidance is in real estate. Pandemic Pivot: Seth and his wife managed to keep their fitness business afloat during COVID-19 by pivoting to online workouts, showcasing resilience and adaptability. Investor Communication: Both host and guest stress the significance of maintaining clear and consistent communication with investors, particularly in a volatile economic climate. Future of Real Estate: Discussion around California's real estate laws, particularly the push for accessory dwelling units (ADUs), presents new opportunities for investment. Transcript: it's something there you can make an excuse about and that's the issue about today's society is that everyone wants excuses we mentally uh wired to have negativity in our life I actually started promoting for nightclubs you were a promoter I was a promoter for nightclub life is The Hunger Games business is The Hunger Games the space that you and I are in private Equity it's the Hunger Games my knowledge number one thing SEC really gets you on as misrepresentation welcome to the crystalo show your goto for real estate   business health Health and Family Insight I'm Chris CNO CEO of QC Capital each episode we explore the latest trends and expert advice from industry leaders whether you're an investor entrepreneur or seeking balance this show provides an inspiration you need join us in elevate your game on the Chris alno show welcome to the chriso show I'm your host Chris alno very excited to have a friend of mine we've known each other for what five six years now think so man time flies uh when you're having fun uh Seth on here SEC   attorney doing a bunch of things excited to have him on here a wealth of knowledge Seth thanks so much for joining us dude appreciate you having me on appreciate you reaching out and uh inviting me over for the show most definitely and I'm glad it happened when it did because you're in town you're you're you live out in the beautiful I would say you guys have great weather and great In-N-Out Burger your tax and politics suck but California which is beautiful weather out there you happen to be in Charlotte for Fitness which   we'll touch on here in a second um but I'm glad we were able to make this work absolutely man yeah good timing really good so let's let's give everyone a little background about yourself all the way from you know childhood you know talk to us about that sure man yeah and I think it helps build the story U I'm adopted so I was born in South Korea and adopted a 3 months old and then by two wonderful people in West Virginia rural West Virginia that's different so you know I'm the only Asian in inal West   Virginia yeah so I went to high school with like 18800 kids country country Moon shiners yes for sure for sure good people I love West Virginia love it I love Snowshoe Snowshoe is really good great underrated best best on the East Co or best close to North Carolina I would say unless you get way up North but yeah North Carolina you know anything close snow Sho is where it's at yeah yeah I love it but uh yeah man grew up in Royal West Virginia so wasn't really exposed to entrepreneurship or owning real estate or anything like that   my parents are both Blue Collar uh my dad was a is a coal miner was a Miner is retired now my mom is a grade school teacher so you know I didn't come from are they still in West Virginia yes they are okay they're frequent trips back there you go there you go yeah so wasn't exposed to that stuff so it was all about kind of getting the best job that you could possibly get right talk talk to us about that mentality you were young what age did you come over to us three months three oh three months month   so you didn't even spend time in in South Korea you don't even know of not at all are you curious now you know with you being adopted anything anything about you know where you came from anything like that actually not man you know I I I think a lot of uh adoptees struggle with that yeah um I actually joined a Facebook group one time like with Korean adops and there's like thousands of them in there and I was thinking I'm going to gain some insight from this and but it was like No And it was a lot of uh you know to be blunt a   lot of whining in my mind a lot of crying right I'm about accountability and just going out there and getting it done and you know it's just about you know a lot of I say this all the time you are you can't control the cards you are dealt you can only control how you deal them sure you know you unfor you know unfortunately you it's a great thing it's not unfortunate it's fortunately you were adopted at three months you couldn't control that you couldn't control being born in South Korea and being adopted but you have to   control the cards you were dealt and you've done a phenomenal job you're a badass attorney you know phenomenal job with the cards you were dealt um but I can definitely see being in those type of groups you're going to get a lot of whining and moaning yeah I mean I I think it's you know it's a couple it's it's a couple things right I mean some people have a reason to to quote unquote whine and mo right you know they're they're dealt a bad hand but again like you said you've got to you've got to   play the cards you're dealt right and do the best you can with it and I think that if you are adopted it's easy to go and blame it on that it's it's an easy crutch to lean it's an excuse it's it's something there you can make an excuse about and and and that's the issue about today's society is that everyone wants excuses where mentally uh wired to have negativity in our life and so they're going to make an excuse oh I'm not successful because of this because of this that's a lie you are highly   successful and attorney a beautiful wife doing great things in business and in the real estate industry so you are proof that you can get it done you just have to work hard yeah you just have to work hard you can't blame shift I like to call it you can't blame it on you know the cards you were dealt or you know the things that uh may have happened to you or the situations you're in you've got to just move forward and do the best that you can so dad was a coal miner y mom was a a school teacher what made you want to say hey I'm G to   go into law school and be an attorney yeah it it was a little bit uh a little bit more of a story behind that first of all I went into uh medicine so I wanted to be a doctor all right um well I wouldn't say I wanted to be a doctor it was more like what's the best job that I can get with the mindset that I had my mindset was you know W2 worker type of mindset right like not entrepreneurial not don't take risk and it was and I you know academically it was pretty easy for me so it was just okay what's the best   job you can get is probably being a doctor right like that's kind of the highest calling um and I actually went to med school for a year and a half really yeah and then I dropped out halfway through my second year I literally just got up in the middle of class walked out and said I've I've had it I oh my goodness so I went Premed biology yeah I went Premed biology chemistry and biology whoop my butt so I said okay I'm going to business entrepreneurship switch business entrepreneurship and I said maybe it   wasn't chemistry and biology it was just College in general so I dropped out of college um but you so you got to med school and you're like okay I'm done with this Y and then what yep um honestly that was a turning point in my life I didn't know what I wanted to do right like I committed a a large portion of my life to you know schooling schooling taking the MCAT getting into med school finishing that's not easy either Med school's hard very hard very hard but I've always had an interest in business and real estate just kind of in   the background like I just always had an interest in it um didn't really know how to act on it at the time um so I actually just started enrolling in business classes like immediately just and ended up getting a minor in business for the rest of that year so I I in undergrad classes um and then I started up my MBA actually the following year so got my MBA and then I decided to take it the next step and go ahead and get my law degree because I was still in that same mindset it was like you know this   isn't enough I didn't really know anything about starting a business or anything like that and I just felt like I hadn't done enough so I went ahead and went to went to law school and at that point I did decide I was like look I'm going to I'm going to finish this whether it's the right thing or not um and I was very successful at it I finished towards the top of my class dedicated you know the time and effort it needed um and did really well so love that love that and so getting in what made you want to move out to California   number one on a win man so dropped out of med school kind of took those business classes just trying to figure out what I wanted to to do next on the other side of the world I'm in West Virginia still at this point yeah in West Virginia trying to figure it out and I just knew I needed to get out of there I needed to see more I needed to get out of West Virginia you know it was it was a tough conversation to have right like all my family and friends are there um you know I just dropped out of medical school so now they're like what   the hell is this kid doing you know what I mean like dropping out of med school but they've always been supportive always been supportive always been supportive they never like pushed me into medicine or anything like that and then when I dropped out you know they're still staying supportive but I'm sure in the background they're thinking what the hell are you doing uhoh yeah and then I just decided to up and leave and move to Los Angeles out of nowhere unbelievable unbelievable so you moved out to Los   Angeles yep how was that well I partied for a little bit yeah for a little bit they they know how to party out yeah for a little bit I didn't know what I was going to do I was enrolled um getting my NBA at the time uh mostly online um at Arizona State um so I kept the education going but at the same time I'm in La I'm in a new city I actually started promoting for nightclubs you were a promoter I was a promoter for nightclub for a little over a year in Los Angeles um before I decided hey I got to get my   [ __ ] together well I mean you'll definitely meet a lot of women doing that for sure you get paid basically per head on how many women you bring in the club oh yeah you've got a bottle or two waiting for you every single night y it's actually a pretty nice little lifestyle for somebody in their 20s oh yeah most I I believe it if you want you know if you want to get some experience get out there it's best you can meet a lot of women too yeah and it's a good like uh it's kind of a sales experience   be honest with you you're just for you're like hey I'm getting paid $10 ahead to bring beautiful women to this club I got to go out there and just talk to everybody literally just going out there talking hey you got this come to this club tonight we've got bottles all this kind of stuff and you know wow unbelievable unbelievable so from there you were like okay I got to get my [ __ ] together yeah had to get my [ __ ] together obviously you know I'm still getting educated in back getting my NBA   still kind of keeping the education going oh yeah um but I decided hey I'm going to go to law school so started applying to law schools um ended up getting accepted to a number of ones and I I narrowed it down to USD in San Diego because I wanted to stay in Southern California because I loved it um but I knew I didn't want to be in La so got out of La went down to San Diego because I had visited there a couple times and I just loved it it's just more of a laid-back attitude people were a lot more genuine just a place that I could   see s down at compared to La it's just you know it it it's kind of doggy dog there most oh it is it's a hunger life is The Hunger Games business is The Hunger Games the space that you are you and I are in private Equity it's the Hunger Games yeah you know and and you have to have that mentality you have to be able to survive yeah at the end of the day so from there you're like okay law school it is yep and then you get into law school well in law school or but even prior to that there's so many   different levels of law you can practice yeah what made you you know pick SEC and prior to that did you have any other interest in different type of law yeah I mean generally speaking I want I knew I wanted to get into transactional law I didn't want to be a litigator that's for sure um I was interested in business interested in doing deals those sorts of things so I started out actually at a at a pretty big Law Firm step tone Johnson and ended up doing both real estate and corporate I think that's when we first   met it might have been yeah yeah when when you were cuz they were out what in San Diego or no actually I moved back to West Virginia for that job oh did you okay maybe maybe you maybe you were just finishing there when we met yeah well actually I think we met when I was in probably when I was in Charlotte because I moved to Charlotte for another big Law Firm I think so but anyways yeah so I started kind of more general transactional practice with real estate and corporate and then as I kind of got   more mature and more experienced I started focusing more on the security side nice nice do you you enjoy security side for sure for sure the security side is it it feels a lot more sophisticated um I like the people that I work with in that field a little bit more um but I still have a passion for Real Estate like I still love real estate so even though I'm a Securities attorney it's largely focused on real estate yeah so let's talk about that you know for those individuals that may not know what a   security is most will know what a security is let's talk about that and let's talk about you know the the day-to-day what does a Security attorneys really look like sure sure I mean the easy way to put it for a security because because people kind of miss understand it but if you have passive investors involved at all anywhere anywhere any even if it's one you probably even if it's an LLC yeah you're probably dealing with a security and you're dealing with the SEC regulations and you need a Securities   attorney to advise you because there are lots of things to navigate that you're probably not aware of and that your real estate attorney probably doesn't have the knowledge or know how to to deal with mostely and I see that mistake being made quite a bit oh yeah no I I see that on social media all the time for sure all the time on social media and it comes down to even with words you say like you have to be very very careful you're not misleading whatsoever what do you find uh the most common maybe mistake syndicators or fund   managers do in the syndication world yeah I mean I think the most common mistake is just not even realizing that they're under the Securities regime right like they're just like oh well I'm just raising some you know I'm getting some investors from family friends and they think because it's family and friends maybe that it's okay but it's not it doesn't it doesn't matter who they are it doesn't matter if it's your your family or friends or you know stranger off the streets you're dealing with Securities yeah and that and you   have to deal with those Securities regulations to come along with it so I I think just not knowing yeah that or maybe kind of turning a blind cheek to it is is more like it I think people nowadays have a pretty good idea of because it is kind of out there now right everyone's on social media they're all talking about it the biggest thing too is is you don't want to not know and you don't want to turn that cheek because um something to know is that SEC has unlimited money and they will milk you dry so you might as well spend the   money ahead of time find you a good SEC attorney like Seth you know to make sure that they don't milk you dry because they will milk you dry and they'll throw you in a little white little 4x6 cell and it's not going to be fun if you didn't know they can print money yeah so so if you're you're going up against someone who can print money and you necessarily can't print like they can print exactly you know so you got to be careful and that's not to mention the state Commissioners too so you've got the SEC to deal with as   well as the state Securities commissioner which people don't people don't realize that there's a federal and a state level too and and it's super important to understand what state you're doing business in and what state your investors are coming from and and super important to understand at a state and federal level yeah yeah and it's a you know and if something happens it's a full-blown investigation I mean it's just like a subpoena or you maybe you will get subpoenaed uh but they're asking for everything you they're asking   for texts they're asking for emails asking for phone logs they're asking and give it give it to them like don't even because if you don't they're going to get it they're going to find it yeah I mean they're just going to subpoena you on it and the judge is going to make you do it or they'll throw you in jail so no matter what give it to them and then address every single situation you know or issue that they bring up that I I think it's it's super important we just talked about this on the other podcast   is be transparent yeah you know be transparent because if not they're again they have unlimited Capital absolutely you know they're going to come and get you no matter what and and if and if being transparent makes you nervous then maybe think about the way you're doing business right oh yeah I mean you should be able to be transparent and and just like I said on the other podcast big investor that we had or a big investor that we interviewed on the other podcast and I said you know during 2023 as you   know uh interest rates spiked you know little bit yeah just a little bit and a lot of syndicators were not transparent a lot of them went ghost a lot of them were let like screw this I'm done and we double down we went from monthly communication to bi-weekly communication which is a lot more on our team but we did it to overc communicate we didn't have to cuz our SEC doc said just once a month we could have just stick it once a month but we decided to double down yeah and and that right there overc   communicating saying hey this is what's going on it's out of our control but this is what we're doing to make sure we can control this you know I think is super important when you're a syndicator fund manager you name it when you're dealing and having investors involved 100% man 100% And you you are able to control the narrative that way too right like if the the past investors is sitting there and they're reading the headlines and they're seeing the interest rate Spike and they're hearing about multifam going down the tubes and   all this stuff and that's not necessarily true not all those things are true it could be Market specific deal specific those things but if you're not in constant communication with them letting them know hey this is what's going on with this deal maybe this deal is going great maybe this one's not going as well well here's what we're doing to fix it it it goes a long ways 100% their trust you're going to have an upset investor you know you are if you have you know 20 50 100 investors one's going to be upset and if you ever got   audited you can all you can go back and say look at all of our communication right like read through all of our communication we were transparent about everything they're going to look back and be like okay it's this a pissed off investor yeah you for sure for sure and it's super like communication is the biggest uh I think thing that is lost in% capital and also you know being being transparent with the communication because number one from my knowledge number one thing SEC really gets you on is misrepresentation absolutely you know   and if you're not being transparent on it with everything on there boom it it will be a very ugly day for you for sure be transparent you know obviously the things that you leave out as well like if there are key material things that you're leaving out and then you've you've disclosed all these things let's say down the line to the SEC or State commissioner like what in the world this doesn't sound like you're representing this deal like it really was at this time and maybe they're going back and   looking at your records looking your financial statements and seeing how that deal was going it wasn't going great it was going terrible Y and you're saying that everything is great well um that's not being transparent right you know you're not communicating that with the investors right yeah no I think that's super important H you know what have you seen you know over 2023 dealing with you know Securities talking with other fund managers things like that what have you seen you know during last year with   interest rate hikes man it it there was a little bit of blood in streets right you know a lot of these deals um that had shortterm loans that had um you know the the variable loan rates um struggled yeah a lot of people that caps they didn't get rate Caps or the or the cap expired yeah or their cap expired and they didn't have enough money in reserves to buy an extension on the cap you know and and that was huge that was huge thinkk one of our deals uh had 202 for or excuse me uh 2024 expiration and   we bought uh end or beginning of 2023 end of 2022 rate cap to Extended 2025 and I'm so glad we did it yeah you know it was perfect timing because that same rate cap would have been a million and we only spent like 400,000 yeah yeah for sure yeah so you're seeing a little bit of blood in the streets um you know I think right now what's happening banks are allowing for some uh leniency with their loans they don't they don't want to have the property absolutely and it looks it looks terrible if they do have   the property on their balance sheet plus I think they the this go around cuz oh0 wait the first thing they said is we're going to foreclose on everyone we're taking everyone's property then they realize well [ __ ] I got a ton of property and no one wants to buy it yeah you know so I think they've learned their lesson and now they are like okay we don't want to forclosed because no one's going to buy it and if they do buy it we're still going to take a huge loss so let's go ahead and see what we can do   to work things out you know if the property's really really not bad let's see what we can do to work things out because it will rebound it's coming back back around yeah but I do think you know we're kicking the can down the road they're giving extensions those sorts of things and we're all banking that the interest rates are going to go down at some point right so we're hoping for that um I think that they will I think we're going to see one before the election yeah it I think we're going to see a quarter point before the election   I think I think some politics have gotten into drone Pal's head no way yeah I know right no way couldn't I I think they I think they had a nice little cigar dinner or something and and I think they got in his head so I think you'll see one before the election of this year I agree I agree yeah you know it's it's going to be a wild election too not wanting to dive deep into politics but it's definitely going to be a wild one uh talk to us about you know the the California lifestyle what are you what are you doing right now you you   also your wife beautiful wife has a great business you guys are running that's why you're here in Charlotte talk to us a little bit about that and why you guys got into that too yeah so we uh started uh we bought two burn boot camp franchises so uh my wife luckily runs those helped her get them off the ground and now she's crushing it so letting her run with those and uh they're going really really well um lifestyle in California you can't beat it man I mean San Diego is unbelievable oh it's beautiful down there the weather   everything kind of like how you said earlier in the show I mean if you if you can afford to live there one because it is really expensive oh I know and if you can deal with the politics then there's no better place in the United States for sure really there's not you know I just wish they had better politics over there um but yeah the weather out there is so beautiful you really can't beat it you can't beat it you know let's talk about health because you guys own those burn boot camps they're huge in Charlotte um   their headquarters here in Charlotte that's where it was founded um and tell us a little bit about what burn boot camp is and then also I'm going to want you to touch on like how are you optimizing your health to to be the phenomenal husband that you are to operate you know businesses and getting involved in real estate talk to us about that sure man yeah burn boot camp it's a boutique Fitness franchise um you know it's it's Boot Camp style workouts workouts the same um it's incredible and and it's focused on women it's focused   on empowering inspiring so if you're a single man you should go absolutely absolutely I will say I've been taking up hot yoga lately Hot Yoga is good and for those single men out there go to hot yoga just saying there we go yeah Gym's not a bad place to pick up women yeah plus the great thing too is that there's no filters you can't have filters at the gym and more than likely they're not going there with makeup on so it's it's a good place to filter out women you want there you go a little different than the apps right yeah I   know so so it's geared more towards women it is geared towards more towards women um but it I work out there every day I mean that's where I work out now like that's that's what I do I love the total body workouts I love the total body workouts you go in like an orange theory you go in one hour boom you're done you're going about your day exactly hour in and out of there and for guys like us that have a million things to do like it's unbeatable and I want somebody telling me what to do I was just going   to say that I don't want and I I work out by myself now and it's so much easier showing up tell me to shut up go do this do that get it done boom okay I'm all about my day you know tell me what to do right just tell me what to do I I will I will tell you I've been to the gym and there's been times I've had business on my mind that I'm like wait okay so I'm at the gym what do I need to do like you're sitting like a 24-hour fitness or or yeah something like I work out at lifetime I live right behind it   and I walk in there sometimes because of my long days and I'm like [ __ ] what do I want to do today like I because my mind is business business business it's so much easier showing up having someone said hey we got all these set workouts you're going to knock these out and be done they make they make you focus on the workout at that point instead of you know business or whatever listen to a podcast or something what got you guys interested in opening up one of those I hope you're enjoying today's episode   just a quick reminder to make sure you never miss an episode stay connected with us by following us on social media platforms Instagram Twitter threads Tik Tok at Chris saloor and don't forget to subscribe to YouTube to catch the video versions of our episode you'll get exclusive content behindth scenes footage and much more head over to YouTube chrisoro now and hit the Subscribe button stay tuned because we've got more great content coming right after this actually cuz my wife worked out at one   here in Charlotte really so she was working out at one she was working out at one here in Charlotte and then we moved back to the West Coast cuz I took a job here in Charlotte for a little bit then we moved back to the West Coast and I was look looking to start a business I was looking for something recession resistant outside of real estates I was already investing in real estate but looking for a business outside of real estate I looked at liquor stores I looked at laundromats um and then she   turned me on to burn boot camp which is not recession resistance let's put it that way but at the same time they're really good salesman look like a great business model turned out to be awesome although oh most definitely yeah circumstances weren't great we opened two weeks before Co hit oo but talk to us about that you know opening a and we all know California they they lock down like oh yeah they lock down you can't even go get your mail out of your house um talk to us about that opening up a   business right before covid and being in California where you know they were basically Nazis out there yeah for sure I mean we opened up two weeks in um and we didn't have any paying members because we were all on uh they were all on like a free membership TR one yeah so then we had to shut it down we had to move inside we had to move outside we did online workouts every single day uh pivoted yeah we pivoted we did whatever we had to do to keep the lights on wow um so literally our lead trainer and   business partner was in our apartment leading online workouts and me and my wife Alison are in the background like like a yeah like a music workout video Yeah in the backgound but it did keep us in shape during Co cuz we worked out every single day because we had to make those videos you had to yeah but it was I mean it was ridiculous out in California man they shut down the beaches they shut down the water you weren't allowed to be in in the ocean what you weren't allowed to be in the ocean cuz they said it got transmitted   through the water at one point so are you serious so they kicked the Surfers out of the water and you kick the Surfers out of the water in San Diego you're you got some pissed off people you got a big problem but there are like all these you know Instagram videos the cops chasing Surfers down the beach and the guy just dropping his surfboard and running it was it transmitted through the water yeah insane but that's new heard that inside outside online inside outside eventually we we blacked out our   windows so you couldn't see in it because we got we got actually attacked by U an Instagram person that ended up going viral because he said hey you're the reason that we're the the disease is spreading because of businesses like yours and they filmed us from the outside into the windows and it went viral no way and it went viral and then finally we we ended up blacking out the windows and just stayed open cuz there's at that point it was like either Do Your Own Thing yeah and stay open oh yeah or   we're going out of business yeah you got to shut shop and this is a venture you just opened up no one knew Co is coming and all a sudden Co boom co comes and wow so you bled out the windows and you said hey we're just going to do it it's like a Speak Easy now yeah you guys want to work out we called it that at one point really speak easy easy workout like underground workouts underground haircuts there all kinds of that stuff going on it was insane that's W if you just have to think about that that's   just wild yeah like you know just for your basic necessities to stay in shape and things like that turns out if you got sunshine and you worked out you were a little bit more immune to the disease oh really yeah interesting interesting wow and you weren't locked in doors and you weren't allowed to work out yeah well problems wow I think we can go on a rabbit hole about that damn I'm not a big fan of I will say I do think there's another one going to be coming you know I think there's another pandemic that   will be coming um because of what happened with the first one so let's see uh let's just see what happens let's see if we handle it better this time uh we shall see it depends on whose's President I I think that's that's true yeah um definitely depends on them so you guys now you know past covid everyone's now out and about in California everything's been lifted and now those are up and running are those are the only ones really on the west coast right or um I think there are let's see two four five I think there's   six in California right now six now yeah cuz like you said it was based in Charlotte mainly east coast yeah yeah I think there's about 400 locations open now very cool um actually I think they're approaching 500 locations now yeah um so it's expanding pretty quickly at this point you know Fitness franchises have have rebounded completely from Co at this point oh my God yeah I think I think the fitness industry and I'm seeing it more and more people are taking it a lot more serious yeah they're they're watching what they   eat and I I said this multiple times with my son he's four and a half uh he watches what um or I make sure whatever I give him I watch very closely goldfish now and if you look and I swear this is brand new if you look at any ingredients now it says bio oh what is what's it say bio biograde or bio bio bioengineered food so it says it's been bioengineered the food that's been in there yeah so if you look go next time you go to the grocery store look at the ingredients and now it says it in bold you can pick up some gold Vision it says   bioengineered chemicals hm in the food interesting it's wild even her Pedialite had it said bioengineered chemicals now I swear that just popped up you know in one of these crazy bills cuz I've never ever seen it say bioengineered food on there uh and I steer very far away from it I'm big on those factors Factor meals now okay I have you heard of those I have y so I get those now once a week it's like 141 bucks uh lunch and dinner CU I don't eat breakfast so lunch and dinner 141 bucks and I'm thinking in my   head well if you and I went out to dinner it'd be about a 100 bucks right now so I get uh 14 meals per week lunch and dinner for 141 bucks I'm like I can't beat that yeah like that's good I throw them in the microwave 2 minutes boom done yeah we do pre-made meals all the time but we switch like we've done Factor before bur boot Camp's actually coming out with some in the fall we we got the test drive and they're actually pretty delicious cuz yeah we're pretty picky about these types of meals you   have to be but they're actually really good are they so they're coming out they're coming out with their own branding yep oo that'll be exciting and that is that's not just for boot camp people that's for everyone yeah you can just get on the app and order them this fall I believe really oh I'm going to have to switch it up and try man they're good but especially with pring these days it makes sense plus how busy you and I are yeah I mean so are you meal prepping or are you using these type of things my wife does some meal prepping   on Sunday got to love her yeah that's basically it every once in a while I volunteer to grill out but man it's it's it's a Time suck right like it to feed yourself at home like it sounds even going out you know for a lunch meeting it's like two hours like I have to block two hours off on my day for a lunch meeting yeah yeah I mean trying to cook an individual meal every single night let alone like lunch as well and even and then you got to clean all that Tak in just takes so much time we we don't   have time for it no I I I don't either that's why I start a factor where I throw it in 2 minutes boom I eat it and I'm done and I'm like well I threw it away boom no cleaning done I love it I love it so you guys are doing great things with the bur boot camp out there what do you what are you seeing uh let's go back to the real estate market what are you seeing in the near future I know we talk about interest rates lowering you know what are you seeing what are you doing right now in the real estate   market as well yeah um currently a fund manager for $20 million fund it's an Adu Fund in California so we're doing basically in California just like everything else difficult to do anything right like the government's got their handed and everything oh my God so very difficult to get any kind of construction done off the ground it's mind bogling we're buying a car wash and Cape car right now and it's finished yeah well they came out for the co they don't like the garage doors and so now we have to order new or the the seller   we're buying it from the seller seller has to now order new garage doors it won't be here till end of October and I'm like like seriously the garage doors will only be down between 9:00 at night and and 7 in the morning like it's middle the night no one's going to even look at them yeah like and you want these fancy garage like come on really yeah you know so and I can't imagine out in California yeah and if you get the coastal commission involved it takes literally years and years to do any so   anyways the reason I brought that up is because the adus accessory dwelling units they actually have a bill in California that they past and they basically just FastTrack those types of developments so if you want to add they they view it as a a solution to housing so the lack of housing yeah um so they let you build on uh turn your single family property into a duplex or even build duplex on the on the property if you have a big enough lot um so you can turn one units into four and rent the back out or rent them all out yep   exactly so it's a it's a quick way to get the construction approved get it done I don't know how long this wind is going to be open so you guys taking advantage so we're taking advantage of it right now love that love that and is your main focus down there in that San Diego Market um it's actually Riverside County okay yeah where and where I'm Riverside county is is East just East adjacent of Los Angeles County okay right so a little cheaper housing so it makes a little bit more sense when you get closer to the coast it stops making   a lot of sense you got to go for some more creative Place cheaper like 5 million probably yeah yeah yeah just a little $5 million 5 million um but but cheaper housing there so you guys are finding opportunity now is that bill all for California where you can for all California and then the local um you know counties and municipalities can kind of change that and you they can't make it any more restrictive but they can make it even less restrictive okay good and so are you uh are you guys doing long-term rentals there are you   doing short-term like airbnbs um semi longterm right so we're putting in a 10-year fund so you know we're getting we're buying the property we're renovating it putting ad used on the properties and then renting them for a few years and then unloading them towards the back end of the the fund I love love that and with these you're all buying them in the same area yeah yeah Riverside County generally I mean it's you know spread across how are you guys finding good deals in this market you know it's so hard multif family no you   name it any any type of real estate there's always a huge disc connect between a seller and a buyer how are you guys finding good deals right now uh my business partners man like I you know I'm handling legal I'm working with some Capital I'm I'm advising on on raising Capital those sorts of things um but my business partners are real estate brokers and they' been doing uh this type of thing identifying properties that are perfect for adus um for a number of years at this point so they're they're the main source they they get   first look I love I love that how how is it finding you know great business partners you know it's just like a marriage you you got to test it out you got to see how it is because a Business Partnership is like a marriage how is it you know and how did you guys link up yeah um networking event so I met I met these bus business partners actually at a wealth without Wall Street event that I was speaking at nice yeah yeah so I met them hit it off with them I think the first I've been in Good and Bad   Business Partnership relationships yeah I I think you you have to go through bad ones you do because if if you don't go through bad ones you don't know what what can happen to you and I would rather go through bad ones early on to make sure that when if we went into business we have the right contract the right verbage all of that in place because at the end of the day again just like if you would get married you're signing a contract to your wife you know in most circumstances I highly recommend   sign a prup I'm not a big fan I don't believe in marriage uh but a Business Partnership is a marriage yeah you know it is it is and building off of that like you have to like the person I think that you're going into oh 100% you have to hang out with them like you you have to be very cold cordial you know talk you guys have to like the same things if you just like a relationship if you guys don't like the same things if you don't like if one party likes working out the other one doesn't other one doesn't eat   healthy the other one eats healthy like it's just not going to work out it's not not not a long-term Business Partnership right like it can't just be transaction maybe shortterm really quick turnaround time but if it's going to be a long-term Business Partnership you got to like that person you generally like him you're like hey I I like this dude I'll go have a beer with him this is great this is I'll travel with him my business partner we travel around the world together we hang out together we go to   the same events together we like the same things you know it's it's amazing that's super important part because I think communication back to communication is huge right like and if you don't like that person it's going to feel forced and awkward and kind of going over a hump to try to communicate with them and that's the key you got to stay transparent you got to communicate because again if you have that separation you're not communicating you're not transparent who knows what the other person is doing at that point   oh agreed agreed most definitely I mean my business partner we talk about 20 20 25 times a day yeah and it's and most of it's business but other thing is personal hey how's the family doing how the kids doing you know anything going on blah blah blah but it's super important to also let your business partner know what's going on with you personally I think that's I think that's important as well because if if you're going through you know knock on wood you know something with your marriage I need   to know that I feel you know even if it's getting a little rough I need you to say hey you know my marriage is getting a little rough because I need to know okay if you're not here at business 100% I'm going to step up 120% to make sure that we're still good you know I think that's important AB for sure for sure and we do that even with like our team so with bur boot camp with some other businesses that we have we have leadership meetings and we make sure that everyone sh kind of personal things   what's going on keeping that transparent relationship up because it's it's important it affects um your personal life affects your business life as much as you don't wanted to most definitely no you're spot on there so I always say not all not all chefs not all chefs should own the restaurant not all attorneys should own their own practice you know what has really helped you to really own your own business and and you know go through the trial and errors and things like that to you know survive Co   to to run a successful you know Law Firm things like that yeah I mean I think one of the key things for entrepreneurs and people starting businesses you got to be a little bit crazy right you got to be a little bit crazy you got to be willing to take risks right you got to assess risks and and take them you can't be afraid to to just go out there and take action and do it um I think that attorneys on the other hand are trained not to take risks right they are trained to assess the risks but they're really   leaning to risk averse risers really leaning towards no whereas an entrepreneur is leaning towards yes yes so I think that I strike a really good balance between those two that's good um and I think that's what allows me to be an attorney at heart but then you know also be an entrepreneur and take risks and I think that's what my business partners appreciate as well I love that um I figure out how can we do it rather than can we do it right like that most attorneys will be like well we can't do it because of this or I advise   you not to do it because of that I will say look we can do it here's how yep right and here are the risks oh most definitely now you as the business partner if you're my partner we need to decide is it worth it or not yeah right cuz there's there's always risk involved so do you want to take no matter what you do there is risk you just have to make sure you take the calculated risk that's right you know and sometimes you may think it's calculated at that point in the moment and it turns out to not be   right so you have to have the ability to Pivot very quickly like you guys did with Co you have to have that ability to handle that stress and handle that pressure so you can power through for sure absolutely yeah no I love that where do you see you you think you know where do you see yourself uh you know growing uh triest you know where where do you see yourself with that and on to the Future yeah so I joined tribe vest of July of last year nice so it's been about um been about one year and we have   really developed um you know this this fund of Fund in a box right like you've probably heard about how the market is really shifting from the cgp model right to fun of funds because the is kind of you know they kind of started investigating people and you know these folks that had these cgps that were just raising capital and not doing anything else which everyone knows you're not supposed to do but everybody does it anyways yep um started looking for another solution and the fund the funds model has always been it is the solution   it's always been the solution it's not a new thing it's just a more you just people didn't know of it at the time at a high level yeah and and honestly it it's more complicated it's more expensive it's more expensive and there's just you know a lot more things to go into it so people just took the easy route did theot quote CP rout and and it you know I guess I'll say that it worked up until this point right like I guess you could say you got away with it or what have you um but the market is is   is Shifting or has shifted to the co or to the fun everything is fun to funs now that's all I'm seeing is fund to funds models training programs you know and fund to funds things like that you know it's definitely questionable I think as an investor I would ask if if I'm talking to a sponsor hey are you the lead sponsor or you a fun of funds because in in my eyes you're paying double fees you know to get into those opportunities don't get me wrong people need to make money people are giving you   great opportunities to invest and build your Capital um but there's definitely questions I feel like definitely needs to be involved yeah I mean there's always questions right I mean even when everyone was using the CP model it's like well who's actually the operating partner who's the lead sponsor who's actually going to execute the business plan after we closing this property and I think a lot of cgps were kind of masquerading as the operating partner like hey this is my deal I found the property I'm going to be doing this   executing this business plan in reality there's a lead sponsor who found the deal who's signing the loan documents who's going to execute the business plan and sometimes there passive investors don't even know they don't even know and and fund manager like you said kind of same it's the same thing right the fund manager should not be representing that they're the operating partner Som or anything like that um I know at tribe vest we we really emphasize that because the the vehicle that we use is an SPV   fund of fund where the the fund of fund is designed only to invest in one specific deal so we're not it's not a discretionary fund where you can do whatever we can do whereever whatever you want invest you know multiple deals or anything it is one deal so you're really just serving as a conduit uh to invest in a Target deal so it's very clear to the pive investors very spe specific if you invest in this fund of fund all your capital is going into this deal and we disclose those deal documents as well so those offering   documents are an exhibit to the fund of fund offering documents most definitely no I think that's super important and we have a fund that we've put together for car washes and before we really truly launch the fund we have we have those deals locked under and we're like look these are the deals we may add some more deals but these are the specific deals that we are buying and that the capital is going into yeah yep yeah for I think that's super important so you guys are really taking advantage of this   opportunity out in California um you see it definitely growing you know with your guys's portfolio out there oh for sure for sure I mean the fun to funds model we we've made it affordable right so the the problems with it were that it's complicated it's expensive those are the two B two biggest things you've got to get your if you're a fund manager who used to be a cgp depending on the lead sponsor to do everything for you now you've got to do all those things yeah accounting you know all bookkeeping all   of that you got to open a business banking account you got to form your LLC you've got to find a Securities attorney you've got to find a CPA you've got to manage your investors you got to find a platform all those things that the lead sponsor usually does yeah and then you're going to have to pay depending on the attorney you know anywhere from 15 to 30,000 absolutely uh you know on average some are even 50,000 from what I hear but normally the head attorney who's running the whole syndication will   have a deal where you can do a fund of funds at a cheaper amount but it's going to cost maybe 15 20,000 for you as a fund manager to open up your own fund right and you know that some CPS former CPS can't really raise Capital right like they own a deal and they say hey I can raise a million bucks easy and then they come up with 100,000 bucks or zero yeah right so if you do that with a fund of funds well now you an attorney 15,000 bucks or 25,000 bucks and you didn't raise any Capital you're screwed that's   a lot of money out of your pocket when you weren't able to get paid on that deal yep um but what we've done at triest is combined all all those things together love that we you with triest it's a fun to fun in a box it's basically done for you kind of a done for you program you know you you get your k1s we open your business banking account we form your LLC we do your offering documents we on board your investors so we send out electronic signatures of the offering documents quote unquote hurting the cats right   getting getting them to wire their funds basically taking the place of an investor relation which I will tell you I love our investors that will sign and wire right then and there but we do have those sum that will sign and then the wire is like pulling teeth and it comes to a point where I'm like look like I feel like I'm stepping my boundaries by keep asking you hey why are your Capital we need you know it's very difficult sometimes yeah it is it is and I can feel for him a little bit especially the first time   around ,000 bucks you're like whoa this is crazy wiring to a stranger or somebody you might have just had a couple of contacts you know we we advertise heavily on social media we only accept accredited investors as a 506c so we can advertise we advertise heavily on social media um I don't actually to be honest with you I don't think I've ever done a 506b that's awesome that's a great that's place to play I always6 coun people to do five sixc and only accept credit investors that's going to keep you safe yeah 100% you know and   it's it's a lot easier um but yeah you know I think it's it's super important to go that route and even with those new investors I definitely understand you know 50 200 300 you know 500,000 is a lot of capital from someone you you met on social media that's why you ask the right questions that's why you get references you understand the business model business strategy and at the end of the day though you have to take a risk you have to take a risk and a leite got the trigger and just do it yep got   to take action I love that you guys are doing that all inone I think that's huge yeah yeah and going back to to pricing man you the last Law Firm that I worked at huge Law Firm top three law firm in the world we charged $75,000 you bullsh out of the gate for a set of s now this was at the lead sponsor level but a lead sponsor documents and that's just for the initial drafts and then it's charged per hour no way yeah get started just to get started people don't realize how expensive creting a fund is it's   expensive yeah yeah and then some people you know there are you know these Boutique firms I mean even my Boutique firm we do it at a much lower cost and people are like whoa that's so expensive because they just haven't seen it I'm like you have no idea how expensive it actually can be oh I know do you do you see yourself uh going into any other practice of law oh I don't think so secur is where it's at man I mean I've I'm a fund manager I've syndicated deals myself as a lead sponsor you know I've   worked as a Securities attorney now for a number of years so it's it's kind of where my interest and my legal practice have kind of combined how do how do you keep up with your energy and your mindset your your your high energy your great mindset how do you keep up with that and cultivate that man I think you know we kind of touched on it before but we didn't quite get around to it it a lot of it is just trying to take care of yourself staying healthy man getting sleep that's super important right I   think a lot of entrepreneurs run themselves into the ground and they don't sleep man I don't care what time I get to bed I'm sleeping 7 hours so I I set my alarm clock for 7 hours after I really you do that after I lay down interesting I'm complete opposite oh yeah uh no matter what time I go to bed I wake up at 6:00 a.m. no matter what time uh Stephanie can tell you I'll send her emails at 3:00 4 a.m. in the morning you might get 2 hours might get 10 hours yep no never 10 no never o never over   seven okay I can't get over seven hours yeah I if I get over seven hours I feel joggy I feel like I've slept I've wasted my day um even on Saturdays and Sundays I will wake up boom and you know if whoever's in the my girl who's in the bed I'm in in my office at the home working you know at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday that's how I'm wired if we get home at 1:00 from an evening you know out with friends which I rarely do 6:00 a.m. I'm up ready to go that's awesome man that's awesome and I think what helps you know I don't drink yeah don't   drink alcohol I don't care to um you know I drink water I drink too much lattes yeah uh but uh but yeah don't drank alcohol and I think that's helped tremendously sure not being in my system yeah that there's a huge movement now right towards not drinking my what's this new there's this new uh drink everyone's getting it's uh it's not it's we all know a virgin drink meaning no alcohol but a mocktail oh yeah every I'm hearing this everywhere everyone's just saying they're getting mocktails cuz they don't want to drink it there's like   mocktail bars there are I think there's some in Charlotte that are mocktail bars and they don't serve any alcohol at all um and I think a lot of people again I don't know if it was Co or whatever but a lot of people are very conscious with their health they're watching what they eat even you know with go again going to these grocery stores next time you go to the grocery store look at that this is bio-engineered chemicals you know a lot of people are watching that in what they're putting into their system for   sure for sure people are much more aware of it I mean I I'm a drinker I do drink which is fine yeah but I do I you know I did dry January and honestly you can just you can tell I mean you're poisoning your body with alcohol I think at this point everybody understands that they realize that and they choose either to do it or not but is poison to your body I mean that's what at the end of the day it is and for me personally I don't I don't care to wake up feeling you know joggy or anything like that I   care to wake up feeling great you know thriving and ready to go but alcohol does do that alcohol will do that to you and you'll definitely see the the weight I mean my lattes I see my lattes at my lower stomach and I'm like I got to do more ABS got to eat healthier got to drink the black coffee man I do so I drink the black coffee but when I'm out and about I'll stop and get a latte I I don't know I love I just love these lattes yeah I drink a ton of coffee so but mostly black coffee at home I I'll   make black coffee 100% at home black coffee but if I'm out and about traveling or something like that I'm like got to give me a latte yeah for sure but yeah man I mean it's it's staying healthy you got to keep yourself healthy to be able to perform mentally yeah you have to you have to these days especially with all this bioengineered you know chemicals all this type of food out there that is just unhealthy for you you have to really watch what you eat for sure for sure you got to get that work out in I mean if I'm not working if   I don't work out for like 2 days in a row I'm going I'm going like stir crazy oh I am too I am too I work out every single day and even if I can't get a full like hard workout in I'm like okay I'm going to walk around the block like I'm going to and I and I now have a tread meal under my desk where I'm like I'm going to at least walk one mile because I know I can't get a full workout in at the gym today so I'm at least going to walk one mile because I I have to keep my body doing something for sure there's something about it it just   clears your mind out right like it just it gives you Clarity by working out when when you don't work out for a couple of days man it's just like fog just I just feel foggy it no 100% you don't feel sharp I'm a big I'm a big fan of the sauna and the steam room yeah I love a nice sauna in the steam room I I do it before I work out and after I work out and I can stay in there for 30 minutes each like I love it in there um but I I think you know adopting that I'm looking into that red light therapy I don't know   if you've looked into it I've heard of it I've seen it but I haven't done a ton of research on it yet I've done some research on it I'm doing more on it though I don't know enough to be dangerous but I'm it's definitely everything I'm reading is very highly beneficial you get that like built into the sauna right I've SE if you get the home Sona too see I'm I'm bougie I work on a lifetime uh they don't have it there um but uh hopefully they do soon um but yeah you can get one of those home saas that also have the red light   therapy in it yeah yeah yeah I think I think that's huge um from what I've done with research is very beneficial for your body there you go let me know let me know what you what you find out I will I'll definitely let you know on that so I love what you guys are doing out in La you know really maximizing what that current law is out there do you see yourself you know you guys possibly getting into the multif family space of large multif family because I know that's what when you and I first met we   we were doing that all that you see yourself going back into that route sure man I mean when the market makes sense and I'm not saying it doesn't make sense but I I don't have a fully build out team right that that's able to find and identify great deals and that takes that takes a lot takes time effort all that exactly so I don't have that fully built out team but when it makes sense to partner with somebody that does have that team and I like the deal certainly certainly no I I don't I don't blame you   I think right now there's still a huge disconnect um I will have to agree with Grant cordone on this is that um I watched a video and he said um right now it's going to be very difficult to put push rents which I've said before and I agree with uh he's given a timeline about 2026 and then uh from there he feels that rents are going to Skyrocket substanti I you know right now it's going be very difficult push R you're not going to be able to for a good couple years so how are you undering you know back in the   day right after covid with the c rate compression everyone's underwriting four five 7% rent growth you know every single year and it's like you can't do that now and that's when I I saw the really the writing on the wall um and then from there you know if if that it's going to be like that for the next couple years till 2026 you know after that is it going to spike or is it not you know there's going to be a lot of Supply coming on the market how how what's it going to look like you know it's unpredictable man it's tough   anybody that tells you that they know the answer they they don't know they might be taking a good guess but they don't know they don't know I think you're going to see a lot of people switch asset classes like we did you know we're in the car War sector we're going to stay in the car War sector um you know will we get into Hospitality or retail here in Charlotte I mean I'd be dumb not to get into retail here in Charlotte or Hospitality we all know Charlotte's booming um it's a wild City so you getting our hands on great   property great real estate it may make sense yeah you you got to stay Nimble you got to stay Nimble you you can't just uh you can't just stay in one vertical one industry one asset type just because that's you know what you've done in the past corre that might not make sense right now today's market I think we saw a lot of sponsors in 2023 get into that

Join Vinney (Smile) Chopra and Beau Eckstein as they reveal the secrets to breaking free from the paycheck trap and building a thriving, scalable wealth strategy. With decades of combined real estate, lending, and entrepreneurial experience, they share how to stop trading time for money and start creating systems that work for you.   In this episode, you'll learn:

Title: Build a Bigger Life, Not a Bigger Lifestyle: The Real Path to Freedom with Adam Caroll Summary: In this episode of Raise the Bar Radio, guest (Adam Carroll) shares his journey from a traveling professional speaker to building sustainable wealth through passive income strategies. After realizing the limitations of trading time for money, Adam developed The Shred Method, a cashflow reorientation system that minimizes debt interest and frees up capital to build liquidity and invest. By leveraging lines of credit and algorithm-driven cash deployment, individuals can rapidly pay down debts and reallocate savings into passive income streams like real estate syndications, intellectual property, and other alternative investments. Adam stresses that most high-income earners don't have an income problem - they have a liquidity problem tied up in low-access retirement plans and excessive spending. Finally, he expands on his philosophy of "building a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle," urging professionals to align spending and time with their values to achieve fulfillment and financial freedom within 10 years. Links to Watch and Subscribe:   Bullet Point Highlights: Trading time for money is limiting. Adam shifted from paid speaking gigs to building passive income streams for true freedom. The Shred Method minimizes interest expenses. By using cashflow more efficiently through lines of credit and optimized algorithms, debt is paid down faster, freeing liquidity for investing. Passive income is key to wealth. Adam focuses on real estate syndications, ATM tranches, intellectual property, and digital products to generate consistent, diversified passive cash flow. Most people have a liquidity problem, not an income problem. Money is often locked in 401(k)s or spent wastefully — instead, creating accessible liquidity allows for opportunity-based investing. Building a bigger life requires intentionality. Aligning spending and actions with core values (like family, freedom, growth) leads to fulfillment — not just more stuff. The game becomes fun. Once passive income starts flowing, investing becomes strategic, diversified, and compounding — eventually replacing active income and creating financial independence. Anyone can implement this. While you can DIY, Adam recommends coaching to fast-track understanding and execution of the Shred Method. Transcript: (Seth Bradley) (00:02.094) 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. Adam, what's going on, brother? Welcome to the show.   Hey Seth, thanks for having me, man. I'm excited about our conversation today.   Yeah, dude, super stoked to have you on today. It's going to be an awesome show, man. Let's dive right in. Tell us a little bit about yourself, your background. Take it back as far as you want to. Yeah.   Well, for the last 15 years or so, almost 20 now, guess, I've been making my living, opening my mouth and just speaking on stages all across the country. Had the opportunity to do a couple of international gigs, which was a blast. And in the midst of all that, making my living as a professional speaker, I realized that if I was very similar to your audience, if I wasn't doing the deal, doing the gig, doing the engagement, I wasn't getting paid.   (Adam Carroll) (01:26.184) And so a mentor of mine said, the goal is not to go to work and get paid. The goal is to go to work and get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid. And so I started figuring out that what I really wanted to do with the messaging that I was delivering was turn it into sort of a mediapreneurship where I was a mediapreneur creating content, but then I'd get paid for the content over and over and over again. And that today looks like I've written a bunch of books.   I've got a documentary that I produced that aired on CNBC. And now we're starting to get into more of a SaaS business, which I'm sure we'll talk about. That's the shred method. But I, you what I do when people ask me, I tell them, I love to educate people about new and different ways of building a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle. And I would say you and I have that in common, because I know you're doing that on the show.   Yeah, absolutely, man. I gotta ask, how do you become a professional speaker? I bet a lot of people are thinking about that.   The origin story is kind of interesting because I was a clothier at the time in Denver, Colorado. And I was literally going out and meeting with high level executives in their offices, selling them custom made suits and shirts and sport coats and pants and whatnot. And it occurred to me in the middle of a meeting at one point, an appointment with one of my clients that I didn't want to measure in seams for the rest of my life. And I'll keep it PG but   This guy was one of my favorite clients. He was irreverent and funny and wasn't afraid to spend money on clothes. But this particular day, he confided in me that he wasn't wearing any underwear. And I was just like, dude, JP, what? You knew I was coming here today. He's like, I know, I just forgot. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And I walked out and I went, I don't want to do this anymore. I just don't want to do this. And the company that I worked for is a fairly well known clothier. But   (Adam Carroll) (03:22.55) Every day I would drive around in my car listening to motivational messages. You know, they were on CDs at the time. I'm going to date myself, but I would listen to like Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield and Les Brown and Zig Ziglar. I would listen to all these CDs in my car. And Mark Victor Hansen said on one of the CDs that public speaking is one of the most noble professions because you get to travel the world. You get to change people's lives and you make a lot of money doing it. And I remember thinking.   That's what I want to do. All three of those things rolled into one. And so I reached out to a buddy of mine and said, dude, I don't think I'm in the right job. I need to be doing something else. He said, what do you want to do? And I told him, and you know how the universe kind of works in mysterious ways. He goes, well, Anne, who used to work with us, she works for a company that that's all they do is hire speakers. And so I sent in a tape, I auditioned, I got the gig.   And I was a W2 employee of theirs for about two years and then realized that I was being underpaid for the work I was doing, that I was actually probably one of the top 10 % of speakers on the roster. And then I realized that when you can make anywhere from a thousand to $5,000 an hour doing that, it was a pretty good paying gig if you were out on your own. I took the jump and have been doing it ever since.   Interesting man. I didn't realize that you could have a W-2 as a speaker I thought everybody that was speaking was getting the speakers that were getting paid, you know They were kind of doing it on their own. I don't realize there was kind of a there was a way to do it where there's a company that pays W-2 wages to speakers to speak it events. Yeah, it's interesting   It is interesting because there are companies that will hire you as a speaker to go and it may be sell their product or service. Or in this case, I was working for a company that was a division of monster.com, the job search company. And I was, I was speaking to high school and college students all across the country. And I probably presented to like 200,000 people in, two years time. So it was just a great practice run and a great way to cut my teeth on a very difficult audience. Because.   (Adam Carroll) (05:36.814) I don't know if you've ever been around a freshman in high school or a sophomore in high school, but they're like the most apathetic human beings on the face of earth. They don't want to be there. I could have lit myself on fire and they'd been like, cool, what else you got? And then when I realized that there were speakers like me that were out who basically just said, this is my topic. This is my specialty, if you will. And here's the rate. And the more they spoke and the...   we have a theory that the more you speak, the more you speak. So once you get out, you hang your own shingle and say, I'm a speaker in this topic, people begin to know you as that person. And then word gets around and obviously you have to not suck on stage. That's part of it. But if you're great at keeping audiences attention, and I really studied NLP, neuro-linguistic programming to use the right words, I studied comedians to figure out what was funny and what wasn't, and it just worked.   Over time, I had more more bookings and at the peak of my career, I was doing like 70 or 75 gigs a year.   Wow, wow, that's incredible. Definitely didn't realize that was your background. I remember those folks coming to like the office and selling suits and doing that sort of thing. So that's pretty interesting. I'm sure a lot of listeners out there are familiar with that process as well.   Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was a great, it was a great gig. mean, I met all sorts of really phenomenal business people. And I think for me, it was, it was like confirmation that I had this desire to, to impact people. And my boss at one point, he was like, Hey, these people love you. They want you to come around. They love the discussion and the conversation. They need to buy stuff from you. And, and there was a.   (Seth Bradley) (07:01.639) sorry, go ahead.   (Adam Carroll) (07:26.574) It's kind of a realization for me that I didn't necessarily want to have to sell. wanted people to buy. And speaking makes it real easy to do that.   Hmm. Yeah, makes sense. Let's jump right into it, man. Let's talk about the shred method. A lot of folks will find this very interesting. I know that I do. What is it? And let's just start there. What is it? Tell us a little bit about it.   Yeah, the shred method, first of all, thank you for asking. it's, it's, for me, I don't say this lightly, but nothing has built more wealth for me and my family than following this model. And the reason for it is there are two great expenses that everyone has in life. And I'm sure all of your listeners, be they attorneys, doctors, other professionally degreed folks.   If you're in a W-2 job, you know this to be true. The two greatest expenses we have in life are taxes and the interest expense on debt. Those are the two greatest expenses. And a gentleman that I had met years ago who helped me with tax situations, just a brilliant, brilliant strategist, he said, Adam, if you focus on minimizing your tax liability, that will get you halfway there. And it's very easy to do, buy real estate, have depreciable assets.   you know, make personal expenses, business expenses, etc, etc. But he said, if you can focus on minimizing the interest expense on debt, this is like a video game that you can't lose. And so when I learned about the shred method, and this is known by a variety of different terms, some people call it an Australian mortgage, it's called velocity banking, we've taken those concepts and turbocharged them.   (Adam Carroll) (09:09.474) almost like putting nitrous oxide in a gas tank, you know, in terms of making it go faster. But the shred method is a unique tool and a way of reorienting your cash flow through your household so that it is being used to the most efficient use possible. And to kind of qualify that, Seth, if you were to leave your home in the morning to go to the grocery store, as an example, and you came back home, emptied the car out,   knowing you had to go to post office at like 4 p.m., would you leave your car idling in the driveway all day?   (Adam Carroll) (09:46.284) Nope. No, and why wouldn't you?   Wasteful.   Yeah, wasteful, you'd burn gas, it'd be hard on the engine. It's just inefficient, right? And yet what most people do is they get their income, their income gets deposited into a checking account, and it sits there for days, weeks, months, sometimes years on end. And we never really use it to its highest efficiency. Meanwhile, we might have debts, commercial debts, primary mortgages, might have student loans yet. And all of those are accruing amortized interest.   right? And you might say it's compound interest working against you to a certain extent. But at the very least amortized interest means that the majority of the interest you're paying on that debt is upfront, it's in the first one to five years. And so the shred method teaches people how to take that income that is being super inefficient in an account, and instead begin to apply it through a process that allows you to blast away   the highest interest or highest payment debts that you have, freeing up cash flow, building equity, and ultimately, and this is the key, creating liquidity to go buy passive income properties, if you will, or other passive income plays.   (Seth Bradley) (11:02.058) Interesting. Yeah, and we actually haven't had anyone on the show to speak about this method, whatever nomenclature you might use. So let's go in a little bit more detail. mean, what is the vehicle? What is this flow of money that you're talking about?   So, know, logistically, here's how it works. Money typically would just get deposited into checking. You pay everything out of checking your mortgage, your car loan, your credit cards, living expenses. And the gurus would tell you that anything extra should really go towards savings and investments, right? And for most people, it goes to Costco, Target and Dining Out. That's where it goes. You know, it doesn't stay in the account, doesn't go into savings. If it does, it goes there for a small period of time. I think that most people   don't really have a savings account, they have a put and take account, because they put a little bit in, take a little bit out, put a little bit in, take a lot out. So the way this works is the money instead of being deposited straight to a checking account gets deposited into what we call a shred account. And the shred account could either be a line of credit, or it could be just a side account of money that you have sitting there that has not been accessed in some time. And what we tell our users is that   you really want to have either a line of credit or a shred account that is one and a half to two times what your monthly net take home is. So if you're bringing home 10 grand a month net, then ideally you want either a line of credit or a shred account of 15 to 20 grand. And the magic of this is the money is going to flow into that account. But the shred method is powered by a piece of software that is based on an algorithm that's tracking your income.   your expenses, the interest that you're paying on all your debts, and how much discretionary money you have available at any given point in time. And essentially, we're leveraging that in really short bursts of time against your largest debts, which could be, again, student loans, could be your mortgage, could be commercial properties. And in doing that, what we're doing is we're saving copious amounts of interest, like literally tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.   (Adam Carroll) (13:11.122) And in the process, we're freeing up a ton of equity. So people that are saying, hey, I'm paycheck to paycheck. It's hard for me to figure out how am I going to invest more money? We're telling them the money is going to come from the equity that you're creating in your properties by paying them down rapidly.   I love that because I can see where this is going to potentially free up some extra cash to invest. A lot of folks out there, including myself back in the day, we got caught up in this thing we call the golden handcuffs where we're just spending everything. Like you said, we're spending it on Target, on eating out, on things that we really don't need. mean, there's a time and place for spending money on having a good time and enjoying your life for sure.   But we just we tend to overdo it as our income grows our expenses grow right along with it And a lot of people that I talked to about investing they're like, you know I don't have fifty thousand dollars to invest in this real estate deal or a hundred thousand dollars in this real estate deal and it's like well Well, why don't you you know make three hundred thousand dollars you why don't you have fifty thousand dollars to invest in this awesome deal? Right or to you know, put aside for your emergency fund. Like why don't you have these things set up?   So, you know, we always have to walk them through, you know, the expenses is the issue. Really, it's what are you spending all this money on? we try to find how they can save on those expenses so that they can invest in these assets that are really going to set them financially free.   No doubt. And I think you hit the nail on the head. If somebody's making, and honestly, I tell people if you're making six figures plus $100,000 plus, and you don't have 10, 20, $50,000 ready to go, there's something fundamentally wrong. And here it is, we're sending too much money to our banker, and it just goes up in smoke. Right? We like to refer to it as the interest to income ratio, which is if you take how much income you make,   (Adam Carroll) (15:11.694) and you back out how much of that income is actually going to pay interest expense, it'll probably blow your mind. If someone's got a multi-six figure home or mortgage that they're paying on, and they've got student loans, and maybe they're driving a $50,000 to $100,000 vehicle with a payment attached to it, you're probably burning 50 to 60 grand a year in interest and not really thinking twice about it. So what this does is it starts to claw back some of the money that you're sending to your banker.   Which by the way, they make plenty of money. They don't need your money. That is the most profitable business out there is banking and lending. mean, literally, Seth, if you drive two miles around your property there, how many banks would you be able to stop at, do you think? Ballpark best guess.   Right, half a dozen.   Easily, right? And they're probably $10 million buildings minimum. Out there, they're even more, right? So, so this is the deal. They're profitable business ventures. And what we have to remember sometimes is we are their compound interest vehicle, right? Us making our payment every single month is what makes the banks all the money. And if we can game that system, if even for 12 to 18 months at the very beginning of our debt,   we can strip away a huge chunk of the interest that we would normally be paying them over the course of a decade or more. To your audience, that's how I'd say this is how you find the extra 50 or 100 grand because you do have it and it should be in the equity of your property and easily accessible as a liquidity tool. It just isn't because you haven't challenged the banking system.   (Seth Bradley) (16:57.073) Yeah. Now, is this something you can set up yourself or is this something that you need an expert to kind of walk you through? I'm sure if you could probably do it either way. It's just like anything else. You want to take the shortcut or not. But yeah, I just like to know your thoughts on that.   You're exactly right. I I could build a deck on my house if I wanted to and had three months to learn how to do it. Anybody can learn how to do this. My question to most people when they say, I do this myself? I'll say, yes, why haven't you? And for that, the investment with us is very minimal, mainly what it is is coaching and being able to help people get the logistics right. Because once they get it, it's very simple.   but there requires a little bit of retraining the brain in terms of how to handle your money and where the cash flow goes, because it's so, it's like so ingrained in us to live in the banker's business model, put money in checking, pay your bills, anything leftover goes over here. And if you look at it critically, the two groups that are really making money using the existing platform are bankers,   and any advisors that are accepting your money and then turning around and doing something with it. A friend of mine used to call it the helper class. So when the helper class has your money, they're making a ton of money, probably more than you are. And that's our goal is to begin to start to pull back some of the money from the helper class to keep it for ourselves to build those massive passive permanent streams of income.   Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. We tend to bash a few of those helper class folks. I mean, they're not all created equal, including some financial advisors and folks like that that, you know, they're okay people, but their interests aren't necessarily aligned with yours.   (Adam Carroll) (18:51.576) That's right. I would agree with that. I don't want to villainize them, but I think that personal finance is personal. The challenge that I have with anyone out there who espouses a certain way, mine included, is it has to be for the right kind of audience, the right avatar. From our perspective, the people that we help out are the ones who do want to break free from the W-2. They want to create massive passive permanent streams of income.   Over time, they'd like to build a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle. So if someone's chronically overspending, got to have the newest of the new every single time, they may not be a perfect fit with our strategy because the goal is to continually increase your income while either keeping your expenses similar or even trending down over time, which is not to say that you can't expand where you're spending. Your income is increasing exponentially relative to your expenses.   we do that through the model that we're teaching people. So, you if you're a new car every six months or 12 months kind of person may not be a perfect fit. But if you're somebody who's like, hey, the debt's kind of oppressive, I want to get rid of it. And I want to build, you know, massive wealth for future generations, then generally speaking, we're a pretty good fit for for those folks.   Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I feel like there's, there's probably, it's probably a math equation, right? Like we can't necessarily do it on this show because it's, everybody's taking it in by audio for the most part. there's gotta be an algorithm and you could probably, you know, set those expense numbers and interest numbers that you're paying on your mortgage and other debts and what you're going to pay on that through the shred method and kind of see the savings and how you can grow that wealth year over year.   You're exactly right. It is super fluid. So if your income changes, your expenses change, we plug all that data in and hit recalculate and the thing automatically adjusts to whatever your expenses are. So one of the things that I would never fault anyone for is taking awesome vacations or buying a new car, whatever your choice is. Again, we're not going to villainize anyone for living their life.   (Adam Carroll) (21:06.67) But what we can do through shred is to say, hey, if you're going to drop 10 grand on a vacation, it's going to change your payoff by a month or two months or six months, depending on your income and discretionary income. And if someone knows that and they're planning on it, at least they're armed with that information as opposed to, gosh, we shouldn't do this, but we did or should we buy this $50,000 card? Does it make sense? Or 80 or 150 or whatever your number is.   We can show you exactly do it, just know this is what it changes in the process.   Yeah, yeah, I like that because you can just show them this is the impact it's going to have on paper before they do it and then you can make a better decision on whether or not you want to do that or not.   Absolutely. And furthermore, and you'll appreciate this, I know you're of this mindset, you'll get to a point where it's like, if you want the new car, then invest the money in a syndication or another property that puts enough money in your pocket, you can go pay for the car. But let your assets pay for your liabilities. And I think that's the main thing that many people, I'm sure your listeners, certainly folks that we engage with.   They don't have a lot of assets. They work hard, they make good money, but that is the sum total of their income, is active income. And our goal is to increase passive income over time where it supersedes your expenses because at that point you're financially free.   (Seth Bradley) (22:36.758) Right, right. What are some of the passive investments that you're involved in or that you recommend to people once they've implemented this system and they're trying to build those passive income streams?   Yeah, there are a number of them and I keep getting introduced to more and more all the time, Seth. I mentioned that, you know, that I was a mediapreneur and that the goal was to work, do the work and then get paid, get paid, get paid, get paid. So I started looking for other passive income streams. I really do love real estate. I've been invested in real estate for a long time. We divested of personally held real estate about four or five years ago. And   You know, I think I was too early to the party, but I thought the market was peaking and I thought I could get the max amount out of my properties. And I think I did at the time. And then we were introduced to syndications and we started really appreciating the fact that you could own a piece of a 350 unit apartment complex in South Carolina or Houston, Texas, or some other growing city and get a couple things, either monthly or quarterly income. You could get bonus depreciation.   And you basically got a K1 at the end of the year, which allows you to claim some of those expenses. And so we love syndications. We try and stack syndications on top of each other. they're coming due. They're selling every three or four or five years. So we'll put an amount of capital in knowing that it's going to turn over in short order. And we'll have another amount of capital to put in. And generally speaking, that capital amount just keeps going up.   So we love syndications. I've been introduced and we haven't pulled the trigger yet, but on ATM tranches where you can buy, have you heard this investment? Yep. So you can buy, you know, an amount of ATM machines where you're basically compensated on whatever the fee revenue on those are. There are many advantages to those. There are some drawbacks to it, but it's again, a passive income stream and one that's fairly consistent.   (Seth Bradley) (24:25.798) yeah, for sure.   (Adam Carroll) (24:44.59) Then I really like intellectual property plays. I will tend to invest in a business that has some IP and it may not cashflow right away, but I know that in two or three years, the IP is probably going to be worth something. It's more of a long-term play for me. I'm not going to put as much in it, but we have a couple of 25 to $50,000 investments in those kinds of deals as well. That, in addition to books and   documentary is still selling and things like that I'll keep doing. For me, the process of creating passive income is kind of a game. And so whatever the next thing is, I'm digging in, I want to learn it. total sidebar, but I'm trying to teach my sons and my daughter, this is the way of the future. It's not about working a nine to five and getting W2 and staying with the company for 30 years, it just doesn't happen anymore. It's about setting up   just perpetual income streams that allow you to live the way you want to live. And that, you know, I think that answers your question, hopefully.   (Seth Bradley) (25:52.174) Pardon 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, yeah, that's right. You're preaching to the choir here, man. That's awesome. And you're kind of pretty deep into it. A lot of people will invest in a syndication and it is expensive to get involved, right? I mean, it's 50 grand or so or more to get into one of these things. And they're like, okay, I'm done. But you can't be done. You have to keep saving, keep investing. And you're in it to the point where past investors start really start accumulating wealth because they start stacking.   They start coming due every two, three, four, five years. You put it back in another one and they just compound on each other. And you're really accumulating this tax free if you stack them correctly. So it is an incredible vehicle once you get going. And it does turn into a game. I mean, you can look at your bank account or look at your personal P &L and just see how it's growing over five, 10 years. It's incredible. And you're not doing any work. You're vetting the sponsor, the market and the deal and really just the sponsor once you get really good at it.   and you keep reinvesting with the same sponsors that you like and there's no work involved, no tenants, toilets and trash, none of that.   Yes. Yes. And I think you hit the nail on the head when you find a sponsor you really like and you jive with, it's easy to roll the money over to them because they're constantly looking for the next deal. their reputation, their personality, everything is based on their success. they have a very, very vested interest to make you money. And so I don't think I fully realized when I was younger   (Adam Carroll) (27:50.35) the power of having the ability to write a 50 or $100,000 check. And once you get there and you can do 50 or 100 or get to a point where you can write a $500,000 or a million dollar check, things change drastically because there are syndicators out there that will take a million bucks. They'll pay you $90,000 a year guaranteed on the investment. You'll get bonus depreciation and write-offs and all of that. And you'll have like a...   200 % return on it within four or five years, three, four or five years. That's where you can buy a new car every year or two or three, because you need like a $75,000 or $80,000 write-off to your business. So you need a truck or you need a heavy vehicle,   Yeah, yeah, that's right. I mean, that's a good point. mean, people that have $500,000, a million dollars or more liquid, I mean, you can just look at a simple math and you get an 8 to 10 % return on that in cash flow, just in cash flow. You know, if you're living reasonably, you can live off of that. So, yeah, so you can be, you you don't need $10 million, $20 million to retire off of this if you invest in the right deals.   Totally. Totally.   (Seth Bradley) (29:03.926) and kind of spread it across, diversify in different deals, different sponsors, different geographies, different asset types. You can be retired if you want to. It's closer than people think.   I would agree. We have a theory that nearly everyone and certainly your audience could be free, done, done completely in 10 years or less. Absolutely. We call it a 10-year freedom plan. the challenge, think, Seth, and I would be curious your take on this, but I think the challenge for most people is not necessarily an income problem. It's a liquidity problem. So you make good income, right? And we talked about it. It's the expenses that factors in.   But where the majority of your investments go are probably in qualified funds. They're sitting in 401ks and Roth IRAs. Unless it's self-directed, you can't really access it till you're 59 and a half. And even then it's 59 and a half to 70 and a half, you have free rein access. Otherwise the government's regulating how much you take out without fees or penalties. That's a liquidity problem. And so the shred method takes that into account and starts to build   pockets or buckets of liquidity that you can draw from. The first is your home equity, or it could be equity in a commercial property. And then the next would be building a bank of money that you're borrowing from at some point in time, just another bucket. And the more buckets of money that we create, the more liquidity you have and the more investments you can get into, thereby increasing your passive income. So to your point, you do this well, it's like a video game you can't lose over time.   Yeah, yeah, that's right. And we've been programmed to think if we have a high paying job, we just put as much as we can into a 401k and we're doing the right thing and we're doing everything that we need to do and we're not and then everything that doesn't go into that 401k we're spending. So we're not saving anything else. We're not keeping anything else liquid. And we're just assuming that we're going to be okay because we put this money in the 401k. Well, like you said, you can't access it until you're 60 years old. That's right. Unless you take it out with a major penalty. So   (Seth Bradley) (31:10.062) You know, one way to do that obviously is to roll it over in an SDIRA or self-directed, I'm sorry, 401k, the self-directed, something that you have some control over. And then it does become liquid in the sense that you can at least invest it in things that you want to invest in rather than a financial advisor or just stocks, bonds and mutual funds. And then as you said, there's different ways that you can free up liquidity, a HELOC.   something like that borrow against a life insurance policy we've talked about infinite banking policies things like that there's there's creative ways to do it you just need to be aware of it most people just aren't aware of how to how to do that   Yeah, I think that's what's so valuable about your show too, man, is that we only know what we know. And there's an enormous amount that we don't know we don't know. So when I got introduced to syndications, and I got introduced to the ATM tranches, and I'm looking at these going, you know, there is risk, there's risk in everything. But the risk is so mitigated. And you don't realize that if you're writing $100,000 check, and they're saying, yeah, we're going to pay you 9 % guaranteed.   And these are some syndicators will promise an interest rate based on what class of investor you are, A, B, C, D, whatever it may be. But when I looked at that and I go, if I'm striving to get eight to 10 % in the S &P 500, and I have zero control over that, where would I rather be placing my money? That was something I didn't know I didn't know. And it's always fascinating to me to begin sharing this with people because   When I share the shred method, a lot of folks go, not too good to be true. If it's so good, why isn't everybody doing it? And what I'll tell them is because of human behavior and because the bank's lobbies and their marketing engine is so powerful. But it's not magic, it's math. We're taking mathematical principles, risk-based principles and applying it to real estate or finance and figuring out how to make an amount of money that will supersede what you're.   (Adam Carroll) (33:13.782) your W2 job is pretty simple. That's right. Yeah.   Yeah, pretty simple. It's math. Just got to get it down on paper, right? Yeah. All right. Let's switch gears a little bit. I want to quickly get into, you know, this concept that you preach about building a bigger life at work because I think that's, you know, inspiring and that sort of thing and really life in general, right? Tell us about that concept and kind of dive in a little bit.   Yeah.   (Adam Carroll) (33:37.964) Yeah, you know, this started, it would actually started from a conversation I had with a recent college graduate, and they had gotten an advanced degree, they were going into a high paying job. And I think they'd been at it for maybe nine months or so. And we were having coffee and this person said to me, I'm just not satisfied. And I said, Well, what what is it you're not satisfied with? And they said, Well, the issue is that I thought at this point in time after graduating, he'd be traveling the globe.   You know, that was what he had always romanticized was just tons of travel and do whatever he wanted to do. And I said, well, what's keeping you from that? And he goes, well, you know, I just got into this long-term lease apartment. go, okay. And he said, and I bought a bunch of furniture that I financed. And, and then it's like, okay. He goes, I have a couple of gym memberships, not one, two gym memberships, you know, each probably 80 to 120 bucks a piece a month had a car payment because he needed a fancy car. And I said,   Dude, it sounds to me like you're building a bigger lifestyle, not a bigger life. And what you're asking for is a bigger life. And that became almost a deep dive search for me on what would building a bigger life mean for me and my family. And what I did, Seth, was I started digging into what are my core values? How can I live according to those core values, not according to my neighbor's core values, you who may be drastically different than mine? And...   I ended up writing a book called The Build a Bigger Life Manifesto, which breaks down how do you do this step by step. And there are 10 core tenets. And the first one is you got to build on a strong values foundation, like understanding what is it truly you value in life. And if you're doing more of that, then your life should be fulfilling. And mine are family, freedom, love, growth, and connection. And if I'm fulfilling those five buckets on a weekly basis, generally speaking, I'm really fulfilled.   And so the second is have a bigger vision and a bigger vision for your life might mean I'm not going to stay in this job for the next 20 years and hopefully make partner. then hopefully, because we all know that as you get promoted in a W-2 job, it doesn't mean you work less. It means you work more. And so my bigger vision was I want to make my vocation, my vacation. I'm going to speak, but I'm going to speak in cool places that I can take my family to. People are going to pay me really well to do it.   (Adam Carroll) (36:03.368) and I'm going to do it X number of times a year. And then I started asking, and this is the third step, asking bigger questions. And bigger questions look like, okay, so if I wanted to do that, how would I get better at speaking? How would I get so good that people will pay me 10 or 15 or 20 grand to go do what I do for an hour? What would that look like? I started asking not how would I pay my house off early? How would I pay my house off by the end of this year?   And when I asked that question, answers started coming and we were able to do it. So this is kind of the layout of how we walk people through this process. And for me, a bigger life today is just that, you know, I live for my family. I want to travel with them. I want to have tons of fun with them while they're still in the house. I have two teenagers and one in college. And soon, you know, eventually they'll be gone and it'll be my wife and I going and living the life that we most want.   Our lifestyle right now is pretty locked in. We have a beautiful home, we drive nice cars, but everything's paid for. And at this point, the goal is just to continually create massive passive permanent streams of income that afford us the ability to be generous, to live the life we want. And ultimately for me to be able to go share that message with other people.   And something so simple that you did there, it's just, you know, ask yourself what's important. A lot of us don't take the time to think about why we're upset, why are we not happy. And a lot of it comes down to not filling those buckets that are important to us on a regular basis. to be able to figure that out, you've got to take a few moments to think deeply about what it is that's important to you.   100%. And I'll give you a great example, Seth. One guy that we worked with, he realized that one of his core values that was not being fulfilled was adventure. So he loved his job and he goes, I don't know what it is, I'm just dissatisfied. And we went through the values assessment and adventure was on there. I go, well, where are you getting adventure? And he said, you know, that's the problem. I'm not, I haven't had an adventure in two years. I said, so maybe in building your life,   (Adam Carroll) (38:21.538) we need to figure out where are you carving out adventure for yourself or your family to make sure that you're doing it. For him, community was a big part of it. And he was getting some of that in his day-to-day client interactions. But what he really wanted was to build a community of friends that would go do stuff together. And I said, that's on you, man. If you really want that as part of your life, you got to build whatever that looks like.   And what if you combine that and adventure? So you get a whole group of adventure seekers that get together three times a year to go skiing in Aspen or, you know, go skydiving on a weekend or whatever it is. What would that look like to do that? And he lit up and you know, I could do this right now. So to your point, I think we're all very, very close to having a fulfilled life and building a bigger life. But you do have to take time to figure out what does that look like for you.   For sure, for sure. And a lot of the folks listening are attorneys and doctors and they tend to have high suicide rates, all these crazy things, substance abuse. people from the outside looking in think, why? Because you're making all this money. You have this high profession that everybody looks up to and you're not unhappy. And that's why, because those folks...   folks like us, we're just really focused on just that occupation. And that's it. And we don't focus on some of the other things that would fulfill us and make us happy. tons of attorneys I talk to try to get, they're like, how do I start investing as quickly as possible? Make as much money as quickly as possible so I can get out of this job because I hate being an attorney or I hate being a dentist or whatever it is. But really, that might not be the issue. The issue is that you're not filling up those buckets outside of your   career. And if you were to start filling those buckets, start paying more attention to those things, you might not be as unhappy in your career. And you might actually find that you enjoy what you're doing because you're good at it. You worked really hard to get there and you're making a good bit of money doing it.   (Adam Carroll) (40:22.06) No doubt, no doubt. I would add to that, that I think the majority of professions that you just listed, dentists, doctors, lawyers, et cetera, what they really want is they want to maintain professional status, do what they do, they've gone to school, they've learned how to do it. But over time, they want to work less and less, not more and more. And if you're doing what you recommend on the show, and if you're leveraging something like the shred method to create it, you can get to a point where   half or more of your income, ideally all of it, is replaced by passive income. But it requires that you get really focused on working for the right reasons and not filling in the lack of fulfillment or unhappiness with a new car or the next do-dad or spending a fortune on something. Instead, decide, I'm going to go get into an investment this year that will begin the process of creating passive income for me to start building the life that I truly want.   And it is, it's pretty transformational once you figure out how to do it and what the next steps are.   Yeah, it's like the matrix. mean, you start kind of, as soon as you start, it becomes a game, how you said it earlier in the show, and you just start seeing things that you didn't see before. You start being presented with new types of investments and businesses that you can invest in that you never saw before, but they were right under your nose. It does turn into a fun game, a money game.   Yeah, no question. I was at a conference not too long ago and they were calling me Morpheus because I made a reference to the red pill or the blue pill. And they were like, dude, you're Morpheus. I just took the red pill. Now I'm going down the rabbit hole. So beware. Are you ready to take the red pill?   (Seth Bradley) (42:08.374) Love that, love that. All right Adam, before we jump into the freedom four, what's one last golden nugget for our listeners?   A golden nugget for your listeners is that money today is abstract. It's not a concrete thing. Several decades ago, you would be given cash or you'd pay for things in cash. And today, virtually everything is a cashless transaction. And when we're not using cash, it doesn't feel real. If we're using Apple Pay or we're swiping our card or tapping our card,   It doesn't feel real. In fact, there's no pain sensor that triggers when you do that. The opposite is true on Amazon. When you hit one click ship for $47, a pleasure sensor actually is activated because you're in anticipation of that thing coming to you. So we also have to realize that the more money you make, it feels like, well, the more you have to spend. But because money doesn't feel real, you're spending way more than you think you are.   because of the abstract nature of it. So some of that is like reigning back in and understanding these are real dollars that you're putting on a card or swiping on your phone or whatever it may be and deciding is this the best intentional use of this money or could I be using it to build the life that I truly want? And I will add to that Seth that it's very short. There's a short amount of time that it requires you to function just a little bit differently.   order to get there where all the passive income covers your wants. So just like intentionality for the next 12 to 24 months will make a massive difference in your life.   (Seth Bradley) (43:48.502) Yeah, that's all it takes. All right, let's jump into the freedom four. What's the best thing you do to keep your mind and body healthy?   I am part of an exercise group called F3 and it stands for fitness fellowship and faith. There's like 75,000 guys all over the world that do this every morning. And we get up, you know, rain, sun, sleet or hail. I mean, we were working out in like eight degree Fahrenheit weather this winter outside. It's always outside. And I love it. I do it four or five, sometimes six mornings a week. But for me, just getting up the first hour of my day will   will dictate what the rest of my day does. And so my F3 brothers and I, that's the right way for me to get started.   awesome. With all your success what is one limiting belief that you've crushed along the way and how did you get past it?   you know, this is, this is going to sound a bit like an oxymoron statement, but a limiting belief is that, man, there's so much opportunity. And for me, I'm a bright, shiny object guy. for years, my wife was like, just pick one opportunity, please just pick one. And so for me, it's, you know, it's the fact that there is so much I can do limits me because you can really get very, very good at one thing.   (Adam Carroll) (45:08.078) But I'm a big fan of James Clear and the book Atomic Habits. And he'll say that it's hard to get traction when your focus is divided. And so I've been really intentional about zeroing in on my focus and knowing that this is what I'm setting out to do. And it may be for 12 months or 24 months or five years. And I'll reevaluate along the way. But I've got one thing and I'm really focused on that. So that's been a limiting belief I've had to get over.   Awesome. Awesome. What's one actionable step our listeners can do right now to start creating more freedom?   Well, go to the shredmethod.com not to do a self plug, it is. Go watch the masterclass, see what we do and how we do it. If you are already intrigued by this and are wondering like, what should I do with a HELOC or should I have a HELOC? My answer to everyone is everyone should have a HELOC, everyone. If you have equity in your home, why do you not have a line of credit? If for nothing else to have that is an emergency.   of some kind. So point blank, the first thing you ought to do is go access a line of credit, be it a home equity line, a personal line of credit, a P lock, or a B lock, a business line of credit. can also do a cash value line of credit. But I think you got to have one of those because when you understand this method, this process, that's a linchpin to making this work.   Great. How is passive income made your life better?   (Adam Carroll) (46:42.698) you know, I like to call it mailbox money and, man, love mailbox money. When it shows up, I celebrate and I've, I've had a mantra for years that I'm a money magnet, that money comes easily and frequently, that I get more checks in the mail than I do bills. And I just repeat those mantras over and over again. So every time I set up another form of passive income, man, it's just like a win.   that you feel deep down inside. And it doesn't matter, Seth, if it's 50 bucks or 15 bucks or five bucks or 5,000, right? Total sidebar, real quick story, but I was sitting with a buddy of mine at a conference and he kept showing me his phone and he was clearly showing off. But every time he'd pop up his phone, was like another sale was made. And it'd be like $27, $170, $300. And I go...   Dude, how are you doing this?" And he said, I set up these funnels and it's just a little digital product I created and we're doing ads and we're putting all the people towards these ads. And I said, so how many of those do get a month? He goes, I don't somewhere between $9,000 and $10,000 a month is coming in. And I remember feeling giddy for him and giddy about the idea that this could be possible, that you could just do whatever you want to do every day. Go fishing, go surfing, be on a sailboat somewhere and pull up your phone and be like, well, this is cool. just made...   $800. So for me, we have started to build that into what we're doing. I now get alerts on my Apple Watch. It's a Slackbot. So every time a sale is made, it pops up. we went to Mexico over spring break and the vendors on the Mexican beaches, they bless themselves every time they make a sale. And so now when a sale pops up on my Slackbot,   I'm like, all right, I made a sale. This is awesome. So how has it changed my life? I'm more grateful. I sleep well at night. I have peace of mind. And I know that, you know, future generations are going to be taken care of by the wealth that my wife and I are creating.   (Seth Bradley) (48:45.29) I love it, All right, Adam, this has been incredible. We're going to let listeners find out more about you.   Well, you can find out more about me personally at adamcarroll.info. It's two R's, two L's, adamcarroll.info. And again, if you want to check out the Shred Method, we have lots of free resources. So you can go and do a ton of research. We have a savings analysis there that you can plug in your numbers and see how much you could save and how quickly you could be out of debt. All of that is available at theshredmethod.com.   All right, brother. Appreciate your time. Thanks again for coming on the show and we'll to have you on again soon.   Love it, Seth. Keep doing what you do, man. This is super important stuff.   Alright brother, talk soon.   (Seth Bradley) (49:28.578) 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 Adam Carroll's Links: https://www.threads.com/@adam.carroll/ https://www.instagram.com/adam.carroll/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcarrollspeaks/ https://www.facebook.com/AdamSpeaks/ https://x.com/adamcarroll https://open.spotify.com/show/1fPEUnWdnbcOcbYdksY1Yi https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJREGkPP6UwMucJMPvDS8xg

Buy a hotel. Write off the beds. Write off the toilets. Write off the furniture.

Send us a textJoin us on Average Joe Finances as our guest Chad Ackerman about his remarkable journey from a corporate HR professional to a successful real estate syndicator and business coach. Chad shares his personal story, detailing how he transitioned from his W2 job and navigated the challenges of the real estate investment world. He discusses his initial mistakes, the importance of having clear goals, and the strategies he employed to achieve financial independence. Chad also touches on the significance of due diligence, community involvement, and overcoming imposter syndrome.In this episode:Learn how a casual workplace conversation sparked Chad Ackerman's journey from HR professional to full-time real estate investor.Discover why defining your personal “buy box” can eliminate emotional investing and clarify your financial goals.Understand the power of community—how local meetups and online forums like BiggerPockets can accelerate your growth.Gain insight into how coaching and mentorship can help overcome imposter syndrome and build investor confidence.And so much more!Key Moments:00:56 Meet Chad Ackerman01:33 Chad's Real Estate Journey Begins03:24 First Investment Lessons04:30 Building a Real Estate Community05:37 Partnership with BiggerPockets06:15 Transition to Business Coaching10:12 Importance of Due Diligence16:00 Defining Your Buy Box18:18 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome19:46 Leveraging Coaching Skills for Investment Success20:09 Overcoming Financial Hurdles with Tribe Vest20:51 The Importance of Accountability in Achieving Goals21:17 Mentors vs. Coaches: Understanding the Difference22:05 Alternative Investment Strategies and Education24:05 Chad's Journey from HR to Business Coach28:33 Final Round: Insights and Reflections34:08 Closing Thoughts and Final AdviceFind Chad AckermanWebsite: https://chadackerman.focalpointcoaching.com/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-ackerman-8089a8a/Average Joe Finances®All of our social media links and more: https://averagejoefinances.com/linksAbout Mike: https://mikecavaggioni.comShow Notes add-on continued here: https://averagejoefinances.com/show-notes/*DISCLAIMER* https://averagejoefinances.com/disclaimerSee our full episode transcripts here: https://podcast.averagejoefinances.com/episodesSupport the show

Discover how Casey Gregerson scaled his real estate portfolio from just 1 property to an impressive 400 units in this inspiring episode! Casey shares his real estate investing journey, key strategies, and the mindset shifts that helped him achieve generational wealth through multifamily assets, strategic renovations, and creative financing.

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

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

Title: Why the W-2 Grind Will Never Make You Wealthy with Jamie Bateman Summary In this engaging podcast episode, Jamie shares his journey from being a competitive athlete and military officer to becoming a successful entrepreneur in the field of real estate and mortgage note investing. He emphasizes the importance of discipline, teamwork, and taking ownership of one's financial situation in achieving success. Jamie discusses his transition from a W2 job to entrepreneurship, highlighting how he leveraged his experiences and strengths to build multiple streams of income. He shares insights about his current business model centered around mortgage note investing, explaining the differences between performing and non-performing notes, and elucidates the challenges and opportunities present in this field. The discussion also emphasizes the importance of long-term planning and learning continuously, making the case that discipline ultimately leads to freedom and flexibility in life. Links to Listen and Subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-military-officer-to-mortgage-note-master-one-mans/id1618672867?i=1000643495099 Links to Watch and Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6nU0TtMAFc Bullet Point Highlights: Athlete to Entrepreneur: Jamie shares how his background in competitive sports instilled a sense of discipline and teamwork. Financial Ownership: Jamie discusses the importance of taking ownership of your financial situation and actively seeking improvement. W2 Quitter: The transition from a stable government job to entrepreneurship reflects Jamie's journey of self-discovery and ambition. Mortgage Note Investing: Jamie provides insights into both performing and non-performing notes, illustrating how to generate passive income through debt investing. Value of Networking: He emphasizes the necessity of building a strong network for finding investment opportunities in mortgage notes. Continuous Learning: Jamie advocates for lifelong learning, suggesting that successful people always seek new knowledge and skills. Long-Term Vision: He stresses the importance of setting long-term goals and reverse planning to maintain focus on achieving one's aspirations. Transcript: Jamie what's going on brother welcome to the show thanks Seth this is this is awesome um 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 uh on that show and I think it turned out pretty good so I know we're gonna absolutely we're gonna deliver on this one as well yeah we're GNA try to try to I'll try to do as good a job as you did so yeah that was that   was uh yeah no I that was a very very good episode from adversity to abundance I would highly recommend your your listeners check that one out to your episode on that show so thanks for thanks for doing that absolutely man you're an incredible interviewer I've I've that's the only uh 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 um take it back as far as you'd like to brother yeah um man uh I'd like to think that life has phases so I've had a few different phases in in my life um you I come from a a large uh family I'm I'm the oldest of seven kids and we always had a competitive uh background as far as team sports and things like that so um I played lacrosse in college that was always a foundational piece of of uh my life and just kind of I 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 a kind of a thread through my life and then um got married and uh joined the military and um actually joined the military technically before I got married but seemed like I got married and then ran off and and uh ran away from my wife but it's not exactly what happened but uh joined the military was an officer in the in the US Army did I did miss my first three wedding anniversaries through deployment and   things like that um 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 trying to add value like I think we all we all want to do um I've obviously glossed over a lot of lot of details but those were uh a couple of inflection points I guess if you will um like you like to talk about I know um and so my military career transitioned into uh a a career with the Department of Defense as a civilian and um did 14   years as a civilian with DOD at Fort me and the first half so the first seven for all you math whizzes out there uh 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 um real estate investing and mortgage node investing Focus so we can get into the details there and then in 2022 I ended up quitting my job and and um now I have a few different small businesses that I run and like you Seth I've got a got a   lot of different things that I'm juggling and uh you know so but yeah I love talking about taking ownership of of your financial situation and taking ownership of your your life really and um I know that you and I have that comment so yeah that's a that's a high level overview of my background awesome man I appreciate that that there's a lot to unpack there you know going back to you know playing sports all the way up to the Collegiate level that's incredible I always like to to think even playing like poporn or football   back in the day you need a way to instill discipline in yourself and I I that's kind of the the oldest memory I can think of where it was hard right like it was like you've got a coach screaming at you 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 know you had to earn that drink of water and and all those sorts of things but you you really learned what it's like to 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 yeah I would say that you know being in the military yourself that takes it to a whole new level right it's like you you 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 is being disciplined and um and people people shy away from that word um because it just sounds like work or or no fun and no flexibility but I found that having   discipline in your life ends up adding more freedom in a sense um because you kind of have your foundational pieces set in stone you don't have to think about those and so um yeah regarding team sports it's it's really a matter of um you know everyone doing their part right and so there's a level of individual discipline and um and then just and then also just kind of putting the putting the group ahead of yourself um obviously the you know you want individual there's nothing wrong with individual accolades and I I was   certainly uh chasing you know those individual accolades it's not something I shied away from I was you know I definitely was wrapped up in trying to be an All-American and um that kind of thing and and did get that a couple of times you know but it at the end of the day nobody really cares about that and um the way I viewed it was if I was doing my part and I got those you know 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 um but yeah that discipline is critical you know even C I played at a high level in college and and there was year round you're training you're you're uh you're into it it was a division three school but it but the reality was we worked just as hard as any any D1 program and um yeah it's it's a these are skills that have paid off and are absolutely transferable to the rest of of life for sure yeah I think you've got to get those those intangible things you've got to develop   them somewhere along the way whatever whatever that is if that's Sports the military or you know from your parents I mean you can get it from different places but you definitely need it I mean you know we're in different stages of our life at this point we're talking about a lot we like talk about freedom and flexibility and fun um to try to get away from kind of the W2 uh mindset but in order to achieve Freedom flexibility and fun in a successful way you had you have to be disciplined to be able to get   there you you had to have done something successfully to be able to get there or maybe what separates you from you know the guy living in a van down by the river right like that guy that guy has Freedom flexibility um I don't know about fun maybe fun but yeah but you know it's it's a different obviously it's a it's a different outcome yeah and I I I still I think I still need you know I still use a lot of discipline today it's still still required but it's I guess I guess it's self-imposed and um you know I just love   love having that flexibility and that freedom um that comes along with being an entrepreneur so yeah it's been a central piece to my success for sure um but I I 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 um so yeah absolutely and and and as you said I 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 a lacrosse game okay you lost the lacrosse game but military the stakes are a little higher um so maybe certain things are more important attention to detail are crit is critical and um but at the end of the day it's yeah it's that the same principles apply across both I I guess sectors if you will for sure for sure so let's dive into that that transition you started working kind of part-time there for seven years so that seems like a transitional period how are you able to progress from you   know that W2 and what what I've heard you say is call yourself a W2 quitter and I love that um you know 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 I know a lot of people can identify with so um it it just was Groundhog Day it was the same   thing over and over and over and that's not me sitting here complaining about my family or having a having the opportunity to work um 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 was I worked for the government and you look around you say who okay who's sort of ahead of me on this like you like I I think you probably mentioned on our on your your show on my my show your episode um you look around to the people   who are more kind of Al 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 um it just just having that just super long-term just you know the pot at the end of the rainbow I guess uh nothing driving me in the in the interum 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 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 I just made a shift and I and I stopped watching cable news I stopped uh just you know stopped 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 you know who's in my   network that I can add value to and who can add value to me so I started looking around and um you know my father was a realtor for many years my brother was a loan officer I we had uh one rental property at the time and so and IID worked at a 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 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 oh you know and 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 you know Bigger Pockets and all the other real estate podcasts and different investing podcasts and um started using   that mental bandwidth instead of focusing on National media stories that I have zero influence over uh here's something that I can actually take action on and so um in mid 2015 uh I I I went part-time and and just so happens that at uh DOD it's one of the few agencies in the in the 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 oh oh well I did so that's what I did and and um you   know that's uh again decided decided to start building my my other streams of income outside of my W2 um had 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 laded approach I guess or tiered approach to kind of ripping off the Band-Aid yeah yeah no that that that's awesome I love just the idea of of taking ownership of your your life right like everybody has those moments where they're feeling sorry fors um but but the successful people they   don't sit there and stay in that that mindset they they move on they you're going to be there sometimes but you've got to get out of and you got to say okay what 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 if you if you're constantly blaming someone else or saying this happened to me rather what can I do to get myself out of it then you're going to be stuck there   forever you're you're going to be you're going to be spinning your wheels forever um 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 it's a waste of time what control what does that do for us it's 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 sports almost absolutely I I look at it like this is funny like I can you know what I mean you kind of analyze like this is funny   this guyy saying this in a debate this guy's saying that it's not taking it as fact and news and this is how I should live my life because of what they're saying absolutely and it's not to say that none of these topics are you know important right I mean right Glo Global you know war or I mean politics poverty global warming whatever that's all very important but I have zero control over it almost zero right and then um you know the other thing is fear sells and that's that's what they're selling and so doesn't mean that every   story is invented and it's all fake fake news but it it just doesn't serve me and so I'd rather focus on you know go ground up and kind of uh you just I see it in people maybe older people in my own life now who maybe are retired and 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 and you end up only focusing on the negative really and   it just didn't serve me so yeah um during that La 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 Burr method that maybe some of your your audience is familiar with uh um and so kind of putting that Capital back into the the rental property um machine and expanding our portfolio um and then eventually last year Well in in 2018 I made the pivot I kept the rental properties but made a pivot to also add on mortgage not   investing and that's been my primary focus as of late um and uh if you want I can tell the story quickly about how I actually quit my job in 2022 I I think it's kind of kind of a funny one absolutely let's do it all right so um I uh so two years ago uh I was playing bad mitton and um I'd been doing now mind you I used to be like tough you know athlete and like I did you know did Jiu-Jitsu for three years right up before this and you know used to lift Waits a lot and still do it here and there but you know I think I'm tough   right and uh ruptured my achilles playing bad mitton so that's an ego blow uh to add on to the physical pain that you know especially with the recovery so I ruptured my achilles a little over two years ago today and um I was out of work it was my right right foot and the reason I bring this up is not for sympathy but um 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 you   might have been at your uh your big law uh job but um that's right I was I was checked out I mean I 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 it was just a matter of of when not if um I can tell you truthfully 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 your podcast banned from something but um yes I'd been vaccinated to to answer the question but no one asked me how's your how's your recovery going like how 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 um 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 a force kid at my desk and long story short they' kind of move 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 uh desk and um 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 I my wife didn't know I was I quit but I I quit that day still worked for another month or two but I I was there was no question zero question in my mind I'm done with this place so uh that was March of 2022 and ever since then I've just focused on building out my businesses and having   looked back that's awesome sometimes you just know right like sometimes it's time you just knew I I love that story man for me it was a little bit you already know the story but you know for me it was a little bit more of someone else's decision I got fired I mean and men that you know you you weren't the best employee at that point correct you know 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 his output isn't what it should be like nope he's got he's got to go I mean he's not he's not the best employee and and as a you know as a business owner now I can you know I have really good perspective of that and and seeing that and they did they were doing me a favor by being like hey like your heart's not in it is it and I'm like no it's not it's not yeah yeah the reality is for me it's really hard to work you know when 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 um but so yeah uh haven't looked back and just love love the entrepreneurial you know day-to-day and freedom that you alluded to and and just the multiple streams of income and certainly has its challenges I I probably work harder now than ever   than I ever have um but it's by choice right so I love it exactly same here man I mean it's you know my my days are long I mean I I get up way before I used to get up when I when I had a 95 I worked past when I would have worked a 9 to-5 and it 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 yeah it doesn't feel like it's you're putting that much time in definitely I I wake up early a lot of days it's not not on   purpose it's because I'm just excited to get Kracken so yeah yeah absolutely yeah well let's let's kind of get into your current business I know you you had mentioned that you focused on your strengths and your assets um and you know I think it's important I'll just I'll just say it's important to take an inventory of what your strengths are when you're kind of considering going into something else um because a lot of our listeners are attorneys they're doctors folks like that they kind of feel like maybe they're they're pigeon   hold right like well if I'm not an attorney what the hell else can I do right 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 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 do definitely and one thing I'd say is that um 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 um you know there's one quote about every man is my Superior in in in something right so um basically it gets me a lot of comfort to know like just because an attorney listening to your show knows 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 um you know that's that's always comforting to me is and when I say look to your strength it's also looking to the people in your network who know and can help you get to where you want to go um so yeah I mean so many things we take for granted that we do know and um 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 a   salary um 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 trained in that in school typically right so you know you forget and so your your listener out there the the attorney the doctor I guarantee they have a lot of life experience not just from their professional world but just life experience that 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 go back to life has Seasons I mean you've shown that in your own story Seth like you know um it's uh it 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   doesn't mean that's what I have to do for the rest of my life so we always have options I 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 you just make the most of it and and just keep I think keep learning constantly um is critical I I just hired a business coach we've had one call um but one of his motos is um 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 yeah I love that permanent beta I haven't heard that before but I like that I like that phrase like that phrase um so tell me about your current business tell me about mortgage node investing start with the basics um sure what is it yeah so and and I'll try to keep it uh 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 it takes time to learn um we buy debt so we buy a mortgage note   and that could be performing or non-performing the the real highlevel version is is um a performing note is kind of like a a long-term Buy and Hold rental property but you're buying the debt and becoming the lender becoming the bank if you will um and so you're buying that performing note for cash flow so I buy a performing note the barer now pays me through a loan servicer and I get monthly payments so that's a great way to go the 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 the principal balance goes down so it's just it's worth less than you know than uh you know than it would than it was when you bought it then on the other side the non-performing side of things we buy those uh as well and those are more like a Fix and Flip property so um 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 I should say sell that asset whether that's as a rep performing note or as uh through the the real estate itself there there are a few different ways you can exit a non-performing uh note deal and but but back to your kind of one of the the themes um 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 oh I want to start buying distressed you know multif family debt um which I know you could probably help me understand better but that you know it's like incremental progress and and and change isn't that scary so I kind of expanded my um you know toolbox if you will and got into the mortgage note space so we have a couple of note funds one is open um currently and they're they're they're   all for accredited investors um and uh the the income fund that's open pays a monthly uh aims to pay a a monthly uh per referred return I know you and a lot of your listeners are attorneys so I got to hold the line here and uh so the fund is structured to pay uh to aim to pay a a monthly return uh of 8% it's not a there's no growth in that fund it's literally a cash flow play and um diversification play you're putting your your capital in we buy assets across the country we we've bought notes in in probably 25 States at this point   um and so the investment is Diversified across Geographic areas across borrower types and um you know we buy for a certain yield we take a small management fee and then we um ideally uh pay a pay the preferred return that we're aiming for to our to our investors yeah nice 506c you're able to talk about it it's uh ACC credit investors only just want to throw that out there um so yeah I mean so just going back to the basics a little bit and we'll get back into the fund like how do you how do you even   find these things I mean 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 the things that truthfully a a passive investor who doesn't have time to to develop the network to go find these assets they're just not going to have success um you know they might here and there but it takes time it's a it's a word of mouth industry just like real estate itself is and um so we've built out a network of of Sellers and you know that could   be quite honestly I I've never had luck buying directly from Banks it's really either a larger uh 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 um 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 um you know where they just uh there's an opportunity to buy from   them as well um and so there there are other you know I guess we buy from hedge funds note investors other note funds um those are there are also note Brokers as well out there um 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 on paper stack and other exchanges as well um and you know you can you can find assets there um but at the end of the day we have our list that we 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 uh due diligence on the assets that they're selling and so it's it's taken some work and it's it's a work in progress always um but it is the million-dollar question is where do you where do you find these assets yeah so that's that's the hard part right that finding these assets is the hard part um have you ever had to foreclose on on any of these notes and actually acquire the property and I guess a followup question is do you ever   look at a non-performing note like hey I actually want to own that property great questions yeah great questions um to be clear we're not trying to kick people you know Grandma out on onto the street or anything like that um you know that's not our our goal typically well that's never our goal but we're never trying to kick someone out of their home um but the reality is some people honestly need a little bit of a kick in the pants and often times that's not really the best them staying in the house is not often   The best scenario for them I know that might sound sound harsh but at the end of the day if someone can't afford to live somewhere sometimes these people are living in squal and they really need a change of of environment um to answer your question about do we target the property yes sometimes we do in fact we just closed on two they're called uh heckum loans or reverse mortgages where the borrowers are deceased the property is underwater meaning you know the the loan amount is high greater than the   property value and it should be a quick exit through the property so HUD will sell off these uh big pool of 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 airs or or foreclosure um and get and exit the property that way um if your listener wants to go to my website I've got a really good um it's a 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 um I had no intention of exiting through the property or holding holding the the property as a rental property but uh running the numbers it just was too good to to let go and so long story but we we uh you know ended up doing a deed in Lee 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 uh portfolio yeah that makes sense that makes sense there's there's always   multiple ways to look at an investment right um but it does sound you know is not something that 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 um because as as everybody knows there's active Investments there's passive Investments if you're going 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 to get those returns   um so if you want to go to the passive side if you if you're still full-time in your career you're you're a full-time doctor or lawyer or or whatever you are you know 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 I wore this specifically for your for this show there it is there it is passive income um you're absolutely right you know these gurus some of the some of the node investing gurus out   there will try to sell you know notes as passive um we have another blog post that talks about uh just the it's a spectrum there's active and passive on either end but at the end of the day if you're gonna node 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 um you're dealing with foreclosures bankruptcies deed and L tracking delinquent property taxes do I have to physically go anywhere no but it is not passive um but   that's why we offer the passive investment to for you know 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 there are certain gurus out there that you know whatever it is that they are pitching it's they they tend to always pitch it as as passive even though it is an active business whether that's ma money yeah whether that's a mortgage note or I mean people 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 you've still got to monitor all those things you you've still got to you 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 and it is on a spectrum some things are more passive than others but when you're inves in you know as a passive investor into some sort of a   fund or a syndication that's really leaning really far into the the passive side absolutely 100% and I and I'm as you are Seth I'm I'm I'm I I assume you are I know you're an active investor but I 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 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 right yeah and a lot of you know a lot of the listeners are high income earning professionals so they've already dedic put a lot of time and effort into being able ble to earn this much money from their W2 and absolutely 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 like let's grind for a few years let's let's not spend every single dollar that we make on all the new stuff on a 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 note fund where you're like man I kind like this business like 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 and you want to get into that as a as a business as an entrepreneur but um a great way to kind of dip your toe in the water is to become a passive investor um that's the way that I did it into you know multif family syndications I 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's it   really comes down to what you what your goals are and what your situation is for sure I I'll say I was too passive initially when I went into notes um because personally I just don't you're you're you were probably a little better student Seth not that I was a bad student but you know I I invest unless I'm actively in investing you know 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 if you're putting Capital with them but   you're not going to once you're getting your checks and your dispersements 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 may you already have that spark and then you invest passively then you're like okay well now I'm invested like let me learn about this you have to you have to actively go out there and educate yourself and network and talk to people that are in the business definitely 100   per. all right man before we jump into the Freedom Four you have one last gold nugget for our listeners oh man um I would say within when it comes to investing um you know take the long-term view um don't chase immediate returns um 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 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 Four what's the best thing you do to keep your mind body   healthy yeah I mean one thing that I instituted this year actually um is breath work and it's um you know it's so it takes 10 minutes um 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 it's like it is phenomenal so uh breath work I mean I do other things for sure but that's certainly this year it's been a   game Cher for me I just feel like it resets my central nervous system and it just gets me focused and uh I know there are other physiological benefits that you can ask uh Dr Andrew huberman or somebody else about cool I have to look into that actually have I mean obviously everybody talks about it's a Hot Topic I haven't gotten into it I haven't gotten into that plus like the cold plunges and that sort of thing um but I really want to explore that a little bit 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 neuro virus 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 uh doing this and somebody on my team actually sent me a a I guess we'll call it an implement or a tool that uh I use for the breath work it's BL there's a Bluetooth connection to your phone and it's pretty cool so it's structured and   back to that discipline right but um yeah so it's there was a reason I started doing it and um it's it's so accessible five to 10 minutes a day you can start doing it so yeah very cool highly recommend cool thanks for sharing that man um with all your success what is one limiting belief that you've crushed along the way and how did you get past it um I think just uh you know being afraid to you know that you have to be perfect right so um 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 um because it had to be perfect and and it's like I think as I've progressed into more of the entrepreneurial lifestyle and and uh it's just it's not a it's not an option anymore um so um yeah I think just taking action has kind of overcome that limiting belief of of of chasing Perfection yeah yeah I can I can I can agree with you there done not perfect um as you know my background as an attorney I mean we're we're paid to be perfect like we can't make mistakes especially   in contracts and the way that we write things but when you kind of make that transition over to being an entrepreneur there's too much there's too much to to be to be perfect you got you just got to get it done good enough absolutely good enough has to you have to be open um willing to accept that for sure y what's one actionable step our listeners can do right now to start creating more freedom so I'll use the military here you can um which is where I learned U kind of reverse backwards planning reverse   planning so literally just and I'm not going to tell you I'm perfect at this um but you know think about what create a vivid vision for your life in in the next three to five years pick a 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 you can be that will that will increase the urgency uh 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 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 how has passive income made your life better yeah I mean I think in multiple ways but a big one that stands out is is giving me I guess we'll call it margin um to take some more risks on the entrepreneurial side and because I do have alternative sources of income   passive income um 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 per go perfectly it doesn't go well it's not profitable that's okay I still have that cushion um for for me and my family so 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 uh Jamie this has been incredible dude you've got so much great content to to share in your   brain man you got to get it out there um I know you've got an awesome podcast that I was on adversity to abundance everybody should check that out um other than that Jamie where else can people find out more about you yeah just two things I'll mention very quickly uh literally got my book delivered today like an hour before I hopped on here it's uh 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 and then Labrador   lending.com l 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 Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6nU0TtMAFc https://www.instagram.com/p/C2sKtrAPX50/ https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid029mGsZgw2DFvrvFV6QPkwf2U2ewUxCGoRmnjGvuBicaWmM9oHWbemP7NCVFFXz8jxl&id=100089126144055   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? https://www.instagram.com/batemanjames11/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-bateman-5359a811/ https://labradorlending.com/about/

On this episode of Best Ever CRE, Joe Cornwell interviews Jeff Ervick. Jeff shares how he scaled from single-family rentals in Maryland to co-founding a firm with over $200M in assets across multifamily, ground-up development, and private credit. He discusses how he balances a successful W2 tech sales career while managing investor relations, fundraising, and strategic partnerships at Valoris. Jeff also dives into their development strategy in Florida, their pivot away from heavy value-adds, and how they underwrite deals to hedge against construction risk, including tax abatements like Florida's Live Local Act. Jeff Ervick Current Role: Managing Partner, Investor Relations Based in: Annapolis, Maryland Say hi to them at: Website: https://www.valoriscapitalpartners.com/ LinkedIn: Jeff Ervick Get a 4-week trial, free postage, and a digital scale at ⁠https://www.stamps.com/cre⁠. Thanks to Stamps.com for sponsoring the show! Post your job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/BRE. Terms and conditions apply. Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It's free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at ⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tired of working inflexible jobs or living paycheck to paycheck? Elizabeth Esplin's back was against the wall when she made an all-in bet on real estate investing. Once living off food stamps, Elizabeth and her husband have been able to leave their W2 jobs and are firmly on track to achieve financial freedom—all thanks to the power of real estate!   Welcome back to the Real Estate Rookie podcast! Elizabeth was caring for a toddler and pregnant with her third child when her husband's health started to deteriorate—quickly leaving her family with a financial crisis. With bills piling up, Elizabeth turned to real estate. Although her first deal didn't go to plan, a $2,000 lesson set the stage for a wildly successful second deal—a house flip that not only pocketed her $200,000 (with just four months of work!) but also allowed both her and her husband to trade the W2 grind for full-time real estate!   In this episode, she talks about using handwritten mailers to find off-market properties, winning “probate” deals, and surviving stressful renovations. Whether you need an escape rope from your nine-to-five job or creative ways to find your next real estate deal, Elizabeth shares all kinds of helpful nuggets you won't want to miss! In This Episode We Cover How Elizabeth flipped her first house during a family crisis (while pregnant!) The $2,000 mistake that helped Elizabeth take down a $200,000 deal How to create financial freedom through the power of real estate investing Leaving your nine-to-five job to become a full-time real estate investor Creative ways to find (and buy) more off-market properties And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-590 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