This week we have the second half of the Valentine Duo, Christian, Steve’s eldest son. Christian is a little more reserved than his younger brother and chooses his words carefully. This episode is very interesting when listened to alongside the episode with Chase, his brother, for how they think similarly but with different perspectives. But you only need to listen a few minutes to see how much he respects his father and how much the Thinking OTB mindset has rubbed off on him.

 

Who he is and What his place is in the World

 

One of the biggest takeaways from both interviews is how much their parents’ worldview has impressed upon them. The Valentine household has gone through a great deal in their lives, some good and some bad. The important thing is that they’ve always been there for each other, and that support has allowed Christian to have a positive outlook on his future.

 

“One of the biggest impacts on my life is the word on my arm, the word on his arm, on her arm: limitless. Like, dude, you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it. You can be whoever you want to be. You could be the richest person in the world, or you could be just a mediocre guy, but you have the choice to go forward and do it every single day. You wake up every single day and you choose who you want to be.”

 

But even with that mindset, you have to be careful not to fall into the social media trap:

 

“It's hard to go through and look at all these people who are influencers who are trying to be someone they're not, and not think ‘I'm mediocre, I'm not good enough.’”

 

Being Strategic in his Communication

 

Part of growing up is knowing when to voice your opinion and knowing when to let silence speak for you. Christian is the type of young man who communicates deliberately, a lesson he’s learned from his dad and work experience. It’s a lesson that some people take a long time to learn, but one he’s already aware of:

 

“Everyone's different, especially when you're talking to people. Just like learning from working at Dutch Bros, you have to be very careful of your tone with people and know who you're talking to. There could be one thing that just sets someone off completely while you're on the phone with them. You could say just one minor thing, one little joke, one little slip up and you're done: you just lost the client.”

 

A Decade is a Long Time (When you’re 18)

 

Bernie asked him where he thinks he’ll be at 30 years old, and his answer was certified 100% fresh:

 

“Probably married? Maybe a kid? I don't know. I don't really think that far ahead, honestly.”

 

Keep on keeping on, Christian.

 

Want updates on future episodes and interviews? Text OTB to 602-560-7027 and connect with us!

 

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We’re continuing our series about smart parenting with an investment mindset. This week we are talking about keeping a mind to the future. We all want a future that’s best for our kids and the whole point of invested parenting is hopefully instilling the lessons they need to make good decisions for their own future. What can we do to help them make those decisions well?

 

Emotional Intelligence

 

Leaving high school and moving into adulthood is terrifying and exciting all at the same time. Up until then, there has always been a safety net in every decision that they made, then suddenly they’re expected to make adult decisions with real consequences. How can we prepare them for this?

 

It takes emotional intelligence as parents to allow them to explore their options without undue judgement.  Steve and his son Chase explored the idea of building cars together until Chase decided that maybe he wasn’t driven enough for the work involved. It was important to Steve to let Chase steer his own interest and ride shotgun where he could let Chase make that decision for himself.

 

“The relationships with your kids are extremely important. Keep an open dialogue with them, don’t chastise them too hard for certain things, and let that relationship be organic. Find the common place where you can be friend and parent and not one over the other.” – Steve

 

Investment Mindset

 

When our kids do strike out on their own, there are still things we can do as parents to help support them in whatever path they take. We’ve spoken before about using Real Estate to help finance those future decisions, not only financially for college but wherever they decide to land. Working on your own investment mindset can help your kids realize the importance of thinking with an eye to the future themselves.

 

Working for a living is an easy lesson to learn but investing for the future can be hard for a kid to grasp even at a post-high school/college level. Setting those habits early is key. When they move out of the nest, investing in a place for them to land and giving them a stake in that investment can help put them into the right mindset. It can be a way of keeping that connection with your kids but also letting them grow on their own and keep making those right decisions. Pass on that Thinking OTB mindset to your kids that the world can be richer for them than they ever thought possible.

 

“As a parent, whether you're in real estate or not, exposing your kids to the potential of investing in assets or investing with them to create a business, that's the structure that I'm teaching these current clients.” – Steve

 

Quotes:

 

“Had I not been part of those crazy experiences? I wouldn't have seen them. And I think that's the important part of finding a good mentor in the real estate business is so that you do get to experience what's happening.” - Steve

 

“I think it's super smart to take some time to figure out where you want to place your time and energy. The reality is that you can do a lot of things without going to school, right? So, I love the idea of a young adult getting to kind of decide a path that they want to go down while communicating that with their parents, you know, the people who are helping them become a better adult.” – Bernie

 

“When you put yourself in the shoes of the parent whether you agree with or don't agree with how they're handling something, that's coming from a place of caring and concern, they just might not know how to execute or express that positively. I think it takes a lot of emotional intelligence to parent well.” - Bernie

 

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We had a great time speaking with the Valentine boys a couple weeks ago, and as a follow up we decided to bring them both on one by one to share with us a little more of their own point of view and personality. Chase is joining us again to talk about how he thinks about his life as a teenager and his relationship to his jobs and money, and how he feels that contrasts with his friends that are the same age as him.

 

Life as a Teenager in 2021

 

Chase is 16 years old but talks like someone who’s more introspective than you would expect from someone his age. When asked about what kind of advice he’d give to people his age, he explains about being connected with the world and yet understanding that while he may be thinking about the world, the world hasn’t necessarily caught up with him yet. “This is one of the things that I've struggled with the most: don't overthink every decision that you're going to make. I'm 16 years old. There's no standards I'm trying to meet and there’s nothing that you really can't do. So just go and just make the best out of the years that you still can before you have all of this stress of ‘adulting.’”

 

Although the term ‘adulting’ is not one that he likes, it represents to him a time when he’ll have to be more serious about where his money goes and what his future holds. For him right now, he’s grown up knowing that time is an investment, but as a kid that investment looks different. “Money is money, right? And it can always be earned back, especially as a teenager. It's not like there's a lack of jobs to get that that money so you can enjoy those times. So, keeping that money and putting it away where it needs to go is not as important as making those memories as a teenager, because I know I'm not going to get these years back.”

 

Life as Chase Valentine

 

Chase was willing to answer a few questions about his relationship with his father which seemed to reflect his views on family. When children become teenagers, it’s easy to only think of them still as being only children, but they’re much more perceptive and introspective about the life lessons they’ve been taught when they were younger, lessons about family and how important it is to have that quality time together.

 

It’s pretty clear that Chase looks up to his dad and values the time he spends with him, especially since Steve made the decision to live without alcohol.  “The fact that you're not drinking makes you a lot more approachable. I feel like you're just a lot better with people now. Not that you weren't before, but, especially with us, you're more of a father figure now that you're not drinking, it gives us a better example of who I want to be when I when I get older, and when I am making adult money.”

 

It was great to have Chase on to get a little more personal about his life and his point of view to hear some of the lessons he’s learned living and growing with entrepreneur parents. We wish him all the best with his new job and look forward to hearing from him again in the future!

 

Want updates on future episodes and interviews? Text OTB to 602-560-7027 and connect with us!

 

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We’re continuing our series on teaching kids financial literacy this week on Thinking OTB, and for this segment we’re tackling something that may seem easy but can be very difficult. We’re talking about listening to your kids. Sounds easy, right?

 

The truth is that the relationship between parent and child is mostly a one-way street. For the first part of their life, we make all the decisions for them because they just aren’t capable of doing so for themselves. This is the “Because I said so” stage of their development. That’s not to say that we, as parents, aren’t trying to teach them good decision making. It’s just that most of those decisions are based on basic survival in the world we live in. Teaching good financial literacy, or how to properly use cost/benefit decision making is something that we would like to focus on with our kids, but usually gets cast to the side in the grand scheme of things.

 

The earlier you start and the more consistent you are with teaching your kids about money and good investments, the more they will internalize these lessons and use them to make decisions without thinking about it. That’s the goal we’re working for, right? If you are teaching your kids these lessons, you need to let them apply it when they’re ready, and that means listening.

 

Not only Listen, but also Follow Up and Follow Through

 

Give your kids space to make their own decisions and the freedom that they need to come to you with those decisions. Your job is not to rubber stamp every decision that they might make, but to ask those questions to see how well they’ve thought it through. At a point in our kids life, we stop being the ultimate judge of their actions and start to become a mentor, and as a mentor it’s our job to help them work through the details of their decisions without making those decisions ourselves.

 

Finally, the hardest part is letting them follow through on those decisions and help them through the consequences of their actions. This doesn’t mean to nag them, but to help them gain a perspective on the outcome so they can learn from every decision. If it’s a bad outcome, how can they do better next time? If it’s a good outcome, what did they learn from the win? No matter if a decision has a good or bad outcome, there is always something to be learned, and we as parents can help our children have the perspective to always be growing as a person.

 

Want updates on future episodes and interviews? Text OTB to 602-560-7027 and connect with us!

 

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It’s a special Thinking OTB this week! We have with us two guests who are very close to Steve’s heart: Chase and Christian, his two teenage sons! They’re here to answer some questions about what it was like growing up with two entrepreneur parents, how they think about money management and hard work, and some advice they have for parents from a teenager’s perspective.

 

“What’s your Favorite thing about your Dad?”

 

As the sons of two successful entrepreneurs, it’s very clear that these boys grew up with a very real sense of money management. They both talk about what it’s like to have jobs now as teenagers and what it means to have a strong work ethic instilled in them from their Dad. In Christian’s case, working at a warehouse and putting those lessons to the test brought it all together for him. “That's where my work ethic finally clicked like, hey, if I put my mind to something, I can do it.”

 

Making their time mean something is very important to the boys and comes from Steve’s philosophy of problem solving by thinking outside the box. Chase talks about how important it is to him that his time means something. “I also feel like he taught us that the quality of your time is more important than the quantity. I'd rather I'd rather spend one night with my friends and all hang out and have the money to enjoy that and spend all the other days in that two-week period working and making that money rather than only work three days a week and have all this time to spend with my friends, but all we do is sit around and play Xbox.”

 

All of this comes around to the relationship between these boys and their father: not a moment is wasted between them, and even among all the lessons and hard work he makes their lives as fun as possible. When asked about their favorite thing about their dad, they both had the same answer.

 

“For me, it’s the fact that you can be a really good adult and a really good kid. You can sit us down and teach us lessons about real estate all day long, but at the same time we'll be all sitting there eating dinner and you spray us with the hose.” – Chase

 

Teaching life lessons doesn’t mean that you need to sacrifice quality time with your family. It’s making the most of the time we have and using that time wisely that is the most important, especially where family is involved. Be spontaneous, try new things, and don’t be afraid to make memories when the chance strikes you!

 

“’No’ or ‘I won’t’ is not an option when you live with Steve Valentine.” - The Valentine Boys

 

Want updates on future episodes and interviews? Text OTB to 602-560-7027 and connect with us!

 

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One thing that we’ve mentioned before in previous episodes is the idea of investing in Real Estate as a means of securing a future for your family. The more thought that we put into investments now, whether it be in a home or otherwise, has the potential to pay off greatly in the future in many different ways. This week we’re doing some Thinking OTB for financial planning and behaviors for your children’s future.

 

Using Real Estate as a College Investment

 

There is so much potential in Real Estate investment that can be used to build upon itself outside of just buying and selling a home. Selling a home can be a way to make cash quick, but it’s not the only way or even the smart way of getting money out of that investment. Refinancing a home and using the freed-up cash to buy another home is something we’ve spoken about before regarding new home buying, but this can also be used toward paying for college as well. Properly planning out a strategy of that earns income can be more valuable and will go farther than any quick payment. This is also not to mention having a home for your children to move into should they decide to leave the nest!

 

Putting Your Kids on Payroll

 

Part of financial planning for the future is being secure in the knowledge that your children will know what to do when the time comes for them to be in control of their own financial future. Putting them on a payroll, if it’s financially viable, can be a great way to help teach them about money management while still in a safe place for them to learn. There is so many things we learn about money and budgeting and investment that only comes when we have money to do these things, and that time is usually when we’re the most vulnerable to making bad decisions. Getting a leg up and teaching your kids early hopefully will help them avoid the mistakes we made.

 

Value of Insurance

 

We can’t control the uncontrollable, and sometimes life comes at us in ways we would have liked to avoid. Car accidents, health problems, these things are the biggest things that drain people’s finances. We get what we pay for when it comes to insurance, so having it and making sure it’s up to date with our current lifestyle is an important way to help your kids understand that investments come in many different forms.

 

Want updates on future episodes and interviews? Text OTB to 602-560-7027 and connect with us!

 

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Last week we were so lucky to interview Chris Harder, and as always, he delivered such great insights that we’re recapping our conversation and going over some of the key takeaways. We covered so many things in our conversation and really tried to give him as much space as we could to let him talk that we really didn’t have much of a chance to respond, and this episode is our chance to talk about what we loved and want to emphasize from the last episode.

 

On Chris’s Mastermind and Paying Top Dollar for Quality

 

“I know some of the people that I've coached in the past and they're willing to write a very large check for your time, you want to show up and deliver 110% of that value, right? You want to make sure they get every penny out of it. Because when you're the person writing the check to that person, like I do every year to Chris, I don't want him showing up halfway.” - Steve

 

“(Chris is) very passionate about making sure that people feel like they get something out of it, like how connected he is to everybody's stories and their experiences. A lot of times you can ask people that lead a mastermind to talk about success stories, and they can't really because they're in it from the front end. They deliver information, but they don't necessarily circle it back.” - Bernie

 

Setting Boundaries Between Personal Time and Work

 

“I feel like he's very compartmentalized when he talked about his routine, like it’s very purpose driven. I always think of boundaries is like has a negative connotation, but it's really just about setting things up for your enjoyment, like the way he's non-negotiable on the way he’s got his (family’s) routine set up, and how they start their day, how they end their day, and then holding space for that.” – Bernie

 

“I believe Chris has a big heart. But if Chris said yes to everybody, that's like, I can't imagine how many DM requests he gets on a daily basis. And I understand you want to help people, but I think you do have to be cautious about it.” – Steve

 

Building Your Personal Brand and Making it Mean Something

 

 

“I've been in some other masterminds and I’ve been in some other coaching. Chris delivered value, experience, all the things that I appreciate, and they keep me coming back every year and making a substantial investment. I think the same thing needs to apply in our own business. When it comes down to the experience, what are you doing to create an experience for a buyer for a seller for an investor and how do you add value so that those people continue to come back, and they continue to refer?” – Steve

 

“Price is only important in the absence of Value.” - Bernie

 

Want updates on future episodes and interviews? Text OTB to 602-560-7027 and connect with us!

 

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This is a very special week for us because we have the absolute pleasure to welcome Chris Harder to the Thinking OTB podcast. Chris has been a mentor of Steve, a coach, but more importantly, a friend. We’re so grateful for him to stop by to sit and share with us some of the wisdom and insights he’s had as a highly successful entrepreneur. Our conversation hit a number of topics as we talked about everything from personal empowerment, investing in relationships and in yourself, and so on. Here are some hand-picked insights from Chris during our conversation:

 

On Real Estate Agents and Entrepreneurs:

 

“I feel like realtors, even though I'm not in the real estate space, are built the same way that I am. That is the more I put in, the more that I learn, the more that I hustle, the more that I can make and the more that I can make, I can then take those seeds and plant them and turn them into something new into a crop that's worth having. So, I actually have a really fond perception of realtors.”

 

Career Satisfaction and Working through Challenges:

 

“The power of a personal brand, I don't care if you're a Real Estate, or insurance, or sales, or it doesn't matter. A personal brand means it gives you flexibility, it gives you power, it gives you freedom to do what you want to do the way you want to do it.”

 

Learn from Everything and Get out of Your Comfort Zone:

 

“Getting outside of your industry and getting fresh perspective, fresh content, fresh ideas, is not like a recommendation, it's a must. Otherwise, when you only stay within your industry, let's say you use real estate as example: you only go to real estate masterminds; you only go to real estate trainings, of course there's really good ideas exchanging place there, but they're kind of incestualized and recycled improvements and ideas. It's not the radical, out-of-left-field brand new perspectives.”

 

You can find Chris Harder on his podcast The Chris Harder Show at https://chrisharder.me/podcast/

 

Want updates on future episodes and interviews? Text OTB to 602-560-7027 and connect with us!

 

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Many of us had grand New Year’s resolutions for 2020, only to have them smashed to pieces by living through a global pandemic. We have a different way of thinking about goal setting that is far more flexible and goal oriented: 90-day incremental goals. This is a way of setting goals we want to accomplish on our own schedule, making them more attainable and able to change course if and when circumstances change.

 

Key points of the 90 Day Goal Set

 

  Set goals for yourself on your own time schedule. 90 days isn’t set by yearly quarters, or month, but when you’re ready to get started on your goal. It can begin at any time, and so there is no excuse to put it off

 

  Set a reasonable goal that can be achieved in increments during that 90 days to track yourself. Seeing results is key to maintaining your goals and keeping on track

 

  Focus on building the habit that is needed to accomplish your 90-day goal. Building those habits into muscle memory will help sustain the goals you’ve accomplished and will help to prevent back-sliding.

 

  At the end of the 90 days, assess where you are and what you now know that you didn’t know before. Create your new 90-day goal based off of that new information and build upon your results.

 

Remember, the whole point of this exercise is to give you the tools to achieve the success you want even when the world is changing around you. Set your goals and focus on keeping them in those 90 days, but be ready to reassess when the next 90 days comes around. Form positive habits to keep you on track and to build on your successes as you achieve them.

 

Some things to consider:

 

Think about some goals you’d like to accomplish both professionally and personally in the next 90 days. What do you think you could achieve if you only had 90 days to plan?

 

Track your progress in whatever way is comfortable to you. You can use the calendar on your phone, or a cheap note pad, or a journal. The only person you are accountable to is yourself because you’re doing this for yourself.

 

Books mentioned this week:

 

The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months by Brian Moran https://www.amazon.com/12-Week-Year-Others-Months/dp/1118509234/ref=sr_1_1?crid=AFT2F5VGK0N&dchild=1&keywords=brian+moran&qid=1606715749&sprefix=bryan+moran%2Caps%2C226&sr=8-1

 

Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=atomic+habits&qid=1606715955&sr=8-1

 

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661845/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3GGFJZCEJTRIV&dchild=1&keywords=traction+book&qid=1606715885&sprefix=traction%2Caps%2C214&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyRzg2RzJMTktPSlkmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTEwNDcxNzVVR0JUSEc2MzdOWVUmZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMDY5MzA3NTExRkJaN1pNVlVCOFkmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

 

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Steve Valentine:  https://www.instagram.com/stevedvalentine/ 

 

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There is a great amount of value to be gained in the Real Estate industry being part of a team. Whether you are thinking of joining a team or if you’re looking to build a team around your business, there is opportunity to think outside the box and avoid some of the common mistakes made when considering what you need from your team and what your team might need from you.

 

— Building or Joining a Team —

 

A big reason we came into this business is the opportunity to build something for yourself and be your own boss. But that’s not to say that there isn’t value in being part of a team that can help you achieve the goal that you’ve set for yourself. If you’re just starting out, you might need to find people who can teach you the ropes of the trade and help you avoid easy mistakes, or to draw upon a veteran’s experience to solve those unique problems that pop up. Or, if you’re well established you might consider what it is that you’re not so good at and create a team that can help you with those issues while you do what you do best. Either way, looking within and deciding what areas you could use help with can help you decide if being part of an existing team is better, or if you’re ready to create your own.

 

— Teams should be Helping Up, not Help and Hope —

 

Being part of a team, if you’re joining or the leader, is about supporting each other to accomplish your common goals. Not every team is going to be together forever for many different reasons, but that relationship should be productive for everyone involved. Your team should share the same goals, the same values, and the same mindset for growth and advancement. If you’re the leader, you should be helping your team achieve the goals that they are striving for; if you’re part of a team, that team should be invested in helping you achieve your own goals. Actively helping up team members is the reason why agents come together. If your team is not invested in growth and advancement or helping and hoping it all works out in the end, it might be time to find a team that more closely shares your values.

 

— What to Consider When Joining a Team —

 

Here are some things to consider if you’re joining a team or you’re bringing someone onto your team:

 

Have a Well-Defined Why: Why are we all coming together? What is the purpose of the team?

 

Have a Well-Defined Goal: What does each of us want to get out of being part of the team? Knowing what the team goals are helps each of us know what our place in the team is meant to be.

 

Understand the Role to be filled: What exactly will be expected of each of us on the team? What is the relationship we have to each other, and what can we expect from that relationship?

 

What is the Expectation for Longevity: How long will we be with the team? Are agents expected to be in it for the long run, or is it a transitional role?

 

Remember, a team is a collaboration between individuals all working toward a similar goal. In a market as saturated with agents as this market is, being part of a team can help nurture those outside the box ideas that will give everyone the success they’re looking for.

 

Want updates on future episodes and interviews? Text OTB to 602-560-7027 and connect with us!

 

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Follow us on social media!

 

Steve Valentine:  https://www.instagram.com/stevedvalentine/ 

 

Bernie Espinosa: https://www.instagram.com/bernzpix/