Epic Real Estate Investing - How to Escape the Rat Race, FAST | 1148

Episode Date: May 28, 2021

In today’s episode, Mercedes, The Turnkey Girl shares 10 ways to ESCAPE THE RAT RACE FAST, without doing it all by yourself! Stay tuned and learn what escaping the rat race means, how owning a small business impacts your tax liability, how your relationships form your financial future, how to leverage, and much, much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Terio Media. So you want to be a real estate investor, but you don't want to do the work. If there were only a way where someone else could do it for you, now there is. Tune in here each and every Tuesday on the Epic Real Estate Investing show for Turnkey Tuesdays with your host, Mercedes-Torres. Hello and welcome. Welcome to the Turnkey portion of Epic Real Estate Investing. This is Mercedes-Torres, and as I say, every week, I am privileged enough to be partners in crime with Mr. Matt Terrier, the guy who created the epic real estate investing empire.

Now, the purpose of my episodes is so that you can dive right into real estate investing without having to learn every single detail and nuance of real estate. As you know, real estate has its shares of ups and downs and details and nuances as every business does. but more so, I want to dive into real estate investing without having you to do all the work. Now, I've got a hot show for you today, and it's really just to talk about 10 ways to escape the rat race faster. Now, a lot of you have had the opportunity to really understand what the rat race is, but I will begin by defining what it takes to escape the rat race in the first place. Now, simply put, you have escaped the rat race once your passive income, your monthly passive income, has exceeded your monthly expenses. Thus, when you go to work, you're going to work because you want to go to work as opposed of having to go to work.

You get the opportunity to do something with your time that you really want to do, perhaps that you really, really love. And maybe it might be your current job. Some of you may very well love it, or maybe you don't. And by a way of having escaped the rat race, you will have the option to do something else. So, as I always say, this show is not about getting wealthy quick, but rather getting wealthy permanently. But if you can get it done, what if you could get it done quicker? Then why not, right? Well, that's the premise of this show.

You know, Matt and I have shared our story many, many times. And sometimes it's on the podcast, and often it's because we're asked to speak at local Rias or at real estate investing conferences. But really, we talk about how we were able to escape the rat race in less than four years. And when I share that, it raises a lot of eyebrows, you know, some in doubt, some in amazement. And I have no doubt that if I knew back then what I know now, I would have done it even faster. And recently, we had a client that was able to make his escape from the day he got fired from his job to just one year later. and he managed to create passive income that exceeded his monthly expenses. Pretty extraordinary.

Now, you may have heard it on our other podcast because Matt has mentioned it. His name is Parker Stiles. He's originally from Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. And what he did, really, anyone can do. Now, as long as you set your mind to it and are super focused and just follow the steps, copy some of the things that he did and some of the things that I would do if I had to do it all over again. That said, I made a list of 10 ways to escape the rat race forever. Now, these are in no particular order.

I just wanted to share some of these with you to kind of give you food for thought. Now, I often get emails from our listeners that say, you know, thank you for sharing that with me. it got me to think this way or it got me to spark the conversation with my spouse. This is the reason I'm doing this particular episode because I want you to think a little bit different because if you're continuing to do what you're doing now and it's not working, it's probably not going to continue to not work if you continue doing it. So just food for thought, 10 ways to escape the rat race forever. Most of these I have done myself.

Okay, so number one, start a small business in alignment with something you're already doing. Now, maybe it's a variation of your W-2 job or a hobby, but by starting a business, you can significantly impact your tax liability. For example, as a W-2 employee, you earn, get taxed, and then you spend what's left over. That's kind of like your paycheck. But as a business owner, you earn, spend as a means of paying for your cell phone, for example, paying for your car, paying for your car insurance, or even buying supplies that's going to help serve your business, and then you get taxed.

That tax liability can potentially be huge if you do it, correctly. Now, of course, you have to have your CPA or your tax professional, whoever helps you with that. But really, if you start a small business and you get to deduct all the expenses that you potentially would not deduct as a W-2 employee, that's a game changer. So consider that. Number two. Now, number two is pretty simple. It's earn more and save more. So, work your way up your corporate ladder, for example, or at your job, you know, get to a promotion, become a manager of some sort, or that next level, or even get a second job. Now, this will allow you to make more money, but the premise here is to save. Now, this one's simple, perhaps not as exciting,

but, you know, some people say. Now, number three would be spending less. Now, this is the typical Susie Ormond and Dave Ramsey theory, where you cut back on your Starbucks habit and save the money. Now, I don't know about you people, but I love me, my Starbucks, and not buying Starbucks, it doesn't work for me. You know, just to save $3 or $4 a day, that's not realistic in my life. But the theory behind it is reducing the amount of passive income you're going to need to become financially free. Doesn't work for me. Theory is, you know, not getting one thing to save the money. But that's certainly an option if that works for you. Okay, moving on. Number four, include your spouse in financial education and goal setting. Now, this is a huge life changer for some of you. I'm a big fan of having your spouse on your team for whatever it is. You know, whether it's a workout goal or whether it's a workout goal or whether whether it's starting a business or whether it's buying a property that's going to produce passive income. You know, Matt and I have proving this time and time again that our most successful couples, if you will,

are our couples, our husband and wife teams, or just a couple in general, that have their goals aligned, that have their financial education in tune. and they're very on the same page of whatever that may be. And again, it's a life changer when you have your partner, be your teammate, be your support not only mentally, morally, but really in sync with your goals. This is huge. I mean, our biggest success come from, you know, a partnership, couple and our biggest failures happen when there isn't that supportive partner or spouse.

So keep that in mind. And I'll talk a little bit more about how to make that happen if it doesn't happen for you. Okay, so that was number four. Number five, be a lifelong learner. I stick to this every single day. I keep studying finances. You know, the more you learn, the more you earn. And this could be as little as, you know, reading a book such as Profit First, for example,

this is a great book. And it's primarily focused on small businesses. But I would argue that you could, you know, use it for your own personal life, even if you're a W-2 employee. You know, check that out with Mike Lowitz, I believe, is his name. I probably mutilated it. But profit first is the book. but just something like that that keeps you learning about the newest technique that may be helpful

for you. It could be a book, you know, could be blogs, could be even podcasts. So you're educating yourself and becoming a lifelong learner by just listening to me and maybe learning from my mistakes. So that's number five. Let's move on to number six. Number six is something that's true to my heart. Learn from someone who's financially free.

Now, Matt and I are huge fans of having a mentor. To this day, Matt and I still have mentors. Matt has a couple of his mentors. I have my own mentors. And then together we have a coach. But we are really big on following that person that has achieved what I want to achieve or what we're striving to achieve together. I mean, I just recently joined a group called EO, Entrepreneurs Organization,

because I just feel like I have so much to learn from other people that have done something successful that I'm looking to do myself. So I'm learning for someone that's financially free, and then I surround myself with masterminds or people that are financially free and not necessarily in my field. So at EO, there are people from all walks of lives with different businesses, and many of them are financially free. And sitting in a room with the same group of people month after month, mastermining together

and sharing what helped us become financially free or what helped them become financially free, that is the learning experience in itself. So whether it's someone that you follow on a podcast or whether it's someone that you meet in person like your boss or someone that gave you that opportunity, learn from them. Learn from what they're doing, especially if they're financially free and you're inspiring to be what they are. So that's number six. Number seven. Number seven is important because it's to use leverage. leverage other people's money, other people's time, other people experience, knowledge, relationship, deal flow, resources.

I mean, leverage as much as possible. I often say that you need four things, four key components for real estate. You need time, you need money, you need knowledge, and you need experience. certainly you need all of those, but they don't all need to be yours. For example, you may have a nice chunk of money, but you absolutely have no time, don't know what the heck you're doing, or don't have the experience. Leverage that from someone else. You know, whether it's buying a property from a turnkey or whether it's partnering with a local fix and flipper that has done over 200 flips. Leverage.

This is where partnership comes into play where, you know, you give up a little bit of your money for a smaller return, but somebody else takes the time to find the property, do the rehab, and of course has the experience to do it. So that's how you leverage that type of a relationship. And it could be used vice versa. You know, you may have the time and not have the money. So you find somebody that has money and no time. Leverage by far has set our business aside.

You know, I have often shared, I'm in 10 markets. And the only way that I can have successful real estate investments in each of our markets is because I leverage people on the ground. I leverage just about everything. Now, of course we've created a win-win for both of us. So I have a property management team that benefits from having me as a client because I operate in volume. And of course, he wants to benefit from me like I want to benefit from him. We're leveraging each other.

He leverages me because I have the properties. I leverage him because he has the boots on the ground and everything I need in place in my market, you know, in Indianapolis, in St. Louis, Missouri, in Birmingham, Alabama. I have entire team set up that I leverage and they leverage me. Win-win situation. And I'm just using this as an example with, you know, real estate and turnkey specifically. But this works in every aspect of just getting out of the rat race. You know, whether it's not having the time or not having the expertise, go out and find it.

Because believe it or not, somebody out there has what you need. needs and needs what you have. Now, they don't all have to be yours again. You know, you do need time, you need money, you need knowledge and you need experience. They don't all have to be yours, but it's easy for you to go identify those and find them. Ooh, went off on a little tangent there. I'm passionate about leverage, as you can tell. So number eight, relationships. Invest in relationships. there's probably nothing more powerful in forming your financial future than being intentional about who you spend your time with. You know, there's that one saying that says, you know, take the five people in your world

that you hang around with the most, that you associate with the most, and you add up what they make for a living and you divide it by five. and you are likely to make ballpark around what those people make. So if you're hanging around with people that aren't making what you aspire to make, change that. Go create relationships with people that are going to be able to produce that for you. And in building those relationships, really foster, and you're not going to go out and create fake relationships,

but keep in mind that the reason you're going out to seek additional relationships, relationships is to really elevate yourself to that level that you're striving to get to. It's all tied into creating that financial freedom for yourself. You step it up in the realm of your relationships on a basic level. Trust me, they will create relationships on a more internal level, if you will. Awesome. Let's go to number nine. embrace failures as an opportunity to grow.

I can't tell you how much money I've lost in real estate because I don't know. I've certainly made more than I've lost. And I'd have to say I've made a lot more than I lost. But, you know, in fact, I'm going to do an episode on a deal that went south. I'll do an episode on a deal that just, you know, to this day, I think about how stupid I was. I promised to do an episode on that. But I just want to say real estate investors out there, at some point, they're going to lose money on a deal.

And the biggest loss that I had was painful, so painful that it took me about two years to get out of it. But you know what? It made me a stronger, wiser, smarter, smarter investor. because I've never, knock on wood, have made those mistakes again. They've made me become a more careful investor. And when I mean careful, I don't mean so much analytical careful. I mean just wiser when it comes maneuvering to a deal.

Because after I beat myself up over it, I rose up. I said, I'm not going to let that failure define me. And yes, I lost a grip of money. And, you know, a grip of money can be $1,000 because that's a lot of money. I probably lost a lot more than that. But the idea is I learned from those mistakes and I've not made those mistakes again. So in the long run, it's made me a better person. And although I beat myself up over it for a long time, I got over it. I got back on the horse, so to speak, and I continue to do real estate. And it's because of those mistakes, I have what I have now. So embrace those mistakes, learn from them, understand where you went wrong, and just make it an

opportunity of growth. Cool. All right, moving on to number 10. Number 10, there will never be a perfect time to launch. Let me say that again. There is never going to be a perfect time for you to launch. And I mean that in every aspect, but primarily for you to start investing in yourself to get out of the rat race. So take action. Then make course corrections as you go. I mean, that is the biggest number one setback for people is that they spent a lot of time learning, learning and learning. And I love learning. I've talked about that before. I love hearing podcasts. I love following mentors. I'm really big on just learning and hearing other people's experience and kind of tweaking it for me. But take action. That's the biggest number one regret when I talk to my clients. You know, what's the biggest thing that you learn? And they always said, I waited so long. I don't know why I waited so long. So don't be one of those people. Take action and then make corrections a lot. along the way. You know, you can't steer a parked car. Better yet, you're never going to learn to drive if you don't get behind the driver's seat, put the key in the ignition, turn the ignition,

and maneuver the steering wheel. So the first step is getting into the car, shutting the door, putting the key in the ignition, and then getting ready to start. Take action. Step into the car, feel the wheel, do a little bit of, you know, research, put the candy ignition, turn the key, and then start moving slowly. I'm sure you remember when you first started driving. It was slow before you actually started to really take confidence in hitting the pedal. This is the same thing, people. It's never going to be a perfect time to get started. So just take your first step. So there you have it. Ten ways to a escape the rat race faster? And I'll ask you, do you want to do it fast or do you want to do it

slow? Now, here's another way to escape the rat race faster. You can go to our website. Matt and I created a step-by-step guide of how we did it. Now, you're more than welcome to download it. Our website is cashflow savvy.com and savvy is with two vs, savvv-y.com. Download your free guide to escape the rat race. And we really did a simple step-by-step instruction on exactly how you can do it too. There's no magic, my friends, no tricks, just a basic plan that all you have to do is follow it. Or, you know, send me a quick email. Believe it or not, I do answer all of my emails. I get responses all the time saying, I can't believe I'm talking to you. I can't believe you're responding to my email. It might take me a day or so, maybe even three, but I do get back

to you. So if you reach out to me, know that I will get back to you. But really, do yourself a favor. Download the free guide step by step. Guys, I say this all the time, my friends. If I did it, if Matt and I did it, I know you can do it too. It's that simple. That's it for today. I'll see you on the next episode of Turnkey Real Estate Investing. Does your money work for you as hard as you do for it? If not, no worries. You do not have a money problem. You merely have an idea problem.

We're cashflow savvy.com, and we'd like to share a new idea with you around income real estate that can transform your financial future and accelerate its arrival. Go to cashflow savvy.com and download a free investors package. Cashflow savvy.com. You do not have a money problem. Merely an idea problem. Cashflowsavvy.com. More ideas, less worries.

Cashflow savvy.com. This podcast is a part of the C-suite radio network. For more top business podcasts, visit c-sweetradio.com.