Harmonizing Mompreneurship: Julie Roy's Journey from Side Hustles to Million-Dollar Ventures

Ever wondered how to turn your side hustle into a multimillion-dollar empire while juggling the demands of motherhood? Join us for an inspiring conversation with Julie Roy, a Canadian entrepreneur, author, and the brain behind the transformative podcast "Glam and Grind." Julie shares her incredible journey from managing childcare centers to building a dynamic, profitable enterprise. She reveals the secrets behind achieving harmony in the life of a "mompreneur," offering practical advice on navigating business growth, cash flow challenges, and family responsibilities.

Discover the rich cultural background that shapes Julie's entrepreneurial spirit. Raised by grandparents from Northern and Southern Italy, Julie's story is a vibrant tapestry of family heritage, marked by the immigrant mentality that drives her success. With engaging anecdotes about her aspirations to move to Italy and the practical lessons she learned from Montessori education, Julie's narrative is as educational as it is entertaining. Explore how these experiences have influenced her approach to business and life, highlighting the importance of maintaining cultural values across generations.

From risky loan shark deals to successful business exits, Julie's entrepreneurial ventures are nothing short of riveting. She dives into her strategic moves in real estate and senior care, sharing insights on tax strategies and wealth-building techniques. Julie also discusses the significance of a supportive CPA team and mentors in scaling your business. Finally, we encourage listeners to join our Side Hustle City community on Facebook, where ideas and motivation are in abundance. Don't miss Julie's wealth of knowledge and empowering journey—perfect for anyone aiming to elevate their side hustle to the next level.

As you're inspired to embark on your side hustle journey after listening to this episode, you might wonder where to start or how to make your vision a reality.  With a team of experienced marketing professionals and a track record of helping clients achieve their dreams, we are ready to assist you in reaching your goals. To find out more, visit www.reversedout.com.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome to Side Hustle City and thanks for joining us. Our goal is to help you connect to real people who found success turning their side hustle into a main hustle, and we hope you can too. I'm Adam Kaler. I'm joined by Kyle Stevie, my co-host. Let's get started. All right. Welcome back to the Side Hustle City podcast. Today we have a special guest. Julie Roy, originally Canadian, currently lives in Nebraska. What's going on, julie?

Speaker 2: 0:34

Hey Adam, not much Just hanging out here in Nebraska. How about you guys?

Speaker 1: 0:39

We are doing well. Kyle just rolled in, but he is in studio to my right.

Speaker 3: 0:44

This is going to be the worst experience of your life, at least your dad.

Speaker 2: 0:47

Perfect, it'll just go with the flow today Just continue the trend.

Speaker 1: 0:52

So you're the guest on podcast. You also have your own podcast and you guys talk about you know your business experience being moms life's adventures called Glam and Grind. Tell us how you got to that.

Speaker 2: 1:06

So a lot of glamming and a lot of grinding, I guess, got us there. Do you want to know about my like, entrepreneurial journey? Is that what you're asking me about? Or just how we got the podcast? Yeah, yeah, like.

Speaker 1: 1:18

I mean with us. You know, starting businesses, things like that kind of led us to hey, we want to share our experiences on a podcast and let people know. You know how we got here. So how did you get to the point where you were like yo, I'm going to do a podcast because I've got all these things that I've done to share?

Speaker 2: 1:36

Yeah, basically same thing.

Speaker 2: 1:37

We um it's myself and my friend Rachel, and we both own and ran childcare centers, and I did a lot of scaling of businesses and have learned a lot of lessons the hard way and the not so hard way so just want to help other people, you know, compress the timeline for scaling and just, you know, without the misery and the pain that you know we had to experience, and just have available information.

Speaker 2: 2:06

You know, out there that we just didn't have when we should have had it or when we could have really used it. So that's pretty much what why we started the podcast and we have a particularly large female audience, um, mainly because both of us are moms of four kids and um, are both multimillionaires, and so I think it's a particular, it's a small class of entrepreneurs and so just a lot of women following the journey. I think it's inspirational because of where we came from as well, and, yeah, just having the ability to have really open, honest conversations about business, which people aren't having, you know, but a lot of people are avoiding the real life stuff about entrepreneurship. I mean, it's not all glory, right? So, and it's not all bad either, Right? So I think there's a nice.

Speaker 1: 3:06

Well, you got employees and cashflow issues. I'd say those are two big ones that people deal with on a regular basis that they may not be prepared for. You know tough conversations, uh, you know getting scared at the end of the month. You know you can't pay the bills.

Speaker 3: 3:20

I would think for with a large female audience and this is just going off of what I would feel like my wife would be like if she were an entrepreneur is the guilt of giving so much of yourself to the business as opposed to your family. So I'm assuming that a lot I've heard that before. I'm assuming a lot of your listeners are mothers.

Speaker 2: 3:39

Yeah, I would say you know, there's probably a 60 40 split. We're getting a lot more younger entrepreneur females, but I think it's because they're looking to become mompreneurs at some point or in their journey. They know this is going to be a thing for them. And, um, I just wrote a book, so that comes out May 1st. It's for presale. I'm not plugging the book, but he wrote a book and he has sold anything.

Speaker 2: 4:02

So come on, I plug my book all the time and non air me after this, but I'm going to tell you anyways, because I guess closed mouths don't get fed Right. So, um, but yeah, so I wrote this book on mom partnership and becoming a multimillion dollar mom and having, you know, four kids under six, 10 locations, 363 staff, like all the things going on while you're trying to, you know, be a good mom and a wife and do all the things right and take care of yourself, and all the things they tell you you need to do. So, um, but I wrote a book and we were just talking on another podcast yesterday about, you know, the challenges of motherhood and this whole idea of work-life balance, and I'm like it's BS. There is no work-life balance. Like, what are you talking about? I mean, all these people that walk around, you know, oh, I'm going to be really intentional and I am really intentional with my time, but work-life balance doesn't always happen. I mean, it rarely happens. What we say is we're happy with some work-life harmony, right, myself and my husband, who we've been together.

Speaker 2: 5:07

I was 18, he was 21. So it's been like 38 years. So congratulations.

Speaker 1: 5:11

Wow, that's great.

Speaker 2: 5:12

Yeah, four kids, so our oldest is 20. We have an 18, a 14 and a 13. So three boys. Last one was a girl, so we called it quits, wow.

Speaker 1: 5:22

I would have never guessed you had an 18 year old ever.

Speaker 2: 5:25

Thank you, God.

Speaker 1: 5:26

I already love your podcast I mean it's true, it's, it's, it's actually amazing.

Speaker 3: 5:32

Uh, so yeah he doesn't say that to me.

Speaker 2: 5:34

Yeah, I turned 50 in December and so, um, and had a lot of, like you know, rough times, uh, growing these businesses. But it is important to take care of yourself and we do talk about that in the book and how, how to have harmony. Because this whole idea of work-life balance for moms or dads, honestly I think it goes both ways. I can speak to it from a mom because I'm a mom, but I see the same thing for my husband. You know, I can't, couldn't be at all the things. It's just impossible, right. So you do have that like I can't be at the soccer game or I can't be at the choir event or whatever. But it's really cool now in retrospect to see my 20-year-old and my 18-year-old and they're like constantly thanking us for the opportunities we've provided them and that's like a whole full circle thing. Yeah, like crazy.

Speaker 1: 6:23

They're actually like not entitled and they sound like Chick-fil-A workers.

Speaker 3: 6:27

I know what is going on?

Speaker 2: 6:29

Right? No, it's amazing. Yeah, so they, they've always worked in the business too, like since they were old enough. We put them on payroll but they were expected to do work, and so even now my 20 year old is at college. He works at Carrabba's, like car side to go. Our kids are not entitled at all.

Speaker 2: 6:49

Um, one of the we'll talk I can talk a lot about family values, but one of the things we have a mission, vision, values, um, plaque right in our door when we come in and it's like a whole, um kind of a whole script of what you know, what we expect as a family from them behavior wise, core value wise, and the first thing is like be a good human, like that's the first thing. We want you to be Right. And so I think it's really what you put in them, what you instill in them, what your values are, what they're seeing. It really does come to fruition in a really great light If you put the time in. You know and yes, I missed out on a lot of crap Um, and I felt guilty at the time, um, or or not even so much guilty, but just knew there had to be some kind of harmony, because it's impossible to do both things at a level 10, right, it's just, it just is. And when you're growing companies, um, you know you have to be there. There isn't a work-life balance.

Speaker 3: 7:46

So that was my, that was my excuse for law school. Yeah, yeah, Cause I was working full. I was working full time, going at night and then raising the, you know, trying to coach the boys in football and basketball, and so I finished like lower half of my class. Now I'm not like Joe Biden, where I'll tell you I had a terrible first semester Then it from that on, I was first in my class or whatever lie he came up with. I'm like, uh, yeah, I was pretty shitty all the way around, so I use it as an excuse. It was I. I couldn't give it all 10, you know 100%. So I gave it to my family, and that my law school suffered, even though, had I not had kids, I probably would have wound up in the exact same spot.

Speaker 2: 8:21

Funny enough, I went to law school and dropped out. So, funny enough, I went to law school and dropped out. So there's that, um, I went for two years and then was like this is not for me, but, um, and it's a lot of work, right? So, um, if you did finish, harada you, um I checked out.

Speaker 3: 8:36

It's just. It's just a very expensive piece of artwork. I don't, I don't practice, so it's, and I paid. I paid kb. I going to go do this again, cause screw that. I'm sorry I I cuss a lot.

Speaker 2: 8:47

Yeah, so do I. That's why I was super careful on this.

Speaker 1: 8:51

Oh, come on. Yeah, he's from Kentucky, I'm from the hood, so it's like, yeah, we're good.

Speaker 2: 8:58

That's why you're successful.

Speaker 1: 8:59

That is why you're successful.

Speaker 3: 9:05

We're going to talk about that. Yes, oh yeah, oh yeah. Well, like, like what they say, top 99 of successful people are serial cursors.

Speaker 1: 9:09

They have to be yeah, I mean yeah, the more you cuss. Actually it's high iq.

Speaker 3: 9:13

I've heard, I've heard you gotta figure out where to put it, make sure it fits correctly. You can't just be right like. You can't be random, like, like. English is your second language. Cussing, that doesn't make any sense. You've got to be able to show that you know how to put the F word where it needs to go and you need to have proper adjective or possessive verb, possessive adjective in front of it or whatever.

Speaker 1: 9:32

Yeah, I don't even know what that means, because I did go to school in the hood too.

Speaker 2: 9:36

But, julie, Basically it's got to be on. Point is what it's saying.

Speaker 1: 9:40

Well, yeah, okay, well, did you? Uh? I mean, you're daughter of immigrants, and this is one thing that I think is really important. Do you speak another language? Yeah, I speak three languages. Well, see, look at this. So now you got three languages, all this other stuff that you've done, it's amazing. I'm telling you in like uh, you know what is crazy? I feel like I've had a lot of first generations and I got a bunch of friends that are first generation American and for whatever reason, like the they appreciate the opportunity.

Speaker 1: 10:08

They 100% appreciate the opportunity that they have in this country. And we talk about this all the time, julie, and there's so many people who grow up here in America. I mean, first of all, your parents came from Italy. You moved to Canada. Now you're in Nebraska and you still find a way to kill it, and it's, it's something about the parents. I think that they just cracked a whip. Or they say look, we busted our butts to get over here, appreciate it.

Speaker 2: 10:32

Yeah, so I honestly felt like I owed it to them, um, even to my parents, to my grandparents, so like my grandpa was a prisoner of war under Hitler and Mussolini regime. Like, let's talk way back, right, he he's over 100, now past, but he lived to 94. And he was a really huge role model in our life. My mom was a single mom, worked three jobs. I was raised by Nona and Nona Right, we were in the house all the time. No, I didn't speak English. No, no, barely spoke English. Our first language was Italian.

Speaker 2: 11:05

My grandpa was a tomato farmer. That's how he got to Canada and then he ended up working in roofing and siding. My grandma cleaned offices that night and we used to go with her and hide in the closets because there was no one to watch us at night, so we'd have to go to work with her. Like just really cool. I mean, I don't know, it's just a really cool upbringing.

Speaker 2: 11:27

But why I feel like I owed it to them was like he took a huge risk, left his whole family brought. My grandma ended up bringing 18, like our 14 brothers and sisters on her side and 11 on his, or something like that. Like a ton of people. They lived in a huge rum running house that we grew up Like we were raised in, just like I. Just feel like I owe what they did, like I can't just stop that journey. And he, if we were in Italy right now, I don't know how our life would look. Um, I just know that we were given a huge opportunity and it was because they worked their ass off Right. So, um, I knew there was potential. If my grandpa could come here not speaking any English and make a life and bring everyone over Like I, I just feel like I don't know. We had it in us right To be able to do that.

Speaker 1: 12:10

They come from Southern Italy or Northern.

Speaker 2: 12:13

My grandpa is. I said it's funny because mostly the Northern side is known for their work ethic. Um, my mom is actually Northern, um, very straight and narrow, and German, austrian, you know, raised us by the rule fairness, like checks and balances. My dad is from Rome and he's a little bit much more crazy and you know not as structured. You know just a different lifestyle in general. You know just a different lifestyle in general. But I was raised by that, those two grandparents more so because the other two they were working, you know both of them during the day and stuff. So yeah, so I have about, I have a little of each right. I kind of have this fine line of northern and southern and my dad's right kind of in the middle. But Rome, napoli, is where my dad's from and my mom's from Friuli, which is like on the border.

Speaker 3: 13:08

I love Napoli, so they're North. So you, you. You came up, your grandparents came and settled in Canada.

Speaker 2: 13:53

So they, yes, they well, they first went through Ellis Island, new York, Detroit right.

Speaker 3: 13:59

And then the immigrant immigration here was like dude. They're bringing 18 brothers and sisters. Canada needs people. Go north, go north.

Speaker 2: 14:08

They didn't bring them at first. He came first, then he brought my grandma, which had my dad and, I believe, his brother, and then my mom came. They both were like grade school age when they came to Canada. So they came and they didn't speak English or anything either.

Speaker 2: 14:26

So we were first generation Canadian and I was also the first millionaire in our family, right. So I felt like I had a lot of responsibility, being like the one to change the trajectory of our family's legacy, right. And so I still feel that way. I feel like there's many more, probably lots of more people in our family making good money now, but I was kind of like the first grandchild, you know, I don't know, I just had a lot of like. I felt like I took care of them. When they got older they didn't have a daughter, so I feel like I kind of just settled into that role. And then, yeah, they worked at our schools. When we were growing the businesses, my grandpa would come and cut the lawn and take care of the trees and my grandma was always bringing treats for the kids and my mom worked in the office and it became a huge family affair.

Speaker 3: 15:16

Well, what I don't understand is why your grandpa was cutting grass at a Montessori when you have kids there that can get educational experience by cutting grass Cause the very first time I went to Montessori for a parent cause I didn't. I didn't grow up with money, so I didn't know what Montessori even was, until my daughter was in it and I was in a parent first parent teacher conference when she was three and she polished uh, silverware all day, literally. It was like either she enjoyed huffing the stuff that they put on there or whether they're using water, I don't know. I was just so stunned I was like I'm paying how much money for my daughter to have clean dishes.

Speaker 2: 15:55

Amazing practical life experiences, so amazing for their fine motor grip and prehensile grasp. I could talk to y'all about that. I love Montessori but my kids did not get the grasp because they were literally well. When I had Xavier at that time he would have been under one.

Speaker 3: 16:10

No, I'm talking about your students.

Speaker 1: 16:14

You could have gotten all sorts of stuff done.

Speaker 3: 16:16

You could have done textiles, you could have done everything, that's true, the students did do a lot, though. They cleaned tables and washed windows and did all the things so yeah, I could tell them how to make cell phones utilize that labor come on and kyle.

Speaker 1: 16:31

So yeah, yeah, fun fact about me I'm trying to move to italy. Uh, we got married in rome at the vatican and uh, we were, uh we want to go to I don't know pulia maybe. Uh, yeah, I just feel like it's on the come up right now. So I mean that's one of the things we want to go to. I don't know Puglia maybe. Yeah, I just feel like it's on the come up right now. So I mean that's one of the things I want to do. But it's great that you've got that background, you've got that experience and you've got that, you know, immigrant kind of mentality still like that's handed down. I feel like a lot of people that have that end up being successful and taking risk. And it sounds like you took a risk from a loan shark At one point. You had to borrow some money at a crazy high interest rate just to start that. That preschool right.

Speaker 3: 17:14

Were you in Montreal, cause if you're in Montreal, the loan shark stories would be way cooler. Yeah, montreal's got so much like mafia history. I love it.

Speaker 2: 17:25

So two things. One, I lived in Rome for a long time. I played soccer, yep, and I lived in France. So I did go back to Europe for a bit and I just applied for our citizenship and the kids citizenship, just to have an EU passport as well. So we have in consideration. But in terms of the loan shark, yeah, um, his name was Malcolm and, uh, I saw an ad in the paper. I had just come back from Europe, I played soccer there, I had some scholarships and so I came home broke, obviously, cause why would I have any money? I came from the hood and didn't know anything about how to do anything with money. Um, came back and was looking for a job and I had some odd jobs. I don't know if you saw in our press release or whatever, but I've done some dig. You know, grave digging, some horticulture, landscape activities and all kinds of fun stuff.

Speaker 3: 18:16

Yeah, horticulture landscape yeah, they do that in California a lot. I think my brother that's what he was he's an expert in horticulture.

Speaker 1: 18:25

Oh, not that kind of horticulture.

Speaker 2: 18:27

Not that kind. I wish it was that kind, but no, we were, like you know, digging graves and stuff and also taking care of flower beds and cutting the grass, so, but long story short. So I came back and I started this preschool because I was working before and after school in a Montessori program. That's how it started and I loved it and fell in love with it and thought, oh, at some point when I'm a mom, I want my kids to come here, because this would have been amazing for me, like I never had this opportunity. My early learning life was like awesome. I mean, it was with Nona. We learned a lot of practical life skills cooking in the kitchen and doing the gardening and all the fun things.

Speaker 2: 19:04

But I had a real struggle in math growing up. Like I just could not figure it out. Like I I'm very visual and I could not think of things that weren't there and all the things. I'm super ADHD, so like I can't sit down for more than five minutes, and it's it's not because everybody in the world is ADHD. Now it's truly. I probably should have been on meds. My poor parents and everyone else you know had to deal with a lot.

Speaker 2: 19:28

But when I went to teach in Montessori. I was just doing before and after school, so I was just an assistant and I was like these kids are like multiplying and dividing with like these little kegs and stuff and I was like if I would have known that you could just take like four pegs and take two away and then you have two, it would have been so much easier for me, right? And they were doing all these like remainders and you know stuff that like was challenging for me growing up, learning the math. So I was like that's it, I don't care what I have to do, my kids are going to do Montessori, they're just going to come out out of the box thinkers and just become super creative and anyways, they all went through Montessori. But that spurred my idea of like I'm just going to be a Montessori teacher, that's what I want to do. I'm going to take my training and so I started working for my boss at the time and I was really great with the like people, with the parents and the kids, and I was growing her program.

Speaker 2: 20:21

We started with like one small classroom and it was like three and I kept enrolling people and doing tours and it was just like natural and I think, kind of going back my parents. Before they split. They had a hardware store on this little Italian street and I would always be at the cash and talking to the people and I just loved the whole vibe of like we had our own business all that part. During the recession it was a disaster. My parents split, like the whole world blew up, but before that it was great, right. So so I think I had entrepreneurship in me. My dad's super entrepreneurial, my mom in her own way is as well, and so I was like I can do this for myself. Like why am I doing this for this lady? I'm growing her whole business, like this is crazy. And I wasn't the best employee. I will tell you, I'm not great at like taking directions and, you know, following someone else's right here.

Speaker 1: 21:12

Yep, yep, that's. I hate it all. I hate to listen to me, right yeah.

Speaker 2: 21:16

So, um, so I was like the monastery closed in the summer, cause that's what they used to do, and you know the parents that have to find other care. So I was like I'm going to be the other care. So I put them in my mom's basement in the hood, created this like classroom and I was like I'm just going to do this on my own, at least for the summer, and see how this goes. Well, everybody wanted to come. It was super fun. They didn't want to go back to the school after, which caused some trouble with my ball you know all the things. But then I took out an S. Well, no, sorry. Then I was like I don't have any money, though, to like move this out of my mom's house. And she's like we're done here, like this is an insurance liability. We have all these kids in my house. I'm at work. Like what if you burn the house? Like you know all the Italian mom, right? She?

Speaker 2: 21:58

was like this is a good idea and this is dumb. You're going to make no money. Teachers don't make any money. Right Everything that you know. An immigrant parent wants you to be a lawyer, doctor or an accountant right yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:12

Yeah, something safe, you're going to make money, you don't have to worry if something happens. Anyway, long story short, malcolm. So I found this ad in the paper that said, like, need money? Now I was like this is me. Oh my God, this ad is talking to me. And I went, I called him up and he said, yeah, come down and meet me. Well, it was downtown Windsor. It's like downtown Detroit. Okay, behind McDonald's, this little purple door you walk in. It's like Stephen King, creaky light, you know little little desk.

Speaker 2: 22:41

I was like but I brought Bo, my husband, boyfriend at the time. I was like look at I, maybe you should come with me. I'm not quite sure this is a good idea to go down by myself, to go, you know. But so he's like what are we even doing? I'm like I'm going to borrow money. He's like what, what, what is happening? I'm like I'm going to open a school. That he's like okay, whatever, I'm super supportive, Thank God.

Speaker 2: 23:00

So we get down there and the guy looks at Bo we're sitting at the table and he's like okay, so we need collateral. And I'm like collateral, what the F is that? I don't even know what collateral is. And he's like. So he looks at Bo. He's like, do you have a job? And he's like, yeah, I'm, I'm interning. You know, I'm a psychologist. I'm interning right now. Like no money, right, but I'm interning. Oh great, no problem, that's enough money. So he's like looking at me like when did I, when did I become the collateral? So he's like, no problem, we're going to give you this loan, julie. It's $500 a month to pay us back for so many months. And, um, bo, if she doesn't pay us back, you know you're not going to be around anymore.

Speaker 1: 23:41

So he was like no thanks.

Speaker 2: 23:43

No, he was like okay. He was like looking at me, like what are we doing? And so, um, he said are you okay with that, bo? Do you love this girl enough? Do you believe in her enough that you'll do this? And he was like yeah. And so we left with a check and his signature on that paper and let me tell you, I hustled, hauled, butt that first year and got that loan paid for. But again, I think there's this mentality of like there wasn't going to be another option for me, like I was going to figure it out.

Speaker 3: 24:14

Yeah, there wasn't going to be another option. Your love of your life was going to get.

Speaker 2: 24:26

What I'm going to tell you, though, is why the story is cooler than than. The point of the story is that I truly think all entrepreneurs there's one thing we have that delineate success versus not in the journey is that you have to have belief in yourself, right? So I knew, even getting that money, that there wasn't going to be an option for me to pay that 500. Like I would never not pay someone back, that just was not an option. So I've worked two, three, four jobs.

Speaker 2: 24:49

I knew how many kids I had. I knew that $500, I would have to work, continue to work my W-2 while I did this for a year at least, as I got kids, cause I started the school with 13 kids. Well, by the end of that first year, I had over 80 kids enrolled in the church and we were busting out and so. But so what I'm saying is like I think, at the end of the day, if you decide you want it bad enough and you commit and you're consistent and you do the work, you can do it. It's just people. I don't think they have the same will or drive or like killer instinct that maybe we grew up with, having been in that lower middle economic situation and seeing what our parents had to do and what my grandparents did, and I just was like I'm not doing this, like I want to have a better life for myself.

Speaker 1: 26:13

Yeah, you don't want to work until the idea of working to your 65. It's some job you hate or in some career you hate is like almost worse than this guy coming after you.

Speaker 2: 26:23

You know coming after her.

Speaker 1: 26:24

Yeah, but is that the now? Is that the thing you did, the 12 X multiple exit from, because that's a great multiple?

Speaker 2: 26:34

The first one was about a 10 X Um. Our first exit to private equity was it took 10 years, from 2001 to 2011. We exited the first time to private equity in Canada and we kept all the real estate. So I had bought all the real estate along the way and then we sold the real estate in my retirement days my first retirement to, to, to what do you call it? An investor basically. And then I got bored and I opened a bunch of long-term homes and went the other end, cause I had a non-compete and all that you know.

Speaker 3: 27:10

What's a long-term home? Is it for older people?

Speaker 2: 27:13

It's, yeah, basically like living for 65 plus or people that have.

Speaker 1: 27:19

Oh, I got a client that does that.

Speaker 2: 27:20

Long-term illness or end of life care, like really sad, I was crying. It was so depressing. Oh no, so I didn't do that for very long because I just got too attached to all the people?

Speaker 3: 27:30

Is that, like my thing, a hospice Similar to hospice?

Speaker 2: 27:33

similar to hospice. Yeah, you have like regular long-term care where they're just they can't live on their own, so they need a home, basically, and it's nursing care and all that, and then on the other side of it it's like end of life.

Speaker 3: 27:42

So they do do the hospice and everything so like okay, so there's like senior centers and then there's nursing home, so long-term home could potentially kind of all that and dementia, care you know, all the things, yeah, the dementia care, but I left that because everybody God bless those people.

Speaker 2: 27:56

Yeah, it was hard. So, long story short, I was like I just want to get back into child care. I'm going to go to Michigan or I'm going to go to Ohio or I'm going to go, you know, somewhere across the border and just commute, and so that was 2011. Ohio still kind of not great in that recession, sort of just right after. Not a lot of opportunity for like what I was looking for, for child care to make it worth leaving the, leaving my kids, you know, um four or five days a week coming back home. So, anyways, one day this um portfolio came across my desk and it was for some schools in Omaha, nebraska, and and I was like sure, why not? Like I don't know where that is, but it'll be fine.

Speaker 1: 28:36

Came out for a visit.

Speaker 2: 28:38

Anyways ended up buying them from an 87-year-old at the time.

Speaker 1: 28:42

Warren Buffett, warren Buffett, I know the one millionaire, no, but probably his friend.

Speaker 2: 28:46

She was like 87. So ended up buying those bought all around us, started to buy, like all the owners around Omaha that wanted to sell, and then created a portfolio. But instead of 10 years, it took less than three. So high to COVID we were. Cause I obviously learned learned all the stuff that we didn't do, um, or that we should have done the first time. Um got into mentorship groups, just leveled up, um, our education of ourself as well.

Speaker 2: 29:15

And then, when I was doing the 10th school here, private equity approached us and I was like no, I just moved my family. Bo had quit his job, like he shut down his practice. We moved four kids from Canada. They hated us, you know all the things. And I was like no, this is a 10 year project, like we're staying here for 10 years. So they came back again a few months later with an even better offer and I was like this is crazy. Um. And then the third offer they came back, um, I was just finishing. It was like my hurrah 10th school.

Speaker 2: 29:46

We did a big transition of like an alumni house of the university had like a beautiful Hogwarts building, to this amazing Montessori. It was super cool. It was like my, my project during COVID and um, we were super full, had a huge wait list, um, during COVID, which was awesome Cause we did all the care for emergency caregivers. You know, um, they have a COVID hospital here like a um, not a COVID hospital infectious disease specialty hospital. So, anyways, we were super busy and they came back with an offer and they said we want to close May 28th and this was May. No, this was April. I was finishing the 10th building would have been done and open May 1st. And I was like, so, anyways, yeah, you didn't even get to enjoy the new building. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I just finished it. And then it was like here's the key.

Speaker 3: 30:38

She can buy it. She can buy it yeah.

Speaker 1: 30:40

Do whatever you want after that.

Speaker 2: 30:42

Yeah, it was 12X on the business. But what we did which was super cool on this was we ended up selling all of the business to private equity and then we sold. We coupled what I did on sale is I coupled the sale with the sale of the properties which we owned all of them. But what I did was I sold the business to the private equity with and then I sold these real, this real estate, to store, which is a big REIT. I don't you probably know them in the U S.

Speaker 2: 31:12

they own a lot of stuff like plazas and commercial buildings, but I sold it to them with 15 year triple net leases in place with the new corporate company, so it was even more than a 12 X, it was a nice eight plus figure exit Nice.

Speaker 1: 31:29

So now you guys are just kind of living the dream. I mean, you got the speaking engagements that you do, you've got your podcast where you're sharing this information. Still living in Omaha, you got yeah.

Speaker 3: 31:38

Over 10 million dollars Making the money stretch making the money stretch investment club.

Speaker 2: 31:43

It's awesome we're waiting for the kids to leave. But what we did is we took the money from the sale of the so the real estate right, we didn't want to. There's a tax play, right? Y'all know how this goes. So we put a lot of emphasis on the real estate. So what we did was we 1031, all of the real estate sell into. We own a bunch of like triple nets now. So we own star, like a bunch of Starbucks, four or five. We own um kinder cares in Minnesota, um Texas, florida. We own um kinder cares in minnesota, um texas, florida. We own learning centers so where are you?

Speaker 3: 32:21

where are you? Where are you finding all these franchises at? Because we just had a franchise guy.

Speaker 1: 32:25

They're buying the building and then just getting the franchise.

Speaker 2: 32:27

We're not buying the franchise. We're just buying all the buildings and these people all right from us.

Speaker 3: 32:31

So we have triple net corporate guarantees um based on where you find in the buildings, that how you find in buildings, not to give don't give away your secrets, but they're available.

Speaker 2: 32:40

They're available everywhere. But we have a develop. We have three or four developers that just call us because we close, you know. So they'll just say like, hey, are you interested in? I just got one yesterday that we're going to put under contract? Are you interested in the starbucks here? We're going to give it to you at this rate and I'll say I need it at this cap. They come back and say, okay, when? When can you close? And we can usually close in about 30 days. So the last two years we've bought everything cash, so no debt. So that's also really great.

Speaker 2: 33:07

We have investors that wanted to start investing with us. So then we started syndicating triple net. So we own our whole portfolio ourselves. And then we have another portfolio we own with a bunch of people that come in with us that just want, you know, maybe they only have 100 grand, but they want to come in and get paid on that monthly recurring revenue passive income cycle. So then we just, you know, every first of the month we get all the money. Our own portfolio stays with us. The other portfolio goes and just cuts checks to all of our investors. So they get checks every first week of the month for the passive income, because there's no debt. With rent on triple net it stays the same. So we have rent bumps and escalations included to combat inflation and all that. But every month you're getting, you know, four or five hundred bucks or whatever on every hundred grand.

Speaker 3: 33:57

So where did, where did you learn how to do that part of it Do?

Speaker 2: 34:01

you have a mentor.

Speaker 2: 34:03

So what I did initially? Well, what happened was, you know how business people work we have a problem and then we have to figure it out. So I had a. I had a huge tax issue, right, because I had a big capital gain sale. Then I had all this property that was giving me all this passive income and I was like what am I going to do now? Now I have a huge tax bill without a business to do all these write-offs with.

Speaker 2: 34:25

So then I started looking for um groups, mentorships of billionaires, and I was like I need to just put myself in the room with billionaires. So my first mentorship I love Grant Cardone. It's a whole other story, but I'm like I'm a one-on-one client of his. So I've been coached under him for a while. But what we did was we ended up investing in a bunch of multifamily apartments. So we have a syndicated portfolio of multifamily of about 600 million and that portfolio eradicates all of our tax. So any money we make on passive income is eradicated through bonus depreciation, through cost segregation of the building. So we don't, we are living 100% passively and then we also live tax-free. So it's really nice.

Speaker 3: 35:12

Yeah, I mean, it's like living in Puerto Rico without having to live in Puerto Rico. It's pretty awesome.

Speaker 2: 35:16

Yeah, yeah, and we have state tax. So there's 8% state tax, which is a little bit harder to get rid of unless you have operations. So what I did is we opened the coaching company because I was coaching people anyway. So we do coaching for scaling and legacy wealth, basically to high net wealth business owners. So with that active income, we do a bunch of other things to eradicate that, like conservation, easements, purchasing and things like that. So there's a lot of tax products that you can use to eradicate active income.

Speaker 2: 35:50

The problem is, when you're reading the tax code, they tell you just how to pay taxes, not how to eradicate the tax. The other 600 pages are what you have to figure out on your own pretty much so, but we also have an incredible CPA and an incredible team of people that help us. Now that you know we have all the information to be able to keep as much money as we can, cause as business owners, you know, um, we pay a lot of taxes normally. So it's just been a nice switch and a huge advantage to living in the U S, which, again super appreciative of. I just turned American. I was just.

Speaker 2: 36:26

I just turned American in August so nice Congratulations yeah. Yeah, my citizenship and, super excited about that, my husband's Hawaiian, so he always, always had dual and the kids always had dual. So his mom's Hawaiian, dad French, canadian, with the Roy last name, so they already had all dual. I was the only one I came on an EB2 visa and the schools, the ones we scaled. I had to run those schools on zero credit for the first two years. So I don't know if you've ever run um businesses off zero credit with 300 employees.

Speaker 1: 37:01

Oh my God, now with 300 employees, geez.

Speaker 2: 37:04

You know we've over a hundred X. I mean it's insane. Or a thousand X? I don't even know what the number is. I should probably figure that out.

Speaker 3: 37:10

That's a good problem to have.

Speaker 1: 37:12

Yeah, that's what I had to figure out. How many like figure that out. That's a good problem to have. Yeah, that's what I had to figure out. How many like. When we sold our business, I had to figure out, like the amount of time I spent on it and how much money I'd made in an hour. And it was crazy and it was just like wow, like it, why wouldn't you start a business? Like it's just insane to me, like there's no way I I mean it would have took 20 years, you know, to make that kind of money.

Speaker 2: 37:31

Honestly, Adam, even now I have this crazy idea every day that I need to just open another business because I feel like it's insatiable right.

Speaker 3: 37:41

I'm telling you, especially when you come from nothing like, it's never enough Like it's crazy Like deep stacked right now too, like it's not even about the money.

Speaker 1: 37:49

It's about. It's not even about the money at all. No, it's about like I could do that again, like I did it already, like there's somebody out there who's not doing it, like why don't I just do it? I know what. I know the way to do it. Just do it, right.

Speaker 2: 38:03

And now I always look at like cash flowing businesses and I'm like, oh, I could for sure 10 X this bit Like they come on my desk all the time now and I'm like, hey, should we buy this?

Speaker 1: 38:12

Oh my God. And I'm telling you, julie, like I need you. Look, I'm telling you. So I'm running for County commissioner here right In Ohio and I'm trying to get the public schools here. I'm like, look, these kids need to be buying businesses, like in the junior senior year, like there's so many people that don't have a succession plan for their HVAC company, for their you know, all these businesses, the plumbing businesses, et cetera. How are we going to build all this affordable housing when we don't have people to do it?

Speaker 1: 38:41

So junior seniors in high school, they leave school a little early, they go work for this guy who plans on selling his business in the next five years. And then the county helps these kids. You know, two, three years down the road, once they have their you know they're an apprentice or whatever be able to acquire these businesses. We help them with the down payment. They get a SBA 7A loan or something. And this is my life, oh my God. But teach them to scale, because these guys, these legacy businesses, do not, they're not modernized. And you teach these kids how to modernize the businesses and then they can take them from a million a year.

Speaker 3: 39:12

Comfortable with their zip code.

Speaker 1: 39:13

To 200.

Speaker 2: 39:17

Well, yesterday or Monday, when was it Sunday night? Sorry, my one kiddo was home because they go to. Both of them go to college, which again, that's a whole other thing I'm. I am not about college unless you're going to come out with something you needed to go to college for.

Speaker 3: 39:32

Like a STEM degree. That's basically the only reason you're an engineer.

Speaker 2: 39:35

Yeah one son's in pre-med. You can't be a doctor without, obviously, going to college. Well, he had this whole idea for his whole life he's going to be a radiologist, blah, blah. Well, about two years ago, he started doing, um, a lot of real estate with us and learning and being in rooms and we take them to all these conferences, like they've been to all the conferences, learning all the things about financial literacy which every kid should learn right now. There's no excuse why kids should not be in financial literacy. Like this whole thing drives me insane. Um, they go to school, learn shit they'll never use, yet they have. They don't know anything about finances, it's.

Speaker 3: 40:11

They come out of college with 300 grand in debt, like it's the whole the whole using the credit cards that were mailed to them and they're mailing everything and they have no idea what that even means.

Speaker 2: 40:21

To their credit, nothing, anyways, I have. That could be a whole nother podcast. But um, what I was going to say to you is he came home and he's like I don't know if I want to be a doctor and I was like, really why? And he's like because I'm going to make like 200 grand after they take all my taxes and I could make that. Like he's already bought real estate himself in multifamily and he's like mom, we could just you know, I could do the Gator. He does Gator methods with Pace Morby.

Speaker 1: 40:45

He's like, yeah, I've met Pace a couple six months ago in Miami. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 40:51

Super awesome. Actually, he's doing squad up right now. But there's like my kids are. We're 18 and 19. When they bought their first property, we did Roth IRAs for all the kids that were self-directed. We rolled them all into real estate. So they have all real estate backed assets. So instead of paying them in full cash, we did payroll and then we took the IRA and took half of what their payroll was, put it in the IRA, max the IRA out, the IRA grew tax-free and then when we were there 18, they could roll it all into real estate. So they self-directed all of their IRAs into real estate.

Speaker 2: 41:28

It's just people don't know this stuff. Though, like I didn't know what I didn't know, the only thing I regret is not doing this stuff the first time or 20 years earlier. Right, we could have even been. Not that we're in a bad position. It's just like it annoys me that we paid all the tax and did all this stuff when we didn't know.

Speaker 2: 41:43

And Canada is not the US, I mean, there's not the opportunity to have all these tax breaks and to help the government create housing to get tax breaks Just not the opportunity. So we feel super blessed to be in America and have the opportunity and like going back to where we started on this like immigrant entrepreneurial journey. There is nowhere else in the world that gives the opportunity that you get in the US. As much as people hate on all the things going on in the US, man, there is no better place in the world. My kids and my husband one of our goals on that mission vision board was to see and go to all the continents with the kids and we just finished that. In December we just did our trip to Antarctica through the Drake passage with the kids and like they have been everywhere and the learning without classroom walls and understanding the way the world works.

Speaker 1: 42:34

Yes.

Speaker 2: 42:35

I mean super blessed to be here and I think that's why they're not entitled right, cause they've seen the world and seen the opportunities and have just really been not blinded to. You know the opportunities and what America offers.

Speaker 1: 42:51

So congratulations on and good for you for raising some, some kids that are going to be future leaders. I mean it honestly, like I mean the way you've set them up and you've taught them. This is why you have something right now. It's because we took risk, we. We did what we had to do. You need to set yourself up like this. I mean these. Your kids are going to be in a position where they can pick and choose what they want to do, but they have the knowledge of what works and what doesn't work, because you did the hard work.

Speaker 2: 43:23

Yeah, you have to equip them. Like you cannot create a legacy and then just give the legacy to them. They don't know what to do with that, right. I mean, like we my grandparents worked really hard, we worked really hard. We started teaching them how to manage the legacy as soon as we felt they were ready. You know, and part of that is like, hey, you got to work, yeah, you got to do the work and it's not just going to be given to you. We just don't give the kids money and we just don't give them whatever.

Speaker 2: 43:55

You know, and I think, because of where both of us came from we didn't come from a lot of money, right so we didn't feel like, because of where both of us came from, we didn't come from a lot of money, right so we didn't feel like. I felt like it made me, like those five jobs while trying to get my university degree, I ended up getting it and all that stuff, but that made me who. I was right. I think it has a lot to do with why I am here right now. I think if everything was given to me, I don't think that I'd be as motivated or excited, or I don't think that I'd be as motivated or excited or I don't know, yearning for all that stuff. Maybe it's just because I didn't have that, that I that I feel that way. But the entitlement, you know, is definitely a thing we're dealing with in America right now.

Speaker 1: 44:35

It's a problem and they just downtroddenness and the, the, the cancerous people that, oh they're so the worst, like the communist kind of mentality thing.

Speaker 3: 44:44

And it's like Before you get rolling, she's gotta be off here, like-.

Speaker 1: 44:47

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 44:48

Well, I apologize, but I could go that would have been a 35 minute I could go all day on this and we could talk about just being.

Speaker 1: 44:55

You know where we came from and, like, you know what makes us like tick. I mean, you know what? What makes us like tick? I mean this is all stuff that I love, but you, you've done an amazing job. Congratulations on everything, you and your husband with these kids, and I'm sure they're gonna have great lives and you have the coolest story in the history of side hustle city.

Speaker 3: 45:13

I'm sorry to all of our former guests.

Speaker 1: 45:15

Yeah, this was the sweetest story ever, best story ever, I know. Yeah, that's pretty gangster.

Speaker 3: 45:20

So yeah, he must have been a super love. Like I was just like just walking blindly into this gangsters, like it's like going to see.

Speaker 1: 45:26

Jabba. Well, it worked out. Look, she's 50 years old. Can you believe this? Yeah, I know, Like this is crazy.

Speaker 3: 45:35

She's got kids in college. Well yeah, if he doesn't die the hut Han Solo got frozen for that, for not paying back the hut job.

Speaker 1: 45:41

She set her husband up. Look at this. So and, by the way, I love.

Speaker 3: 45:45

Montessori for my daughter. I love Montessori. She did it. She's an excellent student. My wife went there. She's free thinker. Everybody I've ever met that's gone through Montessori has been very successful. I was just giving you a hard time about the no.

Speaker 2: 45:57

No, it's true. All the teachers would come to us like of the kids that would succeed into their programs, grade one, and they'd be like all these kids you send us. They're all leaders, like they think outside the box, they are great with peer relations, like I. Just it's awesome for them. I'm yeah, I even get emotional about it because I really am, I really believe in it, like I just the kids, what they did, what they can do, how my kids are today, I 100 percent believe it's because they were raised in that environment and they really respect other people, which that's a hard thing today, you know, like being a good human and being good to other people. Not everybody is doing that.

Speaker 1: 46:33

They're not not at all.

Speaker 2: 46:35

Well, julie, I really appreciate it and they look at their eyes. You know all the things, and so I'm sure you you noticed that with your daughter too, right, it's just different. So anyways, I know I got to go, but I wish I could talk to you guys longer. It was super awesome to meet both of you.

Speaker 1: 46:49

I appreciate it. Yeah, yeah, well, thank you very much for being on the show, julie.

Speaker 2: 46:53

Thank you guys. Hopefully we'll chat again soon.

Speaker 1: 46:56

Thanks for joining us on this week's episode of Side Hustle City. Well, you've heard from our guests, now let's hear from you. Join our community on Facebook, side Hustle City. It's a group where people share ideas, share their inspirational stories and motivate each other to be successful and turn their side hustle into their main hustle. We'll see you there and we'll see you next week on the show. Thank you.