More Money Podcast - 348 Passive Income, Real Estate and Becoming a Millionaire at 30 - Sharon Tseung, Co-Founder of Good Sweet Homes

Episode Date: December 7, 2022

I’m so excited to have today’s guest on the show because the last time I saw her was at FinCon in 2019! I was a guest on her YouTube channel and since then her career has skyrocketed. Over the last few years, her content has gone viral and she’s busier than ever. Sharon Tseung is joining me on the show to talk about her expansive real estate portfolio, content creation, and passive income. Sharon Tseung is a content creator and real estate investor who teaches people how to make passive income to reach financial freedom through her blog, YouTube channel, TikTok, and Instagram. She worked in marketing for 10 years at Google and other startups before she became a digital nomad for 2 years. She is now focusing on her real estate investing portfolio, which has grown to 33 cash-flowing rental units across the U.S. In this episode, Sharon shares how she got started in real estate investing at the ripe age of 22 and what led her to create content about passive income. It was so fun to have Sharon on the show and talk about all that she’s been up to since we last saw one another in 2019. I hope this episode will give you some inspiration and know that your personal finance journey is always evolving. For full episode show notes visit: https://jessicamoorhouse.com/348 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, Lulu, and welcome back to the More Money Podcast. This is episode 348, and I am your host, Jessica Morehouse. Welcome back to the show. Really excited to have my next guest on because I was lucky enough to meet her in person back in 2019, literally like six months before the world shut down. And it's been so cool seeing what she's been up to ever since then. We actually did a video that I believe is still on her YouTube channel. I gave a presentation at FinCon in 2019 about how I was making six figures as a blogger. And gosh, it is so funny just to even think about that presentation because my business is so different now.

But we chatted after and she's like, oh, can we do a quick video and I'm going to post it on my YouTube channel? I'm like, yeah, sure. And it was funny because, well, what's funny now is that I was on this video giving her some tips on how to build a business and marketing and all this kind of stuff. And since then, she is like, honestly, way bigger than me in terms of like numbers and being a content creator. She is skyrocketed on TikTok and YouTube. And I'm talking about Sharon Sung. You may have come across her quite honestly, because she does have a really big following. And why I think that's the case is because amongst all of the, you know, the TikTokers giving terrible investment advice or just, you know, being flashy or talking about how to get rich quick or whatever. She's been pretty consistent with always providing like valuable content, really going into the details and being very transparent about how she makes money or, you know, what she's doing in terms of being a real estate investor and earning passive income. Two words that you see a lot online and there's a lot of smoke and mirrors. And I feel like she's

one of the few people and someone that I've met before, so I know she's a real person, that gives it to you straight, which I really appreciate. So we're going to have a lot of fun talking about how she's been able to achieve some crazy goals. I believe she hit millionaire status by the time she reached 30, which is crazy. And just what she's doing as a content creator, real estate investor, and what passive income actually means. Does it actually exist? How does one actually get this thing? Because I haven't been able to... I mean, nothing I do is really passive, let me just tell you. Everything's a lot of work. But hey, maybe I can learn a few things from Sharon and just a few other kind of factoids about her before we get to that interview. So she graduated from UC Berkeley and worked in marketing for 10

years at Google and other startups, which makes a lot of sense now and all pieces together. And she quit her job and traveled the world as a digital nomad for two years, all while growing over multiple passive income streams. And Sharon and her husband currently own 33 cash flowing rental units across the United States. So we have lots of exciting things to share. And yeah, before I do, here's just a few words I want to share about this season's podcast sponsor. This episode of the More Money Podcast is supported by Desjardins. Does your financial institution share your values? Because Desjardins is about more than just money. They are on a mission to enrich people's lives and improve the economic and social well-being of Canadians

everywhere. Desjardins' main goal as a cooperative is to support its members and make a positive impact on their communities by providing exceptional customer care, offering a variety of financial services, and above all, listening to its members. They've also been at the forefront of sustainable investing as one of the first financial institutions to offer responsible investment portfolios. To learn more about Desjardins and how they're a cooperative making a difference, visit Desjardins.com. Welcome, Sharon, to the More Money Podcast. I'm so excited to be the one interviewing you because I know when we first met, gosh, I feel like it was, was it 2019? Yeah, 2019. Was it? Oh my gosh, that feels like ages ago, but it really wasn't that long ago. We met for the first time after maybe it was one of the session that I spoke at. And then we did a video on your YouTube channel. And I was so nervous because I had never done anything like

that before. And I don't think I was really doing YouTube too much back then. And I felt when we met, I'm like, gosh, this girl has a lot of, there's something there. You know, there's a spark. You're very ambitious. And I'm like, I'm so excited to see where you go. And it's been incredible to kind of watch your journey over the past few years, just skyrocket and find your kind of niche and your groove. So I'm so excited to have you on this side where I get to interview you. Oh, thank you so much. And I just remember too, like I was watching your seminar and just like, being like, you're amazing, you know? So thank you so much for having me. Well, now I'm here. I want to get your tips. I need some tips from you. Because,

yeah, you've been able to accomplish a lot. I know, since I mean, yeah, let's start from the beginning. Because I feel like a lot has happened in just a few short years. And also, too, I'm always kind of in awe of people who are able to build a business during COVID because a lot of people like, you know, either people like thrived or were just surviving trying to get through the rough times. But when we first met, this was back in 2019, September 2019. Tell me, what were you doing? You were still working a full time job and trying to kind of figure out your or yeah, were you because then I know you took some time off to travel. Yes, I mean, I traveled between 2016 and 2018. And then I took a full time position in marketing. So as a marketing manager at a startup, and I did have a blog, but I didn't do too much of

the short form video or like YouTube or anything like that. So that really started in 2020. I started a YouTube channel in 2019, but I had a blog since like 2015. I think like your seminar was about blogging and like branding and everything like that. So, you know, I was really focused on the blog, but then I think what blew up even more was the video. Yeah, I'm curious, because it seemed like a lot of people, because yeah, I feel like so much has changed since 2019. I don't even really blog that much anymore. Because just I think what maybe people's tastes are a bit different, or just different mediums are getting more attention. And I saw so many people take the initiative in 2020, because we're all at home, you know,

figuring out what do we do just staying at home until things kind of work themselves out. What kind of, I guess, inspired you to be like, you know what, I think I'm going to focus a little bit more on video content, whether it's the YouTube and then you did the TikTok and now, of course, Instagram. What inspired you to kind of shift your focus to kind of a different medium? Yeah, I mean, I actually used to do music. So I did I had a YouTube music channel. And people did tell me like, my strength was in video. So I think that's kind of when I was like, let me try TikTok and everything like that. And I knew that TikTok

was kind of getting a lot more attention during quarantine and everything like that. I also remember for my work, I did like this focus group with these Gen Zers and they were saying like they enjoy TikTok. So that's why I started kind of looking at that even before it kind of blew up the way it did. But I'm glad I did like kind of listen to what other people said about my strengths and like followed that a little bit. But that's not to say that, you know, blogging doesn't work or anything like that. I think it's just like different platforms resonate with different people better. So I guess video is kind of my thing. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, you also kind of

mentioned that, you know, you talked about a lot of different topics before you really, because I feel like from what I see on my end as kind of a, you know, consumer of your content, it seems like you talk a lot about passive income, financial freedom, real estate, where did that because I feel like there's a bit of a shift, like, okay, I think I'm going to focus on these kind of niches instead of maybe being more of a generalist or anything like that. So what, what kind of Yeah, brought you to like, I think I'm going to double down on these. Yeah. So I know, like side hustles have always been my interest. So I know that in 2016 or 2015 is when I like quit my job, traveled the world for two years while building passive income streams. So I was testing all these different ones like Etsy, Amazon, everything like that. And I did already have a rental portfolio back in 2013 is when I got my first one. So I've always been interested in diversifying my different income streams. So I would document it on my blog, like here's how I attempted this one and showcase how I did it and my results. I think I've always been kind of passionate about those

things. I guess I have kind of also talked about more personal finance tips, like money tips now. But I think that side hustles and real estate have always actually been my interest. So that's how I kept going on it. And I think like the real estate video that took off was like how much I made on this like fourplex or something. That was like my first viral video. And then I knew that there was a lot of interest on the real estate side. So I started making more of that type of content as well. So you mentioned that you bought your first real estate property as an investment property in 2013. So it's almost your 10 year anniversary of that, which is kind of crazy. How were you, because you're still pretty young, how were you able to get started? I guess it would be your early twenties that you started investing in real estate.

Yeah. So I bought my first property at 22. Um, so I actually, my, my parents had, um, like an agent they knew that had this deal. And then they asked if I wanted to, uh, buy the property. And at the time I didn't have,'t have two years of job experience for like getting a mortgage and then having enough for the down payment. So my brother and I actually put 50 50 on the down payment. And then I like slowly paid him back and then put it under my name. So like my brother definitely helped me out with that. So he kind of just like loaned me the money. I paid him back fully. Um, so that was how I got started with real estate. And then, um, you know, that journey, like I saw that, you know, I was getting a lot of passive income. The appreciation was really good for that property.

And then I really wanted to invest out of state and I was scared of that for like the longest time. So even since like 2012 or something, I really wanted to do that. But then in 2019 was when I really like pulled the trigger. So 2019, 2020, 2021, like I was buying more and more properties. So now my husband and I have 33 units across the nation. Yeah. So tell me how, cause that seems like a lot of properties, even just like thinking about getting your first property. How did you go into that? Like, what did you need to know to be a landlord? And was that one of the places that you had to like fix up or was it already ready to go? And you say out of state. So this was in the state that you lived. What, where, what was that in that California?

Yeah. So, uh, I'm from the Bay area, but I actually moved to Dallas, Texas, uh, in January. Um, yeah. So you mean like, Texas in January. Oh, nice. Yeah. So you mean like how did I start managing everything or how did? Yeah. Like how did you get started with your first property at 22? That seems like, you know, some people are just trying to figure out how to pay their taxes, you know, and just like figure out life.

It's like, wow, to manage a property, you know, for the first time, what were some key things that you maybe you already knew? Or how did you you learn the stuff to get started? Yeah, I definitely like studied a lot of books and blogs. And I like went to a lot of meetups. I think going to meetups is very important learning from people in the space already. But yeah, I think that like, really taking action is the most important thing because I stood on the sidelines for like a long time before I bought an out of state property because I was always scared of just buying in a market that I didn't fully know because I wasn't living there.

But I realized if you have the right boots on the ground team and you do a lot of research on the markets, it's not as scary as you might think. And once you do it for the first time, then you you can basically replicate that blueprint over and over again. So, I mean, that's basically it. Like I kind of treated buying my first out of state property as like tuition money. Like if anything went wrong, it's like, well, I learned from the experience that I probably wouldn't have been able to learn. Just like even like studying books and blogs, it's like you, you learn to a certain point, but like when you're really in it, um, is when you can like really understand real estate investing and

everything like that. So besides, I guess, um, you know, figuring out how to get a mortgage, saving up that down payment, and then you purchase the property, what are some of the things that you need to do to maintain that property as a landlord? And at what point does it make financial sense for you to outsource that? Because I know a lot of people prefer doing it on their own and doing the fixing up and all that to save money. And some people are like, it just doesn't make financial sense. I'm going to hire a team to do that. Yeah. So I have property management companies for all of my properties just because to me is it's worth it for the peace of mind. Um, and it's like more passive and everything like that. If you had to manage it directly, you might have to be called

like at midnight and to fix a toilet or something like that. Right. So it's like, um, having a company in place that really specializes in that makes it a lot more hands off for me. So for me, like even though that property, the first one I bought was like an hour away, I still hired a property management company just to like ease my mind. It's like basically usually around eight to 10% of rents. So, you know, it takes a cut, but to me, it's worth it. I guess one of the things that you also have to do is the calculations to make sure, you know, you know, because every city, every state, you know, and I live in Canada, every province, every city is very different. And cash flows, obviously, you want it to be cash flow positive, or at least to break even if you're just going to want to build up that

equity. But when you're doing those calculations to be like, can I even afford, you know, this property management company? What are some numbers or what are some things that you need to figure out to make sure things are going to make sense? Yeah. So when you take the rental income, you want to make sure it'll cover like your mortgage, property management fees, like I mentioned, homeowner's insurance, property taxes, even some cash reserves for like vacancies and repairs. So I allot like 10% for that. So just doing those numbers and continuously analyzing, you'll kind of understand what's a good deal. There's another thing called like the 1% rule. So the 1% rule is you're kind of monitoring to see if the rents are at least 1% or more of the purchase price. So that way,

it's like a first kind of look to see if it might cash flow. And then you still need to do that due diligence of running those numbers. Because I mean, the last thing you want to do is buy an alligator property, which basically means like it's negatively cash flowing every month, and it'll be harder and harder to hold on. So you want to make sure you buy something that does cash flow. And when there are downturns, like if the, you know, like currently the home prices are kind of declining, it's like definitely more of a buyer's market. So, you know, in those markets, you want to make sure you can still cash flow and hold on to the property so that when it comes back up, you know, you start profiting again in appreciation. So just, yeah, just thinking about that 1% rule.

So you're saying that if you want to buy $100,000 property, then the rent should be $1,000. Is that about right? Yeah, $1,000 a month. Where are we finding these? I mean, I'm up in Canada where things are a million bucks. So where can I find a property that... So is that one of the things that you specifically look for is I want to make sure that I'm finding a property that has basically high rent, like a thousand dollars on a hundred thousand dollar property is kind of a high rent, but then also pretty affordable to purchase. And also how much of a down payment makes sense?

Do you do the minimum? Like, I'm not sure what it is in the U.S. and Canada. I think it's 5%. Yeah, well, so with the 1% rule, it's kind of just like a basic framework. So, you know, there's some times where it meets that, but still doesn't cash flow well. Or the other way around, right? Maybe it rents, like maybe you buy like a $500,000 property and it's like $2,000 in monthly rent or something. Those numbers might not work, but, you know, there can be scenarios where like it can still cash flow and it can appreciate a lot in value so that it would be worth it. So I would just run the numbers and make sure that it that it would. So the 1% rule is just kind of like a guideline, right? Starting point kind of thing. But also, that's a lot of reason why I invested out of state because like buying in the Bay Area is like too

expensive there. So I bought in 2013 and I bought an hour away from me where like the numbers still made sense. But now like buying if I bought there now, it wouldn't really make sense, right? I bought an hour away from me where like the numbers still made sense. But now like buying, if I bought there now, it wouldn't really make sense, right? I bought that property at 240,000 and now it's like over 600,000. So it's appreciated a lot in value. So I would say like look into other markets possibly if you're comfortable with that, like investing in other more affordable markets that can cash flow and have appreciation potential that they would actually increase in value. So you want to buy in an area where there's actually demand for that market. So like maybe there's population growth, job income growth, you know, things like that so that you can see that there's demand for

the area. So there's a lot of different factors in order to kind of choose the right area and choose the right property. Now, let's talk about how many properties you have, because I think a lot of you are like, wow, that's a lot. How do you, because you mentioned that once you have one property, that'll help you kind of leverage the second and the third and et cetera, et cetera. What is that strategy? How does that actually work? How can you use properties you already own as a way to help you to continue to buy future properties? Yeah. So there's this thing called like the BRRRR method. So like you buy it, you renovate it, you rent it out, you refinance and then you

repeat. So yeah. So for example, I bought this property. This moldy house is like a hundred, it was $120,000. And then we fix it up with 80,000. And then. And do you actually do it or do you have a team that fixes up or do you have like those HGTV skills? No, I don't have those skills, but I want those skills. But we hired a company that helped renovate it. But we, you know, we worked closely with them to kind of pick out the different materials and things like that. But essentially, it became worth $330,000. It was appraised at that value. So then we did a cash out refinance, which allowed us to take money from the deal where we didn't have money out of pocket in the deal by taking out that money. And then we had a cash flowing rental property

afterwards. So that's kind of strategy you guys can use, the BRRRR strategy essentially. And that's what a lot of investors do to continuously scale up their portfolio. So they're like taking money out of the house and putting into more rental properties to scale their portfolio. So they're like taking money out of, you know, the house and putting into more rental properties to scale their portfolio. Is there any kind of risks to be aware of that? Because, you know, I know, you know, a lot of real estate investors do use leverage and using equity out of the homes that they own to do that. But what are some of the things to be aware of? Just because, you know, you kind of mentioned it's important to have some cash set aside or some funds readily available in case, you know, your tenant stops paying rent or they leave and you can't find a tenant or what

have you. Yeah. I mean, you mentioned leverage. Like I think over leveraging is something to be aware of. And we are always very cautious of that. So we don't try to like always leverage money, even though that's a great benefit of real estate that you can borrow and not pay full purchase price to buy more properties. I think to me, it's like about peace of mind. So if you are in, if you're taking on a lot of debt and you can't sleep at night, that's definitely like over leveraging. So it's like, you just want to make sure, um, that you can cover everything. You have six months of emergency expenses and things like that. Um, cause yeah, there can be vacancies and repairs. So you want to make sure you have enough cash in hand to cover those things.

Have you dealt with any kind of, you know, things that were unexpected or have you kind of had a smooth ride with all of your tenants and your, your properties? Yeah. I mean, our recent project, so I bought this a $66,000 home. Um, and essentially the contractor was very, uh, not reliable essentially. So like we would call and they wouldn't pick up sometimes. And then we'd visit the property and it wasn't to the state we wanted to be. A lot of it was not getting fixed up. And then we just kept giving them a lot of second chances. And eventually, three months later, we had to let go of them and find another team. And it's like three months of time wasted, money wasted. So these things can happen. I think that the more you do these kind

of things, the more you learn, right? So you got to do your due diligence around their background and make sure you check their portfolio of work and stuff like that. And also to fire fast and not like continuously give them chances. I think that we are super nice, but like next time you can't really do that in real estate. I think you just have to let them go if they're not performing. Yeah. Yeah. Cause yeah, like you said, it's time wasted, money wasted where, you know, and that could be like significant money. Um, especially if you're like, we could have had a 10 in here, but now we have to wait a couple more months. So, um, okay. That's, I feel like so helpful. And I know you have a real estate course.

So I'm curious, you know, what's that course about? What do you kind of teach people in your course? Why did you want to build it? Yeah. Um, so the course is called remote rental riches. And basically, um, it's about buying your first out of state property. So we give you like a step by step guide on how to do it. Um, so it was kind of something that I wish I had in the beginning. Like, you know, I put, you know, homework assignments, case studies and everything like that. So you can follow along. And I think I needed that kind of help when I was first starting and I didn't pull the trigger for many years. So we've had like over 1200 students there, you know, yeah, a lot of happy students. So I'm pretty proud of the course.

How about like out of country? Because I was like, one of those things is like, I just don't think it makes feasible sense for me as Canadian. I own my principal residence. But for the prices here, like, I don't know if you've been following up, but the real estate market in Canada is ridiculous. It's going down now, it's been crazy crazy um but then i look at you know you know your instagram like how i want to how can i buy a place for two hundred thousand dollars because you can't even that's not even a down payment here is i don't think you probably don't talk about this in the year course but i'm curious have you gotten any questions from people like hey i'm out of a different country yeah is this something that i can do yeah no i get actually a lot of questions uh from canada too a lot lot of Canadians, maybe. I think that the principles are the same. I would say that like if you're investing in U.S. from Canada, I would say there's probably regulations you have to look into and like financing as well. Make sure you can get financing. So I would look into those things. So that's kind of what we tell our students that like the principles are all the same. Just make sure you look at your regulations and things like that.

Yeah, taxes and financing basically are going to be some hoops you have to kind of jump through. Now I know, but besides real estate, you do also talk a lot about just passive income and just, you know, and I feel like it's so timely now is, you know, there's talk about a recession coming. And I'm like, gosh, that's when, you know, I started my first side hustle and got a second job was it was during the last recession, because I needed some extra income. And I feel like a lot of people and probably been seeing the news, lots of layoffs happening at companies, this is all very reminiscent of what happened in my early 20s. People want to know what, how can I pivot? How can I figure out another way so I can keep on paying my rent and get my groceries and things like that? So what are some things that you like to discuss or cover on your channels about

unique ways or ways that maybe people aren't really taking advantage of in terms of, you know, building that extra stream of income? Yeah, well, first off, like when you mentioned layoffsoffs like totally can relate because i mean i actually got laid off in june of this year did you it was out oh i thought you quit but you're like oh well i guess this is meant to be it was one of those positions where like i i was cool with it i was like fine with it and i had like you're the only person that was cool with being laid off maybe yeah that and i mean like the job i felt like i didn't because i've built everything up to a certain point like I didn't need it but it was like kind of nice having it is yeah yeah exactly so when it happened I was like oh okay like I guess this is time for me to like just enjoy my life or like work on my stuff so

that was like the first question I had when I got laid off was like, what, how will I spend my time basically? While I think there were other people in my company who were laid off and they were panicked, you know what I mean? So I think, and also my husband actually recently quit his job. So like now we're just kind of enjoying, but also like working on our stuff. And I think that's why it's so important to have multiple, you know, income streams and passive income streams, just because you never know what's going to happen with your job. And I guess some of the ones that I like recommend, I think when you're first starting, an easy way is just to start freelancing, to be honest, like going on like Upwork or other places where you can start doing like marketing

work or virtual assistant work, anything like that to try and get your feet wet. Right. But also like I've made passive income through Etsy, so I would sell digital products. So that was like Photoshop templates, Microsoft Word templates, and I would design like resumes or like other things. Right. Yeah. Resumes, save the dates, like wedding cards. Like there's so many different ones you can sell that are digital that people can like buy and edit themselves. And yeah, so I would sell these and make passive income that way. And then I also did Merch by Amazon, where you upload designs onto custom apparel.

And essentially, whenever people buy your product, they will actually print and fulfill your orders for you so that you don't have to like buy or hold inventory. So that's like a great way to start with if you don't have a bunch of income to start with. Like it doesn't take much capital to start these like Merch by Amazon is like free to start essentially. Yeah. So there are a lot of different ways. I try to write like a bunch of different side hustle options on my short form videos, but there's just like so many different ways to make money. I would just experiment and see, you know, I always kind of say, evaluate like your time, your capital, your strengths,

and your passions to kind of gauge like which passive income stream makes sense for you. Because if you don't like design, for example, maybe merged by Amazon might not be good for you. But maybe again, like if you're good at video or something, maybe you should start picking up YouTube and like TikTok and whatever. So there's just like a lot of different side hustles, depending on your personality. Yeah. Cause ultimately, and I feel like this is probably why, you know, I continue to follow you amongst, there's a whole sea of people that talk about passive income and, you know, making money and dah, dah, dah, dah, and get rich right now, whatever is you, it does really come across. I mean, since I, you know, first met you, it's like, you're very passionate about what you're doing. And I think the one unique thing is you talk about this, but you're also very

practical. Like you, you talk about, this is how you do it. And also like you just mentioned, it's, you've got to have that passion. It's not just about making money. Cause I feel like once you just focus on making the money, well, it became, becomes less fun and you won't want to do it. It'll just feel like a regular job, but it won't work and it'll come off as icky and inauthentic. And there's so many people that, I mean, there, you know, there's still people that are making way more money than me, but I see their stuff and I'm like, cringe, it'll just, it looks like you're just asking, you're just taking money. You just want the money and it comes across as that. I like supporting creators or people that have their own small business that you can tell that they put their heart and soul into it. So I'll buy their candle and not this other person's candle or something like that, right?

Yeah, I appreciate that. I'm curious, do you still kind of dabble with, you know, like when you talk about all the different ways that you can have a side hustle or create passive income, do you kind of still try out new things to see how they work? Yeah, I mean, I'm interested in, there's like other random ones I'm interested in, like, uh, you know, vending machines, like laundromats. Oh yeah. Uh, there's just so many other ones that I haven't tried that I'd love to do and like document it. Um, also Turo is an interesting one where you can rent out, um, you know,

your car and see if you can get passive income that way. So I would like to, we'll see if I end up, you know, doing it. I know that like right now I'm feeling a lot of fulfillment, just building my personal brand and like helping others in this journey because I struggled with the same journey in, you know, 2014. I like traveled for like a month in Europe and I realized how much life I was missing out on and I had just you know been at the same office every day just like thinking there's so much more to life and clocking in clocking out and you're like yeah I've been there exactly so I think that's why like I'm really passionate about this stuff because it's like I just feel like everyone has so much potential and I hope that they can like realize their true potential

without being restricted financially Yeah, no, absolutely. I'm curious though because you have Tried a lot of different kind of side hustles has have you tried anything that you're like this isn't working or this just isn't for me um, well When I was first starting I was like doing Kindle books and stuff like that. But I would like try to outsource the writing and like all this stuff. Because I heard that there are people making like 40 grand a month just like doing these Kindle books. Yeah. But then I didn't I didn't feel good about that. Because I was like, I'm not the one like fully writing, I would just

I would edit it. But I would be like, these aren't like my own words really. So like I stopped doing that one. But like, I think in the future I'd love to write a book, but that's like a totally separate thing. Yeah. Yeah. But I think that it's like, that one didn't work for me while others, other people felt really comfortable just like hiring a ton of writers and like getting a bunch of these books out. But I think like the digital products and stuff, like the design type of stuff books out. But I think like the digital products and stuff, like the design type of stuff was definitely appealing for me because it was pretty fun. Like I enjoy using Photoshop and creating these. Is that close to what the job that you had previously? Was it aligned with that? I actually used to work at a T-shirt like

print and fulfillment company. I did marketing. Oh, really? So you kind of already do some of the good things to do and things to avoid. Yeah. I mean, I think that actually gave me a little bit of like an intro to building passive income and seeing all these creators like making money, creating these shirts and apparel and stuff like that without having to, you know, own the inventory and ship everything. So, so that was really cool to see. Uh, I think that, yeah, I think that like design and like artsy things are always kind of fun for me, like creative things. Um, so I think that's why that those paths resonated with me more. Yeah, no, absolutely. I think that's, that's, uh, super, super exciting. Um, now I know lots of people listening or, you know, and I, I know I haven't even touched lots of people listening are, you know, and I know I haven't even

touched on this, but you have a lot of, you know, been in lots of the big, you know, media outlets, like, you know, MarketWatch and Business Insider and Yahoo Finance. And I feel like you did have a flashy headline, like you were able to reach like a million dollars by 30 or something crazy. Now, there's a, you know, and I feel like because I know you, I'm like, Oh, yeah, that's probably legit, especially hearing that you started really 10 years ago, like it was a slow build. What is your kind of perspective on because also, you've kind of blew up during like the time where there's been so many more content creators explode over TikTok and other platforms and talking about similar themes, you know, building wealth and things like that, what you know, in

your view, because it seems like you're very, you know, protective wealth and things like that. What, you know, in your view, because it seems like you're very, you know, protective of your content and what kind of, you know, messaging you put out there and protective of your audience. What are some things that people should just be aware of? Because I'm sure you've come across some of these people that maybe aren't as legit and it's got to be, you got to be careful who you take information and advice from. Well, I think that like just kind of seeing if they document their whole journey, um, that kind of helps, I think. So I like to try to show what I'm working on or whatever. Um, I, I tend to connect with those people too more. Cause then I kind of know like where their mind is at and like what they're working on. So I, uh, I guess when I look

at other creators, that's, um, that's a big component of like, yeah. Are they showing some proof of what they, what they say? Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I love a good screenshot or, um, so just like being transparent about your journey. Like I love seeing that in other creators. Um, but also just like whatever information you get, you don't have to just like blindly listen. You can also do your own research and make sure it makes sense. Because I also would say that different financial tips can apply to people in different scenarios and different situations. So it might not always be the best for you, right? For some real estate investors, they love like leveraging all the time. But like, I'm more risk averse. So I'm not, I don't want to do that all the time. But there's definitely benefit to doing that.

So it's just kind of like seeing what makes sense for your own situation, right? Your own risk tolerance, everything like that. Yeah, because yeah, one thing that I always keep, you know, in mind is people are sharing their journey like yourself, and it worked for them, but you're a different person, different situation. And so you got to take what works and then throw away what doesn't. And just because it worked for someone else, it doesn't mean it'll happen for you. Because if it was that easy, we'd ask, since we kind of touched on, you know, the real estate market has changed so much. And I feel like you really had great timing, starting, you know, building things up before they just like got so crazy. But now we're in a very different market where things are slowing down, interest rates are up. A lot of us our age have not experienced interest rates so high. What are your kind of feelings or thoughts about real estate investing during this kind of time of high interest rates? Is this still a good thing to

consider? Are you taking a pause? Yeah, I mean, I've personally like slowed down a lot because I was buying a lot before. But I would say that it could, sorry, it could be like a good time. But you know, if you got something at a high interest rate, you can still refinance later. And right now, it's a lot less competition than before. So I'm still kind of eyeing deals, but then only pulling the trigger if it's a really, really good deal. So I'm not buying anything that's like, OK, that's decent. I want to make sure

it's like a really solid deal. Um, an interesting one that can cashflow well. Um, so always, I think keep that in mind. Um, because if you have the cashflow numbers work, then even during a downturn, you can still hold it and still get cashflow, um, and then wait for it to come back up again, essentially. So I would just be like more cautious right now. Or that's just me personally. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think it's important to be cautious because we don't really know what's gonna happen. I'm curious, though, when you were doing some of your calculations and buying your properties, did you make any kind of game plans for if things were to change, like interest rates were going up? Because they were so low for so long, it was very easy to be like, oh, wow works out but now i'm not sure if you did fixed rates or variable rates

but you know did you you were like okay if interest rates go up this is what we need to change yeah i mean we have like we're locked in on rates so i'm not too worried about that um so i think it's just a matter of making sure it can cash flow enough. Make sure you, you know, you already have like an interest rate locked in. So like it shouldn't matter like in the sense of that. And then just, just being careful, I guess, and making sure it can cash flow. Yeah. And just in terms of properties, I don't think we even dived into this either. What kind of properties do you look at? Single homes for just a family of tenants? Or do you look in the, yeah, I think you mentioned the fourplex or an apartment building? And I feel

like depending on if you just do a single unit or a multi-unit, there's going to be a lot more maybe risk or a lot more work to maintain that property. Yeah. Most of our portfolio are like single family homes. We do have some like one to four units. I think like large apartment complexes are something that like we would love to purchase, but we just haven't found like the right deal yet. I do think it might be harder to like find those deals and I need to like do more networking to get those deals sent to me. But yeah, we kind of have been keeping it with, you know, one to four units essentially. Yeah, kind of what works for you. And lastly, what, do you have an exit strategy or, you know, because I know lots of people, the plan is to just keep on renting these units out until the mortgages

are paid off. And then, you know, then you're just completely cash flow positive, or maybe you're waiting for, you know, the best time to liquidate. What, what are, what's your kind of strategy with that? Yeah, I honestly just love like buy and hold, right? So like, I don't even plan on selling. I mean, I kind of want want to like pass it down to my heirs in the future type of thing. So that's, uh, that's kind of my mentality. Like I don't plan on selling unless, uh, maybe like, I don't know, it just really makes sense for me to get rid of a property and portfolio. But like, if it's cash flowing really well, I don't see like the, I don't see like the I don't feel the need to like remove it from my portfolio essentially amazing amazing um well is there anything else that you you know listeners that are interested

in real estate or passive income especially during this time where I think a lot more people are like how do I make sure my money is working for me because gosh I'm not making any money on the stock market because it's low or in the bank account. Any other kind of tips or pieces of advice you'd like to leave listeners with? Yeah, I think that when you are nervous about like putting a bunch of money in investments and stuff like that, you can work on boosting your income, right? Like you can look into building passive income side hustles with there's so many different ones out there that you can still make a lot of money doing. So I would focus on diversifying in that way and being like maybe more cautious on the investing side or something like that. Because there's always opportunity to

boost your income. So just start studying all these different ways, take action and learn from the experiences and see if ones don't make sense for you. Maybe you want to pivot to another one. But yeah, there's just so much opportunity to build that and you might as well like capitalize on that. Yeah, I think a lot of it has to do with mindset. Like I tell people not that I had like a crazy, you know, well, my side hustle eventually became a full time business. So it, you know, was successful. But at the start, it really wasn't, it really was like, you know, writing a freelance article for 100 bucks. But sometimes that extra $100 that month really made a big impact, especially when I was, you know, broken in my 20s. And it's one of those things where I tell everyone this,

especially now that I'm in my mid 30s. It's like, and I know we're trying to I don't I'm not promoting hustle culture, because I don't like hustle culture. But in your 20s, you really can't afford to hustle a little bit, you know, and then you can relax a little bit more in your 30s. But in your 20s, you have so much more energy. You have more time. You have hardly any responsibilities. And so building those kind of foundations of like, you know, doing your job, obviously, and then figuring out some different side hustles. I mean, that's what really made the biggest difference for me, because there were times where there's underemployment, unemployment between jobs. And what filled that gap was, oh, I'll just do some more freelance articles or do a little bit more of this or something like that. So I agree, as we kind of

enter this, you know, next phase of whatever is going to happen. Again, very reminiscent of my early 20s. I think what set me apart from lots of people back then was I had that different mindset and was, you know, really interested in personal finance and learning, okay, this is a crappy situation, what can I do to, you know, set myself apart and, you know, make things a little bit easier. And it, you know, lessens your stress. And then, like you said, once you eliminate that kind of problem area, because you're like, oh, I've got a little extra income, so I don't worry as much about paying my bills and I can set some money aside, that's when you can focus on what can I now do to build that wealth a little bit more, whether it's real

estate or investing or what have you. So I think that's really great advice. But yeah, mindset is probably the key, right? Having that positive mindset and just believing that you can and being patient. Like, I love that you're a buy and holder and just it sounds like you're patient with things. Again, you've been doing this for a decade now. So it's don't think that things are going to happen overnight because they clearly don't. No, I agree with that. I think that in the beginning, like putting in that extra work is like extremely important. And like even if it's little gains like what you mentioned, it's like those little gains can add up a lot along along the way. Don't expect to just like make tons of money like right in the beginning. You got to fill that up, put in that hard work a little bit upfront, and then you can relax more later. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show. Where can people find more information about you and your course? Yeah. So on social media, you can find me at Sharon and last name T S E U N G. So Sharon Sung, um, that's across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube. And for my course, you can go on digitalnomadquest.com.

You can check my courses and products there. Amazing. Well, thanks so much for joining me. And it was so nice to reconnect after, you know, yeah, I'm like, I haven't really seen anyone. I feel like that was the last conference I've been to, you know, isn't that crazy? Yeah. I mean, there's been our lockdown in Canada has been a little bit different than the U.S.

There is still, you know, like, but yeah, it's crazy to think how much has changed. And, you know, again, like your journey is such a great example of, you know, if you just keep at it and keep going, you never know where you'll end up. So thanks for sharing your journey with us. Yeah, of course. Thanks so much for having me. And that was episode 348 with Sharon Sung. You can find her on Twitter at Sharon Sung, and her last name is spelled T-S-E-U-N-G. You can also find her on Instagram at Sharon Sung, and YouTube and TikTok, also Sharon Sung. She made it very easy for everybody. And of course, her website is GoodSweetHomes.com. And like she mentioned, she has a few great resources you may want to check out. She has a free webinar on buying your first rental property

on her website, GoodSweetHomes.com. I will link to that specific webinar in the show notes. So go to JessicaMorehouse.com slash 348 to find that episode. Also, she's giving away a special discount to listeners for her course, her Remote Rental Riches. So I will also link to that and information in the show notes for this episode, jessicaborehouse.com slash 348. Now don't go away, just a few really, really important things that I want to share with you. Just first, got a few words I want to share about this season's podcast sponsor. This episode of the More Money Podcast is supported by Desjardins. Do you feel valued at your financial institution? Because Desjardins is on a mission to enrich the lives of Canadians, help build stronger communities, and educate its members so they can confidently reach their financial goals.

Not only do they offer one-of-a-kind customer care and offer a variety of financial services to fit your needs, as a cooperative, they put their members first. So if you're looking for an institution that's making an impact, look no further than Desjardins. To learn more about Desjardins and how they're making a difference, visit Desjardins.com. All right, first and foremost, in case you don't know, I'm giving away a ton of books. I'm not going to list them all like usual because there's getting to be too many. So if you want to enter to win one of the books that has been featured on this season of the show, just go to JessicaMoorhouse.com slash contest. You can buy all of them. You can enter to win. And then I will be closing it at the end of this year's end of December. And then I will be drawing names and winners in January. Another thing that I mentioned last week, but I want to make sure you

know about it. I have a bunch more budget spreadsheets on my website. So in case you don't know, I've always had budget spreadsheets for years and years and years. And it was time for a little upgrade, a little switcheroo. We need to make these things a little bit nicer. And so I worked with a specialist with Excel and Google Sheets. We worked together to kind of freshen them up a little bit, make them a little bit more automated and lovely. And now they were on my shop. I'm still, you know, update or putting some new ones on there, but there's a good amount on there. So if you go to JessicaMorehouse. ones on there, but there's a good amount on there. So if you go to jessicamorehouse.com slash shop, if there's a budget spreadsheet you're looking for, it's likely

on there now. So make sure to go to jessicamorehouse.com slash shop to grab your budget spreadsheet. And also, in case you don't know, I have an investing course called Wealthy Building Blueprint for Canadians. And it's been honestly one of the best joys of my life launching this course. It is something that I wish existed when I was in my 20s trying to learn about investing and instead just spent the next decade trying to figure it out and then taking actual courses. And you know, it's just, it's been a long journey. And so I wanted to make it a lot easier for you, especially if you're Canadian, because this is a Canadian focus. So if you want to learn how investing works, but then also how to actually start investing your money in a passive

way for the long term to build your wealth to reach your goals like retirement one day and anything else under the sun, you'll definitely want to check this out. JessicaMoorhouse.com slash course is where you can find all of that information about it. And what else do I have for you? Well, gosh, we are really, we're coming close. We've got two more episodes. So we'll be wrapping up this season December 21st. But honestly, I think we're ending the show off on a really good note. I'm really excited about having my next two guests on the show. So you're in for a treat. And I'm already interviewing people for next season, which will launch at some point in January TBD, TBD, but possibly January 18th. We will see. I will let you know if you're on my email list or my social medias. I will let

you know. But that is it for me. Thank you so much for listening. A big shout out to my podcast editor, Matt Rideout. And I will see you next week for the second to last episode of this season. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.