Networking, Reputation, Taxes, Credit, Debt/ Debt Paydown.. A BUSINESS CONVERSATION| EPISODE 4

Remember, it's not just who you know, but how you nurture those connections.

Picture this: you're holding the keys to your very first property investment. Now what? In our recent discussion, Gio and Chris explored the exciting yet daunting journey of expanding your real estate portfolio. From understanding cash flow to appreciating the potential of each property, the decisions you make could pave the way to financial growth. No matter where you are in your investment journey, strategic and informed decision-making is paramount.

Equity - it's more than just a buzzword in the world of property investment. In a captivating exchange on the podcast, Giovanni and Chris dissected the strategies to build and leverage equity effectively. We talked about the silent role inflation plays and how smart refinancing can open doors to new opportunities, all while carefully navigating tax implications. If you're aiming to grow your net worth through real estate, these insights could be game-changing.

Taxes - they're inevitable, but with knowledge comes power. On the podcast, Gio and Chris peeled back the layers of tax strategies critical for entrepreneurs. Acquiring assets isn't just about expanding your business footprint; it's also a savvy move to manage taxable income. But beware of the pitfalls of overzealous write-offs. It's a delicate balance where the right professional advice is not just important, it's indispensable.

Real talk: living beyond your means can set you up for a financial tailspin. Unfortunately, we learned this the hard way through our own brushes with credit card debt. On the podcast, Giovanni and Chris shared personal anecdotes and advice on managing debt, emphasizing the significance of making substantial payments and the risks of succumbing to the allure of credit for non-essential spending. Living within your means isn't just advice; it's a cornerstone of achieving and maintaining financial stability.

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Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00:00) - Let us talk assets. Episode four. My name is Chris A. Williams, one of your hosts. I'm joined by my co-host, Giovonni Paradis. Yes, sir. We appreciate everybody who's watched us so far, who's tuned into our episodes. Make sure if you guys haven't watched our previous episodes, you go watch them now. You can also listen to them on your favorite streaming platforms. But let's get this episode kicked off. Joe, how are you doing, man? I'm doing great, man. You know, we cut this last episode we're kicking off., before we bring on guests, you know? So. And this will be the last episode where you just hear me and Chris talked, and we're going to be bringing in some really special guests for you. So super excited about that. Just going to give you a little bit more value before that,, has kicked off. And and I'm pretty much looking forward to that. Yes, sir. But today we've all been about. So tell me about like, what you got going on.

Speaker 1 (00:00:51) - Any big things planned?, yeah, man, I'm actually going to escape to Miami., going there on business, man for for a few days. So I haven't been there in a long time. Oh, God. I mean, so,, I'm excited about that. Excited about,, being in the warm weather and meeting some great people. Yeah. Facts. Okay, so business or funny business man. Strictly business man., training got me and means on me and on me and said that,, for the first few days and then getting to,, go to a conference, I was going to be,, kind of set up, have a little boost there, come out talking about what I do and what I'm doing with the chemistry and what we're doing with the app flip stack and how we're helping people get into real estate investing. So I have a great it's a world class,, closers event. Excuse me, closers conference., Daniel ge, Albert Preciado, a lot of big names in that industry.

Speaker 1 (00:01:49) - , now just all they get to expose my brand, my platform., some of the things I'm doing that's helping people,, grow their wealth through investing in real estate, but also being around some really high level people., meeting them, interacting with them, networking with them, kind of picking up some new techniques, constantly improving. You know, I've had professional sales training, but in sales for over a decade. And,, you know, just again, constantly try to sharpen and iron those skills out because, you know, learning as a never ending journey, you always gotta be learning. You always gotta be growing and your business because business is war. That'd be constantly sharpening your skills in order to compete at a very high level. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I'm not gonna lie. You're a lot better than me. Because if I don't go in Miami, I'm going in for a fun day. I've been working hard a lot lately, so if I'm going on occasion, I got decompress.

Speaker 1 (00:02:39) - I love bad luck. I've stayed out in the fall and blue man invitations open, man. So,, I mean, look, I used to be in my life,, I've been to Miami my fair share of times, you know, Leadville, a Sunday club, 11. You know, I kind of did the whole, what do you call it, the tour. Right. And then,, I got a couple friends in there in the in the club industry, man. But, you know, now, now that I got older, I mean, yeah, definitely, you know, slow down a little bit. I want to make sure I stick to the objective. The objective in there is growth and making sure I'm networking,, expanding that network and kind of growing some relationships down there. Want to meet with some high level people. I have a friend back home that kind of blew up down there and builds an exotic car rental business. I used to want his thing shut him out.

Speaker 1 (00:03:25) - Yeah, absolutely. Man. It's brand new. You know,, five years ago, he was just a regular guy from around the way cars blown up, Amazon automation, all kinds of things. Marketing company. He's doing his thing with,, exotic car rental business. And,, he's kind of one of the guys that when I got out, you know, I reached out to, you know, I saw how much he blew up on Instagram and blew up his platform and how he kind of went all in. And, you know, we have, like a FaceTime call for like, about an hour. And he was just kind of telling me, you know, mindset stuff and kind of the vision stuff of what he had to do to get where he was at, how he got,, grew. And that was real helpful with me. You know, one of the things he you got to be all in, you got to quit. Quit your job, you got a dream, you got a, you know, entrepreneurship goal that you want to pursue.

Speaker 1 (00:04:12) - You gotta quit your job. You gotta go all in. Yeah. Ain't no quit. No looking back. There is no plan B. Straight up cool all in. And that advice caught up. That mentality is what I went for. Full steam ahead and you know got to it and started my company. Yeah for sure. That's the one thing I really like about places like Miami or just traveling anywhere in general, because you get around that good energy. I remember last time I was in Miami, man, I seen.

Speaker 2 (00:04:41) - Rolls-Royces, Lamborghinis, Ferraris. You know, it's just everybody there is having some type of motion, you know, and when you talk to these people, too, they're like, you know, just asking them, like, what do you do with things like that? They're like, oh, I've owned this eight figure company. Oh, I do this, I do that right. And these are people that are. Like the flashiest. I'm just talking about you walk up to a random person, everybody's having some type of motion.

Speaker 2 (00:05:04) - So there's things that I love to see. And you definitely you gain those that knowledge, that experience when you're traveling, going to other places. Because sometimes if you're just staying in your home town, you can kind of get in a rut, especially if you're an industry leader, you know, like, hey, you know, I've kind of made it in my city, but you cap yourself versus you go to this other city and you're like, oh, this person's doing that. Oh, I'm not really doing nothing, or I'm doing. And it just further turns you up.

Speaker 1 (00:05:29) - Absolutely. What I can say, a lot of people, you know, from what I've seen, you know, just being from here and in life in general is people like to be a really big fish in a small pond, and I'd rather be a decent sized fish in a big pond. Right. And so that's what going to to Miami. It's humbling. Right. And the money's on a different level there.

Speaker 1 (00:05:50) - The opportunities on a different level there. You know a lot of industry has moved down that way. A lot of the financial sector has moved out as a lot of money in Miami. You know celebrities all kinds of different things. Right? Yeah. So going down there puts you in that environment, that atmosphere of growth. And you're around people that are on a higher level, that next level to you and to me, that's something that's always been essential. A key to my growth in business, in entrepreneurship is being around people that are at a higher level than me and people that can break down things, and you take those opportunities. Seeing a lot of you around these successful people, even if they're Instagram famous or famous for long or like a lot of people, let me just flick it up with them. You need to be asking these people questions. Hey, what's the biggest mistake you made in business? Or what's one thing that you wish you would have known ten years ago that you know now that would have changed your life and changed the trajectory of your business, and you'd ask them these questions.

Speaker 1 (00:06:42) - I'm telling you, they're going to welcome it. They love those type of questions. It's like, wow, because they don't respect that. Most people a man made a picture, man, what's up with you know, they're all kind of hey, ask them a question and you're going to ask them a high level question. You'll get a high level response. Yeah. And so, you know, you're you have to take those opportunities when you're around those people. And you get yourself inside those rooms to position yourself as someone, hey, I'm in here to learn. I'm here to be a sponge and I'm here to grow. They are the type of people that you know when you're at a higher level, you want to be around. Yeah, I know for me, I have people that work up to me, which is very humbling., you know, because like I said, I feel like I'm just getting started. But, you know, I love people that ask questions that want to understand that a deeper level, at a higher level, you know, that really intrigues me.

Speaker 1 (00:07:31) - It makes me like, wow, I love that curiosity and how someone is inquisitive and their hunger that makes me want to pour into the lore. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:07:39) - I agree 100% with that. And that kind of is like leading into the adage that your network is your net worth.

Speaker 1 (00:07:47) - Yeah. The social currency, man. Exactly. The real thing, you know. Yeah, it's a real thing. You know, people a lot of do ask me as a man how, you know, how did you do what you do to do without a lot of money or, you know, I value relationships and people over profits. You know, you'd all sacrifice a relationship for a buck. You know, you really need to secure, develop and nurture meaningful relationships and life. And then in business, because those people, you know, as you clod those people and then you help out or the people that you were under, as long as you secure that relationship, nurture relationship, no matter what happens to you at light, they're going to be there on the other side.

Speaker 1 (00:08:32) - Do and a testament of that. You know, I've kept really good relationships and I went through what I went to. I went through my storm on the other side. There was people there that knew my value. They knew my talent, they knew my capabilities, and I just made a mistake. Yeah. So again, your social currency, that's something that, again, is what's going to propel you to business. Rewarded money. Yeah. You got all the money in the world. But if you don't know the right people, you're going to make mistakes. You're going to lose money. You know that the shortcut is being surrounded by self. Excuse me. Surround yourself by those already walked down that path. And then you have to surround yourself. That people have already forged the pathway to success. They went through the ups and downs, the emotional rollercoaster of being an entrepreneur. They've been through wins and losses. So you gotta surround yourself by those people. They tell you how to navigate it.

Speaker 1 (00:09:22) - They're they'll show you how to shortcut where you're not taking losses. Yeah. That's it's about it's not about everyone thinks about quit. Everyone wants success, right? They think about speed. Oh, and then there's a there's an interview that Rick Ross did,, that's out there on the internet. So I don't want to move fast or move quickly. And, and that that really resonated with me about moving correctly and taking the right steps because slow and slow and for sure, because Barstow Las is one of the best saying go and blow up a show because fast. Oh las. I think people said that, if I'm not mistaken. While people write Miami. Yeah, I envy Baby and Ross as well, so. And I didn't even mean to bring them up. This is coincidence, right? So that principle is, you know, by correctly taken methodical steps. Chess over checkers. Everything's a chess move. The way you move with business. It. And that's how it was done properly.

Speaker 2 (00:10:19) - Yeah, 100%.

Speaker 2 (00:10:20) - And just like you say, you know, you gotta put people first over profits because the relationship is really what's going matter. A lot of people get small minded. They're like, all right, you know, I'm just worried about this specific transaction and this specific deal or whatever that this is. And that's the temporary you got to think, all right. What about long term? What's going to happen long term if I burn this relationship, if I burn this personal house is going to hurt me in five years, ten years and such. Because what's happened is the players are going to be the players. You know, the people at the top, like they say, is lonely at the top. There's not that many people at the top. But if you burn out relationship with a player, you better think, okay, you know, five years, ten years or even six months, you're going to run into that person again. If you burned that relationship, that's going to hinder your business tremendously versus if you would have done things right from the start, you would have to worry about that.

Speaker 2 (00:11:08) - But that's something I've been seeing a lot, unfortunately, is, you know, it seems like now people don't really have any morals. I don't know if that's like social media or what's kind of led to that, but people don't really have morals. People don't really have principles that they live by, you know, at least kind of how I was taught growing up is you you got to be a man of your word. You gotta keep.

Speaker 1 (00:11:30) - Your letter to.

Speaker 2 (00:11:31) - Your reputation is what precedes you. You know, it can take years to build up a reputation. Take five minutes to destroy it, although you let it make sure that you take care of your reputation. And by doing people dirty, you can't just keep doing people dirty and expect nothing bad to happen to you. It's going to come back on you and think, if you built up a business, you got employees into your business, you got people who depend on you. Now your bad acts are going to fall on them and hurt their livelihood.

Speaker 2 (00:11:58) - I think what we're seeing today with Diddy, you.

Speaker 1 (00:12:00) - Know, wow, that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (00:12:01) - Man.

Speaker 1 (00:12:02) - I should trade both.

Speaker 2 (00:12:03) - To this house. And exactly this is the end to end all that labor versus prices that he did. You know, if he would have been an upstanding person, kept his reputation intact, that would have happened.

Speaker 1 (00:12:13) - All these guys had fallen down under, would swirl. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:12:16) - I don't know.

Speaker 1 (00:12:17) - Who they pissed off at. All these guys are falling like dominoes. See them pay.

Speaker 2 (00:12:22) - Their Illuminati bill.

Speaker 1 (00:12:23) - I got that bad form there. But yeah, one of the things you said, I just to kind of circle back about entrepreneurship and lessons. Right. And you said that, you know. One of the most valuable lessons I learned as a springboard is that competition happens at the bottom, and then the people at the top, or collaborate. That's why these people are getting their wealth is compounding at a rate exponentially that you know, you cannot keep up with, and maybe what the bottom are trying to find a way, hey, I don't care.

Speaker 1 (00:12:53) - I'll screw you over Chris for $5,000 rather than hey, no, let me do right by you. And you know, we both ascend together and then now at the top, once we both have extended to a next level, or both collaborating and both able to bring new ideas and new collective, you know. Synergy into growing our businesses. That is one thing that is so important. One of the biggest lessons I learned is that when you get around high level people start out over here, oh man, let me. They're not paying attention. They're not worried about a couple or a couple thousand. It's it's immaterial when you handle relationships while pouring and expanding and growing that relationship long term. That's how these people are acquired wealth, estate about all these wealthy people. What do they do? They have a business, right? That business needs a service and or product they're going to call their other wealthy friend. Hey, you have a service or product, let me use your business stuff. And they're, you know, piggyback off each other.

Speaker 1 (00:13:48) - They're growing together. Both of their companies are scalable. Yep.

Speaker 2 (00:13:51) - Because they can do everything themselves. And that's one thing I need all my entrepreneurs to know. You can't do everything yourself. I know, like it can feel good at first to get 100% of your profit, but then you get 100% of your profit. You also have 100% of the expenses. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:14:07) - So and 3% of the stress 100%.

Speaker 2 (00:14:10) - This is more like 150% straight out, you know, stressful. It is starting a business and running into all yourself. So you have to think, you know, you do have to outsource. You do have to put other people in position, build systems in place so you're able to step away, just like we talked about in episode one, not having to work in the business, you know, being able to step away and work outside the business. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (00:14:34) - I mean, like I said, the principle of the adage goes is you can have growth and you can have control, but you can't have both.

Speaker 1 (00:14:41) - And business, and you can have growth where you can control, but you cannot have both. So in order for you to grow, you have to be able to delegate. You have to be able to put people in positions of power, and you have to be able to trust them to handle that task or that part of the business. And, you know, to really drive their late and stay in their way, grow that part of that, their department or whatever position you put them at. And, you know, you have to go get, like you said, work on the business, rather end the business, you know, because if you were in the business, you're not entrepreneur. You just start a business to have a job. So it's it's not a business. And if you cannot leave that place of business and that it's still functioning and still generating revenue, you do not have a business. You have a job. Yeah. You just your own boss man. But it's it your your own boss and your your own worker at the same time.

Speaker 1 (00:15:30) - So that's,, and there's a book called the Ima Why Most Small Businesses Fail. It's by Michael E Gerber. It was given to me by one of my mentors, one of the most powerful books in business that you can read is so simple, but it really talks about working on the business rather, and the business and those principles. And that really personifies,, that adage that say, yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:15:53) - Yeah, I agree. And also before we even go to another thing I do have to say when I was talking about Diddy is allegedly I haven't done any I haven't done any research as far as when I did it. Exactly. Leslie, I don't want any boss, so I want no small role. No, that's right. But this stuff. Allegedly. Yeah. So let's talk about,, the last episodes. Yo. Yes, sir., I know that was tough for you. You know, speaking for your experience, letting people know some of the side they don't really know about you.

Speaker 2 (00:16:24) - Like I said in the intro for that episode, you know, a lot of people see the results of your work, but they don't necessarily know what led to that point. So how do you feel truly, about releasing that episode?

Speaker 1 (00:16:37) - I mean, it was tough for me. You know, everyone,, that I do business with on a high level or a departmental level already knows my story. You know, I'm very transparent. You know, not long after we hooked up, I told you my background to a certain extent,, as we were, you know, entering this journey together and barking, you know, two years ago. Just because, you know, I'm not ashamed of it. We made mistakes, but to release it out to the world. And it's not just so much the part of me losing my freedom to be incarcerated that that's one thing. The other part is just, you know, reliving some of my family life that that was tough, you know, and.

Speaker 2 (00:17:18) - I've.

Speaker 1 (00:17:18) - Already, you know, you as a man, you gotta come to terms of the life you live. And in my life wasn't as hard as others, right? Yeah. As hard as that others, man. But. But people had way worse than me, you know. And so I still look at. I look at my life as it is. I literally I live in the present. I try not to live at all in the past. I try not to look too far in the future because that's how you get anxiety. And you know, if you live too far in the past, that's how you get regret. And I try to stay present in my situation. I try to appreciate what I have in life, but what I don't have, because if you're always closely looking at what's wrong with your life or what's missing, you're always going to be either in a state of depression or feeling you know, less than or just be stressed out a doubt. Yeah, I just look at what's right in my life, you know, the lessons I do have, and that's kind of what keeps me going.

Speaker 1 (00:18:08) - But overall I feel a way lift off my shoulders. You know, the main call me beliefs in my story is just hopefully someone can hear that and they may be at rock bottom or they may be going through times in their life, or they may had a similar upbringing, or they may have been through some other things that I have, that I may be an example or a reason why I look. What happens if you talk about yeah, everyone's like, man, will you know what if what if you don't quit? What if you chase your dreams? What if you go all went? What can happen? And I hope someone hears my story and feels that way and has confidence and believes in themselves, you know. So I appreciate everybody who was a part of encouraging me to share my story, because I feel the feedback has been great., you know, some people have been inspired, thanked me for sure. And, and, you know, again, for the people.

Speaker 2 (00:19:01) - Yeah, yeah, I've been hearing a lot of positive feedback about that also.

Speaker 2 (00:19:05) - Sure. You know, that's what we try to do also as this podcast is really just be transparent and give people the real truth because you see like these little tip top videos, Instagram Reels of people doing all these things, you know, but it's kind of like a wall behind it. You don't really figure out who was this person and how they get here. So that's what really we're really here for is to tell the truth about, you know, not just show you the results, but also show you how we got here to this point. So, I mean, everybody let's talk says we definitely appreciate you much you for sharing your story.

Speaker 1 (00:19:37) - , no doubt 100%. You know, I one thing that I think we didn't get into with you and I know, you know, your entrepreneur journey you may feel has just started, but you've been bad at this for quite some time. And what's the biggest lesson you've learned oh, so far? We all have lessons. We still get a lot, right?!

Speaker 2 (00:20:00) - You know, the biggest lesson I learned? I've learned so many lessons in my algebra journey.

Speaker 2 (00:20:05) - But the biggest lesson that I would. The biggest lesson I would say I've learned is everything zero for. I love that you really just have to take accountability for literally everything. No matter what happened is all you survived a solution to fix a problem. You can't go complain and be like, oh, this happened to me and that happened to me. Somebody else's fault or somebody didn't do something. No, you got to take accountability because as your life is your job is your situation and your career, your business. So you need to find a solution for that the longer you stay. Like blaming other people, not taking accountability is the longer that problem is still going to exist. So why wait for that problem? You know? Why let the problem fester when you could just take it head on? Get rid of that problem by taking care of accountability yourself. So that's really the biggest lesson that I've learned. And I will say applying that principle has really helped me in my business, help to celebrate my journey.

Speaker 2 (00:21:04) - Because, I mean, to be honest with you, I don't wait for nobody else to.

Speaker 1 (00:21:08) - Tom waits for no, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:21:09) - Sideways for nobody. Exactly. I had a certain criteria, certain goals that I need to meet. So if it's not done, you know, I of course I hire people out to do things, outsource as such. But if it's not done, then at the end of the day, it's Chris Williams's business. So Chris Williams has to make sure that it is done. So whether that's hire somebody else, bringing somebody else in, or even if I have to do it myself, we're going to make sure the job gets done. And I don't make excuses whatsoever. Tell that to anybody in my companies. You know, we don't make excuses. We take accountability for whatever's wrong and we're solution makers. At the end of the day, we have to find a solution for everything a little bit.

Speaker 1 (00:21:48) - Embrace the solution. Never focus on the problem. Yeah. That's all I mean, that's my mindset.

Speaker 1 (00:21:54) - One problem only breaks in the solution. If, though. Don't talk to me about the problem. Yeah, tell me how we move forward. Somehow we get better. Somehow we improve. Somehow we fix what's broken in our systems and processes. How do we grow? How do we scale? How do we get to the money? Yes, all that matters. After you've already identified the problem, bull, let's talk about the solution. Yeah, that's how everybody already solved it up to me. You're going to tell me what's wrong. That's fine. I'm 100% okay with that. But what follows better be how we get better, how we fix it.

Speaker 2 (00:22:25) - Yeah, I agree 100%, but switching gears a bit, we did get a fan question on YouTube. Okay, so I do want to do this next question first, because this is a way a listener of ours who's been supporting the pod. So when I definitely make sure we answer this question. Absolutely. So YouTube user 229885 he said great episode.

Speaker 2 (00:22:50) - Let the story. Could you guys give details and your opinion about dealing with debt hanging? And I guess this is the second question, how you guys manage and put perspective into buying your second and third properties. So do you want to start with that first question on giving details.

Speaker 1 (00:23:05) - Zooming in out. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:23:06) - Do it, do it.

Speaker 1 (00:23:08) - How? Learn a valuable lesson. When I worked in timeshare, they gave us a lot of financial education, surprisingly, which I loved about about it. Right? There's only two ways to get a head to light. You have to make more than you earn or spend less than your. Last year. There's only two ways of making a life. You have to make more than you spend. Or spend less than you. Art. And those are the only two ways to get ahead of. Because that's how debt piles up is when you're living outside your. If you've already built up that right, which I did. I've been through this a life, so it's a really good question.

Speaker 1 (00:23:46) - I was 21, 22 at the time. Remember? I was selling cars and making about 60 K a year. I get I was fresh out from doing my first,, presents that I had $1,000 credit card, I think, from a local community,, bank, I moved back, I'll start making good money. I went to Navy federal and Navy federal was like, hey, you know, you can get a credit card for $7,000. This is so funny. This again, this is not even correlated. We didn't play this. Again. This is all unscripted, guys. I literally my friend woke me up on Sunday. Hey, man. Wake up, wake up. Hey what's up bro? Is they. Look, I only booked this a flight. We're leaving to Miami to swap my. Better. We're going to Miami. Yeah. 22 years old as I may have booked a flight. Yeah. Excuse me. Booked until I wanted to pay for a flight to that. Were staying after found blue.

Speaker 1 (00:24:30) - I'm 22 years old and I'm making 60 about much bills. I feel like I'm a big baller, but yeah, whatever. Now put it on my card. Little I know the rules like so I did all the night back. Oh yeah, bro is back and this is back.

Speaker 2 (00:24:42) - Poof.

Speaker 1 (00:24:44) - 13 or 1112 years ago. And so yeah, I had $700 a night. I booked the bird two nights plus tax. I'm already $2,000 in. I've been laid off., then we,, we land. This is on a Sunday night, bro. It's like,. 11 when we landed and we get to the hotel checking it's midnight, I'm like,, man, you know, we gotta get ready. My bro is Miami chill. We go to live on Sunday. Oh. So,, we got bottle service. I was like, and we were in the promoter section. My buddy knew the promoter that I went with. We had a pop a bottle. We pop like 2 or 3 bottle towels, like four grand.

Speaker 2 (00:25:21) - You said, what year was this again?

Speaker 1 (00:25:22) - 2012. 30.

Speaker 2 (00:25:26) - Oh, so you were in Miami when Miami was Miami, like? Well, yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:25:29) - Yeah. So LeBron was there. Dwayne Wade was there by a very precise little way. Birdman, Meek Mill this was a dream., dreams and nightmares,, came out. So there all were there live on Saturday I had my first big club experience in my life. It was,, kind of overwhelming., but look, long story short, there. I racked up my credit card, was max up, I thought I got, oh, I got the credit card with two weeks before, like, less than a month later, you know, 30 days later, my credit cards maxed out. Seven grand, right? Wow. And I didn't really understand. This is before time. I really don't understand credit now, too. So I was making the payment every month and.

Speaker 2 (00:26:05) - Interest.

Speaker 1 (00:26:06) - Entries I didn't fully understand. I'm sitting there.

Speaker 1 (00:26:08) - I'm like, why is my balance not on the way down? So how did manage to deal with that is if you have credit card debt, you cannot make minimum interest payment and never going to eat away, you know, so you got to make a large chunk payments. You need to be paying on it every week. So you would pay a month. I recommend turn it out to a weekly call. Yeah. That's how you eat it four times faster., you know, again, you got to sacrifice in order to get out of debt. And, you know, I was able to when I got into timeshare, I had that credit card debt. I was able to pay it off very quickly because I prioritize it. Yeah. And so you got to sit down. You got to write down all your expenses, write everything that you spend money on. You can look at your credit card statement, your debit card, your bills, everything that you're spending money on a monthly basis. And you divide the column into what's necessities and what are luxuries.

Speaker 1 (00:27:00) - Yeah, okay. You know, food that's a necessity, right?, going out to eat. That's a luxury. And so you got to prioritize what things on this luxury side can you sacrifice and take that to pay down your debt? And because, you know you're going to be a slave to the debt growing there and debt you're enslaved to that. It's not a limit. You you've got to have good credit. You've got to have a low debt to income ratio in order to invest in real estate to qualify for business loans. Your credit profile is everything. And so you got to manage and mitigate your debt. Yeah. And you know, if you have a red rich dad, poor dad, you need to go read it. There's such thing as good day and there's such thing as bad debt and really gotta learn the difference of that.

Speaker 2 (00:27:39) - Yeah, I agree, I agree with what you're saying with that you and so try to. Nice. 805 let me answer your question. What that we're dealing with that first thing I would say is first try not to get in debt.

Speaker 2 (00:27:51) - That's literally the first thing I would say. Now I do understand inflation, everything like that. You know, things are more expensive. So you may have to pull that credit card out. But let's say your credit card is racked up. You want to get that down as much as possible. Get that principal down. Because the higher principal is, the more interest there you're going to be paying on it. And with credit cards too, they usually have a high interest rate, especially if we're talking about one of your first credit cards. We talked about 2,530% Apr, interest rate, things like that. So you know you're not making your payment. That's going to be pulling those, you know, extra 100. You know, around there depending on what your balance is going to be. So you want to pay that principal down as quick as possible. Now you may say, okay, I have a super large balance. I'm not getting that much money yet. How do I pay it down? I will say like she'll say, you know, instead of make you your minimum payments, put it put weekly amounts.

Speaker 2 (00:28:42) - I put large sums towards it because I like I said before, you get that press, slow down. The lower your interest is going to be in, you'll have more flexibility from there. Also, as you mentioned earlier, you know living below your means is going to help you out a lot. I know it can be tempting when you have a credit card, especially if you get approved for a limit and you're younger, things like that. You may say, hey, I got approved for a $20,000 limit. You don't have $20,000 to spend that. That's not how it might cash it. It doesn't work like that. See what happens if you put, you know, you spend that 20,000, you're going to be regretting it very quickly. So live below your means. How I operate with my credit cards is I like, I like. It's a debit card, to be honest with you., when we're talking about things like bad credit, as he mentioned, you know, the difference between good credit and bad credit.

Speaker 2 (00:29:29) - So if I'm using my credit towards, you know, an investment and things like that, it's a bit different. But if we're talking about everyday purchases, you know, clothes, things, we don't necessarily need, material things that operate like us. A debit card is what I would say. If you don't have the money to pay it off immediately, don't use it for it. Now, one of the good things about credit cards so is the points. Like you say, you're about to go to Miami right now. You'll probably use some points, but exactly. I mean, you can rack up some points, you know, and the points will be able to go towards your travel, shopping, food or things like that, and it'll give you a good on a discount on it. So just make sure you're being wise is what I would say when it comes to credit. And if you already have a lot of credit or a lot of debt piled up, try to get that down ASAP.

Speaker 1 (00:30:15) - Yeah, the biggest lesson that you just said, and that I do want to take away, if they did not catch what you said. As you come up in life and as you're making money, you have to keep your lifestyle the same. Do a lot of people, once they start making money, right, they start making a higher level of income. They either get a promotion at work, they start a business, they reach a new milestone of business. Hey, look, I'm going to get a new car and, you know, get a bigger house. I'm going to get, you know, the designer, whatever you have to understand to keep your lifestyle at a certain base level, but yet your lifestyle at that base level and still continue to make more money if you keep your bills, you know, the money going out every month to say, but you're making more money, you're going to do nothing but get ahead. You're going to be able to pay down debt at a very high rate.

Speaker 1 (00:31:01) - If you're already in debt, if you're not in that, you're going to be able to invest at a higher rate. And you got to understand the velocity of money. A lot of people don't understand that. So you're going ad spending money if you're paying five, six, seven, $800 to a credit card, if you invest in College Town, that money in a year, how much would that be in a year? Right. And so you guys got to really understand that the velocity of money and the way to use that is by keeping your lifestyle the same, taking the surplus of income investing.

Speaker 2 (00:31:33) - Yeah, I agree 100%. I mean I'm a testament to that just living way below your means. But you saw me, you know, I got a new car. What? Last year? But before I said no, I thought I was out in an old Ford Lexus. You know, this was in 2022, so it's like a $3,500, $3,500 car, you know, L a or out 300 K miles on it.

Speaker 2 (00:31:52) - The Kool-Aid was leaking, as I'm talking about, that, I had to pull over on the side of the road every 15 minutes. Put some cola in there.

Speaker 1 (00:31:58) - No, I don't remember when I wrote in your car, bro, I.

Speaker 2 (00:32:00) - Think I just.

Speaker 1 (00:32:00) - Looked at you. I was like, Chris, like, bro, you made like five figures off my bro. Like, I understand about being humble, bro, but like you on the Fritz, bro, if I b call a triple AA. Yeah, like, you know, you got to be this humble. This is too modest. No, this is not safe about this, I said.

Speaker 2 (00:32:18) - But bro, my mindset with that is I wanted to live so below my means because I remember what it was like to be bro. And you know that that year when I made what, like 12,000in the entire year, I'm like, bro, I never want to go back to that again. So I was able to make it through that year.

Speaker 2 (00:32:36) - So I kind of, I guess I had PTSD from that, to be honest with you. I had to spend money. I just had all of those money set my towel. You know, I could have done, you know, brought the brand new latest car, got the best house, you know, done all that. I was like, no, bro, I'm gonna keep my spending at a certain amount so I'll never have to worry about money again. Like, if something happens. And this is even before I was really, you know, into investing assets, things like that. I was just like, hey, if something happens, I know I'll be straight for, you know, a year, year plus or so on its own.

Speaker 1 (00:33:08) - Absolutely. That's what it's all about.

Speaker 2 (00:33:10) - Yeah. So that's the first part of that question. So let's get into the second part of this question. So the second question is how do you guys manage and put perspective into buying your second and third properties.

Speaker 2 (00:33:23) - So take two. Nice. First congrats on getting your first property based off of this bird which I'm assuming Bachelor first property. So definitely congrats to that. OMG you want to take this question first.

Speaker 1 (00:33:33) - Yeah, absolutely., so you got congrats. Again, brother. For your first poppy, it's a huge accomplishment. Oh, you know, I'm assuming that he lives in the property. So taking that, as you know. Hey, you bought a property that you live in. Now you're looking to invest in your second and your third property,? You gotta. Everyone has different investment metrics, right? Is is what's the goal? A lot of people get to investing in real estate for cash flow. So you got to look at the cash flow. You got to look at a lot of different factors. Right., you got to look at is the property, the area that's going to appreciate. Right. What type of runner are you going to get in that property. You're going to have a lot of vacancy in that property.

Speaker 1 (00:34:13) - How much cash is required to acquire that property? Because you look at, again, the time value of money, because there is a very time value of money that people don't understand anything, that when you put your money right and tied up in a property, can we use that money again to turn it into flip it and compound it? Right, so the money's idle? Why? That one is idle. We allocate what's called your cash on cash return. And if you guys want to get into a really more advanced metric and you guys want to study your numbers, you then can kind of go to the what's called the internal rate of return on the property that really discounts future cash flows, really gives you the time value of money. Puts that in perspective. But when you're thinking about that, that property, your best thing to get is you're putting all these factors in how much money by putting in what's my cash or cash return? What's the net operating income on the property? What's the cap rate? You know, is this property in an area that has is poised for appreciation? You know, am I getting getting good? Am I then I have a lot of turnover.

Speaker 1 (00:35:16) - What's the condition of the property? Are you going to have to do a lot of repairs? Are you equipped to manage that property yourself or you have to hire a property manager? Are you going to be able to feel it handle repairs as they come for you to know what needs to be fixed, or if it's really a frivolous complaint by the tenant? So,, before you get into investing into a property that you're going to keep as an investment and not to live in, make sure you educate yourself fully. If you don't already know on those factors. Again, you can reach out to Chris or reach out to myself as well., if you have a property or identify or if you're looking for that investment property and you kind of just want us to break down the numbers and see if it would make sense for us and how we can break down in court, advise you whether it would work for you or not.

Speaker 2 (00:36:03) - Yeah, 100%. I agree with everything he says. Yup. You took the all the investment.

Speaker 2 (00:36:08) - I would say, like everything that you need to be doing after you acquire the property, I'll kind of take the the real estate agent route., so say to 98, 85, let's talk about when you're first trying to get the property. You know, the first thing that you want to do is decide how you're going to buy this property. Are we doing traditional? Are we doing a more creative thing because that's done to sort of determine your finances and your cost from purchasing the property. So let's say, for example, say that you're buying the property creatively. First thing you want to do is you want to reach out to one of your local lenders, you want to get approved for your loan. You want to get all the details from the your local lenders. I know that you have mentioned that earlier. Also, to want to issue a debt to income ratio down as low as possible, the higher debt to income ratio is just going to affect what you get pre-approved to, and it may even make you bring a higher down payment.

Speaker 2 (00:36:58) - So get your debt to income ratio down as low as possible. So you want to take care of that. You figure out what your down payment is and such that you have to bring the lender. Now you want to reach out to a trusted real estate advisor, regardless of if you're in Virginia or not. The assets for the state team does some deep connections, so make sure you reach out to us first. When you need to. Trust a real estate advisor, and then make sure you're trusted real estate advisor. They have knowledge on what you're trying to do when it comes to purchasing the second or third property. Like what is your goal, what is your exit strategy, and so on and so on. They should be able to speak to you about what you're trying to do, be able to give you solid advice for that. So once you have that, then you'll begin the process of purchasing the property and they'll be a big guy in from there. So that's where I will really say on is make sure you speak to trusted people.

Speaker 2 (00:37:46) - I would say would be my biggest,, my biggest takeaway from that answer to your question.

Speaker 1 (00:37:53) - I would love to expound on that. I'm going to give you guys $1 million lesson right? Right now how to become a millionaire in ten years. Foolproof plan. One of the most valuable lessons I was first taught when I got to roll the state. And this goes along with this user's question. You know, it's his first property already. And so you got two ways. Three ways, usually a property or your equity increases over time. So he already lives in his property. There's three factors. So you got inflation right. Things, a loaf of bread costs a lot more today than it did in 1999. Right. And then you got appreciation. You got appreciation through just natural progression of the neighborhood. Yeah. Force appreciation. Meaning he did repairs to the property and then you have amortization or debt paid out on the low. You know. And so he's living in the property. The debt is being paid down and the house is going up at value.

Speaker 1 (00:38:44) - So that equity, which is in the middle of this air is growing, the debts being paid down and the equity is growing. So now that equity right is a tangible asset that goes to his net worth. So now when this gentleman bias his second property, let's say just waits two years, this first property would be 250,000. Right. He has 100 K in equity. Now. He goes puts money. Now that he saved up for whatever it is 9 to 5 or as businesses he goes and buys the second property. Right. He's already got a hundred K over here. And now he went and lost his property. And now this property that saves 350,000. And he already has inside equity because he has a trusted real estate advisor from the asset C. He's buying at an equitable position. And now you're P and rinse and repeat this process over the next two years. But the key here I want to give you guys a little well pack is he's using his own cash right. But he has access in this first property.

Speaker 1 (00:39:39) - So let's say here for year five he's got 150 $200,000 in equity. Remember he's now moved out of that first property. He's got a renter paid his debt down by the house is appreciated. So that equity is continuing to grow. And so if he sells that house and taps into that $150,000 in equity, what happens? What did he just did? He just triggered a what type of event he has to do? What when you sell a house.

Speaker 2 (00:40:06) - It's accidents.

Speaker 1 (00:40:07) - Access. So you sure you triggered a taxable event without going too deep into the tax code and everything. Right. So this is how the rich say rich. You guys, you guys follow me every two years you're going to upgrade your house and you're going against your rent out the one before you that's going to pay down. And the house is going up in value. Right. You're going to go take what's called a hillock, which is a home equity line of credit. You're going to go and take a heat off of that property because you do not pay taxes on money you borrow.

Speaker 1 (00:40:38) - You're paying interest, but you're borrowing your own money. And then and so now you've took out a key lock on this property. So let's say that $150,000 that took out a loan might be an extra six, 7 or $8 a month, depending on the interest rate. Right. And I use that as a down payment to buy another house.

Speaker 2 (00:40:55) - Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:40:56) - Now my rates are is paying not only my mortgage on that property, they're also paying the hella. That debt again is continuing to be resets right. So adding another 152 debt. But now the debts continuing to be paid down, the property still going up in value. And now I took that money tax free way and bought another higher value property. And all you got to do is read and repeat this process every two years. I'm telling you, ten years you're going to have equity or a net worth of $1 million. It's a foolproof plan, I promise you, especially in today's age, it's not hard to be a millionaire.

Speaker 2 (00:41:27) - Yeah, literally $1 million worth of game given on the Let's Talk Assets podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:41:32) - So if you guys didn't write that down, rewind this video. Write that down your notes. It's a repeat, foolproof plan. Follow that. Like you said, you'll be a millionaire.

Speaker 1 (00:41:42) - Yeah. You know, you guys will hear another. Another wealth hack or wealth secret. You guys will hear for everyone that owns property or all you people that are watching this podcast., I know that this stuff can inspire you guys to, to go into homeownership, but you refi until you die. And then and what I mean by that is you never sell a house and oh, the house, you want to tap into the equity, you either refinance or take all the equity line of credit. All because you do not pay debt. Excuse me? I pay taxes on debt. For example, I tell you, you want to know why I was Elon Musk's not paid taxes. He's the richest man in the world. And then these stupid, rich, full time billion can. Has he not paying taxes to give you guys his hat because he takes stock from his company, right.

Speaker 1 (00:42:29) - Oh you hesitate income. He takes stock right. And said stock is a tangible asset which you can go borrow. He then go take the line of credit out from the stock that he owns. It's backed by the stock. It's a secured debt. And he doesn't pay taxes because it's borrowed money is borrowing his own money. He's borrowing ass. Yeah it's an asset class. Then the stock is going to borrow money from it. And then that money is going to spend. But he's not paying taxes on that money. Yeah. So again you guys have to this is why you guys acquired asset. Till you guys acquire assets. These are things where you know again I'm not a CPA. But you go talk to your CPA or your trusted tax consultant. But these are ways where the tax code its position how you pay less taxes. But you tap in to your equity, you tap into, you know, the things that you've earned without paying that huge, huge, huge tax burden. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:43:20) - Assets.

Speaker 2 (00:43:21) - Assets is one of your biggest tax shelters. You know, as you guys start scaling out as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, you're gonna want to find tax shelters. I tell you this, Uncle Sam is your biggest op. At the end of the day, Uncle Sam is going to come and take that money from you. If you're not finding tax shelters, you know, one of the worst things is to be an entrepreneur on a W9 or some type of check. And, you know, you don't have any tax write offs. You don't have any tax shelters. Why is he going to pay that bill to Sam? Trust me, you're gonna want to wish that you listened to us beforehand. But when he asks us is one of the biggest tax OTAs. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (00:43:58) - I like I said, that's why it's so boring even in,, you know, like, as a real estate agent, most real estate agent still sitting there today. Not not W-2, but 1099, you're taking an income and you're paying taxes on it.

Speaker 1 (00:44:12) - At the end of the year, you pay your own taxes, but rather take that a cut. And as an individual, you take that incumbent as an LLC, which is a pastor. But that entity now,, can participate in tax advantages that you as a person with your Social Security number cannot participate. Yeah. Because as an individual you pay taxes or a W-2 job and then you, you know, you get to struggle with that as a business. You spend, you make the money, you spend it, then you pay taxes on whatever's left over. Yep. That's why people that are entrepreneurs and that's why the wealthy, that's why they pay less taxes. And it's because they learn to expense. You have to follow the tax code. Again, as someone that's been in trouble with the law, that's the one people you do not want to get in bed with or not piss off is the IRS. It will ruin your entire life. So all while entrepreneurs out there make sure you pay your taxes.

Speaker 1 (00:45:08) - Another big thing too is you got to be careful right now. This is one of the biggest challenges I've faced as an entrepreneur with taxes is I have a lot of things,, that are tax shelters that help me mitigate, you know, my taxable income. But there's a catch 22 with that. Yeah. I'm paying less in taxes because I'm acquiring assets, depreciation, things like that. But the more I lower my taxable income, the less I'll qualify to,, you know, for loans and stuff like that. And so, you know, hey, I'd be on paper, but, you know, not make that much money, but it comes with the consequence. So guys be careful. And then, you know, you guys have to be,, reasonable about what you're running off. You know, if you're making $100,000 a year, you can't be running off 80 worth of stuff, you know, and you're going to get audited. And you're. And either I owe back taxes, we'll go to jail.

Speaker 2 (00:45:58) - Yeah, but.

Speaker 1 (00:45:59) - Then go and get guys. Studying taxes is very important in business. I studied a lot of books on it., I have a good a great accountant. And, you know, I sit down with them and, you know, keep keep an eye on that. It's very important because there's a lot of people fail in business because they forget about taxes. They think they're making all this money. Then the tax time comes around, especially when you first start. Right? Because if you've never paid taxes, you know, most people have w-2s, so it automatically appear and they're expecting a check back.

Speaker 2 (00:46:29) - Yep.

Speaker 1 (00:46:30) - It's different when you got a stroke tens of thousands of dollars to the IRS. You know, it's a different type of feeling. And, so always be cognizant of that as a big piece of advice I can give for all the early entrepreneurs out there, make sure you understand what your tax direction or tax strategy is as an entrepreneur and your specific industry. Get professional advisement and go up there and scale, you know, 100% sure.

Speaker 2 (00:46:54) - And guys, remember the IRS, if we put that on one line t h e IRS, what does that spell? There's hustle there compared to if you don't pay those axes they're coming towards theirs and they will garnish your wages. The other thing you can't hide from them. They have access to all your bank accounts. So please make sure your taxes are taken care of. You know, reach out to your local trusted tax advisor they'll be able to give you. Further advice on either mitigating taxes, handling taxes, whatever. That's one thing we should do. We should have a tax adviser on to be able to answer the complicated questions, which absolutely, I don't.

Speaker 1 (00:47:28) - I definitely got I got one in the hopper. Okay. You know, so we'll definitely get someone high value a beer job sometimes on this.

Speaker 2 (00:47:35) - Yeah I know the audience will be looking forward to that for sure. No, absolutely. The people when I started this podcast was being able to give the people access to high level information, broke it down in the very simple way.

Speaker 2 (00:47:47) - I'm honestly, I'm not a person who likes to speak a lot. I like to play behind the scenes. And I know, like if you see like my social medias or things like that, you may think you know the opposite of me. Like I'm always kind of like, do what's up to all social media, the limelight, things like that. But naturally I'm not like that. I like to be reserved, you know, just deal with the people that are my people. But I realize that I do have certain knowledge, know a lot of things that I would like to share with people. So my goal really was starting this was to give the people, like we said, a free game, you know, to teach them about assets, to teach so about productive things for themselves, for their families, for their business, entrepreneurship and so on and so on. And then when they take this information, they can go spread it to their friends. You know, I never was a person that like people.

Speaker 2 (00:48:33) - Gatekeeper information. I want to give as much information out as possible to the people who are willing to listen. And then they can just take that and spread it. And then when they take that and spread it, now everybody's at a higher level. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (00:48:47) - I think I'm, I'm, I'm not the same mindset. I mean, definitely in agreeance with Chris., I feel a blessed in order to have a platform., I feel honored and humbled that people are either listening,, you know, just people taking the time out of their day to, to, you know, listen to what we have to say, the value we have to provide,, that's what this is all about, is giving you guys by the community guys real, tangible information. Look. We're rookies up in this entrepreneur life. In the grand scheme of things, to you guys, I'm telling you, stay tuned. The people we're going to be bringing through this studio, the value that they're going to get, not only us, you guys in the world, the lessons that they've been through the lot more season than us.

Speaker 1 (00:49:34) - We're bringing some really high level, really special guest elite business people,, politicians, athletes, musicians, leaders and the community audit people from all different walks of life. And you guys have any special request and guest look, we have an extensive network. And look, I'm not afraid to reach out to anybody. You know, you miss 100% of the shots. You don't take a million. So you know what that being said, you know, that's the what this is all about. Let's talk assets retargeting assets. We're giving you guys value. Passing on the information has helped us become successful., sharing our social currency with you, tapping into our network provided some of these high level people that I've learned lessons from, that Chris has learned lessons from putting them in front of you, asking them those poignant questions, getting that information out of vogue so you guys can take it, go pursue your dreams and crush and live the life you're meant to it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:50:33) - Big facts. And guys, if you found any helpful information with these podcasts, make sure that you share with a family member or a coworker you know, a friend, whoever shared his helpful information with them.

Speaker 2 (00:50:46) - Don't pull all the information to yourself. You want to get it out. Says many ears, as many eyes as possible so they can take advantage of the helpful information and you know it can change their life. You never know what's going to change some person's life. You know, just a little story, just a little snippet. One little thing can completely change the direction of a person's life. So don't be selfish. Don't rely on information. Make sure that you share with everybody that you know where they who could use some help for information like that. And we're really here to give you guys a roadmap, a guide on things that we've we've experienced, things that we've been through. But also, like you said, we don't know it all. So we are going to bring on some high level guests. And trust me, I'm not that big of a talker. No, but that means if I say something is going to happen and goes in accordance with that, we're going to be so very high level people up here, and we can't wait for y'all to hear the special guest list that we have prepared for y'all.

Speaker 1 (00:51:39) - Yeah, absolutely. And like I said, one day I want to encourage the audience, especially everyone who took the time to listen to our podcast, ask questions, you know, close by. I also get fed. We're not afraid of anything. You have to ask us. We will answer it again. Unscripted, unfiltered. Here at Let's Talk Assets podcast. We appreciate you guys for taking the time out of your evening to join us.

Speaker 2 (00:52:02) - Let's talk assets.