Before the Millions

Larry Goins has been investing in real estate for over 30 years. Previously, Larry served as president of the Metrolina Real Estate Investors Association in Charlotte NC, a not-for-profit organization that has over 350 members and is the local chapter of the National Real Estate Investors Association. Larry is an active real estate investor and travels throughout the United States speaking and training audiences at conventions, expos, and Real Estate Investment Associations on his strategies for buying and selling houses. Larry also has a podcast on real estate investing Brain Pick a Pro, where he interviews experts from real estate and give his own expert advice. Between speaking engagements and mentoring other investors, Larry oversees the daily operations of his investing business that wholesales properties, seller finances properties and holds properties for investment.   We talk to Larry about how he got started in real estate investing and the breakdown of his first deal using a FHA loan. Larry talks about the two types of ways you can get into real estate (business vs. investing) and some of the methods he has avoided investing in (e.g. short sale, rehabs and more). You’ll learn how wholesaling and day trading maybe one of the best ways to get started your investment journey. We discuss the importance of learning how to focus one thing you can do to increase your income, enjoy life, reduce your expenses, and spend your time the way you want to. Larry shares with us what a personal vision is and how you can use it today to create the life you want for yourself and your family.   Key Points From This Episode: First steps to take before beginning your investing journey (creating a lot of cash to replace your W2 income, pay off any debts and start reserving income to start investing long term)   Why investing in a mentoring was the best worthwhile investment Larry has ever made Understanding how income as a measurement of value that you are putting out into the world You should always have your finger on the pulse of your business even after hiring employees The 2 ways you can go in business (keep it small and own it 100% or grow & scale) How partnerships helped grow Larry’s network and expanded his business opportunities What real estate day trading is (how to get started, story of Larry’s first deal, how the process is today etc.) Best practices on finding deals using direct mail, telemarketing, Facebook ads, and bandit signs Why having a budget on marketing is key to success with wholesaling and day trading real estate Structuring a Deal: The 2 major things you need (a good cash price or good terms)     Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode Larry’s Website: https://LarryGoins.com Larry’s Favorite Book: Lessons By The Richest Man Who Ever Lived http://a.co/d/dgs71yb Recommended Books: The Power of the Self Conscious Mind http://a.co/d/7cFhVuH The One Thing https://www.the1thing.com/ The Pumpkin Plan http://a.co/d/fspjIeN Download any 2 audio books for free when you try audible for 30 days.: https://beforethemillions.com/book   Larry’s Favorite Lifestyle Design App: Deal Machine-Build freedom through real estate. Find profitable off-market real estate deals by simply taking a photo with our mobile app. https://dealmachineapp.com/ Recommended Websites/Apps: Land Glide-Hover over a property to instantly discover details, including owner, address, and APN. http://reportallusa.

Javier Hinojo is the owner of IQ REI, a family-controlled real estate company that buys, manages, repairs, and sells homes in the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, NC area. He has extensive experience working with foreclosed properties, land development, lease options, and land contracts. Javier offers the kind of business that prides itself on having a quick response rate, professional experience, and simplified solutions that make clients’ lives easier. Javier has been married for 19 years and have 5 children with 3 still living at home. He has always been an entrepreneur (owning a few businesses, been bankrupt twice, day trader Forex, and more). Javier started investing two years ago and completed over 28 fix and flips and is on track do to over 50 by next summer. He is looking forward to investing into rentals, multi-family, and development deals in the near future.   Today, Javier talks to us about his journey from joining the military to becoming an real estate entrepreneur. Growing up, Javier always had an entrepreneurial spirit as a child seeing his parents run a locksmith business. He shares his story of attending a weekend seminar with a friend which opened his eyes to the possibilities in real estate. He realized that the buy, fix and flip business model was the best way to get started (the market was great, quick cash, also knew that fix and flip is still a job and doesn’t provide not residual income). He believes that the longer you go without doing your first deal, the closer you get to never doing one. You’ll hear about the lessons learned and experience using a hard money lender to finance Javier’s first deal. He also shares why investing in a coach is never a waste of money when getting started. Lastly, we wrap up the episode with a funny story about the “Wear Pants No Hands” video when Javier was looking to expand his team and why it’s importance to work with people who can think outside the box.   Key Points From This Episode: How Javier incorporated his family into his fix and flip real estate business The story of how Javier got interested in real estate by attending a weekend seminar The concept of fixing and flipping and how the process works in real estate Breakdown of what a wholesaler is, the benefits and how you can get started doing this today The story of how Javier got into his first deal with little to no money and made $17K profit Why you must have the right mindset when deciding to become a real estate investor Hard Money Lender Financing: how to analyze and the process of getting a lender for your deals What deed-to-deed is when doing fix and flip deals in real estate Story of how Javier learned about the importance of cash flow and the story of his lowest point of his life (house payment was due, no money in the bank, and asking his kids for their Christmas money to help pay the bills) and what he did next to change his life for the better Why investing in mentorship and coaching is never a waste of money How taxes work in fix and flip deals and why you have to be creative with your money as an entrepreneur Javier shares his story of showing the “Wear Pants No Hands” video to find the right team members   Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode Javier’s Website: http://www.iqrei.com/ Wear Pants No Hands Video Download any 2 audio books for free when you try audible for 30 days.: https://beforethemillions.com/book   Javier’s Favorite Lifestyle Design App: Trello: Keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details. https://trello.com/   Access The Best Strategies, Tips & Advice ! Every week,

A full-time real estate investor, entrepreneur, popular podcast host, author, speaker, coach and all-around problem solver, J. Massey is well known for providing best-in-class advice and strategies to help new and experienced investors the world over. J.’s platform is simple… He invests his time looking for investment opportunities (a.k.a., problems to solve through real estate transactions), closing deals and teaching others how to find and manage similar opportunities, including getting Deals At Discounts and Raising Private Capital to Investing in Multi-Family Properties, getting leads and negotiating the deal. By turning his real-world field work into killer training courses, new and seasoned investors alike learn win-win solutions to solve real estate “problems” for buyers, sellers and other investors. J.’s cashflow-creation strategies are embraced on a global scale by people who want to learn better ways to achieve tangible success in real estate investing, and in his words become “bigger, badder, better real estate investors.” J. is currently a landlord, lender, consultant, educator and highly sought mentor. He currently owns hundreds of units of properties and has completed hundreds more real estate transactions across several states.   On today’s episode, we talk to J about his before the millions story and his early days growing up in a military family and living overseas. Being from a military family, J learned how to be adaptable which was key to his later success as an entrepreneur. J shares with us the importance of understanding “simple cash management” practices when starting and growing a business. You’ll learn about the importance of the development and transformation process prior to achieving your goals and dreams for your life. J also shares with us about how he was able to leverage his real estate investments to create more opportunities for other entrepreneurs to achieve financial freedom. Lastly, J give us his advice on how to overcome adversity and the # 1 question everyone must ask themselves when feeling overwhelmed and unfocused.   Key Points From This Episode: How J’s adaptability helped him start his journey as an entrepreneur (runway modeling, college years) Why “passive income” doesn’t mean uninvolved (it still requires active management) Importance of knowing that passive doesn’t guarantee permanent Why you need to become a different person to achieve the goals and dreams you have   Why were you start isn’t always where you stay or end up (The unpredictable entrepreneurship’s journey) The story of how J’s podcast and educational company (Cash Flow Diary) got started #1 question you can ask yourself when feeling off track (Is what you want big enough to keep you focused?) Why you can’t get disconnected from your ability to dream and explore new opportunities Understanding what’s at risk and the dangers of getting too comfortable The choice between whether to be liked vs. being respected in business and life You can’t always look good and learn at the same time (not being afraid to fail fast and often)   Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode J’s Website: http://cashflowdiary.com/ J’s Favorite Books: The Bible https://amzn.to/2LbaPej The Science of Getting Rich https://amzn.to/2N16OdZ Download any 2 audio books for free when you try audible for 30 days.: https://beforethemillions.com/book   J’s Favorite Lifestyle Design App: Cloze The smart mobile app to track customers, clients, prospects and leads without the hassle of CRM. https://www.cloze.com/   Access The Best Strategies,

Chris Voss is the CEO & Founder of the Black Swan Group Ltd and author of Never Split The Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It. He has used his many years of experience in international crisis and high-stakes negotiations to develop a unique program and team that applies these globally proven techniques to the business world.   Prior to 2008, Chris was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the FBI’s hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council’s Hostage Working Group. During Chris’s 24 year tenure in the Bureau, he was trained in the art of negotiation by not only the FBI but Scotland Yard and Harvard Law School. He is also a recipient of the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement and the FBI Agents Association Award for Distinguished and Exemplary Service.   Chris has taught business negotiation in the MBA program as an adjunct professor at University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He has taught business negotiation at Harvard University, guest lectured at The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, The IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland and The Goethe School of Business in Frankfurt, Germany.   On today’s episode, we talk to Chris Voss about his journey and what inspired him to get into entrepreneurship. Growing up, Chris would always find different ways to make money from selling Christmas cards, cold drinks in front of the house, and more. He shares with us how watching “The Super Cops” movie inspired him to pursue a career in law enforcement. You’ll hear stories from when Chris was a FBI hostage negotiator and lessons learned you can use in when negotiating in business and life.   Chris also shares with us one of his favorite negotiation deals and what he learned from that experience that any aspiring entrepreneur can use to take their deals. Lastly, we wrap up the episode with some great action steps you can do today to become a better negotiator. Chris shares a neuroscience fact about having gratitude and a positive frame of mind can help you become smarter when making decisions in business and life.   Key Points From This Episode: Chris takes us back to his early days and how he learn the value of working hard and figuring things out from watching his father in business How Chris began his career in law enforcement and how an injury in martial arts ended up being one of the best things that ever happened to Chris’ career Chris’ experience of working 5 months in a suicide hotline opened to door for him to start his career in hostage negotiation The differences between terrorist/hostage vs. business negotiation   Chris’ story of a 8-million deal and how you can leverage emotional intelligence when negotiating deals The importance of diffusing negatives people have by observation (Did you know? 70% deals are made not to accomplish gains but to avoid losses which is effectively to solve problems) How talking about “the elephant in the room” can help you build rapport and trust immediately (The story of Chris’ experience with middle eastern muslim hostages and witnesses) How you can build better relationships with people if you show them that you understand who they are and what their fears and needs are Examples of hostages experiences a 10 million random deal (being opening to coaching was key to success and  The birth of “that’s right” movement (when you summarize something from their perspective not from a neutral or your perspective and get the person to say that’s right) Key Things To Practice When Negotiation (set the intention by putting the person’s best interest first → building rapport by being relatable → uncover the ...

Nathan Hirsch is a serial entrepreneur, expert in remote hiring and eCommerce guru. Selling online since 2010, Nate has sold well over $25 million worth of product through his eCommerce business. He is now the co-founder and CEO of FreeeUp.com, the hands-on hiring marketplace connecting hundreds of online business owners with pre-vetted remote workers.   After building a team of over 30 remote workers, Nathan found he needed a system to make remote-worker hiring better and scalable. His business specializes in assisting eCommerce and digital marketing businesses remove the hassle of having to recruit and interview before making a reliable hire. Less time recruiting & interviewing means more time making money. Nathan understands the frustration: he and his business partner faced the same struggles with hiring online and wanted to redefine the way it was done.   Nathan got a taste of the transition path that most people take (get good grades, go to university and get a nice paying job, etc.). During the summers as a high school kid, Nathan realized working for other people just didn’t motivate him so he learned at a very young age that if he wanted to be happy he had to work for himself.   He got a glimpse into the future and realized something had to change if he didn’t figure out an alternative path. Nathan majored in Business and started buying and selling textbooks to make extra money on the side.   After successfully selling books from his college campus, Nathan discovered Amazon and become addicted to learning more about this website. Nathan built up this large drop shipping business and multi-million business from his college dorm room and he knew he had to hire people to keep up with the demand.   Nathan learned that hiring is hard to find the right people that actually care about your business. From hiring that’s how he found out about the remote hiring world and wanted a faster way of doing it.   On today’s episode, we talk to Nathan about his journey from being a broke college kid to starting two successful companies. You’ll learn why you shouldn’t wait until you’re burnt out to start hiring and the pros and cons of hiring employees to your team vs. freelancers.   Nathan shares his advice on what you should outsource first in your business to take your growth to the next level. We also discuss the importance of focusing not only on skill but also attitude and communication when growing your team. Lastly, Nate explains how freedom is the the most valuable benefit of being his own boss and steps you can take today to build your empire.   Key Points From This Episode: How to find pre-vetted freelancers and why it is important to start hiring out for certain tasks The story of what Nathan was doing back in college and what his mindset like and how he began to formulate his entrepreneurial path How Nathan went from being a broke college kid to starting two successful companies The only way to be truly successful in life is to be an entrepreneur (what impact it had on Nathan) What brought Nathan to the realization that he had to delegate tasks to start focus on revenue producing activities (how 1 conversation with his accountant changed his mindset about hiring) How to set a timeline when you should starting hiring people to help you run your business Why you should hire people slowly so that you can get some your time back (short term projects such us getting a website built, creating banner ads, etc.) Suggestions for entrepreneurs who have a successful business on how to free up their time and start hiring these tasks out (what techniques you can use to start freeing up your time if you have a business that has taken off overnight and you don’t know where you’re going to find the time to starting hiring)...

Dustin Heiner is a real estate investor with 24 single family properties and blogger from California. Dustin is the founder and host of Master Passive Income, a Blog and Podcast about investing in real estate rental properties. In 2004, Dustin realized he would never be wealthy working for someone else, so he needed to change something.   He decided to work hard toward quitting his job and being his own boss. After reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad Dustin knew he needed to become an investor. So he started investing in real estate and start earning cash flow in 2006. (Yep, just before the crash in 2009) He took a weekend course from a real estate guru that cost $1,000 and that started him down the path of rental properties. From that $1,000, Dustin has grown his investment income to $8,500 per month. It only took him 8 years to do it. In 2016, Dustin quit his job working for the local government. He will literally NEVER have to work for someone else ever again.   On today’s episode, we talk to Dustin about all things passive income. Dustin shares with us several stories about his childhood growing up with a family who was involved with real estate and building homes. He developed a passion for homes and entrepreneurship. Real estate was the one thing that really worked for Dustin after attempting several other business opportunities.   Within 6 years of investing, Dustin had all of his income replaced by his income producing properties and could quit his day job. You’ll learn the importance of hiring a mentor to help you along the investing journey to avoid common pitfalls and mistakes. Lastly, Dustin shares with us his suggestions for first-time investors who would like to get started with little to no money down on a rental properties.   Key Points From This Episode: The story on how Dustin started his entrepreneurial path as a teen delivering newspapers Lessons learned from Dustin’s retail business that he applied directly to his real estate investing business Importance of hiring and finding the right people when investing in rental properties How Dustin utilizes online resources (monthly payments, maintenance requests, property management, etc.) to manage the real estate business from around the world Why hiring the right mentor can help you avoid critical mistakes and teach you ways to save time and money while working towards financial freedom What separates the people who find success with a mentor when investing vs. those who do not The 3 key traits you need to take advantage of real estate opportunities How getting rid of the “business” helped Dustin focused on the things that are important and took his real estate business to the next level Why sticking to one main objective until you master it or its running itself is key to success What Dustin’s lifestyle design looks like today (family time, working on his podcast, traveling, and more) The concept of “buying with no money down” and lessons learned from not having the right property manager when starting to buy rental properties Suggestions for first-time investors (using a FHA loan, buying a duplex or single family home)   Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode Dustin’s Website: http://www.masterpassiveincome.com/ Dustin’s Podcast: http://www.masterpassiveincome.com/podcast/ Dustin’s Favorite Book: Richest Man In Babylon Dustin’s Favorite Lifestyle Design App: Evernote is the app that keeps your notes organized. Memos are synced so they’re accessible anywhere, and searchable so you always find what you need. https://evernote.com/

AJ Wilcox is a long-time digital marketer who fell in love with the LinkedIn Ads platform in 2011. He founded B2Linked.com in 2014, which specializes in LinkedIn Ads account management, training, and consulting. Since then, he has managed hundreds of accounts and a combined $100 million in ad spend on the network. He has worked directly with several of LinkedIn’s top 10 accounts.   AJ’s entrepreneurial journey is deeply rooted in his faith. After he was fired from his last job, he was offered multiple job opportunities. He prayed to God to figure out what he should do and the answer was to turn them all down and start his own business — and he’s never looking back!   On today’s episode we talk to AJ all things LinkedIN. AJ shares with us how to promote your real estate investing business, tips on growing your thought leadership platform and more. You’ll learn how to utilize LinkedIn as real estate investor and entrepreneur.   We discuss what first steps you need to take on advertising on LinkedIn (how to get started and what to consider). We also dive into who AJ was before LinkedIn (college experience, mindset growing up, entrepreneurship journey).   AJ shares his story of how he got introduced into LinkedIn and how he grew investing into becoming the largest LinkedIn customer in the world (by amount spent, size of the account of campaigned they were using. Lastly, we wrap up the episode with some some action steps you can take today to start advertising and building a name for yourself on LinkedIn.   Key Points From This Episode: How that apparent failure set up AJ of success How AJ knew that entrepreneurship was the right path for him AJ considers himself an accidental entrepreneur if he didn’t have divine help getting into it What was the best investment AJ has ever made in himself and business Bad recommendations from other LinkedIn experts and that’s not effective or Tips and advice to entrepreneurs looking to use LinkedIn as a resource of hiring people Break down of AMO (audience, message and offer) How to position yourself as a thought leader on LinkedIn What is the most effective way to get clicks for your offers (text, picture, video, mini-blog, etc.) Why LinkedIn is the easiest network to go viral on Differences of organic reach and advertising on Facebook vs. LinkedIn Examples of posts you can create to get more reach and shares online What questions to ask yourself when feeling unfocused Importance of knowing that people want to do business with people not companies The # 1 tip you can do today if you have a company and personal presence on LinkedIn to maximize exposure   Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode AJ’s Website: B2Linked Free checklist: 8 Things You Need In Order To Launch Ads on LinkedIn AJ’s Favorite Books: DRIVE by Daniel Pink Recommended Podcasts: The LinkedIn Formed Social Media Examiner Podcast The Bad Crypto Podcast Art of Charm Podcast AJ’s Favorite Lifestyle Design App: Calendly: Say goodbye to phone and email tag for finding the perfect meeting time. https://calendly.com/   Access The Best Strategies, Tips & Advice ! Every week, we send an email sharing my best advice, tips and strategies related to Real Estate Investing. Each of these weekly emails contain relevant and actionable information that can help you no matter where you are in your investing jo...

Chad Doty has 12 years of experience as a multifamily investor, but he wasn’t born with real estate in his blood. Originally, Chad was a management consultant for Arthur Andersen. Watching that company meltdown prior to him making partner made him realize that letting outside circumstances control his life wasn’t for him.   So Chad then founded his own consulting company, only to realize he was simply trading time for money. Determined to control his own destiny, Chad decided to leverage commercial multifamily real estate to develop recurring, passive income. He formed 37th Parallel Properties, a private real estate acquisitions and asset management rm. As the CEO of 37th Parallel Properties, Chad specializes in syndicating multifamily investments. His offerings allow investors access and opportunities to generate stable streams of tax-advantaged passive income and equity growth without needing to manage the property themselves.   Through this approach, Chad helps investors get access to tax-advantaged apartment investments that can produce income and equity growth that have historically retained their value through economic downturns and nationally cycles. Chad is a proven multifamily veteran with over 12 years of investing experience, another 10 years of management consulting experience, and $325 million dollars in real estate transactions.   On today’s episode, we talk with Chad about his story of growing up with his family and how working with his father taught him the importance of work ethic at an early age. Chad’s father gave him the book Think & Grow Rich at the age of 18 and Chad started to listening to inspiring and motivational speakers including Les Brown. Chad knew he wasn’t an entrepreneur but he did have a desire to learn and improve his life for himself and his family.   Chad talks about how he had a burning desire for more freedom and control after working in corporate after college. You’ll learn what inspired Chad to get into real estate and the purpose behind choosing multifamily as a the primary asset class for his investing.   We also talk about advice for any professionals who are currently investing in their 401K and what might be a good mix for investing to achieve financial freedom for you and your family. Chad shares with us the number # 1 reason his primary focus is multifamily (earning twice the money with half the time).   We breakdown the the biggest difference between investing in residential vs. commercial real estate properties and how Chad’s biggest failure set up him up for success. Lastly, we wrap up the episode discussing the benefits of investing in multifamily apartment buildings and how to handle downturns in the real estate investment market.   Key Points From This Episode: The story about Chad’s wife telling him she was pregnant with their son switched his mindset to focus on gaining more time, freedom, money, control and be there for his son Chad shares he didn’t grow up in real estate but rather picked it as a business analyst. He found that it had the best features that he wanted to build a wealth and get scale from people and time. After doing further research on real estate investing, he decided that multifamily was best real estate asset class. Amazing advice for any professionals who are currently investing in their 401K and how they should go about investing How you can decide what is a good mix when starting out in investing or should you focus on what investments are given to you as a default Chad shares how his failures as an entrepreneur later set him up for success The differences between residential vs. commercial real estate investing (trends, markets, etc.) The # 2 life-changing things Chad implemented to improved his business (the theory of constraint and shifting your...

On today’s episode we catch up with our first guest on The Before The Millions Podcast, Sunny Burns. It’s been a year and Sunny’s life has drastically changed. Sunny brought this amazing triplex and still traveling the world.   On episode 1 of this podcast, Daray and Sunny got to know each other and we decided to bring Sunny back for an update on what’s going on in Sunny’s life. During this episode, Sunny shares great insight for real estate investors and entrepreneurs on what steps he took to purchase, rehab and close his triplex rental property.   Since we last spoke with Sunny he has been focused on his engineering career in the Department of Defense and just recently got a promotion from making 83K to six figures salary. Sunny closed on a triplex and own two properties (gross rents on the two properties are $100,000/year). Now he has a six figure salary and six figure passive gross rental income for the two properties.   We will breakdown exactly how Sunny brought his second property (the triplex). You’ll learn how Sunny found the triplex deal, finance the deal, how he rehabbed the property and more. Lastly, Sunny shares with us all the lessons learned during the buying and closing process of the triplex deal.   Key Points From This Episode: We catch up with Sunny 1 year later after his first interview on Before The Millions podcast How Sunny now has a six-figure salary and passive $100K/ year cash flow rental income Breakdown Sunny’s deal of buying his first triplex (lessons learned, tips and tricks, etc.) How his rental income today in 2018 can replace his entire salary and retire his family Step-by-step blog post Sunny wrote about his experience buying the triplex on his website Faminvestor.com How to prepare for the pre-approval process when buying rental properties Why community banks might work in your favor as a first-time investor vs. national banks when financing your real estate deals How Sunny found properties to analyze once he was pre-approved investor How to determine if a property meets your criteria as a investor Importance of knowing that it cost nothing to put in a offer on a property Questions you should ask before you make an offer on a deal How hiring a lawyer can help you ease through the paperwork and terms when closing a deal Various options for getting a down payment on a property for a first-time investor Breakdown of hiring an property inspector Sunny’s advice on rehabbing a property yourself vs. hiring a contractor to get the job done The process of closing the deal and lessons learned throughout the entire buying process   Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode Before The Millions Episode 1 https://beforethemillions.com/episode1/ Sunny’s Website: http://www.famvestor.com/ Sunny’s Blog Post: http://www.famvestor.com/triplexcasestudy/ Recommended Websites: Cozy makes renting easier for landlords and renters everywhere  Realtor: Search real estate property records, houses, condos, land and more  RentoMeter: Paying too much for rent or charging too little? Get rental comps and find apartments. Yelp: User Reviews and Recommendations of Best Restaurants, Shopping, Nightlife, Food, Entertainment, Things to Do, Services and More  Craigslist: provides local classifieds and forums for jobs, housing, for sale, services, local community, and events. Sunny’s Favorite Books:

Ali Boone is a lifestyle entrepreneur, business consultant and real estate investor, and has literally defined non-conformity when it comes to her career. Ali left her corporate 9-to-5 job as an Aerospace Engineer, despite the “dream job” status that came with it, to follow her passion for being her own boss and creating true lifestyle design. She did this through real estate investing. Her own real estate portfolio started with pre-construction investments in Nicaragua and then she moved on to investing in turnkey rental properties in various markets throughout the U.S. She managed to invest in her first five properties in 18 months using primarily creative financing. After starting out as a real estate investor just for herself and her own financial benefit, she went on to create her company Hipster Investments which facilitated over $18M in real estate investment sales in its first five years of business.   She’s written roughly 190 articles for the BiggerPockets website, she’s been featured for her writing in Fox Business and The Motley Fool, and she offers hands-on support for new investors and those going through the investing process. She still owns her first turnkey rental properties and she is also a co-owner and the landlord of a local property to her in Venice Beach. Her primary focuses revolve around passive income and passive investment options. In addition to running Hipster Investments and working as an active business consultant, she’s a pilot and teaches flying and she can often be found snowboarding, hiking, or volunteering in California prisons. Her ultimate goal is to one day challenge Tim Ferriss to a lifestyle design duel.   On today’s episode we talk with Ali about her journey on becoming an entrepreneur and real estate investor. Ali shares with us how she knew real estate was the right path for living the life of her dreams. Ali knew that she didn’t want to fix and flip homes and decided to focus on the passive income side of real estate. You’ll learn how reading the Rich Dad, Poor Dad book changed Ali’s mindset to start thinking like an entrepreneur instead of an employee.   We also talk about the many benefits of having a lifestyle design and how to achieve it using passive income from various investments. Ali shares with us her first deal in real estate (mistakes made, lessons learned, etc.) and gives some great advice for college graduates and other professionals on how to get started. We also talk about the importance of knowing the difference of working in your business vs. owning a business. Lastly, we discuss how Ali spends her days as a location independent entrepreneur and what it took for her to finally live the life of her dreams.     Key Points From This Episode: Ali’s journey from being in the corporate world to living life on her terms as a real estate investor and entrepreneur The importance of having a great real estate network of people to help you along your journey Why investing in real estate is key to having lifestyle design (living life on your own terms) The REAL benefits of lifestyle design and how you can achieve it in your life The #1 thing Ali would say to millions of people that would be a game changer Breakdown of Ali’s first real estate investment and how she turned that experience into a profitable thriving business today Advice for every college grad and corporate professional on how to achieve lifestyle design using real estate and becoming an entrepreneur The story of how Ali met a guy on a rooftop and what she saw that change her entire life and mindset Difference between working in your business vs. owning a business Importance of understand the mindset of an employee vs. entrepreneur Why self-awareness is key to success and how being patient led her to prosperity in real estate