KGCI: Real Estate on Air - From Corporate Dead End to Financial Freedom

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

Summary:Are you stuck in a corporate dead end, yearning for a life of purpose and financial independence? This episode unveils the actionable blueprint to transition from the daily grind to true financial freedom. Discover how to strategically plan your escape, leverage smart money habits, and build diverse income streams—including the powerful role of real estate—to create a life where your passive income covers your expenses, empowering you to live on your own terms.Bullet Point TakeawaysDefine Your Freedom & Set Clear Goals: Financial freedom is unique to everyone, but it always starts with clarity. Learn to define what it means for you (e.g., passive income exceeding expenses) and set specific, measurable financial goals to guide your journey out of the corporate rat race.Master Your Finances: Budget & Eliminate Debt: Before you leap, get your financial house in order. Discover how to create and stick to a budget, diligently track expenses, and aggressively pay off high-interest consumer debt to stop "leakages" and build a solid financial foundation.Invest for Passive Income & Long-Term Growth: Explore the transformative power of investing. Learn about various asset classes, with a deep dive into how real estate (rental properties, multifamily apartments) can generate consistent passive income and appreciate significantly, accelerating your path to financial independence.Diversify Income & Build Side Hustles: Relying on a single paycheck is risky. This episode highlights the importance of creating multiple streams of income, whether through starting a side business, freelancing, or strategically investing, to build a robust financial safety net and accelerate wealth accumulation.Embrace an Entrepreneurial Mindset & Strategic Planning: Understand that transitioning requires a shift in mindset—from employee to entrepreneur. Learn to plan strategically, cultivate a strong personal network, accept both successes and failures, and build a financial buffer (e.g., 6-12 months of expenses) before making the leap.Topics:Financial FreedomEscape Corporate Rat RaceReal Estate Wealth BuildingPassive Income StrategiesTransition from CorporateCall-to-Action:Ready to break free from the corporate dead end and embark on your journey to financial freedom? Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform and start building your blueprint today!

Hey guys, and welcome to this week's episode of the Top Producing Zone podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Michael Jen. And I'm Shane Carvallo. Today, we are super excited to have Tomorrow book with us. Tomorrow helps people become wealth creators and is the definition of living what you preach. She started her career working in corporate, in fashion, and entertainment. Realized that wasn't where her true desires were at. And she wasn't working for her own goals.

So she successfully moved from corporate into entrepreneurship and used real estate investing to achieve financial freedom for herself. And now she's working to show others how to do this for themselves as well. So with that, tomorrow, welcome to the podcast. Thanks, Michael. Thanks, Shane. Great to be here. Well, shoot after that introduction, Michael Jen has the best introductions. I mean, I need your autograph, by the way.

Next time I see you. Well, let's start here tomorrow. Like, there's a lot of people out there. Like, you know, they talk about financial freedom. I would dare to speculate. Maybe not everyone knows exactly what that. And it means exactly for them. So when you talk about financial freedom, like, how do you define that?

And what has that meant for you? Yeah, that's a great question. I think what it really comes down to is just having the ability to control your own time, right? And decide when you want to work, where you want to work. and that's really what it comes down to, and having the ability just to control your time, not having to live for a paycheck, right? Like whether you go to work, wake up and go to work or not,

you're still going to get paid. So having that freedom. Yeah, no, that is awesome. And that is, you know, something that's super important. I feel like it's not something that people realize it might be possible for them based on kind of how, how they've been brought up or, you know, what they're used to. So you personally, you know, had this successful transition from, you know, a corporate career, working for the Yankees too at some point, which I thought was super cool, to now becoming a successful entrepreneur, doing real estate investing.

What did it take for you to kind of make that transition? Like, what worked well for you and what didn't? That was great question. So I would say what worked well was I found. the right group of people that were also like-minded and doing what I wanted to do. Like, they were already at my end goal. So with the support of a great community of like-minded individuals, that was really how I did it because I had guidance, right? It's not just like I woke up, well, technically I did wake up one morning and decided I didn't want to be in corporate anymore

and I literally just quit my job without a plan. But that does not work. Like that, that's like risky, right? I would never tell someone to do that. I got fortunate because I kind of fell into this community of investors and entrepreneurs, and they're already doing what I wanted to do. So, and I saw their success, and I saw that they were already doing it. So I said, all right, how are you doing this? Like, like, you know, basically, I had them sit down with me and lay out a blueprint plan from A to Z. And here's the thing, it's not ever cut and dry for anyone, you know, that process. And, you know, there's been a lot of, there were a lot of ups, there were a lot of ups and downs as I was transitioning.

And I don't think, like, you really have to set the right expectation that it's not going to be easy, you know, because you're going from having a paycheck every week and being comfortable, so to speak, to learning how to, well, I don't know where money is coming from this month, but I trust that I have the right systems in place and something's going to work out, right? Because it doesn't always, and, you know, Shane, you guys probably know, it doesn't always happen. Like, you're like, crap, I don't know where money's coming from this month until you get to a certain success, you know, certain level where you have things in place.

Like right now I have a portfolio of rental properties that pay me every month, whether I'm here in California, you know, whether I decide to work or not. But that took time to build to that, right? And that, you know, I had to have things in place until I got to that point. Yeah, that's, well, what I was going to say, Tamara, is that, I mean, a lot of people don't have the stomach to take that chance. I don't really know what the statistic is, but I would say probably one in 10 people actually have the stones to actually take that leap of faith.

Some people that are in the middle don't wait to be able to replace their job income to cross over. Like some people just never will. It's just not for them. They'll just build a portfolio on the side. In fact, I just thought of something great. I have an amateur group of investors and invests all over the country. I would love to have you participate in that Zoom.

It's just free to drop in. It's Wednesday nights. you'd love to meet these people. They're so cool. And it might even benefit you. So I just randomly thought about that. But what I was going to say, though, is that what you were saying on building your residual with your rentals and stuff, also having the rainy day fund, right?

So if all of a sudden your rentals are vacant, there's that fear factor as well. But just on that note, though, like when you started with the rentals and residual income, what drove you? Was it the money or the freedom? 100% the freedom. The money is nice. Don't get me wrong. Um, but I definitely want the freedom.

I love to travel. I love to, you know, do different things and have the ability to be like, well, I'm taking off for the next month and a half. I'm taking off for the next two months and going to, you know, Europe or wherever I end up going. Um, and, uh, just have like that, you know, that really drove me. And, and, you know, ultimately I want to be spending, having the ability to spend more time with family and people that I care about and doing those things.

And listen, like, I just knew. that there was a better way. I was kind of, I love the fashion entertainment industry, but being kind of a slave, I felt, you know, like I was kind of a slave to this job, you know, working all these hours and not having like the ability to do some of the things I've been able to do over the past few years since I became an entrepreneur. And Shane, you, you nailed something. I mean, um, so I tell, I tell people I kind of left the wrong way, the corporate world, because I was just so sick of it and I didn't really have a plan but now you know that I've done it and I and for me it worked because I like having that fire under my butt and pressure to perform and make things happen like

it works for me but it was stressful so we always tell people you know we have a calculated plan and it is to tell people to to to replace your your income before you you leave so it's less like I just have a girl on my team she was um her her her and her husband work for the MIPD, and they had a very calculated plan. This week, she just fired her boss. And if I remember correctly, she even left because they're doing so well in real estate, she was able to leave before her pension. And that's a big deal for cops because they work, again, with a grant of salt.

I think it's like 15 years. Then they get a pension for like the rest of their life. Now he's still lined up to make that. But, you know, they had a very calculated plan where they were replacing her income while she was working and now it's gotten to the point where she's been able to leave and he's in for another two years so they do have that pension

for the rest of their lives but you know that's the calculated way to do it does it always happen that way? No you know what I mean? Like for me it didn't and there's definitely some frantic moments but you know when you have that drive and like you said Shane it's not for everyone

because there's a risk factor that you have to have the tolerance for Yeah, no, I think that the risk tolerance is what holds a lot of people back. But then for a lot of people, too, it's just never making enough to be able to save enough to even get started. You know, Michael Jen, you're Mr. Numbers, Mr. Engineer. Tell us how you go about calculating for your investments. Like if you're brand new, right, like you became licensed because you had to see, you know,

how difficult it was to buy your own house with an agent. You felt like you could do it better. So how do you take it now that you've had that experience and you're on the real estate side reflecting, right? I mean, you guys are looking for investment properties now. Yeah, I mean, I think for me, it's, I mean, you know me. I love my spreadsheets. Right. And so I have to do, I would love to, I mean, I probably will put together like cash flow models, right?

And figure out like realistically do research into like the area that I'm wanting to go into, right? How much is it going to cost me to invest to that? and then break out my models on how much, you know, how much I want to put in in terms of like fixing up the place and then how much I could potentially get on a monthly basis in terms of, in terms of,

in terms of rent, right? I certainly don't think like, you know, I'm going to break even anytime soon, but at least doing my models gives me a sense of what, what the timing is going to be. And how much I can, you know, realistically put into,

to a property. But, I mean, tomorrow, I love to hear kind of your, your, like, what's worked well for you, too, as you're looking into like different investment properties. And also, you touched on things that you've learned throughout the process.

Like if you could go back and do it again, what would you do differently? I would have the calculated plan a little bit more dialed in before I just left the corporate world. Because, you know, that's not how you want to start out. It's stressful. Like, yes, I was able to make it work. But, you know, there was a lot of long nights where I was like, I have to make this work. I'm not going back to the corporate world. And again, like having a community, a mentor.

of people to support you was probably the best thing that happened to me. Otherwise, I don't know if I would have, you know, kept, I don't know if I would have made it because they already did it, right? So they just laid out the plan for me and supported me along the way. And there's quite a few times where they were talking me off the cliff, so to speak, of quitting, you know. So it's hard if you don't have the right support system. So definitely having the right support system.

And the Rady Day Fund is important too, like something, like I think they say six to eight months, six to nine months is what they recommend. And that's really important because it gives you that cushion and a little bit of peace of mind, you know. Well, and I love that. And we always, I mean, we've said this on our other podcast. Like, you're the, you're the average of the, the five people that you surround yourself with, right? But I think there's something truly important here about surrounding yourself with the right people, like you said, and realizing that you never really kind of want to be running in a silo. And there are people around you that have done it. Like, why not leverage their experience their, their lessons, learn. And

to kind of help make the process a little bit easier on yourself. That was definitely the best thing that happened to me as I was transitioning. Again, I don't know if I would have, you know, it was tough. So I don't know if I would have really stuck it out if I didn't have that group of people who had already done it. So that was the biggest key is what you asked, what worked. That was definitely the key for me. Yeah.

And let's kind of get into this a little because I was looking at your website. You talk about kind of building long-term wealth, and you talk about kind of four different aspects to do that. You talk about building long-term wealth through education, creation, preservation, and mindset. So, I mean, let's dig into each one of those four a little bit. Let's start with, like, kind of education. So to you, like, from your experience and your perspective, like, what's key in terms of education to building long-term wealth? What skills do you need to kind of have? or do you feel like, you know, one needs to truly develop to be successful in, you know,

launching a career in entrepreneurship, building out that financial freedom for yourself? Yeah. Well, I mean, I can speak from my experience. Again, like, you know, I came from corporate. I have two degrees. I have a business degree. None of that prepared me for real estate investing or being an entrepreneur, you know, you know, the practical stuff is much different than the paper stuff.

So when I felt, again, I fell into this community, they offered this education. And I was initially like, oh, I just got out of school. I don't want to do this again. But it was the best thing that, again, the best thing that happened in me because I was so green in real estate. At that time, I probably couldn't have really even explained to you what a mortgage was. Now, you know, I can probably run circles around some people because I've gotten myself so educated and very specific things.

And here's the key in my experience and just, you know, my two cents is, you know, I got myself educated on different strategies. So, you know, in the beginning, everyone knows from an investing standpoint, wholesaling, fix and flip, buy and hold. Right. Buy and hold is a long-term strategy, fix and flip, wholesale, short-term strategies. I got myself educated on both kind of strategies. Now, there are over 30 different real estate investing strategies. So, and believe it or not, none of those strategies are where I ended up. Like I found like once I got educated,

lease options I love, tax liens I love, and those are long-term plays, but different aspects of it. I don't want headaches. I want like as little as possible. So, you know, and I still learned how to fix and flip. Here's the thing. I learned how to fix and flip.

So if I ever needed like a quick chunk of change or, you know, big money, or quickly, I can just go flip some houses, which is ironically what I'm doing right now. But I would not consider myself, it's not really my play. I'm definitely a cash flow buyer. So did that answer the question about education? I think so. Just to wrap that up real quick, is just getting yourself properly trained and educated is all day the best thing you can do as a real estate investor. And there are people who go to YouTube University. Listen, you've got to find what works best for you. I found something very dialed in. And again, best thing, it all, I kind of fell into it.

But that was, that's the best thing I can suggest is making sure you get yourself properly trained and educated because, you know, you really have to know what you're doing in real estate investing. The way I look at it is you could learn through the school of hard knocks and make all the mistakes or you can, you know, take a shortcut and get yourself properly trade and educated because there's a lot more to real estate investing. And Shane, I'm sure you know this. Michael, I don't know your experience so well, that you can't find on HDTV is not going to show you, you know, the beam that you have to replace or just the crazy things that come up.

Like the month I've had, like there's nothing that can prepare you for something like that. But when you have the right knowledge and the right community, like those two things all hit on those points all day. Those have been the biggest keys for me to my success. Well, the school of hard knocks has taught me some lessons, that's for sure. I mean, I don't have as much experience of shame, but we've done a couple of flips together. Contractors not putting sockets in the garage. Just random stuff, like common sense stuff. Yeah, common sense stuff that you kind of have to babysit them on.

Yeah, that was school of hard knocks for both of us. Yeah, crooked business partners. It doesn't matter how seasoned you are when you started. You got to stay disciplined in your mind on, you know, just because it's easy to get emotional or excited about a deal. Like when you hear a deal, it's like Michael's good about holding back and analyzing numbers. I'm like, let's go, baby. You know, you get fired up when it's a deal, you know?

And it's like, I think that that it's not just getting educated. It's actually staying disciplined that as much as you want. want that particular project. If it doesn't pencil, it doesn't pencil. You can't get sucked in. Just like I tell my real estate client, it's not to get emotional. You can't get emotional as an investor, even once you know what you're doing. Well, no, the skill, the balance that you just talked about is so important.

Like, Shane, I'm more like you. Like, let's just do it. Let's make things happen. And it doesn't go so well half the time. So that's why you balance it out with someone like Michael, who's a lot more analytical. and it's like, wait, let's slow it down. Let's look at the numbers. Let's run the numbers. Let's look at it from different angles. And I've learned to do that more, but I've also learned to partner with people. Like, I have a partner right now who is so analytical, which I'm just not, but I'm very good with the visions and making things happen.

And he's not so much. So it's a fantastic, you know, partnership. That's really important. And that's the other thing that, you know, just real quick. Like when you people have this, like, idea that partnerships are so glamorous, like, hey, let's partner, hey, let's partner, some of the biggest disasters I've ever seen are from careless partnerships. Well, well, you know, I, yours was, yeah, I remember yours. That was, no, there's no competition, but no, I'm just saying like, yeah, I just, yeah, there's not even trying to compete. I just, I don't want to win that battle. I'm just saying, I'm, I'm just saying, like, the thing, here's the thing is that partnerships as a new investor in certain aspects are necessary because there's always the three parts, right? There's the there's the money,

the financing and the renovation, right? And so it's like some people don't have all three or don't have the ability to have all three. And that's when partners are needed. For people like me that have all three, it's the stupidity of getting involved with partners without properly setting up or structuring, you know, the situation. Because I'm sure in your partnership, you probably have something laid out like an LLC or something. You probably have everything laid out. So why don't you talk about that really quick? Since you're talking about partnerships, how do you structure a partnership as an investor? Like, do you, is it an LLC or just give us a quick, like, simple, like, you know, amateur level explanation? Yeah, I mean, just real quick, with this

partnership, you know, we've known each other for over two, over two years and we've vetted each other out. Like, that's the most important thing. And then we also know each other skill sets, right? And they're, they're pretty much opposite. So, so that was the first thing. It's just under understanding what each person brings at the table. Because obviously, you know, if me and Shane were to partner, I don't, it probably wouldn't be the best fit because we're both very similar. We need Michael in our corner. Yes, exactly.

All day. It works out the best. And then, yeah, I mean, here's the great thing about, you set up an operating agreement, all that, and an LLC, the operating agreement is good because it lays out all the, all the, all the, you want to lay out all the bad things that could go wrong. And, you know, in the event anything goes wrong. You already, it takes out the emotion because you already know how you're dealing with it because you have the operating agreement. This is painful. Go ahead.

So, and I have like an attorney at Highlandia and Talia like, you know, just map out the operating agreement and always put the worst case scenarios. Now it doesn't mean it's going to happen, you know, but in the event any of the stuff goes wrong, the operating agreement just you don't even have to question what you're doing because operating agreement. tells you and just makes everything so much easier and takes out the emotion, right? No, and I love that. And I think that's, I mean, you really have to spell things out. And it's never an easy conversation to have when you're like trying to get a partnership formed and started and talking about kind of worst case scenarios. But in reality, like, that's the best time to talk about it, right?

Because otherwise, if you find yourself in that situation that no one's going to want to talk about it because they're trying to protect themselves. It's like a pream. It's a pream. It's a pream. I was thinking. I was like, it's like a freaking peanut. That is so true. I've actually used that analogy before. But and tomorrow, I want to go back to what you were saying earlier about kind of just the educational aspect too. And I found that super powerful is like you, you shared how

you educated yourself on all the different types of real estate investment like strategies. And it was interesting because then I noticed you said one thing. You said, well, I didn't apply any of those, right? You came up with something else completely that way. worked for you. And in my head, like, that got me, so my background, I do, I have done, I've done consulting before. And so my background, I go to that also is like, for consulting, if you go to a client, it's always a different problem, but there's certain frameworks that you can, you can apply to a problem to solve. And here's my analytical engineering brain going. And part of what makes a consultant successful is you have to learn all the different frameworks,

right? Like, what do you have to look at if you, if you're looking at cost, cost reduction and optimization versus, you know, driving and increasing your revenue, or, you know, maybe an M&A merger or a reorg for, for a corporate structure, right, whatever it is. But once you learn all the different approaches, then you have the full arsenal that you can apply to a situation and figure out kind of what's the best approach for you in that situation. That's a great, great point. You know, in real estate, like one of the things that we suggest is having three exit strategies. So being, before we get into any property, so in a market like this where it's been a roller coaster constantly changing, it's so important.

Like I have a property right now that I started out when I went into it, I was thinking I was going to keep it as an Airbnb. And then I decided really late in the game that I was going to end up just flipping it. And I had the cushion because I made sure the numbers worked in the beginning to have that exit strategy change. the next strategy if I wanted to. So, you know, that's definitely something important to kind of have that plan as you go into it. And Shane, just to hit on something that I think is important that you brought up briefly is you can be as educated as you want, but you have to balance it out with taking action and having the experience.

Because realistically, like, again, I don't, I couldn't do, I could not just, I just couldn't do all the strategies that I'm doing if I didn't get myself properly trained. and educated, but, you know, there's also a lot of you, you learn a lot of that while you're implementing it, too. Like, I learned the strategies better. I took the training. And then while there are certain lessons that you can't learn just from taking training, you have to apply them.

And like, like, when things come up and fix and flips, you're like, crap. Like, I've never dealt with water coming up in the basement. Like, you know, and here's the great thing, though, about the having some kind of education is I going back to the education during some of these flips. I'm like, oh, wow, he hit on that. now I get it, right? But like, now I know how to deal with it. But there's kind of, you kind of have to find the balance of having knowledge and applying that so you have the experience. It's like a balance, I would say. Well, it's on the job training. That's what I said about like how I started my real

estate and everything I've done. I wasn't a big fan of education, right? So it's like, you know, Michael's super educated. So Michael comes from that approach and it's worked for him. We all have our different methods. But for me, it was really on the job learning. I feel like I got a lot of experience from all the repetition. A lot of people that are book smart, it doesn't translate to being good investors or whatever, but people that have the skills. Like, for instance, Michael's great with the spreadsheets, the calculations, and all the analytical part.

I mean, I love numbers and I'm good at that part. I'm just not as technically savvy to make all those great spreadsheets. But then when it comes to actually being on the job, like, I can build it and do all of it. And I understand all of it. And so that's been from a lot of on the job training. So it's like, I think that you can learn enough to be dangerous even if you don't know everything about the product. But I think that the on the job training and the repetition, yeah, I'm going it on the job, but you know what I mean? Like when you're on these slips and these projects, I feel like that's how you're going to truly learn.

And like you said, when problems come up, you learn something new. Even in real estate, it's been 25 years. I earn something new every day, you know. Yeah. Yeah, no, for sure. You're always learning in real estate. That's, that's the, I guess, the fun part of it. So, but I think that, you know, what you do get educated with,

if you're actually proficient in applying it to what you're doing. Because too many people are educated, but then they can't apply it to what they're doing. And that's why those of us that are not as educated, if we actually can apply it, what we do know or do good with the actual project, then it kind of counteracts how much education you have. So it's a balance, like you said. Yeah, I agree. Well, and let's kind of talk about the other three pillars that you mentioned.

So you also talk about creation and preservation. So can you dig into those two concepts a little bit more? Yeah, for sure. So, you know, as you start to build wealth, right? Let's say you're doing all these fix and flips. You hit like a million dollars. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to who make a lot of money, but they don't know how to protect it, right?

And that's not always something you will necessarily think about when you get into real estate investing, but it's important, right? If you know how to build wealth but you don't know how to protect it, you're going to lose it. It's like these people who make you hit the lottery, they become millionaires or billionaires overnight, and you hear like a couple weeks ago, they blow it because they don't know how to manage it.

They don't know how to properly preserve it, right? So that's what I also love. Like we kind of take the holistic approach and teach people how, and listen, I think Shane and I seem to be similar. I didn't really have the patience to sit down and learn about self-directing IRAs and learn about, you know, asset management and and building, setting up trust and all that stuff. But, you know, when you start making the money, you kind of have to and you're like, well, I got to figure this out or I'm going to lose this money or it's not going to be, you know, yeah, you just hit more of a risk. So I kind of forced myself to just sit down and learn how to, you know, get into an IRA and set up retirement stuff and all that, you know, set up trust, you know, generational wealth is really important to me. So, you know, so my future kids,

my nephews can have, you know, pass down stuff, you know, that's for me was incredibly important. So that was more important than my patience level I had to overcome. And that, you know, that's where it comes down to mindset. Like, you know, when you have the mindset, even if I don't have the patience, which, or you don't, I don't, I will, you know, my, my goals are more important than my patience level. So, you know, I had the mindset, the right mindset to, all right, I got it. And listen, I'm not a, I own it. I'm not a very patient person and it doesn't always work in my favor. But, you know, I've learned how to, all right, I got to do this. I got to sit down. Or I find ways that work more for me, like instead of sitting down and doing stuff like in a desk I'll go to the gym and I'll put it on my

on my on my phone right that's for me a little bit better because I'm doing stuff I like being busy I like staying active and that you know we're driving I'll just make it a little bit more practical and make it work for me more you know what I mean or you know I just got to bite the bullet and sit down and some of the stuff you have to sit down and study so it is what it is it depends on what your priorities are and how how important your goals are you know well I think I think you hit it on the head right there with that last statement is I think it ultimately comes down to like, you know, what are your own goals? What are your values? Like what's most important to you, right? Because if you can identify what that is for you and what it means for you, then to your

point, like a lot of the other stuff like in patients, like you prioritize your goals over your lack of patience or even like, you know, you're you're so focused on the problem that you're trying to solve, then naturally your brain will start thinking about other ways to try to make things work. like you're saying, getting on the treadmill and listening to things or, you know, exploring then and thinking about, okay, I need to set up a trust now that I have all this much money. Like, I feel like our brains naturally open up to to want to be more and more curious, the more we're focused on, you know, what is what is the goal in front of us?

Yeah. And also it comes down to discipline as well. I mean, fortunately, as much as I lack patience, I generally have discipline. And listen, there are some days where I'm like, listen, today is not going to be the day I do this. I got to walk away. And it really comes down to knowing yourself well enough to say, all right, it's not working today. And it took me a while to figure that out, you know, because sometimes I'm like, I just want to get this done. It's just not working today. I'm wasting time. But now I'm like, you have to be a little bit more patient with yourself because, you know,

what they say, room wasn't built overnight, you know? It was in my mind. So that's part of, you know, being an entrepreneur and a successful entrepreneur is just having that. And it took, It takes people time. Like I didn't, I didn't learn that overnight. I wanted things to be done tomorrow and does not happen that way. That's the, you know,

setting that expectation for someone coming, like wanting to leave their job and getting to become a full-time entrepreneur and real estate investor, setting the proper expectations for them and having them, that's one of the biggest things. Because my expectations were, like, I'm quick.

I like to make things happen quick. Like, but it doesn't happen like that. Like, I'm the same way, Tamara. I was going to say, like,

what happened for me because people will tell me this, I still don't listen, and this might help you, it's books. I started reading books, like chop wood, carry water, pound the stone, the compound effect. Those books, like, were mind-changing, not just for, like, projects and the instant gratification issue, but Florence is like losing weight. Like, you want to lose all your weight today.

It's like realizing that a little bit each day was progress, and before you know, you've accomplished your, goal. Like it took me until I was 40 years old, even though I only looked like I'm 35, it took me that I was 40 years old to actually figure that out. And that's been really tremendous in setting the expectation for yourself, especially being impatient because I can be impatient about stuff like that too. And it just, that's like, that becomes a mindset thing. That's not even an education thing. That just becomes a personal mindset thing. All day. I couldn't agree with you more on that.

And that's really what it is, right, is once you understand how to set the proper expectations, not just for yourself, but other people. Like, we tell people, generally it's going to take you four to seven years before you get to a position where you can realistically fire your boss and you go full time. Does it happen sooner? Yeah. Does it happen later? Yes.

Like, you know, I think for me, it probably took a little bit, like, it took me time to really grasp the whole real estate thing. And I had to go through, you know, make a bunch of mistakes to really, you know, figure it out. So setting that proper expectations not only for yourself but for other people is another key thing. Because some people have the wrong expectations and I see people like that and they're not coachable or open to changing that. That's where I see problems or failures come in because they just are not realistic about like you're not going to fire your boss tomorrow or next week and be all of a sudden overnight. Like, you know, think about Michael Jordan. Clearly he didn't become Michael Jordan overnight. It was 20, 30 years of practicing early mornings, late nights. You know what I mean?

And it's the same. Same analogy in real estate or being an entrepreneur. It was the nights, the late nights and the early mornings that people don't see is what got you successful, not just waking up one day and saying, oh, I'm successful. You know, it's all the stuff behind the scene. Yeah, no, totally agreed. So Michael, I think that one that you like to ask is, What are three words you live by, Tamara? I do like that. So, I mean, Tamara, just like, yeah, to kind of let our audience know a little bit more about you. Like, I mean, you've kind of talked about your career, kind of talked about mindset a little bit.

But, you know, if you could describe, like, you know, the three words that drive you on a daily basis that you live by, that you absolutely have to abide by, like, what are those for you? Three words. I would have to say, for me, it's. It's a legacy, you know, that's important to me. I want to, you know, generational wealth and building a legacy or something to pass down is, you know, it's not really, a legacy is what it comes down to. Purpose, you know, when you have a purpose, like I want to give back and find ways to make the world a better place. So having, you know, strong purpose is probably something that drives me and, you know, my goals around. on that. And then the third one, I don't know, I guess, I guess would be, I have to sum it up in a word. It's just making the most of your, you know, you've got, you know, we're given to these talents and to make the most of them. I don't know how to, I can't think of the right word for that. But, but, but if there's one word for that, whatever it is, it's just to make the most of, of what the gifts that we have, because not everyone can do that, right?

So take full advantage of the gifts that you've been given. Yeah, the gifts, the talents, and make the most of it every day because life is short. You know, you never know how when or how, you know, we have a clock that we don't see, you know. So it's just every day being grateful, grateful. I guess that's the word grateful. Oh, gratitude. We talk about gratitude all the time. Yeah, gratitude, super important.

I love it. And I guess one last question for you before we ask, you know, our, our, our, our, our thematic question, is, you know, you're helping a lot of people right now, getting into real estate investing, coaching them, helping them develop a plan. And there's other people out there who do similar things. So from your perspective, as an entrepreneur running this business, like, what do you have to do to kind of stay ahead of, you know, other people who are doing similar things? The competition, for lack of a better word.

and like what do you try to do that really sets yourself apart from from others that are trying to coach and and teach the same things? Yeah. So I think for for me it's it's the community that we have. And and I mean, I'm going to hit on these two points. It's the community and the education. Like that is 100% what sets me apart and what sets us apart is just having those resources available to people. You know, for example, like I'm in a deal right now that has. It's just been a really challenging closing. And I've hit a bunch of different things. And I'm like, all right, I just got to get this closed. How do I deal with the situation? You know? And I have like a really good friend on the West Coast that I've called a variety of times.

And I'm like, like, Bill, how do I overcome this issue? And he, you know, and 99% of the time he's dealt with it. And he's like, do this, do this. You know, so he's already dealt with this. It gives me the shortcut. So just having those kind of people. And I'm going to hit on the educational. day too because yes you can take the hard knock route but why not you know go quicker and get yourself

educated and then you know you're going to make mistakes along the way anyway so um so yeah those are probably the two things that i would say and we really hit the holistic we have the holistic approach it's not just like you know let's just go flip houses there's a lot more to that that people don't see. So having that stuff covered is definitely what sets us apart, I'd say. We don't just like leave people in the, in the dark. You know, it's definitely a team sport, you know. Yeah. And I love that team sport. And I think also teaching people how to work smarter, not harder to get where they want to get to. Awesome. Shane, do you want to wrap us up with our, with our usual question for our guests? Yeah. So, you know, basically, I mean, obviously you're on the investment side, but you have a

understanding of how real estate works. What, you know, since this podcast also targets helping agents that are new to the business, find ways to be successful, or just helping agents in general, maybe new tips. What we like to ask is, if you were a brand new real estate agent today, right? So you got your license and you were going to sell real estate. What are your tips on, like, how would you get a fast start? What would set you up for success? And I mean, you don't have to go too deep, but just kind of simple, maybe one, two, three,

or, you know, what would be like your quick start to success? Do the things that most agents won't do. And, like, I'm thinking of, you know, just do the things that people, like, most new agents won't do because there's agents are a diamond dudge and doesn't. You guys know that, right? So if you can find ways to set yourself apart and make yourself more attractive, like, I know an investor friend of mine, he helped an agent go basically from zero. to a broker like almost overnight because this agent was willing to take certain cuts in the

beginning like like he did things um like he would show the house for like like he didn't do the traditional 5% he would he would set up a um i think i'm just going to throw out a number just for example purposes like five thousand dollars per listing and he did like a hundred of them for this for this for this investor and became a broker pretty much overnight So he didn't make as much as some agents would, but he got the status so much quicker because he was willing to do it a little bit differently. So he said it and he had so much experience from this investor. So he set himself up long term very quickly because he did things a little bit differently and do things differently, right? Don't do what every other agent does.

Like set yourself apart. Like I met a title guy the other night and I loved his pitch. I get pitched and this is a little bit of a different example. I get pitched from title people all the time. hey, let me be your title person. I'm like, yeah, whatever. But he's like, hey, let me find you properties. And I can, I'll connect you with properties.

And on the back end, let me run the title. I was like, that is genius. Like, because I'm, I'm, I'm, this guy is sticking in my mind. So I'm like, he's going to find me properties. He can take every title on every property I ever do if he finds me properties. Right. So just find, do things differently. Don't go the traditional route and do the things that most people won't do.

Right. And in my mind, that that'll set you apart all day and learn how to work with investors. Like, I have agents that I'm now working with that I will work with them for as long as we have certain things that we're doing together. They'll have my business all day because they also understand how to think like an investor. That's something that's going to set you apart from an agent. I can't. I'm not to say I can't, but I won't necessarily work with a traditional agent if they don't understand some of my lingo. Like, seller finance.

Like, you know what I mean? I'm like, no, I don't mind training them if they're open, but just do little things differently that most agents won't do that I'll set you apart. Yeah, I totally agree with that. We talk about that all the time. That's one of the reasons, like, we went out on our own because there's agents like with big brokerages and such that, you know, it's like boilerplate website. Everybody looks the same.

And so I think there's differentiating yourself from your competitors and, you know, maybe your unique branding, your unique things that you offer. I like what you said about, you know, kind of like, it's like kind of like serving the client to learn. Like found an investor didn't really need a full-on agent, found a way to work with them. The new agent was willing to learn the ropes that way, kind of paid his dues. So I think another way to say what you're saying too is pay your dues. A lot of new agents don't want to pay their dues now. I'm old school.

It's been 25 years. So paying your dues. And then I like what you said about working with a title rep and, you know, teaming up with vendor, like business. business partners, basically, because they basically have the clients come in for what they do, but then they can turn them over to you. Just like then you're going to have clients that maybe it's a trust attorney. Then you're going to have a client come in and I need a trust attorney. So I think vendor partnerships, vendor relationships are really important as well.

So yeah, thanks for sharing. Michael, do you have any insight on that? Well, I was just going to add. I think the title rep example and story was super powerful because I think it shows like what happens when you have a mindset shift of wanting to drive value for something. somebody else and figure out how you can help them versus coming at like a potential partnership or wanting to get business by just saying, hey, work with me, work with me, work with me. Because when you do it that way, really what you're saying is what can you do for me,

not what can I do for you? Right. And if you talk to, like, and this is something I had to learn too. If you talk to anyone successful, they're going to tell you like, learn how to provide value, be a value provider. And that's how you're going to draw. Like just basically what you're saying, Michael, learn how to give first. And then people don't want to help you more.

Yeah. And then no problem. Exactly. And I think young agents and young investors go with the opposite approach and they don't get what they want. And they're like, oh, I'm out. Yeah. And let me try something else. And then they're out of that too.

And it's just an endless cycle. Right. Exactly. Tomorrow, it's been a blast having you on here with us today. If folks want to connect with you offline, like what's the best way for them to do that? Yeah. Awesome. I mean, there's a couple ways.

My website is your guide to wealth.com, which is very simple. And there's, if you go to the bottom, you can put your first and last name, email, and phone number in. You have to go through an eight-minute video, but that information comes right to me, and then I'll reach out to you. We'll set up some time to talk. Or my Instagram is, I'm pretty active on Instagram and social media. It's dynasty business development. So either of the two are going to get to me very, very quickly. and I'm very responsive on both of those sites.

We'll make sure to put all that information in the notes of the podcast episode. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. This was so fun. Had a blast. And, yeah, we really appreciate it. Yeah, thanks, tomorrow. We finally got it done. Yeah, Shane's a tough one to track down.

Oh, yeah, ain't that the truth? I'm his partner, and I can't even track him down. But he might say the same thing about me. I don't get as much vacation time, so I can't be tracked on other continents. Awesome. It's great meeting you, Michael. I can definitely see the balance there. The ying and the yin over here.

It's a great partnership. Yeah. If you're ever looking to do some partnership in the East Coast, then, you know, feel free to reach out. Absolutely. I will go. Well, I've already been to the website. It's an awesome website. So make sure you check it out.

I'm going to go fill out my information. and watch that eight minute video. Awesome. Awesome. Thanks. Well, thanks everyone for tuning into this week's episode, and we'll catch you next time on the Top Producing Zone podcast.