Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I get knocked down all the time. There's always something coming. Matter of fact, I think it's worse when there's nothing coming. You know, in the military, they say complacency kills. Every time we used to leave the wire and to go outside on missions and stuff, there was signs that say complacency kills. Just to remind you, because contrary to popular belief, it's not always a firefight every single moment of the day. You'll die from the boredom before you die from, you know, IED or gunshot or rpg. So. So going through the times where there's no issues and nothing's knocking you down, that's where you start feeling like you can be untouched, like you're untouchable. I get knocked down all the time, and you just got to keep going. It's the only option.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: Hey, everybody, and welcome back to this episode of Trust. This, the podcast for real estate investors and entrepreneurs across the country who are looking for that insight and inspiration of how to move to the next level. I'm Joe Seal, your real estate asset protection attorney here in Florida, and today I have the wonderful opportunity to welcome Drew Akindo to the studio. Virtually Drew Sub two. Drew is here. And, Drew, I'd just like for you to just sort of introduce yourself, let everybody know who you are and what you do.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Yes, sir. Appreciate the invite. And I love being here. I'm Sub to Drew. I'm based out of Orlando, Florida.
Been in real estate for the last 10, 11 years, and done everything from being an agent, you know, license fixing and flipping to, you know, wholesaling, to, you know, trading notes and. And all those things, and Sub two and all the creative stuff that I'm sure we'll get into.
I guess just project into the future. My next challenge to overcome is to try to get into some new construction, some new development.
[00:01:58] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. Now, I also know you have a military background. It seems that a lot of our guests have combat, or at least they're veterans. They have a lot of military background. What do you think it is about that military experience that has helped you to get where you are today?
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So I. I am a Marine Corps vet, a combat vet. So I've fought in both Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times as an infantryman. Also, you got recruited for counterintelligence. So I. I've had a good time and a good run in the military, and I did that for about 10 years.
So I think that's a good question, because there was a time I have two kids now, but there was a Time when I don't even know what age it would be, but halfway through there where I didn't real. I didn't think I was ready for, for any type of, like, adult responsibility. Not that I couldn't handle the responsibility, but I don't feel like there was nothing I can teach a kid or pass on. But, you know, after a couple wars and, you know, some, some battles, some firefights and things like that, you know, then I got to the point where I was like, hey, I can do this. And the, the military, I mean, you talk about growing up in a single parent household, you know, growing up with a single mom, single grandmother at that.
Where do you learn how to be a man? So the military was that. That, that instrument that taught me how to be a man at least, I feel. And that sets me up for everything else in life, in my opinion, to at least attack it and take it on any challenge as a man, you know, how to handle pressure, you know how to be disciplined, how to stay the course, you know, how to be mission oriented, you know, so, I mean, it's everything. I don't know where I'd be without it, without that foundation.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: It seems like you guys have a lot of grit. I've often talked about grit with a lot of our guests, especially the vets, that it's sort of like, yeah, you get knocked down, but you just get right back up and you keep going.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: In business, have you ever. How have you found that you've had to have that grit to have you been knocked down and gotten back up?
[00:04:01] Speaker A: Man, I think you know the answer to that. We've all been knocked down.
I get knocked down all the time. It's just.
I mean, it depends on how you look at it. You know, it's. That. That's interesting. How do I even break this down? I get knocked down all the time. There's always something coming. Matter of fact, I think it's. I think it's worse when there's nothing coming. You know, you're getting complacent. You know, in the military, they say complacency kills. Every time we used to leave the wire and to go outside on missions and stuff, there was signs that say complacency kills. Just to remind you, because contrary to popular belief, it's not always a firefight. Every single moment of the day, you'll die from the boredom before you die from, you know, IED or gunshot or rpg.
So.
And that. That going through the times where there's no issues and nothing's Knocking you down. That's where you kind of start feeling like you. You're the one. You know, it's. It's like you're the one. Like you can be untouched, like you're untouchable. You know, last year was an amazing year. The year before that, a couple years before that was an amazing year. You know, when things are up, that's when all the agents flooded the space. Now they're all gone. Because right now, it's like the market hit. Now you realize who's the real boss, you know, so, man, I get knocked down all the time. You know, it's all the time. And you just got to keep going. It's the only option.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: Well, you've. You've built a reputation for creative deal structuring. Sub two seller financing is number one. What drew you to that? Was it just necessity? How did you find out? How did you learn? And how have you used those to help out distressed homeowners?
[00:05:39] Speaker A: Absolutely. So that. I think that's what drew me to crazy finance is probably what draws everyone to it. It's the idea you can get in with little to no money, especially when you hear.
And also no credit, especially when you see all the gurus talking about makes it seem like the most simplest, simplest thing. And it is simple. Just like, you know, real estate and probably most things we do, it's just not always easy to do because of that mindset issue and all the things knocking you down. But what drew me to it was, was just that, you know, even though at the time this is 25th, this is 2014, actually, when I got into this and I've been dabbling with creative finance since then, what got me into it was like, you know, I had the mindset, you know, I don't have money.
Even though I was in the military, I was getting paid pretty well, had credit and everything, you know, it's just that mindset wasn't there. So, you know, I automatically reverted to my mindset that I was, you know, that I adopted growing up from my family. Just, we don't have money, you know, we don't got it like that. It's the rich people who have it like that. But I started watching these, you know, these, these YouTube videos at the time. Robert Kiyosaki, you know, rich dad, poor dad, got me thinking, like, oh, man, I could do this. And somewhere along the line, creative financing, like, found its way to me in there, and it just made sense. You know, you're already in the space, you know, doing fix and flips. And, you know, talking to sellers and all that, you know, now you meet a challenge that you can't overcome with just throwing cash, you know, at pennies on a dollar, the creative financing starts to, you know, ring a little bit louder as a. As a great option. So I fell in love with it and been with it ever since.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: So what are kind of, what are some of the tech techniques that you use to. Whenever buying a house?
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Well, first and foremost, it's always. That's a good question, because the way I answer it, it's situational dependent. It depends on the person who's looking at the opportunity and what their bank account looks like versus what their desires and goals look like. So for me, in most cases, one of my challenges is always looking for some sort of active income. So how can I make some right now money on it? It's not the greatest mindset to have, but it's a necessary one when you need it, you know, and unfortunately, because I like to spend money, I find myself needing it, you know, more often than not. So a lot of times I'm looking at just how can I make that quick buck on that deal right then and there and obviously help the seller. That goes without saying, because the only way you can actually make that money is if you provide a solution that actually helps the seller. There's no pulling the wool over the eyes on that. It'll always come back to bite you. But the strategies, you know, if going back to the actual question that comes from what scenario they're placed with. So it's. It's more looking like a. Is looking at it with a solution mindset. You know, what type of solution can I put here? Like, for that, you have to find out what the actual problem is. You know, it's not just ramming cash down or throw. It's not just ramming creative down their throat. So whenever I'm talking to somebody, we're going through all the steps, even the market, you know, not that I want to take them to the market, but even the market is an option too. We rule that out. And then if we get down to creative parts, perfect. If we stop at cash, perfect. You know, wherever I can monetize that opportunity and help as well.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: What are you finding that you're doing most now in these transactions? What's the most common technique that you're having to use right now in the market?
[00:08:57] Speaker A: Most common is. I'd say it's. It's starting to even up a little bit more for whatever reason. But I would say it's what's taking the lead is still the sub 2 stuff. And that's probably very subjective because for me, like you said, I have branded myself or fell and fell into that niche as like the creative guy around here. So I don't do my own prospecting or cold prospecting. I don't do a lot of that. I do a lot of fixing situations for people. I do a lot of closing for other people who are running their marketing. So when they bring it to me, they're bringing it to me at a point where they couldn't do anything with it on cash, you know, or they locked it up too high, and then we got to go back in and perform surgery and try to, you know, restructure everything. So I'm seeing, personally seeing a lot of the creative subject to splash of seller.
We got a seller finance deal working right now. So those are always there, lingering in any type of market. But sub 2 for sure, especially with a lot of these sellers who can't sell and get what they want on the market. You know, that's still happening out there.
[00:09:54] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's what a lot of people are still coming to grips with. We're early in this process right now of becoming a buyer's market again. And I think a lot of sellers are still thinking, you know, two years ago, and it's like that, that that period's gone.
And. And what do you. Why do you think there are so many subject twos out there? Was it people who bought in 20, 21, 2022, during the pandemic, they ran to Florida, they bought a house, put just a little bit of money down, and now they're just. They just don't have enough equity to. To make it work. Is that what's going on?
[00:10:30] Speaker A: You know, I honestly think, and this is just me saying this, I think it's just.
It's not a factor of it being more out there. I think they were always there. It's just that there's more people aware of it now. You know, there's courses out there that are teaching it, and they're getting. They're getting huge because of the same concept that I got involved with. It was, you know, little to no money down, you know, get rich and all this stuff, you know, so they might not be going about it the best way. Not that it's illegal or anything, but they might not be going about as the most strategic way of actually getting these deals done, but it's a lot more exposure to the. To the wholesaler, slash investor out there. So they're taking that to the marketplace and offering that as a solution. So I think that's why we think that's more. But I feel like it's always been around, you know, what's the exit strategy.
[00:11:19] Speaker B: For most of these properties? Are you or the other investors holding them or are they just fixing and flipping? What are they doing with them?
[00:11:27] Speaker A: Oh man, there's a combination of many things.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: So.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: And that's actually good. You asked like, what's the exit strategy? Because, because getting, let's say sub two, for instance, that's just an entry strategy, you know, that's how you're entering a deal and acquiring it and controlling that deal. But from there the same exit strategies apply. On a cash deal. You could either wholesale it, you know, just sell that contract to someone else or assign it to someone else for money. Or you could, you know, keep it, buy and hold or if there's some equity on it, you can flip it or take it to the market, you know, for, for those type of transactions as well.
Now when you go back to wholesaling, who do you wholesale it to? Like who's your market? Right. At that point it can, it can split off. You can wholesale it to a owner occupant someone.
1099 doesn't have to always be a bad credit scenario. It could just be someone who doesn't, you know, have, you know, the can show the income because of 1099 reasons. Because all the red tape that goes in with getting those conforming loans, you know, or the situation, the property looks great. You know, a lot of new properties too, A lot of new properties are going sub too because they've bought the height of the market. They're selling a year or two later. Those are amazing. You know, some of the payments might be a little higher but if you get someone who can afford that, it's never going to go for or in most cases it's not going to go for someone who wants to invest in the conventional terms of getting cash flow, maybe long term play if it's in that prime area for appreciation. But you know, you've got those people that you kind of put on the back burner. And then now you can start looking towards homeowners. Great idea or a great strategy for them to get into a property. You know, people are looking to live in there. So there's endless amount of strategies.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I've got one right now that they, they came in as a subject to and they bought it as their primary residence. They ended up they having to move. So now they're assigning again, the property to someone else who's going to move into it and live there. And, you know, the, the. The mortgage payment is lower than they would be paying in rent. So a lot of people are doing that.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: Yeah, we've got a lot works out like that. Yeah, it's good for everybody.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: Yeah. So you were in the military and then you got into this. Did you come straight out and start going into real estate, or was it sort of a side hustle? How did you get into it?
[00:13:40] Speaker A: I actually, I bridged the gap while I was in the military still. So my last year in the military was 2014, and I ran. Ran through that whole year in, you know, in the military still. So all the way to the December, I moved down here to Orlando, Florida in January to start the agent side of things. I figured I'd get my license. I didn't know this market down here, but for that whole 2014, I was operating and doing all the things, you know, real estate investing up in North Carolina, Jacksonville, North Carolina, which is outside of Camp Lejeune.
But that's where I started everything. So it was the.
The thought was, let me. While I'm still, you know, on some sort of income, I don't have enough time to work up and. And go on another deployment. So they're not going to send me on one. And at this point, I'm pushing 10. I'm about to finish off with 10 years. So it's not like they. They want to ring the rag one more time to get some use out of me. So I was just doing simple armory duty at the time, just managing the army. So I had all the time in the world to. To focus on seeing if I can get this business off the ground. So there was no. It was a smooth transition.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: I find that a lot over the years. I've had a lot of firemen and police officers and military who find that they just have this extra time on their hands while they're working or. And they. They do this. I had one fireman here in Orlando years ago who. He built probably five condominium complexes while he was at work because he said they had a lot of downtime, so he could sit there and, you know, tinker on it on the computer with things while he was doing that. When did you realize. When did it pop in your mind, hey, this is going to work. I can definitely do this as a career.
And how did you. How did you make that. That mind shift?
[00:15:32] Speaker A: Good question. Because I find myself, this is 2014.
So 11 years later still, sometimes when I get knocked down thinking like, damn, do I need to pivot somewhere else? Or I need to figure something else out. So it's like I'm rediscovering every day that I can do this and keep this up and. And somehow it happens, you know, I know we talked a little bit earlier offline about the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm always.
I'm still searching for the light. I'm still working towards the light at the end of the tunnel. You know, I understand I may be a little bit more ahead of some people, but there' also people more ahead of me. And everyone's, you know, judging, you know, someone's outsides by their insides and it doesn't match up. So I don't know what that other person is thinking. Just like they don't know what's really going on in my current situation. But everything I. I feel like I developed the belief that everything works out, everything, or else we wouldn't even be here, you know, but us being here is proof that everything works out and it's a setup for something else. Like there's opportunity at every turn, you know, so it's not even a matter of if this thing can work. It's just a matter of working it, just getting the vehicle and driving it. And that's all I've been doing this whole time.
[00:16:42] Speaker B: Well, and I know that's a big mind shift going from that steady paycheck hitting your bank account every two weeks, every month, you know, whatever it is, to all of a sudden going, hey, that's not coming in automatically now. It's whatever I do. But by the same token, you've got that. But there's no limit as to how much I can make.
[00:17:01] Speaker A: You know, people take that for granted that, that, that check that they get. They think they look at their. Like you mentioned the firefighters and stuff like that. Honestly, if I go back, I would stay in the military and build the business and that, that off time, you know, whenever I can have that off time. Because you can totally do it. And you look better on paper for financing and all different types of other options if you got that steady job. I mean, the ultimate hack is having that job and waking up and realizing you have time to go build this thing over here. You know, just take that active income and put it towards some, some investments. But I see people all the time, they want to quit their, their job and jumping this all in.
Hey, good, you know, good luck I'm not gonna say not to. You know, I didn't necessarily quit. I was on my way out. I made the decision not to pursue any type of three letter agency or, or anything with, in that realm. But again, if I could go back knowing obviously the cheat code is knowing what I know now, then I would, I would do things a little bit different just to set myself up for a smoother path.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: Well, I think that's the thing about real estate is it can be eased into over time. And I taught a class on wholesale contracts this past weekend and that was one of the things that we talked about. A lot of people start out in wholesaling because you can just get the contracts and start making some money. Sort of like you said, it's like, how do I get paid now, right now, versus waiting, you know, for the payoff down the road? And then they move into fixing, flipping, buying and holding and then building and lending and everything else. But yeah, it is that transition period there that they go through.
[00:18:35] Speaker A: People don't understand. I think in my opinion, people don't. And this is, I didn't understand this. Right. That active income is really important also. Right. Everybody wants this passive, this idea of this passive income. First of all, it's not passive, not 100% passive. You know, it can be, but you know, it takes time to develop and build that. Well, let me rephrase that. I believe it can be. I haven't experienced it yet. I gotta work for all that, the rental properties that I, I'm, you know, that I control and manage and own. I have to work towards that. Even if I put a property manager in place, you know, someone is gonna, all they're gonna do is call me to ask for the money to fix some things and I gotta go make that money. So I, I 100 more now than ever realize how, how important active income is, you know, and if you got that active income, you got options from that point.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I hear that all the time. I just want passive income. And I go, I've been working for, you know, I've been a lawyer now coming up on 30 years, and there's nothing passive about anybody I've ever represented. Everybody is very, I mean even the, the billionaires I've worked with, everybody's like, oh, they just sit back and they could, but they won't do that.
Now you talk, we talk about growth, mindset and always, you know, you never get complacent.
And you said that you started your learning path with YouTube videos and, and books and Things. What, how, what other ways have you learned as you've moved through the journey here?
[00:20:07] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. You know, that self education is important 100%, but there's also the paid education. Like it's, it's, it's mandatory. At some point you gotta invest in yourself and get the paid education. Whether it ends up being a bust or not, you know, you have to go for it because you'll, it'll, it'll cut down the learning curve. But I've done countless mentorships, masterminds, programs.
You know, I don't want to say I'm a sucker, but, you know, when I see something that, like, that looks good, you know, and I feel like that's the next, you know, thing for me, you know, I'm going for it, you know, and I, and I have gone for it and I've paid, I paid the price for a lot of those things and I didn't get the results that I thought I was going to get. But I did get more clarity on what I don't want or what I need to pivot or shift to. So you got something out of it.
So, but that's mandatory. You got to pay pay to play.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: Well. Yeah, I've got a lot of folks who come on this program, who are they go to a lot of, they have lots of mentors, they have lots of coaches. They spend a lot of money on it every year. But if, if it's good, you're going to learn and we've always said too, you're going to either learn from that or you're going to learn from the experience, making mistakes. I have another client. He has lost millions of dollars over the years, but he looks at it as well, that was my Harvard education.
Losing the money was a little hard. Yeah, yeah. And, and he's fine with that. To me, I go, there needs to be a happy medium because that's hard knocks. Hurts a lot when you're doing it.
[00:21:42] Speaker A: Heck yeah, it does.
[00:21:44] Speaker B: So you've got now your own. I mean you've got a portfolio of properties. What mindset shift did you have to go through to scale from your first deal to now you're running multiple businesses. You got flashcast, flash cash offers in your man manage. How many businesses have you got and, and how have you scaled that? How's your mindset changed as you scaled?
[00:22:04] Speaker A: Yeah, so I, I've got a few businesses, but they all, they all overlap, you know, because you can break it down from the realtor business. I am licensed, so I still have that not super active these days, even though there is a opportunity to get back active with that now with everything that's going on.
So I am looking at, you know, avenues to go down, you know, regarding that. But you know, that's one property management, you know, wholesale stuff, the building, you know, ventures that I'm, I'm looking into right now or get involved with right now. There's a lot, but they all, you know, feed into each other. It all starts from a lead mindset shifts. The biggest thing is there's a couple, there's. There's running a company. Right. So I have these businesses, but I don't have a ton of employees. I, I've never, I haven't done well at hiring. Right. I understand that I need to be at a certain place where money's coming in. You laugh because I know you probably experience it too. We all have. But yeah, I, I haven't, I feel like I haven't gotten into a place where I can solidify the system so I can give some space to myself to, to train these people coming in. I end up pivoting way too much to training and then the income starts dropping. Now I can't. If I'm hiring staff, can't afford them. Like it's. Talk about getting knocked down. Like it's, it's been bad. So, you know, there's lessons learned on that. Mindset shifts. Mindset shifts. Learn on that. You think you want this big old multi million dollar company, but you're taking home like this much, you know, like, you know, you want to leverage your time, but again, you're taking over this much now. What are you doing time. Like there's been a ton of mindset shifts, but I think the biggest and important mindset shift that, that hit me was understanding the purpose of rental properties and the value of really having a rental property. Everybody wants to brag about cash flow because they're trying to race to this passive income. The biggest mistake I ever learned and still am learning is not to live on your passive income. Your quote unquote passive income. Right. You start living on that cash flow prematurely and you start realizing that that's not the route to go because now all of a sudden things are breaking. But you were paying for this new car. You just bo, you know, increasing expenses and this high rise that I'm living in now, you know, like all this stuff, you know, and you know what's good today? You know, the market way it looks today, it don't necessarily, it's not guaranteed to look like that next month or, you know, tomorrow, you know, so I learned two things out of the rental space. The rental game is never finance short, Never finance a property. Right. With short term debt, you know, because I do a lot of stuff with private lenders. So I got into some trouble. Not trouble, but got into a situation where I need to scramble and renegotiate those notes or refinance. But hey, if you're doing subject to a lot of times there's no equity on it. So boom, one and two years, they come quick, you know, faster than you think. So short term debt. No, no. And then also not living on the, the, the, the cash flow and not it, you know, have that as a bonus. Let that pile up and let that handle the situations. The property, you know, that the property sends you because it's, it's, it's a lot more peace of mind when you know that property's taken care of. If you're trying to go after active income and you're trying to solve, solve these, these problems and fill these gaps over here on this sinking ship, forget about it. That's why I'm bald right now. And I'm sure that's another reason, probably a contributor if I did have here. But. Yeah, well.
[00:25:35] Speaker B: And I think we've all had those struggles. I mean, anybody who's, who's, who's had business, especially with employees. I mean, there was a time when I had the title companies that always joked that I was sending out more W2s at the end of the year than probably a McDonald's did because I was just having this revolving door.
And it was. And also, yeah, when the big recession hit in 2007, 2008, and you have to sit down with half of your staff one at a time that morning and lay them off because you just don't have business. And then six months later, three months later, you're sitting down with half of the. Half that are left and going, I got to let you go now too. There's just no business there. It's, it is, it's hard. I mean, firing somebody, somebody because they just do a bad job, that's no big deal because they, they really, they quit the job. The way I look at it. But letting people go because you didn't have the business, you feel like the failure and you never want to feel like that again if you can help it. And it really does make you, it makes you a little, you know, hesitant to hire again. But I think it goes back to that grit you've Just got to get back up and, and go, okay, well, we've done it before. We can scale back up again.
Let's just get back at it and learn from our mistakes. You know, what happened last time.
[00:26:53] Speaker A: Yeah, but that, you see that too. And one I've experienced just that someone relocating, hiring them think it's going to be great. Granted that I don't think they did a great job in the position, but also I don't think I set the proper expectations. So I had to have those tough conversations as well. But you also see that in relationships too. People with relationships who are building something, it's such a great idea to build something with your spouse or significant other. But it's a challenge too, especially if things start getting turbulent and then you as a man or the leader of your household, you know, feel like, man, you can't keep this together. Together. Like, how do you explain this? Like, what do you do? You know, all that stuff, all that ways.
[00:27:31] Speaker B: Yeah. My dad always told me that early on in his job he worked for Pepsi. When the, in the first year he and my mom were married, she was getting mad because he was working. Yeah, there you go.
But he was working very late hours, going in early in the, you know, working like 5, 30 in the morning till, you know, 10, 11 o' clock every night, six days a week to make money. And my mom was getting very angry and he had, he, he tells us, you know, I've heard this story over and over as a kid. He said, I sat your mom down. I said, look, I have to do this. If you want a living, if you want a house and we're going to have a family and we're going to be successful, this is what I got to do. So either get used to it now or let's just go ahead and call it quits now before it gets even worse.
And I don't know that a lot of spouses have those crucial conversations with each other to just say, this is what it is. I'm sorry, but this is what it is. And it's going to be this way if for a while and you're right and you have crucial conversations with your employees. But sometimes it's the other people in your life you've got to do that with.
[00:28:39] Speaker A: Absolutely. You know, crucial conversation is, is tough because it is. A lot of times I think they, they talk about it, but I think it's an argument, it's a crucial argument at that point. And, you know, it's not getting translated well, you know.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: Right.
It has to be a structured sit down discussion, not a, not an argument. So if you're coming in at, you know, 10, 11 o' clock at night after being at coaching sessions or classes, or you've been out working on properties and making deals and you're coming in and they're, you know, everybody's mad and they're screaming, they're frustrated, that's not the best time to have that conversation. Probably the next day after everybody's calmed back down.
[00:29:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:18] Speaker B: To go, okay, here's what happened. Now let's, let's talk about. This is not going to be the last time this happens either. So are we going to be okay about that?
[00:29:26] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: Now you talk about in your, you've got podcasts, you've got, you've got appearances, things that you do, you've got a big social media presence, you emphasize fitness and personal growth as part of your lifestyle. You've got good habits, basically. And we often talk to our guests, often talk about their habits that have helped them succeed. What are some of the biggest habits that you do that you think have contributed to your success?
[00:29:51] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Good question. Because habits have become the topic of conversation a lot these days with the people in that space who, who sell those, you know, program and the mentorship and the coaching, which is all great stuff. I think there's a, for me, at least, I think there's a, a misconception that certain habits like a morning routine and things like that will lead to millions of dollars. Right. I don't know that it necessarily will. Right. I don't think anybody's ever like made that clear distinction, you know, and maybe I have a limiting belief around it, but what I think the habits do specifically for me, like having a habit of going to the gym, working out or getting up early, getting my mind right and all that stuff that just, that helps helps me handle these, these knockdowns. You know, we talked about getting knocked down and stuff like that that helps me like stay in the game and have a success, a win somewhere. You know, there's times there, there, there, there'll be a month where I don't make any money, you know, any new money, at least not from rental property stuff, but like any new active income, you know, there'll be a month or two that that'll happen. How do you stay in the game with that? Like, where is your win going to be? You know, so going to the gym and, and, and making sure I get the session and I still look good and you know, and I'm keeping Up with that. And I'm waking up early, I'm doing, you know, skincare or whatever, you know, all the stuff that I think is important, you know, those are. Those are wins, you know, because if you start deteriorating financially and physically, you know, like, then mentally, you know, like, what do you have left? You know, So I think it's just. I think it's just mandatory. It's just necessary, like, so you have to incorporate those things. You have to keep it up or else you die, you know, metaphorically or, you know, you know, physically.
[00:31:30] Speaker B: But, yeah, yeah, no, I agree. Routines, habits are very important. It's had a high school teacher and he always talked about how, you know, whenever somebody dies in a household, everybody brings them food. Everybody brings food to the house so everybody can eat. And he always. His argument was, well, we do that. It's just sort of instinctual because eating is a habit that we have to do. And it's a natural. It's an automatic habit. We eat to sustain ourselves.
So you've had this huge disruption. You've had a death in the house, this massive disruption. So to bring order back to your life after that disruption is you're going to eat, you're going to have breakfast, you have lunch, you're going to have dinner, and you're going to do it usually with friends and family from food that people have brought to you. So it just sort of brings that routine back and gets you back on track.
And I agree. I mean, having that routine of what you're doing every day, that. Yeah, you get that punch in the gut of something happen in the business or something happened in the family.
Yeah. But I'm still going to get up and I'm going to go through this routine and that's going to. That's how I'm going to keep climbing the mountain every day. Keep trudging through. Yeah.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: One foot in front of the other.
[00:32:44] Speaker B: Yeah. You've said that freedom isn't just a goal, it's a responsibility. What does that mean to you today? And how do you build a life and a business with that philosophy in mind?
[00:32:55] Speaker A: So that's. That's important to me because as a man. I'm speaking as a man, but obviously this. This applies to anyone who's like, head of their household, you know, that. Which is a masculine role. Right. Whoever's taking that role, you. It's mandatory. Like, you have to. There's no other way. Like, you have to be successful for your family. It ain't just for you, you know, so it ain't even. It's not even a goal at that point. This is just life, you know, so that. Apply. Apply that to everything. You know, there is no. As the. The leader of your household, whether you're a female or a male, there is no luxury of falling into depression or anxiety or you can't move and do this and that. Those things are very real for people who, you know, suffer for them. But it's not a luxury you can. You can take on at the time because you have other people you have to care for. You know, you have other people that you have to be successful for. Whether it's your employees or it's your immediate family or extended family, there's somebody you know, and if it ain't them, it's your. Yourself, you know, So I. I just think it's just a part of life. It's just something that you got to accept and you gotta, you know, make happen every day.
[00:34:02] Speaker B: That's good. Well, that dovetails into our. My last question. Our mission as a law firm, as a trust company is to help people aspire to a better life. So one of the things I always ask my guests as the last question is, who is someone who has helped you aspire to a better life?
[00:34:18] Speaker A: Geez, there's a ton.
There's a ton. I mean, let's see. I don't even want to forget anybody. I mean, the list is endless. I mean, there's obviously, there's the big. The big. You know, I say the first. The first person who helped me on this journey is a friend of mine, Mike Farrar. And he. He's.
We're both Virgo, so he's like a brother Virgo, but he's in North Carolina.
Former FBI turned real estate investor. Killing it. You know, like killing it. And we met. He. He actually lent money. He's my first private lender. He lent money on my. My first project, helped my first fix and flip, and we did deals after that. We stay in touch still to this day, but there's many people like him that have helped along the path as well. But I'd say, just to keep it simple, name one person. I'd say it'd be him because he was at the start.
[00:35:09] Speaker B: Wonderful. Well, Drew, I want to thank you for coming on. We're going to put all your social contacts and everything down in the show notes. Whether this is. You're listening to us on a podcast or you're watching us on YouTube, we're going to have all of Drew's contact information down there and again. Drew, I just want to thank you for coming on Trust this today and sharing your journey with us. It's been great to hear how you got where you are today. And until later, I just want to tell everybody, just trust this. Thanks for listening to this edition of Trust this. If you got something out of it, please press like and subscribe and give us a five star review to help us reach others who can benefit from this series. Until next time, keep aspiring to a better life.
