Fearless Innovator

In this episode Put my money where my mouth is – you'll learn that you'd better say what you mean and mean what you say or those around you will call you out!

In episode 38 New Goals for 2022 I mentioned Quit Telling yourself you don't have enough time, to get up early if you have too and go to bed early & find your mojo.

Two weeks ago Kurt came up to me and said, I listened to your podcast where your advice was to get up early and go to bed early, and he said why aren't you doing that?  And I said, "well I got up early on Monday and I completed the bulk of the heavy tasks I needed to complete all before 8am! – Like that was going to impress him.  Well, it didn't.  Because the rest of the week, I didn't get up early.  He said, so what happened to the rest of the week?  This made me stop and think.  The root cause in my head was I didn't have anything to focus on that would drive me out of my warm bed.   Then he said, instead of going to the gym 3 days a week, why don't you go 5 times a week, that will force you out of bed.  I said, "ok".  So last week I did go to the gym 5 days a week.  

However, in my head this issue is still not resolved.  I do wake up early now meaning I don't fall back to sleep when Kurt leaves in the morning, but I still don't have  a great routine nailed down.

I also think that my routines got a little out of whack when life events happened and I'm not making excuses here but there's been a lot of change and new distractions in my life over the past several months and I think, I just lost my focus and I needed a reset.   I think by having Kurt hold me accountable, brought this issue to light and now I can regain my focus and get back on track.  Thank you, Kurt!!

Then a couple of days ago I was listening to Shawn Yesner's Crushing Debt Podcast  Episode 305 Always Sharpen Your Saw he mentioned that he too get's up early in the morning when there are no distractions and reads for 30-45 minutes to start his day.  This routine lead him to read 52 books last year.  That's 1 book a week!  What a great accomplishment! That just inspired me even more to get up early!  Here's the take away for me.  I like to read in the mornings too, right before I head into the gym.  But now instead of listening to Nickleback every day when I'm on what I call the eucalyptus (elliptical) machine I'm now listening to my favorite podcasts.  I'm a serial learner to so I think I'm going to love this change!  Thank you Kurt and Shawn for the inspiration.

Ok, this next call out stung like a bumble bee.  This one hurt but I loved it at the same time!

I'm fortunate enough to be an Inner Circle member of a Real Estate mentoring team hosted by Tyler and Jill Sheff – you know the Cash Flow Guy or now known for teaming up with Michael Marino and putting together Key West Cashflow opportunities.

This is a quaint small group, we've been together now for 2 years and we watch how everyone on the team, over time has grown and prospered in their in their business or real estate adventure.  We have one note investor, 2 small business owners, Michael and Tyler are focused on multifamily/short term rental opportunities in Key West and I'm focused on owning or developing an RV park.

No matter what everyone is focused on, each one of us learn from the other members every week.  All of our sessions are recorded so that we can go back and review the content.  Each one of us is encourgaged to help the others out when the content is relevant.  We also post our topics of discussion prior to our meeting time so that Tyler and Jill can be prepared for what we want to discuss.

It was my turn to have the floor and this I was giving the status of an RV park development project that I've been working on and we were discussing the marketing I was doing.  Quite frankly, I told the team I wasn't getting the result I needed in my marketing.  My marketing quite frankly wasn't aligning with my true desire to own or develop RV park.  Tyler even spoke up and said, you're marketing is boring.  I agreed 100% and put the kabosh on my marketing efforts.  That's not to say, that my marketing won't come back in another form, I'm just switching gears.

Then, Michael unmuted himself and ever so stoickly with no emotion said, Mechiel, I'm curious if you're really into RV Parks, why aren't you going to RV parks?  He went on to say, I think of you like a gypsy because aren't you living in your RV right now? 

I'm not sure what my facial expression was at that moment,(but I intend on reviewing that recording) but I can tell you my heart stopped.  I said to myself, he just called me out and he's right!  I let him finish my perceived digging at me and my response was well you're right I can easily be a gypsy but I'm no longer an I and I have to consider that I'm a we but to your point, I will see what I can do and I'll talk with Kurt tonight.  

Michael went on to say, your houses are a both on short term rental so why not go stay at an RV park?  Perhaps you'll find an owner that wants to sell or at least you'll learn more about what RV'ers want in an RV park.  Why the heck didn't I think of this, is all I could think!  This was such an easy solution and it was right in front of me.  How did I miss that???

The next day, I got to thinking about what Michael did without him even knowing what he had done.  I said to myself, I'm going to reach out to him and let him know, how grateful I was for him to speak up and call me out.

As expected, he had no idea what he done, but I thanked him for pushing me and calling me out!

Within the next few weeks, after a few things calm down and we can "get" a reservation at a local park, we are out of here!  My goal is to do what I do best – go talk or interview folks on what they like about RV parks and what they dislike and I'll be talking with the park owners too, much like I did this summer in Iowa when I met Marta at Timberline Campground in Waukee. By the end of the summer, I'm sure she was tired of me but I learned a lot from her.  So I'm off to research and find a park to visit! 

I'll see you next Thursday on the Fearless Innovator Podcast.

Key West Cash Flow - Key West Cash Flow   Tyler Sheff and Michael Marino

Crushing Debt Podcast - Episode 305 - Always Sharpen the Saw 

Timberline Campground - Timberline Campground | RV Park 

For anyone wanting to get into real estate, you must know that real estate is a team sport.   I'm thankful  for my high school years when I participated in team sports.   I never realized that lessons I learned on the basketball court would come in handy one day in business.  If you think about it it's where I learned discipline, how to be a leader, structure, hard work pays off and strengths and weaknesses.  Without the "team" we could have never made it to the Iowa State Basketball tournament.  I had one position and I did it well.  My team mates had their strengths and they did them well.  Without each other, we could have never defeated the number one top seated team at the state tournament in 1982.  

It's the same way in real estate, I have my strengths and weaknesses but you also need to surround yourself with skills that you dont have. 

Even though I started in real estate pretty much on my own,  I wouldn't advise that. I can look back now and realize I did a lot of things wrong.

When I started in real estate, I really stumbled into it when my friend Patsy, needed to sell her townhouse. I have this tendency and it's not a great tendency  by the way, to just go into a project head first without even thinking about what I'm doing, hence the Fearless Innovator.  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be where I'm at today without that attitude but I tend to overlook a lot of risks early on and just tackle the risks when they happen.  I do realize too, that every issue has a solution.

As time went on, I graduated from being a landlord to flipping houses, then I bought commercial property then I became a lender and today I'm looking for an RV Park.

It really depends on what swim lane in real estate you choose to be in as to what kind of team you need to build. For example:  When I was flipping houses, I needed a team that I could manage through the process of actually doing the work, so I hired a contractor for all the permits I needed to pull, I hired floor specialists such as tile and carpet, plumbers, electricians, roofers, AC technician's, etc.   

Here's the key, I always hired a team player for the strengths, not their weaknesses.  If my end goal was to complete a flip within 4 months, I never hired a person that wasn't skilled at the talent I needed complete in other words if someone told me, yeah, I've laid tile before. That would never fly with me, I wanted the skilled talent on my team.

When I bought the 8-unit multifamily apartment, I knew that I could manage it by myself, but I wasn't willing to give up that much time and let's face it there are a lot of laws that I just wasn't that familiar with and I wasn't willing to risk what I didn't know, so I hired a skilled property manager to handle the day to day stuff.

Now, when I became a lender well, this changed the rules too and even before I became a lender, I added Real Estate Attorney Shawn Yesner to my team.   Shawn has become a critical member of my team and critical to my success, as an investor.  Since bringing him on he has helped me structure and secure the sale of my 8 unit complex.  Not only does he know the law well, he has the ability to break things down for me.   

He has successfully structured a wrap around mortgage on one of real estate deals.

Then there are times when you need a real estate lawyer to defend your position.  Shawn has also assisted me in enforcing agreements and holding others accountable for their role in a real estate deal. 

Most people frown on real estate attorney's when in reality they should embrace them as they are another team member and critical to your success.

In Episode 37 – Reflecting on 2021 you learned that I fired my CPA! Well, that wasn't the first time I fired my CPA it was actually the 2nd time!  I first added a CPA to my team when I could no longer do my own taxes.  When could I no longer do my taxes?  When my status changed from just W2 income to W2 and passive income.  In other words, it was in 2000 when I was still working my J.O.B and I had my first rental property.  I didn't realize back then that not all CPA's are real estate focused CPA's.  It wasn't until I really started to learn more about real estate that my CPA should be a real estate focused CPA.  The really bad news is it took me a long time to realize that my current CPA was doing me no favors.  How did I figure this out?  I had a real estate focused CPA review my prior years taxes and what I learned was that my current CPA left money on the table and gave it to the IRS.  Yeah, not so happy so I quickly made the change and hired the new CPA.  The new CPA only lasted 2 years.  Why?  Well, there comes a time I think when people just get too comfortable and their egos' take over.  So, lets just say we just didn't align anymore so that CPA was fired and now I believe John Hartung, PC is skilled, well rounded, real estate focused and well structured.  The point is here, it's ok to remove players off your team if they are no longer supporting your end goal.

Now, I'm building my team as I focus on my RV park. The foundation of my team is in place.  I have Shawn Yesner as my Real Estate Attorney and John Hartung as my CPA.  I've secured my Civil Engineering team and I've begun the relationships necessary at the county level.

Just to give you a quick update – in Last Week's Episode 38 – New Goals for 2022 you learned that my goal for 2022 is that I will have an RV park by the end of the year.  Well, as luck would have it, I have identified a park in North Florida.  Well, it's not a park today but it will be tomorrow.  I'm currently working with the owner on negotiating on how this deal may play out.  This would be a development project with expected up to 81 RV sites.   The location is situated perfectly between busy highways and I believe it's the perfect size for my first development project!  I'm currently working with an investor but no deals have been made yet!  

So, if anyone out there is interested in learning more about investing in this RV Park Venue, I'll gladly entertain any and all interested parties, but you better hurry!

I'll see you next Thursday on the Fearless Innovator Podcast.

Shawn Yesner - Yesner Law

John R Hartung – [email protected]

It's a new year, I have new energy and a new focus.  Every year about this time I sit down and write out my goals for the year.  I've been doing this for a long time!

 I can tell you this, not always do I accomplish my goals that year but at some point I do accomplish them.  It's most rewarding when I can go back and cross them off my list.  I was also not great at spelling out exactly how I would accomplish those goals, but for some reason as long as I kept them in my mind and always thinking about them, they all would eventually come to fruition. 

In my last episode of Refecting on 2021, I told you that I never make resolutions. That's true!  I feel like you're just setting yourself up for failure.  Instead, I focus on the action of what it takes to reach that goal.

Each year, I focus on a business, personal and spirtual goal. I don't overcomplicate it.  I try to make it achievable. 

Last year, my focus was to bring 2 Short Term Rentals online, maintain my health status(my last checkup was excellent – my cardiologist wanted to know what I was doing because my tests were better than the prior year!)  and I committed to attend church and small groups regularly.

What actually happened was way more than I planned for!

2 short term rentals

Got to travel in my RV for 3 months

Went to Laconia NH for Bike Fest

Started Podcasting

Got engaged!

Here are 6 things I've done in the past that may help you focus on your new goals.

1).   Quit making resolutions!  Make solid goals and work at your goals, daily, monthly and weekly.

2).  I used to be a diet coke-aholic.  Instead of saying, I quit drinking Diet Coke.  I did this instead.  I quit buying diet coke and replaced it with Green Tea.  I haven't drank a diet coke or any soda for that matter for over 10 years.  It's simply not a part of my diet any longer!

3).  Exercising has become a priority.  My dad died of the widow maker – which is essentially a silent killer.  When I went to my cardiologist I discovered I have the same silent killer.  One of his recommendations was to work out.  Most people will make the goal to go to the gym to workout so they can loose weight.  I don't!  First I'm encouraged to go because health reasons and honestly, my body will tell me if I've mistreated it.  Here's the way I think about it.  My plan is to go to the gym at least 3 times a week.  If I can't go to the gym, I get on my bicycle – something that maintains action on a consistent basis for my body.  I never park close to any store, I will walk.  The key here is to be consistent.  I never focus on my weight! I focus on routine and being consistent!  Guess what happens?  The weight falls off!

4). Develop daily routines – I know what I'm doing each day the night before.  At the end of each day, I write down what it is that I'm going to accomplish the next day.  The next day, after completing the tasks – my day is complete.  These tasks are all related to my goals for the year.  The key here again is to stay consistent!

5).  Quit telling yourself you don't have enough time.  That's bull pucky!  Make the time, get up early if you have too, go to bed early and find your mo-jo!  I'm not talking about coffee with a bunch of creamer either!  Get moving our bodies were meant to stay in motion, not lay around and be lazy!

6).  Get great sleep!  Sleep is critical.  Get the 7-8 hours our bodies need.  I know if I've slept good, it's gonna be a great day!

I believe that for the reasons I mentioned above I feel young or maybe I'm just telling myself I'm younger than what my calendar age is. 

Now you're wondering, OK, Mechiel what are you going to focus on next year, right?  Well, I'm glad you asked!

You know how they always say that in order to learn something new, you have to step outside your comfort zone???  Well, I'm going to step way outside my comfort zone and I'm going to hang on ledge – no I'm not going rock climbing but it may feel like it to me.

For my personal goal – I will be getting married!  Prior to the marriage Kurt and I will be attending a couples group at Grace Family Church.  Once the class is complete, we will have a small wedding and then we're going to Hawaii for our honeymoon. 

Spirtual Goal – Kurt and I will continue to attend GFC weekly, attend couples small groups and volunteer.  I will also be attending the Beautiful Conference for Women February 4th and 5th at Grace Family Church.  I highly encourage this for all women – the speaker this year is Lisa Harper.  She's a hilarious story teller!  You will laugh so hard your stomach will hurt.

Business Goal – OK, here's the big ta dah!  What I haven't yet talked about on my podcast is what I'm doing behind the scenes of my podcast and behind my real estate transactions.  For the past 2 years, I have been traveling between GA and anywhere north of Tampa doing research on RV Parks. Collectively, I have worked with at least 6 sellers and visited over 30 RV parks.  Why?  Because I made a goal a long time ago to own an RV park and this year I'm going to make it happen!  Ever since my mom and dad stayed in an RV park in Dade City, I've wanted to own one!  NOW is the time!

I have gained enough knowledge over the past 2 years, to know what I want, how it's going to work, where I want it and why I want ite and who's going to help me.

I wasn't able to negotiate any great deals with the 6 sellers that I met and I was Ok with that, because with each opportunity, I learned something new and I met great people!  Now, with everything I've learned collectively, I'm ready to move forward.

What kind of park am I looking for?  I'm looking for either a mom and pop park that's ready to call it quits in Florida or I'll even consider developing a park.  Maybe there's an existing park already generating income with the potential to expand another 20 acres.

How am I going to do this?  First, I need investors!  I'm looking to partner on deals and give a fair rate of return for Angel Investors.  If you're an Angel investor and you need a place to park some money, I know this girl that's going to have an RV Opportunity soon!

How am I going to find the park?  I've put together a marketing strategy that will hopefully snag the park I'm looking for and I've got you, my listeners.  If you know of anyone that has an RV/Mobile Home park in Florida and they are ready to retire!  Reach out to me at [email protected]

What are my plans with the park?  Let's just say that with my technical background, technology will play a role with this park!  It is my plan to get this park up and running with limited interaction and limited personnel running it.

Who's going to help me?  You know it takes a team.  I'm already building my team.   I have mentors in place, Civil Engineering in place, I even have experience working with county level governments.

Do I have an exit strategy?  Yes, I do!  On the surface, it's a 5 to 7 year plan but we may decide that when the park is producing steady cashflow we may just keep it going until we decide to part with it. 

I'm very excited for 2022 to get started as I have a lot of work to do, so that's it for now.

I'll see you next Thursday on the Fearless Innovator Podcast.

Www.fearlesssinnovator.com

Email me at:  [email protected]

Grace Family Church

Lisa Harper

Today, is a new year and I wanted to reflect on 2021.  I don't know about you, but I keep a diary of things I accomplish each month to ensure I align with my goals.   What were my goals?  I set goals each year related to business, personal and spiritual.  Well, let's see how each month turned out.

January – My first short term rental Iron Horse Acres, was setup and running and I was working on getting my 2nd short term rental setup.

February – Went to the Daytona 500 with my girlfriend Brenda Veldman and reconnected with Kurt Kalbach– whom I hadn't seen in over 35 years.   I also attended the women's Beautiful Conference at Grace Family Church in Lutz.

March – I was working hard on getting Iron Horse Acres Too setup.  Getting a house setup for Short Term Rental takes a minute.  Making sure the house is stocked with everything, like you lived there.  I used Andrea Bryant from Staged Right, LLC to assist in decorating my house.  I can't draw stick people let alone decorate a house.   Setting the App platforms are a bit of work too.  After the house was completely decorated, then I hired FireLight to come and take the professional pictures.  Cell phone pictures don't cut it, you must have professional pictures done.  I decided on 2 platforms.  I did one first, tweaked it the way that I wanted and used it on Iron Horse Acres first.  Then once it was tested by my guests, then I setup the 2nd platform. Now I had 2 platforms and 2 houses.  At one-point last year, I had double booked some guests – SO, then it came time, and I implemented a new software which at the time was called SmartBnb, which is now Hospitable.  Hospitable integrates multiple platforms so your calendars are now in sync, so you won't make mistakes like double bookings.  Hospitable is also great for canned messages.  This saves me a lot of time communicating with my guests.  They now get timed messages prior to arrival, during their stay and at departure. It ensures I don't forget to send my guests a message. 

April – I had made the decision to go home and see my mom for the summer.  I had planned on going home in 2020 in my RV, but that nasty virus shut me down.  This year, I was going to make it happen!  I planned to leave in June.  I made a short trip home in April to see my mom and to see Kurt. 

I also made the decision well; I was highly encouraged by my real estate mentor Tyler Sheff that I should begin podcasting.  He felt that I had a voice, and I was a great storyteller.  Although I could agree on the story telling part, I wasn't quite sure what my focus was.  He told me to just "Start Ugly" and encouraged me to read Chris Krimitsos book called Start Ugly.  After reading his book, it totally aligned with who I am and so came up with the Fearless Innovator because I felt that described who I was and then I began talking to myself behind a camera and microphone, much like I'm doing right now.  My focus was centered around my book that had been launched in October of 2020, entitled Why My J.O.B. Quit Me, jump-start your Firing.  I wanted to inspire people with my stories of the lessons I learned growing up on the farm and how I took those lessons and applied them to my corporate job in IT and how it ultimately led me to become a real estate investor.

May – Iron Horse Acres Too launched and now I had 2 short term rentals!  My Fearless Innovator Podcast launched on Apple Podcast and Spotify!  I was now earning cashflow on 2 properties and was free to travel for 3 months while earning cashflow!

June – I left Florida with 13 of my Latino friends, we called ourselves the Insane Wanderers and we trailered our bikes to Laconia NH Bikefest where we met up with Kurt.  Kurt had ridden his bike from Iowa to NH to join us for bike fest.  This was my first time to the northeast on my bike.  We traveled through 12 states and road at least 2000 miles in a week.  The Kancamagus Highway even though we road it in the rain, had amazing scenery!  After one week of riding, Kurt traveled back to Florida with me and within one week we did a turn and burn, loaded up the RV/Toy hauler with our bikes and 2 cats and we headed home to Iowa for 3 months.   Once we arrived in Iowa, we unloaded the bikes, and the toy hauler was now converted into my office so I could continue with my real estate business.  First agenda item, Go see my mom!!! I saw my mom every week, sometimes twice a week!  Unfortunately, she's in a nursing home now, but I made my mom a priority for 3 months. Great news is she's doing great, and we laughed a lot!

Second agenda item! I Fired MY CPA!

There comes a time when in business you just don't see eye to eye and it's time to make a change.  That change was made and now I have a CPA that aligns with my real estate business. 

July - I joined two Real Estate Investing Groups while in Iowa.   FIRE – Financial Independence Retire Early Local Meetup hosted by Ryan Renze and the DSM Real Estate Investing Meetup – Hosted by Mitch Coluzzi.  My goal was to learn more about the DSM area Real Estate Market and learn I did!  The best thing I can tell you about real estate is that no matter where you go, if you just get involved and put yourself out there, you can go anywhere you want and learn what you want in real estate.  I met the most down to Earth, knowledgeable people in Iowa.  It would have been extremely easy to put a team together there and do business.  As it was, I met this dynamic duo young couple Tyler and Allyson.  They were both working J.O.B's but they had already begun their journey in real estate and I'm confident if they stay focused, they will be out of the rat race before they hit 30!  Super excited for them!

I flew back to Florida for quick trip to go look at an RV Park in Perry, FL that was for sale.   It was 8 acres with the potential of 20 more acres. He had 10 sites setup but not operational.  I met with the owner but after a short time, I wasn't able to come to terms.  He eventually sold for his asking price, but I just learned the other day, that the guy who bought has lost his shorts.  Note to self – this one may be worth looking at in the near future!

For fun in July – We went to a Goodguys Car show with Kurt's 79 Trans Am, visited 7 Freedom Rocks with my cousin Stevie, Went to Prairie Meadows Horse track, went to my first dirt track ARCA race and an Iowa Cubs game, First Kopaska Family Reunion.

Checkout Fearless Innovator - Episode 27 – You Only Die Once to get a better understanding of everything that happened this summer.  Let's just say, there's no grass growing under my feet!

August – I had the pleasure of speaking at the FIRE Meeting.  After attending the meeting, I learned it was a relatively young audience, so I chose to inspire them with my story about Financial Independence that I shared with you in Episode 24 – Financial Independence.

My sister Melissa came to visit us from AR, Lantern Festival, Visited Templeton Rye Distillery, Iowa State Fair, kayaking with Kurts's sister Julia and her husband, won a partition lawsuit (that story is for another podcast).

September was a big month!  I got engaged to Kurt! Rode my bike to the Field of Dreams, saw the Antique Archelogy or the Iowa Pickers as you may know them and drove my 1st Nascar!

October – It was time to head back to Florida but not after visiting 65 of the 99 Iowa Freedom Rocks, mostly on our motorcycles.  We put over 3000 miles on our bikes this summer looking at Freedom Rocks. 

Kurt moved to Florida!  Now, instead of Kurt attending church online, he now joins me weekly for the in-person services!

November – Well everything slows down over the holidays, but we focused on enhancing Iron Horse Acres for the impending busy season.  The house got new paint, Kurt built a large wood fire pit in the back yard, fences were pressure sprayed and trees were trimmed, enhanced the pool with a heater all just in time for our short-term rental guests.  

You may be thinking, where are you living right?  Great question!

We are still in the RV and living in the barn!  This just isn't your regular barn, ours has a nice extended living room area, my office and a patio out back.  

We are capitalizing and being capital pigs and loving life and meeting awesome people that come from up north to escape the cold!

I attended my first PodFest Origins in Tampa!

December – After attending PodFest Origins, I learned I have A LOT to learn in the Podcasting space, so I hired Bruce Wawrzyniak as my Podcast mentor.  He has helped me make significant changes to my podcast show.  I now have a new tagline and a new focus!  I'm focused on sharing my journey on how I went From Cubicles to Cashflow.  Checkout my new thumbnail!

We enjoyed the Christmas season with my sister Melissa.  I have been focused on my real estate adventure and clearly, it's an adventure, but more like learning every day something new in real estate!

I'm excited to share with you in my next episode what my goals are for 2022.  I do not do resolutions, only goals!

I'll see you next Thursday on the Fearless Innovator Podcast.

Www.fearlesssinnovator.com

Email me at:  [email protected]

Grace Family Church (gfcflorida.com)

Firelight - Firelight Images 

Staged Right  - Staged Right

Order:  Why My J.O.B. Quit Me; Jump-start your firing

Laconia Motorcycle Week® 

FIRE - Financial Independence Retire Early Local Meetup 

DSM Real Estate Investing Meetup

Vacation Rental Management Software | Hospitable

Fearless Innovator Episode 24 –Financial Independence | Podcast on Spotify

The Freedom Rock | Facebook

Artist: Ray "Bubba" Sorensen II - The Freedom Rock®

Chris Krimitsos  - Start Ugly - Start Ugly

Bruce Wawrzyniak - Now Hear This Entertainment www.NHTE.net

Bruce Wawrzyniak – Catholic Sports Radio Catholic Sports Radio

Insane Wanderers –

Fearless Innovator Episode 27 -  You Only Die Once You Only Die Once

Tyler Sheff - 7 Things That Will Cause You To Lose Time & Money in 2022 

Tyler Sheff - Key West Cash Flow - Key West Cash Flow

Today we're going to discuss are piles of money better than streams of money?

What do I mean by piles of money?  A pile of money are profits made from the sale of a property.  For example, when you sell a property such as a rental property.

What is a stream of money?  Its the rents earned off of a lease. It's the mortgage payment earned from a mortgage, if you're the lender.

Which is better?  There is no right or wrong answer, it depends on your risk tolerance and how much you're willing to pay in taxes.

Here's how I learned my lesson.  For several years, I had been flipping homes with a partner.  At the end of each year, I found out from my CPA that I was paying a lot in taxes.  Why?  Because the income from a flip was taxed as a short term capital gain and the rate was a lot higher than if I held the asset for a year or more which was a long term capital gain. Clearly this wasn't fitting my objective.

And if that wasn't enough punishment, I decided to do my own flip and if you recall in Episode 7 – The Flip that Flopped where I told you about a flip I had done and at the end of the deal the house wouldn't sell and I had put too much money into it and I bought it at the wrong price?  

Plan B - I decided to put that house on the rental market.  This is the great thing about real estate, there's always another way to solve the problem.

Why?  Because if I held the house for 1 year and then sold it, I would pay Long Term Capital gains which is a lower tax rate.  

I placed great tenants in the house and held it for 1 year.

The tenants were so great that after 3 years of rental history with me, I decided to sell the home.  I decided to sell for 3 reasons, 

1. The house had appreciated enough for me to recapture money 
2. I no longer wanted to be a landlord and fixing everything that broke
3. I wanted to trade-in being the landlord for being the lender.

How did I do that?

First, I did not sell this house outright because this time, I didn't want a pile of money!  Everything I had learned about piles of money meant to me that I'd be paying way too much in taxes.  I wanted to lessen my tax burden!  This time I wanted streams of income!

Second, I reached out to my tenants to see if they wanted to buy the house and they were all in.

Third, I hired an attorney to structure the deal.  In this case, there was an existing mortgage on the home and I did what is called a Wrap Around Mortgage – basically, we agreed on the selling price, the tentants became the borrower and I went from being a  landlord to Lender.   Each month they pay their mortgage to me, I pay the existing mortgage and what's left is mine.  The money that's left over is considered passive income and at the end of the year I'm only taxed on what I earned.  If I had sold the house outright I would have been taxed on a pile of money and not the stream of money.

Today, I have several streams of money coming in and I always shy away from piles of money, even though for some reason I seem to attract piles.  Now, I plan my exit strategies so I don't end up with a pile of money.

I often run into many sellers in the market that are of the belief that a pile of money is what they want.  When I believe in their minds, they are thinking, if I get a pile of money, I can do XYZ with it.  Which typically means, they are going to go buy doodads (unnecessary items) or they say they want to pay off their bills and before you know it, the money is gone and now they face regret.

Why do I know this?  It happens every day, because in general most people, including me early on, don't know what to do with their money once they get it – meaning they don't know where they can invest it.  I know several individuals now with money and they have no where to put it because the real estate market isn't in what most people consider a buying market, so they are holding on to it. These are typically seasoned investors. 

If you're well versed in real estate you will find a viable investment but for those not yet educated in real estate may invest in the stock market.  Personally, I don't invest in the stock market because I can't control the asset.   

Here are 5 reasons you should consider streams of income.

1). You save on taxes!  Let's say you earn $100,000 on the sale of a property and your single. Your Short term capital gain tax rate for 2021 is 24%  meaning you'll pay $24,000 in taxes.  If you held on to that asset Long Term Capital gain rate is 15% meaning you'll pay $15,000.

2).  Pays down Debt. If you have multiple streams of income, you can pay down existing debt quicker.

3).  Provides a safety net.  What if you lose your J.O.B or become ill? Having streams of income you could take your time looking for another job or take the time off needed to heal from an injury or illness.

4).  Creates Financial Security – Let's say your debt is paid off, then you can take this stream of income and invest it in more real estate.

5). Allows more free time – With multiple streams of income it allows you flexibility in your free time for more vacations or starting a new business.

It has been my experience that when the piles of money run out, you're either left with nothing or you're left with nothing and a huge tax bill at the end of the year.  I've seen this happen with first time Wholesalers.  They make their first $20K profit from their first deal and then they go on vacation.  It's not until tax time, that they are faced with a big dose of reality when they realize they don't have the money they need to pay their taxes. 

Obviously, based on my experience I prefer streams of income over piles of income, and for you maybe your circumstances are different and you prefer piles.  My best advice would be to play out each scenario and understand your tax implications before you decide on a pile or a stream of income.

Www.fearlesssinnovator.com

Email me at:  [email protected]

Episode 7 - Flip that Flopped

This week I want to share with you an experience I had with a recent short term rental guest.   Short term rentals or you may know it as vacation rentals are a great way to earn passive income or cashflow.  As with any investment there are risks and rewards.  

The communication with this guest went as usual with no hiccups during the reservation process. The reservation was made for 3 guests for 3 nights at Iron Horse Acres, a farm stay.  The guests had planned a 3 day golf excursion.

At check-in, 2 of the 3 guests had arrived and we greeted them to ensure they had gained proper access to the house. We talked for a bit and then left them to get settled in.

Within a short time frame, I got a message from the guest that they can't figure out the WIFI password.  I immediately replied with the password

Within about an hour our security team notified me that 2 more guests had arrived. 

For 2 days there were no unexpected events and I believed all 4 guests were enjoying themselves.   

All was well, until the night before checkout when I received a message, I'm going to call it…

Let's see what we can get away with

Hi Mechiel, two of us would like to take a shower if possible after golf tomorrow. We expect we would be done with showers by 2:15ish. Is that possible? We could restrict ourselves to one bathroom if that helps.

My reply was Well checkout is tomorrow at 10am. My cleaner will be here at 11. Did you want to book another night?

Understood. We'll find a shower elsewhere. Appreciate things otherwise.

I want a discount plan

I took the opportunity to disclose, I'd also like to take the time to notify you that my security team has identified a 4th person at check in, and per the house rules, there's a charge of $10 per person per night for extra guests. 

Hi Mechiel, they are not even here tonight so what discount do we get for having less people one night?

4 people in 3 beds using 3 bathrooms versus 3 people using 3 beds and 3 bathrooms, no I do not understand an additional charge for that.

It was clear to me that he hadn't read the rules, so I sent him a copy to his phone, through the App and let him know that there was a hard copy of the House Rules laying on the counter.  I presume he read them because he then stated.

Hi Mechiel, I was not aware of these rules which are very silly in this instance. I certainly could not have read them in your house prior to arrival. We would have been happy to notify you that there was an additional guest coming last minute, but I was not aware of it. Their presence will not cost you a penny in expenses as I pointed out.

Again, I pointed out Rule number 3 inside the app before you made your reservation states, "guests not registered during the initial booking will be charged $10 per day, per person" It's common courtesy to notify a host of any changes.

The Diversion Plan.

I read the house rules and the stated motivation of not having unannounced people coming and going. We had two vehicles as planned. And no comings and goings that would not have happened without so and so being here with the 3rd guest.   Again, they are no longer here, driving back to their home. So, you will have even less comings and goings than we actually paid for.

Sir with all due respect that statement in the House Rules about comings and goings, has nothing to do with you and is not relevant to you or your friends. This has everything to do with other guests with very bad behavior. Clearly that's NOT you or your friends. I have had no issues with you only that you didn't communicate the extra person. That's it.

Mechiel, I am sure you have people that have tried to abuse one or more rules and I can understand the point of rule but certainly not in this case. I suggest that since again it doesn't cost you anything for So and so to join us and that we had no additional vehicles or comings and goings that we call it good.

Sir there absolutely are costs. Did this person take a shower? Did this person use the bathroom or any towels or soaps? Did they blow dry their hair or use electricity? 

It's $20 and you wanted extra time tomorrow which you may not realize it's difficult to find cleaners that want to work! My cleaner can only come tomorrow at 11. Typically, I must give them a weeks' notice.

Hi Mechiel. Yes, so, and so used the same bathroom.  So and so presumably used an extra towel but they are not using any extra towels or anything tonight. So again, it is a wash. Your cleaning service is cleaning the house exactly as it would have been saved perhaps for one towel. Same cost to you. We are leaving at 7:45 in the morning and had no concerns about your lack of flexibility with the checkout time. Makes sense but we just asked. house rules explaining this $10 charge are on the App under more house rules and not on the front page and even then, the sentence is partially hidden to right on my phone. I simply did not see it and would appreciate your understanding given the spirit of the situation

Sir, I'm sorry but I have no control over the App only it's content.  Have a great night and safe travels. 

The Threat

Thanks, Mechiel. I am rule follower but this one is not only difficult to find and therefore unknown to me. I will leave $20 in the house. I will also give this house a terrible review and will warn people about this arbitrary rule. Your harassment of me while I'm in on my vacation and will tell them to be careful with their car because the cats jump on your cars, scratch the paint and shit on the car - yes that did happen.

I replied, Thank you.

Mechiel, we left at 7:45 this am. I left the $20 inside. I hope you appreciate how rigid you are and if you were running a real business, this mindless following of capricious rules would ultimately result in failure. So good luck. You can be certain that in every other way we have been model guests and left the place as good as we found it.

I replied, I appreciate your candor and the $20.00.  Have a great day.  Safe Travels. 

Upon checkout and after gaining access to the house, I realized even after he read the House Rules, he didn't follow the rules on what to do with the linens.  In all fairness, they respected my house, and my overall assessment was good.  I would host them again.

I did find the $20.00 so I assume he will follow thru with his threat to write a terrible review and to that, I offer this to all my future guests. 

Welcome to Iron Horse Acres – home to friendly hosts and a lovely farmhouse to share with our guests

I thought I'd take the opportunity to share with future guests a little more about staying here on a farm, especially for those who may be travelling from the city.

This is a working horse farm; we have an injured rescue on site. She stays to herself, is well taken care of and you will see her only at feeding times 8am and 5pm.  We are often visited by other non-threatening wildlife in this rural area.  During the day, you will see Gopher Turtles.  They are protected by the State of Florida and the only thing you can do with them, is take a picture.  You may even get a laugh out of them, as they will often leave poo behind on the driveway, not to be mistaken for cat poo. You will never encounter cat poo, as cats bury their poo.  We also have a flock of 17 Turkeys – although they are large is size and can seem intimidating, they are only looking for seeds left behind from my bird feeders that are for the Cardinals, and the turkeys will scatter as quickly as they arrived.

In the evening when we are mostly all sleeping, there is one cute red fox, a 6pt buck and his doe.  We do have 2 tame cats onsite however, they are never left outside at night to roam, they are comfortably sleeping in their beds inside the barn.  However, we do have feral cats or untamed cats that roam the entire neighborhood at their leisure.  Good news is, we do not have Gators or Wild Hogs and all nocturnal creatures at night will not harm you, your children or chase you – they are all afraid of you and will run away.  We do leave the front door porch lights on until 10pm each night for late arrivals.  This can be changed to suit your needs. 

As with any Short-Term Rental stay, each host is allowed to write their own house rules.  Some of the main house rules are posted inside the App prior to booking online and once you book you will be a soft copy of the House Rules inside the app and given a hard copy of the House Rules inside the home for your review.  It is an advantage to you that you do read the rules, it contains helpful information such where to get more batteries for the remotes, WIFI setup information, Additional guest policy and what to do with your linens when you checkout.  Because hosts and guests alike, rely on reviews, this eliminates the need to communicate through an app to resolve a situation in a timely manner, that you may be able to resolve on your own. 

We do have camera's onsite that are clearly defined in the house rules and not in personal designated areas.  In the event a situation occurs, the security team is instructed to review the content to validate a guest's concern or owner's concern.  To date, we have had no guest safety or personal property issues reported.

We also realize that plans can change, perhaps more guests are expected to come, perhaps you need to stay longer or even leave early.  The best thing you can do is reach out to us and we will help you to mitigate your circumstances.  If you're bringing more guests, awesome!  We will stock the home appropriately to accommodate that need. 

If you need more time, well this one is a bit tricky.  Checkout daily is at 10am, our cleaners arrive at 11am.  Because of the COVID situation, it's more difficult these days to find great cleaners that want to work.  We are fortunate to have a team that is dedicated to us, but because they are in high demand, their time can only be scheduled in advance.  If by chance, there is availability behind your scheduled checkout date you are welcome to extend your stay.

As we state in our House Rules, if we are around during your stay, we will gladly (in season) build a bonfire for you at our new outdoor wood firepit. 

Stay tuned for our future update! We will soon be opening a 4th bedroom!

As for the degrading attempt to "bring me down" where he stated, I hope you appreciate how rigid you are and if you were running a real business, this mindless following of capricious rules would ultimately result in failure.  

The House Rules were well thought out and not capricious and they have been tested for 2 years now without fail.  As for the feeble attempt to state that I ultimately will fail, I encourage everyone to read the Chapter Failure Is an Option from my book entitled "Why My J.O.B. Quit Me, jump-start your firing.

The takeaway here is that it's very important to read the House Rules Reading the House Rules would have prevented this whole negative interaction.  However, as for me, this experience did the opposite of what my guest expected from me.  I was professional and factual in my delivery without emotion. This interaction has inspired me and taught me that you can't always make everyone happy, all you can do is be the best host you possibly can, and I accept his negative review.

Some may say, Was it worth the $20.00 for a bad review?  It was to me, because I'm confident if I didn't stand up for myself or my business, I would have given an inch and he would have taken a mile. I'll recover from the bad review!

Have a great weekend everyone and I'll see you back here next Thursday on the Fearless Innovator podcast.

 It's very ironic that last week's episode we talked about the power of the pivot, well due to overwhelming and compelling feedback I've received from my community, it's time to pivot, so pardon my mess.

Several of my listeners have given me very candid feedback about my podcast. The main point I've been hearing, is that you don't know who I am or what I'm doing. Well, quite frankly, I don't. As every growing podcaster before me, they too have pivoted, it's just my turn!

When I first started my Podcast, I was encouraged to just jump in, and do it because my peers felt I was a good storyteller. I was also encouraged to read Chris Krimitsos' book called Start Ugly. Basically, the book explains to just start Ugly no matter how ugly it is!

Chris is the originator of PodFest. PodFest is a conference where all styles and flavors of Podcasters go to share knowledge and experience. I'll leave his link here in my show notes. 

This year I was fortunate enough to attend my first PodFest that was hosted here in Tampa.

All I can say, is WOW! There's a lot to learn and I walked away blown away by the content, the connections, the knowledge, and the opportunities within the Podcasting family. To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. After attending I knew I had to make a change, but I wasn't quite sure what to do.

Then I discovered that I could attend a local Podcasting meeting, so being the shy person that I am – I went.

I didn't know a soul and found myself surrounded with well-seasoned Podcasters. I didn't care. When it came time to share my story, I put it out there. It went something like this, look, I'm 28 episodes in and I don't know who I am, I don't have a focus and doubt is setting in and I'm not sure I'm fit to be a podcaster. Here's the good news, I have everything I need already setup. I've written a book, I have a website, I have a podcast – I just don't know how to connect them all. 

Clearly, I didn't feel the love, but I enjoyed sharing my story of how I went from the farm to corporate and how I quit my JOB to be an entrepreneur.  My turn was over, and it was on to the next person. I felt a little disappointed and then I engaged with others to hear about their journeys.

After the meeting, it was networking time! I met amazing people doing amazing things and I loved hearing others success stories.

I was getting ready to leave when I was approached by one of the speakers from PodFest. I learned the most from Bruce's presentation. I learned top 20 ways to promote your podcast for free! His advice instantly gave me new energy and new focus and now he's standing in front of me. I thought to myself, why on Earth would he want to be talking to me. I listened intently and with his soft-spoken voice, he said he really liked my story, and he was encouraging me to stick with it. 

We talked a bit more and then he told me that he does coaching on the side. Mind you, Bruce Wawrzyniak already hosts 2 Podcasts – Now Hear This with over 400 episodes and Catholic Sports Radio over 150 episodes. I'll leave the links to his shows in my show notes. 

He told me that he'd be willing to coach me, and I asked, why me? He said, because I believe that you are a doer and there are several in this space that have great ideas, but they never act on them. I believe you follow up on action items and get things done! Spoken like a true Project Manager, I thought, and I said, oh yes, I'm a great student. I further explained. I have all the pieces I just need guidance on how to connect them all and make this a fine tune oiled machine. I accepted and we had our first in person meeting. Bruce was very diligent with his time, and we resolved a lot of my issues in my first 1-hour meeting. I was a good student and implemented all his changes – you all may not have noticed yet, but you will!

In my next meeting, I think he felt a little more comfortable with me and really drilled down and provided me with great feedback. 

Today, I'm in the middle of making those changes and the most significant change will be a new tagline – a new thumbnail is coming soon and checkout my new website changes at fearlessinnovator.com

My new tagline will define who I am and what I do. So, pardon my mess as I work through my thoughts and fine tune what that will look like. 

Have a great weekend everyone and I'll see you back here next week on the Fearless Innovator podcast.

Chris Krimitsos  - Start Ugly - Start Ugly

Bruce Wawrzyniak - Now Hear This Entertainment www.NHTE.net

Bruce Wawrzyniak – Catholic Sports Radio Catholic Sports Radio

This week's topic is there is Power in the pivot. What do I mean by that?

I first learned about pivoting when I played basketball in high school. I would pivot on my left foot allowing my right foot and my right dribbling hand to go in any direction I wanted. It's much the same concept in business or anything you apply it to in your life. Everyday life is nothing but a bunch of pivots! Another way to think about it is "change" but NO one wants to hear that word. That word instills fear.

Perhaps, you decided right out of high school you wanted to go to college to become an Engineer but after a few semesters you felt getting your Computer Science degree was more favorable. You changed your focus and went down another path – that's a pivot!

If you recall Andrea's story in Episode 28 where she pivoted from being a 2nd Grade School teacher to now owning her own Staging business or Nicci in Episode 30 where she had to shut down her own business and became a real estate investor. These are 2 great examples of pivoting. I did the same thing when I quit my J.O.B. in 2017 to be a full-time real estate investor. 

I worked for a technical company for 10 years and in those 10 years, I remember at least 3 pivots. First, we were a networking company, then they pivoted, and we became a consulting firm then we pivoted again and became a nationwide consulting firm and absorbed another company.

Why do we pivot? We pivot because we can see the new opportunity that's in front of us. Or quite simply put, listen to your customers their feedback you receive is priceless. They will tell you what they expect from you. This will more than likely change your vision. When your vision is impacted for the better, of course, you will automatically pivot to meet the new expectation.

Typically, we get to choose whether we pivot or not, let's talk about 2020. That was the year we didn't get to choose our pivot and if you didn't like change, boy you were in for a rude awakening. In Florida, we were on lock down for about 45 days. Well, I used to go to the gym every week and now I couldn't. What did I do? The same thing a lot of other did, I hopped on my bicycle – yeah, the one without the throttle and I took to the trails. I was forced to learn a new language! I didn't know how to wave at other bicyclists. I know that sounds weird, but they didn't understand my "biker" wave, so I took to FB to figure out how to wave. 

Many of you bought RV's, ATV's and spent a lot more time outside with your families. 

What do most people fear in a pivot? The change itself! Well, in 2020 we had no choice and guess what? I believe it was a great change. It brought us all closer to each other and we started doing more things outside! I know some of you lost your J.O.B,'s – well it's likely you didn't even like that J.O.B. and now you can basically have any J.O.B. you want – so you should be much happier!

The point is, be open to all possibilities. Never shut a door before it's even been open…investigate your options and choose wisely. The most effective teams or business owners adapt to change. I know a ton of people that hate change – well you'd better learn to accept it because it happens every day!

This just happened the other day, I got a phone call from one of my short-term rental guests. She gave me 2 pieces of advice. First off, I was thankful she took the time to call me one on one to share her concerns. 2 – I heeded her advice because it could have had a negative impact on my future guests. 

Another thing to consider is when evaluating a new pivot – make sure it doesn't require radical changes or makes you scrap work that you've already done, you should be moving forward not backwards. 

Just this am I was listening to Darren Hardy – on his Darren Daily episode and he talked about the #1 Enemy to Your Success. It wasn't difficult for me to figure out that he was referring to YOU. You are your number one enemy to success. You are where you are because you're not doing anything to move forward.

I had another friend, just yesterday send me this saying:

"If you want 2022 to be YOUR year:  Don't sit on the count and wait for it. Go out. Make a change. Smile more. Be excited. Do new things. Throw away what you've been cluttering. Unfollow negative people on social media. Go to bed early. Wake up early. Be fierce. Don't gossip. Show more gratitude. Do things that challenge you. Be brave.

How many of those do you align with?

What are your fears? Fear of being successful?

Here's something you may or may not know. Did you know that YouTube was originally created to be a video-Dating website 15 years ago? They were even paying women to submit their videos only women got smart and didn't submit videos. YouTube ultimately pivoted due to the overwhelming feedback they received from their viewers and YouTube today is an online video sharing and social media platform. Wonder what would have happened if they didn't pivot? My guess is someone else would have eventually come up with the same idea. YouTube gained the market share because of the pivot. 

They pivoted because they hit a roadblock. That roadblock led to another opportunity. That opportunity presented room for growth. That's the secret recipe.

Not all pivots are caused by roadblocks. Some pivots are created out of shear drive and vision.

My next adventure in real estate is a path, quite honestly, I've never been down. But remember, when I started in real estate, I had no idea what I was doing, and my list of accomplishments are more than most. 

My next adventure is going to marry my experiences of growing up on farm, with my Project Management day's and with Real Estate. I'm planning on developing an RV park. I've wanted to do it for years. I've been researching this now for a couple of years. I've looked at several parks in Florida and outside Florida. I've narrowed down the type of park and how I want it to operate, etc. I know that when the timing is right, it will happen. I won't be disappointed if a deal falls through, that just means that I've learned more for the next time. I also know that I will have the most talented people working with me and the Business Plan will be well thought out for Angle Investors in the deal.

I like to think about things this way -if someone before you has already done what you want to do, you can do it too!   Even if it's not, still do it!

I've pivoted from being a landlord, to owning commercial property to Short Term Rentals and now developing an RV park.

What's the reason for my pivots? First, I love every aspect of real estate but most importantly I learn something new every day! I love learning! Which is why my sister thinks I'm smart – I'm only smart because I love learning – it didn't come naturally, but don't tell her that!

So, ask yourself, are you ready to make a pivot in your life?? I would encourage you to do so!

I'm also interested in learning anything I can about developing an RV park – if you know someone that has done this and they can share their journey with me, I'd like to talk with him and perhaps interview them for one of my next episodes. 

If you're interested reach out to me at [email protected].  

I hope everyone indulged themselves over the Thanksgiving holiday because now it's back to work!

Today, I'm going to focus on Lifestyle creep. Some of you may even be wondering what the heck I'm talking about. I looked it up and here's the definition.

Lifestyle creep, also known as lifestyle inflation, is a phenomenon that occurs when as more resources are spent towards standard of living, former luxuries become perceived necessities. An individual's discretionary income could increase because of increased income or decreased cost, such as paying off a mortgage. As discretionary income increases, individuals are able spend money on things that were previously unaffordable. Lifestyle creep occurs when spending increases at the same rate as income. It can be reflected in purchases, such as expensive vehicles or a second home. Spending money on things with ongoing maintenance costs, such as club memberships, also are demonstrated in lifestyle creep.

If we break this down into layman's terms it means this. The more money you make at your J.O.B. the more money you spend on frivolous things or doo dads as Rich Dad Poor Dad explains in his series of books. What does this look like?

It looks like this – let's say you earn $5000 per month.

Mortgage is $2000

Household expenses $1500

Car Payment $350

Credit card debt $300

Leaving you with $850 left over a month.

What do you do with the extra money? Well, what you should do vs what you do with the money are too different things. 

The neighbor comes over one day and is sharing this amazing story about the boat he just bought and the deal the dealership just made him.  He tells you that he just bought a brand-new boat and he's only paying $350.00 a month. You go look at his boat and think wow, I wonder if I could get a brand-new boat for around the same amount each month – I have $850 a month not doing anything. This could be doable! Your buddy takes you to the dealership and low and behold you find the boat of your dreams. You know the dream you never had until you suffered from FOMO. (Fear of Missing Out). Not only do you buy the boat, but you also put it on your credit card because your credit score is outstanding, and you have a high available balance because of your score and maybe because you pay your bills on time.  But you think to yourself – I use my credit card because I'll get points to use towards a free airline flight or gift card to Home Depot.  Never mind the 24% interest rate you'll pay – but your payment only increased by $400.  Yes, your boat is a bit larger than your buddy's. We also must "one up", you know!

Now, you have $450 left each month. However, when you bought the boat, you didn't calculate the Insurance costs, storage fees, maintenance, and fuel. Fuel for a boat is off the chart, let alone during an inflation crisis. But in the back of your mind, you are counting on raise that's expected in 3 months. Your last raise was 3% so even if it's 3% that's another $150.00 a month. You now believe that with the $600.00 left over it will be enough to store the boat at your buddy's house, pay for insurance and fuel.

We all know this example is an extreme case but I'm confident you understand how we all get caught up in Lifestyle Creep.  We want to "look" the part for everyone on the outside – after all nobody knows what you pay for things or what your monthly expenses are. It's easy to hide but it's also easy to look at the doodads a person has and easily determine they are in debt up to their ears. Then you know what happens? You sell the boat because it's too expensive to keep.

Just this morning, I was leaving for the gym. What do I see? I see a brand-new jacked up and lifted F250 pulling a brand-new boat. I didn't think anything of it, until I noticed the truck and boat were painted to match. You could say I was profiling but all I could think of is - WOW, that dude is in serious debt. I wish he had given me his money to invest that way he could afford his doodads.

Here's deal – I'm guilty of this too!

For the 25 years I spent in corporate America – I was also living paycheck to paycheck and buying things that I technically did NOT need. Why did I do this? Because I could! 

I would buy brand new trucks every 3-4 years. I've always heard the minute you take a brand-new vehicle off the showroom lot you've lost 10% of what you paid. My $50k vehicle is now only worth $45k. Which means if I tried to sell it the next day, you'd only get $45k for it. I never tried to sell a vehicle after I bought it, so I didn't care. Then I had leftover money, so I went and bought Harley, with the Harley I needed a trailer, and the plot thickens and continued. It continued until I was ready to quit playing the game! Think about it, you're in a ferocious circle. Work, get paid, pay bills, buy something new (because it's a false sense of FUN and living life!), work more hours, get paid, pay bills, no vacation because I've got to work. Once this cycle has repeated enough or you've become older let's say your now in your 40's you begin to think…is this what life really means to me? Work, get paid, pay bills, rinse, and repeat. 

If any of the examples above sound like you, you're in the Rat Race.  This is a term that Robert Kiyosaki came up with and even created a board game called the CashFlow Game to help teach you to get out of the rat race.

This rinse and repeat became so mundane to me that I noticed I truly wasn't happy and with employers putting so much pressure on you, that's when I decided to find a way out. My career in corporate began in 1997 and it lasted until 2009 but I stayed in my industry for 25 years. I knew in 2000 that corporate America wasn't for me and that's when I bought my first rental property and began changing my identity.

I also began to realize that I needed to change but I didn't want to give up my "lifestyle".  How did I do that?

I changed my mindset.  What did I do first?

Cut up the credit cards! I cut my "lifestyle of the rich and famous" to shreds! I no longer use credit cards. Now, I do have one credit card that I have available for emergency use only. I don't even carry it with me. I don't care about those lousy points anymore. I recently reevaluated the card I had and reduced this card to a no annual fee card!  They tempted me with a free airline ticket and companion ticket – phooey on you, if I want to go somewhere, I'll find a flight when I need it.

I reviewed everything that I was paying extra for. I used to have a vanity license plate that cost an extra $35 a year – not anymore.

I had several subscriptions that were automatically deducted each month. I don't need special apps on my phone to conduct the business that I do. They are all gone. I've scrutinized every bill, insurance policies, Internet, phone etc. When I first did this, I saved myself thousands of dollars! None of these changed my lifestyle it enhanced it and put more money back into my pocket!

I took the money I saved and started investing more into my real estate and my portfolio grew, creating cashflow.

Today, everything I own, I own outright. My truck is now 14 years young. I only have good debt. Good debt as described by Robert Kiyosaki is used to buy assets puts money into your pockets and makes you rich (like rental properties or short-term rentals).

Bad debt is used for consumption, takes money out of your pocket, and makes you poor – like a boat/car or your primary residence.

Which would you prefer?

It really pays to take Lifestyle Creep and throw it like shot put! I don't miss it because now, I'm enjoying life the way I want to enjoy it! I can travel when I want to and there's no J.O.B telling me when I can and cannot go and for how long! I get to decide!

If you want pointers on how you can begin your transition, send me an email to [email protected].

I am looking to interview others that may have a compelling story to share about your journey into real estate investing. If you're interested reach out to me at www.fearlessinnovator.com.  

Three years ago, I received a phone call from my mom. She was living in her winter home of Mesa; AZ and she was ready to go home back to Iowa. The urgency in her voice was fierce and determined. I told her no problem mom, let me get some things taken care of at my house in Tampa and I'd be on the next flight.

Just as a side note, I had only been home a week since my last 2 week visit with my mom in Mesa, AZ but that didn't matter to me. What mattered to me the most was making my mom happy and because of her recent mental decline, I dropped everything and made it happen.

I called my sister Melissa in Arkansas, and she was all in!

Within one week, we were both on planes headed to Mesa, AZ. When we arrived, we rented a large vehicle for the 3 of us as it was also our plan to convince my mom that she should take her personal belongings back home with her. Luckily, she agreed, and we packed the vehicle for the long journey home back to Iowa.

It was our plan to take our time, stay in short term rentals and make this a documented journey for my mom.

Our first overnight stop was a small, a very small town in NM. It was so small the streets were made of dirt, but the house advertised seemed to be quaint with a lot of character when I booked it. However, upon arrival my mom noticed these weird devilish figurines throughout the house. She said they gave her the heebee jeebees. I told her, let's leave a light on and if you hear anything at night, holler at me, because I've got my gun. I must admit they were a bit scary, but we managed to settle in, and mom stayed with Melissa, and I went to a back room.  The next day we ventured off for Roswell, NM. Several years prior mom and dad had visited Roswell and they were both intrigued by the aliens. After several hours, we were off to Amarillo, TX for our next stay. This guest house was in the backyard of the host. It was a beautiful 2 story house decorated with old cars. Our stay was uneventful, but we did enjoy the food in TX!

When we were planning our trip, mom had spoken up and said that she'd like to go see the Tin Man. We had no idea what she was talking about, so we googled it and yes, she was right! The Wizard of Oz Museum was in Liberal, KS, along with Dorothy's house and statues of all the characters from the movie. Mom said she had driven by the exit so many times but wasn't able to stop, so we said YES, we will go see the Tin Man. We stayed for a couple of hours and captured our pictures and back on the road we went, destined for Hastings, KS where we found a hunt camp. This short-term rental was in town but mainly hunters came here. We made friends with our hosts, and they told us of the restaurants in the area and then we went to bed early so we could good sleep for our next adventure.

As much as mom would get the heebee jeebees about weird places, she was still intrigued by them, so we had planned to go to the Villisca Axe Murders house in Villisca IA, but discovered it was closed for the season. We said no biggie, we will now go to Council Bluffs gambling. Mom loved to gamble - BUT let me set the story straight, she would only spend $100.00 and then it was game over! But I swear I've never seen two people (my mom and dad) that were ever so lucky! She or dad would always win. This day didn't yield anything but laughter and fun! After about 2 hours we were on the road to home. We only had 1.5 hours to go, and we safely got mom back home to where she wanted to be. She was thankful to be home.

You're probably thinking to yourself, what does this story have to do with real estate or being Fearless? Right? – well technically nothing but in the spirit of Thanksgiving I wanted to share with you a story of living life without regrets, enjoying the journey and helping others.

There's one more piece to this story - It was on our way to Liberal, KS from Amarillo, TX that we pulled off for gas. At this gas station we discovered these little rocks. The rocks all had a saying on them. We decided we'd each pick one and then share a little story about that rock meant to us. 

Mom chose "Joy" – She said it made her happy that we both could come and get her and take her home.

Reluctantly, Melissa chose "Forgiveness". I say reluctantly because deep down Melissa knew there was someone in her life she needed to forgive, and she did. Mom and I both knew who she was talking about, but we didn't say anything.

I chose Grateful. I was grateful that God had given us the opportunity to take the time to spend with our mom on this journey. 

If there is one thing, I'm guilty of, it's making sure I spent time with my mom and dad and other family members. I will never regret not doing something with them because I make sure it happens. 

If this time of year is difficult for you, I've always found that helping others no matter how big or small is the best thing to boost you right back up! It could be as simple as just talking with someone who needed someone to listen to them or helping at a food pantry.

We only die once, and this is our time to be un-self-absorbed (if that's a word) be kind and help others.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I am looking to interview others that may have a compelling story to share about your journey into real estate investing. If you're interested reach out to me at www.fearlessinnovator.com.