How to forge your own path to financial success: breaking the traditional mold | Episode 2

In this "Let's Talk Assets" podcast episode, hosts Chris A Williams and Gio Paradis explore Chris's post-high school journey, detailing his shift from an aspiring college football player to a determined entrepreneur. After losing his football scholarship, Chris faced setbacks and worked at Footlocker and Enterprise, eventually finding his calling in real estate. The duo discusses the entrepreneurial mindset, overcoming adversity, and the power of self-belief. They also offer practical advice for new real estate agents, emphasizing the importance of knowledge, networking, and a structured daily routine. Listener questions are addressed, providing further insights into successful real estate investing and entrepreneurship.


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⭐️ @gio_paradis

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Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00:26) - Episode two Let's Talk Assets podcast. This is Chris Williams here with another episode, and I'm joined by my co-host Johnny Paradise. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So before we even go any further, I do want to address the first episode that we had. I know a lot of you all reached out saying that there was some audio and quality issues. We've done everything that we can to get this buttoned up, make sure that it's fixed, but we need your help on letting us know, so please let us know in the comments below. If you send us a message, just let us know! Make sure that we got this fixed because we want to bring you the best quality content as possible. So again, let us know. But let's kick off this podcast Joe. So absolutely. How are you doing today?

Speaker 2 (00:01:07) - I'm doing all right, man. Just getting back. I was a little under the weather last week. So, you know, in business when you're out a day or two, things pile up.

Speaker 2 (00:01:15) - Yeah. And you know how that goes.

Speaker 1 (00:01:17) - Yeah I agree 100%. But you're feeling better now, right? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:01:20) - Starting to feel better. Man. Got alive today okay. Back on the horse okay okay. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:01:26) - The grind never stops, you know.

Speaker 2 (00:01:27) - Hundred percent. So with with you, I think that it's good that we talk about how you got here. A lot of people see,, the results, you know, they see you on social media,, if they don't know you personally. But a lot of it is. How did you get where you're at? And I think we all the easiest place to start is what did the first few months after high school look like for you?

Speaker 1 (00:01:55) - Oh, first few months after high school.

Speaker 2 (00:01:58) - After you graduated. What does that look like?

Speaker 1 (00:02:00) - Yeah, man. Dang, that makes me go back in my time machine. Just thinking back then, that wasn't really that long ago. I graduated in 2018. So that was what,, six years ago.

Speaker 1 (00:02:11) - But it seems like it was 60 years ago. Just my progress from then to now. So when I first graduated high school,, my thing was just being a football player. I've been a football player all my life. So when I graduated, that was my plan to go to college and play ball. But as I touched on the last episode, my scholarship got revoked. So when that plan didn't work out, I was kind of at a lost point. I didn't know, really didn't know what to do at that point, you know, because everything just revolved around football. I had no plan B.

Speaker 2 (00:02:40) - No other aspirations, no other goals, no nothing, no.

Speaker 1 (00:02:44) - Nothing. And the crazy thing is, I knew I wasn't going to the NFL though. I just wanted to go to college and play ball because I knew that's what will pay for my scholarship, you know, to do other things. I originally wanted to do,, journalism and communications. Okay. So my grades wasn't good.

Speaker 1 (00:02:59) - You know, my freshman year of high school, I kind of messed around, so that messed my GPA up. So I didn't have the grades to get an academic scholarship. And I know that was my way to go to school, because one big thing is I didn't want a bunch of debt. So getting,, moving forward like, as far as. My life after high school. It was dealing with that, you know, trying to figure out, okay, what is because I didn't have a plan B, okay. Figuring out, okay, what am I actually going to do next? And the crazy thing about that, when I think about it is everybody knew me as that football player. So when I came back or I never left, but around that fall time when everybody's supposed to be going to school, when people are supposed to be going to training camp, I was still in the area and. Yeah, I can hear you. What did you say?

Speaker 3 (00:03:52) - You keep going. Okay, I'll cut this out.

Speaker 3 (00:03:54) - Keep going.

Speaker 1 (00:03:55) - What was that? I gotta run that back. I lost my hero.

Speaker 3 (00:04:00) - You were at football.

Speaker 1 (00:04:02) - Okay. We want to saw.

Speaker 4 (00:04:03) - You as a football.

Speaker 3 (00:04:04) - Player. Everybody saw you as a football player.

Speaker 1 (00:04:06) - So everybody saw me as a football player. So that fall, when everybody's supposed to be at school or when people are at training camp and such, I was still home, and I would have a bunch of people come up to me and be like, hey, you know, what are you still doing here? You know how embarrassing that was to answer these people each and every time and be like trying to explain the story because it's a complicated story. It's not something I could just tell in 30s. And even then they still want to understand it. But I just felt like I was looked at as a failure.

Speaker 2 (00:04:33) - What were you doing, though? What were you doing with your time then?

Speaker 1 (00:04:35) - Yeah, well, what I was doing with my time is I was just working at Enterprise and Footlocker.

Speaker 1 (00:04:40) - Well, I was just working at footlocker at the time., but I did pick up enterprise a few months later, and I would spend my whole days working at Enterprise on footlocker. So I was in Hampton at the time because I left my parents house., my job at enterprise started at 7:30 a.m. in Virginia Beach near the base. So that's a far drive I had to make each day. So 730 to 1. I'll work at enterprise and then drive to Lynnhaven Mall to work at footlocker. Start at two. My shift would end at 930. After that, go to the gym. That was pretty much my day each and every single day.

Speaker 2 (00:05:14) - What was the plan? What was to come after that? Why? Why the two jobs? Why the constant grind? Like what was the formula there that you were trying to build or put together?

Speaker 1 (00:05:24) - Yeah, yeah., so whatever really was no plan at first. Now, I say at first there was no plan. I just knew I needed some money, I had bills do like I said, I wasn't with my parents anymore, so I had bills.

Speaker 1 (00:05:36) - Do things need to get paid? And that one job wasn't cutting it because footlocker was just commission. I was commission on selling shoes. I needed a real stable job so enterprise could provide that. But I always knew that there was a higher purpose also to.

Speaker 2 (00:05:50) - Yeah, I want to I want to take a couple steps back because I think that you brought up something that. Could get when you look at someone's back. Excuse me? When you look back at someone's life and you see, hey, what could be a moment where you say, okay, that was a sign they were going to be an entrepreneur. That was a sign they were going to be successful. And I think the fact that you moved out at such an early age is an indication of what type of character you had, because from what I understand and you got correct me if I'm wrong, you didn't have to move out, did you? Were you kicked out?

Speaker 1 (00:06:24) - I was kicked out, actually.

Speaker 2 (00:06:25) - But what I'm saying is you were kicked out.

Speaker 2 (00:06:28) - But if it all came down to it and you needed somewhere to go, your parents still loved and cared about you, right? Yes. But to you, once that point happened. Once. Hey, you need to kind of go do your own thing. You were okay with that?

Speaker 1 (00:06:41) - Yes.

Speaker 2 (00:06:41) - You didn't fight it?

Speaker 1 (00:06:43) - Yeah. I agree 100%. You know, I was an adult and the biggest thing with that was when I was still at my parents, I was working these adult jobs and in the world I was seeing as adult. I was pretty, pretty high position at footlocker, one of the leading salespersons and such. So everybody there looked at me as an adult, you know, among my peers and such. Everybody looked at me as an adult. But when I came back home, I was a kid again. So that was why that was one of the main reasons that lead to me leaving is because I needed to branch off, gain my own independence.

Speaker 2 (00:07:14) - Absolutely. And I just think that that, that that shows the fact that you want to be independent.

Speaker 2 (00:07:20) - Yeah, right. A lot of people, you know, I'm not saying look, don't if you have that opportunity, it's a blessing. You can stay with your parents, you can save money. But that going on your own, it makes it more real. Yeah, I gotta grind, I gotta make it. And it, you know, it makes you, like, puts it in perspective of, you know, what it's truly like to really rely on yourself. Yeah. And have no backup.

Speaker 1 (00:07:43) - You know, 100%. And like I touched on earlier, footlocker wasn't cut in it. So I knew I had to do something else to get some more income. Because one thing about me and one thing I super pride myself on is that never in my life have I ever asked anybody for money. Now, I didn't have a car at some point, so I was asking people for rides, you know, had to get to work. Yeah, but I never asked anybody for money and I wanted to stay true to that 100%.

Speaker 1 (00:08:09) - It's just it's just not in me to ask anybody for something like that. I want to do everything, you know, myself, be able to handle things myself.

Speaker 2 (00:08:18) - Absolutely not. I hear that you say that. That wasn't cutting it. What do you mean, the paycheck wasn't cutting it? The hours weren't cutting it. The room for growth. What was it about it that wasn't working out or it didn't sit right with you?

Speaker 1 (00:08:31) - Yeah, it was all of it, to be honest with you. We can start with the paycheck. You know, making few hundred dollars every paycheck is cool. When you're in high school, you don't really have any bills. All you got is a gas, as do. But once you get an adult and you have real bills, that's not going to cut it anymore. When we talk about the hours I was working pretty long hours. I was working enterprise and footlocker each and every day. So these are very long hours, and I'm not seeing the return as far as my checks goes for all these long hours on working.

Speaker 1 (00:09:00) - And then when we talk about the growth opportunity, it just wasn't there. You know, I had been approached to be a full time person at footlocker or a higher position at enterprise, but I always rejected them each time I was approached to it because I just didn't see the growth opportunity there.

Speaker 2 (00:09:15) - Did you know it was a rabbit hole?

Speaker 1 (00:09:17) - Yes, I did 100%., I just saw some of my coworkers and such were older, like 40 or 50 years old, and they're making the same amount as me. I'm like, dang, you know, I'm fresh out of high school. That's not what I envisioned my life being.

Speaker 2 (00:09:31) - But, I mean, I think that's not what we're taught, though. You go to college, go for years, you get a degree, get a corporate job, you get a company job, you climb that corporate ladder. Advance, advance, advance 101 day retire. Social security die.

Speaker 1 (00:09:47) - That's what we're taught. Yeah, but I don't agree with that. I've never really agreed with that.

Speaker 1 (00:09:51) - And actually, when you speak of that, we can even go back to high school. I realized that's what the path they were trying to lead me on. Like, as far as education and such. But it even got to the point where my senior year in my classes, I would just go to YouTube, watch videos on, you know, entrepreneurs and listen how they speak and how they handle things. And I wouldn't even pay attention to class and kids. I'm not recommending y'all do it. But that was my story, you know? So I always knew that my life wasn't supposed to be the quote unquote normal way.

Speaker 2 (00:10:23) - Absolutely. I love that, I love that, and so you took this different path. You know, you're fast forward, you're at footlocker. I know we touched on it a little bit on the last episode, but then you made the transition to real estate. Yeah. And you know, when you go to real estate, you go to school, right?. What was what was the vision there.

Speaker 2 (00:10:44) - What was walk me through where you were at emotionally during that time frame when you were in real estate school. What was running through your head about the opportunity. Did you did you believe it was going to be. Where you're at now or what? What was the vision back then?

Speaker 1 (00:11:00) - Yeah, when I think about that. I knew that I would be successful in it. I didn't know how successful I would be in it though, and I did not even imagine it would take this quick to be that successful. I thought, you know, that it would take a very a much longer time to be successful and gain some of the opportunities that I've been able to have. But I just knew, like, if I put in the work for it, that I would be rewarded for it. But looking at real estate people that I saw at the time, they were all a bit older, more established and such. So I'm like, all right, cool. You know, when I'm 40, 45, maybe I'll be able to have this nice, successful lifestyle.

Speaker 1 (00:11:36) - But I didn't think I would be able to have that beforehand.

Speaker 2 (00:11:40) - And do you feel that sometimes people when they're, you know, a lot of people that are that are listening here,, and people we come across on a day to day basis are aspiring to be entrepreneurs. Yeah. That's what real estate is. You're you're an entrepreneur. Even if you're a real estate agent, you know, you feast or famine. Is it the fact that some of them go embark on that journey and don't really believe in themselves?. I feel like that that happens a lot of times where people. Have you ever met a lazy, ambitious person?

Speaker 1 (00:12:12) - Yeah, 100%. Yeah. A person who's just all.

Speaker 2 (00:12:14) - Those are the most dangerous people, lazy, ambitious people. They have all the ideas, they have all these plans, you know, business plans. Invest in this, invest in that, but never any action to it. Yep. And I think the number one thing that stops him is they're scared.

Speaker 1 (00:12:29) - Yeah I agree I agree 100%. And with me at least I know once I start something there is really no going back. So when I started it was a very slow start, but quitting wasn't even an option for me. Many people were telling me, hey, you know, you should probably try something different, or maybe get another go back to a safer job or something like that. But I knew that wasn't even an option for me because I had to go through with this. Not only because I had faith in myself, but also I didn't want to let anybody down. People who did believe in me, people who looked up to me like my little brothers or, you know, some of my other family and such. You know, I said that I was going to embark on this journey. So I need to see the vision through, because also, I know with my faith I know that God is going to reward me for my hard work. Now, I don't know when you know that's on God's timing, but I knew if I put in the work I would be rewarded for it.

Speaker 2 (00:13:25) - You know. And how old were you during this time?

Speaker 1 (00:13:28) - 20, I was 20.

Speaker 2 (00:13:30) - You know, it's so crazy. When I was 20 years old, I lived in the mountains in Virginia, a little small town called Staunton. And I lived in a basement apartment., it was my first apartment ever. I shared it with the roommate, and I worked in construction. I did commercial plumbing, and I wrote a moped every day to work. I got my license suspended in the state of Virginia. If you get three speeding tickets under the age of 18, you automatically get your license suspended. So my license was still suspended. I had a rock, a moped, man.

Speaker 1 (00:14:01) - Oh, I was about to say, how do you get speed on a moped? No.

Speaker 2 (00:14:04) - When I was driving my car. Yeah. So. Okay. Yeah. So imagine I live in the mountains now. Okay. You know, and it's raining, it snows all the types of inclement weather, and it's hilly and I'm riding a moped.

Speaker 2 (00:14:19) - So the struggle was real. And, you know, this is back. You know, I'm a little older. So in my early when I was 20 years old was quite a little bit of time ago. And it was before we really had technology like that. I had an old MP3 player. I used to rock it on that. I used to listen to this song because I used to go under this, under under this overpass, and it was a song by Drake about, you know, going under a bridge, you know, and I just would listen to that song. And when I would go under the bridge, I would close my eyes on that moped. And at the time, I didn't know I was working with my hands. I was just a construction worker. I was like, yeah, I didn't know how I was going to be successful or how I was going to get there, but I used to just picture me envisioning me driving a BMW. That was my dream car back then, just that, that logo right there on the wheel.

Speaker 2 (00:15:04) - And I just I didn't know how it was going to get there, but I saw it and I like I felt it, it was real to me. Yeah. And I feel like before I even started my business, you know, it was all real to me. Yeah. And I think a lot of people, when they start a business, they have a lot of doubts. They have a lot of fear. But you have to almost be obsessed. You have to believe that it's real. It has to be, you know, so real that you're living through that dream like.. And that's where the action comes from. That's where the grit comes from. That's where the resilience getting up every day, going after it is. When we're younger we came from more humble beginnings. But when we started it's you know we believed that there was no other option other than to succeed. Yeah. If you think about failure that's how it comes to be. Right.. You're going to go you know success is not a linear path.

Speaker 2 (00:15:55) - It's not start. Top success. It's not a straight line. You're going to go up, down, you're going to make money, you're going to lose money. But it's all how you deal with adversity. Yeah, I think entrepreneurship and when we're young you don't know how to deal with adversity as well as we do now. Now that we're older, I know I'm a little bit older than you, but now that you're more seasoned in business and in life, you you go through that adversity. It doesn't faze you as it does when you're younger, right? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:16:22) - Yep. I agree 100%. And I love what you said about you do have to believe. But also you did admit that we're going to have doubts when you start. And I think some people don't really acknowledge that really that there are going to be some doubts that there are going to be some fear, you know, people just always going to talk about the positive things. But yeah, as an entrepreneur starting out, you're embarking on a whole new journey.

Speaker 1 (00:16:45) - You are going to have some doubts. But the thing is, like you said, the constant action is going to make that fear go away. You just have to put it in constant action. You can't just be a person that's all taught. You actually have to go out and do the work, and then once you actually do, the work is going to pick up for you. Over time, you're going to gain more experience. But if you never start, how can you expect to have experience? You know, like if we're talking about being a real estate agent making calls, for example, a lot of people are scared to pick up that phone and make cold calls because they're scared of getting rejected. They're like, okay, I'm gonna train on my scripts, which you should. But they're like, okay, I'm gonna train on my scripts for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks turns to months and then months turns to a year. And then, you know, we're one year past from when you say you're going to start cold calling, you still haven't made one cold call yet.

Speaker 1 (00:17:32) - Versus if you would have just started that day, you probably would have been terrible on the phone, to be honest with you. But at least you started. And because you started there, you can only go up from there. It's just going to be constant progression. So I believe in taking that action and actually starting when you take action, that fear goes away.

Speaker 2 (00:17:49) - No, absolutely. And would you say when you're younger I can only speak for myself on this, but I was more money motivated than vision motivated.. I did things because I wanted to make a lot of money. Yeah. I didn't do them because I was chasing a dream, a vision, a plan, a goal.. I was just trying to put money in my bank account and I, and I felt like when I did that you know, I sold cars, sold timeshare, worked at night life. You know after I got out of construction, you know, got into the sales field, I did everything because I thought it paid me money.

Speaker 2 (00:18:26) - Yeah, but. I now know that money is not a strong enough motivating factor. Yep, there is fatigue that comes with hey, I'm doing this for money.. Money is a byproduct of you chasing your vision. Yep. I realize that that you have a good plan. You have a vision, you're passionate about it. You put your energy into it and you go chase that vision. The money kind of just follows. Yeah. And that's when I really started to see significant progress and gains on my entrepreneurial excuse me, on my entrepreneurial journey is when I started chasing the vision and the vision that I have and kind of got real deep down and obsessed. And I and I heard you brought up fears. We all we have doubts and fears. But what that comes from is our weaknesses. And so being self-aware in business is so critical. You have to be in a constant state of awareness of what you need to improve on, of what your weaknesses are. And that's why when I tell anyone is just getting 1% better, because if you think of if you sit down in the very beginning, you know, on your entrepreneurial journey and you're like, what do I need to work on? Or what do I don't what do I not know? Yeah, that list is it's long, man.

Speaker 2 (00:19:44) - Yeah, but all you do is take it one day at a time and you try to get 1% better. You can excel at the things you're good at, and you write down your weaknesses, and then you go attack them one day at a time and try to get better. And it's a constant work in progress. No matter which level you reach, you're always trying to get to the next one. Right? Yeah. And so those are people that people that are really trying to get after it, really trying to chase their dreams and goals. You have to really be self-aware and work on your weaknesses.

Speaker 1 (00:20:15) - Yeah, I agree 100%. And to touch on what you said about being money focused, I think that's something that every entrepreneur goes to when they start out, especially being from humble beginnings. Not really. Now, if you come from money, that may be different, but I can't relate to that. I don't really come from money and I know same for you. So when you're an entrepreneur, when you first start getting money, you think like, hey, this is the golden prize.

Speaker 1 (00:20:40) - Like, you know, I've reached what I'm looking to do. I'm bringing in all this money. But at the same time, like you said, there is fatigue, right? You, like we talked about in the last episode, active income versus passive income. As an entrepreneur, if you're just focused on money, you haven't built up any assets yet, okay? You have to keep on working to that same same level that you were at. Where's the the growth in that? How do you step away from that? Like, yeah, you can be making a lot of money, but what happens if you can't work for whatever reason? Now that money goes down. And because a lot of times too, we get tempted to up our lifestyle also when we're gaining a lot of money. So now your lifestyle is up, how can you replace that income that you were getting from your job without assets? And that's why we really preach assets because yeah, as an entrepreneur, yeah, you're going to get the money.

Speaker 1 (00:21:31) - But let's put that money in assets. Some things that can also make you further money. So you're able to step away and work less. Like if you have a family or things like that. Your family wants to see you. Your family wants to spend time with you, but you can't if you're constantly on your business all the time.

Speaker 2 (00:21:49) - No, absolutely 100%. That's like being a heart surgeon. They make great money. They're not getting paid if they're not in surgery. Yep. So it's the high the high income earners. But I mean everyone right? A lot of people and I don't say everyone a lot of people want to be entrepreneurs.. What do you think stops them?

Speaker 1 (00:22:09) - Fear. Fear is the biggest thing. And when I talk about fear there, either it's a fear that they're either not going to succeed or. I will also say fear of what if they do secede? And I don't think that's something that's touched on when I talk about fear of what if they do secede because they're like, okay, if I do secede, how are my peers? How is my family? How are they going to how are they going to view me now? Because I'm a successful figure, like some people, they just want to stay equal to their crowd.

Speaker 1 (00:22:44) - That's just how some people live life.

Speaker 2 (00:22:47) - Well, again, you brought out a very valuable point about surrounding yourself with the right people.. And sometimes you have to separate in order to elevate. Yeah. You really have to, to separate yourself from people that are still. Yeah. still complaining, still broke you know, not, not not moving. Right. Not moving in the direction of positivity because a lot of people. Right. They'll support you, right? Yeah. They'll support you in the beginning, you know, when you're on your journey. Oh, yeah. Go. They'll they'll root for you as soon as you start getting a little motion. As soon as you start reaching a little moderate success. The support kind of pulls back, promise you, because in the beginning you, you know, remind them of man. What's it like to chase a dream? What's it like to have a dream? To have ambition, especially with older people. Right. And then once you start actually achieving what you set out to do, you're a reminder that they never went out and tried to pursue theirs.

Speaker 2 (00:23:46) - And so I've experienced that from my own family members, you know, in the beginning. And, you know, it works kind of, you know, catch 22 in that because some people also they'll support you, but they won't believe in you in the beginning. And then once they start seeing you success, it's oh, I believed in you all along. I always knew you were going to make it. I always knew you were going to, you know, be successful. Yep. But when you started your business, where were they at? Yup. Did they share anything you did? Do they post it? Did they support it? They tell a friend. Tell a family member about what it is that you do. Do they make a connection for you? Stuff that doesn't cost nothing but time, right? Yeah. Because like you said, we none of us, we didn't come from money. We didn't. We didn't start with a bunch of money. We kind of bootstrapped. And there's actually a book I read.

Speaker 2 (00:24:31) - He's one of my favorite entrepreneurs off of Shark Tank. Daymond John, you know, the founder of Fubu and a great, great entrepreneur, The Power of Broke. It's a book by him, and it really resonated when you said that, you know, that we both don't come from money because a lot of people, they just think, oh, if I had, you know, $100,000 or half $1 million, I could start this business. And it just doesn't work that way. Yeah., and when I'm. And if you read the book, it's way more value than I can give you in this little podcast. But, you know, the premise of it is that when you start with money, you skip a lot of the crucial steps.

Speaker 5 (00:25:11) - .

Speaker 2 (00:25:12) - Of building a business. All the things. Imagine all the things that you've learned. Building your business from scratch, organically, from the ground up, the relationships, social media, everything, all those different exigencies in and out that you learn from bootstrapping a business.

Speaker 2 (00:25:28) - You don't get that with broke. Yeah. Excuse me. Get that with money. The Power of broke highlights that in that that money you just burn through it and you really don't figure out the best way how to optimize the system and processes of your business so that money sometimes handicaps people. Yeah, rather than propels them. Yeah. Now I'm a proponent. Once you master your business, you know, master your craft, really get a good, solid foundation and get the fundamentals down that now, yes, you can pour gasoline on it, but it's so important that people out there and I encourage anyone that's that's listening to this is you don't need a bunch of money to go out there and be successful. Yeah. I mean, There's plenty of people that I can name that you guys can name that started companies from garages, right? They had grit, they had determination. They were thrifty. They were scrappy. They started from the ground up. And that's how they became massively successful is because they stayed in that creative mindset.

Speaker 2 (00:26:32) - You know, they didn't get there and say, oh, I got a bunch of money. Let me go ahead and copy everyone else. When you don't have a bunch of money, you got to figure out more economical or different creative ways to create, generate, fund, operate business. Yeah. So, you know, I encourage everyone they got to get out there. You got to get creative. You got to start. You know, that's the hardest part is to start and look, you know, don't get me wrong. When I started it's like you know, you got sometimes you're like, what are people going to think, right? What are people going to think? You know, everyone's like, what if I fail? What if I don't make it? But what if you do?. And it doesn't matter whether you whether whether you're whatever you're doing, whatever lane you're in you're making money. People are going to judge you bro. Yeah I don't care. You're going to have people that don't like you for no other reason than you are successful.

Speaker 2 (00:27:24) - And so you can't worry about what people's opinions have to say honestly,, because their opinions aren't going to grow your business and they're not going to help anybody else.

Speaker 1 (00:27:35) - Yeah, 100%. And like you're saying, at the end of the day, you just gotta have tunnel vision, especially when you're starting a business you can't be looking at, okay, what's this person doing? What's this person think of me, even your friends and family? Because like you said, a lot of people aren't going to believe in you at first. They're going to believe in you once you have some ocean. Yeah, but at first they're not going to believe in you. So if you're just constantly looking to your left and to your right thinking about, okay, what's this person think of me? Or how are you feeling about me? Your journey is going to be stopped way short versus if you just have tunnel vision, you lock in and get to that goal. You will get to that goal. Like horses in a race they put on blinders.

Speaker 1 (00:28:12) - Reason for that is so the horse can't look to the left and the right to see what the other horses are doing. They're focused on their end goal, their focus on that finish line, getting to the finish line as fast as possible. So in business you have to be the same way. Put on those blinders. Tunnel vision. How are we getting to our goal?

Speaker 2 (00:28:27) - No, I love that. I think that's such a big point and from what I've seen in my short entrepreneurial life is so many people fail. So many people fail in business is because they don't have tunnel vision. They get really good at a business or they start a business. They start getting some success, and the next thing they do, they go open up a pizza shop or go open a club or go open another business. You have to get extremely good scale one business, get it automated, remove yourself from the business so you're only working on the business. It doesn't depend on you to be there to generate revenue.

Speaker 2 (00:29:06) - Then go start another source of revenue. Go start another business. That's where so many people fail. They don't have tunnel vision.

Speaker 1 (00:29:12) - Yeah, I agree 100%, but per audience requests, we did have some people that reached out and had some questions. So that's one thing we want to do moving forward with this podcast is interacting our audience more. You know, what they think is very valuable. What they want to know about is very valuable. We're talking about assets, so let's know what the people think. So I'm going to go over some questions that the audience has asked.. We are going to. Start with. We're going to start. The first question is going to be from Instagram user Kyla Sky. The question is, how can I get started with investing with little to no money? Gio, you lead a real estate investment team to Carmen's Group., so I really think you could answer that question better.

Speaker 2 (00:30:06) - So that question is very, very long winded. But a short answer would be it is very difficult to start off investing in real estate with little to no money.

Speaker 2 (00:30:19) - But is it possible? Absolutely. The number one thing I would focus on if I was brand new and getting started into investing is learn to source deals. Learn to find deals. That's where you make your money. If you can find a deal, you can put yourself in as equity rather than taking a wholesale fee and assignment fee. Hey, it might be a great flip property, might be a great long term rental property if you source an amazing deal, you can partner with someone that has the money and get you a little piece of equity. So that would be my recommendation. Learn how to source hot deals off market.

Speaker 1 (00:30:57) - Yeah. And they can start that today right.

Speaker 2 (00:31:00) - They can start that today okay.

Speaker 1 (00:31:01) - Absolutely nice. All right. So let's go to the next question. It's going to be from Instagram user Malik the realtor underscore VA. His question is how would you structure your day for a new agent., so he's talking about being a real estate agent. So I lead the assets real estate team.

Speaker 1 (00:31:20) - , so I'm pretty sure I can answer this question pretty well. So how I would structure my day as a new agent. So first things first. Getting up early. Don't be sleeping in till nine 10:00. You want to start your day early, start your day off right. A lot of productivity is done in the morning., a lot of calls can be made in the morning. A lot of connections, a lot of appointments set in the morning. So let's say we start our day. Let's say 6 a.m., for example, wake up at 6 a.m.. I would recommend hitting the gym first. Or if you're not hitting the gym, do some stretching and some yoga, things like that. Let's say we're at the gym hour and a half, right? All right. We're at 730 now. Now next what I would do come home, take a shower. Of course, after that. Manifestations. Affirmations you want to. Affirm what your goals are. Speak. Speak to them and make sure you're just constantly repeating them to yourself.

Speaker 1 (00:32:13) - Because what's going to happen is if you constantly repeat themselves, your brain has no choice but to believe what you're saying. So every single day I will recommend doing some affirmations. So manifestation. So by the time that's done, I would say we're at about 8:00 now, 80 8 a.m. is when I would recommend banging those phones out when I mean banging the phones. I'm talking about cold calling or calling your leads. Right? So you want to reach out to prospective leads that you have. When I say leads, I'm talking about potential clients. So buyers or sellers, things like that, you want to reach out to them. I would recommend calling for at least an hour. Some people are like, hey, I'm gonna just call, you know, ten minutes or so. I'm gonna make like ten, 15 calls. Cool. My job's done. I made my calls for today. No, I don't recommend doing that. All. It's a numbers game. You got to make those calls. If you're only making a little bit of calls, then you're not really going to see much success.

Speaker 1 (00:33:05) - But you got to think, if you're making a lot of calls, you will. So if you're doing 100 calls, let's say you do 100 calls a day. You do that every single weekday, Monday through Friday. You're at 500 calls that you made on the week. Even if you're the most, worst, terrible person on the phone, I guarantee you'll say at least one appointment. You think? You gotta think you're calling 500 people. How are you not going to set an appointment even if you don't know what to do? It's going to happen. So I would say make your calls, right?, we said we're making calls for at least an hour. Where at 9 a.m.? 9 a.m. is when I would say, begin your follow up and such. You want to reach out to,, potential clients that you're working with,, potential clients who have been looking, things like that. Follow up via email. Follow up via text, maybe text you missed last night. Say we're doing that about ten,, 10 a.m..

Speaker 1 (00:33:57) - We, I would say possibly some admin work, some marketing materials, things to that effect. That's what you want to do., and then we're at 11, 11:00. Take lunch. Okay. Now we're at 12:12 p.m.. I'll recommend getting on that phone again. Make some calls. You got to think, people who are working 9 to 5 start their their lunch break now. So they'll be available via phone. All right. Let's say we're doing that for an hour., we're at 1 a.m.. We're at 1 p.m. now, I would say still do some more marketing materials if you're making content via social media. You want to do that for about an hour or so. Alright. We're at 2 p.m.. 2 p.m. is now when you want to start doing your appointments and such, because people are going to start getting off of work soon. So setting your appointments for the day., and then really, I would say the rest of your day just dedicate that towards appointments., and that's kind of just a rough schedule.

Speaker 1 (00:34:52) - That was kind of impromptu question. I wish I could give Malik the realtor. VA. If you just reach out to me, I can give you an actual, more legit schedule. But I'm just trying to think of, you know, just off the top of my head, what I would recommend. So let's go to another question., another question that I have is user G a friend VA Instagram user. What advice would you give someone considering starting in real estate with no knowledge? Do you want to answer that one?

Speaker 2 (00:35:25) - Oh, that's a tough question because starting in real estate. How? Because you can do so many different things in real estate. There's so many different career paths that would still fall under real estate. Yeah.. I guess with no knowledge is then right there. They've identified their weakness as no knowledge is to then increase your knowledge.., I always am always going to be a believer and a proponent of reading read books. Yep., start off with a baseline.

Speaker 2 (00:35:58) - , there's a book Investing in Real Estate., that's one of the best books that I've read. I'd read a book, and then I would expand from that book onto other topics in real estate that I had a passion or interest for. And then as you develop your knowledge base, it'll start helping you develop a division or excuse me, to help you develop a vision and kind of a path that you want to follow. And those books help you again,, come up with ideas and kind of tell you,, the possibilities for a career in real estate. So if I'm not knowledgeable, I'm working on my knowledge. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:36:34) - Day one 100%. And like you said, reading books. I believe that's the best way to go. Also., there's other, you know, platforms that you use for knowledge too, like YouTube is free, but also you want to know because there's so much information out there, you want to know what is right for you. So the best way to do that is you want to kind of niche down what you're looking for in real estate, I would say.

Speaker 1 (00:36:57) - And then from there, what I would recommend is going to someone who's in that field that's prominent in that field and offering to work under them. And when I say offering to work under them, you provide value to them because you're giving up your time, you're giving service to them, but also while you're working for them, you'll gain value back because they'll be teaching you knowledge. They'll be giving you a knowledge about whatever you're trying to do in your field. So that's what I would recommend personally as a person. If it's a person that doesn't necessarily have knowledge in real estate.

Speaker 2 (00:37:28) - Absolutely. Love it.

Speaker 1 (00:37:32) - , what we got next? Next question Instagram user de wit for question is how to find the best brokerage slash best ways of networking in a new area. So being residential real estate here, I could definitely answer that question., so the best ways. To find a new brokerage, I want to say. Instagram user you want to recognize exactly what you're looking for in a brokerage. Have a specific game plan on what you're looking for.

Speaker 1 (00:38:03) - Okay. Am I looking for, you know, to get paid the most money? Or am I looking to learn most? Like what? What exactly are you looking for? Now, me personally, I recommend if you're someone new, starting in real estate, especially as a real estate agent. Do not focus on the money because what's going to happen is if you focus on the money, yeah, you can get a high commission split, but you're not going to know nothing. 100% of zero is going to be $0 versus let's say you're 50%. You know, for me personally, I like to use this analogy. I would rather have half of a watermelon than 100% of a great.

Speaker 2 (00:38:37) - Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (00:38:38) - I mean, I think that's pretty, pretty recognizable. So you get that watermelon based off the knowledge and the information that you'll learn from whatever brokerage that you choose. So that's 100% what I would recommend,, when choosing a brokerage. Now the second question when it comes to is best ways of networking in a new area.

Speaker 1 (00:39:02) - , that's a two part question. Okay. Jill, you want to.

Speaker 2 (00:39:05) - Yeah. Well, networking. I'm always going to bring this back to knowledge because they'll tell you, right? In real estate, hey, you need a network. You got to get in tune with your sphere. You got to reach out to people. You got to let them know you're in real estate. But do you know anything about real estate? Is what I ask people. Because if I put a brand new agent, right, I put you in a room full of ten investors, ten people that are ready to buy either a rental property or a flip property. Would you be able to walk them through and give them enough information where they feel comfortable about moving forward with you? So to me, the best way to network is one to increase your knowledge base on whatever topic or sectors that you're focusing on. So this being real estate. And then now start going to these events and putting yourself around the people that you want to connect with, you got to know who your target audience is.

Speaker 2 (00:40:04) - Who are you trying to be around? Right. There's all different types of groups and meetups, but again, you reach out, you lead with value to other people and say, hey, where could where do a lot of real estate impact? Do you know any real estate investor? Hey, can I, you know, take you out to lunch? Boom. You taking someone out high level to lunch and to pick their brain. You know, you got to lead with some value. Yep. Hey, I got a deal for you. I'd like to talk to you about it over lunch.. You know so networking again is increasing your knowledge base. So when you do reach out and try to make relationships you're knowledgeable about your area of expertise. And then again not being afraid. Yep. That's a big part of networking really just putting yourself out there. You'll never know who you meet, but you got to put yourself in the game to have a shot.

Speaker 1 (00:40:52) - Yeah, 100%. So Instagram user de wit four.

Speaker 1 (00:40:55) - So me and G are in accordance with that. The best thing for you as a new real estate agent or someone in a new market is to gain knowledge first. That's really going to be the very first step before anything goes. So when it comes to choosing a broker or a team, whatever you're working for, make sure you're with a team that can provide you some value as far as knowledge goes, and then as geo saying with networking, when it comes to networking, when you get in these rooms, you've got to have the knowledge first, because you can get in these rooms all you want, but if you don't have the knowledge, there's really no point in being there.

Speaker 2 (00:41:31) - I want to take the time to thank everyone again for joining us on episode two. We only got 1 or 2 more episodes, guys, before we start bringing some really, really high end guest here, they're going to drop some gems on you guys, give you some great knowledge again, all for free, courtesy of the Let's Talk Assets podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:41:50) - So stay tuned for the next episode.

Speaker 1 (00:41:52) - Let's talk assets. Let us know who you want on the podcast, so make sure you drop it in the comments and this YouTube video. Make sure you put it on our socials who you want us to have on the podcast, because we want some high level guests, but we don't know who. If you don't tell us, so make sure you let us know.